I feel good!

This morning I drove to the Race for Pace in chilly temps, some gusts of wind, and a drizzle. Fortunately, the rain stopped about 30 minutes before the race started, and you could even almost make out the sun behind some clouds. But the wind did blow off and on.

I ended up wearing the Superman shirt and cape with a long-sleeved pink Under Armour shirt underneath (it clashed, but I figured the pink made it more Supergirlish). I wore navy leggins/tight-like capris with gray shorts with teal borders over the leggins. It was a look, let me tell you. I had a windbreaker on, but I decided just before the gun went off, that I did not need it, so I tied it around my waist.

This was the first 5k I had run with an iphone playing music. I think it helped. I was singing (mouthing the words) for first mile or so. Eventually that ended. I also started off smiling, because I felt good. Maybe it was the Superman shirt or cape...

My family was supposed to be waiting near the end of the race, just before the final (awful!) hill, but they actually got there just before the race started, so I got to see them during my first minute too. That was great. If they had not been on the other side of the road, I would have thrown them my windbreaker, since it was serving no purpose.

Throughout the race, I tried to run a little faster down the hills to try to make up for how slowly I run uphill. I am 95 percent sure I can walk up a hill faster than I can run, but I refuse to walk.

When I got to the halfway point, I checked the time and was shocked to see it was only 9:13 (the race started right on time at 9 a.m.). I knew there was no way I could ran back as fast, but at that moment, I was pretty sure I could run the race in 30 minutes, maybe less. That really helped propel me.

The final 1/2 mile (maybe even less than that, but I felt like a mile) was brutal, up the biggest hill. My family was not at the bottom, but I figured they were just close to the top.

Even though my pace was super slow, I saw that it was 9:25, so I figured surely I could make it up the hill in five minutes. Seeing my family within a minute or two helped, and I pushed as much as I could, considering I was running faster than I normally do during my weekly runs.

When I reached the top, I only had to run down the driveway, which is probably a couple hundred feet. I had almost nothing left to give, but I could see the clock at just over 28 minutes, so I ran (which was more like a fast jog).

I ended up finishing in about 29:21. I was smiling (and panting, and sweating, and could barely walk).

But I had a good race. I am really proud of myself.

And, almost best of all, I got a medal for first place in my group.

Yeah, SuperGirl. As a friend on Facebook said, it must have been the cape.

Doing okay

This week, I missed Zumba thanks to a funeral luncheon. I followed that up by missing my usual Wednesday afternoon swim because I wanted to see who was chosen as pope, live. So Thursday morning, even though I was not feeling it, I dragged myself to the pool for a good swim.

I swam for an hour straight, with no interruptions. I recently read that one can burn over 500 calories by swimming for an hour. It seems to be that one (I) should burn so much more than that. Anyway, I also did some water treading as well as some leg and arm exercises. All in all, a good workout.

Friday I did only a few laps, but I did manage to tread water for 15 minutes and then jog in the deep end (using a noodle) also for about 10 to 15 minutes. I also played with the kid to get in a good workout.

Yesterday we headed back to the pool, where I swam 20 laps and did some water treading, playing with the kid, and a few arm exercises.

I had high hopes to run today, but the weather is so crappy--freezing rain this morning and just rain now, though at 33 degrees, it is quite chilly.

Until next time...

Leaves are falling

After a month off from running, I got out there yesterday. The day began full of sun and decent temps, but by the time I started running, the sky had clouded up. About halfway through my run, I felt a few raindrops that fortunately did not turn into an all-out rain. Not so bad when it is almost 50 degrees nearing the end of February. Worth noting is that a leaf hit me in the face during my run, which struck me as odd since it is February. Shouldn't all the leaves have fallen off by December at the latest?!

As I began the run, I felt pain somewhere, and I tried to make note of it for this post, but I forget where exactly, so that is probably a good thing. What is not so good is that my left knee has been bothering me since the run; it feels as if I twisted it. Weird, because it is usually my right knee that bothers me. My thighs also are a bit sore, but I blame that as much on swimming some laps at the pool an hour later as I do the run and subsequent five trips up and down the outside gym steps. Yeah, I definitely got in a good workout yesterday.

