APRIL 2025 Monthly Running Challenge

At something to 10 last night I went to pack my running bag and discovered a small issue, that I would have I discovered if I had run on Saturday - I need to do laundry. 😂 I will run when I get home (in the rain that is coming), I will just take something from my laundry basket. I'm the only that would be able to smell myself. Maybe, I am a little filled up. It hasn't turn into anything major, and hopefully won't. I would not be able to be at work (even with just a cold) and I need to be able to sing soprano, as I am in my church choir and our Easter performance is coming up!

Congratulations on the new grandbaby @Mari33a!

Good job on beating your prior race time @John7772016!

Congratulations on a great marathon @Laurz9191 and a PR!

Yesterday, I volunteered with timing a marathon that our local track club puts on. It’s a no-frills marathon run on a rails-to-trails trail (registration is only $15). Registration is limited to 100 and even though 100 people registered we only had 71 show up at the start line. There were some amazing runners finishing. It’s a Boston qualifier. A group of 4 young kids from Duke University took the top spots, along with a couple from a local college and one 17-year old boy came in third place overall. It’s amazing to see some of the runners sprint towards the finish line when they see the clock after running 26 miles. One lady made it a sub-4 hour with less than a second to spare – 3:59:59.4! We give participants the opportunity to start an hour early which several took advantage of. Many people use this as their 50-state marathon for Virginia since we don’t have a time limit for finishing. The rain held off until the last hour when we had just a few sprinkles.

Good work everyone. Liked as many posts as I could. Congrats to those who did races on the weekend.

19km month to date so far. Will need to up the mileage if I'm to meet my goal. On the plus side, did a 1 hour Wun yesterday. Slow AF but it got done. Feeling that today.

@yirara I used to have to do the 2.4km run as part of an annual fitness test. That sucked as it is basically an all out sprint. Somehow through slow and steady training I got it down from 14:30 mins to 10:30mins total time and that's with me being genetically anemic. It was all about pacing during the test. It can be done.

@quilteryoyo stress that 5 letter word…. you got this

Bit of a shocker week for me - my motivation is low. I’m blaming this on a big work deadline, child’s 13th birthday (and ensuing party), a million and one tiny but time-sensitive tasks, and prepping to go away tomorrow.

I skipped my half marathon on Sunday due to the aforementioned low motivation but also I had strained my hip flexor and, while it was coming right and it probably would’ve been OK to run, I’m doing a three day hike in the middle of nowhere in the South Island later this week and I didn’t want to aggravate it as the trail has quite a lot of climbing and the hip flexor is all about lifting the knee. Also, hubby raised concerns that I hadn’t tested my new pack, so instead of running 21km, I loaded 8kg of sugar to my pack 🤪 and went for an 8km walk up some hills instead.

After a couple of good nights sleep, I found my motivation this morning and did 5k, followed by a Pilates class. Currently wondering whether I should pack my running gear and sneak in a little run tomorrow while I’m in Queenstown before we start the hike on Thursday…

1.78 miles at 14'10"
It is hot today. I live in a hilly neighborhood. It's a challenge.

My watch tells me the following….. (meaningless?)

Step Cadence - 155 steps/min
Stride length - .75 m ave
Ground Contact Time - 333 ms
Vertical Oscillation - 8.1 cm
Vertical ratio - 11%

Anyone got snowshoes I can borrow to still run today? 10-15cm coming (4-6 inches). It looks like Christmas NOT Easter out there.

The cold is a little more today, but not that bad. I don't know what would happen though if I tried to sing. Hopefully this doesn't last long. I feel fine, just a little more tired then normal.

Thanks @martaindale, @kgirlhart, @quilteryoyo, @Teresa502, I'm just glad I was able to improve on last year!
Hoping to be back running tomorrow, unfortunately twisted my back a bit helping someone moving a few things late Sat. Decided a couple of rest days would likely be a good thing.

April Goal: 140 miles

4/1: 6.25 miles
4/2: 6.05 miles
4/3: 2.51 miles
4/4: 6.10 miles
4/6: 10.10 miles
4/7: 3.52 miles
4/8: 6.25 miles

40.78/140 miles completed for April

I had a great run this morning. It was chilly, but not windy and a bright clear morning. I didn't sleep well, so I was just planning an easy run. I started out kind of quick, mostly because it was cool and I had a stressful day ahead of me and wanted to get to work a little early so even though I got up with plenty of time, I felt a little rushed. I felt pretty good running quickly, so I just kept picking up the pace. I ran 6.25 miles in 1:02 with an average 9:57 pace. That may not seem fast to everyone, but it is about 1.5 minutes faster than my usual easy run. I had negative splits too. The first was 10:51 and the last was 9:15.

Well, it was good that I had such a great run this morning because the rest of my day has turned to *kitten*. I found out this afternoon that I am being laid off. Thursday will be my last day, but I will get 8 weeks of severance pay. I guess it is time to start job hunting. Maybe I will look into some remote accounting jobs. I don't want to have to move, and there isn't much available here…

1 April - Walk 1.50 miles - Run 3.10 miles - Treadmill - Gym 24m56s - arm day
2 April - Walk 1.70 miles - Run 2.60 miles - Treadmill - Gym 29m17s - leg day
3 April - Walk 2.85 miles - Run 0.25 miles - Driveway - Push mow 17m44s
4 April - Walk 2.50 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - Treadmill - Gym 23m40s
5 April - Walk 1.10 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - Driveway (electrician was here all afternoon)
6 April - Walk 2.10 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - Treadmill
7 April - Walk 0.60 miles - Ran 2.50 miles - Treadmill - Gym 27m43s
8 April - Walk 2.10 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - Treadmill - Fasting blood work later in the day

22.90/80.00 goal

I had to get fasting labs done today for my doctor's appointment next week. I don't do well with running fasted, so I just walked.

After the bloodwork and a couple of errands, and eating breakfast, of course, I worked at daycare for 6 hours.

@kgirlhart oh no!!!!! I remember when you switched to take over this job and had to get up earlier to run. Will you be able to get unemployment for a while or what about early retirement?

@quilteryoyo hope those labs come back perfect for you!!! My labs are never as good as I would like but they are not awful and I have so far avoided any meds except small dose of synthroid …..

@John772016 sorry to hear about your back! Rest days may be the ticket but I always try to walk or run to see if it "hurts". And I can relate as I have once again managed to upset one of the muscles over my ribs. Hope to be able to run. I actually did this Sun evening leaning over the bathtub to clean it and felt my upper ribs hit the tub. dangit. But it was ok until yesterday morning when I went to do situps and finished the job on whatever muscle was damaged.

@chris_in_cal those stats about running? I think they do give us a good story but only if you monitor them and compare to results? I know that a fast song increases my cadence (say 180 is the best i have managed) and my pace will reflect that. They all sort of work together but I have short legs so longer strides is not going to get me faster. I think if we kept track of them and compared over time they would tell a story. If of course they are accurate. LOL.

I did a nice 5 miler yesterday in perfect weather with it getting lighter out. Not very fast and not very energetic but glad I got out. Up to 51 miles for the month cum out of 100 goal and streak continues. (yeah so even if the intercostal muscle thing hurts today I will probably keep going. Gotta channel my betahowls.

@ContraryMaryMary so beautiful!!!! (and warm looking)

My running bag is with me at work and under my desk. I WILL go out at lunch. Trying not to cough at work as I work with a bunch of paranoid people. It's JUST a cold nothing else.