running Archives - Page 8 of 10

2012 Goals

December 31, 2011 · by Ari ·

If you know me at all, you know how I feel about New Years resolutions. Every time I hear the words “After the first of the year…” it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me! I am a firm believer that if you want to change something, you don’t wait for the first of the year, or month, or Monday, or even the next day. If you really want to change something, don’t waste any time. Start now. This second. I would love to say that my New Years resolutions are to clean more, do my laundry, and stop procrastinating, but let’s get real and say if I reaaaalllllly care enough about those things (I want to care enough!!!), then I will fix them when I’m ready and a different ending on the date stamp doesn’t necessarily inspire me.

However, I am big on setting goals for myself. I read a lot of blogs where they set monthly goals. I love that and I want to steal it! I definitely have a few goals that I really want to accomplish in the next year. Some are running/fitness related:

Cross the PF Chang’s finish line with a big ass grin on my face. Yes, Big.Ass.Grin.
26.2
Run a 7:59 min mile.
Try crossfit.
Try hot yoga.
Keep strength training consistent.

Some are food related:

Drink 9-10 cups of water per day. (I either do really well or really awful on this one, not usually in between.)
Try at least one new recipe per week.
Only eat out 1-2x per week. (I get so stuck in the “Let’s go out!” mentality.)

Some are more life related things I have been trying to focus on in the last year that I don’t feel like I’ve fully accomplished yet:

Give others the benefit of the doubt, and don’t take every action personally.
Chill the F out! Umm, this has been a goal since JULY. Clearly, it’s a work in progress.
Have patience. With others, with myself, with life.
Focus on career goals and choose work accordingly.
Continue working towards balance in all areas of life (I have come a long way, but I still have a long way to go).
Sing and dance. Every day.
Be me, no matter who else is around (again, still working on it).
For the love of all things holy, TAKE A FREAKING HONEYMOON!!!!!

I hope this is just the beginning of things I work towards and accomplish in the next year, but I feel like it’s a good place to start, and I feel like the first set is 100% achievable, the secpnd set can and will happen most weeks of the year, and the third set is 100% work-towards-able–is that a word? Is now. I will not become the pillar of patience in 2012 just because it is a goal, I guarantee it, but I will become more patient.I can’t wait to spend the year checking back in with my goals and check things off the first list as they happen! 🙂

What do you want to achieve next year? Next month? Today?

Leavin’ on a Jet Plane

December 28, 2011 · by Ari ·

Its here, its here!!!! My vacation is finally here! I have a confession. When I bought this plane ticket I knew this wpuld be towards the end of my half marathon training so I scheduled the flight specifically to be able to get a long run in this morning before I left because by the time I get back it will be less than 2 weeks until the race! So Kara and I got our run on at 7am.

I don’t know what it is, but my last 2 long runs I have felt so sluggish. Every time I think I’m going fast, I look down and see like 10:30 on my garmin. Blecchhh. Maybe my body is just ready for a little bit of a break.

After the run, I packed at lightening speed, got coffee and got to the airport. Steve and I are just waiting for our flight to board!!!

I figured this was a good time to try out blogging from my phone. Not my fav, but definitely convenient for traveling.

Alright, I’m off to Boston! Yay!!!!!

Steak, Potatoes and Beer, Oh My

December 26, 2011 · by Ari ·

I am a person who loves to be busy. Some may say I’m a workaholic, but I am MORE than happy to keep busy by celebrating and spending time with family and friends. Is there a job where they pay you to do that? I think what I do is actually probably as close as you get. Lucky me 🙂

Let’s catch up, shall we? 2 days before Christmas started out with the 2nd to last long run Kara and I will do before PF Chang’s. We planned for 10, but Kara has been sick for like 2 months straight and after 8 she just wasn’t feeling it, so we ended up walking the last 2 miles home. At this point, we’re ready and the ending walk where we were just able to chat felt really nice actually. We ended up covering just under 10 miles total in about 2 hours. Still not too shabby.

The past few weeks after my long run, I’ve had the craziest cravings for steak. I don’t really eat red meat, but the evening after a run, all I want to eat is a big, juicy fillet! Well, Friday night I finally got what I had been craving! Kara, Charlie and Hermano met us at our house before heading out to Whole Foods to pick out our meat and our drinks. I love the type of dinner party where everyone picks their own meat, Steve grills it all up and I make the side dish. So simple, and much cheaper than trying to buy steak for everyone (ummm Steve’s steak was $30).

