Yes I’m pretty excited about how today’s 8 miles went!

I even got bonus miles, and had a pretty great pace going at the end of the run!  The knee felt great from the get go.  It twinged a few times during the run during some of the hills, up and down.  But, I always kind of expect that on hills.  To be safe I have spent portions of time through the day foam rolling, trigger pointing, and icing.  I just want to take care of as I start to up the miles as quickly as I can without adding on too quickly.  I have three weeks to get up to 12 miles, and try to have some sort of a taper as well.  I may be going into this one without much of a taper, but it is what it is.

Big Thank You to Amy for running with me!  I was craving some running company and she was awesome at running whatever pace I needed!  I just never think of slacking or cutting a run short when I’m with someone else and she made the time fly by!  Also, thank you to Jodi, who’s bathroom I visited on our way past her house…now that is true friendship!  🙂

I’m so thankful Dad found time between clients to work on my knee over the weekend.  I know I’m not the only one in pain who needs his help, so I’m grateful that it worked out.  It’s really nice to find what the problem is, have him work on it/let me know that I’m doing great focusing on the other things that are normally the problem (those other things, like my TFL, didn’t hurt at all when he worked on them which means I’m doing good on the foam rolling/trigger pointing) and learning what else I need to work on to stay healthy and pain free!  

Now I’m super excited to get 10, or maybe 11, miles in later this week!

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I hope everyone had a fun filled, and safe, July 4th Holiday!

Our’s got off to an exciting start when Sky and I were rear-ended on our way to pick Mark up from work to hit the road.  Thankfully we were not hurt, the car has some battle scars, but it’s fine.  There was a bit of drama involved with the other two cars, but the LPD handled it smoothly and got Sky and I on our way.  We went home (didn’t want to risk driving the car 4 hours after an accident until we could have it looked at, which I did yesterday) and switched into the truck for the drive.

We thought we were on our way to a quick, easy drive over (really after starting out the way Sky and I did we deserved it), but not so.  Unfortunately there was a wild fire right on the HWY, so it was closed and there was a pretty lengthy, and slow detour.  Thankfully it was pretty at least, and a scenic route we have never taken.  Also very thankful that Sky is a pro road tripper and was happy the entire time!  She really is the best!  

And, we got to see the fire helicopters fly over the detour route to get water out of the river that the detour followed.  

We know now (because we saw it on the way back home and the fire was limited to non-residential land next to the HWY) that no homes were lost, and we hope that all the firefighters were safe and sound after.  I have to say that fires/smoke make for some amazing sunsets!

There are a ton of really great pics from the weekend, on Mark’s camera.  So, as soon as I have the ok to use them I will share some here.  In the meantime since he had his camera I didn’t take many pics with my phone, actually only two.

Amazing steak, street tacos that Uncle Paul made, and a zaiquiri (like a daiquiri only not).  Perfect for a warm E WA day!

There was plenty of time spent with family, having fun, playing yard games, playing with the chickens, tractor riding, slip n sliding, drinking and eating, and fireworks!  I’ll share pics when I can.

In the meantime it’s time to get my run on and get ready for the start line!

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What was the best thing you ate or drank over the weekend?

I have been a blog slacker!

It happens sometimes I guess.  All I can say is that life has been busy, and most of my online time is now work time, which is a good thing.  At least it’s productive and I’m making a bit of money sharing a product I love with others!  Plus, it’s World Cup and that has been a big distraction!

Speaking of here’s a look at my current nail situation…

Mostly though I was on a bit of a running emotions roller coaster with the knee situation, and just didn’t feel like blogging.

I think goals are a good thing so don’t take this wrong…but I’m realizing the problem with setting a goal for a specific race and pinning the whole year’s running on that one big race.  It makes it really hard to let go and do what’s right/smart vs pushing harder than you probably should and making things worse.  (Even though my goal is to pr all my distances hitting the pr I want for the half was the #1 focus for me).

