I got the I wants. bad.

So, the weather around here has turned a bit "wintery". As you saw in my last post, it was a crisp 26 on my last run. Wowza.

I own one pair of tights, and they're alright. They keep me warm. It would super nice to have a second pair, so I don't have to wait up at night for my laundry, like I'm doing right now. Heidi and I are planning to enjoy our first snow as "runners" tomorrow morning, and my pants are in the wash.  My tights are of the Champion Target variety, but they are pretty warm...they said "stay warm" on the tag when I bought them last year (and I wore them, um, twice....yah, didn't really run much). They have a drawstring waist, which rubs on my belly.

I reeeeaaaaly want a pair of Nike Tights. The Nike Tech Capri's are my FAVORITE thing to run in. They stay where they are supposed to, no chaffing, great comfy fit. BUT, they are not so warm on snowy, high of 26 kind of days.

I also am still on the hunt for a perfect jacket. I found a North Face Geosphere, which is really light weight and seems to be pretty water resistant, but it has a lining, which just feels like it sticks to my arms. And, it's not very visible. I bought it cheap, and I'm glad I got it for other uses, but I'm not convinced it's the right running jacket.

I saw this Nike Ripstop Running Jacket at the Nike Employee store awhile ago, but they only had mens' ones when I went and I talked myself out of getting a men's cut. I really liked it, and just saw the women's version on a friend the other day, and it looks SO great! It might be "the one". It has some great reviews on the Nike site by gals in the Pacific NW who in the rain, so I'm digging that. I have a friend who has a jacket that doesn't work for her, but may work for me, so I'm holding out.

I am also coming up on needing some new shoes. I randomly got my current shoes on an amazing clearance and bought them solely based on their cheapness. I think I paid $16.97 at Fred Meyers. Nike Air Citius. I really love them. BUT of course, since they were clearanced, they are no longer made. I'm nervous to change shoes, when these have worked so well for me. I want to stay injury free :) But, I've been reading Born to Run, and am totally intrigued by the concept of letting your body be strong enough to tell you how to run injury free. I'm totally interested in Nike Free's or Saucony Kinvaras. But...it's a leap. Am I strong enough for this kind of shoe? I'm not sure I am. I tried some Nike free's on, again, at Fred Meyer's, which is NOT the best place for shoe shopping, least of all great running shoes. But, I was kidless, and I could by milk too. They felt GREAT on.

Oh. If only I could go on a shopping spree at my local Nike store. A girl can wish. :) For now, I'll wash my cheapie tights and hope the passersby can see me :)

attention crafty runners!

Here is an amazing giveaway for a Silouette Cutting machine....I want it baaaaad, and my friend Beckie is giving one away! Totally not running related, but you could make some sweet running personalized gifts for you running pals for Christmas if you win one!! Eryn


www.infarrantlycreative.com

Feeling Hard Core...

L-R: Heidi, Me (in my cute Lululemon earwarmer that Selene gave me... her door prize from the RLAM event 2 weeks ago) and Selene...rosy cheeks and all 

This morning was my scheduled long run with my sweet friends, Selene and Heidi.

Selene was my Girlfriends Half training buddy and we did all of our long runs together. Heidi is my new mid week running buddy. The three of us have done long runs together for the past 3 Sundays, gearing up for our "Hot Buttered Run" this next Sunday.

So, we met at 7am for 8 COLD miles. At least, cold for here in the Pacific NW. But, it WAS dry, which is always a bonus in November! When I got out of my car, the thermometer was registering in at 26 degrees. We did our 8 miles on the frosty trail. After about 2 miles we were feeling warmed up (as in, not shivering). We were each in our tights, gloves, earwarmers/beanies and a few layers. I had two long sleeves and a vest on :) Around mile 3.5 I shed my gloves, and at mile 5 I shed one layer of long sleeves. it.was.COLD.

We finished our 8 miles, and when getting back to the cars, Heidi realized, she'd lost her car key somewhere on the path (probably at our halfway point, 4 miles away!) I had to scoot to make it to church by 9:30, so Selene took Heidi to the spot (by car) and thankfully, they found the key, exactly where we thought it likely fell out. When I hopped into the car, it had warmed up a whole 4 degrees, and was now a toasty 30 degrees.

I went home, and after 10 minutes in my toasty car, my bum and love handles were still cold to the touch when I got into the shower! My skin felt all itchy, like when you're hands are really cold, and you THINK it would be a good idea to warm them up under hot water. So itchy it hurts. My stomach turned dark red, almost purple! It was VERY cold.

But, I do have to say, I'd rather run in the twenty something degrees than heat :)

We had a great time, as usual, chatting and making the miles go by quickly....love running with these girls! I am feeling like today, we were "real" runners. Hard core runners :)

Scatterday Saturday

My brain is scattered today. It's a rainy stay at home Saturday. Laundry up to my eyeballs now it's my kneecaps. I'm making headway.

