Eugene Marathon Training Week 1 RUNdown 12/24-12/30

If there was a theme last week, it was probably ‘survival’. I knew it would be a super crazy week in both my office job and teaching skiing at the mountain, so I just wanted to fit my runs in regardless. I did manage to get them all in (besides cutting down Sunday’s scheduled 6 miles to 5.25 instead), so that’s a success. More runs were on the treadmill than I originally wanted, but it was COLD early in the mornings and since I had zero flexibility to run outside most days, it was indoors for my only option. Oh well- new year, new week right!?!

Monday, 12/24: 6.5 easy miles on the treadmill

Tuesday, 12/25: 6 Christmas miles easy 788’ up & strength

Wednesday, 12/26: REST DAY

Thursday, 12/27: 7 miles with 4 miles @ goal marathon pace (8:11) & strength

Friday, 12/28: 6 miles easy at 10:45 pace early

Saturday, 12/29: 8.15 miles easy @ 9:58 66’ up. I only planned for 6, but had the opportunity to run outside (despite the 15* temps) so I took advantage of it and went a bit longer!

Sunday, 12/30: 5.25 miles easy with incline varied 1% up to 5% and then worked my way back down to 1%. 10:10 avg pace & strength

Total mileage: 38.9 miles

Total Elevation: 825’ up

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How’s the weather where you are?!?

What’s the temperature outside where you decide to take it to the treadmill?

Goodbye 2018 & What I'm Most Looking Forward To In 2019!

Happy New Year! Did you stay up all night? We always make it to 12am EST (so 10pm our time) and then go to bed! We did celebrate with some pulled pork rice bowls for dinner and popcorn and some fresh baked cookies, but that’s about as crazy as it got around here. I also had the day off from teaching skiing yesterday (yay for first day off since Christmas Day!) and got to rearrange/ redecorate my ‘gym/office’!

ALSO I had the best chef’s salad on Saturday from Gondola Joe’s (located at the base of the ski resort) between teaching lessons. So amazing- definitely check it out if you come ski here!

I also celebrated yesterday with lots of kitty cuddles first thing in the morning. Heated blanket + coffee + kitties= purrrfect morning (see what I did there? ; ) …).

Looking back on my 2018 goals, I had a pretty great year!

• I ran a new marathon & 1/2 PR

• Raised $10,000 for MS

• Became an ultramarathoner

• Decluttered a lot of the spaces in our home

• Checked off one new race state

• Visited One New National Park

• While the beginning of the year I had trouble spending money on only needs, not wants- I feel like I did a much better job of it in Fall of this year

• I began crocheting again!

• I made two recipes from scratch

• I mostly incorporated yoga 1x/ week (sometimes I missed it, but overall much better than previous years!)

• Began journaling once a week!

Here are my 2019 goals!

• Work on owning my accomplishments and following my gut more. I really want to own everything that I’ve done thus far and to question myself less.

• BQ the marathon

• Run a sub 1:40 half marathon

• Run a 50 miler

• Save $5,000-$10,000

• Continue to purchase needs, not wants

• Crochet a blanket

• Run in one new race state

• Pay off one student loan

• Practice gratitude

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What are your 2019 goals?

How did you celebrate the New Year?!?

Feature Friday: TOP TEN POSTS IN 2018

Wohooo! We made it to Friday! Finally! I’ve got 6 easy miles on tap this morning and will be on the treadmill again since it’s going to be in the negatives (and I’m on Stella-duty early this AM before work). I’d also really love to skin up the mountain or go for a swim, but my schedule is pretty tight right now! Still a toss-up! I’d love to get in either one more hike session on the ski mountain or in the pool before we enter into 2019, but a new year is no reason not to make new goals and create new exciting schedules! Also did anyone else feel this way when getting a gift this Christmas (..obviously we feel this way on the inside because let’s still remain classy!).

This weekend is super busy for me with teaching skiing (tis the season), but it’s not so bad since I get to spend the entire day outside playing in the snow! I also have Monday (NYE) completely off, which is really exciting. I can’t wait! I have a million things I’d like to get done and will probably only get to like two of them. Ha. Anyone else think like this with to-do lists and days off?!? I’m all gung-ho until it’s the actual day-off and then I’m honestly pretty lazy! Let’s get to my top ten most-viewed posts this year!

Top 10 Posts in 2018!

10. The Post Where I Shared What My Training Will Look Like For Eugene Marathon!

9. The Post Where I Recapped My First Day of my MS Run The US Relay Segment #7 Where I Ran Up And Over Rabbit Ears Pass!

8. The Post Where I Describe What I’m Doing This Weekend In Memes

7. The Post Where I Share How I Fundraised $10, 581 for MS Run The US!

6. The Post Where I Share The Article On My MS Run The US Journey from The Summit Daily

5. The Post Where I Talk About The Importance Of Courage & Taking Time For Yourself

4. The Post Where I Share The Top 5 Songs On My Playlist Right Now

3. The Post Where I Share My Goals For MS Run The US Relay

2. My Entire Compilation of MS Run The US

1. Sharing My Tips To Mentally Crush That Last 10k of a Marathon!

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-Three things you’re doing this weekend?!? —> teaching skiing, running 6 miles, doing some yoga!

