Two New Products!

I'm finding all kinds of great products now that I'm running!  I came across Simple Hydration on twitter.  Their water bottle looked great.  I was struggling with not having water on a run and I really didn't like to carry one. They were having a half off sale so I bought one!  I received it in the mail yesterday and gave it a try today.  I loved it! I couldn't even feel it on my belt.  I wish I would have bought two.  Its the perfect size and shape.  What a great product!  Here's the link, go buy one!

They next product I won from Erica Finds.  I won a Renewdle.  Its a nifty little thing.  I wasn't sure at first.  My back was really tight and it was a little painful.  I have used it a few nights now and I must say I really enjoy it.  It feels great on my back.  I'm so glad I won it.  Head over to Erica's page.  She has some great reviews and giveaways! 

Morning Run

I had a 3 mile run this morning. It was a good run.  The weather was not bad, a little humid but cloudy and not to hot. I want to work on starting out slower and then get faster.  My first mile is always the fastest and it just gets slower as I go.  I need to figure out how to fix that.

Distance: 3.01
Pace: 15:20

Cross Training

Today was cross training. I hit the bike at the gym.  I did almost seven miles.  I should have did that .15 mile but I was tired and so very sweaty. I wanted to stick to my 40 minutes and not over do it.  I have a 3 mile run tomorrow and 5, yes 5, on Saturday.  It was a good day.

Heat, Pace, and A New Power Song

Oh my its f'ing HOT.  I know, its summer and its supposed to be hot and I love it by the pool.  Does it have to be almost 80 at 9 in the morning?  I had a 3 mile run this morning and it was pretty good, just really hot.  I was still sweating 3 hours later.  I think that's a good thing but its pretty gross.

I need to adjust my thinking when it comes to pace.  I need to quit worrying about it.  I just started running 6 weeks ago.  I shouldn't think about my speed yet, just be happy I'm getting out there and doing it.  I couldn't do what I did today 6 weeks ago. Who cares if I am slow, I'm doing it!

Distance: 3:00 miles
Pace: 16:36

Oh and my new power song.  Have you heard People Like Us by Kelly Clarkson?  Seriously that is the BEST song to run to!

Long Run With a Partner

I ran 4 miles today!  That is insane.  Granted, I ran them very slowly, but I went into my run focusing on finishing, not speed.  I was just happy I did it and I had some company!  My son stayed at my moms last night so my husband could run with me!

I almost always run alone, my friends are all way to fast for me.  It was nice to have some company.  He's not a running, but of course he didn't even get winded and I'm pretty sure didn't even break a sweat.  I on the other hand looked gross by then end, and I hardly made it the last half mile.  I bet he could have went 2 or 3 more.  He kinda sucks like that =) It was a good run and I hope he gets to run with me more often. 


Distance: 4:00 miles
Pace: 16:14

Body over mind, mind over body.

Today was one of those runs. It's was only 2 miles but it was hard. I cried. I fought. I wanted to quit and go home. Here's a breakdown half mile by half mile.

0-.05 good pace not to fast not to slow, felt really good. 

.05-1 it was hard.  My mind was racing negative thought after negative thought. I was physically feeling ok but I did not want to keep going.  I've really struggled the past two weeks. I'm not getting my pace isn't getting better, its not getting easier. I'm really frustrated. 

1-1.5 fuck this. I was so mad at myself. I can't believe I was letting the negative win. I want to run, I am choosing to do this. I. Started envisioning my half marathon finish. The shirt I was going to wear, how I would feel crossing the finish line. I started crying as I ran, so I ran harder. It felt good. 

1.5-2 I was done. Everything hurt at this point. My shins, ankles, legs, lungs. Now it was mind over body. Britney's Stronger pushed me through. I finished with a smile on my face.  

I'm not sure why today's run was so hard. It was good though. My pace swamy great. I've decided to stop worrying about it. It's my pace And as long as I'm pushing myself I'm happy. 

Anyways here's today's results. 

Distance 2.00 miles

Pace  15:31

Breaking in my new shoes, new training plan, and a little rain.

Today was my first run in my new shoes and I really like them. They were very comfortable and felt really good while running. 

