3rd Half Marathon complete...

So I believe I've mentioned before on this blog, if I have no upcoming goal (read: race) I have very little motivation to run.  For the first 1/2 marathon I was terrified I wouldn't be able to run the full 13.1 miles, so I followed a strict schedule of running and other workouts 5x per week.  The second one I slacked due to travel and didn't do much of the non-running workouts, but I did manage a number of longer runs around 10-12 miles which got me through.

Several months ago, Annie and I took a look at races in other countries and selected a night run in Estonia.  With the 'white nights' they experience we thought it would be a cool experience and a good motivator to keep running after our Hague 1/2 marathon. White nights, dear readers, are a phenomenon experienced at the top of the Earth where the sun hardly sets and the night is turns a greyish-whitish color instead of blueish-blackish.

Unfortunately, this run again was slackerville, but unlike the last race, for this one I fit in fewer long runs, so while the first 11 miles of the race were ok but slow, the last two were painful and I actually walked a little bit - something I didn't do on either of the first two.  My right knee ached a bunch and I couldn't remember if that was usual far distance pain, or I'd actually hurt my knee, but the number of injured people in my life right now made me slow to a walk for a few seconds a few times at the end.

When I finished it was quite dark out - what happened to the 'white nights'?!?  My wonderful support team was there waiting for me even though it was dark, chilly and buggy when I finally crossed the finish line. I'd also like to note that Estonians are fast runners! While I am slow, I spent a lot of this race (after the 10km racers finished) running with very few people.  There were also tons of spectators at the start of the race and a lot less than that, which surprised me given the race looped around the city a bunch of times and was at night, which I thought would make it appealing for people to BBQ and party while watching.  I was wrong.

Spectators, you are very important to runners.  You are especially important to me.  While training I run slow, but while racing, I feed off the crowd's enthusiasm and run much faster.  I smile at people, I high five children, I pump my fist for the bands, DJs, dance teams, etc that line the sidelines and perform.  I'm a fun runner to watch and cheer for, IMHO.  Anyway, if you take anything from this post (or my blog) it should be these two things #1 - you too can run a 1/2 marathon and #2 - cheer for the runners and strangers that run in your life or in races in your area... it does make a huge difference to them.

Unfortunately, without the crowd, I was slooooooooow.  The race was long and Rakvere is a nice town, but not exceptionally pretty and the course wasn't very interesting, so I was a bit bored with the run.  My podcasts (I mentioned I don't listen to music while I run, right?) weren't particularly interesting, so I couldn't zone out listening to a cool story or anything.  Anyway, enough complaining.  I finished, which is always my goal.

We spent Friday before the race checking out Rakvere and then Saturday/Sunday in Tallinn.  It was a lovely little city and it was really nice for walking, eating, pictures and general visiting.  Two thumbs up to Estonia.

Here are some fun photos :)

Pre-run Solyanka - YUM!

Medival castle visit - shot my first arrow

Run hardware (trophy & t-shirt)

Gorgeous Tallinn

Gorgeous Tallinn

parade in the streets

Jason loves marzipan - invented in Tallinn!

Tallinn prison - used by the KGB and then still used in 2004

Medical performance room

KGB execution room

abandoned cell with girlie pics still hanging

Tallinn medieval fortress walls from the 1300s

Old town, Tallinn.... beautiful

Georgian lunch - strange drinks - on the right is oregano lemonade 

more gorgeous Tallinn

park exercise randomness

Will post some Russia photos soon.  Also, please see my FB of Jas/Annie's great pics from the actual race.

From Estonia with love,

Liz

New shoes, new 'tude

Yesterday I ran 13 miles.. Slowly... On my run I thought about all sorts of things, one being my awesome friend Annie (yes, the occasional blogger on this site) who has been injured for a few months and is making her recovery.  Her dad's a big runner and has been asking her to look into her shoes (Nike) for a while.  She finally heeded his advice and headed over to our local running shop where she discovered she overpronates and runs as though she's only got a very thin strip of road to run on (think catwalk strut?) after running in front of a camera.

This was really interesting to me and I know I could make improvements in my running.  My first (and only) run with a trainer they told me I can't look down (but how will I navigate the uneven sidewalks in Amsterdam?!) and I swing my arms too much, which burns valuable energy.  I was given exercises - keep your chin up and run with limp arms pretending you are cradling eggs in your hands (which are straight by your sides).  The first was ok, the second? Awwwwwwwwwwkward.  I do practice these because, hey, who am I to doubt a professional running trainer? And at my last marathon, my friends said my form did look better.

