In Every Run That Must Be Done; There is an Element of Fun (comments welcome)

[Naomeri]

92 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

Well, I should have had a journal post yesterday, but the run was so bad and so short that I didn’t think it was worthy of its own post. I was having pain my left calf and achilles, and my stupid leggings felt like they were falling down, so I quit after just a mile (out of about 4 planned) and walked home.

Today was much better. I had a virtual Turkey Trot 5K medal to earn, but I decided to do it at 10K pace, instead of 5K, because I was pretty sure that excessive speed was what messed with my leg yesterday. I felt twinges today, but nothing particularly painful. The run was good, and I even got really nicely negative splits.




I’m trying not to spend money on too many virtual races, especially ones as short as 5Ks, but I couldn’t resist this medal




I had a semi-rare character encounter on my run today—a little opossum!



2022 workout data to date: 314h 33m 57s of exercise; 132,313 active calories burned; 161,311 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Must be a shock to the system to go from a balmy W&D weekend to snow! I’m glad you squeaked by and didn’t eat stuck in FL. We had that last minute rush happen one year with a freak freeze in Houston and had to leave WDW early to make it home before our airport shut down. We made it, but only by a couple of hours. Super stressful!

Great racing. That music dress is really pretty and unique.

I’d rather get stuck in FL because of weather at home than because of weather in FL, if I had my choice

 

[striker1064]

THAT is one cool medal!

 

[Naomeri]

91 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

THIS POST CONTAINS PICTURES OF DELICIOUS TREATS—YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED


We’ve been hard at work making Christmas cookies and candies this week, and have one more day of baking tomorrow. This morning, we mixed up the dough for butterscotch cookies, and while it was cooling, I went for my run. I remembered 3/4 of the way through the first mile that it was supposed to be tempo, not easy, so I adjusted for the rest of the run. It was a little windy, but otherwise pretty nice. I would’ve liked to have waited until it was warmer in the afternoon, but we had too much to do.




After the butterscotch cookies were done, we moved onto the peanut butter kiss cookies. Earlier this week, we made fudge, rainbow clusters (rainbow marshmallows, rice crispies, peanut butter cereal, and peanuts mixed with melted white chocolate), white chocolate-pistachio-cranberry fudge, cookies & cream bark, M&M and pretzel bark, edible chocolate chip cookie dough balls pressed between 2 pretzels, then dipped in chocolate, and cake-flavored cookie dough balls pressed between 2 pretzels and dipped in white chocolate. I also dipped some leftover pretzel sticks in leftover chocolate.

We use our 3 season porch as a walk-in fridge/freezer (depending on the weather) during the winter, which is really handy for cooling the cookies.





2022 workout data to date: 315h 5m 25s of exercise; 132,576 active calories burned; 161,627 total calories burned

 

[avondale]

The Top Bird medal is hilarious!

Your cookie sheets placed around the house looks like a perfect way to interior decorate!

 

[Naomeri]

87 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

Well, winter has returned, and 6 inches of snow means that I can’t run outside. I hate running on the treadmill I haven’t had to run on the treadmill since April 15th.

Since I was stuck on the awful machine, I decided to try running continuously, and actually ran almost the whole time. I took a 1-2 minute walk break after the first mile, but ran the rest of the time at about 4.5 mph (according to the treadmill, it was 4.8mph, but it’s a piece of junk that can’t even count time correctly)




Other than my run and work, I shoveled today. I spent about 20 minutes of my lunch break shoveling my patio, and then after dinner, I shoveled out the end of the driveway after the plow came through. My grandpa usually handles the driveway, but I had gone out to get the mail and didn’t feel like walking through knee-high, packed snow, so I grabbed the shovel to cut a path. And then I was like, “well, since I’m here…” and clearer the pile and shoved the snow back to the actual edge of the cul-de-sac, otherwise future plow drivers won’t know where the edge of the road is and so they won’t plow to it and we’ll gradually lose roadway until it’s all gone .


2022 workout data to date: 317h 51m 48s of exercise; 133,671 active calories burned; 162,976 total calories burned

 

[azrivest]

I hate running on the treadmill

I totally commiserate. I only run on the treadmill when it's too snowy or icy outside

 

[Baloo in MI]

92 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

Well, I should have had a journal post yesterday, but the run was so bad and so short that I didn’t think it was worthy of its own post. I was having pain my left calf and achilles, and my stupid leggings felt like they were falling down, so I quit after just a mile (out of about 4 planned) and walked home.

Today was much better. I had a virtual Turkey Trot 5K medal to earn, but I decided to do it at 10K pace, instead of 5K, because I was pretty sure that excessive speed was what messed with my leg yesterday. I felt twinges today, but nothing particularly painful. The run was good, and I even got really nicely negative splits.
View attachment 721078
View attachment 721079


I’m trying not to spend money on too many virtual races, especially ones as short as 5Ks, but I couldn’t resist this medal
View attachment 721080



I had a semi-rare character encounter on my run today—a little opossum!
View attachment 721081


2022 workout data to date: 314h 33m 57s of exercise; 132,313 active calories burned; 161,311 total calories burned

Glad to hear your leg was feeling a little better!

