Rock CF Race Week!!

I am so EXCITED! It is Rock CF race week, in fact it is less then a week away now, and I am over the moon excited.  Originally I had high hopes for this race, since it is fast and relatively flat, I was really hoping to shave off those last 4 seconds and break 2 hours.  I let go of that goal last week though, I have a goal of completing a 100 miler this year and this is my primary goal, so that meant letting go of the official sub 2 hour 1/2 marathon (I ran a sub 2 on a training run last year, but it was not "official").  It meant dialing back the mileage and laying of the speed work to allow my nagging shin pain to subside.  I am at "peace" with this decision, since the long term goal is more important then a temporary win.  I am looking forward to having fun along the course and leaving my Garmin 310XT at home once again, allowing me to run by feel, not by a number.

Why is this race so exciting?

1. The funds it raises for Cystic Fibrosis!
2. Smaller scale, beautiful course on Grosse Isle, great community support.
3. NUUN is the official course drink!!! (WAHOO!! A race in Michigan that is serving Nuun!!)
4. Cookies at the finish line.  Seriously these cookies are amazing and homemade.  The ladies on Grosse Isle work hard making these tasty treats.
5. El Guapo food truck at the finish line.  Ok, do you see a trend? Food and drink always gets my attention.  El Guapo is one of my favorite food trucks that can normally be found at Eastern Market on Saturdays, so I am excited it will be out on a Sunday, and that might just add some pep in my step.
6. Forecast: I know the forecast can change several times between now and race day, but fingers crossed it really is 50 degrees and sunny.  That would be the best way to kick off the spring racing season here.

Night Before Race Day Plan:

I do not have much of a plan for the night before, other then volunteering at packet pick up in the afternoon and then returning home to watch The Last Mile.  Not only is it an inspirational running movie but the race director and founder of Rock CF, Emily Schaller, is featured in it.  If you want to get pumped up the night before a race (or even race morning if you tend to get up super early) this movie will do it.   

The Last Mile from Red Tide Productions on Vimeo.

Race day plan:

• Outfit: Not sure at this time but I am hoping that it will be skirt and t-shirt weather, so my outfit will most likely include arm sleeves, Nuun visor and maybe some throw away gloves.
• Nutrition: Since this is a half marathon I will be relying on Vitality Bits and a Picky Bar before the race and 3 Island Boosts and Nuun to fuel me throughout. (and because Nuun is the course drink I do not have to carry my handheld!)
• Gear: I will be trying out a Race Number Belt from Fuel Belt.  I am looking for something to wear during Woodstock that can easily be worn and transferred when I change clothes. (I would like to avoid safety pins for my race number)  I may or may not have my iPod Shuffle with me.  I have been enjoying running without music but if I end up in funk music might help if I'm on the course alone.
• Leave the Garmin at home and run by feel. (Good thing it's a certified course so it won't technically be over on mileage, just what I make it since I can't cut a tangent.)

Are you racing this weekend? Are you putting in the last of your long runs for an upcoming spring race?

Life and Running….

Life:

Once again it has been awhile since I sat down to write.  I have been spending the last month focusing on being a better mother/wife and a more present mother/wife.  I really felt that I was missing so many moments in our daily lives trying to be a part of social media and the blogging world.  I know I was searching for a purpose outside of the home because that is what I was used to, and that is where I believed my worth would come from.  However, what I have discovered over the last couple months is that every day with my boys, even though it does not earn a pay check, has a purpose.

