How I Ran 26.something Miles and Lived

It took a marathon to bring me out of blogging hiatus. That, and a day off from work...and maybe Damien Rice too.

Anyway, I did it. I am a marathoner!!! I wish I could put into words how amazing/fun/wonderful/awful this experience was. But I can't, which means you just have to go run one to know what I'm talking about.

I should probably say that I wouldn't recommend for anyone to go about running a marathon the way I did. My longest training run was 18 miles 15 miles with 3 miles of walking afterwards. I can probably count all of the training runs I did on my fingers. Maybe even one hand. I was running this marathon coming off by FAR the worst half marathon I have ever ran. Race day I made a huuuge rookie mistake, only I'm not sure you can call it a mistake when I was fully aware of what I was doing. I ran wearing something i hadn't trained in before. And not just any something...I ran wearing shoes that had never been on a run with me (Just fyi, I ran in Brooks Green Silence).

So how did I get myself to cover 26.something miles in 5 hours and 49 minutes? It started at the expo...

After a long drive to Dayton, OH, John and I made it to the expo in time to hear the last half of Dean Karnazes speak. I've done a lot of reading about him and was excited to not only meet him in person but to have him sign my bib as well. Also, a lady was at his presentation who had 20 stitches in her leg because she was ATTACKED BY A SHARK a week prior but wasn't going to let that stop her from running the marathon. I am so lame.


He's really workin that visor


The real excitment started when Mark Cucuzella spoke. He's a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, a doctor, an elite runner, and just a really smart guy. John had attended one of Mark's running workshops before but this was my first time seeing him. He spoke about a lot of things I already knew, but he said a couple things that played a HUGE part in getting me through this marathon. The first thing was, "If you get to mile 13 and you feel like you wanna go faster...don't." I thought about this a lot in the beginning miles when John and I were running painfully slow. The second thing he said, and the one that stuck with me most was "RELAX." John and I repeated this to each other several times throughout the race. Mark made me feel like I actually could finish this race if I just take it easy and "enjoy the journey."

Race day came and I was a little less confident than I was the previous night but still determined to finish while having the best time possible. It was cold that morning but the sunrise was b-e-a-utiful.


Walking along the flight line (where we would finish) to the start.

Awesome.

The official plane of the marathon was a B-2. Now, I don't know anything about planes, nor do I really care so long as they don't fall out of the sky, but this plane? jet? (see, I really don't know what I'm talking about), was really cool. I can't figure out how to get the video of it flying over on here but just picture some crazy huge bird coming from the distance. It's pretty slow and it's not until it's gliding directly overhead that you can hear the not-so-loud sound that it makes. That's what it was like.

And...then we were off. John and I planned to run at a 12 minute per mile pace and take a quick walk break every four miles until mile 16 when we would assess and reevaluate if necessary. It was really fun listening to everyone's conversations and joking with other runners. John and I did a good job keeping each other in check as far as pace went. I was having the best time. I do want to note one man who passed us as we were running up an on-ramp. He was going at a pretty good pace and ended up finishing somewhere way in front of us. He was walking. The whole marathon.



Man in gray shirt.

Somewhere around mile 8 the course leaves the Air Force base and goes through town. There were TONS of people cheering, playing music, holding signs...I felt like I was in a parade.

I could not wipe the smile off my face. I told John several times that I cannot wait to run another marathon. This was the most fun part of the race. It went on for a couple of miles.

 

Somewhere around mile 11 or 12 things went from easy to require some effort. I remember telling John that I still felt really good but I knew the worst was coming. That's kind of a scary thought. But we kept chugging along. We deviated from our game plan at mile 13 when we stopped to use the bathroom and took a walk break to eat half a banana. When we made it to mile 16 my legs were hurting but I knew I could run another 4 to mile 20.

 

We hit 20 miles in just over 4 hours. At this point I knew I wasn't in good shape but tried to stay positive. By mile 21 things were pretty ugly.

 

Hell?

We were doing more walking that running. Up until this point I thought I had escaped the marathon beast but it got me. Every step was painful. I hate to sound like a wimp or overdramatic but man it was an awful, awful time.

 

By mile 25 my spirits were higher but I still didn't know how I was going to make it another mile.

 

 

Somehow we made it back to the flight line. It was very surreal and I wish I was a better writer so that I could describe the feeling. To go from agony and really questioning how you're going to make it to..."oh...we made it."

