Happy New Year!

With the new year's beginning, resolutions abound. Lose weight, eat healthy, spend less, smile more--people have all sorts of things they want to start doing after the ball drops. Me? I've always been a resolution kind of person, but not just when the new year starts. I'm the type of person to take up some new endeavor anytime. Take when I first started running, it kind of just became a goal I was going to accomplish no matter what. My brother said he wasn't surprised when I finished my first race because he said I always do what I set out to do. So this New Year, as I put 2011 and all of my accomplishments of the year in my rear view and start looking toward 2012, what do I hope for myself?

At the end of 2011 I was part of a Holiday Challenge to stay healthy during the holidays rather than gaining weight. I started off strong, but lost my footing part of the way. I'm back in the right direction now, but not quite where I want to be. To that end, I have joined another challenge, this time with a specific plan in place. I'm excited to break the plateau I've been on and get my body exactly where I've always wanted it. I also want to run another half marathon and hopefully more races in general. I love the feeling I get from running, but have found it difficult to maintain with grad school. With any luck I'm going to find a way to balance my time a bit better this semester.

I've also finally transported my guitar to Boston. I got it not long before starting college and never really got to devote time to learning to play it. While Joe and I were in NC for the holidays, I bought a hard guitar case and brought it back with me. I've already learned more in the past week than I did the rest of the time I've owned the guitar, so I'm very excited (and my fingers are very sore) for what's to come in that endeavor.

Most of all though, I'm excited to continue in this wonderful life with Joe. As I look back through photos of the last year, I can see the change in my face (and my smile) when I met Joe. The only regret I have about 2011 is that I had to go through almost three months of the year without knowing him. Yes, that's cheesy and disgustingly mushy. Don't worry, I'm gagging a little myself. The point is that even the not so great times were great because they were with him and I've learned a ton about myself this year thanks to having him by my side to cheer me on. I know that 2012 is going to be an even better year for the two of us and I look forward to even more years to come.

No matter what your resolutions might be, just be sure you're making them for the right reasons. Mine are about allowing myself to really embrace what makes me happy and the best I can be at whatever I do. Living healthier, pursuing my dreams, relishing the love I have in my life. Those are my resolutions, not just for the new year, but for the rest of my life.

Happy 2012!

I did it!!!

Apologies for not posting in so long. Classes, work, training for the half marathon and being a Big Sister all caught up with me. Not to mention Joe and I are having a Halloween party so I've been planning for that as well. Regardless, here I am to share my most recent update. That is, I completed the BAA 11th Annual Half Marathon yesterday!

It was far from easy. Many of the aforementioned obligations kept me from training as much as I had wanted and the temperature skyrocketed to almost 80 degrees during the race. Keep in mind that means it was hotter during my October half marathon than it was during my August 8K. Mother Nature, why can't we just all get along?

The course was along Boston's Emerald Necklace an started in Franklin Park, just outside White Stadium. The beginning was mostly a gradual downhill, across the overpass near Forest Hills and then around Jamaica Pond and through Brookline (along Riverway). Once back across the overpass after the first loop, the course backed up on itself again and moved back up the first big hill and through Franklin Park Zoo after crossing back over the starting line. Once through the zoo, the course crossed the starting line one more time and then curved around and finally into White Stadium where the finish line was at the 30 yard line!

I certainly hit a few snags along the way. Starting around mile 2, I could feel the tape around my big toe rubbing up against my second toe and knew it spelled disaster. I decided to just run through the pain and deal with it later (note: later is now and there is no skin on the inside of that toe, oooowww). The course was a bit more hilly than I had anticipated and I started feeling it in my knees around mile 6 or 7. Then, at mile 7 my shoe came untied (grrr, why didn't I double knot them from the beginning?!). Finally, around mile 10 the heat started to take its toll along with my failing knee. I ended up walking for a few minutes every mile from then out, but finished with a good strong run so I'm still very proud of myself.

When the weather was first projected a few days ago, I altered my goal a bit from what I had originally hoped. That said, I beat my altered goal by 4 minutes and was only 10 minutes slower than my original goal. I think that's not all that bad given all the snags I hit! I finished the half marathon (13.1 miles) and that's the most important thing to me. Now, as I sit looking at the medal I got at the finish, I think I can definitely do another one in the future.

