Better Late than Never

I did do a fun run on September 26 in San Diego. First, let me say it was along the bay and beautiful. It was however, the worst running experience of my life. I did finish it and I was only two minutes below my PR. It didn't help to start with shin splints. But my calf cramps and my neuropathy were also really bad. Physically the hardest run I have ever done. There were times I really didn't think I would be able to finish, I was having issues just lifting my feet for a while. I kept going and really did enjoy being by the water.  I would love to run there again!

And Here we go Again.....

I loved Albuquerque Fit however, I found myself out of town or otherwise unable to make it to several runs this summer and ended up quitting.  I couldn't keep up with them, I was the slowest by far and I just got further behind. I did learn a lot by going and improved the run endurance for the run/walk.  I think I will do it again someday if I can get myself to stick with it long enough to progress from slower than a Heard of Turtles.

So I will be going to San Diego the end of September and I decided I wanted to do a 5k next to the ocean.  So I looked up up runs and found this Fun Run that runs next to the bay.  It is really pretty it has a park and a nice hotel on the other side.  Now all I have to do is get so I can run/walk 3.1 miles again :-)  My goal is to run 1 minute/walk 1 minute the whole 3.1 miles.  I started training last week and all is still going well.  I am working out 5 days a week and should be where I need to go by the end of September.  Here is a picture of the path. The path is not that wide but I expect to be by myself, I doubt there are many runners as slow as me.

Albuquerque Fit/ USA Fit

I wrote this May 9, 2015 however I forgot to hit post :-)

I have been wishing I had a running group or someone to help me answer questions I have.  Therefore, I started looking online for running groups.  I found USA Fit and they have a chapter her in Albuquerque called Albuquerque Fit.

Wow, I started running with Albuquerque Fit today and it was all I had imagined plus more.  It is a running group that says they take all levels.  Now, I knew I would be the slowest there so that was no surprise when it was true. They train for 10k, half marathons, and marathons.  I have run a 5K before so I signed up for the 10k. There slowest pace group is 13 minutes and my pace is usually about 16:45.  They encourage the run walk method which I do.  I usually run 20 seconds and walk 1 minute.  There lowest group was run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute.  It was hard, but I did it for 1.5 miles. I am so excited! I started running again April 21st I ran 1.5 miles with a pace of 17:14.  I was dead tired when I finished.  Today I ran 1.5 miles in 15:16.

I have hard time with really stiff calves.  They had lots of ideas to help with that.  My 10k coach took the time to stretch with me at the end explaining why and how to do each stretch.  Emphasizing exercises that would help with my calves. They give you a running plan for the week.

Looking for Running Motivation

Looking for Running Motivation

I am trying to figure out ways to stay motivated to run.  I read a blog and the blogger talked about reading "Runners World" religiously so I bought one and thought I could read it in the car while waiting for kids.  Most of their articles are short.  I also started looking around for running blogs.
Since I have started running again (run/walk), I never got to where I could really run when I was doing it before, I am hoping to get further in running this time. Last time it never got easy.  I am hoping to get to the point where I can actually run many miles, but I am afraid that might be a pipe dream.  I found a blog called myfitfamily.com.  I loved the article called The Running Theif.  Here are two excerpts from it that I really liked.

1 - 7 years and thousands of miles ago, I couldn’t run a single mile without stopping.  I couldn’t run a mile without feeling like my lungs were going to burst out of me, without feeling like my knees weren’t meant to run, without worrying: but I don’t look like a runner.
This makes me feel like I have hope.  I can only run about 400 meters without stopping then I need about 400 meters of walking! So maybe I can get there also.

2 - My running truths are that it never really does get easy. You’ll learn to love that some days you’ll look forward to a run and other days you’ll have to drag yourself out the door–confused how you can love something so much yet some days find it so challenging.  You’ll learn that sometimes it takes you a long time to get warmed up in your run but when you do, everything falls in place and for a moment–maybe a mile, or quite a few miles–it does feel easy. You’ll learn that that easy feeling will come and go and that sometimes you’ll want to run a pace that feels comfortable and some days you’ll want to push the pace so hard you feel like your lungs are going to burst and somehow—both runs will leave you feeling smiling, breathless and thankful.   This part made me feel better.  I thought it would get easier and it never really did.  I guess as long as you push yourself it won't be easy.  But I want to get to the part where you really love it whether or not it is hard.

Also if you are just starting to run like I am here is an Open letter from Seejenroerun. I learned a lot from it too.

