To Minimal or To Not Minimal?

That is the question I have asked myself several times in the past year or so.

The craze of minimalist running has hit the market hard. Of course, not everyone has jumped on board...but a lot of people have and let me tell ya, the people who are on that wagon, LOVE IT.

Battling through pain and injuries and shoe issues the past 6 months or so really pushed any thought of running in this type of shoe into the very back of my mind. And of course, being a newer runner, I err on the side of caution when the idea of switching things up crosses my mind. I'm still learning what works, what doesn't and how my body responds to change.

It would have been a very bad idea to try something new with what I had been dealing with earlier this year. But I'm healthy now (cross your fingers and toes please) and I've been toying with the idea. I think now that I have a solid base of running and am more in tune with my body....I can take the plunge. But honestly, who the heck could I trust to give me good information, a good shoe and some insight as a runner and not just a "salesperson"?

Enter Nathan of Tortoise & Hare Sports

Owners, Nathan and Rebecca

I had been anticipating the opening of his store for a few months and he finally got it up and running, and let me tell ya, he didn't disappoint.

I dragged Wade over there the other weekend to get some insight and an honest opinion from someone I trust and I think I got more than an just opinion....I got an education. Nathan is soft spoken, calm and immediately put me at ease while I asked question after question. He never made me feel stupid, or made me feel like he was just answering a question to hear himself talk as I have experienced in the past with running shoe shopping.

His store is modern, simple and minimalist...just like his outlook on running and shoes. He has a single treadmill and uses his iPad and a very hightech software program to analyze form, gait, and a bunch of other stuff I can't speak intelligently about. (big surprise) The store doesn't have a lot of frills or extra product floating around. He was clearly thoughtful in his selection of shoes, clothing and accessories....and I like that.

Brands I noticed and liked: Brooks (duh), Oiselle, Picky Bars, Lole (I HAVE to own the Run-up shorts someday), Garmin and many others new and old to me.

The product wall are looking much "beefier" these days.

He gave me 3 pairs to try and naturally I went for the Brooks PureCadence. Lightweight, yet offers support for someone like me who needs it.

From the Brooks Website:

"Lean construction fuses with a responsive fit in the PureCadence. For Guidance to Support runners, this shoe delivers more support through smart, streamlined features such as a wider Nav Band that’s locked in to the medial strike pod. A reinforced heel counter secures the foot and the internal PDRB helps prevent overpronation. The PureCadence gives runners who need more stability the chance to experience the feel of a natural foot strike with a lightweight, breathable shoe.

Just like our core line, we hold PureProject to the industry’s highest weartest and durability standards. Because of their lightweight construction and fewer materials, runners should generally expect shoes from the PureProject line to last approximately 250-300 miles".

I will be taking it slow and starting out with mini runs of about 1 mile and slowing building up...I'll post after my first run in them which will likely be tomorrow morning! I'm also looking forward to attending my first Good Form Running Class this weekend (Saturday) that will be taught by Olympian and Good Form Running guru, Grant Robison.

Any Phoenix friends are welcome to join me!

As you might have seen, my shiny new shoes arrived last week and I have to admit that I'm a lil nervous to try these. But very excited.


Here's to me not tripping, falling, or hurting myself.

Whoops.

In an attempt to soften the blow of my damage, I indulged Wade in his first LuluMan running tank. I think it worked, he wasn't even mad. 

God I'm brilliant.

A 5k & Fishin'

Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone enjoyed the Holiday Weekend....I only worked a teeny bit.

Sooooo...the 5k. Let's back up to my post about running a 5k and back up to Wednesday where I got the scoop on how this actual race works. I was at my board meeting for the Arizona Road Racers (we host the race) and during a conversation a few of the guys made it clear that this race was "not a race to PR". Apparently, the start is quite unique and quite odd. It's a wave start based on the previous years average age group pace...slowest group starting first and releasing age groups in waves every 30 seconds.

2 words. Cluster. Fuc*.

My age group (25-29) wasn't too far back, so I only spent 75% of the race stuck behind random 11 years olds (stop, start, stop, start) and 58 year old women (hi, we jog 4 people wide and don't move to let people through) so ya, I spent lots of time running around people, and being annoyed. But that's OK...after my warning on Wednesday night, I was fully prepared to not PR. Luckily I still did, but barely....and it wasn't a time I was really excited about. Unfortunately, one of our timing mats had an issue, so I'm not really sure what my time was. All good though. I have another in 2 weeks.

