holiday running

And like that Thanksgiving Day has come and gone. I'm very happy to be back in my own bed for the night at least. It was a long weekend on the in-laws pull out couch.

There was no Turkey Trot for me. None were happening in or around the small central Illinois town. Instead, I woke up early enough to go for a run before we had to go elsewhere to celebrate the day by stuffing ourselves. Going for a run is kind of difficult when staying with the in-laws. No one likes me to walk out the front door and run because of all the country roads. I don't mind too much but they all freak out. At least they care ;) There is a 6 mile path relatively close but I still need someone to drive me there since I can't take the car just in case. I'm not use to waiting on others when I want/need to run! I pretty much gave my husband no choice in taking me once I walked upstairs in my running gear ;) It ended up being one of those runs that got done. I was having issues the entire 6 miles and really couldn't find a good groove but I'm still glad I was able to get out there and do something before gorgefest 2010.

Friday was an off day then another 6 Saturday afternoon. This time I did the reverse of the route from Thursday. It worked out much better for me! The wind was in my face the entire time, there were 2 hills, but over 4 miles of the trail were downhill. Yea for the downhill!

Sunday I ended up having to run after we got back in Chicago. We wanted to get on the road before hitting a lot of traffic and because I hadn't slept well I didn't wake up early enough to go for my 12 mile run before packing the car and leaving. Not the best idea to try to run after being in the car for about 3 hours AND getting stuck in Bears game day traffic. It was nearly 4pm before I grudgingly changed into my running gear. Starting a long run in the dark is no fun. Even though I wasn't feeling the run at the start and there was an intense headwind miles 3-6 I was feeling dang good. I finished in some serious negative split land with the help from some tailwind and nervousness from being in the dark sections of the trail (I thought a cute little bunny was a gun wielding crazy man!) It may be time to invest in a running lamp of some sort...

How was your weekend running?

what day is it?

And it's been another week... Days are not long enough right now and work is nuts! Since last Tuesday I have been in Birmingham, Atlanta, Little Rock, Chicago, and St. Louis and there is no end in site. I still need to schedule and find time for Cleveland, Rockport, ME, Phoenix, AZ, somewhere in Maryland, and a couple other places they haven't told me about yet... I am barely keeping my head above water right now.

On a late note - Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! Overall a good 31st last Monday. I caught a nasty head cold that progressively got worse throughout the day but enough drugs took care of that mess. Dinner at Table 52 was fabulous. Who knew fried chicken, short ribs, and 3 cheese macaroni could be so delicious and well presented! And dessert, oh the dessert. A banana and pineapple 3 layer cake with cream cheese frosting... This AMAZING-NESS bumped my current #1 dessert and I can't stop thinking about the brilliance of that piece of cake :) Words cannot do it justice so I'm not going to even try.

It seems the busier I get the better I get at making time to run. It's my "me time" so I hold onto that desperately when everything else seems to be spinning out of control. I didn't quite hit the mileage I had hoped for last week (upper 40's) but I only cut out 4 miles so I feel good about the week. Especially with all the travel. I pushed my long run off to last Sunday and thankfully I did. It was the difference between cold and rainy or cool and sunny. It worked out in my favor this time around! The first 8 miles were quite enjoyable and I was hitting my targeted pace. The last 8 miles were one big swear word. The wind was like no other! No wonder the first 8 were so awesome :) I still managed a decent time for 16 miles despite the wind.

This week is proving slightly more difficult to find time to run. I have two day trips this week which means mornings starting at 4 am and not returning until 6pm or later and family coming to visit this weekend. That means I need to also find time to clean, clean, clean. Plus, it is tough to rationalize going for mid to long runs when family visits. I only see so much of them! So while I may have to cut some of the distances a bit I am confident I'll have another week of mileage in the 40's. It just may take being a little creative to get that done ;)

Now off to finish this ridiculously long work report so I can fit in those 10 miles...

No Excuses

Call tonight to the hubs on the way home from the airport... approximately 5:30pm

Me: I'm thinking of going for a short, quick run before dinner, is that okay?

Hubs: It's dark outside

Me: I can see that but the path is well lit

Hubs: It's cold and crappy

Me: I've run in worse

Hubs: yeah, I guess

Me: at least it's not raining!

Hubs: (big sigh implying I will never understand you and your running thing) okay

Poor guy all he wanted to do was get some dinner and I shot down all his reasons why I shouldn't go for a run. Unfortunately for him all I wanted to do was run after my long day of sitting. I sat so much today from the research office, to the airport, to the airplane, and in the car in traffic that my butt start to ache! I had to get moving. Plus instead of waking up early (like all you other good bloggers!) I re-set the alarm for an extra 50 minutes of sleep this morning and was feeling ultra guilty. Normally I don't run after working and traveling all day long; I'm too spent. Today, I lucked out in catching an earlier flight home and finding some energy.