Then I look over at my left knee, which is currently in a brace and propped up on the coffee table. Granted, there's no way I'm going to let this keep me from doing another half, but I'm definitely going to need to take some extra precautions with my knees next time (and maybe run my next half on a less hilly course).

Despite the setbacks and the pain, it was totally worth it for that moment of crossing the finish line. Joe did a great job of capturing my relief in the photo below:

There's nothing like knowing you set out with a goal that you couldn't have even imagined for yourself a few years (or months) before and that you accomplished it with the support of the people you love and with friends both old and new!

Training update

It isn't easy to train for a half marathon while working full-time and going to class at night two nights a week, as I've learned this week. Whereas my routine used to consist of working 9-5 (roughly) then going to the gym before meeting up with Joe at 7, now on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have class until 9:45. After class I walk home and it's time for bed!

So far I haven't been able to get myself out of bed early enough to run in the morning (granted, today was the first day I tried to plan on it), but I'm hoping that's what I'll be able to start doing on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. In the meantime, at least I have the stairs at work and walking on my lunch break to get in a little bit of exercise. I'll also plan to do some yoga or strength training at home after class on those nights, but it depends on how exhausted I am after my 13 hour day.

Now for the exciting part! Yesterday at the gym I ran 5K (3.1 miles) in 30:26! It certainly isn't an Olympics qualifying time, but it's a far cry from the 34+ minutes it took me to run my 5K last September. It's so exciting to be able to say that I ran around a 9:48 mile!

I was pushing myself the whole time because I've never gone at that pace before. It certainly wasn't easy, but it was totally worth it.  Now I know that I can do it--and I can do more than that too! This will certainly help me in my training now and in the future.

I'm not making it to the gym tomorrow night either (Joe has a half day and we're going to move some stuff from my office to my apartment once I get off work since my last day is in less than a month), so fingers crossed I can get in a run tomorrow morning!

Summer!

While I've been celebrating the spirit of summer for quite some time (see my two "Summer 2011" facebook albums for proof), today marks the Summer Solstice. What I like about this official start to summer is accountability in my workout and diet routine.

There have certainly been days where I've found myself in shorts and a tank top, and plenty of days worthy of running outside, but now the 4th of July is less than two weeks away and a swimsuit is bound to crop up soon. What really makes me excited is that the swimsuit I bought last summer, which was already the smallest one I had owned to date, is too large! I can still wear it a couple more times when water and/or lots of movement aren't involved, but I'm going to have to buy a new one for a proper fit.

There's also the impending trip to North Carolina that gives me pause. Each time I've visited since I graduated from college, I have been the smallest my parents have ever seen me, progressively losing more weight. They know I've been running a lot and training for races, but I really want to wow them on Labor Day. To that end, I have a goal to lose 10 more pounds before Joe and I fly to NC for the first weekend of September. It frankly shouldn't be that difficult given how much time I spend running, so let's just hope that summer offers the accountability to stick to my healthy habits and not give my body too many carbs (or too much celebratory alcohol).

As tempting as it is to cap off a hot day with an ice cold beer, alcohol is limited to one time a week or less. Beer is strictly limited to the light varieties and other alcohol is mixed with diet coke or seltzer (in the case of wine). I'm also switching to vegan cheese as much as possible (more on this fabulous discovery in another post). This isn't strictly for weight loss reasons--though there are fewer calories in it than what other cheeses offer based on what little research I've done--with my lactose intolerance, it's so nice to be able to have cheesy foods without popping a lactaid every few minutes. It's also time to move back toward fresh fruits and vegetables (especially now that I live so close to a produce stand).

Of course, exercise is going to be the biggest key to all this. Yesterday after work I opted to go for a run outside, rather than going to the gym. This was partly because I wanted to enjoy the nice weather and partly because I just didn't want to sit on the T before starting my exercise. It was a stressful day at work and I wanted to get out my frustrations. I went on a 3-mile run from work to Jamaica Pond and back and it was gorgeous. The next time I go that route, I'll go around Jamaica Pond, rather than skirting in front of it, but it was very humid yesterday and I didn't bring my inhaler on the run.

On my lunch break today I went for a walk around Leverett Pond (which is the smaller pond between where I work and Jamaica Pond) and did two laps. Nothing strenuous, but movement nonetheless. I'm hoping to make that a staple of my routine for the next few weeks that I'm at this job (along with walking the stairs of the building several times around 3pm, which I did yesterday and plan to do today). Tonight after work I'm skipping the gym once again in favor of going for a run outside, though this time I'm going to wait until it cools off a bit and go for a run around my new neighborhood.

