And then I found 5 dollars (Kelsey)

I sure am sore today. There are 9 miles under these feet from the last 28 hours, and my body is not hesitant to tell me what it thinks about that. My hips ain't lying, and neither is my lower back or knees. They are sore and were quite hesitant to do much today. My mom actually made fun of my "old lady noises" every time I stood up. So my easy 3 were quite easy today. It took me about 40 minutes and I walked a good chunk of it. I am certainly looking forward to my day of rest tomorrow. I looked up what to do online, because this may actually be the most sore I've been so far. A site suggested I ice it all and take some anti-inflammatories,  so I've been sitting on my couch with an awkwardly shaped ice container, popped an ibuprofen, and am watching the Tigers lose. Guess I've still got some more body destruction to go before I'm totally in shape.

I don't have much else to report about today, except for that on my run, I found a $5 bill laying the grass. So I'm under the impression that automatically makes this blog post better, right? Now I'm getting rewards of all shapes, sizes, and categories.

Sweet Carolina, bum bum bum (Kelsey)

Well since we last spoke, my running has been going better. Not perfect but better. Last Tuesday, my 3 miles was rough, but Thursday, I ran 4 miles, and I didn't walk a step, and I can honestly say that it really wasn't even hard to keep myself from stopping. The weather was perfect. It rained about 30 minutes before we (Josh ran with me) left, so the humidity and heat were down. I actually ran at 4 in the afternoon, which would have been impossible earlier in the week. But it was encouraging.

This past weekend, I covered over 1,400 miles. However, only one of them was on foot. Well running foot anyway. Friday, I was in a van from 7:30 AM until 11 PM, so there wasn't much opportunity for cross training. And Saturday, I was supposed to run six miles, but I had a wedding to go to, and I was at a random hotel and had no context of a route. I probably could have tried harder to run 6 miles, but I just didn't really feel like figuring it out, either the route or the timing. So I didn't. Though I did wake up at 9 and run with Josh and his sister (it was their cousin who was getting married) hence, the one mile. However, I kinda failed. Josh's sister is a college cross country and track runner so she had us going at a nice pace, and we ran in a hilly subdivision in humid and hot weather (even at 9 AM) and I was dehydrated and overtired and had less oxygen to work with in the higher altitudes of South Carolina. So I ashamedly had to make them stop twice, and I don't think it could have been more than a mile or two that we ran. I felt a little sheepish. I hate making people stop for me. But I did swim quite a bit on Saturday, so I wasn't completely exercise-less.

Sunday was another long stretch in a van, so no kind of running for me Sunday either, but tonight, Monday night, I decided to tackle the 6. There was quite the debacle, in my household, to try and figure out this 6 mile route. As I've said before, I'm kind of boxed in on all four sides, but my neighborhood is hard to find much more than a 4 mile route without having to bring a large sheet of directions. So I was hoping to discreetly leave and not exactly tell my parents that I was going to run 3 miles down Wood street (the busy, but less ghetto choice of the horizon expansion options) and be good with it. But then my mom asked... so I confessed. So at 7:30 PM as I was stretching, they were trying to come up with other options that weren't really feasible, so I offered to ride with my mom to my turn-around point and back to try and point out that I could run the route and not likely be hit by a car. So we got in the car, and instead of just seeing it and driving me back home, she dropped me off at the turnaround point and told me to start from there. This gave me quite the challenge of making up a route as I went. I was slightly irritated, and it was challenging, but it worked out alright. I ran the entire route except for when I had to cross a busy intersection and had to wait for probably a minute and a half or so for the okay-to-walk sign light up. I didn't jog in place cuz I would have felt dumb doing so in front of the 12 stationary cars waiting for their lights to turn green. I would have looked almost as foolish as I did talking into my bicep today all 18 times my mom called me when I was gone. Nothing is quite as encouraging as your mom calling you every 10 minutes and saying, "You aren't done yet?!?"

I have noticed in both my 4 mile from last week and 6 mile from this week, that once I hit about 1.5 or 2 miles, the rest of the run isn't really difficult. It wasn't too hard for me to keep myself running today and it wasn't too tempting to walk. My breathing was quite easy for basically the whole 6 miles, which is such a blessing. My legs started getting tired the last couple miles, and my toenails were reminding me that they need to be cut, but aside from that, 6 miles wasn't super awful at all. If anything, it was just a little boring. I never thought there'd be a day when I could run 6 straight miles. But today was that day. And it feels good to be that girl. I ran 6.04 miles in about 69 minutes, 67 or 68 if you don't count my wait at the intersection.

