Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween consisted of carving pumpkins, passing out candy and hanging out with friends!


Kya looked quite festive in her pumpkin scarf!


I made pumpkin pie bites!  I am just a regular Suzy Homemaker!

Two of my friends brought me treats! Heather brought me pumpkin cupcakes. I enhaled one the moment she pulled out of the driveway, that is why there is one missing. Melissa brought me a corndog too! I enhaled that as soon as she left too. Basically my dinner was cupcakes, a corn dog and Halloween candy. What five year old would not want to live at my house???


My girl and me, gee, I have no idea why I got carded at the liquor store tonight!



We had a great Halloween at home tonight. Kya received so many compliments from the trick-or-treaters. Everyone loves the white dog and thinks she is so pretty. We had so many trick-or-treaters, that we ran out of candy. Ken had to go make a candy run for me. I have to say that he does not buy the good stuff that I buy!
Happy Halloween!! Christmas music will officially begin tomorrow!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Dear New York City Marathon,

Please oh please select me in your lottery drawing next year.  You have rejected me the last two years and I am starting to develop a complex.  I understand that if I am not selected for 2010, that I am in by default for 2011.  Please, please do not make it come to this.  I will make you so proud and promise to wear a super cute outfit.

I am sure that you have been waiting to select me in 2010, since the marathon will be around my birthday that year.  I understand this and am willing to forgive you if you do select me for 2010.  I know that you understand that I have been holding off on a trip to NYC until I can run the marathon.  Please oh please do not make me wait any longer. 

Sincerely,
Keri

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Speed Work...

I did speed work last night.  Can you sense the excitement in my voice?  Last night was the first time I did speed work outside instead of on the treadmill.  I think it is harder outside, because I had no idea what my pace was until I was finished with the workout.  On the treadmill, I just punch in the speed and go.  I was a little surprised at the end of the work out when I saw my times.  I still have a long way to go if I eventually want to qualify for Boston, but you have to start somewhere.  Here are my times:

1:53
1:52
1:53
1:48
1:50
1:47
2:00
1:49

I did 8 x .25 repeats with a minute rest in between.  It was pretty tough, but I think I was consistent.  On the treadmill I only do the .25 repeats in 2:00, so I think I was pushing myself.  I am pretty amazed at people that can continually do speed work and push themselves!  Next week I will throw in a few half mile repeats!

The total run ended up being 7.17 miles including my warm up with Kya (3.50 miles) and my cool down.  I ran my cool down mile in 8:40, which seemed odd but very easy.

Is anyone else eating a bunch of Halloween candy?  Ken and I are having our annual pumpkin carving contest on Saturday so I will have to post pictures next week.  We are pretty competitive with this kind of stuff at our house.  Ken won last year, only because the pattern I chose was too hard and he bribed the judge (our five year old neighbor).

The total run ended up being 7.17 including my warm up with Kya (3.50 miles) and my cool down. 

Monday, October 26, 2009

43...

That is the number of miles I ran this week, which is a new record!  My previous record was 42 back in May right before our wedding.  Here is the break down from the week:

Monday - 6.25 miles (three with Kya)
Tuesday - 5.25 miles (one with Kya, it started to storm)
Wednesday - 7 miles (3.25 with Kya)
Thursday - 6.5 miles (2.25 with Kya)  This was also my speedwork run
Saturday - 18 miles (6.25 with Kya)

I was only planning on running 15 or 16 miles on Saturday, but I felt great!  I even ran up a few hills during the last few miles.  I was on mile 16 and Ken sent me a text asking if I wanted to play golf with him that afternoon.  I responded back and told him I was going for 17 miles. I kept going and then when I was at mile 17, I had a text from him saying that I was the Energizer Bunny and how awesome I was doing!  That made me want to run 18!  I honestly probably could have run a marathon on Saturday, that is how good I felt! 

My average pace was 9:08, and my goal for the upcoming marathon is 9:09.  I was not even pushing it and was trying to take it easy and ran over a lot of hills.  I guess the speedwork and running with a 42 pound Husky is paying off!  Yes, I said that out loud, speedwork does help you get faster!  I never did speedwork my first year of marathon training.  I think the best part is hearing Ken tell me how proud he is of me for getting faster.  He remembers when I was running a 10 minute mile.  I was just as thrilled and proud to run that speed as I am to be faster now.  It is an accomplishment no matter what pace you run.  I just like giving myself new goals because I am that competitive with myself.

I told Ken that I beat my previous mileage record by one mile.  He says, oh, that is why you ran 18 miles instead of 17, so you can beat your record.  Well of course!

Yay for Monday and it is Halloween week!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

New Half Marathon PR!!!

Yep, I ran the Kansas City Half Marathon in 1:57:35, which is a almost two minutes faster than my previous PR of 1:59:11 and on a tougher course.  I was pretty excited.  As I mentioned previously, my friend Laura came into town to run the race with me. 

The race started at 7:00 am, so it was still dark when we started.  I know in previous years it has been warmer and that is why it starts so early, but it was a little chilly when we started this year.  We actually had to run about a mile to the start because the traffic was so bad on the highway and it took us longer to get there than expected.  Maybe if I knew my own city a little better, this problem could have been avoided.  Not too mention we did not park anywhere close to where I wanted to park.  I guess things look different in the dark.  Oh well, we made it!

