Return to the Mat

I skipped out on yoga for two whole months - from February 28 to May 1. I won't even bother with a list of excuses because there are no good excuses. Well... there is one good excuse which is after I fell on Monument Avenue I had a huge open wound on my hand and it would have been impossible to even do plank or down dog, so therefore it was pointless to go to class.

But anyhow, since May 1 I have gone to Vinyasa yoga at the Y every Tuesday night. As loathe as I am to give up one of my running evenings to yoga, it is becoming more and more apparent to me how important cross training is to my run game. When I am doing yoga I feel better all around. I become more aware of my posture, am less tense, more flexible, and feel stronger and more toned.

Last night, our instructor mixed things up a bit with some poses that we had not done in a long time and with some new flow sequences. A few of my favorites:

Inclined Plane. Super challenging to keep your hips up.
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Intense Bound Side Angle - which I actually managed to bind!
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King Dancer. I think I managed to get to this point...
but of course I'm probably wrong.
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Tree pose. Just an old favorite.
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By the end of class I was so tired that I pretty much fell asleep in savasana. I did not want to move. That means it was a good class.

And then I undid all of that good work by eating a Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich for dinner. At least I got a baked potato instead of fries as a side. And water instead of Coke! That took a lot of will power.

But then we got some bad news on the homefront, so I ate a piece of cake. A big piece of cake with a lot of icing.

Oh well. Back to run tonight... and there is no more cake, so it will be more difficult to sabotage myself.

Monument Avenue 10k - Take 2

Today I had the enormous pleasure of meeting up with my friend and Hot Mother Runner Marcey for a redo of the Monument Avenue 10k.

You might recall from my race report that poor Marcey ended up not being able to run the official Monument Avenue 10k last Saturday. The new, strange, and unexpected road closures that morning prevented her from getting to her usual planned parking spot. As a result, she had to fight with the 40,000 other people descending on downtown Richmond to find parking. By the time she found one, she was so flustered and angry that she accidentally locked her keys in her car... while the car was still running. She had to stay with the car and wait until her husband came to her rescue and missed out on the race.

Marcey was just crushed by the situation and I was also upset for her. All I could think to do to remedy things was to offer to run our own Monument Avenue 10k.

Which is exactly what we did today.

I must say that today's Monument Avenue 10k had many improvements over the previous iteration.

1. No trouble parking.
2. Insanely beautiful weather. Perfect, even: 63* with a slight cool breeze.
3. Awesome company for 6.2 miles.

The only problems were that they didn't close the road for us and there were no water stops.

This was Marcey's race the whole way. We took it at her pace and we had a wonderful time. In fact, I hate to say it but I'm glad we got to do this today because I got to spend an entire 6.2 miles hanging and chatting with Marcey, which wouldn't have happened last Saturday.

Marcey, after completing our exclusive
Monument Avenue 10k. Seriously, I love this woman.

Afterwards, we walked to Lift for some delicious celebratory frappuccinos and split a bagel. Cause what's a race without a bagel? (I should note that apparently the actual Monument Ave 10k didn't offer bagels. So this is another way today's race was better than the original.) 

Marcey also gave me a birthday present that could not have been more appropriate:

Everything down to the card was cake-themed.
Yes, that is a cake server with a pink zebra "high heel."
Hell. Yes.

It couldn't have been a more perfect way to spend the afternoon.

When I got home I put together this Portobello and Asparagus Egg Strata for tomorrow's Easter brunch. I've never made anything like it before, so I'm kind of anxious to see how it turns out. Hopefully it's good.

While I was chopping and cooking, I distracted Mason with a Busy Bone.

Allow me to demonstrate how much this dog hates
having his photo taken. First I took this picture...

and as soon as I snapped the first photo, he picked
up the bone and moved 10 feet away from me. Brat.

Next week's weather is looking absolutely fabulous. I can't wait to get out and run in it!

Run Like a Girl

I have been quiet since the half marathon. A lot has gone on during the past week. Husband got a nose job last Wednesday and I got to play nurse. Then on Thursday, my birthday, I set out for an easy 4 miler with Prabir and 1.5 miles into our run I decided to body surf the sidewalk along Monument Avenue. It was the first time I have ever fallen when running.

