Guess who's back, back again

Sure, it's been almost two years since a post, but you know how these things go.  There wasn't much left to talk about, I felt like the running posts were all getting repetitive anyways.  But there have been a lot of life changes since then, so I decided to resuscitate the blog to get back some accountability for the future.  In the next few weeks, I'll be back to running again and I think throwing it all out onto the internet will help motivate me to keep moving.  Or not. We'll see.
We're also in the market for a new gym routine, either back to Title, joining the Y, or just sticking with Planet Fitness.  Lately, I've just used online PopFitness videos, which, if you haven't used, are actually really good.  There are all sorts of workouts available, with modifications even, so you can do them in your living room.  I imagine it's like Beachbody on Demand, without having to pay a ton or invest in Shakeology.  So, if you're like me and you want good workouts without having to join Beachbody, I recommend PopFitness on Youtube.  Most of the time you don't need any equipment either, which is nice. 
So, I have about 2 weeks before I can consider getting back into running mode, and probably about 8 weeks before I can actually start running again at all.  Those dates are fluid but good estimates.  In an effort to make sure I do get back out there, I signed up for the Baystate Half in Lowell on October 21.  My goal is to run/walk the route, with as much running as possible.  But, the last time I ran a half or any type of distance over 5 miles was back in January at the Louisiana Marathon.  So, there's a short training time in there which means a DNF is also a real possibility.  That's ok though, as long as I have the starting line in mind for now. 
As a quick catch-up on the running, since August 2016 I've done the Disney Marathon, the Stone Cat Trail Marathon, and a handful of half marathons.  Disney was fun, but really cold, so I would love to go back and do that one again, preferably with better weather.  I'd actually like to do the Dopey Challenge but it's expensive.  Plus, the year I ran the full they had to cancel the half due to weather, so I'm not sure I'd want to invest all that time just to be disappointed.  Maybe someday though. 
Outside of the running, it's been two years, of course, things have changed around here.  As a teacher, I left behind elementary school and moved up to high school History, which is where I've always wanted to be.  I made it through my first year of that and enjoyed the change, so I'm glad I did that.  We went on some exciting trips, most notably to Switzerland last year and Belgium/the Netherlands this year.  Our little buddy Nala walked over the Rainbow Bridge earlier this year, in February, and just a few weeks ago, we got a new rescue puppy, straight off the streets of Jamaica.  He's a real cute pup, but he is scared of everything, so getting him to do much is still a struggle.  Stella is still here and going strong though, you can tell she's not thrilled about the introduction of a new friend.  I also had my last coaching season this year, at least for the time being.  Maybe in years to come, I'll go back to it, but for now, we're going to be too busy with other life events for me to have to worry about coaching track.  If you can guess what our new life event is, great for you, if not, stay tuned and you'll find out in a just a few short weeks! And with that, I think we're all caught up!

The new pup

Stella living her best life

On the canals in Amsterdam

Our last big run together and Ryan's first half!  It was cold!

Breakfast on the river in Zurich

Disney 2017.  Yes, I was freezing in that costume, but I made it, there's no way I wasn't wearing it!

