Valentine's Week

February 8: 10 Miles, 10'24" average pace - cloudy, 55°. This run surprised me, definitely... I went out wanting to maybe tackle 8 miles, only if I was feeling good. We had just gone to JW's team's Holiday Party the night before and got back pretty late- I wasn't sure how I was going to feel when I woke up. I slept for a while - I got over 9 hours - so I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and pretty much immediately got dressed to run. I didn't have any fuel (stupid), and went out for my regular 4 mile route. When I finished that, I figured I felt okay for another 4 miles, so I completed that... and then realized I just had to do one mile out, one mile back and I'd be at 10 Miles, which was what was originally on my long run schedule anyways, just a day behind. Done and done! The 8th mile was my fastest, at 9'43".

February 10: 4 Miles, 9'26" average pace - partly sunny, 54°. This was an amazing run! It was right after my voice lesson, so it was in a new location through an actual trail for the first and last mile, and on the road for the middle two. I felt really great, like a big weight had been lifted off my chest. The sun was shining, the birds were singing (literally), and I just felt really great!

February 11: 2 Miles, walking. I walked around while I was getting my car looked at, and surprisingly it was quite the workout even though my pace was about 20 min/mil! This day was pretty full - dance in the morning (so I was pretty worn out anyways), getting coffee with Lauren, getting my car looked at, going to Death By Chocolate, and finishing the evening by going to the last hour and a half of choir! I was beat!

Look along the horizon - see the tiny white thing poking out of the clouds? It's the Space Needle, covered in fog!

February 12: 2 Miles walking to Yoga Sculpt, and 2 Miles walking back. This was challenging, as there was a HUGE incline to walk down on my way to Yoga, and then walk back on the way home. Phew! I was pretty tired from the day before so I took this as my "easy" day.

February 13: 4 Miles, 9'24" average pace - sunny! 54°. I thought it was amusing that this run and Tuesday's run were almost identical! I felt pretty good during this run - I was a little hungry so I felt like I didn't have a lot of energy, but the route I ran was pretty easy (no inclines) so that probably helped. The night before, we went out to see my friend Lauren in her play, Matt & Ben! Fun fact: Matt & Ben was written by Mindy Kaling and was her jumping off point into the business!

February 14: 4 Miles, 9'02" average pace - sunny! 55°. Such a great run! This was after a good dance class and Valentine's Day brunch with Jessi and Kevin, pictured above. My run finished with almost negative splits - my last mile was the fastest at 8'38"!

Total Miles for February 8-14: 22 miles, a 175% increase from the previous week. Haha.. oops. That's not including the 6 miles I walked. Eep!

We had a great Valentine's Week- it really felt like a week, starting on the previous Saturday night with JW's work's Holiday Party and ending on Saturday with actual Valentine's Day. JW even surprised me with flowers!

I ended Valentine's Day/Week by seeing my friends perform in Sweet Charity! Not the best feel-good musical of the year, but it was cute all the same. Plus it's always a bonus when your friends are on stage!

This week is Tech week for Death By Chocolate but it hasn't been going so badly so far. We open Friday!

Taper Week

Taper week is here!!!

I couldn't be more happy that this training is almost over with.. not really sure what happened, really. I have a suspicion that since I was originally going to just run at 10K, and started training for that, and then decided halfway through that it would actually be training for a half marathon... something in that thinking was off, and it made me over train. At least I PRed at the Columbia Winery 10K?

Anywho, my runs last week weren't that terrible, but they didn't feel that great. I just kept thinking "one run down..." after I finished each of them. I'm really ready to stop.

At least this was negative splits?

And, I try to remind myself that I'm super lucky to be running in the sun, given the fact that it's September in Seattle.

I ran my last long run (10 miles) on Sunday - I deliberately tried to make it slow, but was kind of surprised by how slow I could be.

Granted, it was 85 degrees and not during the coldest part of the day, so that was hard... but still, 11 minute miles? Jeez.

I really have no idea how the half is going to be. If it'll be one of my worst times ever, or if it'll be around normal. I'd be happy with anything below 2 hours, 10 minutes. I mean, I did run 13 miles a little over 3 weeks ago and my time wasn't terrible. But I guess a lot can happen in 3 weeks?? They certainly seem to be flying by!

