No Earbuds Required

5: This is one that blew my mind at first. The people who go running don’t run the whole time???  4:  Just because a pair/style/brand of running shoes works for you one year, it doesn’t mean that it will the next.  I figured this out with expensive consequences in Year 2 when the ASICS I had loved previously were now too narrow for my feet in the new year’s model. There’s no substitute for an in-store fitting! 3: Your local massage therapist may be able to take your Flex Spending Account as payment! I discovered that Massage Envy does this and bought myself a membership. Self-care is so important and I care for myself by running. Massage makes it all better. 2: You don’t have to have a lot of fancy gear to run, but the right things can sure help a lot! I love my Garmin Vivoactive HR. It’s discounted now because Garmin has come out with a newer model, but I’ve had mine for over a year now and it’s still working awesomely well. It tracks daily activities as well

I am loving reading these old posts. Do you want to know how this story ends? It hasn’t ended yet, actually. I finished my first season with Pearland Area Road Runners with my first half marathon, the Houston Aramco Half in January 2016. I clocked in at just over 3 hours, 22 minutes (the goal being just to finish.) Season 2 involved two HM races in poor conditions: the Houston Half in Oct 2016, also known as “one of the most miserable races ever” with heat in the low 80s, and the Aramco Half in 2017 with highs in the mid 70s and 65 percent humidity. Personal records were set despite dealing with injuries throughout the season. I got my best time down to 3:04. This year had a lot of work things that were going on that were kind of unusual as well, with a major performance for my choir and my husband starting a new job. Season 3 started off strong with training and the early work I did last year paid off big with finally breaking the 3 hr mark in January 2018 at a very, very cold

So, I was super optimistic about running in my second week of school, and I would say I was somewhat successful. By Tuesday night I had done 3.5 miles, but an unexpected performance away from school combined with parent night Thursday kept my mileage low. I could have run Friday but was leery of doing so with a long run the next morning. My group said we would hit 6 with a turnaround before our target turnaround spot, so I was somewhat dismayed when MapMyRun said I had only gone 5.7 miles. But that is still my longest run to date. I did it, and did not die. My left IT band was kinda mad at me afterwards though. I soaked and massaged and stretched and it is better. Now. Today, I wanted to hit the hills with my buddies bright and early but life had other plans in the form of the stomach virus my daughter brought home this weekend. Let's just say I lost two pounds and it wasn't from exercise. Yuck. No parent meetings this week, just my usual obligations, and my new duty s

This week I discovered something very important: If I make time to run, I will run. Even though there is no kind of tired like first week of school teacher tired, and even though I was still adjusting to the 5 am wake-up time, I made it happen. I ran on Tuesday and Thursday evening, Tuesday partly on the track and partly on the treadmill, and Thursday on the treadmill. Thursday, I did 48 minutes at a solid 3 minute run, 1 minute walk the entire time. 3.5 miles. Saturday, I dragged my butt to Turner for the last hill workout. Can I get an amen?? 8 hills, 70 minutes, and I made it back to the track in time to do the core exercises with the group. This week's goals: run on Monday and Wednesday on the treadmill, take the kids to the track to walk on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday, I see a margarita in my future, but just one, because running again on Saturday. I also ordered a Nathan Trail Mix 2-bottle belt, which should be here before Saturday. Also: charity update, I have no

Monday I made a couple of mistakes before I went out to run. Number one, I left my Nuun water sitting on the kitchen counter, leaving me only with about half an old bottle of sort of warm water from my car to drink. Number two, I think it may have been a mistake not eating anything before hand. Lunch had been big, so I thought I shouldn't. All that being considered, I think I did pretty well. The main part of the run, which was through the neighborhood, over to the hill, and up and down it four times, was 3.84 miles, which I ran in 55:04, average pace 14:19. Probably a total of five counting the run back too. We ran mostly a 4:1 interval until I just couldn't hang with it, then I walked short intervals when I needed to. No shame in that! Avg HR was 171 (too high because I wasn't drinking enough), highest HR was 193. Next run Wednesday, probably on the track with my kids. :)