Life's Short. Run Fast.

Well, well, well. Here we are at the end of September. Time sure flies when you're having fun, right? Are we having fun yet? I celebrated a birthday on Monday and hell no, I'm not telling you how old I am. Because you're only as old as you feel and I'm feeling pretty good right now. Knock wood. What a difference a year makes. 

My husband and I also celebrated an anniversary. 32 years! We don't really celebrate anymore but he bought a nice bottle of wine and cooked a yummy dinner for me. 

We've been fortunate here in the Midwest to be enjoying an amazing stretch of weather. With October knocking on the door, I know that the warm weather is going to end soon. It helps me to be outside.  It's been a really tough week for me--some personal stress along with the ongoing COVID battle and continued unrest in our country. I'm so grateful for running. It truly has been my therapy. 

Weekly Rundown

Monday: CrossFit with a timed 1 mile run

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: Trail run 6 miles

Thursday: Strength training, 800m run

Friday: Run 5.5 miles

Saturday: Run 8 miles and yoga with Adriene

Sunday: rest

Running

On Monday, I not only celebrated a birthday, I got a gift of a very speedy (for me) one mile run at CrossFit. The first part of the WOD was a timed mile. Sammy Jo led us through a warm up and sent us off down the road. I knew after the first 200m that this was going to be a good run. I kept a nice steady pace; turned around at 800m and ran back to the box, Sammy Jo shouting encouragement. My Garmin had me at 7:40 for that run. I was ecstatic! I don't think I've run a sub-8 mile since training for my last Chicago marathon in 2015. A lot has changed for me since then--menopause and RA--but it sure was nice to know that I still have some speed in these old legs! 

Wednesday's run was on the trails. I hadn't done a trail run for a few weeks, focusing on getting ready for my last half marathon. I've got another one coming up in a week, but I'm done training for it. The trails were dry and the roots were very prominent on the single track. Everything is turning golden and brown and I enjoyed a lovely hybrid run/hike of 6 miles. Can this weather stay forever?

On Friday morning, I woke up very early after a sleepless night. I laced up and hit the bike bath for a nicely paced 5.5 miles, catching a gorgeous sunrise! This run set a very nice tone for my day and I carried that with me. 

Saturday's run was an 8 miler using 4 min/30 sec run/walk intervals. The sunshine and warm temperatures, as promised by the weatherman, never materialized. It was damp and chilly, but I felt ok and finished with a decently paced 9:50 m/m run. My SI joint was really hurting, both during the run and after, so I did a Yoga for Back Pain class with Adriene. I felt amazingly better after that. So I tackled my kitchen, cleaning and polishing the cabinets and washing the floors. Old school, on my hands and knees. Hence, the rest day on Sunday. 

CrossFit/Strength

After the excitement of my mile run (see above), it was hard to settle in for the MetCon. We did an EMOM of pistol squats (I squatted to the low box), burpees, and pull ups (I used a band). Sammy Jo switched out my band on the pullups to a more difficult one. I was able to do 5 strict pullups with each EMOM. Getting stronger!

When you share a birthday with this cutie, you hug him!

For Thursday's strength sesh, I wore my deadlift shirt because Sammy Jo told me we'd be deadlifting. She had me do tempo deadlifts, 4 sets of 3 with a 5 second decline. They were heavy-145#! I alternated those with front rack lunges, 3 sets of 12. Prior to that I warmed up with 3 sets banded side steps and box step ups using 25# dumbbells in each hand. I finished with some ab work. 

 

As seen on the run...

Running on the trails this year has given me a whole new appreciation for nature and has been one of the silver linings of 2020. With fall closing in, I wanted to share some of the sights from my runs this week. 

This giant wasp nest was hanging from a thin branch!

The dry fall weather has exposed a lot of roots, making my trails very techinical.

This hawk, looking for dinner on the golf course

How was your week? Any fun running surprise? Any wins? Are you ready for fall? Doing any fall cleaning? Any fun nature sightings for you this week?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.