October Recap

I turned in my final run of the month this morning. October is quickly coming to a close. Runners tend to love October and I am no exception. I LOVE October. The leaves. The cooler temps. The races. I love it all. This October, I stayed true to my workouts, cleared the hundred mile mark, and am just a few days away from half-marathon #4 with Meg and #8 overall!! I ran under the morning stars and watched the sun come up about a dozen times, and wound my way through the city's parks every Saturday afternoon.

# Workouts: 17
# Miles: 103.1

The most memorable of my runs was definitely the peak speed workout, a warm-up, 4x1 mi @ 8:15 with 800m recoveries, and a 1 m cool-down. It gave me a whole new appreciation for people who can hold that pace for 13.1 or 26.2.

This workout was also memorable because of an encounter I had during it. Everywhere else I've lived, runners greet each other, usually with a small head nod. Here, nothing. NOTHING. Except this old guy who I see walking in the park nearly every morning I run there. He almost always says "hi" or "good morning" and responds when I do the same. The morning of my mile repeats, he yelled, "you're fast!" as I went by in the opposite direction. It's such a small gesture, but was so appreciated. He said it again during this week's (taper version) speed word (5 miles, with 3 miles 15 seconds faster than race pace). The next time we passed, I told him that he wasn't doing so bad himself. It feels so nice to feel like I'm a "regular" at the park! I'm also slowly getting to know local races and am id'ing running groups I could meet up with. Running is one of my favorite ways to get to know a new city. :)

I fly out on Friday and the Raleigh City of Oaks Half-Marathon is Sunday. Wish us luck!!!

Mondays in Love: Peak Long Run

We are t-13 days until the start line of the Raleigh City of Oaks half and I am READY! This weekend was the peak long run of the training cycle. I turned in 13.0 pleasant miles on Saturday afternoon, winding through two city parks and several neighborhoods.

A few posts back I highlighted some of the aspects of running in UT that distinguish it from running in the Midwest. One was the hills. I've been building one particularly grueling hill into my long runs the past few weeks. It is not to be taken lightly! But you know, perseverance wins. I swear it's getting easier week by week. But seriously, check this chick out.

The green line is elevation. This hill climbs about 220 feet in just under a mile. Hmmm...that doesn't sound like it feels. It feels like climbing Mount freaking Everest. I feel like my own personal George Mallory when I get to the top. Aside from that whole dying-in-a-mountain-of-ice business.

All this hard work culminated in this weekend's long run. Though the taper is not pronounced, it does exist in this training plan, and we're there. High five!

In other news (read: completely not related to running) from the weekend, on Sunday we visited a nearby state park, Antelope Island. What an amazing place!! If you ever visit SLC during the spring or fall, it's totally worth seeing.

Mondays in Love: Getting Race Ready!

We are 20 days from the start line and preparations are underway! This came in the mail this week and, well, I love.

I think I've mentioned my love of pace bands (available here) before. I used them during the Cleveland Marathon, the Lincoln Half (recap here), and perhaps one other time. They take the guessing out of timing your race. They do this by customizing each pace band to the specific race and to your goal time, accounting for warming up and hills. And, shipped to your house, they are like $7.50 or something. Compared to the cost of shoes, registration, and travel, it's a drop in the bucket. And no, they did not ask me to post this review!

I'm also just really happy with how training is going so far (knock on wood). Week after week, the paces on the training schedule get easier to hit. At this point, I have only two kinda intimidating training runs left--13 miles on deck this Saturday, and a tough tempo run next Wednesday. Then, that's it--it will be time to get this show on the road! 

Mondays in Love: September Recap

I spent the whole month of September very happily in training mode--my first full-on month-o-training since March. It was delightful. All those moments of "oh gosh, that speed work looks speedy" and "what pace?" and "I haven't covered that distance in months" turned into moments of victory and 4 weeks of workouts crossed off the training plan.

What did it look like? It looked like 32 EZ miles, 4 miles of speed work, 13 miles at race pace, 6 miles at tempo, and 31 miles in long runs. Total: 86 miles.

I'm already 24 miles in for October and I'm slated to hit 100 if all goes according to plan. This makes me so happy. 

October has always been my favorite running month. I've gushed about it before. Why do I love October? In high school cross country, it was race season. Since then, it's still race season (see here and here). In much of the nation, it's gorgeous. I remember my old park so fondly.

Fall here is mind-blowingly beautiful, but totally different. Late last week it rained in the valley overnight but snowed in the mountains. That morning was crazy/beautiful (see below, and click on it to get the full version, if you can--totally different feeling to the picture). Fall here is dramatic, and gorgeous, but, I'm told, very short-lived. So far it's great. 

Mondays in Love/Announcement #2: Not my Gateway Drug

That's right, Mondays in Love is back!! I've really missed writing this series in the weeks and months we've spent getting here and getting set up.

Today's re-introduction post is Announcements, Part 2 of 2, as promised a few posts back. Some of you have heard this announcement already on Facebook, so feel free to skip down a bit to the part where this matters for my life as a runner. For everyone else, behold:

I bought a bike! 

Now, I know what you're thinking. Here's another runner who bought a bike "for recreational purposes" and before we know it she's going to be waxing ecstatic about triathlons. I know. We've seen it again and again and again. But I promise you, this is not my gateway drug to tris. There will be no wet suit. No fancy bike shorts. There WILL be a very purple pannier bag. That is happening. 

