Friday Five - 11/29

Happy Black Friday!!  And a belated Happy Thanksgiving!  Something I've seen on a lot of blogs is a Friday favorite/week round-up post and I decided to join in on the fun!  There's all sorts of ways I've seen it done, but I'm going to try to pick some categories that I most often think about sharing.  And I'll be doing a link-up with Clare's blog (Fitting It All In) - she has been doing these Friday posts forever and are always my favorite posts of the week to read!

Five Tweets: 

There were lots of good tweets this week (especially about the UD basketball games), but here are my favorites!

*Dayton upsets Gonzaga, classic mix-up.  Apparently they know about the annual Dayton 2 Daytona trip!  And even though I didn't stay up late for the game, it was fun to wake up to all the exciting tweets and Facebook posts.

Those clever marketers!

The Little Drummer Boy is my favorite Christmas song!

Just tweeting with Bart Yasso, Chief Running Officer of Runner's World!  He's just as funny in person too.  The snow he was talking about was the whopping 1/2 inch we got earlier this week.

Classic Toy Story.

Five Articles:

New College Running Group Will Offer Prize Money
Be Careful What You Tweet, Fox News Is Watching!  --> And so am I...see above tweets.
Bernard Lagat and Nick Willis Take On Speedgolf  --> Sounds like a fun sport.
It's Thanksgiving So We Asked Some Brits To Label The US States  --> Hilarious.
8 Tips You Need To Know Before You Start Weight Training


Five Books I Want to Read:

The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.

The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Restaurant Man


Five Things on my Christmas List (since it's Black Friday):

Garmin Forerunner 220 - It's time I became a real runner and got a Garmin.

Mattress topper - To make my bed even comfier than it already is.  So practical.

Race registration for the Phoenix Half Marathon - I already booked my flight but haven't registered yet.  Races are expensive!

Nike Flyknit Free shoes - They are sweet and so light.  I've never ran in "minimalist" shoes, but I figure the winter on the treadmill would be a great time to give them a try.

Really warm running spandex - I only have one pair of really warm spandex.  The rest I have are a lot thinner.

I have a few other things on the list too...and yes, some non-running related things, but those are all more general.


Have an idea for a Friday Five category?  I'll try to always share 5 tweets and 5 articles, but then I'll probably pick another 1 or 2 random categories each week based on the time of year or what I have to share!

Have you read any of those books?  Thoughts on them?

What is on your Christmas list? 

Just What I Needed

Here we are on Wednesday.  I gave you my "plan" on Monday that wasn't a specific day-by-day plan, but included the runs I want to get in a weekly basis - 5 total and I forgot to include that I should also have 1 day of cross training.  I want to go back to some spinning classes soon!  Or even just elliptical or bike by myself with my Kindle.

I didn't run on Monday, so that will count as my 1 rest day.  Looks like I have a busy week of working out ahead!  Luckily I have turkey trots scheduled tomorrow and Saturday so those will get my butt out the door.

Last night, I did a 5 mile run and it was just what I needed because I had not run since last Tuesday.  The past week seemed to be a kind of down week for me and was very hard to get motivated to run with the cold temperatures and the fact that I felt so mentally terrible during that run last Tuesday.

But last night I knew I had to do it.  I couldn't let it get to be more than a week without running.  I was still doing my weights, so I had some physical activity and was feeling sore from that, but still not the same as running.  And to be honest, a good part of my motivation came from knowing I was going out to a bar and going to be drinking beers and eating greasy bar food later in the evening.

(Photo from Pinterest)

So I doubled up on socks, put on my warmest spandex, and out I went.  I was very cold during my first mile.  My poor little nose was hurting and I may have considered making it a super short run.  But I kept going and actually warmed up quite well.  Maybe because I naturally picked up the pace when I was about a mile in and had to run through the dark park.

I got to the lake path and it was wide open as can be.  In the mile I was on the path, I probably only passed 3 other people going the opposite direction.

