Go Fast Shoes!

Can we talk about how I’ve been missing out on speed shoes?! Long story short – I have weird, messed up feet from wearing the wrong size boots for 4 yrs. Turns out the Navy only measured one of my feet during gear issuance time (I have two feet) and issued boots that fit one foot properly. Now, I take a ton of responsibility in this mistake because I didn’t speak up. In my defense, bad things tended to happen to people who spoke up so there’s that. Eventually, it felt like the boots fit properly because after a certain amount of time your feet become deformed to fit the shape they are forced into. Long story not so short.

Which leads me to the present. Two different lengths and widths of feet complete with incredibly painful bunions (I think that’s what they are) which leave me self conscious and in pain almost constantly.

team weird feet

Moving on. I wear very supportive Brooks Adrenaline GTS shoes for nearly all my runs. However, I noticed a sale on the Brooks Hyperion Tempo, a version of their speed shoes. When people say “money ain’t a thang” they are lying. It’s definitely a thing! Sale…shoes…yes, please!

My feet felt like walking on clouds. Not super supportive, duh, they’re incredibly lightweight, but they made me feel like I could run faster than I’ve ever run before! By the time you’re reading this post, I’ll have completed another stride workout in these fancy shoes.

Obviously these are not my everyday shoes and certainly not made for long runs. However, when I want to feel fast – these do the trick.

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I ask you –

Tried any new shoes lately?

If you also have them, what is your opinion of the Hyperions?

Share a speedy story!

(The post Go Fast Shoes! first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

You Get the Idea

It takes a lot but occasionally I’m genuinely surprised at someone or something. Most recently, it was both. A woman whom I know from several joint interests told me she reads my blog. Fan girl moment. I was actually shocked. You wouldn’t know it by my kind smile and charming wit though. haHA! Of all the things this woman could read, she chooses to read my silliness. For real, I’m a complete fruitcake, a whackadoo, a few crayons short of a poster, or however that saying goes. Keep up here. AND she said she enjoyed it. I’m hyperventilating right now.

While I’m on an off-season training cycle (for 2 more years, but who’s counting), I decided to play around with different training styles, i.e. heart rate training, etc. I’ve never put much stock into HR training but why not. Turns out it’s difficult to slow down and run in the “easy” HR category. Not sure how my watch picked this for me.

Seriously. It’s like 2 mins slower than my slowest pace. Is that right? I read somewhere you should be able to converse when running easy. I could definitely do that. In fact, I could’ve made dinner and probably tap danced during it. S.L.O.W. But I guess we’ll try this for awhile to see what happens.

You know what irritates me? So glad you asked. The presumptuousness of weather people. And I quote… “The last of the nice days is today. This weekend it will be unseasonably cooler with highs in the 60s and considerably cloudier.” Listen, buddy with your fancy meteorologist degree, how dare you assume the 60s are not nice and that I don’t like cloudy days. Maybe this is my idea of nice. Just because it wasn’t 90° in late April doesn’t mean I’m unhappy. Personally, I’d like to skip the Satan’s skillet portion of the year. I’m truly happy you asked.

___________________

I ask you –

Have you ever practiced heart rate training? If so, do you have any pointers?

What’s the current weather like where you live?

Tell me your favorite analogy thingy.

(The post You Get the Idea appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Peaceful Moments & Planning to Run

Early AM runs

Somehow I’ve completed the past 3 weeks’ assignments significantly early and been able to focus on upcoming papers, assignments, discussions, etc. Either a course on human resource management is easier than expected or I’m doing something wrong. The grades are good so I’ll just keep riding this wave. When there’s time to sit outside in the evenings and watch the hummingbirds – if the word balance truly exists, this is what I imagine it looks like.

In the spirit of healthy competition, I started a 10k training plan with no clear race or run in sight. Granted, it will conclude mid-June so there’s nooooooo way I’m racing anything then, but it’s fun having a scheduled training run to look forward to. If only the weather would cooperate. I’ve also been using the Garmin workout/training builder. Wow. Those workouts are no joke. Even the 15 min ones will have you questioning your life decisions. Perhaps I should have been using this tool much longer.

Even though I have textbooks a plenty, I went a little overboard with reading/desiring to read just-for-fun books. So now I have 3 sitting nearby that I can’t wait to complete and I might have ordered another. Whoopsies! Non-fiction has really drawn me in lately. Typically, (previously) I only read fiction but something about true or historically-based real life stories just hits me. And who can overlook an incredible woman’s journey to the Boston starting line.

