running: the dawn

So, Mr. Dawn and I had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  We went to Tennessee to visit friends and family, I was able to stick to my training plan for a full week (and over a holiday no less…), we did some good bargain shopping, and even spent one night in a beautiful cabin in the woods.  Glorious.

Thanksgiving morning I had made plans to run an 8k.  My first 8k ever!  I actually had to find a converter online to figure out that 8k is approximately 5 miles (4.97 to be exact).  Since I needed to do some Lactate Threshold miles anyway I thought–why not run with a whole bunch of strangers rather than try to run fast all by myself?  Well, it got a little more complicated when, on Wednesday, I didn’t quite start my run early enough to get in all 11 miles before dark.  In fact, my planned 11 miles turned into 3.  Three miles does not count as a mid-week mid-distance run.

My plan for race day had to change.  In stead of: warm up, running the race, nice short cool down.  I needed to get in 11 miles.  If I’m being totally honest… my plan was to run 6 before the race, since it didn’t start until 9, but that pretty much fell apart as soon as I hit snooze.  My revised plan was to run the race then go to a near by bike path and finish my mileage.  Because of this I advised Mr. Dawn to not join me.  Asking him to wait through the race would have been one thing…but then to have him wait another hour?  That is not the right way to spend Thanksgiving.

I headed to the race solo.  I’m pretty sure this was my first time at a race where I didn’t come with anyone or know anyone there.  I’m going to call that growth.  Growth…and commitment to my sport.  Sure.  That’s what it is.  Right?  Not just craziness?  A way to spend $25 on a $5 tee shirt?  No.  Couldn’t be.

Anyway, we lined up at the start.  I was surprised with how many people actually signed up for the 8k (there was 1 mile and 3 mile options as well).  They actually formed quasi “waves” by stretching out ropes randomly through the crowd.  I found myself at the back of wave 2.

The race itself is somewhat foggy.  My first mile was my fastest.  Which is weird for me.  In all my training runs I get faster as I warm up.  Consistently.  And in most distance except the marathon I usually pull a negative split.  It was fun for the first two miles to finally explore what it feels like to push myself to run faster than “comfortable”.  It’s been a LONG LONG time since I’ve done anything close to resembling speed work.  I’ve forgotten that exploding/collapsing feeling in my lungs and the overwhelming desire to stop and walk.

Then right before the half way mark my ipod died.  I was NOT excited about that.  I have a really hard time running fast.  I don’t enjoy it at all.  So I always listen to music when I want to zone out and push myself.  Lets just say that without music I did lose a little of my spirit.  My pace started to slow and I didn’t have anything to drown out the sound of my labored breathing.  It was pitiful.

My finishing time is kind of on par with all my other “PR’s”… with a slower pace than what I have done in a marathon.  Seriously.  I finished in 42:43, which is an 8:36 pace.  My pace at Grand Rapids last year around this time?  8:24.  Awesome.  I love that I can’t run 5 miles as fast as I have run 26.2.  Apparently I need a nice long warm up before I can kick it into high gear .

The end of the race was nice.  There were two significant hills in the last half mile, so that was fun.  There was all kinds of good food at the end though!  Bagels, water, poweraid, bananas, oranges….it felt like the finishing chute of a marathon (not that I’m complaining…)!

Sadly, since it was just me, I took zero pictures.  I know.  Its sad.  They did give out nice red long sleeve shirts.  Which I love…even though they’re cotton and not tech!  Maybe I’ll get it together and take a pic…but that doesn’t sound like me…

Welp…I’m in the car blogging from my phone. How technologically advanced of me right? Well, I’ve decided that its time for me to get serious about training. In fact I made that decision last Sunday when I headed out for what would be my first long run in 6 months.

I’ve made several running friends since moving to our new community. In fact I’ve convinced 2 people to sign up for the marathon I’m running in February! However, since I have been struggling with motivation, I have been considering switching from the full to the half. Last weekend I was sharing my discouragement with my running buddies and they both (together and seperately) refused to let me wriggle my way out of my commitment. Like loudy. Persuasively.

