January Recap/Stats

I wanted to do a bit of revamping to make these posts a little more fun so I borrowed a few extra's from other peeps and added a few of my own. Hope you enjoy!

Miles Planned/Ran: 85± M / 125± M (Base training started 1/9 & real training started 1/24)

Rest Days Planned/Taken: 7 / 9

Highest Mileage Week: 31± M

Long Runs Planned/Ran: 5 / 5

Hill Workouts Planned/Ran: 5 / 4

Pace Workouts Planned/Ran: 2 / 2

Xtraining Workouts Planned/Ran: 4 / 4

Favorite run: Honestly it's been a great month full of awesome runs! Too many runs with the girls, in Florida with Harold, and mid-day with Fabulous to choose from...

Least Favorite run: The Put a Fork in Me! 5 miles I ran earlier in the month in at some points 4"-8" inches of snow following a winter storm with Fabulous. I've never been in so much misery; it was a grueling struggle of high knee'ing my way uphill in snow drifts knee deep and fumbling along rutted un-cleared sidewalks and paths.

Most hardcore run: Hands down the 12 miler I did with Jess last weekend in below 0 temps with winds to boot! We EARNED that hardcore stamp for sure!

Race(s): Frostbite Marathon Relay

Current Reads: (Reading) The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson - Can.NOT.put.it.down!!! (Finished) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - It started out kinda slow because there was a lot of background to cover but OMG I am SO glad I stuck with it!!!

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: I've been pretty boring lately, sorry guys.

Current Obsessions: Dannon Lit & Fit Orchard Pear Yogurt. Who knew pear could be so good?!

Current Drink: Besides chugging water like it's my job, I am FINALLY enjoying my Bolthouse Farms 50/50 Berry & Whey Protein Recovery Drink. It only took me like 3 months of choking down the stuff to start to tolerate the taste. The things I do to be healthy...

Current Song: Kei$ha - "We R who we R" - As much as I try, I just can't stop loving her music.

Current Wish-List: Life is nothing short of awesome right now, no wishes needed at the moment!

Current Need: For the Spring to arrive! This Florida transplant needs some more Vitamin D in her life!

Current Triumph: Braving the conditions all month long and not once being sent in to the dreadmill!

Current Bane of my Existence: My angry, angry ITB from all this uneven terrain.

Current Goal: To continue having a blast and running uninjured until Spring and May 15th!

Current Indulgence: Those delish Cranberry Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars Jason put on my Athlete's Plate menu. So frigging yummy, I've already made them twice!!!

Current Blessings: As always my family, friends and Spike... and surviving my first winter running season so far.

Current Excitement: My new couch FINALLY being delivered tomorrow and only 15 more weeks!!! Yay!!!

How'd your January shape up?!?!

Running is what you make of it, make it an Adventure!™

Frostbite Marathon Relay Race Recap

2011 Frostbite Marathon Relay

8 Flakes
+
1 Van
+
26.2 Miles(ish)
=
Quite the Winter Adventure!!!

Team Frosted Flakes

Pre-Race: Bright and early this morning Spike, Jessie, Tim, Kevin, Jennie, R-rizzle, S-shizzle and I all met in a parking lot (It was literally our first time meeting Kevin, Jennie, Riz & Shiz!!!) put on our homemade tu-tu's, sprinkle hats, and headed over to the Curragh Pub to run the Frostbite Marathon Relay. This is a fun-run relay put on every year in Holland, MI, famous for it's Dutch heritage, that's an out and back from the historic downtown area into the country and back. We were easily the most festive team there, certainly the only ones that dressed up! The race started at 8am with a rather unceremonious group start and away we went...
The Race: The team line-up went: Jess to Start (3± M), Tim (3± M), Kevin (3± M), Jennie (4± M), Riz (3± M), Shiz (3± M), me (3± M) and Spike to bring it in to the Finish (3± M). Our "baton" was a Tony the Tiger borrowed from my beloved B.o.B. (Thanks Boo!) cuz we are GGGGGRRREAT and lucked out with an absolutely GORGEOUS day! 26* clear and sunny skies! Most of us intended to use today's race as a recovery run from our respective Saturday long runs but you know how it goes when you get in a race atmosphere... we all ran our brains out instead! Everyone except Spike and I were relay virgins and it was even Shiz's first race EVER! Because the distance is much shorter than that of Ragnar, I felt like each leg went so freaking fast! Because we were all couples everyone did their own variation on the kiss-off at exchanges and Kev & Riz even ran with their significant others all gentlemanly like. :)

Jess kissing off to Tim

The boys opted for the action hand off...

