Crushed it.

I had my third 5k race this year today. I ran the local YMCA's 5k. 

So I forgot to take any pictures. Except of my socks..

Neon thorlo socks are the bomb, I'm telling ya.

I had three goals. 

1) Beat my previous 5k time (34:30)

2) Beat my Garmin 5k time of 32:11

3) Come in under 30 minutes.

I did all three of these things! 

Finishing Time: 29:33

Now this isn't fast to most people. My dad, who hasn't run for years, easily ran right along side me. I finished 5th in my age group. Of 6...

I know running is a "me" sport, where you are only competing against yourself, but it is difficult to never compare yourself to other runners. I train more than a lot of people and run a lot slower than them. Like, a lot. A whole lot.

But my wonderful boyfriend (more on him later!) put it in perspective for me. He said "Don't worry about what other people can or can't do. You still had fun doing it, and your goals are your goals, when you pass them, still be excited because you accomplished something you set out to do and you're one step closer to a minute faster." 

Sometimes we all need to take a step back and stop comparing ourselves to others. I'm going to try to focus on my accomplishments, not other people's. 

Why I am amazing: A selfish rant about what I CAN do and not what I can't.

1. In February, I couldn't run half a mile without stopping. With the help of couch25k, I can now run an entire 5k! That was only four months!

2. In April, I had a bad 5k, and started off way too fast. My time was 36:07. That means, in less than 2 months, I was able to shave over 6 and a half minutes off my 5k time.

3. In the months since I started running, I have noticed positive changes in my body, in my energy levels, and most importantly in my happiness and my confidence. To me, that is the most important thing about running.

So I guess you could say, with this 5k, that I crushed it.

Okay I need this shirt from old navy. Except there were only mediums and it was so long.

I got some sports bras & shorts though. Active sale for the win.

How was your Sunday? How do you focus on your goals and not other's times?

~Emily

FlipBelt- A review.

1 day of finals down. Officially done with chemistry! (: 2 days left to go....

Recently I decided it was time to get rid of my ugly $7 fanny pack from TJMaxx and upgrade to a FlipBelt. 

I had read reviews online, and decided it was the best option for me. I saw that they carried them in a small store near me, so I went to try them on. 

Now, I like to wear my running belts really low on my hips. It is most comfortable to me that way. So the small didn't fit, that would have fit my waist but not my hips. However, they were all out of mediums :( so I got a large instead. 

Why are these pictures all funky ah

So much better than the ugly fanny pack. Flipbelt works because it is stretchy and has slits for you to put your stuff in. You can either keep the slits facing out or flip the belt to secure your belongings.

Putting my insulin pump in!

I keep my insulin pump, glucose gel (for low blood sugar) and my iphone (with it's huge otterbox case) in my running belt.

 It stayed put all through my (short) run. (Only 2.5 miles today.)
All in all, I love it! It was definitely worth the $28.


What do you use to carry your stuff when you run?

~Emily

Lazy Monday.

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone is enjoying their day off. Let's not forget to honor those who served our country.

Yesterday, I had a 5 mile run on the training plan. I was not in the mood! My boyfriend, Andrew, was supposed to meet me for 3 of the miles but he backed out. :(

However, I got my butt up and went for it anyways. And guess what? It was great!!

After 5, I was feeling great, so I decided to throw in another mile. Doing 6 miles by myself  wasn't so much physically challenging, since I was going very slow. (yeah, 11:45/mile average pace..) It was mentally challenging! I had to keep motivating myself. I am so glad I did it though.

When I got home, I realized I should have done another .19 miles so it would have counted as a 10k :( Oh well. It was  PR nonetheless!

I was SO HUNGRY for the rest of the day. I don't know if I have ever been that hungry in  my life! Oh well. I think I earned it (;

Homemade granola bars! These things are THE BEST!!

I had tried out a recipe from Sally's baking addiction. Try it now. It is seriously the most amazing thing you will ever taste! I edited it a bit, adding peanuts instead of cranberries and raisins. It was super-duper easy. Took like 10 minutes. These things are the best, I'm telling you, go make them now.

Now today is rest day. Today I do laundry and study (FINALS FINALS AH). I need to remember a semester worth of spanish.. I barely remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday. Wish me luck! (;

When are your finals? Have you ever made granola bars?

