birthday

thirty-six

February 10, 2013 by Kristy 21 Comments

Yesterday was my 36th birthday. Since my birthday fell on a Saturday, I naturally turned it into a birthday weekend. I believe birthdays should be celebrated….even if I am closer to 40 than 30. On that note, let’s change the subject.

I knew exactly how I wanted to start my birthday – with a long run. Abby must have read my mind and emailed me mid-week asking if I was up for a birthday run. Of course.

It always snows on my birthday. Always. But luckily Nemo didn’t destroy our plans and we managed 13 snowy miles. It was a literal winter wonderland (much like my 16-miler a few weeks ago).

Next up was spending the rest of the day with Matt and Hawk. We strolled around Chestnut Hill (a cute neighborhood in Philly) briefly, until it became too cold.

I have been fighting a cold all week long. By 6PM I was a snotty mess and felt awful. I tried to rally to go out to dinner but we ending up ordering pizza and watching a movie. I was in bed by 10:30. Party hardy.

But, it being my birthday weekend, we are doing dinner tonight instead. Followed by The Walking Dead. Oh, how times have changed.

What’s your ideal way to celebrate your birthday? For one of my birthdays, I really want to “run my age”. Too bad I wasn’t running marathons back when I turned 26.

Thirty-five

February 8, 2012 by Kristy 27 Comments

Today is my 35^th birthday! Go on, you can say it, damn that’s old! It does sound old!

A few tidbits about my birthday…

It always snows! When I was 6 we had a huge blizzard and everyone had to come to my party on sled (a perk of growing up in the city is that sledding to someone’s house was actually feasible). And on my 29^th birthday another blizzard hit but thankfully we were still able to schlep to the bars in the snow.
I was born at 6:28AM. I think there is this silly correlation between time of birth and whether you’re a morning person or a night owl. I’m very much a morning person.
I love celebrating my birthday (and other people’s birthdays too). I hate when people refer to it as just another day…

A few weeks ago I was driving home from work and it hit me that I was turning 35. I don’t feel 35 (but what does 35 feel like anyway?). I feel much younger than that. Sidenote: I don’t have kids. I’ve been told they make you feel older so I’ll take that into consideration. Running consistently for the past 10 years has to be the reason. Chalk that up as reason #742,831 to run!

Other things I’ve noticed or love about my need to run…

I hardly get sick. I used to be plagued with frequent colds and now I get a cold once in a blue moon.
I love how running makes my heart strong (and my resting heart rate low). When I read Matt Long’s book, The Long Run, I distinctly remember reading about how strong his heart was and how that was a huge factor in his survival.
Running keeps me sane and focused. It really is cheaper than therapy.
Running has become as routine as brushing my teeth. I need to do it.

Today I will celebrate turning 35 with a short fun run after work, followed by pizza and beer. I did receive a running-related T-shirt from my brother and sister-in-law. Hmm, the guy on the left sounds a bit like me!

What time of day were you born? Is my correlation correct?

What changes about yourself have you noticed since you started running?

An Ugly Tempo

August 8, 2011 by Kristy 14 Comments

8/8/11
6 miles easy / 57:50 / 9:38 avg pace

Sunday’s tempo run was downright ugly. I was supposed to do 1 mile easy and 10 miles at MP (8:35). I’ve been doing my tempo runs each week on a trail since my marathon has 12 miles of towpath. All week I kept thinking how good of a practice tempo this would be…really mimicking race day terrain and pace.

The result? An ugly tempo. I ended up with 10 miles total – 1 mile warm-up, 6 miles at MP, and 3 miles cool-down. The only highlight was my MP miles – a complete disaster in terms of consistency – but all at or under MP: 8:09, 8:17, 8:27, 8:09, 8:32, 8:33.

How did this run go from having great potential to ugly? It makes total sense now…

It was ungodly humid…repeat ungodly humid.
I was dehydrated. Matt and I were out and about all day Saturday and I wasn’t drinking enough water. Then we went to dinner and I had a few beers 🙂 The beers tasted especially good, since I was so thirsty!
I didn’t bring any salt caps with me.
I didn’t sleep much on Saturday night. We finally watched Paranormal Activity and I was terrified. I slept with one eye opened.
So…I was tired. And mentally I just wasn’t there. I really wanted to be back in bed sleeping.

I can’t be too upset. My long run was pretty much done at MP pace on Friday. So I know I cando it. I’m dropping back a few miles this week so I can rest up for my final 2 weeks before taper time!Let’s end on a positive note. We ended up going out for Matt’s birthday on Saturday night. We went to a very causal place so we could sit outside with Hawk.

DSCN1514 — Put me down and let me get back to my ice cubes

Do you like scary movies? I like them and then regret watching them all the time. Paranormal Activity was scary but still doesn’t top The Exorcist. That is hands-down the most terrifying movie I have ever seen.

Happy Birthday Matt!

August 5, 2011 by Kristy 9 Comments

8/5/11
15 miles / 2:09 / 8:36 avg pace

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Amazing canine daddy…

Son…

Uncle, brother, and brother-in-law…(Matt’s family: lots of brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, brother-in-laws, and sister-in-laws)!

Friend…(Matt doesn’t wear his collar up, he was making fun of the kiddies that do)!

And retired runner…

We are headed out to happy hour/dinner tonight!

Today’s long run was pretty unremarkable, except that it was cooler! However, my shorts were still soaked (blurry picture due to foggy lens…my camera got too close to the cold chocolate milk).

Long run plans for the weekend? I’m running easy tomorrow and then have a 11 mile marathon-paced tempo on Sunday.