Kevin gave Jennie a big dip before sending her on her way!

Jennie was happy to hand off to Riz after her leg was way longer than expected!
What a champ!

Riz sends Shiz off on her first race!

Ready to rock my Leg!

My own leg, Leg 7, started off on a country road and ran towards town. I forgot to start Hermes when Shiz handed off to me but realized it within a 1/10th of a mile and got him going. I didn't see a soul the first mile but as I rounded on to South Shore I saw a guy in the distance and decided that no matter what he was getting chicked! Within the second mile mission was accomplished and shortly thereafter I crested a hill and saw tu-tu's in the distance! (7:23, 7:08, 7:08 - 2.9 M - Recovery Run = Notsomuch.)

Gee can you tell I'm having a blast?!?!

Dutch kiss off in spirit of being in Holland!

After I sent Spike on his way the rest of us Flakes headed downtown, parked and entrusted another team with our camera to document us running into the Finish as a team. You know what they say about team's that Finish together... they have the most fun!!!

Team Frosted Flakes for a 3:30 Finish!
(Surely the closest I'll ever get to such a Marathon Finish time! Great job team!!!!)

Post Race: All of our hard work was paid off with some award winning white chicken chili, treats, and for those who indulged, some local brew. The swag was a super cozy sweatshirt that actually fit and we also received coupons for our next visit to Curragh's.

Mmmm... chili & brownie's!!!

The Swag

Post Race Thoughts: This relay was a TON of fun and my teammates rocked! Extra special shout out to Kevin for scoping out this race and getting us all together! As for the race itself, the course and directions were clear and easy, they had a few aid stations set up with water and gatorade for the runners. You could run this relay as a 2, 5 or 8 person team and they capped it at 450 runners total. My only complaint at all about the race was that the Finish was rather confusing; as we waited on Spike a few runner's came in and didn't realize that Curragh's was the Finish. I would have liked to have at least had a "Finish" banner or maybe some balloon's at the intersection to indicate the Finish and for some team photo ops. But besides that, it was an absolute blast and I can't wait for next year!!!

3 Things Thursday

1. You know you're a Runner when... you are both saddened and excited to replace your trusty old kicks with some brand spanking new ones (in convenient BQ blue). Introducing the Cleveland Crushers, now being rotated in to the training line-up and should be nice and broke in by May 15th!
   
   
   
2. "It's your Marathon calling"... Speaking of marathon, lemme tell you how I was exhausted earlier this week and with book in hand announced to Spike I was going to slack-a-lack during cross training and read on the stationary bike. As I lazily got into the car he asked to borrow my phone because he forgot his inside... a few seconds later he rounds the car, opens the door on the phone, asks the "caller" to hold, looks at me and says, "You have a beep... it's your marathon calling and it wants to know why you're being such a slacker?!" SERVED! Needless to say I skipped the stationary bike, hit the cardio bike for some spinervals and followed it up with some insane corework. Gotta love the motivational chats of runnerds. Have I mentioned lately how much I loathe love that man!? ;)
   
   
   
3. Frostbite Marathon Relay... Sunday Team "Frosted Flakes" makes it's debut at the Frostbite Marathon Relay in Holland, MI. Temps are shaping up to be decent but snow is in the forecast so this could be interesting... and by interesting I mean slushy, icy, madness. CAN NOT WAIT!!!
   
   This is my first marathon relay and I assume it's just like Ragnar only much shorter, faster and less smelly. Have y'all ever done one and if so, any words of wisdom to share?
   

T-Minus 16 Weeks...