How do you stay motivated?  Are their blogs or magazines you read to keep you motivated?  If so let me know in the comment section.

Back in the Sadle

What happened?  I took a couple weeks off, that turned in to a couple of months that turned into 7 months! I don't know how that happens. So today is Day 1.  It was a good run, I felt good afterwards.  I never feel good during ;-).  I started at a 15/45 pace and I didn't like it.  I felt that every time I started to run it was time to stop.  I switched to a 20/40 pace which I liked better.  At one point I was pretty tired so I figure that was the right pace.  I saw some geese and their babies on the Rio Grande.  It is hard to take a picture with your iphone while running and the zoom isn't that great either.  But here they are. 

5k race today!

 Well I haven't been running a lot lately, but we took the whole family to the Hearts for Honduras Run.  William rocked the 5K with a time of 22:06. I doubled his time with a little over 47 minutes.  I didn't hear the guy when I came across the finish line and I don't know where to find the results. My watch said 47:06 but I started it a few seconds late.  It was a really hard run for me, because I haven't run in about a month, which made this more difficult. However, I averaged 15:30 miles which is the best I have ever done in a 5K. I was proud of myself even though I know that is slow.  A friend ran by me to finish his 10K in the home stretch. I was amazed that he had the energy he did to sprint to the end, I was just happy to still be jogging (and I was only doing the 5K). Greg finished about 10 minutes in front of me.  Shelby and Wesley ran the kids K.  They had a great time.  Mitchell watched the little ones while Greg, William and I ran.

Finally back to where I was in March, kind of.....

 As I said in a previous post I took about a month off of running.  And I regressed a lot.  It has taken a month of running to get to the same run/walk ratio I was at when I took my break.  I ran 30/45 today.  I was dead when I got home and I am totally feeling it, but I did it. 

My short term goal is a 10K  I signed up to run on  Labor Day.  I am really nervous about being able to run 6.2 miles.  I have never done it before. I ran 5 miles in March and felt like I was going to die.  I will run 5 miles again this Saturday.  I would also like to be able to run a little faster. I am totally prepared to be the last one across the finish line, it is more about finishing for me :-)

The best thing about my short runs is that there are balloons every morning. Here are some of my views. It is hard to take pictures on your iphone as you are working out. 

I haven't exercised in a month, so why does it feel more like a year?

I haven't exercised in a month, so why does it feel more like a year?  I worked out Monday and I went back a couple weeks in my workout training schedule and I reduced my run walk ratio. Monday about 1/3 of the way through my workout I felt really good.  I started thinking maybe I should have just picked up right where I left off. However, by the end of my workout I was dying. Tuesday my calfs hurt all day.  I was complaining Tuesday evening and my 14 year old offered to let me use his foam roller, aka torture device.  Now I have seen my boys use this and I have seen the look of agony on their face as they do it. This does not look like something that I want to do, so I politely declined.  Todays run was torture, my calfs burned and hurt the whole time. I was regretting not use the foam roller. I have committed to use it before my long run on Saturday.  My question is how could I regress so much in only a month?

Time to Recommit

I ran a couple of times when I was in Utah in April.  Utah is my favorite place to run, it is so beautiful!  But half way through my trip I hurt my foot (not running) and I could 't run for a couple of weeks.  Those weeks have turned into a month.  I think I have run like twice since I have been home. I like running when I am done, not so much before or during.  When I saw this picture and I could totally relate. I have had a million excuses, I don't have time, I have sick kids, to many grasshoppers (seriously there are hundreds just in my front yard), I got up to late,etc.  Yesterday I was feeling really guilty and to top it off a friend posted on Facebook (fb) that she just finished a half marathon, then several hours later another friend posted he just finished his first marathon. At this point I thought really I can't find time to run 30 minutes.  So next week I am committed to get three runs in. I do need to run early because the later it gets the more grasshoppers there tends to be ( yes I get a little freaked out).


I had my iphone set to some weird photo setting when I took these pictures and it dulled all the colors.  I thought I would post anyway. I took these while running.

Can You Believe I Ran 5 Miles?

I know I posted this quote before, but it felt so appropriate today.  I just need to replace one word. ...the idea that I'd ever go 5 miles seemed impossible.  And of course it was until I ran 5 miles.