~Emily

A first for everything.

Happy Tuesday! How was your day?

I had a long day. After an exhausting orchestra practice I just wanted to go home. When I got home I had a terrible stomach ache. I don't know what happened, but I could barely move for two hours. Miraculously, I managed to feel better and go for a run!

I had a quick 2 mile run. I had planned to do 3 but I was just over 300 (high blood sugar-not my day!) when I left so I decided to take it easy.

I didn't really take it easy. I pushed it and did the 2 miles in just over 19 minutes! That may not be fast to you but it is fast to me considering my blood sugar. (my fastest 5k was 33 minutes)

Yay for getting faster! Weekend 5 mile runs do help, don't they? (;

Sunset runs are the best.

So something strange happened on my run today.
A cop pulled me over (? can that even happen to a runner or..) when I was running!!
After a temporary mental freak out (I don't break laws!!) I realized he just wanted to ask me a question. Apparently there was a disoriented man wandering the neighborhood. How weird! I live in a very safe neighborhood. The only time the police is ever around the neighborhood I run is to give speeding tickets to people trying to get to school on time at the High School.

How weird.

One last thing..

Guess what I found on groupon today... This looks like so much fun!!

Should I do it? An 8k would be fun! (: I just don't know how my crazy lab would react to all those other dogs. She is a big scaredy cat.

Sophie!!

-Emily
Have you ever been pulled over by a police officer while running?
How do you deal with high blood sugars on a run?

Recovery Plan

I am currently recovering from a very bad cough/cold/fever that I had for about a week. It really messed up my training, and even though I have been better for the past five days, it has really interfered with running. I have to stop and cough up icky stuff about three or four times during a quick 2 mile run- and I cough for about an hour afterwards. I have noticed my mile time has decreased by about a minute and I am just so much more worn out since being sick.

I just need to get back into things.


Two week training plan:
             Mon     Tues     Wed     Thurs       Fri          Sat        Sun            Total

One	2 miles DONE!	Rest	Rest	2.5 miles DONE!	Rest	3 miles	2 easy miles	9.5 miles
Two	2.5 miles	Rest	3 miles	Rest	4 miles	2 easy miles	Mother's day 5k RACE!	14.5miles

I'm struggling to figure out how to schedule my runs with that 5k race in there. If I'm feeling good, I may just do the 4 mile run this Saturday so I can go all out in the 5k.

5k Goals:
My ultimate goal would be to run the 5k in 33 minutes. However, I have promised to run with a friend on our fundraising team, so I will stick with her and she has been sick too (how ironic!) so she may be going slower than her usual. I'm really just looking to have fun in this race!


Happy Thursday!

Emily

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Not my photo

This picture was taken near my house. This morning, Chicago got the most crazy rain. I don't know if flooding has ever been this bad in the town I live in. It surely hasn't in my lifetime. School was canceled and I am stuck in my house all day. I hope everyone is okay. It seems like it's just one thing after the other these days. Terrible things. There have been a lot of deaths due to trains where I live recently, and then the horrendous news of the Boston marathon bombing, and now this flooding.
I don't know what to say, I really don't. We just need to keep moving. Keep running. Stay positive.

Needless to say, I won't be using my early birthday gift anytime soon...

MY NEW BABY <3

 I have done a 4 mile long run on this and a 3 miler too. I LOVE IT. I have nothing but good things to say about the Forerunner 10 and the garminconnect website! Thanks mom (:

I had nothing to do so I ate lunch at 10:00... Oops. At least it was a Eat Clean meal!

Today, school was cancelled because of the weather, so I have taken advantage of the lazy day to catch up on blogs and friends, and now to blog. Looks like I won't be running outside today. Yesterday I did Speed at the YMCA and today it looks like I will be lucky if I can even get to the YMCA at all!

I have plans to run a 10k on June 1st or June 2nd, and I am using this training plan from Women's Health. I love that it says intermediate, it makes me feel very proud of myself. (; I am on week 2 so far.

I run the Komen for the Cure 5k on Mother's day, so I am also hoping the training plan will help me achieve a faster time for that. Crossing my fingers for under 30:00!!


