RW Run Streak Week 5 - the plan

Going against the grain here and posting about my running week before it happens, instead of my normal recap post (I'll do one of those too, when the time comes).  But I have a plan and a goal for this week, and I tend to be better able to stick to a plan and meet a goal when I publicize it and have somebody, or something, to hold me accountable.

So this is going to be the week of the long, slow distance.  I will attempt to run at least 4 miles every day (but staying flexible, 'cuz I've learned that some days, all these legs have got in them is a mile).  None of the short fast miles.  Even though they are incredibly fun, and it feels so good to see those 9 minute mile paces, and that ever elusive 8 minute when it shows up - oh the glory and the joy... Nope, this is not the week for those.  This is the week for the long hard slogs for the miles, seeing those dreaded high 10s and 11s for pace.  It's not the pace that counts this week.  It's the MILES.  Who cares if I see an 11 in the pace field, when I've got a 5, a 6, or maybe even an 8 or 10 in distance field? 

Here's to the long slow runs!  I'm off to a good start on the week, with a good solid 6 miles earlier this evening!  Bring on the rest of the week!!

RW Run Streak Week 4 recap

Holy Cow! It's been 4 weeks!  To be perfectly honest, I'm kind of surprised that I've been able to keep the streak going for this long.  I was sure that some how life, or an injury, or something would get in the way, and I'd have to bail.  And while we're playing the honesty game, I have to admit that there were a few days, especially this week, where I didn't really want to run at all, let alone a whole mile or more.  But I sucked it up and tied my shoes, stepped out the door, and hit the road anyway.  And (more honesty here) while sometimes after those "I don't really want to do this" runs, I felt better, sometimes I didn't.  So there it is, another week down; it wasn't best week, but it's done.  On to week 5!!

Day 22 - Mon. 6/18: 2.01 miles, avg. pace - 10:19mpm
Day 23 - Tues. 6/19: 5.25 miles, avg. pace - 11:08mpm
Day 24 - Wed. 6/20: 4.01 miles, avg. pace - 10:24mpm
Day 25 - Thurs. 6/21: 1.01 mile, avg. pace - 10:06mpm
Day 26 - Fri. 6/22: 2.25 miles, avg. pace - 10:20mpm
Day 27 - Sat. 6/23: 1.15 mile, avg. pace - 9:50mpm
Day 28 - Sun. 6/24: 4.01 miles (trail run), avg. pace - 15:23mpm

Total Miles Week 4: 19.68 miles
Total Miles RWRunStreak: 82.82 miles

Indulging a crazy impulse

Not the best pic, but that's a purple streak! In my hair!

Ok, so maybe after 2 tries over 2 weeks, I can't really call it an impulse...  But I made the totally wacky decision that I wanted a purple streak in my hair (well, I started out wanting blue and green, but read that those colors fade to something really ugly so I decided to go with purple).  I wanted the streak on underside, where it won't show all that much, unless I pull it up or braid it (gotta keep it mostly professional - I do have to go to work, and while my boss is all for individual expression, an obvious obnoxious purple streak might be a bit much).

So, last weekend I tried the old dye it with Kool-Aid method.  Aside from leaving my hair with a slightly grape-y smell and only a very very faint purple tinge (that I think may have been imagining), it was a failure. 

The Kool-Aid failure led me to do a bit more colorful research (via google images and pinterest) and I decided that Manic Panic Purple Haze was what I needed.  Ordered it Sunday, it came in the mail yesterday, and tonight was dye-time.  You can sort of see the results in the pic above.  In certain lights, it looks bright; others a bit dark and hardly noticable. 

Sublty wacky.  Just like me.  :-)



underside is purple. very subtle




Purple!




Pic is kind of dark



RW Run Streak - Week 3 recap

"They" say (anybody know who the "they" are that say these things?) that it takes 21 days form a habit.  21 days - 3 weeks.  I'm pretty sure running had already become a habit for me, and these past 21 days have merely more firmly cemented running into habit status.

Week 3 was another week of fairly decent runs - most of them good, a couple not so great.  (Especially today's, since it's probably stretching it a bit to call the Wii Fit Plus's Free Run a "run", but I draw the line at running storms, so this was better than nothing.)