I needed to head to the running store because one of my batbelt bottles (it's important to refuel on any run over 1 hour) cracked.  I decided to bring my two pairs of New Balance shoes with me to the store so the pros could inspect my wear patterns and film my gait.  They did it quite quickly notice that I also overpronate. With my current shoes, it's a bit surprising I haven't yet gotten injured, but my theory is that I am awesome about stretching and I don't push myself too hard (hence running slowly) which both help injury prevention.  I walked out of there with these babies: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 13 which won Runner's World Runners Choice in 2012.  When I ran in these, my feet hit the ground evenly - it made an impressive difference.  Also, he told me I'm hitting the ground wrong and need to try to hit on the outside of my foot.  I asked for a way to do this he said "try to point your big toe to the sky, that will keep your heel out."  A new challenge.  I'll work on it.

When I asked the guy if there were any better looking shoes I could choose from he said, "yeah, it seems that the designers at Brooks are blind" ugh.  Well, they're good shoes.  Ugly shoes, but good shoes.  Oh well.

New kicks!

In other news, I ran 13 miles last night.  It felt good.  Tomorrow I will see about doing another long-ish run in my new shoes.  Till tomorrow?  Have a super Saturday night!

Liz

So it's been a while...

Dear reader,

I apologize for my absence.  It's been due to my work blocking this website, lots of visitors and then lots of travel.  All these things have culminated in me slacking off from blogging, but fear not, I can report that I've still been running a minimum of 2x per week.  Because of the visitors and travel these runs have not been long.  At their shortest they've been 2.5 miles and longest around 5... this means even though I've been running, I've been slacking (I've also let myself walk during portions of the run - boo!).  Last week I returned from NYC on a red-eye Tuesday morning and realized I have a 1/2 marathon in 3 weeks - yikes! So Tuesday evening after work I laced up my shoes and made a mental agreement to run only 5 miles if I didn't stop.  During the run I was sleepy and hungry, so I wanted it to be over with and I wanted to not have to run further by stopping.  Then Thursday I ran 11.3 miles with minimal stopping.  I took Friday -Sunday off due to an action packed Ukraine trip and then ran the same 11.3 miles yesterday with also very few stops.  I'm running extreeeeeeeeemely slow, but I'm logging the miles and (I'll keep telling myself) this is what counts.  I guess we'll see next Friday (Estonia 1/2 marathon!)

In the nearly 2 months since I've written, a lot has gone down both personally and Boston-wise.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention the horrible Boston bombings on a running blog (and I'm sure most of you readers know I lived in Boston before moving to Amsterdam).  I followed the media circus around the Marathon bombings with a fervor I've never before had for news.  I feel horrible for those injured/killed in the bombings and bummed about what the bombings will do to all future running events - they will never be the same.  Every race both spectators and runners will have a moment where they think "could that happen at this event?" and security will need to be stepped up at every race just in case.  Racing has changed forever...

On a much more cheerful note, I've done a ton of travel (ski trip in Austria, weekend in Brugges/Gent, Poland, NYC, and Ukraine) and had a ton of visitors (Aunt Marie, Uncle Bob, Katie, Uncle Nick, Amy, Jen). It's been a busy two months.  Here are some photo highlights - for more see Facebook or Google+

Skiing in Austria

Castle in Ghent, Belgium

Uncle Bob and Aunt Marie

Uncle Nick and Amy

Jen, Wendy, Marc on the boat!

Warsaw, Poland

Davey & Salua wedding (NYC)

Kiev

Will report soon!

Liz

New longest run... 14 miles

Gentle blog reader,

If we keep in touch then you know I was just on back to back vacations - to Dubai and then Malta.  As you can imagine, I didn't do much exercising in either place.  I managed a 1 hour 15 minute treadmill run in Dubai and a lot of walking, odd muscle tensing (riding scooter - don't ask, I'm just a nervous rider) and a little swimming while in Malta.  This means when we got back yesterday and it was sunny I decided I needed a long run.  Not because I crave running, nope, still dislike running.  I've realized what I do like is after running, after showering, after stretching the sense of accomplishment I feel.  That is what makes me want to go running.  That and my clothes fitting a little tighter after more than a week of massive food indulging.

Soooooo, I laced up my sneakers, found sunglasses, filled three mini water bottles for my bat-belt, checked that my ipod shuffle had some juice (can't run out of podcasts mid-run!!) and set off.  As I ran, I felt good.. not fast (lets face it, I never feel fast), but good.  I recently read a RunnersWorld article (yup) about a new runner that had this whole experience of running and how he lived on a long long road which he never imagined being able to get to the end of.  The end of this road was also marked by a winery, so it became a joke with his family when he set off for a run to say things like "should I pick up any wine?" etc... One day that guy set off on his run and he felt good - so good that he decided to keep on running.  Now he noted the difficulty of running somewhere and back - you have to time the turnaround point right so you aren't essentially limping home at the end.  Despite this, he ran to the winery.  When he arrived there was no crowd to applaud him, no beam of sunlight that shined only on him and no medal.  He turned around and ran home and when he arrived he was proud of himself.

