Pajama Wars

I am in a fierce battle with a pair of baggy green moose pants and the race t-shirt from the 2009 Lindstrom Loppet 5K. My favorite pair of PJ's are out to get me. After work, they call to me, and as soon as I get out of my work clothes they are begging me to put them on. In the morning, their call is even worse - together with my comfy bed and super soft pillow those bastards have been triple-teaming me every day for weeks.

But tonight, I arise the victor. I let them think they won again - when I came home from work, I shed my dress clothes and put them on. But, later while my hubby was giving Sophie a bath, I saw a chance to finally win a battle. I ditched the PJ's on the dryer and threw on a pair of shorts and t-shirt. And did Jillian's 30 day shred.

I hope those PJ's learned their lesson, because tomorrow morning I'm taking them on again (together with their pals, bed and pillow) and prying myself out of bed at 4:45 to get to the pool.

Intentions

With two days left in November, I think it's safe to say that this month will be my lowest running mileage month for 2010. Also probably my least amount of hours of training (of any sort) for the year. With opening the new office (tomorrow!), all of my energy has been directed to work stuff. So on the workOUT stuff, let's just call November a wash.

So December . . . time to get back at it. I need to get a nice little base going because marathon training starts mid-January. Starting this week, I am shooting for running 20 miles per week. Considering I ran 3 miles last week and 6 miles the week before, this will be a good increase. Yikes. I also need to get my swim back on. I've missed the past three weeks. So I need to swim at least Wednesday mornings. Friday mornings too if I feel motivated. I also need to haul my bike in the house and get it on the trainer. And do some strength training.

Time to get off my butt and get sweating!

Ice Out

Sophie and I were planning on running a Turkey Trot 5K this morning, along with my running partner Jim, at Como Park. Unfortunately a little bit of an ice storm hit the twin cities and the roads were pretty slick. I didn't want to risk driving, especially with the kidlet, so we were a DNS for the race. First time I have missed this race in 6 years! I am hoping to run a 10K Thanksgiving morning, so I'll still get some race action this week.

In other news, it is t-minus 7 days until the opening of my new law firm! I did LOTS of furniture shopping this weekend, stocked up on office supplies, and got paint samples. Aside from finishing out my last few days at my current office, this week will be full of work on the new office. I am so excited. And poor.

Hope you all had great weekends . . . I'm off to catch up on your running adventures!

It's About Time

Some of you who have been reading for a while (and who surely recall each and every of my super exciting races and events) may recall that way back last year I decided to do a little deal called the Mora Classic. Mora being a town about 20 miles west of here. The Classic being four events held throughout the year - a canoe race, a half marathon, a bike race, and a cross country ski race. Do all four in one year and you get a special medal. An athletic challenge plus another medal to add to my collection? Yes please.

So I completed all of the events.

May 2009 - 15 mile canoe race


August 2009 - 1/2 marathon


September 2009 - 50 mile bike tour


February 2010 - 35k cross country ski race


After completing all the events, I waited patiently to receive my fabulous classic medal in the mail. And waited. And waited. And waited. It never came.

And then my running partner sent me a text today.

Yep. He tracked down my medal. By means that may resort to the filing of a harassment restraining order. But let's focus on what's important - I finally, finally have my little medal, which I can promptly hang around my closet doorknob.

Snap Crackle Pop

You know what may be a sign that you need to do more yoga? Having to turn up the TV multiple times during the 30 minutes of The Firm Power Yoga just so you can hear the soothing instructions over the giant bowl of Rice Krispies cackling away on the counter. Oh wait, no cereal, just my bones.

I guess it's been a while. After a few days of inactivity (still struggling to get back into my routine!), after I put Sophie to bed tonight I knew I needed to do something. I'm in single parenting season (what others may refer to as hunting season), so I was confined to the house. And I ate a late supper, so I didn't want to bounce around too much. Yoga seemed like the perfect choice. And it was. Aside from hearing every single bone and joint in my body creak and groan, it was great to stretch and yet still get a little bit of "strength" work in.

Have a great weekend!

Coming Out of the Funk

In case you need solid evidence of the funk I've been in, behold my weekly recap:

Monday: nada
Tuesday: ice cream on the couch while watching Biggest Loser
Wednesday: 700 m. swim (a glimpse of hope!)
Thursday: resting up from that swim, apparently
Friday: nothing
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 4 miles, 25 min. strength work

I think the funk actually started clearing on Thursday. I had a couple of aha moments. One may or may not have involved stepping on the scale. Yikes. The other was that little nagging voice in the back of my mind trying to remind me that running and working out always makes me feel better. I've never felt more stressed or upset AFTER a run - it always helps. So Thursday night I sat down and made plan for the rest of the month (Friday was an intentional rest day because I had some other stuff going on).

My runs yesterday and today, while slow, felt good. I was happy to be outside (admidst the steady sound of gun shots - hello hunting opener) and happy to be moving. I'm planning on jumping back into morning running this week - hopefully daylight savings time will help. You'd think after running for nearly 10 years, it would be a no brainer to run through stress and life drama. And yet the cheesecake and the ice cream still have their pull . . . I'm a work in progress!

Quick Catch Up

I had lots of fun running the Monster Half Marathon in Minneapolis on Saturday. I finished in 2:09:something - not my best time, but I am happy with the race. I was bummed to miss my planned afternoon 5k. We had to catch a shuttle bus from the half finish back to the start where we were parked and had to wait in line for over an hour for the bus - could not make it back to Anoka in time for the 5k. No double header for me!

My posting and commenting may be a bit sporadic for a while. While I hate to wish away time, I would like to push fast foward on the month of November. What is usually a rough month with my hubby's work schedule is quadrupled by my trying to set up my new office and finish at the old. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Hopefully as things get settled in the next few weeks I will be back to normal workouts and normal blogging. Happy training!