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.

The Most Delicious Turkey Sandwich

It's TWIN DAY!!  I don't think I've mentioned enough how much I love matching outfits - for running or for real life.  The workday is going to be a million times better knowing Grace is sitting at her desk in DC wearing the exact same outfit as me.  Today is a pretty exact match Twin Day since we have the same top from The Limited.  But sometimes we have Twin Days where we just say wear a khaki pencil skirt, a blue top, and a white cardigan.  I think we need to get even more people to join in on Twin Days.  Oh and on Wednesdays, we wear pink.

I had big plans for last night.  I was going to leave work, go to Walgreens, run 6-8 miles, get ready really fast, and meet Mariel and Steph for dinner.

Around 4pm, the sky started to look dark so I decided running wasn't going to happen.  I was still sore from Monday's long run and I could use the extra time to go to the grocery store.  I planned to take either today or tomorrow as a rest day, so I figured I'd just switch it up.  Here's what actually happened last night:

(This is called "The Colleen Tracker" - as named by Rachelle.  I have a habit of telling people really minuscule details of my day that really don't matter to anyone and doing so in the most long-winded fashion possible...which is why I like having this blog)

Walgreens - I needed a prescription and picked up some household items so that Lauren and I can live like real people in our apartment.  Normally, we don't buy things like toilet paper, paper towels, sponges, etc.  We go "shopping" at our parents houses when either of us goes home on the weekend.  Our moms have Costco memberships so why should we buy things for ourselves when they can buy it in bulk for us?  Anyways, I forgot to "shop" while I was home on Saturday and we desperately needed a few things.

Treasure Island - This is such a wildly overpriced grocery store.  But the man at the deli who sliced my turkey was very pleasant even though they were out of the first two types of turkey I asked for.  And the man in the produce section was very kind as well.  I was about to grab gala apples and he stopped me and told me to take them from a box he had just brought out straight from the cooler.  I don't think having nice workers is worth me paying a bit more for groceries though.

Here's where things get fun:

Dinner - After my errands, I got home and got ready to go out for dinner.  But then it started pouring and thundering and lightening and nobody wants to go walk around in that.  We decided to reschedule and I was OK with that since now I could use some of my new groceries for dinner.  I didn't feel like really "cooking" (see my definition of cooking below), so I settled on making a turkey sandwich, but this was better than any average turkey sandwich I've made!

wheat bread slightly toasted

basil pesto hummus

cucumbers

turkey

So basically it's just your average turkey sandwich, but I used cucumbers instead of lettuce and put the basil pesto hummus on the bread.  That was probably one of the best ideas I have had in awhile.  Usually I buy garlic hummus, but the basil pesto flavor called out to me and I'm glad it did.  My eating habits are very elementary so putting hummus on a turkey sandwich was new and wild to me.

I meant to only use the turkey for weekday lunch sandwiches, but it really did the job tonight when I wasn't intending to cook in the first place.  And to me, cooking means making buttered pasta.  Sometimes I get gourmet and add feta cheese.  We can add cooking to a list of things I should probably learn soon.  I was just going to say that I am good at baking though.  But that's actually not true.  I am a boss at making brownie mix out of a box, but that's about as far as it goes.  And that brings me to my next point.

Cookies - Pumpkin cookies from a box mix.  They came out amazing.  And I made them even more amazing by using Lotus Biscoff Spread as frosting (basically cookie butter).  You can't add quite as much as regular frosting because it's much thicker - almost like a peanut butter consistency.  I was going to add chocolate chips to the mix, but forgot to buy those which means I'll have to make these again soon.  This box wouldn't have expired until May of 2014, so I can go stock up on quite a few boxes to get my fill of pumpkin things throughout the year, and not just right now in the fall.

Marathon Signs - Catherine's marathon is this Sunday!!  So I had to make some signs :)  I do not want to show any pictures though because they have to be a surprise while she is running.

What do you do on a rainy night?

What is the best food idea you've had lately?

ONE Month Til The Chicago Marathon!

Happy Friday the 13th!  My unlucky happening of the day so far is that I missed the train by about 1.6 seconds.  But the next one came almost right away AND I got a seat, so I think that's pretty lucky.

And then I got to work and my director had made these for everyone:

I'm not sure whether is was a cupcake or a muffin, but I'm gonna go ahead and call it a muffin since I ate it at 8:30am.  A muffin with frosting.  And coffee in my UD Alumni mug, per usual.  Sometimes I wake up in the morning and declare that it's going to be a healthy eating day (actually I say that every day), and then things like this happen and I decide it's OK because it's Friday and I'm running 20 miles this weekend.  I need to really work on my nutrition though.

