running

Random things Friday.

| cheriarmour

It’s been a while since I’ve done a post like this, but I think these posts are really good because they give you an accurate picture of what goes on inside my brain. Which is a LOT. And I don’t necessarily mean in the MENSA way, I mean in the ADD, pass the Adderall kind of way.

Onto the random things!

1. I wanted to run long on Thursday morning, but I fell asleep with a pretty severe headache and a touch of a sore throat. I almost NEVER get sick so it was sort of alarming. I woke up yesterday morning after some pretty fitful dreams, with an even bigger headache, and I spent most of the morning on the couch answering some emails and chugging coffee and water to try and get the headache to go away/flush some of that nasty stuff out of my body.

2.  I noticed some people who ran Tobacco Road had posted some of their times and photos from the race.  Check out this proof!

TBTR15BV02298

So I ran 13.1 miles after arriving at a race late, and since I was late I could not check a bag.  this means I had my jacket (that was wayyyy too expensive for me to ditch), my water, and my phone, all with me.  Oh well, race ended well despite some residual soreness from having to fight my way up from the back of the pack during the race.  Check out that lobster red face!

3.  I think I found some tickets in a really good section of Stevie Wonder in Newark in April to surprise my dad with.  For the most part I don’t think my dad reads this blog super often.  If he happens to be reading today my surprise is ruined.  Also, is there a reason why ticket scalpers need to make all of our lives extremely difficult by buying up all the tickets?  A lot of times they have to drop the price down in the final days before the concert.  That has to be stressful.  Is that worth it?  Can’t they be normal people and get a second job that requires not gumming up Ticketmaster for the rest of us?

4.  CamelBak Eddy

I drink out of this thing on the regs. All sorts of watery beverages. Water, sparkling water. You know, I get pretty crazy. Well I happened to be looking at the bite valve on this thing last week, and it was full of mold. Which is kind of terrifying. But also explains why ::knock on wood:: that I’ve not been really sick in a long time.  Like I don’t count a little sore throat that I’m dealing with now.  But I’ve been ingesting all sorts of disgustingness while I’ve been trying to stay hydrated for some time.  Gross.  Also intriguing.

5.  My performance appraisal is next week.  Eep.  I hope it goes well.  It kind of makes my stomach hurt to think about it.  I’ve done a good job at my job, and I love my job, but I know there are things I can improve on.  And I want to take the time between this PA and next years to kill it even harder.

Tell me one random thing!

Tobacco Road Half Marathon

| cheriarmour

I’m sitting on my couch, nursing a beer, and alternately foam rolling my hips (which ALWAYS like to act up when I run long).  I’m just smiling when I think back on today.

So I sort of sprang it on you guys last minute, that I was running the Tobacco Road Half Marathon.  Quite honestly, I knew I wanted to (and needed to run), but I didn’t even sign up until the very last minute – in part due to the fact that I’m being tight-fisted with cash (I just bought a new car cash), and part because I was just nervous.

So Saturday night, after working most of the day at Fleet Feet Raleigh (which is so damned nice once in a while), I went home, watched TV, and made dinner, fully prepped to take it easy the night before the half.  Since Austin wasn’t at home, I did my usual, and started to fall asleep on the couch to a movie, then moved to to boudoir when I woke up around 11:30 or so on the couch.

[Side note: I finally watched Think Like a Lady, Act Like a Man. It was not horrid as I assumed it would be.  It was kinda cute, even though that title is problamatic.]

I set my alarm(s) for 4:15, 4:20, 4:30, and 4:40 am, in order to jump in the shower, put a little mascara on, and make sure I had everything I needed together for the race.  I figured that wasn’t overkill, and went to sleep, only waking up to say hey to my boo when he got home, and then again when I got a phone call from some friends who were out for St. Patrick’s Day, drinking green beer.

What happened next is straight out of a dark comedy.

I don’t remember my alarms going off.  All I know is that I woke up around 5:40, a text came from one of my girls at 5:43ish, and that the race was supposed to start at 7am.  This meant I had about 20 minutes to jump in my car, get on the shuttle, get to the start line.  My husband, the calming force that he is, remained so sweet.