Well I am off to bed! And to explain how I'm rearranging the schedule, I'm doing 3 easy tomorrow, resting Wednesday, and 3 regular on Thursday and then going according to the schedule from here on out (hopefully, though I do have another out-of-town wedding to go to this Saturday too).

Catch up or Ketchup, Because Both are Sometimes Necessary (Stacey)

Yeah, I'm not certain where that title came from. I'm in an odd mood though and wasn't feeling super creative. So that's what my brain gave me. I clearly decided to go with it. :)

Anyway, this blog is going to play "catch up" in the sense that I have 3 runs I need to update you all (or you, the singular person who will read this [thanks Thister]) on. (And I had Ketchup on hot dogs twice this week, in case you were curious . . .)

So here goes:

Thursday I got back from a three day camping trip with about 15 teenagers, after which I was quite exhausted, and not super up to running that evening. So instead, I pushed my 4 mile scheduled run back a day and did on on Friday.

Friday, I finished the aforementioned run in a decent time (44 mins or so) and felt alright after it. My calves were abnormally tight though, especially after one mile. I took my easier route, opting not to bother with the big hill because the following day I had to run my first 6.

Saturday, I worked the majority of the afternoon in my family's camper, cleaning it out and fixing it up a bit so we can sell it. (Anyone in Southern Michigan looking for a camper?) After a couple hours of recoup, I did the dreaded change into my work out clothes and set off on my six mile run (after some extra stretching). Once I finished mile 2 I wanted to quit. My calves were really stiff again. The sun was in my face. I was running on a road I don't normally, and so I had to guess my benchmarks and had no landmarks to help me out. I wanted to turn around and go home, but I did not, because I knew I would be super upset with myself if I did, and if I did turn around, I'd end up running 4 miles anyway, so I might as well just go the extra two. Once I hit mile 3, I just started talking to myself, basically saying, from here on out, you're heading home. That, for some reason, really helped me get my head in the game, which as Kelsey mentioned, is 80% of the battle. Also, it helped that at about 3.5, my calves FINALLY started to loosen up and work with me. So my last two miles were almost enjoyable. I finished my 6.1 miles in the stellar time of 67 minutes. To say I was happy about that time would be a bit of an understatement. :)

Today, was a scheduled easy 3 miles. In order to force myself to take it easy, considering how I had to adjust the schedule for the previous two days, taking out a day of rest, I decided to bring my dog along again. And force me to go slow, she did. We probably walked a total of a half mile, spread out over the 3. By the 3rd mile I was basically forcing her down the road with me, and she was trailing me by a good 8 feet so so. Poor thing. She did her best though and she still seemed to love me afterwords. A run that normally takes me about 32 minutes, took me nearly 40. I wasn't bothered at all by it though, because I knew it was just because of Ginger, and it was for the best anyway.

So there we go. You are all caught up on my life. :)

Much love.

Sophomore Year Blues (Kelsey)

Well, kids, today I ran three miles, and it was rough. Until last Thursday, I hadn't walked a step of my runs (except for on the easy ones). Thursday, that streak was broken, and since then, I've walked small stretches of all of my runs. For some reason, in my mind, having to walk means defeat, so I'm quite frustrated with that fact. Today was just rough anyway, though I have a couple speculations as to why today was so particularly difficult. First of all, the training plan did not intend for me to run 10.6 miles in 3 days. I was supposed to run 10 miles in 4 days, so I'm sure my body was real happy with me for that. I also didn't help myself because I didn't take my "two easy miles" very easily yesterday, and also added 0.6 onto it to sort of punish myself for shorting my runs the week before and the long break in my 5 mile run. That was not conducive to feeling good about running 3 miles today. Also, it was hotter than the blazes out there. At 8:20, when I left, it was still over 80 degrees outside and it was as humid as death. I ran 3.06 miles in 35:56, which still ends up at 11.7 minutes a mile. Better than I thought. But I certainly didn't enjoy it and felt rather sluggish.

