Welcome to my Pity Party

Wondering why you haven't seen a post or a picture of my face since Tuesday??!  Well, it's because I haven't run since then.  Although I'm still in full-blown pity party mode, I thought I would at least Sparknote the past few days worth of woes for you.

After Tuesday's semi-disasterous run, I was really disappointed when I woke up on Wednesday still feeling like poop.  I begrudingly decided to give myself another rest day.  I was okay(ish) with my decision because I figured that my physical therapy appointment on Thursday would be some kind of magic wand to make me all better.

Think again, Mollz.  To make a long two hour experience short, all you need to know is that I got the crap beat out of me by (very handsome) mister physical therapist.  There were tears.  There were f-bombs.  And a new-found understanding of the phrase "no pain no gain."

The good news:  I can still run.  Even though I told him I wouldn't listen to him if he told me not to, it's encouraging to hear that I won't cripple myself by continuing to run.

The not so good news:  I need to cut my running days down from 5 days per week to 3 (I told him I'll compromise on 4...all I got in return was a pair of raised eyebrows.  Apparantly you can't really negotiate with a physical therapist).

The annoying game plan to remedy my 75 year old hip:  Enjoy the heck out of my three (four?!) running days per week and suck it up and cross train the other two days.  Spend some quality time on the floor doing stretches and exercises that make me want to cry.  Rendezvous with mister therapist again next week so he can beat up my leg muscles some more.  Sheesh.  Good things he's cute.

I know that all of this will help me and eventually my rickety hip will be strong and good as new.  In the mean time, I'm continuing my pity party.  Because ya know what?  It's not fair.  Life's not fair, blah blah blah.... but for the first time in my life, I actually WANT to run.  A lot.  Whenever I want.  Without dealing with stupid injuries.  And I can't right now.

In case you haven't noticed, I don't really handle it too well when things don't go my way.  I promise the pity party will dwindle down soon.  And by soon I mean Sunday.  I've got a 15k race that I'm super excited to run (yes I was given permission to run it).  Till then, I'll be doing my physical therapy homework with (fake) excitement.

Rest Day x2... and Then My Body Rebelled.

So I decided to give myself an impromptu rest day on Sunday because I was hurting after Saturday's run.  My hip has been bothering me on and off and has been getting progressively more annoying the past few weeks so I decided to listen to my body and took not only Sunday but yesterday as a rest day too.

This is what the past 72 hours of my life have looked like in a nutshell:

ohh foamie, you hurt so good.

just rolling away.

I actually made an appointment with a physical therapist this week to get my stupid sensitive little leg checked out.  I'm feeling the same pains and annoyances that I did when I was forced to stop running for a month in the winter and I'm bound and determined to not let that happen again.  

Two days off in a row made for one bored Molly so I decided to meet up with some friends for drinks last night.  Yes, you read that right.  I went out.  To a bar.  And socialized.  And drank beer.  On a Monday.  Not running for a while makes me do crazy things.

proof that I own more than just running clothes

Needless to say I was SO ready to get my legs moving again today.  I mapped out a sweet new route and set out to tackle 5 miles with Emily.  Turns out my body had a completely different agenda.  My legs felt heavy from the get-go and about 7 minutes in I got an AWFUL pain/cramp/muscle spasm/body freakout in my upper hip/stomach area.  Sound confusing?  It was.  

If I had to imagine the pain of being in labor, this is what I would picture it to feel like.  Every inhale I took felt like I was being punched in the stomach-ish area.  We stopped I can't even tell you how many times.  Rather than finishing our loop, we ended up turning around about a mile and a half in.  I'm pretty sure that anyone who saw the faces I was making probably assumed that I was just reallllly out of shape or trying not to poop my pants.  It was brutal.

real brutal. 5 miles? how bout 3.3 instead

WHY.  Why are you letting me down body?  I foam roll you, I feed you peanut butter and carbs, I keep you perfectly hydrated.  I gave you TWO rest days to hang out and relax.  And in return I get a shit-tastic run.  A half-assed run at that.