 

Finish line ahead

Finishing was THE BEST! All my pain went away and I ran as fast as I could. Some high ranking man shook my hand, said, "welcome back," and put my medal around my neck. I think I'll remember him forever.

 

Marathoners!

I am in awe of this experience and of all the support John and I recieved from friends and family. It was a great feeling to get back to the car see all the texts I had recieved. Despite those last 6 miles, I know I will run another marathon.

 

For now, though, I am taking a break. I went for a run last week a realized it's the 3rd run in the last 2 years that hasn't been a training run for some future race. I am looking forward to running for fun again, assuming I can stop signing up for races (I have already signed up for the Iron Girl Half Marathon in April and have another browser window open with my partially completed registration for an 8k).

 

So that's that! I ran a marathon and lived through it. And loved it. The end!

 

Last Friday Night

Friday was graduation at my school and John and I had plans that night to go to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. After graduation we started tearing down the classroom bulletin boards, posters, etc. Around that time it started pouring outside and John texted me that there had been a tornado sighted in a county close by and several counties (including ours) were under a tornado watch.

The rain caused us to get home way later than anticipated. We immediately changed into nice clothes and ran through the rain to the car. We headed into Baltimore to our friends’ loft apartment for fondue before the concert. We had never been to their place before and got lost walking from the car to the apartment. It was still raining really hard and I ended up having to take my shoes off. It’s impossible to keep wet patent leather heels on your feet.

We eventually made it to the apartment (which was awesome) and had fun meeting people and EATING before we walked a block (still raining) to the bus stop.

The group. John is under the word 'spirits' and my leg is to his right.

They were playing Mozart and Beethoven and it was great. I even let them off the hook for not playing moonlight sonata. I drank champagne. At the symphony. I am apparently 25 going on 60.

We obviously didn't spluge on tickets...

After the concert half of us went to a bar and the other half (myself included) headed back to the apartment. By this time it was REALLY coming down and the wind made it worse. I should note that through all of this I had an umbrella but thought about not even using it at this point because I was getting soaked despite it. It also kept blowing inside out. We had to walk several blocks to the bus stop, that was not covered or anything, and waited for a good while for the bus.

We finally piled on the bus and a guy who was on there asked to take a picture of all of us looking really depressed. I’m sure we were a sight soaking wet in our suits and nice dresses.

Back at the apartment I spent the rest of the night into the morning hours eating fondue, doing push ups, sitting in an open window, and winning at pool in my mind. By the time we headed back to our car, it had stopped raining. There’s probably a lesson in that somewhere.

Lately in Pictures



See JC Run

Melody's butt and I attempted (and failed) to see John run a 5k.



This makes up for your kids' misbehavior.

Teacher appreciation week at school! Love feeling loved!

I straightened my hair. It's an hour of my life that I'll never get back.



Ladies night=poor photography skills

John and I went dancing with some awesome people!



I need this.

A penguin!!! I was definitely more excited than my five year olds.

Dinner for one. Quinoa, black and kidney beans, lettuce, and salsa. My quest to duplicate the Chipotle burrito bowl at home continues.



LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

Melody is ridiculously good looking.

And I leave you with this:

For the record, I have read Born to Run, I eat chia seeds on a regular basis, and it did take about a year for the soreness in my calves to go away.

Inaugural Iron Girl Half Marathon

I want to start this recap by mentioning the 12 mile training run that took place 2 weeks before this race. It was probably the best run I’ve ever had. I felt fantastic the whole time and it was a huge confidence boost for this race.

I also want to talk about the expo. I talked to a triathlon team and gave them my info because…I need to complete a tri. The girl I talked to was promoting a tri in August. I could have the distance slightly wrong but it’s about 22 laps in a pool, 17 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run. Completely doable, especially since it’s not an open water swim. You raise $800, which isn’t too terrible and they train you and supply you with gear-including a tri suit. Now if only they would give me a bike, I’d be set.

Joan Benoit Samuelson also spoke at the expo. It was absolutely amazing. She told the best stories and just being with her was such a cool experience. She signed my race bib and I got a picture with her! I thought about her during the race (she finished 6^th…this is after tearing her MCL in January) and I saw her after the race too! I’m regretting not talking to her afterwards. Note to self: If I ever see an Olympian again-go talk to them.