The other thing I've realized is that I've reached my sophomore year, if you will, of my training. The first 3 weeks are over, meaning I'm into the second quarter of the training. And the second quarter is always the worst. My sophomore year was my least favorite in both college and high school. The first quarter is new and exciting. And the third quarter, you're over halfway there and you can start to feel the end coming and you really start to get the hang of things, and the final quarter is just exciting because you're finishing. But the second quarter just drags because it's not new and exciting anymore and you've really still got quite a ways to go. I believe I have hit that stage in my training. It's not new and exciting anymore, and I'm not really even close to "almost there." It also doesn't help that my "freshman year" ended a bit roughly. On the bright side, this may possibly be the hardest stretch of training, so after I finish these next three weeks, hopefully it will get better and easier to motivate myself. 

I've kind of realized that running is really 80% mental. Of course there is physicality involved, but it's so mind over body. In "Eye of the Tiger," (cheesy that I refer to my training song, I know) there's a line that says "Risin' up to the challenge of our rival." Until today, I thought of my route or my run as my rival. "I must defeat these three miles." But my routes aren't my rival. My rival is my own body. It's my own mind. I have to, in a sense, defeat myself, my desire to stop, to walk, to stay on my couch. I really don't enjoy running. It's slightly torturous for a significant amount of each run. But I like the feeling when I return. I like feeling in shape. I like the feeling of doing something to better myself. And I enjoy, in a sense, realizing that I can mentally defeat some of the lesser parts of me on an almost daily basis. For the first time in a long time, I am starting to feel like a real athlete again. And I like that. 

Update on my Playlist:

As I said, it was subject to change. So here's how it stands as of now:

1. Diva by Beyonce

2. I'm Sexy And I Know It by LMFAO

3. Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor

4. Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar

5. Independent Woman by Destiny's Child

6. Jumpin' Jumpin' by Destiny's Child

7. Survivor by Destiny's Child

8. Step by Step by Whitney Houston

9. Wobble by V.I.C.

10. Queen of the Night by Whitney Houston

11. Misled by Celine Dion

12. Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine

13. Maneater by Nelly Furtado

14. The One by Mary J Blige

15. Only One by Yellowcard

16. A Boy Brushed Red... Living in Black and White by Underoath

17. Down, Set, Go by Underoath

18. Barton Hallow by The Civil Wars

19. All the Rowboats by Regina Spektor

20. Till The World Ends by I See Stars

As you can see, I took out some of the slower paced woman power ballads and added a little more R&B, some screamo, bluegrass, and whatever you call Regina Spektor. I've read from a few sources that for those who can tolerate it, screamo songs are good to work out to. I don't know that I'd listen to it in the gym, but when I'm running, it does give me some sort of release and simultaneous motivation to listen to someone do what I wish I could do, though I imagine I'd get cops called on me if I screamed while running, especially in suburbia.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Let's Get Down to Business (Stacey)

Finish it together everyone! . . . . To defeat! (Huh! Huyah!) The Huuunnnnsssssss!

Mmk, momentary ridiculousness aside, today I decided to start taking myself more seriously and get organized and do this whole running thing right (ish).

If anyone pays attention to this blog aside from Kelsey and myself, you will have noticed that the past few weeks I have been rather slackery about documenting my progress on a regular basis. I intend to improve on that. For whatever reason, this slacking off has also reached the point where I haven't been keeping track of my times and such. I decided that NEEDED to change in order for me to figure out my best times, average pace, running conditions, etc. all of which are helpful to someone with a Type A personality. So I developed a page on OneNote (the uber nerd's Microsoft Word), where I document the days I run, the weather, distance, time, and other miscellaneous notes about my workouts such as which route I take, random conditions to take into account (ie dogs chasing me, my dog slowing me down, whether I take walking breaks or have to stop for some random reason), and whatever other information I feel like documenting. I also have a space for my measurements that I've taken previously and that I'm going to take every 2 weeks or so. 

So that's the plan of action. It's nothing too major, but I think it will help me, and give me some material to work with for blog posts.

Anyway, I ran 3 miles today because I'll be out of town for the next few days and won't be able to work out with any sort of regularity. Although, I may be able to run on some dunes on Thursday, so that will probably take the place of my cross training on Friday and I'll do the run I was supposed to do Thursday then. I'm not sure. We will see how it all turns out.

I switched up my 3 mile route for today due to boredom and the desire to tackle a particular hill that just about killed me on my 5 mile route. 

