Radio Silence

I have been a weekend runner for the past 2 to 3 weeks (it pains me to type it). Unfortunately, the reasons for this are also the reasons why I don't have much time to update this blog and revel in my fitness level.

My last run was over a week ago on an early and cold Monday morning around my neighborhood. A nice 3-miler at an 8:40 minute mile. Not too shabby. Since I've been sick all week, however, I'm pretty sure my next run will be painful.

Meanwhile, I'm in the throws of life in the ivory tower. I'm looking forward to the upcoming holiday when I get to meet up with some very dear old friends AND host Thanksgiving dinner for the first time ever. Wish me luck! And of course, I will be squeezing in the requisite Turkey Trot in there.

Happy running to all of you out there!

Peace and hair grease.

A Moment of Respite

It's been hard to get those miles in, but the good news is that when I do, I'm loving my runs. I'm loving those moments when I can sink into a rhythm with mind and body working in tandem. Lately, it's been difficult for me to remain undisturbed by the tumult of life's events...at least this is not so when I run.

This long Fall Break weekend has been a much needed mental break and opportunity to treat my body to food (bad, I know) and some physical activity. I'm sitting in a coffee shop and using a second morning in a row to get ahead on some work and mentally erase the trauma of last week's exams.

I went to a display of homes in the area called Homerama and I was unrelenting in my critiques of the suburban, borderline pretentious homes that I have little desire to live in. But I suppose this is not the place to bash on the Desperate Housewives culture...though maybe it is; sign this petition if you haven't already.

I watched Michael Clayton, played tennis and ran the trails. It's been heavenly. But ohhh the trails. Went out on a quick three miler on the trails in First Landing State Park and it was so incredibly refreshing. I felt like a care-free child kid hoping over roots and bounding up and over the hills...

It's a Tall Order...

Logging a big fat ZERO miles last week explains much of my misery.

But no more.

It's a tall order, but I'm back on track and ran my scheduled 5-miler today at an easy 9:30 pace. It was overcast, cool and drizzly and it felt so good to let my mind wander and sweat away the day to day anxieties of a young woman unable to stay zen about Financial Mathematics. Seriously, what the eff am I doing?

Worried about jobs, staying sane for Anna, and possibly more school, it is imperative that I get those miles in. It's amazing how an investment of less than 60 minutes can yield such calm...hell, things don't seem so hectic right now. *sip coffee*

And you know what else I did? Pilates (pronounced PIE-LATES in my world ;). And that felt great too. I think this is the greatest fitness video (right).

Hangin' in there until October 13th.

Until I complete three midterms.

And vacation for 4 WHOLE DAYS!!! Thanks for the fall break UofM!! You're the greatest school EVER.

GO BLUE!

In It Deep

I'm overwhelmed.

Thank goodness for LCT's surprise visit last weekend. And thank goodness that for at two weeks in the term I've put in some decent mileage.

Weekly Distances
9/24/2007 — 9/30/2007: 0.0 Mi 0:00
9/17/2007 — 9/23/2007: 26.0 Mi 4:58:30
9/10/2007 — 9/16/2007: 24.0 Mi 4:05:40
9/3/2007 — 9/9/2007: 6.0 Mi 1:04:00
8/27/2007 — 9/2/2007: 18.5 Mi 3:23:58

You'll notice how I've done this past week - no comment - it's been crazy, folks. I guess I'm just not organized enough.

My last run was with LCT around the Ann Arbor Hills for a nice 11-miler. He basically hated me afterwards. Guess he couldn't handle it?! ;)

Two Week Update

Since the half-marathon at the beginning of the month, I've fallen back into a running schedule that I'm really happy with. My goal for now, is to build to a weekly mileage of 35mpw and then train for a winter or spring marathon.

The week after the race, I basically took it easy and let my body recover after the jolt of a 13.1 long run. So, the following Thursday and Friday of the race (Sept-6 and Sept-7), I ran an easy 3 miles on each day pushing Anna her jogging stroller. She weighs 31 pounds now so 'easy' is a relative term.

This past week, I completed 24mpw and it's been a confidence booster. I'm particularly pleased with the fact that the miles have not been stressful on my body and in fact, I feel fully comfortable with my ~10.7 mile long run yesterday. I completed it in 1:39:44. WOOT!

I'm taking advantage of runner's world new training log application and I'll post all of my miles up soon...

P.S. I found another running picture of Anna. Like, whoa.

Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon

With all my belly aching about not having trained enough for this race, I forgot to get all the logistics of race day figured out. At 4:15 am, I was scrambling to get my Dad directions to and from the race. Not only that, but I wasn't prepared with my standard pre-race breakfast of half a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and a banana.

A cup of coffee and a cliff bar had to do. But I wasn't happy about it. The whole morning I was filled with negative energy, feeling so disappointed that I wasn't going to race the race I had hoped for at the beginning of the summer. Nothing like a long run to shake that attitude but needless to say, I was pretty unpleasant.

I missed my corral start because of the long lines at the 'potties' but I guess it served me right since I was so incredibly ill prepared on race day morning. A fact that irritates me to this day.

I started off the race at a very leisurely 11 min/mil pace or so. And I took the whole race in. When my running buddy wanted to walk, I let him walk through the water stops.

We ran a 35:00 5K, 1:15:54 10K and 1:56:14 10 mile.

LEISURE.

What I learned, however, is that I make an awful running coach because I think I pushed LCT a little too hard in the beginning such that he needed to walk by mile 7. I pushed on thinking he would catch up as I maintained our pace and continued to walk through the water stops as well. Surprisingly around this point in the race, I was passing people left and right despite feeling as though I was jogging! And before you say, it, yes, I know I should have just hung back.

I crossed the finish line in 2:31:15 (my original goal was to finish under 2 hours). LCT crossed about 20 minutes later.



It was a good time. It was great not to run in the humidity that was life in Asia for the past two months. And it was great to have my Dad come down and cheer along side little Anna while I managed to run an injury free 13.1 miles.

Gearing Up

It seems like there's no better way to end the summer than with a half-marathon. Despite the pain and inevitable humbling-experience, I'll be starting the new academic year with a 'bang', so to speak. Stay tuned.

I'll save it for a later post, but there is much to reflect on from these past couple of months. Needless to say, I am so grateful to have been back in Asia. The upcoming months and anticipation of big changes in my life is very exciting. Meanwhile, I'll bask in my being 'centered' for the first time in a while and make sure I exercise heroic time management skills :)

Here's a summary of my summer miles:

August: 27.9 Mi 4:29:59 hours
July: 18.5 Mi 2:55:17 hours
June: 50.9 Mi 7:52:08 hours
May: 58.1 Mi 10:47:32 hours

I can't wait to start catching up on my fellow running bloggers...thanks for keeping track of me, guys!

*Sending my best to all you fall marathoners*

P.S. Anna is about 2.5 years now and it's amazing that I can already predict a few of her future interests. She's a natural musician and dancer. *Shock* My musician brother is always impressed by her ability to sing songs in tune and how quickly she can pick up melodies in general.

Of course, she sees me run and play soccer so she's influenced by example :)

Take a look at my little runner.