“Do you want me to drive you?  Do I need to get dressed now?”

I was determined.  I hopped in the Kia, drove to parking (which I was so late that I didn’t have to pay for), and managed to make it onto the shuttle with two other late people, and do the start line with a few minutes to spare before the start.

I didn’t want to be rude, so though I started way in the back, I only managed to make it up to the 2:30 half marathon pace group, and decided to stay put so I didn’t push folks who’d actually gotten there on time.  It wasn’t their fault I was running late, so it’s me who needed to suck it up and expend the extra energy once we started running, to make my way to be up with my group.  The weather was nice enough that I only needed a light half-zip, and I noted that this was one of the first races that I didn’t feel like I was dying of hypothermia and shivering at the start.

Off we went!

I trotted along, slowly making my way up, up, up, closer to my pace of about 2 hours.   The race was relatively flat, and as I trotted along, listening to my playlist, I saw a few people that I knew.  I was feeling good!  Still, I worked my way up, and started to settle into an about 9-minute/mile pace.

As you’ll remember, I’ve had stomach issues, so I was a little worried about what that would mean for the day, but some of the girls at work let me try some Huma gel, a gel infused with Chia seeds for natural energy, and I popped one at about 4 miles, and again around 8 or 9, and I felt great – no stomach issues before, during, or even after the race, which has never happened to me.

I cruised along the flat trail pretty issue-free, until about mile 9, where I started to feel like I was getting over it, and I felt a little fatigue set in, and really had to push through for the next mile or so until I got back into the right headspace.

I finished, a few minutes later at about 2:03.  Not a poor showing for the first race in a long time!

Here are some of the girls I met up with!  I work with them all at Fleet Feet.

Sean Astin

Half Marathon
Actor, Sean Astin, Lord of the Rings.

So my assessment of Tobacco Road was that it was awesome.  The course was flat, weather was beautiful, and I would honestly not change anything about it.  I would do the race again to see if I could improve my time (which I’m hoping to do with some speed work), and if I had some friends doing it with me again.

What did you do to enjoy the gorgeous weather this weekend?

I ran a half marathon and kissed on my hubby a lot 🙂

Terrified: thoughts before a half marathon.

| cheriarmour

Want to hear something that really made me laugh hard yesterday?

This is so so rude, but I was at home sort of in the middle of the day because I’m on duty Thursday nights, and I was sending some emails and such, and listening to E! in the background, when I realized that they were playing all the episodes of KUWTK involving Kris Humphries in Bora Bora.  Now the reason why this is so good and so rude is because clearly, Kim is no longer married to Kris (they only made it 72 days, which Austin and I celebrated as our “Kardashian Anniversary”), and Kimmy was the biggest asshole she’s ever been during the Kris era.

Exhibit A:

Now this particular scenario was really exquisite because Kris tosses Kim into the ocean…

Bora BoraCausing her head to slam against the ocean’s surface and her to lose her $75k diamond earrings.  Instead of being a logical human, Kim begins to whimper, then cry, as she runs to and fro on the dock.  When she tells Kourtney whats happening, Kourtney responds by telling her…

DyingIt must also be noted that the earrings were insured, so the tears were just extra.

The Kris era also ushered in this gem.

Ugly Little TrollNow, I won’t bore you all day with the wonderful things that KUWTK has brought to my life, but suffice it to say, that I was entertained for a full at least 5 minutes.

I’m terrified. 

I haven’t talked about it much here because of my fear of looking like a complete idiot, but I’m racing for the first time in a while on and it scares the piss out of me.  Here are my thoughts before a half marathon.