I spent a few nights reading "Hands Free Mama" (both the book and the blog) by Rachel Mary Stafford awhile back.  Really, it was exactly what I needed.  It has helped me shift perspective, love & forgive (mostly myself even though I am an imperfect mother who makes mistakes) and most of all I have put down my phone and stepped away from the computer. The memories we have created over the last few months having "Hands Free" meals and being "Hands Free" while we wait for the bus or appointments are so wonderful, they are not amazing, in fact many would just call them ordinary.  But it is in the everyday, ordinary conversations and moments that I am finding the greatest joy in these days.  It is in the hand holding, uninterrupted conversation, the giggle or smile, the little discoveries they make each day as they explore this new world.  All of the things that I can honestly say I was missing as I read blogs, checked various social media, and focused more on the laundry and dishes then the kids.  That does not mean we live in a messy house, in fact laundry is on it's way to being caught up daily and cleaning is getting done as well.  I have found the patience to incorporate the boys into these tasks even though they do not do them "perfect" or even the way I would.  I have learned to breathe, take a moment, just sit and snuggle and be in the moment without worrying about the to do lists or all the things I "need" to do.  Becoming "hands free" has been and will continue to be a journey.  There will be days that I make the right choice, some days I will not, but every day I am trying to make memories and remember to breathe.

Running:

Mother Nature has not given up.  She continues to make this winter one of the worst I can remember.  It is cold and exhausting to go for a run, in fact a quick run takes almost all of my running gear and turns into a load of laundry.  February will end up being less then 100 miles for the month (90ish depending on if I get out tomorrow or not).  A few weeks ago my treadmill literally started smoking and it needs a new motor.  On days that I am the solo parent I have resorted to strength training and using the elliptical.  It's not running, but it works.  I have managed to get all my longer runs in outside including a back to back double digit weekend, some 18 milers, and a 20 miler yesterday.  I still am amazed that almost 2 years ago I dropped down to a half marathon because I could not handle a 15 mile training run and now 15 is almost "normal".  Consistency has paid off, I am still not the fastest, but I would definitely consider myself a runner.

As of now the plan is to run the Mohican 50 miler in June as my training run for Woodstock, and at least 1 to 2 unsupported 50k's before then once the trails become decent again.  I have had some fun over the last few weeks trying out my new Ultimate Direction Jenny Ultra Vesta (LOVE! This vest fits fabulous, no bouncing or weird back chafing), experimenting with my Tailwind nutrition (Other then Nuun and the occasional Picky Bar before I start), this is all I have been using for fuel and so far am loving it.  Not stomach issues and drinking it every .5/1 mile it helps me avoid crashing) and even tried out some Zero Drop Altra.

I'm still here...

I have not posted for some time now.  Seriously it has been a few weeks.  Not because I do not have anything to say but lately I am trying to figure out what I really want to say, need to say and how to say it.

Life is good right now.  Running is going really well even though the Polar Vortex is putting a cramp in my style and forcing me onto the treadmill more then I would like and away from trails.  Each week I feel stronger and ready to take on the challenge of a 100 Mile Race in September.  The rest of life is going well also, the Polar Vortex is cramping my oldest school routine and we have faced a record number of "snow days" which leads me to some creative camp counselor like behavior when the oldest is home unexpectedly and we are stuck inside.

So I promise I will be blogging regularly here soon when I get everything organized and all of the jumbled thoughts together neatly so they make sense.

In the meantime I stay active on Instagram (Smallstepsseriouschafing) and Twitter (@Mywalkonmoon) if you would like to follow me there.

All smiles after a recent 18 mile long run in my new Jenny Ultimate Direction Vest & fueled by Tailwind and Nuun

Logging the miles on my treadmill...

After we had our second child the husband and I rejoined the fancy gym by our house.  We had high hopes of attending all the classes and getting our workouts in while our two bundles of joy played happily in the state of the art child center.  See that is not really how it worked out, child #2 hated the child center (and bless the hearts of those workers because they really tried to calm the tears) and making it to the classes never really fit into our schedule.  After awhile we stopped even attempting. Adding child #3 to the picture did not help our gym experience and basically we kept it only so our oldest could take swim lessons.  Last summer though we came to the decision that we were going to cancel the gym membership and put that money towards a treadmill.  It was better then nothing when an outside run was not possible for whatever reason, but I honestly loathed the thing.  I used it a handful of times up until recently when I decided that it if I really wanted to run a 100 miler this year, run a 4:20 marathon and a sub 2 hour half marathon I would have to get to know my treadmill and start logging the miles.

