Self Medicating

I’m recovering nicely, finally, from the half marathon. Note to self, next time you do this kind of mileage, SUCK IT UP and take an ice bath afterwards!!!! I think that would have done me WONDERS, but here I am doping myself with naproxen, Blue Moon and compression to stifle the pain. Luckily, it’s all been for the better and I feel almost no soreness today.

I still didn’t feel 100% and my muscles felt a bit weak, so I decided to wear the shorts and my socks under my work clothes again today. The only predicament I had was that the only clean pair I had were bright orange.

Not office appropriate, I’d think. Solution?

Bam. Tan socks over top. Classy. (It was cold out so it wasn’t too bad)

Speaking of cold, it was cold enough for me to bust out my FAVORITE track jacket;

Today was awesome. It was so nice and cool out and it just made me hunger so much for a run. I knew I shouldn’t jump back in just yet, and I need to get alot of packing done so I was able to talk myself out of it. One thing I wasn’t able to talk myself out of was sushi. Yes, sushi for the third time in four days. My body has just been CRAVING salt like none other. So, off to the sushi store I went (oh how I wish a sushi store existed);

California and salmon rolls, delish.

Since there was an REI right next to the sushi place, I decided to pay it a visit. I had been wanting to check out fuel belts, but sadly they didn’t have any of the one’s I’m interested in (I want the ones with the two small bottles and pack but they only had one’s with the huge bottle pack). Sad. BUT, I finally grabbed a GU flavor I’ve been dying to try.

Espresso Love! I’ve fared pretty well with caffiene on the run, so I want to give this a shot on one of my longer runs.

Speaking of longer runs, last night in my drunken naproxen stupor boredom I decided to craft a running plan IF I decided to run the 10 miler.

I already need to alter it because when I need to run the 5 Miles is when I’ll be going WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING!!!!! 🙂 But yeah, it’s a feasable plan, I just need to decided if I want to run it/and if I want to commit to more long runs already.

Other than that, not much else happened today. Aside from the true, crowning moment of why I chose to run 13.1.

The car magnet. Don’t deny it, you ran a half for one too 🙂

 

 

The Aftermath of 13.1

To think, I thought I would not be sore after a half marathon. I was delusional. I thought if I stretched, iced and “sticked” myself; along with wearing compression as if it was going out of style, I’d be in tip top shape today. Not so. Turns out, no matter what you do, after running the farthest you have EVER you’re gonna feel a bit stiff and like dirt the next day. And you need to just deal.

Thanks, R.E.M. (Sidenote, when I marched drum corps our morning stretch during spring training was often this song. Hardy har har, Carolina Crown staff)

This is the face of someone who has to hobble everywhere because their lower back and knees are killing. But worth it, right?

Because I don’t like to intimidate myself, I had never checked out the elevation chart for the half marathon. A lot of my friends who ran the race prior mentioned it was flat and fast, when in reality it actually had a gradual climb to it. I honestly didn’t notice it too much while running, but could definetly tell I was going up. And when I hit the turnaround at mile 7 and a volunteer yelled “IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE!” I knew I wasn’t insane.

To say I hadn’t trained for hills would be an understatement of the century. I believe I had one run in it with hills, and it was my tragic 8 miler. I walked the hills and walked a mile that run, so I hardly admit that I trained for hills. Noted. More hill training next time.

My poor soaked shoes and insoles. I learned a lot about myself from pushing through those three long, wet-soaked miles.

So why am I sitting here contemplating signing up for a 10 mile road race in October? Maybe because I’ve found what I enjoy in running, distance. I enjoy running my own race, not having to be a slave to pace like in 5ks, and just enjoying myself (although according my recap I wasn’t enjoying myself, haa).

I have to be careful though, because I’m starting a bit more wedding planning after we move out. I can’t be running races every weekend and I need to plan my days around 4 other women for my dress fitting. Actually just texted my sister seeing if this was the weekend she couldn’t make it home, crossing my fingers it is. But still, the draw of the race is almost too much. It’s a shorter distance than the half (I don’t think I want to run another half yet) and the fee is only 35.00.  I love cheap, long races. It’d be something different to challenge myself with, and the name is HARVEST MOON. Hello!!! I LOVE that game!

So to say that this half wasn’t “life-changing” or “run-state of mind changing” would be an understatement. I can do the longer distances, it’s possible now. I just need to keep challenging myself. To think I’m considering signing up for more races while my lower half is in a state of pure-stiffness is insane. But, I suppose that is just who I am.

For the state of the blog, I can guarantee you there will be little to no running/working out this week. I move out of my house on Friday night, so this upcoming week will be full of packing, stressing and the like. If I can squeeze a run in I will, but it’s not my top priority 🙂 We’ll be getting internet at our apartment on September 16th, so I may be able to get a few phone posts up over the weekend, but again not my priority. And the countdown to moving out has begun!!!

 

Taking it Easy

Good Saturday everyone! Sorry I have  been absent this past week but I’ve sure had a busy and productive one!

This Wednesday I went over to my friend Andrea’s place. I’m cat-sitting this weekend for her and figured it was the perfect time to ask her to be a bridesmaid! She said yes 🙂 I think she’s more excited than I am!!! Haha.

Thursday was a hectic day at work. It was one of those days I would prefer to never repeat, nothing bad happened it was just way too busy for my own good. That night Brian and I decided to finally go and set up our joint bank account! We both worked 8-5 that day, but since he works a bit farther from our bank I beat him there and feasted on some tea and sushi.

