Running to the Moon

Last night I joined a virtual running group - Moon Joggers. The link will take you to their blog. Moon Joggers was started by two sisters (one in Texas and one in Utah). From the idea of setting a 2013 running goal for themselves, Ashley and Angie ended up inviting people - via their blog and Facebook - to join them in a quest to run or walk enough miles to get to the moon. That's about 500,000 miles roundtrip!

The concept for the group is to pledge as a team or an individual to run or walk 1000 miles in 2013. Folks can also pledge as an ultimate participant to go 2013 miles in 2013. Ashley and Angie decided that this is a walking and running group so bike, swim or go-cart miles are not counted in the totals. I signed on for 1000 miles as an individual. After I signed up, I figured I'd better see if my training plan would fit. I did a rough caculation of my expected miles in training for Bob Potts and it came to just 4 miles shy of where I'd need to be at the end of May to make 1000 by the end of the  year. The challenge, then, will be getting enough miles in the next 7 months when I switch my emphasis to biking in preparation for the Century ride in September. The goal will keep me on my feet! 

I also love that a group of strangers can come together to do something like this. The participants in the virtual group are from all over the world. The New Zealanders have already posted their first miles of the year! Several of them did mignight runs.  There is a man from Kamploops, BC! That's where Carmen and Todd and the boys live. What are the chances I'd 'meet' someone else from there. I love it!

Ashley and Angie have encouraged people to post pictures of themselves labeled with their hometown on Facebook. I used a funny photo (above) from a few years ago when Dave and I visited the Hagley Museum and Dupont Library. When we took this photo I had no idea there would be such a fun use for it. Never underestimate the need for goofy photos of yourself!

I love this whole idea. I learned about it when Helen, one of my running buddies,  posted it to Facebook yesterday.  I wish I had noticed it sooner. If I had, I would have recruited some of my family members to join me on a team. A few years ago my sisters - Katie, Meg and Christine - had our own virtual trek across the United Staes on the American Discovery Trail. If I remember correctly we did manage to get to California in just about a year. My niece, Cara, has recently taken up running and I'm sure she would have joined the team as well. And heck we could all use a little motivation to excercise more! Maybe next year. :)

Training Week #3 - December 24-30

Monday - I skipped my YAYOG ladders tonight. Stripping paint and wallpaper and washing the walls has been workout enough for my upper body. I'm pretty sure if I even tried a pushup right now my arms would break. I have a four mile run scheduled for tomorrow which I'm looking forward to. Merry Christmas eve!

Tuesday - Merry Christmas. I went out for 4 mile run today. I felt a little stiff in the beginning but got in the groove of it pretty quick. In the last mile I felt a numbness/tingling in my left hip. It felt like there was something caught in my hip. The feeling passed before the run was over though.  Garmin stats I don't know what the extra lap is about. I probably hit the button accidentally. My heart rate is weird at the beginning (not just on this one). I think it's because the monitor is not connecting to my skin right off. I should wet the contacts. In summer that's not an issue but I guess it is in winter. I really need to work on keeping my pace steadier. If it's going to flucutate I should be aiming for the negative split - slower in the beginning and faster at the end.

Tomorrow will be a challenge. I prefer to do biking for the cross days and strength work. The forecast is for rain and wind and a flood advisory. At the moment we are on the snow/rain line so it will be a mess. I will likely skip the bike but if it's not too bad I might go for a walk instead of bike. We'll see.

Wednesday - I did opt for the walk. The forecast today includes a flood watch and the maps show the I-95 corridor on the snow/sleet/rain line. Precipitation is not expected until the afternoon but the clouds were rather ominous looking. I'd rather get stuck walking in rain/snow than biking.

