I was going to run this morning, but I figured it probably was a better idea to give my legs, knee and hip a break.  And perhaps foam roll this evening after work.

This is my foam roller.  That’s my foot.  Yeah, I need to vacuum.

This is me trying to take a picture of myself using the foam roller.  Easier said than done.  And yeah, you already knew I liked purple, but I also really like pink.

Unrelated but since I mentioned purple:  Ended up driving by this guy the other day.  Now he has a blanket!  Also I checked the price tag:  $2300.  Now I understand why no one has bought him for me yet.  I would put him in my backyard and visit every day though.  He probably needs a sombrero now.

Last night I met a blog reader for a walk.  She recently won a contest here and when I got her address I realized we were neighbors.  I figured meeting one another was inevitable so we decided to schedule it.  It was awesome to chat with her and hope to do it again soon—Hi Mandy!  The best part was we got to gossip about all the other blogs we read. And I learned all the dirt on the neighbors (well, some of the dirt, ha!)  Secret to meeting potentially creepy people who read your blog:  grasp phone firmly in hand at all times, ready to ask Siri for help at any moment.

(I imagine it would go something like this:

“Siri, can you call for help?”

“I do not see for help in your contacts.”

“Siri, call the police.”

“I do not see the police in your contacts.”

“Siri, call 911.”

*pause, nothing happens*)

Self-portrait before the walk.  I don’t usually wear makeup and earrings for working out unless it’s at the end of the day.  I didn’t see any reason to take them off and then I thought, hey, I look at shiny and pretty and stuff, maybe I should do a self-photo shoot. (I was ready a few minutes early!)

I find the greatest challenge is to figure out where to look.

I was trying to make my forehead look less shiny.  At least it looks even bigger here!

And here I just look like I’m on drugs…nice…

This is not where we walked, but part of one of my favorite running routes—local readers probably recognize it?  Sadly you can see some of the trees are brown from the drought. This is getting ridiculous.

And now I’m off to teach for about six hours.  No big deal.

Yesterday’s workout:

Back squats 4×10
Dumbbell front squats 5×6
Weighted step ups, 30 each leg
Walking lunges with over head weight, 40 total
Recumbent leg press 5×8

I’m not used to doing these workouts on my own, so it’s interesting having to figure out what weight to use.  (Yeah, I know I should pay attention, but I just don’t.)  I was pretty excited that I used 105 pounds for the back squats, and then for the step ups I started with 25 and then almost passed out.  Oddly 20 (in each hand that is) worked really well.  The walking lunges I busted out pretty easily—I don’t know if I should have had more weight or if my knee should have been lower to the ground.  (I need my trainer back to tell me what I am doing wrong, because I always assume I am doing stuff wrong.)  The squats though, I know I was good on those.  I kept hearing Mike’s voice saying "lower!" and kept trying to do that.

Premier Protein sent me a box of shakes and bars, so after the workout I had one.  It was tasty, though probably higher in calories than I really wanted. 

So after that, in the middle of the night I realized that my legs were really sore.  When I woke up I decided that it needed to be a rest day.  Except then Jen texted and said she was leaving her bootcamp class and heading for a quick run in Tower Grove Park.  I cried "let me just get my socks on!" and headed over to her house.

I figured that if I didn’t tweet about my run beforehand it wouldn’t count 😉

I’m wearing my skull and crossbones headband too.  I realized that since I own about 8 different headbands I should really wear them all rather than simply wearing the same one over and over.  Anyway, my legs were super tired, but we managed to get all the way around the park. 

I’m pretty proud of how tired my legs are right now.  I’m thinking a shower and then a long session of foam rolling is in order.  Definitely the shower.  I probably smell pretty bad but luckily Chris isn’t around right now so it doesn’t matter.

Oh, and you should know:  for every awesome picture like the one right there, there is a series of not great photos.

I was trying for fierce but failed.  Plus my head is oddly small and I’m pushing my stomach out for no apparent reason. Unless I was trying to make my stomach big and my head smaller, in which case I absolutely succeeded.

Here my body looks great, but I’m laughing hysterically and look (perhaps…) a wee bit insane.  Oops. So you see, not every picture of me is equally amazing 😉

And since it’s now officially Caturday:

Did you work out yet today? 

My trainer is out of town (on vacation, heaven forbid) this week.  I TOLD him that he needed to be in town when I was and only be gone during those time periods that I am also out of town, but he seemingly didn’t want to make his schedule only based on mine.  Weird.

That said, he sent me and some other clients a list of 4 different workouts for the week, of which we should do at least 2.  I convinced Chris to go with me today, because I am a baby and can’t possibly workout on my own at the gym.  And oddly after several years I still wasn’t entirely sure what all the workouts meant.  We decided to do the following workout from Mike’s list:

Assisted pull ups, 3×10
Deadlift 5×5
Seated wide grip rows, 3×12
Seated lat pull down, 3×12
Single arm cable rows, 3×20 each arm
Back extensions 4×10

This is the not the actual order we used, and Chris thought there were too many back exercises so he modified a bit for himself.  And then the “machine” for the back extensions was actually broken, and at that point I decided I was done with back exercises and did a couple of planks instead to finish it off.  So I did everything except that last one.

