In no particular order

September 21, 2010 by 3 Comments
  • The running gods continue to be kind to me after Friday’s arse kicking! Today’s run was smooth, effortless…an easy 5K. Thank you Universe I’ll have another!
  • I’ve surprised myself that despite the beautiful fall temperatures we’ve been experiencing in my neck of the woods, I now actually prefer to run at 6:30 in the morning – when did THAT happen?!?
  • There are now 32 of you signed on to follow my little journey into madness…er…I mean running 🙂 Again, when did THAT happen?! I have to say your comments and encouragement are SO very much appreciated!
  • Running with Attitude is now a member of Healthy Living Blogs. HLB is a new resource for the health blogging community created by Lindsey of Sound Eats. The site is designed to enhance the positive community of the healthy living blog world. I’m really happy to be a part of this community and encourage you to check out some of the great health-related blogs they support here!
  • There are some CRAZY good giveaways going on in the blogosphere right now — especially if you’re a fan of Brooks Running. Check out “Great Giveaways” in my sidebar!
Happy Running!

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Filed Under: general musings, giveaways, training

Beauty of short-term memory

September 19, 2010 by 3 Comments

One thing I’ve learned as I’ve started to work to increase my mileage, is how important it is to have a short-term memory. If you dwell on a bad run, that run’s impact can last for more than for just those few miles…and self-doubt is not a pretty thing!

Nope one of the keys to running I’ve discovered is to have a short-term memory – the ability to chalk up a bad run for exactly was it was a Bad Run… not a signal of your failure to train properly, or your inability to run an upcoming race…or to be a runner at all for that matter. It’s just a bad run.

I had one of those really bad runs on Friday – truly craptastic! But today was a new day…and a new run! Today my 6.2 miles felt easy and smooth. Today I finished strong and with a smile on my face….ah yes, the beauty of short-term memory!

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Filed Under: observations, tough runs, training

Voice of a 5 year-old

September 17, 2010 by 3 Comments

Today was a tough run. One of those runs where you want to scream – “Why am I doing this?!?”

On paper it was suppose to be a 5 miler, with 3 miles at tempo pace. Instead it turned into a test of wills. Thick humidity, intermittent rain and some serious stomach woes were all conspiring to let me know that this was NOT going to be the run I had hoped for…no this run was clearly going to be craptastic at best. “Do you really need to do this?” that voice in my head kept asking and as I neared 2 miles I actually stopped and thought about turning for home.

But then I could hear the voice of my 5 year old as he was sitting in the backseat on our way to school this morning (ok we can discuss all the voices in my head in another post!) — “You are going to run today right Mom ’cause you didn’t run yesterday so you gotta run today, right?” And, I know my little guy will ask me when I pick him up today, “So how was your run Mom?” the same as he’s done after each one of my runs since I started on this journey. Could I really look at him and tell him that I didn’t finish? That I was having a bad run so I gave up and went home? Well not a chance of that happening so I finished my 5 miles, much much slower than I had wanted. But some how I know that when I pick him up today and look into those big brown eyes I’ll be happy to tell him that I did it!

Have a Great Weekend!
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Filed Under: kids, motivation, tempo runs, tough runs, training

4 Weeks to Go!!

September 13, 2010 by 3 Comments
If you think you can do it, or
if you think you can’t do it
you are right
                                     — Henry Ford
In just 4 short weeks I’ll be lining up to run the Tufts 10k for Women. This is a race I have thought about running for quiet some time, but never thought I’d get to a point where I could actually run 6.2 miles. Even when I signed up back in July, the thought of covering that much distance was daunting! 
But it’s amazing what a shift in your beliefs can produce — I have now completed my 6 mile loop multiple times and yesterday ran my second 7-mile run! With still 4 weeks left, I now know I can complete the distance! I also know it will be easy to get nervous and psyche myself out multiple times between now and October 11th, so I’ve printed out this quote and taped it to my mirror to remind myself it’s all mental now!
Happy Running!
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Filed Under: goals, Monday Motivation, Quotes, training, Tufts 10k

