Pineapple Classic 5K

Up nice and early and my older sister and brother came over and the three of us drove to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Pineapple Classic 5K. There were 3 divisions - Kekoa (Warrior), Wiki (Runner), and Honu (Walker). I think I originally signed up for the Wiki division, envisioning me happily strolling through the course carrying Mr. Pineapple Head with me.

My brother was tasked with picking up our packets and I then learned that we were in the Kekoa division. I expected nothing less though since my family is uber-competitive with Conor being the most competitive of us all. And so we got into our place in the Kekoa 3-Person Team Division.

We went off and the first half mile was all up hill, and it felt terrible and like 10 miles, and we were all huffing and puffing. We realized we probably should have warmed up. At the top of the hill we did high knees through tires and then kept running through the woods, ever upwards. Eventually we leveled out and got some down hill action in. We did hurdles, scaled a 6-foot wall, over-unders, ran through a thing of hanging booms while they misted us with water, flipped a large truck or tractor tire 6 feet then 6 feet, scaled a 10 foot wall with a rope, solved a puzzle (ours was a pineapple), climbed a steep hillside/mountain, slid down a slip and slide for 40 yards (the worst obstacle because I hurt my left thumb by jamming it some how and got brush burn on my butt), climbed a long gradual hikk, crawled under a mesh, and sprinted to the finish - all whilst carrying a pineapple between the 3 of us.

We passed a few groups along the way and didn't get passed by anyone - so we felt good about that. We then went the car and changed and went to the Luau party. We ate pizza, pulled pork sanwiches, PB&J, fresh fruit, Rita's Italian ice, Gatorade, and - the best part - drank beer. We each got 2 beer tickets and they had a Hawaiian (Longboard?) beer keg. Conor let me have one of his beers as he was the driver. And then some nice ladies gave us 2 of their tickets. We sat and ate and drank for a nice long while. Then the Pineapple Prince's mom talked and gave a very moving speech and then they gave out the awards.

We sat and listened to the various group winners and then they got to the Kekoa 3-Person Team Division and we were surprised to hear that we had won! It was so exciting! We went up and grabbed our winnings - a TGIF Margarita Mix tub - yum! We finished our beers then went home.

Our Winning Time: Conor - 31:48, Bridgette: 31:52, Me: 31:51.

Kekoa Warrior 3-Person Team Winner "Spot the Pineapple" (Mr. Pineapple Head was taking the picture ;) )

 

Mr. Pineapple Head celebrating the victory.

 

New Miles: 3.1 (5K)
Total Miles: 1031.5
Miles Remaining: 468.5
Weight: 128.0

5 miles

5.0 miles in 38:32, then I walked for 1 minute and then lightly jogged home. Doing 5.5 miles in 48:20 (including 2 minutes of standing waiting for traffic at one point).

New Miles: 5.5
Total Miles: 1028.5
Miles Remaining: 471.5
Weight: 126.6 (128.0)

Double Walks

During lunch I got out and walked. It was sunny and warm and felt great. I wore my new Nike Free Twists which I picked up the other day because they are teal with white bubbles and pink swooshes on the side.

I coached soccer, less running and kicking than Monday but it was my rest day so I thought it okay. But then there was leftover pizza and I took some home and ate it. That didn't feel okay. But Ryan got home from buying new Brooks running shoes and said he was going to the track to do a light 30 minutes, as per his usual Wednesday. And so I put my new shoes back on and went with him. I walked while he ran. I did a warm-up walking lap with him and then 1.0 by myself and then he caught up to me on my final lap and we walked together. I did 1.5 miles in the 25ish minutes.

It felt good to get a walk in - it was an active rest and a good way to try to get some of my leg tightness out of my legs. And the walk immediately after eating 1.5 slices of pizza and drinking 12oz of A&W root beer I thought was a good way to keep my body guessing.

New Miles: 1.0 + 1.5 = 2.5
Total Miles: 1023.0
Miles Remaining: 467.0
Weight: 126.4

5 Miler Smiler

All day I looked forward to getting out of work and going running. Monday night I was saddened by the fact I had gotten home from coaching soccer and it was pretty much almost dark out, so I didn't go running. Plus it had cooled off significantly. It made me look forward to having a free night and going running when I wanted to.

I went out to do 5.0 miles as the training plan prescribed a 50 minute run. I ran my 3.0 mile loop but at 2.5 I veered up to the track and then did a lap to round out 3.0 miles. I amazed myself as I did the 3.0 miles in 22:40! (7:33 pace!). Then I took a moment to catch my breath, and about a minute later I went and ran the final 2 miles - doing those in about 8:00 minute pace. I did those 5 miles in 38:30! Average pace of 7:42!

Instead of being done I decided to walk a little and then jog. And within 100m I had ventured back into running and then for the next mile I ran the 100m straight aways harder and jogged the curves. Then I slowed down and did 2 laps at a more relaxed pace. I left the track and walked for a minute and then lightly jogged home. I did a total of 7.0 miles in just over 61 minutes.