When I started running, since I had just gotten over my cold, I told myself to take it easy and not be worried about time. This is hard for (competitive) me, and when I looked at my stopwatch on my cell phone as I was nearing the top of the hill at the end of the first mile, I did try to push myself so I would not be too far over 10 minutes.

Mile one: 10:25
Mile two: 8:54

Even though that time is worse than what I did last month, which was against the wind (there was some wind yesterday), I am satisfied. I was sick last week and did almost no exercise. Plus I have to think my nearly gone cough had to affect my running. I know I was breathing hard during most of the run. But the important thing is I went out there and did it. And swam some laps after that. Oh, and I did Zumba yesterday and plan to do it again today.

Hopefully in another month or two, I can work on getting my time back down. But until then, I will try to focus on just getting exercise.

Why hello, old friend Steps

The weather has been so bizarre lately, particularly in the past week or so. In the course of an hour, one might see rain, snow, hail, sun, clouds. Today, the temps were around 70 glorious degrees, and the day started off rather sunny. Unfortunately, just before I headed to school to pick up my kid, the sky turned gray. Not wanting to waste a warm day but fearful of getting caught in the rain, I decided to run the steps. I figured if the rain came, I would be only a few-minute walk to my car, and if I got too tired, I could stop, again, just a short distant to my car.

Initially, I was planning to run up and down 10 times, figuring there was no use pushing it when my legs had not run steps in about 4.5 months. But after I got through the first 10 without any pain (at a decent, though not fast, pace), I decided 15 would not be a problem. And when I realized I had another seven or eight minutes to kill, I decided I might as well go for 20. And 20 sets I did, at 65 steps up and down, for a grand total of 2,600 steps. Whew! Or, even better, Woo(-hoo)!

I searched the blog to try to figure out how long it took me to run up and down 20 times the last time, but, alas, I came up empty. Although I feel as if I have definitely done it in less time, I am just going to have to be satisfied with my 17:30, particularly since I did it without stopping and without pain. I also did about 20 laps at the pool yesterday, so yeah, me!

Now if only I could summon some resolve to get a run in before too long.

Not as cold but rainy

I am happy to report I ran two miles again today. The temps were about 37 while I was running, and fortunately, there was not that crazy wind as there was last week when I ran. On the other hand, it was raining lightly but steadily the entire time, which was a bit annoying considering I did not have a windbreaker to keep dry.

Oddly enough, running up the first killer hill seemed more difficult than it was last week (which had marked over 60 days since I had last run up that hill). No idea why. But I did run a little faster today, so there is that.

Mile one: 10:10
Mile two: 8:29

I swam yesterday, completing about 15 laps. I decided running was the lesser of two evils today. It just made more sense to run in the rain, surrounded by gray skies, after that Steelers loss.

Finally back out there

Just as I suspected would happen, the first week my kid is out of school meant no running for me. I had hopes of running with my brother while visiting him in NC late this week and through the weekend, but time and the ridiculously hot (96 degrees!) weather conspired against us.

Fortunately, I managed to get a run in yesterday. Even better for me, a creature of habit, it was the same running route I normally take, thanks to sending my kid to vacation Bible school at her school. I ran just over two miles, which was less than I would have liked, but I did end the session by running up the 65 steps between lots five times, so I am pretty satisfied. Since it was before noon, it was not as hot as it was when I ran eight days earlier, but the humidity was still up. Up so much that it rained ever so slightly near the end of my run. I would have been happy for something a little stronger/harder.

Glad I was able to get that run in. Not sure when I will run next. I hope soon. I really miss it!

Finally back in the game

The Burgh saw quite a bit of snow from early to mid February. Fortunately, I got a run in the day before the clouds opened up and dumped almost two feet of snow on the area. Thanks to school cancellations and roads that still remained icy and snow-covered, I was unable to run for two weeks. But yesterday, I got back on the horse.

I managed to run a little over 1.5 miles; I was feeling pretty out of shape the first few minutes, so I did not run the entire length of the street, which is one mile, as I like to. I probably ran over a 10-minute mile (I kind of screwed up the stopwatch feature on my phone, so not completely sure), but considering my layoff, I was fairly satisfied.

My last half mile was punctuated by a steady rain, so not exactly ideal conditions, but what can you do. Be glad that the snow is melting and I can see pavement, which means I can run again!