6 long miles, Friday Shout Outs & an Award

September 10, 2010 by 4 Comments

Thank Goodness it’s Friday!!
For a short week (due to holidays) it sure felt like a long one — does that make sense? While I was pretty pleased with myself for keeping up with my training plan while on vacation last week, tired legs definitely caught up with me this week! For what ever reason each run this week my legs felt like dead weight – this morning was suppose to be 6 miles with 4 at tempo pace. Well there wasn’t much tempo, but I did push through the overwhelming urge at mile 3 to cut the run short and finished the 6 in just over an hour. Those were some long miles! But I’m trying to focus on what’s working, right? So the big plus was that I stayed with it even when I was so sure I couldn’t take another step!

Friday Shout Outs also return today!  

Sending big shout outs to:

  • Amanda at MissZippy  for her half marathon this weekend
  • Molly at I’m a Sleeper Baker who taking on 26.2 on Sunday
  • anyone else who’s toeing the line this weekend to take on a race! Good luck!!
  • and, Claudia at ..and so I ran for being so sweet to pass on the Cherry on Top Award to me

So with this award I’m suppose to pass this on to 6 people and answer the question: “If you had one chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?”

I believe everything that has happened in my life up til now has helped to make me the person that I am – and I good with that. I was an athlete in college and do wish I had more consistently stayed on top of my fitness over the years…but I’m doing it now so I guess that’s what counts, right?

Passing this on to:

Have a Great Weekend!!

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    Filed Under: awards, Shout-outs, tempo runs, training

    A little weekend rambling

    August 29, 2010 by 5 Comments

    Some days just call for bullets points…..

      • Ran 7 miles for the first time this morning….and best of all, I felt really good afterwards!
      • It’s funny how much farther 7 miles seems than 6. I’m sure I’ll feel the same way the first time I do 8!
      • There is something to be said for how going to bed early (vs. falling asleep on the couch) positively affects the next morning’s run.
      • I love that when I got home my kiddos were sitting there waiting for me and broke into applause when I came through the door!
      • Chocolate milk has definitely become my post-run drink of choice!
      • I am thankful that yamuna body rolling helps keep my left leg in check.
      • We’re off on vacation tomorrow and I’ve been obsessed about how to get my runs in! (I spent over an hour on Google maps trying to plot out a couple of runs.)
      • I’m debating whether to sign up for another 5K that will be held 2 weeks before the Tufts 10K – is there any downside to running the two so close together?

    Hope you’re enjoying your weekend!

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    Filed Under: general musings, training, Tufts 10k

    My Virtual 4 Miler

    August 26, 2010 by 1 Comment

    Actually the miles were real  — it was the race that was virtual!

    A couple of weeks ago MCM Mama announced her “Mama Goes Masters” virtual race in honor of her 40th birthday. Options were to run 4.0 miles, 8.25 miles (her birthday) or….for the truly insane…er… hardcore, a 40K. Needless to say I selected the 4 mile option!

    I’ve been trying to get this run in all week but Mother Nature had not been cooperating – read non-stop rain! Seriously, I thought it was time to start pairing up animals two-by-two….but finally this morning she finally took pity on us! My training plan called for a tempo run and my hubby announced that he was taking the car to the shop this morning so I needed to get out and back quickly…. sounds like the planets were aligning for my virtual race! So with clear skies, training in mind and a pacing husband, I set off.

    My route was a simple one – a straight out and back – and at this early hour I figured it was unlikely I’d encounter much traffic – so no games of Frogger with cars…always a plus! In my new effort to focus on what is working, I kept my goals simple — to run in the mid to low 10s and try to keep a consistent pace. 

