The Dog Days Are Over (Kelsey)

Well today I ran my 2.5 miles, as scheduled. And it was an interesting run.

First off, I was successful in finding some gear to make it easier to run with my iPhone. I got the typical arm band thing that attaches it to my bicep, and also got some new headphones, all for under $20. Go me.

I didn't really get to test out the armband today, though, because it was raining. I didn't figure having my iPhone in straight exposure to water was a very solid plan, so I put it in my shorts pocket under some sweatpants instead and strung the headphones under my underarmor, which I conveniently found right before my run. Two days ago, I ran in a tank top and shorts. Yay Michigan weather. I ran 2.59 miles in 31:10 today, which I can accurately report since I had my trusty odometer ap going. I felt pretty good about it. I didn't stop to walk at all and didn't really feel tempted to much either. My breathing was good and easy too. But it wasn't a perfect run. My calves were really tight pretty much the entire run and for a bit when I got back, and my left hamstring was bothering me for part of the run too. Also, I'm noticing after the fact that it feels like I got punched in the lower edge of both ribs. It hurts to the touch even. So I'm not sure what that's all about.

Also what made it from being a perfect run, I got attacked not once, but twice by that red-winged blackbird. I think maybe he was making up for his lack of disturbance from my last run. Although I suspect that he is actually a she and is probably protecting some nest somewhere on that corner. She doesn't just attack me it turns out. The first time, I didn't notice what corner I was on because I was concentrating on changing the song until the bird attacked me. But the second time, there was a lady coming up that corner as I was approaching. She had an umbrella and was clueless, but the bird definitely attacked her umbrella and then went and settled in a tree on the right side. So I ran as close to the left side as I could to stay out of her path, but she definitely still attacked me. Something has to be done. She's getting more tenacious and I had to sprint around that corner today because she wouldn't leave me alone. She's got me balling up my fists like Mohammed Ali every time I see a bird anywhere now. Anyone have any suggestions?

Overall, good run, especially considering how cold and rainy it was.

Official Training Day 1: Check (Kelsey)

Well, today may not be an interesting post, my friends. But it is a victorious one.

Today was two miles. So I ventured out around 8:10 pm and ran my 2 miles. And I didn't have to stop and walk once WOOHOO!!! That was about all that happened really. And I took somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes, I think closer to 20. So not too bad of a pace. There was no shin splints. There was no walking. There were no cat calls. And there were no bird attacks. It was just a beautiful night for a successful run. I felt like stopping, but I didn't. I can't wait for the day when 2 miles feels easy. Today's 2 wasn't necessarily easy, but I made it. So that's progress, right?

In other news, today I bought a Whitney Houston greatest hits CD. I'm thinking this may be good running music... we shall see. I am also hoping to find something to attach my iPod to myself when I run tomorrow so I can actually listen to music when I run. So wish me luck :)

Memorial Day Run (Stacey)

Yeah I know, super creative title, right? :) I'm exhausted, try not to judge.

Today was a fabulous day, spent mostly with family and friends from church, eating great food. No complaints coming from me!

After everyone left, I started my Week 1 with a 2 mile run. I wanted to cut what has previously been 26 minutes for 2 miles down, and made it a goal to get down to 24 minutes.

Long story short, I did it! I have displayed a knack thus far for pacing myself without too much trouble, which I am very excited about and hope that remains true for the longer runs.

I was rather worn out after today's two miles, which I took as a sign I set a good goal for myself. We'll see how positive I feel about the decision tomorrow. :)

I apologize for the lack of humor in this post, as well as any lack of clarity. I almost forgot to post today and I decided posting something lame was better than posting nothing.

Anywho, I hope to do better Wednesday. Peace out dudes.

At the end of Week 0 (Stacey)

I'm deciding to call this Week 0 because according to the 12 week training plan, I start next week on Week 1. I did the work of Week 1 this past week, more or less anyway.

But I declare this week a success! For the following reasons:

• Today I was able to complete 2 miles, running the whole way, something I was unable to do 5 days ago.
• I ran 4 times this week, for a total of 9.5 miles.
• I've been eating more fruits, especially after working out, like a good runner.

