Friday, June 28, 2013

Time Lapsed

I really wanted to be that person that would set a goal and stick with it, but with the week I had, it was hard to even concentrate, let alone blog.  I know running is suppose to put things into perspective and it is a natural anti-depressant, but I did not do any of that in the last week (or two).  I have totally neglected my half marathon training and I feel horrible.  It's been about two weeks since I've had a decent run and I just feel like I'm starting over again.  Every time I stop, it's always like starting over.  I could fill this entry with words of what happened and why, but right now I'm going to focus on today, right now and the future.  Now it's a matter of going back to basics so what I plan on doing now is incorporating my workouts in my training routine, which I should have done from the beginning.  I would, however, like to share a picture.  The picture below is my first pair of running shoes I owned and actually ran in.  I used to wear running shoes just for the style (which I quickly gave up after my high school years), so when I bought these, I literally felt great and I wanted to achieve something active in my life.  I bought these shoes when they were on sale at DSW and I have loved them ever since.  Why I went from these to Nike Free Run 3.0, I don't know, but yesterday I did a light jog with my boyfriend (in 100 degree temperatures) and I felt great.  My feet, my shins, my knees -- it's like I forgot what support felt like.  So here you go, my first pair of running shoes:


I ran my first 5k in these shoes and I have a feeling they will take me a long way, especially since right now I can't afford to get new shoes.  I hope, after today's post that I will get back on track and continue to post about my workouts and half training marathon sessions.

Till next time!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

A Time and a Place

In a few days time, I will be traveling to the place I called home for 28 years.  A place that defined the person that I am and sometimes I think it prevented me from becoming the person I never wanted to be. All in all, South Florida (Hollywood and Miami) is my hometown.  This will be an interesting trip because I will be bringing along my boyfriend and enjoying some much needed beach time.  Even though I am not a huge fan of the ocean, I do miss it.  Living in Austin, Texas makes me miss it more than I would ever have missed it living in South Florida.  Another reason why this trip will be interesting is because my boyfriend has never been to South Florida.  I honestly cannot wait because I do miss my friends and family and the culture of Miami.  PLUS the food is amazing.

So you might be asking yourself, "How is this running related?"  Well I will tell you because I plan on running sometime that weekend.  I know I haven't been the most effective person when it comes to trying to maintain goals, but I've had an issue with my right lower leg (shin area) which has given me problems before.  I honestly think it has to do with my running shoes so what my plan is is to dust off my old running shoes (my first pair) and add them back to the rotation.  They are an old paid of Mizunos that I bought at DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) that were on sale and I admit, they are very comfortable.  I ran my first 5k in 28 minutes in those shoes and every time I think about that, I feel all nostalgic. I've replaced them with Nike Free Run 3.0 and I think it's time to go back to a brand that will support my feet, that will make me feel good again (not that the Nike Free Runs haven't) and keep me injury free.  So yes, there is my running blurb for you!

“Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?’” – Peter Maher,

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Weather Report

Today is Thursday and I feel like it's been forever since I went on a run, but in reality, it was 3 days ago. I've had some minor delays with my schedule, which I don't mean them to sound like excuses.  On Tuesday, I went to a show that ended at 12:30 a.m.  Since that was WAY passed my usual bedtime, I slept in. I did do a walk 2 miles with my boyfriend (he is not a runner, btw) to kind of keep my body moving.  Since my night the night before was extended 'til the wee hours of the morning, I got through the work day yesterday but literally passed out when I got home.  NOW, with it being a new day today, I decided to run after work.  I know, I like to torture myself with 90+ degree runs, but I am going to break in my new camelbak to see how it would be to run with it.  For those of you that don't know what a camelbak is, it is a little bookbag of sorts with a plastic water container and a straw type hose that lets you drink while doing an activity (i.e., biking, rock climbing, walking, RUNNING).  I got the idea from an Instagram friend of mine who is also a runner so why not try it out.  

Anyway

The point of this post was to put up a photo of the weather in Austin, Texas so you can see the temperatures I will be running in.  I know it doesn't seem like it's that hot, but I feel like the heat in Texas is stale and intense, ESPECIALLY when the sun is out.  In the morning it is pretty hot and muggy so I sweat a lot, but when you run in the sun, it is a lot of work.  As long as I get through the Summer, I will be fine (which next Friday, June 21st is the FIRST DAY OF SUMMER).


Tuesday, June 11, 2013

My Layout

When I decided that I wanted to train for a half marathon, I needed to come up with a plan and a realistic one at that.  At work, we have desk blotters (desk calendars) and the one that I have has the months listed for the year.  So now, since we are in the month of June, the months start from May 2013 and end in April 2014.  You get it, right?  Anyway, what I did was set jot down the average monthly miles I expect and hope to run, without injury of course.