What a week/weekend! Technically speaking Coach EK had this past week being my first week of official Marathon training and although I did do all my workouts per plan, I still counted it as a base training week and allowed myself one last fun long run. The weather was crazy all week, Tuesday's hills were run in the mid-30's (practically a heat wave!!!), but it was short lived and each passing day the temps kept dropping... Wednesday's MLR (Medium Long Run) was miserably cold, Thursday's pace workout was worse with big wet snowflakes soaking me through, and by Friday night when I looked at the weather forecast for Saturday morning I was already shaking in my boots!

Saturday morning I updated my FB staus with: "Why do I do this again?!!? Oh yeah cuz I love it and am training for a marathon. Time to layer up! 10* feels like -1*. Yowza!!!"

It was crazy cold outside but I wasn't about to wuss out and admit defeat by turning to the dreadmill, I had a run date with Jessie and we were going to tackle it like champs! She had 12 miles on deck, her longest run to date, and seeing as how I've ran so many freaking 10 milers over the last month or so I was a-ok going the extra. (Plus who doesn't love being there to support a friend when they tackle a monumental mileage moment?!?!)

So with the coldest temps I've ever faced to date, we headed out. The first mile was miserable, straight into the wind, but once we turned out of it, it became bearable and the miles started to tick off as they always do when you're with company. I had planned our route to encompass all the sights of the city without ever being more than 2 miles away from the house in case it got to be too miserable. The convo took my mind off my numb hands and we looked forward to the water Spike was nice enough to drop for us at various appointed mileage markers as we made our way up roads, down paths, through neighborhoods, etc... At the halfway-ish point we stopped at the local coffee shop to bathroom break and Gu and I found out why my pants hadn't felt quite right the entire time we had been running:


In anticipation of the chilly temps I had layered my knee shorts underneath my pants and had put them on backwards! WTH?!?!? Frigging hilarious, especially considering I had pee'd approx 72 times before we left the house that morning and never noticed the tags once! At this point it was just too much work to rectify the situation and since I had made it 6 miles with them this way, what's 6 more? With a laugh and a shrug we headed back out into the elements to wrap up the rest of the run.

Behold the arctic tundra of Mid-Michigan

Soon enough we got to mile 10 and although I had strategically planned this mile to be within a short walk to the apartment in case we wanted to abort the mission, we were both feeling good enough to go the extra, so we did. The last mile was even more miserable than the first mile with head wind and was a solid sheet of ice, but when the Garmin's rolled 12 we felt like some serious bad@sses! Our faces were numb, our hair was literally frozen, but we had gutted it out and made it happen! There was a little hooting and hollaring of triumph and as we passed two other runner ladies we cheered them on for being warriors too. This run was such a confidence booster and character builder for us both and I am now ready to hunker down and get serious for what lay ahead both mileage and weather wise. I am officially 16 weeks or 111 days out from the Cleveland Marathon and it is GO TIME!

Did you brave the elements this weekend for your race or long run or are you a lucky brat like LB (who likes to brag about his glorious warm weather) and just enjoyed another day in the life?

Big shout out of congrats to my Florida running frenemy Harold for scoring a HUGE PR at the Palm Coast Half Marathon this weekend! Congrats buddy!!!

Stylish, me? No way!

So at different points over the last, oh two weeks-ish, fellow redhead Angie, chocolate lover Alyssa and fellow BQ hopeful Mamarunsbarefoot awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award. I've been slacking at thanking them plus, let's face it, stylish I ain't. LOL! But thank you ladies for the award and now I'll get to my duties...

Here’s how it works…
There are 4 duties to perform to accept this award:
1. Make a post + Link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won!

7 Things about Me:

1. If you really want to know more than you ever needed to know about me, you can always hit up my 100 Things about Me post.
2. I pee five zillion times a day and can't usually make it through the night without getting up. I'm so screwed when I get old or pregnant.
3. I like to throw an arm over a pillow but Spike calls it building a fort.
4. I don't need background noise when I'm home. No tv, no radio, etc...
5. Every since the injury of Fall 2010 I have had to put arch cutlets in every shoe I own.
6. When I'm running hills in the office park I imagine people at their desks placing bets on how fast my next repeat will be.
7. Some people have empowering running mantra's, I make up weird words that make no sense. Whatever works people, whatever works!!!