Even more important than it being Friday the 13th - Happy 1 Month til the Chicago Marathon!!

This morning, I texted about 10 people I know running the marathon with a reminder that we are 1 month away.  The responses I received were all over the board.

Most Excited goes to Angela: "OMG I can't believe it!!  Happy Friday!  I hope it's a good one!"
Least Excited goes to Mac: "ugh don't remind me"
Favorite Response: Marisa sent a bunch of the unhappy/nervous looking emojis.

I'd say the general feeling is one of nervousness and being under-trained.  Does anyone actually ever feel prepared for a marathon?  I would think not because how can you ever feel ready for something like that?  I am definitely excited for it, but also nervous that something will go wrong.

The weather today would be absolute perfection for the marathon.

I did another 7 mile run last night in the exact same time as I did my run the night before.  It wasn't my intention to go any faster than 8 minute pace and I wanted to do 10 miles.

After a mile on lakefront path, looked down at the Garmin and was surprised by how fast I was going without even thinking that I had picked up the pace.  I was feeling good so I decided to go with it.  But then, at 3.5 miles, I turned back around to head north and right away I could tell why it was so easy heading south and that it was NOT going to be easy getting back north.  Such strong wind.

8:04, 7:24, 7:22, 7:35, 7:47, 8:03, 8:02

So despite the times being slower when I came back north, I'm pretty sure it was a consistent effort the whole run.  I'm also glad I did not get blown away into the lake.

I stopped to take some pictures because it looked really cool.  One wave came up and drenched my legs all the way up to my shorts.  So the remainder of the run was in soaking wet shoes and socks.  When I started, I thought about how wonderful fall weather is for running.  But then that wind really killed my excitement for fall.

Are you having a particularly lucky or unlucky day today?

How do you know if you are ready for a marathon?  Or any race?

Hump Day Happenings and Weekly Recap/Plan

Guess what day IT IS.  HUMP DAYYYY.  But I'm going to tell you about Tuesday and why it was different than a normal Tuesday in my life.

Erin and I ordered matching lululemon tank tops for the St. Louis Half Marathon in October!  Besides a pair of their yoga pants, I don't have anything from there since it is so expensive, but we looked at the sale items and found a cute tank we both liked!  The color selection was a bit limited for our size, but we found a cute one  :)  I just hope it won't be too chilly for tank tops by that time!  But if you're going to do a race with someone and don't have matching outfits, you are obviously doing something wrong.

Speaking of, I plan to do this race with Christina and anyone else who would like to join!  I'm hoping some of my cousins will run as well.  It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we already have a big Smith family event planned that evening, so why not add even more fun to the day?

I did an easy (but hot) 4 mile run after work last night.  The highlight of the run was seeing someone wearing a UD t-shirt.  I was too late in spotting it though to yell out to him.  I had also seen a guy wearing a UD shirt a few weeks ago when I did a super long run on a weeknight and that time I was too far into go-mode to stop, even for a fellow Flyer.  Next time I will though so I can make new friends.

I bought an amazing little loaf of pumpkin gingerbread from a farmer's market.  Knowing that I could get home and eat that was pretty much the only way I convinced myself that I really needed to run.

I also made an awesome dinner last night.  It was chicken fajita flavored rice + grilled chicken + onions + feta cheese all wrapped in a tortilla.  And then the pumpkin gingerbread for dessert...and I ate some while I cooked...and for breakfast this morning.  So this was way better than my usual meal of plain pasta.

I finally finished all of Desperate Housewives on Netflix and now I need a new show suggestion so please help me!

And now for some running schedules...

Last Week Recap:

Monday - 4.5 miles including twice up a HUGE hill

Tuesday - 10.4 miles normal

Wednesday - REST

Thursday - 6.75 miles tempo

Friday - biked 10 miles easy

Saturday - 2 miles easy

Sunday - Chicago Half Marathon

Total Miles -  about 37-38ish

Good thing I do log all of my runs otherwise I would have no idea what I did.  AND since I posted my plan for the week on her last week, now I can compare how I did...let's just say like usual, I didn't follow it.  But I did get the important workouts in at least I think -a mid-week mid-distance run, a tempo run, and a race!  I even got in some cross training.

