Crowd Support

OH.MY.GOSH

If I could bottle up a day and replay it over and over again (weather wise at least...) I would save this day forever.

I had such a great run! 10 miles down in 1:22:20.  I don't record my time consistently.  My watch does but before I switched to the Garmin it was kind of inaccurate.  I would stop at a light or take a bathroom break and there was no way to stop it without completely resetting the workout so I would just try to keep track of how long I stopped and subtract all the stops at the end.

Anyways, the whole point of all that is just to say that I have been recording my times lately and I have three recorded times for 10 miles.  Today's recorded time beat my first recorded time by 10 minutes.  For someone who has only been running for about 10 months this kind of time improvement is really encouraging.  I feel like Boston Qualifying actually is possible at some point. 

The best part of my run?  Okay, it's a close tie between the gorgeous weather and the great "crowd support"
An older man out walking his dog told me I looked "really good out there."  Who knows, maybe he was being creepy.  I thought it was really sweet though. 

Later I caught up to a woman who I see out running a lot.  I scared the pants off of her.  I know exactly how she feels: even when I know a bike is approaching behind me and even if I'm out of the way when they shout "passing on your right" I jump about a foot up in the air and move even further to the left onto the grass.  When she caught up to me at a stop light I apologized again for scaring her and we chatted for a few minutes while we waited for the light to change.  I really enjoyed out short chat and of course what I enjoyed the most was when she told me I had a great pace.  At the back of my head I kept thinking of all the incredible people I know who run WAYYY faster than me but you know what, I'll take it.  :) Day made!

On top of those two comments I got way more honks than usual... and let me tell you I was not lookin hot today.

I had on the most unflattering, unformfitting, unrevealing little outfit that I've probably ever worn before.

That being said, I took every honk as someone telling me I was doing a great job and to keep going.  Wishful thinking I'm sure but whatever it takes.

On the subject of honking and people in cars paying attention to you:

On Sunday when I ran with my brother he said people threw stuff at him all the time.  I'm talking starbucks coffee and eggs.  Yes, EGGS. What the heck?!?

I am SO glad I have not experienced this.  I told him I would probably just stop and cry.  I'm not even kidding.

I'm hoping that because I'm a girl they won't throw anything at me.  Who knows.

And back to honking: seriously, what do you expect me to do?  Run after you and throw my number at you?  I can't even tell if you're a guy or a girl, let alone if you're around my age and attractive.  Even if you are my age and attractive if you're honking at girls running on the side of the road it probably wouldn't work out between us... there are a lot of girls that run along the road.

I wore my new BIC band today

Super cute, didn't slip, matched with my ugly shirt... which does not mean it is ugly

I love it!  I ordered two and they just came in the mail yesterday.  I will definitely be ordering more of these and not just because I am a headband addict.

I've never used sweaty bands but apparently they are similar but cuter and more affordable - plus, a dollar is donated for each BIC band purchased.  Check them out!

I fueled up afterwards with a "green" monster which wasn't really green because I used blueberries.  It does have a bunch of spinach in there though! Promise!

Water, coconut water, apple, blueberries, spinach, hemp milk, lemon juice.

I'm off to babysit for awhile and be super productive today.  I plan to spend most of my day OUTSIDE in this gorgeous weather. 

Running in the Dark

Sad but true story: I had to go and look at my pictures to remember what the last thing I shared with you was.

I've been documenting my life like crazy in photos but then I only post a fraction of them.  Maybe this is a good thing.  I love reading blogs with tons of pictures but I could be in the minority.  I mean really, you all probably do not enjoy seeing 10 pictures of me every post.  Honestly though, it's so much easier to blog with pictures, I don't have to use as many words!

I tried out my new watch (Garmin Forerunner 405) on Thursday for what was supposed to a be a nice easy 6 miler.  Holy heck!  Very very hard run.  I'm not sure why I struggled so much but I think it was because Florida has gotten HOT!  I've really enjoyed being able to run whenever I wanted to, it's made it really easy for me to fit in my run.  I could literally go at any time of day.  I think I'm back to early mornings and evenings again.  It is just wayyy too hot to go when the sun is shining.  I almost died of heat stroke but I made it.  I was hoping for a 10 miler but could barely even finish the 6.

Pre-run - demonstrating how large this watch is.  It is really big compared to my polar.

Holy geez it is HOT out there.  Notice Smokey's tail on the bottom right :)

After teaching a ballet class I did something I don't usually do...

I went on a run with Rachel!

