SAUCONY CHRISTMAS!

 

Not much to say except that I'm obsessed with Saucony.  Coming home to a huge box full of hot pink performance gear?  Great way to end a day!  

LOU

Spent the weekend in Chitown.  My fave city with some of my fave people...and THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD.  I mean, to me, pizza is pizza, I'd most likely order something else off the menu.  But Lou Malnati's...can't. pass. it. up.  It's my post Chicago marathon staple four times over, the only thing the stomach won't reject.  Deep dish corn bread butter crust extra pepperoni.  Whoa.

The good news about the pizza this weekend is that it fueled well, all my runs, since it was eaten for breakfast lunch and dinner most days.

Friday, 10miles off the plane in the sun.  Good workout on Lake Shore Saturday, 40min progression run dropping down to 6:13, good effort, not super fast but consistant.  Sunday long run, two hours, sixteen miles in cold drizzle...glorious, I never thought I'd miss rain!!!

Foothills on the weekend...

Same two hour run...Christmas Eve in six inches of snow, four months later in 85 degrees.  

Thanks Stephanie!

ABQ half review

Albuquerque half marathon was today, a race I hadn't planned on running until last week.  This is the first "race" since NOLA 26.2 and I was instructed to do it as a progression run and use it as a workout.  I'd kinda planned on 6:40s, and hoped for 6:40s, and what I did was 6:38s (except for that first mile at 6:20...my bad).  Course profile was flat, through neighborhoods, and at 5000 feet.  Beautiful, but no spectators, and no one to run with.  In a way, it was nice being forced to tune everything else out and do this on my own.

Second female and no complaints on a gorgeous day in ABQ.  First lady ran 1:23 and is training for the US half marathon championships coming up.  Turns out we are neighbors, so hoping to get some training in with her!  Got to sit around and get sunburned waiting for awards with a bunch of runners.  Yay for friends :)

Other perks of the weekend thus far...finding forty dollars on the ground, my amazing Fastwitch 5s, Sophia's taco salad, double-digits missed calls from my family (since I didn't call them right after the race), no clouds in the sky, pool parties, great friends...and 21 JUMP STREET.  The greatest movie ever made.

sunset track sesh

What inspires YOU to run?  Share a photo of your inspiration in this week's contest to win a pair of Saucony Kinvara 3s!  #FINDYOURSTRONG

Sunset workout at La Cueva track: 20mi W/U, 6x100m strides, 8x2min repeats with 1min recovery (400splits 1:33,30,33,31,32,33,31,31), 5min jog (full recovery), 2mi continuous (6:37,6:30), 6x100m strides, 25min C/D (a bit longer than planned).  ~11.5mi total.

First solid, strong, confident effort since NOLA.  After last weeks failed workout, very happy to feel like a runner again.

Marathon Monday

As much as I wanted to be happy for those that competed and completed the challenging course in a middle of a heat wave, I couldn't help but to selfishly feel sad all day long.

Too many memories in Boston, especially from April 2011 and the months leading up to it...

Daily coffee breaks with Bunny to let her escape BAA headquarters, beers after 14 hour days with (for the BAA, not me!), watching the posters go up all over the city, smelling spring when it finally came for countless Heartbreak training runs, scooting all over the city with TK, stuffing volunteer bags in the back closet, Mayor's reception, the best good luck hug ever in the lobby of Copley Square, VIP bus and motorcycle escorts out to Hopkinton, Stew asking for a beer at the finish of his second marathon, World's Best performances, my friends and family on the deck of Parish celebrating, a glimpse of the Press Room, sidecars in Copley Square, and watching the BAA congratulate each other on a day that would go down in history...then we left for Puerto Rico.

So...getting to work at 6:30am to set up three computer screens, forcing all my co-workers to watch something they had limited interest in, and trying to shorten all of my morning appointments...did not hold a candle to last year.

April 2011, you rocked, and I miss you.

Boston, tomorrow, the greatest day of the year.

