Our Wisconsin Weekend & The Haunted Hustle 10K Race Recap

This past weekend, Harry and I hit up the state to our north, the land of beer, cheese, and Packers fans for the Haunted Hustle!

Saturday morning, we head out to a trail that was a few minutes away from our hotel for a shakeout run.  Wisconsin never disappoints when it comes to running/walking trails!

There was a Little Free Library at the trailhead, and I saw some pretty good reads in there!  Can you spy a Matt Fitzgerald book?:)

We took off and settled into a good pace.  It was actually quite warm at this point (ehhhh, 75*F or so).  I don't know about you, but it's been a little aggravating seeing so many gorgeous fall colors happening and no cool weather to pair it.:\

I.e.

I had one more mile on the agenda than Harry, so I took a different route after we hit his mileage.  This trail had planks the whole way.

Kinda beautiful.

Without hesitation, we hit up a pub in Madison for a burger...

...and fried cheeeese curds!<3

I need this sign in my life.

ohmygosh@my burger.  It was so stinkin' good.

Harry's was pretty legit, too.

Also, I love how we could care less about whether or not we offend people with our running smells... (we didn't really smell that badly, but still)

PACKET PICKUP!  It was a little expo with some local goods/love/sponsors and the essentials.

We hung out for the rest of the day, getting homework/work done and just relaxing.

Race day -- the Half Marathon began at 9:00am, and the 10K at 9:30am.  Ummmm, that's pretty awesome.  I was *really* worried that I was wearing the wrong apparel.  I had figured that it was going to be cooler (and that 75*F run the day before was messing with me).  It turned out that I was wearing the perfect gear for this day -- gloomy and drizzly, and 53*F at the start.

We made it out to the race site and everything was so neatly placed and organized.  The race announcer was entertaining, and of course, there were a ton of really awesome Halloween costumes being worn.  I've never worn a costume for a race, and I wasn't about to start on this day.  Maybe some other time...(?)

SNAPCHAT RACE SELFIE.

We took off right on time (yaaaaay!) and I started to gauge where I was at, pace-wise.  I didn't really have a plan for this; if anything at all, I figured it'd just be a long run.  Technically, I haven't run this distance in quite some time.  I'm *STILL* working on a base and trying to maintain it while staying healthy (we'll talk about that in the next post).  I realized I was running at an 8:40 pace at mile one, figured that felt kind of good, and decided to stick with it for at least the first half of the 10K.

I hit the 5K mark at 27:27 -- about an 8:42 pace.  I restarted my watch and started to take it easy.  Three+.1 quick miles was enough for me.

Though I didn't take it as easy as I thought I would.  This race claims to hold a fast, flat 5 and 10K -- mehhhhh I wouldn't call this "flat", but I also wouldn't call it "hilly".  It had many rollers, some gentle, some were a little harsh.  I honestly THOUGHT about slowing down, and really tried to.  For about a mile and a half, I was drafting one guy who probably thought I was a jerk.  I wasn't trying to be rude, dude...I just liked your pace!

I just eased back into my pace and enjoyed the scenery.  A lot of the race was on trails, which were littered with dead, crunchy leaves, and surrounded by beautiful colors and foliage.  The drizzling rain was still going, but it was off and on.  It felt nice, but not when it affected the surface of the little bridges on the trail -- they got extra slick.

A downpour started around mile 4 -- that was interesting.  I felt my left foot flip quickly (turnover) while going over one of the bridges and realized that I needed to move my gait forward to keep from falling.  A few puddles and a couple more miles later, and I was done.  The second half of the 10K left me at 28:03 -- not the biggest difference, but with a total time of 55:39 (just under a 9:00 pace), I was pretty pleased with myself.

The post-race party was a blast!  They had a ton of salty snack foods, bananas, oranges and water -- they were very generous with all of it.

I got back to the car and told Harry how the race went.  In true form, my husband pointed out that I still have that *grrrr* in me.  And he's right (don't tell him I said that, though).  I do have the *UMPH* in me -- the thing that pushes me to run until my heart feels like it's going to explode, to run through the feeling of my legs about to fall off (lol I know they won't), and my lungs slightly singeing.  I've been wondering where it went, but it's still there!<3

Now that I've found that little chunk that I feel has been missing, I'm looking forward to more purposeful training.  Before, I felt so *blah* with putting each foot forward.  I feel like I was --MAKING-- myself get out there, having to give myself pep talks, getting pep talks from my husband, and *WOO WOOs* from Windy (her version of a pep talk).

My regularly scheduled training is back in full effect.:)
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Where was your last trip?  Road trip?


There are so many awesome Fall season shows on right now!  What's your fave?
ME:

Do you have any Fall or Winter races coming up?
(Ugh, that reminds me -- I gotta update that page!:)

Impress Yourself

I did Yoga Wednesday morning.  It was humbling.  How is that even possible?  #PlotTwist

The truth is, while being injured, I figured that any movement may have caused my injury, so I skipped most of those movements.  Yoga, swimming (yup, even swimming), running, and cycling (for the most part) were out of the picture, as per my podiatrist.  Even the elliptical was iffy.   I didn't get the green light to do anything for about six months (about four months longer than I had anticipated/was told when deciding on the path of recovery by the podiatrist).  I did jump on the bike after getting the go-ahead, and while my motivation was high, I felt weak.  Pretty weak.