Over the last week I logged 30 miles on the treadmill, including a 7 mile interval run, a 4 mile speed work session, a 4 mile easy run, and a 15 mile long run (and I still have a 6 mile easy on the schedule for today).  Was it ideal? No.  Did it work? Yes. Was it hard? Unbelievable hard, both physically and mentally.

How I have made "friends" with my treadmill and actually started enjoying the miles:

1. Running while the kids are sleeping/napping/happily entertained by daddy or the electronic babysitter (This is big because a run is not really relaxing if there are fighting kids or nagging kids hanging on the gate asking for things.)

2. Finding a new movie/TV show to watch.  I have a list of TV shows I would like to see but don't have time for, so now that I am spending some time on the mill I can catch up or watch some of those must see TV shows.

3. Being caught up on housework.  It was hard at first for me to run on the treadmill knowing that 100 ft away was a sink full of dishes, or that just upstairs there was a pile of laundry.  In the past there were times the guilt of choosing running over housework was overwhelming and I stopped runs early.  (Guilt was self inflicted and I know taking the time to make myself strong and healthy is just as important as the laundry being put away.)

4. Reading a new book.  On the easy runs I find that I can read on the iPad pretty easily if I make the text bigger.  This has been nice since normally I do not have time to just sit down and read.

5. Spotify and Itunes have provided music for several of the miles when I wanted to zone out and just listen to music.

6. Playing with speed and hills throughout the workouts has helped with the boredom and gives me a mental game to play.

7. Knowing that I do not have to worry about cars or my surroundings allows me to focus on my form throughout the run.  I can take the time to "reset" and "realign" throughout the run.

8. Changing my attitude and perspective.  Instead of looking at it as the "dreadmill" I started focusing on all of the positives of being able to have/use a treadmill and just like most things in life when my attitude towards it changed, so did my experience.

9. Found inspiration via Twitter.  There are some insanely awesome people on twitter that I follow and anytime I want to talk about how tough a 6 mile treadmill run is I just hop over to Run EMZ and check out one of her 100 mile treadmill runs, or when she got off the treadmill and kicked serious ass at the Javelina Jundred 100. (And I also may have "stole" her catch phrase to repeat in my head when things get tough "You've. Freaking. Got. This.")

10. I have practiced my counting skills.  Seriously I start counting with the 100th place value in the miles towards the end or doing speed work.  I have gotten really good at counting by 2's.

I am starting to see my treadmill as a valuable tool in my training and I will most likely log a good number of miles on it in the coming year.  While it is not a true replacement, since nothing beats being outside and running in nature, it will work and will allow me to log the necessary miles to accomplish my goals.

Do you run on the treadmill? Avoid the treadmill? How do you fight treadmill "boredom"?

2014 - News, Races, & Goals

News:

2014 is shaping up to be a stellar year already.  A few weeks ago I got an exciting email letting me know that I have been chosen to be a Nuun Ambassador for 2014. WAHOO! I honestly love Nuun, I will say that not only has it helped my training/hydration but it has also helped me kick my soda addiction.  It has a great taste (much better then many of the sports "drinks" out there) and I love the fizz it has right after the tablet dissolves.  I have a tube of Nuun in my purse, car, and Bear II at all times.  Applying to be an ambassador for Nuun was a pretty easy decision, not only to I believe in their product but since discovering it over a year ago I have seen all that they do for the running community. I am really excited to be a part of this extremely hydrated and motivating "family"!

2014 Races:

January 11: PoHo Hot Chocolate 8k

March 1: Pazcki 5K

March 30: Rock CF 1/2 Marathon

May 10th: Weekend Warrior Full Marathon 

August 23: North Country 50 Miler

September 5: Woodstock 100 (need to register when it opens)

There is a possibility for a relay race in July but as of now nothing is set in stone so I am not planning on it. But overall that is the extent of my 2014 "racing".  I will be spending some time on trails for a few Fat Ass 50k's and hopefully a 50 miler, plus almost every holiday our local running group does a Fat Ass Half Marathon so I will be getting in the distance.  Since we will be moving sometime next Spring I am hesitant to pay for/commit to any races and then not be able to make them, plus in all honesty I hate paying for races when I can run for free.