Because I slacked so freaking bad on getting to this I know that virtually everyone has gotten this award in the blogosphere so if you haven't considered yourself tagged by me!

Happy Friday peeps! Have fantabulous weekends, try to stay warm and rock those races and long runs if you got 'em! Catch y'all on the flipside!

3 Things Thursday

1. You know you're a runner when... you opt for the porta potties without a second thought when the line to the real bathrooms gets too long at the country bar. I mean, they even had a woman's only stall for goodness sakes, I've been in worse!!!
   
   
2. Pain in the neck... so for the last few weeks I've been doing the Runner's World Fully Fit routine they featured in their February issue a few times a week. It covers core workouts, strength and balance, etc.. The workout is a great one and I've definitely been feeling the burn, toning up, and feeling stronger but also a pain in my neck. I didn't associate this pain with the workouts, just figuring I slept funny, until yesterday when mid push-up I heard something snap in my neck/upper shoulder area followed by pain. Ouch! Needless to say I won't be doing any push-ups again anytime soon and I look like I need a neck brace according to Spike. Has anyone ever done this to themselves before? Any ideas on how to gain mobility so I can turn my head again?!!?
   
   
3. Whoops... Yesterday my training plan called for 6 miles so when I entrusted this info to the running co-worker, Fabulous, I assumed we'd be ok. When we hit the 3 mile mark he realized we might be "a little" over 6 M as we still had to get over the river to the other side of the trail... but that little over ended up being just shy of a full mile and did I mention it was FREEZING out?!?!? Lesson learned, co-worker can't be trusted past 5 mile routes.
   
   Have you ever found yourself massively over in mileage on a run because you guesstimated wrong? Do you map out every run or leave a little up to chance?
   

Back from Fun in the Sun

Hola peeps! I have returned from the land of the sun despite wagers otherwise! My trip was absolutely awesome and quite frankly was my best trip back yet!

After arriving mid-afternoon Friday Beaker-Luv and I hit Kohl's for some shopping and then went out for some oysters where Rixy met up with us. After dinner we headed home, gossiped like high schoolers and then it was up and at 'em early to meet Harold over on the Cross-Seminole Trail for a quick 10 miler. We had a beautiful morning, 46* and sunny, and I enjoyed every single step! Lots of run-nerding out and me trying to describe to Harold just how awesome it is not having to worry about ice and snow or being all bundled up for a change!

Blue skies, sunshine, palm trees & a running frenemy for the win!!!

After the run we found Rixy fresh from her long walk and grabbed some breakfast. It was a comical moment in our friendship, as it was the first time the three of us were grabbing breakfast together without being hungover! LOL! All too soon we parted ways with our beloved Rah-rah and it was on to the next activity of the day: pedicure's! I was so excited to get a pedicure as Beaker and I figured it out had probably been well over a year since my last one because I haven't had all my toenails since then. LOL! After pedicure's we did a little shopping and then before we knew it, it was time to get all gussied up for the "Girls, Not so Christmas, Dinner" formerly known as the Girls Christmas Dinner. This is a yearly tradition of ours but since I wasn't around for Christmas they put it off til my trip! YAY!!!

I love these girls so effing much!!!

After dinner we all headed over to my favorite country line dancing bar Cowboys, where the boys met up with us and we boot-scoot-boogied the night away, enjoyed copious adult beverages on the cheap, and basically had a friendship love fest with each other. I don't think I stopped smiling once!

Run Nerds: Lazy Runner, Red & B.o.B - Reunited and it feels so good!!!

Sunday was a lazy day spent playing with my babies; RJ, Maya and Lily! Rach drove up from W. Palm for the day and I finally got to meet Miss Lily and see RJ and Maya play together. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip.

