Onward ho...

All good things must come to an end.  The last bit of an ice cream cone.  The last page of a great book.  The final chord of a favorite hymn.  The final steps across the finish line of an amazing race.  And yes, even maternity leave.

This past week has been a celebration of my time at home with Baby K.  We’ve spent more time physically active together.  We had two great power walks this week.  Wednesday was the usual trip to the library.  The day was bright and sunny.  I actually had to take off my track jacket halfway through because (a) it was warm and (b) I was working hard enough to generate a good lather. 

On Friday, Baby K and I had Striders business over at Quiet Waters (mark your calendars for the Anniversary Run 15K on December 14).  While we were there, and since it was an amazing day, we decided to get in our power walk there.  The trail that rings the park was surprisingly bustling with walkers, joggers and strollers for mid-day during the work week.

I’m not much of a walker, but one of the interesting things I’ve learned while power walking these past several weeks with Baby K is that walking can be a great glute workout – especially when you focus on your foot strike, speed and stead movement.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve finished and felt like I’d done a workout especially focused on that particularly troublesome muscle for women.  While I’m happy to be moving back into full-time running (not as a function of time or fitness, but because I’ll be going back to my lunch time runs at work), I’ve learned a bit about the benefits of walking.

In addition to the two power walks, I also logged three runs.  Wednesday and Thursday I took on my usual 4 mile route out College Parkway to Log Inn Road and back.  You can tell spring sports season is upon us because I had to play chicken with a number of soccer mom vehicles all rushing to get their kids to practice at Bay Head Park.  Car dodging aside, finding the rhythm that works for my feet, my heart and my head has been invigorating.  You don’t realize how much something is part of you are forced into a bit of a vacation.  This particular route is familiar enough to help me regain that rhythm.

Saturday found me back on the streets of DTA (that’s downtown Annapolis for you non-Annapolitans) with my bestest of best running buddies, Brie.  I was so happy to be hitting the pavement with her.  It’s been months…at least since October.  It’s funny, at the end of 2012 and into 2013 I was getting faster and she was slowing down as she advanced in her pregnancy.  Then this past year she was getting faster as I was slowing down as I advanced in pregnancy.  For the next future period of time, I think we’re both moving forward and eventually I will regain my speed so I don’t slow her down anymore.

Sun and warm spring temperatures propelled us through DTA, across the Naval Academy and back through her neighborhood to browse the yard sales as we made our way back to her house.  It was slow, but improving.  Give me another month and I bet I can bring my average pace down to 9-10 minutes per mile. 

As for the weight loss challenge – week one saw me with an overall body percentage loss of nearly 2%.  I’m not going to lie, ensuring I put down 100 ounces of water a day was tough but the daily booty blast workout was tougher.  Oh yeah, and then I learned that I was doing more than necessary…in fact double on those exercises that should have been alternating legs not the rep number per leg.  Who knows, maybe as a result my booty will be that much more irresistible come bikini season.

So as I return to a more normal routine, back to work, back to normal, I will look back on maternity leave fondly for what it taught me and the time it gave me to be with Baby K but I will look forward to really getting that rhythm back – or maybe even a better rhythm.  Happy trails!!!  

Stats – (There’s a week worth of backlog here, so bear with me)

Miles:  4.01 (Wed), 4.1 (Wed power walk); 4.25 (Thurs); 4.22 (Fri power walk); 7.15 (Sat)

Times:  42:12 (10:31); 1:03:47 (15:33); 45:40 (10:44); 1:10:00 (16:35); 1:19:30 (11:07)

Location:  Broadneck Peninsula and Quiet Waters Park

Feeling:  everything works, despite the exhausted glutes from the booty blast workouts
 

Bayootiful....

Credit goes to my buddy Lara for this photo.  I didn't have my
phone with me, but she recently posted a photo from this
particular route through Bay Ridge...beautiful, right?
 

Can a Saturday get better than spending it do all your favorite things?  No.  Especially when the weather is in the 60s and the sun is shining.

After taking the diva to her gymnastics class today I offered to take her for a long run in the jogging stroller so that I could get in a few sunny miles.  My husband counteroffered.  He recommended we go to Quiet Waters Park so the diva could ride her bike and expend vast amounts of energy on the playground while I expended vast amounts of energy pounding the pavement.  Who can argue with that? 

So, dressed with my best "I can't wait for this" smile, I waved as I left them in the parking lot and hit the perimeter trail leading for the front gate to the park.  Oh no, no running in circles around the perimeter trail for me today.  With the sun shining, this running gal was heading out to Bay Ridge to enjoy the sun sparkling on the bay.  Yes, it was a totally zen day for running.

My goals for the day were to see if I could slow my pace down.  Just last night I agreed to volunteer as a pacer for the Zooma Annapolis half marathon in June.  I'll be pacing the 2:10:00 group.  How hard can it be to slow down?  Ummm, a lot harder than you think.  I set off thinking to myself that I was ambling along, only to look down at the Garmin and realize I needed to slow down by about 45 seconds per mile to hit the right pace. 

That's going to take practice, so instead I just decided to slow down a little and enjoy the scenery (I like window shopping the houses in the Bay Ridge neighborhood and imagining myself sitting on my front porch looking out to the Bay Bridge or the eastern shore over my morning cup of coffee) over the next 11 miles...a lot of it stretching out along the bay.  People were out and about prepping lawns for spring, walking their dogs, riding their bikes, enjoying a glass of wine on the picnic tables lining parts of the beach.  It was that kind of day.