See the pretty red circle?  (Screenshot from runningmap.com) See that basically vertical line? Yeah, I get to climb, I mean run that thing . . . On my 5 mile route that is my last major obstacle before I get to my final mile. It will be the same for my 6 mile route also. So, rather than fear a stupid land form, I decided to incorporate it into as many of my runs as possible, which is like, all of them.

Yesterday, I tackled it during my 2 mile run, which, running a hill after 1 mile isn't too bad. Today, I ran 2 (poorly paced) miles before I got to the dang thing and nearly gave up about twenty feet from the top. I decided, however, that that would be a stupid decision so I kept "running" anyway.

So for now, the score is basically Hill 2 Me 1 but, so help me, I will be able to sprint up that thing by the end of the summer if I want to.

PS - I had two kids who were playing in their yard wave to me today while I was running past. I felt kinda cool. Plus it made me smile, which is always nice. :)

Week 3 Failures (Kelsey)

So now it's me who hasn't posted in forever...

Last week was busy and I was quite a bit more social than usual, so it was harder for me to find time to post.  It was also kind of a fail. An accidental fail, but a fail nonetheless.

I didn't run alone at all this week, which was interesting, because up until then, I'd only run alone. Sunday, on my 2.5 easy miles, I had RaeLee with me. I don't have an official 2.5 route, so I figured I would just add some lengths here and there to my 2 mile route. I felt bad having headphones in while running with her, so I ran without. Usually, I weave my headphones around my iPhone so that it stays in the arm strap, but that time I didn't bring them. I learned my lesson. My first problem arose because, little known fact, I have a phobia of fireworks. I hate them. They scare me. But Michigan decided to be awesome and legalize them this year, and apparently everyone is quite excited about that because it's not even close to the 4th yet, and people shoot them off ALL the time, especially when it starts approaching dusk. When I have my headphones in, I can't hear them and they don't bother me. But this particular Sunday, they were quite frequent, and I had no headphones. So that complicated things. Then, as we were returning on one of the random additions, my iPhone fell out of the arm strap straight onto the sidewalk. I picked it up, and it said "No SIM Card." At that point, another large firework went off, so I just decided to call it a day and return back. I have no idea my total distance or time because the fall ruined my odometer tracking for that run, though I'm pretty sure it was short of 2.5 miles.

Tuesday and Wednesday I ran with Stacey, and we ran both routes in their entirety and without too much difficulty. So thankfully, Stacey and I do not equal failure together. 

Thursday, I went to visit my supervisor from my internship this last semester and we ran together at Cascades. I asked if she'd be ready to run 3 miles with me without stopping, and she informed me that she usually runs 6 or 7 miles at a pace of about 8 or 9 minutes per mile. Then I felt sheepish. So we set out to run, and she told me it'd actually be 3.3 miles. However, when we finished, my odometer said we had gone 2.74 miles. She had told me that one loop was 1.5 miles and the other loop was 1.8 miles, however, after we got back, I realized that I had seen a sign that said one loop is 1.3 miles and the other is 1.5 miles, which is where my deficit of 0.3 miles came from. So that was shortened run number 2 of the week.

Friday was crazy busy, so I never ended up getting any real cross training in. And Saturday also ended up being more sleep deprived and busy than I had originally planned for, so I ended up skipping my 5 mile run that day too.

Sunday also turned out to be incredibly busy, but I knew that I couldn't skip two days in a row, especially not for my big run. We went to my sister's house for Father's Day, and the chicken ended up taking longer to cook than anticipated. Had I known how long it was going to take, I would have run before dinner, but I didn't, and we didn't get done eating until 7:20. I needed to run before it got dark out, so I didn't have a whole lot of time to digest before I stretched and left.... man did I learn my lesson.

My 5 mile fail was definitely my biggest fail of the week. My sister lives out more in the country, so I had my first country road running experience. That wasn't too bad, except that my rolling pin was at home and hadn't been utilized since Wednesday, so my calves were barking again. However... that ended up being the least of my problems...

Warning: if you are squeamish or do not like hearing about digestive functions, do not proceed. I have no shame. Or pride. One or the other...