Hermano and I each picked out a fillet, although his was 13 oz and mine was 6 haha. Steve and Kara both picked out massive rib eyes. Charlie picked out some chicken, and Hermano also picked up a pound of macaroni and cheese because he was skeptical about the side dish I had planned.

Kara and I also picked out some cherry stout and cappuccino stout. Delicious.

As soon as we were home and we had popped open our beers, Steve fired up the grill and I got to work on the taters.

Hard at work. Obviously. I actually think I was trying to put my hair up, maybe?

Soon enough, dinner was served!

That, my friends, is what a 1.3lb piece of meat looks like.

Hermano's pound of steak and pound of macaroni.

After trying my Maple Bacon Sweet Potatoes (don’t you worry, recipe is coming soon), Hermano regretted his decision not to get some himself, so 2 lbs of food later, he went back to get some.

Yes, that is the pan I cooked them in. Apparently I need to hit my growth spurt so I can polish off pounds of food at a time and still be thin.

Then, 2 beers later (apparently I’m a light weight because that was seriously all I could handle), we were watching The Muppets Christmas Carol and I decided to make dessert. Very tipsy, recipe-less dessert. I didn’t measure a single thing and I thought it was going to be a disaster, but the entire 8×8 pan was gone in about 10 minutes flat. No pictures. No recipe. Sad day. I do remember it included mashed banana, caramel and white chocolate chips. Maybe one day I’ll try to recreate it 🙂

Busy Bee

December 22, 2011 · by Ari ·

You know, for mostly being off this week, I cannot believe how busy I’ve been. My reader has almost 100 blogs lined up waiting for me to read them. I just haven’t really been home, or if I have, people have been there and I’ve been really enjoying the time to do fun things. I’m not much of a sit at home type of person. But there are lots of work things I’ve been neglecting, so today I brought my lap top and to do list over to The Bux in order to get some things done.

This week has been pretty good about feeling like I’m back on track. I haven’t really talked about it, but most of this month I just haven’t been feeling like I’ve been making the best choices for my body. Too many extra cookies and treats, too many skipped runs, and just a general lack of motivation. I know it’s normal, and especially now that I believe I am fully capable of completing this half marathon, and it’s now dark and cold at the time I used to run, it’s easy to justify hitting the snooze button. But this week has been better. There’s been some spinning.

Some running (well one day of running, but I also plan on running Friday and Sunday!)

And just in general more mindful eating. Don’t get me wrong, I still plan on enjoying the holiday treats, but I had been ignoring my tummy telling me when I was full and not stopping to think and decide if I actually really wanted something before eating it. If I really listen to my body and take my time to make decisions, I am 100x more likely to not feel guilty about what I eat because, honestly, sometimes I really do want to eat a cookie, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Yesterday was so exciting for me. You’re going to think I’m ridiculous, but whatev. I haven’t had a chance to really cook in what feels like forever. I’d been eating fast and easy and lots of TJ’s frozen enchiladas and Progresso light soups. Don’t judge me. But last night I invited my friend Ashley over for dinner which meant I had to actually cook. I had no idea what to make and no recipe, and I decided to throw something together and hope it turned out awesome. I’m really trying to get away from relying on recipes and take chances and try things that sound good to me. It’s okay if it doesn’t work every time, but last night was a huge success!

"Hey cute husband, make me look cute while I cook, ok?" Is that a slight double chin I see? Apparently Steve has forgotten the rules.

After dinner, Ashley and I baked some cookies. Yes, I’m crazy and actually have not quite hit my baking limit yet. I usually don’t like to bake with others because I’m ~~a control freak~~ a little particular, but Ashley was a great baking buddy and didn’t seem too put off by my bossiness. Sorry about that, Ashley. I hope you still want to be my friend after I spent the evening bossing you around like you were one of my students 😉

Look at us, baking together. It's as if I actually work well with others!

The dough was really yummy. I generally don't like the dough to healthier cookies (they always just taste so much better baked), but this dough was really good!

While we waited on the cookies to bake, Winston was working on his cuteness. He has to keep up with his sister 🙂

I've never met a dog that likes to be held as much as Winnie. Look at that face!

Finally our cookies were done and we got to decorate them!

Apparently when you buy your red food coloring at Walmart, what you actually get is pink frosting.

I can’t even tell you how nice it was to be able to spend the evening cooking and baking absolutely stress free. Happy holiday time to MEEEEE!!!!