Internally I decided that unless I could run 10 miles on Sunday, I would have to give up my hopes of running a full marathon. Then, Saturday night I spent some time working on my training schedule and saw that I had originally planned on running 13 that week. Then I decided that I might as well give it a go …and if I couldn’t run 13, I’d be happy with 10.

I set my garmin for 13 and started out. It was a brutal run. Slow. Ugly. It was 80 degrees and sunny. I carried water and some gels that weren’t Gu’s. My stomach wasn’t happy. My legs weren’t happy. But, I made it. 13 miles on sheer determination. It has been a long time since I’ve been able to “will” myself to run. I feel like I’ve been sitting around waiting to feel like running and I’ve forgotten that I have the choice.

Since my run last Sunday I have felt a switch come on (finally). I feel ready to tackle my training, not just suffer through it. I’m ready to find ways to balance my new life with my desire to run. I’m ready to face my lost fitness and slowly build it back up. In that spirit, here are this weeks workouts:

Sunday–13 miles
Monday–5 miles
Tuesday–rest/travel
Wednesday–3
Thursday–11 miles (5 at a race)
Friday–rest

Total Mileage: 32 miles

Tomorrow I am running 15. Should be nice and painful. Good times!

Seriously.  Every time I disappear from my blog, I vow that I will not let another unplanned hiatus keep me from posting.  And yet, here I am again.  6 weeks down the road from my last post.  Sigh.  What can you do?  Time to dust myself off and keep moving forward.

Just to keep us all on the same page, here are the highlights:

• I started my new job.
• I started traveling weekly with my new job (like immediately, day 2 I was on the road).
• I LOVE my new job.  I’m pretty sure that I say to Mr. Dawn almost every day how much I love my job.  I’m not sure this is a good idea, since he doesn’t have the same feelings towards me being gone so much.
• We found a house, made an offer, and started packing up.
• We closed on our house!  Homeownership?  Does that mean that I’m an adult now?
• We moved the same day we closed.  Oh, and I worked that day too.  Thankfully we have amazing friends that helped Mr. Dawn load and unload the truck.  All I did to help was go out to eat with them as a thank you.
• Unpacking is almost as painful as packing.  And I am starting to feel like an expert on both.
• I have run a negligible amount.  I do a decent job of running while I’m on the road, but slack off pretty hard core while I’m at home.

Finally, 10 days after my offer letter, I start my new job tomorrow morning.

I remember the last time that I felt like this.  I had just moved from Vermont to Kansas City.  I’d been accepted into my graduate program.  It was the day of my first class.  I was going to night school, so I had all morning and afternoon to work myself into an anxious frenzy.  What if I can’t do this?  What if no one talks to me?  What if I don’t understand the material?  What if…?  What if…?  In fact, I was so worked up that Mr. Dawn (at that time he was my boyfriend of six months) decided to drive me to school.  He might have been concerned that I would talk myself out of showing up at all…

I remember sitting in the car with him.  We had pulled up to the building and he was waiting for me to get out.  I announced, “I can’t do this! I’m not going in. Let’s just leave.”  He smiled (actually, I’m pretty sure he actually laughed out loud cause he thought I was joking) and reassured me that I was capable and I would be just fine.  (See, he’s been my best supporter from the very beginning!)  And you know what?  He was right.  I enjoyed that class and made friends that lasted through out my two year program.  We became a little “crew” that would sit together and sign up to take classes together (like on Community…ish).  I loved it.  It wasn’t easy.  I had classes 2-3 times a week, always from 6-10pm after a full workday.  I had projects, papers, and lots and lots of reading.  But it was great.  And I discovered I was stronger than I imagined.

But now, three years later, I’m having those same feelings.  Will I be any good at my new job?  Will I make friends?  How is this going to shape me?  Who am I about to become?  And I’m scared.

I’ve decided that I’m going to let myself feel whatever emotions I need to until I go to sleep tonight.  Then it’s “game face” time.  I’m going to enjoy my last lazy, jobless day.  Maybe wallow a little bit.  Before I snap out of it and hit the ground running tomorrow.