I'm annoyed.  I'm discouraged.  I'm frustrated.  Yes, I understand that I need to listen to my body.  Yes, I understand that I've been putting it through a lot.  But to want to run, and to have your body throw a hissy fit and not mesh with what your brain wants to do, is SO. FRUSTRATING.

Tomorrow's a new day and hopefully my body will be on the same page as me tomorrow.  In the mean time, what better way to forget about a shitty run and your decrepit body than with the best dinner in the world:

yup.

Double Digits!

Well, my very first double digit run is officially done!  And let's just say that I earned and fought for every single one of those miles today!

I actually woke up on time this morning (shocker) and for the first Saturday probably ever didn't have to rush getting ready.  As I was leaving I had a nagging feeling that I was forgetting something but had no idea what -- I had my water, my gatorade, my gel, my Garmin - my 7am brain told me I was ready to go.

Once I got there I realized that of all things, I forgot my phone.  That meant no route map, no music, and no pictures (the most devastating part obviously).  Great.

We had another "field trip" today to run more of the half marathon course.  The first few miles were familiar since we've ran them before.  But boy, they weren't easy.  I struggled to find my groove and could tell after the first few miles that it was going to be one of those "off" runs -- aka my only goal was to finish and not have to be committed to the mental hospital or the ER by the end.

If only I knew then that the first 4 miles would be the EASY miles, I would have probably thrown in the towel right then and there.  Mile 4 is where we had a long and gradual uphill which led us to more hills and marked the difficult part of the course.

To prove that I am not just being my usual baby self and complaining about hills, this is what the elevation looked like:

see? hills. not being a baby

I started to really fall behind my pace group at this point, although I could still see most of them ahead of my still.  The course goes through a big cemetery which is super hilly and has lots of twists and turns.  About halfway through the cemetery, I was REALLY struggling and debated stopping and waiting for the 13 minute pace group so I could fall back with them.

Well, my decision was made for me when one of the girls in my group yelled back to tell me that our pacer had taken a wrong turn and that the 13 group wasn't behind us anymore.  Awesome.

Most of my group was already way ahead and out of sight at this point.  Thankfully two girls from my group who were in between the group and myself stuck with me and stopped and waited for me at the end of the cemetery.

One of the coaches was waiting at the end of the cemetery with extra water and let me tell you I felt like I was running towards Jesus, I was so excited to get some water in me.  I had drank through all three of my water bottles by that point and really needed water.  I refilled and we were off to tackle the rest of the miles.

I wish I could say it got easier from here but it most certainly did not.  I was struggling mentally and physically to keep going and wanted so so bad to stop.  Had it not been for the two girls staying with me I probably would have given up and hitchhiked back to my car.

After what felt like forever, we finally made it to the end.  2+ hours and 10.9 miles later, I officially have my longest and most challenging run under my belt:

I seriously got a little bit choked up at the end.  First of all, because I was so grateful to have such amazing running buddies who didn't give up on me and stuck with me and encouraged me the whole time (THANK YOU Steph and Katie :)  Secondly, because I am IN AWE that I just ran 10+ miles.  Never in my entire life would I EVER have imagined that I would do this.  If someone bet me a year ago that I would be running ten miles, I would have thought they were crazy.  You couldn't pay me to do that!  As discouraged as I sometimes get about being slow and having tough runs, I am amazed at how far I have come in my running journey.  I am so proud of myself and even more proud to have such amazing support from my friends, family and training friends.  Today was definitely the toughest challenge yet, but I made it through and am excited to keep on keepin' on!

The Good, The Bad, and The Sweaty

The past few days have encompassed all of the above - a little bit of good, a little bit of not so good, and a whole lotta sweat.

My attitude going into yesterday's run was pretty dreadful.  Reason one being I was just really tired and didn't want to move my butt off the couch.  Reason two being that mapmyrun.com no longer let's me see the elevations of my mapped routes which means I go into my runs having no idea what I'm in for.  I know Becca you are shaking your head right now, but I'm OCD (and scared of hills), I need to know these things ahead of time.