The Last New Distance

December 15, 2011 · by Ari ·

Today I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I knew I needed to long run, but I was alone and I wasn’t sure I felt like running for 2 hours by myself. It’s weird now. I started this training so unsure of whether or not I would be able to run 13.1 miles, and now I know that I can. I knew I wanted to get up to 12 for good measure, but I knew when I hit 10 that I could do this. So today I told myself that I had choices (which I suck at making). I could run anywhere from 8-12 miles. I was pretty sure I would end up doing 8, but I was smart and packed 2 Gu packets just in case. At mile 4.5, I decided I was over it and I was going to turn around and make it 9. Then somewhere around mile 6, I had a little chat inside my head that went something like this:

“What the hell, Ari? Stop being a little bitch and just freaking do it.”

I know tough love doesn’t work for everyone, but it often works on me, and today was no exception. So I changed my route up a little, took some detours and made it happen. At about mile 8.5 I got mad at myself and was like “Mother dicker, if I had just done 9 like I thought, I’d be almost home by now!!! My legs hurt!! My feet hurt!!! Waaaaahhhh!” Too bed self, too bad.

I realllly wanted to try to make it happen in sub 2 hours.

Close, but no cigar.

That’s okay. <2:01:00 is still pretty good. What I want to know is how do people run the entire half in less than that?! I see people all the time with their sub 2 half marathons, and I am amazed. One day, Ari. One day.

My splits were pretty even. The days of negative splits on long runs are a little behind me at this point, but negative splitting 6 miles is a lot different than 12, so I just have to be okay with that. Plus, my first race needs to be about tackling the distance. Speed will come. I’m a little impatient in case you couldn’t tell 😉

Mile 1–10:19
Mile 2–10:45 <–what the hell, body? I do not like you, mile 2.
Mile 3–10:23
Mile 4–10:04
Mile 5–9:55
Mile 6–9:48
Mile 7–10:01
Mile 8–9:59
Mile 9–9:50
Mile 10–10:01
Mile 11–9:53
Mile 12–9:11<–at least I finished strong!

Average pace 10:01. Not too shabby for me. I took my Gu at mile 5 and mile 9. PS, the mint chocolate Gu is really really good. In fact, Gu is kind of growing on me now that I’m using to the weird texture.

I also like to check my calorie burn just for fun. 1492. Thanks for that added perk, running. I would do it anyway because I like it, but as a person who still wants to lose weight and really likes food, I can’t pretend this part isn’t awesome.

There is always a place near the end of a long run that everything comes into perspective. Usually a great song comes on my ipod, I start to feel pumped, and I just run with this huge stupid grin on my face. I feel happy and powerful and like I really can do anything I set my mind to. Other goals in my life seem less out of reach, as cheesy as that sounds. It’s easy to forget when I want to sit around the house and be lazy. And half way through when I’m tired and want to be done. But, honestly, there is nothing more fulfilling than accomplishing things you never thought you could do. I don’t often feel very proud of myself, but the last 3 months (is that it?!) have been very different. That right there is reason enough to keep going!

And now I want to say to you, yes you! You can do anything you put your mind to. Whether its fitness or career or family, there is NOTHING you can’t do. If you have a goal, go freaking after it! Stop waiting. Stop making excuses. And for the love of God, stop letting the obstacles that life brings you get in your way. Face them. Crush them! Then tell me about your success. I will be your personal cheerleader! 🙂

Irongirl 10K Race Recap

December 12, 2011 · by Ari ·

My very first 10K race!!! I talked myself out of participating in this race about 100 times before finally fully committing and signing up the day before. I mean really I had every reason not to. I had 2 shows + strike and a cast party coming that day. Opening night of Fiddler followed by the GoDaddy holiday party were happening the night before. I had even officially told all of my blogger friends that there was no way I could make it work. Buuuutttt, so many wonderful ladies were doing it! And I’ve never done a 10K! And I really wanted to run! So I finally told Nicole, Carolyn, Emily and Raya that I was done being lame and I was signing up!

Saturday morning I met Nicole and Carolyn for brunch at True Foods and then headed over to the expo. I’d never been to a race expo! There were some cool stands set up and lots of things I wanted to buy, but after spending the money on the race, I decided to try not to empty my bank account on running souvenirs. Sunday morning we arrived back at the race site at 8am for a 9am start time. By this point, I was nervous. I’d gotten about 5 hours of sleep, I had never run a 10K race before and I just had no idea what to expect. Yes, I have run much further than 6.2, but I am learning that a race is a lot different than a normal run. Is that bad that it’s different? I’m new at this and I have no idea if that is normal, but I do know that the 3 times I have crossed the finish line, I’ve felt way more beat than after any other runs.

Ok back to this race! Steve came with me because he is the best husband ever and we quickly met up with Nicole, Carolyn, and Emily (and later Raya–somehow I ended up with no pictures with you in it–laaaame!).

