HotMotherRunner

Asics Nimbus 14

2013-02-20T18:21:00.001-08:00

So, I have been running on clouds with my old faithful Asics Nimbus 12's. I buy them on ebay, Kelly's Running Warehouse or Amazon and generally got a BOGO 50% off. Just recently, I noticed that I can not find them anywhere other than a size 5 or 6. The are DISCONTINUED! I guess so long ago the Asics Nimbus 13 has come as well.

After reading the reviews on Amazon.com about the Nimbus 14, I decided I wasn't going to drop the big dough on a pair of shoes if I hadn't tried them on. Some people said they ran more narrow than the 12's and I can't have narrow... Today I went to New England Running Company tried on the 14's and decided to size up to a 10.5 so that they fit comfortably. I got these

Expensive but I am looking forward to wearing them. Since my next marathon is 3 months out, it is certainly not the time to change shoes. If it isn't broken, I certainly don't want to break it!

After a few long runs I will post a review of the new Nimbus 14's vs. the Nimbus 12's. BTW, word on the street is the 15's are coming out sometime late spring.

New Years - What is your Resolution?

2013-01-15T12:36:00.001-08:00

So, It has been a long time since I last blogged. I was feeling a little down after missing our mark on the Boston Qualification miss at Chicago (this blog was primarily started while I was training) but I am back! and well rested. I am training for another marathon and haven't stopped running.

Resolution #1 - Run the Poconos Run for Red Marathon in May

Resolution #2 - Complete the running series in our home town. The Frosty Four was the first race of the series on 1/1/13

Resolution #3 - Random Acts of Kindness are awesome, do more of them.

Resolution #4 - Cut down on the sugar .... is that possible?

Resolution #5 - Dance more. With my husband, man he has moves. With my babies too!

We went dancing last weekend for my husband's birthday. Maybe we should celebrate our birthdays monthly?

After the Storm

2012-10-30T09:57:00.001-07:00

I haven't run in almost two weeks because I have some killer dry socket. Horrible.

Today I went on a walk post Sandy and saw some sad boats washed up on the wharf.

I Got My Wisdom Teeth Out.

2012-10-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

I got my wisdom teeth out last Friday. Just the bottom two but both were impacted. Needless to say, Day 1 and Day 2 were not bad although I looked swollen. Day 3, 4 and 5 are not fun at all.

Considering I have cut my caloric intake in half (not on purpose) and my jaw is rything in pain, I have not been able to run. Does anyone know how long you have to wait until the jarring action of running does send you into tears?

Imagine this, It's Saturday night after I get my teeth out. I have eaten little and had a couple glasses of wine. I go to the freezer and empy out the rest of the half gallon of vanilla ice cream + 5 Joe's O's + chocolate milk into my blender. It wont work. Devestation. My 2 in 1 Cuisinart died right there when I needed it the most. So, I bought a Vitamixer. I have been wanting one but felt like buying a $500+ blender when I have a working one was ridiculous. Since I was starving for days and now I didnt have a blender or a food processer, it was time! I really think this baby can turn stone to dust. I already made a black bean soup with it, a bunch of fruit smoothies. Do you have one? What is your favorite Vitamixer recipe? Most importantly, have you had impacted wisdom teeth extracted? When could you chomp on nachos again? And WHEN COULD YOU RUN COMFORTABLY!

Chicago Marathon Race

2012-10-17T04:51:00.002-07:00

The Chicago Marathon was amazing.

Race day we set the alarm for 5:30, race start for Wave 1 was 7:30. We knew we were about a mile away from the start so we left at 6:30 after eating some Justins Almond Butter on Seeduction bread with coffee. This almond butter is like crack. I go through a jar a week minimum. Put it in my oatmeal, on my toast, spoon it. AMAZING. It was upper 30's lower 40's at the start. We headed to gear check and then hit the bathroom before going to Corral C. This race was very well organized.

We headed in to find the pace group for 3:35. I was feeling good but a little nervous. The field was packed and we didnt really have a great opportunity to warm up. When the gun went off we took off and the first couple miles went by fairly quickly. We were on pace from the start and we werent warmed up yet but I realized this pace was a quick clip and keeping it for 26.2 was going to be a challenge but I felt confident. Here are our splits that I got from the Chicago Marathon Results webpage. You can see below that we staying on or very close to pace until around mile 15. I hit my first wall at mile 13. I have never felt that way so early in a race before but ran through it and encountered another challenging mile at 16. In both these instances, I looked at my husband and he said, "It is way too early for that". I knew he was right. I remember thinking of how no goal worth setting should be easy to achieve. Man, I was hurting. "I should have done pilates to strengthen my core" "I should have eaten better" "I should have logged more miles" I remember thinking all these things between miles 11 and 18. I also remember thinking that "no one is torturing me, I am choosing this." Does it sound like I should have trained a little harder?

Totals

Place Gender	1598
Place Age Group	389
Place Overall	7321
Finish Time	03:45:06

Splits

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/mile	miles/h
05K	07:58:28AM	00:25:24	25:24	08:11	7.34
10K	08:23:20AM	00:50:16	24:52	08:01	7.50
15K	08:49:04AM	01:16:00	25:44	08:17	7.25
20K	09:14:42AM	01:41:38	25:38	08:15	7.27
HALF	09:20:18AM	01:47:14	05:36	08:14	7.29
25K	09:40:32AM	02:07:27	20:13	08:21	7.20
30K	10:07:25AM	02:34:21	26:54	08:40	6.93
35K	10:36:26AM	03:03:22	29:01	09:21	6.42
40K	11:05:27AM	03:32:23	29:01	09:21	6.43
Finish	11:18:11AM	03:45:06	12:43	09:20	6.43

Name (CTZ)	Snell, Nellie (USA)
Age Group	25-29
Bib Number	9282
Age	27
City, State	Salem

After that I was feeling much better but then my hubby hit the wall a bit in the later miles. We slowed down substantially in the end clocking 9:20 minutes. The last 2 miles of the marathon had a tough headwind. I couldn't believe all the people that were stopping so close to the finish. A calf cramp will do that. We had reassessed our goals around mile 20 and decided we just needed to make sure we PR'd which we did by 5 minutes finishing in 3:45:06. The last marathon we ran was on February 14th 2010. We ran the LoveAustin (Valentines Day) marathon and we clocked a 3:49:58. Since that race we have given birth (I guess I gave birth but my husband dutifully gained 30lbs along with my 50lbs) to twin boys and that recovery is tough. So while I should give ourselves a big pat on the back (the boys are 18mos. old.) I must say, I was pretty disappointed that we missed my BQ ( Boston Qualification time ) by 10 minutes which is approximately 20 sec per mile. I am already searching for a good race this spring.