Seattle skies continue to be amazing, at least!

The Last Run and Party of 2013

As I was looking up info for my 2013 recap post, I noticed that my total mileage for the year was totaling up to 890.3 miles. Hmmm... my mind started to wander. Could I make it an even 900 miles for the year? I hadn't run yet on the 31st, and I wanted to run at least 3 miles... but 9.7? Could I do it?

I started my run with my dog for 1 warm-up mile, dropped him off, and then started to run around the neighborhood. The streets are set up nicely so I could run up and down each street but not have to go too far away from my house, so if I started to feel bad, I was always about .5 miles away from my house. It made it really convenient!

It was a great running day, about 52 degrees, and I felt awesome!!

Blue skies!

Taken around mile 4.25, contemplating going home... NOPE!

I went around another loop and got to 6.7, at which point I decided that it was only 3 miles more.. so I went for the goal of 9.7. Then of course, I had to round it off to an even 10!

I ended up running until the sun set! 

Taken at mile 9.25 - So excited that I was going to beat my goal!!

I was so happy that I got the even 900 miles for the 2013 year (though now that I think about it, I didn't track The Sweater Dash 5K, so technically I ran 903.1... but at least it's still over 900!!), and that after weeks of not running over 5 miles, I could tackle double digits at all. I hadn't run over 5 miles since the half marathon!

It felt so great to end 2013 on that note. The only thing is, I was SO incredibly sore afterwards that I'm not sure if I'll be able to run at all on the 1st! Ah well. Better to end the year on a high note, I think!

That night, we went to a New Year's Eve party at our friend's house.

Hope you had a great New Year's Eve!!

10 Miles: Surprisingly Easy

I started this week fresh and anew.

Our engagement party on Friday night proved to be a little too much fun, and I was struggling all day on Saturday, feeling the lasting effects. I was supposed to run 10 miles, but the morning passed, the day went on, and I kept actively replacing the run in my mind throughout the day: after JW's concert, after dinner with friends, after we got home, that I would do it on the treadmill... I finally had to accept that running had officially left Saturday's agenda, and I would have to put it off for Sunday.

Even after my post yesterday, telling myself that it was okay if my plans changed, I still struggled with the feeling of being disappointed in myself for not just sucking it up and doing it. I was still struggling with allowing myself to recognize that I needed another rest day.

So, this morning, I set my alarm for 5:30, and reset it for an hour later. I work up at 6:30 feeling refreshed and ready. But I'm not gonna lie, I was nervous.

My fuel: a Think Thin Crunch bar, chocolate dipped mixed nuts. Yum! I also ate two Clif Shot Bloks: one at mile 3, and one at mile 6.

I got to the park a little before 7, and started my run slowly. I wasn't sure what my goal was - when I started, it was definitely just to finish. As I ran, I started to slowly speed up - my average speed, which I'm told every hour by my Nike Running app, was slowly decreasing. I decided to try and see if I could get the time to get smaller and smaller by every mile, but not to push it too much.

I ended up succeeding! Though it doesn't necessarily mean negative splits, I got pretty damn close. I can officially say that my body is used to conserving energy for the last couple of miles- hoorah!

During the run, I kept being surprised at how fast the miles were going by. I swear I would think that I'd have at least another .25 miles to go, but then my app would come on and tell me that I'd completed yet another mile. I love that feeling! I don't know what kind of mental state I was in, but I hope to duplicate it on the even longer runs. (Next week is 12 miles...ack!)

I felt good after the run - strong, and motivated. It was a beautiful morning, with the sun peeking out over the mountains behind me, and when I turned around, it hid behind the clouds to give me shade. The breeze was amazing, and I got to see a lot of people coming out for their Sunday morning walks. I really do like the mornings and need to remember that!

The rest of today was spent being lazy and attempting to eat not crap foods... even though I still ended up eating two halves of a Cupcake Royale cupcake. And Chipotle. OH WELL. C'est la vie! I ended today with rehearsal that got cut short, a FaceTime call with the future in-laws, and a short marathon of Friends episodes.

I'd say it's been a good day. :)

JW's starting Insanity today: ever tried it?