Ch-ch-ch-changes! (Are Coming Soon)

I just got a new domain for my site (runningonlazy.com) and will soon be updating everything! My first step towards bettering my blog 🙂 Keep your eye out for changes and more frequent posts! (Including my imminent battle of marathon training – agh! still nervous about that).

I Am A Crazy Person

Well I did it. I signed up for my first Marathon. Who do I think I am?

Since yesterday was National Running Day, Rock & Roll Marathons were discounted. I looked for one that was as far away (time-wise) as possible, but not too far distance-wise. San Diego would have been the ideal choice since it’s not until the end of May 2015, but I did not want to go all the way out to California.

My First (And Most Likely Last) Cleanse

So I haven’t blogged in a million years because I’m lazy, but my friend told me to step it up so here we go. I have a bunch of running adventures to update on (my 2nd half marathon was at the beginning of May!) but right now I want to talk about what’s currently on my mind, and has been all week (the whole long, miserable week).

I recently purchased the Corset Cleanse by Aster Elliot* that claimed to help regulate the digestive tract and make you a super human.** Since I have had troubles with me tum for the past few years, I decided to give it a go after reading reviews and reading about the plan. It seemed simple enough, only 6 days and you can even eat real food during it! Plus, one of the reviews said that the meal replacement shakes that you drink for breakfast and dinner tasted like yellow cake. CAKE. I LIKE CAKE. Sold.

Yesterday Only Made Me Miss Boston More

Kayaking on the Charles River

So as you may recall, I’m originally from the Boston area. I grew up just north of the city, went to college a few miles outside of the city, and spent two years after college living in a Boston borough. As you can imagine, moving away from my beloved homeland wasn’t on the top of my list of things to do, ESPECIALLY if that meant moving to New Hampshire. Lo behold, I am creeping up on 1 year of New Hampshire residency and it pains my little Bostonian heart.

Growing up with a runner for a dad, watching the Boston Marathon on TV every Marathon Monday (or.. Patriot’s Day.. I guess) was just what you did. Shockingly, I’ve never even watched the marathon in person. It’s a sore subject, and I don’t really want to talk about it, but it is what it is. I’ve always just been happy watching it on TV (plus, you never know what kind of weather you’re going to get in crazy New England). 

Luck of the Irish: 2 St. Patty’s Day Races

It finally feels like spring up here, just in time for April! It’s a whopping 55 degrees outside today and the sun is shining, birds are singing, and most importantly, the final snow is melting.

Last month was pretty pathetic for mileage considering I’m supposed to be in the height of my half marathon training, but at least it was better than February. I only got 29.15 total miles in, but managed to run almost all of my scheduled long runs.. so that’s good! I even managed to complete two races (both St. Patrick’s Day themed) despite being either bitter cold or quite damp.

First, I ran the Ras Na hEireann (Race of the Irish) in Boston on the 16th. It was a pretty good race for me considering that when my hip started giving out on me, my time started moving well above the 31 minute mark for 5ks. For this race, I was able to complete it in 30:05 so I was pleased to be moving back down.

Also, I know it doesn’t mean much since it’s essentially just a participation award, but I was really excited that we received medals for this race! The only other medal I’ve ever received was for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon and I thought that one was well earned. I’ve never been in a shorter race that gave out medals to participants so it was a nice surprise. Oh especially since it was in the single digits out so my face was about frozen off by the end of the race, so yes, a medal made it a bit better.

Just this past weekend, I ran the Shamrock Shuffle which was a 2 mile race. Yeah, Manchester is a little late to the show having its race weeks after St. Patrick’s Day, but apparently it’s because they get all of Boston’s stuff from the St. Patrick’s Day parade so they need a week or two of buffering to get it all up here and set up I guess? I don’t know. I don’t care. I was just happy to be able to participate in two super green races.

Since this one was shorter, I wanted to push myself to see how fast I could go. For the first mile, I was running with a friend and didn’t want to go to crazy since she made a comment that she was surprised we were doing a sub-10 minute mile. We later got to a big hill and she urged me to go ahead so I tried my darndest to sprint the hill and the rest of the way to the finish. I ended up doing the 2 miles in 18:03 which is great but I just wonder what I could have done had I pushed a little harder.

Big perk of getting to run 2 St. Patrick’s Day Races: REPURPOSING ALL OF MY GREEN TINK STUFF! Seriously. I have way too much green running apparel right now so I was excited by the opportunity to to don my green shoes, compression sleeves, and skirt yet again.

I’ll hopefully be able to up my game in training in April since the half marathon in Vermont is closing in! Unfortunately, I have a full weekend coming up as well as two races which is kind of messing with my long run schedule, but I’ll just have to figure something out. Unfortunately, it’s looking like I’ll have to do my 10 mile run the day after a mud run so hopefully it isn’t too challenging.