Dear blog friends: you are so amazing!! I feel so lucky to have you ladies in my life!

See that pretty sparkly head band??? I’ve been wanting one and I showed Steve the one I wanted and he bought it for me! Then it fell off somewhere in the middle of the race and I was so focused on not dying that I didn’t even realize it 🙁

While waiting for the race to begin, we posed for some action shots.

Seriously, that’s what we all look like when we run. Don’t be jealous.

My goal for this race was to keep up with ~~Speedy Gonzales~~ Nicole. Actually, that’s a lie. My only real goal was that I really really really wanted to finish in under an hour. The last time I ran 6 miles it took me I think 1:02, but I know I’ve gotten faster since then and I wanted anything under 59:59. My plan to make this goal happen was to try to keep up with Nicole! As soon as we crossed the starting line, Nicole was off weaving and dodging around people and I made her my rabbit and stayed close behind. Right away we started going slightly uphill and I remember thinking “This will be nice coming the other way at the end.” Little did I know. After about mile 2, I started to feel over dressed. The sun was out in full force and the high of the day ended up being about 70. I should have been in shorts and a tank top! Whoops. But for the first 3 miles, I really felt like I was doing awesome. We were flying (for this slow poke) and hitting negative splits.

Mile 1–9:38

Mile2–9:11

Mile 3–8:30

Yup, that is too fast for me for mile 3 of a 6 mile race. I wish it wasn’t so, but at this time it is and I kinda knew it. I just kept hoping I’d be able to keep it up, but after that mile I felt exhausted and the real hills began. I sadly told Nicole to go up ahead and that I was going to fall back.

Mile 4–10:47

Booooo. I felt like my hopes finishing in under an hour were long gone because I had to take way more walking breaks than I would like to admit. I felt kind of like I had blown it, but fortunately I kept checking my garmin and seeing that there was still hope! I just kept forcing myself to run again, and run hard, after every walking break and push onward through what I would call hills of death. Okay, probably for someone who does not live in Phoenix (I mean, if you want to get technical I live in Mesa which literally means FLAT!) these would not be hills of death, but I had never ran on anything like this before!

At one point I stopped to walk and this woman who had to be in her 50s or 60s looked at me and told me “Keep going, you can do it.” I wanted to cry. I wanted to carry her to the finish with me. I had so much love for this woman that I could never explain to her. I didn’t even know how to say thank you. I am someone who thrives on encouragement and positive affirmation and to hear this stranger say she believed in me when I was doubting myself was such an incredible feeling. I just kept pushing forward, allowing myself to walk up steeper hills when I needed to. Finally I got close to mile 6 and I could feel that my goal was still on the tips of my fingers. I ran hard and gave the end of the race every last ounce of speed I had in me. I looked down at my Garmin and realized it hit 6.2 before I crossed the finish and remember feeling so angry! All of the sudden, I was no longer sure if I was going to make it, and I felt so cheated by the system. Yes, I am that dramatic when I’m exhausted. No, I do not actually think the Irongirl team was out to get me and not let me reach my goal. I crossed the finish line and tried soooo hard to have a finish with my arms up and looking strong.

“Dear God, AM I THERE YET?!?!?!?!?!!”

“Okay, look see I did it!!! ARMS ARE UP!!!!”

I waited until after I ran through with my arms up for just a second before I paused my Garmin, then looked down, hit pause and say this

Seriously??????

As soon as I crossed the finish line, Steve tried to hug me, but I thought I might puke, so I pushed him away and waited for the feeling of death to subside. Luckily, it didn’t last longer than a minute or two and I was quickly reunited with Nicole who had finished 2 and a half minutes before me!

Check out Speedy Gonzales crossing the finish line! Nicole, one day I will be fast like you!

“WE DID IT!!!!!!!”

I got my very first race medal!!!!

And I was also given the most amazing little post race gift bag from Steve! Did I mention that he is THE BEST HUSBAND EVER?! He got me a spibelt, and lots of mileage stickers, not to mention the headband that he had bought me before the race (I miss you already headband. You were so sparkly!) I felt so loved and so happy.

Then a little while later I got a text from Nicole with a picture of my official chip time

59:58

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Goal achieved. It feels pretty damn fantastic.

What Comes After 10

December 3, 2011 · by Ari ·

I love long runs. They are undoubtedly my favorite part of training. I mean, when I’ve only done 4 and want to be done, maybe for a minute I don’t love them, but I always at some point find myself so pumped during and after them. Today was Kara’s epic return post ankle roll injury. I mean, we did a short run on Wednesday, but today was really her big day back. The last time we ran together was when we did 8 miles.