I am perfectly happy with this race schedule and the few races that are on it for now (yes there may be 1 or 2 added throughout the year if the timing works)  I look forward to running the 2 new races and returning to the other 4 for another go at the course.

2014 Goals:

1) Sub 2 hr at Rock CF in March-I do not know that I want to just sub 2, I really want to crush it.  Being only 4 seconds away last year at Bayshore really has been bothering me because I cannot help but think I could have given just a little bit more.

2) Sub 4:20 Full Marathon in May-I have not run a full marathon since 2004 so I am not sure what to expect for the 26.2, I know that I will be racing it much differently then my 50K last September.  I do want to run it in less then 4:20 since that will take an hour off my first (and only) marathon time.

3) Complete both a 50 miler and 100 miler in 2014.  These 2 will be tests of perseverance and sheer determination.  I will be attempting the 100 miler only 2 weeks after my first official 50, so it is going to be tough, but if I train properly and stay safe I can do it.

With the help of my Believe I Am journal and both the online and local running communities I have become a part of I can cross all 4 of these goals off my list by the end of 2014.  

What do you have for 2014? Any exciting news, goals or races?

When they cancel the race...

For the last 6 months I have been looking forward to a trip to Dallas.  It not only included a girls weekend with a runner friend from Michigan but also are friend who lives down there now and I have not seen since last spring but also the Dallas Metro PCS 1/2 Marathon.

However as the 10 day forecast stalking started so did the realization that the trip may not actually happen.  There were icicles hanging off clouds on the forecast! (I rarely see that in the Michigan forecast)  This could not be a good thing.  Never in a million years did I think when flying in December my problem would be flying into Dallas, if anything I worried I would not be able to fly back into Detroit Metro.

Yep it was going from 77 to 37 in a matter of days!

Thursday night though I remained hopeful, packed my suitcase, got the last few things together at the house and went to bed early.  I knew things were already getting bad in Texas and that the weather was already causing problems.  However are flight was not landing till 10:45 am on Friday, so there was still time for things to clear up.

Just a little weather advisory

Friday morning I woke up, checked my flight, it said it was still on time, so I got ready, picked up my runner friend that was traveling with me, and off we went.  We got the car parked, through security, grabbed a coffee and headed to the gate.  Sure enough close to 7:56 am they started boarding our plane. WHAT!?!? It's really going to happen.  I was so excited even though I was still a little nervous about the weather conditions but obviously if we were flying out things could not be that bad.  That's when things changed, the people that had just boarded were being escorted off and Delta was announcing that the flight was cancelled.  Within 5 minutes we had already been rebooked on the 5:25 pm flight.  Ok, just a delay, we can still get there.  Since we had already parked the car, we decided hanging out at the airport was the best idea and we knew we had an extra set of workout clothes so why not find a treadmill.  Luckily the Westin Hotel that is connected to Detroit Metro Airport has a very nice exercise room (4 treadmills, ellipticals, recumbent bikes, free weights, and a pool/hot tub).  For $15 a person we were able to access the fitness center for the day, which included the locker rooms and showers. Was this ideal? No. It was better then sitting in the airport though.  We changed and managed to each log 7.5 treadmill miles, plus some core/strength work before soaking in the hot tub and chatting for over an hour and a half.  Uninterrupted adult conversation with a friend, honestly it was great.

Selfie in the fancy Westin lobby

Selfie after 7.5 sweaty treadmill miles

View from the treadmill

As the day went on, the conditions in Dallas only seemed to get worse and before the Dallas Metro PCS Marathon had made the official announcement to cancel, we had collectively decided that making the trip was not the best choice or the responsible choice.  Not only was the weather still awful, there were (and are as I write this) that did not have power.  There were countless accidents already because the roads were so horrible.  Even if the flight to Dallas had taken off on Friday night, having our friend or her husband make the 20+ minute on a good day drive from Southlake to pick us up was not safe.  Even if the race actually happened on Sunday, it seemed selfish to expect emergency workers or city personal who could be better used elsewhere, blocking off traffic and monitoring a race.  It seemed selfish to have bottled water and finish line food, when there are people in the city that could use that at that moment more then me.  It seemed selfish to take a seat on an airplane, to make a trip that suddenly had so many more cons then pros, when there were men and women just trying to get home to their families who were suffering the storm alone.  It was not an easy decision, and really sometimes being an adult and making a logical choice stinks, but it was the right decision.  

