Brrrr...3.8 miles

We were told it would be "about 3 miles." I guess that means almost 4. While I complained to myself on the run, I'm happy I finished! I have no idea what my time was, since I got lost about 2 miles in and had to stop to wait for those behind me to tell me where to turn to get back. The cold morning (about 30 degrees), and the need to get back to the start, kept me going. My multiple layers (running leggings, warmup pants, dryfit t-shirt, fleece jacket, hat) weren't enough to keep me warm. Oh, I guess I'm still complaining, then! :-p

This morning's run is brought to you by Katy Perry's "Roar." (Although, at no point did I feel like I was running through a steamy jungle.)

Sunday morning neighborhood run.

So...I just realized my MapMyRun app is way off in the distance it calculates. It says I ran 2.38 miles, but Gmap Pedometer (milermeter.com) says I ran 2.69. I like 2.69 better than 2.38. I knew it was off a little bit (the streets around have lots of trees that interfere with a clear GPS signal). 

I ran for 22:45, for a pace of 8:27. 

I ran through Cloverdale. In the newish part of Cloverdale (by Stonehenge and Derk's Filet & Vine), there was a man sitting outside playing a banjo and singing out loud, all by himself. I wonder if he does that all the time.

This morning's run is brought to you by "Wake Me Up," by Aloe Blacc and Avicci.

Saturday 5k Race - I won! 26:51

I won the overall women's category in Saturday's 5k! My time was 26:51, with a pace of 8:36.

It was the Catholic Social Services "Saints and Sinners" 5k, held on the campus of Auburn University - Montgomery. There were some people in costumes. The children dressed up as angels were adorable!

Feels good to finally win one, after getting second loser in my age group time after time. It's motivating!

I read that Maroon 5's "Harder to Breathe" song equals about a 10 minute mile. So I added it to my playlist...it was a little to slow, but appropriate because it came on during a hill.

Hyundai Hope on Wheels 5k Race - 27:33

We ran the Hyundai Hope on Wheels 5k. This was a well put-together race. We finished on the Riverwalk Stadium baseball field. I finished second in my age group! 27:33. I didn't think it was fast enough for anything until they posted the race results. I got a medal, too. So did everyone else. But it's a real metal medal. On a ribbon chain and everything. And the mayor was there high-fiving people as they crossed the finish line. That's a really cool thing to do, Mr. Mayor!

The route was uphill for the first mile. Really. Uphill. I was thinking the whole time, who does this to people? This definitely separates the runners from the...well...the highly motivated people that thought they were going to run it. By the 3/4 mile mark, we were dodging people that had already pooped out.

DB ran with me the whole time. Bless his heart. The last half mile he was pulling away from me, but kept looking over his shoulder to make sure I didn't quit (or die). But we finished together because he thought the finish line was the same as the start line. We still had a 1/4 mile to go when he thought we would be done. 

I will probably never wear the race t-shirt though. Oh, it's a nice shirt. Dry-wicking fabric and everything. The nicest quality shirt I've ever gotten for free. But the design...the little blue handprints are right on my boobs! Who approved this? 

This is the race t-shirt.

That second place win was great. You couldn't wipe the smile off my face for a good hour or so. DB thinks we can shave a minute and a half off our time, which would make me a contender for first place. That same time would put him in the top three, once he has his birthday and gets pushed into a higher age group. Always thinking, that one.

I'd post a motivating song, but I didn't have headphones.

Friday morning run, 2.02 miles

I took it nice and easy this morning. Nothing eventful to report. Except it's crazy annoying when people stand on the sidewalk and don't step off to the side when a runner is coming through. Don't worry, lady with no manners, I'll run in the grass so you don't have to exert yourself. And now I'm back home, glad to have the run out of the way!

This morning's job is brought to you by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

Thursday morning, 2.2 miles.

Another beautiful autumn morning here in Montgomery, Alabama! I got my Puppy Brother to run about a mile. That's pretty much all he can handle these days. He's old, and recovering from a stroke. But he still gets excited when he sees my running shoes come out. I am going to blame my workout app for recording 2.12 miles in 21:15. I feel like I ran so much faster this morning!

Mr. Mister - Kyrie

Commandant's Challenge 5k+

Today was the capstone event for Squadron Officer School (SOS). It happens in the last week of an eight-week course. It consists of an individual 5k run, and then as soon as the entire team finishes, the team continues on to a series of problem solving events. Those events take place over the course of another two miles or so. The team is supposed to use all of the leadership and problem-solving skills they've learned over the course of the eight-week program. My job as their instructor is to run alongside them and keep them on the right track (literally, on the course, not on guiding them through their problem solving).

