March Recap

Hello hello! I know I'm late to post my March recap. The USB to connect my Garmin to my computer went AWOL for about a week and a half. Stuff happens. :)

So how was March? March was lovely! I hit triple digits, successfully moved through another 4 weeks of training, and got to know people in my running group better each Saturday. Here are the stats:

Total miles: 102. Triple digits feels great.

# runs: 18

# other workouts: Over spring break we went skiing, which is one heck of a cross-training workout! It had been about 15 years since I'd skied, so needless to say there was some falling down, but by the end of the day I was in a groove. We definitely plan to go more than once next year!

Me and the Mr. at Snowbird lookin' goofy

Otherwise, I attended my yoga class twice. I did miss cross-training the week I went to San Antonio.

Favorite run: Can I pick three? First, he 9 mile long run that included some intense hills in the early miles, then a long, gradual downhill with great views after that. And of course, mile repeats are always a favorite. Then, getting to run outdoors along the canal in San Antonio while traveling for work was certainly a bonus.

Overall, my runs this month have been delightful. It would be hard not to love running when you get to see an amazing sunrise every day.

Sunrise over the mountains

Setbacks/Challenges: My Achilles have been really tight lately. I've never had this happen before, and I have no idea what I'm doing differently that is causing it. I've started stretching them in the mornings and more diligently after each run. Here's hoping it clears up!

House projects completed: My hubby painted his man cave. It looks great!

Training update: The Salt Lake Half is in 2 weeks!! Training has been going well and I'm looking forward to race day.

Things I'm looking forward to in April: The Salt Lake Half!!! My group ran the course this Saturday, so I know what to expect. CAN'T WAIT! Then, I'm also really looking forward to stepping up my training for the Utah Valley Half in June. It's a more aggressive training schedule--looking forward to seeing how far I can push myself.

Also, April means baby boy turns TWO (can you believe he's 2 already??) and I turn a larger number later in the month. And, classes end. #hallelujah.

Happy April Runners!! 

March of Dimes and bday recaps

The last few days have been a really happy time for me. My birthday was nothing short of fantastic and I got to run a 5k on Saturday for a good cause. {long post warning!}

Reasons my birthday totally rocked:

• My little boy held a bouquet of flowers for me and stood by the front door waiting for me to come home on Thursday. Unfortunately I came in through the back--oops! Completely adorable anyway. 
• My hubby bought me a few, small things that I would have considered luxuries to buy for myself. I think those are the best gifts! Not spending tons of money, not going over the top, but thoughtful things. AND he brought me donuts at my office in the middle of the day. He rocks my face off! (and no, I did not eat them all myself, but I thought about it!)

• I lunched with two girls I've gotten to be friends with at work, then Thursday evening went out for drinks with one of them. We had such a good time! AND, she brought me fresh eggs from her landlord's urban chickens. Because I kind of have this thing with urban chickens. I mean, honestly, people do that?!? Apparently yes. 

• I got thrown out of a colleague's office, lol. He had seized an opportunity earlier in the day and I was beating myself up for not having thought of it. He reminded me that I don't think of these things because I'm new at the job. He asked how old I was (he's my dad's age). I told him it was my birthday, actually, and told him how old I was turning. And he said, "Get the hell out of my office." I <3 my co-workers. 
• Yesterday Mr. Joanna and I went to see A Prairie Home Companion live. I've wanted to see it for years. Probably since I read Lake Wobegon Days in high school. If you're from a small town and you've never read it--do! After the show we had dinner with a group of friends and hung out with some of them until late in the evening. It was such a good time!!
• I got a ton of messages from friends on Facebook, through email, and a few phone calls. It put such a smile on my face! Not to mention the earlier celebrations I'd had with The Beastie, my parents, and my MIL. 

All told, it was a great birthday/weekend with friends near and far. And the weekend was great for another reason, too--I got a new 5k PR in a race put on by a great organization, March of Dimes. I'm pretty sure the swag was worth more than what I paid in entry fees--talk about a win-win! Here's the recap: 

The 5k was much smaller than the 2 mile walk, and started 5 minutes earlier. So the line-up was small, and there wasn't a starting mat. Everyone's start time was gun time, even though it was chip timed. They counted down and sounded a loud horn and we took off, going immediately down a short hill to start. I couldn't help myself, I just took off! I looked at the Garmin about a minute in and saw that I was under a 7-minute pace. Ooops! Had to rein it in, so I did, at least a little. The first mile ticked off pretty easily, at a 7:32 pace. 