Garmin told me the elevation gain was less than 100 feet and I'm pretty sure it was lying.  My calves and quads beg to differ with your elevation measurements, Garmin.  Anyways, it turned out to be a pretty great route and I was in my I LOVE RUNNING zone after a mile or two.  Back to back five milers, check.

11:48 pace, what a speed demon.

That brings us to the good ol' Tempo Thursday today.  We all know I have a love-hate relationship with tempo Thursday's.  Well, once I saw the email about tonight's workout my Debbie Downer came out and let's just say I didn't have a whole lot of love for tempo thursday.  Mile repeats at tempo pace?  Eek.

One thing that did get my excited about tonight?  Getting our sweet training shirts:

pumped.

Even better?  They're hot pink - it's like they were designed with me in mind.

front

back

The awesome shirts served as a little bit of a pump up for the tempo workout looming ahead of me.  After a mile warmup, our task was to do three one-mile repeats at a pace 60-90 seconds faster than our usual pace.  That meant my goal was to keep my pace between 10:30 and 11:00.  Oy vey.

I told myself I would be happy if I ended up closer to 11 and didn't expect too much more from myself.  The lack of expectations was especially solidified as I was getting lapped by 7 minute milers.  Commence the negative self-defeating thinking.

One of the BIGGEST things I struggle with is comparing myself to other runners.  I constantly have to remind myself that the competition is with myself, not with everyone else.  Six months ago I couldn't even run an entire mile without stopping, let alone even think about running an 11 minute mile.  That is what I need to remind myself of when I get discouraged for being in the back of the pack.

And it turns out, I sometimes surprise myself and don't give myself enough credit for what I can do.  My splits for each of the three miles were 10:17, 10:39 and 10:48.  Not bad Mollz.

10:41 pace, even with the warm-up mile!

I sure had a whole lot of sweat to show for my efforts tonight.  It was nice and toasty out and apparently pushing yourself yields a lot of extra sweat!

legitimately sweat soaked.

Another thing that comes along with pushing yourself?  Feeling awesome after you exceed your expectations.

tempo thursday, you win again

As usual, I'm so ready for my rest day tomorrow.  We've got double digits on the agenda for Saturday and naturally I'm kind of freaking out.  But I'm also kind of excited.  I'm sure there will be plenty of good, bad and sweaty come Saturday!

Week NINE!

After all the shifting and back to back to back run days last week, it feels good to be back on schedule this week!  Coming off of Sunday's ridiculously un-fun run, I was looking forward to balancing out my zen today with a good run.

I mapped out a nice five mile route that accidentally started with me and Emily having to scale a fence.  My apartment complex has a back/service entrance that leads to another street that we usually run on.  Since we ALWAYS start from the same point, I thought I'd switch it up and have us start out the back entrance.  Well, there's a huge gate there and the handful of other times I've went out that way, I've been able to rig the gate and run through.  Apparently they fixed the gate to be un-riggable so rather than walk the .25 miles to the main entrance, we decided to climb the fence.  Why not.

Anyways, we were running with the sun at our backs as it was setting and we could see our shadows in front of us.  I understand the concept of a shadow, but man, my shadow totally does NOT look as good running as my person does.  That's what I'm telling myself at least.  Basically, this sums things up perfectly:

yup.

Even though I battled with my shadow to make it look like it had more running finesse, I completely enjoyed all five miles of today's run.  It was perfect weather and we settled into a comfortable pace and I felt great. 

It's funny because our average pace was 11:59 and I felt really good and comfortable the whole time.  Even with the last mile-long incline I still managed to keep a good pace.  I still surprise myself every time I'm able to keep an average pace like that on any run over 3 miles.  I think I'm earning my stay in the 12 minute mile club :)

is my arm getting tan?!

BIG things are coming up this weekend and next -- my first double digit long run and my first 15k race.  I'm nervously excited for both!  I'm antsy to plow through this week and get to Saturday.  And then next Sunday.  And then 3 weeks after that 13.1!  Time is FLYING!!!