I thought about this guy as I ran and made the decision to run out 7 miles and then turn around so that I would have a 14 mile run.  When I look at the Garmin map I am amazed that I ran through several towns, but then I remember that Amsterdam is tiny and am less impressed.  Anyway, I noticed that it was a little windy as I ran, but I incorrectly thought it was blowing sideways at me.  That was my big mistake.  That or the wind shifted.  Hard to know, but one thing is for sure - when I started my run back it was full on into the wind.  CRAP! My easy 14 mile run got pretty tough, but because I had to get home, I did it.

When training for the second 1/2 marathon I decided to up my mileage so that the last few miles wouldn't be painful on my knees and hips. My rationale was that if 10-12 miles was my regular run the running the 1/2 would be easier.. I was right, not only was it easier, I was able to run it (slightly) faster.  That's all, this post has gotten really long.  Here are some pictures from Dubai and Malta... many more on FB (see Annie's or Andrey's pages) or on Google+ (let me know if you aren't in the right circle to view them).

View from the hotel... yep, a posh place

Modesty for the mosque

Tourists!

And then off to Malta!

Jumping photo in Marsalokk, Malta

Jumping photo in front of ancient ruins - Hagar Qim

Marsalokk, Malta

market in Malta where we FINALLY found cheese baskets! - Marsalokk, Malta

Citadel - Mdina, Malta

To accomplishments and reaching beyond our limits,

Liz

Second Half Marathon - Check!

Y'all,
I was NOT looking forward to this race.  The weather was expected to be terrible (snowing OR raining AND very windy PLUS very cold) also I've been running really slowly. Anyway, I decided if it was raining steadily I wouldn't run because I didn't want blisters and I hate running in wet feet.  On the train ride to The Hague my friends reminded me that I recruited them for running this half marathon and let me know I was not getting out of it.  Anyhow, we arrive and make our way to the event.  I look for the PwC area and realize I didn't read my Dutch email very well - Team PwC was camped out at a restaurant around 10 minutes from the event.  Anyway, we'd arrived super early because I wasn't in charge of timing, so all was good.

Four of us ran - Marc, Annie, Ian and me.  Here's a pic (minus Ian):

 The race ended up being pretty good.  It snowed hard-ish for maybe 10-20 minutes and that was a bit uncomfortable, but it would have been worse if it were rain.  I ran 5 min faster than my previous 1/2 time of 2:21 and finished at 2:16, which is a 10:20 pace.  That's also much faster than I've been running as of late (11+ min miles).  For the weather, there were lots of spectators and they were terrific, reading names and shouting in Dutch lots of encouragements.  Good stuff.

Here are the goods:

We had some great supporters - Andrey, Jason and Andy which always is wonderful (thanks guys!).  Andrey took the video (also on facebook if this isn't loading properly).

I have to say, I'm a bit pleased with myself for being able to run for more than 2 hours at a good clip (we're using my standards here, guys) since last summer I couldn't even do 2 miles without feeling winded and exhausted.  If you're reading this and thinking "I can't do that" think again.  I'm pretty lazy and wasn't in great shape, but with the right training program anyone can become a runner.  Anyone.

Inspired, exhausted and pleased,

Liz

12 mile jog

Hey all,

I've been running! Two Saturday's ago, I ran 10 miles, then I ran another 10 on Friday and 4 on Sunday and 12 on Tuesday.  You could say I've been trying to make up for lost mileage or time, but what I think I'm doing is trying to get used to running longer distances.  When I started running, 2 miles was far... now 12 miles is far, like everything, it's about adjusting your "normal."  After I ran the 10 mile Dam-to-Dam run, I was hobbling, achy and sore for almost a week - that is how I discovered the power of stretching.  I ran 12 miles on Tuesday and Wednesday was only slightly sore.

This is all good news, however, I'm running slower than ever.  Thankfully I've gotten over the need to stop running and take a break, but I'm still averaging 11+ minute miles, which is not good.  I started thinking about what I've been doing and realized that I've done zero speed work this time.  Speed work for you non-runners is exercises like sprinting for 30 seconds and then resting for a minute.  Since the City-Pier-City race is Sunday, I think it's too late, but I am excited to not be in pain for the last few miles like I was for the Amsterdam Half Marathon.  We shall see.

I went to London briefly this weekend - that lack of sleep is why I only ran 4 on Sunday.  Here's a pic :)

Wish me luck Sunday!

Liz

Running, off and on

Hi faithful readers!

I admit, I haven't been a faithful runner.  I blame Italy and general laziness.  One of the best things about Italy is that the food is amazing.  One of the worst is that all that terrific food is pretty horrible for you.  Here's small small sample of the things I spent the week eating.... there are more (plus non-food pics) on Google+ (please email/gchat me if you don't have access).  The far worst offender was the 7 course meal at night one of the conference.  There was no menu shared with us, but I thought the 4 forks was a clue, but it wasn't enough.  The food was delicious, but at the end almost every one of the 100 participants was groaning with discomfort!

