Skirt On The Run

This has been one of the worst winters for outdoor running, the whole month of January has been in the 20’s and below, way below…lots of negative degree days with even colder wind chills.  It’s made me not want to get out and run, the ice isn’t melting and the snow keeps on snowing!  While there are many members of my running clubs that are out there braving the cold/wet/snow, I am not.  I don’t need to hurt myself and I just have no motivation, I blame myself, I’m being lazy and I hate the treadmill.  If only there was something else I could do!!!

So last weekend I downloaded Focus T25, I mean I can do 25 minutes a day, I can focus on that at home, so now the first week is done and I feel great.  Shaun T has a great program and I even have my bf doing it too.  The house is a bit too small for us to do it together, but we both get it done.  I feel so much better this week after starting it.  I am also taking a Barre None class at my company’s gym, need to do something to combat the winter blues.

Monday: Barre None & T25 Cardio
Tuesday: T25 Speed 1.0
Wednesday: T25 Total Body Circuit
Thursday: T25 AB Intervals
Friday: T25 Cardio & Lower Focus (Friday is double day, I was hurting after doing both.)
Saturday: RecPlex 2 mile run, stretch and 1 mile run

Saturday my bf and I went to the Kenosha RecPlex, he plays basketball and I wanted to check out the indoor track, 6 laps is 1 mile and I calibrated my Garmin Foot Pod so I didn’t have to count laps, it was pretty accurate and it felt really good to run, it’s a bit boring running in circles, but it wasn’t too bad.  We started around 6am, so I got to see the sun start to come up as I passed the windows.

the guys playing ball, the running track is around the gym so I could see them play while I ran.

the guys playing while I recover! You can see the track above the hoop.

I signed up for a 30 day membership so I could use the track to get back in running shape and take a few classes.  Can’t wait to get more and more workouts in.  My company has a gym and it costs me around $5 a paycheck but I am not crazy about working out with co-workers and the last of running track makes the RecPlex way more appealing, we will see how it goes and I might extend my membership.

January in the Midwest is always an iffy time to have a race, I did the Polar Dash back in 2012 and it was snowy and cold, but still fun.  So after our -15F temps that we had, a race where it was 30F wouldn’t be so bad!

Expo

Once again I volunteered to work at the race expo, I really enjoy helping out and volunteering, plus volunteering has helped me earn free stuff, such as race entries, gear, ect… I always work with some great people at the expo, from staff to volunteers, it’s why I go back.  I worked in the gear exchange area helping people switch sizes or switch to a black fleece(leftovers from last year) so it went by pretty quick and was fun.  I also picked up packets for some of my fellow running club members.  I took the train down so I didn’t have to mess with parking in Chicago on a Friday, the weather was finally decent Friday morning so the 1+ mile walk from the train station wasn’t bad at all.

Packet Pick up

my view during packet pick-up

The Race

We got up super early, the race started at 8am and we were meeting people to carpool at 5:30am in Kenosha, so Chris and I were up bright and early, it had rained the night before so with snow, rain and standing water everywhere the race was bound to be messy.  The Polar Dash staff had posted the night before that parts of the 14 mile course were impassable, we were running the 10K, and knowing the staff they would do everything they could to make the race experience as good as they could.  So we met our carpool and got down to Chicago with lots of time to spare, everything was pretty wet, lots of puddles, but the temp and weather were perfect.  We had over an hour to hang out and wait before the 10K started, there was 30 min between the 14 mile and 10K start, which was the perfect amount of time so the lakefront course wasn’t too packed.  We went to the race with several other members of the Kenosha Running Club.  We had 5 people doing the 14 miler, 3 of us doing the 10K and 1 doing the 5K.  I love running with this club, so so motivating and such a fun group.

members of the KRC before the race

Chris and I before the race

Chris and I started out together, but after a couple turns he was getting further and further ahead.  This would be the first race that we didn’t finish side by side, but he is way faster than me and I was totally ok not staying together, I get in a race zone and don’t even notice who’s by me.  The race starts out going north, we get a very short distance and the path is flooded, so up into the slush and grass we went, who knew it would be an obstacle course before we hit the quarter mile mark!

race start

I’m not looking at the ground!