I came up to a part where I knew the path wouldn't be lit well, so I decided to go to the city streets from there.

I didn't bring a watch, but mapped out the run to 5 miles.  As I was running I tried to guesstimate how far it would be based on what I knew and how many songs I listened to for a rough time estimate.  I was feeling strong mentally, I think because I was glad I forced myself to get out and run, I wasn't nearly as cold as I thought I'd be, and I was excited to be going out later in the evening for the Dayton Flyers basketball game.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

What is something out of the ordinary that motivates you to run?

My Current Half Marathon "Plan"

I can't really do a running recap of last week because I only ran one day - 6.2 miles on Tuesday.  There are 8 weeks until the Phoenix Half Marathon so I'm not overly concerned, but I know that now is the time to get going.

I made up a plan for myself, but we all know how I am terrible at actually following plans, so I came up with a new idea.  It won't matter what day I get these workouts in, as long as I get them in.  Actually, it's not that new of an idea because I kind of did that during Chicago Marathon training too, doing long runs during the week after work and doing two 20 miles runs within 6 days of each other, and doing more speed workouts whenever Mac was available.

For the next 8 weeks I want to make sure I get in 5 runs a week, broken out like this:

1 normal (~8 minute pace) run of 5-7 miles

1 normal (~8 minute pace) run of 7-9 miles

1 long run of 10-15 miles

1 tempo (~7:15 pace) run of 5-8 miles

1 speed workout or tempo run

This would give me at least 30 miles a week, hopefully closer to 40.  I have a few good speed/tempo workout options I found that are geared more specifically to training for a half marathon.  I'll plan to share those with you this week.

I think this plan will work for me for a few reasons:

• I never really know how I'll be feeling each day on the treadmill so if one day I'm feeling awesome, I'll just go with it and do a tempo run or higher mileage.  And on another day if I feel like crap/am super unmotivated, I will first try to put on my very best pump-up songs, but if that doesn't work, I'll just have it be a normal day.  I'll just need to hope that I'm feeling great 2 days a week...or that we have a really mild winter so I can go outside.
• The holidays are a busy time with lots of parties and events on weekends and other nights during the week, so I'll just fit in runs when I can.

(photo from Pinterest)

This weekend I had the opportunity to meet a new blog friend in person!  Katie from Peace, Love, & Oats is a healthy living blogger who lives in Chicago.  My cousin Erin reads Katie's blog regularly, recognized her out at lunch one day and told me I should get in contact with her.  I emailed Katie and we set up a meeting at Starbucks yesterday where we chatted and enjoyed hot drinks on such a cold day!  Katie and I have a ton in common and she is running the Phoenix Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon also!  I'm looking forward to joining the Chicago Healthy Living Bloggers group for their next book club meeting in a few weeks  :)

And that means I need to get started on reading the book!  And it's perfect timing since I finished Caught this weekend.  The book for this month is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

 (photo from Goodreads)

Katie said she just finished it and really liked it.  Then, as I was doing some blog reading this morning, I saw that Meghann from Meals and Miles and her book club read it this past month and she also liked it a lot.  I suppose this will be the perfect week to start a new book while I have a few days off work!  I just started actively using the Goodreads website and app because I want to start reading a lot more.  It's a lot of fun to see what books my friends have read and what they want to read and to keep track of my own books.

This week shouldn't be too hard to get my runs in.  I'll be running with my friend Dave tomorrow evening after work, the Edison Park Turkey Trot 5k with Catherine on Thanksgiving, and the Schaumburg Half Marathon Turkey Trot on Saturday.  Then I'll just have to fill in a few other runs and I'll be good to go!  Easier said than done of course though.  I hope to come back to you tomorrow with a great run to talk about...or any run to talk about at this point, doesn't even have to be great.

Do you have a turkey trot on the schedule this week?

What is your favorite Starbucks drink?  I go with the white chocolate mocha usually, but right now it's all about the Gingerbread Lattes.  I know I said in my "No Spend November" post that I was going to try to cut out the Starbucks, but really that is just for during the workweek when I can easily get free coffee at work.