After the run I sat and ate many pistachios and decided that salted pistachios are the way to go after a good run rather than pretzels. As I sat there I wished my legs could just stretch themselves as they needed a stretch and I felt too tired to make an effort to stretch them. Later on in the night I mustered up the energy to stretch them out.

New Miles: 7.0
Total Miles: 1020.5
Miles Remaining: 479.5
Weight: 128.0

It's Raining. It's Pouring. Running's Not Boring.

Started running in a light drizzle. Ended running in a torrential downpour.

In first half mile a mom was walking with her daughter to their car, sans umbrella. The daughter must have complained as the mom stated to her daughter: "See that girl is running in the rain.". I liked overhearing that comment as I felt like I was showing this stranger how strong a girl can be. Perhaps it is silly, but it made me feel stronger.

The weather was warm, which is the best kind of rain to run in. The rain was light and refreshing. As I ran I thought about "Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink." I ran out 2 miles and then back. With 1.5 miles to go the weather decided to take a turn and the light rain stopped falling down and instead started falling sideways, and pouring, whipping from the right and blowing me sideways. The small stream of water went from 6 inches wide to 2 feet wide along the shoulder of the road and 3 inches deep. I yelled "Oh c'mon!" as the rain somehow managed to get increasingly harder and fall faster even after I thought it not possible.

Soon the rain was streaming down my face, my clothes stuck tight to my body, and the rain tried to dislodge the contacts from my eyes. It was incredibly hard to see. I sloshed along - annoyed not as much by the rain as by the fact I couldn't see. I had half vision thru blurry eyes. When cars ewre approaching I'd duck off and into someone's driveway to allow them to pass. I could barely see them and I was unsure if they could see me. I paused my watch each time I stopped to only track my running time and not the total time.

Eventually I made it off the main road, thru the parking lot, and back up the side street to my house. I did the 4.0 miles in 32:13. As I got onto the porch Ryan came out and met me with a towel and some water - so very nice of him! I stood on t he porch and dried off as much as possible. Got out of half of my wet clothes, and then went inside and showered.

The run was ridiculous for the amount of rain but as I stood on my porch looking out at the rain I was just in I knew I had loved it and still loved running in the rain. Would I start running in a downpour? Probably not. But I will run in a light, warm rain and see what nature decides to throw at me when it funds a girl running in the rain.

Total Workout: 4.0 in 32:13; with some pauses in driveways and for traffic.

New Miles: 4.0
Total Miles: 1013.5
Miles Remaining: 486.5
Weight: 127.0

Lunch Walk

Lunch Walk of 1.0 in sunny sunshine and 85 degrees and heels. Feet felt good til the downhill part and then towards the end my left pinky toe started feeling like it was blistering. So I finished up the walk and got out of the blistering heat.

5.8 on 48:53; then some extra walking to round it out to 6.0. 2 out on main road and back to track, 2 at track, then home.

New Miles: 1.0 + 6.0 = 7.0
Total Miles: 1009.5
Miles Remaining: 490.5
Weight: 127.0

200m Repeats

Warm-up lap then some stretching. Then Ryan and I went on laps of 200 repeats - where you run pretty much as hard as possible for 200m then you take 2:00 minutes to walk the last 200m back to the beginning and then you repeat it. We did that 6 times.

1st 200: 35 seconds
2nd 200: 33 seconds
3rd 200: 34 seconds
4th 200: 35 seconds
5th 200: 35 seconds
6th 200: 34 seconds

I was glad to see I managed to stay consistent - which was the point. You aren't supposed to slow down or vary your pace greatly if you are doing it properly. I did take a little liberty on the 2:00 - basically I tended to slow down by about 5 seconds after each lap and I was in no hurry to get back to the beginning as I was still breathing quite heavily even after the 2:00 minutes.

The 5th repeat was quite difficult - the 100m straight away felt like it lasted forever and my arms felt weak and so hard to move along with my body. The 6th lap was more bearable since I knew it was my last one and so I was able to suck it up and push it out.

After the 200m run I walked the rest of the lap. Then I jogged/ran a lap in 2:06 then I lightly jogged a 200m and walked until Ryan's jog caught up with my and I ran for teh final 100m. Then the two of us walked a cool down lap together.

Total Workout: .25 + 1.5 + .75 = 2.5

New Miles: 2.5
Total Miles: 1002.5
Miles Remaining: 497.5
Weight: 126.6

1,000 Miles Journeyed!!!

All day I eagerly looked forward to completing my 1000th mile. By 4:00pm I had decided that I would definitely hit that milestone today and what better way to reach it than through a workout where I ran one hard mile for time.

At 4:00pm it was sunny, humid, and really really hot - about 85 degrees. It was definitely less than ideal weather-wise for running a hard mile, but with thunderstorms forecasted for the evening I definitely wanted to get my run in outside.

I drove to the track and walked a warm-up lap. It was almost unbearably hot and it made me think twice about pushing myself so hard in the heat. I then ran a lap hard to warm-up. I had figured if it felt good I'd just keep going and complete the mile right then. But the lap felt awful. I ran it in 1:32 and that was a pace that was too fast to sustain. I grabbed some water, stretched some, and decided that the warm-up lap was good for telling me how fast not to run.

