Sunday List

Things I'm loving this with this week ...

Adobo seasoning with cumin. I have been putting Adobo seasoning on everything and I mean everything: rice, stir fry, eggs, pop corn (awesome!), avocados, tomatoes, chicken, tuna, the list goes on...

Pinterest. When do I not love Pinterest? It's the greatest list of ideas. I have made so many recipes from that site. My favorite boards right now are: Avocados, Pumpkin, Rings, Nutrition and I Want. If you need ideas for my birthday in a few weeks, feel free to find them on my Pinterest page. And Pinterest accidentally built a better search engine than google (according to Buzzfeed).

LinkedIN. I finally updated my profile earlier this month and have been using the site a lot. I like interacting with people on a professional level and building my network. I especially appreciate the various articles posted there. It is a great way to connect, professionally. Thanks to Frank A. for the great advice to start using LinkedIN. Connect with here.

Compression tights. These things are a God send after a hard weekend of running. They help my legs recover much faster than rest alone. My compression tights and Citadel blanket have become a Sunday afternoon routine during marathon training.

-Run

Colts 5K race recap

The Indianapolis Colts Back to Football 5k was the coolest race ever! I had a great time. The NFL Run Series / Colts crew did everything right for this race, starting with the wave start. Pace sings were posted and runners were asked to choose the corral closest to their expected finish time. More importantly, those with strollers and those who planned to walk were asked to line up in the last corral. This is very important because I feel that race directors can be laissez-faire about 5ks and just let the runners/walkers do what they want. In fact, many of the runners with strollers and walkers who get up front do so because they think they are "getting out of the way." Um, no. You are doing the exact opposite. Other things they did right:

• Hosting packet pick-up the day before.
• Including d-tags for timing
• Each runner/walker received a t-shirt and a medal. 

You don't usually see all of these details with a 5K. Kudos to the the race directors for setting this up properly.

I lined up in the 8-minute mile corral, but soon realized that I was with the 7-minute mile runners. It was too late to move. Whoops. Next, someone beautifully sang the National Anthem and we were ready for the 10-second count down.

In that moment, I thought to myself that this is going to be fun. I'm here to run and have a great time. I got up earlier that morning to run an easy 6 miles before the race so I wasn't exactly on fresh legs, but I was definitely warmed up. I am still in the midst of marathon training and since Saturdays are my long runs, I waned to get it in early. In this step-back week, my long run goal was 10-12 miles. I was close.

The horn sounded and we are off. I started my watch as I crossed the timing matt. I didn't want to go out too fast for the first mile. I have a pretty decent kick if I don't do too much too soon. I ran the first mile around 8:30 and it felt great. I thought that I should increase the pace a bit to mile 2, but somewhere around mile 1.4, my GPS watch lost its signal. Miffed by what was going on with my watch, I slowed down. I quickly regrouped, set my watch to view time elapsed and set my focus back on the run. 2 miles in (not sure of the time) I still felt good. At this point, I started to pick up the pace even more. I set my eyes on a runner in front of me to pass. I would catch them, pass them and find a new target. This worked out pretty well for about three quarters of a mile then I started to fade. Whoa. I started feeling every bit of the 6 miles I ran earlier, the only 4 hours of sleep I got the night before and the bright sun beaming down on us.

"I can't stop now," I said to myself. We were nearing the chute to enter the stadium. Who slows down in the home stretch? We turn a corner into a parking lot at Lucas Oil Stadium, less than 100 yes from the field. I catch a glimpse of the 3-mile marker ahead and just go for it. I used the down hill to my advantage and really picked up speed. We ran through the back of the stadium and up the chute to the field. The finish line was near.

Another totally awesome thing about this race was that they set up special timing matts to time each runner in their final 40 yards of the race. Awards go to the top male and top female 40yd dash time. I heard the announcer remind the incoming runners of the 40yd dash challenge and I turned it on full speed. I used all of my sprinter skills to race to the finish line. I can't wait to find out what my 40 time was. My best while a sprinter at Coastal was 4.7. I doubt I did that today, but I felt pretty darn fast coming through the finish. I was so focused on the final 40 that I didn't see my final time. I assume I finished somewhere between 25 and 26 minutes. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The race ended with runners hanging out on the football field.  As I looked up at the stands, I was in awe of how cool this was. What an amazing race!

I finished on the 50!

The medal.

BGR! Indy ladies that ran the 5K

Sweet finisher t-shirt

Colts Cheerleaders

What is your favorite race? Are any of you going to run this 5K in your area?

-Run

My boyfriend is back

NFL football is back! We have been blessed with some decent preseason games and I absolutely cannot wait until the season officially starts. If you know me, you know that I am a huge Washington Redskins Fan.

Hail to the Redskins #HTTR

Funny thing is, when I started watching football (I think I was in middle school) with my dad and my brother, we always watched the Colts and the Cowboys (shhh ... don't tell anyone). That doesn't mean I was a fan, I just learned the game by watching them. Like the son from this 80's PSA: "You alright, I learned it by watching you!"

What was the point of this post? Oh, right. Football. Football is back and to honor this fine institution returning to us, many of the clubs have organized a Back to Football 5k as a part of the NFL Run Series. How awesome is this? It combines two of my favorite things: running and football. The Indianapolis Colts are one of twelve clubs hosting this event with proceeds benefiting the American Heart Association. And this supports a good cause ... I am all about it. 