Like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body

That's how it feels to take an ice bath.  As of 8:00 p.m. I have officially crossed over into marathoner territory.  I know that probably seems weird to see, since all I seem to do is talk about running, times, and getting faster, but to be honest, I don't really think of myself as a runner.  Much like I don't think of myself as an artist. These are things I like to do, but they're not who I am.  Except that, they really are. I mean, if you ask anyone at work to tell you about me, I'm sure they'd all say runner and artist at some point in their description.  But tonight I'm officially crossing the bridge into runner.  For the first time ever, I took an ice bath.  Yes, it was as terrible as it sounds and it was as cold as you think it is.  Of course I'd be happy if I never had to do it again.  Will I do it again though? Most likely.  See, getting in was awful.  Sitting in the water for 10ish minutes was torture.  Warming back up was a desperate race to get on the warmest clothes I could find.  But how about those leg muscles?  They feel amazing.  Better than they've ever felt.  I guess this is going to have to be one of those suck it up type of routines that becomes necessary to the process, even if it is miserable in the moment.
On top of the ice bath, I've also stretched and foam rolled more than I ever have before in my life.  In case you can't tell, I'm not fooling around with this sub-4 goal.  In fact, the owner of Title gave me a great piece of advice that I intend to follow as well.  While we were talking about how it's been hard to not be anxious about running a sub-4, he said that I should write down my goal time.  Clearly I've been writing down all along my goal and I thought for a minute he just couldn't hear me over the music playing at the club, because he looked at me like a lunatic when I said I was keeping journals anyways.  After a few seconds of clarification though, it became clear that he didn't mean just write it down anywhere.  He meant, write it on my arm on the day of the marathon.  Somewhere visible to me, so that I can look at it as a reminder to get myself moving or keep myself going.  That seems like a perfectly logical idea to me and a great way to force my motivational speaking voice to push down my self-doubt voice if it starts to feel hard.  Last time I wrote things on my shoes, this time I'm going straight for the arm, because I will beat that 4:00 time.
Before I go, I do have one more running related item on the agenda.  You may remember that I wanted to return the Nathan belt I bought the other day?  Well, I did go to Dick's today and the store did take it back, so that's a big plus in their column.  I did want to buy a scoreboard for basketball while I was there, but I couldn't find any, so they also get a mini-minus.  A scoreboard is kind of weird item to have at a sporting goods store, but also could have been there, so it was really a hit-or-miss errand anyways. In place of the hydration belt, I received my OrangeMud single barrel hydraquiver today. It is everything I hoped it would be; lightweight, small, portable, and a large enough bottle.  However, I've never run with a backpack type item before and I don't think I want to break it in at the marathon.  So as much as I love hands-free, I think I'm going to have to stick with the handheld bottle for one more run, and then retire it to the sidelines. BUT, for all of you who do run with backpack systems, here's a very important question. Chafing; does it happen and how do you stop it?  The way this little vest sits, it would seem that the straps are going to lead to a lot of underarm chafing.  I thought about loosening the straps, but then I think maybe the pack would bounce around too much.  A second option that I tried was safety pinning the straps down against the sides of my tank top, so that they follow the same contour and are held in place.  That worked as a very short trial version, but if I've learned anything from Mythbusters, it's that just because something works in small scale for a small period of time, doesn't mean it will hold up in full scale during an extended time frame.  So fellow backpack runners, do you ever have the chafing problem? How do you prevent the straps from rubbing? Or should I just invest in a lot of shirts that have sleeves? If you have any tips on this very important subject, please leave them below.  In return, you can check out these pictures of my ice bath and see my little hydration pack sitting pretty.  Oh and I also got my official BAA acceptance email yesterday and I now show up on the list of entrants for the 120th Boston Marathon!!!!!!!

Like any good runner, of course I have a ziplock bag full of spare safety pins

I added a Chewbacca.  I might already have this picture on here, but either way, here it is,

This house made me laugh while I was in traffic this afternoon. It looks like a face with a picket fence beard. 

Test Turkey

I don't know about you, but around here we have to make a test turkey before we make our actual turkey for other people. After all, new house, new oven, you never know how it's going to turn out.  Overall it wasn't bad, but either the thermometer was broken or the pan made the turkey cook real uneven, but whatever it was, I'd say about half of the turkey was still pink.  Not raw, but not a color I'd want to serve people. So for anyone coming over on Thursday, you're welcome for getting this figured out now. By Thursday the turkey should be good to go.  Of course, we still need to buy another turkey, but that's not the point.  Actually, I still need to go buy all the side dishes too, so I'm definitely prepared for this....

