Five for Friday

1. I got new kicks!!

Aren’t they purrrdy?! They are SO much lighter than my old shoes. They are the same kind as my old ones just two models newer. I went from Mizuno Wave Inspire 7′s to Wave Inspire 9′s. So far, so good! Let’s hope these shoes are a winner!

2. Last night, I did a pond walk with Cousie D. It was an amazing day, but look at those clouds that were rolling in!

3. Last weekend I went to see Pentatonix perform at the Showbox in Sodo. I had never heard of them before. Apparently they won The Sing Off…. I totally understand why they did!! Amazeballs.

Go YouTube Pentatonix Thrift Shop and be prepared for awesomeness.

4. I have been starting to put my playlist together for RnR San Diego, and I have come to a realization… The music I like to run to is SUPERRRR inappropriate.

Lollipop by Framing Henley
Thrift shop by Macklemore
Beez in the Trap by Nikki Minaj
Toot it an Boot it by YG

If you are offended by profanity, then definitely don’t add these to your playlist.

Also noteworthy:
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke

5. West Seattle 5k race is this weekend and to be perfectly candid, I’m getting nervous as hell! This has been THE PR race for me and I’m definitely starting to feel the pressure. Ahhh! It’s all about confidence, right?

After the race I have 9 more miles to run. That sounds incredibly daunting but I’m actually really looking forward to it.

Who is racing this weekend?!

That time I got us lost

Last week’s training was AMAZING. It was absolutely spot-on, and then some. On top of nailing each workout, I was able to get THREE of my workouts done outside. Booom!

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4.01 miles on Betty (my treadmill, for those of you that are new here)
Wednesday: 6.2 mile walk along Alki
Thursday: 3 mile PTP (Pond Track Party)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 11 mile long run with Erin around Lake Union
Sunday: Rest

Total Mileage (including walking): 24.21

On Saturday, I had 11 miles on tap. Erin and I planned to run 6 together and I would get the other 5 in prior to meeting up with her.

I was running a little late, so I was only able to get about 2.5 in before meeting up with Erin. I figured I could finish up the couple extra miles after I met up with her.

We decided to run Lake Union, which is basically a 10k loop for anyone that isn’t navigationally deficient. Let me preface this by saying that I have only ran Lake Union ONE other time and that was during a race. You don’t have to think about where you are going during races; you just follow the heard!

We started out chugging along and chatting up a storm. We hit our first hill leading up to the Freemont Bridge and were SO excited to see the bridge was up. Oh DARN. We were FORCED to take a break after running up a hill.

[Squinty eyes compliments of the rare orb in the sky that non Seattlites refer to as the sun. ]

After the bridge went back down, we were able to run across and keep chugging along. We were chatting up a storm and catching some gorgeous views. Before long, we made it to Gas Works Park. Of course, that meant we had to stop for a photo op.

Ugh. That’s hideous.

I knew that the turn to the bridge back to Lake Union Park wasn’t too far away, but I didn’t know exactly where it was. Next thing I knew, we were seeing flags for the University. Uhhhhhh…. Whoops! For those also not familiar with that area, it ended up being about a half mile or more detour. Finally, after asking for directions (because we are awesome like that) we found our way to the bridge we needed to cross.

At that point, we were home free… Until I got the brilliant idea to go down this HUGE ass hill so we could run along the water. That was awesome until we reached A DEAD END. Ya, that really happened. The only way to get where we needed to go was to turn around and go UP that huge ass hill we climbed down. All that to be able to run by the water. Stupid water. At least Erin was a good sport about it. We were both cracking up as we were climbing up the hill.

We made it back to Lake Union park without any other catastrophes. I ended up causing Erin to go well over a mile further than she was planning. Luckily for me, that meant I only had to run one more mile on my own! It was alllll part of my master plan… Muwahahahaha

We went to Cactus after and got the most bomb diggity breakfast.

Fruit bowl, yogurt, and granola. I ate every bite.

11 miles in the books!

Only one more long run and then it’s TAPER TIMEEE!