I am feeling somewhat excited about wearing something besides shorts and flip flops.  I even might venture back into the world of high heels and professional suits…

my work appropriate shoes

my big girl clothes

Any advice for my first day?

I have been having such a hard time getting myself out to go running.  Mostly its because my runs have been so miserable lately.  Living in a new area with a completely different climate is throwing me all out of whack.  Now, I’ve run my fair share in heat.  I hate heat, but I’ve found ways of coping with it and made my peace.

Humidity, on the other hand?  We are not friends.

Seriously, since I moved here I haven’t been able to complete one run without having to take walking breaks.  I feel my body overheating and my heart racing.  It’s not fun.  So, as I’m sitting in my air conditioned house, I find it very challenging to will myself to go out for a run.

Now, some have suggested that I run earlier.  And that does help temperature wise.  But I have found that the humidity is always higher in the morning which just makes me feel like I am having to cut my way through the tropical air.

I feel like I might have found a way to make it through the next few weeks though.  Today I went running without my garmin.  I wanted to see if not “recording” my run would help give me permission to run slow enough so that I wouldn’t have to stop and walk just so that I don’t pass out or throw up.  It worked!  I just kept telling myself to keep it slow and steady.

With my garmin lately I’ve been super depressed every time I glance down and see in numbers how slowly I’ve been running.  Which always makes me speed up.  Which always makes me overheat and need to stop to walk.  But without that constant feedback, I was freed to run at a sustainable pace and FINALLY finish the 4 mile loop without a walk break.

I’ve been trying to count on both my endurance and speed coming back to me at the same time.  Now, its time to accept that I’ve lost both.  I’m not where I was and I can’t expect to get there over night.  I am going to focus on regaining my endurance–adding on miles.  Then I will reintroduce the garmin.

For now, I just need to not dread running.  That is the goal.

So, you might have noticed that I am in love with runningskirts.com…

So, imagine my delight when I was sent a runningskirts.com Triathlon Skirt!  Althought…I’m not sure what they’re trying to tell me.  I don’t own a bike and I’m pretty much terrified of water.  Maybe they teamed up with Marlene and are trying to convince me to go to the dark side….hmmm…anyway…about the skirt…

It is the same lightweight material that their other skirts are made out of, just without any briefs or shorts attached.  I must admit that my favorite part of my runningskirts are the attached reverse-seam briefs.  So, I wasn’t so sure how this would go.  As always there are two side pockets that have velcro closures on either side.  Always perfect for stashing my ipod, gels, and phone.

I was also sent those adorable pink compression socks.  I have always had zensah socks before and these felt just as snug as my zensah ones.  I love the little heart (that gets really stretched out because my calves are huge).  And pink…you just can’t go wrong there!

The fit on the skirt is great and the slipped right on over my champion shorts.  And as always there was the cute running skirt ladies reflective logo.  Gotta stay safe on those roads, right?

So, I took the skirt out for a run.  Honestly, I still prefer the classic runningskirt with the attached brief.  I didn’t love that I could feel the edge of my shorts and the edge of the skirt on the back of my legs.  I kept thinking that something was crawling on me.  However, I love the idea of having these to throw on over my capris when the weather cools down a bit (if it ever does around here…).

The winner for me?  The socks!!!  Seriously.  Last summer I lost one of my Zensah compression socks and I haven’t ever bought a replacement pair.  So sometimes I’ll wear my calf sleeves, but I never feel like they get the same compression that the socks to.  These ones where nice and snug.  They were a little too tall for me so they actually covered a little bit of my knee.  It didn’t bother me at all and I’m sure that they would be ideal for someone who isn’t as vertically challenged as I am (I’m 5’3″ and most of that height is in my torso…my legs are super short).

I love that these socks come in such fun colors:

And at $32, they are way cheaper than most other compression gear out there.  They get a great big scratch-and-sniff sticker from me!!  (As a calculus teacher there is no higher honor I can give)

Oh, and have you seen their new fall collection?  I die!  Yes, I’ve already ordered this little number for myself:

~~I was sent these items free of charge in exchange for a review.  The opinions are my own.~~

Thats right.  After 6 months of aimless running (also known as “non-running”) I’ve officially signed up for my next marathon.  EEEEEEEEE!  Squeals of delight!  I’m not sure why it makes such a big difference to me, but I already feel different.  My training doesn’t officially begin for a few weeks, but I’m super excited.