I bought a book, its written by Jeff and Barbra Galloway.  Its Half Marathon, A Complete Guide for Women.  It came yesterday and I devoured half of it.  I've been on his website a few times and was intrigued by his walk run method.  After reading the first part of the book I decided this was something I wanted to try.  I didn't care much for the training plan in his book, so I found my magic mile time and my walk-run ratio was a 30/30 split.  That means walk 30 seconds run 30 seconds. 

I decided to apply that to the current training plan I am on. This morning was my first run with it.  i must say I like it.  I made the mistake of starting to hard and tiring out quickly.  My next run I will start out a little slower.  It felt good, its going to take some getting used it, but I think it will be really good for me.  My pace wasn't really that far off from what I've been doing lately.  I will keep you updated!

No outside pictures today, it started to rain my last 1/3 mile. I had to get in the car quickly!
Distance: 2:00 miles
Pace: 15:46

Does this make me a real runner?

Its a rite of passage for all runners.  I went to the running store, for the first time today and bought my first pair of real running shoes!  I have to give a shout out to Mark at the FrontRunner store on Lane Ave. He was great and I tried on 4 pair and I spent a good half hour trying them on. I was really surprised when he measured my foot and told me my right foot was measuring between a 9 and 9.5 and the left between a 9.5 and 10! I usually wear and 8-8.5, the biggest shoe I've ever wore is a 9. I am so glad I went in there, I never would have looked at that size.  He was very patient with me and helped a lot!  He even showed me a really neat way to tie my shoes so they were not lose on the back of my ankle. 

After trying on all the shoes, and a few of them twice I decided to go with the Brooks Dyda 7's in a size 10.  They are very comfortable.  I have a very low arch and my feet roll inward and these really help with that.  I can't wait to give them a try tomorrow!  Not my favorite color, I really wanted some cute little pink ones, but I'm good with these, so comfortable. 

Since I was already in Columbus I had to go to my favorite bakery and get a cookie for me and my kiddo, and i had to go to Target, because well I love Target! 

Anyways I can't wait to get out and run tomorrow morning and see how my new shoes do on the road! 

p.s.
There was a family of geese trying to cross a very busy street, it was cute but scary.  They were either going to get hit or cause an accident. 

It was a rough run today....

It started out really good.  I felt good and strong. Then about 2.3 miles into my 3 miles I felt a sharp pain in my, well, ass.  It wasn't a muscle soreness, it was like someone was stabbing me.  Not sure what I did but there was no running after that.  Lucky I was only about a half mile from my car and I limped back.  I took some ibuprofen and ate a banana. Its feeling better and I'm going to attempted 3 miles tomorrow.  Here's todays stats. 

Distance: 2.75
Pace: 16:30

My pace was down in the 14's before I started hurting =(

Ruby Lens Runs

Today was a rough run, I'm having a hard week.  I feel like I'm not making progress anymore.  Actually my pace is getting worse. I'm hoping its just an off week.  Blah. 

In other news I found my first race!  I want to do the Run To The Moon 5k.  I still need to workout the details, we would have to get a hotel and spend the weekend.  We were going to do that at some point this summer anyways so why not the weekend of the race! Oh for those of you who do not have a child that is obsessed with space, Wapakoneta is the Neil Armstrong's hometown and there is a big museum there. We promised the kiddo this summer we would go.  Looks like I need to have a talk with my husband!

Anyways, today was a 2 mile run walk.  I am still repeating week 3.  

Distance: 2.24 Miles

Pace: 16:51 =(

Ruby Lens f'ing hates the treadmill

I hate the treadmill, like I f'ing hate the treadmill.  It's almost 100 degrees here and the only time I could run was at 5:00 in the afternoon. Crazy hot. So I tried the treadmill.  I f'ing hate the treadmill.  It was a rough 3 miles. Anyways, I'm repeating week 3 of my training.  I wasn't ready to move on to week 4 which was a 2, 3, and then 4 mile run with no walking.  I think I can push through and do 3 but I can't do 3 or 4.  I'm looking into other training schedules too.  I'm going to stick to this one in the mean time though.

Distance 3.00 miles
Pace: 16:15

Family Time

I skipped my run today, but for very good reason.  I took my kiddo to Kings Island.  We had a blast, we've spent the last few nights at my aunts having fun.  We went to the Newport Aquarium and Kings Island. I am so proud of him, he rode a bunch of rides and didn't cry at all, big improvement from last year!  We've had so much fun, back to training tomorrow!  Here's a few pictures for our crazy fun time! 