Kara got to my house bright and early for some cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread with almond butter and banana. I know that everyone eats nut butter and banana toast before long runs, but there is a reason. I felt fueled and energized the entire time. I don’t think I will ever do an other long run without this breakfast. We waited a few minutes for the sun to come out, put on our fancy new compression socks and we were off!

"Watch out run, we're coming for you!"

"HiiiiYA! Take that, road!"

I was feeling pretty good today and secretly the entire time I was wanting to do 11 miles. I haven’t repeated a number on a long run yet, and I am always anxious to cover new distance and do something I’ve never done before. I contemplated lying to Kara about how far we’d gone and then surprising her with a “Tadaaaaa, we actually did 11!!” when we returned, but I didn’t know if she’d appreciate that post injury, so I pretended not to notice that the Garmin beeped at 5mi, and then stopped at 5.06 and said “Ohhhh whoooops…” I made it a whole 30 seconds trying to be deceitful. Then I asked Kara if I could convince her to run for 4 more minutes before turning around, and because she is basically the most awesome friend and running buddy to ever walk the face of the Earth, she immediately said yes, and we changed the plan to 11. I was so excited I literally jumped up and down a little. New territory!!!! My favorite!!!! So we ran a few minutes longer until we hit 5.5, then stopped for some espresso love flavored Gu.

This Gu stop made me laugh for about a mile. I mean, I think the espresso flavor tastes pretty decent, but the stickiness of Gu sometimes makes me a little grossed out, but I look over and Kara is not at all phased and says “I’m thoroughly enjoying this!!” She straight up loved the Gu which for some reason was pretty hilarious to me. I’ve never heard someone say that I guess. We turned around and I continued to laugh about her and the Gu.

It seemed as if the second half of the run flew by. I was so excited. To run new mileage, to have my running buddy back, to be running. I finished the last mile of the run with a huge slapstick grin across my face. We finished with a respectable (for me) 10:11 average pace.

That is Steve's hand. I promise my hand is not hair like that.

Mile 1–11:12
Mile 2–10:36
Mile 3–10:32
Mile 4–10:25
Mile 5–10:25
Mile 6–10:05 (thank you Gu!)
Mile 7–10:09 (man so close to no positive splits!)
Mile 8–10:07
Mile 9–9:48 (that’s more like it!)
Mile 10–9:39
Mile 11–9:19

Really really close to negative splits!!! When we walked in the door I was just so happy. I get some serious runners high. I’m pretty sure I’m hooked 😉

Once we got back, I forced Kara to join me in some stretching and foam rolling.

Check out those hot sweat stains. It's no wonder half of my blog search terms include the word sweat.

"Aunt Kara, I will help you stretch! I am so good at stretching. How do you think I got this long?"

Then came the least fun part of all. I’ve been using the pool as my “ice bath” and as it’s gotten colder and colder outside, the icy pool bathes have gotten less and less fun. Today, it looked like this outside:

In Phoenix, 50 degrees is considered scary cold.

"AHHHHH!!!!!!!" and lots more curse words

Steve just made fun of us.

"Yeah, just keep laughing, jerk."

While Winston and Clementine were in full on play time mode. Thanks for the entertainment, puppies. You definitely made it suck less.

"Come out and play with me NNNOOOOWWWW!!!"

"Okay, you asked for it! Raaaawwwwrrrr!!"

It’s funny, once you’re actually in the pool, the only thing that seems worse than staying in is getting out and getting blasted by the cold air. Finally, once our toes started to go numb, we braved it.

Brrrrrrrrr

"Mom, why did you go in the scary water? I don't understand."

This much is true, ice bathes are better with friends.

Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich

November 28, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hello friends, I hope everyone had an amazing holiday weekend! I had three glorious, consecutive days off. It was fabulous.I did lots of baking, and spent time with some of my favorite people. I had two different running dates Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, I ran around my neighborhood with Carolyn before heading over to Nicole’s taffy pulling party (Nicole is the BEST hostess). Then yesterday I convinced my bestie to get on the running train with me! I met Bethy at the lake with the duckies and after not running for quite some time, she ran 3 miles with me! I’m soooo proud of her!!

This morning it was kind of nice to get out there just me. I love running with friends, but it’s also nice to be able to zone out and focus on myself and some speed!