As you can see in the picture, we donned our university's apparel. I'm not sure if mine was just more difficult to read or if the sundevils slept in on Sunday morning..... Lots of Orangemen out there. I would say we hear 4:1 cheers, Syracuse 4: ASU 1

This is us lining up at the Start. My favorite picture. Some are pretty HORRIBLE.

Of course my husband bough HIS favorite picture which happens to be the WORST picture of yours truly.

Here are our splits from the Garmin.

Mile 1 7:55

Mile 2 8:09

Mile 3 7:31

Mile 4 7:24

Mile 5 7:48

Mile 6 8:04

Mile 7 8:16

Mile 8 7:50

Mile 9 8:26

Mile 10 8:15

Mile 11 8:19

Mile 12 7:57

Mile 13 8:11

Mile 14 8:00

Mile 15 8:21

Mile 16 8:30

Mile 17 8:35

Mile 18 8:43

Mile 19 8:53

Mile 20 8:58

Mile 21 9-27

Mile 22 9:23

Mile 23 9:04

Mile 24 9:01

Mile 25 9:07

Mile 26 9:00

.2 Mile 1:29

After we finished they had beer at mile 27. I actually started to drink one and then I realized it was disgusting. Not what I needed in that moment.

Chicago here we are.

2012-10-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness we had no trouble with our flight. AA did make a change and pushed our flight 40 minutes later but I guess I must have missed the alert email because that change happened in July.

My babe at the airport

On the plane playing with Instagram

We landed in beautiful Chicago and decided to save the $ and take the subway. We were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel downtown on N. Michigan Ave so we had 15 stops to go, it took about 45 minutes. $5 for metro vs $50 for the taxi. Done.

Hard Rock Hotel, Chicago

I regretted not having ear muffs, the wind was crazy. Chicago weather made Boston feel tropical to me. I suppose I was being a wimp but let's be real, we trained through the summer for this marathon. There were many 90 degree, very humid long runs. I think a spring marathon will be best for 2013.

I realized that my gear for race day was not going to cut it so we went to LULU and picked up a longsleeve, very warm luon shirt to wear under my Sundevil tank. I wore a lulu headband to cover my ears, compression socks and my fave mizuno running shorts.

We hit up the expo on Friday afternoon. You could have spent the whole day playing there. Lots of samples, booths for other marathons, gear. I LOVE being around all the runners. What amazing energy. The expo is always my fave.

Friday night we ate at Phil Stephanos on Rush. I had bought a Groupon there. Smart huh? The food was amazing, the place was cozy. We would highly recommend this. We got the Lobster Bisque, Caprese Salad, Ceasar Salad, Vennison Parpadelle and the Tuna. All was delish. And a few glasses of wine. We met one runner while there and he told us we were crazy to think we can PR in a race where 45,000 people are participating. ....hmmmm... People should be more positive.

Saturday we walked around ALOT. Perhaps too much. We did a 2 mile jog also and then finished off the day with a pizza and 3 cupcakes. It's always a wonder what is best to eat before a big race.

Race Week. All There Is Left To Do Is Get There.

2012-10-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

This week is the big week. We leave on Friday morning at 7am and family will be taking care of our babies so we can go and run wild in the windy city! I have my fingers crossed that we will have no problems getting to Chicago because we are flying American Airlines and they havnt had the best record these last couple weeks....Loose seats on AA flights... Also, some pilots here and there have been missing shifts because they are unhappy with the labor agreements.

Lets just pray that we get to this marathon a bit easier than our trip to Austin TX in February of 2010. We showed up to the airport that Thursday afternoon before the race to find out that our flight was cancelled. There was a snow storm moving across the country, it was Valentines Day weekend, Presidents Day Weekend and the end of school vacation so flights were overbooked and the next flight out to Austin would be MONDAY MORNING! Obviously that would not do since we were running the marathon on Sunday morning. We rented a car and drove to Austin as our flight was supposed to take off. You dont train for a marathon through the winter months in Boston and miss your race. No no no way. You can read about that race here. Also, I just put the link to my other blog, which is pretty much identical to this one but through Wordpress.... when I started my blog I wasn't sure which site to use, blogspot or wordpress so I went with both! Which do you prefer? or Use?

I did my last speed workout today. 12 x 400m. I dont feel like I have tapered much actually so this should be interesting. The Garmin Forerunner 10 has arrived. I cancelled my online order with Garmin and bought this Groupon so the watch ended up costing $85 instead of $148 with the 2 day shipping option I had chosen. Pretty sad to see that Groupon is sold out, I was going to buy another.... :(
The watch is awesome and has a virtual pacer option. I am planning on running with the 3:30 Nike Pace team. I was driving home from the gym today and decided to throw the watch into GPS mode to make sure it was accurate and I had already set the pacer to 8:10 min/mile pace. It was pretty annoying. At a stop light it would give a large beep that I was behind pace. When I began to drive again it would give that same loud beep and said I was ahead of pace. So, my question is, Is this too annoying to deal with for the length of a marathon? If there is a possibility that I could run a sub 3:30 will this prohibit that? And that last question is probably silly since running a 3:30 is already shaving 20 minutes off my time. I read an article that showed me if the training is done right, anything is possible. Looking for some inspiration? Read Time of the Ancient Marathoner. If you are really interested read parts I.-IV first. I have posted the last portion of the article below. I will read it again out loud to my husband before we run this race. Gives me chills. Peter Segal is a middle aged runner who badly wanted to break his PR of 3:20 which he had set 7 years earlier.

Peter Segal pictured here
By Peter SagalImage by Steve BoylePublished 06/13/2012

Part V: The Race Is On

One month, 150 or so more miles, and a few more frustrating looks at the scale later, the Philadelphia Marathon was upon me. Days before the race, I realized I had no notion what the course would be like, other than it would be about 26.2 miles long. So I consulted Ian Chillag, colleague, one-time Philadelphia resident, and 2:39 marathoner.

I asked Chillag, "Any advice on the marathon?"

He responded, "Yeah, don't be stupid."

"Don't be stupid?"

"Yeah. You're always stupid. You always go out too fast. So don't be stupid. You want to negative-split this course. If you cross that halfway mark faster than 1:37:30, I'll hit you."

I promised Chillag that if I got through the half before 1:37:30, I'd stop and wait for the clock to tick over before going on.

As I went to bed in my hotel Saturday night, full of noodles and "spicy pigs' ears" from a hole-in-the-wall in Philly's Chinatown, I contemplated a secret I had shared with no one, not the RW editors, not my running buddies, not Chillag. My stated purpose was to beat my PR, which meant sub 3:20. My informal, public goal was 3:15, which would give me a five-minute cushion in case something went wrong. But my secret goal, one which I dared not speak out loud for fear it could not bear the weight of the air, was 3:10. I had run a 1:29 half with relative ease, and a sub-40 minute 10-K–so why not a 3:10 marathon? That was the question I dare not ask anyone, for fear they'd know the answer.

