20 miler #2 in review

Last weekend I did my 2nd and final 20 mile run for marathon training.  It also happened to be my last really long run before the race which is now just over 2 weeks away!  Like usual for this run I got an early start after some coffee and oatmeal.  Some stretching and heating pad on my hip helped to nicely warm it up.  I was hesitant when I headed out and very restrictive with speed.  After about 5-6 miles I was fully warmed up and my hip felt like normal for the rest of the run, which felt mostly like smooth sailing.

It seems like the universe gives you encouragement when you really need it.  Near about mile 17 or 17.5 my stomach started getting a bit upset.  This was due to the cliff fruit twist I had consumed earlier during the run.  Little did I realize that this fruity chewy twist treat was loaded with fiber since it is made out of the whole fruit.  As I was starting to regret eating it and mentally kick myself all the while physically struggling, I see a familiar face.  It's an older gentleman who has to be at least 80 maybe older out watering his flowers with a jug and his cane.  His face lights up as I approach his yard and a grin spreads across his face.  Just as I get right in front of him, he raises his cane and yells "Great day for a run isn't it!"  He totally brightened my day and the last few miles.  This isn't the first time I've seen him.  During the first 20 miler several weeks ago he was in his yard with the jug and cane again and yelled "Keep it up!"  I have no clue who this wonderful gentleman is, and I've never seem him outside any other time.  (I  run the course that goes by his house at least 3 times a week)  Anyway, he was very encouraging and it instantly cheered me up!

After the 20 miler we headed to Oktoberfest and walked around the rest of the day.  I didn't feel too sore until Sunday, but overall it wasn't that bad.  It made me feel more prepared and confident for the actual race.  I have to admit that I'm ready for the race to get here already......I just want to run not on a schedule for a while.

I'm ready to taper and take on 26.2 on 10.10.10 in Chicago!

Oktoberfest recap!

Last weekend Jonah and I attended the largest Oktoberfest in the US!  (That's right....it's here in Cincinnati, OH!)  Early on Saturday afternoon we headed downtown for lunch (brats) and a sampling of german beer. Of course, you can't forget the best part of the whole festival.....cream puffs with bavarian cream.  After eating lunch we wondered around the whole festival and enjoyed a smattering of polka music.  This year Cincinnati Oktoberfest unveiled a new event.....a brat eating contest.  Around 3pm most of us attending ventured to the tent where the contest was to be held to watch about 9 people take on this task.  The brats were sans buns.  There were several famous eaters there that I recognized from watching the Nathan's hot dog eating contest on July 4 including the famous champ Joey Chestnut!

This is the field of eaters for the brat eating contest

Joey and the 2nd place eater  

Mr. Chestnut claimed the crown as 

 the best brat eater in 10 minutes....

           He shattered the record by eating 42 brats!

                                                      

Jonah's toe was demolished by a large man stepping on him :( 

Unfortunately, we had a small situation while
waiting in line for some famous german beer...

Overall, Oktoberfest was fun and exciting.....it got super crowded in the evening so I'm very glad we went early!  Maybe next year we'll enter philip in the wiener dog race on Friday before the festival.

my last week or so in a word....uugghh

So....it's been over a week since I've blogged.  Life has been thoroughly overwhelming and frustrating at the same time leading me to say ...uugghh...many times and heavy sighing.  (At least I'm trying to breathe deeply)  Quickly here's some of the issues and some small things I've started to do to help with the situations....

A) Running has been less than enjoyable due to my sore hip a) Indulged in a deep tissue massage focusing on my hips, quads, and hamstrings.  This has helped a bit.  I must also mention that I tripped and fell last week before I decided to get a massage and tweaked the hip-age area and did a good job of scraping up my knee.  Yes, I was THAT person running/walking back home with an unhappy expression and blood running down my leg.  Short-Long run on Sat. was also less than enjoyable.  **However, this week stretching, icing, Aleve, and homeopathic meds have been doing a wonderful job**

B) Science......oh science....what can I say about you...  Well, experiments that usually work without fail are being pesky and not working, thus setting back my research a few more weeks.  Additionally, I think my advisor may think I'm not working as hard on it as I should.  (I am...but sometimes cloning doesn't work....I followed the protocol, and it worked last time!) b) I'm starting some experiments over from the beginning, and trying to remind myself that I'm my screwing it up....I have the lab data sheets showing that I did it correctly and it still didn't work.....3 times.

C) Life in general.....aahhh.  Sometimes it feels like every hour of everyday is full of something and I run out of time to clean, hang with the dog, or just sit and relax for a few.....or even blog.  c) I took Philip to doggie daycare yesterday so he will be tired today so I can give a good once over to my apartment.  It feels so much better when everything is nice, clean, and in it's place.

Thanks for reading my vent.  It was quite therapeutic to get it all out there.  I've been mentally preparing myself for the coming weekends big events.....another 20 mile run...and Cincinnati Oktoberfest!!!!  I'm sure they will both be great outlets for my frustrations!

20 miler

Saturday I did the weekly long run of.....20 miles.  It was a pretty intense run.  I got up had some coffee and an english muffin with an egg on it.  I headed out at about 6:45 into super nice weather and took a fairly slow pace.  My hip has still been a bit tight so before heading out I applied some heat to my hip and did some extra stretching.  It took about 4 miles until I felt all the way warmed up.  Honestly, during the run I didn't feel that bad.  To pass the time while running I gave myself checkpoints that I had to go to.  Here's how it worked:  I gave myself permission to walk, but I had to wait to evaluate how I felt at specific checkpoints that were every several miles.  It helped to visualize the course only to the next checkpoint instead of miles.  I tried some new fuel this week while running.  I tried some cliff shot blocks and powerbar energy chews.  Both products worked out pretty well, and I didn't have any stomach issues with them.