After recovering a bit I then decided that I needed to go through with it. Very akin to my overall journey - It may not always be the thing that I want to do but it is the thing I must do. I know I would be happy afterwards and so during the run I reminded myself that 7 minutes of pure torture would be over very soon and so I kept going one foot in front on the next. I did the first lap in 1:40, finished the second one in about 3:30. I told myself that I definitely couldn't slow down because I wanted to complete the mile in less than 7:00.

The pace was brutal. The heat was brutal. So much of my body told me to stop running so hard. But fortunately I had listened to NPR's Radio Lab over the weekend and it was about "Limits" and people pushing their bodies to them. I decided today I wasn't going to wimp out. I was going to keep going hard.

And when the mile was all said and done I stopped my watch. I ran it in 6:55! I was happy! And not just because I had met my goal, but largely because I knew I could run faster. On a cooler night with no sun zapping all my energy I am sure I would be able to run a mile even faster. (I mean no disrespect to the sun. I love sunshine. Just in the moment of pushing myself hard I wasn't quite so happy with it.) So the workout was good for what it was but also good for the hope it gave me for what I can be. Faster. Better. Stronger. Harder. (...as the saying/song goes...)

After sucking up some wind and down some water I hopped back into Lane 3 and jogged a lap and then another - on the second lap I attempted to run a bit harder for the straight aways but the increased speed may have been imperceptible to anyone watching. After that I jogged for 2/3 of a final lap and then walked the final 100m. I absorbed the beautiful sunshine and warmth and felt so grateful to be where I was and doing what I was doing.

I have come a long way on this journey. It is amazing to me that I have been able to cover 1,000 miles running and walking in less than 2 years. I am proud of myself for starting this journey. And I am proud of myself for sticking with my goals. I look back upon these first 1,000 miles and am amazed by how far I've come - not just distance-wise but personally and physically. And I look forward to discovering what the next 500 miles have in store.

Total Workout: 2.25 miles in ~30 minutes (including stretching and H20 breaks).

(PS. Earlier in the day I did some yardwork which involved digging holes and planting plants. Then at some point I did a number of crunches and about 30 push ups (in sets of 10). Then after my run I rewarded myself with a nut-covered, fudge-filled, vanilla ice cream cone that I had been looking forward to all day.)

New Miles: 2.25
Total Miles: 1000.0!
Miles Remaining: 500.0
Weight: 127.0

Hello, My Name is Bike

In the middle of the afternoon I convinced myself to get out and go biking at the local county park. I took my camera along and casually biked along for 2 miles. Then I turned around and biked back. I got this bike a bit ago but haven't be brave enough to venture out to the park and use it. Today I decided to be brave and me and Bike enjoyed ourselves a bit of a jaunt. The bike gears are sad - I don't think they were happy to be used since there was no gear that gave me a solid, "oomph" pedal. eveything was too light and perhaps that is how bikes are supposd to be but it felt odd to me to pedal and pedal and pedal and not feel that much resistance and thus as though I wasn't doing all that much work or being very efficient with my pumps. But at least I did it! Total Biking: 4.0 miles.

When I got home I went on a nice evening walk for 1.0 miles and talked to my sister on the phone.

New Miles: 1.0
Total Miles: 997.75
Miles Remaining: 502.25
Weight: 127.2

Nearing 1,000 Miles

Needing to get my 7 mile run in before the forecasted afternoon rain and wanting to get it out of the way so I could paint the living room without the need to run hanging over my head - I went out at 9am and got my run in.

I devised a 5.25 mile loop that got me to the track and then at the track I did 1.75 miles to complete my 7 miles. I did my 7 miles in 57:52 (8:16 pace).

During the run I remember thinking that "3 miles shouldn't feel this tiring", "Did I just complete 3.5 miles or 4?" [it was 4], and "I'm not feeling so hot" (as in not feeling well, because I defintely felt hot temperature-wise) around mile 6.5.

I was glad to have my water belt -- which I filled up just 75% of the way since I have discovered that at full capacity they make the belt move too much. Plus I was thirsty and it was hot; also good reasons to have water. I am happy that my "exercise and eat right" life plan is working out, though I have discovered a downside - my water belt doesn't have as much fat to snuggle into and so it finds a way to move about more than it used to. It took a number of miles to find my new "sweet spot" though even there it still kind of moved. I don't know how super skinny people can wear them if there is nothing on their body that can prevent it from jiggling around.

Then after completing the 7 miles I jogged from the track most of the way home and then walked the final .2. So + 0.5 miles in about 8 minutes. Then I drove to the grocery store and bought 6-32oz Gatorades which I then drank 2 of.

Total Workout: 7.5 miles in 57:52 + ~8.

Then I spent the day painting and moving furniture around. I like to think it got my legs used to standing for long periods of time and build up some arm muscles. And I drank another Gatorade.

New Miles: 7.5
Total Miles: 996.75
Miles Remaining: 503.25
Weight: 127.4