We take our running after dark seriously.  I dressed like a tennis player and Rachel dressed like... well I don't know but the purpose of the neon green shirt was visibility.  I wore my fuel belt but not for fuel; I used it to attach a white light that flashes obnoxiously.  Rachel wore the red light that I usually attach to the back.

I used my new shoes for the first time

Like good runners we stretched beforehand

Okay, scratch that.  I stretched.  She played on her new phone.  Tyson stretched too ;)

We ran a good 2-3 minutes slower per mile than I am used to.  It was great!  Nice and relaxing, gorgeous temperature, great company!  I usually run alone and I thought I liked running alone but it was so much fun to have some company for a change.  You know how long distance pace is supposed to be "conversational" pace?  Well how exactly are you supposed to figure out if you're running a conversational pace when you run alone?  I am crazy... but I'm not going to talk out loud to myself while I run.  Poor Rachel, I talked to her the whole time because of course we were running a lot slower than I am used to and I had no trouble at all blabbing the whole time.  We were running her pace though which means it was not exactly easy for her to respond but I kept asking her questions that required a response anyways.  I am a meany...

I'm really enjoying the new watch.  My favorite feature is the pace feature with the auto pause when you stop being a close second.  The other watch just kept counting time when you stopped and I always had a running number going in my head of how much to subtract off of the final time - very annoying.

I'm not gonna lie though.  It's a little depressing to see my pace.  I've been thinking I was a little faster and come to find out I'm slower than I thought.  I am going to have to dive into speed workouts and hills - oh boy!  I am so excited - if you could see my excited face right now you would be totally convinced.

Hopefully I'll get a few good training runs in this week.  I'll race my virtual watch partner! ;)

I'm really good at... shopping

Last night I got two exciting packages in the mail... aren't all packages that come in the mail exciting?

I think I have a problem.  I have bribed myself more than I'd like to admit to finish a long run.  If I'm struggling at about mile 10 with several more in front of me I start to try various ways to convince myself to finish.  The main one and the one that often gets me through is promises of new stuff.  One time it was a running hat, another time running shoes, more workout clothes - you get the idea. 


Well, my newest purchase wasn't actually a bribe.  This probably means I've gotten worse.  Now I'm just buying things without even making myself work for them.  Oh well, hopefully this one will make me work. 

I got a fantastic deal on this little baby:

The Garmin Forerunner 405 - $177 :)

I've heard fantastic things about it and am soooo excited to have it.  I've been using a polar heart rate monitor that wasn't made specifically for running.  I'll probably keep it and use it to track calories burned during crosstraining activities or I'll give it to Rachel who has been asking (very nicely) to have it when I get a new one. 

I just can't wait to try out the garmin and to be able to know my pace at any and all times during a run.  I think my favorite part will be not mapping all of my runs online beforehand.  It will be so freeing to just go out and run. 

Can you tell I'm pumped?

My other purchases were from forever21.  I will basically never be able to wear adult size clothing unless something crazy happens, I have the body of a 12 year old.  For now I'm taking full advantage of this fact and buying all kinds of cheap clothes from juniors stores.  Forever21 is my favorite.  Sadly, I realize that someday I will still probably fit in these clothes, I'll just be too old to wear them.  Yes, I'm talking about my addiction to headbands with bows on them.  Give it a few years and I'll just look ridiculous wearing them.

Nothing perks you up on a bad day more than some retail therapy. 

I bought several pairs of workout pants/capris for under $13 - not for all 4, each.  One was $7.50.  Seriously, how do you beat that?

Then I got several of these cardigans for $6.50 - amazing

Not so amazing: my faces... and this pose.  Pretty sure I was trying to demonstrate that this kept me warm... which really it doesn't.  I don't even know. 

Sadly, the pants didn't pass the "bend over" test.  All workout pants should stay opaque when you bend over.  Forever21 workout pants do not =/.  What a rip off.  Except not, since they are so inexpensive.  Oh well, I'll take it. 

More earrings that I will never wear.  Love earrings and hardly ever wear them, so of course I should buy 5 pairs.  All under $2.80.  They better be considering I will probably only wear them a handful of times.  I should change that.  But really, would you take me seriously if I showed up to a babysitting job wearing these? 

No, I wouldn't take anyone wearing five pairs of earrings seriously either.  How do you even do that?

Okay, so I meant just one pair.  Still, they're like baby magnets and I like my ears with holes, not rips. 

Garmin is all charged, it's a nice day out, today is a run day.  I better get this thing done!