 

[Naomeri]

77 Days Until: Princess Weekend

So…it’s been a bit since I posted here. I’ve been having intermittent issue with my left achilles, and I finally gave in and went to a walk-in ortho last Friday after work. I got x-rays, and there’s no visible problems, so it’s just tendinitis and I need to take a break from running. Travis the ortho guy said at least 1 week, so I’m taking 2–partly to be extra cautious and partly due to our first Christmas event happing next weekend and it’ll just be easier to start up again after that finishes. Travis is thinks it’s the speed work that I’ve added that caused the problems, so I’ve written that out of my plan until after Princess Weekend. I will also be doing my first couple short runs on the treadmill () so I can stop immediately if I have any issues. Travis also gave me silicone heel lifts and I have to use them whenever I’m walking for 3 weeks. This means wearing hard-soled slippers around the house and I hate it

Ironically, this might end up being my highest combined-mileage month of the year due to 2 weeks of replacing running with stationary biking

I found a 9 week half marathon plan to give me a schedule through Princess Weekend. I will now be doing my virtual Marathon Weekend 10K and Half at the beginning of February.

In other news, I’ve signed up for a half marathon at the end of June, which will be a good midway point of my training plan for the 2023 Loony Challenge. I’m actually using a marathon training plan, but cut down the long runs to max out at 2.5 hours or so. I’ll have back-to-back running every weekend so Challenges will be second nature to me. I also bought myself a Noxgear for Christmas after my own grandma failed to notice me on the road, despite my chest lamp and reflective strap. I haven’t had a chance to try it out on a run yet, because I did daylight runs, and now I’m grounded. It felt really good when I tried it on, and I think it’ll be really comfortable, even next summer when I want it for early morning or late evening runs.

We’ve got all our cookies boxed up for gifting, and the extras organized so we can fill trays when we have guests.



We got the Christmas tree up and decorated, as well as the rest of the living room decor.



The local deer have been visiting the backyard on an almost daily basis, and been very cooperative for pictures.






The squirrels have been rotten little devils and destroying my grandma’s decorations on the deck. She had a little birch log deer and they knocked it over and stole one of the legs and gnawed on it until it broke! They also decided, for the first time ever, to chew on the icicle lights and they killed 1 of the strings. I decided to give them a little plastic bucket of peanuts and seed to see if it would distract them, and it kind of worked. It also made the birds very happy when the squirrels spilled it all over the grass.



2022 workout data to date: 324h 45m 29s of exercise; 136,622 active calories burned; 166,612 total calories burned

 

[HangWithMerida]

Sorry to hear your Achilles has you grounded. I am on week 3 back to running after a pretty significant flare-up. The guy I saw didn’t give me heel lifts but did recommend I come out of my lower drop running shoes for the time being so I didn’t have such a big difference in drop from run to run. For me, the culprit seems to be a new pair of shoes (that I LOVE) which were a 5mm drop compared to my usual ghosts with a 12mm drop. I didn’t realize the difference when I bought them. After MW he says I should get some variety back into my shoes as he recommends not using the exact same shoe for every run so your muscles and tendons are stressed slightly differently.
He also has me doing eccentric heel drops and these lateral side steps with a band on my feet to strengthen the gluteus medius muscles. I go in once a week and he works the knots/tightness out of my calf, which has helped a lot. After a week off, I didn’t had any pain but I am a little nervous about reinjuring so close to MW, so I’m trying to balance getting my mileage back up with injury prevention.
I hope the rest will knock it out and you’re back to running pain free in a couple of weeks!

 

[lookingforsunshine]

I had a semi-rare character encounter on my run today—a little opossum!

I saw one on a run the other night!

 

[Naomeri]

68 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

I got to run today! I had a couple little twinges in my ankle, but nothing that made me feel like I needed to stop. I ran 2 miles continuous on the treadmill. I don’t know why the second mile was faster, since I never changed the speed on the treadmill.



I’ve been logging a lot of time on the stationary bike, and I’ve been getting a little faster with the same effort level, so that’s a good thing, but I’m really happy to be able to cut back on biking to get back to running.

We managed to escape the worst of the snow at my house; I think we got 6 or 7 inches total. My aunt in Duluth got 2 feet, and had to delay her trip down for Christmas by a day (I wasn’t very sad about that ) But it was super heavy snow, so I got a few bonus strength workouts clearing the deck and patio ( I’m not allowed to help with the driveway unless I can sneak out and do it before my grandpa does—he’s exceptionally stubborn) But the snow was very very pretty, sticking on all the trees and stuff.






Another bonus workout was indoor snowball fights with my cousins and their kids yesterday and today. My grandma and I found this box of essentially giant pompom balls for $7.99 and I knew it was the perfect thing. Just enough weight to them to be able to throw them across the room, but soft and light enough that they don’t break anything or hurt anyone, even with close-range headshots.