Above: Beaker-Luv & RJ / Below: Lily, Rach & Maya

And just like that... it was Monday and time to head back to reality. We picked up some Chick-fil-a so I could enjoy some glorious chick-n-mini's, stopped off at Track Shack so I could pick up a few things my local running store fails to carry and then it was off to the airport to await my flight. I was so very sad to leave after such a perfect weekend but I was also missing Spike like crazy and was happy to be back in his arms again and to find these on the table:

Spike has always, always, had flowers waiting for me when he's picked me up at the airport but this time I drove myself as he was out of town... but he didn't let that stop his tradition! I love him so much!

Huge shout out of thanks to Harold for trekking over for the run Saturday morning, to my West Coast B*tches Rixy and B.o.B for trekking over from the coast to hang out, to all the girls for meeting up Saturday night, to Rach for packing up those girls and trekking up from down south to spend the day with me, to Beaker-Luv for absolutely everything (she takes such good care of me) and finally to Spike for making it all possible! Love you all so very, very, VERY much and I appreciate you all for coming out and making this the best trip ever!!!

Believe & Achieve

Every day dailymile puts out a #dailymission, they're almost always a thought provoking question and I enjoy adding my two cents from time to time. Anyone on dailymile can answer the question and it's fun to see everyone responses as well as seeing what your friends think of yours. Wednesday's #dailymission was this: What did you think was plain "crazy" when you first started training and now isn't a second thought?

I spent the day hitting refresh on the #dailymission page because I was so entertained by everyone's responses but there was one thing that really resounded with me; a ton of peeps responded with "I never thought I'd..." and followed it up with responses like this:

• run 5 minutes straight
  
• run a mile without stopping
• run a 5k
• run a 10k
• run a Half Marathon
• run a Full Marathon
• run an Ultra
• qualify for Boston
• complete a Tri
  
• complete a Half IM
• complete an IM
  

Looking at the entries made me realize that at one point or another we ALL started out at zero. Once upon a time a mile was daunting to every single one of us. Think back to your first race, probably a 5k, do you remember how you felt when you finished? Probably exhausted and at the same time proud of yourself for going the distance. Now think about every race since then... your mind frame went from "I never thought I could" to "next time I want to run it faster or go farther!" I think back to my first 5k, I finished in 33 and change according to the clock. It wasn't chip timed so I have no clue what my actual finish time was, hell I didn't even know what a chip time was, at the time I was just trying not to puke. It was 4th of July in Orlando, I walked at times and when I finished I was wholly spent but I felt another thing too... motivated!

I've gone miles further and am significantly faster than that first 5k but reflecting back to it always humbles me. It's a constant reminder that we all gotta start somewhere and after that the skies the limit. We just have to believe with all our heart and achieve with all our might.

The first step is getting out there, the next is putting one foot in front of the other. Repeat however many times it takes you to get to your goal, add a little patience and determination, and finish by BELIEVING IN YOURSELF!

When I was training for the Chicago Marathon back in 2009 I was introduced to this poem and it is one I'd like to share it with all of you:

The Victor

by: C. W. Longenecker

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you like to win but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you are out classed, you are.
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of your-self before
You can ever win the prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

Do you plan to walk your first mile, run/walk your first 5k, race a 10k, go for broke on a Half or BQ on the marathon this year?!?! Then do it and don't let anyone, not those naysayers and especially not your inner Negative Nancy, stop you from going the distance. You have it in you, you can make it happen, I believe in you, so should you.

You CAN do it! You can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. BELIEVE & ACHIEVE.

3 Things Thursday

1. You know you're a runner when... you get up at the butt crack of dawn to trek the opposite way you work to hit up the Playmaker's Winter Sidewalk Sale. I scored a new pair of kicks and other assorted running paraphernalia as well as picked up some stuff for Spike since he's out of town for work. (It's the least I could do since I'm jetting off to Florida for the weekend on his dime!) It goes through Sunday so if you're in the Mid-Michigan area I highly suggest you get yourself over there and score some deals!!!
   
   
2. Florida... 70's and sunny. That is the forecast for this weekend in Orlando and I get to partake in it! At long last the MLK long weekend is upon us and I get to cash in the ticket Spike got me way back in October for my birthday to go visit with my girls and escape this Winter Wonderland of snow, ice and cold. Every single one of my friends are coming into town at some point or another to see me while I'm there and I AM SO UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED AND THANKFUL FOR THIS TRIP!
   