Early in the second mile I caught up to a dude about my age. As I came up on him I saw him look over at me. He might as well have said it out loud--he did NOT want to get chicked! He picked up the pace and got about a shoulder ahead of me. He held on for about 30 seconds then "pulled over" and slowed way down and let me pass him. I'm pretty sure it was my only chicking of the day. I'll be honest--it made me smile. :) About half-way through the second mile I was surprised I was still holding my pace and feeling good about it. It started getting hillier and windy farther into the mile. Mile time: 7:45. 

At the beginning of the third mile I faced the steepest hill yet and was running into stiff wind. I was working hard and not moving very quickly. I kind of wanted it to stop for a minute, but I knew if I gave up for even a second I would hate myself for it at the end. I remembered my mantras and dug in and pushed. My pace follows the same curve as the elevation changes pretty closely. Mile time: 8:01.

In the last tenth I took off, per the usual. As I crossed the finish the timing crew started waving a thing like a ping pong paddle at me. Have any of you ever seen timing done like that? No finish mats, but hand-held sensors? It was a first for me. I wondered how they would handle the clumps of people. 

Total time (and new PR): 24:13. woot!!

I made a new local runner friend while waiting for the awards announcement. Then the awards came and something totally unprecedented happened: I took second overall for the women! Even though it was a really small race, I couldn't believe it! I got a little trophy, which my son has since confiscated and calls it the Piston Cup (since, of course, all things revolve around Cars). 

After the race, I headed out for a loop around the park to finish off the rest of my miles for the day (12 total). It's really not my favorite place to run, but the change of scenery was nice, and the weather was great. Overall, it was a great birthday and weekend. Thanks to everyone who was a part of it!

March recap

this will be my last transmission from Earth's Central Time Zone, er, this will be my last blog post before the Martian Half. The kiddo and I head out tomorrow and we're ready for an awesome weekend. Mr. Joanna is ready for a long weekend of mostly yard work at home, sadly. But before heading out, the March Recap!


Miles planned/ran: 141/128.9
Rest days planned/taken: 5/6
Highest mileage week: 36.8
Long runs planned/ran: 4/3.5 (because this happened)
Pace workouts planned/ran: 3/3 
XT days planned/done: 5/5
Tempo or interval runs planned/ran: 5/5
Favorite run: I'm going to have to say my 16-miler. I had some fun and confidence-boosting tempo and pace workouts, but the 16-miler had gorgeous weather and I got my pacing right FTW. 
Current goal: sub-2 half on Saturday!!
Current obsession: see Current goal.
Current need: new dress pants, because nothing I own fits. See "current excitement," and no, I am not pregnant. 
Current excitement: too many to choose from~the trip this weekend, my continuing weight loss (thank you, sparkpeople!), and a visit from The Beastie next week!!
Current bane of my existence: the big toe on my right foot. Yep, still hurts. 
Current wish list: Crabtree & Evelyn lavender shower gel. I'm almost out and I always feel like it's a luxury to buy it. 
Current indulgence: As an early birthday present, my Mom bought me a necklace that I fell in love with while we were strolling around a boutique a few neighborhoods over. It's gorgeous and I love it! 


Special March Addition to the recap:
I've finally picked a name for the new Garmin: Clepsydra. This was a nomination from RunningFirst and I really like it. It's Greek for water clock/water thief. What better name for a running accessory could there be?!? Thank you for all the name suggestions! 

thanks & praise~a baby in Detroit!

I'm doing a Two Things Tuesday, even ON a Tuesday this week. I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself! Here's why:

1. THERE IS A BABY IN DETROIT! My brother (ODP) and sister-in-law (Kdot) were expecting their second child to arrive sometime around last Tuesday. As last Tuesday came and went, my level of excitement and anxiety multiplied. Last night around 12:30 my time, I got the call--the baby had been born and it was a girl! Mother & baby are doing fine. I just got off Skype with them, so I sort of got to see everyone. She is a beautiful, perfect little thing! (can you tell I'm excited?!?) I don't have pictures yet, but in the meantime, here is a very pregnant Kdot. How could you not love this chick??

