Running & Coffee & Bbq and more!

What a week! I rested on day 7, then started off my week with a run on Monday, which I wrote about in my last post. I've continued to stay dedicated to running just about every other day, but had some travel days where it just wasn't in the cards.

April 17, total distance, 1.55 miles, 13:57 fastest pace per mile, highlight was listening to Incubus, "Love Hurts",  as I ran up the hill home! April 19, total distance 2.07 miles,  average pace 14:58, a good combination day of walking, then running, then walking, then running. Was a beautiful California day!

April  22, traveling in Philadelphia, staying at a hotel, my first run on a treadmill with zero incline and a flat surface -  2.34 total distance (ran 2.13 straight!), average speed 3:55 per mile, average pace 16:52 per mile. Interesting to run on a treadmill and have it show me the image of a track and my progress as I ran, 8+ laps! I had great tunes playing and I just kept going and going and going, channeling the Energizer Bunny! Made sure to spend quite a bit of time afterwards stretching - great song to stretch to: Sara Bareilles, "Gravity".

 http://youtu.be/A_U6iSAn_fY

After my run, I took my first solo subway ride to see my son at work and have him serve me the very best coffee ever! He also made me a great mixed greens salad with chicken - which I needed after running! BBQ dinner later with a great group of guys from the conference. Synced my Jawbone Up and I exceeded my daily step goal by 2661 steps! Nice! Exhausted. Crazy fatigued legs made it hard to sleep, but it was such a satisfying feeling! New hotel tonight - wonder what their gym facilities will be like?

And on the 7th day, I rested.

Pretty surprised that I ran for 6 straight days! Yesterday was a busy day and I decided I needed a day to rest my legs. I feel like I had a very successful first week of trying out running. I made progress in several areas and that feels great! Lots of friends are being supportive and very encouraging.

Today truly felt like a Monday - even though I don't have a job, that Monday morning feeling still creeps in after a fun filled weekend. I had my coffee and fried eggs, took my fish oil, Vitamin D & C, decided to have a second cup of coffee, and then waited 40 minutes to digest before changing and heading out the door. The sun was shining brightly, which made me think about this summer and whether I'll still be into running, and how early will I have to go in order to beat the crazy hot California heat. Or will I wait until the evenings and run then? Nope. I know myself well enough and once I've had dinner and a glass of wine, there's no way I'm going to be heading out for a run. Ha!

I decided to ease into today and walked from my house down the street, crossed over the creek to the beginning of the dirt path and started my run there. Run Keeper conveniently informed me right as I began running, that I had walked 0.3 miles, so I had a baseline set in my head and was curious how far I'd have to run to make it one mile. I ran the entire dirt path until it becomes a gravel path, past the little gate, past the pool, to the end of the gravel, up onto the paved pathway to Rajkovich and turned around and ran back on the paved path back towards the pool. Run Keeper informed me at this point that I had gone a total distance of 1.0 mile. Crap! That means I had only run 0.7 miles and I was already feeling tired. Monday? Yes, indeed. I walked for a very short while, had some water and then ran some more. I made it to the end of the paved walkway and then walked up Valley Quail to the well known "Biko Ivy", as my family fondly refers to it.

My dog, Biko, used to make it to this neighbors ivy on his walks and he'd plop down and refuse to get up. Once, we had to call my husband to bring the car to pick us up. Well, today I was channeling Biko and wanted to plop down in the ivy! I have been told that I am stubborn when it comes to my exercise routine - right Greg? My stubbornness kicked in and off I ran! I rounded the corner of Spring Hill and glanced up ahead and there was "the hill" before me. Keep Going! Keep Running! You've got this! Those voices in my head only carried me a little more than halfway up the hill, but that's ok! I was able to walk the short way around the corner and home, actually walking in the front door less winded than I had all week. Did my stretches and then immediately did my 85 tricep dips for the day. Only three more days of dips left for this 30 day challenge. What will be my next challenge? Hmm. Maybe some type of ab work? A crunch challenge? Forecast is 85F today and bikini season is quickly approaching!
Now I'm working on my menu planning for the week. Enjoy your day everybody! Maybe some Paleasagna tonight? http://www.whatrunslori.com/2011/12/paleasagna/

5 Days in a Row!

Let me first talk about yesterday, Day 4 of running. I decided to take a different route, still starting out  running instead of doing a walking warm up. I ran down Spring Hill to Valley Quail, then along the paved pathway all the way to Rajkovich, turned around and ran back along the dirt path to the pool and then further! A total of 1 mile running. Yes! Maybe I can truly do this! I walked for a while, actually until the gravel path became dirt and then I decided I was rested up enough and ran some more! Woohooo! Crossed over the little creek, then walked some more. I'm not sure how these spurts of running mixed in with walking will help, but it felt good to have the desire to even run a second time. I walked along some more enjoying a different set of tunes this day, and as I approached the downhill to home, I ran again! Three times! Wow. Maybe I am catching this running bug after all? My legs were not as fatigued as prior days, and I didn't feel like I had to stretch them often throughout the entire day. Set some all time record highs too.

Today was Day 5. I woke up knowing that I was going to go for a run, gotta keep this going, right? Well, then I got on my laptop and got fiddling around trying to get Google Adsense to work on this blog...learned a bit about HTML, got frustrated that I didn't have an ad code, (Which they suggested I add to my page when I was denied an Adsense account. But you can't get an ad code without an Adsense account. Chicken or egg? Ugh!)  so I couldn't add what I wanted to my page, and gave up on that. To clear my head, I went for a run!