But lying in bed, I could think of a hundred different reasons it couldn't happen–my weight, my stubby legs, my age. And I finally started to worry. When one tells fellow runners and the readers of this magazine and one's friends and family–basically the world–that you've been working all summer to get a marathon PR, it's easy to imagine disappointing said world. And while a lot of people fail to hit their race goals, it takes a special kind of genius to put yourself in the position of having to describe your failure in a glossy magazine, with photos of yourself, midfailure. Also, I worried that spicy pigs' ears may not have been the optimum prerace fuel. I fell asleep to dream of earless pigs rising up along the Schuylkill River to drag me down to the depths.

The next morning I woke up at 5. I put on shoes, shorts, and a singlet, with a packet of energy gels (as prescribed by Bede) in my pocket, and an old NPR (my employer) T-shirt for a cover up in the starting corral. I walked from the hotel to the starting line in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and took my place 40 feet behind the starting line. I could see the first mile of the course sloping away from me toward downtown. I bounced up and down, trying to stay warm and shake off the tension. I took off my NPR shirt and draped it over a barrier, hoping it would be given to the needy and some guy would end up wearing it while panhandling, saying "Won't you pledge your support?" My wave edged forward to the starting line. The starter counted us down to the gun. I looked around at my fellow runners like a man with a secret. I said to myself, "Don't be stupid," and off I went.

A mile in I realized that this was going to be a different race than any of my prior marathons. I was running fast, around seven-minute miles, but this felt different than my too-fast starts at just about every marathon I've run. Usually, it's the crowd that pushes you–sometimes literally–as you break free of the pens and head down the hill from Hopkinton or over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. But the crowd here was half the size of Boston and New York, and most were far behind me. Nobody was pushing me, not even myself. Yes, I was happy to be finally running the race, after months of training and anticipation, but this wasn't an adrenaline rush before the last half of the race walloped me. This was, of all things, restraint. I was running fast, but incredibly: I knew I could go faster.

At mile three I came up on an EMT on a bicycle, and kept up with him easily as he casually pedaled along. We chatted a bit about his assignment; he wouldn't be biking the whole race, but turning back and patrolling the first five miles, looking for runners in trouble. I thanked him for doing that good and valuable work, and smiled with the supreme confidence that I would never see him again. Mile five flashed by, and we were back into downtown, with cheering crowds along Chestnut Street, and I felt great. I began to cultivate that feeling of holding back, poking at it, like it was a bandage on top of an itch I really, really wanted to scratch. Another 7:05 mile. It was fast–very fast–but it felt easy. It felt smart. For the first time in any marathon, I began looking forward to mile 20, because it was then, and only then, I promised myself, that I'd let myself tear it off and go.

The clock at the halfway mark read 1:33. I was ahead of my stated goal pace, and two minutes under my secret one. I was being recklessly, intentionally stupid. Chillag was going to hit me. "Well," I said to myself, "first, he's going to have to catch me."

By the time I hit 20 miles on an uphill stretch in the riverfront neighborhood of Manayunk, the "itch" had faded; the marathon had reasserted itself. But even if I couldn't accelerate as I had at the 10-K, I was still 2:24 into a marathon with six downhill miles left, and anything was possible, including the impossible.Then–tremors, in my calves, those weird misfirings of nerves that feel like wires in your legs have been crossed, and indicate cramps to come. It was calf cramps that cost me 15 minutes at least in the 2009 NYC Marathon, and I wasn't going to let that happen to me again. I stopped dead, near the 23-mile marker, and spent 30 precious seconds stretching out my calves. "Behave," I hissed at them. Would they listen? I started running again. I picked up speed. A mile flew by, no cramps. This was going to be amazing...a 3:05, maybe, really? Another mile zipped by, going downhill now. Gravity itself had signed onto Team Sagal! I got to the mile 25 marker and...

BOOM! A gremlin whacked my hamstring with a ball-peen hammer, inflicting a sudden and vicious cramp. This had also happened to me before, in the 2006 Chicago Marathon, and for a crazed moment I refused to believe it was happening again and kept trying to run on one leg, like Monty Python's Black Knight. No way. I hobbled to the side of the road, stopping dead for the second time, and stretched out my leg on the fender of a car, pounding the muscle with angry fists, cursing it, pleading with it, while three whole minutes clicked away, and the 3:05 finishers streamed by me, puzzled to see a bald man arguing with his own leg by the side of the road. I was so close, in so many ways, to succeeding beyond my secret dreams. If I lost it now, a mile away from the finish, and watched the clock tick past 3:20 as I walked through the tape, I don't think I could bear it. It would have been better to have just dropped to the pavement at mile three and let that EMT pedal me in on his handlebars.

I pushed away from the car, and ran a step. The leg ached, but the ache faded, and the cramp did not return. I refused to baby that leg, and insisted on accelerating back up to a seven-minute-per-mile pace: It was crazy, but at this point I was gambling with house money, and if my leg fell off, well then, dammit, I'd use it as a crutch to hobble the rest of the way. It seemed a miracle that this was possible; these steps, this mile, this whole race. I divided the last mile into quarters, and started bargaining with fate for each one. Just let me run this 400, then you can tear my legs off. Okay, thanks. How about one more quarter? I came curving around the museum, and the crowd all seemed to be shouting for me.

And then I was there, through the finish line, my watch reading 3:09:25. I had done it, definitively, smashing my PR of five years before by more than 11 minutes. I felt flush with achievement, with the energy, if not necessarily the legs, to run a victory lap around the whole damn course waving an American flag. Instead, I went back to the RW Challenge postrace party, enjoyed a massage and coffee and bagels, and with Bede's explicit permission, a few cookies. News of my new PR spread around the room, and I had the pleasant experience of blushing as I was praised by total strangers.

I had accomplished something which Professor Fair's statistics and Dr. Joyner's physiology had predicted would be highly unlikely, if not impossible. But I did not feel as if I had conjured a miracle. I felt–I knew–that I had put in four long, difficult, painful, rewarding, exciting, revelatory months, my finest as a runner, transforming the impossible, mile by mile, into the possible. I had not reversed time, or gotten any younger. But I had shown, at least to myself, that time and age are not walls but fences, and fences can be jumped.

Pretty awesome huh? My husband and I both have to be ready cause we run together so we got him a massage this weekend because he has had hamstring issues in the past. 3 miles tomorrow, 2 Saturday. 26.2 in Chicago on Sunday.

If anyone wants to track us, I am wearing bib# 9282. Knowing someone is watching will be motivating.