2. The second part of my Two Things Tuesday is drastically less exciting, but really, unless I learned to shoot fire out of my eyes, what could possibly compete with a healthy, beautiful, brand new niece?

After my run this morning, I am officially over 100 miles for August (101.4 to be exact). I'm pretty sure this is a first for me. Also, I'm only about 20 miles from surpassing my 2009 total. Pretty pleased about that!

Mileage: 454.8 + 4.4 = 459.1 (rounding error annoys me)

Moving edition part 2: the importance of moving truck insurance

Ok, ok. It's been a while. I know. But, I have good news! I've found at least one AWESOME running route here in my new city! But before I get to that, I'm going to give you the blink-and-you'll-miss-it version of our move.

On the 22nd, I drove down with my Dad for the closing. All went smoothly and by evening we were unloading the cars into the new place. Over the next 4ish days we painted 5 rooms. I had to laugh at us when, well after dark, we were both crammed in this little half bath with a ladder trying to paint. The room is so small, it was comically stupid to move either of us or the ladder. And without sunlight, we couldn't reasonably tell if we'd painted well or not. All said, I think the painting projects turned out well. Even if the guy at the paint counter at Home Depot was on a first name basis with us by the end.

Living for 5 days on just the stuff we could fit in our cars (which were mostly full of the things we didn't want to put in the moving truck, like crystal) meant vaguely camping in a house. For instance, this is the extent of our available dishware.

While it was just Dad and me here, I took him to the Botanical Garden and to lunch at my new favorite lunch place, as a belated birthday present (he knew I had something planned, he just didn't know what). We had a nice time, and it was nice to learn a bit of the history of this town when we toured the "country house" at the botanical garden.

Jump to Sunday (6/27). We headed back to the old place to help round up the last of the packing, then pick up the truck on Monday. We had moving helpers come to load the truck. When they were finished I moved the truck out of our driveway and to the curb for the night. In the process of doing this I....

(Photo courtesy of one of The Minnesotans, who outed my driving skillz on Facebook)

Yep. Drove over our mailbox with a 26' moving truck. Tire tracks and everything. *$!@!!

(And a HUGE thank you to our wonderful, wonderful friends for helping us finish up the loading that night!)

The actual drive to the new town was pretty easy. A little slow, but not bad. The guys we hired to unload did a great job. And thus we commenced living in a box village.

With Pepper, my Dad, Mr. Joanna, me, and the babe (who is adorable but the opposite of helpful), we commenced unpacking. And unpacking. And unpacking. And figuring out that the guy who lives behind us can open our garage door with his garage door opener, which is sort of another comical story. All told, we're getting there. One day hopefully soonish, we'll live in something that looks like a home. I'm smiling thinking of how close we really are!

On the training front, I went WAAAAAAY too many days without a run (11 to be exact) during this epic transition. BUT, I got back to training on Friday and found an awesome path. I will post pics soon!! There is a park near my house that is almost 4 miles around, tons of trees, water fountains, non-car paths. Basically the perfect running route. I am one happy Joanna Running. So, re-commence training for Lewis & Clark! The Friday run was a little rough. I mean, 11 days off. It was a little rough. My lungs wanted to know who I thought I was kidding. But the longer run on Saturday was awesome. It felt so good to be back at it. Time to rack up some miles.

mileage: 293.3 + 3.9 + 3.6 + 5.1 = 306.1 miles (I know that doesn't add up...I've given up on reconciling and am just relying on runningahead to keep it right)

And to be clear, even though I haven't elaborated on all my goodbyes, that is not an indication that they were easy. We only moved about 3 hours away, so I'm very hopeful that we will be able to see our friends who are still there from time to time. Today was great but really hard. The Beastie and her husband came to visit for the 4th, and when they left, they left to go home and pack for their huge move back east. I wasn't ready for that.