Many in my family were afraid that running 5 miles so soon after eating would cause me to throw up. It turns out it was the opposite end I needed to be worried about. My route included running along two longer country roads that had a little subdivision that was off of the second one. About a tenth of a mile before the subdivision, I started to realize my predicament. For those of you who don't know, and I'm guessing most of you don't (though I'm fairly certain no one actually reads this) I have very finicky bowels. If it's number 1, I have a fair amount of leeway and can hold it for awhile. Not true with number 2. I have little warning before seeking a bathroom is absolutely imperative. It is never a good feeling when you know seeking a bathroom is imperative immediately and the closest restroom is 2.5 miles away and your only transportation is your feet. I forgot to mention that my nephew once again accompanied me on this run on his bike. He sort of knew the neighborhood and thought there might be a porter potty at a house near the back of the subdivision. I told him to lead the way. He sped off, which was not helpful for my predicament. Trying to run fast while also trying not to poop your pants is quite the challenge. We reached the back of the subdivision and alas, there was no porter potty.

At this point, I realized my options were either to call a family member to come pick me up and take me to a restroom, or to knock on a stranger's door, ask if I can use their bathroom, and then proceed to blow it up. I opted for option 1. I called my mom and did my best to tell her where I was and she agreed to come get me.  I promptly realized two things: 1. If I walked towards the entrance to the subdivision, she would find me faster, and 2. If I stopped moving, I was going to lose my "grip." So I awkwardly walked to the front of the entrance in that weird "I need to poop," waddle. I reached the front and was pacing back and forth with JD, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the vehicle. After I had ran/walked/waddled 2.6 miles, I saw a black SUV that I thought was my sister's Expedition, and then it passed me. Then I saw a white car and thought it was my sister's other vehicle. And then it passed me. It felt like eternity before I saw it. It was unmistakable. They had decided to pick me up in, of all the vehicles to choose: the 15-passenger church van. My parents and I had taken a load of kids to camp in it that day. They chose the slowest-driving, roughest-riding, most indiscreet vehicle that they could possibly choose for a mission such as this. And they brought the whole family except my brother-in-law, as if it was some sort of strange, Father's Day family outing. So I climbed in, they put JD's bike in the back, and we were off. It was like it was a scene straight out of Little Miss Sunshine or something. Unbelievable. However, the mission was a success and I made it. 

I got out of the bathroom and decided to finish up my run. This interruption was certainly not planned out in my route, so I just kinda made it up and tried to run for what I thought may be close to 2.4 miles. My odometer got messed up, so I ended up making my dad drive it to see what it actually was, and it was only 2.2 miles, so my 5 mile route ended up being short too. Shortened and also with a large running break in the middle, though I assure you, my heart rate was still up, and I did get the benefit of strengthening different muscles than usual: my rectal muscles and whatever muscles it takes to execute the poop waddle. And I returned with absolutely no dignity left. What an adventure. 

Well, there you have it. My week 3 failures. Though I did decide to make up for my 3 shortened runs by adding on an extra 0.6 miles to my 2 easy miles today. I'm a day behind schedule, but I'll skip the day of rest of be back on track tomorrow. Hopefully this week will be more successful than the previous. Though it did make for some good stories...

On Disappointments and Little Steps (Stacey)

So I did not run today, I was scheduled to cross train or rest, and I opted for the latter. Partially due to laziness, which I can freely acknowledge I suffer from periodically, and partially because I hurt from yesterday still and didn't want to over do it before tomorrow.

Yesterday, we were slated to run 3 miles, after two days of running 2.5 and 2 miles respectively (I'll comment more on those runs later). I didn't feel like it was going to be a particularly marvelous run, but I tried to put my best face on and do it to it.

I had to adapt my 3 mile route due to the fabulous barking German Shepard that chased me down previously so I cut off the end of the road were said pooch resides, and make up for it by running all the way back to my house, instead of stopping at the corner like I did previously. Moral of the story: my 3 mile is now 3.1 miles.

I really wasn't feeling awesome during the run by any stretch of the imagination, but by the time I had gotten to 1.5 or so I decided I was going fast enough that I might try having a goal of some sort. My fastest time up to this point was about 2 miles in 22 minutes (give or take, I'm working with a cell clock here) about a week and a half ago and I was pretty beat by the end of that. So, I decided now would be as good of a time as any to aim for 11 minute miles on a longer run. Despite my "kicking it up" a notch, I got to the 2 mile point by about 23 minutes and really pushed the last mile. I made it to the 3 mile point (ish) in about 32 minutes and home before my clock switched to the 34th minute. I counted the seconds before the clock switched, but I'm not confident in my counting ability with how winded I was, but my best guess is about 33:30 to go 3.1 miles. I was very very happy with that time.