Planking Tips & Blog Designing

I've been struggling with some major motivation issues lately - as I'm sure you tell by reading my posts over the last few weeks.  There has been pretty minimal amounts of running happening, but I have been keeping up with the weight lifting, so that's good.  So here's another post on a new strength training thing I'm going to do in addition to my regular arm weight circuits I've been doing.

Friday evening, I started something I'm going to do every other day - planking.  I've done planks on and off but really just like a total of maybe 2 or 3 minutes each time - both regular and side planks.  But I decided to start a new type of plank workout.

I set the timer on my phone for 10 minutes.  I started the timer as I started a plank.  I held the plank for as long as I could, and then when I stopped, I stopped the timer.  I took a short break, then went into another plank and re-started the clock.  I did this until I made it all the way down to 3 minutes remaining, so for a total of 7 minutes.  I think each of my planks ended up being anywhere from 0:50 to 1:10.  I was ALMOST done with the book I was reading (Caught) so I set up to continue reading while I was planking.  I think that helped.

My abs were sore through today, but I knew I should do it again.  Tonight, I set the timer for 7 minutes.  I think I'll try to master the 7 minute length for a week or 2 and then try to increase by a minute each week, doing this every other night.  Actually maybe I should try to do it every night since I'm usually just hanging out watching TV or reading on weeknights anyways.

Currently, I don't have a plan like this for side planks, but I think I'll also try to work those in as well.  Here's the goals:

• Increase to 10 minutes total by the end of the year
• Decrease the total number of planks I do in the total time (lower number of planks = longer planks)

 

And here's a few planking tips:

• BREATHE.  I kept forgetting to breathe while planking.
• Flex.  It's already a hard ab workout, but if you also try to flex/suck in while doing it, it makes it even harder.
• Stay straight.  After awhile, it's harder to maintain good form, but try to think of yourself as straight as possible as if a wood plank had to lay flat on top of you..even if you have a big booty.
• Use a yoga mat.  Otherwise you will bruise your elbows and probably knees when you bring them down and rest on them during the break periods.  Maybe even put a folded t-shirt down where your elbows go for a little extra padding.
• Don't watch the time.  Read something or listen to music or a TV show without watching the time.  It would be hard to actually watch a show though because it would hurt your neck; you should keep your head looking down.

 
Alright, so let's all have 6-packs by the summer!  No waiting til April to get into "bikini shape."  Besides, I want to plan a tropical vacation for around March. 

As you've probably noticed, I've been in the process of making a lot of design changes to my blog.  When I first started it, my layout and features were super rudimentary.  I started the blog pretty much with the intention to share with my family and close friends to hold me accountable for my Chicago Marathon training.  But now that I've been delving further into the blogosphere and connecting with other bloggers, etc. I needed to redesign to make it prettier :)  Please let me know if you have any suggestions and I'm sorry if my sidebars keep changing up a little each time you've visited over the past week or so.

And a Katy Perry update: She just opened the AMAs with a performance of Unconditionally and it was wonderful...but I like basically everything she does, so obviously I'm going to think that.   Although her album now is much different than her previous albums, at least it is not a terrible difference in the way that Miley Cyrus went from the awesomeness that is Party in the USA to whatever it is that she is now.   Also, I'm having a great time tweeting things about the AMAs right now, so you should follow me @CSmith_Run.  I'm usually not all up on the celeb stuff (except Katy Perry), but this is fun.

Do you do planks regularly? Or occasionally?

Any design suggestions for my blog??  CSmith learn HTML.

Where the Heart Is

I was really bored when I ran Tuesday night.  So much so that I cut my run about a mile short, so it ended up at 6.2 miles.  I didn't bring a watch, so I'm not sure on the pace.

I love running (obviously), but running is just plain boring sometimes.  Actually, every cardio exercise is for the most part if you're doing it alone.  I had my music, but it just wasn't enough for me that night.

