Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Lookin' So Fly

Did you know that during the Winter it gets cold in Kansas? Like really cold. Guess who had the day off on Monday? I've been mah-jah-lee slacking, even though I have a brutal half marathon coming up, so I went out for a mah-jah run. Goliath was mah-jah-lee stoked. The first half mile was mah-jah-lee cold. Downhill, wind whipping in my face, numb. It got me thinking, OH MY GOD I'm only going a mile. Well, that, and This is my third winter running.


Now, I know three winters doesn't make me an expert or anything....but three Midwest winters with a husky might. I've compiled a list of my some winter running tips, gear suggestions and hilarious winter running stories. It's going to be a series.

Today, we are going to talk about: Julia's Winter Must Haves
1. First and foremost, VASELINE. It's a life saver. Schmear it everywhere, like cream cheese. I mainly put it on my face to break the wind, and prevent face chapping. I mega-abhor coming home from a run, and having pores the size of moon craters because of wind/cold chap. Not this lady. Vaseline is a useful tool that can also help winterize your shoeskis. Dab a little on mesh areas of shoes to prevent snow, ice and snowmelt from invading. Now you have a foot-snow barrier.

2. Something fleece to cover your ears. I prefer a headband, it's aerodynamic. However, ear muffs, a hat, you hands with gloves on them-would also work, I assume. Personally, I need something that gives me the freedom to have a pony tail, or a braid, the versatility of reversableness and the warmth of fleece.



3. Decent running tights. Here's a shocker: top of line tights are just as good as cheap ones. So you can't afford $100 tights-one of my favorite pair of tights are from Forever 21, meant to be worn under some skanky dress and were $5. Sure Brooks has awesome tights, and I'd love to have a pair-but if I'm only running for 30-40 minutes, my little spandex tights with two seams work just as well.



4. Layers. This is a no brainer, but layers-even ditchable layers are life savers. I like a dry fit base, a cotton tee, and a fleece lined hoodie. There's the ole' 20 degree rule, so I try to stick with that pretty closely. Old Navy right now has these pretty baller hoodies, that have the headphones built into the lining. It's machine washable and eliminates extra baggage, so that's my suggestion.

5. Throw away gloves. Total need. Gloves you can blow your nose into, and toss on the side of the road in a race. They are like a $1 for two pairs at target. Get hip.



Ok, that's it for now for my gear suggestions. Tune in tomorrow for survival tips.

Yesterday Mileage: 5.1
Times: 50:14

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Du-Du-Du-Dumb

Running is hard. Like it's really hard ya'll. I've never ever once said "WOOOO DOGGGY! What an easy run that was!" So yeah, running is hard. It's difficult. It's difficult ENOUGH, but when you toss in things like doubling your work hours, getting sick and limited daylight-it becomes what we humans like to deem impossible.




Impossible is a word we are taught as kids that should exist in the human language. Anything is POSSIBLE when you put your mind to it! The countless adages reminding us that we are mediocre, and perhaps gave up too soon , personally I've always loved: Impossible is just I'm Possible! What does that even mean? I'm possible? To me, that sounds like a colleged-up way of saying I'm DOABLE! Ok, so I digress.


Running becomes impossible sometimes. Regardless of what you were taught, or come to convince yourself: there are things that are impossible or implausible or impractical. You pick your synonym.


So you work 12 hours a day, and say you spend another hour driving to and from work, 30 minutes getting ready for work (which is conservative), 30 minutes getting ready for bed, and 8 hours sleeping a night (which is being generous): that puts you at a solid scheduled 22 hours, 8 of which are unconscious. So there's two hours you could spend running right? WRONG. That little formula didn't account for things like taking a poop, preparing meals, opening your mail, answering your cell phone or updating your blog. Sometimes taking a poop can block out a whole hour, not personally-but I know a guy, don't ask.