Here are my realistic goals for the next 8 months:
  • June 2013 -- average 3-5 miles
  • July 2013 -- average 3-5 miles
  • August 2013 -- average 4-6 miles
  • September 2013 -- average 6-7 miles
  • October 2013 -- average 7-8 miles
  • November 2013 -- average 8-10 miles
  • December 2013 - average 10+ miles
  • January 2013 - average 10+ miles
  • FEBRUARY -- HALF-MARATHON
As you know, running in Texas during the Summer time is extremely intense, so I decided that between June and September, I'd keep my mileage at a minimum but with a slow increase.  One mile per month should be a good to start with.  What I would like to do is run the minimum during the week and do a longer run on the weekend.  I decided to do it that way because I still have to work and if I do a 3 to 4 mile run in the morning, I will have time to get home and get ready.  I really hope this plan works.  In between my running days, I plan on going back to the gym for cross-training.

Let the good times roll!



Monday, June 10, 2013

To Infinity and Beyond

So this morning I did one of my weekly morning runs when I realized that today was a special day.  Not only did I have a great run, but I officially made it to 200 miles. (see photo below)


When I think about this, making it to mile 200, I think about how it all started for me.  I remember thinking about starting to run, but I wanted to make it as though it was not a chore for me.  I wanted it to be something I wanted to do when to relax and keep my mind free and running definitely did that for me.  It has been about 3 years that I've lived in Austin,  I'm officially going on my 4th and I found it to be somewhat different than what I'm used to.  I'm used to my friends being at a 10 - 40 minute drive and having family around.  Moving here, I had to make new friends, which I love the ones I have in my life, but the family aspect of it was still at a distance.  Little by little, I grew to become used to living here with finally getting a great job and surrounding myself by good people.  As of late, well 7 months today, I've been in a committed relationship with my boyfriend.  I guess what I'm trying to say is is that everything happens for a reason.  The reason I took up running was to make things a little easier in a sense with my mood and possibly meeting new people.  Since then, I've met quite a few new faces and people who actually inspire me to keep moving forward.  So  I dedicate this post to my 200th MILE.  If I were to tell myself when I started running that I would run 200 miles, I would laugh because never in a MILLON years would I have thought that I would run even a  mile let alone 200 in 13 MONTHS.  This just goes to show you that anyone can do anything they put their mind to and the outcome could be one that would be surprising, no matter how difficult you think it would be in the beginning.

::smile::

Friday, June 7, 2013


I found this on Pintrest and I wanted to share.  TGIF!!

Music that Moves

I like to run to music that moves me.   Out of my 20k+ songs listed on my iTunes (yes, I LOVE music), it is difficult to just select a two hour plus playlist.  Regardless, here are a list of songs/albums that I enjoy to run to.  Even though some of my choices can be quite embarrassing, I will list them anyway (not in any specific order):
  • Junior Senior - Song: D-D-Don't Stop The Beat, Album: Move Your Feet
  • A$AP Rocky - Trilla
  • At The Drive In - One Armed Scissors/Enfilade
  • Bassnectar - Vava Voom (ft. Lupe Fiasco)
  • Best of Bootie 2011 (Album) - tee hee
  • Fatboy Slim - Dance Bitch (Album)
  • Les Savy Fav - Song: The Sweat Descends, Album: Inches
  • Peaches - Impeach My Bush (Album)
  • Rage Against The Machine - Renegades (Album)
  • The Rapture - Pieces of People We Love/Echoes (Albums)
  • Steve Aoki - Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles (Album)
  • Santigold - GO!
  • The Strokes - Reptillia
  • System of a Down - Toxicity (Album)
  • Tame Impala - Lucidity
  • The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt/When We Were Alive
  • Tsunami Bomb - Not Forever/Take The Reigns
  • Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (Album)
  • We Are Scientists - With Love & Squalor (Album)
  • 2 Many DJ's - As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt. 2
  • Boys Noize - Oi Oi Oi
This playlist is a little bit all over the place, but for the most part, as you can see, I like mash-ups.  For some reason, they are the best songs to run to (for me) because the beats and the type of songs they fuse together is magical.  In a few weeks, I will probably be coming up with another playlist because I think I've been running to this playlist for almost a year.  YES, A WHOLE YEAR!!  I think it's time for an update.


Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Early Morning

Good morning and Happy Wednesday.  Today, I achieved my goal by waking up and getting my butt out to the trail for my first early morning run.  What I mean by early morning is waking up around 5:30 a.m. - 5:45 a.m. to leave my house by 6:00am to be running at the trail by 6:30 a.m.  I did, however, realize that I can leave earlier than that because when I started running, the run was up (not fully, but there was light), so I might even start at 6:00 a.m. rather than 6:30 a.m. only because it allows me more time to get ready for work.  The temperature difference between running at 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. is a whopping 20 degrees!! When I started my run, it was 72 degrees and the high today will be 92 degrees.  I was still sweating just about the same, even more this morning, but I always feel like early morning runs are my best runs.  Maybe it's because I'm waking myself up and my energy is focused more on running rather than exhausting all of my energy on work and forcing a run after work.  Who knows, but I'm sure that is the reason.  Another reason why I love running so early in the mornings is because there is not a crowd of people you have to pass.  Serious runners run that early and I'm not saying serious runners do not run at 6:00 p.m., but the traffic is less, which I like.  Also, something about being able to go with the flow.  That is exactly what I like about running in the mornings rather than the afternoons.  

