Thursday Thoughts

I woke up this morning to torrential rain, despite weather.com’s hourly forecast assuring me that there would only be a 50% chance of rain at 6AM.  Ugh.  I’m all for running in the rain (especially when it’s 50 degrees in January), but voluntarily running in a downpour is a bit much.  My mind starts spinning.  How am I going to fit in my tempo run?  I could do it on the treadmill or get to work early so I can leave early and do it then.  Outside running (even at night) trumps treadmill running any day.  Decision made.

I get into work by 7:15AM and manage to spill my coffee not once but twice.  The first time on myself as I juggled 2 bags and an umbrella.  The second time all over my mouse pad.  I dry off the mouse pad, let it air dry, and stick my planner under the mouse.  Ugh.

If today continues this way, at least I have my run to look forward to.

I was out the door for my run by 4:15PM.  I’m not the best after-work runner but I was aiming for 8 miles total, with 6 at MP (8:15-8:20 pace).  Success!  MP splits:  8:17, 8:13, 8:17, 8:19, 8:15, 8:14 <– consistency!

Other random thoughts…

I love Running Times. I just got my first 2 issues in the mail this weekend. Way better than Runners World, if you’re a run nerd like me. No fluff, just good articles with quality information.

I’m not so in love with my Brooks Adrenaline 12s. I know, this is blasphemous. I’ve been wearing them for 2 months now with no issues (note: I’ve been wearing them for 11 years with no issues as well). This past weekend, the right shoe started to rub the inside of my ankle the wrong way. My inner ankle is now swollen and sore. I switched back to my Adrenaline 11s and I’m fine. Comparing the 2 side-by-side you can tell the 12s are cut higher on the inner ankle than the 11s. Waaaah! Now I’m running in an old pair of 11s while my new pair of 12s sit in my closet.

Is anyone else super excited about the Olympic Marathon Trials?  I would love to be in Houston, spectating and soaking it all in!

Is it true there will be no live coverage of the Trials?

Is anyone else having a similar problem with the Adrenaline 12s?

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A Perfect Weekend

The Philly HM was only part of my fun weekend.  On Friday night, I hit up the expo in order to avoid the mad rush on Saturday.  I also met Matt for happy hour and restrained myself by only having 2 1/2 beers.  I made up for that yesterday.

Amanda and I happened to be at the expo at the same time, so we chatted for a bit.  Amanda kicked ass yesterday in the half!

I know I complain a lot about shirt sizing but this is ridiculous.  Normally, the Philly Marathon has great long-sleeve tech shirts.  Witty sayings and the fit is perfect.  I always look forward to adding another Philly Marathon shirt to my rotation.  Not this year.  The grey shirt is last year’s shirt (size small, Endurafit) and the black is this year’s shirt (also size small, also Endurafit).  Not cool Philly, not cool.

On Saturday, I headed back to the expo for a blogger meet-up.  It’s so great to finally meet some of these ladies in-person!  From left to right:  me, Abby, Amanda, Gina, Kari, Katie, Megan, and Gene.

As I was leaving I spotted Bart Yasso at the Runner’s World table and no one was talking to him so I ran over for a quick picture.  I love Bart!  And I was bummed that I didn’t have my copy of My Life on the Run for him to sign 😦

That’s it folks!  Race recap will be up tomorrow.

I need to give a huge shout out to Alyssa and Kara for running 50 miles on Saturday (or, in Alyssa’s case, 50+ miles).  You ladies are so inspiring and I hope to follow in your footsteps soon!

NYCM and the strangest holiday gift for a runner

Like most of you I was glued to both Twitter and live coverage of the NYCM yesterday.  My butt didn’t leave the couch until noon.  My random musings:

If Mary Keitany bottled up some of that blazing speed she had early on in the race (sub-5:10 pace in the early miles?!?!) and unleashed it during the later miles, she could have won.  I’m shocked that she held the lead as long as she did (even surging a bit when Dado and Deba were in her sight).  Even elites go out too fast!

Apolo Ohno (Olympic medalist and Dancing With The Stars winner – did you forget that one?) ran his first marathon in 3:25.  Damn, that’s impressive.  Speed skating must be excellent cross-training.

Ethan Zohn ran his second NYCM despite recently finding out that his cancer had returned.  Extremely impressive.  I’m a huge fan of Ethan and his hair 🙂 and have been since he won Survivor years ago.

Lauren Fleshman tweeted this post-race:  I’m a marathoner! BonktASTic last 3 miles. If it didn’t hurt so bad I’d have been laughing at the loss of body control!  I love her attitude and that she doesn’t take herself too seriously.

Congrats to everyone who ran the NYCM!  I hope you refueled last night with lots of food and beer!

A few days ago I was looking through my latest Runners World (page 55 if you want to see for yourself) and saw this:

HUH?

It’s called a SWIH (So What It’s Hot –> I kid you not).  Apparently it’s a personal water bottle holder.  I can’t imagine how that is even feasible (it doesn’t bounce around?) OR comfortable.  Not to mention it looks ridiculous.

Did you watch the NYCM on TV or (even better) in-person?

Is a SWIH on your holiday wish list?  

Book Review: Kristin Armstrong’s Mile Markers

Today is a rest day and I’m soaking up every single minute of it!

If you’re not familiar with who Kristin Armstrong is she’s Lance Armstrong’s ex-wife.  She occasionally writes articles for Runner’s World but also has a blog called Mile Markers (for RW).  I think I stumbled upon her blog after I read It’s Not About The Bike, the Lance Armstrong book.  This book will always have a spot on my top 10 list.  He is amazing and I’m a huge fan, in spite of all the allegations going on right now.  It’s nice to know that some people really are capable of doing extraordinary things.

OK, back to Kristin.  So I read Lance’s book and found her blog on RW.  I wasn’t a fan at first.  She was mushy and a little too you-go-girl for me.  But there was something about her writing that kept bringing me back.  She has a great way of stringing words together.  That sounds so simplistic but it’s the best way to describe her writing.  She’s not too shabby a runner either:  2 BQs and an ultra under her belt.  Over time, I became a regular reader and found myself looking forward to her next post.

Her book is a collection of her blog posts, broken out into topics:  friendship, endurance, freedom, fear, burdens, etc.  If you’re a regular reader of Kristin’s blog, you won’t find any new posts in her book.  However, I did enjoy re-reading some of my favorites and actually marked a few so I can read them again later.  You also won’t find any advice on training…this is more of a Chicken Soup for Runners type of book.

All in all, I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Guess who got a haircut yesterday?

Please help me...

I can't see!

Why did you send me to that awful place?!

Stink eye...

Can I have my treat now?