Battle this Morning

I had a battle with myself this morning. 

Monday I ran with Dave and Maggie and Dave and I took turns pushing the stroller.  I felt like I was running faster than normal but after 2 stops for traffic and 1 stop for a dog who was chasing us my average pace was lower than I thought. 

This morning I went out solo with Maggie in the stroller.  It was beautiful outside this morning, in the 60's and sunny.  After weeks of ridiculous heat and humidity this was awesome!!!  I started out faster than normal and was around a 10:30 mile.  I told myself to try to keep it up for the first 10 minutes and then I could slow down. 

When I got to 10 minutes the battle began.  I felt pretty good, but could feel myself breathing harder than I usually do.  One half of my brain was saying, "Heck yeah slow down down"  the other half was saying, "Heck no you feel fine keep pushing it"  The pushing it side won.  I kept going and told the slow down side that I would slow down after another 10 minutes and to shut up.  I won't bore you with the rest, but the slow down side did not shut up, but the keep pushing side ended up winning and I ended up running 3.25 miles with a 10:50 min/mile average pace.  I usually run right around 11:10 min/mile average so this was 20 seconds per mile faster.  Not too shabby.

I know that's still super slow compared to most people on the planet, but it's what I've got!  Speaking of what I've got, I just happened to be messing around on my Nike plus website and noticed that my average pace has gotten slower since I started running.  WTH?  Why would it get slower?  The only thing that I can guess would be the weather.  I definitely do better (in general) in the cold than the hot.  It has been super hot and humid for awhile now so hopefully that's it. 

We are headed to the lake for the weekend!  I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th!!!

Busy week and weekend

We had a great Father's Day weekend.  Maggie and I went with my parents and grandparents up to the lake on Friday and Saturday.  We had a wonderful time.  We got to go on the boat and Maggie loved it.  She even wore her life jacket without complaining at all which I was happily surprised about. 

I went for a run on Saturday morning.  It is so beautiful there that it is easy to just run and run and run.  The route is hillier than anywhere I run at home.  It's basically an out and back route.  The road is the one closest to the lake and there are beautiful houses and huge old trees so it's pretty shaded.  I ran out about 2.25 miles and then back and decided to keep going past our house and finished at 6 miles.  It took me 1 hour 6 minutes.  The second part, past our house, had no shade at all so it was HOT by the time I was gone.  It felt great though!  I'm not sure that I could run for that long at home.  It just seems harder and much more boring.  Maybe I need to try a new route.


Dave ran in the Warrior Dash in Joliet on Saturday so he didn't come with us to the lake.   I was a little worried about it after I saw some pictures of it.  For anyone who doesn't know it is about 5k and includes 12 obstacles.  Including 4 foot walls to jump over, cargo net to climb, mud pit with barbed wire over it, climbing over junk cars and tire running thingy and then jumping over a fire pit thing.  Yikes!!  He did great though.  He finished in 33 minutes.  I was shocked!  I can barely just run a 5k in 33 minutes let alone do 12 crazy obstacles within it.  I am so proud of him and he really loved it!

Maggie and I came home on Sunday and spent father's day with Dave and then had dinner with my family.  It was a very nice day. 

On Monday Dave had taken off work and we went to the Field Museum.  Dave's work gives him a free membership and we hadn't gone yet.  It was very nice.  I'm glad it was free because we only stayed for a few hours because by the time we got there it was only a couple of hours before it was time for lunch and nap. 

On Tuesday we went to Great America.  Maggie stayed at home with my dad.  They had a great time and I'm so happy that everything worked out for them.  We originally had my friend watching her, but she had a family emergency and couldn't do it.   Maggie and my dad had a great time and so did Dave and I.  This was a work outing and we had lunch there for free and then rode a few rides.   It was fun, the traffic on the way home wasn't so fun, but what are you going to do right?

I have 184 blog posts to catch up on on my google reader.  Oy vey that's a lot.  I hope everyone had a wonderful week and hope you all have a great weekend.  One more weekend and then the 4th of July!  I can't believe how quickly the summer is passing, or how crazy HOT it's been! 