"Christina, live your dreams" Okay Joanie!
(sorry I can't rotate this)

Now for the race. Saturday I woke up feeling pretty horrible. My throat was sore and I was extremely nauseous. I think this had been coming on all week but I had just been writing it off as allergies. I tried to stay positive but by the time I went to bed I was pretty worried. I spent the night tossing and turning and trying not to vomit. I woke up not feeling any better but there wasn’t any other choice but to run. I ended up having some trouble breathing and drinking but it was manageable.

John and I got to the race a little after 6:30 with a 7:00 start. I stood in line for the Port-o-JANE and realized that girls really do take forever in the bathroom. The line wasn’t very long but before I got to use the bathroom, they were singing the national anthem. I heard the start while I was in the plastic box. I waited a while to start because my Garmin was taking its time finding satellites and ended up starting literally almost last. Thank goodness for chip timing.

It took me about 3 miles to warm up. I didn’t feel as good as I did on my 12 miler but didn’t let any negative thoughts get in my head. The hills on this course were horrible. I’m not sure there was even one stretch of flat course at all. I knew there was an almost mile long monster of a hill around mile 6. It was way worse than what I was expecting.  It was so steep and never-ending. I considered walking because I thought I might be able to go faster that way but I kept “running.” I was so glad to be done with it because I knew the worst was over but the course continued to be hilly.

My knee started hurting around mile 8. I think it acted up because of the hills, which puts more strain on my quads. I hung in there but the pain got way worse and by mile 9 I was half looking for a medic tent. I saw John at mile 10 and considered telling him what was going on but there’s something about not saying things out loud that makes them less real. Also at mile 10, I teared up. I don’t know what it is about mile 10 but this has happened in all four halves that I’ve done. It doesn’t matter that I’m not thinking about anything emotional, it still happens.

Hurting

By mile 11 I was done giving into my knee and started my push to the finish. Finishing was a blur. I almost forgot to get my medal. I heard them announce my name and remember feeling pretty dazed waiting for someone to remove my timing chip. Then I saw John and showed him my Garmin. I had an official time of 2:06:55 (9:41min/mi). John freaked out because I was expecting something around a 2:08.

Splits:

Mile 1 – 9:50
Mile 2 – 9:53
Mile 3 – 9:16
Mile 4 – 9:52
Mile 5 – 9:31
Mile 6 – 9:18
Mile 7 – 10:25 (Hill from hell)
Mile 8 – 9:42
Mile 9 – 10:18 (beginning of knee pain)
Mile 10 – 10: 13
Mile 11 – 10:02
Mile 12 – 9:48
Mile 13+ - 8:32



Stylin'

I’m not completely happy with that. I would’ve liked to see more even splits but they completely reflect what was going on in the race.

Overall this race was fantastic. The course was really tough but I kind of like that. I didn’t find myself needing extra aid stations, although if it had been warmer I might have. In many areas they had a very small section of road blocked off for us. Traffic was still allowed on the road. This was slightly annoying when trying to pass people but luckily traffic was light and it wasn’t a big deal to run on the road a bit to pass. There wasn’t a lot of crowd support seeing how it was a small race. I thought this might make things more difficult but I guess I’ve gotten used to running alone so I had no trouble zoning out and just running. Another thing I thought I wouldn’t like was running with all women, but it was actually awesome. I really can’t explain why. And how appropriate to have Joan Benoit Samuelson run an all women’s race?? AND post race was awesome. All finishers were given a bracelet with a charm that had the event and date on it. Also, Wegman’s had a tent with tons of food (yogurt, bagels, Larabars, fruit, etc). They gave you a grocery bag and you pretty much got to fill it. I didn’t get a whole lot but some people had pretty full bags. Muscle milk was there as well as a massage tent. I thought it was pretty good for a small race.

Also, an announcer announced every person as they finished. Some people had accompanying stories like “one year cancer survivor” or “had a total hip replacement one year ago.” That kind of stuff gets me every time. I’m going to go off on a tangent here, you know, because this recap isn’t long enough yet. I know some people who run who are huge braggers about it almost to the point of being snobby. They are extremely full of themselves and don’t know how to give credit to anyone else. It really irritates me because there are people like the two I mentioned above who are so much more amazing and inspiring. A lady I know from Hawaii is pretty overweight and recently ran (without stopping) her first 5k. That is AMAZING to me. Am I faster than these people? Yes. But it doesn’t change the fact that I look up to them just as much as I look up to an Olympic Gold Medalist. These are the people that deserve promoting, not your own self. There is a difference between being proud of what you accomplished and thinking you’re better than everyone else. I wish that people who can’t see past their own noses would realize that.