Week Who Knows What Number, But 4.5 Weeks Left Plan:

Monday - REST

Tuesday - 4 miles

Wednesday -8 miles

Thursday - 6 miles @ GMP (goal marathon pace)

Friday - REST

Saturday - 6 miles

Sunday -20 miles

Total Miles -  44

So that's all I have to say about that.  Happy Hump Day!

Would You Rather...?

...be out running and get mauled by a bear OR hit by a biker?  I read this article about a 12-year-old girl out for a jog in Michigan who got mauled by a bear.  And I thought getting hit by a biker was bad...

This morning, on a short mental break from work, I decided to map out yesterday evening’s run.  The problem was, I could not remember where I ran.  I have no idea where I did my first 2 miles.  I went on www.mapmyrun.com and started mapping one direction down my street, but then I decided that wasn’t the way I ran.  So I started mapping the other way down my street and didn’t think that seemed right either.  So then I decided to back-track because I remember the end of my run.  I back-tracked mapping it 3 miles, and then I have absolutely no idea what I did.  I guess it's like when you drive or walk the exact same route to work or school or wherever every day, then you arrive and don't even remember how you got there.

I also have no clue what I thought about while I ran (except for the one mile during which some bro running through the city wanted to race me, which I will detail below).  Usually I always have something on my mind (aka something that is stressing me out).  So I am very glad that I was able to just run and apparently not think about anything and not feel like I'm killing myself and enjoy it!

I might be completely losing my mind because also yesterday on my way home from work I got on the wrong train.  I wasn’t paying attention and just got on the first one that came to the station I was waiting at and got on.  Luckily, instead of just immersing myself in my phone, I was looking around and realized I was on an orange line train.  But it’s OK, because I was able to get off at the next stop and transfer to a purple line train as if it never happened.  And now I can say I’ve rode the orange line.

Anyways, I ran 40 minutes at a comfortable pace, so I imagine the run was 5 miles.  One thing I remember thinking right when I finished the run is how easy it felt!  I think I mentioned this last week, but I have recently been feeling like these normal 5-6 mile runs are a piece of cake!  It feels good to not feel like running is just painful the whole time and like it’s just a chore that I have to go out and do because I have to train for this marathon.

Actually, if I had to guess, I think it might have been a little faster than 8 minute pace.  Why?  Because the very first thing I remember about this run is that I turned onto Armitage and ended up running right behind a guy also out for his evening run.  I was just cruising along listening to my music and we were basically going the same pace, but apparently he wanted to race.  He obviously realized I was running behind him for a minute or two because he kept kind of indiscreetly looking over his shoulder and speeding up…not a lot, but enough to make it clear that he didn’t want to let me pass him, probably because he doesn’t want to get passed by a girl.  I just stayed behind him until that street ran into a dead end and then I decided to turn the opposite direction that he did.  So that’s why maybe my run had about a mile of slightly increased pace than normal.

Something that made today awesome from the crack of dawn:

Grace and I had bought the same outfit from The Limited when we went shopping together for our real job work clothes a few years ago.  She texted me this morning with a picture of her wearing it and said “twin day?”  Of course I agreed because (a) I love matching outfits (even if we are across the country) and (b) that meant I didn’t have to decide what to wear, which cut out a solid few minutes of my morning preparation.  Couple that and the fact that I had already prepared a few lunches for the week yesterday, and boom! - extra time to have breakfast at home instead of at work.

Do you ever "race" with the random strangers running near you?

Do you have any little ways to save time in the morning?

And since my Would You Rather question was kind of obvious (hopefully) and it is such an awesome game, here's another one:

Would you rather be chased by bees or dogs?

2 Months Til the Chicago Marathon!

Alright, so yesterday was the 2 months til the marathon mark.  I really haven't been getting in as high of mileage that I had wanted to over the past couple weeks, but I still have about 6-7 weeks left before I need to taper down.  And I have been happy with the long run mileage that I have done.

During my training for the Columbus Marathon in 2010, I did a 16 mile run actually on this very date.  Then, 2 weeks later I jumped up to a 19.5 mile run on the last weekend in August.  So as of now in this cycle of marathon training, I've already done 3 15 or 16 mile runs which I'm happy with.  And then can hopefully get in at least 3 of 18-20 before the end of September which I think should be doable.  I have also been doing at least a few more miles per week than I did that year and have gotten in some quality speed work already, which I never did while training for Columbus.