I do need to be better about a few things:

• Finding some good stretches for my hip. That's my biggest physical complaint at this point. Oh, and band-aids for the blisters developing on my arches and toes. (Yes, I know, two very random places. I'm baffled too.)
• Not being so whiny about working out ahead of time. My propensity to complain is a character flaw of mine and this is as good of a way to practice being better as any.
• More veggies! Om nom nom.
• Make a playlist for myself. Could help with pacing as well as listening enjoyment.

Anywho, I ran 2 "easy" miles today in 26 minutes. No respiratory distress or super bad cramps. Just a mildly upset stomach afterwords, which i attribute to eating a little too close to the start of my run.

Tomorrow is my first day of rest since Wednesday and I am looking forward to it.

Peace and blessings. Peace and blessings.

Ay Ya Wa Wa (Kelsey)

I realize it's been less than 24 hours since my last post, but I have a bachelorette party on the other side of the state tonight, so I had to run this afternoon instead of this evening.

First things first, I woke up a little earlier this morning and went to WalMart to legitimize my running experience. I was on a quest for track shorts, running tanks, and a means of bangs management. Along with my flat feet, I have been blessed with a cone-shaped dome which makes keeping a headband on my head quite challenging. It generally stays for awhile and then ends up going towards the top of my head like a yamaka with a hole in it. We used to try to have team headbands for both soccer and basketball, but generally, mine never made it past warm-ups. I compromised by never having bangs, but now I do have them and I am fond of them. But they are not fond of me running.

I found some good running outfits, including a pair of dark gray shorts, a fun pair of royal blue shorts, and a light-red tank with dark gray stripes down the sides that coordinate nicely with my gray shorts, as well as a sleek black tank. Fortunately, I was also quite successful on my bangs management quest. It turns out that hard plastic headbands actually stay on my head! I am so excited. Those were never an option in either basketball or soccer, so I hadn't thought about it til I was in the store and saw them. And sure enough, they were valiant and stayed right where I put them for my whole run. Victory!

Unfortunately, my three-mile run was not as successful as my trip to WalMart. My clothes are far more legitimate than I am now. My shins behaved and my thighs only got a little itchy, but I felt like I was trucking around twice the amount of weight as I was last night. I am a bit ashamed to say, but I probably walked about half, if not more of the route today. It surprised me because normally when I walk, it is because I need to catch my breath. But today had nothing to do with my breathing and everything to do with my body. My legs felt mammoth and just did not want to run. I felt like I was putting in a lot of work to go pretty slow and just didn't have it in me. I am not altogether sure what to make of this, though I have two theories. Theory 1: My body was mad at me for measuring it last night, so it decided to make me feel every inch I measured, or Theory 2: Only giving my body 15 hours to rest was not quite enough, especially for the beginning. I'm pretty sure it was Theory 2. So today, I felt like quite the fat lard, but hey, at least my top coordinated with my shorts so I looked good doing it.

Oh! On another note, there were no cat calls today, but that same red winged blackbird attacked me in the same corner of the ponds today! I hope he is not looking to start some sort of vendetta against me, because I am not sentimental towards birds and would have no problem bringing my tennis racket with on my next run. He will not win.

Expanding my Capalaries (Kelsey)

Well, since we last spoke, I have run two miles twice. I ran on Wednesday with my friend. It actually totaled closer to 1.8 miles, and we walked a fair amount of it. Tonight (Friday) I ran a full 2 miles, and walked probably about 0.15 of it (It was only supposed to be 0.1, but a certain cat call elongated it).

Wednesday's run wasn't too bad, especially cuz we took it pretty easy, but I had this problem that I have from time to time where my legs, especially my thighs and leg-pits (knee-pits? I dunno, we'll go with leg-pits for lack of a better term) get really itchy. I couldn't really figure out why they itched. As far as I knew, I wasn't allergic to the world or air-intolerant or anything, but they itched really bad. I looked it up online later, and it is a condition that is known as "runner's rash," (though there's a bunch of different runner's rashes). It turns out that this particular rash results from me sitting on my couch too much recently and my capillaries closing up a bit. So when I ran and blood was rushing back through them, it apparently sends itchy signals through my nerves and results in a rash. You learn something every day. I guess it is high time for me to loosen up those capillaries!

