Put Me In Coach

Lots of big changes have been  happening these last few months. I've been so overwhelmed that I've had little time to sit down and pull them together as a post so I'll lightly touch on a few of the things that we've been going through.



First things first. We put our house on the market in hopes of finding something a little bigger and with a pool. Keeping it clean and ready to show has taken up almost every morning in case someone calls and wants to see it so it leaves little time for running. Little to no running is only adding stress to a already stressful situation. I'm hoping an offer comes in soon so I can look forward again.



Hollywood Pitching



Hollywood (10 y.o. son) had the baseball season that refused to end. Between the constant rain outs and the fact that they were undefeated in their playoffs I had to juggle practice, games and the rest of our crazy life right now. They made it all the way to the district level where they made a it through a tough game but didn't end up on top. Its OK... so many kids never make it as far as they did and he improved by leaps and bounds this season.



Blondy reading his new book



Blondy (9 y.o. son), since the weather changed from cold to HOT he's been battling migraines just like me. Its harder to monitor how much water he's taking in and I'm sure he would do well. we had to leave a few of Hollywood's games because he would go from fine to migraine in a matter of minutes.



Celebrating 12 years married



FireFighterProvider (FFP) has been changing his schedule around like crazy to make it to Hollywood's games. He's also starting a new business with his best friend so there will be more to come on that but lets just say that has been a whirlwind of papers and meetings and licences and federal, state, local business dealings that aren't always on the "same page".



Coach Tina Necklace for GOTR



Me, Mightymite Runner (MMR), went off to LV for my Birthday and took that RRCA class to be certified as a running coach. I also had a great stint with Girls on the Run. I've been working my way though the workshops to be able to work with Susan and the other amazing coaches at Fleet Feet Chico. I've been looking forward to this for so long!  GOTR was probably the highlight of my Spring. I met and worked with wonderful young women who changed my life with their spirit and growth. Having boys is so different than working with girls. I loved every minute of working with them. We "graduated them" with a 5k called the Diva Dash. I cried as I watched each of our girls cross that finish line. it was amazing. I don't have time to do it again this Fall but I'm looking forward to another Spring program!



I did get my certification and started working with FF to get ready for the Summer Sizzler 10k program. I had been waiting so impatiently but as it approached I was just a bundle of anxious nerves! I shouldn't have been. Ed, Susan and Vince made things very easy for Cari and I (coach trainees) and we took to the route on our bikes to touch base with everyone and make sure everyone was safe and following directions. Other than the heat (it was 93F that day) things went very smoothly.



Perfect Post Run Yoga Stretching

Saturday went well too. I drove to Cari and Vince's house and we rode bikes to the park where we were starting. It is so nice of them to share their extra bike with me since mine was stolen from my garage two weeks ago. These are our longer run days. Ed and I take the "advanced" or "speed group" out a little farther than the "endurance group" with Vince and Cari but generally along the same path so it is easy to keep everyone in the general area. There were over 100 of us out there running! What a great group. Some of the trails get a little tight so its good to go over etiquette for such a large group. We get to remind our runners to go single file along the path where other's are running, riding, walking their dogs and such. We may not be able to control what other groups are doing we need to be more responsible and courteous since we represent Fleet Feet in name and actions.



We finished our run and this great gym, Elevate Chico strength, was there to do post run stretching/yoga next to Sycamore pool. It was the perfect end of the run. I'm looking forward to the next 7 weeks.

Check in

Checking in on me, on my friends, my mom, aunt and best running buddies. I've been doing a lot of it these last few weeks. A friend told the hubby that she was jealous of my social life. It only took me 32 years to get one so I'm going to live it up.

I have been indulging in too much fun this Summer! Oh my goodness! Last weekend my friend Good Neighbor and I were scheduled to crew at the AWBC SF. This is my 7th walk participation and her 3rd. You could call us veterans! My friend V had told me at softball a few weeks before that Paul McCartney was going to be at AT&T Park the weekend that we were going. I not only jumped at it, adding her too but asked Mom and Aunt Sandy to join us. They saw the Beatles in '65! Then we added going to see Wicked to already exhausting weekend too! It was definitely a whirl wind weekend, literally no sleep and no running but I made up for it with all the heavy lifting (cross training right?) of boxes of food and moving tables and such. We ate the most amazing food including rabbit! That was an amazing weekend!

I jumped right back on the horse though and headed to speed training on Tuesday. Thankfully it was only in the 90's and not in the triple digits like originally forcasted. We jogged over to the HS track and did another 1/2 mile warm up (about 1.1miles total). We always do plyometrics with group training. I moan and grown but I see how it works and I do them. Staying healthy and injury free means a lot more to me now. We did intervals of 3 min hard 2 easy x5 for a good 25 minute workout. I made it through 1 and 2 too fast and bailed 2 minutes into the 3rd set. Grrr... I looked at my times during the 2 easy and realized that although they looked slow on the screen my body was not ready for that type of speed so I adjusted for the last two sets. Cooled down back to the shop for a total of 4.25 miles

I did 2 easy on the dreadmill Wednesday
I did 3.6 miles walking briskly Thursday with a 1/2 mile jog warm up (my hips felt especially tight so I walked and stretched well instead of running)
I did 3 easy on Friday on the dreadmill again


Saturday is group run day again and we were scheduled for 5.5miles. I took off and did warm up and plyos with the group. When I headed out on our trail run my watch wouldn't start. I let everyone go by then headed out after them with a working watch. My plan was to go out easy and say hello or hang out and talk with each runner or group until I hit my comfortable pace (found Sarah V), chill there for a while then push the last mile back. It was so nice to say hello or talk to everyone. I got to meet some new people and reconnected with others. It was the farthest I had been since I started running again. I felt good the entire way. Looking back at my ridiculously slow (for me) paces I can understand why but I had such an amazing time. This is what running in a group is supposed to be like, this is why it makes me happy.

Do you pull energy from friends and fellow runners when you feel uninspired? Or do you prefer to find it out alone on the trail or the road?