Anyway, to sum it all up, if I can mentally recover from the big bad hill of this race, I will definitely be running again next year! Next up, marathon training!

DC Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

So I'm finally writing this recap! You can thank the dishes in the sink that I don't want to do.

I came into this race with very little mileage under my belt and with my longest run being seven miles. I struggled with IT band issues starting in January. At the start of this race, my head was all over the place. I went from dreaming of a PR to thinking I might have to drop out and everywhere in between. I'm a planner and HATED not being able to really plan. I was assigned to corral 19 but started in a corral farther back with my dadoo.



Thrilled, obviously.

It took us somewhere around 40 minutes from the time the race started to actually cross the start line. I'm pretty sure I started out too quick because I got caught up passing a lot of people. A little after the first mile I was hit with that stinking side cramp that got me during the Patrick Henry Half. I attribute these cramps solely to nerves. I get nervous and it throws my breathing off and the result is a cramp that almost impossible to run through. I walked for half a mile before I was able to run again. I seriously considered hanging out and waiting for my dad (read: throwing my race) but luckily I didn't see him.

At this point, I still had no plan. Once the cramp went away I was making great time and dare I say, enjoying myself? I walked at every water station just because I could. I completely forgot about the fact that there was a good chance of my knee acting up around mile 8. I even walked a lot of uphills just because. I'm not entirely proud of all the walking but it was a nice feeling to have no pressure and just do whatever I felt like doing.


"I'm just a bill, on Capitol Hill." -School House Rock

 Just before I hit eight miles, I felt my knee and slightly panicked. It wasn't bad enough to stop running, but once I feel the beginnings of it, it's not long before I go from running to strangely galloping and relying on my left side. I was able to keep my pace up to mile 9, where I was still on track for a slight PR. I knew that if I didn't start walking a lot more, I was going to be in big trouble. So, that's what I did. I thought it would hurt more to let my good time slip away but I guess in the back of my mind I never really expected to PR so it wasn't as big of a deal.



So pretty.

 I was nearing the end, walking, and a girl asked me how much farther until mile 12. I looked at my Garmin and told her .2. She started running and I couldn't let her pass me so I started running too. I ran most of the last mile. Once I could see the finish line, I kind of blanked out and just ran. I had so much energy (I would hope so, after walking so much). I finished with an official time of 1:22:01, which is about 1 minute and 30 seconds better than my worst time to date. I felt FANTASTIC afterwards. Almost no pain at all.

Overall, I was fairly pleased with how I did. Great weather, scenery, and I got to run with my padre and John!

NOT running

Sometimes, I think I like running more than I like soccer. Then soccer season starts and I realize I would choose soccer over running 9.8 times out of 10.

Today proved that fact. After two weeks "off," broken up by the half, I have started training and working out again this week. As expected, I am sore. And tired. Especially today. I woke up almost two hours before my alarm went off and couldn't go back to sleep. I had the worst day at work that I've had since I started (don't worry, that's not saying too much since basically everyday has been good. It did throw me off though). I got to soccer practice and all I wanted to do was go home to the pets and eat food. Did I mention I was also hungry?

Anyway, practice started and I just found all this energy. Even later in practice when I knew I was worn out, I just wanted to run everywhere and get the ball. ITSSOFUN!!! I missed the skinned knees and the bruises and I would definitely choose that over ITBS and stress fractures.*

Don't worry, I still love running. And spin. And yoga. And Bodyrock. Except not Bodyrock that much because it is really hard but I love that it turns me into a ripped badass person with at least some muscle. I won't stop any of these things. Just if it was a life or death situation and I had to choose only one for the rest of my life, it's a no brainer.

*I realize that both of these can happen in soccer but this is just my experiences here. Because this blog is about me, duh.

Spring, Melody, and more running

So I kinda sorta ran a half marathon over a week ago and have yet to do a recap of it. Mostly because all I can think about is my spring break that starts in three days. And the main reason I'm so excited for spring break is not because I don't have to go to work. It's because I am cleaning out my closet!!! I am CRAZY excited about it. I am having to use what little will power I have to not start now because I know I don't have enough time to do it (since I am doing other important things like blogging and fake online shopping at Zara) and then I'll just get overwhelmed and sad. I could seriously make this entire post about how excited I am to clean out the closet but that would probably entertain you too much and I really want you to get off the computer and be productive today.