 

 I really don't like that picture of me, but it's the only one I have from the Columbus Marathon.  I'm jealous of people that look flawless during/after running.  I was number 217!!  I can explain that significance in another post I am planning.

In other news: One of my very best college friends and roommate and teammate and Columbus Marathon training partner, Alex, is ENGAGED!!  Alex is running the Columbus Marathon again this year and hopes to break 3 hours because she is that awesome!  We had a great time while we were training for the Columbus Marathon in 2010 as roommates - as I look back at my running log from that year, almost every entry starts with "ran with Alex today..."  I miss that!

In similar news: My cousin Jennifer has set her wedding date!!  Jennifer is the eldest Smith cousin and the first of us to get married.  We are all just a little excited for this!

Good looking family right there I tell ya.  Loads of fun, too.

This evening I ran 5.15 miles in 38 minutes - 7:23 pace.  I had no intention of running that fast.  I just went out for a what was supposed to be a normal pace run and when I got to where I knew was 2 miles away, I was at 14:55 so I knew I was going fast.  So I decided to just keep it up at that pace and finish the 5+ mile route I had planned.  I felt so strong, I think because I am still so sore from the weekend at the lake.  I could feel every muscle in my upper body working hard...and my legs too obviously, but those aren't quite as sore as my arms, shoulders, and back.


I also did the 7 minute workout again right before I ran tonight.  My cousin Joe told us about it over the weekend, and then a group of all the girls did it together (twice) on Monday morning to start our day of activity.  So  here's a link to the 7 minute workout timer, which tells you which exercise to do and counts down the time for each exercise and the transition time in between each.  And here's a link explaining the science behind it.  I think doing it just once was pretty easy, so doing it 2 or 3 times would probably be more worth it.  Or maybe increasing the time of each exercise from 30 to 45 seconds, or something like that to make it a little more intense.

And because my dad wants to be in more pictures on my blog, here are a few more from the lake with him:

(I like making faces when Mom takes my picture.)

(Boys table at dinner Saturday night)

(Mom and Dad on the dock - cloudy day :/ )

(Dad and Uncle Joe on the wave runner)

Do you have any good short/high intensity workouts that you like?

Do you like being in pictures? - I sure do, but I can do without the ones of me after running...

Thoughts While Running in Nature

Last week I read an article about the mental benefits of running.  Exercise boosts serotonin in the brain which creates a more positive mood and releases endorphins, which are supposed to have a "pain-easing" effect.  "Exercise gives you endorphins.  Endorphins make you happy." (Name that movie.) For me, running doesn't always make me feel better.  I find that it's a lot of alone time to over-think things that are bothering me or stress me out.  As I read the article further, it said that these positive effects depend on WHERE you run.  A study found that people who ran in nature had brain activity similar to that seen during meditation, whereas people who ran on city streets experienced frustration.  I almost always run on the city streets.  Maybe that is my problem.

So, last Monday I decided to run to the lake front path and have a "peaceful" run.  I didn't bring my music, but I did bring the Garmin since I am still trying it out.  I told myself I'd only look at it every mile when it beeped and I did a decent job at that.  I finished the 7 miles in 56:30 at just over 8 minute pace and my mile splits were consistent with which direction I was traveling along the lake path - with the wind as I headed south and against the wind as I ran north.  Something I learned from Coach Brendan is to not always worry about what your watch says because of changes in conditions along each mile of a run, whether it is due to wind, a random hill (or more like a bump since we don't have real hills here), etc.  He said to focus on always giving consistent effort, not necessarily consistent mile splits and I felt like I was doing exactly that on this run.  As far as peacefulness goes, I think it was nice to run without my iPod and I'm thinking I'll do some of my normal runs without a watch at all and just trust I'm doing what I need to.  I've ran enough miles around 8 minute pace that I know if I'm at least in the general range.

(This picture is obviously not from today...I need to be better at taking pictures, but peaceful run = no iPod.  I just thought this was a cool nature pic from a hike in Iowa!)

