Friday 5: 2015 Goals

This post is just a little late, but I hadn't had time or energy to really process and if you're going to make goals for the year they should be ones that are well thought out in my opinion.

I'm linking up with Mar, Courtney, and Cynthia!  Be sure to stop by--so many great blogs link up every  week!  Now onto some of my goals!

1. Foster 5 Dogs.  I started fostering last April and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.  I've fostered 5 pups already, and each time it was an incredible experience.  I'm looking forward to helping more pups find their forever families this year!

Snuggles with my sweet Jessie!

2. Run a sub 2 hour half marathon and a sub 27 minute 5k.  These have been wants of mine for a long time.  I'm ready to finally chase them down!

3. Try a new recipe from the Runner's World cookbook each month.  I've tried quite a few since I was gifted it in November, but want to make sure it doesn't become another book collecting dust on my shelf.  

4. Complete the 2015 Book Challenge.  I love, love reading.  I know that I will have no problem reading 12 books this year (I've already read several), but I'm looking forward to trying some that I might not have otherwise picked.

5. Run as many J&A races as I can.  I want to say all of them, but I know that might not be a realistic goal since there are 2 in October, 1 in November, and 1 in December.  That's a lot of driving back and forth in a few months time.  I'm shooting for at least Crawlin' Crab and Surf-n-Santa (and of course Shamrock!)!  We shall see though.....  You guys know I love my J&A races!

I'm sure you guys have already written out your goals for the year, so tell me how you're doing with them!  Or, if you're a slacker like me, tell me a goal you're working on!

Have a happy, happy weekend! I'm looking forward to the good weather they've predicted!

2013 Resolution Progress

Can you believe it's already December?  I figured I should probably do a check in on my resolutions while I still have a few weeks to get it together.  It's not over 'til it's over!

Here's a look back at my 2013 goals:

• Run Two Half Marathons. Check!  Although painfully slow, I ran both the Nike Women's Half Marathon and the Crawlin' Crab Half.  

• Run Three Different Race Lengths.  Check again!  I ran a couple of half marathons, some 5ks, a 10k, and an 8k.

• Try 3 New Recipes.  I did this one really fast (it might take me a while to remember what I made, but I did it, I swear!).  My mom gave me a crock pot cookbook for Christmas last year and I tried several recipes from it.  I also conquered two from my Pinterest board which may as well count for 10 a piece.  Seriously, who ever actually makes anything they pin? 

Stuffed peppers mmmm.  Should prob makes these again soon.

• Teach Maddux a New Trick.  Maddux actually ended up going to a tricks workshop and we had a lot of fun.  He learned how to wave goodbye and how to jump through a hoola hoop.  

Backyard agility fun!

• Volunteer with Lucky Dog at Least Three Times.  I'm really embarrassed to say this has only happened once this year.  There's no excuse, I just need to prioritize my time.  I'll definitely have to look to see if I can squeeze the last two in before the end of the year! 

• Try a New Form of Exercise.  I went to several spin and body pump classes and LOVED them!  I will definitely be investing in a temporary membership next summer, too!  

• Go Somewhere New. Maddux and I checked out a couple of new parks from our Doggin' Maryland book.  I also went to Annapolis for the first time this year!

•  Go on Vacation.  I went to beautiful San Diego and had the best time!  I can't wait to go back one day!

2013 has been an incredible year!  I have a good feeling about the last few weeks of the year!  

Lindsey Sucks at Posting

As was seen from past blog activity, I suck at posting consistently.  I am glad I don't have any readers relying on me for inspiration, because I have had to adopt a new running blog to read when I need a kick out the door because not one, but TWO of my favorites have been slacking on the blog front, too.

Anyway, some updates from life:

Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in March: Goal met?  Oh no, no, no.  In fact it was significantly (as in way, way, way, way) over where I wanted to be.  You know what though?  I had a lot of fun.  Running through the city was amazing and I got to see lots of sights that normally I miss because I am driving and cursing traffic.  After thinking a lot (way too much) about this race, I realized that I couldn't  have expected this run to go well.  I didn't put forth the work that I needed to, and as you can see from the majority of the posts I actually got around to writing, I ate like crap.  I let myself off way too easily. You live you learn I suppose.

New Year's Resolutions: So far, only one is officially met.  This little guy made it to dog school!  I am proud to say that he graduated and is ready for the next step up.  He is doing so much better on walks.

Despite what you may think, no, you have not seen a cuter dog than this.

I am also signed up for my second half marathon of the year!  It will be an October race and I am BEYOND excited!  It's also put on by one of my favorite racing companies, J&A Racing!  I have been following a training plan for a few weeks now that has been going really well.  I am slowly building mileage in, and I am even going to attempt to add speed work.  That will be an interesting part of the plan.  Basically, the plan goes twice a week running 45 minutes, then once a week a long run or speed work.  The 45 minute runs are considered "maintenance runs" and have a few minutes to a mile of "race pace"but I'm still trying to figure out exactly what that should be.  I've realized I'm not a very confident runner.  I need to work on that.  For example, yesterday was BEAUTIFUL out.  But, thanks to my friend's wedding, I was feeling reaalllly stiff and tired from a night of dancing and drinking.  I decided to stick to the 'mill because obviously it was going to be a hard run and I just knew I was going to have to stop for water every two seconds.  Yeah, it turned out to be a pretty great run.  Nothing spectacular, but I ended up running my 6 miles in 56:05.  I had set the treadmill timer for 62 min.  See where I'm going with the confidence thing?  On the flip side, I know I push myself harder on the treadmill.  I think part of it is secretly knowing I can stop and get water whenever I want.  I have also determined that because the bride of the wedding is a triathlete it must mean you can party all night with her and you are destined to have a good run.  She is amazing by the way.