And no...I didn't take any pics...between getting there SUPER early to help with registration and making a mad dash to the bathrooms to start on time, I forgot. Bad blogger.

We made a mad dash home, showered and packed up the truck and our critters to head up North to the cabin for the rest of the weekend. The weather was finally perfect (warm and sunny and cold at night) and we spent the rest of the weekend cooking, lounging, painting, walking and fishing. It was perfect.

End of story. 

Shoe Love - Part 2

Of the running kind.

I think I'm in love.

I may not be fast, but I look cute being slow. More on these bad boys later.

5K or die

Yup. I have a 5k this weekend. I hate 5k's. But my club puts on this race and several others throughout the summer. 

Run fast, run hard, try not to puke. I mean, I could run slow...but what fun is that? Not that my idea of fast is actually "fast" but ya know. I might try to get a PR one of these times...my last 5k I PR's in was in July 11' - 90 degrees, soooo it shouldn't be too hard, right? (except that stupid hill in the beginning, rude)

 I'm running with the boys this weekend, hold me. 

Lazy River

In an attempt to rid of the vacation blues and give us something to look forward to, we scheduled a day at the pool with our good friends and their cute kiddos.

I'll be here.

Floating down the lazy river, with a cocktail in hand. Ahhhh.

Hope everyone has an excellent weekend and does something FUN!

Lead Legs

Marathon was last Sunday.

Come Wednesday I was yearning to run. To burn some energy, to test my legs, to work off some of the food and drink I had greedily been indulging in.

So I laced up my sneakers and set out to do a little recovery run down the beach path of Newport. How could that possibly suck?

It didn't. At all.

My legs were confused. Heavy. I felt really stiff the first .50 miles. Strange aches and pains. But I hung in there and 3.25 humid miles later, I stopped. I smiled. I realized that running makes me happy, makes me feel good.

Yesterday was my first run back in AZ. Ugh. 5 miles of heat and sweat. I felt barfy at the end, but it's not going away anytime soon.....so suck it up Linds.

Soooo, when's the next race?

A Week at The Beach...

Come and Gone. But captured in photos. So fun.

(you have been warned, photo overload)

{Boating}

{Disneyland-ing}

{Beaching}

 

{Eating & Drinking}

{Hiking}

{Shopping...(no photo evidence of damage occured)}

Thanks for looking....I'm already itching to plan our next trip!

OC Marathon Recap '12

A few days (eek, a whole week) have passed and I have come back here a few times to add my thoughts into this post...mainly to remind myself of HOW I felt before, during and after my first full marathon.

I'm not going to bore you with a mile by mile recap, because no one cares, including me.

Day Before:

Packet pickup, lunching, and sneaking in a beer or two. What? You don't do that?

Pre-Race:

I woke up 23 minutes before my alarm went off (awesome) so I popped up outta bed, made coffee and starting moving around. Official wake up time was 3:37am. Effing ridiculous. I slept pretty darn good though, so I was OK with that. I was calm...which for me, is kind of rare on race morning. Normally, I am a little stressed out over getting there on time, the logistics, traffic, not knowing where the eff I'm going, etc...we drove the short distance to Fashion Island, where the start was. It was SO nice having Wade drop me off vs. riding a bus. The start line was at the Newport Beach Marriott (host hotel) so I popped in there to use the restroom and get myself together. I didn't use the bag check because I had my Wade there, but it looked efficient and quick and they provided little bags for all the runners. The start was 15 minutes late, which in my opinion is STUPID and shouldn't happen, but oh well. There were only about 1900 runners for the full, so the start was small, with just 4 corrals and it was really nice not being shoved around and feeling crowded in. We finally got started...the sun was just coming up and the sky was overcast which made excellent running weather.

Race:

The first part was uneventful. I had to pee from the get go. I finally found a port-a-potty around mile 4, did my thing and kept on trucking. The beginning of the course was gorgeous, it ran by the water and through some amazing neighborhoods. I hung around the 4:10 pace group for the majority of the race. I GU'd at miles 6, 11.5, 18 and was planning on another around 22 but my stomach was feelin nasty. The crowds rocked. So many people. So much support. A lot of people were confined to their neighborhoods for the duration of the race and they didn't disappoint. There were so many signs, cheerleaders, tables off fresh fruit, candy, drinks and cute kiddos handing out chocolate covered pretzels. That sort of thing makes races fun. I even saw a women running with hooters type nylons on. Yes, I know what those are.

