St. Patty's Day

expo fun and st. pat’s

March 17, 2013 by Kristy 13 Comments

On Wednesday, I – well, RTLR Coaching – was a vendor at a local health and fitness expo. This was my first vendor gig and I was pretty pumped about it. It didn’t draw a large crowd – definitely not race expo size – but it was big enough for me to connect with local runners and other local vendors in my area.

Each vendor was provided with a 6’ table and was told to “make it look nice”. When you’re a running coach, what are you supposed to put on said table? It’s not like I’m selling merchandise or demonstrating anything. Instead, I made a nice alternating arrangement of business cards and trifold brochures I created. It took me a whole 5 minutes to set up my table.

Let’s talk about the last minute homemade sign. On Monday night Matt asked me if I had a banner or anything to hang on the table, identifying myself. Um, no. Didn’t even think of that. Ensue frantic shopping trip to Michael’s to stock up on crafty items. The result is a homemade sign that screams newbie.

Another lesson learned? In addition to ordering a banner, get a T-shirt made. When in doubt, throw on the Boston jacket!

All in all, I got to talk about running for 3 hours, which is always a good night. Hopefully I got some new clients too!

St. Patty’s Day
One of the best times of the year! Another reason to drink beer and (college) basketball!

I wasn’t sure how long I was going to run yesterday but in the spirit of SPD, I decided to make it a 17-miler. Turns out, yesterday morning was the best time to be out and about…drinking green beer.

Because the afternoon was miserable.

But not too cold for beer.

It seems the Luck of the Irish was plentiful this weekend at the races! I’ve seen numerous mentions of PRs on Twitter. I can’t wait to read the race recaps.

If you raced this weekend, brag about it! If you didn’t, brag about how much beer you drank or something else.

I had a strange urge to run a 5K this morning – that never happens – but decided on 9 recovery miles instead.

Weekend Updates

March 19, 2012 by Kristy 22 Comments

In no particular order…

My new lucky number…
Is 17983. That’s what bib number I’ll be wearing on April 16th! Boston released bib, wave, and corral info on Friday. I’m in Wave 2, Corral 9…or 2/9, my birthday Smile

The 20-miler that wasn’t…
I was supposed to run 20 miles on Saturday (20-miler #4). By mile 12, I was aware of 3 things: (1) my legs were trashed. Maybe mile repeats 2 days before wasn’t the best idea or maybe all the miles and intensity of the Monster Month are getting to me? (2) my right hamstring was tight. This is 100% my fault, as I’ve slacked off a bit with my PT exercises. And (3) damn, it’s hot out!

I decided to back off my pace (I was running 8:30s up until that point). There is no sense in pushing the pace when my hammie feels tight. By mile 16 I wanted to be DONE. Oh god, was I hating life. I followed my gut and cut it short at mile 18. I wasn’t doing my legs any favors by running 2 more miles “just to make it 20”. I finished in 2:40 (8:53 average pace).

On Sunday I ran 8 easy and felt good. Just some residual soreness but otherwise OK. My gut is always right!

Low-key St. Patty’s Day
Staying home and drinking beer on the deck and watching basketball was the perfect SPD celebration.

Miller Lite looks classy in a frosted glass

So very true…
I saw this on Run The Edge’s FB page over the weekend. When I read through the comments, I couldn’t believe how many people didn’t get it or are completely void of a sense of humor.

Any part of the meme ring true to you? I love “what my mom thinks I do”. If you can’t read it, it’s basically a creepy man asking if you want to come to his house for candy. And…aren’t we all Kara and Shalane when we run?!

Check out my guest post on Terzah’s blog!

A Good Run and Good Fun

March 12, 2012 by Kristy 16 Comments

Happy Monday, folks! I’m struggling a bit this morning. I could blame it on Daylight Savings but it’s more likely due to Saturday night fun (yes, I went out)! Before I get to that, let’s talk running!

I “only” had to do 15 miles for my long run this weekend so I made them speedy. I had a great MP run on Tuesday so I wanted to push the number of miles at MP up a bit with my long run. The result? 15 miles in 2:06 (8:24 average pace). Success! I started with a 1-mile warm up, then 13 miles at MP (8:20), and a 1-mile cool down.