I came in right after my parents got back from a walk and started snacking on some strawberries my mom was cutting. I shared with her my successful time, and her response was rather . . . lack luster. She was surprised I took so long (she was under the impression I told her I'd be home in 25 minutes) and thought I was running 2.5. Even after I corrected her, her enthusiasm was not as pointed as I was wanting it to be.

I texted Kels, like I normally do, after a run to compare times and how it felt and everything, and she gave me a hearty "Good job!" but my ego was still seeking a bit more attention. I texted my boyfriend the good news, but he was at work so unable to respond in a way that validated my pride.

By this point, I had pretty much given up on people being as excited as I was. I really can't blame them, right? Not everyone is going to understand my accomplishments the way I wish they could simply because they are not in my shoes (har har). And I really tried to brush it off.

It kept nagging at me though - leading me down a path of self pity and over-thinking: "Maybe I'm making too big of a deal out of this. I'm just running, and not even that fast. Middle schoolers can run faster than me right now. I took what, maybe 2 minutes off my last time? That's not THAT impressive, maybe everyone's right and I'm thinking too highly of myself."

Clearly, I am ever the bright sunny optimist.

In the interest of full disclosure: I'm also currently struggling with finding a job for the summer and have about reached the threshold where it makes sense for me to continue looking. A lot of other things are on my mind, most linked to employment, and to a certain degree, I just wanted to feel good about myself and like I was doing something.

As I was thinking today though, because I over-process everything, and I realized that it really didn't matter. None of it did. I had a great run yesterday. I felt good about myself. People who cared about me were happy for me. My expectations for confetti cannons and noise makers every time I reach a goal are unrealistic. (I even hear that people have their own lives to worry about?!)

Goals are important. They're about the only part of running I actually like.

Feeling good about myself is important. This is actually becoming a central focus of my training.

Improving bit by bit and progressing in my fitness is important. Kinda the whole purpose really.

Sharing my successes with people I care about is important. Even when I don't get the validation I'm looking for.

Everything else is just pride and ego getting in the way of getting through this adventure with as much joy as possible.

And WHAMO, those my friends, are what I do believe you call life lessons.

Stupid running . . . making me learn things about myself and life in general . . . how obnoxious . . .

------------------
5 miles tomorrow . . . heavens to Betsy . . .

The 4 Miles Twice (Kelsey)

Until yesterday, I had not yet mapped out my 4 mile route, so I figured it was time. And I was scheduled for some cross training anyway, so I figured it'd be a good time to bike out a route. I set out with my boyfriend, Josh, to map a route. Though our first task was to free another bike for him to ride. He offered to run next to me, but that seemed cruel.

I had my bike from college all ready, but he still needed one. We have a teeny tiny pink bike, a small purple bike, an ancient blue bike, and a regular white mountain bike, so we opted for the white one. It was quite the adventure getting it down, since it was hanging off the garage ceiling over my college stuff, but after we cleared a pathway, we did manage to get it down. However, there were 3 wasp nests attached to it: 2 on the wheels and 1 on the spokes. We chiseled them off eventually. I presumed they were old ones from last summer (bike hasn't seen the road in awhile) but after crushing them a little more, a giant queen wasp croaked her way out and scared the bajeebers out of me. It was likewise with the other 2 nests, though none of us got stung thankfully. The emerging wasps seemed to be worse for wear, so I was able to step on them before they caused me any harm. After de-wasping the bike, it was evident that the tires were uselessly flat. We got out the bike pump and blew them up, and THEN we were finally ready to go.

We set out on a decent route, though was surprised how slowly the mileage was adding up. Every time I checked to see how we were doing, I thought we had gone at least a half mile or more farther than we had. We were doing well until we charted the northwest side of my neighborhood. We got lost. It's the one quadrant I don't know very well. Eventually, after coming upon the same streets a few times, we were spit out in some area I knew, so we made it back alright, at 4.06 miles. However, I knew there was no chance I would be able to successfully recreate the route from memory. When we got back, I found this site: http://www.runningmap.com/, which could prove to be quite helpful. I tried to map a route that was very similar to the one we biked, and it looked very similar to what I imagine a gerrymandering map would like like. It's quite unconventional and convoluted, and to be honest, I had to carry a sticky note with me that had turn by turn directions for the middle section because there was no way I was going to remember it. But nonetheless, today I tried out my 4 mile route on foot.