I am excited for a long weekend because there's a chance I can get in a long run without having work get in the way.  You know how it is when all you want to do is run but you have to do real life stuff instead, like go to work and be a functioning adult.  Tough days, real tough.  I've been thinking about ways to improve my running, as I always am, and have come up with a few ideas. First, a weighted vest.  My thought is that I will have to work harder to run with that on, so once it comes off, running faster will be easier.  Any experiences in this I'd love to hear, because "I may be as woefully wrong as Humphrey Belcher who believed the time was ripe for a cheese cauldron."  Second, I think it might be time to switch over to a hydration belt or backpack.  I've been running holding a 24 oz water bottle for about two years now and I'm really starting to notice that my arm is getting cramped up in the bicep area on my longer runs. Yea, I know, I'm sure there's another reason besides just the water bottle, but I think switching over would alleviate some of that.  Again, I could be way off, so if you've made the switch, let me know how it went.  Third, and it doesn't really have to do with improving running so much as it is something I want.  There's an awesome jacket out there made by Craft that I'm coveting.  It's beautiful and looks great for winter running. But it's $129.  Between the shoes that I use, the Tailwind that I need to reorder, and the cost of the races, I just can't convince myself to spend that much on another running jacket.  Even if it comes with attached gloves. If you're interested in checking it out though, here's a picture and a link to the women's jacket.

http://shop.craftsports.us/weather-jersey-w.html


Speaking of races, I'm still waiting to hear who the Louisiana Marathon is giving away their free entry too.  Do I think it's going to be me? No.  Do I hope it is? You bet.  If it's not, I'll be signed up by the end of the month anyways, but it sure would be nice to have a free entry.  It would make paying for Boston in a few months seem less harsh.  And while we're on the topic of Boston, my team for my main man Morty is still taking donations.  I know it's close to the holidays, but if you get your donation in before the new year, it's tax deductible for this years taxes! That's bonus that I know everyone wants. Plus, Morty's birthday is this week, and what better gift to give a child than a donation to a center that has helped him out in so many ways?
You can donate here if you're feeling extra giving this week.
 Donate to Allison Gibbs Michael's Miracles Boston Marathon Team

There are so many other things I wanted to talk about here, but I've decided not to go down that road today.  The whole thing with the Syrian refugees is clearly a major topic, but I have no interest in getting readers to this blog just because I dropped a hot ticket key word, or because people want to argue and tell me why I'm wrong about my thoughts and feelings on the situation.  So, if you're wondering why that hasn't come up, there you go. The most I will say is that I've never felt better about voting Seth Moulton into office than I did this past week.
For those of you who may not know it, the Philadelphia Marathon was today.  While I did not run it, my awesome crew of running partners did and they all did a great job. Huge shout out to Jenna, who finished in 3:59, and to Cynthia, Murdock, and Tracy, who ran their best and finished the marathon strong, like I knew they would. Maybe someday we'll all run together again, if we can ever all get on the same page for the same marathon! I'd love it if they all came to Chicago next year, but maybe we should start looking at NYC instead, since it's closer.  I'm pretty sure you're up to date on my entire life now, so it's time to end this with a beautiful selfie I took at the end of my 9 mile run on Friday.  It was 60 degrees, in November, I couldn't pass up a beach run with that kind of weather.

Side bar: I want a pair of wireless headphones so I took to Amazon to read some reviews.  Who are all these people who get products at a discounted rate in exchange for a review and why can't I get in on that? I'll review anything if you're going to send it to me fo' free.  Or at least fo' cheap.  Of course, it might be sentences like that which explain exactly why I'm not one of those people, but I promise to use proper grammar in the review.  I am a teacher after all, and I only say that type of stuff in jest on here. 

Unfinished Business

Sorry, I don't really have any, but Casper is on in the background and I was at a loss for a title for this post anyways.  Basically I'm just keeping you updated.  This weekend is the Devil's Chase 6.66 in Salem, which I did last year.  It was a lot of fun, but the race is on Saturday morning, yes, Halloween, in Salem, so there's pretty much no way you're getting me there.  Unless you have a free bib to give away, in which case, see you bright and early Saturday! I did like their medals last year though, so if anyone is running, you'll have a good time and the bling is worth it.
I also have a few friends who are running Philly and I actually spent a few minutes debating whether or not I wanted to sign up too.  Then I remembered that I hated the out and back and that I don't want to drive to Philly for a weekend.  So, again, unless someone's giving away a free bib, that's out too.
As of right now, we're going to Louisiana the weekend of the marathon, but I'm not signed up for that either.  Basically this is just a post about all the runs I'm not signed up for.  I'd like to run Baton Rouge again for two reasons.  1. It was flat and fast, so if I have a chance of breaking 4 hours, it's here.  2. The medals this year are fabulous and I really want one.  Of course that's not until January, so who knows, maybe I'll end up running it after all.
Last bit of info for today, I realize that a lot of you may not be aware that I'm posting the link to my fundraiser page within my posts.  I've been labeling the link as a word or a phrase, so in case you're having trouble finding it, I'm posting it right now as a straight up link.  Cccchhhheck, ccccchhheck it out. Fundraising Websites - Crowdrise

