I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
Here’s a recap of mine in pictures from Christmas Eve.
Life Is Good
Boston Marathon
Pure Barre Review
I did it. I survived my first Pure Barre class. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I’m sore today (mostly my butt and abs) but I guess it could have been worse.
I think I may have stumbled upon the best marathon-friendly strength training class. No jumping, no drills, no lunges, no squats…bouncing is not allowed. Instead, movement is confined to mere inches. So how can Pure Barre be so effective?
It’s fast moving. Aside from little breaks to stretch out the muscle group that you just worked on, you are constantly moving. Or I should say, squeezing, pulsing, and tucking (hence the reason why my butt hurts so much). And you work muscle groups for minutes at a time. We worked on abs for a few minutes (no breaks – I was dying), and then got into a plank and held it for 90 seconds!
We worked abs, glutes, quads, and arms. The whole shebang. My arms and quads feel fine (next time I’ll increase my weights for arm work) but my abs and glutes…not so much. What a wake-up call. As a runner, your core and butt should be strong to support your hips. I’m clearly lacking strength in those areas. I’ll never forget my RRCA instructor’s words of wisdom during my coaching certification: the knees are innocent victims to a weak ass and unsupported foot. So true. Everything works in a domino effect from the foot up or the hip down. Take care of the foot and hip and you take care of the knee.
I will definitely be going back to Pure Barre. It definitely takes a few classes to get the lay of the land. The only downside? Cost. It’s very expensive – $23 per class!
Up next…a power yoga class! Maybe I’ll be ripped by the time Boston comes around? Ripped or not, I will definitely be stronger!
Part II is never funny and fueled by treats
Happy Monday! Only 4 more days of work left. I can do this. I can do this. I hope some of you have a short week too!
Never mind my gibberish title. Creativity is not my strong suit and I’ve used “weekend recap” way too often. Speaking of which, my recap can be divided into “run” and “fun”.
FUN
Friday night Matt and I tried to watch The Hangover Part II but barely made it halfway through before turning it off. So, so bad. It’s the same movie over again minus the laughs. I wasn’t expecting much for a Part II but this was ridiculous.
On Saturday we hosted a Christmas party for Matt’s family. Matt comes from a big family (youngest of 7) so we are talking lots of adults and kiddies. Everything went very well (we also hosted last year so we had some practice). Good food, good company and lots of delicious treats!
When I was sufficiently stuffed to the gills, Matt and I watched St. Joe’s CRUSH Villanova! What a prefect way to end a great day! St. Joe’s and Nova are bitter rivals and nothing made me happier then sending Nova back to the Main Line with their tails between their legs 🙂
RUN
Last week was a solid week of running (good thing, since I ate my weight in cookies and cake). I’m still base building and won’t start officially training for Boston until Jan. 2 but I got in 35 miles. I did 10 miles on Saturday with 6 miles at 8:30 pace. I finally feel like I got my speed back. 8:30 pace felt good…almost as effortless as it did during the Lehigh Valley Marathon! On Sunday I did 7 very slow, Garmin-free miles. It was bitter cold but so refreshing.
Anyone see The Hangover Part II? Anyone actually watch the whole movie?
Anyone else stuff themselves with treats this weekend? My neighbor keeps baking and bringing stuff over for Matt and I to eat (she’s an incredible baker too). I think I may pop.
Need Inspiration?
I must admit I’m having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning to run. It’s dark (and now cold). I’m technically only in what I call “pre-training” for Boston. So there’s no plan to follow. My main goals of pre-training are to build my base back up and regain my speed (i.e., more boring runs than fun ones).
So I’m in need of some inspiration. I saw this article on Twitter yesterday and found it so inspiring. It’s short but if you don’t want to read it, here’s the jist…
Erin O’Mara runs marathon #1 in 4:08:08 in 2006.
