February 2020 Monthly Running Challenge

No run yesterday, but did manage to get lots of things done. Church, tear down after service, Old Navy with the kids, climbing gym, meal prepping for myself for a week's worth of breakfast and lunch at work (this, I have never done so successfully, and in only one hour!), packed lunches, laundry, laid out clothes, etc. Quite a productive day. Also here is a photo of me, petrified, in the climbing gym. I am deathly afraid of falling, though not afraid of being high up. I know, I'm so weird.

Strength training then a slow 3 miles. I ran by feel and my pace was slower than expected, but that’s ok. I felt like I could keep running another couple miles at that pace. Barely noticed any hamstring tightness, so I guess that means rehab is working as expected. It seemed really humid and warm for February.

@shanaber congrats on your race! Glad you were able to complete it and did better than expected. Sounds like a great race. How was your knee after that?

@Camaramandy648 what's going on there - I haven't seen those kinds of tower things at a climbing gym. Do you just kind of shimmy up them? That seems hard.

@autumnblade75 congrats on your new ride!



Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
02/01/20 :::: 7.8 :::: 7.8
02/02/20 :::: 3.1 :::: 10.9
02/03/20 :::: 3.8 :::: 14.7

I left work about 4:45 and it was beautiful and surprisingly warm (like 40) so I was happy it was a good night for running group. Of course as soon as it got dark the temps dropped. I took the dog for a quick walk and got all chilled and then headed to group - having lost my enthusiasm about a nice evening. But once we started running of course it was fine. The workout was a 15-minute tempo. We did 10 minutes warm-up, 15 minute tempo, 4 sprints and then 10 minutes cooldown. My pace was pretty steady in the first half, I knew I wasn't going at full effort though. I worked out some stiffness/soreness and picked it up a little in the second half.

@PastorVincent it was SO much fun!

@katharmonic hahaha no. That is the kids’ section - the idea is to use the tops of the “buildings” and walk, step, or hop on each one until you get to the top. Then you jump off, because there’s a belayer. You’re tied off the whole time! I got to maybe like twenty feet and decided to shimmy down. The tallest one is fifty+ feet. My kids had no problems jumping!

I used to go cliff jumping when I was a kid - ALL THE TIME - and I have enjoyed Ziplining as well. But as an adult, I am SO afraid of falling from high up. Even on road trips, when we cross a bridge, ESPECIALLY if it is over water, I roll all the windows down and hold my breath. I’m super super weird about it, lol

But the gym was a ton of fun and I am so sore today. I’ll call it a good recovery workout, haha

@Avidkeo maybe the Brooks I wear are wider in that part of the foot. They're definitely more comfortable. Although at one point I had a different model of Asics that also seemed to fit better. They were in a higher price range than the current ones. I was also running downhill when it started, so the pressure had probably also shifted slightly to a different part of my foot.

@LoveyChar you are right that some of it is probably muscle, because I am almost fine with how I look in the mirror, but generally the weight came on when I cut back on running and started pigging out because "I'm in taper mode" and "I just ran a marathon" mode. I've got a weight range I like to stay in, and am almost back into it.

3.99 miles yesterday afternoon, woo! That’s the longest I’ve ran since getting sick at the beginning of January, so it feels like a pretty good accomplishment, even if it was a bit tough at times and I had to take a few walk breaks. Also, the weather and road conditions were a bit awful - not too cold in the high 20s, but damp and a little windy, plus LOTS of ice on the ground from Sunday’s melt. I almost wiped out walking to the lake, which thankfully was pretty clear. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times - I am much less likely to slip while running than walking. I have no idea how common that is, but there you are.

I deeply missed my windbreaker on this run - it no longer fits since gaining weight last year. Sadly, the one I bought last year is discontinued, but luckily, I just found another one from the same brand (North Face) for half off at the REI Outlet store, so that will be in my hot little hands by Monday!

But other than all that, it was a great run!

Always worth a reminder: wearing too-tight clothing does NOT encourage me to lose weight, but only to feel uncomfortable and bad about myself. Also, while running may be more difficult with the extra weight, it’s still awesome, and only makes me stronger.

February Miles: 5.69

2020 Races! (bold registered)
February 8: Valentine’s Day TC 5K (Lake Nokomis)
March 21: Hot Dash 10Mi (Downtown Mpls)
April 4: Spirit of White Bear Lake (Strive) 5Mi
April 25: Get in Gear 10K
May: ESTRS Lebanon 10K
May 17: CityTrail Loppet 10Mi or 10K
May 23: Stillwater Half Marathon or 10K
June: ESTRS French 5K
June 27: Lift Bridge 10Mi or 10K
July: ESTRS Lebanon 7Mi
July: Torchlight 5K
August 8: Gopher to Badger Half Marathon or 10K
September 19: Surley Trail Loppet Half Marathon or 7Mi or 5K
September 21: Stillwater Boom Site Log Run 10Mi or 12K
October: TCM 10Mi or 10K
October: Bemidji Blue Ox Half Marathon or 26K
October 31: Halloween Half or 10K
November: Kowalski's Strive 10 Miler
November 26: Turkey Trot 10K
December: Reindeer Run 10K or 15K