Happy Friday!

It’s the last Friday of the month which means Marcia has opened the Runfessional and I’ve got a couple of things to share.

Mother Nature flipped the humidity switch this week and decided to go right for “oppressive” levels with a dew point of 70. I runfess that every year I say that I won’t whine when the warmer temps arrive, and every year I lie…this year will be no different.

I runfess that the new Adrenalines my boys got me for Mother’s Day have become an instant fave! Given that this pattern is a limited edition I runfess that I may or may not be stalking websites in search of an extra pair to store away.

I runfess that I have mixed feelings as things here enter “Phase 1” of re-opening. We’re still two phases away from gyms and fitness studios being allowed to open their doors, and while I was loving my OrangeTheory workouts pre-shutdown, I will admit that I am in no hurry to rush back. I runfess it could a summer of running and at-home workouts for me.

I could be spending a lot more time with the Peloton crew

So tell me, do you buy extra pairs of a favorite shoe? Are you embracing the heat and humidity?

While social distancing is disrupting some of our routines, runfessions on the last Friday of the month remains. Marcia has opened the Runfessional so let’s get started…

While I’m trying to not get sucked into “too much” television watching, I runfess that my latest guilty pleasure is “Little Fires Everywhere” on Hulu. I’ve only got 3 episodes left and I just don’t want it to end.

With the Berlin Marathon recently announcing its cancellation, I’m really starting to wonder if there will be any in-person races this year.  Surprisingly, I still have a 10M on the schedule for early June but I fully expect it to be canceled – and I runfess, I’m not really sure I’d be comfortable attending if by some miracle it were to take place.

That being said, I runfess that I need to train for something! While yes running is helping to keep me sane, my runs for the past couple of weeks have just been meh at best. I really need a target so I think it’s time to embrace virtual races or create some other motivating goal.

Do you think you’ll return to racing this year? What are you runfessing?

It’s the last Friday of the month which means Marcia has opened the Runfessional. And oh what a month it has been!

I runfess that there have been days, especially this week where I have just wanted to pull the covers over my head and not deal.

I runfess that I think the thought of having to stay inside has just made me crave outdoor time more than ever. On my non-running days, I have been going out for extra walks. So far, my dog is good with it…but we’ll see how he feels in another week or two.

I runfess that for as much as I love (and miss!) my Orangetheory classes, I’m just not loving their at-home workouts. I guess I really need the studio setting with the coach and all. However, ironically, I runfess that I am really enjoying workouts on the Peloton app. I feel like I’m cheating!

Have you tried any online studio classes? Anything you want to runfess?

It’s the last Friday of the month which means Marcia has opened the Runfessional. I’ve got a couple to share so let’s dive in, shall we?

By all accounts, this has been one of the mildest winters for the Boston-area in a long time….and yet I runfess that I’m over it. Last month I admitted that I had pretty much split my runs evenly between indoors and outdoors. This month while I’ve run outdoors more often, I runfess that I’ve taken to chasing the 40 and 50-degree temps, which has meant more mid- and late-day runs – anything to avoid an extra layer. I’m turning into a weather weenie.

I runfess that I’m bemused by the people at Orangetheory who are so possessive about “their spot” in the studio. I was practically trampled the other day by this one particular woman who felt she needed to beat me to the front desk to claim her favorite treadmill. I  got to the desk first and runfess that for half a second I thought of claiming her spot 😉

And speaking of Orangetheory, I runfess that I have learned the hard way that I must keep my reading glasses with me at all times. The other day I couldn’t read the card on the treadmill outlining the run/row workout block – thankfully, the woman next to me was sweet enough to keep prompting me so I could stay on track. Clearly, I cannot live in denial about my need for reading glasses any longer!

Source

What are you runfessing this month?

So here we are once again in the final few days of the month – and what a month it’s been! Marcia has opened the runfessional to give us all a chance to cleanse our souls (or is that soles?) before the new month begins, and I’ve got a few things to share, so let’s get started, shall we?