We ended up starting way in the back and had to dodge a lot of people out of the gate.  The hills, wow.  There were a lot of hills during the first four miles and then around mile eight.  I really felt like my hill training paid off! 

Two of my friends got up early and went downtown to cheer.  I could not believe Melissa or Michelle were willing to freeze and wake up that early.  What sweet friends I have!  They were even nice enough to give us their coats at the end because we were so cold.  They also drove us back to my car.  I am so lucky to have such great friends! 

On another note, at the finish, I ran into a guy that I used to work with six years ago in Joplin.  How random!  The funniest part is that he saw me when we were running.  He told me he knew me right away when I zoomed past him.  What gave me away, you know, the blonde hair, the fact that I am 4'10, oh yeah and the leopard print pants.  What, don't you run in leopard print pants?

The story about the pants:  They are not running pants.  I was looking over items to wear and pulled them out and Laura told me I had to wear them!  So I did.  They are not evening running pants.  They are from Express and I used to wear these pants in high school.  I now consider them my lucky pants and may have to bust them out again! 

Approaching the finish line.  I was so excited to see my friends.  In case you are wondering, I did pass all three people in front of me after this.  :)
Laura and me at the finish.
Michelle, Keri, and Melissa

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Garmin Forerunner 101, Your Days are Numbered!

When I started running a lot in 2007, I decided I needed a GPS watch.  I really did not know anything about the different models, I just wanted a GPS watch!  I only used the watch to record my distance and did not even know anything about laps or splits until this year. 

For the last two weeks I have noticed that my Garmin has been giving me some odd speed when running and I know my pace is not varying that much.  For instance, I have never run at an 11:00 minute mile pace at all during a run and I look down and my watch says 11:00/pace.  Hmm...seems strange, epecially when I am running with Kya, because that girl can haul booty.  I thought that maybe Mr. 101 was having a bad day, I know I do occasionally. No, he did it again and again.  It just does not seem right.  Especially, when I do not feel myself changing the pace and the watch is recorded something different and losing its signal a lot.  He also started to shut off randomly with a full battery.  I think he is just tired.

So it is with great sadness that I must report that Mr. 101 will officially be laid to rest tomorrow or whenever my new Garmin 305 arrives in the mail.  We had some good times and he served his purpose, but it is now time to say good bye.

Kya has set a new PR.  She has run 12 miles with me two times in the last two weeks.  She is such a great training partner! 

I am running the Kansas City Half Marathon this weekend and my friend Laura is coming into town so we can run it together.  Ken is going to be gone so it will just be us girls and Theo (boy kitty cat).  Ken is gone a lot, so it does not bother me that he is gone, I am just excited for Laura to visit!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

What a Difference a Year Makes!

It was one year ago today that my doctor released me to run on my healed broken foot.  I remember his words exactly when I asked him if I could run three half marathons in November in training for a full marathon in December.  He looked into my ear and said "Koo Koo, Koo Koo!"  Maybe it was a little Koo Koo, but I ran all four races!

After my doctor appointment I remember calling Ken almost crying telling him that I could run that night.  I was so excited.  I decided to take it very easy.  I ran one mile in the rain.  I did not care that it was raining, I wanted to run.  After I ran I told Ken that my mile was pretty easy and I would run two or three the following day.  I took Kya to run two miles the next day and it about killed me.  It was so hard.  I ran the next day without Kya and it was just as hard.  I called my friend and running buddy Susan to tell her what was going on.  She gave me a nice pep talk and that was all I needed.  I never looked back.  I ran a full marathon two months after being off from running for 12 weeks.  I was so proud.

During all of this, I remembered why people give up when they first start running.  Those first few miles hurt and I see why people get discouraged when they are first learning.  Hopefully, I will not be in that situation again.  I imagine those first few miles are what child birth feels like!

Just for fun, I thought I would post a few wedding pictures from our wedding in May.  Ken is out of town and I kind of miss him already. 

Thursday, October 1, 2009

September Totals...

I ran 125 miles on my little legs in September!  I know this may not see like a lot to some, but it is my highest mileage in one month!  I just started tracking my mileage in 2008, but I cannot imagine that I ran this much in 2007 when I first started training. 

I am looking to add about 10-20 miles more this month to bump up my mileage even more.  I read an interesting article in an old Runners World yesterday ( I was a little bored at work) and found it very interesting.  I really think I have it in me to run an 4:00 marathon and eventually qualify for Boston!  I am planning on running the Gobbler Grind Marathon in November and am shooting for a 4:00 finish time.  I have a few things working to my advantage:

  1. It is much cooler here in November
  2. I have run on this trail countless times, but it has been a while since I have, so I should not be too bored
  3. I  have run the half marathon the last two years and only remember one small hill
I am pretty excited about this race.  I am also excited that my friend Laura is coming to Kansas City to run the Kansas City Half Marathon with me!  It should be a hilly race, but a fun weekend.  It is so funny that downtwon Kansas City is hilly and about five miles across the state line is flat as a pancake!