my race wish list

So now that I'm back to running again it's time to figure out all the races I'd like to run and all the races I'll actually be able to run/afford! I came across my wish list for 2010 the other day...I didn't end up running any of them since I got knocked up:-) (fun fact: little man is now 7 weeks and the most amazing thing I could ever imagine). Since joining Twitter I have heard about sooo many cool races and only wish I didn't have to take out a loan to run them all (entry fee, travel, hotels, food...yea, it adds up!) But here is what I would like to do in 2011

Mid Winter Classic- February 6

New Bedford Half Marathon- March 20

Big Lake Half Marathon- May 7

Reach The Beach Relay- May 20-21

LL Bean 4th of July 10K- July 4

TD Bank Beach 2 Beacon 10K- August 6

Maine Marathon (Here goes...my first marathon!! eeekkk!)

New England Runner Pub Series (This is a series of 6 races. I'm not sure what races will be part of it in 2011)

Of course all these races are subject to change. We'll see what happens. Depending on how my marathon goes, I might get crazy in 2012...stay tuned!:-) Have any suggestions of fun races to run in 2011? What's the one race you run every year??

Good luck to everyone training for fall marathons! I can't wait to run mine next year!!

When will running be fun again?

Here I am....at the end of week 3. I finally got in all my miles this week, just not on the days that they were scheduled but I wasn't able to make it to the gym. Ahhhh. If it's not one thing, it's another. Someday I'll figure out how to balance my running and my family. Luckily right now I am not running long distances so I'm not away from the house for too long. I follow a lot of running moms/dads on Twitter....how do you do it!!?!?!?

So my runs this week haven't felt great. My legs feel heavy and dead. At times I feel like I am steps away from walking. However, my splits have gotten better each week. Why do I feel like crap when I'm running, but each run I'm making progress??

On my 4 mile run today I started thinking "When is running going to be fun again?". I had this thought when I was training for my half marathon last fall. I remember on a 5 mile run I started to wonder when all my training was going to start paying off and my runs weren't going to feel like hard work. I don't have to run. It's something I do because I want to. I know that every run won't always be easy, but I feel like some of them should be. I just need to stick with it and things will get better.

A co worker of mine is trying to lose the last 10lbs from having her baby and asked me how I get motivated to run. I told her, I just do it. I have a difficult race in 5 weeks and I know that if I don't go out and run I am going to die in the race and let my teammates down. Even though I am pumped to get back to running again, there are days I would rather sit home with my family instead of rush out the door as soon as my husband gets home from work so that I'm not out running in the dark or forced to run at the gym.

I have a 5 mile run scheduled for next weekend but I am debating running a local 10K with beer and pizza at the end:-) I figure I'll run my 5, try and run 6 but if I have to walk part of it I will. The course is pretty flat and I don't think it should be too bad. I have several friends that are running it so I think it would be fun. It's also the last day of my 8 week maternity leave, the next day I have to go back to work. Blah. Not happy about that. I've had some serious thoughts about being a drug dealing porn star and working from home:-)

Week 3 Recap:

Monday- 2 mile run 10:29 pace

Wednesday- 3 mile run 10:54 pace

Thursday- Abs and lunges

Saturday- 3.5 hour hike

Sunday- 4 mile run 10:20 pace

On a side note, Saturday I went on a hike around Hermit Island with my neighbors. We hiked for 3.5 hours and had soooo much fun! It was such a beautiful Maine day. My husband is renovating our kitchen so he stayed home and worked on the kitchen while Ty and I went out and played:-) We really missed him though.

very slight improvement

Week 2 of my training is done!! While my runs this week still weren't *great*, they were much improved from last week. I'm just hoping that each week gets better. My fastest mile this week was 9:57!! Yay. Down from the 11:42 I was running last week. I think the extreme heat we had last week was a killer. I live in Maine people, I am not used to 90+ degrees for 5 days in a row.

What's going to be difficult now that I have a baby and can't just run anytime I feel like it, is finding time to run. I know I could get up super early in the morning and run but I just can't bring myself to do that yet. I love my sleep people and I'm just not ready to give it up, especially if the baby is still sleeping. So I have been running at night when my husband gets home from work. That sucks too because it cuts into our family time, which we don't get a lot of during the week. So I'm still trying to figure it all out. Once I go back to work (which I DO NOT want to do) I can go for a run directly from work before I pick him up at daycare. I'll have 1.5-2 hours from the time I get out of work and the time he has to be picked up by to run. I'm hoping that works.

So here is a review of my week:

Monday- 2.06 mile run. 10:37 pace

Wednesday- 30 min on the bike at the gym

Thursday- 1.23 mile run 10:09 pace (I was late meeting some friends for dinner so I had to cut it short)

Saturday- 3.01 mile run 11:07 mile pace (yea, I spent .3 of those miles walking up a hill...oops!)

During my run Saturday I wasn't feeling great and was disappointed in myself for walking. When I hit the 1.5 mile mark I was running at a 10:09 pace...not bad. Once I got 3/4 of the way up a hill on the way home I lost some steam and ended up walking for about .3 miles. The entire time I was thinking about what a failed run this was and how crappy I felt. But now that I am home and I look back on it, it wasn't so bad. It's still faster then I was running last week, so I suppose I can't complain.

Next week I have a 2 mile run, 3 mile run and a 4 mile "long run". I know I'm going to look back on this someday and laugh at myself and wonder why I thought this was so hard. Let's hope that day is soon.