Now...today's run.  It is funny how certain sights will automatically trigger a memory.  Today I went to the Elk Grove Forest Preserve.  The loop is 7.7 miles (I believe I said it was 8.3 in yesterday's post, but apparently I didn't remember correctly).  I could not remember the last time I ran on this trail, but I knew it was sometime in 2011.  Then, all of the sudden, I was running along and saw the "Mile 1" marker on the path (the point where I parked my car and got on the trail is almost at the 3 mile mark, so the 1 mile mark is about 6 miles into the run) and knew exactly when the last time I ran on this trail was!  It was my birthday weekend and Angela came to visit.  I had been drinking during the day at a work function before she arrived and then we went out in the city and I'm fairly confident tequila shots were involved.  But we can't visit each other and NOT go for a Saturday morning run, duh.  When I saw that "Mile 1" mark on the path, I remembered I'm pretty sure we stopped right there and took a walking break.  Here's a picture from that weekend:

Anyways, back to today's run.  I did the loop in 59:10, I'm going to go with 7.5 miles because I did walk a short distance after I stopped at one of the water fountains.  I had decided to wear a watch since I hadn't ran this trail in awhile and was curious how long it would take.  Here's some thoughts I had while running/after the run.  I have to say that running without an iPod means you will have in your head whatever song was last on the radio.  Today, that was Blurred Lines.  So every one of these thoughts was followed with "hey hey hey."

• This actually is very peaceful.  I have no reason to stop since there are no stop lights, so I'm going to be running continuously for an hour.


• Anyone could be hiding in the trees waiting for a little girl in a sports bra to come running by alone and make me into a real-life SVU story.


• This guy could hop off his bike and make me into a real-life SVU story.


• The sign said the speed limit on a bike is 8mph.  You are clearly going way faster than that, dude.  Heck, I could go faster than that if I really wanted to right now so how do they expect bikers to go that slow?


• I feel like I'm running in an oven.  At least this will help my tan.


• That girl has roller blades.  I wish I had roller blades.


• Nature reminds me of Pennellwood.  We would be going to Pennellwood next week.


• I wish I would've brought a towel to sit on in my car.  Now my seat is going to get sweaty.  I also wish I had brought more Gatorade.  My thirst needs to be quenched.

Overall it was a quality run and nice to go somewhere that was not one of my usual routes through the city or even just the usual north/south on the lakefront path.  I think I'll try to change up where I do my runs more often.  And the running in nature was pretty cool too - maybe it'd be better not at 4pm when it feels like 90 degrees though.  I got home and used my new foam roller.  Since I didn't officially register for yesterday's race and saved the $35, I bought myself a foam roller as I had been thinking about doing for a few weeks now.  It's pink and matches my shoes and socks nicely in this picture.  And yes, my sports bra was pink and my shorts had pink accents.  It's not even Wednesday. (Another movie reference.)

Do you like running in nature?  Or without an iPod/watch?

What song has been in your head?

Random Running Ramblings

I don't have anything too cohesive to write about today.  I ran 5.75 miles along the lakefront path yesterday - running south was easy, but running north the wind was brutal.  Here are some random thoughts I've had, mostly pertaining to running, over the last 2 days:

• It bothers me when people don't dress appropriately for the weather to run.  Just because it's colder than it should be for June and you have to wear a light coat to get to and from work and while walking around, does not mean you need to wear spandex and a thermal top, like I saw most girls wearing on the lakefront path yesterday.  My weather channel app said that it was 62 degrees when I left around 6pm.  The rule I follow is to add 20 degrees to that, so 82 degrees.  What would I wear if I was just going outside to walk around in 82 degree weather?  Probably a tank top and shorts and definitely not long spandex.  This gets tricky though when it's about 45-50 degrees, as it was 2 weekends ago when I ran with Catherine and Matt.  That's the temperature for running that would be in-between a long sleeve or a short sleeve and capris or shorts.


• Last night I looked at the photos from the North Shore Half Marathon.  There were only a few of me and I didn't have much to do last night so I was just browsing through the "lost and found" section to see if I saw anymore of me or of Aunt Bernadette.  She didn't have any assigned to her because she decided to wear her sweatshirt which covered her bib number.  Anyways, I saw a few pictures of a girl wearing one of the UD Distance for Dreams shirts.  I didn't know who she was though and the D4D shirt was one of the more current ones.  But that was just cool to know that there was another UD person out there running too.


• Apparently everyone in my family is registered for the Chicago Marathon this year.  If you search "Smith" in the confirmation page, there is the name of everyone in my immediate family as well as some cousins, aunts, and uncles running...too bad none of them actually are this year.

I didn't run this morning...I knew I wanted to straighten my hair today so I wouldn't have to when I got to Dayton.  That's probably a lame excuse, but to get a run in and straighten my hair, I would've had to wake up really early.  And I figured it'd be better to get the extra hour and a half of sleep so I'm not tired on my drive.