Shaker 7 Road Race Report

This was such a great event. I decided to do it because someone I met in my Nonprofit Management Certificate program runs it as a fundraiser and she suggested it to me upon hearing about my first half marathon. It was a really well organized event; I’ve been to other smaller races that are not as well managed. I plan to send Dolores a note and let her know that it was great. And it was a fun run. I was nervous about it since it was the first time I’ve done this race, but it went well.

This is a PR for the 7-mile distance for me. I usually come in around 1:45, my last 7-miler was around 1:42, so I was hoping to push it and come in around 1:40. I was ecstatic to come in under that (official time was 1:38:24, my watch time was 1:38:18, either way, I’m thrilled). I was second to last, playing cat and mouse with this awesome older gentleman named Wayne, who I later found out was one of the founding sponsors of the race and in from California to run it. I introduced myself to him after and thanked him for the chase. He smiled and thanked me for giving him someone to run after.

And I won a raffle prize! I never win anything. Today I got this:

Badger Muscle Rub, Foot Balm and 2 Lip Tint & Shimmers. Local Organic products for the win!

Then we came home, had waffles, and I have done very little else. Today has been lovely and full of WIN.

Training Log–Week 2 (1/10-1/15)

Monday (1/10)-2 miles on treadmill; went in dreading it, but forced myself to pick up the pace and left glad that I did it.

Thursday (1/13)-2.27 miles on treadmill; first 2.02 in my Ryka’s, last .25 in my VFFs! Love them already.

Saturday (1/15)– 3.25 miles on treadmill; varied speed every ¼-½ mile. Last ¼ mile in my VFFs, a little rough in the middle, but good overall.

Total Mileage for week: 7.52

Total Mileage for year: 13.96

My Spankin’ new VFFs…

I’ve run exactly ¼ mile in them and I’m sold.

I’ve been thinking about Vibram Five Fingers for about 6 months or so. My friend Sam got hooked on them around the same time I read an article about minimalist footwear in Runner’s World. So I did some more reading and research on my own, and enjoyed Sam’s running commentary (ha!) in his journal comics. What sold me was getting Born to Run for Christmas (Have I mentioned how amazing this book is? I’ve already started to re-read it!). 

I could feel the difference right away, so I’m expecting *some* soreness tomorrow. I’m not really a heel striker. A look at the soles of my shoes shows more wear on the fore/mid sole than the heel. I am barefoot or in flimsy shoes as often as humanly possible–I just haven’t been running that way. And bad joints run (ha!) in my family, something I want to delay as long as humanly possible because I LOVE RUNNING. Still, I know I need to take it slow. Sam cautioned starting with a half mile, others have said just to start with a few minutes. I decided I’m going to do ¼ mile on top of my scheduled training for the next week and progress an extra ¼ mile each week as long as it feels okay. When I get to running a full mile in them I’ll start subbing that mile for some of my training–but for starting out it’s not a big deal to add an extra ¼ to ¾ of a mile to my already short runs, and it’s a bigger pain in the butt to stop mid-run to change shoes.

But already, I’m sold. I can’t wait until I’m only running in my VFFs. And I can totally see myself getting another pair and wearing these around for errands and such because they really do feel like a second skin. And they are going to be so much easier to pack for traveling because they are wicked light and portable (the box looks like a child’s shoe box!). I didn’t get the color I wanted because the place I went didn’t have choices, but I don’t care. If I really wanted to I could order them in the color I want since I know my size now, but I’m not going to jump into that just yet.

Training Log–Week 1 (1/3-1/9)

I’ve decided to post the highlights from my paper training log weekly (unless there is something spectacular, in which case I’ll probably update from my phone at the gym).

Monday (1/3)-2.20 miles on treadmill; w .25//r 1.75//w .20; needed to eat something & drink more water before but felt good otherwise.

Wednesday (1/5)-2 miles on treadmill; w .25//r 1.5// w .25; still not eating/drinking enough, sidestitch around 1 mile mark, stopped for water. Not stellar but in the books.

Saturday (1/8)– 2.24 miles on treadmill; w .25//r 1/75//w .24; ate a banana 30 min. before & drank more water = FELT BETTER! good run.

Total Mileage for week: 6.44

Total Mileage for year: 6.44

Catching Up…

Running reports from the past two days

Monday–3 miles on the nose. My knee started doing something weird somewhere between 2.5 & 3 miles. It didn’t hurt persay, but it felt weird. So I wanted to take it easy.

Tuesday–3.47 miles. “Made up” some of what should have been 4 miles on Monday. Knee felt good.  I’m not stretching enough, though I am getting good at drinking water during my runs.

Last Night’s Run

The Plan: 3 miles

The Play-by-Play: Walked ½ mile, ran ½ mile for 3 miles, then walked almost ½ mile (.42) as cool down. Good times. 45 minutes total.

The Playlist:
Superhero –  Ani Difranco 
Eight Easy Steps – Alanis Morissette   
L.O.V.E. – Ashlee Simpson  
Girlfriend – Avril Lavigne   
Song for the Dumped – Ben Folds Five 
Piece of Me – Britney Spears  
Womanizer – Britney Spears  
Freakshow –  Britney Spears  
If U Seek Amy – Britney Spears   
Toxic –  Britney Spears 
Georgia – Cee Lo Green 
Ain’t No Other Man – Christina Aguilera   
Fighter – Christina Aguilera

Where is everyone today? Tumblr is quiet.

3 miles scheduled for today. I’m working until 9:30/10:00, so it’s going to be a late run. At least the gym will be EMPTY when I get there.

I’ll check in when I get home.