Several months ago, Stephanie looked through her phone for some random photos and challenged me to do the same. Well today, I'm taking a deep dive into my purse to see what I can see...plus it's a good way to clean out the trash that inevitably accumulates in one's bag. My purse is a hearty-sized buffalo leather bag from Duluth Pack located in, of all places, Duluth, MN. I've got plenty of room for all sorts of things in my bag, so here are some items I found: I found three partially filled Brat Master cards from the local meat market. If I fill one up, I'll get a free package. Since the weather is turning nicer, maybe I should stop over and get some brats! Next I found a tape measure. I believe it was in my purse from the last time I was shopping for furniture. The bedside tables worked great in the boys' room, so I guess it was the right call to bring my own measuring device. Last I found a key chain with no keys and a Larabar. I usually have some sort of small snack in my purse in case I cannot find anything gluten free. No one wants to run the risk of me becoming "Rungry" while on errands. That keychain was from the Fusion formerly known as Ruby1 that was recently totaled in an accident. When I turned the title over to the insurance company, I also had to give them the keys. Apparently I was not willing to give up the keychain. Going to the auto auction site to turn these items over was quite an experience and kind of upsetting, so I guess I was not going to let anyone have Ruby1 AND the ring I used to carry around the key. Since this key ring has been in the bottom of my purse for two months, it obviously wasn't that important. Anyone need a key ring?
What's in your purse? I challenge Stephanie and our readers to clean your purse this week and show us what you found. Maybe it will be just an old pile of receipts, but won't it be nice to have spring-cleaned your handbag? Enjoy the beautiful weather and happy running! Missee
0 Comments
I ran the longest training run of 20 miles yesterday afternoon. The temperature when I left was 55 degrees with a 29 mph wind from the north. As I left my house and headed north, I knew I was in for a challenge. The wind was STRONG. For a brief moment, I considered going home and delaying my run until Saturday. However, the weather in Fargo could be windy on race day and I was going to have to deal with it. I saw this meme and thought about my run yesterday. One very soft person is writing this post today because the weather was a beast and I was tired. At the 17 mile mark, I was spent. The last three miles were spent alternating running and walking. Some days are good days... some days are not. During my run I was able to snap a few photos, a running safari as Missee has put it in another post. I sprinted (fast jogged) to the lion water fountain desperately looking for some water. To my disappointment, the water has not been turned on yet in the park. I will have to stop again later. It was a warmer day than I had expected. I slathered my face with sunblock and even reapplied sunblock along my route. It is a good thing that I did because my arms and legs were sunburned. It was only 55 degrees. On Thursday we were huddled up in blankets at my daughters track meet and on Friday I was getting a sunburn. Weather in Minnesota... I ended up my 20 miler with a 9:58 per mile average. (I did not stop my watch at any water, bathroom, or energy gel breaks.) It was not a fun run, but running is still fun.
Happy Running! -Stephanie Happy Thursday! We just returned from my daughter's junior high track meet. Although in the pleasant 50s, it was windy. The runners did awesome! Go team! Earlier in the week we had an out of town appointment. I was able to make it to a sporting good store and to Target. Can you guess which item below I am most excited to use and which item I am dreading to use? We found Dos at Target. It is new card game from the maker of Uno. I'm really looking forward to playing it! I also found vanilla bean Gu. I'm not looking forward to using that as much. (I will eat one packet every five miles during a long run.) My longest training run of 20 miles is on my calendar for tomorrow. Some marathon training programs to do not recommend running more than a 20 mile long run. The remaining 6.2 miles on race day are run on adrenaline and will. My plan is to run in the afternoon and enjoy a nice dinner afterward because running makes me rungry! (See definition below.) I finished my latest audiobook, The Shack, tonight and will need to download a new book for my long run tomorrow. Any suggestions? I'm looking forward to completing my 20 miles. After this weekend, I have a twelve miler and an eight mile long run on the schedule before race day.
Happy Running! -Stephanie Congratulations to Missee and all of the Earth Day Half Marathon Runners! Entering a half marathon is brave and finishing is remarkable. Good work to all! While Missee was competing in her race, I was running a fourteen mile training run. The first five mile were rough, the remaining miles were okay. I had put a water bottle and one energy gel in my mailbox with the idea that I would eat that at the 6-7 mile mark. Due to stomach issues, I never ate the energy gel. That could be just an excuse, as I struggle to consume energy gels and will use almost any excuse to get out of it. I am considering switching back to Gu. The reason for the switch is that there are Gu gels in vanilla and plain. I might have an easier time eating those? Saturday's weather was awesome. Even though there were still piles of snow on the ground, I was able to run without a jacket for the first time this season. I also ran across this free rest stop for tired runners. My town is the best! I hope your week off to a great start! Happy Running! -Stephanie
Ok--confession time. I read an article last week about things one could do to improve your chance of a PR. One of the suggestions was to use this particular lotion to combat lactic acid buildup in your legs in the last half of an endurance competition: I found the article on Wednesday, so clearly there was not enough time to get some before Saturday, so I read a little further. The active ingredient in the lotion was sodium bicarbonate. For the dietitians and the chemists in the group, that is common baking soda. I had an idea! On race morning, I got out my baking soda and sunscreen and mixed myself up a potion and spread it on my skin. At first, it felt really itchy and I almost washed it off except I remembered that people often use baking soda to combat pain and itching on rashes. After a few minutes, the itching went away which I attributed to the fact that my skin is so dry. The race went very well. I wonder if it had anything to do with my special lotion??? I'll probably try it again before another long run to see. It certainly doesn't hurt anything to spread baking soda on one's legs.
