A Few Updates

Flowers are blooming in DC this week! Hopefully they will be blooming in Boston when I get home on Friday!

And now for some updates...

Remember when I said I was going to give up dairy? Well, what I really meant was, I'm going to give up eating yogurt everyday, but I'm still going to have cream in my coffee, feta in my omelet, and the occasional quesadilla. Yeah, I'm a failure. Almost every morning for breakfast since I have been in DC, I have had an egg white omelet with spinach, peppers, tomatoes, and feta:

With a side of fruit (the toast on the side I only have on the weekends)

The conclusion so far is that I'm probably not going to cut ALL dairy out of my life, but I do need to cut down significantly. I have noticed a definite improvement as far as the gas situation goes (yes TMI, I know), but it's still too early to tell the effect reducing dairy will have on my skin, but I'm hoping for a definite improvement there too.

Now onto the training update! As you all know, I'm training to run the half marathon portion of Boston's Run to Remember on May 29th. I am about half way through my training at this point and am in my "happy place" where the long runs are 6-7 miles. I still have had no issues (knock on wood) as far as injuries or tightness anywhere thusfar (a huge improvement from my last half when plantar fascitis attacked me like a rabid animal). It has been so tough to run while I am here in DC because I no longer have a garmin and the fitness center in the hotel has no AC, and I am a wuss in the heat. Freezing temperatures, sure! Above 70? You're out of your mind. My goal for the half is to finish around 2:20. I am a slow runner so this is a reasonable goal for me. It will be a PR if I can finish in 2:30 or less, but I really want to strive for the 2:20. So far I feel good about my chances even though my training has been a little out of whack while I have been in DC.

And last but not least...do y'all remember The Break Up? It wasn't pretty, but when it came down to it, it wasn't worth losing what I consider to be the love of my life (insert cheesy theme music here). The boy is back, and he will be making his debut on the blog later this week or early next week with his very own guest post.

Thursday I will have a restaurant review for you guys from Agora Restaurant in Dupont Circle, but I will warn you that it contains copious amounts of dairy!

What's new in your life?

Let's Try This Racing Thing Again

It's official! I am registered to run Boston's Run to Remember half marathon on May 29th.

I have run this race twice before, but in the 5 mile portion.

I based my training plan on Hal Higdon's novice 12 week training plan. I made a few key changes to my training plan, however. First, I extended my plan to 14 weeks just because I want my long run to be 12 miles instead of 10. The novice plan also does not reference speedwork at all, but I'm planning on making either Tuesday or Wednesday a speed training day. Most likely Wednesday because that is the lowest mileage day and I don't want to do anything too crazy to get myself injured before this race. I do feel that some speedwork is important for me though. I have posted my training plan on the refrigerator to remind myself every day what my workout for the day is and to motivate me. Please excuse my non-PC refrigerator magnets.

I know I haven't talked about my workouts or running all that much on the blog lately, and to be honest it's either because I've skipped them or because they are too boring to talk about. With training for the half though, I am going to be talking a lot more about how my training is going than I have been talking about my workouts.

Saturday I decided to go get some new sneakers. I am going to rotate between two pairs for the first month or so of training just because I know my old shoes are about on their last leg and I want to break in these new ones before using them full time. Plus, I went with a different kind of shoes this time and I want to make sure they aren't going to give me any problems.

Pretty snazzy aren't they? Here's hoping they treat my feet well!

I also went out and purchased a 10 pound kettlebell so that I have no excuses to skip a strength workout if I don't feel like going to the gym. I will do a full review for you guys next week to let you know how I like it.

So far my training has been going really well. Monday I was sick yet AGAIN so I skipped my strength workout that I had scheduled, but Tuesday I was right back into the swing of things. Tuesday was 3 miles easy on the treadmill at the gym. It was a really tough run for some reason, and it was not made easier by the guy next to me. While I was plugging along at 5.2 on the treadmill, Joe Runner was running at 6.0 BACKWARDS. Thanks for making me look bad buddy. I would've laughed if he had fallen on his face. Not that I'm bitter or jealous that he can do that or anything.

Do you have any races coming up? Is anyone else running Boston's Run to Remember half marathon? Have you ever tried running backwards?