The December That Wasn't

At the beginning of the month, I was excited to start upping my running a bit and get back into shape before I tackled my first marathon. Midway through the month, I had some inspired runs in Central Park and got to meet a coach whose philosophy on running and training clicked with me. After the coaching clinic I emailed him for help running my first marathon, my "debut," if you will. I was going to title this post "Stop...Treadmill time" because so many of my RunStreak runs had been inside and after dark. I was hoping to run between my boyfriend's parents' houses on Christmas Day, a nice 8 mile, head and stomach clearing jaunt between all the gluttony and sloth of the holidays. I was going to continue with my Run Streak all the way to New Years Day...and then I broke my leg.

And then the Run Streak stopped

As my cousin described it, I tried to "ice skate without skates." I simply fell while walking and did some pretty bad damage. I broke my fibula, probably sprained my ankle, and kissed those marathon debut dreams goodbye. Luckily I was on the edge of winter vacation so I've spent the last two weeks at home on the couch catching up on new and old TV shows. My friends and family have been awesome about taking care of me, even my angsty teen brother.

It's definitely been hard not moving at all over the break, and seeing other people's pictures from runs or a beautiful day outside makes me miss the ability to lace up and get out even for an easy run. My right calf is already noticeably atrophied and I know that it's going to be a long and slow process getting back to even be able to run. I'm currently still on crutches but extremely hopefully that I can just be in my walking boot before I get back to school. It's scary how much I'm looking forward to going for a walk. The marathon plan is definitely off the table for the spring, and likely for 2014 all together. Depending on my recovery, I'll shoot for a 5 or 10k in the spring to have something doable as a goal. But for the moment, I'm looking forward to that New Years Eve cheese platter and the day I can wear shoes on both of my feet.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and fast New Year!

Rachel "yoga pants for days" Runner

A tale of two turkey trots (Part 2)

Confession time: I got cold feet...

…literally and figuratively. I didn't run my turkey trot this Thanksgiving. I signed up a few days before Thanksgiving, but in reality, I hadn't been running a lot, I was unprepared to deal with the cold, and to top it all off, I got sick. Even though I wasn't feeling well the night before, I planned to race and I even had my racing clothes all laid out. But on Thanksgiving morning, I wasn't up for it. I'm going to be honest: part of me was afraid of racing when I knew I wasn't ready. But a part of me was actually not ready. I made the right choice not to run, but since Robyn and I had already named our blog posts "A tale of two turkey trots," I knew that I'd have to report back here. In the end, my entry fee helped support a local food bank so all was not lost.

Feeling bummed that I couldn't follow through on my turkey trot, I've rededicated myself to running. During the holiday season when it's often hard to stay motivated and people worry about overeating, Runner's World sponsors a run streak, where runners run at least 1 mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Years. I'm in on this, and hopefully it will keep me outside in the cold while I build some milage before my spring training cycle starts.

To kick off my run streak, I needed to get a little silly. I wanted to conquer the cold, but unfortunately I hadn't brought enough layers to stay warm on my run. So I threw together the silliest outfit I could find with a little help from my family,  and headed out for a photo shoot with my dad pre-run.

Pictured here: Mizuno Wave Riders, my mom's old Smartwool socks, my new Oiselle Lesley Knicker, my brother's oversized soccer warm up top, and my team's new headband. I looked ridiculous but it gave me enough giggles to get in a good run. I ended up ditching the top layer less than a mile into the run. The general rule of thumb for cold-weather running is to dress for up to 20 degrees warmer than it feels. I've known this forever, but I needed a reminder that the cold isn't that bad or intolerable. This was a great run on some of my favorite trails and it completely set me straight for the rest of the month.

Going forward, I'm excited to say that I think I've picked a marathon training plan and a marathon for the spring! I'm thinking the Cox Providence Marathon in early May. It's a fast and flat course, not too far from me and it has pacers. This is an important aspect for me for my first marathon, so that I'm not running for hours and hours on my own. The training plan I've picked is a Hal Higdon program. It's the Intermediate 1 plan. There's no speed work, but the long runs get up to 20 miles. Since this will be my first attempt, I'm going to focus on just finishing, and then I can reassess to see how my training can help me get to the next level.

So even though Thanksgiving was almost a complete bust, I haven't given up. I'm not a speed work kind of gal, so I would much rather stick to a plan that has me running far than fast. Especially for a marathon, I have to be committed and willing to do the work. For now, I'm just building up my base of miles, but on January 1st it's go time.

Happy holidays and happy running!

Rachel "loves all kinds of streaking" Runner