Finally, I probably say this each year, I don’t know how my baby is celebrating another birthday. I swear she was a newborn yesterday. She’s bright, talented, loving, hilarious, and well-spoken. She outsmarts people so skillfully I don’t believe its normal. She argues like an accomplished law team. And, occasionally, she still calls me mommy instead of mom. Time flies.

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I ask you –

What books(s) are you reading right now?

Are you training for anything? Just survival.

Tell me if your birthday has passed yet or if it’s upcoming!

(The post Peaceful Moments & Planning to Run first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Day in Photos, island edition

Let’s talk about my two favorite things: coffee and running.

Cafe Padre at Yummies Bistro

Perfectly cinnamony, any artisan-level coffee is just right for me. Yummies makes fantasticly fancy coffees for every taste. I’ve never ordered anything bad from there. They also have food, but who cares. More coffee, please!

Too bad I’ll be writing papers during this event because it sounds like everything I love in one weekend. Post-doctorate plans are already being made. Note to self: research how many times you’ll have to run the island because it’s not 13 miles long.

(not pictured) broken Keurig. Apparently it is an issue the company is well aware of because I have called in twice just on my own machines. There’s a particular model with a faulty mechanism which pops the heat sensor rendering the machine kaput. Or something like that. I bring my own Keurig on vacation and didn’t even get one cup of coffee before it broke. Hmmpphh.

Hoka running shoes seem to be the shoe du jour on the island. I never saw one runner in Brooks the entire week. Maybe they just don’t know what great shoes feel like. Or else they prefer their sandy toes in a different brand. Whatever works. I did see one sponsored cyclist mid-week. He had a fancy kit. Perhaps I should have asked if he would be participating in the HHH at the end of the month. But since I was dying from the humidity there was no way I was chasing him down.

Overall, I ran three times that week and walked dozens of miles…beach to condo, shop to shop, vehicle to restaurant. You know the drill. I won’t miss the humidity, but I do envy 80° days and nights. And fried fish. I adore fried fish. It’s practically healthy! For those of you sick of my island recaps, I’ll be back to regularly scheduled silliness soon. Right now, I’m still basking in my tan lines. Mini goes back to school this week. Standby.

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I ask you –

On a scale of 1 to I-would-literally-die-without-it, how much do you love coffee?

Do you find yourself walking more while away from home?

Please comment your bets on how tired mini will be after the first 3 days of school! Mine: she asks to go to bed after dinner.

REPOST! BMW Dallas Half Marathon Recap!

Repost from Dec 13, 2021! Whilst I’m away on vacation this week enjoying sand and surf and seafood, I decided not to exhaust myself writing new material. Instead, here’s a post from Dec and my proudest running moment to date.

Let’s start off with the good stuff, shall we, on this edition of the good, the bad, and the ugly!

Yes, I met my goal of a 2:10 half marathon! Specifically, I ran 2:10:45 with an avg 9:58 pace. I asked my feet to fly and they did what I’d trained for with an 8 min PR! It was a lovely 35° at the start line – I met the most awesome people! My 2:10 pace crew also seemed nice.

Now the bad. Allow me to be a bit dramatic. My pacers were pushing us 20-30 seconds faster than what we were told we’d be running. I was able to stay with them the first 5 miles, then I dropped back. I don’t train to run non-stop. In fact, only one time have I ever run an entire half marathon without walking. It’s just not me. I’m super proud for holding on for 5 miles! But that wasn’t the plan. After the race was over, I remembered hearing pacers talk about this course “running long”, no pun intended, which means in order for pacers to lead their runners across the finish line in their prescribed time, the pacers were going to have to run faster. My unofficial course time was 2:12, but Garmin showed I ran my 13.1 in 2:10. Thank you, Garmin! Finally! I reject the course time.

