October 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

Awesome @hamsterwheel6! Fantastic 10k time and AG win! Never be sorry about telling us your accomplishments here! We love to celebrate everyone's achievements. And that is a great one.

Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
10/01/19 :::: 4.8 :::: 4.8
10/02/19 :::: 3.0 :::: 7.8
10/03/19 :::: 0.0 :::: 7.8
10/04/19 :::: 3.1 :::: 10.8
10/05/19 :::: 10.1 :::: 21.0
10/06/19 :::: 1.0 :::: 22.0

Just one measly mile today, but I'm counting it! I went to an obstacle course race training class at a different gym and we ran some laps between various sets of push-ups, pull-ups, rope climb, bucket carry, spear throw, rings, etc. It came to a mile.

I meant to get out again later but ended up hiking with the dog instead. Now I just don't want to, so the mile stands.

Morning all.

Gah another rough night on call. I really chose the wrong day to start IF lol. A reminder of how far I've come though, I made that joke to one of the nurses in front of a patient I'd just imaged, and both of them said "why? Your not big". It was a reminder that none of my new colleagues knew me when I was overweight. So when I tell them I lost 20kg I get these amazed looks. Now I admit a bit of anxiety in that I just want to keep it off now haha.

Had a 'is that a pain in my foot kinda day?' Anyway did 7km. I am now having two days off to Wednesday to give the foot a rest.


Goal for October:
1. 15runs.......4
2. 80km.........20km
3. 8km long...x
4. PB 5km......Done 5 Oct

Had my big 5K yesterday. In many ways I've been looking forward to this race more than I had been my half. Probably because I knew there would be actual American donuts involved. So, running just might seriously save my marriage. My husband REALLY dislikes traveling about a 10 mile radius away from our house, but after we did the half marathon together, he did agree to come with me to Frankfurt and bring our two boys (7 and 10). Honestly, a small miracle. I checked the weather in the morning and it gloriously said no rain until 3pm. My race was at 12:15 and the weather app was showing clear skies. I woke up feeling pretty good despite cracking my shin HARD on the corner of my son's wooden bed frame the night before. I wanted to cry. This kind of stuff happens to be all the time. I should be used to it, but no. I woke up at 5, did a 5 minute warm up on the treadmill, a 5 minute warm up using my step bench. Did 20 minutes of standing yoga poses. Did a little bit of massage, walked my dog. I felt relaxed and not nearly as nervous as I had been for the half. My plan was to run my 5k on just keto coffee and a single Reece's Peanut Butter cup as I normally do for a 5K when I want to go fast, but since I had promised my kids Dunkin Donuts if they went (yes, it was a bribe), I just could not resist the maple donut staring me down 30 minutes before the race. I knew the sugar rush could help give me a boost since my base diet is low carb, but I also knew I was in trouble if it just sat like a brick in my belly during the run. I risked it. Dang it was good and definitely worth the risk. Oh, when we arrived it was pouring rain. So my conservative goal was to run the race between 28 and 29 minutes which would make it between 1 and 2 minutes faster than my PR just 6 days before. I knew it was possible because it was a flat course. Got my official time. 26:45. 29th place out of 185 women entrants. 4th place for my age group. Turns out this woman and I kept passing each other the whole race and she finished 3 seconds ahead of me took 3rd in our age group. Had I known I even had a chance at placing, it would have been ON 😂. Now that I know I can run this fast, I'm BRINGING IT next year. 😎

I know I left out a lot of details from the actual race, but what can I say, it was pretty much ideal. My "Dream" goal was to run it at an 8:40 pace since I had just run my previous 5k at a 9:40 pace and that was on hills. I was pretty sure I could physically do it. But it sounded like such a fantastical goal...and so I didn't verbalize this wish. Still, it was locked in my heart and in my head and I knew what it would take to meet it. I was going to try. Well I did it. According to my watch that was my exact pace, but my watch was 10 seconds slower than my official time, so actually I did ever so slightly better.

Anyways, I was on such a high yesterday. Exhausted because the run depleted me, but happy and excited and proud of what I accomplished. I seriously don't know who this "runner" is that I've become. My running only resumed in Spring after two years off, and before those two years my average 5K was around 34 minutes. This week I just smashed all my PR's. I'm so happy and amazed by my progress this year. I honestly never thought I would be able to achieve all I have. I beat my fastest 5K time by 3 whole minutes. A few days before that I beat my fastest half marathon time by 9 minutes. My head is spinning. I knew I was holding back my effort during my training, but I had no idea that I could pull that out of my pocket on race day. Losing weight to run faster is really helping. And I love that my weight loss just feels so different because before I was doing it, "not to be fat" anymore. But now that I'm doing it to increase my athletic performance, it just feels better. I was determined before, but now I want to be the best athlete I can be. I don't have any planned races until February. Looking forward to rethinking my runs now that I know my abilities.

Miles this month:
13.1
1.8 (treadmill)
3.1

=18/60

I’m late to the party. I will try my best to catch up on the 14 pages I’ve missed.

I’m in for 60 this month. I go on call the last week of the month, but I am going to try my best to get in all of my runs, even if on the dreadmill at the gym with my phone next to me.

I am trying a new plan this month of working out in the morning vs after work. I find that I work late or hubby has other plans at night that prevent me from doing what I need to do. I got up early today to do my strength training, so we’ll see how an early run goes for me tomorrow.

10/1: 2
10/5: 3
10/6: 3
10/7: ST

8/60 miles