Okay, so speedy for me is like an other person's power walk, but I was pretty happy with it 😉

Okay, so lately I have been having seriously strange food cravings. I don’t know if it’s from running more or what, but yesterday I asked Steve if we could make steak this week. Ummm, I don’t really eat red meat. I mean, I don’t label foods as “off limits” anymore, but typically I just choose white meat poultry and fish. However, a nice juicy fillet mingon still sounds so amazing. I’m going to have to make it happen. Then yesterday as I ate my delicious sandwich at Dilly’s Deli, I found myself thinking “I wish this had bacon on it!” Also, my appetite is all kinds of out of whack. I’ve been hungry 24/7 for going on 5 days in a row!! You’d think I would have had my fill from Thanksgiving, but I just feel like a bottomless pit. Not cool.

So with my weird cravings, I cannot confirm that what I have dubbed the best Thanksgiving leftover sandwich ever actually is in fact that, but it tastes pretty amazing to me 😉 I started by toasting 2 slices of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread. I spread fig butter on one, topped with leftover white meat turkey and topped with leftover mashed sweet potatoes. On the other piece, I sprinkled goat cheese and dried cranberries. Then I put the whole thing in the oven on ~~burn~~ broil until warmed and the edges of the bread and cranberries were browned, then topped with apple sliced and put it all together. Yummmm.

I wish I had an other one right now.

Is it normal to be this hungry? I feel like when David After Dentist says “Is this gonna be foreeeevvvveeerrrrrr?”

A Milestone

November 24, 2011 · by Ari ·

They say if you can run 10 miles, you can run 13.1. At least I’ve heard people say that. I never imagined I would train for a half marathon. I never really thought I’d be able to run longer than a couple of miles. But today, I hit a milestone that I will always remember. And I did it alone. No one else to push me through. Just me. It was the first long run (since back when 4 was a long run!) that I have done all alone.

As soon as I walked in my door, tears came immediately. I did it. I got up on the day I’m about to host and cook for 20 people and I WANTED to run 10 miles. And I made it happen. I know for people that regularly run this distance and have completed full marathons, it may not seem like much. But who would have ever dreamed that this girl would run 10 miles?

Yes, I am carrying soda, donuts and a mocha. And I used to wonder why I was overweight haha

I sometimes can’t believe I am the same person. I have been through so many highs and lows, ups and downs when it comes to my weight and relationship with food, and one day at a time, it is finally getting better. I am finding balance. That version of me could not have run 10 miles, but neither could the me who obsessed over everything I ate. I have spent a lot of time picking my body apart, but here is what I know to be true. My body is doing amazing things for me. Things other people wish they could do (and don’t know yet that they CAN). My body is amazing and whether or not I ever make it to my “goal weight” it can’t change that.

So today I say, hey legs, YOU ARE FREAKING AWESOME!!!!! Thank you for carrying me those 10 miles and not giving up when the going got tough. I am thankful for you.

So this morning I woke up at about 4:30am with no hope of falling back asleep. I never sleep well before a long run. I’m always too nervous and excited. Finally at 5, I got up and made myself breakfast. I have felt the last two long runs like I ran out of fuel, so I was determined not to let that happen today. I made 2 slices toast with almond butter and banana slices like I read on almost every single running blog I read, and let me tell you, that breakfast is legit! It did not upset my stomach and I felt nourished and fueled the entire 10 miles. Fabulous.

My plan was simply to run until the Garmin said 5 miles, then turn around and come home. At mile 5, I stopped at a gas station, got some water and took a coffee flavored gu. It was hard to get down–so sticky, blechhh–but I think it helped a LOT. I never got to a point where I really wanted to stop or where I felt overly exhausted except in the very last mile when I was running as fast as humanly possible to try to improve my time haha.

As soon as I turned around to head home, the sun started to come up and I was running right into the sunrise. It was beautiful and I just felt so happy to be out there running, and so grateful that my body was cooperating and things were going well. For the second half of the run, both of my achilles were definitely bugging me, but honestly, I almost didn’t care. It was a minimal amount of pain that I kind of knew would hurt worse later, but in the moment, it just couldn’t tackle the feeling of awesomeness.

As soon as I could see that the end was in sight, I picked up my pace big time and just enjoyed the feeling of knowing that I was about to accomplish something great. Something I’ve worked really hard towards, and dreamed of. I know I’m not to the race yet, but I honestly do feel this wonderful and accomplished after every new distance. The race is something to work towards, but every long run feels like I’ve already won.

I finished 10.1 miles in 1:40:43 with *almost* all negative splits.

And oh my gosh, I have never been so sweaty.

This is where I’m crying. I do not look cute in a single one of these pictures and I do not care in the slightest!

This is where I’m thirsty.

This is where I’m happy.

