Less is more

First thing's first:

Couldn't go on without acknowledging today and what it means to us as Americans.

I need a haircut. I hate them, but I really need one, it’s out of control. I mean, check out that MANE:

Also why do I look like a giant in this pic from last weekend?

When it comes to haircuts, less is more. If you take off more than two inches, I’m probably going to snatch your scissors out of your hands and come at you. Kidding, but seriously.

I’ve actually been thinking about that concept a lot lately; less is more. I put it in the same category as quality versus quantity.

Once upon a time, I ran as much as I wanted, wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted to. I pounded the trails all over the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, finding dusty paths outside of city limits, and it was beautiful. A love affair with running, if you will. My body showed me grace for my 50+ mile weeks throughout the entire summer and fall of 2011, for whatever reason. Maybe it was the lack of a desk job, maybe it was the still-newness to running, I don’t know. But it was lovely.

Have I mentioned recently that I miss it?

Sidenote – for all of you  Colorado/mountain runners, do me a favor and never take that sh*t for granted. I would kill for quick access to dirt trails over pavement, and for my Garmin to be reading a couple thousand feet above altitude instead of negative numbers.  That’s right, my runs next to the harbor are literally BELOW sea level. Cool?

Clearly my running has changed since then, as I've collected enough injuries the past year for a family of six. So when it comes to marathon training, the quality of my runs are much more important than the quantity. The same concept actually goes for racing. If you didn’t pick up on it in my last post, I'm hyper-competitive. Possibly a bit too competitive when it comes to racing, but really I’m not sorry. I don't like doing things without reason behind it. I like to have intention, and I like to beat people and finish strongly.

What’s your point kait, get off your high-horse.

source

The point,  I guess, is that the Marine Corps Marathon is now 46 days away. I’m entering a high-mileage point in my training, and have 19 miles on the docket for this weekend. I’m a little nervous to see how my body responds, but I’m also starting to get excited as the race day is actually starting to become more of a reality.

Call me crazy, but unless I feel confident that I can run the race, enjoy it, and PR, I’m not sure I want to run 26.2 just for the heck of it. It goes back to the competitor in me – I want to do well, I don’t want to just run it to run it. I already know that I can complete a marathon, two of them actually. There’s a time and a place to try something just to try it, but marathons are no longer in that category for me. 

Quality over quantity. I try to do it on this blog – I don’t post just to post. I have slowly evolved to take this approach with my runs, with my work, with relationships in my life. Even with cupcakes.

vanilla almond cupcakes my coworker brought in today. so. good.

Just felt the need to share my current mindset; a weird little peek into my brain, if you will. Please don't misinterpret as me sternly declaring that there is not point in a leisurely run; I'm all for them, and still enjoy them. I just can't as much as I used to.

  

I’m off to a happy hour. Should be a perfect little outing to get over the hump this week!

Cheers!

K

The Fall Marathon

On Tuesday I introduced you guys to my new best friend AKA a jar of peanut butter. But TODAY I want to introduce you to some of my newest human friends:

Aren’t they adorbs? These are a few of my Girls on the Run munchkins, and I love them. Even when they chose to take of their shoes and wrestle and not listen to a word that I say. I still love them.

Somehow, by the grace of God, I woke up at 5 am and drove my sorry butt to Baltimore to hit some hot yoga before work. I’ve found that the better that I prepare the night before for my morning workouts, the more likely that it is to actually happen.

Exhibit A:

Overnight oats are always my go-to breakfast when I’m running out the door to the gym, as well as a smoothie in my L.L. Bean thermos for later on in the day.

Jumping subjects, I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT.

I am running the 38^th Marine Corps Marathon in October!!

I haven’t run a marathon since Boston last April. I realize my foot is still healing, I realize that October 27^th is seven months away from yesterday.

I am SO excited to run this marathon. So excited.

I’m also pretty serious when I say that training starts tomorrow. With one mile on the treadmill. It’s only up from here people.

Also, I'm feeling super lucky to have gotten in. I realize that thousands of people tried to log on yesterday at 12 PM EST just like I did, and never got through. It was the luck of the click I guess. And I’m honored to have the opportunity to run through DC with 30,000 other runners in the race so properly nicknamed 'The People’s Marathon.'

super high-quality pic here, I know.

This 26.2 will be one of a kind for me as I am literally starting from square one. Mile one, right at the starting line. I can monitor everything I’m doing from the get-go, hopefully take care of my body well and continue to be diverse in my workouts as I increase mileage.

Did I mention I’m excited?

In other news, Andrew’s two brothers and their ladies get into town tonight for a fun-filled Easter weekend. Baltimore, D.C., Annapolis, we’re covering it all by Monday night. I’m super excited pumped to spend some good quality time with awesome people. Fitting for a holiday like Easter, don't you think?

Use the word excited one more time Kait.

Tell me, have any of you signed up/picked any fall races yet? Any former MCM runners? How ‘bout Easter plans?

Enjoy your weekends, not sure when I’ll be checking in next. Don’t miss me too much.

Cheers!

Running over 2013

I had two pretty killer runs this weekend.

The first one was Friday after work, and my 8 miler was today. I'm particularly proud of mile 8 when I decided to kick it up and see what I had left in the tank.

8 miles is big progress for me; if you've been reading at all the past couple months you know this. So while I was chugging along this beautiful afternoon, I quickly got lost in deep thought as to what I want to accomplish this year as far as running goes.

this picture is in no way related to what i just said, i just like it.

This spring I won't be doing anything crazy; I made a vow to myself not to sign up for any races longer than 10 miles until I can comfortably run 10-12 miles again. My plan is to stick to the 5/10/15k's until the end of the spring... with a possible half marathon in late spring or early summer.

I will also look to try a (sprint) tri(athlon) at the beginning of the summer... and if I like it maybe I'll do another Olympic-distance one. Who knows.

I better get some better biking gear before then, huh?

Those aren't my main concerns though. Because I realized that I have some personal issues with 26.2 that I need to address.

A couple people have asked me if I'll do a spring marathon, and as badly as I want to... no. I'm sticking to my word of the year - Proactive - and focusing hard on staying healthy this year. That's why this spring will be about regaining my mileage base, and getting strong. Really strong.

And then getting fast.

Because it's awesome to be able to hold paces like my two shorter runs this weekend.. but it now definitely isn't as easy as it was for me pre-IT band crap. I will be extremely surprised if I am able to run 13.1 miles in 89 minutes again by the end of the spring. Regardless, a half marathon PR is not my concern.

Philly Half

My concern is the fall. And this burning desire to beat the sh*t out of a marathon.

What's with the rage Kait? Let's call it passion, shall we? I've run two marathons. Colorado I was a basically a clueless ditz; I downloaded a training program off the internet and crossed my fingers. I flew down the Rocky Mountains and surprised myself with a BQ. Awesome race, my first taste of 26.2

Boston then robbed any chance of a PR that I had when a caribbean heat wave rolled through in mid-April. That's ok.

This fall New York never happened. Let's leave it at that.

So here we are. January 2013. With over 9 months to train, assuming I stay healthy, my #1 running focus this year will be to PR that fall marathon.

Very specifically, a 3:1x PR.

 It's doable. From where I stand at my computer this very second, it is going to be a long road to get back into that kind of shape.

Good thing I love nothing more than a good hard challenge.

Cheers to running over 2013!!