Happy running!!!

Morning Run

I am not a morning person.  At. All.  I would rather sleep until noon and be up until 4am.  Of course I haven't done that in about 17 months (since I had Maggie) but it's what I did all through my college years and a few years after when I was working mostly 3pm-1am in the restaurant.  Our normal routine in the morning is to get Maggie up and change her diaper and then give her a sippy cup of milk and take her back into my bed and put on Sesame Street so I can wake up slowly.  The mornings are getting better and I don't mind them quite so much lately.  This morning instead of watching the whole episode of Sesame Street I decided to get up and get dressed to go run.  It was supposed to be in the 80's and 98% humidity with only a 2 mph wind by lunch time.  I usually run out to the park for Dave's softball game on Thursday and my mom brings Maggie out, but we are leaving for the lake early tomorrow morning so I don't know if she's planning on going to the game and it was going to be stupid hot by then. 

The jogging stroller isn't my favorite thing in the whole world to run with, but Maggie loves it.  Usually when we push her it's because Dave and I are running together and we take turns pushing her.   I was a little worried because she hadn't eaten breakfast yet, but she's usually up for a hour or so before she eats.  I started out pretty slow because I didn't want to burn myself out too quickly.  The stroller always throws my stride off a bit and it is hard for me to push it with my left hand.  It feels really awkward which means I spend most of the time pushing it with my right and then my shoulder starts to get tight.  Anyway, I decided not to worry about my pace and just run for 30 min or a little longer. 

Maggie was pointing at all the birds and dogs that we saw.  When we were running west she was waving at our shadows.  We ended up running for 40 minutes and 3.6 miles with an 11:07 pace.  I felt like I was running faster than that but it must've been because I was pushing the stroller.  Maggie did great, she was happy the whole time so that was good.  And now that I've already run today I can go to the softball games in normal clothes and people won't have to look at me in my short shorts ::shudder::

We are headed up to the lake tomorrow morning.  Just my mom and dad and Maggie and I are going, and my grandparents are going to be there.  Dave is doing the Warrior Dash on Saturday so he suggested we go.  We will come back Saturday evening so we can spend Father's Day together.  I am looking forward to running there on Saturday.  I have had my best runs there because it is so pretty.  Yay!!! 

Have a good weekend everyone!!  Happy Running!!

Haven't Run

I haven't run since my bad race on Saturday.  I am bound and determined to today though.  Yesterday I was planning on going, but Dave got home late so by the time he was done running and was back it was time for dinner and then it was too late.

On a good note, Maggie and I are headed to the lake this weekend I think.  Dave is running in the Warrior Dash in Joliet on Saturday so I'm going to go up to the lake with my mom and dad and my grandparents will be there.  I think we'll leave on Thursday night and stay until Saturday night then we'll come home and have father's day at home. 

Since it's almost father's day here's a couple pictures of Maggie and Dave this year and last year.  It's amazing how much they have both  changed!

This one is when she was only a couple weeks old.

This is them last night.   Aren't they so cute?!?!?

Malta Tractor Trot 5K recap

It was horrible.  Just horrible.  It started last night.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to run in the first place.  I decided to because my good friend was doing it.  Last night I went to bed at 10, not too bad.  At 11:30 I woke up to snoring.  I got Dave to roll over and fell back to sleep.  At 1am the dumb dog was whining in my face to go outside.  What? she never needs to go out in the middle of the night.  Then I heard Maggie at 2:08.  She hasn't woken up during the night in forever, until the last 2 nights.  The first night she put herself back to sleep in a couple minutes, the next night she woke up twice, the first time I had to go in the second time she put herself back to sleep.  Last night I had to go in.  I don't know what was going on, but she was not falling back to sleep so I had to go in.  I rocked her for a bit.  She fell back to sleep right away in my arms, as soon as I put her in her bed she woke up crying and saying, "up, up, please".  So I started over, luckily the second time I put her down she stayed asleep.  By 2:48 I was back in bed.  I heard her again at 3:23.  I had to go back in, she went back to sleep on the first try this time thank goodness.  Then I woke up for no reason at 4:15, 5:30 and 6:00.  My alarm went off at 7, awesome.