Other news, Melody is starting doggie college in April! She is so excited, I am sure.



A coworker recommended a dog trainer and we met with him on Saturday. Andrew is awesome and would give Cesar Millan a run for his money. He has the coolest house. He does all training at his house, including boarding and training. It was a pretty neat set up. We snagged the last spot in the Level 1 class that starts on April 7th. Andrew's evaluation of Melody consisted of talking to us while he pretended not to pay attention to Mel to see what she did. He pointed out that she kept running around to explore but continued to come back to us to kind of "check in." After she was done exploring she came over to us and just laid down waiting for whatever was next. Apparently all of this is good. Like I was surprised, Mel is the best dog ever.

Also, I have begun training for half marathon number 4 on April 29th. Barring any knee issues I am hoping to PR. For all other halves I've used Hal Higdon's novice training plan but this go around I'm using the FIRST plan which I think will work well for me. It's also the plan I am going to use for full marathon training starting in May. The plan has your running 3 days a week-a speed workout, tempo, and long run-and cross training 3 days a week which will fit easily with soccer, spin, bodyrock, and yoga. I had to start in the middle since there's only about four weeks to go. Today was my first speed workout. So far, so good!

That's about all for now. I will eventually get around to doing a recap of the DC half!

Bodyrock 30 Day Challenge and a long run

I just finished Bodyrock.tv's January 30 Day Challenge (clearly I'm a little behind). After spending January coming back from my stress fracture and dealing with ITBS, I finially decided I really needed to spend some time on non-cardio related exercise. Aside from a random stint in college, I haven't worked on gaining muscle since my high school weight room days and after taking years off of serious working out and surgery, my muscles were more pathetic than usual. So, on January 30th I started the 30 Day Challenge one month after it was posted on the website.

It started with a fit test consisting of 7 exercises. You repeated the exercises as many times as possible for 50 seconds. After a 10 second break, you start the next exercise. The test was repeated halfway through the challenge and on the final day. Here are my results:

I want to note that the fit test calls for "straight abs" instead of crunches. When I first started I did not know what a straight ab was so I did crunches. I later realized they are just regular sit ups. One of the trainers is British and has different names for a few things (like press ups instead of push ups). I also want to note that the second fit test was after a run where I hurt my knee. Any bending of my knee was pretty painful and I think the results of the test reflect that more than anything.

Overall I am SO pleased with the results of these 30 days. Not only do I feel stronger but my legs are almost the same size!!! Even John noticed that my right quad is catching up with my left in a big way. I plan to keep doing bodyrock 5 days a week. I really think it has enabled me to start running again.

Speaking of running again, I'm hoping to have my first real long run tomorrow since the beginning of November. I'm a little nervous but I'm just going to focus on covering the distance-NOT on pace, although that will be difficult.

Well I found a new thing to obsess over...



Melody!

How cute is that face??? We've had her for a week now and its been awesome. She is so cute, obviously, and pretty good. She's definitely come out of her shell a little bit in the past week.



She lays like this a lot...weirdo.

 

Loves that hedgehog toy.

She does a lot more than just sleep, don't worry. We are working on sit, stay, and lay down right now. She has sit 95% of the time but she is very easily distracted. She will stay as long as she's not too disctracted and she can see us. Working on staying when we're out of sight. Lay down is very sketchy right now and we probably wouldn't bother with it until she completely has sit and stay but there are times we need her to lay down...like when we're eating or when she's going after Hamlet.

She is also very clingly and hates when John and I aren't both home and in the same room. If we're in different rooms she'll pace between us. During a workout over the weekend she laid down right next to me if I held still for more than 2 seconds.




Scooted in while I tried to do situps.



Elevated side plank with a leg lift...she tried to get right on my leg.

You can thank the last two years of working with preschool children for giving me the multitasking skills that allowed me to take a picture while working out.

Also, my camera is kinda messed up so all these pics are from my phone, my bad.

Anyway, best dog ever, she is awesome and I'm sorry if i talk about her all the time now the way I talk about running.


