Normal (Week 15)

Tuesday - 3.6 miles in the basement inferno. Video trifecta (legs, arms, core) AND 99 push-ups, 99 jumping jacks and 3:00 plank. DEAD.
Wednesday - 2 miles total (one before class and one after). I went to BodyPump for the first time in over 18 months. HOLY CRAP. The videos have probably helped a bit, but I am the weakest EVER. Thankfully, due to #coldpocalypse, there was a poor showing and only a handful of people could witness me struggling. 4:02 plank.
Thursday - 5.21 terrible, horrible, no good, very BAD miles on the treadmill. I made the risky decision to eat NINE day old cheesecake at dinner, then hopped on the treadmill. I almost died and/or puked and/or exploded on the treadmill. Poor, poor planning, me. 3:00 plank.

You were so tasty. Why did you try to kill me??

Friday - 1.1 in the basement inferno. Video trifecta (legs, arms, core), 2:10 plank.
Saturday - Fa La La Half Marathon! After almost dying of frostbite/hypothermia, we sat around most of the day. Saturday night A and I went to a Christmas party in Aurora (soooo faaaar). Potluck parties are dangerous. Zero pics, but it was great to see my friends that I don't get to see too much this time of year.
Sunday - Put off running ALL DAY. Took the kids roller skating in the afternoon. Finally did 1ish in the basement inferno. Video trifecta (core, arms, legs). After dinner, A and I met up with my friend DJ, who came in town for work training. Long story condensed - DJ and I dated BRIEFLY in 1999, somewhat not great break up. Weirdly ended up being roommates when I moved to TX in 2000 - he moved out after my now ex-husband moved in. Hadn't seen him in over 10 years, but we have kept in touch with phone calls/texts/Facebook. Funny, it was like no time had passed. Great night!

Monday - 7.25 not terrible miles. My calves were a bit tight (I have gotten off my foam rolling routine AGAIN), and the bottom of my right foot feels... off. 3:10 plank.

Weekly Miles Run - 33.32 (13.1 racing, 20.22 treadmill)
Minutes of Strength Training - 175!!

Loss - 1.0 pounds

• The body is so weird. I worked out less this week and it seemed like I still ate the same.
• Food indulgences... DONUTS, Smashburger, Yogurtland, pumpkin cheesecake (SO SO SO SO GOOD), all sorts of random things at the potluck Christmas party.

  

• Beer consumption was up this week. I blame the Christmas party and going out with my friend. Didn't have money to actually buy beer this week so there wasn't any consumption during the week.
• Oh wells.... such is weight fluctuation.

Everything Else

• Finished reading The Total Money Makeover. Again, nothing I didn't already know, but a good refresher of how "we" have too much stuff and spend money foolishly.
• Related: This week has been especially tight on money. I had to return one of the pairs of shoes I got on Black Friday to have enough money for parking. Also, for a humbling new low, I had to rob my change jar to buy groceries on Sunday. $15+ in change. Womp. Really appreciated the self-checkout for this one. Also, the gas light in my car has been on since Monday. Hoping I have enough gas to last me until Friday morning. #coldpocalypse is not the time to play chicken with  the "how many miles can I drive on a tank of gas" game I love so much.
• A had a meltdown over the weekend over Mother Effin J. I am so sick of this stupid guy being an annoyance in my life. She was talking about something random and then said "I know you don't want to hear about J anymore Momma, but I can't erase him from my memory, I've tried." And then she cried. For like 10 minutes. I JUST WANT TO BE DONE WITH THIS. The jerk is out of our lives, I just wish he would BE OUT OF OUR LIVES. The weirdest, dumbest things set of triggers and I AM OVER IT.
• Oh, so nothing else, as usual. Cute guy was a the gym last night, he ran on a treadmill three down from me (for like 5 minutes). I ogled. The end.
• Really really really wanting the weather to warm up a bit. For 4-5 days, I don't think we hit single digits. Today, it is finally "warmer" but it is windy, so it actually SEEMS colder.

For REAL. This is ridiculous this "early" in winter. Brrr!

• BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH I HATE WINTER I HATE DECEMBER I HATE THE HOLIDAYS. Ready for this stupid year to be over.

Fa La La Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Westminster, CO
Saturday, December 7
Half Marathon #97
Colorado Half #35
Weather - COLDEST COLD EVER

The Fa La La half marathon is the first half I have ever seen for Colorado in the metro area in December. And probably for a good reason! Last Wednesday we had a fairly decent snowfall. Now snow, obviously, is not the biggest deal here. It snows all the time. HOWEVER, in early December, it does NOT normally snow and then stay hovering around 0 for days and days. As the days ticked closer to the race, I was REALLY dreading it. I was sure they weren't going to cancel because of cold, but wow, I do NOT run outside in this freezing weather! L had picked up our packets in advance, so we planned on showing up only early enough to use the bathroom.