Have a thrilling Thursday!
I hope everyone is safe and well during these storms.

-Emily

A bad race.

Today, I ran my first 5k.
Or, I was supposed to.

I was really nervous this morning. I ate a rice cake with PB and drank lots of water.
I showed up and I was ready. I have trained for two months. I have run 3.8 miles before. I knew I could do it.

Before the race and ready to go!

I got off to a good start-but I ran too fast. Way too fast. I can't start out at a 7:30 miles.

I managed to slow myself down to an 8-9 minute mile, but then, at about mile 1.5, I got a cramp.

Now, when I get a cramp, I usually just take deeper breathes and slow down a bit and it goes away. No big deal, right? Well today, I slowed down and took deeper breathes- but the cramp kept getting worse. A lot worse. I was forced to walk- I tried all the usual techniques, like pushing on it, massaging it, taking deep breathes, stretching, but it just kept getting worse. I saw the mile 2 marker, and the time- 24:00.

I knew I couldn't run 1.1 miles in 6 minutes, and my cramp was still really terrible. I wanted to cry. I had worked so hard for this, and somehow I got a cramp today? How did it all disappear so fast?

 I managed to finally get rid of the cramp, but by that point, I was very discouraged, and it was past 30:00, my goal time. I ran the last half a mile, but by then it didn't matter.


I finished in about 36 minutes.

My goal time was 30 minutes.

I feel like I failed.


This was my first official 5k, and I had one goal- to finish, while running the whole way. I didn't complete that goal. This is really difficult for me. I failed.

The worst part is, I have run 3.1 miles before. I have run 3.7 miles before. According to my nike plus, I have run 3 miles in 28 minutes!

When I looked at my run on nike plus after the race, it shows that I ran 3.8 miles. I turned it on before the race started, and about two minutes after it ended, but I didn't get anywhere near .7 miles nike says I did.

This is really difficult. I thought I was running longer and faster than I was, for the past three weeks.

I am very disappointed in nike plus for having numbers that off. It is very discouraging for me as a runner.

I have another 5k on May 12th. I will run that one in under 30 minutes. I won't give up on myself or running. I love running- I just didn't love today.

Running: My journey so far.

Happy Easter everybody! Sorry I have been MIA for the past few weeks. Blogging has just taken a backseat to...well, life! I'm back though, and here is my running story.

I did it.

I ran 3 miles, without taking a single break to walk or rest.

I loved it.

Two months ago, if you would have told me I could run a 5k I wouldn't have believed it. I had written it down as a goal- but that's all it was. A goal, a dream. When I signed up for my first 5k and began the Couch 2 5k plan, I couldn't run half a mile! WOW that program works. I used the C25k app up until week 6, and then since it was just running miles, I decided to (loosely) do the same thing on my own. 

Only went to Week 6 on the app.... But I did the rest on my own (;

I ran up through Week 6 on a treadmill at the local YMCA. It was just way too cold in the Illinois weather (and sometimes too snowy!) to comfortably run outside. I highly recommend starting on a treadmill! While it is boring, you can watch TV or get some reading done during the early weeks of the Couch 2 5k program. It is also nice to know how many miles you did-so you can brag to all your friends (;

For the past week, with temps in the 40's, I've gotten the chance to run outside. WOW, it's a little bit harder! However, I discovered, much to my surprise, that I love road running. I love smiling at people, feeling the breeze, and the sense of accomplishment that doesn't come from the treadmill. I see why people call it the Dreadmill now...

When I ran those three miles, I pushed past the little voice telling me to slow down or walk, to cut out the last part of my run, and I just did it. I believe they call the feeling I experienced a runner's high. I felt like I was on top of the world. When I looked down at my ipod (I have been running with nike+) and saw 3.02 miles and 28 (TWENTY EIGHT!!!) minutes, I was ecstatic! I have never run that fast in my entire life. I had beat my goal pace for the Mother's Day 5k on the very first time I ran a 3 miler!

I think you can say that I have officially fallen in love with running. (:

My running shoes!<3

My first official 5k is the Sprint for Spastics and it is a week from today- I am so pumped.
I'm hoping to come in under 30 minutes, and that 3 mile run makes me very confident in that goal (:

Wish me luck!!

-Emily