Today was hot. I tried to push fluids all day and ran in the evening so it would be a little cooler, but I was still hot and my mouth still dried out pretty fast. However, I actually enjoyed it a little. I did 4.0 miles in 47:15 and didn't walk a step. I must confess, though, this route starts out by going *gasp* south. While it feels unnatural to start out south, it feels more unnatural to return by going west, so starting by going south and returning east was the option I vied for. I'm a fan of the route. It has a variety of scenery and explores some parts of the neighborhood that I don't see much. "The hill," did make it's way into this route as well, but I take half of it diagonally, which makes it better somehow. And the rest isn't too hilly, so it's a nice little route, though I'm gonna have to take my sticky note with me the first few times I take it. 

Oh! Also, my calves/shins were 100% better today! Josh gave me a few stretches to try and also told me, oddly enough, that using a rolling pin on your calves helps because it squeezes out the lactic acid or something like that. So about 30 minutes before I started running, I rolling pinned my calves, then I stretched them well, and they behaved themselves much better. Also, the couple times they started to threaten to hurt, I focused on trying to land more on the middle of my feet rather than my toes, like this article that Stacey showed me advised, and that seemed to fight off the threat. So, thanks to Josh and Stacey, my calves behaved :) Which made the 4 miles MUCH more bearable.

Well, here lies the end of week 2 : ) Still feeling good. 11.5 miles total this week. Sweet. 10 weeks to go.

Three Mile Thursday (Kelsey)

Man, I am really frustrated. It would have been perfect to say that on three mile Thursday, I ran 3 miles in thirty-three minutes. But it's not quite true. I ran it in just over 33 minutes. I was something like, 20 seconds off from being Dr.Seuss again. Had I known that, I would have sprinted my last stretch. Bummer.

That's about all there is to report. I ran 3.03 miles in 34:20. My calves and shins are starting to get a little better, but certainly still not pain free. I hate my 3 mile route. Mercy. Aside from the big hill, which obviously makes it a challenge, there are several various medium sized hills between the hill and the ponds, and I did notice more laboring in my breathing again today. I even drank a ton of water and have been eating bananas in many various forms. The last couple mornings, I've had them for breakfast fried, which is quite delightful, I may say. And this morning, I had them cut up in my cereal, which was also good. I've heard that bananas are good for sore muscles or something like that.

Also, today was my third straight run with no sign of the evil bird. Perhaps that dilemma has passed. I surely hope so.

Two Mile Tuesday (Kelsey)

Well, as the title says, today was Tuesday, and I ran 2 miles, ironically in 22 minutes. 2 miles on Tuesday in 22 minutes. I could be Dr.Seuss again.

It felt alright. I started out fairly slow, took up a medium pace in the middle, and really pushed it at the end. I tend to do that because I get sick of running and can feel the end in sight. I did feel a little more stress on my breathing today, but I did push it a bit, so that's probably good. Precisely, I went 2.07 miles in 22:24, so a little under an 11-minute-mile average. Hopefully that will continue to improve. If I ran that speed consistently in the half, that would give me a little under a 2.5 hour time. My calves and shins did give me some problem again. I tried to stretch them out really well, but they were still tight, especially when I got back. However, I put some water in some Dixie cups and froze them and have been rubbing those on my legs after runs, and that helps a lot.

In other news, so far, my nephew's good luck has rubbed off on my easy miles from Sunday and my 2 miles today. No bird attackings. So that's been nice.

Also, I've decided to do a little extra work on the side to tone some muscles that may not get a lot of love from running. So along with the training, I will also be doing 20 sit ups, 20 push ups, and 20 tricep dips every day. It's not really a whole lot, but I hope it can make a little difference. We'll see if I increase the reps as I go or not.

I Promise I'm Not Dead (Stacey)

I've only been lacking motivation to write.

My runs have all been largely uneventful but successful so I decided not to bore you with more posts like the Memorial Day one.

However, I have encountered some fun animal life due to where I live.

