Couch to 5K - W3D3

via.

Week 3 is DUNZO!

Today's run went super well. I was up and out the door by 9:10 and back by 9:35. Not too shabby!


When I left it was 47 degrees, but by the time I got back it had warmed up to 50. BUT. WINDY! The wind wasn't consistently bad, but every once in a while there'd be a gust that almost knocked me off my feet. I felt like Mary Poppins.

What else? Oh, I wore some gloves today. My fingers get cold extreeeeeemely easily, so I decided to see if gloves would help. They were exactly what I needed!

Three things though:
1. Gloves + iPhones don't work. I knew this ahead of time but that didn't stop me from trying!
2. Yes, you can put your hair up in a ponytail wearing gloves.
3. Gloves + Short sleeves + shorts = pure sex. I mean really, I rivaled Heidi Klum out there! Or not. Totally worth it though.

Like I promised, I listened to country on today's run. Okay, more like rop/rock with a slight southern twang.

Here's what I heard:
Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks
Stars Tonight - Lady Antebellum
Summer Girl - Jessica Andrews
My Life Again - The McCloymonts
That Song In My Head - Julianne Hough
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard

It made me miss the south a LOT. Partly because I know that it's 70 degrees and sunny in Memphis right now, and also because all of my friends are just DAYS away from being done with school for the summer.

Okay, I'm about to head out for the day. Hopefully the rain holds off and the sun comes out so we can get outside and play!

(ps. The picture is actually of a postcard! Made by Paper Pastries, and there a ton of other cute city- and state-love themed things in the shop. I'm sensing a shopping spree coming on.)

Words of Wisdom

If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run. 

John Bingham, running writer and speaker

(Thank you Runners World for this awesome quote in my inbox!)

You run like a GIRL. (And that's okay!)

So. Running skirts. What do you think?

Cute or tacky?

I've never actually seen someone running in a skirt in real life, but I have seen pictures of the adorable skirt Skinny Runner has! It's pink and swooshy and I'd probably run twirling down the street. Okay that's a lie, but it does make me want a skirt.

I googled 'running skirts' just to see what's out there and found this site called Running Skirts and some of them are really cute!

See? Very sassy. It looks like it even has pockets. Who doesn't love pockets?

via

As much as I love my tempo shorts from Nike (and I mean LOVE because I wear them EVERYWHERE), the little tiny interior "pocket" just doesn't do it for me.

This one's so cute! Very classy.

I'd say I'm definitely intrigued, but I don't know if I'd spend $60 on one.

Idea! What about a tennis skirt? They're usually made of the same dri-fit material, and they come in lots of cute designs and colors. Look at this one from Nike!

via

Um. I want this in my life RIGHT NOW. I mean really, if you're going to run in a skirt you might as well go all out.

Unfortunately, Nike kindly let me know that this product is no longer available. Thank you for breaking my heart, Nike. 

Would you feel weird running in a skirt? I bet it would garner some extra attention, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

(ps. Obviously I wasn't paid to mention these products or anything. Since you know, I don't actually own any of them. )

Couch to 5K - W3D2

via

Day 2 was a success! I even saw some sunshine and blue skies while I was out! Apart from the stich in my side and the tightness in my shins, I felt really good and I finished the run strong. For some reason these shorter intervals are just FLYING by! And I'm pretty sure I won't be saying that for much longer.

I left at 9 and was back by 9:30. According the my phone it's 46 degrees but with the sun it felt much warmer! I loved it.

Usually I'm a hip-hop/rap kinda girl while I'm running (we're talking Lil Wayne, Three 6 Mafia, etc) but today I wanted to try something a little more low-key.

Here's what I listened to:

• So Much To Say - Dave Matthews Band
• If You See Kay - The Script
• Vanilla Twilight - Owl City
• Who Says - John Mayer
• Sound of Settling - Death Cab For Cutie
• Body Language (Remix) - Jesse McCartney ft. T-Pain (okay, I had a litttttle bit of my usual!)
• One Less Lonely Girl - Justin Bieber (Yikes!)

Certainly a departure from my usual, that's for sure! I wasn't sure if this kind of music would keep me going (or motivated), but it totally did! And I've gotta admit it's way easier to listen to John Mayer first thing in the AM than it is to hear Lil Jon screaming in your ear.

I'm thinking I'll try some country music on Friday?

Goals!

I probably make at least 3 to-do lists every day, and my room has all kinds of handy charts and lists on my white-boards and calendar. I use the calendar on both my laptop and my phone, and sometimes even a written planner!

So basically, I like to plan ahead. And I like to make lists.

Here are my current running goals:

• Run another 5k.
• Run a sub-30:00 5k.
• Run a 10k.
• Run a half marathon.

