First World Problems: Thankful Things Thursday Edition

Someone brought cookies to the office and I have no self-control. We're still not through all the leftover Easter candy that's been brought to the office. But I am thankful that the cookies are delicious.

My arms are super sore from Monday night's Body Sculpt class. (Yes, on Thursday.) I can barely lift my arms! This better result in a disappearance of my arm flab. Pain is beauty! I mean, strength! Strong is the new sexy! I'm thankful for my (future) strength!

I can't find anywhere to get falafel within walking distance of my office. Come on! This town borders the Chicago city limits! Make with the falafel already! But I'm thankful there is a Naf Naf Grill within driving distance.

Related to that, I'm spending way too much money on lunch. Especially considering there is a Trader Joe's within walking distance. New plan: go to Trader Joe's every Monday and stock up on lunch supplies for the week. This will easily cut my lunch spending in half. And probably also cut my portion sizes in half.

Everyone in my office is getting sick. I DO NOT WANT TO GET SICK. I'm thankful that my version of "sick" is a mild cold.

Our desk jobs are killing us. We've all heard the horrors of sitting at a desk all day. (And this infographic truly treats it as a horror.) I'm thankful that I have my own office and enough desk space to create my own "standing desk" arrangement -->

I'm thinking about moving my blog to WordPress. Not really a "problem," but ... just throwing it out there. In case you're curious why, for one thing, I keep hearing that it's the "better" blog platform, so I want to see if that's true. Additionally, since I work in online marketing, and part of my job occasionally includes blogging, I should probably know how to use the #1 blog platform. If anyone has experience moving from Blogger to Wordpress (especially if you have your own domain) and has any tips, let me know.


Don't forget: Runner Photo Challenge!

Runner Photo Challenge: Memorabilia From Your Favorite Race

Just for funsies ... I'm starting a Runner Photo Challenge. We all like to run, and we all like taking pictures, why not combine the two? Also this could make for easy blog fodder when you (and I) can't come up with a good topic for a post. 

Sort of related ... has anyone else seen Yes Man?
And did it totally make you want to start a Running/Photography Club? Just me? 

How the Runner Photo Challenge will work (I'm kind of making this up as I go along) ...

1. Each week I'll suggest a new photo challenge. It will be running related. (Unless I run out of ideas ... get it? Run out of ideas?) It might be really specific (like the first one - see end of this post). Or it might be more vague and open to interpretation. 
2. If you want to participate, sometime within that week, take a photo that fits the theme of the challenge (or find a past photo that you've taken or has been taken of you). 
3. Share the photo (and any related story or explanation).  How you share it is up to you. You can blog it, Facebook it, tweet it, post it to DailyMile, etc. If you would be so kind, please include a link back to this post. 
4. Share a link to your post with me - leave a comment with the link, or email the link to mag@magmilerunner.com, or tweet a link to @not_margaret, or post a link on the Mag Mile Runner Facebook page. 
5. If you don't want to share it elsewhere, you can also just email the photo (and related story/explanation) directly to me at mag@magmilerunner.com.
6. The following week, I will do a round-up post with everyone's photos (and related stories), and introduce the next week's photo challenge. 

Sound easy? I hope so. Sound interesting? I really hope so. If you have idea for future photo challenges, leave a comment. 

Some notes: You do not need to be a blogger to participate, but ideally you should be a runner (and by "runner," I mean that once in awhile you lace up a pair of shoes and put one foot in front of the other at a faster pace than you walk). You do not need to participate every week, just whenever you feel like it. There are no prizes for participating, other than fame, and even that is pretty questionable (I'm not Skinny Runner). You do not need to be a good photographer, and with apps like Instagram, any photo can look artsy and cool. 

That being said, here goes nothing: 

This week's photo challenge: A picture of memorabilia (bib, shirt, medal, trophy, etc - can be just one thing or multiple things) from your favorite race. Include an explanation of why it's your favorite race. 

Here's where I get nit-picky - only pick ONE race. I know we all have many favorite races for various reasons. Pick ONE. There will be future photo challenges (unless this is a fail). Also, the emphasis of the photo should be the memorabilia. For example, it can be a shot of you wearing your medal, but the emphasis should be on the medal. 

Send/share your photo & explanation, or a link to your photo & explanation, by end of the day on Monday, April 23 to be included in the photo challenge round-up next Tuesday. 

Training, April 9-15

Monday: 6 miles at 10:03 pace on a local hilly trail
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 6 miles at 9:33 pace with Kelly J. at a local forest preserve
Thursday: 6 miles at 9:27 with the FNRC, first mile with Kelly W.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rockdale Ramblin Run 10K, 44:52, 8:02 pace, 3rd in my age group!
Sunday: Rest

You can also follow me on DailyMile.