Today's run wasn't too bad. I didn't listen to music because I haven't figured out a good way to attach my iPod to myself, so I got a little bored. I don't have many interesting things to report, except that I'm fairly certain a red winged blackbird tried to attack me on the ponds. It sure flew pretty close to my head, and it was flapping a lot in a way that I perceived to be quite angry. Little known fact... I hate birds. This did not help to ease my hatred. The only physical issue I had was that I started to get shin splints. I have this problem a lot. Some people get shin splints from working too hard or something. I get them because I inherited my dad's super flat feet. I have virtually no arch which results in little give or protection for my dear shin muscles. I have some inserts in my basketball shoes, but my basketball shoes are in an unknown location, like many of my other possessions, thanks to moving out of college and moving back home. Hopefully they will show themselves soon, because shin splints are no joke. 

In other news, the cat-call tally totals 2 now. (Doesn't that sound like it should have come out of a Dr.Seuss book? Yay alliteration!) I wasn't planning on keeping this tally, but I'm two for two so far, so why not? Though it may be embarrassing if the grand total at the end is still 2. Nevertheless, my friend and I got "holla'd" at on Wednesday cuz we were running in the hood, and my friend is drop dead gorgeous. But I must admit, I was not anticipating this trend to continue in Suburbia. Yet it did. We shall see if it continues

Before my run, I went to a secondhand store to scour for some legitimate running shorts. You know, the ones that are kinda short that track people wear but I never did because you looked like a doofus or a skank if you showed up at basketball or soccer practice with them on? Well I want some now, especially for those extra hot days. I did not find any track shorts, but I did find 5 novels, a skirt, a cute tank top, and a documentary on Ella Fitzgerald. Good finds, but unfortunately not helpful for my training endeavor. I will continue my search tomorrow.

I took my official "before" measurements today, and some "before" pictures as well. But unfortunately for all of you, I will not be posting any of this just yet. I will, however, let you know of the progress as hopefully some inches disappear, some pounds dissolve, and some good after pictures are feasible. And maybe at the end, I will post all these measurements when they don't reflect the present. I suppose I may not lose weight but may actually gain a little, since muscle weighs more than fat and all, but mostly what I am looking for is an increase in tone and some loss in inches. What a grand adventure this will be.

Well, I suppose that is all I have to share today :) happy running.

Running isn't Pretty (Stacey)

Despite all the wonderful pictures of beautiful women (or men) running with either smiles or determined looks on their faces, it's a lie!!!

I'm convinced no one looks like this when they run. I hate to burst everyone's bubble but no. At least, not in my case. I tend to look more like a dehydrated, out of shape, shuffling loser. 

Today however, I was a mostly hydrated, sorta out of shape, very slow RUNNER! Woo! I'm so proud of myself. I ran for a total of 48 minutes (which I know pretty exactly thanks to listening to my boyfriend's sermon recording on my run today). Furthermore, I went 3.2 miles. Running. THE WHOLE TIME. Have you gotten that I'm proud of myself? Because, yeah, I am. Considering that yesterday I was unable to run 2.5 I'm pretty proud that I was able to go 3/4 of a mile beyond that. Sometimes, it's the little victories that can make your day. 

Aside from that physical victory, I was really reminded of the un-prettiness of running and its accessories. My mom has a few friends at work who run and she asked them what helps with hydration during the longer runs and they told her the following things: "goo", salt tablets, and something that sounded to me like a mix of Batman's utility belt and a fanny pack.

So I did some research into said objects and learned some things:

First, it's spelled Gu. Second, they sell various products for "performance energy." Essentially, its purpose is the same as Gatorade, which is something I am familiar with. They sell various powders, tablets, and gels to refuel your body with electrolytes, carbohydrates, calories, etc etc as you are working out.

The gel packs look the least objectionable and disgusting to me, and you can use them mid work-out without much else.

Salt tablets/sticks have a various reactions on the runners blogs/articles/message boards that I've seen. They basically replenish the salt you lose while sweating rather than just replacing the water. It seems like runners who do marathons or longer(!) tend to like them, but overall everyone says trust your body and go from there. (I read various things, but this forum had a lot of interesting opinions.)

But where do people keep all these things while they run? Hydration belts! Below is a "Fuelbelt" with all kinds of fun place to store running goodies.