I’ve had some friendly wildlife this week. We had a couple apples that were going soft, so I cut them up and put them on the patio for the squirrels.

They did appreciate the special treat during the snow:



And we had a bonus visitor, who my grandpa has decided to name Oscar:




2022 workout data to date: 331h 20m 8s of exercise; 139,173 active calories burned; 169,816 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

65 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023


I haven’t managed to get another run in yet. I was supposed to run yesterday, but we ended up eating late, and I ate too much, so running was going to go very badly. Then I planned to stop and try out an indoor track on my way home from my haircut today, but they closed early because of the snowstorm. And by the time I got home, I was starving. So I decided to eat dinner, and then go out and shovel my patio and my grandpa’s bird and deer feeding trail (a lather from the side door of the garage to the bird feeders and the deer feeder so he doesn’t have to break a new trail every time it snows). I also did the same thing on Monday, though with a lot less snow.

It was cold tonight! But I finally had a chance to try out my Noxgear, even if I wasn’t running. My grandma was able to see me from the house all the way down by the deer feeder, so she ought to be able to see me on the road in the future




We had a fat bunny rabbit on the patio today!




And a mourning dove




When I was out shoveling the trail to the deer feeder on Monday, I found some deer checking to see if we’d filled it yet (no, not until yesterday)



2022 workout data to date: 333h 27m 36s of exercise; 140,127 active calories burned; 170,964 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

62 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

I finally managed to get a run in today. It was only 2 miles on the treadmill, but it was running. I think my phone is becoming sentient and choosing to motivate me with the songs it picks when I hit ‘shuffle’ on my Disney Workout playlist. Last month, when I ran in the snow for the first time, it chose to start me off with “Let It Go” and today, when I was really stressed about missing runs and just desperate to get it done, it started off with “Seize The Day”, which I thought was appropriate.

I did 5 min/1 min run/walk instead of running constantly this time. I think I’ll be able to do my 5 miles tomorrow outside. The wind is supposed to die down, and it’s going to get above 0 finally.



This is my exciting view from the treadmill. On occasion, I see a bird or two hopping around.



It’s still bitterly cold outside, but the squirrels don’t care, as long as there’s food in the bird feeder they can steal




2022 workout data to date: 335h 10m 5s of exercise; 140,668 active calories burned; 171,634 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

61 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I got to run outside today! The wind was gone and the temp was above 0 (barely) so I really didn’t have any reason to run on the treadmill. I did end up getting a late start, with the holiday and all, so I didn’t get my full 5 miles in. It started to get dark, and even with my Noxgear with lamp, I couldn’t be sure what was ice and what was just damp road, so I cut the last neighborhood. I decided to switch it up and did 60/30 run/walk, since I knew that I’d stay warmer that way. The slow down in mile 3 is because the second neighborhood I ran in was icier.

Btw, today’s randomly selected first song was “Dig a Little Deeper” so my phone is definitely sending me messages. Hopefully “blue skies and sunshine” really are guaranteed




I got some useful things for Christmas! My grandma was searching Amazon for gifts for runners, and found these microfiber towels that fold up into these neat little cases that can be clipped onto a bag. The orange case fits in the palm of my hand, but the towel inside is bigger than my face.



She also got me a replacement for my water bottle that I abandoned during the Wine & Dine Half.



My mom got me this awesome magnet.



2022 workout data to date: 335h 56m 37s of exercise; 141,340 active calories burned; 172,429 total calories burned

 

[azrivest]

Love the magnet, and kudos for getting out there. These road conditions are not fun at the moment

 

[HangWithMerida]

The snow is really pretty, but I don’t think I would enjoy dealing with it daily. I’m impressed that so many animals are out and about at your place. Here, even our animals don’t like the cold. We didn’t have any squirrels or even birds the first day of this freeze, when the wind chills were the coldest. They only started getting back to their normal activity in the last couple of days.

 

[NYC_MW]

YT algorithms somehow presented me with this the other day and I thought of your squirrels and chipmunks

 

[Naomeri]

53 Days Until: Princess Weekend

I will be adding a 2022 summary post later today or maybe tomorrow.

But first, check out the awesome present my grandpa (and grandma, but it was apparently my grandpa that insisted I have it) surprised me with when I got home from dropping my mom at the airport on Saturday! I spent most of Saturday evening and Sunday working on it, except when I took breaks to eat, workout, or blow my nose There were a few spare parts, so I dressed up the little platform Vincent stands on to paint.




I did get in my first run of 2023 on Sunday, and the splits were sort of dismal, but considering I’m sick, and a little out of practice (the last time I ran 4 or more miles was the W&D Half), and there were a few potentially icy patches, I’m not going to complain.




2023 workout data to date: 55m 46s of exercise; 437 active calories burned; 531 total calories burned

 

[azrivest]

Btw I really admire your total shovelling time for December congrats