Back in high school, a dietitian had told me that it was very important to get enough fructose prior to races to build up my stores. The product of choice was high fructose corn syrup and it was quite hard to find in products. There was a certain brand of flavored seltzer water that had the treasured substance and Mom bought it so that I could have one the day before each race. WHAT!?!? Fast forward 30 years and we can't seem to avoid high fructose corn syrup in almost everything and certainly no one is talking about it as a performance enhancer. Have you tried anything somewhat unusual to gain an edge in athletics, beauty or academics? Please share with us in the comments so we can all learn what things we should really try or save our time and maybe our money. Happy running--Missee Well, I am a few hours from the finish of the Earth Day Half Marathon. In the time since the finish, I enjoyed the race party and snacks with my running friend, Deb; stopped at the hardware store on an errand; ate some lunch and took a very, very long hot bath. I'm enjoying the sunshine on the deck with my laptop compared to last week when we had blizzard-like conditions. I had very low expectations for the race....a few days ago I had blogged that I would be "participating" in the event as opposed to racing. I think this mind shift worked to my advantage!
Last year's recap included my review of the course, packet pickup, etc. This truly is one of the best organized events around. For those of us who do not embrace change well, it is awesome to show up for an event and know exactly where to go and what to expect. Our difficult March and April weather did throw a couple of curveballs to the race, but it all worked out well. The only problem I noticed on the day was that the race start was delayed about 25 minutes due to some issue along the course with barricades that St. Cloud PD required to be corrected before the start of the race. In a past blog, I'd mentioned the grassy hill going into mile 3. That was the piece of the course that did cause a problem. The race organizers did the best they could and moved the grassy hill spot down about another quarter mile and then put a carpet down on the hill for the runners. It was actually the hill that David's ski races there always finished on...but we went down instead of up :-). At the bottom, we were fairly quickly onto a paved bike path. At around mile 7, there were some really wet spots on a bike path and one icy area, but my shoes remained dry inside. The race normally finishes on the St. Cloud State football field, but they have a dome over the field for winter activities that wasn't able to come down just yet so we finished right next to it. My GPS still read 13.31 miles, so the small changes did not shorten the course. As for the running itself, I couldn't have asked for a better day. The weather was around 40 degrees with bright sun and almost no wind. Deb and I had said we wanted to try for 9:00 miles hoping to hang on as long as we could. When looking at our training, that seemed like a good goal. We began the race with around an 8:40 mile and were happy to still feel completely fresh. As the miles rolled on, our slowest mile was around 8:58 going down the carpet hill. Deb and I stayed together until about the halfway point when she let off the pace a little to be sure she'd be strong to the finish. I continued on and most miles were in the 8:40's. I made it to the finish in 1:56:04, a full five minutes faster than last year and averaging 8:52 per mile. Since a half marathon is technically 13.1 miles and my Garmin reads 13.31 miles, my watch says my average is 8:43 per mile. Either way, it was clearly faster than 9:00. Success! At the post race party, we noticed that people were truly happy at the race. While some runners were struggling a little in the last 5K or so due to lack of training or whatever, people were friendly and encouraging. A little sunshine and incredible running weather helped A LOT. I also believe that there were quite a few people who had decided to participate rather than run hard due to lack of consistency with their training more than lack of effort. With a lot of the pressure off, runners were not even acting frustrated over the delayed start. Earth Day added "Cheer Zones" in a rougher part of the course from miles 8-10. That was so fun! Groups of people signed up for certain segments and really pumped up the noise. My favorite zone was a group of people wearing tropical clothing playing music and giving out a lot of high 5's. I think Deb's favorite was the spot were they had free beer (ID wristbands required). Well, Earth Day 2018 was a much better experience than 2017. Thank you to the race organizers and volunteers along with my fellow runners for the fun morning. Happy running--Missee Good luck to Missee and all of the Earth Day Runners as they run a 13.1 mile race tomorrow morning (April 21) beginning at 8:30 AM. I will be sending my positive thoughts to Missee and the runners and anxiously awaiting the results here. You are all amazing! I have a 14 mile training run tomorrow. My goal is to pace my first half slower than my second half. I will see how that goes.