Cool? No. Potentially useful? Absolutely, unfortunately . . . .

I haven't decided yet how I feel about any of these things, but one thing I am sure about.

Running isn't pretty.

But hopefully, the results will be.

PLBTTTTTTTTT! *Raspberry sound* (Stacey)

That about sums up how I feel about my run this evening. No worries, I'm not going to regale you all with another long narrative. After all, I learned my lesson and DID NOT bring my beloved dog along today.

I was supposed to run 2.5 miles yesterday, but I was a slacker in the morning and I was busy in the evening so that did not happen. I ran it today. Well, I ran 2.4 miles anyway and walked the last tenth in a fairly defeated way. I'm not super proud of myself, but in the interest of this blog actually serving its purpose as accountability, I need to be honest.

I was out of the house for 30 minutes. So even though I did walk the last bit, I still made fairly decent time. I have a starting point for the rest of my training anyway.

I can't decide whether or not I should run tomorrow to get myself back on my schedule or rest tomorrow and run on Saturday so I'm on track with the original training schedule. Eh, we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Hope your day has been swell.

Out of Shape is the New In Shape (Kelsey)

Greetings from Grand Rapids! I don't have any grand running stories to tell yet. I probably should, but I don't. I am visiting some friends who live here. I meant to have done some running by now, but I don't know the area well, and they live in the downtown area. Running in an unknown, ghetto-ish area where I may not be able to find my way home again did not sound like a good idea. I decided today, though, that I needed to do some sort of exercise, so I got out a circuit I had made earlier this year:

•15 A frame push ups
•15 Crunches
•0:30 Mountain climbers
•12 Gator push ups
•1:00 Wall sits
•10 Burpees
•0:45 Side to sides, front to backs hops
•0:45 Planks
•1:00 Jogging (consisting of me taking laps around their house)

I went through it for 30 minutes, which I think ended up being 3 full reps and 1 half rep. I did that, and then, like any person who is trying to get in shape and be healthy, went to McDonalds for dinner. The circuit kept up my heart rate, but my burpees were looking more and more pathetic with each rep. It'll be nice to be in shape again. And one of my friends said she'll go running with me tomorrow, so that should be good.

So the other day, Stacey shared some other information about herself, and I feel like following suite. So here we go.

Favorite running music: Anything that has a good beat, generally Top 40 kind of stuff. I will post my running playlist when I make it :)

Preferred running venue: chasing an object. And by that, I don't mean chasing cars or dogs or criminals dressed as monsters with my brown dog in a hippy van. I mean playing sports. I played basketball and soccer in high school and intramural everything throughout college. I like running when it's in sports, but when it's just running for running's sake, I don't really enjoy it so much. I also am more of a sprinter than a long distance runner, so this shall be an adequate challenge.

I miss being in shape like I was during basketball or soccer seasons. So in order to do that, I pretty much have to run for running's sake these days. Hence the half marathon :) It is my goal to get back in shape and to all around feel healthier and better about my body. Always a good goal, right?

First Runs and Other Adventures (Stacey)

Hola compadres!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be adjusting this running schedule by doing the first week twice and forward a day (I wanted to do my long runs on Friday instead of Saturday). So, in other words, today was my first run. Because I feel like this is a story best told in the long form I will be babbling on for quite some time. If you want a short version, skip forward to the "**" I provided so kindly for your convenience. :)

I woke up at 10 this morning (WOOOOOOO for the earliest I've gotten up voluntarily all summer), and quickly realized that I did NOT want to run today, but unfortunately there was no way around it. (NOTE: I've been sick with a cold since Wednesday and am just now on the tail of it.) As I walked around trying my best not to be a zombie, I went outside and realized that it was indeed a wonderful running temperature and after I checked weather.com, it became apparent that I would have to get out there sooner rather than later to enjoy it before some storms came in. Fast forward through me eating some cereal, checking email, charging my ipod (although finding a cord was exciting), finding my running stuff (YAY for school stuff still in boxes . . . ), and stretching out.

I collected my dog, Ginger, because I figured she could use the exercise as much as me, and we headed out the door together by about 11:15. Yes, I am aware that it takes me longer than it should to get up and around in the morning, thankyouverymuch.