I went for my 3 miler today and took my 6 year old on his bike. I wondered if he'd be able to keep my pace for 3 miles...um, yes. He was great for my pace! Although I don't feel like it showed up on my garmin! I was running at a 9:30 pace alot of the time (GREAT time for me), but he was all over the road! On my heels, getting too far ahead, I was afraid he would hit the soccer spectators...blah blah blah. He chatted at me the whole 3 miles, and he packed a "lunch" that he insisted we stop halfway so he could eat. (It was raisins, string cheese and water). So, my average pace was slower on the clock, but I really enjoyed him coming with me, and he was SO proud of himself.

When we got home, my almost 4 year old, was totally bummed that he "didn't get to do something fun with me". So we decided to do a practice fun for the upcoming Candy Cane Run kids 1K. So we ran .6 miles together :) I love that they want to share this with me and "be like mommy" this way. Then we had a little mini race in our driveway so Daddy could watch.
 

In other randomness, I saw this video today on another blogger's page. It totally fit me this week, looking for excuses to stay in my bed on Thursday. I totally have these thoughts almost every time I get ready to run, and while I'm running. A cool short video.

Mind Games - directed by Casey Neistat from Nike Sportswear on Vimeo.

I should help my hubby get my kiddos ready for bed...I can hear them screaming. What a guy!

I Commit Friday

Oh my. Has it been a week already? It has. I haven't posted at all!  And I'm not real excited about my how my week went, at least in my running and meeting my goals. Otherwise, it was a great week.

So...My goals last week, here's how I did.

M-strengthen and stretch- Check.

T-4.5 miles- Met Heidi, we did 3.5 with some walking due a bum knee (Heidi's not mine)
W-35 min tempo run-check! My first tempo, and it was fun! I liked it.
TH-3 miles+ strength- Boo. It was really rainy, and I totally wimped out.
F-rest-um, check.
S-3 miles- planning on it. On my own. It's been awhile since I ran alone.
Sun-8 miles-have a plan to meet my two running buddies in the ffffrrrreeezing cold (possible snow showers!) at 7am for our 8 miler.

Do my core excercises and again, shoot for the 3 water bottles per day.- Um, totally failed on these two. Dang.

The great news is I AM A WINNER! I've been entering giveaways like crazy, and today, I won over at Keep on Keeping on. I won a $50 giftcertificate to Inspired Endurance! I'm having a hard time picking out what I want to order, but I'm thinking about something related to 13.1 :)

Ok, so THIS weeks I Commits.

It's Thanksgiving week, which is going to be a killer week, and I'll NEED to be burning some extra calories :) So, I really want to meet Heidi tuesday and wednesday. I think she'll be gone thursday, and I'm hosting thanksgiving, so I'm pretty sure I won't be getting away that day. Friday is BLACK FRIDAY, so I'll be getting up earlier than usual to go with my pal Nicole to hit up Target. We have decided to skip Old Navy, where we almost got in a fist fight in line with a drunk lady last year :)

So, I commit to three runs (T,W, and Saturday) and of course the big race on Sunday with my sister in law, Rachel on Sunday! The Hot Buttered Run 5K...It should be really fun. Rachel helped me with some of my training runs for the half marathon and it will be so fun to run together. Our kiddos are running a 1K, too, so that will be fun. And my running buddies are running the 12K! Can't wait to cheer them on :)

I am going to keep it simple and only add the water to my goals for this week. I"m keeping it real, pretty sure there won't be any core work happening this week. :)

What are your goals for the week?

I made a couple of headbands today. I've been seeing athletic stay-put headbands all over running blogs lately, and I thought I'd try my hand at making a few. They turned out good pretty good and they stay put GREAT! I think I'm going to make some glittery Christmas ones for the race Sunday.  I even took pics in my bathroom mirror for you, but I can't get them to load on hubby's laptop.

Ok, this has turned into a rambling, rather boring post. Thanks for reading it! Eryn

I Commit Friday

My dear friend, Meredith, has been hosting I Commit Friday for the past few weeks.

I jumped in, needing the accountability.

Last week, I committed  to follow my training plan.
I committed to drinking 3 water bottles per day.
I committed to working on my core.

I did pretty good...I got all of my workouts in but yesterday's 3 miler. I drank about 2 water bottles per day (an improvement). I did more core work than the week prior, but still not great.

What are YOU committing too this week?

My goal for this next week is to follow the training plan:
M-strengthen and stretch
T-4.5 miles
W-35 min tempo run
TH-3 miles+ strength
F-rest
S-3 miles
Sun-8 miles

Do my core excercises and again, shoot for the 3 water bottles per day.

Well, Hello 10.

Ten...it's a size. A size that I haven't worn since I was 17.