I was preparing for my long run a week ago Saturday and decided it would be nice to run down by the Bosque instead of in my neighborhood.  So I drove down there and I was glad I did!  My Last long run was three miles and for some reason this one was suppose to be about 5 miles.  I have never ever run 5 miles, and I wasn't sure I could do it, but I was willing to give it a try. I was only .6 miles into my run when I decided to change it to a two mile run.  My whole body hurt and it just wasn't going well.  Around a mile and a half I decided I should go ahead and make it a 3.1, my body still hurt but I was feeling better.  When I hit 3 miles I decided to continue and run for about 4.25 miles, my body was feeling better.  Around 3.75 miles I decided I was to close to 5 to stop so I ran 5.17!  My feet felt like they were broken, but I finished.

Not only did I run 5 miles, but my Garmin (watch that tracks my running time and distances) tells me it was my fastest 5K yet.  That really surprised me because I hurt most of the 5 k portion. I felt must better around 3 miles. My question is did my body really start feeling better at three miles or does it just go numb to the pain??

It blows my mind that a 10K is only 1.2 miles more than 5 miles.  My goal was to be able to run a 10k by January.  I can't see a reason why I wouldn't be able to run one by June now.  Now I just need to speed up to a snails pace and I can run a race!

I Ran My 1st 5K

I ran my first 5K (run/walk/run)  today and I am so excited.  The 1st half of the 5k I was little worried I wouldn't finish, however, the last half I rocked it, I could have gone further!  My first mile was 16:15, so I figured my last mile would be around 18. However, I was so happy to see my last mile was 16:42.  I was happy to be that consistent.

One of my first goals was to run a 5K and I thought I would run in a 5K race. When I started looking at races I realized that I am so slow I didn't really want to go run around other people.  Then one day I saw this T-shirt (see above) on the internet.  I loved it, so I bought it for accomplishing my goal, I felt like it was very fitting for my running ability.

I think it was interesting today.  I ran at a 20/40 pace, and my pace is almost exactly the same as it was on 15/45.  I am not discouraged right now because my goal is to go further both in total distance and in time of continuous running. I am heading in the right direction on both of those.

3.1 down 10 miles to go!

An Interesting Thing Happened When I Upped My Run/Walk Ratio......

Today, I wanted to increase the time I ran.  I wanted to go from 20 minute runs to 30.  However, I realized I didn't have time to do a 30 minute run.  I do a warm up and a warm down and then I have to get home and that takes 5-10 minutes more.  So basically in order to run 20 minutes I am gone between 30-35 minutes.  So I decided to up my running ratio instead.  I went up from 15sec walk/45 sec run to 20 sec walk/ 40 sec run.  I was worried about running the extra 5 seconds.  When I started I was only running 10 seconds at at time and I was having a hard time with it.  Then when I went up to running 15 seconds at a time, that extra 5 seconds felt a lot longer than 5 seconds. At the same time you reduce your walking time by 5 seconds.  I was worried this time about the same thing happening.  I was also worried about not having enough walking time to recover before I ran again. The 1st 5 minutes was hard and of course I wondered if I made the right decision in upping my ratio. The second 5 minutes I settled in and did much better. I discovered something interesting at this point, I felt good while I was running, my legs didn't hurt, my breathing was fine, and I felt good. However, as soon as it was walking time, my legs hurt, my breathing was heavy, and I felt bad.  What is up with that?  I know I couldn't have gone out and just run 1.5 miles straight so why did I feel bad while walking, but not running?  Anyone have any thoughts or ideas for me.

Running up That Steep Hill Looks Fun.....

They built a new multi-purpose trail at the top of the Mesa and I have been driving by it for a month.  I really want to run up the hill and around the top. My husband did it about a week ago and he said it was 5 miles round trip from my house. The problem is I am only running around 2 miles. I got this bright idea on Wednesday and I drove to the bottom of the hill.  I estimated it would be about two miles up the hill, around the top, and back (by the way my estimate was spot on).

The picture is from the bottom of the hill.  You can't see the top, but it is .6 miles from the where I am standing.  That is right .6 miles! What was I thinking! It took me about 5 minutes to get to the top of this picture. And for the first time ever I had to miss a run (meaning I had to walk though a run segment).  I wondered if I was going to be able to actually finish the whole run. I realized this might have been a huge mistake.  However, I didn't miss another run.  I got to the top totally exhausted.  I couldn't remember why I thought this was a good idea! The first half of the loop at the top was hard, because I was so tired. But I got a second wind during the second half of the loop and I was ready to run by the time I started back down the hill.  I do love going down hill, so that was fun.

In the end my time was not good, 34min 20 sec for 2 miles.  I know some of you are thinking you could walk it faster than that. However, I think I might try to run it once a month with the goal of just being able to do it faster each time.

