Running Hot

Yesterday, I went running with a friend from high school on a trail around her neighborhood. She's in terrific shape and she knows how to keep someone running when they really just want to walk (or lie down on the ground and cry), so with her help, I ran a 5k!

It took us 38 minutes in 77 degree weather, which is faster than my last official 5k with extreme(ish) weather as an obstacle. Hey, I'm from the Bay Area, we don't do this hot nonsense! It was definitely hard, but I think I ran about 90% of the trail, including hills. Needless to say I looked like a hot mess afterward and my face was red for about an hour and several bottles of water later.

Like this, but gross.

It made me realize that I need to prepare myself to run in all kinds of environments, because how frustrating would it be to put in so much training, but then be affected by something out of your control? Active.com had some great tips, and I'm going to try to incorporate these into my training for summer.

According to Active, it can take two weeks for a body to adjust to running in hotter weather. While adjusting, the goal should be to improve your tolerance for heat rather than time. For someone who is working with the Couch to 5k program, I feel like this advice fits in perfectly. I'm challenging my body to do something new a little bit at a time, much like an experienced runner adjusts to a hotter season. For my next outdoor run, I'm going to try sticking with the  program and seeing how I feel. My other favorite tip was to run in circles and and hide goodies (like ice-filled bandanas and ice pops) at a stop along your route! I'm not sure how practical this is where I live, but maybe laps around Starbucks would be an okay substitute?

Hey there, beautifuls.

Long time, no see?

Soooooo I'm not dead.

And! I'm still running.

I was on hiatus from running and this blog for a while due to sickness, business and an up in the air work schedule. It's been a long ride on the hot mess express, but I've just restarted the Couch Potato to 5k plan and having a training schedule has brought me some much needed peace. It's also made me worried that I have been body snatched by the most considerate aliens ever. They just want me to be healthy before they eat my brain.

And they're cute! Thanks brainslug!

I've also been doing some thinking about my runs. I am still determined to run a 5k in every state, but doing more runs along the way will keep me in better shape overall, and I'll be able to be a little more choosy about which 5ks I do.

My next concrete goal (as in I register next week) is the Disney Princess Half Marathon. "But Eryn", someone responsible is probably saying, "how are you going from too lazy to write about running to running 13.1 miles?" And I would respond first by saying, hush you voice of reason I wasn't done. Secondly, have you seen the outfits? Even if I'm not flying through this race, I'll be falling with style.

I have a theme and I'm going with it.

As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, I'm planning on running a 10k before December first in order to submit a qualifying time for the half marathon. My current goal is to not be in the last corral, though I may be able to amend that once registration opens and I can learn more.

I'm investigating options for a 5k to squeeze in before then, just to keep myself focused. After reconnecting with a high school friend (who is a marine!) I have experimented with running outside, and determined that while I have a long way to go, it's definitely easier with a friend. But, as she is not always available and Planet Fitness has beautiful air conditioning, I will also need recommendations for more shows to Netflix!

Look forward to more updates and Disney fan-girling!

Leprechaun Lope

One week later...

Sorry for not posting about the race sooner, but it has been an exhausting week! Flying into Salt Lake City, coming home to work a 12 hour shift, then a camping trip has left me with very little time to recover.

I flew into Salt Lake on Friday, checked into my hotel, and set out to explore! I was pretty close to downtown and despite the snow on the mountains, it was really warm. Temple Square was my point of reference for everything while planning the trip, but I didn't expect it to be surrounded by office buildings. It looked like a castle in the middle of a city.

I'm getting this Instagram thing down.

I could see the capitol building, which served as the race start point, from there and decided to go up and look around. If anyone ever tells you that they had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to school, they probably live it Salt Lake City. At this point, I was still having my Rapunzel-esque internal struggle of whether or not this was a terrible idea. I tried to focus on how good my butt would look after hiking up to the starting line the next morning, but really I was dreading it.

Right next to Temple Square is City Creek Mall.

I spent the rest of the day (and probably too much money) there. It was glorious. This mall covers two levels on two blocks with a retractable roof, which was open that day. I started getting a little chilly after the water fountain show (which included fire because why not?) and passed out in my hotel around 9:30 pm because I'm nintey-three and a half.

BUT I did get up nice and early on race day. The temperature was in the 30s (good research there, Eryn) and I walked up that giant hill again. Packet pick-up went pretty quickly, and race coordinators said that there were about 1000 people there for the 5k and 10k. The course looped behind the capitol building, so I didn't have to run up the giant hill in front of it, thank you baby jesus.

However, this was far from being a flat course. We raced uphill for the first half before turning around and heading back down.

If you froze to death while waiting at the starting line, you could have rolled downhill to the finish.

Much easier said than done. I felt like my lungs were freezing, which in addition to my lack of training lead to a lot of walking in the first half. I ran whenever I could, and tried to push myself to run a few steps further before walking my next chunk. I kept pace with an adorable little yorkie in the final uphill push toward the water station, and I wish I had my camera because the view was amazing. You could see the dome of the capitol, down into Temple Square, and the mountains in the distance. But then it was time to head back down. I did manage to run the whole second half, but I felt like I was doing really badly. The second half of the race did have Leprechauns handing out chocolate coins to racers though, so I wasn't down on myself for long! After the race we were offered some healthy snacks and invited to join the school's St. Patrick's day parade float. I was exhausted, so I skipped the parade and headed back to my hotel, which was right on the parade route. After getting some much needed coffee, I gave my legs a rest and watched the parade.

"This is the place (for fresh roasted coffee beans)"

My race time ended up being 44 minutes. I'm a little disappointed, but I try to focus on the positive. It's better to have run slowly than not at all! Overall, this was a good experience. Since the next few months are full of graduations and weddings, I'm going to focus on training and making better time for my next race.

155k

I am not a runner.

I'm not the kind of person who "can't get their day started without their morning run."

aaaaaand I'm going to take a nap.

But I do love 1) travelling, 2) writing 3) t-shirts, and 4) medals.

Like this.

Most of all though, I love to challenge myself. I ran the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in January 2013, and did pretty okay. I finished in under three hours, beating my original goal of not dropping dead on the course. Run Disney has a lot of helpful tips and training schedules for people, like me, who have no idea what they're doing. It was such a fun experience that I want to get back in shape and try for the Coast To Coast Challenge in 2015, when they move the Tinkerbell race to May.

Since then, I haven't been running much at all. I do go to the gym, but the only race I've done since then was The Sweater Dash. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I had a wake-up call.

Because at this rate, I won't make it to the Cornucopia.

So in order to get back in shape, see the world, and live a healthier life, I intend to run a 5k in each state. It's combining all of my passions, and at this point in my life my job is flexible enough where it just might work. Also, have you seen how many of these races try to give you food?!

I might actually win this one. 

I'm hoping to start in March once the weather calms itself down and flights become more stable. I guess it's time to hit the gym!

Please let it be Cupcake Wars.