As a planner by nature, it feels so great to have all this sorted out and written down. This summer has so many exciting things to offer, continuing to whittle down the number I see on the scale (and my pants size) is another one to add to the list.

Happy Summer!

My first 8K!

Well, I did it! After a lot of preparation (as well as some procrastination and slips in training), I finished my 8K this past Sunday, June 12! It took me a while to post because, frankly, I wanted to add pictures and didn't download them from my camera until last night.

Brief aside: The night before the race was the New Kids on the Block / Backstreet Boys (marketed as NKOTBSB) show at Fenway Park. I bought my ticket back in February, long before I decided to do an 8K. I had waffled back and forth with whether I should still go, but am very happy I made the decision to stick it out. Joe went out with Sean while I relived every age between 3-24. More on this later.

It poured during the concert, so I took a cab to Joe's. It was far too cold, and the line was far too long, for me to wait for the Green Line or walk to the Orange Line. I was also too tired to worry much about my race; that hit the next morning.

I woke up bright and early because I have a very difficult time running in the morning. I wanted to make sure that my body felt like it had been awake for an adequate number of hours before I started forcing it up hills and on a 5-mile race.

I ate a bagel I grabbed from work a few days before and drank some vitamin water that Joe had bought me because he knew I would have a few beers at the show the night before. I also did a LOT of stretching. At this point, I was overwhelmed by nerves. I told Joe several times that "maybe I shouldn't run" at all. He was incredibly supportive and assured me that it would be over before I knew it and that I'd be great. I'm so lucky.

We walked down early so I could pick up my race bib and free t-shirt for pre-registering. We also watched his sister-in-law, DeAnna, start the 2K race a few minutes before my 8K started. Her race started at this banner, which is where mine ended:

When it was time to line up for my race, Joe and I walked over to the starting line and he stayed with me until just before the start of the race. He also let me use his iPod for the race. Did I mention I'm lucky?

The first part wasn't all that bad. We went straight down Chelsea St. and over to Warren and Main St., hitting the 1 mile mark along the way. A right turn onto Bunker Hill St. led me up the first hill, which was killer. People around me started walking, and I thought about doing the same, but decided that if I started walking it would be harder to start back. As I approached the top of the hill, Joe was waiting for me with water (and with camera in hand). 

Even though there were water stations, I was so grateful for the water he was providing as well. What I didn't realize is that one of the girls in front of me was having the happiest moment of her life, to date.

While the couple in front of me celebrated their engagement, I ran by wondering what was happening, but focusing more on the fact that I was about to get to run down hill, rather than up. Joe took the time to get a photo before heading down to the finish line to meet me. At this point I ran down and back onto Main St., somewhere along the way passing the 2 and 3 mile marks. 

Unfortunately, getting back to Main St. required another hill. This one wasn't nearly as daunting, but still tough. After the second trip on Main St., I continued onto Medford St. The first "hydration" station on Medford St. was a guy handing out beer rather than water. I thought about grabbing some, but was afraid I would regret it later. 

On Medford St. some man started talking to me. "How are you feeling?" he asked after he tapped me to get my attention. I think I probably just stared at him and mumbled, "Umm, I'm feeling okay." He proceeded to tell me that he keeps pace by talking to people because you're supposed to be able to carry on a conversation comfortably to know you're at a good pace. That's all fine and well, but to be honest, he started slowing me down. The next station offered a choice between water and orange slices, so I took an orange slice. This kept me from talking and the guy started talking to a passerby about her dog and I was off the hook. Somewhere on Medford St. there was a 4 mile marker.

Finishing up Medford St. led me into the Navy Yard and I knew I was getting close. I managed to take the time to smile (or make some semblance of a smile) as Joe took my picture after crossing the finish line.

It was a fantastic feeling! Joe was waiting with Gatorade and I stretched out to try to limit my level of soreness the next day. We piled into DeAnna's car after that and went back up to Joe's so I could most of another bagel, shower, and get ready for the Bunker Hill Day Parade and cooking out with his family. I made pasta salad like the one I took to Joel's housewarming, but once again forgot to get a picture. Oh well, it was delicious; everything was.

All in all a fantastic race and day! I've decided now to start training for a half marathon. Whether I'll be ready for this year's Boston Half in October is unclear, but I'm definitely running one at some point. It's amazing how far that is from wondering if I should even run at all the morning of my race. Runner's high makes all the difference in the world.