I don't mean to make you panic, but that was just a week day. Weekends would be great then right? WRONG. Think about all those basic needs you neglected throughout the week: laundry, dishes, sleep, etc. Writing this all out makes me feel overwhelmed-but the point is: Yes, buying out the time to run can be impossible. There are going to be days, weeks-maybe months where it's IMPOSSIBLE for you to run. It could because your injured, it could be because you have an insane schedule where you wake up and it's dark, and come home and it's dark.


Whatever the reason the prevents you from the pavement, the key is to let go of the guilt. So yeah, it sucks-you can't run. Running might be your biggest stress reliever. So don't let not running cause you stress.
Clearly, you can tell what prompted this post. I really haven't been running much, despite my best intentions. I'll put my running gear out in the morning, but it's a little nutty to run at 4AM right? I'll pack my running stuff to work, and promise myself I'll change into and come straight home and run-but then I work late. When I don't run, I do go a little crazy. Something in my internally feels off. Worst of all, I get really cranky.

Monday night, I snapped at Lo over something so meaningless and trivial that I literally stood up, put on my running clothes and walked to the disgusting apartment complex gym to run on the treadmill. Yes, you are reading that correct. I, Julia, Queen of the Trail, forger of creeks, lover of mud-ran on a treadmill. AND.....IT....WAS....miserable.

I can run for hours outdoors with G-Bonez but I can hardly last 10 minutes on the rotating belt. I'm going to have to figure out how to make it bearable, but right now it's my only possibility. So UP Next on The Bosky Blog: Learning how to enjoy the DreadMill.
In other news...my husband has a moustache, and I don't hate it.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Sigh, No More

Wow, I have been AWFUL about posting. My bad. But full disclosure: I
haven't really ran since Gobbler Grind, so there really hasn't been
much to update.

This happens every year. Every year I get really lazy, and skip out on
the running. It takes me a while to get out of the funk, so I'm
praying that tomorrow I can start to get out of it. Needless to say,
it's been cold and it's easier to stay in and remain warm.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Do the Humpty Hump


Last night, LL's newest rescue came to play with Goliath-and finally a worthy companion for Goliath's energy.
Turbo is an 8 month old, Italian Greyhound with a ton of energy and very playful. When they first met , Goliath welcomed him inside and shoved his giant head between his legs and lifted the little fella off the ground. Both of them went back and forth playing, Goliath delicately nuzzling Turbo, and Turbo gallantly prancing atop Goliath.

Turbo was kinda getting a vertical complex, because Goliath was taller. He kept jumping up on the sofa, trying to see how tall he could get. It was absolutely cracking me up. Turbo is getting neutered today, so Goliath might have had ball envy-so it evened out.
Turbz is currently being fostered, and will be looking for his forever home soon. He'll be a great dog for an active family. He loves to curl up on the couch, and also would make a great running buddy for someone training for a 5k PR.
If you're interested in adopting Turbo, please contact LL Dog Rescue

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

That Grind Don't Stop

Sunday was the big day!! My bebe seester ran her very first half marathon-AND LIVED...AND FINISHED! Can you believe it? I can. I had no doubt in her, she's amazing! Anyone who runs marathons is amazing-but my sister is super amazing wonderful! Are you read for the recap? And AWAAAAYYYY WEEEE GO (because I promised her a super epic-legen-wait for it-DARY post):


mmm salty kisses


Day -1: 'Twas the day before 13.1 and all were asleep-but us. We were up and at 'em bright and early, to get our race stuff together. We had an agenda: t-shirts to make, shorts to buy, lunch to eat, dogs to adopt, soccer games to play and packets to pick up. Somehow we managed to get everything done, except: adopting a dog (another story, another post) and we only half way made our shirts. We ran what felt like several hundred errands Saturday getting ready for the big race. We had ideas of grandeur for our shirts, but we bit off way more than we could chew-and ran out of steam halfway through silkscreening. We only got our names on our shirts, and unfortunately it wasn't up to par to our standards-so we nixed the hilarious saying on the back. At least Em, got her name on her shirt-which I forewarned would be magic on the course. She'd just have to wait to see. We had chipotle for lunch, went to her soccer game and had a family dinner. The night ended with us roasting marshmallows at my mom's.


yeah! she finished!!!