Am I sad that I was not able to make the trip, sure, I was looking forward to a girls weekend with my friends.  I was looking forward to a long overdue run with my friend.  It will happen, there will be time around Christmas and we are already looking at a reschedule weekend (this time not in December).

Ultimately the race was canceled and in my opinion it was the right decision.  

PERSPECTIVE! This whole adventure was really a lesson on perspective, and honestly a much needed lesson because lately I have apparently forgotten how important perspective is.  It was about finding the positive in a negative situation.  I was reminded that how I felt about a situation was dependent on how I looked at the situation.

So this weekend instead of sitting around a pouting (which I will admit I did Friday night for a short period of time after the kids went to bed and allowed myself to be a little sad I was not going), I decided to make the best of it.  It has included a sunny 10 mile run around the beautiful city of Detroit, a stop at RUN Detroit, breakfast from Avalon Bakery, a nap, some quality time and dinner with the family, the MSU game and tomorrow includes a big day of lounging around, snuggles and the Lions.

After 10 wonderful miles w/ our friends Alia and ACE from RUN Detroit

I hope you all have a great weekend! Any big plans?

New Trails and 3 weeks of Ultra Training Recap...

This weekend totally kicked butt! Seriously! I spent Saturday afternoon on a new trail system with a few runners from a Facebook group I had joined after Woodstock.  I had heard only a few things about Stinchfield Woods and what I had seen was beautiful so I threw it out there as a possible meet up and trail run location.  I had planned out an 8 mile route, but the map was not the greatest and the trails were not marked, so the map that we had quickly became a "reference".  The 7 of us headed out and as we got to intersections someone basically just picked a direction.  The good thing about Stinchfield is it really is not that large and has a few key land marks, like the observatory, to help guide you out of a trail.  After 3 hours and 10.75 miles (there was a ton of stops, picture taking, overall marveling at the beauty of the woods), we were all starting to get cold and it was getting late so we called it a day.  It was really awesome to explore a new place with some really cool fellow runners.  However after looking at the Garmin data, there are still so much more to explore and I cannot wait to check it out again soon.

Now for a little ultra training recap.  It is looking like Land Between the Lakes will be my first 50 miler next March and I am training like that's the plan.  So far the first 3 weeks have been great, the first two weeks I hit the milage and actually exceeded last weeks by 1 mile, however this week ended up being 12 miles short.  This shortage came from only reaching 10.75 on the trails yesterday, and skipping a 6 mile run all together today and using the elliptical instead.  My right shin has been bothering me for several weeks (looking back it has been a nagging cramp for months), and the muscle next to it is constantly cramping during runs, so I decided it needed a break today and would benefit from a low impact workout followed by some rolling.  I know for me to run 2 50 milers and 1 100 miler next year I have to train and race smart. It is going to be a matter of trusting my gut when it comes to training as well.  I know that some days the miles will be important, but as we head into a Michigan winter, hours on my feet will be taking precedent to actual miles logged once the trails become snow covered.  It is going to come down to putting in the work, and if I need a rest day taking, not because I have an excuse to not run but honestly asking myself if I can benefit from something else like rest, yoga, cross training, or an elliptical.  The biggest problem I have had over the last 3 weeks is my appetite! The increase in miles has made me hungry, like EAT ALL THINGS hungry.  So next week my goals is to make 100% clean eating choices when I get hungry, not just 75% of the time and then raid the pantry for sweets the other 25%.  Getting my eating habits under control again is going to be important because the last thing I want to do is carry extra weight for 100 miles.

If you want to follow my daily training I can be found on Dailymile (click here).

How was your running weekend? Do you run for time or milage or both?