What are you supposed to think about?  I have things that I think about sometimes, but I went through some of those options and nothing seemed worthy of my thoughts on this particular night I guess.  I know you're not SUPPOSED to think about any one thing - everyone thinks about different things all the time.  And some people don't even need to think at all while they run; they just get lost in their music and on their run.  But I was running on city streets at night so I couldn't blast my music TOO loud and couldn't just stop thinking or get too completely wrapped up in my thoughts because trust me, that's happened before and then I tend to forget to check whether the light is red or green.

I think my problem right now is that I don't know where my heart is.  I'm not completely in love with being a tax accountant.  I'm still single while 95% of my friends or married, engaged, or might as well be.  Post-marathon depression is a real thing.  I spent so much time training for and thinking about that one event on that one day and then it's over.  So now that is one less thing to put my heart into.  Sure, I can (and did) pick a new race to train for, but I also don't want to get too concerned over it and worked up when I don't hit my goal paces or distances in training.  I know race visualization, etc. is good and I still do it, but I thought about that all too much while training for the Chicago Marathon.

I daydream about non-running things as well, just about life and the future and fun events coming up, but I also don't like to do that too much.  I used to think about all sorts of things all the time, and plan things out in my head, and come up with grand ideas.  And then those things rarely happen or come true.  So I'm trying to steer away from that and live in the present.

On the treadmill, I try to make up stories about the other people I see running on the treadmills.  I try to pick out someone with a shirt that tells me something about them, like where they went to school or a shirt from a certain event.  And then I make up a story about them.  When I am on the treadmill at my Xsport gym, I'm usually right next to one of the group class studios that has big windows, so I can see in and watch what they are doing.  One of the classes is some type of cardio dance class and it's funny to watch them while my music is playing in my headphones because their moves obviously don't match up to my music.

When I'm outside, my stories are a little more.....scary. As I've mentioned before, I was SVU a little too much to feel safe running outside alone in the dark.  I try to stop those thoughts quickly though, while still being cautious of course.  Another reason I can't have my music on too loud.

But enough of that down talk, here's a few fun things I did the past few days:

Tried ENERGYbit for the first time!

ENERGYbit is a new type of energy source/fuel for runners, other athletes, and even people who just need an extra bit of energy or nutrients.  I used them right before my Tuesday night run and I'm going to try them again during tomorrow's long run.  Then I'll have a full review & a GIVEAWAY!!

Saw Wicked!

Mom has been wanting to see a show for awhile, so we finally decided on and went to see Wicked.  I thought it was good and Glinda was very funny, but it was also a little too long.  That could just be because it was a Wednesday night and ran past my bedtime.

We also had a really good dinner at Petterino's before the show!  We each got a fru fru drink - Sparking French Martini, Blood Orange Margarita, and Mai Tai.  My meal was really good - roasted garlic whitefish with cauliflower, caesar salad, and of course, the unlimited bread and butter.  I have a problem resisting hot bread.

What do you think about most often while running?

What do you use to fuel your workouts?

What is your favorite Musical?  Mine is Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Quality Miles, Not Quantity

I've been slacking on running.  But improving on weight lifting!  I'm gonna be soooo strong.  And that is extremely sarcastic.  But I do want to have a much stronger core and upper body for the purpose of running faster.  I am pretty sure I slouch when I run and that is not good.  I did my weights 2 days last week and did them yesterday and plan to again on Wednesday and Friday.

My workouts last week:

Monday - weights

Tuesday - REST

Wednesday - weights

Thursday - REST

Friday -24 minute run in Denver

Saturday -4 hour hike

Sunday -  59 minute trail run

Total Mileage =17 miles

So that obviously wasn't as much running as I'd like.  I can't even blame it on the travel because the running I did do was while I was in Denver.  At least I can feel confident that it was quality training.  The combination of the altitude and the hills and terrain will whip you into shape fast! Quality of miles is more important than quantity of miles for half marathons I think. Full marathons might be the opposite.

