I said a hip hop, a hippity hop

So last night I made my way to Dance 101 (suggested by some random commenter here) for my first ever dance-studio-dance-class. It's possible I'm not as good at the hip hop moves as you might think. It was fun-ish, less than it might have been because my girl Lori wasn't there (she sent me ahead for reconnaissance purposes). I tried to hide out in the back and not throw everyone else off, but that exacerbated the problem as I didn't have a great view of the instructor. So it wasn't pretty, but I think I need to withhold judgment until after a few more classes (maybe not of the hip hop variety).

Did I mention 24-26 miles on the agenda for Saturday? Oof.

good eats

I wanted to give more of a race report, but other than saying that it was unseasonably cold Saturday and that my shoelace came untied within view of the finish line, I don't have much to add.  So instead I'll talk about the culinary highlights of the trip.  I tried to somewhat eat healthy while we were there, although that sorta fell apart Saturday night while we were watching the tournament (don't even ask me about my bracket).  Saturday lunch we were on the patio at Red's Ice House (where I stoically never once mentioned the cold).  There, I enjoyed Saku tuna dredged in blackening spice, seared rare, and served with a cool cucumber salad and topped with sweet and spicy soy mustard. If there's a better post-race meal, I'd like to hear it.  Then on the way home yesterday, we stopped at a random Carrabba's.  I gotta tell ya, the Insalata Fiorucci is a beautiful salad with roasted bell peppers and eggplant, marinated artichoke hearts, and something called a hazelnut goat cheese medallion.  Very healthy and yummy, and conveniently there's one not far from us.  Say what you will about chain restaurants, but I like being able to find out nutritional information, and this one's a winner.

Less healthy but something I had to try out on the trip:  Chocolate Peeps!

CRBR PR

i.e., "Cooper River Bridge Run personal record."  I think my time last year was 60 minutes even, and this year, I ran it in 58 minutes and 20 seconds, officially making it my PR for that race.  I haven't been doing any speedwork, just trying to get through my runs, so it was fun to pick it up a little.  After the marathon, I think I'd like to focus on improving my 10K time.  I bet I could shave some serious time off if I actually tried (and found a less crowded race).

Next weekend is the last long long run (24-26 miles) before Nashville.  Yikes.

Muddy Mayhem

I mentioned the Warrior Dash (an "insane race" with "11 obstacles from hell") here (btw, this random mention has driven more hits to my blog than anything else).  I didn't think I'd be able to find anyone else crazy enough to do it with me (and I'm still not sure I'm crazy enough), but I found out yesterday a work acquaintance (mentioned here) is thinking about it.  Also I may have convinced my friend Keith (former work buddy at the Happy Hour last night) to join me.  The website says you only have to run to prepare for the race, but I'm really not so sure about jumping over fire and plunging underwater and weaving my way between submerged logs.  Or any of the other 9 obstacles.

But I really want the cool helmet.

it's getting easier

The past 2 mornings I've woken up before the alarm went off.  I think I'm finally adjusted to the time change.  The downside of this schedule of course is that I'm falling asleep on the couch by the time the cute husband gets home from refereeing.  But we have a fun weekend in Charleston to look forward to tomorrow... woohoo!

On the agenda today:  court all day, then Happy Hour to catch up with my former work buddies.  Glad I got my run in!

oops

Okay, I'm a bit off, but I'm back.  I hit the snooze a couple of times yesterday so ended up just doing a short exercise dvd (basically just crunches) and running this morning.  If I run again tomorrow, I'm where I wanted to be.  I really need to be getting ready, so this will be quick. 

While I was running this morning, I listened to an interesting interview on Manic Mommies with Gretchen Rubin, who has a book and blog called The Happiness Project.  I'm definitely going to check her more out later--basically she spent a year testing out ways that are supposed to make you happier.  The big tip she had for Manic Mommies: get more sleep.  I'm a big believer in this one, plus I know I am a whole lot less likely to get up and run at 5:30 if I didn't get to bed by 10 or 10:30.  And running makes me happy. 

ing envy

Or I should say that I'm envious of people who were training for the ING Marathon and now have it behind them.  Like my girl Emma (mentioned here, among other places) who has another sub-4-hour marathon notch on her running shoes.  There's only one month until my little marathon, and based on my times for my long long runs, I'm starting to worry I'll be looking over my shoulder at the sweeper van.  I wish I'd been training (and pre-training) with higher mileage and speedwork.  Oh well.

It's a little late to ramp up my training, so my goal for the next month will have to be at least stay on track with my scheduled training and to watch the caloric intake so I'm carrying as little extra weight on race day as possible.  I've been saying I need to do this, so I commit to blog every day until race day!  Can I do it?  Yes, I can!  Is every entry going to be fascinating?  Well, probably not any less than usual.

So today:  I lamed out this weekend and missed my short-long run (8-10 miles).  This boils down to me not getting up early enough either day to go before the cute husband had to leave to go referee and then thinking I would do it after he got home and then not doing it.  I apparently have to keep re-learning the same lesson:  get up early and do it.  Period.  So today I got up at 5 and ran a little over 7.5 miles, the most I could squeeze in before heading out of town for work.  I'm going to run tomorrow and Thursday instead of M/W so that today makes up for the weekend.  You heard it here first.  (I'll check in tomorrow!)

back on track

I ran 22.2 miles this morning, and it went as well as I could have hoped for.  I credit the following:

1. fancy new fuel belt (see picture)
2. 
   
   chocolate Gu
3. 
   
   alternating running/fitness podcasts (burning 2010,  early morning runner [which appears to be done, but I wanted to listen to episode #6, the story of his first marathon], and of course Two Gomers [which made me want to join them at Grandma's Marathon in June]) with Manic Mommies podcasts.  My girl Lori (mentioned here and here) told me to check the latter out a few months ago, and I just now got around to it.   Anyway, Lori was right--they're great.  Plus I felt like a good mom just for listening to a mommy podcast.
4. 
   
   tummy medicine that I didn't need, but it probably helps psychologically just to have (my slightly asthmatic, occasionally smoking and always running faster than me friend Heather feels the same way about her inhaler)
5. 
   
   forcing myself not to make the rookie mistake of starting out too fast and taking walk breaks a little more often
6. 
   
   and last, but definitely not least, perfect weather (cool but not cold and overcast most of the morning)

So, even though I ONCE AGAIN missed my weekday runs (that has seriously got to stop), I am feeling better about this whole marathon thing.  Or at least that I might be able to finish.  Oh!  I also have to credit my new post-run trick: I took my first ice bath!  After the heart failure in the first minute, it really wasn't so bad.  Plus, I took others' advice and wore a fleece jacket and bathing suit and enjoyed some chai latte to distract myself from the freezingness.

So the long run's done, and now I can look forward to the Harlem Globetrotters tonight (Jimmy #2's belated birthday celebration).  And (theoretically, at least) not working for the first weekend in a month.  Woohoo!