October

Well, in case you were wondering, I've made it through my marathon training again.  Except this time around I split up my 20 miler so that I joined up with friends for 12 in the middle.  It worked out well because it didn't seem like it was 20 miles.  Anyways, I'm ready for Newport next weekend.  I don't remember if I even mentioned that I deferred Chicago due to not wanting to pay for plane tickets to Chicago and to Louisiana in the same month.  And baby Beau's christening took precedence over marathon running, so Newport, here I come.  My only real goal during this marathon is to get over the finish line in under 4 hours.  3:59 is fine with me.  So I guess that means no selfie mile markers this time around, and I'll probably have to really think hard about bathroom breaks and walk-through water stops.  You know what though, I think I can do it.  And if not, I'll try again in my next marathon.  But I think I can do it.  As long as it's not raining, or overly hot, or overly cold.  Ideal conditions only.  It will be nice to run through Newport though.  I hear the scenery is lovely.  I'll try to get some pictures, and apparently the race photos are free too, so I'll have those to share.  Anyways, I swear I'll have a lot more going on here real soon, it won't be months between updates anymore.  For real!

Louisiana Marathon 2015

First of all, let me just say, this was the best marathon I've ever run. Plus, Ryan ran this as his very first half and did awesome.  He finished in 2:35!
 Everything about this marathon was awesome.  Flat, nice scenery, and no super long stretches where you could see the faster runners coming back!  There were a few points where you could see the people ahead of you, and the first and second place female finishers passed me in the opposite direction on one longer road, but that was it.  Unlike MCM and Philly where you saw a lot of the faster runners coming down the other side of the road and realizing you still had 5 miles to go before you could even turn around again.  Now, unfortunately, I did not beat the 4 hour mark.  By the official time, I came in at 4:07.  By my watch time, it was 4:02.  The reason for the 5 minute difference is because I stopped my watch at the two bathroom breaks I took, and obviously the clock doesn't account for that.  But still, 4:07 is a half hour PR from my last marathon, so that's pretty good.  I do realize that if I hadn't started quite as fast or if I hadn't decided to walk through the remaining water stops after mile 18, I definitely would have broken the 4 hour mark.  However, it was a little hotter than I expected and my knee started really hurting around mile 17, so I decided then that it didn't matter so much about the time, as long as I made it to the finish eventually.  Really, I did better than I thought considering the amount of walking I did for the last stretch.  The whole marathon was really fun though.  I would definitely do that one again!

Now I'm just going to overload you with pictures from the weekend.  I took a selfie at every mile just to pass the time a little bit and I have to say that it really worked.  This marathon definitely went by the fastest of pretty much any run I've ever done.  Well, except for little 5ks and stuff!  

Here's my Garmin map and a ton of pictures. Enjoy!

Arrival

Ryan and G. at packet pickup

Woo! Got my number and I'm ready to run

Everything is ready for the morning.

Morning selfies before we start

Porta-potty line seflie

Actually waiting for the start now

Mile 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10: This is where I started to get hot

11

12: This is when I realized I needed a bathroom break

13

13.5 and a bathroom break

Back at it at 14

15

16 was sunny

17

18...walking break!

19

20: only 6.2 left

21

22

23: only a 5K left!

24: so easy...so almost done

25. Sunny and a "hill" but I loved it. Also, the hill was nothing compared to what I've run here. More like a little slope

Coming into the finish

YAAAAAASSSS. FINISH LINE! Best photo of the whole thing, I think

26.2 

Awesome medal

Half marathon finisher and our little cheerleader. 

Woooooo! Marathon #3, first solo marathon.