Needless to say, I didn't run while in Italy, which of course left me with some weight gain and some guilt.  But upon returning to Amsterdam, I've gotten back on track and yesterday ran 8 miles.  Today my legs are a bit tight despite stretching yesterday, so I recognize the work I've got to do.  1/2 marathon in less than a month (March 10th)!

In other news, I will not be running in Italy in June.  The running program I'm doing it through was a partnership and my client dropped out of the race, so it didn't make sense for me to do it alone.  I will however be looking for lots more running opportunities and Annie's already made an excellent list (gotta keep the motivation up!).

Happy eating,

Liz

7 miles, check!

I remember when I had to run 7 straight miles this past fall.  I thought it was asking a LOT and it also seemed impossibly far, but I was able to do it.  Today my calendar said 7 miles, though the training has been much shorter (second week) while the 1/2 marathon calendar had it during week 7, so I was in a bit better shape.  Today I ran miles it was nice and sunny out and then around mile 3, it hailed on my head.  Yes, I said HAIL. Thankfully it only lasted for a few minutes and then it went back to sun.  Ah, Amsterdam weather.  Anyway, the run was great and I did it!

If you don't think you can get off the couch and run, think again.  You can do it, you just won't.  It takes small steps in the right direction, which anyone can do... including you.

Liz

Gaining momentum

Chugging along!  I've exercised 8 of the last 10 days.  Prior to that, in the month of January I'd only deliberately exercised 3 times (in 18 days)... the current ratio is much more likely to get me to 1/2 marathon shape for March 10.  In addition to working out, I'm also diligently stretching.  I would like to recommend the Nike+ App for this - I do 15 minutes of stretch, either the Shawn Johnson full body stretch or the <insert famous runner's name here> running stretch.  Both are excellent and I find that I'm much less sore after running and much more comfortable while running (goodbye sore knees and ankles!!)

This weekend I ran Friday night (yep, I'm cool), Saturday mid-day and then Sunday morning.  Saturday's workout was terrible.  I kept having to slow down the treadmill........ wait, treadmill?! yes... sidenote, did I mention I joined a gym? I found a Groupon for a gym back in August and I joined in November for 6 months, but didn't actually attend until this month.  Thank goodness I joined a gym  - there was a few centimeters of snow covering everything for a little over two weeks.  While in most cities this wouldn't be a problem after a day, in Amsterdam nobody does any shoveling, so the snow just stays until it melts, making it very difficult to run outside.

anyway, Saturday was a terrible run on the treadmill, but Sunday more than made up for it.  I've figured out how to watch TV on my iPad, so I'm watching Glee and speeding up during songs.  I ran 5 miles at a 11 minute pace, but most importantly, I didn't have to slow down at all. That's progress :)

Thanks for reading,

Liz

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaacccccccccccck...

Heyo everyone,

This week marked the beginning of training for the Italy 30km, 1/2 Marathon on March 10th and a 1/2 Marathon in May 2013.  This is all very good news because I've been doing some heavy duty slacking in December and January.  November was also pretty slacky, but I did get my butt in gear to run once per week.  In December I ran twice and did Nike+ training once per week.  January has seen running only yesterday and hardly any Nike+.  It's time to get back in gear.  

Who's with me on this round of runs? 

March 10th 1/2 Marathon: me, Marc, Britt, Ian, Annie

May 1/2 Marathon: me, Marc, Annie, Wendy? Britt? Ian? Katie?

Italy run: me, Marc, Britt, Ian, Annie?, Katie?

Katie is an ironman runner who will be moving from Chicago to Switzerland in March... maybe she'll join the Amsterdames as a Zurichdame blogger occasionally... :)

Anyhow, I'm going to follow the Marathoning for Mortals program to 'Run a Marathon' - which will mean training for 26 miles though I'll only be running 18 in Italy - the race will be on a slight incline and much hotter than we're used to, so I figure the extra training is a good idea.  Here's the course: http://www.cortina-dobbiacorun.it/percorso_it.html

This training program has you train 6 days a week to get in tip-top shape.  I am not excited about that or trying to fit in a 40 minute workout on Wednesdays with game night, but, the MM book is my running bible, so I'll do what it says.

I would also like to officially invite anyone/everyone to join us in Italy that weekend... it will be a lot of fun so please feel free to sign up to race or just come cheer us on...

Last week we were in the Laplands to hunt for the Northern Lights.  Here are a few pics to enjoy.  Thanks for reading! 

Love,

(Formerly Lazy, but no longer) Liz

Me and Annie, decked out in winter gear

Anna, me, Marc in our gear

Sunrise (10:30am)