Mondays in Love: Race Announcement!

I am thrilled to bring you the first Mondays in Love of 2013! I always enjoy writing these, but this week's especially has a warm place in my heart. This is big:

I have registered for my first endurance race post-baby!

You may recall that I vowed not to enter a half or full marathon until baby boy turns 1. In one way it's been hard to honor that promise, because, well, I love to race! Except in races where I bit it hard on the wall, I've generally had a blast running half and even full marathons (see here, here, and here). But at the same time, it also hasn't been that hard because I've been really, insanely busy over the past few months. There will be some reprieve from some of the chaos soon, which will free up some time for training. 

I looked for a race reasonably close to home, in April or May, and on a reasonably easy course. On the suggestion of a friend, I gave the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon a second look and decided that it fit the bill. I will be running in Springfield, IL on April 6!!*

Training will officially begin late this month. I am SO excited about finally having a reason to make a training plan--complete with color coded runs and weekly mileage totals--for myself. I'm not shooting for a PR. I don't have a concrete time goal, but will set one once I do some speed work and time trial miles to see where I'm really at on pace. 

I love this time of year when people are picking races and setting goals. Do you have an exciting new race picked for the year? How did you handle goal setting for a return to racing?

*full disclosure: yes, this is a few days before baby boy turns 1. Whatevs. 

2012 in Review

Hello runnahs, and welcome to 2013! I want to take a few moments to look back on 2012 and forward to 2013.

The highlights
Do I really need to tell you what the biggest highlight of my year was? Just in case you're new here (insert opportunity for gratuitous baby picture)...

From his first days--he's changed so much. It's been beyond amazing to watch him grow and learn and be adorable and cuddly.

Other highlights include losing almost all of the baby weight, entering a few 5ks this fall, our family staycation in November, and a whole host of personal and professional goals met. Life has been good. And chaotically busy. And stressful. And wonderful. 

The summary

In 2011 I ran well over 800 miles. In 2012 I ran 281. I'm good with that. I built mileage in 6 of the 8 months after having the baby. I'm back over 6 miles in my longest weekly runs. I've brought my pace back to the ballpark I was in before (though not quite there yet). Most importantly, I'm enjoying this. My return to running has been kind to myself, slow and without concrete goals or expectations, and fun. This is how this is supposed to be done after having a baby, especially a second (or later) baby. 

Looking forward

What are my goals for next year? At this point, fairly modest: two half-marathons, the second one fast. The first will be my Grand Return to Racing--yay! I want something that is low-key, not meant to be a PR but not meant to be blown off either. Stay tuned for more news on this!

Mileage: I think 700 miles for the year is a reasonable goal. With only 2 half-marathons scheduled, there aren't stretches of really high mileage weeks built in. Without much structure for much of the year, it's hard to estimate total mileage, so I think this is a good guess. 

I'm super excited to ring in 2013! I'm looking forward to reading about all of your races and training cycles, seeing how much ground I can make up in my quest back to my pre-baby pace & weight, and seeing where else life takes me. Let's get this party started!

Mondays in Love: Merry Christmas!!

Holy moly, it's been a month since I last posted to the ol' blog. A MONTH! I think this is a first in the history of JoannaRuns. The last month has been hectic and honestly, I needed a break from whatever I could find that I could temporarily throw overboard.

So, MERRY CHRISTMAS!! And so much else to love.

1. Happy dating anniversary to my love
Mr. Joanna and I started dating 11 years ago yesterday. It's hard to believe it's been that long. Time flies, we're having fun.

2. Hitting my goals

After the baby was born in April, I made the goal of returning to my Christmas 2010 weight by Christmas 2012. I am thrilled, beyond thrilled, to say that I not only met but exceeded this goal. In fact, I'm 9 lb. under that goal!! Only 5 lb. to go before I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm feeling good. 

3. Christmas with little kids

Tell me this isn't pure magic. 

4. I'm on track to beat my highest mileage month since January

Not sure I need much more explanation here. Yay! 

(and, for the record, I traded into new shoes around 12/4)

5. I finally debuted my new Brooks winter jacket, and it's awesome

When I ran this morning it was 31 but felt like 20. It was glorious. And this jacket was perfect. It's fleecy on the inside, has thumb holes, a hood (which I didn't use), and pockets that are big enough for use. Love, love, love. 

Happy running everyone! I promise I'll start catching up on your posts soon!

Mondays in Love: Staycation!!

