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‘Tis The Season

June 14, 2012 by Kristy 20 Comments

How many of you are about to begin training for a Fall marathon or half marathon? How many of you already started training?

‘Tis the season! I love it. It makes me giddy. There’s something about just rolling out of bed, throwing on shorts and a tank, and just going that is so wonderful. No checking weather.com, no worrying that the snot or sweat you just wiped with your glove will freeze and turn your hands numb.

Long, sweaty runs are my favorite. Long runs are an accomplishment to begin with and with the added heat it feels like an even bigger triumph.

Then there are days when the humidity breaks and you feel like you are flying. You realize you are making progress and it’s all coming together.

Summer is synonymous with training to me and this summer will be no different. I was hesitant to make any major decisions after Boston because I needed a mental break.

Physically, I feel great. I’m happy with where my running is. Mentally, I would say I’m getting there. So logically I would decide to sign up for a 50K in August. Yep, Turkey Swamp 50K here I come (ready or not).

What are you training for right now?

What are your favorite things about summer running?

Back to Reality

June 11, 2012 by Kristy 12 Comments

All good things must come to an end. This is true of vacation-palooza. Kauai, London, and Paris were all amazing in their own way. Kauai was active, scenic, and refreshing. London and Paris were about exploring, strolling, and marveling.

But now it’s back to normal life and checking back into it.

My body seemed to be revolting a bit on Sunday. Too many nights of drinking made my stomach churn. Too little water during the day (coupled with numerous beers at night) made my head ache from dehydration. I feel squishy too.

I’m making a conscious effort to eat better this week and stay away from this:

Evil (via)

Matt went to the grocery store in Paris to pick up wheat bread and PB so we could have a cheap and easy breakfast each morning. He came back with Speculoos; it was the only “PB” available other than Nutella. Oh my god was is delicious. We killed the entire jar in 4 days, mostly because of my compulsive need to eat spoonful after spoonful. Turns out this is available at Trader Joe’s (thanks to Jen for this finding)! I’m trying my best to not make a pit stop at TJ’s and pick up a few jars.

On Sunday I’m making a return to barre to take care of the squishy side effects of vacation-palooza. My last barre class was a few weeks before Boston and I miss it so much. Squishiness be gone!

I do feel really good about where my running is at the moment. I’m hoping to hit the mid-40s mileage-wise this week – nothing fast, just running whatever pace I want for that day.

Have you ever tried Speculoos or TJ’s Cookie Butter? It rivals PB & Co.’s White Chocolate Wonderful, which I affectionately refer to as crack. What would we do without PB or specialty butters?!

Strolling vs. Running in Paris

June 7, 2012 by Kristy 13 Comments

You can stroll and get lost for days in Paris. That’s exactly what Matt and I have been doing – strolling around and seeing the sights. Running is a bit different.

It’s pretty easy to get lost. That’s part of the charm with strolling but not so much with running. The sidewalks are crowded and there are numerous traffic lights. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. I had hopes of running along the Seine but we are staying about 1.5 miles from it which makes for a lengthy start-stop-start-stop journey. You don’t even see many runners. We saw a few yesterday at the Jardins des Tuileries – perhaps they were celebrating National Running Day?

So today, while Matt is at the French Open with his nephew, I found the nearest park and headed out to get my sweat on. It finally stopped raining and blue skies appeared out of nowhere.

I didn’t just walk out the door and run. There was some preparation involved.

Survival kit – phone, address of the apartment, keys, directions to the park (in case my phone didn’t work), and some money in case I desperately get lost and need a taxi home. All contained in a baggie just in case it rained again.

ready, set, go

Within a few minutes I was at Square Saint-Lambert, a small park close to the apartment. It had a gravel “track” so I decided to do 10 fast-ish loops to get the most out of my very short run.

I spy the Eiffel Tower

Even though I only covered 3 miles (?), it was good enough to break a sweat and get a small dose of endorphins. And allowed for more baguettes to be consumed.

When you visit a new city do you prefer to stroll and see where it takes you or do you plan out a firm itinerary? We do both. We have a game plan for each day but it includes plenty of strolling time. We love to visit little neighborhoods and see how the locals live.

Long Live The Queen

June 5, 2012 by Kristy 9 Comments

I’m starting to think we are being stalked by Queen Elizabeth II. That’s right, she is stalking us commoners.

