finally!

I ran for the first time in 10 days yesterday. 9x400. With walk breaks (1 min/interval), came out to just under a ten minute pace. Not bad for basically 2min/1 min walk runs! Now I wonder if I can keep that up outside...

This week I have 2 5s and an 8 or 10 (depending on which schedule I follow) to finish between now and Sunday...one run/day. I hope my back/hip twinging lets up so I can do this. Otherwise, I'll be in bad shape for the half seeing as I ran naught last week!

fail

I kind of suck this week and need to get my act together. Case(s) in point:

I haven't run in over a week. I have a half marathon in under a month. Under 4 weeks actually. Oops.

I skipped class tonight.
Because I hadn't written my paper.
For my capstone doctoral course (I have 2 more classes left but whatever).
Which my advisor is teaching.
I told her I was sick.
I came home, went to the dog park, spent 2 hours playing with the dog who thinks I abandoned him by leaving for work and gave me the option of paying attention or having him bark at me (he never barks. unless he feels ignored), then wrote 4 bad pages to add to the two crummy ones I wrote on the train, and turned in 6 pages of what was supposed to be a draft of 8-10 pages. Thank goodness it is not graded. Just mortifying.

I forgot we are having a baby shower/potluck at work tomorrow. I stopped on the way home and bought a super cute baby outfit and soft photo album (its cool, really), and given my state of mind, sprung for a $5 gift bag. Also super cute, but $5?? Then I went next door and bought fresh mozzarella. Who brings cheese, just cheese, to a potluck? I will eat it all though and not be sad if no one else does. I'd make some quick cookies, but 1 am bed sounds like a bad idea seeing as I fell asleep on the train the last two evenings.

I sincerely hope I do not have an assignment due in my class tomorrow afternoon - I am not checking till the morning, since clearly I cannot resolve such an issue at 11:38 pm - and I also really need to run. Or I might melt into my couch. Then my laundry basket will officially spill onto the floor, and the buildup on my un-vacuumed-for-a-week carpet will start walking (WHY do people buy wall to wall carpet? AND put it on stairs? why?)

the packing problem

I have a packing problem. Regardless of where I go, I fill my bag to the brim. One day at the shore - two changes of clothes in the backpack. Vacation? Every inch of the bag is stuffed. I try to control this by only using a carry on for anything under a week. But I still tend to bring too much stuff. See this weekend:

Including what I wore coming up to Boston, I brought:
my rugby kit (shorts, socks (2), spandex (2), warm up tee, shoulder pads, cleats)
pj pants
sweats
Adidas snap pants
jeans
sweatshirt
3 pairs each socks and undies & 2 sports bras
2 long sleeve shirts
2 tees
1 tank top.
Oh, and my bathing suit.

BUT, though I'm probably a smidge overpacked, I figure its good to be prepared. Since its wet this weekend, I'm going through socks and my Adidas pants are sure to be wet post-game and not good to ride home in (and I don't ride home in jeans!).

And although I'll preface this by saying I appreciate a good shopping trip and hair salon as much as the next girl (probably not as much as the next girly girl though) - and am currently in the market for a nice sweater dress, a couple more sweaters and maybe a nice pair of camel or gray boots - there is something freeing about not even packing minimal makeup (aka mascara) or a round brush to blow dry with. There is enough of all of that during the week.

going for gold

We are at the National Championships this weekend. Today, we played Detroit. Much closer game than we were hoping for, and less subs than we hoped, so unfortunately, some of our roster of TWENTY EIGHT probably won't play this weekend.

But, amid cheering from our gaggle of traveling fans, we WON 10-5.

Onward to Atlanta! We went into this event seeded 3rd in our union, 6th overall, despite tying the ATL in league season points since we lost to them. Boo. But tomorrow, the opportunity for redemption!

new plans

My plans for this week/weekend are completely in disarray.

First, I was having some pain this week, so I skipped my 8 and 4.5 milers Wed/Thurs, thinking I'd be walking 60 miles and needed to treat my body well.

Then, the 3-day walk was changed to a 1-day due to the ongoing poor weather in the area. My teammates definitely trained better than I did, and are considering walking San Diego instead. While we can still walk Sunday's 15 miles, we are missing out on the whole experience (which my blogger teammate greatly summarized).