Less than one month until the marathon. Where has the time gone? The piles of snow in my yard have fooled me into thinking that it is not yet April. Happy Running! -Stepanie The Earth Day Half Marathon is coming up this Saturday. I've been reporting for a few weeks that my goal this year is more centered on having a strong race, not necessarily a fast one, not a personal best. At work today, a colleague asked if I was running on Saturday to which I replied that I would be "participating." She thought that sounded like a great idea, especially considering the weather we've had to train over the last month. Sometimes as runners, we set our expectations so high that we set ourselves up for disappointment. Look up and down the halls at your workplace or around your neighborhood and ask yourself, "How many people near me would be over the moon to finish a half marathon, 5K (or fill in the blank of your race distance)?" Unless you work in the copy room at Runner's World Magazine, most of the people you encounter daily neither could imagine themselves finishing a road race nor have any idea if the time you ran is good or not. They are happy for you to be able to train and do your race; don't be so hard on yourself! Once again, my town did not get hit nearly as hard as Stephanie's with the latest snowfall. We also did not get any snow day time away from school like she did. Charlie and I ventured out this morning complete with clickers on my shoes. It was a little tricky to find roads that were merely icy and not rutted, but we did alright. Another group of runners who had to adjust their expectations were the Boston marathoners. The temperatures were in the low 40's with rain and strong headwinds. The women's winner was an American woman, Desi Linden. She was the first American woman to win Boston in about 30 years and also the slowest winning time in around 40 years. Does anyone think Desi should be sad or disappointed about her time? Of course not! The Boston Marathon is one of the most prestigious marathons in the world and an American winner is reason to celebrate.
I'm doing my best not to let myself get worked up for Saturday's race. I'm going to set reasonable expectations and have a fun day out there. If nothing else, it will be a treat to go out for a nice long run and have someone else have the water cups and snacks ready along the way. Plus, the race shirt is a super cute hoodie and with the weather we've had, most of us Minnesotans have worn out our warm sweatshirts and could use a new one! Happy running--Missee Happy Sunday! Our part of Minnesota is digging out of an April blizzard today. The ran and ice started on Friday evening, followed by snow and more snow on Friday night and all day on Saturday. The following photos were taken on Friday evening and Saturday evening. We got a lot of snow! The snow meant I ran on the treadmill on Saturday and Sunday mornings. It also meant that the boots that I would have worn to church on Sunday were replaced with Sorrels. I hope that if you were in the blizzard zone, your sidewalks and driveway are clear, the sun is shining, and your street has been plowed. Happy Sunday! -Stephanie
Our spring weather has been largely nonexistent. With temps hovering around the teens and constant threats of large snowstorms, we are firmly still in winter weather. Area track teams have been getting nervous about getting some races in the books as the college kids have to qualify for their conference and/or national competitions with legit outdoor meets. After many cancellations and postponements, Hamline University hosted an outdoor women's meet last night. Here was the look when I arrived: Yikes! That doesn't look quite like track meet weather, but the temps stayed in the mid 40's until the end of the meet when it started to dip just a bit. With only very light winds, it was certainly not the coldest meet I've ever attended, but it was a sloppy mess. My daughter was pleased to be throwing discus especially since that is an outdoor-only event for obvious reasons. Her throw of around 117 1/2 feet was good for 2nd place. She also threw the hammer (which looks like a ball and chain) and got a nice respectable mark in that event for 8th place. Finally, she threw shotput. I'm not sure if the girls were all tired from throwing the other events or if it was getting too cold, but Haley threw a relatively lackluster distance and won the event by over two feet. Nice start! The poor fellows who worked the shotput had a horrible job trudging into the mud after each and every throw to retrieve the ball and mark the distance. I'm not sure if Weebly lets me post videos, but I'll try to post first one of Haley throwing and then of one of the workers retrieving. Many thanks to those college guys for working that event! Ooops, I cannot post a video, so I included a poster of my daughter that is hanging around campus promoting Division III athletics. I'm one proud mama :-)
My boys are hoping to get some action going on the track this weekend. Blake is headed to Des Moines, IA to run the steeple chase. I hope it's warmer there because that water jump could be pretty chilly. David and the Sabres are scheduled to run an indoor meet on Saturday provided we don't get the snowstorm that is predicted for our area. Fingers crossed. I think it would be some sort of cruel record if they had more than one indoor track meet cancelled due to dangerous driving weather. As for me, I'm headed to bed a little early tonight to attempt my 8-mile long run for the week before leaving for work at 7:00am. The wind and rain are supposed to pick up after 1:00pm tomorrow so the chances of a Saturday run look kind of bleak. My goals for the Earth Day Half Marathon next weekend keep getting a little more vague. With the snow we've had in April, I'm just hoping the event still happens and that I'm able to get out there and finish it while still having fun. My two running friends have down-graded their plans to a run-walk for one and possibly volunteering for the other if her cold and congestion continue to linger on for a third week. Weird weather we are having. Looking ahead to the next holiday at my house, opening fishing, we are beginning to wonder if the guys will need the boat or an ice auger. Ugggg!!! Until then, happy running! Missee Care to Comment? What sort of weather are you having in April where you live? Do you have any races coming up soon? Tell us about it! |
AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
Categories |