Total miles: 24.2

Thursday

Before the 10K

Obviously not running related but wanted to share another pic from Saturday night

Thoughts:

• I need to make strength training a part of my routine. Those rests days above? At least one of them should have been some kind of strength and/or core workout. This is the only part of my training that is not going as planned. I'm starting to get to a point in my running where my body is telling me I can't continue just on running alone. If I want to get faster and make 30+ weeks and 100+ mile months part of my routine, I need to be stronger overall. Especially with marathon training starting in less than two months. If anyone has any suggestions for runner-specific strength workouts, let me know. 
• With the exception of Monday, my paces this week were where I wanted them. Easy runs around 9:29 pace, if I did a tempo run this week, the tempo miles would have been around 8:03 and that was my pace for the 10K race. Although, if it had been a true tempo run, miles 1 and 6 would have been at my easy pace, but oh well, I'm competitive and it was a race. 
• I still need to get new shoes. But I also need to get new (non-running) pants. Hmm. Decisions. 

Good to know: I still know how to hang

My cousin's future wife's bachelorette party was last night.





It's not a fanny pack, it's a holster:



"Mr Stud" has been to a lot of bachelorette parties since 2003.





The bride-to-be and her "date"



The bride's future sis-in-law, my cousin and occasional half marathon partner.



We totally rode around all night in a hot pink stretch limo. I swear.



And we're totally in our pajamas.



This morning:






Also, yesterday I realized:

1) I need to actually go out and buy new clothes. That fit and are in style. Clothing swaps are fun, but my wardrobe is looking a little dated. And because I've lost weight, I'm running out of pants that fit.
2) My legs can propel me lots of miles, but they can't take high heels anymore. Good thing I have so many pairs of cute flats.
3) I'm glad to know I can still stay up past 3am once in awhile, even when I woke up at 6am for a race. Although I'll probably be asleep by 9pm tonight.

Race Report: Rockdale Ramblin Run 10K

This morning I ran my first 10K, a race billed as "the toughest 10K in the Midwest." Having no other 10K races to compare it to, I'll have to take their word for it. It was pretty hilly, by south suburban Chicago standards.

Going into the race, I thought a bit about my goals. I knew I would PR even if it took me two hours, but that's no fun, is it? I didn't look this up beforehand, but based on my Shamrock Shuffle 8K time from three weeks ago, the McMillan pace calculator predicted that I could finish a 10K in 49:53, an 8:01 pace. (I knew it was around 8 minutes, just didn't remember exactly.) Before the race, I told BFF Genevieve that my goal was to keep my heart rate around 173-176, and I would be happy to finish in under 50 minutes ... maybe 52. It was "tough," right? Plus I didn't know how to approach this race mentally. For 5K's, just push to almost-puke-speed and hold it. For races of 10 miles and above, keep it slow enough to not fall apart miles from the end. Where does a 10K fall?

Before the race with Genevieve

I won't go into a play-by-play breakdown of each mile. But it was a hilly race. (Again, for this area.) There were some uphills that were challenging (particularly one around mile 4 1/2), but the downhills were tricky too, especially the steep ones. Around the 3 mile mark I was definitely thinking "ugh I'm only halfway?"

The last turn put you on a straightaway to the end, you can see the finish line, but there was still over a half mile to go. I sped up, especially as I passed the 6 mile marker, and passed some people, and pushed myself to whatever sprint I could muster when a woman who could possibly be in my age group tried to sprint faster as I passed her right before the finish. (I crossed first.) It was a chip timed race, so who cares, but if I could push harder, why not? It is a race after all.

My official finish time was 49:52 ... one second faster than McMillan predicted. And under 50 minutes! So I was pretty happy. Once I caught my breath.

Post-race we met up with the other F'N Runners for some pictures.

Front: "This sh!t sucks! What time tomorrow?" 

Back: "F'NRC, Frankfort-New Lenox Running Club, Home of the Rucking Funners." 

By then they were starting the awards, so we stuck around. Of course I was hoping to place but I wouldn't have been surprised if I didn't. Turns out ...

Third place in my age group! Nicole got first in our age group, and was the second female overall!!

10K chip timed race, hoodie, finishers dog tag, beer post-race, coasters for AG winners
... not bad for $35 ($30 if you're a CARA member)

Officially

44:52, 8:02 pace

Overall: 139 / 562

Women: 19 / 288

F 25-29: 3 / 41