My house is 2 tenths of a mile away from a curve, which is exactly a mile away from an intersection, so I walked to the curve and then started jogging. (Can I get a hoo-rah for country "blocks"?) Ginger was really pulling on her leash, which is pretty normal for walks and I took it as a sign that at least one of us was ready to run! In retrospect, my dog is about as good at long distance running as I am, and will NOT be coming with me on any run longer than 3 miles. 2 miles was bad enough. . .

While we were walking to the corner, she stopped to "do her business" about 3 times so I (foolishly) figured she would be good for the next twenty minutes or so. HAH! We both did pretty well for the first half mile or so with the exception of a mild stomach cramp that went away quickly for me and Ginger getting distracted by small animals in the ditches/fields/'woods' that we passed. By the end of the first mile we already paused but I, like the quality runner I attempt to be, jogged in place while she did what she had to do. We crossed the road to start running back and Ginger re-heh-HEEE-ly (said like Dr. Cox from Scrubs) started dragging me, in the opposite direction as before. She stopped and I jogged in place at least 5 times on that third half mile. Saying I was annoyed would be an understatement.

At the 1.5 ish mark, Ginger pulled me to a stop again and I just gave up for a little. I put the brakes on and when she was done walked for a bit out of sheer frustration. During this minute (ish) of walking time, I started thinking about how un-stellar my run had gone this far in terms of how I was feeling and how slowly I was going and I decided I was not going to add shortening the run on top of that. And I didn't! I ran to the curve and a little past it to make up for my whiny walking break. So I did run 2 miles, to my best estimate anyway, although it was interrupted a tad by pessimism and annoyance.

Poor Ginger was really struggling by the end of it, but she hung in there with me and we both made it home in one piece, although she's been sleeping a lot since we got back.

**SUMMARY** My dog went with me on my run. She made me stop a lot (during all but one of those breaks I kept moving). Ran 1.5 miles, walked less than .1 and then ran my best guess of another half mile.**


So yes, I did my first run, and I'm pretty content with myself about it all. I timed it from when I started running to when I stopped the second time and it was about 28 minutes. I figure that if you took out Ginger's brief pauses I probably ran it in about 26 or so. Which is not super fabulous. At all. My cold might have played a role, but nonetheless I have a long way to go.

Thanks for bearing with me through my story (and all the parentheticals), I hope you found it at least marginally entertaining.

Stay well, my friends.

Humble Beginnings (Kelsey)

So the other day, I went to the edge of town to drop off an application, and on the way home, I decided to set the trip meter to see how it would measure up to the distance of a half marathon. I even took the long way home. It ended up being 11.8 miles, and then the multitude of what I have signed myself up to do really hit me. 13.1 miles is kind of a long ways. Holy Moses.

I've been trying to lay my routes out because, unlike Stacey, I live in the suburbs and they don't have nice convenient one mile roads here. So I downloaded this nifty little ap, cuz I have an iPhone cuz I'm cool like that, and this ap has an odometer that measures the distance I travel, no matter my mode of transportation. I tested it out against my car's odometer first to check it's legitimacy, and it was accurate (assuming that my car's odometer is accurate). So this week, I've been doing some biking to find some running routes.

I am using the same training schedule as Stacey, (though I won't be running week 1 twice) and last night, I counted up how many times I do each route. We do 2 miles 6 times, 2.5 miles 4 times, 3 miles 20, yes 20 times, 4 miles 10 times, and 5 miles 3 times. All the other increments, we only do once. I have found my two mile and 3 mile routes. And I'm going to describe those routes, mostly so I can remember them :)

**2 Mile Route: A few blocks west of my house, there is this really pretty nature trail thing that I don't actually know the official name for. My family has always called them the ponds, someone else in the neighborhood called it the blacktop, I've heard it referred to as the wetlands, but I think it's more like Natural River Source or something like that. Anyways, it's this water irrigation system that is as pretty and interesting as we get around here in the 'Burbs. So the two mile route consists of me running a few blocks west, taking two laps around the pond, and running back on the parallel street on the south side of my block, going a block past my house, and wrapping back around to come back the way I left.