An Irish Run: Three Miles of Sweating Out Booze

When my alarm went off at 7am yesterday morning, I was ready to get my Irish on.  It was a little strange to wake up on a Saturday and to not be putting running clothes on.

not my typical saturday morning attire

Festivities started at 8:30 yesterday morning and continued until I collapsed into bed around 11pm.  It was a GORGEOUS day outside and although I did miss running for about 5 minutes, I got over that feeling pretty fast.  It was nice to just spend the day having fun and pretending like I was in college again.

Although, all of the fun I had yesterday caught up with me this morning and I was NOT excited in the least to run today.  Beer + pizza + more beer + corned beef isn't exactly the best fuel the day before a run.  Woof.

Everything hurt this morning when I woke up - my belly, my head, my body.  I figured if I dressed hardcore it would help me to run better.  Enter the calf sleeves:

welp, here goes nothin'

Too bad looking hardcore didn't help at all.  I was dragging today.  I ran with Emily, who was surprisingly chipper and energetic coming off of yesterday's fun.  As much as I wanted to stop and dry heave and slap her for feeling good, she kept me going the whole time.  There's no way I would have been able to finish the miles today if I was alone.

We went realllll slow - not slow enough for me though because I kind of wanted to die the whole time.  I finished 3 brutal miles with the slowest pace that I had gone in a LONG time.  

12:45 pace you seemed way too fast today  

It feels good to have the run done and I'm glad that I actually got my but off the couch to do it.  And actually, I feel a heck of a lot better now that it's over.  

As much fun as I had yesterday, the awfulness that I felt on today's run just reaffirmed the specialness of my 10pm weekend bedtimes during training.  No more drinking for this girl unless the next day involves zero miles of running.  Well, no more 14 hour long celebrations the day before a run anyways.  Lesson. Learned. 

Friday Things

I am EXHAUSTED from my crazy week and even crazier Friday.  Good thing I took a lot of pictures today so I don't have to think or write a whole lot.  Ready go.

I worked a half day at work today for two reasons: 1. long run, obviously, but 2. also to do a little baking prep for tomorrow:

3 kinds of alcohol in one cupcake? winning.

While I waited for Emily to get out of work, I slaved away in the kitchen working on these beauties:

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes - happy st. patrick's day!

It took all my might to not eat them - or drink the Guinness that went into them.  Something about how booze and sweets aren't the best pre-run fuel.....whatever.

Emily arrived right as I was finishing up and it was perfect timing.  I made her change her shirt because she brought a pink one and we would have been twins.  I can handle twinning in a 5k maybe, but 9 miles is a little much to be all matchy matchy.

ready to go!

The first 5 miles were AWESOME... great scenery/route, legs felt great, kept a quick comfortable pace, wasn't too hot... I felt like a million bucks.  I wasn't even mad when mapmyrun.com duped me again and sent us on a questionable pedestrian overpass bridge:

interesting "road," map my run

After mile five is where it got tough.  Mile six dragged on forever, and the last three miles were hard.  Like, way slow pace, super hot and sweaty, tired legs hard.  I wore my sweet little hydration belt and learned my lesson that I need WAY more fluids on warm days - I sipped through both of my bottles by mile 7 and was really dragging by the end.  

I was surprised though at our finish time and pace - we averaged an 11:58 pace which is the fastest I've ever gone on a long run.  The fast and easy first 5 miles really helped to average out the 12:30's we were running by the last few miles!

9 miles - check!

Overall it was a good run, even though I really had to push myself the last few miles.  I definitely think I need to get used to running in the heat and think that played a part in the tough end of the run.  I was a sweaty beast and needed tons of water (that I didn't have).  Definitely have some things I can improve for the next warm long run (ahem pacing and agua), but overall I'm really proud of how I did today!

so proud, we have no shame in our sweaty salt soaked post run faces

I'm currently rocking my compression gear and it miiiight make it's way under my St. Patty's Day outfit tomorrow.  If only my calf sleeves were green instead of hot pink, I could rock them proudly rather than hiding them.  Almost time for my date with my bed.... then time for the best day of the year!  Happy long run Saturday St. Patricks Day!

