Not exactly what the plan called for

So the last week? It hasn't been exactly what I was thinking it would be running wise.

I haven't run since last Tuesday. Which I would be OK with. Except I've got a half marathon to run on Sunday. Yes Sunday. A few days from now. Eek!

First I bailed on the windy, wet and cold Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. I meant to make up the miles on the treadmill in my parents' basement. But I went back to sleep after making my decision and ended up sleeping too late to get it done before the holiday festivities took over.

Friday was a crazy day. Work. Meeting up with old friends for a happy hour. Some more family stuff.

Starting to feel a little off on Saturday. Slept late. Had to get a few things done before watching the Badgers wrap up a share of the Big Ten championship and (most likely) a trip to the Rose Bowl. No time to run at night due to some plans.

Sunday was set aside for cleaning the apartment, watching the Packers lose and putting up my Christmas tree. I'd normally do that this upcoming weekend. But since I'll be in Las Vegas, that wasn't going to happen.

And Monday? I woke up feeling as though I'd gotten smacked by a truck. Stuffy nose, scratchy throat. Kind of achy and super tired. I felt a little better mid-day and contemplated getting a short run in, but by the time I left work? Feeling just like I did when I woke up. So no run. And repeat for today, except you can add in a headache.

Not the ideal time to get sick a week before race day. And considering I'm already sick I guess I should have just sucked it up and done the cold, wet and windy Turkey Trot. I'm hoping I start to feel better soon. Preferably before I board a plane to fly out to Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon.

And no running since the Santa Scamper last week? I admit, it's got me a bit nervous. Talk about taper. I'm hoping to sneak in two short runs yet this week though. I'm not working Wednesday, so I'm hoping to get in some kind of run. Maybe not too long, just long enough to remind my legs what it feels like to run. I'm hoping to repeat that on Thursday morning before heading off to the airport. Because the next time I'll run? It'll be Sunday morning at the stating line.

It's getting so close!

Three Things Thursday: The Thanksgiving Edition

1. I'm thankful for the family, friends, members of the blogging community and other assorted people that I've come in contact with during my life. Whether it's been the shoulder they've offered me to cry on during the rough patches in life or the support they've given me as I've chased my dreams, it's meant a lot to me. And even those random people who I've crossed paths with a handful of times have played a role in the life I've built. I take away something from every interaction with people I meet. Thank you for helping me become the person I am today.

2. I'm thankful for my health. Sounds kind of cliche, but after going through the scare with The Monster, I don't take my health for granted. And while revisiting the time when The Monster controlled my head isn't something I'd like to do, it taught me things and helped make me a stronger person.

3. I'm thankful for the extra couple of hours of sleep I got this morning. I was supposed to do the 5-mile Turkey Trot. But when my alarm starting buzzing at 6:30 a.m. it was cold, windy and wet. Not ideal conditions. Had it been any other Thanksgiving I would have toughened up and went for the run. But I leave for Las Vegas a week from today and I DO NOT want to get sick. So I opted for bailing on the turkey trot, getting the run done later on the treadmill and some extra sleep.

Santa Scamper Race Report

It's not really a race, more like a "fun run," but I'm pretty sure I ran the fastest mile of my life while I was scampering after Santa last night.

Every year on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Appleton has it's Christmas parade. And before the parade is the Santa Scamper, a one-mile fun run down the parade route past all of the people who are bundled up and waiting for the parade to start and Santa to come down the street.

And the weather Tuesday? It was definitely the kind that the jolly old elf who lives at the North Pole likes: Cold. Windy. And did I mention cold?

The Santa Scamper didn't start until 6 p.m., and even though my Mom had set out our chairs earlier that morning, she still wanted to head down fairly early to get a somewhat decent parking spot. I talked her into 4:30. That was still an hour and a half waiting in the cold to run a mile. And sitting in the 22 degree weather with bone chilling cold, steady, winds was harsh. I admit, at one point I grabbed her keys and went and sat in the car for a bit. What can I say, I didn't have the luxury of wearing my boots and long underwear!