I thought it seemed like fun, and a fun way to cut back on vehicle use. From our house, it's a relatively flat ride anywhere from 0.5 to 1.5 miles to a variety of points of interest, everything from coffee shops to a Post Office to book stores and consignment shops. So, why not? 

I've ridden just a few times already and I've enjoyed it. I have a sense of accomplishment about getting errands run while skipping the car and getting a little bit of exercise. And once the kids are old enough, we'll be ridiculously adorable biking together to buy ice cream cones. 

Happy Monday in Love. 

Announcement #1: My next race!!

Those of you I'm linked up with on DailyMile might have already pieced this together, but for everyone else, allow me to spring the cat from the bag:

I signed up for my 8th half-marathon!!

On November 3rd I'll be running the Raleigh City of Oaks Half-Marathon with my BRFF (best running friend forever) Meg. Remember her? This girl. It's going to be epic. 

Raleigh will be our fourth half together, and I couldn't be more excited (in case you couldn't tell). Our goal is simple: break 2 hours. Why? Because that's always been the goal.  

Our first race together was the first 13.1 either of us ever ran. We'd trained with Team in Training and had high hopes. It was Chicago in August. It was hot. Being newbies, we didn't have experience dealing with adverse race conditions, and tried to push through. We turned in a 2:12 and I threw up about 6 times (lovely, right?) (non-graphic recap here).

Our second race was the Indy half in October 2008, when my older son was not quite 5 months old. I think the reason we didn't sub-2 that day is fairly obvious. 

That's me in the blue shirt about to cross the blue mat. Meg is next to me. 

Our third race was the Illinois half in May of 2010, just after we'd both graduated (recap here). That day was about so much more than running--or rather, running was about so much more than running. But, it wasn't our day on the course. We posted a new PR for Meg, but a slower time than we'd hoped for. 

Running in our hoods one Saturday that spring--running together

was about so much more than running

Soon after that race, she moved really really far west and I moved to STL. Then she moved again. Then I had another baby. Meanwhile we both had(have) demanding jobs. Then I moved again. And finally we found an opening to get together for a race. 

So, Raleigh. November. That's the goal: sub-2 our half. We can do this!! We're training "together" from a distance (we're 2000+ miles apart) using the Runner's World 2-hour half training plan, which I've used before and really like. The course is flat and the weather should be favorable. And coming from UT, running at sea level will feel amazing. SO EXCITED!!

Where I've been since June

My last post was a question about trusting race medals to a moving truck. I got answers all over the board--everything from "if it means a lot to you and they're small, tuck them in the car" to "this made me laugh--the truck has all your stuff, it's probably fine." So what did I do? Was it fine? Oh, so much to tell.

Our move started on the 4th of July when Mr. Joanna flew east with our kiddos. They were going to hang out with the grandmothers while my Dad and I drove from MO to UT, close on the new place by the 14th, meet the moving truck by the 16th and get kids' rooms put together. I left MO on July 8th. That day was insane, starting with a run with my STL running buddy and friend Rachel, then signing all the sale papers on that house, and overseeing the movers as they loaded the truck. When the truck left, Dad and I left town. Our drive across the country was uneventful, we closed  a day late but we closed, and got busy painting immediately.

Me & Rachel after my send-off run. I miss this girl.

My Dad in downtown Omaha when we stopped for lunch

Downtown Cheyenne, which is adorable

Buying paint for the boys' rooms!

Mr. Joanna and the kids and my Mom (Pepper) were scheduled to fly to UT on 7/16. All that happened, except that at 5pm on the 15th we learned that our moving truck had not yet left MO and didn't even have a driver assigned and had failed to give us adequate notice because "they were busy". It was too late to get the flights from the east coast re-scheduled.....so, they arrived to an empty house and I was helpless to do anything at all about it. My parents stayed at a hotel until they left on the 22nd, and we bought enough provisions to essentially camp in our house--not without some bumps in the road, but we made it work.

Our things didn't arrive until July 28th, and I'm 99% positive that one of the people who unloaded the truck stole a pair of my earrings (which might have looked real to an untrained eye but weren't). NEVER USE NORTH AMERICAN TO MOVE!  I seriously cannot stress this enough and will happily give anyone the full details should it be useful to anyone. They were awful.

I made a point to swim at the hotels during our drive west, and I started running pretty soon after arriving, once I wasn't painting all day every day. My Garmin's charger was held hostage on the moving truck, so I ran tech-free until our things arrived.

Running in the high desert is a totally different animal than Midwestern or East Coast running. First, there is little to no humidity. This means that people are seen running at 90 degrees or even hotter temps (not me). Second, it gets cool at night even on the hottest days. This means that if you run at dawn, even on the hottest day of the year, it's completely reasonable. Third, I'm at 4600+ feet in elevation. The air is thin. This means that while it took only a few days to acclimate for everyday activities, running left me sucking air for several weeks. Fourth, it ain't flat! My glutes and hammies have been getting a good workout here, and I can already tell it's making me a stronger runner. 

Post-truck (when we finally got our stuff), we've settled in pretty well. While it was not our intention, we have become urban farmers. We grow an insane amount of produce, from which we've made homemade blackberry ice cream, apple pie, applesauce, grape juice, grape jelly, pear jam, and a few other smaller things. On the whole, eating healthy, whole, natural foods seems really easy here. It's a lifestyle, and it's so easy to love, especially when you grow the food yourself!

Stay tuned--there are TWO big announcements on the fitness front. Welcome back to JoannaRuns, everyone! Show me some love!