Surprise Surprise

Day five of running was a surprising success.  My legs were a little tight today so I nonchalantly did some stretching throughout the day at the office.  Since I feel like brining my foam roller or my stick to work is crossing the line just a bit, my office muscle massager of choice is this:

tennis ball. pink, of course.

I busted it out a few times during the day and rubbed out some tight muscles.  I think my IT band was very appreciative of the extra TLC it got today.

normal. 

The extra stretching and tennis ball massaging paid off because my legs felt pretty good on my run today.  I stopped once to stretch out my hips, but overall I was honestly shocked at how great I felt during the run.  It's crazy how when you least expect it your body pulls through and surprises you.

just under 5 miles, i'll take it

As great as I felt on today's run, I am DEFINITELY ready for a rest day tomorrow.  It's been a good five day streak but I'm so ready for a day off.  As much as I might be tempted by the gorgeous weather tomorrow, I think I'll be jusssst fine hanging out on the couch and resting my legs.  And "fueling" for Friday's run, aka eating Subway.  Bring on the rest!

All Missions: Failed

Today I set out on my run with a few specific missions.  The failure of all of my good intentions snowballed into a very tedious and not very enjoyable 3 miles.

I started off happy and ready for an easy stress free run:

Sunny weather + short-sleeves = happy girl

Since I was only going three miles, I didn't map a route and figured I would wing it.  It was quite windy out so my plan became to run in whichever direction would allow me to avoid running against the wind.  Great idea in theory, right?  So I thought.  Until one turn landed me on a dead end street, which had me running into the wind after I had to turn around.  The theory also doesn't work when you need to turn right, and the only side streets are on your left.  Needless to say, I was running into the wind 97% of my run.  Mission one, backfired.

Again, since I was only going three miles, I decided not to run with my music and have some "me" time.  Note to self, you can't force the "me" time on a run.  Don't force your brain to think about life when it really just wants to listen to Lady Gaga.  No music today = annoying and boring = mission fail #2.

Because I'm missing the usual Tempo Thursday this week, and since today was my short run, I wanted to make today Tempo Tuesday and try and keep my average pace below 12 minutes.  Well, thanks to failed missions one and two, mission sub-12 minute miles became fail number three:

12:03 pace.  Really?

Hearing my watch beep at mile 3 was probably the best sound I'd heard all day.  I was ready for this run to be DONE.  I guess my streak of awesome runs had to come to and end eventually.  I know it's the runs like today that make the good runs even better, but man, today really sucked.  Remember how chipper I was 37 minutes ago?  This is about how I felt post-run:

Boo to running fails.

On the plus side, my legs are feeling pretty good considering this is my fourth day in a row running.  I've got five miles on the agenda for tomorrow, so I'm hoping I got all of my running fails out today so tomorrow is a good run.  I'm sure tomorrow will be interesting though... there never are any dull moments anymore that's for sure!

An Irish Girl's Priorities

It shouldn't come as any surprise that I am a proud Irish girl.  That being said, my second favorite day of the year (besides my birthday, obv) is of course St. Patrick's Day.  It just so happens to fall on a Saturday this year and you better believe that I will be stereotypically celebrating my heritage to the best of my ability.

Since beginning training, my "social life" consists of 8am group runs and a standing Friday night date with my bed at 10pm.  Needless to say it's time to bring back the side of Molly pictured above that has been out of commission for far too long.

Although that poses a problem -- we all know that Saturday's are long run days.  No chance you're gonna see me running on my national holiday this year.  Since I obviously have my priorities straightened out, I had to get a little creative in juggling my running schedule this week.

Friday is long run day this week, and I have 12 miles to get in between today, tomorrow and Wednesday.  Giving myself the much needed pre-long-run rest day on Thursday.  I put in 4 miles today:

Naked arm = weather I can get used to!

This is my third day in a row of running, and (fingers crossed) I'll have 5 days in a row before my rest day this week.  That'll be my longest streak ever and I'm hoping these legs of mine can make me proud this week.  I'll probably still be covertly rocking my compression gear under my St. Patrick's Day attire though, a la my trip to Syracuse on Saturday:

a runner's undergarments - cute.