 "The marathon is a charismatic event. It has everything. It has drama. It has competition. It has camaraderie. It has heroism. Every jogger can't dream of being an Olympic champion, but he can dream of finishing a marathon."

One of the most special moments I've experienced in running was April 2011, being invited into the deserted press room at the Copley Square.  The most beautiful site.  

The preparation and hard work behind that goes into hosting  an event known around the world is unfathomable.  The people that run the show are hardly recognized, but are responsible for everything that Boston 26.2 is.  

Thinking of my favorite city preparing for its favorite day.  

FINDYOURSTRONG

What's the best running advice you've ever received?

http://community.saucony.com/findyourstrongproject

This week, tell Saucony how you FINDYOURSTRONG and be entered to win a pair of Kinvara 3s.

Nothing better than coming home to SAUCONY on your doorstep!  

Friday night 10miler in the Cortanas, Saturday 12miler in the Guide 5s.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Ecstatic to be representing Saucony for the next year.  Let's go Hurricanes!

Good morning UNM

UNM Wednesday workout:
2mi W/U, 6x100m strides, 3min2min1min repeats x3 with full recovery, 6x100m strides, 2mi C/D

Was supposed to do four sets of repeats, but had to cut it short...felt a little off...sorry Coach!

All in all, nice to get back on the track.  Looking forward to some good workouts.

Kind gesture...

Beautiful spring tulips delivered today by a patient.  

"Thank you for making me feel like a person again, and for being such a perfectionist."  

Made me smile :)

yoga for runners

Check out this link from Runner's World...

yoga + running = AMAZING pair

A cure for common running injuries!  Achilles, plantar, hamstrings, iliotibial, shoulders.  These, along with increased power, endurance, core strength, mental focus, and flexibility.  Not bad.

Certainly wasn't a believer until a few years back, sidelined with chronic injury and fatigue.  Now, I'm hooked (though I choose hot yoga).  If you're having issues with pain and nagging running injuries, give it a try.  It takes a few classes to feel the benefits, but the transformation happens quickly and your muscles and connective tissues don't forget it!

Hoppy Easter

One thing about my family is we LOVE holidays.  Easter has always been a fun one, and we are most often together.  Sarah and I grew up with an Easter bunny who would stage his egg hunt with clues in each egg, forcing us to run around the yard and house, eventually leading to the same treasure chest filled with scratch tickets and candy (we started gambling young.  Also, we clearly didn't shower much).  

The tradition also began more than fifteen years ago that my mom (and dad) would create a bunny (or whatever other stuffed creature she could find to dress up) that signified what Sarah and I had done that year.  When I was younger, one of my bunnies had a leather jacket and a belly button ring (yeah, I did that).  Sarah had one dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, the year she played her.  Last year, my bunny graduated from dental school.  

This year, the monkey came in a priority mail postal box dressed in VIZIPRO Saucony race gear, bib F2, with it's NOLA 26.2 finishers medal.  Pretty awesome Mom :)

 

Wishing I was with my family today.

work/weekend mix-up

After a solid week of on-call (which means my pager goes off at 4am and I get to spend some hours in the hospital, after 10 hour workdays), VERY much looking forward to a weekend!

Though Friday night/Saturday morning was spent in the OR extracting teeth....

...Saturday late morning was spent on a fantastically tough progression run at 6000 feet (five miles uphill, around 8:00flat, finishing five downhill 7:26, 7:09, 6:49, 6:45, 6:13).  Shaky by the finish.  Good effort, first speed in awhile.

Brought the CRV to fix the flat, purchased six pineapples on sale for $1, and found my new favorite magenta accessory at Sports Systems (basically free with a gift certificate from a February duathlon!)

Good start to the weekend.  Long run and Easter tomorrow!

Passion.

"Run easy, light, smoooooth, happy...and RUN FREE! Andale!" 

- Micah True (1954-2012)

A view from the Gila National Forest, New Mexico