-What are your favorite memories/ experiences from 2018?

-Give me some of your GOOD NEWS! I love to spread good news and would love to hear what yours is!

Top 3 Books I Read in 2018!

Happy Friday-eve! I am so glad today is Thursday. It’s the end of the year, which means absolute craziness at work at the moment and I cannot WAIT until Friday night when our year will be over (in terms of work, I mean). Anyone else feel this way when it comes to work & end of the year tasks? Phew. It really is exhausting! I’m getting to the gym early this morning so I can get my run & strength in early before getting into work early as well. Trying to finish out the year AND month strong!

OK so you probably already know that I set this goal to read 12 books in 2018 and I surpassed it (currently at 18 for the year)! SO I figured I would give you my top 3 favorite books I read this and would LOVE to know what the top three favorite books you read this year were!

3. North by Scott Jurek & Jenny Jurek- This book was incredible. Reading more about Scott’s journey and his development with running gave me so much more respect for him and I also could relate to him a lot. It resonated with me on so many levels how he started running because of his mother’s MS and how that was a big push for him to find new challenges. I also really loved his book Eat & Run. Both are excellent reads.

2. Let Your Mind Run by Deena Kastor- This book was amazing and I will absolutely be re-reading here shortly when I’m in the thick of marathon training. I love her tips and tricks for long runs, approaching running in a new viewpoint and challenging herself when things got tough. I honestly feel like I need to take notes when reading this because it was THAT GOOD.

1. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. I LOVE LOVE LOVED this book. I really cannot recommend it highly enough. To put it over Deena Kastor’s book is pretty high (it’s honestly a tie for me, but this one had that extra suspense throughout it because I didn’t know his story). I would love to read this book again right before traveling to Eugene because it’s got so much great history about Nike & Nike HQ & its beginning. I honestly had no idea half of what happened to the business and while I don’t necessarily support its practices now (being such a large chain and all), I completely respect the entrepreneurial spirit of this book.

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What books were your favorite reads of the year?

End of the year- what are you most looking forward to on NYE & in 2019?

Any big plans for New Years?!? —> we always go to bed early, but I think we’ll try doing an ‘appetizer’ dinner for something fun!

Last weeks training RUNdown 12/16-12/23

This long weekend went by way too fast. Anyone else feel this way?! I also feel that we should have an extra week or two between Christmas & New Years. Two holidays so close together just makes this week pass by way too fast. Last night we continued my family’s tradition of Italian food on Christmas Day- I made homemade Chicken Parmigiana and it was incredible.  

Then we proceeded to eat our weight in homemade Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. Warm cookies fresh out of the oven is my favorite.  

Also we did both cross country AND alpine skiing yesterday?!? We decided to start with a cross country ski on our lake trail (normally they groom it, but they didn’t yesterday).  

Then we decided to skin up the ski mountain that is basically right out our doorstep. I’m not sure when exactly, but someone created the ski area (with lifts and set trails) here at Stagecoach- unfortunately it never actually opened! Fortunately for us, it isn’t open and we are able to hike up it and ski down with basically fresh tracks. It really blows my mind that it took us two years to finally find this trail to hike up.  

We both definitely got spoiled with some amazing gifts yesterday and also really looking forward to spending some money that I got on some new running gear!  

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Monday, 12/17- 5 miles easy at 8:38 60’ up. Originally this was supposed to be an easy 6 mile run, but I only had a short amount of time and decided why not make it a fun little temp-ish run. It was nice to run “faster” again! First time since Vegas!  

Tuesday, 12/18- 6.04 miles easy with 360’ up & 30 minutes of strength in the morning!  

Wednesday, 12/19: Rest Day! 

Thursday, 12/20: 6 miles easy with middle three miles at goal marathon pace (8:40, 8:21, 7:59). 10 minutes of strength  

Friday, 12/21- Skin up the ski mountain & 5 miles easy afterwards at 9:44 84’ up. This was probably one of the coldest runs I’ve done (4* out?!?) and I’m honestly pretty proud of that. I survived!  

Saturday, 12/22- 7 miles easy @ 11:06 625’ up & yoga. I’m trying to listen to my body more and slow down on my runs when I feel like I need it. No shame in slowing that pace down!  

Sunday, 12/23: 4.25 miles with alternating the incline from 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5% and back down . 9:56 pace & 30 minutes of strength. All done after teaching skiing all day! Pretty happy that I still managed to get it done despite being tired (also my butt was SO SORE the next day!)  

Total Mileage: 33.29 miles  

Total Elevation: 1,129’ up 

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How was your Holiday? 

Favorite homemade cookie?!? 

Favorite trail running shoe- I need some recommendations!