And some details:

My first goal is pretty easy, and hopefully I'll be able to cross it off my list in June! I have two races in mind, both in Washington (totally different sides of the state, of course!). I'm not sure if I'll be running in both, but I'll definitely be running the Summer Solstice Fun Run on the 26th! It takes place in the evening, which is totally awesome because 1. I don't have to get up at 5am and 2. I'll be home in Oregon by then so the whole family can drive up and make a day out of it! I've got to admit I felt kind of bad when my parents had to leave home at 4 in the morning to come see me run my first 5k this past December.

Goal number two will hopefully be pretty easy as well. Hopefully. Positive thinking here. My first 5k time was 33:11 and don't tell anyone but I walked a TON in that race. But hey, I ended up winning first place in my division! Sooooo I'm thinking I should be able to knock this one out of the park if I put my big girl pants on and suck it up. Also, the course for the Summer Solstice run sounds like it's relatively flat. And hopefully it won't be windy and raining. And even if it is, I'm going to doooo it!

Running a 10k is my next goal, and I think I've got a plan (here I go again) to actually accomplish it this time. After my 5k last year, I wanted to move on to a 10 but I couldn't find any races. And I wanted to be lazy. And lifting weights doesn't make me out of breath and sweaty and gross. Well it does, but it's different. Mostly I was lazy. BUT. I have found a nice race called Pints to Pasta that happens in September that's been voted the best 10k in the NW for SIX years in a row. UM, this needs to happen. I love swag and I love big events and I love pasta! I'm a little young for the pints part of the deal, but I heard I get rootbeer instead! I can work with that.


And then, the big one. Running a half marathon. Is it possible? Sure. Will it be fun? Maybe not. Will I make it fun? ....I guess I probably should! I would love to do a destination race for this, and run the Mardi Gras half in New Orleans (obsessed!!) or one of the Disney races in either CA or FL. If not, I guess there's always the Rock n Roll Seattle.

Okay, my goals are out there. I've told, well, the internet. So now I guess I should get working, right?

Today's a no run day though, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow! Which is good, because honestly my quads HURT. Nice.

Couch to 5K - W3D1

via

Week 3, nice to see you again. This is probably the fifth time I've done week 3 of Couch to 5K, but it's all good.

I left the house at 7:40 this morning (WHY was I up so early? HOW?!) and it was about 45 degrees. And cloudy, but is anyone surprised? Clouds are what the Pacific Northwest do the best. I used the C25K app I have on my iPhone, and it worked perfectly! I love all of the reminders and countdowns and the iTunes integration.

Before I took my 'break' from running, I frequented a nice and flat 2 mile loop - which I also ran today. I was out for half an hour, but I'd say I only ran for 20 of those minutes (just following directions, yo). Which meant I finished my run halfway through the loop and I had to decide if I should turn around or keep going. Seriously, I looked like a confused squirrel.

I developed an awful headache in the middle of my run, but other than that things went really well! Considering I've done the least amount of cardio possible since DECEMBER, I was seriously surprised I made it through my intervals without collapsing. So aside from the horrible headache (from running on an empty stomach?) and the stich in my side, I felt faaaaantastic!

No really, it was a pretty decent run considering it was only 8 in the morning.

If you had a totally free schedule, what time of day would you run? Tell me about it!

All aboard the failboat.

Okay, so I haven't been writing. I'm sorry. I promise the relationship hasn't fizzled out entirely! I've had a hard time finding motivation to get my work done, much less write for fun these days.

However, I am disappointed in myself (just a little bit!) that A - it took me like 2 hours to come up with my new blog name and I haven't been keeping it sassy at all! and B - My first blog lasted much longer than this one. I need to breathe some life back into this ASAP!

I think from here on out I want KIS to be dedicated to my running. Why?

• I'm always reading running blogs.
• I love love LOVE any gadget or gizmo related to running, so I can talk about those here!
• I've heard countless times how important it is to log your runs so you can look back and watch for trends.
• The running community is inspiring, can I get in on that please? (Do y'all haze? Uh oh!)
• Because none of my friends run, I have to resort to the internet. :)
• And finally, I've tried to 'be a runner' probably 5 times now, and I just can't keep going. Last time was my most successful, I actually finished Couch to 5K and ran my very first race! And then, of course, I fizzled out (come on, it was Christmas time!) and ate a lot and started lifting weights instead of running. So obviously, I need to learn to pace myself, not get discouraged, and to keep up with it when things get tough!

Convinced yet? I think I am! When I was writing my first blog, I always felt guilty if I did a bunch of running posts in a row. Now I have no excuse!

Okay, off to do my FIRST run in a LONG time!