Thankful gobble gobbles day

Thankful:


For a new 5k PR by 3 and a half minutes!! 22:18, 3rd in my AG, 11th woman of 968. (and a sweet hand painted mug for my AG placing!)

For my ability to run and inspire people around me to be healthy.


For my wonderful wonderful who comes with me on these crazy adventures and runs races when it's early and freezing out. I love you.


For my precious Churro Bear. He brings me many smiles.


For my Pa'ad. Thanks for inspiring me to run. I'll beat your 5k time next year.. Only 1:15 to go! Haha


For my mom. It's been a great trip to see you!


For cerveza, cerveja, Beer. Nothing quenches my thirst better than you. Ok maybe some genucan post workout first.


For beautiful scenery.


And Willis- which always is a pleasure to look at when I get home.

I'm also thankful for this wonderful blogging community. You guys and gals rock!

Happy turkey gobble gobbles day!

Gone fishing

Time to ride the smallest plane ever, smash my 5k PR, eat some turkey and spend some time with family.


-Xaar

CB and my exciting walk home

CB

This part is inspired by Christy's post about her adorable running buddy, Cola. I think CB is Cola's brother from another mother. Haha


I got CB from the Greenville, SC humane society after Walking into the puppy room and looking into his amazing eyes. I was surprised to see a pure bred border collie at a shelter- but was so happy because I knew the breed and knew he would be a good fit for my active lifestyle.


He was 10 weeks old when I got him and had a very rough life until the day we met and i adopted him. Poor guy was skin and bones, aggressive towards dogs, and very scared of men.


Over the past (almost) 7 years he has overcome many of the demons from his early life. When I took him home, I didn't know that he would become such an integral part of my life- as running buddy, best friend, therapist and barking machine. I can't imagine life without him. (we've lived in 4 states and 2 countries- USA and Mexico).

My exciting walk home

I sometimes walk by the occupy Chicago protestors to see what they are up to on my way home. Today, I stumbled upon 2 protests.


Earlier in the day a local union was staging a demonstration and civil disobedience act. This was the view of their demonstration from my office. There ended up being about 1000 people involved. When I started walking home I figured it was over. I was wrong.


The union had marched to where occupy Chicago was and I was now in the middle of it all. It was kind of cool seeing a peaceful demonstration going on though.


It looks like night, but I took these photos at 5pm. I seriously hate these shorter days.


The crowd was chanting "we are the 99%!" and it became an earworm for me. :(


I'm not sure what the union wanted, and I'm still not sure what the occupy Chicago people are protesting. I don't get why they are protesting corporations and banks when there is far more greed, waste and injustice in the government. Ah, but who am I to judge? I hope they figure it all out soon because it will start snowing any time and it will be such a drag to be protesting in freezing snowy conditions.


And that was my exciting walk home. Oh the joys of living in a big city...

What's going on this weekend? Anything exciting?

-Xaar

Hips don't lie

Is it me, or do a lot of runners seem to be having hip problems lately?



2 weeks ago I did an 8x 800 @ 7:00 pace and felt great. The day after, my hip was tight and very sore. I ended up taking the rest of the week off (minus some stationary bike)- because I have no desire to repeat what happened during my Chicago marathon training. (I ran the soldier field 10 in may, my calf cramped up/ shin hurt and I continued running hard on it for a week or 2. Then I was in so much pain I couldn't run for a few months.)

This is the third time in about 6 weeks my right hip has been sore. 1st time was a few weeks before the Chicago marathon. I just thought CB pulled me and I tweaked it. 2nd time was during/after the marathon. Thought it was because of the blisters on my feet altering my stride. 3rd time was the past weeks speed session. After some brief research, it turns out as runners, our hips (muscles) are one of the most important for our running and most neglected muscle groups. If you have weak hip muscles it can cause knee problems and hip problems, and bad running form.

To remedy this situation I bought some resistance bands. Target had some "professional" quality ones- for about $10. There were 3 in the box- light, medium, and a much stronger band. The light one was too weak for me so I use the medium for all of my exercises.



I do 10 repeats on each leg before moving to the next exercise.
- leg out to the side
-leg to the front
-lift leg/ knee to the chest.

This week I'm happy to report no hip pain!

This week I did:
Monday- 7.33 cycle miles 30:00, 1 tabata

Tuesday-6 miles 59:00, hills. 800's @3.5 incline

Wednesday-
Lazy arse day :(

Thursday-
Am 7.2 cycle miles- 30:00, 1 tabata
Pm- 9 miles 1:10:50

Friday-
6 miles with 6x 800 @ 7:00 pace

Saturday-
8 miles

Sunday-
13 miles 1:50

Not quite the 50ish I had planned, but I'm happy to be running faster miles without any pain.

10 days until I race my first 5k in over a year.

76 days until #5, ing miami marathon.


Have you had hip pain? What did you do to help strengthen your hips?



-Xaar

October 2011

En numeros:

15- the minutes by which I smashed my Marathon PR!! at the Chicago marathon.


5- the number of photos I like that marathonfoto took.

1- the number of photos I might buy.


101- miles run in October. I'll take it considering taper weeks, post marathon weeks and loads of speedier miles the last few weeks.

32.5- the number of miles run last week.
( M-5, W-8, S-5, Sun-14.5)

14.5- (2:11) the longest run I had. And it was outside on the lakefront!


2- the # of layers I had on. (jacket and long sleeve)

45- the temp at the start of my run.

2- the number of miles in when I felt way too hot. Lesson learned.

8:30-9:40 my range of mile splits for the long run.


20mph- the headwinds I encountered for the remaining 6.5 miles which kicked my a$$ and slowed me down considerably.

14.83- the number of miles logged on the stationary bike last week.


2- number of cupcakes eaten.


1- new way CB lays on the couch.



1- the number of times the fountains at the Daley center changed color to celebrate something. (Halloween)


1- the number of new blurb books I created.


Looking forward:

1 race to run this month, a 5k turkey trot!



1- race to register for (Santa hustle) Britt, you convinced me. What could be more fun than running in a potential blizzard while wearing a Santa hat, beard and shirt?! :)



150-200 miles for November.

0- injuries. (fingers crossed)



What are your November goals? Do you have anything you're looking forward to?

-Xaar