Pumped Up. Feeling the Taper Madness. Ebay Steals.

2012-09-26T05:02:00.002-07:00

I had a good weekend. Had to cut my 10 mile tempo short on Saturday stopping at 5.5 miles with sharp pain in my shin. Sunday, I ran 14 miles and felt good. I am feeling taper madness! Monday and Tuesday were off days and today is my last HARDCORE workout. I have a 2x5mile sprint with a mile recovery inbetween. In all fairness, I am just going to do this workout to the best of my ability without causing pain because I dont want to mess this up. less than 2 weeks to go.

Sunday after our long run (14 miles) we took the boys to the farm. Nothing like a gorgeous fall afternoon at the apply farm. They have a petting zoo and killer applecider donuts made fresh all day. The sad news is it was such a long line for the donuts I didnt get any. But I did get an apple crispt to throw in the oven.

The trip was awesome overall until the boys wanted to run into the pond to swim with the ducks and we didnt have the stroller. Talk about exhausting.

My house is a mess. I think it is because of our training. I am just not really up to cleaning when I get home from a hard run and remember, I have two little toddler twins to take care of so chores have been falling to the very bottom of my list. Of course on Monday, since I had two off days in a row, I decided I would clean the house. Being the efficent woman I am. I stockpiled all my things into the laundry bastket that I had to bring downstairs. My dishes, my phone.... I dropped the dishes off in the sink on my way to the basement with the laundry and then threw the load in. About 5 minutes later I started to panic because I had no idea where my phone was. YUP, you guessed it. It the washing machine. So, my 4s has been resting in a jar of rice for the last 48 hours. No life yet. I am back on the first generation iphone which stinks. Typical.

I am so pumped. We got our Chicago Marathon Packets in the mail that give all the details for the expo, race, etc. I am still waiting on my garmin watch to come in the mail and just bought a new pair of kicks for the race. I know, I am a real procrastinator. We leave next Friday and this stuff will hopefully be here by then. I bought my sneakers on ebay because that is the best deal online right now. We all know if I walk into City Sports Boston it will cost $125 for Asics Nimbus 12.

Do you ever try a gorgeous dress on in the store and then find it at half the price on ebay? I dont just shop this way with sneakers. Here is a little lesson in finding a deal. Ill share my secrets if you share yours.

Picture below is of the beautiful dress I fell in love with at Nieman Marcus. You can see via this link that it was on sale for $153 from the original price of $438. Great deal right? No. Let me tell you why. I then went to my ebay app on my iphone and found this. The same dress was $69. I knew what size and voila. I have done the same thing with my asics running sneakers. I check everywhere and at the end of the day, they are cheapest on ebay. Unused people.

Support and Inspiration. I am a SUNDEVIL.

2012-09-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

I love running marathons. This will only be my 3rd but man, I am ready to sign up for my 4th.

We are fortunate to plan our races in fun cities that are generally a good distance from home which is what makes me wonder, where do you get support? Do you get any race day support? I think it would be fun to run a race where our friends and family are sprinkled along the course with a sign or Swedish Fish... I once saw a husband (at least I assumed it was her husband) run onto the coarse at mile 9 during the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon and hand her a Red Bull. She was cursing him out for being on the wrong side of the highway. Exactly what I would expect of some crazy who was quite obviously phening for a major hit of taurine. Do you drink Red Bull? Without vodka? During a workout/marathon? Yikes.

For this race since we have a PR goal at a pace I have never maintained beyond our Wild Turkey 5 miler, we are going to need some support. When we ran the Falmouth 7 miler, a guy we were running right behind was wearing his Tulane t-shirt. We were amazed at how many cheers this guy got! I'm not certain if all these people went to Tulane, their spouses or children perhaps? Doesn't matter, it was awesome. Naturally, I am a Sundevil. I went to what is arguably the greatest University for many reasons and school spirit is definitely up there. I did a little googling and to give some perspective to those that don't know what I am talking about.

According to this so very accurate account, I hope that scores of Sundevils will be cheering me on all the way because my husband and I will be donning our schools apparel. He is an Orangeman. He has school spirit considering he played football there. We will see how many ASU grads there are vs. Syracuse grads lining the Chicago Streets. Otto The Orange is a pretty cool guy. But, who is cooler?

We are going to run this marathon GANGNAM STYLE.

vs.

Ladies, How Shall We Preserve?

2012-09-17T09:53:00.001-07:00

By mistake I erased this older post....

Ok, Primarily my posts have been about running. Running is definitely one of the major things that keep me healthy, sane and well, a hotmotherrunner. But lets be honest, as we get older preservation is defintely something we need to get strategic about. Of course reaching for the extra virgin olive oil as opposed to butter when you cook will help your skin, hair and nails but is that enough? I feel like skin care is not something people really talk alot about.

The first 23 years of my life I was interested in looking hot in the NOW because I never knew where I might meet the love of my life. In other words, I wasnt wearing zinc on my nose while running when I was a single gal! I was wearing lipstick. Ok, I might still wear lipstick running but it is paired with a heavily sunscreened face. Of course now I am more concerned with taking care of myself for the very long run so I look can look and feel great for my hubby since we will probably live until we are 110.

When I meet a woman and think her skin looks great, I ask. "What do you use for skincare?" I get a whole bunch of different answers. I understand that sun is the #1 enemy.

Here is the article fully explaining this picture. To give a quick run down, this image is of a truck driver who is 66 years old and the left side of his face has been damaged by sun through the window while driving. I guess glass does not block UVA rays and they do the most damage. UVB burns, UVA breaks the skin down. This picture was enough to send me off the edge and never want to leave my house without donning a large brimmed hat with oversized glasses.

Not sure if she can do an 18 mile run with that hat on, I need a wider brimmed visor for my long runs...we can discuss that more later.

I was a SUNDEVIL and I did lay at the pool daily in college. The desert was hot and sunny and amazing. Whatever damage I did then is done. We were sunkissed babes.

Now it's all about prevention for now and the future. Which brings me to ask, what do you do for skincare? I keep it pretty affordable with a line by Mario Bedescu. I use the Seaweed Night Cream ($20/1oz.), The Hyluronic Eye Cream ($18/0.5oz), and I do use the Vitamin C Syrum ($45) All and all, these 3 products come in at approximately $83. Cheap great stuff. The line is made in NY and the packaging is no frills. Click here for more products and details. You can also buy at Nordstrom.