My plan is to do a six week base building phase followed by a 12-week training cycle.  The base building is all about getting my groove back.  I need to get used to running frequently and increasing my weekly mileage and the length of my long runs.  This is HUGE especially since right now a five mile run would be considered “long” [blush].

I’m going to be following my FAVORITE plan.  Yes, Mr. Pete Pfitzinger is my go to guy when it comes to focused training.  It is the 12 week, 55 mile max plan from the book Advanced Marathoning.  It got me to my first sub four and my BQ last year at Grand Rapids.

I have NO idea what kind of goal I’m going to be setting for myself.  I’m going to put that off for awhile until I can see how my life shakes out in the next few months.  I have no idea how things are going to go once I get into my new job and all the traveling.  So, for now, my only goal is to hang out with my favorite race distance: the marathon!

~~~in other news~~~

Mr. Dawn and I signed our first “offer” to buy a house today.  Eeep!  I’m pretty sure my life has gone through TOO many changes in such a short time.  We really need to start spacing these things out….or I’m going to pass out!

So, I couldn’t be more excited….just over a week ago Mr. Dawn surprised me with…drumroll…a new Droid 3!!!!  Yes, I have finally graduated from a text/talk phone to a phone that can do ALL kinds of fun stuff.

so pretty!

Oh but wait!  Ok, so remember back when I quit Facebook?  I must admit I truly enjoyed my break from being so “plugged in”.  But now that I am living in a new area, meeting new people all the time, I’ve gotten tired of saying, “Oh no, I don’t have a Facebook, but here’s my phone number.”  Apparently Facebook is the easiest way for new acquaintances to get in touch.  But the final blow?  In church the other day after the service, I was talking to some new friends and the conversation turned to running and we all discovered that we are TOTAL running junkies.  We decided that we needed to start a casual running club.  Of course someone suggested that we start a group on Facebook and that way we can stay in touch and share about our races and/or training.  So, I’m back on.  Maybe I’m just caving in to peer pressure….but it does feel good to be back.

And now, of course, I’m playing a million Words with Friends games…

There’s just one last little piece of my new techno-savvy lifestyle.  I joined Twitter!  Ok, so I still have a million things to learn.  I’m still a little scared of hash tags and “re-tweeting” things…but I’m getting there.  Anyone have any advice for a new tweat-er?

Sigh.  I know.  It’s been super long since I updated.  There are excuses, but none of them really matter now.  It’s time to get on with it.

First, some pictures of what I’ve been up to…

Our last night in Kansas...we found this strange little car...

We stopped by Mr. Dawn's elementary school reunion...I think someone was telling jokes...or I just like laughing at nothing...

I was in my running BFF's wedding. Just so you know, someone said, "be gangster" right before they took this picture. Apparently to everyone else that means, "show off your nails and still look cute." And I'm left being the only one that looks like I'm rapping....

I just HAD to show you this pic from the wedding. Isn't it fun!?! I just want to point out two things: First, I couldn't actually "jump" because I was tired of buckling and unbuckling my 4 inch heels, so I was pretending and Second: look at the guy next to me--he's just hovering. Awesome!

Mr. Dawn and I arrived down south approximately a month ago.  We stayed with some friends for a week while we waited for our truck to arrive with all of our belongings.  Then we set up our temporary home.  I say temporary because we moved in here knowing that we’re going to be finding a more permanent dwelling sometime in the next year.  Currently we are in a little rental that is miles away from Mr. Dawn’s job.  We unpacked our summer clothes and enough of the essentials to be able to live and entertain comfortably.  But we have LOADS of boxes in the spare room and garage.

As Mr. Dawn began his new and super exciting job, I got down to the serious business of looking for a job.  Granted, since I knew a few weeks before the move where we’d be relocated to, I’d already applied for about a dozen jobs.  And honestly after dealing with so much rejection in Kansas (our 3 month home), I was a little beaten down.  I felt very discouraged.  While I tried to check job site often and apply to anything that I felt I was mildly qualified for, my spirit wasn’t very energetic.

