Run skipper

Last Wednesday I had jury duty in Salem.  That ended at noon, so I went home to hang out with the pups. Once I arrived home and got everything done, I was not interested in driving back up to Lynn for the woods run.  Then I looked at the traffic and Google told me it was an hour and ten minute drive, which really sealed my decision.  So I skipped the run.  Maybe it wasn't the best choice, but sometimes you just don't feel like driving an hour to run an hour.  Don't worry though, I'll be there this week like always, burning up those trails.

I've been doing some light running along with the trail runs, but nothing too spectacular.  I'm pretty sure I went through this same cycle last year at this time, of not wanting to run or workout at all.  Of course I will continue to do so because otherwise I'm just sitting around the house working on school stuff all day, and who wants to do that?  There's a state forest about a mile down the road from us that has a little workout circuit trail, so maybe I'll run down there and check it out later this week.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that today was the last day of school.  Sure, June is basically over, but it's the last day all the same.  I have a glorious two weeks off before I have to go back for a professional development class, and then another few weeks before Cross Country starts.  We had sign-ups for that today, actually.  There were about 10 boys that signed up and a whopping two girls.  Yes you read that right, two whole girls.  I think I may have two more that just weren't in school today, but I'm not 100% on that.  Otherwise I'm really hoping to talk it up at the woods and convince kids there to join.  Hopefully some of the incoming freshmen are willing to join too.

Aside from all that, not much else happening.  We went to the Boston Public Market and Haymarket on Saturday.  At Haymarket we bought 3 packages of strawberries for $2.00 and a package of raspberries and blackberries for $2.00, spending a total of $4.00 on fresh fruit.  Best deal I've ever seen, even if some of the raspberries were squished.  Seriously, Haymarket is a goldmine if you go later in the day.  Of course we got pastries in the North End while we were there too.  The line for Mike's was so absurdly long that it wasn't even worth thinking about.  So we went over to Modern Pastry instead, which is equally as good and had no line at all.  They also had the butter cookies, so I bought another pound of those.  No judgement, those cookies are delicious.

Other than that, it was just another regular week at the Gibbs'.  Enjoy these pictures of things that happened that I didn't write about.

We had a paint party at school, exactly like an adult paint night, without the drinking.  I taught the kids how to paint fireworks.  It was fun and exhausting all at once.

Five grades, five paintings. All are mine, none are the same.

I finally put my Undress to use.  Changed from my work clothes to my running clothes at the woods.

Transition stage

Putting on running clothes. I then left the woods and ran at the beach. There's no changing back photos, but it worked just as well in that direction. Great purchase, so worth it!

When I'm bored, I practice my Bocce skills while Stella watches

Saturday afternoon adventures

Made pizza on the grill the other night and it was fantastic.  Highly recommend.

What a weird dog.....

Where the streets have no name.

And also no sidewalks apparently.  Yesterday I went for a run around this area, which I rarely do.  I don't know, something about running from the house makes me incredibly lazy.  It's like I know that the house is right there, so I don't bother.  At least if I drive somewhere, I've put in the effort to get there, so there's no point in not running.  Plus, then I have to run the route and get back to the car to get back home.  A lot of steps, sure, but it usually works better for me.  Unfortunately I was super tight on time yesterday, so I had to run when I had the chance, which ended up being only enough time to run around here.  So I decided to try and find a nice route and get in 6 miles.  Basically I just crossed the street and followed the sidewalk up the main road.  Unfortunately the sidewalk ended after about a mile and I was left with only street running.  Which would be OK if they were little side streets, but all I could find were busy roads.  I'm not saying that cars were flying past like I was running down a state highway, but there were enough cars coming to make me not want to be running without sidewalks. Plus there were a lot of curves and blind spots, so I had to really be on the lookout.  It's a good thing I never wear both headphones when I run.  I'm not sure I understand people who do actually.  How can you go out running and not be able to hear what's going on around you?  That's just asking for trouble.

