First Run of the New Year

I didn't go running on New Year's Day due to a slight hangover and hanging out with Heather and Kelly, but I did make it out today for a 2 hour run. My new pedometer from Tristan says that I went 10.1 miles. I'm not sure the accuracy, but I do know that I went further today than during my last 2 hours run, which means progress in my speed. I won't lie, though, it was still a tough run. The final 30 minutes were killer and I wasn't running very fast. I did get it done, though! I'm finally getting back to my running routine after the holidays, so I hope to keep getting faster.

Finals, Work, and Christmas

Life has been busy since my last entry, to say the least. I had finals, been working a lot, and Christmas has come and gone. Here is a little catch up from the last couple of weeks:

It has been SUPER cold in Colorado, which provided quite a challenge for running outside. The Sunday before finals the high outside was 10 degrees; not suitable for wimpy Brittany. So I did the unthinkable and did my 1hr 45min run on a treadmill at the gym. At first I thought I would just do an hour, but by that time I felt really good and just kept on going. I would have to say that listening to loud music helped as opposed to just watching the TV at the gym.

The rest of finals weeks I was able to get most of my runs in, but I had to do some fanagaling to get my 2hr run in. The gym was to close Friday night, and then it was supposed to be super cold again through the weekend, plus I was on-call on Sunday. So instead of running Thursday, I took the day off and visited Heather in Denver and then did my 2hr run on Friday .

I would have to say that my run that day was the most peaceful and serene run that I have had yet. It was chilly in the morning and all of the trees were perfectly frosted and there was a low lying fog. I wish I had a camera with me to take a picture! The great scenery kept me going for those long 2hrs. I think I did around 10 miles that run, putting me a a pretty good pace! I was super tired and sore after the run and was feeling it for the next couple of days (but no new blisters, hurray!).

Since then it has been hard to get my running in. I have been working a lot more and it was still very cold. Having to either run very early, very late, in the freezing cold, or during my lunch breaks, made it hard to run. I will just write off this week to Christmas craziness. I hope to get back at it this week and do a long run next weekend since I have several days off after New Years. I will get to try out my new pedometer from Tristan and (hopefully) get some new shoes this week (final!).

First Big Blister

I got my first big blister yesterday on our long run for the week, which was for an hour and a half. I had been getting sore spots on my feet with my normal runs that had never developed into mcuh. But yesterday we were running through snow more and my feet got wet pretty early, which added to the blister making. I was able to keep running through it, though! I popped it with a needle that evening to drain the fluid, which definitely made it feel better. It still feels fine now, but today is on off day with no running. Hopefully it doesn't start acting up tomorrow for my 45min run.

Here is the plan for week 7(!!!): Tuesday 45min, Wednesday 30min, Thursday 70min, Friday 30min, Sunday 1.75hrs.

The Snow

The first snow has finally come to Fort Collins, thus pushing me inside to run. I am just not hard core enough to run in 20 degree weather, let alone 20 degree weather while it was snowing. I did the treadmill at the gym yesterday for 30 minutes and will be doing it today for an hour. Bummer to have to run at the gym, but I would rather do that than run in the freezing snow.

Another Cold Windy Run

Yep, it was super coldy and windy again on our long Sunday run, which was 1 hour and 20 minutes today. Davey and I are once again exhausted from our riduculously long run. We are now trying to stay awake and study, though we will see how long this will last.

Thanksgiving Doesn't Stop This Turkey From Woddling!

Yes, yes, it's Thanksgiving, but that doesn't stop my training! This morning I was up early to start some food in order to get a 55 minute run in before the rest of the family showed up. Since The Boy (aka Tristan) arrived last night, Davey and I made him do our 55 minute run with us. Keep in mind that The Boy has much longer legs than us, and our turkey woddle was, in the end, too slow for him. He ending up running backward as has as we ran forwards, walked for a while, and then ran to catch up to us. Silly, I know...Anyways, great run with Davey and The Boy!!! We were able to burn off some of the calories we were to eat today and to get our metabilism going. Also, we ran the same disance that we ran with our first 1 hour run as we did today in 54 minutes. In other words, we took 6 minutes off a run today!!! Hurray for a day off tomorrw!!! Word...

Against the Wind

I'm still breaking records, well, my own records at least. Today was a 70 minute run that went very well. It was very windy and Davey and I were running into the wind a good portion of the run. It definitely added a lot of resistance to the run and slowed us down a little bit. None the less, we did very well and ran around two different parks! We estimate that we ran almost 6 miles (we took the GPS, but it wasn't tracking the whole time).

This week is Thanksgiving so I have to kind of play around with my running schedule to get everything in. Here is the basic plan: Tuesday 45min, Wednesday 30min, Thursday (Thanksgiving) 55min, Saturday 30min, Sunday 80min. Tuesday I have an eye appointment in Denver in the morning, so I have to figure out if I am going to run early in the morning or when I get home. Only problem will be if I don't get home until after dark. Then on Thanksgiving, I might be able to get a run in after preparing some food and before everyone show up. I might just push that run back to Friday, though.