Mile -1: This is perhaps my favorite half marathon, why because it's so close to my home AND ANNDDD it's on MY trail. Say where?! Yeah. So Emmers and I met at mi casa, geared up. We walked a little over a mile to the race start, and got there just on time. I shouldn't set this pattern for her-I am AWFUL about getting to races with enough time to stretch. Less the never, we lined up towards the back. For whatever reason, this race does not have a staggered start for the 5k, Half and Full-and from experience I advised that the rear was going to be best for us so we didn't gun it and run out of gas trying to keep up with 5kers.


family portait


Miles 1-3: Like I said, no staggered start. Even lining up toward the back didn't help at all, it was still wicked thick through the front. Emily and I vowed not wear ipods, so we could chat-and we quickly learned that hanging out all day yesterday tapped our conversation supply. I started making jokes and loudly said "This is like a one mile race right?" "We are almost done right?" to which no one really appreciated. Apparently, runners don't get a sense of a humor until the back miles-when everyone is a little loopy and delirious. The front miles people are still focused and set on PRing. After mile three, we ditched the 5k runners and pushed on. The weather was unseasonably warm, and I had already ditched our matching shirt.


Best Mom Evah



Miles 4-6: The miles were really flying by, Emily stated firmly she will not be walking until mile 6. So we trotted along, and I kept trying to talk it up. She was not having it and really needed to focus-so right around mile 4.5 I turned my iphone speakers on to my running playlist, tucked it back into my pocket-and rocked the muscle butt for the rest of the race. It was quite awesome, I must say. It set an ambiance for the whole race. Other runners would come up and hear Usher or Lil John, stop and pace with us to have a little jam session and move on. We'd jokingly dance and rock out. Since this was an out and back course, at mile five we got to see the leaders speed by us. We screamed out butts off cheering them on. It's always motivating to see the leaders, and that gave us some 'umph' to push on.


Logan had to contain Goliath's excitement...and mine too


Miles 7-9: This is when things started getting pretty tough, but just when Emily was ready to throw up we saw our Mommmm! She's magnificent, ain't she? Always there just when we need her. I tossed her my shirt, and Emily stopped and hugged her. This was on a giant uphill that lied and said was the worst hill of the course. This stint is a square of roads, you turn right and go up turn right again go uphill, turn right and go uphill and finally turn right but go down hill. Logan was at mile 9 with Goliath. There was an aid station right before we met them, and the volunteers were like "dude that dog is REALLY going crazy now!!" hah, it's because he could see us! Logan jogged along with us, I got to run a little with G. We got on that downhill, and got a second wind.



The finish four from L to R: Scott, Eric, Me and Emily


Mile 10-12: We kept seeing this group of guys along the course. Every time we saw them I'd shout "hey we're here! you didn't miss us! don't worry!!" and then they'd go crazy for us. It was hilarious. Emily was about ready to kill me at this point, but if you don't get a little homicidal during a marathon-maybe you aren't pushing yourself very hard. Mile 10 is when the full splits off from the half, and we waved good bye to the really crazy people and started making our way back the finish. We were back on the trail and facing familiarity. Emily almost punched out some super rude running girl, and that was funny. Right before mile 12, a 39 year old man collapsed from cardiac arrest. When we ran by him, he was being resuscitated and honestly-it was really frightening. I won't go into much detail about that, but it totally messed with our heads-especially with all the rumors and talk for the remaining of the race. I could only think about his family waiting for him at the finish line.