8K Training

Strangely, I still can't log in to my blog via chrome, so I had to resort to Firefox. I'm sorry, the google blogging service isn't working with the google browser? Fine.

After over a week of not going to the gym because of severe allergies and then a respiratory infection, yesterday was my first day back for what was meant to be more 8K training. One mile into my run, my still inflamed lungs were less than thrilled. Granted, I was doing my first day of training on an incline, which probably wasn't the best idea after having been sick and still coughing all day, but I was surprised I needed to stop so soon. I walked at a brisk pace on an incline for a few more minutes and then moved over to do some strength training. As a side note, I really enjoy the strength training machines at my gym and I like doing the circuit training they have laid out. It's interesting to see which of my muscle groups are significantly stronger than others.

I felt pretty okay while I was showering and changing, but once I got on the train I couldn't stop coughing. By the time I got to Harvard Square, I was scrambling for my inhaler, but couldn't even stop coughing long enough to get any good inhales. At that point my body was convulsing and I thought I was going to vomit. That said, I'm taking a break from the gym today. Instead I'm going to Allston after work to do some vacuuming and to get my Red Sox hat for the game on Monday. Depending how I feel after dinner tonight, I may hop on the elliptical at Joe's. At least that way I won't be dealing with public transportation if I start trying to cough up a lung.

Hopefully on Saturday morning I can go for a run around Charlestown (and do part of the race route), but that all depends what time Joe and I get up. We're planning to go to his brother and sister-in-law's place on Saturday, and maybe also moving the rest of my stuff to the new apartment, so I may be crunched for time. I have 17 days until the race, so I need to use whatever time I have for training. Eek!

Gonna Keep on Runnin'

In helping my boyfriend, Joe, create a facebook I became more attuned to what was actually contained within my own profile. One of the things I noticed was that this blog is linked as one of my websites. That makes my lack of updating pretty unfortunate.

I start out almost every single post on this blog talking about how it's been so long since my last, I have so much on which to update, and how I hope to blog more frequently in the future.

Let's skip straight to the good stuff. If anyone is out there reading and actually cares about all of the update stuff (and can't follow based on what I am going to include), feel free to message me for a more complete version.

I'm currently training for an 8K in June to take place the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill Day Parade in Charlestown. I ran my first 5K back in September (which was my first ever race period) so an 8K shouldn't be that big of a jump. Unfortunately, I didn't actually continue to train between September and March (I think I maybe ran three times during that period), so training has been kind of slow going.

The good thing is that I'm doing better than I anticipated. When I ran the 5K, it was all I could do to get to the 3 mile mark. I was huffing and puffing and generally just pretty exhausted. Yesterday at the gym I ran just over 4 miles, followed by walking an additional mile. The 8K is 4.97 miles, so having done 5 miles at the gym yesterday (even if I walked one of them) tells me that I'll be fine in the 8K as long as I keep up my training. The difference is that the race takes place at Bunker Hill so that's a bit unfortunate. Most of my training has been flat, but I'm planning to integrate incline next week. I figure that adrenaline will probably carry me through a lot of it. The day of my 5K race was my best time so I'm pretty confident that even if I'm not 100% up to snuff in my training, I'll be able to finish the 8K (even if I am really slow at it).

After the 8K, my plan is to not stop training this time. Either this October or next October (depending how all of my training progresses) I'm going to run the Boston Half Marathon. It will certainly be a challenge, but I'm up for it. I'll use running to keep myself low stress during grad school, if nothing else.

My first class toward my master's degree begins in late June. I'm only doing one summer course for both the sake of my sanity (I'll still be working at JBCC) and for financial reasons. It will be good to have a course under my belt before I start full-time in the fall.

In the meantime I have plenty on my plate to keep me occupied. Between obligations (jury duty, my civic responsibility--yay...), necessary evils (I'm moving to Brighton in a couple of weeks), and all of the fun stuff I have planned (bowling this weekend, Love in Stockholm show on the 27th, Red Sox game on the 30th and Nigel-sitting May 29-June 3), I have a full schedule. That's just how I like it. Granted, most of what fills my plate is the packing that precedes the moving (and that's not exactly fun), but I have a lot to look forward to, and about which I can be genuinely excited.

Just gotta keep on runnin'!