 

My goal for last week was 30 miles.  And like usual, I came up short.  There are still 9 weeks left until the Phoenix Half Marathon.  I just need to learn how to motivate myself.  I haven't gotten up early to run before work on a weekday since at least June.  And it's so much harder to after work now that it's dark so early and it's so cold.  But I say that all the time.  Time to suck it up and deal with either the cold/darkness or the treadmill.

I'm getting better at taking pictures at least.  Maybe that was just because I was on vacation though.  I can do a sweet side braid in my hair.  Positive self talk!  I hope it works because I need to head out the door on my run now  :)

Here's what's hot in Chicago right now:

Christmas 24/7 on the radio!!  It's the most wonderful time of the year! (but not for running) Remember when I listened to Christmas music in August??

Also speaking of music, I'm desperately waiting for Katy Perry to announce her US tour dates.  She made it seem like she would do so yesterday, but only announced her UK dates. Up until I went to the Bon Jovi concert with Christina a few weeks ago, I had only ever been to country concerts but I would LOVE to see Katy Perry.

How do you manage negative thoughts if you don't meet your training goals?

Do you save Christmas music for after Thanksgiving or are you already listening?

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Denver - Hot Chocolate, Hot Tub, Cold Hike, Cold Beer

I am back down to a normal elevation.  Get ready for a lot of pictures from Denver!

Friday evening we went downtown to explore 16th street, which is an outdoor pedestrian mall, blocked off to all traffic except free buses and pedicabs.  Chicago would be a much greater place if Michigan Ave was for solely for pedestrians and FREE buses.  We went in a few cliche souvenir shops, but unfortunately did not buy anything.

We had dinner reservations at a Mexican restaurant called Rio Grande, known for their margaritas.  Anne and I got frozen mixed strawberry and mango - on the receipt that comes up as "Manberry."

For my meal, I had tequila shrimp tacos, which were good, but a little too spicy for me.  We were super tired and had big plans for the rest of the weekend, so we called it a night after 2 margaritas and A LOT of chips and salsa.

First up for Saturday was the Celestial Seasonings tea factory.  We didn't take the tour, but we took advantage of all the free tea samples.  I think I tried 4 different kinds, and then we bought a few boxes from the gift shop.

The main event on Saturday though was our hike!!

Anne and I met up with her friend Darja (who also went to UD!) and set out to climb Bear Peak in Boulder.  The beginning was a little bit of both up and down as we made our way up and around the mountain.

Then it started to get steeper the further we got and was more like climbing than just hiking along a trail.  It also got a lot colder the higher we went!  At one point we made quick conversation with a couple on their way down and they warned us of the cold and wind that we would be approaching soon.  I didn't really believe that it could be such a drastic change in conditions, but it was!  I couldn't take any more pictures because my fingers were numb.  But 2.5 hours after starting, we finally made it to the top!

We quickly turned to head back down since it was so cold up there.  One of my favorite signs along the route warned hikers about bears and mountain lions and one tip said, "If attacked, fight back."

The return trip only took 1.5 hours, which was good since we were all a little cold by this point and darkness was approaching.  We headed to a pizza place in Boulder and then to a coffee shop for a toasty cup of hot chocolate.

 

Despite being so cold, we talked an awful lot about ice cream and made a fro yo trip in the evening.  But before the fro yo, we sat in the hot tub outside for awhile, which was perfect on a cold night, until it started raining a little.

My flight home was not until Sunday evening (luckily, or else I probably wouldn't have made it back to Chicago until super late due to the bad storms yesterday), which meant we had another full day of activity on the schedule.

First up was a trail run!  Anne, her friend Jodie, and I set out on our run and I really didn't know what to expect or how far we were going to g.