Eventually about 20 minutes before the Santa Scamper my brother, his wife and their kids showed up and we took off for the starting line. We got in a bit of a warm up run when we were still 2 blocks from the starting line and heard what we thought was the announcer telling the runners to get ready. A bit of pre-Scamper "Jump Around" and we were set to run.

I was lined up with my brother next to a man holding a neon yellow sign indicating the 6 minute mile pace. Umm, yeah. Not me. My brother laughed. We stayed put. Turns out it didn't matter since there were a bunch of little kids and walkers I had to dodge during the first block or so.

I kept a pretty decent pace though. Handed out some high fives when I ran past my Mom and The Rugrats. Was booking it as I ran downhill and stayed strong during the final quarter-mile straight away before taking a slight uphill to the finish line.

I crossed the line. Hit stop on my Garmin and glanced down at my time.

8 minutes, 56 seconds.

Huh? There must be something wrong. Maybe it wasn't a full mile. Nope. The distance read 1.0. I just ran a sub-9 minute mile. That's unheard of for me. On a good day I can clock a 9 minute, 30 second mile, but I can't remember ever running a sub-9 minute.

Needless to say, even though I didn't find Santa, I was pretty darn happy with that Santa Scamper result.

An interesting week in terms of miles and weather

It's a holiday week. But that doesn't mean I'm taking a holiday from running. Oh no.

I did an easy 5.2 miles on the treadmill after work tonight. The run felt pretty good. Nothing too special. It's starting tomorrow that things will get interesting.

I was bad and skipped my long run this weekend. But I have the day off of work tomorrow, so my plan is to get up at a reasonable hour and get 10 or 11 miles done by early afternoon. Ideally I'd like to do this outdoors, but it's supposed to be cold. And windy. So it might be done on the treadmill. Or maybe a combination of outdoors and treadmill. We'll see what Mother Nature throws at me.

But I won't be done running once I get those miles in. Tomorrow night is the Santa Scamper, a one-mile fun run down the parade route before the Appleton Christmas Parade. And since it's at night it'll be dark, most likely colder and probably still windy. Yeah, that Dairy Queen Dilly Bar I get at the finish line will be just what I want. More like hot chocolate. And a winter coat.

And Thursday? Well that's the 5-mile Turkey Trot. Which wouldn't be bad. But the weathermen? They're using words like winter storm. And snow. And, oh yeah, cold. Let's just say I think I'm breaking out a pair of older running shoes for this 5-mile jaunt. And the remaining 2 miles I've got to run to make it to 7 for the day? Probably will be done on the treadmill. Inside. Where it's warm.

Add on another 6 miles sometime during the weekend and that's it. I'm crossing my fingers I get all the miles in and survive. Then it's a relatively easy week of tapering before the Las Vegas Rock n Roll half marathon! In just over a week I'll be flying out to the Sin City!

Two thumbs up for runs with friends

My friend Jess said it best. Run dates rock.

I don't get a chance to run with other people very often. And most of the time I'm OK with that. For me running is my me time. My time to de-stress. Not think. Or think about things that need to be thought about. Time to just put one foot in front of the other and lose myself in my music, my thoughts or just my surroundings.

I kind of like being a solitary runner.

But every so often I crave a running partner. A lot of times it's those weekends when I've got a long run staring me in the face and I'm kind of lacking the motivation to lace up my shoes and get my butt out the door. But other times it's just the companionship I'm craving. While it's nice to run alone, sometimes I just want to be able to share the run with a friend. To help distract each other from the miles looming ahead because neither of you is really in the mood to run. Or just to have time to reconnect.

Tonight I had a run date. And it was just what I needed.

After I was done with work I headed over to my friend Jess's house. We've run together before, but hadn't had the chance to do it all summer due to conflicting schedules. After hanging out at Diva Night together last month, we decided a run date was in order.

It was a great run. Four miles in the park along the lake in the dark. We were even greeted by a pair of two huge owls sitting in the tree when we reached the midway point at the end of the point. Let me tell you, those owls were HUGE! And the hooting? Kind of creepy, but very cool at the same time.