Nordstrom is precisely where I dropped in yesterday....and came to discover La Mer. It was created by a physicist in 1984 whom had suffered facial burns in a lab accident. The products contains lime tea and "miracle broth" that is derived from sea kelp that is harvested twice a year outside of Vancouv and lime tea. Here are 10 secrets behind the luxe brand. I find this very intriguing. I do love luxury. Dont get me wrong, I'm no snob but love Chanel lipstick and dream of my lambskin 2.55 with gold hardware. When I asked about the prices I was not too surprised because I vaguely remembered it being a very expensive line. 1oz is $150, 2oz is $275 and 16.5oz is $1900. That is the cost of a great bag right there! or a mortgage payment. Or a nice vacation. What I wonder is, Can you justify the cost? Do you think if you wear this everyday at the age of 60 you will look 35?

It is funny the things you remember from childhood. We were on a trip to Tuscany, Italy and my parents had rented a villa on a wine vinyard. The owners wife had impeccable skin and my mother said that is what you look like when you can afford nice skin cream your whole life. Is this why I am considering $1900 skin cream? I can't help but giggle, I was 12. I did ask the La Mer woman how she would pitch such an expense to a husband. She said to share it with him and sent me home with two samples.

Do you splurge on skincare? Do you prefer home treatments and just slather up with organic coconut oil ($7 a jar at wholefoods)?

Off Day with Champagne

2012-09-16T10:24:00.001-07:00

We carbo loaded for the weekends long runs with a nice pasta dinner and a $100 bottle of champagne. I wanted the $10-15 Prosecco we usually buy but we were too lazy to go to the liquor store and happened to have the champ chilled in the fridge. Ok, it has been in the fridge for two years. That is why we figured we might as well just drink it already.

10 mile tempo yesterday and it went well. Took the endurox after the run which always helps. Then we ran our 18 mile run today. We have just been mapping our runs on map my run but I prefer wearing a garmin. We had the big clunky one but my husband seems to have misplaced it.....it has been a few months so I am thinking we need to replace it so yesterday I did. Here it is!

I got the Forerunner 10 because it is brand new, small, (my last one was huge) and relatively cheap for a GPS watch. I guess it shows time and distance on one screen and pace and calories on another. Who cares about calories? When you are running a marathon assume you need to pack away a bakers dozen chocolate chip cookies to rebound. Or, I guess I am just doing that now and they are amazing. It might drive me a little crazy flipping back and forth, perhaps I will just leave it on pace.

The main reason I bought the watch is because of our upcoming race in Chicago October 7th. The goal is to qualify for Boston so I have starting really thinking about this. The pace to qualify is a sub 3:35 pace. That is 8:12 min/mile. When you factor in the slower start and the water stations, it needs to be a faster pace then that. Cool pacing chart here. I have been doing my tempo runs at 8:13 pace. There will be adrenaline on race day and that should help. So, here are some questions,

1. Have you ever strategize to run a certain pace?

2. Did you use a pace group? Garmin? Both?

3. What did you think of mentally to get you through it? I am generally thinking of what I am going to eat after I finish. Since I finished running 2 hours ago I have consumed Endurox, 2 bananas, 3 eggs, 2 sausages, toast and delicious cookies. Everything tastes better after you run 18 miles. :)

Things we have in our favor for Chicago. We are leaving our 18 month twin boys home with my folks. So, we wont be carrying them up and down stairs, and exhausting ourselves with the non-stop life style of a toddler! And, the adrenaline of race day.

I love running with my handsome husband. We were actually pregnant here in these pics (early) but I think we are in way better shape now.

Peak Week

2012-09-12T17:51:00.003-07:00

This week is one of our last high mileage weeks before the marathon October 7th. I havn't posted for a couple weeks and I have to admit, I was in the dumps. We came back from Acadia National Park and hit the pavement hard. Hard enough that I began getting shooting pains up my shins when I was walking post run. Keep in mind there was no pain while I was running but walking and getting up and down my stairs post workout hurt. Usually I am carrying one of my two 30lbs. sons and that can't help. I had to take some time off. Just a couple days, lots of ice, a 12 mile run even though my long run last week was supposed to be 16 and I bought CEP Compression socks.

5 Miles Past Empty is a blogger that seems pretty cool. In this posting, CEP compression socks are the star. It is funny, I realize that I did the same thing the author had to when she had shin pain, pulled back on mileage and wore my hot bright green socks (I am wearing them right now). I want more pairs. My shins are feeling much better already. Of course I stretched alot and followed every other protocol imagineable.

I am getting nervous. And really excited.

Happy Labor Day!

2012-09-03T12:12:00.001-07:00

Hike and pie. Don't you think it is funny most country convenient stores have their own version of the Whoopie?

6 mile trail run yesterday. Lobster today. :)

What day is it? Runday.

2012-08-30T12:17:00.001-07:00

Today's workout was a 16 mile run. We leave tomorrow for the weekend so today was our long run for the week. I wont feel too bad eating lbs. of lobster, blueberry pie and lounging since we got our important workouts done. Generally we get a sitter for these long runs but we were feeling a little crazy and decided we would bring the Ironman and push the boys. Not for the entire run.... 3.5 miles to the gym, 9 miles on the treadmill, then 3.5 miles home. The 3.5 out there was tough since yesterdays workout was a 7 mile tempo run with some sprints sprinkled in there. The last 3.5 miles home was tough, and hot.

The Ironman is awesome. This is my freedom pass. If the babes are sick, bundle them up and throw them in the ironman. If you cant get a sitter and have a 16 mile run with a 90 minute limit at the gym daycare? Throw them in the Ironman. It also makes for a great grocery cart as well. I stock this machine. This is my one and only stroller since they make strollers SO SO So affordable these days.

After speedwork, long runs and tempo runs we have been taking Endurox. It was recommended by a friend who is an endurance athlete and I really think it aids muscle recovery. We were drinking chcolate milk before which is heavenly, but I have noticed a significant difference between that and the endurox. Is there something you drink after strenuous workout to help with recovery?

My recovery drink for our short runs will most likely be a nice, cool, crisp cocktail while sitting by the lake with good friends. Anyone going away for the weekend? Even better, racing this weekend?

Motivated

2012-08-29T10:44:00.002-07:00

Todays workout was 7 miles. I am moving this weeks workouts around because we are headed on a weekend away and with our 17 month twins and a 16 mile run without a sitter is not happening. :)

Generally, Wednesday is Speedwork, Thursday is a light 4 miles, Friday off, Saturday medium length tempo and long run on Sunday. We are getting the long run out of the way on Thursday (tomorrow) and today I did a 7 mile tempo. I did add some short sprints in there. I figure we can do a sprint workout while away because we are vacationing with friends so when the babes go down for a nap we will head out the door!

