Minneapolis-Star-Tribune-runningkellometers

With Christmas around the corner, I thought I would put together a list of things that would be a great gift for a runner to get through the winter and beyond! These items are in no particular order of importance. Also, I'm sore from my speed workout yesterday, so I am taking a rest day today. :)

I hope you all now have the Salt-N-Pepa song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. I know I will!

Today I am going over to my Aunt's house for a dinner party. I said I would bring a dessert so I whipped up these bad boys in a few minutes. It took longer to unwrap the Rolos than it did to make the dessert! I found the recipe here. Aldi didn't have pecans and I don't eat walnuts, so I improvised and used roasted almonds. They worked out just as well.

As I know I won't have time to run tonight, I hit up the office fitness center. Tuesday has been my speed work day for the past few weeks and today was no different. Today I did 10x400m for a total of 2.5 miles. I alternated between 400m at 7:00 pace and 400m at 10:00 pace (except I ran the first 400m at 9:00 pace as a kind of warm up ish). I tried to be a pro and took a pic of the treadmill when I was done, but for some reason the time didn't show up since it was in "pause" mode. As I've never taken a treadmill photo before, I assume this is a rookie mistake. Either way, I calculated out what my time would be, about 21 minutes. Thanks Excel for always knowing how to fix my problems!


I felt pretty proud of myself for this distance. Most speed workouts I stop at 2 miles or just over. That last 400m was really tough, but I was so happy when I finished. If I keep this up, I'll have no problem building a strong base for my half marathons this year! With all this blogger talk about the Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon, I'm getting excited for my upcoming races. I really want to do a 10k this upcoming year and any recommendations are welcome!

 I received an email this morning that totally made my day. Registration has now opened for the Warrior Dash in Illinois. This is a super fun race that my friend Kate and I did this past year. It is a 3 mile obstacle course complete with walls to climb over, cars to jump on, barbed wire to crawl under, fire to hop over (action shot under "previous races" link), and a giant mud pit. (See video on the website for proof.) THIS is the race that we've been trying to convince our significant others to do. My husband is not a runner, despite me trying to convince him. We are hoping that the competitive spirit amongst the guys will be enough to get them out there, in the mud, and at the starting line. The race will be the weekend of June 16/17 and thankfully we don't have any weddings scheduled that weekend. You signup for the race for a specific date and time, so we're going to hold off registering until we have a better idea of what all our other friends are doing. This wave start definitely helps with congestion along the course route. But this is a race we WILL be doing in 2012. It was so much fun, and I really can't wait. When going through my closet, I found a pair of old running shoes I was ready to donate to Goodwill. Then I thought to myself "Wait! Warrior Dash shoes!" All muddy kicks after the race are donated and re-purposed. This isn't really a race you can do for time, however I do have a starting point for improvement. :)

Today I met up with my friend Amanda to lift some weights at Charter/Cardinal Fitness. She frequently uses their personal trainer and I was hoping she could teach me some cool things to do on the equipment. We worked our arms (biceps and triceps) and abs. I learned a few different machines, learned some new exercises with free weights, and learned how to do some moves with a medicine ball. I was feeling the burn and know I will be one sore pup tomorrow. I don't think I could explain the workouts we did very well. Even pictures don't do the trick. Plus, even if I am using pictures or a description, I don't know how my form is, etc. Amanda and I have talked about doing this more often and I'd totally be down for that.

Today we celebrated my husband's grandma's 80th birthday. She's the sweetest woman in the world and it was a wonderful time. I ate way too much food, of course. I don't even want to know the day's calorie count, but its okay. I had time to catch up on The Walking Dead but am still so far behind on Boardwalk Empire. When you have like 3 boring episodes in a row, it makes it difficult to want to catch up.

My friend Kate and I have been looking up some ideas for a destination half marathon. Boston and Nashville are two towns we were thinking of. She has family in Boston and we have friends in Nashville. Either way, we could drive and wouldn't have to pay for a hotel room. Hopefully the planning and timing will work out because that would be a fun time. Possibilities: Boston 13.1 or Run to Remember... Nashville Women's Half Marathon...

Now it is time for another work week...

