I didn’t realize it until I looked at the results, but I beat my PR by almost 3 minutes at the Sam Costa Half Marathon today! The start was a chilly 27 degrees, and there was a 10-15 mile an hour NE headwind for the first half of the race. There were lots of hills, too. But the sun was shining, and the 11 year-old boy who eventually beat me kept me pushing at the end. I did what I came there to do: Run the first 8 miles at under a 10 minute pace and run/walk the rest. It was a great, personal race!
Archive for March, 2011
Half Marathon Personal Best!
Posted in Fitness on March 26, 2011| 2 Comments »
Weather Time Machine?
Posted in Fitness on March 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »
We went from warm, sweaty 70s on Wednesday to cold, goose pimply low 40s on Thursday…for the high! Where did spring go? We went from summer to winter in twelve hours. Or did we get time warped back to February?
I have my first half marathon of the season tomorrow morning. I plan to run the first 8 miles and walk/run the rest as training for the half marathons coming up in May. I thought I would have to worry about getting too warm, but the temperature at sunrise might be in the 20s. At least I have my gloves and mask clean and ready to go. Since I ran outside all winter, I should handle it pretty well. I would actually prefer running with the temperature in the 40s than the 70s; I hate being too hot. I am just weird that way.
Running into Spring…the Last Day of Winter!
Posted in Fitness on March 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Today is the last day of winter, on the calendar, anyway. The cold weather may not be entirely gone, but today is a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the 50s. I maintained a schedule of running outside the entire winter, but rain almost stopped me yesterday.
Even though it was overcast, the rain had stopped, so I got my gear on and started to head out. About 100 yards from the house, it started to sleet. Actually, since it was 48 degrees, it was probably more like very small hail bouncing off of the ground. Seriously?! I kept going and shortly it started to rain fairly hard. A break in the clouds was coming, so I just shook the water off of my hair and kept going. If it kept raining, I would do a short run and try for a longer run on Sunday. After a few minutes, the rain let up, so I kept pounding away. Boy, am I glad I did! At about mile 6 the sun came out and the birds were singing. Beautiful! True Indiana weather, if you wait a few minutes it will change. It turned out to be a great 7.25 mile run. Hopefully I can maintain my outdoor running schedule during the Indiana spring weather. I don’t plan on running through any tornadoes.
Eat to Run or Run to Eat?
Posted in Fitness on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I am really starting to turn a corner with nutrition. I’ve turned several corners; surprisingly, I haven’t gotten lost, and it seems I am staying more often on the right course. In the latest development, I now base more of my food choices on how it will affect my running. In the past, I made choices based solely on how long I would have to run so that I could eat junk and still fit into my pants. Now, I look at food and think more about protein, potassium, sodium, fiber, good carbs, etc. and less about texture, flavor, and comfort. Not that nutritious foods don’t have those yummy qualities. Tonight, I ate two phenomenally sweet and juicy mandarin oranges, and they were as easy to open as candy bar! I may never win my age division in races, but eating to fuel my run and recovery makes me a lifetime champion in health!
Birds of a Feather
Posted in General on March 12, 2011| 1 Comment »
My son and I were discussing how to fill his new ADD prescriptions; he is having trouble studying later at night and staying focused. He can either take a higher dose or stay with the lower dose and add 10 mg just in the evenings when he knows he needs to study late. I told him, “Fill the higher dose first, try it for a couple of days, and if you don’t……..” I trailed off on a thought going ’round in my head. He said, “Do you want me to fill the 10 mg for you so that you can finish that sentence?” I exploded into laughter. I love laughing that hard!
A couple of hours later, we were in a craft store. I needed some wooden sticks (ended up not having them), and we looked at pictures frames. After about 15 minutes we went to the front and got in line. The customer two ahead of us checked out, left, and we moved forward. As the woman in front of us went through the checkout, I looked down at my hands and said, “Are we buying anything from this store?” He looked around and laughed, “No.” We got out of line and headed for the door. It is nice to have someone around that really gets you and doesn’t judge you.
Better to Laugh 