Last May, we were in Ireland and she made an unprecedented visit. Unprecedented as in she never visited Ireland before. And it just so happened to overlap with our trip. It didn’t hinder our sightseeing too much. Some things were closed and we had to take a few detours but, otherwise, no big deal. We even got a glimpse of her going by in her car. Pretty cool.

Giving her best royal wave

Last week we were researching where to go and what to do in London and noticed some things were closed due to the “Queen’s Diamond Jubilee”. Hmmm. Again, we thought no big deal.

Let me put it this way – the Olympics are about to take place in London in a little over 6 weeks and there is no indication of any preparation. The only thing we saw (sadly) was a small, digital countdown to the Olympics near our hotel in Trafalgar Square. That’s it. They are too busy celebrating the Diamond Jubilee. It was a HUGE deal.

They love their Queen, that’s for sure. And while it was cool to take part in the festivities, London was crowded and bridges/sights were closed. Not cool. We spent a mere weekend in London and again it overlapped with a “Queen” event.

We did get to do our run along the Thames though. We had to be a bit creative since bridges were closed and people were camping out along the Thames to watch the flotilla (in honor of…you guessed it, the Queen).

He came out of retirement…

We hit a bunch of pubs at night and came across one called Endurance. Obviously, we had to go in for a beer. It was an odd mix of taxidermy, disco balls, and bad music (Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It”). We stayed for 1 beer.

We did like London and we did have a great time…I just wished we came last weekend (apparently the weather was gorgeous too). It was nice to watch The Royal Family (and by family I mean Will, Kate, and Harry). We only see pictures of them in the US and it was fun to see them interact with the crowd and one another. They are human, imagine that!

Fireworks after the Queen’s concert at Buckingham Palace…

Friday Thoughts

June 1, 2012 by Kristy 13 Comments

Bonjour! Just practicing.

Speaking of French, after 2 years of high school French and 3 semesters of college French, I can’t speak a lick of it. I can read some but once it leaves my mouth, it’s horribly butchered and completely wrong. The side of your brain (right?) that helps with foreign language learning is also the same side that prevents me from drawing a decent stick figure. But if you need me to explain the intricacies of the kidney to you, I’m your girl.

The past 2 weeks of running have been great! Quality runs, decent long runs, and…fun. Not worrying about pace and not hitting the track every week is freeing.

Since Boston, I’ve been kind of checked out of reality. Pretty easy to do with Boston, Kauai, and now London/Paris back-to-back. I must say the life of a gypsy (that’s what my co-worker called me yesterday) is sweet!

I have 2 runs planned while we are in London and Paris. I wish I could do more but our itinerary is jam packed. In London, walking along the Thames was on our list so we decided to make an early morning run out of it. Notice I said “we”? Matt agreed to join me and come out of his early retirement from running! In Paris, I plan on doing a solo run along the Seine while Matt goes to the French Open with his nephew. Fun, fun, fun!

Would your (non-running) significant other agree to go on a vacation run with you? Matt was technically a runner at one point and did a few HMs and a marathon but he hated every second of it. So he retired.

Are you fluent in another language? If so, I’m impressed. That’s definitely not in the cards for me!

3 days are better than 2…

May 28, 2012 by Kristy 14 Comments

Fun and productive…that’s what you get with a 3-day weekend.

I kicked off the weekend with a 15-miler on Friday morning, my longest run since Boston. I did my same hilly, long run route but slowed down the pace significantly. There’s no need for speedy long runs right now and that is more than OK with me. I really missed just getting out there and running, with no agenda.

On Friday night we went to a wedding (see the importance of getting the long run outta the way?!). But first we swung by my brother’s house to see my niece – it was her Junior Prom. She looked beautiful!

To balance out the fun of Friday night, Saturday was all about sleeping in, no running, making up training plans, and a wee bit of shopping (GAP was having an amazing sale).

And with Sunday, we were back to fun – a BBQ at my brother’s house. In the morning I knocked out 6 miles on trails, bringing me to 40 miles for the week.

Monday morning started with 9 miles on the same trails and then extreme productivity. I made a very optimistic to-do list and, as I type this, I have just 1 item left on the list! We leave for London/Paris on Friday night so I’m trying to get as much done as possible early on in the week. And I’m squeezing another 40-mile week into 4 days of running. Fun!

Was your Memorial Day weekend fun and productive?