Running in the #coldpocalypse

We dropped off the kids with my parents at 8:15 and drove to the start, only about 15 minutes away. DID I MENTION IT WAS THE COLDEST COLD EVER? To have some perspective, L, who is part robot, actually wore long sleeves AND a jacket AND kept her gloves on the entire race. My dream of a miracle 15+ degrees at the start did NOT come true:

We used the bathroom inside at the rec center, where I got L to get this awesome shot of my last moments of being warm.

We headed to the start line and honestly, once I had my headphones and ear warmers on I could not hear a thing, but the race director was blabbing on and on.... LET'S GET GOING ALREADY.

I have run outside in Denver before in the winter. OK, maybe only a handful of times. But every time I have run outside, it has been on PAVED city trails. Did you know, that the city did NOT shovel/plow the path/trail??? I probably would have made a different shoe choice had I known.

L and I started in the very back, but I lost her in a matter of seconds. It was a bit congested in the beginning, which was fine. My calves were tight, I was cold, my legs were cold, IT was cold. The beginning section was one of the icier sections of the course:

I was wearing an INKnBURN tech tube over my  mouth, which was great. Well, until about 15 minutes in when I pulled it down to get water and then I tried to pull it back up and it was FROZEN in a slouchy mess around my neck. (FYI, messing with a frozen article of clothing will keep your mind occupied FOREVER) - I took an awkward selfie of how it looked frozen around my neck:

I could go on and on and on about the cold. I have never in real life seen snot icicles. Everyone had frozen facial hair and eyelashes. It was pretty terrifying!

I think I was running a decent pace, but I really didn't care. I caught up to Ross around mile 6 (the 76 year old man that beats me EVERY RACE). Spoiler: I actually ran faster than him for once!

Um. My GU was pretty much frozen solid (I took two during the course of the race) and the water at the aid stations was like a slushie.

It is REALLY REALLY REALLY difficult to run in snow/ice. The Big Dry Creek Trail is fairly flat, but it felt like I was running in quicksand. Everything felt like it was uphill and I was working really hard to not be making that much progress.

Time passed, I managed not to freeze and I was pretty surprised to see L at the finish area. I thought for SURE she would do the smart thing and go sit in the car! However, she got this shot of me that I LOVE heading into the last .2 or so:

Bib #839
Official Time - 2:26:44
Overall Place #212/288
Gender Place #129/185
Division Place #54/73
Garmin Time - 2:26:44
Mile 1 - 10:57
Mile 2 - 11:47
Mile 3 - 10:39
Mile 4 - 10:35
Mile 5 - 11:09
Mile 6 - 11:23
Mile 7 - 11:35
Mile 8 - 11:04
Mile 9 - 11:36
Mile 10 - 11:35
Mile 11 - 11:25
Mile 12 - 11:24
Mile 13 - 11:03
Mile 13.1 - 9:52
 

We stuck around long enough to get a picture together and to talk to Ross for a minute, then we went to the car. It had warmed up substantially while we were running:

For an idea of what the back of people's heads looked like while running - look how frosty L's head is!!!

Thoughts:

• I mean, it was cold, obviously. However, I was prepared for it. I wore a base layer (a Champion long sleeve shirt - the same one I wore for NYD last year) with my INKnBURN Lust jacket over it. I wore INKnBURN pirate capris and compression socks. I used hand warmers with gloves (best purchase EVER EVER EVER). I wore ear warmers and had my tech tube. Yeah, I was concerned about losing my nose or a toe to frostbite or hypothermia, but it was fiiiiiiiiiiine.
• The WORST part about the race was running on the ice. That made the downhill areas EXTRA scary since it WAS slick. I really wish the race director had sent out an email the night before advising of trail conditions. I probably would have worn different shoes.
• 2/3 of the runners were women, and yet the shirt is still a men's shirt. WHY WHY WHY????? I am so tired of all these race shirts that I cannot wear. At least give me the option to skip the shirt and save a few bucks if you are not going to give me one I can wear again.
• An annoyance with the registration of this race... they DO have a mail in option. I was thinking, YAY, I can save the almost $6 processing fee (10%) if I send in a check. NOPE. They still charge it. WHY NOT JUST INCLUDE THAT AS THE TOTAL RACE REGISTRATION FEE. I hate hate hate the sneaky fees. Annoying.
• They DO, however, have race day registration (obviously it costs more), but if you want to wait to see the forecast, this is a good option for a winter race.
• We got ear warmers in our swag bag. I wore mine, they kept me nice and warm and toasty.
• The course is good, but again, had it been plowed, probably would have been faster/easier.
• AND YET, this was still my 3rd fastest half of the year! Woot!
• I am SHOCKED that there was such a big turnout for this event. 288 for the half, 137 for the 10k and 120 for the 5k. SO OVER 500 PEOPLE BRAVED ARCTIC WEATHER JUST TO RUN. We are a crazy bunch, aren't we?
• All in all, I would recommend this event. Plenty of aid stations, gels at the mile 6 (and I guess it would have been mile 11ish on the away back) aid stations. Medal for all distances.
• AND.... I just have to say THANK YOU to all the volunteers who were out there for HOURS. That is even more nuts than those of us running. AND there were actually spectators!! One guy was offering people "warm water" lol!! Never seen that at a race.