Here’s the plan for tomorrow: (and this is just me, not Chris. Probably he thinks it is too many leg exercises 🙂 )

Back squats 4×10
Dumbbell front squats 5×6
Weighted step ups, 30 each leg
Walking lunges with over head weight, 40 total
Recumbent leg press 5×8

I was going to do that yesterday but instead I went for an easy 5 mile run.  Did I tell you guys how awesome my running has been lately?  I’m attributing it to a variety of factors, especially the weather.  Saturday I ran 3.5 miles, Sunday was SEVEN and that only included TWO stops, one to fix my pony tail and another because I thought I was going to throw up.  Otherwise I ran the whole time, albeit slowly.  Yesterday was even slower, but felt faster, because I think my legs were still tired.

I got new compression “sleeves” to wear also, but don’t have a picture at this time.  They are pink, and only go around my calves (i.e. not socks).  I told Chris he should probably get used to seeing me wearing compression socks.  (Wearing only compression socks.)

Anyway, this new ability to run for several miles without dying and having to keel over or walk is a wonderful thing for me.  It makes me feel like my running plans for the year are within reach and that I have actually made some progress in running over the past two years and perhaps that I am not actually a complete loser.

Then again, I did deadlifts today.  So…

Today was the Third Annual Sweat Your Thorns Off 5k hosted by The Boring Runner.  I said I would run it, and then I totally wanted to chicken out because it’s super hot.  But my friend Rose pointed out that that is the whole point of the race—to run in the heat and be really sweaty.  So I decided, okay, fine, I’d run it, but I wasn’t going to run it fast. 

It wasn’t really any hotter today than it had been all summer, but the heat index was over 100, and as usual we are under a heat advisory.  I forgot to screen cap, because I ended up texting Jen and asking her to run with me, and then we ended up watching the Men’s 10k on the Olympics and that was both inspiring and depressing.  Then it was time to go run our own 5k.

I mapped out a route that avoided big intersections, was a fairly interesting double loop, and would allow for a slight warm up and cool down (Ha!!) but be home in time for a nice sweaty picture.

I decided since it was a virtual race, I’d have a virtual bib.  I didn’t print this out, both to save paper and because the printer is all the way upstairs.

The run absolutely sucked.  Sucked, sucked, sucked.  It was like running uphill, underwater, on dead legs.  It was the slowest 5k "race" I’ve ever run, and was difficult the whole way through.  We took about a .4 mile walk break in the middle, and did I mention it sucked and felt like running underwater?  If I didn’t, I will say this:  it was very hot outside and running in it sucked.

Yeah, there’s the embarrassing time.  Slowest 5k ever.  I "sprinted" towards the end as I realized we could at least break 40 minutes.  To be fair, we weren’t trying to run it fast.  We were just trying to finish without dying.  This goal WAS accomplished.

I stood in the kitchen and drank a whole bottle of G2 before getting in the shower.  I was dripping sweat from all over, especially my back.  Near death, but not actual death. 

There you have it!  The Third Annual Sweat Your Thorns Off 5K AKA Why would anybody run a race underwater?  39:57. 

It’s amazing how lying on the couch watching the Olympics makes one want to do super human feats.  Well, not really amazing, but I’ve been working on my fall “race” plans and was talking with my sister Leslie about her spring race plans and thinking about some things too.  (I used quotations because I am really slow 😉 )

Yesterday she and I went for a 4 mile run around Boulder.  It was a great run—it is harder to run here because of the altitude but much easier because of the cooler temperatures.  We wore our Mezamashii project shoes.

It was a truly successful run in that I only needed to stop once to get a breather and give my foot a break (I was feeling a blister/slight pain on the bottom of my foot) but otherwise ran the whole time.  Perhaps it was being inspired by Leslie who was running far slower than her normal pace to stay with me, or perhaps it was the contact high we received from some guy who passed us on a bike smelling strongly of “medicinal marijuana.”  Nonetheless, in the words of the Mezamashii project, I’d say it was a “brilliant run.”

So where does that leave us with race plans?  Here’s what I’m pondering.  One:  a spring marathon.  The Go.  Now you say, goodness Hannah you can barely manage to run that as a half.  If I’m going to fail, I might as well fail big, right?  Leslie is thinking about running it too as it is at the end of her spring break, and it could be “fun” to run the same race.  I’ve often said I don’t want to run a marathon until I get faster at running, but who’s to say if that will ever happen.  Then again, maybe this is the Olympic fever…

Other plans/thoughts:

October:  Mo Cowbell Half Marathon.  I did this last year, and this year it will be my goal half marathon.  Should I run dressed as a cow?

November:  The “Skippo” 20k Trail race.  I maybe should just run the 10k but that’s me talking negative talk.  Plus the 20k gets a medal and the 10k doesn’t.  I think the hike I took the other day made me want to run in the woods.

February: “Lost Dutchman” Half Marathon in Arizona.  How gorgeous does that scenery look??

And then…

April:  Go! St Louis Marathon.  I’d have to start training in December if that’s what I decide to do.  So my plan is this:  to see how the next couple of months go—try to keep to my training plans, and hopefully avoid any injuries.

Heading home today!  I’ll miss this scenery.

What are your race plans?  Local readers (or Arizona readers)—is anybody planning to run these races?