There were a lot of puddles, I was looking at the ground most of the time, but it was ok.  I knew what to expect going into the race.  Once we got back behind the shed aquarium the course was pretty narrow (lots of piles of snow) and right around McCormick Place I knew I needed a pee stop, unfortunately I had passed a port a potty and I figured there would be one by the water stop, there wasn’t so I had to improvise (yup, let the course found a slightly hidden spot) and then I was back at it, as I approached the 4 mile mark I could feel that my body wasn’t doing great.  So I slowed a bit more, not running for 4 weeks was killing me, I decided to walk run the rest of the race, which was fine since I hadn’t had any training time.  I finished in 1:09:10 and Chris finished in 54:35, seeing him at the end was pretty awesome.

Post race, WE DID IT!

pretty medal

Team Ortho has 3 more races in Chicago this year, I’m signed up for 3 of them and Chris is signed up for 2 of them (1 is a women only event, otherwise he would be running it too)

Get Lucky Chicago
Women Rock Chicago
Chicago Monster Dash

Polar Dash, Get Lucky and Monster Dash – Awesome gear!

Can’t wait until our next race in March!!!  Time to increase the training!!!

Run Santa Run 5K was a really fun race.  It was the second race that Chris and I ran together, I’m really liking the trend of us running together.

The race was in Madison so we combined it with a trip to visit family.  After the race we went to my sisters, had to get some nephew time in, her house was plagued with sickness, but we stayed anyways (I did end up with the flu a few days later, but the time with family was so worth it!)

Front of the shirt we got

Chris and I ready to run!

I almost got him to smile

race start

The race started right near the capitol, we still had to register when we got there.  I had missed registering when the race was only $20 a person, so I had emailed the race director and they would let us register day of for that price (I didn’t want to spend $45 on an un-timed 5K)  So we got there, it was cold and snowy, but still a nice day.  We both registered as elf’s, so we got a green long sleeved tee and elf hats to wear, we both wore the hats for the race.  The course wasn’t too bad, it was snow covered in spots, a little like running on sand but also trying not to fall on my face!

we are up towards the front, cool pic of us running

The course had 3 stops, a cookie stop (hard to eat a cookie while running), a hot chocolate stop and a mistletoe toe stop (we stopped, kissed but the photographer didn’t get our picture)

mini hot chocolate, so cute

At the end of the 5K, the Grinch was there so we got our picture with him before heading inside to get our free post-race beer, we hung out for a bit, listened to a band and then started the walk back to the car, it was cold out we were sweaty so it was time to head over to my sisters to shower and relax.  Henry was excited that Auntie Jeni was coming over, but because of Henry and his love for Angry Birds, he got Chris addicted to Angry Birds Go!

This was a fun race, and even with the snow and it not being a timed race we had a great time.  The course was ok, not one of my favorite Madison courses, but it kept us off busy areas and a portion of it was on a bike path, I always like when the courses have variety, makes it fun, but also hard to pass people.  I think my favorite part was the mini hot chocolate, it was a bit to hot to drink so I sipped some of it, then threw it out, if we had been walking it would have been perfect.  I feel truly lucky that I have a great running partner, in 2014 we have lots of races planned and I know we will be doing lots of running together.

post race pic with the Grinch

It’s been at least a month since I last posted, not much has been going on in running land. I ran one more race in 2013 Run Santa Run in Madison, I’ll post about that later, and then I didn’t run for 4 weeks.  I caught the nasty flu bug right before Christmas and was fighting it for 3 weeks.  During that time I had no desire to run or write about running.  Now my health is back, it’s a new year and I have already run one race and have many more that I plan to run.  Hopefully I can update on all of them soon.  I won’t be aiming for 13 half marathons this year like I did last year.  I am picking and choosing races carefully.  I also have a great running partner who has plans to do a lot of the races with me.  We just signed up for the Team Ortho Monster Series in Chicago.  3 races, awesome gear and bling.  We have completed one of the three races and I am so excited for the others.

Polar Dash, Get Lucky and Monster Dash – Awesome gear!

I’ll post my list of races soon and volunteer gig’s (yup, I have my list of races that I plan to volunteer at this year drafted too)

Heres to a 2014 filled with lots of running and fun!