Here We Go Again…

I’ve signed up for another Disney race! I’ll be getting my Coast to Coast medal by doing the Wine & Dine Half Marathon in November. I already have my costume for it mostly completed, which is kind of insane if you really think about it… but let’s just not think about it. When we were in Disneyland for the Tinker Bell half, I saw a Sully hat that I just HAD to have, but my only way to justify the purchase was to say that I’d be Sully for another Disney race. So lo and behold, I will be running as Sully at the Wine & Dine!

Seriously, though. How could I pass up this fuzzy goodness?

I’m so excited but it pains me to think that the race is 8 months away. Sigh.

One Month Ago I Ran My First Half

So I’ve been a bad blogger. I haven’t updated about the Tinker Bell half marathon yet and it was exactly a month and a day ago! Whoops. I’ve been meaning to sit down and write about it but then keep thinking that I don’t have enough time or patience to make the post as wonderful as I want it to be. Finally, I decided to just say “screw it” and write up a post before I forget what even happened!

So, first things first: my first time in LA. 

Finally A Half Marathoner!

I don’t have time (or all of the pictures yet!) for a full post, but I wanted to update that I am officially a half marathoner! California was amazing and I’m really hating the fact that I had to leave (it’s so coooold here).

The race itself went quite swimmingly despite the fact that we walked around the park for two full days before so my feet and legs were yelling at me. It wasn’t my intention to walk around that much before the race, but my running pal’s friend was visiting and I wasn’t going to pass up a trip to the park! The tops of my feet actually still hurt but I think that’s mostly from wearing Birkenstocks for far too long :-X. I’m going to my chiropractor tonight so I’m hoping he has some foot knowledge!

Anywho, here are two pictures – more to come soon (with a full recap!):

Meeting Tink at Pixie Hollow – the wait time to meet here was ridiculous (but worth it)

Half Marathon Finisher! And look at all that wonderfully matched lime green 😉

The Final Countdown

After just 2 more full workdays, I will be heading out to sunny, magical California. It’s kind of crazy since I started this blog to motivate me for this one race and look at well it’s worked! Well, I don’t blog nearly as much as I should… but I am going to be running a half marathon so I guess we win there.

I’ve been jittery with excitement for … oh about half a month. Basically since January 1st, my main focus in life was Tink. I did my final long run this past weekend (despite the rain and ice!) and successfully completed 10 miles in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Since my goal is to run the race under 2:45, that time made me happy. Unfortunately, since my socks got completely saturated during the run, I developed a nasty blood blister under one of my toenails. I’m just ignoring the pain though because nothing can take away from this weekend!

I’ve already finished packing (because I am a crazy) and managed to fit all of my racing clothes & accessories into my laptop bag. I’m carrying on both my suitcase and my bag but you never know if they’re going to ask you to check something so I figured better safe than sorry.

What am I wearing for the race, exactly? Well.. this:

Shoes: Saucony Mirage 2, Skirt & Wings: Sparkle Athletic, Shirt: Under Armour Victory Tank, Compression Sleeves: CW-X Ventilator Calf Sleeves

I know I’m not going to be super original, but I’m excited. The friend that I’m running with is wearing basically all of this but in blue. We’re going to look SUPER cool.

Now I go back to trying to power through as much work as possible so I don’t have to think about ANYTHING on vacation.

My 2013 In Review

Year end posts seem to be a trend around these parts so I decided to jump on the bandwagon and do one of my own!

2013 has had its ups and downs like most years do. The biggest up was when I decided to start seriously running in May by signing myself up for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon without actually ever even running a full 5k (I was in the middle of the C25K program). My first race ever was in June and it was all downhill from there (in the best sense of the word – I love downhill running!).

From June until today, I was able to run 11 races which is crazy seeing as this time last year I could barely run half a mile. Of course, I could have done more had it not been for my hip and constant sickness, but I’m glad to report that with the help of my chiropractor, orthotics, and some CW-X pants, my hip actually didn’t bother me for the whole 6.2 miles this past Saturday!

Looking to 2014, I plan to cover a lot more miles on the road, track, treadmill, and hopefully a few mountains (not running, just hiking!).

So what do I want to do in 2014? Well, run more, of course, but I want to actually try new things and do different forms of exercise. I want to do more fitness classes and trying lifting weights more. Plus, eating better is always a good thing to plan on :). Oh, turning 25 should also be pretty interesting.

For now, I’ll just try my hardest to get some final training in for the half marathon so that I can complete it without being swept up!

Thanks, 2013. Hello, 2014!