   
3. Athlete's Plate... Every week Jason over at Life of an Aspiring Triathlete create's a menu based on the details he learns from a blog who was nominated by their peers. It seems my beloved Boo cast her vote for me to be featured after her own featured plate last week and the result is so spot on I couldn't have whipped up a better menu myself! He and I had a pretty hilarious exchange via email yesterday so I wasn't sure what to expect! Seriously, I want to eat all of this right now! Without further ado, here is my Athlete's Plate. Thank you so much Jason for featuring me on the "Athlete's Plate." How you come up with this stuff is beyond me but you are good at what you do and I look forward to all the ones to come!
   

Spring Line-up

If you'll kindly look to your right you'll see I have begun work on my spring line-up for 2011. While the list itself is there for all to see I thought I might do a quick write up on the who, what, when, where and why of each race...

Frostbite Marathon Relay - 1.30.11 - Kevin over at Ironman By Thirty contacted me about running this relay awhile back but details were not yet released, fast forward to Friday the deets were finally released and after a few FB messages team "Frosted Flakes" was formed! I'm super stoked not only to run this unique relay, y'all know I love me a relay, but also to meet Kevin, his wife Jennie, and to run with the rest of team, most of whom just so happen to be my good friends (and beloved Spike). Best part of all is knowing that we only have 26.2 miles to cover on what will surely be a cold, snowy January day and that beer and chili are waiting for us at the end!

Martian Half Marathon - 4.2.11 - I will be using this as a tune-up race prior to Cleveland and will run it at BQ pace. It's a really "unique" race up in Dearborn, MI that goes all out with the Martian theme and has quite possibly the ugliest race shirt I've ever seen in my life! Definitely not doing this one for the swag!!! I heard rumor that Steph and Ken are going to be there as well as a certain canuck y'all know and love, but the best part is that my Michigan running besties Jen B. & Jessie (and Jess's hubby) are going to make their Half Marathon debut and I'm so excited to be able to to cheer them in to the Finish!!! I know a whole slew of other peeps are going to be at the race, I'm working on putting together a DailyMile/Blog meet-up so if you're running it please send me an email: redheadrunning (@) gmail with the subject line "Martian Meet-up".

B.A.A. 5k - 4.17.11 - There's no way I could pass up running this race again and hopefully if all goes well it will be the last year I have to run it to get my own little piece of Boston. LPT might have me pace her in to a PR, otherwise I'm running this one for fun since I'll have just run my first 22 miler the day before. Blogger Meet-up after the race so all you Boston Bound peeps better save the date!!! This is another one where if you're headed that way please shoot me an email so I can start putting together the meet-up. Same email address as above, just put "Boston Bound" in the subject line.

Cleveland Marathon - 5.15.11 - Goal Race and BQ attempt. After Grand Rapids Marathon was a bust I got to spend a lot of time talking to friends and looking up race recaps of marathons nearby. I decided that I wanted a course that was relatively flat, all the better to race, and had lots of spectator support to help me push when the going gets tough. Cleveland seemed like the obvious choice; it's close enough that it's within driving distance, my girl Sun Runner will be on hand for the half and used this very course to BQ herself and it's a bigger city race which means lots of spectator support and fun. There's even talk that B.o.B herself might come down to cheer me on along with Spike, Jen B. and Jess, so I'll have my very own cheer group following me around the course telling me to run faster! Oh and another meet-up is in the works for this too, same email, subject line "Cleveland Marathon."

And that's it for the Spring line-up so far. I'm sure the girls or Spike will talk me in to other races along the way but these are the major ones. The ones I'm registered and confirmed for. (Well minus the B.A.A. 5k because they haven't opened registration yet.) The ones I will pour my heart and soul in to training for. At this point I don't want to even think about any other races, my focus is Cleveland and what I'm trying to accomplish there. I have a little less than 18 weeks to make it happen.

How's your Spring line-up shaping up? Are you an overachiever and filled up your race card for the whole year, maybe driven by all these races selling out, or do you focus on one at a time?