It was still hard to breathe in the higher altitude and after just a little while I was really hurting going up, up, up.  But they were powering through so I just followed along!  We made it to the top in about 35 minutes, and then back downhill (not the same way, it was a loop), for a total time of 59 minutes.  It was super hard, but surprisingly went by really fast.  Running for an hour here in Chicago seems like forever, probably because I am usually alone and bored, and Anne said it goeso by faster when you're concentrating on where to put your foot next, going up or down hill, making sure you don't fall, etc.  I wish I could do runs like this all the time, but I sure am sore today!

To re-fuel after the run, we went to a restaurant in Golden, CO that had an awesome salad and pizza buffet.  I had to take a picture of my salad (one of them, you can't have just one when it's a buffet), because it had the very secret ingredient that makes all salads a million times better.

GOLDFISH!!  There's also some pepperoni in there, I wasn't a huge fan of that.  Save the pepperoni for the pizza.  I think the only other place that has had goldfish at a salad bar has been my beloved Pennellwood.

After salad and pizza, it was time for beer!  (Actually, Justin and I each had a beer with lunch too.)  We headed to the Coors Brewery and learned all sorts of great stuff about how the beer was made.  Adolf Coors started the brewery when he was 26 years old...makes me think I need to do something more meaningful/awesome with my life.

The end of the tour meant it was time for sampling.  I had a Blue Moon and a Colorado Native.  Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy.  I learned what hops are, not that I needed to go to a brewery to do so in our age of Wikipedia.  Anne and Justin had been on this tour multiple times, so I'm glad they were willing to go again with me!

I would like to go back to Denver soon, but I'll at least wait until winter is over because now they are going to start getting snow!  I do not like winter.

What is your favorite type of margarita?  Favorite type of beer? 

How long was your longest hike?

Running in Denver is Hard

Greetings from Denver!  First of all, a few thoughts on flying:

The plane I was on seemed brand new and very futuristic so that was kind of cool.  And then a lot of what the flight attendants used to say was a recording and I didn't like that.  I know a lot of airlines have switched over to safety videos and I've seen those before, but this was even more than that.  I don't think I ever heard them say anything.  Maybe that's a good thing  to cut out the amount of work they need to do so they can focus on customer service, but if I was a flight attendant, I think talking to people via microphone would be the best part of my job.  This is why I need to learn to be a fitness instructor, so I can command a large group of people while talking over a microphone.

When my mom and I went shopping a few weekends ago, we got a free tote bag from Victoria's Secret for spending over $75.  I used the bag for the first time last night as my carry-on.

I really love glitter and this bag really sparkles.  However, as most glitter-haters know, glitter gets EVERYWHERE.  By the end of my journey, I had little sparkles all over me.  As we were waiting to de-plane, the woman behind me said "I really like the sparkles on your jacket" to which I replied, "Thanks, but the sparkles are actually from the bag."  But, it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes I found on Pinterest:

I asked around for some book recommendations and settled on Caught by Harlan Coben.  I'm 33% of the way through it (thanks, Kindle) and I really like it so far!  It's a mystery and I just want to know what happens!

Anne is at work right now so I'm relaxing in a Starbucks for a few hours and going to keep on chugging through it.

This morning I went for a run on a trail near where Anne lives.  I wasn't sure where the trail would lead or how far I would go, but it turned out to be a nice, scenic run.

No views like that in Chicago.  I ran for a total of 24 minutes, not sure on distance but I'll go with about 3 miles.  I think it was hard for a few reasons:

1) Altitude!  It was so hard for my lungs to adjust and to breathe.

2) Hills!  We don't have hills in Chicago and the first half was pretty much just up, so those first 12 minutes were hard between the altitude adjustment and the hills.  But then the 2nd half was downhill and much more relaxed.

3) Tired legs!  All those squats and lunges I've been doing are really fatiguing my legs.  I think I'm going to cut those down and continue to focus more on my arm and core body strength.

 

I thought my shadow looked cool because my legs looked so long.  The weather was perfect too!  Shorts and a long-sleeve top and probably could've easily done a short-sleeve top instead.  Time to get back to my book!  Happy Friday!

Do you like flying?

Any good book recommendations?