8:18, 8:29 (hill), 8:13, 8:14, 8:21, 8:22, 8:28 (hill), 8:21, 8:20, 8:16, 8:15, 8:14, 8:16

I want to say these miles felt as effortless as they did on Tuesday but they didn’t. I was running into a brutal headwind most of the time and my allergies were awful. I’m happy that I was able to maintain MP despite all that though.

Saturday night was a much anticipated night out. We made these plans months ago. Most of my friends have babies so getting everyone together (both the guys and girls) is tough. It was also the Erin Express, Philly’s Irish bar crawl. I was an enthusiastic Erin Express participant multiple times in my 20s…you are pretty much drunk by 4pm and just plain obnoxious. We wanted to avoid any bar with Erin Expressers at all costs. By the time we met up, the sea of green youngins were dwindling and we snagged a table at Oh! Shea’s. We were there for awhile before moving onto another bar.

Matt and I got home at 2am (technically it was 3am – damn Daylight Savings). Sunday was an intentional rest hangover day for me and I needed it. I have no idea how I used to do this every weekend. Youth, I guess.

Ever do a St. Patty’s Day bar crawl? My last Erin Express was when I was 28. I think we were too old then. I do love celebrating SPD though.

Do you plan your rest days around your social life? I used to all the time. My lack of social life right now affords me lots of flexibility with rest days Years ago, rest days were strictly scheduled around my Saturday night shenanigans.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

March 17, 2011 by Kristy 4 Comments

3/17/11

6 miles easy

10:00 pace

A nice, easy run on the treadmill this morning while catching up on Teen Mom 2.

I hope everyone is sportin’ some green today! I am! I love SPD…one of my favorite days of the year (even though I no longer actively celebrate the holiday 🙁 ). It also means the start of March Madness and the first day of Spring is around the corner. YEAH!

Earlier this week, Aron wrote a post about the fear of racing. I completely related to her post and commented about something I read last year before my marathon. The timing of this article could not have been better. I was about to enter the taper period and was struggling with self-doubt. I knew I was capable of a sub-4:00 marathon but I knew my obstacles were all in my head. I was sitting in a doctor’s office mindlessly paging through an issue of Liberty Sports Magazine. I came across an article called The Myth of Positive Thinking. Needless to say I was curious. I remember a light bulb going off when I finished the article. This makes sense! I equated dropping the rope as “letting go” of any negative thoughts. Come race day, this was my mantra. I must have said “let go” a thousand times. For the first time ever during a marathon, my mind was relaxed and at peace. It really worked!

20 Miles – Take 3

March 12, 2011 by Kristy 5 Comments

3/12/11

20 miles

3:00

9:00 avg pace

The FIRST plan called for 20 miles at 9:16 pace today. My plan was to slow down and follow the 9:16 pace for 15 miles and, if I did, I could run the last 5 miles at GMP. I felt good, the weather was beautiful (windy but nice), and I’m glad I held back and was able to speed up during the last few miles.

Splits, shall we?
M1: 9:16
M2: 9:07
M3: 9:24
M4: 9:21 –> Shot Blok #1
M5: 9:10
M6: 9:08
M7: 8:58
M8: 9:02 –> Shot Blok #2
M9: 9:05
M10: 8:52
M11: 9:00
M12: 9:14 –> Shot Blok #3
M13: 9:11
M14: 8:57
M15: 8:54
M16: 8:47 –> Shot Blok #4
M17: 8:42
M18: 8:37
M19: 8:51
M20: 9:14 (suddenly got tired)

I saw a sea of green and beads while running past the train station; lots of 20somethings waiting to the train to Philly for the Erin Express. The EE is an Irish bar crawl in Philly that takes place on the first 2 Saturdays in March. I used to frequent the EE for many years and it was a blast, as long as you don’t mind super crowded bars, beer being spilled on you constantly, and long lines for the bathroom (with no toilet paper). I didn’t mind those things in my 20s but you couldn’t pay me to do it now! Funny how things change without you even realizing it. Today I plan on watching St. Joe’s (hopefully) beat Dayton and advance to the finals of the A-10 tournament (all from the comfort of my couch). Then I’ll take Hawk for a walk and check out our St. Patty’s Day parade (sans solo cup of beer). Very different from past St. Patty’s Day celebrations.

027 — I did love those beads. Wore them for many years.

These pictures were not even taken on St. Patty’s Day, they were taken at Irish Weekend in Wildwood, NJ (every September). Yeah, I used to celebrate my Irish-ness twice each year – in March and September. Ah, the good old days 🙂