I am a bit torn about what to do tomorrow. Friday I ended up working from home and doing the 4.5 mile run, and today I went to rugby practice and shopped and am currently sitting on the couch watching tv. Do I do my 8 mile run tomorrow in lieu of walking 15? Its supposed to be 42 and an 95% chance of rain. It rained about half of today, including a steady downpour for practice, and frankly, while moving keeps you warm if you're properly dressed, it does not keep you dry. And wet feet are cold feet. So perhaps then you're not actually warm...And while I KNOW cold does not MAKE you sick, I have some reservations about doing that given my life-commitments and how I sincerely cannot afford to get sick!

I wish the weather had cooperated and not given me these crummy options. I feel like a disappointment to all of my generous donors if I don't walk. Then again, the 3-day site is pretty adamant about the goal of the event being fund-raising...and that we did!

Onward!

What a busy two weekends coming up...

19% to go to goal!! Click to donate!

And

2009 Women's Rugby Championships!















That's 2 nights of camping and 60ish miles of walking (in 50 degree highs and probably rain!) over three days...
Then a week later, a 6 hr drive, two BIG games, and hopefully planning for the finals!

3 for 6

I fancy myself a runner. I am not particularly fast, but I've done OK at long distances. My half PR is 1:52 and change, and I've done two full marathons slightly under 4:30, which I think is respectable for a "casual" runner.

But then I broke my foot in July 2008. By the time I was out of the boot and cleared, it was our wedding, then rugby season, then winter...I ran on and off, and somehow did two half marathons on very minimal training (both run/walked with Princess Charming around 2:30). Then after the crush of spring classes & rugby, I started training for the Philly Distance Run. And promptly broke my foot, slightly, again. Scratch that.

But fast forward. Healed, I think, again. Rugby is in full swing, school is in full swing, and I have, um, a job. But because I am insane, I am also training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon.

I just finished week 6. This is the third week of 6 I've completed my mileage. The other 3 I was missing at least one run (one week was a tournament, one week I was sick, and one week I was just lazy).

Weekly Distances
10/5/2009 — 10/11/2009:	17.0 Mi	2:42:39
9/28/2009 — 10/4/2009:	12.1 Mi	1:54:49
9/21/2009 — 9/27/2009:	14.5 Mi	2:16:03
9/14/2009 — 9/20/2009:	10.6 Mi	1:39:56
9/7/2009 — 9/13/2009:	6.0 Mi	55:08
8/31/2009 — 9/6/2009:	11.7 Mi	1:46:37

So for the next 6 weeks, I need to develop some discipline and be sure to get all 4 runs/week in, rain, dark, rugby or 3-day walk!

Due to my bad planning and backloading runs this past week, that means I will not have a rest day for 12 straight days (oops). Monday-Thurs will need to be runs this week, including a Wednesday long run of 8 miles, to accommodate the 45 miles of walking at the 3day walk this weekend! For full disclosure though, I'll probably swap in some interval training for part of my short run mileage this week - it IS peak rugby season after all, and intervals are so much more fun than 4.5 miles straight!

in the home stretch

The 3 Day Walk for Breast Cancer is next weekend! I'm working with my team to plan our packing list and travel. Lots to figure out - clothes for 3 days + nights in the tent, blister prevention, evening activities, what to do about school work when I can't use my computer for a whole weekend (ok, this isn't a huge issue - I rarely do school work on the weekend)...

And $700 more to raise! I'm a 71% of my goal!

Want to donate? Click below!

Dear Fall

Hi Fall,

I want to start this by saying I love you a lot. I like the heat, but the humidity, not as much. And I don't like rain. So generally speaking, you're my best friend season. You're also the time of football and marching band and back to school and new clothes and watching the leaves turn on Garret Mountain during practices that are chilly enough to wear sweats. Ok, maybe that last part is over ten years ago, but once a band geek, always a band geek.

(Think I'm kidding? My band-geek-ness was immortalized in a tee-shirt around 2006)

But, fall, I have to tell ya, I wasn't super excited about the 48 degrees this morning. That means its only 16 more to freezing, and me and winter aren't on the best of terms. Can you keep it between, lets say, 50 and 75 till at least the end of October? Mid-November would be even better because rugby practice gets a bit awkward in sweatsuits (I don't need else anything slowing me down!).

Thanks,

Cinderella