So clearly I didn't get hit by any cars and I made it back home fine, but I just didn't love the route.  It's not that I love running on sidewalks anyways, but I certainly would choose a sidewalk over a road when there's cars driving by! Is it too much to ask for cities and towns to put sidewalks in anyways?  After all, it's 2016, why aren't there more sidewalks?  I don't know what the year has to do with that, but I assume that sidewalks were invented to keep people off streets, so at this point in time, it seems like they should be pretty much everywhere.  I'd even take a one side of the road sidewalk over nothing.  But at this point I feel like I've used the word sidewalk far more than I ever wanted, so I'll just wrap that up now.

I almost forgot to update you on my trail running shoes. Good thing I went back and checked! I did get my shoes last week, they arrived on Tuesday night.  If I didn't mention it, the shoe is the Reebok All Terrain Super.  First things first, they are so light that I really wasn't sure Dick's got my order right when I picked up the box they were shipped in.  It seriously felt like it was empty.  Of course it wasn't and the shoes were everything I hoped they would be.  In fact, they might be a little too serious for Lynn Woods running.  The shoes have the most aggressive tread I've ever seen.  Picture a cleat and you'll have the bottom of my shoe.  However, the upper part is super thin but also probably good for water drainage/absorption.  Hopefully I won't have to test that much, but it looks like it might be good for that.

So I wore the shoes on the Wednesday night run even though it was the basic main trail gate to gate run.  Of all the runs to break the shoes in, this might not have been the best choice simply because this trail is so worn in.  There wasn't a lot of off road running, but there was a lot of kicking up rocks and gravel.  I can only hope that the people who were close to me weren't getting hit with all sorts of flying debris.  Aside from that though, the shoes were nice and the run was good.  I think the shoes will work out fine for the rest of the season, especially on the Tours and the Dam run.

Other than that we've been having a super lazy Sunday after a super busy Saturday. We've been watching the ESPN 30 for 30 about O.J. Simpson and it is fascinating.  We're up to the final part but I've learned so much more. Being only 10 when it happened, of course I don't remember/didn't know the more gruesome parts as well as the science and evidence behind the case.  All I really remember is the Bronco "chase" and the not guilty verdict.  Mostly I just remember being in middle school.  All the teachers had their radios on daily and finally one day while I was in my English class, another teacher opened the door, yelled not guilty, and walked away.  I think he walked away, but I could be remembering that last part wrong.  So it's been interesting to see this story, to hear all the details, and to hear what the people involved have to say about it now.  I recommend watching it if you haven't yet.  It's also far better than the show FX had going.  Sometimes the documentary is much better than a recreation.

I think that's it for now.  I'll leave you with some pictures from the week.

Check out that tread!

Post-run weekly selfie

Ice cream sundae day at school.  June is the best worst month of the year.

Our girls last year came in 2nd, we got this delivered this year.  Go team!

Oh ya, my Undress finally came.  I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but stayed tuned for when that does happen.

Homegrown strawberries.  Delicious, as long as I get to them before the bunnies do.

Nala got a new toy this week and she's not sharing with anyone

Harder, better, faster, stronger.

Originally I was going to use a Kanye West song for the title and then I decided to have some dignity and throw it to Daft Punk instead.  Mostly because I can't stand Kanye West, even if I do listen to some of his music.  I don't have a lot of new running news for you, but what I do have doesn't need to be a lot because it's just so fantastic.  Yesterday, for the first time ever (or at least since I started running as an adult), I ran a sub-7 mile! My Garmin clocked me at a hot 6:54.9, which is basically amazing, considering up until yesterday my fastest mile ever was a 7:05.  Though it might not seem like a huge gap, any runner knows that in terms of miles, seconds count more than you could imagine.  10 seconds off a mile time is an accomplishment that really needs to be worked at to achieve, it doesn't just happen.  I'd like to take this time to thank woods running for making flat ground seem like nothing and Bagel World, which is what I ate for lunch yesterday and what I assume fueled this fastest mile ever.  And of course the wind and the weather for being exactly right, because any good runner also knows that half of the run is outside forces.