Day 15 - Mon. 6/11: 1.12 mile, avg. pace - 9:53mpm
Day 16 - Tues. 6/12: 3.2 miles, avg. pace - 10:43mpm
Day 16 - Tues. 6/12: 1.41 mile, avg. pace - 15:52mpm (walk home)
Day 17 - Wed. 6/13: 5.41 miles, avg. pace - 10:37mpm
Day 18 - Thurs. 6/14: 1.15 miles, avg. pace - 10:01mpm
Day 19 - Fri. 6/15: 4.72 miles, avg. pace - 11:01mpm
Day 20 - Sat. 6/16: 1.12 miles, avg. pace - 8:55mpm
Day 21 - Sun. 6/17:  @2.5 miles, avg. pace - 12:00mpm (wii fit plus 30 min free run, 4988 steps)

Total Miles Week 3: 20.64 miles
Total Miles RWRunStreak: 63.13 miles

RW Run Streak - Week 2 recap

I've learned a couple of things this week:

1. Strangely, running every day has made me feel stronger, rather than tired.I really thought I would miss having rest days where I didn't run. But a slower easy mile seems to be more beneficial than a total rest day.  (will this change as the streak gets longer? maybe - stay tuned and we'll find out together ;-) )  See item 2.
2. It's easier than I thought it would be sneak in a mile on a busy day.It only takes 10 minutes and provides a nice break to make the other tasks of the day feel easier to accomplish. Yeah, there have been a couple of days where I've felt pressured to get the run done and thought it would be easier to skip.  But I go anyway and once it's done, I feel great and as I said, the other stuff I have to do feels easier.  And it often improves my mood as well.

The week's runs:
Day 8 - Mon. 6/4:  1.14 mile, avg. pace - 10:00mpm
Day 9 - Tues. 6/5:  4.08 miles, avg. pace - 10:03mpm
Day 10 - Wed. 6/6:  3.11 miles, avg. pace - 9:37mpm
Day 11 - Thurs. 6/7: 1.05 mile, avg. pace - 10:02mpm
Day 12 - Fri. 6/8:  1.03 mile, avg. pace - 9:30mpm
Day 13 - Sat. 6/9:  2.08 miles, avg. pace - 10:16mpm
Day 14 - Sun. 6/10:  10.02 miles (trail), avg. pace - 14:12mpm
Total Miles Week 2:  22.7 miles
Total Miles RWRunStreak:  42.49 miles

Before today's trail run

Kind of an eye-opening day

I'm sure it's been mentioned in this blog before, but I'll say it again.   In August, I'm walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure in Cleveland.  Go here and here for more information.  Komen is an organization that I've been involved with/donated to for a long time; it was/is the charity/philanthropy for my sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha.  I know they do good work for a cause that affects many people everywhere.  But, even though I have family members who have battled breast cancer and have seen all the press releases and public service announcements, it never really hit me just how prevalent it really is.  Until today.

This morning was my neighborhood's annual yardsale.  I took the opportunity to clear out some of the clutter and unused stuff in the house and raise some money for the walk in the process.  I hung up a poster and had signs up all around letting people know that I was participating in the walk and all the money that I brought in from the sale would be going to Komen.

The signs sparked quite a bit of conversation.  Everybody that stopped by had been touched by breast cancer in some way: they had it themselves, their mother had it, their mother-in-law, their sister, their grandmother.  One woman even talked about her husband having a scare and thinking he might have it.

It was slightly overwhelming to me that if so many people in this small section of this great wide world have been affected by breast cancer, the national or world-wide number must be staggering...  I know this is what all of the breast cancer public relations people have been trying to tell me for years now.  I guess I'm kind of slow on the uptake because for some reason it never really hit home until today.

So while I've known breast cancer research is a worthy cause and have been committed to this walk for quite a while now, I'm now going into it with a renewed outlook and a clearer purpose.

These aren't just nameless, faceless people fighting this disease - they are our mothers, daughters, sisters, neighbors, friends, husbands, brothers, sons...  It is, quite literally, all of us, everywhere.  You, me, the next door neighborhood, the clerk at the cornerstore, the lifeguard at the pool, the man in line behind you at wal-mart.

Why do I walk?  Because I can.  Who do I walk for?  I walk this mile for each one of us.

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RW Summer Run Streak Week 1 recap

On Monday of this week, I posted that I was going to participate in the Runner's World Summer Run Streak - which is basically a challenge to run at least one mile every day from Memorial Day to Independence Day.  It's now Sunday, and I've completed 7 days of the streak.  1 week down, a  little over 4 to go.

It's been a week's worth of some pretty good runs:
Day 1, Mon. 5/28: 3.66 mile run/walk, avg. pace - 11:46 mpm
Day 2, Tues. 5/29: 2.02 mile run, avg. pace - 9:51 mpm
Day 3, Wed. 5/30: 1.14 mile run, avg. pace - 9:20 mpm
Day 4, Thurs. 5/31: 4.71 mile run, avg. pace - 10:36 mpm
Day 5, Fri. 6/1: 1.14 mile run,avg. pace -  9:23 mpm
Day 6, Sat. 6/2: 1.12 mile run, avg. pace - 9:57 mpm
Day 7, Sun. 6/3: 6.01 mile trail run, avg. pace - 12:56 mpm
Week 1 total:  19.79 miles

Runner's World Summer Run Streak