Crazy Running Legs

Living life in moderation...one run at a time

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New Year… New Posts

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I remember 6 months ago when I said I was going to post all about marathon training. Well, that didn’t work out. Oops. I did run the marathon. I will, maybe, recap it some day. It wasn’t my best race – but it was definitely memorable. I’m going again in 2020. Mark my words!

So yeah… Every December comes that critical point of blogging (or not blogging), for me, where I have to renew my domain for the year. I was going to let it go this year. I even let it go PAST DUE. I mean, I only posted like 3 times last year – but for some reason, I ended up renewing it YET AGAIN.

So, here I am. Posting something.

And why not? This is a big year for me. We are renovating our house (because of… a long story that I might some day explain), I turn the big 4-0 in June (GROSS), I’m running 2 half marys and 2 10Ks in the next 5 months, and E starts KINDERGARTEN in August (also – he turns 5 in May – how is that possible?).

Who else knows what this year will bring?? I’m predicting a lot of wine. A LOT.

Guess Who’s Back… Back Again?

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Hi guys!

It’s been a hot minute… or 6-7 months (but who’s counting?)… but I’m still alive AND I’m about to train for Marathon #4.

Chicago again!

I’m also running for RHMC again (<–donate here!). How could I not after my last experience? I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer for one of the three houses in Orlando a month ago and they are just such a fantastic organization.

16 weeks of training starts this week. Here’s to healthy feet and hips — and many, many miles…

Lady Track Shack 2017 — Mother-Daughter 5K

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This weekend I got to share something I love with someone I love. Running….with my favorite girl. I signed up for the Lady Track Shack 5K on a whim — and decided to make it a mother-daughter affair.

I actually didn’t even tell L that we were running it until 2 weeks before. Surprise! I had heard really great things about this race and given everything going on right now — a women’s only race was perfect timing.

A friend picked up our race packets and we met outside the Orlando Science Center around 7:10. The race started at 7:30, so we took a few pictures and then lined up right as the race was starting. Kendra had a stroller so she had to start in the back (my only complaint) – even behind the walkers, so we all decided to start with her. We were some of the last people to cross the start — good thing we were chip timed!

Love these mamas and their kids!

My friend’s daughter was also running so the girls started together. Unfortunately, there was so much bobbing and weaving past the walkers that we lost them somewhere around 1.5 miles. They still finished though — it was their first 5K together!

For the past 2 weeks, L has had run club at school (finally – I can volunteer at something!) and she’s been running almost 2 miles, so I knew she could do this 5K without an issue. I wasn’t, however, expecting her to run the entire time — WHICH SHE DID!

What are they looking at here? I have no idea.

We did stop for water – but for less than a minute and she was back to running again.

Here is a fantastic picture of me running with my eyes closed.

I was most impressed that she didn’t complain about running or ask to stop AT ALL. The past two 5Ks she had run were full of complaints and declarations that she was never going to finish. This time she just kept going and even picked up the pace at the end. The weather certainly helped (it was 42 degrees out) and having a running buddy (Kendra’s daughter) with her helped too.

Speaking of the end – she insisted on holding my hand as we finished. It might have been because it was freezing (for this Massachusetts turned Florida girl!), but I’d like to think it’s because she wanted to finish like a team. I can only hope she feels this same way 5-10 years from now!

Ahhh — so happy!

We finished in 39:11 (chip time). That’s a HUGE PR for her (her last race was 50+ minutes) and to top it off she beat me by a second!

Our crew all finished around the same time and we were very happy to be done.

Awkward Crouching Picture 2017

Pretty — especially for a 5K!

After the race, we all grabbed plants that I’m sure I will kill in record time (#blackthumb) and then caught up with some of my fast and speedy friends who placed in their age groups! L ate 2.5 Krispy Kreme donuts and got attacked by a dinosaur…

We also received amazing shirts from Raw Threads that I never want to take off (I’m NOT wearing it now, but if I were laying around at home I would).

Speaking of age groups… L placed third in hers (of out 13)! I’m so proud of her. Of course, I had NO IDEA that they were giving out age group award for 7-year olds, so we left before the awards were handed out. Derp. She was very sad that she missed all of the attention! I still need to find out if Track Shack will still honor her award. I will have to make a big deal out of it if they do, apparently.

I did tell her that next year, she’s bumping up into a new age group (8-10), so needs to step up her running game if she wants to repeat. She says she’s all in — I guess time will tell!

There ARE Pictures in This Post

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Other than wanting to PR this year, I also want to shake things up before I start marathon training again. I would love to say that means I am going to drop 15lbs and eat cleaner, but who I am kidding?

Instead of pretending I’m going to quit things I enjoy, so I can be a miserable person, I’ve decided to try out new workouts and attempting to add speedwork into my weekly training plans. Yes, speedwork, something I have been vehemently against since I started running. I’m not going to lie, it’s still pretty miserable.