I walked in the back door before 6, quickly changed, and headed out the front door sans garmin by 6. Before I even made it to the path I ran into some neighborhood hoodlums who were looking for trouble. They started to harass me but for whatever reason they took off and I made it by without much incident. A bit of a scary way to start. Once on the path there were a number of bikers and runners and I quickly found my groove. Not quite 4 miles later I was back home with a newfound energy! Ahhh - much better!

how business travel and running are a lot alike...

Today while walking through O'Hare for the 60-something time this year I was thinking about my lack of running and my time spent in airports across the country. As any runner does you compare everything in your life to running. My life consists of work travel. Therefore, for lack of other exciting things happening in my life I bring you:

How Business Travel is A Lot Like Running (a race):

• You should probably pack the night before. Packing the day of/morning of will cause you to forget something you need (toothpaste, glasses, socks, bib, or the all important chip)
• Arrive early - just in case
• Be prepared! Anything can (and will) happen.
• Inevitably no matter how many times you use the bathroom before the flight or the race as soon as you board the plane/start the race you will need to go again.
• There are a "newbies" or peeps who don't know the rules of the road. There is really no difference between the walkers who line up near the front and the inexperienced traveler in priority lines or blocking said lines.
• Fueling/hydrating are very important and you need to have a plan.
• You're hungry and tired when it's all done (although this one may just apply to me)
• If you try something new fueling wise race/travel day it will probably upset your stomach.
• You are surrounded by a ton of people you don't know in this "thing" together. Often you'll find someone to talk to. Travel/run enough and you start to recognize and get to know these once random strangers.
• The shoes you wear can make or break the day!
• Some days are just not your day and it's completely out of your control.
• Wear layers (I know this really only applies to races/runs on cold days).
• There will probably be a line for the bathrooms.
• Some days you just want to get it over as fast as you can.

long day(s)

Thank goodness for schedules and the motivating power of putting on the running clothes. Otherwise I'm not sure I would have done anything but come home and sleep today. Wednesday I had the "wonderful" perk of my job - delays in Newark for no darn reason other than it's Newark. Awesome. So my 5:26 PM flight was delayed nearly 3 1/2 hours before they realized "the plane was no good". The had another plane but it wasn't arriving until 9:50 PM. Mind you I had a day trip Thursday to hotlanta and my flight was scheduled to leave at 6:18 AM. So to make an already long story a little shorter I didn't land until 11:45 PM and walked into my condo at 12:35 AM. I was able to pull off a stellar 3 1/2 hours of sleep before my 4:05 AM wake-up call. Suh-weet.

My site was cool with my deliriousness today so that was good. I caught an earlier flight home that actually arrived relatively on time. Still with the earlier flight it ended up being a 12 hour day! The whole day, when I wasn't sleeping or working, I was thinking about the running schedule and how I could possibly make up 11 miles if I didn't run today. There was no way I could. I came home checked some e-mail I hadn't checked in what felt like a week but wasn't and slowly changed into running gear. It helps I had just spent a crapload amount of money at nike.com and had some new fun stuff to take for a spin. Plus I had my 3rd pair of WRIGHTSOCKS to try. (I promise that review on the 3 single layer socks I tried this week). Well the power of the new gear took over and I headed out to see how far I could make it before the exhaustion took over. I promised myself to take it easier than usual and if it didn't click today I would turn around. The legs felt like cinder blocks the first mile or so and I contemplated turning home but then it started to fall into place. I made it the full 11 miles! Then I came home showered, got dressed, and did something I've never done in Chicago... I went to dinner by MYSELF :) I do it all the time while on the road but have never done it in my own city. It was a nice little evening at my favorite Indian restaurant.

I have to say I'm very proud of myself today! Normally I would have come home changed into my "fat pants" (aka pj's) and curled into bed with the computer. I feel so much better that I didn't! Now it's time for some much needed and deserved sleep!

Merry Christmas

Oh Christmas time and driving all over the midwest to visit family...It doesn't allow one much time to herself. I was making progress last week with the running (ran 4 days!!!) and well not so much this weekend and week so far. I probably would have gotten a run today except for this horrendous head cold Jacob gave me. The pain in my sinus cavity is unreal. I can't tell you the last time I got sick with the cold or flu - 2 years ago maybe. It just doesn't happen to me I get lucky. Not so much this time around. Here's hoping I can resume a normal schedule when I return home on Thursday. And here's hoping my waistline (and thighs) don't pay too much for taking that much time off!

Maggie isn't quite feeling being an elf :) I'm such a mean one dressing her up even if it only lasted long enough to get the picture. Merry Christmas! I hope santa brings you everything you want and this finds you all healthy and happy with your respective families.