Monday, November 28, 2011

Thanksgiving, running, self-imposed injuries....and whatever else comes to mind......

Lots going on this past week. Thanksgiving, hockey tournaments, company, family, food, running!!! I'm not working today so a chance to get caught up on the holy tornado that went through my house this weekend. First on the to do list, restocking Max's underwear drawer with clean socks so he is not stuck wearing socks with butterflies on them to school again.....(they are not butterflies actually, they are FIERCE dragonflies...and very very small...and hardly noticeable....and I'm pretty certain he's wearing bare feet in his boots right now....)

Random week in review:

*Wrote out like 45 checks for never-ending hockey gate fees, raffle tickets, team warm-ups....I'm feeling better about this since Lindsay is going to buy a bunch of raffle tickets from me if I wear my total body zebra leotard in my next race. SO worth it!

*Headed to Grand Forks on Wednesday for a Thanksgiving meetup at my sisters and also a chance to run a mock HM with a super FAST friend. We chose the HM distance simply because I HATE it:) My HM PR is over 2 years old and I've only several since but only one real "race" attempt. Anyway, I had some idea of what I wanted to run and we decided on an attempt of 7:10-7:15 avg. I was not sure if I could run this in a RACE much less a training run at this point but this was a perfect opportunity for me to go for it.


Now, looking at these splits it's obvious that at about mile 10ish I was feeling fantastic but just decided to pull back because my training needed more 7:30ish miles.....Highly sarcastic-ha! Generally, I'm a much more progressive runner and I was NOT in shape to take off like this right now and I paid the price. To my credit, my Garmin was taped and I was just following the PACE CHALLENGED leader (I hope you read this:):) So, in a nutshell, I collapsed a bit physically and then mentally and had great difficulty with a race simulation in the last few miles. I almost "willed" my shoes untied in here. Seriously, I was staring at them cross eyed and then trying to step on my own feet so they would untie-ha ha! Very happy with this overall as my final time was the goal I was running for and I feel like I'm able to take a lot from this forward. I won't run a HM race until February but I'm quite confident I can improve on this!

*We spent Thanksgiving Day at home this year. We invited some neighbors from down the road over who are 90 and 91. They have no family here and really great to have them. They love my kids and so gracious and thankful to have been invited. I took an impromptu unscheduled day off from running when my husband put a wine glass in my hand at exactly noon after I did THIS to myself

I actually did this on purpose as to avoid having to do the dishes. It was really a small price to pay. There were A LOT of dishes-ha! We ended up spending the rest of the day playing Scrabble and Jenga and watching You Tube videos that almost made me throw up from laughing. I tell you, if you don't have a teenage daughter, go get yourself one. Crazy funny humor.

*The weekend was FILLED with hockey. Both Ryan and Reese sailed through the weekend STILL undefeated for the year. Reese's team won the championship on Sunday afternoon. She was SO excited. My whole family had come to watch this tournament and she put on a show!


*I officially started my unofficial training plan today:) This 4 weeks is pretty flexible as I'm still messing with a few things and maybe a couple of short races but the 20 week countdown has begun!!

I'm just getting a chance to catch up on blogs and all the races from last weekend but best of luck to all those racing this coming weekend at CIM, Baton Rouge, Vegas!!!! My sister is running in Vegas and I'm signed up for athlete tracking and SUPER pumped to stalk her!!!

And to close, a picture of my son eating his 4 food groups.

18 comments:

A Prelude To... said...

Whoa baby! That hand boo boo looks PAINFUL!! Sounds like you had a good holiday! You sound SO busy with the kids. You are a good mama!!!

The Hungry Runner Girl said...

YOUR POOR HAND....that makes me so sad. Good thing you can still run with that injury:) HOLY SPEED DEMON and way to be smart and slow down towards the end on purpose;) You are hilarious!

Ana-Maria RunTriLive said...

Hm, just finished a TOUGH track workout here and I was about to grab Max's french fries...
Oh, your poor hand, but I agree, small price to pay for not doing dishes.
You know how I feel about that HM...9 miles sub 7 on no training...Yes, YOU WILL improve on this, and it will be a dramatic improvement.
So you started the H or J plan? Saw that nice 10 miler:)
Started the plan too, but messing up with it big time until January. So excited to be training together again, and super pumped for YOUR season!