Pretty soon I will be making decisions and signing up for spring races. Before we get to those decisions, I'm enjoying running when I wanna and having some extra family time. It was a thankful Thanksgiving in that way. Rather than doing a traditional Thanksgiving, my brood and I really needed a break and some down time, so we planned a whole staycation and had an absolute blast.

We stayed at a hotel with a pool (HUGE hit with the kiddos), went to the Thanksgiving parade and saw everything from the Grinch to this:

Yes, a huge shopping cart. wth??

We went out to a fancy Thanksgiving dinner, played games, and went to the Arch. The baby woke up just in time to take in the sights. 

I topped the weekend off with a perfect 5 miles on Sunday, done with a smile on my face and early winter in the air. Life is good this holiday season!! Were you thankful for running this year? 

Mondays in Love: The Intersection

A few times in the past week I've been struck by how frequently running habits show up in my non-running life. From the funny to the quirky to the kind, I decided to share these moments that have made me smile.

1. My hubby and I were standing in the kitchen talking when --BAM-- out of nowhere I drop back into a calf stretch without thinking anything of it. He stopped what he was saying, stifled a laugh, and mimicked exactly what I had done. Know what? It's kinda weird! 
2. The pedestrian mall through the middle of the campus where I work used to be a city street, so the sidewalk is really wide. The other day while walking back to my office from a coffee break, I realized that I was walking dead center on this sidewalk. You know, gotta keep those ankles from getting strained, run on the crest of the pavement! But it didn't even make sense. I was wearing heels, and the center of the sidewalk was a seam in the concrete, which I kept getting a heel caught in. I moved myself to the side, walked another 10 steps and realized I'd merged back to the center. Aaagh! Silly runner!
3. On Saturday night we went on a Christmas light walk that's organized by the park district. We had to park about a 5 minute walk from the park. So we parked, put the kids in their wagon (so cute!), and headed toward the park. As we were crossing a small road I thanked the police officer who was there to direct traffic. I realized while I was saying it that it's totally something I learned from doing road races. Always thank the people who are there to protect. 

How does running intersect your non-running life? Do you notice new, weird, or nice habits? 

Mondays on Notice: Sick, again

I am so tired of being sick. I don't remember ever being sick so frequently. Ever. I was so sick Friday night that I finally took myself to the ER to get re-hydrated and get the nausea stopped. Then I slept all day Saturday and did the bare minimum Sunday, by which time my older son was sick. He stayed home from school today and I worked but didn't feel great about life.

And so I put it on notice--sickness. Enough. 

But there's a silver lining. I did still run this morning, and with a friend, even. About 3.6 miles, slow and chatty in the cool (cold) morning. Since moving here two years ago I've done the vast majority of my running solo. I think it's about time for that to end. I think it's time to run with people again. This morning was fun.

I've been fantasizing about next year's races. Maybe the first training cycle can be my introduction back into group running.

October Recap

Hi guys. I know I've been really MIA lately. Things have been crazy, and the running has been inconsistent. I am in one of the worst dry spells ever in blogger history for content, and haven't wanted to post just for the sake of posting. But alas, October came and went, so I have a monthly recap (and a happy one!) to share. Yay!

Miles ran: 37.4, hell yeah!! My highest mileage month in 9 months! Also, it put me over 200 miles for the year.
# runs: 10
highest mileage week: 11.8 miles
favorite run: easily my 5 mile "long" run. It felt like a huge victory to break that 5 mile mark again!!
current goal: continue increasing the monthly mileage
current obsession: Christmas shopping. I LOVE Christmas shopping and I try hard to chip away at it over a period of a few months so it isn't too overwhelming all at once.
current need: pretty sure I need new running shoes. It's a good life! Also, work pants, which is just a sore and annoying point.
current excitement: I just got back from my annual academic conference. I always look forward to it. It inspires me and motivates me, and exhausts a bit in the process. But I have this buzz coming off it and heading back to the office tomorrow. And as excited as I have been about the trip, it's nice to be home too. I spent a lot of time away from these people in October.

current bane of my existence: nothing really share-able
current wish list: same as last month, month before that, and month before that--sleep.
current indulgence: I bought a few new pieces of work clothes last moth that felt like a nice indulgence. I tried to buy things that fit now but won't be too crazy big once I fully return to my pre-pregnancy size.

Happy November, runners! Here's to ongoing beautiful weather, inspiration, and health!