I don't really have any other running related topics to discuss today.  However I did buy a new pair of trail running shoes which should be arriving shortly.  So perhaps a review of those will be my next post.  Speaking of shoes, I think I'm having a problem with my Hoka Clifton 2s.  If this is your first read, here's a quick back story.  Clifton 1s were amazing and I wore them constantly.  Of course like all good shoes, Hoka had to go and upgrade to a new shoe, add some features, change some pieces.  Maybe this wouldn't be a problem in the regular world, but here in running world it's a huge deal.  Two of the key pieces Hoka changed were the insoles and the tongue.  The 1s had an insole that was not glued to the sole and the tongue was considered flimsy by some standards. Personally I never had a problem with the insoles of my 1s, but I've read/heard other people say that the insole would slide around and bunch up.  Occasionally I tied my shoes too tight so the thin tongue did cause my shoelaces to dig into the top of my foot, but I put that up to user error more than shoe design fault.  Either way, I loved the 1s.

Eventually though I couldn't find the 1s in stores anymore, so I had to upgrade to the 2s.  I don't know what the problem is here; it could be the padded tongue, could be the fact that the insoles are glued down and just slightly thicker, could be the extra shoelace lock hole, or it could be none of the above.  Whatever the change is though, going from the 1 to the 2, my right foot consistently gets a blister on the side of the ball of the foot. Nothing I do has eliminated this.  I've tried padded socks, non-padded socks, wrapping my foot, covering it with medical tape, loosening the shoelaces, tightening the shoelaces, using the extra shoelace hole and not using the extra lace hole.  Not one of these solutions has fixed the problem, which leads me to believe the issue lies in the new insoles.  And now I'm stuck.  I love these shoes and the comfort they provide.  They are the only shoe I can imagine running long distances in now that I've done it.  Sure I ran two marathons in a pair of Adidas before, but compared to the Hoka, I might as well have gone barefoot!

 Obviously I can't keep running in a pair of shoes that consistently causes a blister though.  I need a magic solution and I need it fast! Or a new pair of shoes.  I heard a rumor that Hoka is coming out with a Clifton 3 soon, so maybe that's my solution?  You know Hoka, I'd be happy to be a test subject for your new shoes, should you need people.  Call me.
Enough about that though, time to wrap this up, here are your pictures for the day.

My buddy!

Local cider, not bad

Snuggle buddies

Awwwwww yea

Trail running in the City

Since it's basically summer time, I've been keeping up with the Woods runs, which is necessary, because it seems to be the only day I actually go out and run right now.  Sometimes on my way home from work I think about going for a run when I get home.  Usually that changes after I get home and walk the dogs. By the time I'm done, I no longer feel like going for a run and so I don't.  Bad habit to get into, I know.  So at least I have the woods on Wednesday nights.
Last night I really didn't want to go at all, because I've gotten incredibly lazy since the last marathon.  No joke.  Before the marathon I was going to the gym, running, and coaching track, all while having a good time.  Now I'm not really into the gym or the running, and track is over for the season.  Some people call it taking a break, but I call it just being over it.  Or, LAZY.  It's fine though, this happened last year too.  I think it's a summer thing.  Most people hit the winter and don't want to workout or do anything, but it seems I'm the opposite.  As soon as summer hits, I'm not into doing anything that involves extra work.  I'll still do it, I just don't like it as much.
But anyways, so I didn't want to run last night.  It was supposed to rain and be stormy, so I was really hoping the weather would come through for me, but it didn't.  Then when the other teacher who runs the woods said she was still running, I knew I had to go.   It started off poorly because the solitary bathroom that is available was occupied and then suddenly "broken". Usually I use the bathroom before a race just as a security blanket, so it's not a huge deal, but still.  One toilet and you broke it. Thanks buddy.  So it never rained and we went out and did the 5.5 miles just like we were supposed to, myself included.  Funny story, the run turned out to be my best woods time yet.  And I didn't even use the Tailwind.  I guess I'm just a champion trail runner now.  I came in 38 overall with a total time of 45:21 and 7th out of the females.  Not too bad.
So, that's my story for now.  Trail running is going well, other running is basically non-existent at the moment.  Until next time, PICTURES!

Made this cool shark for our Hawaiian day.  Stick your face through the mouth and get your picture taken!