Mile 13.1: I made the mistake of telling Emily that after the bridge we'd be at the finish, but there were really two bridges so mentally she was done when there was a little less than half a mile to go. For that she was really ready to kill me, and I allowed her to punch me. It hurt but I think it was worth it. We went under the second bridge, saw the finish line and Emily picked it up. We sprinted the chute and BAM we crossed the finish line AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. How cool is that? Down to the millisecond. This is amazing to me, because this is our chip times-bot the running clock. How cool?


Huge Thanks to the Volunteer of the year, my BFF Megan!!

Mile +1: We walked through the food lines, got our medal and then sat down in the grass. Like I said, it was unseasonably warm-it felt like 60 degrees. Emily's feet were absolutely killing her, likely due to ill-fitting shoes, but I rubbed her feet. We took a million pictures, and then went to breakfast.


Oh and happy Race-a-versary to me! This was the anniversary of my first half marathon!
Gobbler Grind 2009!







Saturday, November 20, 2010

Sad News

One of my favorite local no-kill shelters is being forced to close their door due funding issues.
As a result, more than 100 animals need to be placed in forever homes with in a week.
The Pet Connection is offering adoptions without fees, and sending the animals home with treats and starter kits.
They have some of the most gorgeous dogs and kittehs evah.
To view their adoptbles please click the following: for CATS and for DOGS
IF YOU LIVE IN THE KANSAS&MISSOURI AREA, AND WANT A NEW BEST FRIEND NOW IS THE TIME. PLEASE CONSIDER STOPPING BY TPC AND FALL IN LOVE.
This is your chance to save a life for free.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

I'm Ready, Let's Go

This just in: I reinstated Ten Mile Tuesday.

Why? Because I wanna.


Tuesday, I had the day off from work and so I leisurely work up, drank coffee, had breakfast and took Goliath out on the trail. As of late, running means scheduling in mileage and making sure I have enough time to get the miles in-which means pressure and stress to get the miles done. Sometimes pressure is good, but stress isn't. I don't like have exactly an hour to get a solid six miles in, it stresses me out. If something goes wrong, a cramp or a spill I'm screwed and may run the risk of being late for work. Not on Tuesday, we hit the trail with no goal.


I love these tights, new favorite.

I immediately could tell I felt amazing. Nothing hurt. It was phenomenal. A mile in, I decided we were going to push a full ten-and we did. It was absolutely ideal. Goliath really was loving it. It got to this point where I hadn't look at my Garmin for a while and when I finally did I was 4.67 miles in. Saaaayyyywhooo? I haven't had a run like this in a long, long, long time. Getting that mileage down made me feel super accomplished.


This is a little spot on the trail, that the photograph doesn't do any justice. The picture looks warped but it's a steep slope followed by a steep hill. It's totally brutal in the winter, but on Tuesday Goliath and I went half way down, took a left and explored around it.


I want to live in these homes, how lucky they are to live right on the trail.

There really are no words to adequately describe how perfect this run was, so I'll just leave it at that. We finished ten miles, and collapsed on the couch. I'm so excited about the weather right now too, fall is beautiful. During the fall, everyone is a runner.




So there that is: Ten Mile Tuesday

In other news, Goliath's Gang is looking pretty awesome! I got a lot of families added the other night, and I'm still working on it, so take a look-and make sure you email us your story.

Total Mileage: 10:03
Time: 1:30:14

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Invest Your Love

Saturday was the Fall Girls on the Run 5k, I signed up to volunteer. I
swear if I don't run this as a coach, I will always be volunteering.
If y'all don't know what GOTR is google it or look up the Spring 5k
recap in the blog history.