October Runfessions

Following the marathon, my run coach urged me to take a week off from running. At first, I balked at the idea, however, taking those days off proved to be much easier than I thought – I runfess that I didn’t miss running!

Last month I runfessed grand plans to run a November half marathon so all the Chicago mileage I built up didn’t go to “waste”. Well, I runfess I’m kinda over it. Any of the local halfs I was considering are coming up in the next couple of weeks and, truth be told, I’m just not interested in running long – so now I’m eyeing 10Ks.

If you had talked to shortly after crossing the Chicago finish line, I was pretty clear that 26.2 miles was ridiculously far and that it was one and done for me. Well, it’s amazing what a difference a few days make – I runfess that I’ve started thinking about the possibility of running another one.

OK – your turn….what are you runfessing this month?

Happy Friday!

September just blew by, and now I’m staring down just a couple of short weeks before I toe the line of my first marathon. My head is consumed with all things Chicago, and I’m linking up with Marcia to share a few runfessions of a would-be marathoner.

Runfessions of a would-be marathoner

While most of the time I am pretty excited as race day approaches, I runfess that I have had one (or two) panic attacks about Chicago. I have caught myself going to some dark places convinced that I won’t make it through all of those miles. It wasn’t pretty!

I also runfess that I have had to remind myself on more than one occasion that my time doesn’t matter – the goal is to cross the line upright and smiling. No matter what time I finish it’s an instant PR, right?

I went into this training thinking “I could never run 5 days a week” – but, you know what? I surprised myself and did just that! I runfess that I miss having time for other workouts – I will definitely be scaling back to 3 run days a week post-race.

And, speaking of training, I also runfess that I miss running short! Seriously, I cannot wait for a time when 8 miles will be a weekend “long” run instead of a typical Monday.

That being said, I runfess that I am looking for a November half to run – why let this great base of mileage go to waste right?

What are you runfessing this month?

It’s Labor Day Weekend – the unofficial end of summer. With the final days of August quickly disappearing, Marcia has opened the runfessional to give us all a chance to cleanse our souls (or is that soles?) before the new season begins.

August Runfessions

With 12 weeks down and 6 weeks to go in my Chicago training, I runfess that I am starting to get a little training plan weary. While I’m never one to wish away days, I am looking forward to that first morning I can head out for a run of whatever distance I feel like.

On the flip side, I runfess I had a brief panic attack when this image popped into my Instagram feed last week.

Wait, what?!? Could someone please slow down the clock!

As I type this we are packing up my oldest to drive him back to school tomorrow. I thought by now I would have adjusted to the idea of having my son away at school – I runfess that I was wrong…I’m so going to miss having him around!

And speaking of my kids returning to school, I runfess that I dragged my feet until the last possible second on back-to-school shopping (read: I started on Tuesday). But, despite the late start I blew through it in record time and I’m happy to say I’m done!

There…now I feel better! Tell what are you run-fessing?

It is hard to believe we’re coming to the end of July already! Marcia has opened the runfessional and I’ve got a few things to share.

 July Runfessions

I’m sure this comes as no great surprise but I runfess that I am heat weary! I was pretty pleased that I was able to marshal through and stick to my training plan during last week’s heatwave. I am also certain that I did not have it in me to do it again! Thankfully temps have dropped this week.

And speaking of running in the heat – remember that idea I had to run a race each month this summer – yeah well I’m officially over it! I runfess that after facing scorching conditions for both the BAA 10K and the Gansett 10K, the idea of taking on a half marathon in August is just so unappealing to me right now. Luckily, I was smart enough to have held off on registering.

I runfess that my first attempt at running 5x/week wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I think the key for me was really as simple as just taking it one run at a time and not thinking about “all the miles”. Since all went well, Coach Marc is going to have me stick with this approach for the foreseeable future.

Post-run recovery is going to be uber important as the miles continue to increase and I runfess that I’m very hit or miss in this department. I more often than not tend to blow this off largely due to time constraints. So the question becomes, just how early do I need to get up to fit it all in?!

So what are you runfessing? Are you good about post-run recovery?