I walked around Media, exploring some side streets I don't usually go on since they are cul de sac streets. I was out for a little over an hour. I ended up at the Acme to pick up some things but I turned off the Garmin in the store thinking that I was going to go there anyway so in the store shouldn't figure into my exercise minutes. Garmin stats. I didn't wear the heart monitor this time. Although I guess I could/should have to get a feel for where I'm at in all kinds of activities. The change in pace for the third mile had to be while I was on State Street. I was taking my time there checking in on the stores. I love Media. :)

When I came home I did a Tabata routine which included push ups, pointers, swimmers and bicycles.

Thursday- the usual 60 minute outing and today I was supposed to mix in speed-work. Do you know how much I dislike speed- work? Let me count the ways. Actually just take my word for it - I HATE speed-work and leave it at that or we may be counting for a very long time.

I've been wanting to get a more accurate reading on my max heart rate. The formulas available are not always accurate. So today I was going to do run/walk intervals over to Springton Lake Middle School and then use the track there to try Jenny Hadfield's workout for finding the heart rate.

It was not a good day. I did more walking than running on my way to the track. It was like walking to the gallows. Again, I HATE speed-work and although I know I can do it I just couldn't convince myself to run hard for 2 minutes at a time. I did do a few shorter hard/slow intervals so the workout was not a total waste of time but my heart just wasn't in it. No pun intended. I walked the slow intervals instead of jogging them. Garmin Stats 

Tomorrow is a rest day and Saturday I'll be going out for 9 miles at Forbidden Drive.

Saturday - 9 miles today. You can read some of the details here. Here are the Garmin Stats I impressed with the more or less steadiness of the pace. Lap #5 was when we stopped to take a photo at the turn around marker and the last lap was the downhill finish. :) The rest are a lot closer to each other than they usually are. I'm surprised at the lower average heart rate compared to last Saturday's run. The average pace was slower too, though, so I guess that makes sense.

Sunday - I get a fail for today. I did not do 90 minutes of cross. I knew the bike was not going to happen early on. Saturday's snowstorm blew out but the winds that did so remained. The gusts were pretty awesome (but not for bike riding) and the wind chills were in the teens. The funk I felt on Saturday seemed linger. I slept almost 11 hours from Saturdy to Sunday. Breakfast didn't sit real well at first. I decided to get to work on finishing the bedroom renovation and see how I felt after that. I thought if I felt up to it I'd go to Ridley Creek State Park and hike instead of bike.

We spent 5+ hours finishing up. This including cleaning not only our mess upstairs but the corresponding dust and grime that filtered downstairs as well. I showered and even changed into clothes suitable for hiking. A few minutes later I switched to my jeans and a sweatshirt. I'm tired. I'm not thrilled at missing a day like this but it is what it is. I know there will be other days like this and I know that I am not bailing out of laziness this time. I'm bailing for the need of some rest.

Next week is a drop back week. I only have 5 to do on Saturday. This week also brings in the New Year and many of my running/walking buddies will be meeting on New Year's day for a run or walk followed by breakfast at the Collegeville diner. I'm looking forward to that.

Saturday Long Run at Forbidden Drive

Today I had 9 miles on my schedule. At 8 am I was at the Northwestern Avenue entrance to Forbidden Drive with John T., Julius, Maggi & Russ. We waited until just a few minutes after 8 for three others who said they might be there then we took off.



John T at our turn around
The 4 1/2 mile marker

John T did the whole 9 miles with me. I was very grateful for his company once again. Long miles (any miles really) are better with friends. Today the temps were again near the freezing mark but unlike last week there was very little wind. The skies were overcast and snow was predicted. Running in snow is a nice experienc. At Forbidden Drive even more so.  The trail winds along the Wisahickon Creek on one side and steep slopes on the other side with paths leading up to more rugged trails. We stayed on the 'lower' trail today. We never got the snow. We did get showered with something that was a cross between hail and packing peanuts however. It stuck to some of the less tree covered portions of the trail.

Packing peanut snow

I was feeling very sluggish this morning. My legs felt like lead and my breathing was labored. Part of the breathing was our pace. It was faster than I would have gone on my own. I fell a few steps behind John in a few places but caught up on the walk portions. The second half of the run went much smoother for me and as a result felt like it was faster. I don't think it was but I was feeling better and that's good enough. I felt some tightness in the back of my right knee around mile 8 but it didn't last long. The uneveness of the path could have contributed to that. I did some stretches when I got home as usual.