  1. Water?  I should hydrate.  Yes, hydrate.  Water.  Now.  Water, some tea, some seltzer, more water.
  2. Speaking of water, I should prep my water plan for tomorrow.  Where’s my hydration backpack?
  3. I’m not sure what they’re gonna have on the course, let me make sure that I pack some gels.  But gel makes my stomach hurt.  Maybe I should ask the chicks at Fleet Feet when I work what I should do.
  4. What shoes am I going to wear?  I don’t think the Glycerin is doing it for me anymore.
  5. What do I eat for dinner with only a smidgen of fiber so I don’t poo my pants tomorrow.
  6. Speaking of pants, what am I going to wear?  I should lay that out.
  7. Do I have any Coke around for after the race?  Shit. Shit.
  8. Also, what am I going to eat for breakfast tomorrow?

And then, I commence to not sleeping, or sleeping fitfully all night whilst dreaming that I’ve overslept and missed my race.

How was your weekend?  What do you worry about before a big race/event?

 

Running on freezing

| cheriarmour

So, it’s cold as eff here, and as far as I know, I’m still running a marathon in two months.

Lord Jesus please someone explain to me why the low on Thusrday is 5 degrees?  I live in North Carolina, this should not be the case.

via WRAL.com
via WRAL.com

This is straight, unadulterated bs. And I’m trying to figure out the best way to go about running this week without injuring myself or going crazy on the treadmill, not only because the treadmill is ridiculously boring, but also because the treadmills at my job try and close you out at 45 minutes for the courtesy of others. I may have to guest it somewhere and run on a treddie or a trail here that will allow me a little more time and still allow me to pack on the mileage. But hey, I won’t whine too much because I have a warm bed and a roof over my head.  More than some folks can say.

But I digress.

Beside the fact that we’re freezing for whatever reason here, I have an actual question for you all.

So, I may be the only woman on the planet, but I never read Fifty Shades of Grey.  I never got into it, and in fact, the summer when the series’ popularity had reached a fever pitch, I was working in the mountains of Pennsylvania, and I truly just didn’t have time to read it, plus I didn’t want my girls to see me reading it (even though a really decent number of them, juniors in high school, were reading it).

And now, with the movie last weekend, and with the proliferation of articles for and against it, I’m genuinely curious as to what all the hype was about, and if we ARE pushing something dark and abusive.  Knowing all of this, and knowing that I’m still training, and running a lot, I’m definitely considering putting that in the queue for treadmill books, really to see what this controversy is all about.  I honestly feel weird commenting on it at all without having read it, and I’m surprised to see that a lot of the folks who are writing blog posts and articles about it haven’t so much as cracked its spine.  But that’s just me.

Are you staying warm?

Did you read 50 Shades?  What did you think about it?

Underboob Chafing

| cheriarmour

I made a critical error in judgement during my training.

Because I was at the Hornets game this weekend, I shifted my long run to Monday during my workday, and went for it.  But because I was rushing off to work (as usual) I grabbed whatever bra I could find out of the bottom of my clean clothes, and happened to grab this bra that isn’t even manufactured anymore, a bra that may have fit me back in the summer of 2010.  So that was five years ago.

After working in running retail for some time, I have repeated to our female customers numerous times the importance of replacing your sports bras.

“Your bra should never see a birthday.”

“You should change your bra when you change your shoes.”

“Gain or lose weight?  Have a baby?  Come in for another bra fitting.”

But we never, never listen to our own advice, and I have had this bra since I was about 22 years old.  (I’m now 27, about 20-30 pounds lighter, married, and I’ve changed bra sizes and tax brackets.)

So of course, I put this old raggedy bra on, so raggedy that one of the hooks on the hook-and-eye closure has complete disappeared.

Mid-10-miler, I noticed something going on, but was a little focused on making it back in one piece – the temp was steadily dropping, and my poor hands were losing feeling, so I sort of think adrenaline took over.  It wasn’t until I took a shower that I figured out what happened.

I cranked the water and hopped in – I was meeting an old friend for dinner – and immediately starting screeching.  I investigated – I’d managed to rub the skin off the underside of both of my breasts.  I screamed throughout the rest of the shower, and located my tube of Aquaphor immediately after I dried off and slathered a layer on.

That bra is going in the trash.  Well…what if I need it later?  Can it hurt me if I shove it in the bottom of the drawer again?