This week is going to be interesting for sure, at least we've got some good weather if all else ends up failing!  Just kidding.... I plan on kicking butt this week so I can celebrate extra hard on Saturday.  Hopefully the luck of the Irish will help me get through my off-kilter schedule this week in one piece!

Halfway There!

Seven weeks from today is race day!  Crazy!!

I was pumped for today's run because it was GORGEOUS out... sunny and warm and all around a perfect spring day!

Day two of rocking capris and a tshirt and let me tell you, I could get used to this!  It's so much easier to enjoy the run when you're not worried about your face freezing off.  

My legs felt a little heavy today and I had to stop and stretch once or twice during the run.  Overall though it was a great run and I kept going even when my watch beeped at the three mile mark.  I didn't map a route and thought I had planned it well enough in my head to get in 3 miles... but I was a little off. Normally I would walk once I had my miles in but it was so nice out I didn't want to stop!

My average pace was 11:53, not bad at all for a recovery run!  Especially coming off of my fastest long run ever yesterday.  As much as I complain about Tempo Thursday's, I thiiiink they might be starting to pay off!  Hello 12 minute mile club, I think I'm officially here to stay for a while :)

Positive Patty to the Rescue

After my night as Debbie Downer on Thursday I was bound and determined this morning to have a better attitude and let my Positive Patty shine.

I wish I could say I got off to a great start, but that would be a lie.  First, I overslept (again) and woke up about 6 minutes before I had to leave the house.  This meant that I was still half asleep when I was getting ready and therefore forgot two relatively crucial details of my routine: my base layer and my knee tape.

So, not only was I a liiiiitle chilly, I was also a liiiitle annoyed that my knee was all jacked up.  BUT I decided to snap out of my funk when I got out of my car.  New positive mental attitude - check!

Anyways, today we had another "field trip" and ran the first half of the half marathon course that we'll be running in April.  It was pretty cool to see some of the course and the first 6 miles of it were mostly flat and easy.  Right up my alley.

Like usual I stared off with the 12 minute pace group and for the second week in a row I stayed with them the entire run!

12 minute pace exactly!

It makes SUCH a difference when you are actually with the group for the whole run... the miles flew by today and I felt great the whole time.  I kept waiting for my brain and my body to start rebelling and expected my pace to taper off, but none of that happened.  At the end of the 7 miles I wanted to keep going!  Who am I?!

A sweaty thumbs up for an awesome run!

Now it's time to eat my face off (my favorite part of Saturday's)... I'm going home to Syracuse for some good ol' family time, and in true "I think I'm a hardcore runner" form, I'm rocking my compression shorts and calf sleeves under my skinny jeans.  Gotta keep my muscles happy!

See ya tomorrow for an easy three!

Welcome to Tempo Thursday, Debbie Downer

To say I wasn't looking forward to running tonight would be an understatement.  Up until about 5 minutes after the run, you could have called me Debbie.  Debbie Downer that is.

I was just not in the mood to do ANYTHING when I got home from work today.  It's been a crazy week at work and by the time I plopped on the couch when I got home today my tiredness came crashing down like a ton of bricks.

To top that off, it was gloomy and rainy and windy and overall yucky outside.  All of that combined with my (not so) favorite tempo Thursday workout looming ahead made it REAL tough to get my butt in gear.

Debbie Downer bursting with excitement

So I pulled myself together and braced myself for the trek across town.  Tonight's workout was at the Fleet Feet on the west side, aka about 25 minutes from my house aka a drive that is TEN TIMES LONGER than the east side Fleet Feet.  And naturally it was rush hour.  My speedometer looked like this for half the drive (on the expressway, mind you!):

REALLY?!

Obviously I was a real gem by the time I arrived at Fleet Feet.  Tonight's workout was four 1/2 mile repeats at tempo pace with about a minute recovery in between each one.  I guess my downer mood fueled my legs to get the run over with because I kept a quick and consistent pace.  My average pace for the two cumulative miles was 10:29.  Not too shabby!  Throw in another 1.75 warm up/cool down miles and bing bang boom we're done.