How do you feel about high-altitude running?

I Should Put My Crafts on Pinterest

I probably really shouldn't put them on Pinterest...they aren't anything super creative.  But I wanted to share a few things I've been working on over the past week or so.  Some are running related, but a few non-running related projects too, just for good measure.

Race medal display contraption - This was pretty easy to put together thanks to Ikea, although I'm not sure it's set in the wall as good as I'd like it to be.  This is where I'd like to officially complain about the fact that I don't have a boyfriend to do it for me, but hopefully it's nailed in to the wall good enough.  I don't want to keep adding more bling and have it come crashing down one night while I sleep.  But just to add, I hung my own curtains when we moved in over a year ago and that hasn't fallen yet!  Right now I just have 3 medals from my most recent races, so I'll have to get my others from my parents' house.

Picture frames - Three of my best friends got married over the past year and a half and I had a really good picture with each of them on their wedding day, so I wanted to put those 3 pictures in frame and finally got around to doing that.  I also printed some new pictures for the frames I currently have in my bedroom.

I couldn't get a picture without the reflection of my iPad in the glass.

Fake flowers -  My room is very girly and filled with fake flowers.  Fake flowers are awesome because they never die and they are cheap.  I got the vases at Ikea about a year ago with some fake flowers, but I just added more to the vases this week.

That cute little lantern was a previous Ikea purchase.  And the jar with marbles was a project I did with Katie this summer.  My crafts obviously aren't very advanced - putting fake flowers in a vase, putting marbles in a jar, putting a candle in a lantern.  They are all cheap and look good though.  That little decorative plate type thing to the left is also from Joann Fabrics and is a nice little dish for my hair accessories.  And while we're at it, the Kleenex are from Walgreens.  Just a plug to get my mom's stock up.

Also on display is one of my favorite cards I received from my friend Brigitte.  It says, "When I'm President, I'm gonna settle all disputes with a dance-off" and she informed me that I would be her dancing VP.

A body pillow - We already had a body pillow at my parents' house, but I wanted to cover it in fabric that would match my bedroom in my apartment.  Now it's pretty and purple and comfy.  And, as a full disclaimer, I actually didn't have any part in making this pillow cover at all actually.  I simply picked the fabric and then my mom did the real work.  I am not good at sewing.

Marathon scrapbook display frame - I did this for my first marathon, and decided to do it for the Chicago Marathon (this year's)...now I guess I should make one for the 2011 Chicago Marathon too just to be fair, even though that one wasn't anything special.

Jewelry/scarf holder - I haven't done this yet because I left the other curtain rod at home on accident, but it's essentially going to be the same as the medal holder, except for real jewelry and scarves.

Hopefully I'll make some more crafts this holiday season!  Woohoo for Pinterest!

No run for me yesterday, but I did do my weight lifting at lunchtime!  And unfortunately no workout of any kind on the agenda for today because I'm flying to Denver tonight to visit my friend Anne!!  I haven't seen her since college, so I am super super excited  :)  We have lots of fun adventures planned!

Have you done any good crafts lately?

Real or fake flowers?

How do you display your medals or race bibs?

Treadmill Motivation & Geese

Monday I did half of a progression run.  I don't know why.  I was on the treadmill and 3 miles in it came time to increase the pace, but stopping seemed like a better option.  I was sweating quite a bit and working hard at it, but as I walked home from the gym, I felt like I wasn't even tired.  Maybe that's a good thing, but then again it was only 3 miles so it shouldn't feel hard to me.

I did the first mile in close to 9 minutes, then the next 2 at 7:30 and 7:19, respectively.  I was trying to take it a mile at a time, but wasn't having it I guess.  I wasn't in a bad mood or anything, I was just super bored and yes, it was hard, even though I ran 18 miles of the marathon at 7:30 pace and plan to run a half marathon even faster than that.  Actually, Sara Hall, a professional track athlete, tweeted this a few days ago:

It really is true.  A 7:30 pace on a normal day feels like I'm really working, but during the marathon, it felt so easy to maintain for a long time.  And outside, I feel like I could run like 5 times as long without nearly as much problem as on the treadmill.  Last week I did the  same progression run I was aiming for this Monday, but made it through the whole 6 miles.