2.5 Miles Down 10.6 To Go!

I let my son borrow my running gloves this  morning so I ran a little later than normal.  It was still cold, but my fingers didn't feel like they were going to freeze off. Todays long run was good.  I struggled from 21 minutes-31 minutes and then I was fine again.  That is a good thing to know. I could have kept going when I hit my target distance.  However, I have had too many times where I have over did it exercising and then had to quit. I am trying to stick to my program.

My long run a whole 2.5 miles.  I only have to figure out how to run 10.6 miles further and increase my pace from 15 sec/45sec run/walk to a 1min/1min run/walk. I have 13 months to do it in so I should be good.

Running makes me feel better

Wow, I  have had a lot of obstacles lately. I have been sick, I have had scheduling issues, family issues, just one thing after another.  The thing is I still keep planing my runs wether they happen or not. I was suppose to go running last Wednesday, but my husbands work schedule did not allow it.  That was okay because I thought I would just run Thursday instead.  Well, that didn't happen either.  However, an interesting thing happened Thursday, life started getting really stressful and I wasn't handling it as well as I would like and I thought I wish I had run. I had made the realization that running makes me feel better, not while I am running at that point I feel like I am going to die. But after I run I feel better and I handle things better.  Therefore, I am running on Monday.

I am a Super Duper Slow Runner

Today was my long run, 2 miles.  Okay stop laughing, it was long to me.  On Monday and Wednesday I run for 20 minutes plus warm up and cool down.  But on Saturdays I do a long run.  This week it is 2 miles, next week it will be 2.5.  Anyhow,  two thirds the way through the run I started to have labored breathing, and my legs started to hurt.  I looked at my phone app and it said I was at 1.6 miles which is what I usually run on Mondays and Wednesdays.  My body knew I had reached that point and it said it was done.  I kept running and I got my best time ever!  Yes, some people walk as fast as I run. But that is okay, I am happy I am doing well.  I am hoping in a week to bump up my walk/run ratio from Super duper slow to really really slow:-)

I like this meme because I am slow, I have a low run/walk ratio, and I have a hard time considering myself a runner.  However, I feel that it is a mindset I have to change.  I do run, therefore I am a runner.    I am a Super Duper Slow runner!

Bad Run, But Beautiful Morning

Today was a bad run, it was one of those everything goes wrong days.  First I had technology problems, yes I use technology to help me run.  Everything started fine and then I realized my app was doing the wrong run, this was an operator error so I stopped and fixed it.  I got the right run playing and off I went again.  Then I got a text and when I went to answer it I turned off the app.  When I turned the app on again I had to start over.  Now I was frustrated! I had to start my run for the third time, I was sick, and I had to pee!  I decided to preserver.  My legs hurt soon after I started my third run, but I finished. Right as I got back to my driveway my phone battery died. Even though I really didn't enjoy the running part of today it was a beautiful morning.

I want to tell you I love my Running phone app.  It is called Easy 5k with Jeff Galloway it is only available for iPhones and it is great!  It tells you when to walk, when to run, and it adjusts the beat of your iTunes music to the pace you want to be jogging. This is the 9th run I have used it on and it has worked perfectly the first 8 times.

I am a Penguin

I am hoping to suffer from "Adult Onset Runners".  Last year I started walking.  I walked a lot and I walked everywhere.  I really liked it, but I wanted it to translate into running, which it never did.  This year I am doing the run/walk/run method of running.  I feel empowered with this method. I think I can do it.  I am so excited to accomplish my first 5k.  I have already bought the 10k app for my phone. I feel so much better when I get out and run. Right now my run/walk ration is really low 15 sec run/45 sec walk.  My goal is both time and distance.  I would like to not only run a 10k by the end of the year, but run it in a 1 min run/ 1 min walk ratio. So what does this have to do with being a penguin.  Penguins are Adult Onset Runners (people that started running as Adults) that run slowly and waddle across the finish line.  They run the 5K's, 10K's, 1/2 marathons, and yes they even run Marathons.  They race to come in under the time limits, they race to finish, they race to be better than they were before, and even though they may be slow they accomplish their goals.

Thought of the Day

Running While Sick

I had a dilemma today and like I do with any problem I decided to find the answer online. I have a cold and a sore throat, so the question was should I go run? Basically what I read online was if I wasn't running a fever and I was physically able to go run, I should.  So off I went and it was a good decision.  It made my throat hurt worse, but the rest of my body felt better. I also did it in the afternoon when it wasn't bitterly cold. and I dressed warm.  I had a decent run for me and I felt more productive when I got home.