When we arrived at the trail today we saw this young man on his unicylce. I took this photo about an hour and 40 minutes or so later about a half mile from the end of our run. While we were running he was riding the unicylce - not on the lower trail where we were - but up in the hills alongisde us. I've run up there. It's full of rocks and tree roots. It's a 'real' trail. I can't wrap my head around how he does it! The gentleman in the photo with him rode a two wheel bicycle up and down the lower trail. They were together. The older man is likely the unicylde rider's ride home. :)

Valley Green Inn
2.5 miles from the start/end of our run

 As I type this (it's 6 pm) and I'm feeling a little yukky. Achy mostly. I really hope I'm not coming down with something. Although if I am that would help explain my sluggishness this morning. I felt better running into the wind last week than in no wind today. Hopefully a good night sleep will take care of whatever it is.

Christmas 2012

Christmas should be more about the simple things. Judging by the squeal of delight when she opened this gift, a bag of popcorn was exactly what Erin wanted for Christmas.

Last night we had our annual Christmas celebration with my dad, step mom, sister and our respective familes. Well almost all our respective families. Jimmy and Corinne got their dates mixed up. Jimmy was very surprised when we called him a little after 6 to ask "How far away are you?". His answer, I'm at home and Corinne was at work. They thought we we getting together on January 23rd. In their defense, the past few years we have had this get together in January. Most of us acutally prefer it in January - after the hustle and bustle of the rest of the holiday stuff. However, this year Dad and Dinana are going to Florida for the entire month of January (simply because they can now).

We had a lovely dinner of baked tortellinis and salad. Dinana's baked tortellinis are a family favorite and you could see each of us grin as we walked in the door and smelled it cooking.

Amanda and Bruce

Arron and Emma



After dinner we sat in the living room for the reading of "Red Ranger Came Calling". Dad's been reading it to the girls since 2000. Part of family legend now is the year that Dad & Dinana came to our house and Dad forgot the book and the girls made him go back home and get it. Another year, we had our celebration duing a wind storm that knocked out the power and the story was read by flashlight. This year there were no such hiccups although we did break from tradition and Dad simply read from the chair by the fireplace rather than with all three girls (Emma, Amanda and Erin) gathered round him. We voted this as a better way since this caused him to hold up the book to show us all the pictures. :)

Then came the exchange of gifts. Youngest chooses a gift (for someone else) first then each person who opens one gets to choose the next. After some debate we decided that Emma and Arron would take Jimmy and Corinne's gifts with them since they would likely see both of them sometime this week. There was a brief discussion about divvying them up amongst ourselves but that didn't seem to be in keeping with the Christmas spirit.

Getting gifts is definitely fun. But I truly believe our family has more fun with the telling of stories over and over. No one is spared an emabarassing story if there is one about you to tell and I'm pretty sure no one is without one. No, I won't tell you them here. They are mostly of the kind "You had to be there". Trust me though we get a kick out of them.

Then there is the battle of the boxes. Who got the coolest box. Pretty soon it will be competition I think to see who 'give' the coolest box. Sometimes there is a fuss over who gets to take home the coolest box. Emma called dibs at dinner this year! However, Gumpop made sure that both girls got equally awesome boxes.



Here is a picture of Dave and I. We are still awake although very tired. Here are photos of our accomplishments in the bedroom rehab before going to dinner tonight.

About 3/4 of the wallpaper
is removed off the walls now

All of the paint is off the ceiling.
Obviously this was taken
before we finished for the day.












Today it's off to home depot before they closet to pick up more supplies and then back to the room for more scraping and washing of surfaces.

Merry Christmas!

Training week #2; December 17-23

Here is a summary of week #2

Monday - YAYOG ladders. I did the same workout as last week. It wasn't quite as hard but I've a looooooong way to go yet.

