Pile on the Miles 2012

I can't believe another week has gone by. Time has felt like it is just flying by lately!

First of all, I promised some pictures of the whole crew on Halloween, so here they are:

The whole Toy Story gang: Buzz, Slinky Dog, Rex, Jesse, and Woody!

Slinky's coils didn't stay on very long...

In an effort to get my running back on track, I'm participating in Pile on the Miles 2012!

Pile on the Miles is hosted by Monica at RunEatRepeat, and it's a challenge to run more miles during the month of November. I think this is the perfect month to do it, seeing as at the beginning of the month you have tons of leftover candy from Halloween, and at the end of the month you have tons of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving :) It's also perfect for me since I could use a little extra motivation to get back into the running game.

When determining my mileage goal, of course I wanted to do something crazy like top my all time monthly high (78 miles). Instead, I settled for a more conservative goal of 50 miles. I'm only planning on running three times a week, four max, because I also want to focus on stretching and strengthening in order to prevent my ITBS from coming back. I did some leg work on Saturday, and being the overeager fool that I am, I went right back to using the same amount of weight I had been what, three months ago? It didn't feel too hard at the time, but it's been three days and I'm still sore. May want to think about taking it down a notch...

I've actually really been enjoying running in the colder temperatures, which is weird for me. I used to shy away from outdoor running during the winter months because I never did well with it in highschool. As it got colder, my running times got progressively slower, mostly because the cold air was a trigger for my asthma. Now that I seem to have outgrown my asthma (I haven't used my inhaler in years), it really isn't so bad! I just need to purchase some more cold weather running gear. Today I purchased these from Running Warehouse:

Saucony Drylete Headband

Saucony Drylete Neckwarmer

Well I'm off to get my teeth cleaned- call me crazy, but I love the dentist! After that I'm going to get some strength training and yoga in before my happy hour date with Ben :)


Did you run to your polling place yesterday?

Do you like or hate going to the dentist?

What is your must have winter running accessory?

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Maggs started puppy preschool on Monday, so I had my first Wednesday completely "off" since we got him. I thought it would be nice to have some extra down time, but I missed him like crazy all day!

He's growing up way too fast. I took him to the vet last week for the rest of his shots and he had already gained 5 pounds! He was so roly-poly when we got him, and now he's long and lanky. He reminds me of an awkward pre-teen.

It has been really hard to find time to work out with a 3-month-old puppy to take care of. I figured since he'd be in preschool for this week and next that I could use this time to get back into a routine. Monday and Tuesday I didn't get around to it... our house hadn't yet fully recovered from our housewarming party the weekend before, so my obsessive compulsive cleaning side made a rare, but necessary appearance.

On Wednesdays I usually go to cycle class with my friend Felicity, but yesterday I was craving a run. It's starting to get chillier in Minnesota- the temperature hovered around 45 degrees- but it was perfect running weather. I managed to get 4 miles in, and averaged around 9 min miles for all except for the second mile, which was a 7:50. Apparently a good song can affect your pace dramatically :)

Speaking of songs, I just downloaded some new music to revamp my running playlist. Here's what it looks like right now:

That 7:50 mile came during songs 3 and 4...

After my run I had planned on going to yoga but ran out of time. I really need to find a way to be more diligent about stretching... you would think that I'd feel somewhat compelled to do so after all my injuries lately, but I don't.

Ben and I got home around the same time, so we went to Caribou for BOGO mochas and then to pick up our little guy from preschool. Then we got in our costumes and headed over to Carrie and CJ's for pictures and some trick-or-treating. Ben dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and I was Rex from Toy Story. Maggs was supposed to be Slinky Dog, although his costume didn't stay on for long. Carrie and Chloe were both Jesse and CJ and Charlie were both Woody. I'll post pictures of everyone as soon as I get them from Carrie (our camera died right before it was time to dress up- go figure). For now you'll have to settle for pics of Ben and I only:

To infinity... and beyond!

What did you dress up as for Halloween?

What was your favorite costume you wore as a kid?

Would you rather run in warm or cold weather?