In attempting to reach my goal of an increased regular distance, I met up with the Frankfort Running Group today for an 8 mile run. Most of the group was going a bit faster but since I still haven't kicked this cold I'm still not feeling my best. This cold and congestion won't go away. I'm hoping that some vitamin c and extra rest will hope do the trick. The total distance was 8.01 miles in 1:13:26 (with 9:10 splits). It was raining on the way to the run, but the sun cleared just before we would start. Thankfully I was well prepared with my running fashion as shown below. Don't mind the greasy hair and cheeseball smile.

Newton Ready to Run 20 Miler tee, Saucony arm warmers

Nike Cyclone Vapor Running Jacket

After finishing the run, I felt good. Sore knees for about 5 minutes but after a walk around Lowe's, it was all good. I took a pic of the trail after our run. What a picturesque fall/winter day!

The girls came over for an ornament making party and we ate a ton of snacks. I was happy to start off the day burning 778 calories, as I promptly ate them back in spinach-artichoke dip and chili cheese dip. WORTH IT! I made 3 new ornaments to go on the tree, including a snitch! I was very excited to add such a prestigious ornament to the collection.

Yesterday I had every intention of running 2-3 miles. But then I went grocery shopping and was sucked into Super Target. I was there for over 2 hours and spent $250. We so desperately needed groceries so it wasn't the worst thing in the world. I got home around 9:30 and thought I deserved a rest after the exhausting super market. I indulged in a few things that I would have eaten when I was 10.

They also offered a low fat Pop Tart, but I just knew it wasn't going to taste as good as I remembered. I mean, if I'm buying Pop Tarts, I don't want some lame excuse for them. I would just eat toast with jam if I wanted a "healthier" option. I ate my Pop Tart on my way to work today and it was just as wonderful as I imagined. It totally hit the spot and curbed the craving. I'm excited for my whole wheat Uncrustable for lunch! Hmm, maybe I will have some vegetables with dinner. I hate that produce prices skyrocket in the winter. How am I supposed to be healthy with it being so expensive?!

Also, I've decided to not run a half marathon in January. I just know myself and know I'm going to try and push too hard and I really, really want to focus on the half marathon I plan on completing in May (Southwest Half Marathon). This is the time to get my strong base, strong core, and work on my cardio. While talking about said half marathon enough times, I just officially signed up! Registration goes up $10 on December 31. I'll be signing up for the Shamrock Shuffle around then so it is best to get this done now! Also, I found out I got a $6 discount for being a member of our local running group. Talk about a win-win!

Being new to the blogging community, I was elated that Jodi (RunJodiRun) would like to feature me in her weekly Thumbs Up Thursday. Please head on over to Jodi's blog to check it out. If you're seeing this because you came over from Jodi's blog, welcome!

I can't believe today is December 1st. Today is also the beginning of the Frozen Tundra Challenge. Since I've planned on running through the winter and increasing the distance, why not sign up to win some prizes too!: 100 miles from December 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012. Prize winners are chosen at random if you complete the mileage. First Place Prize: Free pair of kicks from Fleet Feet Chicago, with the whole 9 yards (gait analysis, etc.); Second Place Prize:$50 gift certificate to Fleet Feet Chicago; Third Place Prize: race entry into Fleet Feet Sport’s 2012 Ravenswood 5K. Winners will be selected the week following the challenge in random order. To sign up, all you have to do is create a DailyMile account, if you don't already have one, and sign up for the challenge here. I'm still debating whether or not to sign up for a January half marathon. I recently found out about another one (F^3 Lake Half Marathon) later in the month on Saturday, January 28. It is the 3rd year of the event so there will probably be less hiccups than the Polar Dash. The medal comes with a bottle opener feature, gender-specific race shirt, and hot chocolate after the race. It is 90% full so I have to decide quick what I'm going to do.

Last night I went for a 5 mile run after my CCD class (I teach every religious education at my church every Wednesday night). I decided to run up and down the streets looking at Christmas lights! I had on all my reflective gear and head light. I snapped a pic of me in my gear, in the spirit of a true runnerd.

Road Runner reflective vest, Sharper Image head light

This is my absolute favorite time of year, so why not add some fun to my run?! I stopped to snap a few pics along the way...




I was hoping to see one of the houses as described below, based on the new internet-crazed photo, but no such luck...