Wall. Yup. I hit one. Mile 20.5 is about when I wanted to kill myself. The course got ugly, my legs started hurting, and the hills were really irritating me. Wade was awesome the entire race and I got to see him 5 times throughout the race. He handed me GU, smiled at me, took really ugly photos, told me I was awesome, and gave me aspirin at the last stop. Check this beauty out, so ugly, so awesome:

 Having something to look forward to at certain points throughout the race were really helpful. I let the 4:10 pace group slip away around my "oh fuck I hit a wall" time and I kind of got into a funk and had a mental battle with myself for a few more miles....wedgie removed around 25 and I kept on trucking. Finish line was close.

Post-Race:

I might have cried a little bit the second I saw Wade...I was SO relieved to be done, to sit down and to see him. At one point I might have also said to him "what a mind fuck those last few miles were". I don't know why I said that, but really....they were. Maybe it was because it was longest I had ran and wasn't prepared for what I was actually doing.

Looking special...

Wade has the ability to catch me at my finest, thanks babe.

We didn't stick around long as I was in a hurry to take a shower to wash the thick crust of salt off my body...humidity and I don't meet too often. Oh, and to drink a beer.

I have always heard a lot of people say that they will never do a marathon again after their first...and then maybe change their minds a few days/weeks/months/years later, but not me. It won't be my last. I want to run one faster, and with Wade.

It was awesome, fun, and humbling. Bucket list, check.

Beach Livin...

Yup...these beach bums are still vacationing....our 7 night trip has now turned into 9...extending this trip another day gives us another day in paradise.

My running shoe tan lines have now been turned into flip flop tan lines.

Boardwalk running, dog walking, beach cruising (until they were stolen last night, pshhhsah), canyon hiking, boating, walking, Disneylanding and of course.....eating and drinking like we always do.

I could get used to this...off to enjoy my last day! (I promise a race recap will be done, someday)

Recovery Day 1

Recap will come eventually....until then I'm busy with this guy...

And "recovery" as in drinking, eating, beach cruising, hobbling, soaking up the sun and just being. <3

26.2

I did it.

Salty, sweaty, tired and in a little pain...but happy as f&*^.

4:18:19. Not too bad for a rookie.

Recap to come....for now, I'm going to go vacation.

Setting Expectations

Most people set goals. Career goals, financial goals, family goals.

Racing goals.

I have set racing  goals in the past, and they may seem small compared to many other bloggers and runners out there. That's OK though, because they are my goals. To finish my first half marathon, to set a new PR, complete a Ragnar Relay, run 20 long miles during a training run, all while avoiding injury.

Run a full marathon.

This goal has been on my mind ever since completing my first half marathon 1.5 years ago. It was lofty, but doable. I'm not going to lie....I would love to have an impressive time goal for this, and of course, I have one in the back of my mind that is realistic and something I will use as a guide to keep me going this coming Sunday.  But I am going to choose to gently tuck it away, and enjoy the ride instead of run for time.

Being submersed in the world of running changes your outlook. Running 13.1? No biggie. PR's, negative splits, speedwork, etc....completely foreign to the majority of people out there. 

Fact is. Running 26.2 in itself is a huge feat. (I need to remember that)

Enjoy every single moment. I have run countless miles (not true, I have a spreadsheet with all my miles on it), put way too much thought into the logistics, the planning, the details, the fear of the unknown.

I am going to soak in the views of the ocean and beaches, the lovely palm lined streets, thank and smile at the volunteers, cheerleaders and supporters holding up silly signs and clapping and yelling for strangers. I will walk when I feel I need to, drink when my body doesn't tell me to, and be proud when I cross that finish line.

We made it safe and sound to Newport Beach late last night, long drive, but well worth it. We woke up this morning (6:15am first day of vacation, wtf) and took the pups out and were greeting with an amazing view. This beach rental is impeccable (ocean views, whaaaaat) and the weather is perfect.

We hit up the expo, had lunch at an AZ favorite (True Food Kitchen), had a beer, and bummed around the rest of the day.

And then carbed up for reals.

Off to lay out my stuff, eat a brownie and hit the sack! Wish me luck!

Nosey

I innocently hopped online yesterday to check our bank account and pay a few bills.

I saw a charge to a store only I would shop at. I did a double take. Triple take. I certainly did not make that purchase and was very afraid the other member of my household did not either.

He fessed up. And then he told me I was nosey. Uh huh.

Reason? Just because he knew I wanted it and to tell me how proud he is for running this upcoming marathon.

Impressed, yes. Surprised, hells yes. Sweet, very very much so.