It's not like we don't all go through this phase at varying times in our training.  We could see this as an "off" day, a tough workout, an "I don't wanna/I'll find any excuse not to...", an acclimation, etc.  Sometimes being taken back to the very beginning is just what we need.  I have the knowledge of being at square 10+, but the fitness level of (what I would consider, in comparison to my former fitness level) square one.

Silver lining:  I really know what it takes to get back to where I was.

My ultimate goal at this very moment is to get back into shape, the fit shape that I know.  I have bigger/crazier goals than this, ones that scare the crap out of me, but we can talk about those later.  I'm not even sure how they're going to come about, but they will.

So for the first time, I peeked through my old Instagram.  "I used to do that!", "I was so on!", "How did I do that?!" = all of the phrases that rolled through my brain as I looked at numbers, Yoga poses, and finish times.  I impressed myself; well, to be more specific, my current self was impressed with my former, fitter self. 

Do you ever do that?  It's kind of fun to look back on one great time, a beautiful finish, a perfect day, and realize that it was the BEST.  I even found inspirational quotes and memes that made me smile.  While I was trying to motivate others at the time, I didn't realize that I would eventually need them for myself. 

For example

#Pride and #Faith. From #RevRunWisdom

A post shared by Tiffany (@thechiathlete) on Jul 28, 2014 at 8:07am PDT

Well this is enough babble for one day.  Thanks for settling in while I work through my thoughts and feelers on all of this.  It takes a while for me to process things, especially when those things have affected me this much.  I get to run a pretty fun 10K this morning here in Madison, WI.  Here's to one run closer to my goals, and impressing myself once more.:)

@hauntedhustle 10K tomorrow morning! Looks to be a gorgeous day.🎃❤️🏃🏼‍♀️ #hauntedhustle #runhappy #brooksrunning #runWI . . . . #sweatpink #fitapproach #fitfluential #girlsgonesporty #running #10K #runchi #runchat #werunsocial

A post shared by Tiffany (@thechiathlete) on Oct 21, 2017 at 6:38pm PDT

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Tell me about a time you impressed yourself!  The more positive, awesome things, the better!


Training for today?  Long run?  Relaxing?


BIG PLANS FOR THIS WEEK?!  
Rocking it out = Definitely on my list!

I've faced tougher times...

True story:  This is the third time I've written this post.  Blogger must be hungry.🙅

The past month has been the busiest I have been in a looooong time.  There was something, or several things, each and every single day (even weekends).  We're talking grades, coordinating track and field and soccer events and teams for my Network, lesson plans, Field Day, fundraising event, Sophia, my own [grad] classes, end of school year stuff, and puppy contracts.

The below picture is a wonderful visual representation of how I've been dealing with all of it.  Stressed, exhausted, confused, ignoring simple things (i.e. plucking my eyebrows or getting my hair taken care of), and barely holding it together.  Bottom line:  I haven't been taking care of myself.  My WHOLE self.

But whatever.  There's a cute Husky sleeping in the background.

P.S.  Don't worry:  I did put on makeup when I had to be around other humans.  I trust that you won't take offense that I didn't gussy up for this.

The self-care part is the trickiest, but it's also the most meaningful:  I haven't been taking care of myself in several ways, including training consistently.   I have always been an athlete.  Not always a runner, but always someone who enjoyed the snot out of happy endorphins.  Somehow, fitness and all things health-related went straight to the back burner when times got really tough.

 I have been inconsistent in training since...well...last year.  I miss taking care of my FIT self.  Skipping a workout before this injury was 95% out of the question; if I missed a training sesh, it was because I was sick or needed more rest.  I made time to train before exams, finals, work, meetings...everything!  I needed it, and nothing kept me from my joy.

Unfortunately for me, I have fallen out of the habit of attaining my joy.

Can I still run?  Yes (still thankful for every stride!).  Can I still ride?  Yes.  Lift?  Yoga?  Yes and yes. But do I lately?  No.  My motivation button seems to have been jammed.  I'm facing tough times in terms of my health and not maintaining it like I always have.

What I need to do at this very moment is to remember that I've faced tougher times...like running being taken from me...

I know what I need to do, and I'll go into that in another post.  What I have actively done is sign up for my first half marathon for 2017!  No worries -- I'm not out to PR, especially in the shape I'm currently in, going into training for that distance.  I'm all signed up for the Haunted Hustle in Madison, Wisconsin, set to go off October 21st.  Wanna come run with?!:)

Again, I'm not going to go HAM on this race.  I'll set a goal once I'm closer to race day, but for now, I'm going to ease back into a regular training plan.  Really, the race itself is just an end result to getting my joy back.

After all's said and done, I'm just like anyone else, and if I've had it once before, I can get it back.

So here we go.  Tiffany's finally ready to take care of her whole (fit) self.  The fit life is where it's at, man.  And I'm ready for it to be one of my biggest priorities again.

Are you pumped with me, friend?  This one's for you, ya' effin' rock star!  Go kick ass this week!

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Tell me about something that motivates you!