SIX WEEKS IN A ROW!!! Get me a gold star sticker or something! Sit back and pour yourself a cup of milk, kid, this one is going to be long… What a week it was!
Last weekend was the 10K that your mom, Melissa, made me do. And by made me do she said “I’ll sign up and do it with you, if you sign up.” Clearly, she’s got the power. Then she called our friend Frannie and made her do it, too, but Frannie got a Starbucks out of the deal so I think I should’ve held out for a Coffee Bean Iced Nonfat Latte, don’t you?
They assigned me bib number 42. That’s right boys, Mom’s the answer to everything.
In any event, we had the 10K on Saturday. You may have heard your Mommy moaning and groaning all day Saturday afternoon about it, but probably not because she handles her aches and pains with a lot of grace and courage, if you ask me. My knee injury from last weekend did not prevent me from any walking all week so I had no worries there.
It was hot and hilly. Your mom took off to run right off the bat. It became very quickly obvious that Frannie and I were walking in very last place. When the guy somewhere in the first mile mentioned that there was a time limit, we decided we better run some intervals so we would not get swept off of the course. When it wasn’t too hilly or painful, we tried to keep a five-minute walk to one-minute run interval. You’ll please note that this was much faster than everyone behind us who didn’t even start the 10K that day.
In numerical order, Frannie, Melissa and I “Made a Muscle” – Go Team Muscle Makers for UCMD! Please note the sunglasses and headbands. We all dressed independently Saturday morning, great minds just think alike.
Before we hit the first mile, I felt a blister forming on my left foot. This shocked me because in all my six half-marathons and training for them, I have never, ever dealt with blisters on my feet. Sore feet? Yes. Shin splints? Oh, you betcha. Hip pain? Sure! But blisters? Never. The 10K advertised that their course covered several trails so everyone in our little group wore our “older” shoes: We didn’t want to get our new, pretty shoes dirty! I noticed that with my ultra thin socks, my Nike Vomeros fit a bit loosely so I wondered if maybe I needed to put some Body Glide on my feet when I wear my ultra-thin socks.
We continued on and waved at the other participants passing us on the course after the turnarounds. Ultimately, we finished dead last but felt accomplished. I felt blisters on two feet by the time we finished, but at least we finished. We had joked around before the event that they did not offer medals. We worried they might cancel the event due to a nearby brush fire – or that we might abandon the event if the air quality was too bad because of the fire. We considered making up our own event. Actually, that was your dad’s idea, let’s give credit where credit is due. That gave me the idea to make some medals since we would not otherwise get any medals. My husband met us at the finish line and put our medals over our necks because that is the most appropriate way to receive a medal after an event.
Medals! We had medals!
After the 10K, we wanted food. Even though it was only 10:00 am, we went to a local family owned restaurant known for an amazing “quesadilla” that easily serves two to four people each. We forced your mom and Frannie to order some with us. And by forced I mean, I asked my kids if they wanted to go there for quesadillas and their eyes glazed over and gushed on them so badly that they had no choice. I have the power, too.
When I got home, I took of my shoes to investigate the blister damage and after I kicked myself around for being a bonehead I knew exactly what happened:
Last December, I bought custom inserts. I took the Nike insoles out of my Vomeros and tried out the custom inserts in my Vomeros. I took the custom inserts out of the Vomeros to try them in a new pair of shoes. I have not worn my Vomeros since then, nor did I ever return the Nike insoles to the Vomeros. I put the Vomeros on Saturday morning without noticing the lack of insoles. When my foot had so much room to wiggle around, I assumed the ultra-thin socks just made the shoes feel roomier, not that I had no insoles in the shoes.
Yeah. Not so much.
Even with the blisters, I had a respectable, for me, time in the 10K. I would like to have had a faster time but with the hills and heat and blisters, I’m good with 94 minutes. A 16-minute pace would have been over 96 minutes so at least we beat the Disney “Race Pace.” Coming in last was ok because I know my pace and my abilities, so my ranking does not affect my personal sense of accomplishment.
I signed up for and completed a non-Disney, non-medal awarding event in my ‘off-season,” and that is enough accomplishment for me.
I actually finished the week very strong because not only did I pass my exercise resolution, it seems to me that my time and mileage look pretty decent: I “only” exercised three times but that made for 10.55 miles and 2 hours 46 minutes. If you divided that by 4, that would be 44 minute workouts, and more than 2 miles each. I think even though the frequency was not there, the quality is pretty darn terrific if you ask me.
Wait until you see what else happened this week in the Weekly Round-Up. I may have squealed a little bit:
My Goals Summary & Update
Not-Entirely Off Season Training: For 16 weeks, walk 4 days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and one more, and I’ll consider myself successful with 75% completion.
75% completion for 10.55 miles, 2 hours 46 minutes of exercise time. SUCCESS!
Weight Loss:
* 10 pounds by Mother’s Day, which will represent the half-way mark. -2.4 lbs this week!!!, -4.2 lbs down, 5.8 to go.
* 25 pounds by Labor Day, which will be the lowest I’ve weighed since before I had kids. -2.4 lbs this week, -4.2 lbs down, 20.8 to go.
* 40 pounds by Martin Luther King Day, 2014. I can’t tell you the last time I weighed that little but it could be 21 years. -2.4 lbs this week, -4.2 lbs down, 35.8 to go.
2.4 pounds down!!! SCORE!! This did reflect two weeks of work because I skipped my weigh-in last week but this number far exceeded my expectations. I really did not track very well but I have been tracking my activities better so tracking something did pay off big! I have 10 weeks to lose 5.8 lbs before Mother’s Day. If I keep up the rate I’ve been going, even if I slow down the rate of loss, I can make it!
My Equipment Update:
Word to the wise: Always, ALWAYS makes sure your shoes have insoles in them before you put them on.
Thin moleskin is garbage. Use the thick stuff.
I wore the thin Halo headband on Saturday, putting on the edge of my skull, pulling back the bangs. Even without the bangs I think I looked ok, the headband stayed in place, too. I’m interested in finding more sources for no slip headbands. I’m starting to believe they might be able to work for me!
It's About the Process 