Jenn

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The Early Bird Runner

In I thought they said "rum" on November 27, 2012 at 8:29 am

I must confess, I have two running addictions –in addition to my running addiction.

Admission No. 1 – I use several different running tools while I run.

This may change since I just received a brand new Garmin 610 Special Edition but my main and favorite tool is the Runkeeper app on my phone. It has the best stats for a middle of the road runner like myself. I also recently became hooked on the Nike + app. While it is a more motivational tool for beginner runners, I do like some of their features.  One of which is their handy chart that tells me the time of day I tend to run.  Which leads me to my second addiction
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Admission No. 2 – I post a lot of sunrise photos on Facebook.

It just comes with the territory of being my friend on Facebook.  I run early, and like to post the view. Facebook is like my own personal memory book since I am terrible at keeping up with photos and diaries. I think my runner friends relate, the non-runner friends have either hidden my posts or have accepted it as a condition of staying friends on Facebook. 😉

Evening moon

But I had the rare occurrence of putting in an evening run the other night. I was pretty sick and I just could not last through a rigorous boot camp class. I saved any exercise for the evening when I could handle a light workout. Now, I am a big promoter of running safety so I swallow my disdain of treadmill running and head for the gym once it is dark.

Last night was a very cloudy and exceptionally dark evening despite the full moon.  As I left the gym, the moon peaked out through a small hole in the dark clouds and I had a opportunity to capture a moonrise.  And yes, I shared this with all my friends on facebook 😉

❤ Jennie

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Five runs in five states

In Exercise can't be this fun! on November 25, 2012 at 8:44 pm

Don’t let my lack of posting fool you, I have been a busy girl.  As I looked back at my last post date, I wondered myself what I have been up to. Then I realized, A LOT!

October was a low month for mileage for a couple of reasons. The first was that I was busy traveling. My sneakers went with me thousands of miles and to every major coast and a few stops in between.

First Stop…The Poconos

October kicked off with a quick run in the Poconos, PA. We were there for the big guys for 70.3 Half Ironman.  Not wanting to miss an opportunity to run in fall foliage in PA, I slipped on my running shoes for a quick two miles of hills.  The Poconos knows hills and unfortunately due to the remote location of our resort, I was confined to their parking lot and their entrance with a mamouth incline. Perfect for hill repeats.

Texas Quick Step

Twelve hours after arriving back home, I was on a plane to the great state of Texas for a business trip.  A tight work and travel schedule had me weary, but I was able to squeeze in a bout of sunset speed work one evening.  I was very thankful for an extremely flat terrain. No hills in Houston for sure!

New York State of Mind

I returned home for a week and volunteered at the Team in Training water stop for the Mohawk Hudson River marathon. I was signed up for the full marathon, but I cancelled after I received a last minute bib to the Nike Women’s half marathon. I could not pass up my dream event, nor handle several trips and two major events in 2 weeks.

I opted to volunteer at a water stop. Our water stop won best water stop! I think it was the tutu 😉 I must say, if you run you must take the opportunity to volunteer for a major running event once in your life. It is really an amazing experience to be on the other side of the event.

Team in Training Tutu

California Dreaming

A few days later, I was back on a plane. With two layovers in Chicago, I wish I had a little extra time to claim a run in the great state of Illinois, but I had bigger things to do. I was heading to California for one weekend to do one thing…run my DREAM race, the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. It really was one of the best moments in my entire life!!!

The Empire State

Finally I was back home, in my own comfy bed for a few days. With all my traveling during peak fall, I was convinced I was going to miss the best fall foliage runs. But New York held out and I was home for the best of it. Meanwhile, I was struggling with a horrible pain in my foot.  It was beginning to put a damper on my running. Yet I managed to get in two back to back long runs before it did me in.

 

 

Yup, I can squeeze in one more…

Well, somehow the big guy ended up with a bib to the Marine Corp marathon. I did my dream event, why not let him have his dream event, right? So we headed off to D.C. to squeeze in one trip to close out October. Now by this time, my foot hurt so bad, I could barely walk. A trip the morning of our departure to the doc revealed plantar fasciatis. So no running for me, until a visit to the PT when I arrived back. I still brought my lovely pink sneakers and took them on a stroll around the National Mall.

And that my friends concludes October with 50 miles, 5 states and one pair of shoes.

❤ Jennie

PS. I will update this post soon with more details on some of these awesome trips 🙂

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Why I run

In Bucket Goals on September 21, 2012 at 9:02 pm

I am an organizer for a marathon/half marathon training program. As we near the end of the season, I sometimes struggle to find the right topic that is relevant and motivational.  This week I seemed to touch the right nerve in myself and a few others. I received the most positive comments about the newsletter. So I thought I would post it out here for posterity.  Note, it was written with small kiddos jumping all over me, preparing for school/work and participating in their normal am shenanigans.  But somehow with its imperfections in grammar and punctuation, it came out perfect.  Given the chance to re-read and correct, I may never have hit send.

Race day swag

Why I Run – USA Fit Albany Newsletter for September 21, 2012
“Race season is here! As you can see by the photo above, I have expanded our closet. The Palio does not pass out medals (which I knew about ahead of time), but it reminds me of the topic of the week..”why we run”.

I am a big medal junkie! I myself just booked a whirlwind last minute trip to run in the Nike Women’s Half marathon. Nike magically opened up bibs on Monday and after 5+ years of trying I got it. It is a dream event for me for several reasons, one of which is that the medals are necklaces packaged in perfect Tiffany boxes and handed out by fire fighters in tuxedos on silver platters. But as I was frantically booking my dream running trip across the country it sort of hit me, “why is this a dream to me”.  Anyone who knows me, knows I would run 100 miles for a one of a kind designer item.  And I run even harder and farther for an event that supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (like this one does). But that is not why I started running. I did not start running for the medals.  After all, it would be cheaper for me to drive to Tiffany’s in NYC and buy my own necklace. I did not set my goals for a marathon or half marathon for the swag.

I have my own personal reasons why I run, why I keep going, why I sign up for event after event.  The medals are great, but they are all sitting in my basement collecting dust.  I run for me. I run to be healthier, to keep my sanity living with three males, to have a goal, to do something others most others have not, to do something hard, to constantly improve,  I run because I want to see what my body can do (instead of what it can’t), to help others, to see things in the world others will miss, to enjoy the fresh air, to tell my children and grandchildren stories of accomplishment, to be me.”

So remember as you approach your event, to have fun and run for your reasons. It is your own two feet. Your event may or may not go the way you want it to. But remember, you have done the hard work. As Jenika said this week the “hard part is over, now its fun, what would you tell that person you were back in April who was not sure they could do x”.  We think there will be a lot of positive things you can say. We think you would tell them,  you will accomplish so much, GREAT JOB!”

❤ Jennie

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