It wasn't raining though so that was good.  I packed both of my arm bands, I have one that is more comfortable but is pretty open, the other one seems to be more protective, but is not very comfortable to wear.  I contemplated wearing my old shoes because there was some rain in the forecast, but after checking the weather channel app on my iPod touch I decided I would wear the new ones.

The race was at 9am but we got there at like 8:20.  I went to register because I hadn't yet.  The other people I was with had registered online.  We were one of like 10 people there.  They were out of shirts already, so I was bummed about that, but they said they would mark it on my registration and mail one to me, although they never asked my size so I doubt they will actually send it.

I started sweating on the walk back to the car to put our bags down.  It wasn't super hot (yet) but about 99% humidity.  I decided not to bring my hand held water bottle with me.  I don't drink much anyway and I would rather not carry it.  We lined up at around 5 till 9.   A voice over a loud speaker said that the race would be starting about 5 min late.   Then they sang the star spangled banner, that's when I noticed that the loud speaker was actually the CB radio speaker on the top of the pick up truck that was at the starting line.

The actual race started out ok.  I started my Nike+ when I hit the start line and about a minute and a half later I pushed the button to make sure I wasn't starting out too fast.  Nothing happened.....pushed it again....nothing.  Awesome, the music started, but it wasn't picking up any pace or distance.  I took off my armband and told me friend to go ahead.  I restarted the stupid thing and picked my pace back up.  Now I had no clue how far I had already gone or how much time was left.  When I got to the 1 mile mark I noticed a girl with a stop watch yelling out times so I decided to start my watch and then at least I would know what my time was.  She said 10:41 when I went past her.  I was happy with that and started my watch.

It was so humid I was having a hard time keeping my breath under control.  I just felt like I couldn't breathe at all.  Not.fun.  I slowed down a little because it was so hot.  I was feeling like a slow, old, hog.  Not exactly motivating.  Some chick was using me to pace her run/walk.  It was more like a sprint/walk.  She would sprint about 20 yards past me, then walk until I passed her, then she would sprint past me again.  This was super annoying, especially since I already wasn't feeling it.  Ugh! It felt like it took me 2 years to get to the second mile marker, and since I didn't know how far I had gone because of the stupid Nike+ snafu, I convinced myself that I had missed the sign and that I had to be getting close to 2.5 miles.  I was wrong.  At the 2 mile marker there was a lady taking pictures and yelling out times...kind of.  I don't think she took my picture, and she didn't say my time.  I looked at my watch and it said 63:15...I forgot that Maggie likes to push the buttons on my watch so it didn't start at 00:00. You have got to be kidding me.

Right after that I noticed the black wall of clouds coming quickly our way.  Although I don't know how they were moving at all because the was no wind moving AT ALL.  I was trying to decide what I would do with my iPod

I finally made it to the finish, the sign had blown down though.  There was a guy taking the bottom part of our numbers and I couldn't get mine off so I had to stand there and mess with it.  Then I accidentally gave him my raffle entry square thing and almost asked for it, but then I decided it didn't appear that the raffle was happening.  There were a few police cars around and a couple people.  I saw my friends, they were hiding behind a truck.  So we hid from the crazy rain while we waited for my friend's sister to finish.  We ran back to the car and then went home soaking wet.  I think I finished in somewhere around 35 minutes, which is the slowest I've run a 5k (race or not) in forever.  My iPod still works, thank goodness.  My brand new shoes are super soaked, probably ruined.  I wish I would've stayed in bed this morning.

I'm mad at myself and disappointed.  Oh well, the next one will be better I suppose.

New Shoes!!!

Maggie and I ventured to Dick Pond's today to get new shoes!!!!! It was great! I have never been to a running store or anywhere where anyone knew what the heck they were talking about.  My last pair of shoes I bought at Kohl's and chose them because they felt ok and I liked the colors.  Haha!