Friends for 10

So for awhile now I've had the pleasure of running a lot of runs with friends. During the week I run at least 2-3 runs with my co-worker, Fabulous, and on the weekends I've had a never ending supply of friends or Spike to run with. Last week Jen B., Jessie, and I started off the New Year right by hitting the River Trail for a 10 miler and this past Saturday Jen B. met me for a 10 M turn of my old stomping grounds, butterfly randomness, hills, and all. I'll continue the "Friends for 10" trend this weekend when Harold (and possibly his gf) meet me for 10 M while I'm in O-town and I've already got a date with the girls the following weekend when I return. I think it's safe to say my 10 M base is fully established. I feel like I could run 10 M in my sleep and I've gotten to the point where I know I have too much left in the tank at the end. I am so ready for marathon training to begin... but while one part of me is itching to start really going long another part of me dreads going 20 M solo. Having company really helps the miles fly by and it's been fun exploring new routes.

Speaking of routes, Saturday night Spike and I spent the evening mapping out long run routes for future use. Aren't you uber jealous of our exciting night?!?!? Yup, just Spike and I, heads together clicking out possible routes on MapMyRun. Incredibly lame but highly productive. We got up yesterday morning to drive some of the back roads we found leading out of the city before our run. For those of you city folks, back roads are less traveled roads that go on forever in the middle of nowhere, usually surrounded by cornfields and are potentially unpaved. Needless to say my future long runs are going to be about as uninteresting as they come... but at least they will help me work on my mental game. You know what they say about training for/running a marathon; it's 10% physical / 90% mental. Working on your mental game is important, if you're not mentally prepared on race day it could be the very thing that costs you that PR, BQ, etc...

That being said, I'll be enjoying my friend filled frolics for a few more weeks but come the end of the month it's time to get serious. I have hill repeats, pace workouts and long runs that need to be run and paces that need to be achieved. Thankfully, all fun frolics included, I don't think I've ever been in a better position to start a training plan.

Alright enough of my ramblings, how about some pics from this weekend?!? Back in October Spike and I took some running pics out on our favorite trail so this weekend knowing I'd be taking Jen through there, I packed my camera to take some pics at the same spot. Peep the comparo:

Autumn Running

VS

Winter Running

Jen & I posing. LOL! Gotta love impromptu photoshoots!

This is a shot from yesterday's run w/ Spike. We found this maintained trail not far from our digs so we made an out and back of it.

Now this is the kind of winter I can handle, sunny skies and clear paths!

Temps aside it was a beautiful weekend here in the Mitten, how'd the rest of you fare? More importantly if you regularly run with friends how do you work on your mental game?

3 Things Thursday

1. You know you're a runner when... You're almost as excited about rotating the old dresser into the spare bedroom to use as the house running clothes dresser than you are about the new dresser (and now completely matching bedroom furniture) you just bought! No more shuffling around in the dark trying not to wake Spike when I head out for an early morning run!
   
   


2. Bloggers Guilt... I have over 500+ posts in my reader with zillions of "2011 Goals" and/or "2010 Recaps" that I've yet to get around to. This week has been insane both personally and professionally and I feel so guilty!!! Sorry I've been such a bad blog friend this week, I promise to get caught up with everyone over the weekend!!!
   
   


3. Officially Official... Those of you who follow me on FB, Twitter or DM already know this but for those that don't, I am officially registered and confirmed for the Cleveland Marathon on May 15th! Game on!!!
   

2010 Recap / 2011 Goals

2010 Year in Review

Upon reflection, 2010 can be summed up in four words; LOVE, PR, CHANGE and INJURY.

The Deets/Stats:

January - 170 M - Rang in the New Year with my luv in Tennessee, then followed it up by spectating the Disney marathon all while running my brains out training for the Gasparilla Marathon


February - 167.11 M - Donna Half Marathon & Gasparilla Marathon (Marathon PR!)

March - 61.21 M - Gate River Run 15k
April - 73.61 M - While in Boston to spectate Spike run his first Boston Marathon I got my own 'lil piece of Boston by running the B.A.A. 5k (5k PR!) then came home to get owned by Harold in the "Duel to the Death" at the Run for the Trees 5k
May - 30.5 M - Ch..ch..changes! Moved from Orlando to Michigan!