    Mile #1 felt really good, sun was just starting to brighten up the sky and the streets were quiet. Hit the first invisible mile marker at 10:19 – so far so good! Most of Mile#2 was a steady climb up and about mid-hill I could feel a twinge in my left knee – I refused to go negative here so I gave myself 30 seconds to walk it off and kept moving. Finally the end of Mile#2 was in sight. I hit the corner at 11:02 and turned around to head back. Now the good thing about going up hill is that at some point you get to go back down hill! Hello Mile#3! The slow climb I had cursed just minutes earlier was now my new BFF and I crossed the mile marker in 10:08. The final mile was pretty uneventful though I did do a lot of positive mental chatter through the last half mile to help drown out the returning knee pain. I crossed the finish line (my driveway) – final mile was 10:45. Overall I did the 4 miles in 42:15, averaging 10:33 and felt good when I finished…always a plus!

    So my first virtual race is done! Thanks again to MCM Mama for hosting and providing a little extra motivation to this morning’s run! Happy Birthday and welcome to the Masters division!

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    Filed Under: race, race report, tempo runs, training

    Chatter brain hits the track

    August 19, 2010 by 3 Comments

    Training plan called for speedwork this morning so off to the track I went….and chatter brain was there waiting for me.

    • My abs can still feel the effects of last night’s pilates class – love my pilates instructor but I think she was trying to kill us!
    • Hmm… maybe the post-class glass of wine wasn’t the best idea.
    • Hey look a family of bunny rabbits…aren’t they cute.
    • Shoot…what lap am I on?!? OK enough warm-up time to bite the bullet and go.
    • How many of these 800’s am I suppose to do!?!?
    • I’m not going to make it….yes you can….No really I can’t!
    • If this doesn’t kill me it will make me faster (I think I repeated this to myself for at least a solid lap!)
    • I really hope there’s some coffee in my house.
    • Left knee is NOT happy!!
    • OK, last 800…and the perfect tune (“4 minutes” my fave tune of the moment happened to come up in the random shuffle on my iPod)
    • I really, really hope there’s coffee at my house!
    Anyone else suffering from chatter brain?!

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      Filed Under: general musings, track work, training

      Today I asked my body to go

      August 15, 2010 by 4 Comments

      When I woke up this morning, my first thought was that I’m now moving into new territory for me as a runner. The long run on my plan today called for 6 miles. 6 miles? Really? While I may have run five on occasion waaay back in college, I can say without a doubt that I have never asked my body to go for 6 straight miles….but today I asked.

      Today I asked my body to go, even though by the first half mile my angry left leg let it be known that it was not happy – not unhappy enough to stop, but definitely unhappy!

      Today I asked my body to go, even though this was not going to be a “run for the ages.” No, this was to be what I call a “survival run” – read get the distance and to heck with the time.

      Today I asked my body to go, further than it’s ever gone before, and I learned that it will respond, it will push on even when part of my brain is screaming “Ok that’s far enough!”

      Today I asked my body to go, and it carried me 6.1 miles….a step closer to my 10K race and into uncharted running territory.

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      Filed Under: injuries, milestones, training

      5 miles of Frogger

      August 13, 2010 by 2 Comments

      My pilates class Wednesday night was a killer (my abs are still sore) and when this morning rolled around I knew there was no way I could muster the energy for my first scheduled tempo run. Well I knew I wasn’t heading for the gym for another session with the ‘mill, so I decided it was time to try an evening run.

      While Mother Nature cooperated and provided a relatively cooler evening, the real challenge came in dodging the weary commuters heading home and the carloads of less-than-attentive teens. All I kept thinking was that I was in a giant-sized game of Frogger!

      Despite the bobbing and weaving, I managed to cut more than two minutes off my time from Sunday. I still have to work on the “tempo” part, though I did run the middle three miles at a faster pace. I just keep telling myself that the speed…the consistent speed… will come.

      For now I’m happy to have won my Frogger game and put another 5-mile run under my belt!

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      Filed Under: tempo runs, training