I had a strong talk with myself and reminded myself that I registered for a back-up race for a reason, that my goal was just a random goal I set for the year in order to stay focused and motivated, and as such life does not depend on me hitting that goal, and that my long term running ability and health are more important than some stupid numbers on a clock at the finish line.

It sure does seem that when numbers are involved in life it’s way easier to obsess…numbers on a scale, numbers on a watch, daily/weekly/monthly/yearly miles etc.  I had to remind myself that there is a reason I don’t own a scale…I can’t use it in a healthy way, and if I can’t run for the joy of it and stop obsessing about pace, and how my 4 or 6 mile time may translate into my 13.1 time then I’m going to have to not own a Garmin as well.  

It’s kind of funny to me that after having a strong convo with myself and letting go of what I thought this race was going to be, and focusing instead on running smart and just making it to the start line healthy, things came together on yesterdays run!

This is the first nearly pain free run I’ve had since this whole knee thing popped up.  I would say it was 85% pain free, and the pain that did twinge here and there was way less intense than what it has been…progress! I have let go of pushing for a PR pace and am just focusing on an easy’ish, sustainable pace that feels good for my breathing, cadence, and my knee.

I’m also adding on miles slowly.  Two miles a week to the long run and the shorter runs during the week are about half of what the should be at this point.  Two miles may seem like a lot, but I’m only up to 6 miles and at this point in the training I should be at 11…way behind.  I should still hit 12 before race day, but my taper time is going to be way less than normal.

After I get my knee worked on this week I’ll start adding miles onto the short runs as well, provided everything feels good.  My new goal is to make it to the start line period, and finishing.  It stressed me out for a bit, but I’m letting go of arbitrary goals and just focusing on running smart, doing what works for my knee, and having fun.  I really love the Tacoma Narrows course, and Dad is going to race chase again, so I have a lot to look forward to!

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How do you set your running goals?  Do you have a yearly goal, monthly, weekly, race by race?

I tend to set a goal for the year, but out of my 3 years of running I’ve only hit my goal once.  Last year when I qualified for Half Fanatics, the first year I missed it (run a race a month for the year) and this year isn’t looking so great, but we will see.  Clearly I may need to change how I set my running goals.  

We had a lovely weekend away, like totally away with no phone or wifi service, and I kinda love that!  I also kinda love camping! 

This was pretty funny, because I was actually in the outhouse (one of the things we love about the property…flushing potty!)  Next thing I see is Sky’s face smashed up against the mesh vent at the top…was not expecting that!

I think my knee needed the break this weekend.  I didn’t run, didn’t hike, didn’t really do much of anything other than sit around drinking wine and reading my book.  It’s a borrowed book, so I was doing my best to blaze through it and get it back to it’s owner.  

By the time we got home yesterday I had zero pain and felt ready for a test run…and it feels 100% fine today.  Granted it was only a 2 mile run, and the pace was very easy, a few seconds shy of race day PR pace, which is slower than I’ve been pushing my runs as of late. 

I’m hopeful that all is going to be ok, but won’t feel like I’m out of the woods until I get closer to 10 miles on it and it doesn’t hurt.  I was considering running again today, but opted for pilates and trigger pointing instead. 

I may be a little more cautious than I truly need to be, but I’d rather be safe than sorry, and I have a lot of wiggle room in meeting my PR goal.  Technically to meet my running goal for the year (PR’s at all my distances) I only need to be 1 second faster than my current PR.  I’ve been training for a much bigger PR than that, but while I’m training to shoot for the stars I know that I have a lot of room to allow for a more moderate pace if need be.  So we will see how it goes.    

Tomorrow I’ll get out there again and see how it feels.  Fingers crossed! 

Sadly Mark and Sky came home from camping sick.  Sky is down right miserable and is cranky as all get out, yet wants to be cuddled and held all the time.  She finally started crying and asking for her bed, so I’m hopeful she wakes up feeling a bit better.  In the meantime I’m enjoying World Cup and blogging while I have the chance! 

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Any campfire treats (other than the normal smores) that we should try out?