Woods run selfie

Checked out this restaurant in Portland.  Worth it.  The milkshake was delicious.

And here's Portland. From the car.

Peony in bloom.  At least I can grow flowers.

5th grade track and field event because track is life.

These are the best cookies in the world. I might have bought a pound of them and then ate the entire pound. Not even a little bit sorry. I love Italian butter cookies.

Nala loves the sun.

Stella is super patriotic I guess

Woods run selfie from this week. That's the glow of a PR.

Look at them grow! 

I decided to bring the peonies inside.  Because that's what good gardeners do?

Run to Remember 2016

Ok so I waited until the last possible moment to sign up for the half this year, but I still ended up doing it.  It is a real nice run, so I don't mind running it, even though I've never had great luck with the weather.  The first year I ran, it was in the high 40s at the start, last year it was warmer, but too warm with the sun by the middle.  This year was pretty spot on for weather, a bit breezy and a little humid, but not terrible.  It had to happen sometime I guess.  Anyways, I think the main reason this run is my favorite is because it was my first half ever and then later my first half coming in under 1:50.  Every time I run this race, good things happen, even if it is hard during the actual run.  But this year I ran it to run with Ryan.  Which worked great for a mile, but I really had to stop for a bathroom break because the lines were too long to get a final break in before we started running. So I stopped for the portapotty line between miles 1 - 2 and decided that it was too long so I kept running.  But I was also looking for Ryan, who I thought was still behind me at this point, so it was more of a run/walk.  Plus, turns out skipping that line was a poor choice and I spent the next mile and a half dying for a bathroom so when I found them at mile 3, you can bet I hopped into that line and stayed.  While I was waiting I texted Ryan, hoping that he wouldn't have gone too far past, or at all past yet.  Turns out he was well ahead, by at least 5 minutes. I'll be honest, I had a moment right then of not finishing.  The whole point was to run with Ryan and here I am almost a full mile behind him at this point. I figured there was little to no chance of me catching up to him.  But I kept running after I used the portapotty, I just picked up the speed a little bit.  I really wanted the chance to catch Ryan even if it was seemingly impossible.  So as I'm coming up the turn in the road off the bridge, heading into mile 5, I see Ryan coming back down the other side of the road, after the U-turn, going down under the bridge, heading into Cambridge toward MIT.  At that point I was thinking to myself that there was just no way I would catch him.  After all, he was at least a mile ahead.  But I kept running.  I made it up and around the U-turn and headed back down into Cambridge as well, still trying to catch Ryan.  In mile 6 I stopped thinking about it for a few seconds and had fun running down what I like to call high-five mile.  Different cops from different cities line the side of the street and stand there clapping and handing out high-fives.  It's definitely one of the best parts of the run.  During that mile my knee also really started to hurt and again I didn't think I'd be able to make it another 6.5 miles back to the finish.  I thought about cutting through the median, taking off my bib, and waiting for Ryan to come back around.  Then I got a text from Ryan saying he was at mile 7.  Which was convenient because I looked at my watch and there I was at 6.96.  So I looked up and saw his head bobbing around in the distance.  That was enough for me to run fast enough to catch back up to him instead of dropping out of the race.  Once I caught him again, we ran/walked the last few miles to the finish.  It's funny though because it definitely didn't feel like it was another 6 miles when we were together again.  Even though my knee really hurt and even though it probably took another hour, it didn't seem like it at all.  And in the end I still had fun and we finished together.  My one complaint is that the medical aid stations didn't have any Advil or Tylenol.  I forgot to bring some and I really could have used it for the knee problem.  But, we had fun and that's all that matters in the end.  I really recommend this race for anyone in the area, it's a great run, and there's a 5 mile option if you're not into running a half.  Remember that for next year, because I'm sure we'll be out there again!
And now, the pictures, which btw, the race offered for free this year, which is also a big selling point.

Twinning

Bonus Woods run photo.  Last night was the Tour #1, which goes off the regular path and onto smaller side hiking trails.  It was supposed to be 5.6, but most of us got lost and ended up doing 5.2 instead.  Still a nice night for a run though.  I love woods running, even if it is significantly harder than road running.