Thankfully I had the brainpower to lift up my chin (saving my face) and not brace myself with my arms (preventing broken wrists). My knees and the heels of my hands, however, did not fare so well. I wanted to finish the run but Prabir insisted that we walk back to the Y and get my wounds taken care of.

Happy birthday to me.

My parents and brother visited for the weekend. Copious amounts of cake were consumed. All was well. But there was no running.

[I had a great picture of my birthday cake but blogger is being a b*tch and

won't upload it right, so use your imagination]

That changed last night. For the first time since the formal Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k training team that I did two years ago, I ran with a running group.

Associated with the HERA Foundation's Run Like a Girl race series, a "RLaG" group meets every Monday and Wednesday at 5:30 pm in Richmond's near West End. You can choose a 4 mile or 6 mile route. I found out about the group because I have registered for the upcoming Run Like a Girl 8k trail run at Pocahontas State Park and received an email newsletters (which I actually read for some reason) that highlighted the group runs.

I was probably a little more excited than I should have been. The group runs in an area of Richmond that is far outside of my usual haunting grounds, so I was looking forward to learning some new routes. The run started at 5:30 pm, which is basically the perfect time for me. And I was just happy about the prospect of meeting some new runners and having a group of people around me who could push me and keep me accountable.

The 6 miler group last night ended up consisting of just 5 of us - 4 regulars and myself. I am terrible with names and do not remember anyone's name except for the leader, Judith. They were all great though! A few had just run the Shamrock Half or Full Marathon as well. 3 of the 4 were training for Boston!

As soon as we took off, I knew I was a little bit out of my league. These ladies definitely have a faster pace than I do, but I was mostly keeping up ... until we hit some monster hills in mile 5. I know that I slowed them down (average pace ended up being 8:30 - which a full 30 seconds faster than my usual) but they were very jovial and encouraging throughout the course. Even though the hills literally made me suck wind, I'm glad they were there... makes me realize how much I've been spoiling myself by sticking to the flat Fan and Museum district.

I will definitely be joining them again next Monday for more punishment and company. It will be really good for me to have to step up my pace and run on some tougher courses.

In other news, have you guys heard of these awesome Color Me Rad races? I actually heard of The Color Run first, but I can't go to the Washington DC race and was really bummed about it. Then I found out about the Color Me Rad series, which is coming to Richmond on July 21st.

Even though the date is in July and I hate running in heat (blech!), I am definitely signing up for this bad boy as soon as registration is open! If anyone has participated in one of these series before, I'd love to hear how it went. The only thing I'm kind of worried about it getting home without destroying the interior of my car!

Warm Weather Whining

Today is March 14.

With that in mind, please observe the following 10 day weather forecast:

I live in Richmond, Virginia. NOT Florida or Texas or California or any of those southern states where this weather is normal for March.

And now, a warning: I'm going to whine.

I want my 50s and 60s back!!!!!!!

Yes, I realize that I am one of the very few people who are actually unhappy about the fact that we never really had a winter here and that we are apparently skipping over spring too and headed straight to summer.

The thing is, I like winter. For a lot of reasons, but two major ones being I hate to sweat and therefore, I love to run in the cold. I live for October through April (normally) when I can go outside and run without completely soaking my clothing, clogging every pore on my body, and smelling like... well... sweat. The warm weather also means that all of the trees and grass are budding, which means allergies, which means that running outside can result in a sneezing attack that lasts for the rest of the week. Fun times.

This year I am going to try  to condition myself to start to not absolutely hate every minute of an outdoor run that takes place in 70*+ temperatures. Today, for instance, I've been trying to talk myself into doing my short 4 miler outside even though the forecast during my running time is calling for 77*. Most of me wants to just say screw it and go to the indoor track at the Y, with its wonderful climate control and allergen-free atmosphere.

But I won't. I know that the only way to get used to running in warmer weather is to do it. So even though I hate it and dread the though, I'll go ahead and sweat my butt off tonight.

Hrumph.

Does anyone else hate to run in the warm weather too? Am I the only weirdo who wishes winter lasted longer?

Spring, can't you just wait your turn? Just give me a few more weeks of "winter". I'm not ready yet.