Erin O’Mara runs marathon #7 in 2:43:55 this past Sunday….and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials! Let’s look at the math…
marathon #1, 9:27 avg pace
marathon #7, 6:15 avg pace
Astounding. Incredible. Amazing.
I won’t call her an ordinary runner, because she’s clearly not. But I highly doubt any of the other qualifiers ran their first marathon in 4:08. She worked her ass off, and that is impressive and inspiring.
What’s inspiring you to run these days?
Happy Thanksgiving!
This morning I did my own version of a Turkey Trot – 6 miles with a super tight hamstring. So yes, I definitely was trotting. I left my Garmin at home and instead just enjoyed being outside on a beautiful morning. I thought about what I’m thankful for, big and small, and noticed 2 distinct groupings: people and running. Here goes…
My family: they are wonderful and healthy. I won’t get to spend today with them but I will see my parents next weekend.
My in-laws: Matt is the youngest of seven so there’s lots of them! I have never met such nice, genuine, and welcoming people.
Matt: see above about in-laws; the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
My friends: I’ve been friends with some for 25+ years (eek!); others surprise you at Mile 25 of a marathon.
Hawk: every day he makes us laugh.
Qualifying for Boston: 9/11/11 was the second best day of my life.
Running: it has changed my life and I cannot imagine my life without it.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Philly Half Race Recap
Race day started with a super early 4:50AM wake-up call. I took my time getting ready, ate my standard PB sandwich, and we were on our way. Thankfully Matt dropped me off right at the start so I didn’t have to worry about parking.
Rocky was all decked out.
On the way to the race I told Matt that I wished I was running the full marathon for fun instead (I had originally signed up for the full but then dropped to the half). Then I saw this and quickly changed my mind (at the halfway point the marathoners branch off and head out to Manayunk along Kelly Drive. When I ran the full in 2008 I remember hearing the crowd cheer for the HMers and I was so jealous that they were already done.)
I hate writing long, wordy recaps, especially for a HM, so I’ll keep it (sorta) short and bullet point my thoughts.
M1 – 7:54
M2 – 7:50
M3 – 7:51
M4 – 7:46
M5 – 7:56
M6 – 7:59
- I was feeling really good and was running exactly how I wanted to.
- Each year I forget how much I LOVE this race. The crowd support and course are just amazing!!!!
- I saw some funny signs comparing the length of the marathon to Kim Kardashian’s marriage (with the marathon obviously being the longer of the two).
- My favorite sign, because I’m such a sap about Boston, was: Go Sue! Give us a good excuse to plan a girls’ trip to Boston! Awwww….
- I’m a HUGE fan of having your name on your bib. People kept yelling “Go Kristy” all the way down Chestnut Street. Amazing.
- At one point I hear “Kristttttyyyyy” and turn around to see the lovely Alli cheering for me. Thank you Alli, that meant so much!
M7 – 7:48
M8 – 8:26
M9 – 8:21
M10 – 8:45
- I have no idea why Mile 7 was so fast. It’s a nice hill (not steep but a gradual climb) and then you run down a hill right near the Drexel frat houses (where I may or may not have spent time freshman and sophomore year of college).
- I started to unravel a bit from Mile 8 to 10. This killed me timewise. Right after Mile 9 there is a long, winding hill. I hate that hill. I curse it every year.
M11 – 8:04
M12 – 8:06
M13 – 8:11
- After Mile 10 I got a surge of energy and picked up the pace. A nice downhill also helped.
Official results:
Like I said Sunday, I’m disappointed with how much speed I lost post-marathon but I needed to recover and take a break. And, as my friend Amanda wisely pointed out, a PR is a PR!!!!
I got to “meet” Celia post-race (I technically met her during Mile 7 but we didn’t chat much)! We stood right near the marathon finish line and watched all the sub-3:00 runners finish. Then we got yelled at to move back.
It was a great weekend! The next race I have is Boston (OK, right now that’s the only race I am technically signed up for). As soon as I figure out my training plan, I’m going to fill it in with some tune-up races 🙂