MK--I know you are right...you are! I PROMISE I am going to register next week. I have to finish up Christmas shopping this week and then next week the first thing I do is sign up. I'm just gonna do it and then it will be final and I can really freak out

Fat(Skinny)Pants--Happy running and baby making. You are doing the right thing getting some personal goals out of the way so you are ready to have the baby. You have lots of time, you are by no means old, and think how healthy you will be to chase the baby around and get out playing with him/her! It's hard with grandma-to-be pressure, but remember you have to do what's right for you....they'll wait impatiently until the day comes. It could be worse, my sister in law has decided she never wants children and MIL is horrified by that!

Purple-- of COURSE im right!!

So, i have a running buddy coming over in about a half an hour. I will be introducing him to his lactic Acid Threshold!! yay!! It should be very fun. I have a 6 mile run planned for us. AFTER that is that 10K at 10 am that id been planning on RACING since after my marathon...havnt decided if i m going or not yet..... there is also red rocks fitness at 10am too....
what to do what to do?

Have great runs today ladies!!!

I had planned on running in a 10 k trail run in November to help me get over my fear of the hill. Then I spent a lot of October and early November being sick. I didn't even try the 5k on race day because I had a sinus infection. Yesterday I decided it was time for the do over. It was definitely the toughest 6 I've ever run. The course is really hilly with a couple of extra long steep, steep inclines. The day I can run the whole thing drinks are on me. It took me 1:16;34, but I did it and it was just fine in the end. Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.......

Run fast and strong ladies, Have a great weekend.

I hadn't run since last Friday (gasp!). It had been SO cold here I just couldn't face it.

I finally gotout last night and did my first ever 4+ mile run outside...with no walk breaks! Yahoo!

Have a great weekend everyone

I had my x mas 2.5 mile run yesterday! That race was HUGE! And they had 500+ more people than they were expecting! So many santa hats! lol It was pretty fun. They had carolers along the course singing and people were sitting on their porches waving and shouting. Such a fun experience! I did finished in 30 mins and change. Then me and dh went and got our first tattoos! Afterwards we went to a nice mexican restaurant and I ate off plan...but I'm back on track today!

What a day! It was worth it.

i begin trainig to qualify for Boston tomorrow!! 8 mi in the morning, with the last 4 miles at planned marathon pace --- 8:15ish!!
Im excited!!
ive also decided to start carb cycling...gently. With the way i workout, i need to be able to eat more! But i am goig to break my body gently into it, by upping my "good" carbs 2X a week for now, and keeping hte other 5 days at what i already eat, which is anywhere from 80 - 120 grams/day. So definitely low carb, but not SCARY Atkins low carb My high days will be from 175 - 200 grams/ day. which still keeps my calorie levels at 1400-1500 on regular days, and approx 1700-1800 on "high" carb days. We will see how this goes!! The hardest thing for me will be to not freak out if i show an initial gain (in water weight, or whatever) after the first time, or the first week, or whatever. I need to push threw it for at least a month. Then i will re-evaluate. If im going to be training for Boston and running 50-70 mi/week AND doing 3-4 strength sessions, i NEED to be eatingg more!! But i think everyone here on this forum knows how hard that can be to make ourselves do! Especially after struggling with weight!

EVel-- congrats on your xmas day run!!! Did you have to bring your own santa hat?? 30 minutes is a great time! Glad you had such a blast!

Mk your training plan sounds good! So, how do you 'qualify' for Boston? Do they make you run a 'try out' marathon to see if you can make the time or how do they do that? lol That's always confused me. But with your determination, I'm sure you will be shoe in for Boston!

And yes, I had to bring my OWN santa hat. lol

Evel- you can qualify at any "Certified" Boston Qualifying marathon, which is pretty much ANY marathon that has been certified by the USATF (the distance is what has to be certified). In all honesty, its be harder to find a marathon that WASNT a BQ.....

Hey ladies, so I went out of town this weekend and stayed on plan! yay! I was behind a day in my C25k plan due to last minute shopping for the trip & finishing up my semester. I ran the c25K around my grandma's lakeside neighborhood in the snow, and it was great.

p.s. i got orthotics and they helped so much with my shin splints, the running caused pain, but it went away within 10 mins and I wasn't sore at all today.

Todays run-
8.25 miles
3 miles easy ~ 9 min/mile (27 min)
5.25 miles at Planned Marathon pace of 8:10-8:15-- Averaged 8:12 (DANG!! right on the money pace-wise!!) (43 min)

Total time 1 hr 10 min

Side note--- it was FREAKISHLY warm and wonderful this am for my run....in the lower 40s!!! I got to wear my running shorts (YAY!!)

New victory: I ran 3.1 miles without stopping! I was on the treadmill Friday afternoon as the first flakes were coming down and set it to about a 11:20 pace and just plugged away. I finished in 35:11. I can do it faster if I alternate walking and running, but wanted to see if I could run the whole way and I can! With over two feet of snow on the ground here, there isn't a chance I'll be doing outdoor running any time soon.

FP/SJ - wow! Congrats on the baby planning! That's a whole new exciting challenge!

Medina - glad you have found some relief from shin splints.

Eve - way to go w/ Xmas race! Sounds like a blast.

MK did you end up doing the Winter Series 10k?

blue ~ WOW congrats on 3.1! That is fantastic!!!

EVE ~ That sounds like a fun race! Glad you had a great time

ok soooo I tried out my Garmin today... this is now my most favorite toy EVER! I did 5.5 miles like it was nobody's business... first time I've been healthy enough/warm enough/energetic enough to run outside in about a month! It was so nice to get back outside and enjoy the nice weather... especially since there is snow moving our way. I am going to Oklahoma for Christmas and plan on taking advantage of some lower altitude running...

I haven't run in... well, at least a week. The treadmill has less appeal than pretty much any other form of cardio and it's been too dark to run outside before work. However - I am now off work for three weeks and have no excuse to not run outside, which I'm very happy about! And like FatPants, I absolutely love my Garmin and use it every time I run outside - it's so good to see I'm on pace and that I do actually run as far as I had planned. My husband is home from school for three weeks also so he and I will be hitting the gym three days a week together and then he'll bike when I run - he's not a runner and I'm much less of a bike rider! He wants to shed some excess weight so he's motivated, which then motivates me, so it's all good.

I'm trying to decide which 5k to do in February/March - one is closer to home and has really easy parking, but the route is super boring. The other is a pain to pick up the race packet and the parking is very tight (all on the roadside instead of in a parking lot) but you get to run on an old railroad through tunnels (it was the railroad used to transport the materials to build the Hoover Dam) so it's much cooler! Maybe I'll do both - they're a couple of weeks apart and with a 5k distance, it wouldn't be too much to do them both. Sigh - decisions!

MK - I essentially carb-cycle every weekend to support my Sunday long run. It also lets me "legally" eat more on the weekends! What I do is this: eat more calories and more carbs on SATURDAY, to fuel up for the Sunday run. Then I try not to refuel too much after the Sunday long run, although I do eat more for recovery. Then I go back to my low cal / low carb regular diet for Monday thru Friday. And yes, I see as much as a 5-6 lb swing up after the weekend due to the carb water weight and muscles retaining water - but it drops right back off in a couple of days. I have found that eating more carbs the day before my long run really makes a difference in my endurance level. I don't carb load unless I'm running more than 14 miles or so though.

I did a 20 miler Sunday morning, my first since marathon training years ago. It felt good! I finished strong, felt like I could go more, but was glad I didn't have to! Maybe some day I will go for that full marathon again ...

Happy running everyone!