I don't know why one day can be fine and I can get through it without as much difficulty and then another day all I want to do is stop.  And the problem with the treadmill is that you can just stop running at any time.  You can't do that outside.  You can't go out for a 6 mile run and get 3 miles away and decide you're done, because you still have to get back home.

There's nothing left to do though except get over it and focus on the next run.  At least I had 2 miles at a faster pace than my standard 8 minute.  Gotta work in that pace variety!

Yesterday, I decided to take a slightly longer lunch break and go for a run outside.  It was very chilly, but I bundled up and wore my new hat.  I didn't bring a watch, but mapped out the run to about 5 miles.  The first and last half mile were super slow because of traffic lights and pedestrians, but once I got to the lakefront, it was smooth sailing (aka running...all the boats are gone from the harbors!)

I ran south on the path to the museums and Soldier Field and then headed back north the same way.  It was very nice and peaceful compared to my runs on the lakefront this summer.  In the summer, the path is crowded not only with runners, but also bikers and I'm still afraid I'm going to get hit by one again.  But running in the middle of the workday in the chilly weather means very little people outside!  But as I've said before, I watch too many episodes of SVU to feel safe running out there by myself, with few people around, next to a lake.

But I wasn't just worried about human predators.  There were so many geese!  If one of those things came charging at me squawking with its beak out, I'd have no choice but to go dive in the lake.  I wish I took a picture of the geese.  Next time I promise I will.  I need to get better about taking pictures!  But I also don't want to stop TOO much during a run for pictures.  Oh well, all about balance.

How do you motivate yourself to keep going on the treadmill when it's so easy to stop?

Have you ever been threatened by geese or other animals on a run?

Weight Training for Weak People

...and for people who don't like or don't know how to do weight training.

I fall into all of the above categories.  I have very little strength.  And I guess I don't know that I don't like weight training, I just don't know what I'm doing and therefore I stay away from it.  But, I know that getting strong will help me run faster, especially in a shorter distance like the half marathon, which I am training for now.  (Yes, I just called a half marathon a short distance.  Everything is short compared to a marathon.)

So, I'm going to work in weight training 3 times a week.  Luckily, my work building has a gym that I have access to and since weight training doesn't get me super sweaty and doesn't take quite as long as running (my weight training plan for now at least), I can go at lunch to get the workout in and shower there without needing to wash my hair.

Here's the workout I've been doing the past week or so:

3 minutes warm-up on the rowing machine

3 x 10 of each

side + front arm raises - 5 lbs
bicep curl + overhead press - 8 lbs

squat w/ dumbbells - 8 lbs

some crunches - 150 total - 50 regular, 25 each side - 50 regular

3 x 10 of each

overhead tricep curl - 12 lbs
lounges w/ dumbells - 10 lbs
back tricep row (idk what it's really called) - 10 lbs

I do the first circuit and then the abs and then the second circuit.  I have been doing a little bit of stretching or foam rolling afterwards too.  I actually just went up to 10 reps this week.  I started with 8 reps of each last week and will stick with 10 now for a week or two.

Some other general comments on my weight lifting adventures thus far:

Actually, I only have one comment.  I really wish the man who has been lifting weights in the work building's gym (just to clarify - he is not someone I work with - there are multiple companies in my building that all share the same gym) at lunch time who swears really loud and way too frequently would stop.  I swear in my head quite frequently while I run, but you don't see me running down the streets screaming because of how hard it is.  If you really need to swear out loud that often, you are probably doing something wrong.  Or trying to look tough for the 4 other people that are in the gym at the same time.  But since I'm just hanging out with my 5-8 pound weights, I am obviously not trying to impress you back.

What are your favorite weight training exercises?