Tuesday - 3 miles. I set out to run the same route as last week, About half way through I realized I took a slightly different beginning. I couldn't figure out why I was hitting the mile mark sooner than last time. No big deal. 3 miles is 3 miles. No shin or knee issues this week and At times when I took notice of my form I wasn't crooked this week. :) Garmin stats

Wednesday- I get partial credit for tonight. I skipped the bike ride due to darkness. I did do the Tabata routine. Tonight I mixed it up more to avoid the muscle soreness that bled into my Thursday run last week. Tonight I did a combo of sumo squats, bicycles, dirty dogs and side planks.

Next week I'm off work so I'll do my bike ride in the morning. Then beginning Jan 2 I'm going to take a yoga class that my friend Kristie M is teaching at Plymouth Whitemarsh HS Adult School. The class is 5 Wednesdays evenings. By the time it is over the sunset will have shifted enough that I can get back to bike rides on Wednesdays. Isn't it cool when things work out that way?

Thursday - My work day today was less than enjoyable. Not quite stressful but a lot of stuff that was out of my control and having to deal with people who were treading heavily on my nerves and all I could do was smile and pretend to bear it. I couldn't wait to get home and run.

I took my camera so I could take photos of Christmas lights in the neighborhood and at Rose Tree Park. The run was not without it's hiccups. For example it started raining halfway through and the strap to my headlamp came off. This last caused me to have to stop retrieve the lamp and try to get the strap back on. I tried to keep moving but finally had to stop to put it back together. Because I went out to Rose Tree Park there were some traffic delays which could not be avoided and I allowed my self to stop and take some photo there. Oh and then there was the dog out on a leash with its owner (thank goodness ) whose eyes reflected bright blue as it growled at me. If they had been red I'm sure I would have gone home after that.

Despite all that I enjoyed the run and felt much better after.

I need a brighter headlamp. This one is ok if there is no other light but I'm having trouble on neighborhood streets. In that case I can see where I'm going from the street lamp but not enough to see what obstacles or ruts may be in the road. Garmin stats

Saturday - 7 miles. At 7 am I joined Pete, John T., Maggi, Russ, Mike, Dennis, Julius and Amy for some miles along the Towpath in Manayunk. John and Julius kept me company for 7.22. The others did their own thing. Some doing more and some less. I love that we can meet and keep our own schedules.

We ran the first mile and then I switched to 3 and 1 intervals and John and Julius stayed with me. We stayed along the river and just about the 3.5 point we went up the steps to get on the Schuylkill River Trail bike path to head back. The run intervals were faster than I would have done on my own. I was failing the talk test but it was ok. I'll have to be more conservative when I get to the longer miles but for today this was fine.

The temps were in the mid 30's when we met but the wind chills were in the 20's. I added a layer at the last minute this morning and probably could have done without it. I drank water with breakfast and on the way to the run but didn't carry any on the run. This is about as long as I can or should go withiut carrying though. Garmin stats - I need to work on negative splits (slower start; faster finish) but at least my last mile today was faster than the one before :)

Sunday - 75 minutes bike - Considering I wanted to bail after 10 minutes this was a very successful workout. The temps were still in the 30s but much less wind so not quite as bone chilling. Although despite gloves my fingers were in a lot of pain when I returned and they started to warm up again. I didn't realize how cold they were while I was out there.

I was very tired this morning. The bedroom rehab we started yesterday after our morning run took a lot out of me physically. We are going to celebrate Christmas with the family this evening and want to put in more hours into the work in the bedroom so I had to get my ride in the AM if it was going to happen at all. I'm pretty sure I was even slower than last Sunday. But I kept moving and managed to get in the full 75 minutes. I spent a lot of time wandering around my own neighborhood and the various apartment and townhouse parking lots just to stay off the streets. I wasn't in the mood for traffic even as little as there was on a Sunday. I didn't want to take time to drive to any of the trails.

So lackluster it may have been but it's done :) Garmin stats