May 2013
23 posts
Twenty-six
Last night I did a “recovery run” of five miles (quotation marks because the level of recovery I achieved is doubtful):
I just ran by feel and didn’t look at my watch until it beeped with each mile split. My legs actually felt great! My quads have been sore due to the 19.3 racing/running adventure on Saturday, but they caused no trouble on this run.
Today is a rest day...
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Seattle's Best 15K recap
Unlike the nightmare of getting to the start line of the Lake Sammamish Half, it took us exactly seven minutes to drive on nearly car-less streets to Gas Works Park and easily find a spot in the regular parking lot for Seattle’s Best 15K. Huzzah!
That’s the beauty of a race with only 415 participants (309 for the 15K, 106 for the 10K).
I had plenty of time to hang out in the car, eat...
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Race photo reality
Here’s what I posted on Twitter after the race yesterday.
Here’s what I posted on Facebook.
Here’s what really happened.
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Oh my God, I did it!
10 post-race miles: DONE.
I hung out at home for a few hours after the race, eating lots of food and refreshing Online Race Results obsessively until the official results were posted. I was the 21st female, 6th in my division, and 57th overall out of 309 finishers. Whoop!!!
And then I surprised myself with how good my legs felt, and with the pace I was able to maintain during the 10 miles.
...
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Seattle Tumblrs!
Some Tumblr people met up for dinner in Capitol Hill tonight, someone ordered about 40 clams and ate them all, and then someone (possibly the same person) suggested we go eat cupcakes.
What can I say? I’m a seafood-loving cupcake-enabler.
Anna and I went halfsies on red velvet and salted caramel cupcakes, and Darcy and Amy went for a mini cupcake and a cake pop, respectively. YUM.
It...
Easy like Thursday morning
Surprise! Morning run! I got out the door at 5:27 a.m.
Not all 9:00+ miles, but the average was nice ‘n easy, so I’ll take it.
A cloudy morning at the lake is still beautiful. I love the clouds reflected in the water.
A good thinking bench, for those who do their thinking while sitting rather than running.
Oh, and I’m definitely wearing my Ghosts for the race. They...
Shoe dilemma
Tuesday night, I lifted weights and did the Oiselle Dirty Dozen core workout.
I’ve never done core work consistently, but I know it’ll make me stronger and faster, so I’m now officially trying. That workout is intense! I’m definitely feeling the burn today.
For tonight’s run, I wore my most subtle running gear.
Because I simply hate standing out in a crowd.
My goal was five easy miles, so...
Recovery... or not
I’m officially awful at slowing down for recovery runs.
I met up with Megan, who works for Nuun and is organizing all the Hood to Coast goodness, for an “easy” run around Green Lake tonight. She’s still recovering from running (and PRing!) the Tacoma City Marathon a few weekends ago, and I just did my long run yesterday, so we agreed to take it slow-ish.
But then…...
Happy Mother's Day
I kicked off this Mother’s Day with a little half-marathon for a long run.
NEWS FLASH: Running 13 miles is way, wayyyyyy more fun than running 18 miles!
I started out cautiously to make sure my knees felt OK, and then sped up a bit when I felt assured they weren’t going to make trouble. I wound up with an average pace that’s right on target for my long runs — I’m...
(I will never be a) morning exerciser
I did a very rare weekday morning run today! Turns out Green Lake is very lovely and peaceful in the wee hours.
I don’t know how you a.m. exercisers do it. It was rough dragging myself out of bed to fit in five miles, and I’m so used to running in the evening that I didn’t ever feel like I hit a good groove.
And yet while I was running, I thought about how races are...
Hood to Coast news and training updates
The Hood to Coast team assignments are in!!!
I’m runner #12 for Team Watermelon (lemonade and watermelon are Nuun’s new summer flavors), which means I get to run the very last leg of the whole relay onto the beach in Seaside, Oregon!
Huzzah!!!
Nuun asked us for our top three runner position preferences, and 12 was my third choice, so I’m very happy I got one of my choices! I...
18 miles of death
If you don’t follow me on Twitter, you are missing out on real-time whining insights, such as this one earlier today:
I spent miles 14 through 18 trying to decide if I needed to puke or was just hungry. It took all my willpower to choke down my Clif Shots. It probably had something to do with the GLARING, HOT HOT HOT SUN.
It was like full-on summer in Seattle today, and I made the...
May 2 weigh-in
I didn’t forget about my weigh-in! I just… delayed it a little, thanks to the fact that I’ve had a hard time waking up early this week since my body still wants to be on vacation, and the early a.m. is when I usually snap my photo and stitch it together with the photo from my last weigh-in.
Anyway, I finally weighed in and snapped a pic yesterday morning. Helllooooo vacation...
Brain catching up with the body
Before I say anything else, I have to tell you that during this run last night — no joke — a person in a full gorilla costume ran out from behind a tree and handed me a white, long-stemmed carnation. There were two gorillas doling out flowers to Green Lake walkers and runners, in fact.
I… don’t even know. Apparently this was not the first gorilla sighting at Green Lake, but my gorilla...
April 2013
38 posts
Back home again
Our vacation in the rain shadow east of the Cascades was lovely — just two hours away from Seattle, yet it gets 300 days of sunshine a year, WHAT — but now it’s back to the west, to rain, to cold temps, and to pants, goddamn it.
