California Runnin'

yes, i know. my blogging has been a little lax this past week, but for very good reason. I was sunning and running in Californ-i-a. I flew out Thursday night to visit my friend Kaddie in Malibu and woke up Friday morning to 73 degrees and sunny weather, so I headed to Zuma Beach for my weekly long run. Thankfully, this week it was only an 8 miler. There's a 5 mile long boardwalk that I spent some time on, but most of my run was surfside in the sand, which I LOVE, for the sake of my shins, plus the extra workout it gives my legs. Beach running is just so much fun to me. The run felt really great, and I finished in 71 minutes, great pace considering the sand running.

I took a break from running on Saturday and Sunday, since shopping in Santa Monica, touring Hollywood and walking around Disneyland all day gave my legs plenty to complain about. That's right, I finally got to go to Disneyland. I felt like a 7 year old trapped in a 23 year old body.
But Monday, I was back out to the beach, this time I headed a little south to Will Rogers State Beach, near Santa Monica. I had to soak in all the California running i could get before I headed back to Kansas. I spent most of the run on the concrete path, and surprisingly my shins did not hurt at all. I think they were just happy to be in Cali.

I got 13 miles of spectacular running in during my vacation, now I just have to get out of the post-vacation funk and get ready for this saturday's 16 miles, and the St. Louis Half Marathon next weekend. Springtime in Katieland is just full of excitement!

I should've known I was getting myself into trouble....

Standing on my precious feet for 3+ hours in a smoky bar is not the ideal way to spend the night before a long run. Not to mention, somebody sprayed pepper spray in the bar and I nearly coughed up a lung trying to escape. But hey, it was St. Patrick's Day and I was enjoying my position as designated driver for my friend Jessi. With 14 miles looming ahead of me on Saturday morning, I knew I had to be responsible, limit myself to two beers early in the evening and get to bed at a semi-decent time. So we left the bars midway through the second half of the KU game and got home in time to see Bradley send the Jayhawks packing their bags. Fantastic!

Note to self: in the future, do not plan to be up by 5:15 unless you go to bed before 11:00. Well, somehow my alarm didn't go off and I woke up at 6:30. Great, i'm half an hour late for the start with the team and I still need to eat a Powerbar and let it settle. Luckily, those Powerbars seem to understand my body by now and I didn't have any trouble with an upset stomach. I arrived at the park around 7:00 and thankfully there were two alumni there to tell me which running route to take. So, I headed off into the unknown by my lonesome....just me and my ipod to keep me company. It was nice to at least encounter fellow team members along the way. I did enjoy running at my own pace, so the 14 miles weren't bad at all. I think my ipod thought differently, 14 miles?!?! are you kidding me? no way, i'm too tired for that, and the battery died at mile 9. After that, I just figured I might as well get this run over with and picked up the pace. Miles 9-11 clocked in at a 8:45 pace. Probably a bad idea. Stopped at mile 11 for some more GU and my legs were very reluctant to move. Just 3 more miles.

They finally got back to rhythm and I finished my first half marathon in 2:05, with no hoopla or fanfare or anybody else within sight. I just ran a HALF MARATHON!!! That felt incredibly great, and i finished my 14.15 miles in 2 hours 15 minutes. Anticipating how angry and confused my legs would be the rest of the weekend following my longest run ever, I stopped at the QT and picked up 3 bags of ice. I'm sure I looked a little weird, considering it was trying to snow outside. But that was probably the best ice bath I've ever had. 14 minutes immersed in icy water with a mug of hot cocoa and some Van Morrison playing in the background, I was actually sad when the ice was all melted and I had to get out.

A roundhouse kick to start my day

I'm heading out of town tonight and can't run with the team tomorrow, so in order to stick with the scheduled weekly mileage I had to get my 8 miles in sometime today. And what better way to do that than to head to the gym at 5:30 am and spend some quality time with Mr. Treadmill? Ok, that's a dumb question because realistically there are LOTS of better ways, but this is how i decided to do it. Let me just say that 8 miles on a treadmill is bad enough, not to mention running at a time when I should still be sleeping. And to make matters worse, my entertainment options were the morning news or Walker, Texas Ranger. Morning news is good the first time you see it. But really, who needs to watch 3 broadcasts of the local news? not me. So that leaves me with Walker, Texas Ranger. 80 minutes of Chuck Norris' roundhouse kicks might be exciting to some people, but it was 80 minutes too many for me. Thankfully, i had my ipod and some berry flavored GU to help me make it through. And now, my body is a calorie burning furnace for the rest of the day.

On a very exciting note....I've reached my recommitment (halfway) goal in fundraising 20 days before the recommitment date. And a very Big Thanks to everyone who has donated! Keep them coming:

Please make a donation to fight Leukemia

Puddle hopping and GU popping

Saturday's 6 a.m. 12 miler went much better than I'd anticipated. I've always enjoyed running in the rain, so that just made me all the more excited as I drove to the park in the light drizzle. And I don't know what the starting temp was but I was getting warm after the first 2 mile out-and-back so when we came back to rehydrate I put my gloves in the car and switched to a lighterweight jacket. I had my first experience with GU at mile 5. Wasn't quite sure what to expect from the packet of oozy energy gel. I'm not gonna lie, the Espresso Love was rather tasty, I think I've found a new favorite running treat. The rain gradually came down harder and colder as the miles added up and even though I was angry at myself for not wearing gloves, the run felt really great. Popped another GU at mile 9, and by the time 12 miles were up, I didn't really want to stop. That's a good sign, considering I had just run 46% of a marathon. Way to go, ME!
Total mileage this past week.....19.5 miles
Fundraising total......$1723.10 or something like that

And the winner is.....the little runner girl!

Set the alarm for 5:50 so I could get myself up and run since there will be no time after work tonight due to a much anticipated concert. (WOOT!) Not that 5:50 is anything new to me, because that's when I've been getting up on Saturdays to go run with the group. But it's so much harder to actually get up when nobody is expecting you to be there. Hence, the heated argument my mind had with my body as I lay in bed. My mind is very conniving and tricky when it comes to situations like this, telling me to enjoy the comfort and warmth of my bed and just make today a rest day. And my mind had me convinced for about 20 minutes that it was right. Of course I deserve to sleep some more, I've been working out really hard for the past 10 days, I need a rest day. But then, that little runner girl inside of me started complaining about how angry she would be on saturday for the 12 mile run if I didn't run today. It's a good thing the little runner girl is stronger than my mind, I really enjoyed my 25:30, 3 mile run as the sun came up and the birds began to sing. The only problem is that running 7.5 miles on concrete this week is slightly making my shins upset. But they're just going to have to learn how to deal cause I'm not too keen on treadmill runs when it's springtime in Kansas. This saturday morning run starts at 6:00 am, so let's hope my mind is still sleeping when the alarm goes off at 5:00....