Life is Good

Please excuse my lack of a creative title. Actually I don't think I've ever come up with a creative title for these. Anyway. In the car this morning I was thinking about how my life was a year ago. To sum it up in one world; awful. Or, as awful as it can be for someone who has a roof over her head and never goes hungry. You get my point. Fortunately it was one of the worst points in my life (I have a pretty good track record). A large part of my unhappiness was my job. I know everyone has to work a job they hate at some point but I worked with kids and it was extremely hard for me to work in a place that didn't provide the best for them. I felt helpless and picked up some bad habits that I am still trying to get rid of eight months later.

Anyway, I am BEYOND thankful that I am out of that place and working in a school that I absolutely love. I love all my co-workers and my kids and their parents. So there's that. Also, a year ago, John and I were trying to pay for part of our wedding. We had help from my parents but we still had a decent chunk that we had to cover. Can you believe I'm 24 and not rich yet?? Me neither. Now that's all over and paid for so we feel a little less strapped.

Running! Like I could go an entire post without mentioning running. A year ago I was only able to run about two miles. Now...well right NOW I can't run anything because of my dang ITBS but normally I can churn out about eight miles with little effort.



Planned an 8mi run but my knee decided I
only needed to run one. I look like a duck when I pout.

 I'm also loving everything else about my fitness right now. I have found forms of cross and strenght training that I love and soccer will be starting up again soon!

Finally, Lana Del Rey. She is gorgeous. Fact.

Off to squeeze in an episode of Heros before bed. John bugged me to watch this show probably since we first me and I finally caved. Should've listened to him sooner, its one of those shows I could probably lose a weekend to!

Sunday Seven

What a "run." Typically I do all of my long runs on the B&A Trail, which is a 13 mile trail running from Annapolis to Glen Burnie. I start in Glen Burnie around mile 11.5 and head toward Annapolis, although I never get there since the farthest I've made it before turning around is 5 miles. On Sunday, my typical starting point was closed due to some kind of construction. John and I decided to find the actual trail head in Glen Burnie and go from there.

We ran the short bit of the B&A that wasn't closed and then headed onto the BWI Trail for the first time. As we hit four miles my knee pain that I've been having showed up. And then we hit this:



Running in the snow to avoid the ice on the trail.

I'll spare you the gory details but between the ice, COLD, and knee pain that got exponentially worse, this was not the best 3 miles of my life. I have to admit though, if I take out the pain and cold, and the fact that God seems to have decided I will never have a good seven mile run in my life (1st time I puked. A lot. 2nd time I had shin splints), it was a pretty fun time.


Please excuse my voice and sniffles.

We finally finished 7 miles in 1 hour and 22 minutes, which is slower than it takes me to run 8 miles. As we exited the trail we saw two dudes all over John's car, looking in the windows, clearly up to no good and making trouble in the neighborhood (I hope someone appreciates that reference). John scared them away with his manliness and I have decided to invest in pepper spray.

After this "run" I obviously deserved Chipotle.


Is this not the most beautiful picture you have ever seen???

Chipotle should thank me for inspiring anyone who looks at this to immediately go out and purchase a burrito bowl.

Things I am Liking Lately...

1. SPIN. Oh my goodness. I cannot believe I didn't try it sooner. It makes Thursday one of my favorite days of the week. It is just so. much. fun. The loud music, the darkness, Ricky*, and the sweat (now that it is winter, sweat is very valuble to me)...good times. I think I like it as much as I like running. Yeah, I just said that.

2. Work. I'm one of those (lucky) people who actually like the career field they're in.** I'm happy that I'm actually doing what I went to school for (kinda) and that I work with an amazing, although very set in her ways, teacher who is teaching me a lot. Also, it gives me an excuse to listen to Raffi at the age of 24 and not seem like a nut.

3. Bodyrock. I had been staying away from Bodyrock for a while because they started incorporating all sorts of equipment that I don't own or want to own. They've really stepped their game up with the new trainers who show modifications for people who don't have the equipment. I also found this online interval timer which is easier to use than the stopwatch on my phone. Finally, although I miss working out "with" Zuzana, I like that she's putting up a lot of recipes on the site.

4. Winter. HA! Just kidding, that goes on the list of things I am hating. Replace winter with "reading." I felt like I was in a reading slump after reading The Hunger Games series (you had better believe I will be at the midnight showing when the movie opens).

I like for a book to inspire me in some way or at least make me so invested in the characters to the point that they're almost real. The books I read after the Hunget Games just didn't do it for me. At the beginning of the year I started reading Big Machine by Victor LaValle. Most of the book was kind of disturbing and just...strange. And when I say most I mean all but the last ten pages or so. The last ten pages completely changed my opinion of the book and made me excited to read again. I'm currently reading Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo and while I'm not completely sold on it yet, I have high hopes.