So here’s the ugly. Because I spent the first almost half of the race running faster than I had trained for, miles 6-11 were brutal. The walking increased, even though I was still mostly holding on to a 9:45 pace. I began to favor my left hip/leg/hamstring/knee which caused a lot of pain in my right foot. So glad I decided to put BCAAs in my CamelBak and fuel with jelly beans. Even then, those middle miles felt awful.

pre-race injury treatment – long story for another day

Overall, course support was amazing! There were people giving out donuts, beer, mixed drinks, extra energy bars, and who knows what else. The water stops – though I used my own hydration – were frequent and plentiful. The bands on nearly every other street corner were more entertaining than anything I’ve seen in a Rock n Roll event. And those events should be bursting with music! Finish line food was great: pizza, tacos, bananas, enrrgy bars, more Gatorade, tons of chocolate milk, sweets; it was all incredible!

Morgan from Oregon kicked butt out there! She, too, dealt with the disappointment of a long course and too-fast pacers, but I think she rocked it! She’s got an upcoming 15k event and we’ve discussed a late summer run nearer to her so we’ll see.

At this moment, I’m retiring from the half marathon. Remind me next time I tell you all I want to race again!

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I ask you –

How was your weekend? Anything exciting?

Runners, do you write motivational things on your pace band, arm, etc?

Chance I’ll stay “retired”: 60/40

Reach for the Stars

I recently caught myself using the phrase “I may never run again”. The weight of that short statement was not so obviously downtrodden until it was the time of year where my favorite shoe company releases a new iteration of my go-to shoe style.

If you’ll recall (new readers may not know this), I won a contest in 2020 titled the 20 Year Drop. Essentially, Brooks Running supplies with me a free pair of shoes each year for 20 years. Wow, right?! This is my only claim to fame, but I’m claiming it forever! My favorite shoe is the Adrenaline GTS. Each year, I receive a new pair as the contest winner. However, pandemic and supply chain issues have caused a slight problem with my ability to locate the newly released Adrenaline GTS 22’s. They were advertised online, but out of stock at my local Academy and even on the Brooks Running website, as well as Amazon. Figures. I had resigned myself to not needing any new shoes because I’m doing a whole lot of no running right now.

And then this happened.

L: 22 R: 21

I was wandering around an Academy in a different part of the world (not exactly) and stumbled upon these. Two pairs of shoes flew into my cart. The rest is history. Ok, not exactly. But kind of. I successfully located my size in the new 22’s; then, I found my size in a pair of 21’s. Stars: aligned. Thank goodness for shoe money. The fun part of this whole expedition is, unbeknownst to me, the 21’s were nearly half price at checkout. I don’t question these things! Stars, remember?!

So allow me to land this plane. As I slipped my feet into the Adrenaline GTS 22’s, I felt the SPARK. You know…the one where you dream big and see yourself in front of millions of people singing on a stage! No? Really? Too far? Oh right, the plane. I felt that tingle of remembrance on what it feels like to run just to be running. Just because I can.

Adrenaline GTS 22

Adrenaline GTS 21

Again: (L) Adrenaline GTS 22; (R) GTS 21

And I thought…Kel, you may never race again, but you will definitely run. And it can’t come soon enough!

______________________

I ask you –

Have you ever won a contest? Or lottery?

Where do you typically purchase shoes?

Name something you thought you’d never do but have been able to!

Year in Review

So as 2021 will be closing out in just a few days and I will be on my way to retrieve mini from her holiday, today is my – surely anticipated – year in review!

In actively trying to remember how many races I’ve run, I returned to admiring my medal and race bib holder. There’s a lot of jingle on that wall! Pre-pandemic, I was accustomed to training for and scheduling at least 2-3 half marathons per year. Since then, I’ve been extremely lucky to complete one per year. 2021 was a wash/rinse/repeat of 2020, but I don’t let it get to me. Sure, I could blame the lack of events for my injury (which makes no sense and still doesn’t make me feel better); however, one is more than none! Knowing I run much better in the cold, a December race just works for me. I tried to establish a base through the summer, but between the heat and the dreadmill, it sucked. Not only did my base not get built, in retrospect, perhaps I should have used that time to ensure I wasn’t dealing with an injury before I started fall training. One day I’ll learn the lesson the first time!

10 – is how many half marathons I’ve run. Technically, I only completed 9. But I’m still proudly saying 10! Never did get around to counting the assorted 5k and 10k medals. Instead, I took a trip down memory lane. It was fabulous! I have made some amazing friends who also run. I’ve talked to people from different areas and connected with them solely online. I even get super excited when they complete a race because sharing in another’s accomplishment is such a rush of emotion! There are people whom I still refer to as my running buddy, my coach, my mentor – life brings with it different seasons but those people stay in my heart. I imagine for forever. Running just does something wonderful for me.