My skinny sister in law, Stephanie, who has literally worked her behind off at "boot camp"...is shrinking out of her pants. So, she brought them over to my moms house. Just in case they might fit someone there. In need of pants...I said, "well, I'll give it a try" but not getting my hopes up. I tried them on, and guess what...They fit! She said they get bigger as you wear them, so I though maybe they were a fluke pair of 10's that were really more like my actual size, 12. But...when I came out wearing them, she said, "I have another pair of jeans I'll give you, too". They are also 10's. And THEY fit, too! I couldn't believe it. It was nice. Reeeeaaaalllly nice.

Ironically, my rear, and legs, are the part of my body I am the least concerned about. Yet...that is where I lose weight first. Since I started running in June, I've lost about 15 lbs, and around 11 inches from various body parts. (I haven't measured in a while). So, that was fun.

This week, I feel like I'm actually meeting my running mileage goals for the week for the first time in a long time! With my man's crazy school schedule and our families needs, I was finding it near impossible to get out during day light to run in our neighborhood.  A few weeks ago, my friend Heidi and I decided to meet up to do our speedwork at the same track at 5:15am, for safety reasons. There are not many lit tracks in our town, so we decided to pick the most visible one and go at the same time. I realized that I really didn't mind getting up that early. After mulling it over, I decided to ask Heidi, if I could tag along for her other early morning runs in her neighborhood. Our neighborhood is dark and I would not feel safe running it alone in the dark. I think I'm an official AM running convert. Today,  a shorter track workout, I was home around 6am. I had an hour before I had to get the kids moving towards school. I drank my coffee, I did a little Bible study, and got to see  my hubby for a few minutes before he left. I think I'm sold! I felt like I got alot done in that one hour. And, I did't even mind getting up at 4:45. My hubby goes to bed early anyhow, so we're actually getting more on the same schedule, which is really nice to say goodnight and good morning together.


My goals for this week, are to stick to the training plan, exactly.
That would be 19 miles this week logged.
I also want to drink 3 water bottles of water each day.
NO soda. Starting now.

I've been doing a little blog hopping and there are some fun giveaways out there!
There is THIS one over at Mere's blog for a great Endurance Band headband
THIS one over at Running Diva Mom for Chobani yogurt (yum!)
THIS one for a Moving Comfort Sports Bra!
THIS one for a Headsweats Hat!

keep on keepin on.

I need to.

I'm finding that since the half marathon, and without a deadline looming, my consistency in getting in regular runs is getting lazy. I've only gotten in about 2 runs per week in the last two weeks.

The family fall schedule is feeling a bit out of control, and with the daylight hours changing...it's getting trickier to get in my afternoon runs. I have a feeling I'm going to have to resort to early morning runs in order to keep in consistent. While I'm not real crazy about that idea, I DO want to keep at it. I have been feeling a little crazy and cranky. I realized this week, maybe it's because I've accidentally cut back on my running by half as many days per week. I NEED to run more. I've gotten the look from my family of "mommy's about to FREAK out" a few too many times this week.

I really want this shirt from www.bananablossompress.com

The truth is, running has changed me. And, ironically, physical change is at the bottom of the list of the benefits for me (but, most definitely a benefit!). When I started out running (for sanity) back in June, I just wanted to get.out.of.the.house. We had recently returned home from Ethiopia with our newest addition. We were staying home, giving our family time to adjust. Our social worker called it "cocooning". And, there were just some days, this butterfly needed to GET OUT of the cocoon. Running, gave me a chance to get out of the house, get some fresh air in my lungs, and enjoy some peace and quiet away from my 3 precious angel babies.

When one of my best friends and now my running buddy, Selene, threw out the invite to train with her for Girlfriends, I was intrigued. I had no idea the ways it would change me. Last weekend, we traveled to my brother in law and sister in law's home in Renton, to spend our traditional halloween weekend together. Rachel and got 3 WONDERFUL hours alone, and while we were out, we were chatting about how great it feel to see your body change. Not just for the physical benefits, but how it changes how we see ourselves. I had pretty much accepted the fact that my body was what it was. And, it was not great. I just thought my body type is what it is. But running, has changed that. It's not only changed my body, but it's given me the ability to push myself towards a goal. It's given me the ability to believe in myself and that I'm capable of accomplishing something big and hard. It's given me confidence that I didn't even know was missing, until my husband pointed out to me that I am "just different". That he can see that I feel good about me, in a way that I never have since we've been together, and he thinks it's hot :) I had believed my athletic days were long gone and didn't think I'd ever be again, but NOW I feel more athletic than I did even back in my best "athletic" days.

I don't want to loose that. I don't want to loose the pride my kids have in me and my running. I also don't want to loose the sanity I've gained. I don't want to loose the confidence I've gained, and the belief in myself. I don't want to find the inches I have lost or the pounds I've shed.

This week, I'm committing to getting out there more, drinking more water, and making good choices. No more trick or treats. It's time to get back to it, get after it like I did during my training. To enjoy the accomplishments of completing "the plan".

ps...did you see this fun sleeve giveaway? Check it out over at ww-p java bloggers!