Ruby Lens Runs

We had a nice little family time today. I ran, kiddo rode his bike and my husband rode his scooter. It was a fun little trip!  

 

Ruby Lens Runs

I took a nice little run along the river today. I love running on Saturdays because my husband is home and I can get up and go early without having to worry about taking the kiddo with me.  I ran about 3/4 of this run.  That is a lot more then when I started 3 weeks ago. I can feel myself getting better. I wish I could improve my pace an little more.

Distance: 3 miles

Pace: 14:54 

Ruby Lens Reads!

I *love* to read.  I read a lot, and so does my son.  I love that he shares my passion for books.  We spend a lot of time at the library, so we I saw the Summer Library Challenge on What We Do All Day I was supper excited!  We are actually headed to the library right now to work on the first few challenges! 

P.S. Follow me on Goodreads

Ruby Lens Runs

I attempted a 2 mile run this morning, that didn't work.  It started raining and I had my kiddo with me and he hates rain so I had to stop at one mile.  I got my 2 mile run/walk in this afternoon though.  It was ok, I just ran around my house, which is very hilly. 

Distance: 2.25
Pace: 14:43

Ruby Lens Joins a Gym

I am officially going back to college!  I accepted my finical aid package this morning!  I am finishing up my bachelors degree in communication studies.  My goal is my master in library science.  I have 9 classes to finish my bachelors degree.  Do you know what the best part of going back to school is, I get a VERY cheap membership to the gym at the college.  Today was a cross training day and I hit the recumbent bike. I did 30 minutes and almost 5 1/2 miles.  It was good, I love the recumbent bike. I had a great workout and I'm glad I can get back to the gym! 

Why I Run

Today is my first run of week 3. It was just going to be a normal recap of my run and pace time, but today I had to take my kiddo with me so we headed over to the track. He rode his bike and played while I did my run/walk. While I was running he was sitting in the bleachers yelling go mommy, run mommy. I looked over at that big cheesy smile and thought , this is why I'm running.

This is not a weight loss blog, I have no desire to have a weight loss blog.  I'm not running to lose weight. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to lose some weight but that's not my main goal and that's not what I want to blog about. I want to run, I want to be strong, I want to be healthy. Those were my goals going I to this and today I realized all those are really one big goal. I want my son to be all those things. I want him to have a love of fitness, I want him to be strong and healthy. I need to be his example of what healthy is. 

I never had that growing up. No one worked out in my family. We ate a lot, watched a lot of tv, and my mom and aunts did a lot of bad diets.  I am not blaming them for my lack of fitness or my weight.  I am a big girl and I could have changed all this a long time ago.  I want my son to see my run, to see my set a goal and accomplish it.  I want him to be willing to try anything and work hard for something he wants. 

I also want him to have me.  A healthy me that will go outside and chase him on his bike, a me that can hike all through the woods on a nature walk or swim all day in a pool.  I want to be around for years and years.  I want to be able to chase my grand kids around on their bikes one day.  This is why I run, for this cheesy little smile who thinks I'm the best. 

Anyways, Week 3 Day 2 Run/Walk

Distance: 3.01 Miles
Pace 15:42

My time's not that great but it was kinda hard to run with the kiddo there.  I was constantly looking around to make sure he was ok and when he fell off his bike I had to go make sure he was ok. 

Ruby Lens WAS sick

Catch up time.  I was sick this week.  Bad cough, awful allergies.  I stil ran but it was bad so lets catch up.  Lets see,

Week 2 day 3 was x-training, yea i skipped that I was half dead that day. 

Week 2 day 4 was run/walk 
Distance: 2 miles
Pace: 15:45

Week 2 day 4 was rest day

Week 2 day 5 was a run/walk
Distance: 3:01
Pace: 15:13



That brings us to today!  I was just supposed to walk but I did a run/walk.  I wanted to catch up a little from being sick.  I felt pretty good today! It was a decent run.  Now my kiddo is out of school so I'm going to have to get a little creative when I run and I'm going to have to start running on a track, eh.  But I will do it!

Distance:   2:00 mile
Pace: 14:53