As for workouts, for the past 3 weeks I’ve been attending a few Camp Gladiator workouts during the week. They are hour-long bootcamp style group workouts combining both strength and cardio. Each workout has been varied and all of them have kicked me ass in a good way. I have really loved the experience — and if it didn’t cost $80 a month per person (for unlimited workouts — and there A LOT of workouts offered in my area), I would join in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, our Y membership costs about the same for all 5 of us. It includes kid care and half price on group sports for the kids. If I were child free or single though – this would be an excellent option over going to a gym.

These are the crazy people I’ve been meeting at 5:45 on MWF.

I’ve also taken a few PiYo classes, which is not something I thought I would write in a million years. I hate yoga (not even gonna sugar coat it) and pilates intimidates me, so the fact that I’ve loved the past few PiYo classes I’ve taken shocks me a little bit. One of the reasons I hate yoga is because I can’t just sit and mediate and focus on my breathing and blah, blah, blah. What I actually LIKE about PiYo is that it’s faced paced. There’s still stretching, posing, and breathing – but I have never once thought, “WHEN IS THIS GOING TO BE OVER.”

As for speedwork. UGH. I hate my friends for making me do it. Ok, that’s not true and it was partially my idea, but I still hate it. For the past two weeks we’ve had speedwork on Tuesdays — and will continue it for the next 5 weeks or so. The man motivator in all of this, is that we all finally figured out how to program our Garmins. It’s exciting times.

The first week was 3 x 1600s (with 90 second rest in between) – after warmup. My “goal” (based on my PR half pace) was something ridiculous like 7:57 miles. Ha. Since I hadn’t even seen a sub-9 mile in a while, I figured I would be happy to hit 8:45. I ended up doing better than that and hit sub 8:30.

Last week was 6 x 400s after a 2-mile warm up. My goal this time was a little nuts (7:15-7:30 per 400), but I did a better job getting closer. I felt like I was going to puke after the 5th 400, so I guess that’s the sign of a good workout.

This Tuesday is more 1600s. Have I mentioned that I hate them ALMOST as much as I hate doing ladders (the worst speedwork workout in the land). I HAVE to do better than 2 weeks ago.

So in summary, I hate speedwork, but I’m making myself do it. Also – I’m a little sore from all of my new hardcore workouts, and I have been waking up before 5am waaaaay too many times a week.

New Year, New Goals, New Blog Post?

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So… I’ve considered shutting this blog down for the past 4-5 months. I, obviously, haven’t posted anything – mostly because I don’t know that I’ve had much to say. Instead, I started to go in and delete posts. In some cases the links were broken or the images weren’t loading, but really – I felt like I didn’t need to share certain parts of my life anymore.

I do want to geek out about running though. I have some big plans for 2017 — some of them already in motion. More on that in a bit.

Where have I been (asked the one person who reads this blog!)? Well, I struggled with another flare up of Plantar Fasciitis (PF) for most of the summer and early fall, which sucked. It happened after I tripped on the sidewalk during a 2-mile run (ugh, how freaking stupid of me!). I ultimately discovered that my injury triggered some insanely tight calf muscles (specifically my soleus) and it was killing my foot. I did everything under the sun to help and in the end the simplest thing in the world — stretching my calves — is what led to my recovery (I wrote a little bit more about that here if you are struggling with similar issues!). I also switched shoes again – and I’m back full circle to wearing ASICS. It’s not even funny how fickle my feet are.

Unfortunately, because the recovery took so long, I really didn’t have a chance to train for any of my fall half marathons (Lighthouse Loop and Space Coast). I did run with my friend Kendra as she PR’d the shit out of her half at Space Coast. It was such an awesome day! Kendra actually introduced me to our running group and I am eternally grateful to her for introducing me to so many fantastic people.

In December, I practically walked a half marathon (still not my Personal Worst though!). It was great bonding time with a few of my friends who were recovering from running the Ragnar Trail Ultra (I have some badass friends) — and it was also really challenging. I almost DNF’d at Mile 3, but my friends wouldn’t let me. Damn them! In the end, I finished my 30th half marathon. And it sucked. Which, yet again, proves to me that no matter how many races and miles I run – it’s never easy.

And that leaves me to 2017.

I AM going to PR in something. I’m hopeful it’s a half marathon, but it could be a 5K, a 10K, or *gulp* a marathon.

I am currently in the middle of training for the BDR Orlando Half (Pssst — you can still use my code CRAZYRUN for $5 any race — for NOLA too) — and I’m hoping to smash my current PR (1:54:something – from BDR Orlando 3 years ago) (ok, so even a 1 second PR would be awesome!).

AND I am registered to run the Chicago Marathon in October, again. Truthfully, I’m in a little bit of denial about this race — and I don’t even know if I CARE about PRing, but deep down, I know I can, as long as my foot can stay healthy.

So that’s where I am right now. Big(ish) goals. More (?) blog posts forthcoming. Maybe even some pictures in them (not this one though, I’m too lazy tonight).

And with that…. peace, love, and palm trees my friend(s). Happy (or scary) 2017!