On another running note, I am doing the Runner's World Summer Running Streak.  I was a little apprehensive because I have never run every day before.  I asked friends and my ultimate running advice go to (my dad!) how this was going to work out.  I was reassured several times that yes, I can do it.  No, running a mile isn't going to wear my body down.  I'm twenty something days in now, and have found that my legs have been a lot fresher because of it.  I would definitely do this again, although there has been a lot of laundry.  I'm an avid sweater and the majority of my clothes I have not been able to re-wear.  Speaking of sweating, I am excited because my favorite blogger, Ali,  is selling I <3 Sweat shirts to benefit the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.  I had been thinking of getting one for a while, but I finally made the plunge today.  I mean, who doesn't love a good sweat.  When I finish the streak, I am thinking of getting myself a "yay, I did it!" prize.  I know it's just a mile a day, but running 38 days in a row is a pretty big deal.  Not gonna lie, I have definitely written every single workout, but RW streak wise and training plan in my planner.  It feels good to check them off and has kept me on track.  I am thinking of buying the Nike running watch with the GPS in it.  I am obsessed with my Nike+ sportsband, but now that my runs are going to be getting a lot longer I think it would be nice to have a more accurate read.  I'm pretty sure it can still upload to my Nike running account, so I can still have all my information up there to see.  I love being able to look at my mileage, pace, and overall comments.  The new and improved website is pretty cool, too, now that I'm getting used to it.

Ok, this is getting to be a really long post.  I guess it was only right, seeing that I have months to make up.  Have a happy Monday! :-)

Hot Chocolate 15k: A PR Story

I have been looking forward to this race for a loonnnnng time.  The second I heard the words "chocolate" and "running" together I knew I had to sign up and luckily my birthday was right before so my mom and dad agreed to gift me with the entry fee, along with my very own box of hot chocolate, and a brand new running shirt (which by the way, was part of the perfect race day outfit).

As I've said I was really nervous about the race from the expo to race day.  I just knew I would miss the expo and not be able to pick up my bib and then sleep through my alarm, be late for the race, and butcher my goals.  Only one of those things happened.  Guess which one?

My friend went to the expo with me because I was paranoid about not being able to find it (my GPS sometimes plays mean tricks on me and we often have communication issues...) and other than interpreting the Hot Chocolate Expo 2 rights the wrong way we made it with no problems.  I got really excited because the National Harbor was pretty and I saw Ketchup which is a restaurant they ate at in that show The Hills in LA, which is a terrible reason to get excited about something, but whatever.  The expo went really smoothly and I hardly had to wait at all to get my race packet.  The entry fee included a windbreaker, which turned out to be yet another part of that perfect race day outfit, along with my favorite Target pretty much spandex pants and my gloves and headband.  The jacket also had POCKETS!  No worrying about what I was going to do with my gloves when my hands got too hot or my ipod falling into the water or something.  You never know.

I stayed at my friend's house before the race because it was closer than my apartment, and as my sister can tell you, I was once again paranoid I was going to forget something.  I had a continuous check list going through my head and I'm proud to say I didn't forget anything.   

Maddux wanted to go, too!

I have a very nice friend who is willing to leave the house at 5:30 in the morning, ride a shuttle through tons of traffic, and stand in the cold for hours to see me a total of 2 times during the 9 mile race, all while holding my bag of stuff.  Said traffic made the race get off to a late start (which is good considering that I made it to the race site 10 minutes before we were supposed to start and I had to sprint to the portapotties to make sure I wouldn't suffer the whole time...which happened anyway, but not because of my grandmotherly bladder).  I was really sad to see all the negativity from runners at this race.  There were a few unexpected change of events, but I mean it happens.  Usually runners are such a fun group to be around, but so many people were complaining about the dumbest things I have ever heard.  Man up or go home.  Anyway.  I just felt sorry for them that they allowed themselves to dwell on the things that weren't going as planned and ended up having a sucky day.  

As far as the actual running part goes (I know, ridiculously long post), I felt awesome for the entire first 10k.   Most of that was on the highway, which was kind of cool at first because a lot of the time I'm stuck in traffic on the highway and have this thought that it would be really awesome to run and see how much faster I could run than drive and that dream came true!  Kinda.  I got a high five from my friend around mile 5 so that gave me a great boost.  Then mile 7 hit and things started to get hard.  Mentally I was saying, "You have less than 2.5 miles left, WOOO! YOU CAN DO IT!", but my ankles were saying, "Excuse me, we don't really run this far.  We're going to tighten up on you now."  Then at mile 8 my IT band said, "Hey, remember that time you ran too far after training too little?  That's what you're about to feel now."  Then at mile nine I said, "THANK YOU, LORD!" and made it to the end for an ever so swift 1:38 finish.  According the the race results, that means I had a 10:30 pace.  Bah.  Not exactly the goal I had planned, but a PR no less.  And the end of the race was really pretty.  And there was yummy hot chocolate at the end.  And more Ghiradelli squares at the end.  And chocolate fondue which I didn't want because I just wanted to get on the shuttle and sleep until we got home.  

I am very sore today, but now I'm more motivated than ever to get my butt in gear for my March half marathon.  This race definitely proved that not taking training seriously isn't going to surprise me with an awesome run.  If I want to meet my 2:05 goal I really need to stop the excuses and start working hard.  Annnnnd for more motivation I am cashing in my birthday gift certificate from that very nice friend from the race to go get my new running shoes today!  I hope they don't make me run to see my stride though.  It might not be completely accurate right now....