The flight did well. They didn't get all of the problems solved. But they remained a team the entire team. Well, mostly a team. There is one person in the flight that I will consider "dead weight." She had no interest in doing her best. Everyone finished before her, which is fine, but the flight sent five members back to run with her to the finish. When they found her, she was walking the course, chit-chatting with another student. As if they were out for a stroll, not a timed military team event. I was disappointed to say the least. This flight has carried her through each event throughout the course. For this capstone, I had hoped to see some motivation in her to help them succeed. But no. Just a shrug and "whatever." *sigh* I can say though, that of the 42 students I've had so far, she is the only one that has so obviously shown this mentality. 

This is a fitness post because I had to run alongside them for every event. I finished the first three miles in 26:48. Not bad! Then the next two miles (untimed), and then finished it with another 1/2 mile jog back to the starting point. My left leg aches a little bit. But I feel much better than I did the last time I did this about 10 weeks ago. The recent runs building up to this have certainly helped!

Today's motivational song was Lady GaGa's "Applause," which came on right before I hit the massive hill at the end of the first leg of the event.

Saturday Morning Run

Well, I intended to run two miles this morning, but it turned into three miles. I'm good with that! I won't be running for a couple of days though. I'm got a big four-plus mile run on Tuesday.

The weather was beautiful this morning! Summer is finally ending here in the South. I moved here in January, and I swear it's been summer since then. It's about 66°F with a light breeze. How perfect is that for a morning run? I think everyone else in the neighborhood thought so, too. There was quite a bit of foot traffic out there! 

I'm still using the MapMyRun app. What I like is that it pauses and resumes the workout by itself. No fumbling with it to stop tracking when I get stuck at a stoplight. Also, the buttons and icons are nice and big, so I don't accidentally click on something when I do decide to fumble with it. It will also send my stats straight to Blogger, so that you can have too much information about me I can share them with you. What I don't like is that it doesn't give me turn-by-turn navigation for the routes I create. And that was the whole point of downloading it in the first place (I read on some forum somewhere that it did that).

This is what it posts to Blogger (not directly, it created a draft post):

I ran with MapMyRun! Distance: 3.05mi, time: 29:30, pace: 9:40min/mi, speed: 6.21mi/h. http://mapmyrun.com/workout/395603207

 Well, better get started with my Saturday! It's free museum day!

The song that got me through this workout was Nikki Minaj - Moment for Life.

Friday Morning Run

We had a late start at work yesterday, so even after I procrastinated, there was still time to go for a run. I couldn't use my usual "I don't want to be late to work" excuse! I got 2.47 miles in yesterday, and another 2 miles this morning.

I tried the MapMyRun app yesterday, thinking it would give me turn-by-turn directions for a route I uploaded. False. It was really just the same as the two other running apps I have on my phone. They just track the route I run and save it, but there isn't any navigation.

I think it will be fun to upload the video to one of my workout songs everytime I run.


Today's run is brought to you by Asia, "Heat of the Moment."

Anyhoo, now I really will be late to work if I don't finish this post up. Bis später!

Running of the Bulls

I just finished another 5k, the squadron's "Running of the Bulls." Our squadron mascot is a bull, so it makes sense. It is not a reference to an actual bull on the course, in which case I would have finished much, much faster. I think my time was 29 minutes or so, about the same time I the course in last Saturday. That makes a total of 10 miles run in the past week! I feel great. I managed to finish this second 5k without stopping at the huge hill toward the end. Started about a minute too late (messing with my phone to get the distance tracker and music started). Still managed to pass quite a few people though. I think I'm finally back to being able to (almost) comfortably run three miles. Also feels good to complete that before 8:00 on a Tuesday! Starting to look forward to these runs.

Fitness Wagon

Trying to get back on the fitness wagon, I may have overdone it this week. I feel great, but my muscles are fighting me. Last year, I lost about 30 pounds in 6 months or so. I had a regular routine of hitting the gym at lunchtime. A month of Monday through Friday Spin classes kickstarted the weight loss, but I got bored fast. I switched to twice a week Spin, twice a week of whatever group workout class they offered, and once a week of Stairmaster or elliptical training. I didn't run much. The one day a week I was on a machine, I watched my guilty-pleasure TV shows like Judge Judy or Entertainment Tonight.

Then the big move, from Germany to Alabama started, and I just didn't have the time. Fast forward to this week, when I realized I had started living in yoga pants again. My skinny jeans were muffin-top jeans! I managed to fit in a Spin class, two 2-mile runs, and topped it off with a 5k this morning. I finished around 29 minutes. I'm proud of myself, but am going to take a few down days. My next thing is a group 5k that we call "The Running of the Bulls" on Tuesday. My goal is to get that 5k down to 25 minutes or less. Oh, and to make my skinny jeans zip up without doing a dance to zip them up.

So that oughta get you caught up on where I stand. I'll post more successes and failures as they come up. But to paraphrase Dori, "just keep spinning, spinning, spinning."