This was one of those annoyances that I really wanted to get taken care of, so I’m happy we finally have an account. I just need to add him as an authorized user on one of my credit cards and we are all set. I also got the Comcast set up as well, thankfully! We’ll have internet and cable on September 16th 🙂

And yesterday was a fun day of work. My coworker and I brought in donuts for our team because of the long weekend, and our boss had to stay until 8:30 the night prior. I invited the IT guys for some too, and in the process discovered their IT fort of computer boxes. It was amusing.

And now onto RUNNING! Yeah, what this blog is for.

Last night I went and picked up my bag and bib for the Steelers 5K tomorrow!

LOTS of Steelers things. And I was super excited about the deodorant cause it’s the EXACT kind that I use. There were lots of coupons, Steeler stickers and pictures and a few samples of lipton teas. I really like the race shirt (it’s a Nike Dri-Fit) but it’s a mens size so the sleeves are a bit long on me. Bummer. BUT, registration for this races was only 15 bucks so I wasn’t even expecting this much swag! I was impressed.

I haven’t run or worked out all week. My 12 miler last week really took it out on me and instead of running junk miles, I allowed myself to cool out and just recover. I have been itching to run, and I hope that I still am tomorrow for the race.

I’ve learned though that while there are those days that you should force yourself to run, sometimes you need a mini break to enjoy it again. I don’t want to run so much that it feels like a job. Especially since I’ve got a lot going on (HELLO, MOVING IN TWO WEEKS). I’ve got enough running coming up 🙂

LOL perfect.

Burnt my tounge.

Miles today; none, rest day.

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Today had been one of those days. Going through the motions and getting frustrated at stupid things.

I’m finally getting on to asking people to be my bridesmaids. I asked my sis to be my maid of honor to which she said yes 🙂 I am meeting with one of my lifelong friends this Saturday to ask her. We’ve fallen out of touch somewhat so I really hope she accepts. If I can ask them all before the end of August ill be happy.

Things with the wedding have been going okay. Every once in a while I think of something totally random that is NOT important and I get all stressed (like hair and makeup…..lol). Other than that Brian and I seem to have it under control.

I’ve still got a few things to take care of for the apartment…..we still need renters insurance and I’ve got to set up cable and internet. We keep thinking of stuff we need too but honestly its not the end of the world if we don’t have a storage unit in the bathroom for a few days.

Life has been good though. I am feeling slightly sore from my 10 miles Saturday. Just enough to warrant another rest day as my training plan suggests. My shins hurt so bad Sunday though. Right below my knees were aching with every step, and the top of my left foot hurt too. It’s all calmed down now with regular icing and stetching so I am not too worried. I’ll probably head out for five miles tomorrow.

Work has been work today. Going through the motions, listening to many .podcasts, and burning my mouth on easy mac. All in a days work I say.

And here’s a photo of Jordan so this post isn’t a wall of text. CYA!

Where I’ve Been and Where I’m Going

Miles Today; 5 miles

Miles This Week; 11.22

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Where’ve I been? Is that even a viable contraction? Haha ….anyways, if you haven’t noticed I tend to not post on my rest days. Since I ran on Sunday and Monday I gave myself a lot of days off/cross-trained until today. But what else have I been up too?

Hmmmm…. TOO MUCH.

Yesterday I went to work super early to go indulge in a Panera bacon and artichoke souffle. OMG I missed these. SO GOOD!

And onto more important news. So, yesterday I got a call from the apartment Brian and I viewed on Wednesday (which I shamefully forgot to mention earlier). Well, they originally were going to give us two weeks to decide …but they asked me if we could decide by the end of the weekend. Weellllll ….. since Brian and I are heading to Cedar Point tomorrow, we needed to decide quickly. I called him up and asked him if we had the go-ahead to apply and we went for it! We really loved the place, but we kinda felt weird about signing on to the first place we viewed. We kind of just took this as a sign. Hopefully, Monday they call back with good news and we’ll get it!

Another crazy thing is Brian and I decided on a wedding date!!!!!! We met with the reception hall today, and signed our date for March 13th, 2013. Craziness ….If you told me a year ago that I would be applying for an apartment AND signing on to a reception hall in THE SAME WEEKEND, I’d call you crazy.

So yeah, that’s my crazy life. 9 months to plan a wedding …oh boy.

Now onto the run …. 🙂

This is my “Holy SHIT what did I just sign up for this weekend!?” face.

So, after I dropped off our apartment application and met with the reception hall, I needed to get in my long run. I scarfed down two wake up wraps from Dunkin and some GU Chomps and was on my way 🙂

The run was great. There was no one at the gym and I turned on “Baggage Wars” and went with it. The first 2.5 miles went by pretty quickly, and then was when my shins started to bug me. Not really splints, but a bit of achiness. Since I was already going a bit TOO fast for my liking, around a 10:10 pace, I decided to walk every mile split for .2’s of a mile. It worked out really well and I didn’t have much pain after adopting that. I ran a total of five miles in 55 minutes …. I was pretty dang proud of myself after that. Also, pretty dang exhausted. I stretched it out pretty good and was on my way home.

And now I am getting ready to pack for Brian and I’s trip to CEDAR POINT! We leave tomorrow at 5pm and we’ll be there til Wednesday morning. I can’t wait! So, I’ll have a bit of an absence but I’m going to try and sneak a run in …if Brian lets me 🙂

-Til next run!

-Robyn