For example:
- A deer crossed the road about 40 feet in front of me once. That was kind of cool. She also seemed fairly uninterested in me because I was clearly not coming at her very quickly.

- I nearly ran on a snake. Yeah, no joke. I literally had to hop to my right really quickly because I looked down at my feet and realized something with eyes was looking back at me. It left me alone though. So that's nice.

- I got chased down by a German Shepard "puppy". I don't buy puppy though . . . that thing was at least up to my knees. I'm betting a year old. Thankfully the owner was outside with him though. And advised me to stop running because he likes to chase things, but "I promise he doesn't bite!" So comforting. Needless to say, I might be adjusting my 3 mile route . . . .

- We have some weird spiders wandering about our roads. Generally if I ever have cause to look at my feet I can catch a few moving around. Euh . . . reason #23 for never running barefoot out here.

- I ran around a dead squirrel the other day . . . YAY ROADKILL!

So anyway, that's all I can think of in terms of animals . . . . I'm noticing a theme here those between these notes and Kelsey's problem with the bird . . . .

I really don't like animals . . .

Week 1: Done (Kelsey)

Well, today I ran my 3 miles, and thus came the close to Week 1 of Training. So in the last 7 days, I have completed 7.5 miles of running. So we're doing great! That means that if I do everything I ran this entire week, twice, without stopping, in one setting, I will have completed my half marathon..... Haha what have I gotten myself into? Sometimes perspective isn't helpful...

Today's run wasn't too bad. 3.09 miles in 35 minutes. I ran the whole way except for 2 brief periods that I took to try and stretch out my calves. And by brief periods, I mean probably about 10 seconds each. And they didn't help. My breathing was a little more labored today, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that my 3 mile route is quite a bit more challenging than my 2 mile route. I have to run up more hills, including THE hill, which is indeed quite the challenge. But I could still handle my breathing okay. It was my calves that were killing me. I even went and bought some inserts to try and help, but they didn't seem to do the trick. My calves were just CLENCHED the whole time, and I had some hints of shin splints, especially in my left shin, as well. My ribs are still a touch sore, but not as bad as they were two days ago. I also made the mistake of wearing a long sleeve shirt on my run. It seemed perhaps a bit chilly, and I was afraid it was going to rain, so I wore it to protect my iPhone mostly. However, it did not rain, and it just ended up making me really sweaty which also got my iPhone a little wet.

There were no bird attacks today. I even grabbed a stick a little before I got to the corner to swing at it, but there was no bird to hit, so instead I just looked like a crazy girl running with a stick. Better a stick than a tennis racket I guess? My 11-year-old nephew also went with me on my run, though he didn't run, he just rode his bike behind me. I had warned him about the bird, so after we rounded the corner with our safety still intact, he informed me he must be my good luck charm. Hopefully his luck will rub off and stay. 

I finally made my running playlist today. It goes as follows, though it is subject to change:

(I generally shuffle the playlist, so my runs consist of a combination of the following:..)
1. Diva by Beyonce
2. I'm Sexy And I Know It by LMFAO

3. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston

5. Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

6. Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar

7. Independent Women by Destiny's Child

8. Jumpin' Jumpin' by Destiny's Child

9. Survivor by Destiny's Child

10. Wobble by V.I.C.

11. I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston

12. Step by Step by Whitney Houston

13. Queen of the Night by Whitney Houston

14. Misled by Celine Dion

15. Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine (Just for Stacey)

I realize it is kind of a weird running mix. So we're gonna see how it goes. But I already know I like running to R&B songs (young and old, hence the Destiny's Child), and I feel inspired by power woman songs, and Eye of the Tiger is my giant inspiration song for all things challenging, so we're gonna see how the inspiring 80s ballad songs go. I can tell you one for sure, though, that is going to stay... Survivor by Destiny's Child. That one came on before "The Hill," and I think it is largely because of this song that I made it. I realize the song is about a girl being a boss after a break up, but the chorus says "I'm a survivor. I'm not gonna give up. I'm not gonna stop, I'm gonna work harder. I'm a survivor. I'm gonna make it. I will survive and keep on surviving," and MERCY is that inspirational when you're running your fat legs up a hill and your calves feel like they're going to burst out of your epidermis. No no, hill. You will not defeat me. Cuz I'm just gonna work harder.

Well, see peace out, week 1. Bring on week 2 :)