What on earth was I thinking?!?

I decided last week to actively train for a half marathon. So Sunday morning I got up and ran 3.2 miles (schedule called for 3). I felt a little tender on Monday since I hadn't run in 10+ days. The schedule called for strength training on Monday, so I did 2 sets, 20 reps of chair squats, back lunges and side lunges (combined with various arm movements - bicep curls, laterals and something I can't think of the name for). Then, yesterday morning before my doctor's appointment, I thought it would be a good idea to follow the schedule and get in my 2.5 mile run, so I did a 2.8 mile loop.

I now want to hack my legs off. They hurt SO badly. I know eventually this level of soreness will go away. I just wish it would go away now. If anyone has any recommendations for stretches (particularly quads) or treating the soreness, I'd LOVE to hear them! Off to take a bunch of advil...

In an effort to blog more often...

I'm going to add some of my randomness. For those of you who know me, this shouldn't be a surprise. :P

For Christmas 2006, my awesome husband got me an ipod nano (LOVE!) and gym membership. I was about halfway to my goal weight at the time. (I started the weight watchers program 2 years ago and lost a little over 100lbs. If you're interested in seeing before and/or during pics, leave me a comment!) Well, last fall my dad got me into running. I now love to run. This morning was a great example... I did NOT want to go out. Ugh. I felt tired and blah. I really wanted to go back to bed. But earlier this week my dad, aunt & I had a private running lesson. We learned a TON. Anyone else out there have a problem with dorsiflexing? Dad and I sure did! I made myself go because I wanted to practice what I learned. And now I feel great. Running rocks.

Well, this last Christmas, my husband surprised me with the Nike+ for my ipod to keep track of my runs. Sometimes it doesn't work as well as I'd like, but it gets the job done. I have a route that I run regularly and I know it is 4 miles. (My Nike+ has given me distances as close as 3.93 and off as 3.79. I've learned to let it go.) For fun, here's a little something from the Nike+:

Pretty cool huh? Yes, that's the 4 mile route, so my time was even better than it calculates. YEAH!

And we dashed!

Sunday, March 16th kicked off with the St. Pat's Dash here in Seattle. I dashed with my dad and my aunt. My dad and I finished with the same time - 37 minutes, 41 seconds, my aunt was about 40-60 seconds behind. Slow poke! :P The dash is 3.58 miles from the north side of Key Arena, hooks around until you're running south on Hwy 99 in the NORTH bound lanes. That was a little freaky. You run through the Battery St Tunnel (yes, lots whooping and hollering), down the viaduct to Qwest Field. I enjoyed the run immensely. I'm very happy with my time (averaging about 10:31/mile) and I only walked for maybe one minute. Sweet! Anyway, here are some pics my dear brother snapped for us after the dash.

The three of us together.

Tired Rebecca!

Rhonda two fisting the water. ;)

Adam had to get a shot of the guy cruising around with beer on his back.

The dash was a lot of fun, I'm hoping we'll all do it again next year!