It's an amazing organization, that I really wish I had the time to be
more involved with. For now, I will just have to be a course monitor
twice a year. It was wicked cold, the wind was absolutely frigid. If I
hadn't promised to be there I would not have been outside, let alone
running in it. More than half of those girls looked absolutely
miserable. Lucky for me, the runners had to pass through my
intersection three times. The evolution of misery as the miles passed
was such a beautiful metaphor. On their third pass, they were in the
finish chute-and seeing them realize "hay! It's over and it wasn't
THAT bad!" was totally legendary. Why? Because no matter how many
races you do, no matter how good you get: you always feel that way in
the chute.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Let Love Grow

I am seriously in love with this song right now.
What song are you in love with this very second?

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

My Heart Stumbles on Things I Don't Know


Holy Moly, has it really been since October 29 since I've updated. I apologize to all 113 legit followers and 100+ anonymous daily hits. You guys know the story, it's the same old same old-I was just wicked busy.



Well what can I say? We are a little over a week away from the Grind Half Marathon. I am SO excited. It's going to be so fun. It's on my home turf, it's with my best friend-my sister, and we've been having the best time training together. Our long runs have become "Miles and Bagels" Saturday. We are having a hard time picking out what we should wear? Suggestions? We want to match, and we want to get a little crazy. If you suggest something, and we wear it-you'll get a prize. So get to online shopping ;)





Speaking of costumes, are you guys ready to hear about my next marathon? Ok you are?




Why yes, it's is the OZ Marathon right here in the heart of Kansas.

Why yes, I will be wearing a costume.

Why yes, I will be dressed as Dorothy.

Why yes, my sneakers will be ruby red.

Why?

Because....

There's no place like the finish line.

There's no place like the finish line.


FYI: If I see anyone at the start with MY costume and MY shirt idea, someone will die from idea infringement.





Keep the emails coming for Goliath's Gang! I'm trying to catch up, but my email is jammed!
Once I get caught up, we'll move on to the next giveaway-but in the meantime if you have any questions or post topics you'd like to see discussed on TBB please email us at our newly set up and totally official blog email:



When we get our own domain, it will be more official, but this will do for now.


love.


Friday, October 29, 2010

Problems in Your Own Head

Well, now that the road to physical recovery is semi-ending it was time for me to refocus and get back out there. Other than some residual pain, like a bruised heel-I felt good enough to run a week and a few days after the marathon. My ego was still really suffering though, any time I thought about the marathon this black hole started eating my stomach, and made me feel empty.


Living with that let down for a week was hard enough, so I knew I couldn't wait long to race again. Luckily, my sister and I already were planning on running the Gobbler Grind Half Marathon on November 21st. Having a race lined up is pretty key in getting over a bad race, but there's more to it. I've outlined some of my personal tips in getting over a poopy race for all my lovely readers:

Julia and Goliath's Ways of Getting Over a No-Good-Terrible-Awful-Downright-Bad-Race
1. Sign up for another: We went over this, but this will give you something to look forward to. It takes the edge off the sting because you KNOW there's another, which means another opportunity to rock.
2. Talk about it: When people ask you how your big day went, don't be afraid to tell them. Especially if they are runners, everyone has had a bad race. The beauty of being a runner is that every one's training peaks and troughs. Our troughs aren't what we tend to share, we are inclined to fudge our times, our mile splits, etc-but when you can look someone in the eye and honestly say "I didn't do my best," it gives you the vulnerability to accept comfort and advice.
3. Wear your shirt: Weather it was a 5k or an Ultra, wear your shirt the next day. You deserve to wear the shirt because you STARTED, not because you finished. Half of the mental race is getting the balls to get your but to the starting line. On lookers will see a runner in a race shirt, not someone who struggled to finish-and will envy your back full of sponsors.
4. Treat yourself: To a meal, to a massage, to a new pair of jeans. Anything. This may be some sort of instant gratification, but allowing yourself to splurge a little to overcome your mental anguish is pretty priceless isn't it?
5. Do not look at your training log more than once: Your inclination will be to look at your log and figure out where you went wrong. You'll agonize over every mile, every minute before the race-just trying to figure it out. Let it be. Look forward. Plan ahead, look at your next race as an opportunity to a clean your slate and succeed in training. Yes, it's important to evaluate and identify mistakes-but do not dwell on them.
6. Run: When you're ready, run again. Fall in love again. It's natural to be discouraged, and paralyzed with running fear. Find the motivation to just run again, for one mile or a few. Chances are you'll remember that you're not running for glory, it's bigger than that.
7. Cry, if you have to: Hey, it's a big deal. Don't be afraid to shed a tear. You looked forward to this day all year, you trained for six months. There's no shame in letting it out-silently, alone in a dark closet. No, I'm kidding-cry, real women cry. You're only allowed to cry once for a marathon: so chances are if you didn't cry at the finish line, you can do so later.