Ok, moving on…

I love when an app puts numbers together for me! Sometimes I don’t number well on my own. What can I say? – I’m a writer, I like words! Since I won’t be running much (any) anytime soon, I shall live vicariously through my previous endeavors and your stories! Give me all the stories! Disclaimer: for 2021, I only started using Strava in April so this doesn’t include any miles I ran January – March.

thank you, Strava

Being uncertain of which of the past years have been my favorite, I am extremely grateful I chose running! Or maybe it chose me. There’s joy in the adventure running brings to me. It is a huge sense of accomplishment when you complete a run, no matter how fast or slow it was. Running gives back tenfold what you put into it. I want other sports to BE that for me; alas, I don’t know if it’s in the cards for the dream to ever be a reality. Time will tell. Some days I’m rushing to know; others are a slow crawl. Guess it just depends on the mood of the day. I’m anxious to ditch the brace and lace up my trusty running shoes, but I know it can’t happen. Yet.

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I ask you –

Anybody else love looking at their year’s stats?

Are you following me on Strava? Share your ID so I can follow you!

Goal time! Tell me what you have planned for 2022!

BMW Dallas Half Marathon Recap!

Let’s start off with the good stuff, shall we, on this edition of the good, the bad, and the ugly!

At this moment, I’m retiring from the half marathon. Remind me next time I tell you all I want to race again!

_________________________

I ask you –

How was your weekend? Anything exciting?

Runners, do you write motivational things on your pace band, arm, etc?

Chance I’ll stay “retired”: 60/40

It’s Race Week!

Disclaimer: I didn’t bring my laptop to edit posts so I’m sure the photos below are not centered and are probably so large everyone in space can see them. Apologies.

Garmin conveniently says I’m in Recovery mode, but on Monday, it felt like anything but. The wind was 90,000 mph with a wind chill of 30-something°. I opted out of the optional 10 mins on the end of the run which gave me a solid 2.48 miles.

the gloves in my reflection saved my life!

More “recovery” work, even at a tempo pace. Seriously, Garmin, I don’t understand you. I suppose working harder than what is expected during the race could be considered a recovery. In some worlds maybe.

Final run before race day was as expected…I don’t know what I mean by that because I had no expectations. My hamstring was really bothering me, even with the medicinal regimen, but my plan is to power through it all and reach my goal. I’ll keep you posted.

Beautiful day!!

Tomorrow morning is the big day! I didn’t sleep well last night due to a comedy of hotel errors but tonight my plan is to get to bed early and rest up. I’m excited about an actual, real life expo because I realized I haven’t been to one of those since Morgan from Oregon and I ran NOLA in 2019! Time flies when you’re having fun (that’s my mantra for tomorrow!)

Hotel life

Final call: You can track me using this link (find my name – Kelly Atwell): https://rtrt.me/ulink/RRSA/RRS-DALLAS-2021/tracker/RBRE5GLH/focus

Hope you all have an amazing day!

Race Weekend is Upon Us! + Track Me!

You can track me using this link (find my name – Kelly Atwell): https://rtrt.me/ulink/RRSA/RRS-DALLAS-2021/tracker/RBRE5GLH/focus

I love races with real time tracking! There’s many cool things about tracking race participants, notably finding out if they finished, but also being able to receive real time stats (that’s my favorite!). And who doesn’t love a good stalker app. It’s literally permission to stalk someone. So weird.

So I don’t have a “real” post for today – this might be the only time I’ve ever said that. I’m really excited to race and then take an extended, forced break. More on that later. On Sunday afternoon’s drive home, I’ll re-cap the race, load photos, and give you all the ins/outs of racing the BMW Dallas Half Marathon for Monday’s post. I’ve tried to take it easy this week – doubling down on low stress, stretching religiously, eating well, and sleeping more to ensure I can meet my goal.

It may not be much to anyone else, but to me this goal is doable and a long time coming. I’ve really put my body to the test during this cycle – never before have I been so cognizant of tempo runs, cadence workouts, strides, and progression runs. Some of those have become dirty words in my vocabulary!

Wish me luck!

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I ask you –

What are you currently training for?

How often do you use tempo and progression runs in your training?

Give me some words to use when it gets hard!