I had actually applied for one particular job in the midst of an application spurt.  It was mixed in with a few others that I wasn’t as excited about.  But after thinking about it for a few days I realized that I had a friend that had worked for that organization a few years ago and I decided to text him to see if he had any insights for me or any contacts that he stayed in touch with.  Well he did!  So about a week after I applied, I emailed him and he contacted someone, who passed my name on to someone, who passed it along…and so on…and so on… That very same day, I got two emails.  One from the HR recruiter for that position and another one from the hiring manager wanting to set up a phone interview for the next day.  This was literally the first nibble that I’d had since an interview back in June.

The phone interview went well and by the end an in-person interview was scheduled.

To make a long story short(er) I got the job!!!!!

That’s the good news!

The bad news?  I’m going to be traveling 85% of the time.  So, flying out Monday morning.  Back by Friday.  Sigh.  Now, while I know that is dreadful, I do have to say that it seems to be the only thing about this job that I don’t LOVE.  I have been looking for an opportunity to get experience in a non-education field and this just seems like its going to be the perfect fit for my interests and skills.  I feel like the travel, while it is not ideal, is just something that I need to deal with while I gain as much knowledge and experience as possible.

Ok, ok, enough about “real life” what about running?  Well, that’s been coming and going in waves.  It is stupid hot here.  And the humidity?  Forget about it.  I thought the Midwest was humid?  I was wrong!  But I’ve gotten out several times a week for short runs, just trying to build back my base.  Because starting October 1, I’m going to be back to the world of marathon training!!!!!  Weeeeeeeeee!

And yes.  I do know that means that I’ll be training in conjunction with learning about my new job….not to mention spending all week living out of a suitcase and hotel.  Yes.  I know.  It’s going to be interesting.  I feel like I will learn a lot.  I will have to, right?  I’ve always been better at doing Jazzercise when I travel than I am about running.  But this will nudge me in the right direction.  At least I’m hoping so.  In fact, my goal is to sign up for the marathon by the end of the week so that my registration $$ will start to loom over me and keep me focused on my goals.

So, there it is.  My life over the past few weeks.  What about you?  What’s been going on that I’ve missed?

So.  I’ve told you all about my Garmin Goodbye, right?  After my Garmin 405cx stopped holding a charge just a year after Mr. Dawn gifted her to me, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to stay true to the Garmin brand.  However, because of their outstanding customer support the last few weeks, I will be a Garmin Girl from now on!

Wanna know why?  So glad that you asked!!!

1. Warranty-Smoranty.  It was several weeks past the one-year warranty that I started to have problems with Gigi.  The charge would magically go from 100% to zero in just about 10 minutes.  I was terrified to even hope that I could get it fixed or replaced.  I decided to go ahead and email them.  Almost immediately I got an email back saying that they would definitely take care of it even though it was outside of the timeline covered by the warranty.
2. They have a plan B.  First, they had me update the software and “reboot” (not sure if you can do that on a watch, but whatever) my unit.  That seemed to fix the problem.  At least for two months it did.  Then I started having more problems and they were still willing to replace it!  By that time, it was a full three months past the end of the warranty.  Yay for plan B!
3. 10 to 14…equals 7?  I was told that it would take 10-14 days to get my new unit.  7 days later (5 business days) my new baby girl is in my arms!!!  And by arms, I mean wrist.
   
4. New strap!  So, I totally messed up.  I was supposed to “remove all accessories” before sending it in because I would be getting a completely different units.  I carefully removed the velcro strap.  But I forgot that there are actually “connector pieces that help the watch part hold on to the velcro part (if any of that makes sense…).  I’ve been kicking myself cause it meant that I was going to have to spend another $25 for just two little plastic pieces.  I emailed Garmin for like the 34th time asking if there is anyway to just buy the adapters without having to buy the entire strap kit.  And, they just emailed me back to let me know that they had some in stock and shipped it out to me today.  Free of charge!