Any articles of clothing you’ve let hang around for five years?  For longer?  

One Year with Cokes

| cheriarmour

So, let’s start by describing what position I’m in.

After a speed workout on Tuesday, and teaching two classes, I woke up on Wednesday not really being able to move my neck around a whole lot.  I tried turning it right, then left.  Not a whole lot going on.  Up and down?  Same thing.  And I knew I had like two meetings at work.  Kinda felt like Miranda…

Miranda SATC
via yourepeat.com

When she managed to pull her neck during marathon training, and Aiden had to come peel her off the floor. [Side note: still a little upset about the way things ended with Aiden the first time because the second time those two got together and got engaged was just painful to watch.]

But I digress. My neck was not at all feeling well, I’m not sure what I did to it, and with two meetings scheduled that day, I really couldn’t not go into work.  Double negative.  But you get it.  So I popped three Aleve, and went on my way.

By the time I’d made it through my second meeting, the pain was starting to come up through my head, so I went home and alternated putting this heated rice bag thing on my neck with this neck massager thingie my mom very thoughtfully got me for Christmas a few years ago.  It came in handy with my first marathon because I was having a lot of trouble with my pirformis, and I would just wedge the massager onto my big ass.  This time, it’s actually on my neck where it’s supposed to be.  Ahhh!

One year with the Coco. 

About a year ago, I took a huge leap of faith, and adopted a little dog, sight unseen, because I was told her owner was going to take her to the pound.

CocoThe night we got her, she jumped up on the end of the bed, and I woke up periodically that night to make sure she was still there.  She was thin, her hair was patchy, and I don’t know that she was getting the love that she needed.  But she fit right in with our family, and really has brought us so much joy.  I’ve convinced myself that Coco is immortal and she’s done little to correct me.  I love that.  Here’s to many, many more happy memories with the Coke-monster!

Tell me about your pets!

Speed werk + China

| cheriarmour

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m training for Rock ‘n’ Roll, the full, in Raleigh in April.  Training is in full-swing, and last night, with there being some nasty weather in North Carolina early this morning and last night, I was forced to do my speed work, 12×400 with 400 meters of rest, on the indoor track.

Now that all sounds well and good, but the track?

Indoor Track

15 laps equals a mile.   Kill me!

Surprisingly, it wasn’t so bad though, and I’m not as sore a day later as I thought I would be.  Even though I think most people kind of dread speedwork, I will say that it’s a really fun way to get a lot of miles in – you’re so focused on hitting those meters 12 times (ew) that you don’t realize that 6 miles is come and gone!  And I think speed work can keep you skinny!

China

Forgive me, but I’m a little salty about this topic.   And by salty, I mean I’m a little salty, but more jealous.

My husband is going to China for work in a few weeks and I can’t go!  Blah!  It’s a work trip, so I have to hold down the fort while he goes and does work things in China.  But a few things I will do while he’s in China that first week of February?

  • I’m going to hire some housecleaning help that we’ve been talking about since before we got married.  Judge away, but we both work full time, I’m messy, and housecleaning isn’t my skill set.  I think it’s a good time for me to get some help in here and see how we do with it.  I would LOVE to (if money were no object) have someone once every two weeks, but we’ll start with just the one visit while my husband is gone.
  • I will cook so girly. Remember that epi of SATC when Carrie talked about secret single behavior?  One of my SSBs is eating strange things as meals.  Veggie dinners, salads with weird little things on them, and all of the things that your husband might look at you funny for eating.  I’m PUMPED.
  • I will drink wine in my underwear.
  • And I will miss the heck out of him.

I’m jealous, but I just want him back with me, not running around China!

What are your SSBs?

Miss Manners

| cheriarmour

I wore full makeup to work the other day.

And most of you that know me know that I’m a very strictly BB cream and mascara type of girl. And that’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with cosmetics – I absolutely love them, however, in my job, it really doesn’t make a ton of sense to do much more than the BB and the mascara.