I would LOVE to qualify for Boston and have been working hard towards that goal this time around with speedwork and tempos. Of course life gets in the way and I miss a workout here and there but when I think about the possibility of running a sub 3:30 I get chills. I can feel an adrenaline release. It's pretty awesome. I have never trained for a marathon besides putting in the miles. at a 9-10 min/mile pace. We kick it on marathon day running a decent pace of 4:06 in San Diego and 3:49 in Austin TX. I mention that because yesterday I stumbled upon a blog by female runner who writes about her improved marathon times. Her first marathon time was 3:54. She had not done any tempo or speedworkouts in preparation. I do have to mention this woman was an athlete at West Point and served in Iraq on three deployments so I am sure that she is VERY physically tough. What inspired me so much is she included tempos and speedwork in her training after her first marathon and subsequently ran a 3:21 marathon. WOW. How amazing is that? It reinvigorated me to push through these last few weeks because sometimes I wonder if I am crazy thinking I can improve my time by so much. Reading her story reminds me that it is possible. Caveat is, my husband and I run together on race day. So, it isnt just that I have to be ready, he does too. Of course we have significantly different body types (duh) and we are challenged at different points in the race. It's definitely amazing no matter what the outcome if you run the marathon with your sweetie. You share the runners high, enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. What could be hotter?

Quinoa Salad

2012-08-27T04:00:00.003-07:00

1 cup of dry quinoa
2 jalapenos
1 cup of corn
1 large can of black beans
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 onion or 1 bunch of scallions
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Lime Juice
Cumin

Boil 2 cups of water and add the cup of quinoa bringing the water to a simmer. Quinoa takes approximately 15-20 minutes. When water is fully absorbed, take off heat and put aside to let the quinoa cool. Chop the jalapenos, red pepper, orange pepper and onion or scallions to add to the quinoa. Drain the black beans and add with the corn.

For the dressing, I generally take a small cup and pour 2 parts oil, 1 part lime juice and then add cumin to taste. Also, white pepper is something I add occasionally.

This is so delicious. I use it as a side dish with dinner or throw it under my eggs at breakfast time. Quinoa is a complete source of protien that is a good source of magnesium and phosphorous. Click here for all the nutrition facts. It is something every HotMotherRunner should eat instead of empty carbs, no offense to the cous cous....

One Long Week.

2012-08-27T03:55:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to post all week. Excuses are lame, but here we go.

Firstly, my ankles have been extremely sore this week. I understand that I am experiencing the beggining stages of Posterior Tibialis Tendonitis. Basically it is an overuse injury from all the running I have been doing. Of course, I FREAK out because I am so close to the race and I don't need something becoming a major issue now. 42 days to go. So....I took it very easy this week. Tuesday I ran 2 miles, Wednesday 3, Thursday 4, Friday off, Saturday 30 minutes on the elliptical at high resistance and then 3 miles to follow and today 14 miles. I had visited the Podiatrist a month ago in regards to my ankle pain. He put inserts in my shoe along with a lift (1/8 and inch) and a pack of Prednisone. It is not a high dosage of the stuff, 10mg, but I do know it is a powerful anti-inflammatory. I was trying to avoid using it and had been using ibprofen and ice but I am thinking now may the time. I am heading into my hardest weeks leading up to my taper. I know rest and ice are best but this is a pretty bad time to be pulling back. Besides, lots of the wear and tear on my ankles and feet right now have a lot to do with carrying my twin babes up and down the stairs. They weigh close to 30 lbs each. ....

Have you ever used the stuff? I found a variety of different posts on Runners World forums saying that it keeps you up at night messing with your sleep cycle, increases appetite etc. I think those effects are experienced in high doses.

Anyhow, I will keep you posted on what I do. Whether I use the anti-inflammatories or not.

Easy Does It

2012-08-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

"Most of us can come up with plenty of reasons to avoid speedwork: we might say it hurts; it increases our chances of picking up an injury; it makes us too tired for our other runs… the list is endless. The thing is, they’re all unnecessary fears. What’s more, whether you want to beat an ancient 800m PB set on the grass track at school, or outkick the runner who always sprints past you in local 10Ks, adding speed will be immensely rewarding. Speedwork doesn't just make you run faster, it makes you fitter, increases therange of movement in your joints, makes you more comfortable at all speeds, and it will ultimately help you to run harder for longer."

I realize that I have posted an awful lot about speedwork but it is what I am struggling with. Every reason not to do speedwork listed above is something I think or have thought in the past 24 hours leading up to today's speedwork. The tendons that run along my ankles are sore. Is it just a niggle like Kara Goucher says? I completed my speedworkout last week and then suffered through my Saturday tempo run and my Sunday long run. The tempo run was 8 miles and I could barely hang on. Sunday was 16 miles and it could have been worse but the legs are definietly exhausted by the end of the week. Well, that is an understatement. Needless to say, I wimped out today and instead of doing 2x 3 mile sprints with a mile rest inbetween, I ran 3 miles and lifted. I feel guilty for not doing the speedwork but a huge part of marathon training is getting to the starting line. The Chicago marathon is 45 days away. I have four more long runs in the next weekends and three 10 mile tempo runs on the days before those long runs. I just need the inflammation to go down and I think my tempo this weekend along with my long run are more important this week.

Below is a suggested speedworkout that I will work into my training in the up and coming weeks.

"Here’s a great session for distances above 10K, but particularly for the marathon. If you want to complete a marathon in three hours, 27 minutes, simply run 800m reps in three minutes and 27 seconds. If you aren’t planning a marathon, then run them at 10-mile race pace. Warm up for 10 minutes then run the 800s. After each, jog for the same amount of time that it took you to complete the 800s. Add one 800 a week until you can run eight reps."

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/general/speedwork-for-every-runner/167.html

I think this workout is completely doable but I did check the pace on the treadmill today....those 1/2 mile sprints are to be done at 8.7mph. yikes.

Do you ever skip a workout per plan and feel guilty? Am I being overly cautious?

Marathon vs. Child Birth. Do I Still Respect the Distance?

2012-08-19T10:08:00.002-07:00

We left early this morning for our 16 mile run. It is so hard getting up at 5:45 on a Sunday to run 16 miles. I could have slept forever. After our almond butter toast and coffee, I was feeling less sluggish. We ran from our house into Marblehead to stay along the water for a gorgeous picturesque run. As we ran through downtown Salem I was speculating how well we will do in Chicago on October 7. I cant help but think we will do awesome since we have yet to train this hard and our previous times have been 4:06 (San Diego, CA) and 3:49 (Austin, TX). My husband who has run 6 marathons (this will be my 3rd) told me he doesn't think I remember how hard it is to run a marathon. I suppose I was sounding particularly cocky. :) A part of me thinks he is right. Then, a part of me thinks, I birthed twins after 48 hours of induced labor. I can't help but think I have the street cred to be a little cocky about a measely marathon. Well, maybe not that cocky....

So, lets compare the two; Child Birth vs. the Marathon.

