Mondays in Love: Humbled, Thankful

I have some great news: my Garmin is back in working order! It seems I had a two-fold problem: the device's software was way out of date and the wall-charger had become non-reliable. The software issue meant it was never entering power save mode, and the wall charger issue meant that once it turned off, I could no longer charge it. Thank goodness for Garmin customer service, which I am so impressed with!

With the Garmin back, I've finally been able to do a pace check. The results? Humbling.

that says 10:23 average pace over 2.19 miles, if you can't read it. Sometimes I swear blogger decreases my photo quality somehow.

Going back through my training log, this is the fastest I've run since December 8th, when I was about 5 months pregnant, and I ran only a few seconds slower in mid-January, at 6.5 months pregnant. It's humbling to know that I was still (much) faster at 5 months pregnant than I am now. It's humbling to be winded after 2 miles. It's humbling to expend such effort to run 1.5 minutes/mile slower than I did a year ago. 

And I'm thankful. Mostly, that my Garmin works again and I don't have to replace it. Score! But thankful too that getting disciplined and setting a schedule that allows me to run seems to be working. I got in two runs last week and am on track to do it again this week.  

Losing the weight, finding the time, and actually running post-baby are hard. But one of the things I love about running (and, truthfully, about my profession) is honing the discipline that it takes to improve. My upcoming 5k is starting to feel like a great venue to start setting goals again, one week at a time. 

Mondays in Love: First race!!

I have big, BIG news:
I've signed up for my first race post-baby!!

On August 31 I will be running the Torchlight 5k. Not only is this my FIRST RACE BACK (just in case my enthusiasm wasn't obvious already), but they will have food trucks at the finish of this early evening race. Know what that means? I can bring my whole family and they can dig in and enjoy while momma's out running her booty off. That's a win for everyone as far as I'm concerned!

You may remember that I discussed the possibility of doing a 4th of July 4-miler. What I'd forgotten was that we'd previously purchased tickets for Six Flags and a Cards game for that same day. Also, it was 104 degrees out. So....that race really didn't happen. No biggie. I can't run 4 miles yet anyway.

Ok ok, so back to the good part--my upcoming race (eeee!! So happy I can't stand it!). I have about 6 weeks until race day. That's long enough to shoot for a better goal than "finish alive." I ran 1.85 miles on Saturday without stopping, so I know I can do the distance with a bit more training. But, with 6 weeks, I also have a little opportunity to work on starting to get my pace back in check. Current pace: slow. Goal pace: less slow. Ha, sorry--with my Garmin still busted (more on that later), that's about all I know for pace right now.

The big question right now, how am I going to find the time to run more frequently? 'Cause right now I'm at about once a week, on Saturdays. I've decided to pick one day a week that I can consistently be in bed ridiculously early, letting me get up and run in the morning before work. It's not much for someone who ran a marathon 14 months ago, but it still means doubling my weekly mileage, and I'm gonna take that for now.

Mondays in Love: Winning

http://www.thesuperficial.com/charlie-sheen-is-tila-tequila-now-03-2011/0307-charlie-sheen-winning-00

Wait..that's not right. Runners don't have tiger stripes. So why am I winning? 

WIN: The heat wave has broken. I could have gone running midday today! The rest of the week is supposed to be lovely, especially for July. Some days we have highs in the 80s!!

WIN: Last time I weighed myself, I was back to my Christmas 2010 weight!! This was my first goal in weight loss post-baby and it makes me so happy. I can now wear most of my pants. The "4th trimester" is over. So far, 16 down, 14 to go. Next goal: another 4 pounds.

WIN: Yoga. I'll explain: So, I've had a really hard time finding minutes in the day to sneak in a run, and I'm neither apologizing nor feeling bad about it. And baby is still too young for a jogging stroller, so I can't run during the day with him. But yoga? Yoga I can do at home during the day while baby is sleeping (I'm still home two days a week). And holy cow but I need it. I remember this from after Big Brother was born, too. In the last week or so, suddenly I'm realizing how crazy stiff I am. My knees hurt. My calves and hams are stiff. My back is creaky. So yoga? Hells yeah. Bring it.

HOPEFUL/POTENTIAL/FINGERS CROSSED WIN: Baby brother is to the age that he should start sleeping through the night any time now. When that happens, it will become much easier to get a good night's sleep and hopefully get in more of those morning runs. I can't wait!!

Mondays on Notice: More Gear Questions

After being at home for 2 months on maternity leave and being home now 2 days per week (I'm back to work part-time through the end of this month), I've made HUGE progress on getting my house organized. You know, simple things that adults should be on top of, like getting all the birth-related medical bills and corresponding insurance statements organized, paid, and filed. Getting the house cleaned a bit more frequently than before. Well, among my culling of items to organize or pitch, I've collected an impressive pile of old running shoes.

no, not actually. http://livebare.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_2633.jpg

I kept them hoping to donate them to one of those shoe programs it seems like I'm forever reading about. The Whole Foods here was collecting them for a while, but when I went to donate mine their collection had ended. This seems to be the story of me and running shoes. What do you do with yours?? Help! I don't want to pitch them, but they've gotta go.