The run will take place this Saturday, the morning of the Colts vs Browns game. The race course starts and finishes at Lucas Oil Stadium and will take runners and walkers through downtown Indianapolis. The BEST part about this race (as if there isn't enough already) is that the finish line is located inside Lucas Oil Stadium ... on the 50-yard line. So, I get to finish on the 50? Can Andrew Luck throw me a pass as I race to the finish? I'll run a post and take it to the house. Surely Papa Irsay can make that happen.

As you can tell, I am really excited about this race. It should be really fun. I am also happy to be running a race that has nothing to do with marathon training. The miles are ticking up and every workout is important. This weekend, however, I can just go out and have fun. I'm not setting a time goal or attempting to set a 5k PR. I'm just gonna put on the Colts jersey my brother bought me and my Indy 500 tempo shorts and have a good time.

Dedicating this race to my dad who was a huge Indianapolis Colts fan. May he rest in peace.

Who's running with me? Anyone else planning to run a Back to Football 5K in your area? To all my DC peeps, the Redskins are hosting their run on September 7th. Register here. 

-Run

Race pace

Workout of the day (WOD): 10 miles at marathon race pace. My marathon goal is to beat Oprah finish under 04:30:00; that is a consistent 10:18 per mile... for 26 miles, 385 yards. I ran my first marathon in 04:55:00, and because it was the first I had absolutely no time expectations. My goal was to finish on my feet.

Today's mid-week tempo run was designed to help me get a feel of race pace and a feel for sustaining that pace over 26.2 miles (I know its only Tuesday, but every run outside of the weekend long run is usually referred to as a mid-week run).  After two days of rest, I got up early to get after it.

I started with an easy mile, then stopped to stretch. I felt good for the next four miles then started to get a little hungry. I popped in a couple Gatorade chews, took a sip of water and kept it moving. (Side note: I love these Gatorade chews. I swore by them while training for the Chicago Marathon last year and I still do.)

The orange are my fav

Around mile 7, I started to get tired. I knew I could finish, but I didn't expect to feel tired at this point, or at all actually. I wouldn't categorize it as an easy pace, but it wasn't exactly hard either. I was still in the target range on the Borg RPE scale:

As I started to feel uncomfortable, I also started to worry about my pace and my goal. Will I be able to sustain this pace? Is my goal too ambitious? Will I be able to accomplish it? I tried to push these doubts from my mind and not let them get me down. Let's focus on the positives:

• I finished the workout as planned, slightly faster than race pace at an average 10:08 per mile. 
• When I think about it, I probably could have run another 3 miles at that pace.
• But thats only half way. Half way there.

I'm going to have to train hard and find a way to keep this up for the second half of the race. This is going to be harder than I expected; but I am healthy, strong, determined and ready for the challenge. 68 days and counting ...

How is your race training going? Are you on track to meeting your goals?

-Run

PS. Read more about the Beat Oprah marathon goal and other famous Marine Corps Marathon finishers here.

PPS. Did Oprah have abs?

Old man game

Somehow, I have a way of attracting older men. I don't know what it is about me that older men seem to pick up on, but no matter where I go they find me. My good friend MJ gets on me about it all the time. He calls it "old man game."

By old, I mean at least 25 to 30 years my senior. One guy had a daughter older than me. Another was only slightly younger than my dad. Sir, stop. 

These old men swoop in and are relentless in their pursuit. Unlike younger men, or men my age, they absolutely do not take no for an answer. Take this guy that I met at the movie theatre on Saturday afternoon...

He refused to leave me alone. I tried to be nice so as not to hurt grandpa's feelings, but he would not go away. 

Him: "I have a phone. You have a phone. Let me call you sometime. We can talk on the phone." 

Me: "I'm not interested."

Him: "you'll change your mind. Why don't you give me your number for when you change your mind." 

Me: "No, I won't."

Him: "you sure you won't change your mind? I think you will change your mind. Give me your number. Ill call you." 

Me: "No. I won't change my mind"

Him: "I'm not married. Never been married. I got my own apartment. I'm not rich. No, I wouldn't say I was rich. But I have a phone. I'll call you."

Me: *blank stare o_____o

This is what I get for being on time. I was just minding my business, waiting to meet a friend for an afternoon movie. She was running late, so that left pop pop with his grand opportunity to try to score with a young woman. What in the entire hell was this? Why am I such an old man magnet? Whatever it is that I am doing, please let me know so that I can immediately cease and desist because this can't be life. 

SMH ...

-Run

PS, his shirt reads: "it's mandatory to grow old. It's optional to grow up." 

PPS, there aren't enough side-eyes in the world for this foolishness. 

Today

Today was a lazy day. It was a compression tights, Citadel blanket, Chinese food and Netflix kind of day.

That is all. 

-Run

Running and dreaming

I got out early this morning for a 15-mile training run. My foot felt much better after a few days of rest. a little ibuprofen and lots of ice. Lots of ice. I ran an easy 3.5 miles yesterday to see how it feels. My goal was to run 5 miles, but since my foot felt okay, I decided to shut it down early so that I could finish my Saturday long run as scheduled. It worked and it was awesome.

77 miles already this month. Woot!

The amazing part of my run this morning was that I was able to breeze right through it (well, at least the first ten miles). How, do you ask? I had a dream. During the run, I recognized that this dream could very well come true. And soon. It was beautiful. I got more and more excited with each step (I had to check myself around mile 8 because I was going too fast). I don't want to elaborate more than that right now, but I cannot wait to tell you guys about it. Amazing things are happening right now.

How was your weekend long run? Solve any of the world's problems or your own?

-Run