Have I mentioned how horribly ugly my city is?

Have you ever gotten lost on a run?

Five for Friday

1. Damn, Seattle is beautiful right now. I have been scoring some amazing pics lately on my workouts! On Wednesday night, Cousie D and I walked a solid 6.2 miles along Alki. Favorite pic of the night?

Gahhh! Someone pinch me! I can’t believe this is real life.

2. Last night I got home at about 6, put dinner together quickly and had enough time to go for a run OUTSIDE before it got dark! I decided to make it a pond track party. I m pretty sure, I have never seen a more gorgeous 1/4 mile loop.

3. I have been LOVING the 400s lately, so I did 400s around the pond. I was so excited because I did several of my 400s at about an 8:30 pace, which is pretty unheard of for me. My lungs and legs were on fire!

My run was made more enjoyable by the kid with the short temper who’s car wouldn’t start. Every time he would try to start the car but it wouldn’t turn over, he would let out the most giant sting of expletives at the top of his lungs. People watching… One of the best pastimes ever.

4. After PTP (Pond Track Party), I planned a long run on Saturday with a new friend, Erin, that I got to meet at Miles and Margs last Saturday! Oh, the powers of social media. I am so incredibly excited to have someone to run the last 6 of my 11 mile run with. It is going to fly by!

5. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mama’s out there. You are all beautiful, amazing, inspiring people just by being you. Virtual flowers for all of you!!

Do you ever run on a track?

2nd Annual Miles and Margs Success

First of all, thank you SO much for all your kind and supportive words on my last post. I’m so glad I shared my story. It is amazing to me how many people can relate.

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Saturday was the much anticipated 2nd Annual Miles and Margs down at Alki. It was an absolutely amazing turnout.

It was a cut back week for me, so I only had 8 miles on tap for my long run this week. My original plan was to head down to Alki and get a few extra miles in before meeting everyone. That plan went to hell when I made the oh-so-intelligent decision to get a little drunky drunk with my girls the night before. It was completely impromptu and ended up being SO much fun, but it did not set me up very nicely for a successful long run.

Instead, I decided to just get there when everyone else did, get a few miles in, and attempt my long run on Sunday.

The weather. Was. Gorgeous.

Seriously, how gorgeous is that view.

The girls all made it and we took off running. I ended up running with Dawn and Erin. We took it nice and easy which is exactly what I needed! After about 3.4 miles, we had finished our loop and we were ready for some margs.

How I was able to drink more, I have no bloody idea, but I couldn’t pass up the margs portion of miles and margs.

We all ate and chatted and did a big group introduction. It was such an amazing time. After lunch, we headed back outside for a group shot.

I was seriously amazed by the turnout. And I loved that I got to meet some people for the first time as well! It was such a fun event. This will definitely have to be repeated every year.

Last night, I tried my damnedest to get my 8 miles in. I had it all planned out. I would do 20×400 repeats with a 200 recovery. Add on a mile warmup and it would put me at just a little over 8 miles! It was a great plan… In theory.

My legs were absolute lead. It was hot. My head was just not into it. I’m sure I can come up with a million more equally pathetic excuses. I ended up doing 14x400s with 200 recovery and 1 mile warm up for a total of 6 miles. I will friggin take it.

That’s what I feel about my long run flop.

Miles for the week:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 6.07 mile walk along Alki
Thursday: Strength training
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 3.4 miles at miles and margs
Sunday: 6 miles worth of intervals
Total: 19.47 including walked miles

Not too shabby for a cut back week. This week I ramp up the mileage again.

Here’s to speedy runs this week!

Have you ever attended a blogger meetup?

 

Running with Scoliosis

I haven’t talked in depth much on here about my back. It has given me a lot of trouble over the years so I wanted to share how I have dealt with it. Note: I am not a doctor; this is just my story.

I have scoliosis.

For those that don’t know, that means my spine has a curve in it. I found out in high school that I had it. There are varying degrees of severity of scoliosis. Sometimes a person only has a curve in the top portion of their spine. Other times a person only has a curve in the bottom portion of their spine. I happen to have a curve in both the top AND bottom parts of my spine. Essentially, my spine looks like an ‘S.’ I like to say it’s an ‘S’ for Stacie.