***3 Mile Route: (sidenote... whenever I leave my house to run, I always have to start by going north up my street. I can't start south. It just feels wrong). This route, I run north up my street, run a block east, and run a few more blocks north until I reach around the 1 mile mark. At this point, I run a block west up a huge hill next to an elementary school. I used to roller blade on this hill a lot. In fact, we called it "THE Hill," but going down was much more fun, so I'm sure I'm going to love myself for this uphill route. After the hill, I go south a block or two, west a few blocks, and south a couple more. It spits me out at the mouth of the ponds, so I'll take one lap around and run up the south side of my block again and end the way I did the second route, though I did discover that if I'm feeling a more scenic route, instead of running a street past mine, I can take a lap around the block of my best friend's old house instead. It faces out on a more busy street of town and passes what I always called "The Bubble Machine" growing up. It's actually just an old firefighting vehicle. It adds a little extra distance, but I feel like it will keep me more intrigued because passing a bunch of houses and yards gets boring. Bubble machines and ponds are much more exciting.


That's about all I have for today. Evidently, my 4 mile and 5 mile routes are still pending. Thank goodness for this ap :) Also, it should be noted, that simply biking these routes was slightly tiresome for me. And in 12 weeks and 10 days, I'm going to be running about twice the distance of all my bike rides combined, in one setting. This is going to be an adventure of the most tiring and exciting sort :)

Introduction Stuff (Stacey)

As Kelsey mentioned in the first post, I am the friend who she coerced into running 13.1 miles with her. Well, coerced probably is not a totally fair term . . . but I did take some convincing.

I am probably not the best contender to participate in a half marathon. I started running regularly once the second semester of my junior year (this past year), but by the time midterms hit, I was out of the habit and I have not really run purposefully in about 2 months. So . . . yeah. A lot of pain killers will probably help me through my first couple weeks of training, but I believe with perseverance and my blatant stubborn nature, I can be largely successful. :)

I have chosen a training program to use (http://www.fitsugar.com/Half-Marathon-Training-Schedule-Beginners-2845222) and plan on starting it next week, technically a week before the twelve week plan, so I can repeat week one in order to have a better chance to be successful on the next week of training.

A little about me: (just for fun)

Favorite running music: Florence + the Machine - I don't know what it is but there's just something about her songs that make me want to book it . . .

Preferred running venue: Honestly, a treadmill. I really like the consistent pace it provides. Plus you have motivation to keep going, you can't stop suddenly on a treadmill without doing serious damage to your face, knees, arms, etc.

Running terrain at home: Country roads, conveniently spaced 1 mile apart, which makes measuring distances super easy. There are moderately hilly, which is good practice considering the description of the race we're looking to run has similar conditions.

Just some random facts:
I will be starting my senior year of undergrad education a week after I run this half marathon.
I will be the maid of honor in a wedding at the end of July. . . which will make training over that time interesting.
I have a long distance relationship I enjoy with my boyfriend of one year (plus some change), Travis.
Kelsey and I have known each other for two years, introduced thanks to a campground where she was a lifeguard and I was a counselor.
My goal for this marathon is to finish and cross the finish line, preferably not on a stretcher.
My goal for after this marathon is to continue running fairly regularly and maybe run a couple 5ks that my school puts over the course of the next school year.

I will probably try to post every day I train in order to a) hold myself accountable to actually doing it and b) track my progress and how I feel after working out and such.

So anyway, that is probably more than enough info from me.

Until my next run,
Stacey

Here We Go!!! (Kelsey)

So here's how it started...

For awhile now, I've been thinking that I want to run a half marathon. It sounded like a good way to get in shape and a cool thing to be able to say that I had done that may actually be possible. As this summer approached, I realized I may actually have time to do such a thing, so I started looking into it. I found a few races, but also realized that I didn't exactly want to run it alone. So I posted a facebook status that said something along the lines of "Who wants to run a half marathon with me? No. Seriously." Then among a few "Haha good one Kels," and "Yeah right," posts, came Stacey's "Tentative yes," post. And after a little more encouragement, she agreed to tackle this challenge with me.

So, without further adieu, welcome to Stacey and I's cheesy half-marathon blog :)

We still haven't figured out exactly what we want to do with this thing yet, but for some super basic information...

We have verbally committed to running this race:

http://www.somerset-run.com/

At Somerset Campgrounds on August 18, 2012. More information coming soon....