We both had our iPods with us, but there was absolutely no need for music since we chatted the entire time, catching up on what's been going in our lives, boy stories, upcoming travel adventures. You name it, we probably talked about it. Well that may not be true. The one topic we didn't touch on? Work. And let me tell you, that was fabulous!

We both agreed the run date rocked. And we'll definitely do it again. Hopefully it won't be 6 months before the next one! What's your thoughts on running with others? Like it? Hate it?

Unintentionally doubling the miles

Hello. My name is Badgergirl and I totally jinxed myself.

Yup. Remember I Thursday when I was super happy about hitting all my runs for the week? Well the long run for the weekend? It didn't happen. Saturday it was cold. And windy. And rainy. And cold. Plus I was way too focused on watching the Badgers clobber Indiana 83-20. And by the way, for a fitness related Badger story go read this Wisconsin State Journal story about the Bucky Badger mascots (two were on duty) who had to do a combined 535 push-ups. It's a good read.

I had intentions of doing the 8 miles on Sunday. But after I did a little bumming with my Mom, I ended up with a somewhat nasty headache and wasn't in the mood to run. So I didn't.

I kind of figured the 8 miles would just go down in the "I should have, but didn't" category. I didn't even think about getting them done tonight after work. In fact when I went over to the YMCA, I only intended on doing 4 miles - just like the training plan called for.

But then I started running. And it felt good. I didn't really push the pace, just kept it at a nice steady speed. And all of a sudden I'd been on the treadmill for 42 minutes, hadn't taken a break and had covered 4.1 miles. And I still felt good.

So instead of wiping down the machine and heading home, I started it back up. Set the timer for another 42 minutes. And ran. The only pain I felt was on my legs which were screaming at me for not using any Body Glide. Oops. Guess I should take that as a hint to slather myself in Body Glide even if I'm only planning on doing a short run.

Because tonight's 4-miler? It turned into 8 miles. It felt good. And it kicks off what will be a crazy, intense week for me running wise. My last long run (11 miles) before taper kicks in for Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas. Which is in 20 days! So close. So excited!

In sum, the run got done tonight. And tomorrow? I rest. And maybe even catch up on some blogs!

Three Things Thursday

1. I don't want to jinx myself, but I've hit every run on my training schedule this week. All that's left is the 8-miler this weekend. I can't think of the last time that's happened. Probably never. And the runs this week? They've felt good. And knock on wood, that crazy leg pain I was feeling Monday? It hasn't returned.

2. Las Vegas is getting close. It really hit home today when I was sitting in a planning meeting for work. We were talking about budgets and what stories needed to be written and when deadlines are. Let's just say I've got A LOT to do before I take off for my Las Vegas vacation on Dec. 1! Eek!


3. I was held captive by the city's Christmas holiday parade tonight. I got out of work a little bit later than usual but with 7 miles on the schedule, I figured I'd be at the YMCA long enough for the parade to go through and the streets to open up to traffic. Nope. I ended up having to take a really roundabout way to get home. Going super far north just so I could cut over a few streets to turn south. And by the time I got back to where my office was (and the parade mess), I was hitting all of the post-parade traffic. Ugh. It took me almost 25 minutes to get home. On a normal night? It's a 7 minute trip.

Thanks for the input!

Thanks for the advice on the IT band issues guys.

I admit. Me and any kind of strength training? We don't get along very well. I always have good intentions, but never seem to follow through. I think I might look into the fitness class options offered at my YMCA and see if I can find some kind of class that will help me out. Or just suck it up and stop avoiding the weights section at the gym. And yes, my foam roller and I have become friends the last few nights.

On a positive note the leg isn't hurting today. I don't know. Maybe I just tweaked something during Sunday's 10-miler. Or maybe I was just stiff. Or maybe my legs forgot what it felt like to run double digit miles. Who knows. There's a short 3-miler on the schedule tomorrow, so I'll see how it feels. And maybe venture into the land of weights after.

I do know that I followed through with my planned rest day today and enjoyed being lazy. I was done with work early, hit up the grocery store and made a decent dinner. One that provided me with leftovers! Afterwards I crashed in my recliner and lost myself in a book.

Now it's time to pack a gym bag and crawl into bed for the night.