I will admit, I am cocky by nature. Confident is much more attractive. Let's go with confident.

For my first marathon, I had confidence but I had no idea what it actually meant to go a full 26.2 miles so I was a little nervous since I had never run that far. During our training we had run 17 miles for our furthest training run. I realize that some people run 20-23 miles for their longest run, and some crazy people run a full 26 miles. I think that is nuts. If you can go 18, you can go 26. My goal for the first race was to run a sub 4 hour race and keep the legs moving. That means NO STOPPING. Even if some spectator is passing out oreos, we must go on. That road side distraction has got the best of my husband on a couple occasions. At mile 13 we felt great. We crossed the half marathon mark at 2:03. I knew at that point I could not move my legs any faster so I told Cliff we just had to do that one more time. We did, perfectly paced we finished in 4:06. I hit a hard wall at mile 23 but Cliff just told me to put my head down and run throught it. Its amazing how the body responds. I felt much better at miles 24, 25 and 26. I couldn't walk very well later that day. Man was our first race together exhilerating.

Crossing the line at San Diego Marathon, Chip time 4:06

Of course, I approached child birth with the same amount of caution. I had never done this before and the thought of it seemed horrible. You know what I am talking about. Also, I had watched this documentary, "The Business of Being Born" which in a nutshell claims that the hospitals are a big business making the majority of decisions to benefit the business....not the mom and child. I decided at this point that I wanted a natural birth without epidural. With twins, that might not be the best option....
These were the events that followed.
- Friday night at 8:30pm we arrive at the hospital to be induced.
- Friday at 10:30pm we have our first round of cytotec. (interesting, as I googled that to make sure the spelling was right I learned it is actually for treating ulcers, NOT primarily for inducing labor but is much less expensive, pennies per dose as opposed to labor inducing drugs that are $100 per dose. How sweet is that? Serious sarcasm there.....)
-Saturday, March 19th I am administered three more rounds of cytotec. This stuff brings on violent contractions that are just a couple minutes apart. Still, I was not making much progress. I can tell you I entered this race (labor) expecting to be done by noontime on Saturday but instead, we were just beginning.
-Saturday night Pitocin is administered. Still no pain killers or epidural at this point....
-Saturday at 11pm they place the epidural for precaution in the event that I have to have an emergency C-Section but they do not administer the drug. To be sure it is placed properly they do warn me they will inject some of "the drug" to make sure it is working. "This should give you some rest" they said. I will come to learn much later that I received a heavy dose of Lidocaine. I did not lay back while it was administered so it pooled in my legs and I was bedbound for 3 hours with no pain relief to my abdomen. Literal torture. I wanted the epidural at this point but my husband did what he was told to do, coached me through the pain. Sticking to the birth plan. Man, we had no idea what was going on.
-Sunday morning at approximately 3 am I am given Nubain which I had never heard of. I think the nurses thought it a good idea because I needed "rest" and after the 3 hours of handling contractions without being able to stand thanks to the lidocaine, I was in rough shape. Nubain didn't take away any of the pain. Actually, it put me in a miserable fog where I would pass out hard and wake up at the peak of every contraction. It was like I was getting electrocuted every 2-3 minutes in the abdomen waking me up from a deep sleep.
-Sunday at 10am they tell me I am only at 4cm dilation. I decided enough is enough, I needed the epidural or I wouldn't be able (or awake!) to give birth without the aid of a C-Section. I was so exhausted. The epidural ended up being AMAZING. (This is when I asked what the heck I had had the night before.....)
-Sunday at 6:57pm and 7:26pm I gave birth to Lincoln and Christian.

The night of March 18th when we first arrived at the hospital.

The night of March 20th, 15 minutes after the boys meet on the outside.

Women boast that there is nothing harder than child birth. There is some truth to that. Quite frankly you are giving life. You are building a life or lives inside of you and it takes A LOT of time and energy. I always wondered though, if child birth is the hardest thing, then why don't more women run marathons? The majority of women have babies... During my labor (which felt as if it were never ending, I thought of a clear difference between marathons and labor. Once you are in labor there is NO QUITTING. That baby (or babies) is coming out one way or another. You are in it for the long haul. During the marathon training, you can quit anytime. When your weekends are consumed by 6, 8 & 10 mile tempo runs on Saturdays and 14, 16 & 18 mile long runs on Sunday you can decide that instead, a night of mojitos on the water sounds better and skip the runs. During a marathon at mile 23 you can decide you have had enough and walk the last 3 miles.

After our child birthing experience, I said "I would rather run 5 marathons back to back in the desert then do that again" I didn't know it when I said it, but some people actually do this! It's called the Badwater UltraMarathon, 135 miles in the desert, click here to check that out. Maybe someday....maybe.

Moral of the story, I dont think the two, child birth and the marathon can be compared. Hopefully I have not lost respect for the marathon's distance. Because if so, I will be one sad HotMOtherRunner when it comes to miles 20-26 on October 7th.

What do you think? Is one harder than the other? Does it just depend on the circumstances?

Black Bean Soup

2012-08-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

A Whole Lot of Running, A Whole Lot of Eating.
I will post some of my favorite recipes, they are all healthy, filling and surprisingly delicious. Here is one for Black Bean Soup. If you prefer to make this with no meat, it is delicious either way! Lots of fiber, protien, and taste.

Ingredients
lb. of Turkey or Regular Bacon
Olive Oil approx 3T
3 or 4 medium Yellow Onions
2-3T Garlic
4T of Ketchup
4T of Wocestorshire Sauce or Spicy BBQ Sauce
14-24 oz of Low Sodium Chicken Broth 1 Can of (preferably low sodium) Diced Tomatoes
3 Large Cans of Black Beans

Put a whole pack of turkey bacon or regular bacon in a large skillet to cook. When crispy, drain the fat and cut into pieces. (I prefer Turkey bacon.)

Add Extra Virgin Olive Oil and put the pieces of bacon back in the skillet.

Chop up 3-4 medium yellow onions and add to the oil and bacon.

Add 2-3 T of chopped garlic, 4T of ketchup, and 2T of Worcestorshire or spicy BBQ Sauce.

Add 14 oz -24 oz of low sodium chicken broth. (this is your discretion as less with make a very thick stew and more will create more of a soup feel)

Add 1 large can of chopped or diced tomatoes (preferably organic and low sodium)

Add 3 large cans of Black Beans that have been drained. (preferably low sodium or no salt added)

Bring to a boil and then let bubble lightly on a simmer for 10 minutes. (I put this in the crock pot for the rest of the day on warm to keep well and served for lunch and dinner)

Garnish with chopped chives and cheese of your preference. (parm and goat go well.)