So there that is. Rest assured, I have tried all the above. They seem to work for me. Especially, number six. My first run back was a four mile, easy run with Emily in preparations for our half. We promised to take it slow, easy-but like that ever actually happens? We did a typical TBB out and back on the trail, without gadgets and just talked. It was pretty magical. I was totally gushing about my trail to Emily the last time we ran, and promised her she'd fall in love with it.

Sho' nuff. She did. There is just something about that trail, it totally has my heart. Other than my bed, it's my favorite place to be. Lucky for us, our upcoming half is ON THAT TRAIL! win. Love.
Everyone have a magical weekend! Don't forget Goliath still needs people for his Gang, so email us your doggie picture and story!!

Monday, October 25, 2010

You Know I Know How





Julia's Marathon Experience Part IV
So it's been a week. A full seven days since 26.2-and despite what Runner's World says: I feel fully recovered. I'm going to give you a run down of how my recovery week went though.




Immediate after the race: Collapsed in the grass aside the finish chute, I stood up and walked myself to the car. My mom drove me home, and walked me into my home. I stretched, not much-I should have done more. Showered. I watched a movie, and laid around until five. My husband took a three hour nap, and I gimped and paced around. Uneasy and uncomfortable, and unable to rest. I was tormented by my performance, and just by how things went. I desperately wanted to feel good about it-but I couldn't. I still don't. I'm embarrassed. Don't write me off, ok? I know it's ridiculous to feel this way, I finished I frickin' marathon-but I didn't do it the way I wanted to nor the way I deserved. I knew I not only could do better, but I DESERVED to do better. Not four hours had passed after crossing the finish line, I had already registered for another. It couldn't go down like that. I couldn't sit on this time, even though I swore I'd never do it again around mile 24.



Logan took me to Red Robbin that night, I totally maxed on the biggest burger of my life and bottomless steak fries. We talked about the race, he told me he was proud and I attempted to be happy about. After passing out for a few hours, I woke up at 3am scarfed down an oatmeal cream pie and sat up in bed just thinking about everything. I went through every step of training. I identified some mistakes and evaluated what I needed to do better for my next one.



The next day: I woke up after a long night of sleeping, and much to my surprise I wasn't sore. Like at all. Except for my jaw. I guess I sucked too much-ha get it! No I actually clinched my jaw through the whole race, and it was sore. I made pancakes for breakfast, cleaned up and watched football with my family. Logan and I took Goliath to the dog park later that afternoon, and met with some friends. I did some light stretching, and taped up my blisters. I ate a ton at dinner that night-post race carb loading is just as important as pre-race carbo loading!



My finisher shirt!


The rest of the week: I took it easy for the rest of the week even if I didn't feel like I needed to. I went to yoga on Wednesday, and did lots of walking throughout the week. Friday, I went in for a deep tissue sports massage-and that was more painful than the actual race itself. Apparently, my lactic scars are pretty intense. The therapist worked the crap out of my calves. Hilariously, I was more sore from that than the race the next day. Saturday, I volunteered at a 5k/10k race and got all energized to run again.


I have a half marathon in less than a month, that I'll start "training" for today and I'm already plotting out the next six months of racing.



After this post, we'll get the 12DoGA back up and running!