After arriving home I was stretching and when I took my shoes and socks off I got a huge shock.....my big toe was covered in a blister.  I had no idea that I was getting a blister at all.  Then, I hopped into the ice bath with extra ice since it was an extra long run.

Luckily, this week is a three day weekend and I have an extra day to take it easy.

Some other fun-in-review from Hawaii...

This year we visited a few new more local places in addition to all the touristy places we went last year.  For lunch one day we ventured to the Health Bar and enjoyed an acai bowl.  It was incredibly yummy and the store was decorated in local artist photographs and some photos of the owners surfing dogs.  The other place that really stands out was Bubbies homemade ice cream and mochi!   We got some ice cream while at the store, I had chocolate hazelnut (YUM), and we took a sampling of mochi home to eat during the following days.  The ice cream was rich and delish, and the mochi was better than any mochi I've had before!  The weather in Cincinnati today (92F and not really a breeze outside) is making me long for Hawaii and the cool breeze off the ocean.

woof...18 miles

On Saturday I got up at about 5:30 am, consumed some coffee and an egg/english muffin, and prepared for the weekly long run.  It's been a few weeks since my 16 mile run, and since my hip was bothering me while we were on vacation I ran no further than 5 miles while in Hawaii.  Since returning home my hip has improved quite a bit, and it's now feeling mostly better thanks to icing and lots of stretching.  So, back to Saturday.... I headed out at about 7 am into the rice cool weather about 50-ishF, super nice.  I trucked along up and down the hills of Cincinnati, stopped to refill my water bottles about 3 times, jamming out to some good tunes, and before I knew it the run was over.

I took an ice bath following the run, but I ended up still being SUPER sore on Sunday and still today.  I think helping Jonah move added to the soreness a bit as well.  Only a few more long runs and a bit over 5 weeks until Chicago.  I'm feeling less nervous about the race since I ran the 18 miles this weekend.   I have to admit that I was very slow this weekend (about 3:10), and cautious about not over exerting myself.

First 18 mile run done and scheduled to do 20 miles next weekend!

I'm back to reality...

This is my first week back from vacation.  Luckily, it's a short week since we flew in on Monday so work from Tues-Friday.  Although it's a shorter week there are still TONS to do.
1. General research-lots of experiments
2. Prepare a presentation about my research for Friday
3. Get organized and adjusted to real life (vacay involved relaxing and sleeping, my real life not so much)
4. Prepare for Jonah's big move to Lexington
I keep thinking about Hawaii and all the fun we had.  We went on a tour of the island by road, lanikai beach, polynesian cultural center for a luau, lots of walking along waikiki, and lots of great food and time with family!
I'm totally behind on posting pics and more stories....I'm going to get to them hopefully soon..like in the next week!
Happy Friday eve everyone.

Hooray for vacation...

What a relaxing/tiring few days.  I know, I know, relaxing/tiring are two opposing feelings, but that's how I feel on vacation.  I'm so excited to spend time with family and to get more time during the day to relax, but we are also doing some fun activities during the day (shopping, luau, polynesian culturual center) that just plain wear me out.  Just a few days in and I already feel refreshed...running along the ocean has also contributed to this feeling. 

I'll put up a post about all the vacation activities when I return from beautiful Honolulu!

16 miler...sans humidity...finally!

This weekend for marathon training I ran 16 miles!  I was very very fortunate and there was a break in the humidity that has plagued this area lately.  I slathered on some SPF 50 and started out at about 6:30-ish on a cool comfortable morning.  The temperature was amazing, probably close to 65F.

The run was going great until about mile 12-13, and I began feeling dehydrated, and I was almost out of water in the hydration belt bottles.  So, I found a local playground to refill the bottles and get some hydration which was very refreshing and I felt fine the rest of the run.

Around mile 15 a random person starting running with me and kept me company for about a 1/2 mile.  I do so much running alone that it's easy to forget how quickly time flies when you have someone to chat with when you are running.  As much as I cherish the alone time while running, there are times I wish I had a local running buddy so we could help each other out during the tough times.  I can't wait to do a long training run with Morgan to get us ready for Chicago!!!  It'll be like a mini-preview of the race.

Lately my hip has been bothering me a little bit.  Stretching and icing has been helping it from getting any worse, however, it's still tight when heading out on a run and it takes a mile or two to warm up.  This is def. a case of soreness and not injury.

This week my long run is going to have to be on Wed. and I'm going to attempt to repeat the 16 miler, but the humidity is supposed to return!

Happy running!

Whoa, what a week...

This past week was crazy busy and fun at the same time.  Here's a quick run down....

-Monday-Jonah arrived to hang with me for the next month or so.  We also went and ran errands about town together.
-Tuesday-Trivia night with friends....I still think we got the last question right even though the official trivia judge said we didn't.  (We were 11 out of 14 teams, at least that's not last!!)
-Wednesday-Burgers and drinks to celebrate a friend's bday!!! (It was a blast, and we ended the night with some swimming)
-Thursday-Work picnic to celebrate my advisor's 15 year anniversary at Cincinnati Children's Hospital!
-Friday-More fun at Fries with friends to do more celebrating the same bday from Wed., and the going away of another friend for med school!
-Saturday- Decent 16 mile run for marathon training!  (woohoo) Zoo picnic for work! All the animals were out and about.  We walked around for hours and had a blast! (of course we also got a funnel cake, YUM)
-Sunday-Family reunion then dinner with friends in Muncie!

It was so wonderful to see friends and family this past week and spend time catching up with everyone.  This week isn't looking like it will have as many events, but vacation is coming up. I'm def. looking forward to a few days on the beach relaxing.