Luckily, the very first song on my playlist was Du Hast, by Rammstein. Boy was I feeling this song! Google Adsense frustration melted away instantly! I once again was able to run for 1 mile before taking a break to walk for a bit. Beautiful Day, by U2, was playing, the sun was shining and I was trying hard to catch my breath. Ha! As my breathing calmed down (Every Man, by Casting Crowns was gently playing in my earbuds) and I approached the turn to head up Spring Hill (which is, I kid you not, a hill!) I pondered whether I had it in me to try running up that street? Sure enough, I did! It was tough, don't get me wrong. But the feeling of satisfaction was amazing! Smooth Criminal, by Alien Art Farm brought me through to my front door.  Ahhh. A total of 1.75 miles in 24:44, average pace per mile, 14:08. Not bad, not bad! Gotta keep the upper body in shape too, so I completed day 24 of my tricep dip challenge - 80 dips, before heading out to eat a delicious burger for lunch.

Squirrels and Lizards and Quail, oh my!

Day 3 and I'm feeling awesome! Well, my legs are very fatigued and sore, but overall I'm quite happy! I decided that after the past two days of walking/running/walking, I really didn't have any idea of how far I had run vs. walked. I only had stats of my total time out and total distance. So today, instead of starting out from my house by walking, I ran. I continued to run all the way past the gate, to the pool, turned around, ran back past the gate and some more! Oh my gosh! RunKeeper informed me that I had run 1 mile! One mile? Wow. Yeehaw was I happy! I walked the rest of the way from the trail back to my house with quite a joyful expression on my face and a bounce in my step.

Great music today! Decided to switch things up from my workout mix, to just my iPhone playlist. Turns out they were all running inspirations! How about that? Here's what played:

I Like To Move It from Madagascar
Dare You To Move by Switchfoot
Stay Up Late by Talking Heads (ok, this one wasn't about running, but fun none the less!)
Let's Get It Started by Black Eyed Peas
Comfort Eagle - Cake
She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult

Squirrels and lizards and quail all running past me and across the path. Good times! This photo shows the spot where I stopped running and started walking - my 1 mile marker.

I made it to the pool!

Up at the top of this hill, behind the oak bushes,  sits the neighborhood pool. I was quite happy to have run from the start of the dirt path all the way past the little gate and to the pool today! Progress! That's all I'm hoping for. A little bit further each day. Today I ran/walked 1.60 miles in 24:14 minutes.

Beautiful clouds in the sky today, and the path that I run/walk on. So blessed to live where I do and have access to beauty every day!

Finished off my morning with a fantastic omelet and a conversation with a high school friend. Sat at my kitchen table laughing out loud at the banter with this friend and enjoying their words of wisdom. Thank you for that my friend. Indeed.

Another run tomorrow? Probably! But first, I have to go do my 65 tricep dips for the 30 day tricep challenge!

Rest day. So how about trying running?

I love poppies! I remember seeing them along the side of the freeway as we drove along when I was a kid and I loved their bright color and delicate petals. Seeing these today along the creek side made running well worth the probable aches later.

I am not a runner. Today was a rest day for my 30 day tricep dip challenge and I was sitting in my chair, wasting time online, when the thought popped into my head that I should go for a walk. Even better, a run! Could I do it? How long would I last? Should I walk first to get warmed up, or just go? I read a couple of online posts about starting out running as a beginner and decided there was no reason to delay. I changed my clothes, put my hair in a pony tail, grabbed my headphones and a bottle of water and set out.

I decided to walk for a bit to warm up and to wait until I was on the dirt path to try running - I'm no spring chicken and I seriously have zero interest in injuring myself. I loaded my workout mix on my phone, set up my RunKeeper app, and walked down the street towards the creek path. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed walking in my neighborhood and getting a look around at the homes and seeing what people have done with landscaping, paint, etc. As I got closer to the dirt path my mind started playing tricks on me. Thoughts of doubt flooded in. But when my feet hit the dirt, I started running.  I was running! Wow! Feeling ok. Not completely out of breath quite yet. I decided that I would set a goal of running to the neighborhood pool. Not too far, but hopefully far enough for me to get a feeling of whether running is going to be a part of my exercise regimen. Well, I didn't quite make it to the pool, but I did make it to the little gate/fence! Yes! I felt quite proud. I pushed myself to run a bit further, almost making it to the pool. I ended up walking to the pool and turning around to head back. I considered climbing up the pathway edge and walking/running up Valley Quail, but that leads to Spring Hill which is a killer and I didn't want to get discouraged by being so exhausted and out of breath that I couldn't make that final climb to home. Staying on the dirt path allowed me to walk a bit, drink some water, take the photo of the poppies, and then when I made it back to the gate/fence I ran again. Woohoo! I ran all the way back to the pavement and then walked most of the way back home. Feeling like I had rested up enough, I decided to run the final little bit around the corner and into the home stretch. Awesome!

1.52 miles in 22 minutes. Not bad for my first day! And I feel great! What will tomorrow bring? I'm into these 30 day challenges lately, and there is one that challenges you to walk/run/swim for 1 mile every day for 30 days. I should be able to do that! Right? Right?