In other news, I loved this month's issue of Runner's World, the "weight loss special." Mainly because of this photo associated with an article about how to lose weight while running:




Haha look - she's being chased by my two favorite food groups:
fried potatoes and cake! 

 I literally laughed out loud when I saw this photo. The article is full of great advice, most of which I definitely don't follow (for instance: Don't use running as an excuse to then treat yourself to cupcakes and french fries or other unhealthy foods)... yet still I have managed to lose weight. Guess I'm lucky!

Just looking at that picture makes me want a cupcake really badly... I guess the Savannah Smiles Girl Scout cookies that I have stashed will have to do.

The Races + Places section of this issue was also exciting as it featured a race that is near and dear to my heart - the Monument Avenue 10k!

Which, of course, takes place right here in little old Richmond. It's so exciting to see this great event featured! It's like the streets that I pound week in and week out are now celebrities!

Doing Speed Work in Versailles

I'm in Maryland for the weekend to visit with my family, which means that this morning's scheduled speed work took place at the local Y. In the Richmond area, there are two branches of the Y that I frequent, and while both can get busy, they generally aren't swamped (that is, until soccer season when all of the soccer moms and dads and children invade and then I just curse and grumble as I circle the parking lot for the umpteenth time).

The Y here was a veritable madhouse when I arrived this morning at around 10:00. I had to invent a parking place because all of the spots were filled. On the way in, I saw what is probably the only snow I will lay eyes on all winter:

Sad, dirty parking lot snow.

Luckily, it was busy because apparently today was team picture day (?) and not everyone-wants-to-run-on-the-treadmill day. I checked in and jumped on a treadmill right away.

Speaking of visiting treadmills, isn't it kind of funny how you get used to the specific type of treadmill in your "home" gym and any other kind is just bizarre and uncomfortable to you? That's how it is for me at least. I'm a creature of habit, so having to run on a treadmill that is unlike my usual really throws me off. For instance, the treadmills at this Y have very small display areas and tiny drink holders that you have to prop your water into instead of the cup holders that you drop your water into on my home Y treadmills. Small thing, but it bothers me.

But I digress.

Today I thought I'd try to do some 800s instead of the 1600s that my training plan called for. I did 4 miles, running the first half of each mile at a pace of 6.2 mph/9:40 and the second half at 7.0 mph/8:34. By the end of the workout I was sweating buckets, but felt ok. Total time was 36:40 with an average pace of 9:10.

I liked the 800s - I was able to run faster during the speed intervals and didn't get as bored during the recovery pace intervals. It also worked out so that each half mile was more or less equal to one song on my iPod. When things line up like that, the OCD part of me is really happy.

Today my shuffle was serving up some great tunes. Isn't it amazing how certain songs can just take you right back to a time in your life in an instant? This happened to me a few times during today's work out. Most of the songs on my shuffle have some kind of memory or association attached to them, but some are stronger than others. Today the shuffle was picking out the ones that just give me goose bumps.

Example: Lady Gaga "So Happy I Could Die." For me, this song will forever be associated to the day that I spent at Versailles. I had dreamed of visiting the chateau and when I finally got there, I was so overcome that I couldn't stop smiling. As we walked up to the gates, my travel buddy and best friend was filming me and asked, "So how do you feel to be at Versailles?" and my reply was, "I'm so happy I could die."

There are about 50 pictures of me from that day, and in all of them I am wearing a giant, goofy smile. I won't torture you with all 50, but here are two.

When this song comes blasting through my shuffle, I feel like I could run forever. The treadmill, the gym, or the road just melt away and I'm back in Versailles, and I never want to leave.

The song that happened to be playing during my last 800 of speed work was "Deliver Me" by Robert Randolph & Family Band.

I couldn't help but think how appropriate! Yes, PLEASE deliver me from this speed work!


The afternoon was spent shopping at the outlets and Best Buy in a pair of 4" spike heel ankle boots. By the end of the day my calves were absolutely killing me.

But, the plus side of speed work and walking through outlets and Best Buy for 3 hours is that I feel absolutely no guilt about eating this giant piece of cake in celebration of my Dad's birthday.

Have I mentioned yet that I love cake?