5. Pigeon Pose. Dr. Google has diognosed me with runner's knee and this pose feels FANTASTIC on my hip. The other day I just had to drop to the floor in the middle of the hallway to get some pigeon.

Bonus! Chipotle. Really, this is something I'm loving all the time. I don't think there's ever been food that I like as much as I like my Chipotle. I could literally eat it all the time, and no, I'm not even close to exaggerating. I keep waiting for it to get old but it never does. I would not be surprised if they put some chemical in that spicy salsa that makes it addicting.

*The yoga class I used to go to on Mondays was preceded by a step class. I would watch class while I waited for my own to start. There was a guy in the class named Ricky who yelled a lot and had a ton of engery and made me tempted to start going to step class too. Now he's in my spin class!

**Preposition at the end of a sentence, AH!

New Year's Resolutions

Yes I realize I'm about a week late with this one. I'm going to blame that on the fact that I've never actually made New Year's Resolutions before. I thought (and still think) that it's silly to make a resolution just because the calendar changes. However, looking at everything I accomplished last year, I'm finding myself wanting to take things up a notch. So I have decided to make goals in lieu of resolutions.

1. Run 600 miles. In 2011 I ran 328 miles and was on track to run over 400 until I took almost two months off after fracturing my foot. Last year I also couldn't run 3 miles until March, which means I spent two months running very low milage. I think I can definitely put out 600 this year (assuming there are no injuries that keep me from running for an extended amount of time) giving that I can run much farther and I will be marathon training in a few months. Which leads me to my next goal...

2. Run a full 26.2. I've finished two halves and I'll be making it three by March. It's time to conquer the full.

3. Strength train. "The workout you enjoy the least is probably what you need to do the most." John heard that somewhere from someone (aren't you glad I paid attention when he told me about it?) and it is completely true for me. I do not have the attention span to work on specific muscles but I'm going to try. Next time you see me I plan on looking like Lisa-Marie:

Just kidding. (I wish I wasn't).

4. Go to the DENTIST. It's been an ebarrassingly long time since I was at the dentist. I'm one of those weird people who like the dentist, although when I finally get in there this year I don't think it's going to be so fun. As long as I don't have any cavities, I'll be happy.

5. Go to the dermatologist. I went a while back because I had a random mole pop up, which turned out to be fine but it was recommended that I come in at another time to get a full body screening. I'm sure they didn't mean to wait almost two years but at least I didn't forget about it, right? Plus I want to get a few moles removed that I think are ugly. Apparently I'm fine going under the knife for vanity, who knew? And aren't you glad you just read a paragraph about my moles?

So that's all for now. Nothing earth shattering and I'll definitely make more goals over the course of the year but this is my start. I'm off to eat chips and salsa because that is the best food in all creation.

The World Spins Madly On

Today, my alarm went off at 4:30 am. I cannot remember the last time I got up that early. Maybe for the Richmond half, but I think I got up at 4:45 for that.

I got up that early because I had to leave the house by 4:50. Thankfully it was 32 degrees this morning instead of 14 degrees like yesterday. I HATE the fact that I just said I was thankful for it being in the 30s. As John said, "This feels like a heatwave compared to yesterday."

I had to leave by 4:50 because I had to be at my very first SPIN CLASS by 5:30. All the biking I did while I was sidelined from running made my knee feel almost completely normal. Sometimes I still can't believe it, I never thought it would be this good again. So, now that I can run, I didn't want to let the biking go to the wayside and thought a class would be a great way to make myself stick to it since group fitness is usually (usually) way more fun than going solo.

I wanted to get there a bit early to talk to the instructer since I had no idea how to adjust the bike or what I was doing. Her name is Amber and she is pretty cool (although how can you not be cool if you're that peppy at 5:30am in the middle of winter?).

We got started and I thought I was about to die. I was embarrassed to call myself any kind of athlete and worried that I would have to walk out of class. Then Amber said it was just the warm up and I decided I was in way over my head. Maybe it just took my a while to wake up find my groove because after a while, I got the hang of everything and had a lot of fun. The hour flew by, especially the last 30 minutes. I can't wait until 5:30 next Thursday.

PS-Next time you make oatmeal, put blueberries in it. You can thank me later.