[Not my X-ray, but mine looks similar. ]

I have been quite fortunate in that my body has adapted very well to my scoliosis. Even though I have about a 50 degree curve in my spine in both the top and bottom, many people can’t tell that I have it by looking at me. I can tell, but hell, we are our own worst critics, right? The most noticeable things are that my hips are uneven and my shoulders hunch forward. Yep.. Just call me Quasimodo.

Most of the time, I go through life never even noticing my back issues. Other times, it hurts like a bitch. I came thisclose to DNF-ing at last years Rock n Roll San Diego half because of severe back pain at mile 6ish. And I found myself nearly crying my way through my third leg of Ragnar due to my back. Sometimes it just sneaks up on me as an absolutely debilitating pain. Other times it is just a dull annoyance. Most of the time, I can’t tell I have it at all.

While each day is different, I find that there are things I can actively do to minimize the number of debilitating days.

- Foam roll: I foam roll my back nearly every single time I finish a run.

- Stretch: One major thing my doc told me would help is to keep my back flexible. He recommended yoga. Yoga turned out to actually be painful for me, so I have stuck to some other basic stretches.

- See a doctor: I have seen an orthopedic surgeon once a year every year since I found out I had scoliosis (with the exception of since I moved to Seattle). While my degree of curvature definitely puts me in the ‘you should probably consider having the surgery’ category, my orthopedic surgeon strongly believes I am not going to need it.

- See a chiropractor: I used to go once a week in high school during gymnastics season. It was great for temporary relief from the pain.

- Get a massage: I used to go once a week to get a deep tissue massage. We aren’t talking a relaxing good time here. I’m talking leaving the room bruised and sore kind of massage. It was amazing.

For the most part, I have found that these things work for me. While most of the time I can go through life pain free, I always have to be very conscious of my back. And I definitely don’t take the pain free days for granted.

Do you have an injury or diagnosis that you have to be conscious of while running?

Oh, hey there May

Has another month really flown by?! It is absolutely insane to me how fast the days and weeks are going.

So what happened in April in Skipping in Seattle land?

I ran 51.41 freaking miles!

I am quite proud that I was able to hit most of my mileage goals this month given what a crazy month it was.

I had TWO sets of guests come visit.

One of my bestest friends ever since Kindergarten came to visit and so did my old college roommate. While I absolutely LOVE having people come visit, it does make my training numbers more difficult to hit. You can see exactly which weeks I had people in town based off the monthly calendar pic above.

In order to make up for some inevitably missed runs, I added on some mileage here and there. I didn’t hit all the numbers, but I am damn proud of how close I got.

I took it a little easy on the reading front. I only read 10 books this month. That puts me at 51 for the year so far. My favorite book of the month HAS to be The Exception to the Rule by Beth Rinyu.

In the shopping world, I had the opportunity to have an appointment with a Nordstrom stylist. It was quite possibly the coolest day ever. Several hours and way too much money later, I acquired some great staple items for my closet.

In health news, I had a skin cancer screening at my dermatologist and despite having incredibly fair skin, I am skin cancer free!

PSA: Have you had your annual skin cancer screening yet? Read this post to see why I am so passionate about this: F U Cancer. And wear some damn sunscreen already!

Things I’m looking forward to in May:
- Miles and Margs (who is joining in on the fun on Saturday?!)
- The West Seattle 5k
- I have a much needed hair appointment
- Memorial Day weekend in Spokane
- Leaving for the RnR SD on May 31!

What is your BIG brag thing that happened in April?

Nuun Winner!!!

We had 99 entries into my Nuun Giveaway! I won’t keep you waiting any longer…

Thanks to the help of Random.org and Google Docs for keeping the entries sorted, the winner is……

 

Congratulations, Blair! Email me at skippinginseattle@gmail.com with your address and we will get your Nuun out to you! Enjoy the new flavors. Be sure to report back with your favorite.