I spend the daytime part of my job in business casual as much as I can, and then the other part of my job, especially when I’m running or teaching classes, is spent sweating up a storm, and if you’ve ever seen someone in full makeup after a good sweat session, it looks silly.

[Disclaimer: if you feel more comfortable wearing makeup while you work out, that is completely up to you, and I totally get it. Judgement-free zone.]

So all of that to say is that I rock a pretty natural look during the day. But last week, after a night of interrupted sleep thanks to the cats, I decided that not only would I go a little more heavy-handed with the tinted BB cream, but that I would even go for my liquid eyeliner, just to wake those eyes up a little bit.

Selfie

As I walked through the doors at work, someone remarked with utter shock and amazement, “Cheri’s wearing makeup!!” loudly enough for everyone on the floor to hear. She accompanied this with her mouth hanging wide open. I was really embarrassed. I get it, maybe I looked a little different. But is it absolutely necessary to point out that I look scary without makeup (evidently) and that I put in a little extra effort that day?

Two things I think Miss Manners wants me to tell you if you’ve ever been guilty of making a statement like that one…

  • Don’t comment on when you feel someone looks “tired”.  They might be tired.  They might look like shit.  But they certainly aren’t being told anything they don’t know, and are most likely hoping that no one notices how rough they’re looking/feeling.
  • There is a way to compliment someone if they put on some extra makeup and stuff.  You look really nice!  Period!  End of story!  Reminding someone that they usually come to work looking like Shrek, but today, things are different, which is a pleasant change for you, is not helpful. It’s actually rude.

So – just curious. How much, or how little makeup do you usually wear?

Addicted

| cheriarmour

It’s official…I’m addicted to quinoa.

It all started when I got a free quinoa bowl from Happy and Hale a few months back.

Photo via Bizjournal
Photo via Bizjournal

The place is a really cool concept – a very “Stuff White People Like” deal, with a full bar of fresh ingredients waiting to be combined into your delicious salad. Prior to my intro to the ‘noa, I’d kind of just avoided a ton of rice and grain, simply because the serving size on it is so small and I’d really like to eat more of something else without me getting bloated.  But I discovered the incredibleness that is quinoa, and now I just can’t get it out of my mind.

Similar to rice, you can cook it in the steamer, get a ton of fiber out of it, stay full for hours, and it’s SO plain, you can mix it with just about anything that you want.  Why I waited so long to be introduced to quinoa, I don’t know.  But I love it, and I’m not turning back.

2015 Events

Since I’ve been focusing more on the budget the past few months, even thought I’ve really wanted to sign up for races right and left, I’ve kind of held back, and as a result, I’m only signed up for Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh, and I’m so itching to sign up for something in order for me to keep my motivation and my fitness up throughout 2015.

So here are the options I’m looking at.

Rock ‘n’ Roll DC

P1160281I did this race, and since I stayed at the Westin, I ran into some cool-ass people like Carrie Keagan, who used to host Big Morning Buzz on VH1.  Still one of my favorite races, except for the killer hill at mile 6.

North Face Endurance Challenge

Since reading Dean Karnazes’ books, I’ve been really intrigued by the idea of ultra marathons (any marathon over 26.2 miles).  The idea makes my husband really really nervous, but I’m thinking about doing it just to see what I can do.  I love the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing one of these things.

Marine Corps

Marine Corps isn’t open, but the lottery opens in March.  Which means that if I got in, I would have to train throughout the summer.  In North Carolina.  Kinda blah, but I hear the race is absolutely awesome.  I also did training with a friend end of last summer, and I forgot that I don’t completely hate running long.  I just hate the heat kinda.

Nike

So this one is just sort of annoying.  The past two years, I’ve done the Nike Women’s Half marathon, and love it.  Nike canceled their DC event, and have yet to announce a spring event, leading me to believe there is no spring event.  It sucks, because these races are definitely one of my top races, but it’s also a total first world problem, and I have clean water and a warm bed to lay my head down at night, so no complaints.  Well, not that many.

So those races are on my radar for the year.  Any races/events you’re looking forward to signing up for to keep you motivated?