I was both happy and sad to turn back toward the park to complete my run.  Happy to play in the sun on the playground with my kid, feeling awesome from my run.  And sad that there wasn't more time in the day to enjoy the serenity of my thoughts and my running shoes.

I reached the park to see a smiling face swinging high above the playground on her swing.  We played a little longer, letting the diva show me her new found rock climbing skills, before heading off to buy preschool safety scissors so she could cut her way through all the construction paper her little heart desired.  Yeah, I could take days like this everyday.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  11.01
Time:   1:43:25 (average pace of 9:23 per mile)
Feeling:  Completely at home

Three's a party...

Today the diva and I got the chance to run with and catch up on life with another great red head.  I don't think I've had the pleasure of running with this particular person, except in passing, since probably February.  That's right folks, Lara met up with us at Quiet Waters Park for a spin around the outside loop.

It was good fun...and so much better than the last time I ran Quiet Waters (which was with the old, dreaded jogging stroller).  We met up at the parking lot across the street from the park since technically its closed on Tuesdays, then headed in to catch the path around the park.   The company and conversation were good and we also counted the bridges with the diva as we crossed each one.  It was also nice to have a partner run with the stroller for a good mile or so.  Especially splitting hills with me.  We ran the entire outer loop (including the compost loop, but not the boat loop...I did that one last time.)  I also used the time to secure a commitment from Lara to run the Charm City Run 20-miler with me in a couple weeks.  Thanks Lara!!!

The body functioned appropriately on the run, but those darn hamstrings are still tight.  I know I keep saying I need to start applying icy hot.  I guess a little stretching wouldn't hurt too, right? :)  I'm horrible at some of the simple things.  I'm not going to promise to get better because that would just set me up for failure, but I may say I will try.

Following our run we sat out on the sidewalk in front of the cars and Lara got to know the diva and showed her pictures of her kids and friends.  The diva loves pictures...especially ones on an iphone...and especially when she gets to swipe to the next one.  After that we said so long to Lara until the weekend at the A-10 packet pick up when we'll run into her again.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  4.55
Time:   49:09 (average pace of 10:48 per mile)
Location:  Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis
Feeling:  Tight hams, light heart

A few kinks to work out...

As I said yesterday, I probably needed to take today off because of the ankles.  But getting in that first run with the jogging stroller - seeing how the little diva did - was too much of a pull to leave the running shoes in the closet.  So in grand denial style, I loaded up the stroller and the diva in the car and headed off to Quiet Waters Park.

I like Quiet Waters.  They have a decent paved trail with options for a couple different distances.  Today I just wanted to take it slow and easy to see how the little one adjusted to the jogging stroller and not hurt myself anymore, so I basically followed the course for the JLA Volunteers on the Run 5K (which happens every fall...check back for details on this year's run), except I swapped the boat loop for the compost loop. 

Things seemed to be going well for the diva...at least she didn't hate the stroller.  It wasn't going quite as well for me.  It definitely is tougher running with the stroller than without.  Most notably my arms were tired from pushing...or rather holding the stroller in front. Give me a couple more and this should get easier.  The other thing I noticed, I couldn't quite get up to speed.  Understatement.  I was going a more than a minute per mile slower.  Hopefully I can chip away at that as I become accustomed to the change.  Actually, this may be a good thing for my speed.  Just think of how much faster I will go without the stroller after training with it.

Okay, so we established I had at least one blunder on this run...that being I shouldn't have run on the injury to begin with.  So, at about mile two, I'm in a little pain, dripping sweat because it's wicked humid and the diva won't sit back because she wants to be able to see all around her.  Now I'm a good mom, and I tried to get her back, but was not successful before we hit a bump (the trail has a lot of them from roots growing up under the pavement) and she bumped her head a tiny bit on the side of the stroller.  I don't think she likes it anymore.  She couldn't wait for the ordeal to be over.  Hopefully she'll give it another shot for mama's sake.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  3.2
Time:   31:17 (average pace of 9:45 per mile)
Location:  Quiet Waters Park Annapolis
Feeling:  Uh, not fantastic...need to lay off the ankle (but let's be honest, I probably won't)

Pumped up kicks...

While I hope never to have to outrun a homicidal teens, "better run, better run" is the way to reach my goal of 1000 miles this year. How better to do that than a new pair of shoes to launch into the last 84% of my goal? I'm pretty sure the old Asics (bless their worn down soles) were well past their prime. Thank goodness I got a great gift certificate to Fleet Feet for

Christmas. That gift certifcate helped me get a rockin' new pair of New Balance to take me through to fall...ish. Awesome!

So, I took my rockin' new shoes for a test spin out at Quiet Waters Park...with Jay in tow. While I originally wanted to do a long run today, our early afternoon tasting session at Harford Vineyard & Winery, combined with the new shoes made that a less than desirable situation. With that in mind we set out on a single loop of Quiet Waters, plus the boat ramp loop. We were having a good run until Jay's allergies kicked. I had to leave my tough Marine at mile 2.75...wheezing. I continued on and had a great time winding through the woods, passing all the dogs with their humans in tow and checking out the new shoes. I've also got new inserts, which change the way my foot strikes, that

will take a little time, but I have no complaints. My pumped up kicks are lighter, have a good toe box and so much more fun and colorful than the old Asics. Don't you agree?

One loop around Quiet Waters, plus the boat ramp loop but minus the compost loop comes to 4.65 miles. Not bad for the first day in new shoes. I'll just have to lay down a few more tomorrow. Happy trails!

Stats -
Miles: 4.65
Time: 40:05 (average pace of 8:37 per mile)
Location: Quiet Waters Park
Feeling: A little tight in the sole, but should get better. Great day!