Construction Season

 

 

 

While we enjoyed our holiday time with family we got a sudden taste of winter with temperatures in the teens most mornings. 

 

 

The fridge temps did make for some beautiful scenery but they did not keep me from getting out and running with my sister.  Having a little company during a long run can help you forget how big a mistake it was to be a cheapskate and not buy the more expensive tights. 

 

 

Even once the sun was up I was glad I had on every piece of running gear I had brought with me.  And once the runs were done I enjoyed having a burning pellet stove to do all my cross training and stretching in front of. 

 

Four layers off and one to go, I wasn't too frozen to miss out on one exciting running event over the holiday break.  The beginning of 2014 race registration...

 

 

...and I'm in!  The road back to MMT 100 is under construction.  I think it's going to be a rocky, rooty, steep and challenging one.  So a little bit of suffering in the cold will only toughen me up.  Who knows with all the cold hilly running we are doing, my sister might just be ready to do some pacing on the trails by May.

A Dream Come True

My love for running started a long time ago.  But for the majority of my running life I have been the only one running.  I was either to fast or too slow. 

 

I can run lots of paces from snail to speedy...

 

My routes were too far in the country,

 

who wouldn't want to run in wide open places?!?!...

 

too early in the morning, too long,

 

 

I run 50 milers after all...

 

too short, too hilly, too technical for those who lived close enough to me to join in BUT that has finally changed.

 

My "big" and much littler sister has discovered a real gift and love of running.

This morning we shared a chilly but chat-filled 10 mile run through Heaven as she ticked another set of goals off her already lengthy list of running accomplishment.  Knowing all the gifts that running has given me, I couldn't be more proud and happier for all she has done for herself.  And I'm giddy with the thought of what we may do together in the days to come.  I look forward to the day that I'm chasing her to a finish line...and with her quickly growing strength and speed, that day may come very soon.

 

Until then I'll enjoy brainwashing her to leave the country road behind and head into the woods, up a mountain and through the leaves.  I've got time, MMT isn't until May.  I'm thinking I've got another pacer to help push me to that finish line...then I can help her see her first finish line in return.

 

 



CFEs, Rural Life and a Perfect Moment

 

It started as an off run.  You know that feeling when you legs and your mind just don't seem to speak each other's language.  My back was sore, my hamstrings tight and my mind just wasn't into it.  But there are many days when my runs are a struggle to get started and end up being blissfully sweet in the end.  So I pushed on feeling like a slug.

 

 

 As I pushed up the first long steep hill it started.  A feeling most every runner has felt, often at the most inopportune times.  We try to ignore it but sooner or later we are all reduced by that stomach sickening feeling of needing to find a bathroom...now.

 

 

My run continued up that hill and the next and the next but finally at the end of a long decline I made a sharp right turn into the corn field to cop a squat.  A corn field emergency.  They may not be very glamorous but growing up a farm kid they just a part of the way we lived.  Outside.

 

 

 

It was much easier to duck among the corn stalks than run into the house when we were in the midst of the hours spent outside playing anything and everything with nothing.  I want that simple life mentality for my kids too.  They have been getting big doses of that these past weeks.  Playing in the corn fields, spending our days outside, visiting with family that includes other beyond the family we created and giving out time to help our community.  It makes me giddy to see my children enjoying the same things I enjoyed as a child.  This is the life I wish we could live every single day. 

 

 

 As I sit outside in my backyard watching LBM run barefoot between excitedly watching the farmer teet the hay and running through the rows of corn, I'm afraid to move.  As if some how I will disturb the perfection in this moment.  So for now I'll sit here in my still sweaty running clothes watching my children live a perfect childhood day.



I Finally Changed My Shirt

If you follow me on FaceBook, Twitter and instagram - and why wouldn't you - you have probably wondered why did the past week and a half I have only been seen in one pink stripped tank top.  I did try running in a cotton tank one day and I still have the chafe marks to prove it.

Well I'm here today much to those around me when I run to say I finally changed my shirt.

It was finally cool enough to wear my Virginia Happy Trail Runners Club blue shirt.  Thanks goodness because those were the only two running shirts I packed. 

 

 

Lesson learned:  Don't try to under pack when it comes to running clothes!

Things My Legs Say

Today is day #859 of my running streak.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of  7285.4 miles

come on did you really think I would not know my mileage?

and it's day 3 of doing double runs and speed work.

 

My double days have consisted of an 7 - 9 mile run behind the jogger with about 2 miles on gravel/dirt trails followed by an afternoon speed run of 3.5 - 4 ish miles with hills.

 

I am toast. 

 

When I started my second run today I was mentally bargaining with my legs from the very first step.  I conceded that the first mile might be a little slower but then I demanded that they pick it up. 

 

Since this blog is PG, I'll edit their response but it had a lot to do with kissing and a bit to do with my butt.  I got 3.5 progressive miles done in 30:46 but it may not have been pretty.

 

I wonder what my legs will say when they find out we have a long trail run to do tomorrow?

Capri Season

 

I wore capri tights for the first time this season.  It is love again.  How easily I forgot the wonderful feeling of snug capris.  Why is it that I can forget their sleek feel that makes me feel oh-so-runnerish.  Even if I look a little more oh-so-stuffed-into-themish. 
But come on.  My legs rub.  There I said. 
I'm still trying to get this I-don't-have-a-big-girl-job-so-I-can-eat-anytime-I-want weight off.  It's harder as the years go by.  But even before the extra pounds joined the party, my legs rubbed together when I ran.  Somehow outside of ultra length events I got away with few issues in that areas until the past year.   

But none of that mattered yesterday because I had on my capris.  That extra me was a problem but not with a wonderful pair of capri tights.  I lucked into a solo run and was able to actually pick up my pace.  It was the most creative run I've had in ages.  I drafted blog posts and mentally wrote a three volume novel that is sure to be a best seller.  If I had more time who knows what I could have done!


So even though today will be jogger run which will probably be at a not as comfortable slower pace, I won't quickly forget that wonderful feeling of yesterday's run.  And given what day it was, I think that there must have been something special about how it all worked out. 

Thursday Things I've Seen Along My Way

Stop watching your watch.

 

 

After running for quite a few years you might think that I am used to seeing all the normal sites.  But I hope I never lose the enjoyment of seeing all those little things that can make the difference in a training run.  We all know that no every run - well, at least once you have children - can happen in the middle of a forested Eden.  Many training runs have to happen along a road.  Sometimes a road that has more traffic then a Zen place would allow.  But even on those runs when the noise is not of breezes and cows mooing and the sights are maybe a little harder to see, I hope that you can take the time to enjoy those small things that cross you path or rather you cross theirs.

 

In case you are finding it hard to notice them here are just a few. 

 

 

Have you been noticing more than just your pace and heart rate?

I challenge you to find at least one amazing thing in nature on every run you take. 

Share your findings here by linking up on Thursdays Things.