Good lord, my legs HURT. I stretched for a while with Clementine. Cute pictures of that will be posted later. She likes to sit on me and lick my face while I stretch. Winston just lays there and looks at me haha. I foam rolled (ouch) and then sat in the ice cold pool for an “ice bath”. Brrrrr. There is nothing that feels better than a hot shower after sitting in a freezing cold pool, let me tell you!

Steve has been so amazingly supportive. I came home to a congratulations card from him, Winston, and Clementine and sat there and cried before even opening it. He also bought me a camelback as a hostess present so now I will have water on my long runs! How did I get so lucky??

This is a Thanksgiving I will never forget. I am so grateful for my body and my life. I never in a million years thought I’d be able to say I’m grateful for my body.

Now I need to get ready for guests! Can’t wait to spend the day with the people I love. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Scraped

November 21, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hello friends! I am so glad to be over the lame-o sickness that got in the way of my work outs the past two weeks. This morning I woke up and it was a little drizzly out which is actually a lovely treat here in Phoenix. I only planned on running 3 miles, but decided to change up my route and went just under 4. I tried to focus on just letting myself run this morning, not worrying about speed or impressing anyone with my time. I’m still a little sore from my consecutive runs this weekend, so it was nice to just get out and not really think about anything 🙂

And guess what!! I got my Garmin in late September. My first run was September 26th and today I hit 100 documented miles!!!!

Whoot!

After my run I hurried over to my physical therapy appt. On Friday she mentioned that she wanted to have one of the other therapists perform a scraping technique on me. What? SCRAPE? That sounds awful. I asked if it hurt and she played it off like it was maybe minor pain and then said “Well, some people bruise.” Bruise???? So when I got there today, she informed me that ready or not the scraper was coming. Oy!!

There were these two new big football player guys there today. While I warmed up and stretched they were cracking me up. I don’t even remember what they were saying but they were loud and they were funny and I was amused. That is, until just before the scraping when they said “Oooohhhh you’re being scraped???” Then proceeded to scare the crap out of me about it. Thanks, guys. I wasn’t already nervous enough. I informed them that I no longer liked them and they told me to join the club haha. I asked one of the assistants to photograph the scrape sessions so I could give you a visual. They all thought I was kind of a freak, but I’m kind of used to that 😉

See that tool in his hand? He's going to use it to scrap the crap out of my leg and foot.

Here I'm pretty sure I was actually crying a little. Don't judge me.

"Is it over yettttt?????"

The technical term for the procedure is Astym (A-stimulation). The theory is that it releases scar tissue and promotes healing. I even found a video on youtube, except the video doesn’t show the patient jumping out of their seat in pain. They must not have legitimately been doing the therapy.

I had it done on my left calf, achilles tendon and the bottom of my foot–that was the weirdest spot because it tickled and hurt at the same time. I am one of those people that twists and laughs uncontrollably during a pedicure. This was not a pleasant tickle though. Not at all. But, to be honest, if it even gives me the hope of being able to run, dance, and live my life without my tendons giving me pain, it will be so worth it. I haven’t been without pain since high school, so it would really be incredible.

Have any of you ever had this done? What’s the weirdest medical thing you’ve ever experienced?

Undy 5,000 Race Recap

November 19, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hello friends! So in an act of craziness I planned my long run the day before a race this week. I don’t usually run consecutive days in a row, and I have never run the day after a long run, but unfortunately, the universe doesn’t always revolve around the schedule I would like to have. What’s up with that? Get it together universe. Anyway, I woke up today for the first time ever with my legs feeling sore from my run. I mean, my legs have been sore plenty of times. From bodyworks, squats, lunges, etc, but never from running. I was super stiff when I woke up this morning, but figured the run was just for fun and it would be nice to loosen my legs up a little.

Nicole got to our house around 7:30 and we headed out to the race. My only other race to compare it to was the Komen, and I definitely liked that this one was less crowded and legitimately timed. We got there pretty early so we took some pictures in our awesome outfits.

Super hero undies give us super speed powers! That is the goal, anyway.

"I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR!!!!" Or something like that.

We also tried to take jumping pictures, but I ended up with an awful double chin, so that is definitely not getting posted. Sorry Nicole, I’m kind of vain 😉 Also, there was a man wearing the EXACT same outfit as me. Seriously, same undies with tight black pants underneath, same shirt, and green shoes. It was pretty crazy. We shared a moment and I wanted to ask him to take a picture with me, but sometimes I’m actually shy and easily embarrassed.