Sunshine and shorts are everything. Pants are the worst.
But my lungs are glad to be closer to sea level again, as evidenced by tonight’s run:
Oh, word....
Vacation time!
I’m done with my two-day work week and am officially on vacation until next Monday! Yayyyyy!
I celebrated by running four miles of hills tonight, as one does.
My goal was to find a steeper, longer, tougher hill than usual to challenge myself, but what looked like a steeper, longer, tougher hill wasn’t at all. Big fat fail.
You can see that I started with one hill and then...
#BostonStrongSEA
Aaron and I met up with a bunch of other runners at Green Lake tonight to do a little run in honor of Boston.
The run started at 6:15, and I got home at 5:55, so I did a lightning-fast change into running clothes and we ran a little over a mile to the lake just in time.
There were a ton of people — probably between 150 and 200. Most were dressed in blue and yellow, and many sported Boston...
Six weeks of Paleo: (Belated) April 15 weigh-in
I was going to post this weigh-in during my lunch break on Monday, April 15, but then the Boston Marathon bombings happened, and this seemed like an incredibly silly thing to post after that tragedy.
It may still be silly, but we have to move on with our lives, silly or not.
For those of you who are just tuning in and wondering what this weigh-in is all about, here’s the low-down:
I was...
Sunday spin and eat
Aaron and I started off the day with our first-ever spin class: an hour of sweat and torture paradise at Flywheel in South Lake Union.
I’m wayyy too cheap to pay for a gym membership or fitness classes when I can just run outside and ride my own bike at no cost, but I’ll certainly try something new when the first class is free!
My boss is a Flywheel regular, and she thought...
Only 13 miles
I’m officially at that point in marathon training when I look at my plan and think, “Oh, my long run is only 13 miles!”
Only. It’s all relative.
And if you’re going to run 13, you might as well add an extra 0.1 and make a half-marathon out of it.
Nothing remarkable to report, other than that I felt comfortable running faster for longer, which is always good!
I...
99% done is half done
I think most runners know the difference between when they legitimately need a rest day and when they’re just not feeling a run.
In the first situation, you’re like, “Man, I’m super tired and my legs sure could use a rest.”
In the second situation, you’re like, “But it’s soooooooo rainy and soooooooo windy and I really don’t wanna...
You bettah WERK
My marathon training schedule had me resting my legs and lifting weights tonight, but the weather was too beautiful not to get out and run.
Plus — shocker — Aaron joined me! He has two weekends off before his next bike race, so he didn’t have to worry about keeping his legs fresh for once.
Good thing, since we beat the hell out of ‘em.
Nothing like busting out seven miles when you...
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Let's Just Talk About Good Stuff
runningwithguts:
Andrew: Let’s just talk about good stuff. Sam: Good stuff? Andrew: Yeah. Glass half full shit. What do you got? Sam: I got a little buzz. I got that. [laughs] Sam: What you got? Andrew: I got a little buzz going… and I like you. [Sam, embarassed, giggles] Andrew: So there’s that. I guess I have that. Sam: I can tap-dance. You wanna see me tap-dance? Andrew: I would...
For Boston
Marathon training goes on. Four miles tonight.
It was sunny and clear all day. It felt all wrong that the weather was so bright when the news I followed today was so dark.
Mile one, clouds rolled in and it started to sprinkle.
Mile two, the sprinkle turned into a pour, and then into hail. It felt good.
Mile three, the rain and hail cleared. I saw a woman wearing an I <3 BOSTON shirt. I...
iwillrunforfood:
Someone that I follow on Twitter said:
“As a runner, I feel like someone just attacked my friends. As I person, I am just horrified.”
After Columbine, I was terrified to go to school. After the Oregon mall shooting this past December, I was terrified to shop for Christmas gifts. After Sandy Hook, I became terrified for my future children.
And now, some evil people want to...
15 miles and homemade cookie dough Laraballs
I still feel a bit nervous before every long run, but I’m always good once I get going — and I finished this one strong!
It was super-cold and windy for the first few miles, but I warmed up in no time. Later in the day, it rained and HAILED like crazy, so I was glad I got my run done early!
Then, to help replace the 1,600+ calories I burned, I made cookie dough Laraballs!
I used...
The birthday boy
Aaron turned 27 yesterday! What can I say about him other than that I can’t wait to marry his face off?
And he has many faces.
Muddy face.
Hipster face.
Cinnamon roll race.
Champagne face.
Horse face.
Race face.
Winning face.
Angsty face.
Baby face.
I hope our future child comes out looking exactly like him, because dang, that is one cute baby!
I have...
Is this what EPO feels like?
I ran 7 fast miles tonight and never got tired. I’m kinda freaked out about it.
But I think I’ll stop worrying about my pace so much and just embrace the fact that I’ve gotten faster!
It’s kind of crazy that eating so few carbs has given me more energy and endurance when conventional running wisdom says to eat lots of carbs. I felt like freakin’ Superman tonight,...
Tuesday hills
Last night I ran hills, baby!
I took a half-mile break after the first five repeats to rest my legs, then kind of struggled through five more. I did so much mental cheerleading, though, that I felt strong by the end and did an eleventh repeat just to prove to myself that I could! It felt good.
Four miles total:
I had to rearrange my training plan a bit this week since Aaron’s 27th...