I tried on a whole bunch of different pairs, walked and ran on the treadmill and was told that I have great feet.  Awesome!  Maggie was pretty good the whole time and even made a new friend when she kept throwing her piggy on the floor.  She was ready to be done in the stroller about 2 minutes before I was done so the other shoppers in Dick Pond's got to hear her scream.  Sorry other shoppers!!! I got New Balance 760's.  They are white and blue.

They aren't the color combo I would've chosen, but other than that I really like them so far.  I wasn't really planning on running today, but I think I'm going to run out to the park for the softball game. 

Oh and last, but not least   Hawks Win!!!!!!!!

                                         (image from www.abc7chicago.com)

They brought the Stanley Cup to Chicago for the first time in 49 years and they were all so humble and team centered even after they had won!  It was very nice to see!  Go Hawks!!! 

A Race this Weekend?

My friend sent me an email yesterday asking if I was interested in running a 5K race this Saturday.  For some reason I'm hesitating.  Yesterday's run was really hard.  I'm not sure why. 

Dave and I ran together with Maggs in the jogging stroller.  It was a beautiful day out and we had already gone for a walk earlier in the day with a new mommy friend.  It wasn't a very long walk or a very hard walk.  I did run in to my high school softball coach which stunk because I can't stand him.   We were playing outside when Dave got home and he was crabby, and Maggie was crabby and that made me crabby. 

I started out pushing the stroller and immediately my left knee started hurting.  Ugh!  I know I need new shoes, but my knee has not hurt me at.all. in a long time so it start worrying about it right away.  It never got any worse though so I kept going.  My Nike+ didn't work for the first 5 minutes so I had to try to fix it while pushing the stroller and after all of that I was just out of gas.  I was so tired.  Dave was running ahead of me which I shouldn't care about, but it makes me feel even slower.  I mean he is 6'4" so of course he's faster than me.  I took Maggie home a little earlier than Dave and then I decided to run a little bit more, around the horseshoe of our street.  The jogging stroller eventually hurts my shoulder because I can't keep them relaxed while pushing it, especially into the wind.  Dave and I switched pushing a couple times, but that didn't seem to help.  I ended up running about 40 minutes and about 3.6-ish miles (see about about nike+ not working at the beginning so I'm not 100% sure of the total mileage or time) It was slow, but oh well.  I guess I just have to chalk this one up to a bad run and go from there. 

So anyway, I'm not sure if I want to race because I had such a bad run and my knee was bothering me.  I don't want to get hurt.  I'm going to take today off and run again on Wednesday and see if it feels any better, then I will decided about Saturday. 

Do you get discouraged by a bad run?  How do you "get over it"?

Long weekend, long week

Since it's been a few days since I've written a post I thought I'd make a list of things instead of writing a super long blog post.

- We are going to the White Sox game tonight!  Dave won tickets on the radio so the seats are good.  We are taking my dad and a friend of his and my mom gets to have Maggie all night.  I'm not sure who is more excited her or me!

- I ran yesterday and Monday.  3 miles and 4 miles nothing too exciting.  I would like to start running longer distances, but it's just so darn hot!  Maybe I'll try to get up early this weekend and run....maybe

- I need new shoes.  I want to go to a running store and get fitted.  I know nothing about doing that though.  Do you have to make an appointment?  Just show up? Is it going to cost me a million dollars because I don't have a million dollars.

- Even though we have been (kind of) trying to get pregnant again, I kind of hope it didn't work again this month because Dave's work is hosting an outing at Great America and the spouses are invited for once and my good friend is babysitting so it will be super fun.

- Maggie weaned herself a couple weeks ago and now is asking me to put her down in her bed after we read and sing a few songs.  This makes me so happy because I worried that the almost 17 months of nursing her to sleep and then rocking her to sleep would make for 17 more years of rocking her to sleep!

-  I have 83 new posts waiting in my google reader.  This is intimidating and daunting, but I am looking forward to catching up!  I am so behind because I was gone all weekend, and then became obssesed with "Farm Frenzy" on my iPod touch...so addicting!

Happy Running!!!!