Hello!!!! My race was actually this morning. I was trying to treat it as a training run, but got a bit carried away at the start, which was actually sort of okay I think. I got up at 4 am for the race. It was clear outside (of course dark) when I got up but the fog soon set in. I don't like to be out in the dark and fog because we have so much wildlife around here and I am afraid I will hit something (like a deer). Fortunately it cleared up once I got out of our neighborhood. The race was about 50 minutes away and I got there early enough to see the sunrise. I got my bib and went to the bathroom (INDOOR BATHROOMS) and waited for the start. It was chilly. Took some pictures with my local running group, saw several friends and visited a bit. It is a very small race, about 250 people but only about 170 today I think. My training plan for today was 5 minute warmup, 5 minute cooldown and 40 minutes at a slow pace. I did the first 50 minutes at a pace that was slightly faster than the recommended slow pace. Then once the training plan part was done I did run walk run intervals and walked on the worst of the hills. Honestly I am not too pleased with my overall pace. I used to be able do a half in about the same amount of time it took me to do 10 miles. But I am not giving up and I am going to keep training. My half is November 14th. I just need to keep plugging away at the training and hope for the best. I was sixth from last. But I enjoyed it. The weather was great. The medal is very cool and the course was pretty - though it was an open course that I didn't like because there was too much traffic and we were running on the side with traffic rather than against it. Kind of scary. The food afterwards was interesting too - biscuits with fried chicken and chocolate gravy - chocolate gravy? I had never heard of that, didn't eat a whole lot of that stuff, lol.

I do have to say that my legs feel very good after that. My friends were complaining a little bit about being tired and sore but I am good. My training plan calls for a run tomorrow, we will see if I do that. I don't think it is wise but I will see how I feel in the morning.

Hope everyone has had a good day and good running!!!!

No run today but I did upper body and yoga. My arms were tired and so yoga was a little harder than usual. I can actually do some pushups now. Used to be I could do lots, but lately it has been zero. Now I can do quite a few. Progress, slowly but surely.

Did my run this morning on the treadmill - it was raining hard and it's not all that warm. I can run outside in the rain, but I will avoid it if I can. I just worry about it being slick - especially this time of year with the fallen leaves and the acorns. I feel like the treadmill is cheating because mine is broken so I can't use the incline - however, it does do one thing - it keeps me going without walking so it helps with endurance. I often think to myself I ought to do at least one treadmill run each week for that reason. Also did a vinyasa flow yoga with Adriene. That was nice.

Good Morning and happy Friday! Sharon, so is everything a go for the ultra sound on Monday? Wishing your DH well, best outcome for him!!!!

It's not a running day, but I did do yoga this morning. It's raining again, supposed to rain tomorrow too. I hope I can do my run outside tomorrow. Next week's running workouts look tough but it is getting close to race time - only a couple more weeks. I don't think I am where I want to be but that is okay, I am a work in progress, once the race is over, I have some other things I will do - focus focus focus!!!

Greeting everyone. I had speedwork at the track this morning. It went okay - still a lot of room for improvement. It was really nice weather, sunny and beautiful with a bit of a breeze. Then I did some lower body strength and yoga. I found some of the lower body stuff to be challenging - we will see how my legs feel tomorrow.

Hello everyone!!! Sounds like running is going well! Jenny, sounds like you are doing great - there are definitely some advantages to running in the cold! I used to have a Wii, I wonder if it is still around? That sounds like fun!

Sharon, it is truly a blessing that they found this with your husband. I know you have to be super stressed about it though! I know I would be. My DH is not healthy at all and he is quite a bit younger than I am. It worries me daily.

I can't wait to hear about your race Sharon - you are going to do great, I am so excited for you!

I did my run this morning, it started out great. It was cold here, temp around 45 F and quite windy but I felt good. The only problem I have is that when it starts getting colder than 60 my nose starts running the whole time. I take tissues with me but what an annoyance. Seriously, I would blow my nose and 30 seconds later I needed to again and it is hard to breathe because my nose is running and I feel if I breathe harder, it runs harder. UGH UGH UGH! I was going to do around 8.5 or 9.0 miles and ended up with only 7.5 miles. My race is November 14th and I think that my runs going forward should be easy runs. I have NO endurance, that is not going to work for a half marathon. I am frustrated with the training plan but what can I do now. I can do four or five miles pretty easily, then I will have to run/walk/run and the course for my race has enormous hills so that is going to be interesting. I think at this point I will be lucky to finish in 3:30. Last year this race took me 3:23 and the year before it took me 3:13. It is not an easy course and I am getting slower. I think if I had another month to do speedwork and hills, I could possibly get a littler better but that ship has sailed!

Take care everyone and run happy!

I had another nice run this morning, 31 degrees F, but sunny and not windy. I did put my mittens on at first but was able to take them off after a while, and only had to put them back on once. My nose is always runny when it is cold but today I only needed to stop twice to use the tissue so that is better than a few days ago!

Can't wait to hear about your race Sharon!!!

I did my short run today. Training plan called for only 40 minutes, which I did, and my pace was a little better today - I was quite happy with it and felt great. I still don't know if I can do the recommended tempo pace though (tempo run isn't until Tuesday of this week so we will see how that goes). Weather was very lovely today, I waited until it was later in the morning and it was at least in the 50s by then.

I just signed up for another half in March - half of the race is on a trail and half is on road. I've got the Hot Chocolate 15k in February. I am kind of in the mood for races even though I am not running so great. Maybe it will motivate me.

Hi Jenny! So glad to hear from you. It sounds like your running is going splendidly! I am so glad I took your advice and am following Yoga with Adriene. I am still doing strength training as well, today was core. Then I did yoga and I can tell I am regaining my strength.

Today was a non-running day for me, just active rest. I will do some more yoga later for lower back and hamstrings probably.

Hello! I did my 30 minute tempo run this morning. It went okay. I did 15 minutes of walking to warm up and 15 minutes of walking to cool down. The 30 minutes went better than I expected. It was 40 degrees F when I started but I had a hard time warming up. Eventually though that was fine too. The sun, when I finally got to an open place, really helped. My first mile for the tempo run was a second too slow but the rest of it was perfect. I actually did walk for about a minute in the optional ten minutes and still was well within the overall range.

Then I did strength (upper body) and yoga. I am not sure why buy my knee hurts a lot and my legs are sore. I don't know if it's because of my RA or what.

Yoga was nice today. Even though the yoga studio closed last year I feel that I am going to be okay doing it on my own. I have just been doing random ones, some flow, some for runners, some for specific issues (especially lower back) but I might consider doing one of the series just to get into a good routine.

Hope everyone is having a great day! We are having awesome weather here.