Raina said...

Yep yep - that new half marathon PR is going down in February! I do kind of think that had you seen the pace you were holding, you could have kept it up :))

The hand. That is one heck of a Thanksgiving injury. Ouch. I hope it's feeling better.

Love seeing that little guy smiling with a buddy. Nothing wrong with a few fries or a few baskets of fries!

Have a great week, Jenn

Caroline said...

Aouchy...that is nasty..what did you do..put your hand on the stove?
how nice to invite the neighbors, I bet they have all kinds of interesting stories to tell.

My boys had the same kind of super healthy meal yesterday...its all good!!!

Unknown said...

Wow that is a big blister! That looks so painful!

robinbb said...

Your blister is nasty. I used my hip as an excuse to stop doing dishes.

Wow, those are awesome splits on your half marathon. So jealous of your speed.

Congrats to your girls. I loved watching all your updates on FB this weekend.

TX Runner Mom said...

Ouch, your hand looks like it hurts! Congrats on the hockey championship and that uber-speedy half marathon...I'd say you will definitely PR!

Britt @ Chicago Runner Girl said...

yuck that looks like a good burn there, reminds me of my days in culinary school when my mind somehow couldn't grasp the concept that a metal pan coming out of the oven would be hot if i grabbed it bare handed. nice half for claiming you're not in half shape...i'm glad you slowed towards the end saving a little extra for another day ;).

ajh said...

Fast race! You are one awesome racer!

Katie @ Will Race for Carbs said...

Wow, you are fast! You are just fast! Your hand looks so painful!

My 4 year old, out of blue, just asked me when he could start playing hockey. I said, well I guess you can start playing it. Hmmm 45 checks, maybe I will try to get him into something else!

Amanda@runninghood said...

Hey Jenn, I've been meaning to get here for a few hours here. I have not been on blogs for what seems like forever but glad I pop on every once and awhile to check in or I'd miss out. Ouch on the gross blister...it looks worse here then it did in the pic on facebook...is this the same pic? i have no doubts that you can improve on this HM time...only next time, you will start out at this pace and keep it...no doubts. none.

Yay for Reese's team! How exciting!! All your kids are doing so well. This has got to be a really great feeling.

Have I told you lately how sexy you are?! Ha. I have seen that picture of you inyour jeans on your sidebar several times..many times but every time, I'm just like "wow, she's hot!". What kind of jeans are those? I need a pair of jeans that makes me look like that. :) And a pair of hot boots..without heels...I'm on the look out. Probably could have got a pair of jeans and boots for the price I paid for the airplane switch. :)

Jen @ Run for Anna said...

Awww...what a great idea for Thanksgiving! I'm sure they really appreciated the invitation and the company.
Wow! What a great run...you are definitely speedy!

Denae said...

Great training HM!! Sorry about your hand. Love getting inspired when reading your posts!

Happy Feet 26.2 said...

ouchee ouch ouch! looks like someone needs to stay out of the kitchen -I'm giving you a free pass to no dishes and no cooking.

sweet half marathon training run Jenn!

thanks for the good vibe for Baton Rouge. weather is looking good....I'm excited and READY to RACE!

Lindsay said...

yowza!!! but good thinking ;) can't say i blame you. congrats to the hockey star and glad you all had a good thanksgiving!! i hope there will be photographic / video proof of this zebra race...

Irene said...

Ouch! There must have been a mountain of dishes!

I'm glad you and your family had a wonderful TG day. :)

Jill said...

Um....I know I read this but why did I not comment?? I'm a dork. I really DO have computer issues!

Sorry about your hand, but what a perfect save for getting out of dish duty on turkey day. And getting a little wine high in the process - woot!

Your kids are freaking amazing! I know things are highly competitive in the Great North there but to be undefeated is simply impressive. I know they look up to their momma and all her hard work and yearn to do the same. Hoping these big scholarship bucks out of this for ya :).

Your running always impresses - and inspires - me! If I could go back 10 years to your age (more than 10 - whaaa) I could maybe run with you but me and my pathetic 24+ 5k's are just a simple little jog for you *sigh*. One day we will race together again...just get a bottle of wine and wait 3 hours for me after.

So fun you had the elderly couple down the street over for dinner, that had to make them so happy!

Have a great weekend, hope it's filled with more hockey wins!