June - 65.22 M - Settling in with my luv, learning my new running 'hood and searching for a new gig...

July - 114.77 M - Began training for the Grand Rapids Marathon with the Boyne City Independence Day 10k
August - 34 M - Realized I had Leg Gremlins and Accepted that I wasn't going to run G.R. after all.


September - 38.92 M - Spent most of the month nursing an injury, attempting to run and Sinning

October - 97.8 M - Came back from injury thanks to magical arch cutlets to run the Grand Rapids Half Marathon (Half PR!) & Run thru Hell 10k

November - 115.45 M - RAGNAR & Turkey Day 5k

December - 77 M - Logged my 1,000th Mile of the year, ran the Jingle Belle 5k with the girls and ended the year exactly how I started it... with the love of my life and a kiss at midnight!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this man?

Running Total for 2010 = 1,046±

(Running Total for 2009 = 1,058)

2010 Goals - How'd I do?

Run for a cause(s) - CHECK! Many causes, specifically Operation Jack, and don't even ask how many I donated to...

Donate to Locks of Love - CHECK! Photo evidence can be found HERE.

Volunteer - CHECK! Although only once, the MC200
Spectate - CHECK! CHECK! CHECK! CHECK! CHECK! I was the spectating queen this year and fairly certain I qualified for world's most supportive girlfriend!

Become a Better/Stronger/Fitter/Healthier Athlete - Check/Check/Check/Sorta. :)

Maintain - (100+ M per month while training & at least 50-70 when not to maintain base) - FAIL! Thank you injury!

Run - 1,150+ Miles in 2010 - FAIL! Please see above.

PR - (Get those monkey's off my back)
Marathon - Sub 4 hr - CHECK! Gasparilla Marathon 3:56:11 (For a 12 minute PR!)
Half Marathon - Sub 2 hr - 1/2 Credit - I ran a PR of 2:00:22 but not quite sub-2.
5k - Sub 23 - CHECK! BAA 5k 22:19

Complete a Tri - FAIL! I STILL have not learned how to swim. tsk tsk...

Document monthly running totals to keep myself accountable - CHECK!

Eat properly - FAIL! I blame Spike. He eats TB every Friday, pizza every weekend and refuses to take the dark chocolate peanut butter cups out of the candy bowl!
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Looking Ahead, 2011

For 2011 I will strive for more of the same...

Run for a Cause - This goes without saying.

Volunteer - I really want to make it a point to volunteer for as many local races that I'm not running as possible when I'm in the off season.

Spectate - Spectating is hands down the next best thing after racing and I intend to break out my Susy Supporter pants as much as possible.

Become a Better/Stronger/Fitter/Healthier Athlete - It should go without saying that I want to remain injury free this year but I also want to strive to make healthier decisions in my diet so that it will carry over into my training.

Maintain - 100+ M per month while training & at least 50 M when not to maintain base.

Run - 1,000+ M; After falling short of my mileage goals in 2010 due to injury, I want to focus more on quality over quantity so anything over 1,000 M is just icing on the cake!

PR (Get those monkey's off my back)
Marathon - BQ!!!
Half Marathon - Sub-2 hr because I'll be d@mned if I let one more year go by without seeing 1:XX:XX as a Half Marathon Finish time. I KNOW I have this is me and WILL make it happen!
5k - 21:XX - I'll never try to PR another 5k again if I can just break sub 7's once!

Continue to document monthly totals

Eat properly - No more of this junk food nonsense. You hear me Spike!!!
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Before I end this I just wanted to say THANK YOU to one and all for following along on all my adventures. Your never ending inspiration, support, encouragement, advice, taunting, etc is appreciated beyond belief. It was one helluva a year and I can't wait to see what's to come! Wishing you all a 2011 filled with miles of adventures, a plethora of PR's, a fun run or two and for those who are trying, a little thing called a BQ. :)

Cheers to 2011 and all the AWESOME it will surely bring!
Running is what you make of it; Make it an Adventure!™