Why I Can't Skip My Speedwork

2012-08-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Last week, I skipped my speedwork on Wednesday. I thought it was the right thing to do because I am feeling pretty worn down lately. Tight achilles, aching feet, etc. Each Saturday when I do tempo, I think, "Am I being realistic thinking I can run 26.2 miles at this pace?" It makes me nervous and wonder why the heck I am training so hard when my tempos are this difficult. So, this last weekend I headed into my 8 mile tempo run dreading it since every tempo run has been HELL so far. Surprisingly, it was my best run yet. I had no trouble keeping the pace and felt amazing. This was so gratifying to see that my training is starting to pay off, I am in the home stretch. Thanks to having skipped my speedwork on Wednesday, I was running with fresh legs. So, THIS is why my speedwork is so important. I wont skip it again. I guess I need to keep these legs tired and sad until I taper for Chicago.

I have identical twins who are 16 months old. Generally I do an early morning workout so I am NOT used to hitting the gym later in the day after I have been running all over the place with the boys. Up and down the stairs, up and down the stairs over and over again. They each weigh 25+ lbs. so by the end of the day I am beat. Last night, I would have much rather been cuddling on our LoveSactional (click here to check out this piece of heaven) but I dutifully headed to the gym to do my speedwork. (my Garmin watch is missing so this is the best way for me to be assured that I am going at pace) 2 mile sprints at 7.8m/h with 1mile recovery in between. The first two miles went well but I was definitely out of breath. (I suppose that is the point).

(Ugly I know, This is a pic text I sent my girlfriend after sprint 1 to express how I felt.)

I kept wanting to cut the last 2 mile sprint into two 1 mile sprints but I need to push myself and stay true to the plan. In the upcoming weeks I have longer sprints and this is laying the foundation. When I say longer I mean, 2 x 5 mile sprints with a mile inbetween. New meaning to no pain no gain.

Speedwork. UGH

2012-08-15T10:20:00.001-07:00

So, I can not make it to the gym to do speedwork until tonight. That will be tough but no matter how sluggish/exhausted I feel. I'll go and get it done. The workout for today is 2x 2 mile sprints with a mile rest inbetween. I am not a tall woman, I stand at 5 foot 4 inches on a good day. I need to hustle and move those little legs quick to pick up the pace. Here is some info I found on active.com about the benefits of speedwork.

"If a runner can reduce the time it takes to take one step by as little as one-hundredth of a second, it will reduce times in the following races: 40-yard dash (approximately 20 steps)—by two tenths of a second; 100 meters (approximately 50 steps)—by five tenths of a second; one mile—by 10 seconds; a marathon—by three to five minutes."
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Run_More_Efficiently__Add_Speed_Work.htm

That is great news considering I need to shave 16 minutes off my marathon (at the minimum) to qualify for Boston. A couple years ago when we began talking about starting a family, I had originally hoped to qualify for Boston first. I changed my mind and figured, lets go ahead and get pregnant now, as I get older it will get easier...... In 2010 it was 3:40 for my age group to qualify. While I was preggo they made it more competitive and it is now 3:35! I am sure there are many of you out there looking to qualify. What are you doing? What do your workouts look like? Anyone running Chicago 2012?

Perhaps if I imagine this running behind me I will qualify without a problem.

Niggle? Kara Goucher on Injury Prevention

2012-08-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

"Niggle is a big word in the running world. We all have these little niggles here and there. Maybe the back of your knee is sore, because you tweaked it somehow. Or your hip is sore, because you did squats in the weight room. Something that carries on for two, three, even four days, that's okay. But for something that goes beyond that time frame, or that is causing you to run differently? That's not a niggle, that's an injury." - Kara Goucher, 33, Portland, Oregon ; Marathon PR 2:24:26

I came across this in Septembers issue of Runner's World. This really speaks to me because I am doing my first marathon training program that includes speedwork, tempo and long runs each week. With three workouts like this and just one day off, your legs get tired. It is normal to feel a little pain here or there. I understand that throughout training, getting to the start line of the race is an accomplishment in itself. Already I have felt soreness in my achilles on both legs. With an adjustment to my running shoes, ice and some ib profen I am doing much better but it does get scary when you are training for something big. Well said Kara. Good to know the professionals ache too and I am not a wimp, I just a niggle.

Why I Run.

2012-08-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Todays workout was 4 miles at 8:45 minute pace. I did 3 sixty second planks also. I have to get ready for speedwork tomorrow. yikes.

People will ask, Why do you like to run? It might seem pointless running just to run. Not to get somewhere. Not after a ball or towards a hoop. I'll tell you why I run. And some of my reasons have changed over time but the fundamental reasons are constant.

1. Running keeps you young. Sedentary lifestyles are associated with accelerated aging. It is true that an active lifestyle can have a positive impact on your appearance, KEEPING YOU YOUNG. Skin, organ vitaliy, muscle tone, bone density, decreasing the chances of getting heart disease. If you buy eye cream, you should also take advantage of the free anti-aging regimen of working out. I think the best example is my Grandfather. He just turned 90 years old this last July 8th. He skiis, sails, rides his bike and never slows down. I mean, this guy gets up at 5am in the winter to drive a couple hours to hit the mountain and then comes back that night. Sounds exhausting!

Here is Grandfather at his birthday party.

And here he is a couple weeks later in his own home playing with his great grandsons. Can't beat that.

2. Have you ever seen an obese person running? Well, maybe. But I'll bet you have never seen an obese runner who remains obese.

3. I love to eat. Eating is more enjoyable when you run. Thanksgiving dinner is delicious. Thanksgiving dinner after a 5 mile Turkey Trot is really delicious. We run races in cool cities. Got to love trying new restaurants and bakeries when you have a BIG appetite. Also, it is easier to enjoy healthier food when you are fueling your workout. You get out what you put in.

4. I love a challenge. When I originally met my husband he was training for the Honalulu marathon. I thought, "Wow, that is sexy. This guy is working hard towards a big goal." As the conversation went on I came to find out his marathon times were 5:17 and 5:19. He had been a Division 1 Football player in college and is very competitive and ambitious. Considering he was 265 lbs when he graduated, you could argue he was no runner. He was a defensive lineman. I asked him why he kept running marathons and he explained that he did it because he wasnt good at it and would keep working at it until he was good. Now, THAT is sexy. He had me there. It's something we do together. No distractions. No phone, tv, internet. Just us and the road. Pretty hot. Precana can't beat that; although we did that too.

5. I will always be a runner. Before I met my husband, I liked to run. Before I had my babies (16 month old twins) I liked to run. Running is what I do for me. It's something I prioritize and thanks to that, I am one Happy HotMotherRunner.

Why do you run? Do you ever see someone road rage and just wish they would take a run?

What Runners Say

2012-08-14T04:35:00.003-07:00

If you love to run and run often......so true.