I loved looking at all the fun (and some terrible) outfit choices and group names/slogans before the race began. All the underwear just gave it a really fun feel. Finally after shivering in the ~~freezing cold~~ Arizona winter, it was time to start. Unlike the Komen, once we passed the starting line, we were able to get our own space and find a good pace immediately. After just the first half mile, I realized how heavy and tired my legs felt. Yikes. I started to feel nervous about being able to finish the race and 3 miles is a short run for me these days!

The volunteer cheerleaders were pretty lame, I have to say, especially at the beginning. We ran by and they gave a half hearted clap and maybe a “yeah.” I was a little disappointed, but to be honest, I’m not used to a personal cheering squad so it’s not something I think too much about in terms of a race. I have a lot of really cool real life cheer leaders that tell me how awesome I am after. Mostly Steve, but also others 😉

Anyway, by the third mile I was sure that I was nuts for doing this after yesterday’s run and I was not feeling warmed up and good, I was feeling slow and like I weighed a million pounds and like finishing an other mile would be an impossible feat. Somehow though, we were still keeping up a pretty good pace and I was so grateful to have Nicole to push me to keep my pace up, and to both of our surprise, we ended with new PRs!!

Don't I look awesome here? I mean, most flattering picture ever.

And here I'm trying to decide the most strategic place to collapse and never get up.

I felt pretty exhausted for a good minute afterwards, but then I was back to normal and really glad I did it! Again, with only one race under my belt, the PR isn’t the HUGEST deal, but it was like a 3 minute difference, so it makes me happy. After the race, we had brunch at St Francis in our undies. It was also awesome. Then I got half way in the pool and called it an ice bath. It was pretty miserable, but I feel better. Then I foam rolled and stretched for what felt like an eternity. These after run necessities are almost as time consuming as the running itself! I definitely regretted not doing all of these things yesterday, so today I tried to make up for it 😉

Good Friends, Good Run, Good Food

November 13, 2011 · by Ari ·

Happy Sunday friends! Unfortunately, I went to bed and woke up feeling sicker than I have this entire time. I really felt like I was getting better Thursday and Friday, but maybe I pushed too hard when my body needed rest? It’s just a dumb cold, but it still feels pretty awful. At least it didn’t stop yesterday from being pretty fantastic!! I started the day with an awesome 5 mile run with Mariel. Mariel and I have been blog friends for a couple of months, but didn’t actually meet in person until yesterday. I was a little nervous that it might be awkward to be like “Hey, nice to meet you, let’s run” but it wasn’t at all! We actually chatted almost the entire time–which I NEVER do while running, so I kind of panted like a 500 lb man, but hopefully Mariel didn’t mind 😉 I was also pleasantly surprised to find a conversational pace was pretty much the same for both of us. I get super self conscious about my pace, but I felt like Mariel was a great running buddy and I hope she ends up joining Kara and I more often! And on top of the great company and chatting the whole time, I shaved a minute off the last time I ran 5mi!

Not too bad for being sick 🙂

After the run, I went to Starbucks (I know, you’re so surprised), and got seriously the most delicious drink. I almost wasn’t even going to post it because it’s not the healthiest and if you are anything like me you are going to want it over and over and over, but it’s a lot better than the latte version and just so delicious.

Grande sf vanilla bold coffee with a little steamed egg nog. Delicious.

After my coffee, I got ready and went to rehearsal, then came home and got to cooking! Jason and Nacho came over for dinner and a movie 🙂

"Hiiiii uncle Nacho. Put me down now please, I'm a big girl!"

I LOVE this picture of Clementine! Look at her cute, long little body! I love Winston, but Clementine definitely wins in the looks department.

Jason is so funny–he always wants to be right in on the action. The rule in my kitchen is that if you’re not functioning, you have to be on the other side of the counter. Too many people in the space gives me anxiety and makes me cranky! Jason wanted to be in the kitchen, so I gave him a job. I tried to get him to clean the sink again, but he opted for de-rine-ing the goat brie.

"I can cook too!"

Of course, I also made dessert which Nacho had fun playing with.

"I make Ari's food look as fabulous because I look fabulous!"

I absolutely loved everything I made last night and will def be posting recipes soon. Between dinner and dessert, I used an entire can of pumpkin. I’m sure you’re shocked 🙂

After dinner, we watched Crazy Stupid Love. I love that movie so much. I definitely feel like it was one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. We all saw it in theatres together back when it was out and as soon as Steve and I saw that it was out on blue ray, we picked it up immediately. In fact, it was one of our “for us” purchases from our shopping extravaganza.

Alright, I’m off to down a bottle of cold medicine with a side of breakfast. Have a great Sunday everyone!

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