Today I ran a good 2.70 miles, but it wasn't my best.  I started having a little pain in my right calf, like I had previously, so I am probably going to start running with my compression sleeve.  I really think I need to consider getting new shoes because I feel like my Nike Free 3.0 need to be changed out.  I believe I logged about 190 miles.  WOW -- to think I have ran 190 miles in a little over a year.  It's surprising considering I don't think I would have ever thought of running ONE mile let alone ONE HUNDRED NINETY!

Anyway, I'm writing this blog still in my undergarments, so I must get ready for work.  But to leave on a good note, here is a photo of lovely Downtown Austin at about 6:38 a.m.


ENJOY!!!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday

Okay, the second day of the week -- yipee!!  I just want to express myself about yesterday rather than today since I did not get a chance to get online and blog about my run.  As you know, Texas is a pretty HOT state.  What I mean is, I'm from South Florida and I know what HOT is, but Texas heat is a little different.  It's dry and intense.  When I complain about the heat and people ask me where I'm from and I say South Florida, they laugh because they think I should know what HOT weather is like.  Granted, it's humid as hell in South Florida, but this is a lot different than Texas heat.  I'm not sure most of you know that I am not a long-time runner.  I literally started running about 13 months ago and running in the Summer was a lot tougher than I thought it would be.  Anyway, to get back to how HOT Texas is, yesterday was my first 90 degree run.  Since I did not get up in the morning to run, which was a big mistake because it was so cool, I ran after work.  A few key points to why I HATE running in the afternoon rather than the morning are as follows:
  • I feel like most of my energy is used to do my actual work and I have nothing left for a workout;
  • At 6:00 p.m., I want to go home, not to the trail so it messes up my train of thought;
  • It's the Spring/Summer season, the temperatures are going to get to 100+; and
  • When I finish my run, I come home and I have so much energy that I can't sleep when I'm supposed to.
Those are just a few things about running in the afternoons rather than in the mornings, but sometimes when I read over them, I just feel like I'm making excuses for myself.  But hey, at least I RAN and logged miles.  It's not about how many miles I run, it's about training myself to listen to my body as I run and work up to 13.1 miles.  This is the whole purpose of blogging about my runs.  Here I add a picture of me on the Lady Bird Lake Trail.  This was my half way point and I just wanted to share:

 Geared up with my glasses, headband and lovely MIAMI DOLPHINS SHIRT!  


Sunday, June 2, 2013

Problems

Just this very minute I registered for the Austin Half-Marathon.  As nervous as I was thinking about doing that half-marathon or the 3M half-marathon, I received a text from my friend saying that she registered for the Austin Half-Marathon.  With that, I went ahead and put in my information to pay for the Austin half-marathon and as soon as I hit SUBMIT, a pop-up screen said there was a problem with my registration and I would have to call.  I pick up the phone to call and their business hours are M-F.  With just a bit of frustration under my belt, I re-read the error message I received and it specifically said NOT TO SUBMIT ANOTHER REGISTRATION to avoid being double charged.  I will go ahead with the fact that I am registered, so I'm EXCITED.  I did look up the course maps for both the Austin and 3M half-marathon and the 3M course map looked awesome.  Who knows, with the training i'm going to be going through in the next few months, you think it's possible to do two half-marathons in a matter of months?  I guess it's up to how my body handles everything.  I would definitely be interested in the idea, so we shall see.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Technically, My Real FIRST!

To start this first post, I wanted to share a photo of Austin:


This photo was taken on my run this morning and I wanted to share it.  I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to be out on the trail and start running at 7:00 a.m.  The funny thing about today was not only was it June 1st (singing in my head, "It's the First of Da Month" by Bone Thugs -N- Harmony), but I had a lot of energy as I started slowly rolling off my bed.  When I got to the trail, I set my iPhone to the Nike Running app and began my trot.  There are a few things I think about when I'm running.  (1) How many times will I have to jump over dog poop?   (2)  Eyes ahead, you don't want to run into anyone. (3) BREATHE and (4) The end will always be a few feet away.  What I love about running at Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake) are the loops.  This morning I wanted to start small since I'm getting back into the swing of things, so I did the 3 mile loop.  Then the 3 mile loop turned into 2.34 miles with a 9'55 pace. I will not be excited about this pace until I can do 5+ miles at that pace.  Way back when, about 7 months ago, I was doing just that.  It all ended with time change and then winter rolled around.  Nonetheless, I am here, letting y'all know that I am starting over and working towards completing my first half-marathon in February 2014.  So for that, you have me, telling you about my experiences and showing to you that no matter what, once you stop, it's hard to get back into the rhythm.

Enjoy!