It was real cold and a little windy and each turn we made seemed to keep us running into the wind.  Cool.  On like the second repeat I felt my hair slapping my neck and was super annoyed.  Turns out my hair tie at the end of my braid had fallen out and my wet stringy pony tail was flopping around.  If you've noticed, I ALWAYS run with a braid because I hate having my hair fly all over the place.  I'm a very particular runner right down to my hairstyle!  Needless to say my hair malfunction annoyed the eff out of me for the next 30 minutes.

Seriously? How does that happen?

And then I got back to FF and chatted with a few people and waited for the rest of my running buddies to get back.  I was then informed by one of my running buddies that I had a trail of snot/spit across my entire cheek.  Who knows how long I had been walking around like that and how many people neglected to tell me that I had a loogie on my face.  That's cool.  Real running friends call you out on your bodily fluid fails.  Thanks Steph ;)

Although Debbie stuck around for about 97% of the run, I think it's safe to say she's finally exited the building.  The power of running wins again.  You go in crabby and you come out rejuvenated.  Bam.

A Sporadic Run and a Big Thank You!

Before I recap today's (unexciting) run, I want to just say THANK YOU to everyone who is reading this and following my journey.  Thank you for the comments, the support, the encouragement... It's exciting to know that people are reading along (and putting up with all of my sarcasm and pictures of my face)!

Moving on to today's run, I only had three miles on the schedule and it was a pretty uneventful run.  Emily and I went out with no specific route in mind, just a general idea of where we wanted to run.  It was nice to take the run as it came and to not have a mapped route to follow.

Spontaneous routes are great because you discover so many cool neighborhoods and side streets and ideas for new routes.  It's even more awesome when it is still daylight outside and you can see all the swanky houses and pretty surroundings.

Post-run: still light out!

I chatted most of the run and felt relatively comfortable with our pace which averaged 11:38.  I still get surprised with myself when my pace ends up being below 12:00.  Guess these good ol' legs of mine deserve a little more credit than I thought!

Yes that is my naked arm.... the weather was so perfect today that I ran in a t-shirt!  It was UHmayzing.  There were also a TON of runners out tonight too.  It's so cool to see the camaraderie of runners - everyone is so friendly and it's fun to acknowledge your fellow runners as you pass by each other.  I could go on and on about the "running community" but I will save that for another day.... I've already used up all the seriousness my brain allows me for one day!

Keeping Up With The Clancy's

Today was an AWESOME run because I got to run with one of my favorite people in the whole wide world....my sister!  Heather is pretty much my real life running idol and has been running for like a decade. I used to give her crap all the time for being obsessed with running, for snot-rocketing and for being smelly, but now I'm the same.  Oops.

Sissys ready to run!

Heather's really hardcore (like trying to qualify for Boston hardcore) so I felt pretty legit having her run by my side!  I had four miles on the agenda so obviously we ran my favorite 4 mile loop.  We chatted the whole time and I was surprised that we averaged an 11:35 pace because it was totally comfortable, especially considering my mouth was running as much as my legs were!

sissy miles - done!

It's crazy what a little change in your routine can do for your morale.  As much as I absolutely love running with my running friends and by myself, it was great to be able to run with my sister.  It was so rejuvenating mentally and physically and having my sissy right there with me made for one great run!

And because we're sisters, we're pretty much the same person, which means we had two self-centered running nerds on our hands tonight.  This is what the post-run scene looked like:

oh just some sissy stretching

For those of you that are wondering where the heck sister #3 was during all of this... Kelly was our photographer and dinner preparer.  While Heather and I were busy stretching and foam rolling and massage sticking, little un-athletic Kelly was busy slaving away in the kitchen. 

Post-run fuel, taco salad style

Overall I had an awesome run with my sister and I felt great.  I feel even greater now that my belly is full of taco salad and I got in some good sissy time with my widdle seesys.  Just another day of Keeping Up With the Kardashian's Clancy's!