3k this weekend anyone?

After a week of eating dark chocolate and running mileage by myself in the dark, I'm ready for something different. Perhaps a low-key 3k, followed by an even more low-key mile relay? Oh yes.

Running in Ohio was awesome. I should snap a picture of my shoes; they're totally caked in mud, even though I've run in them three times since coming back from the muddy trails of Ohio.

Maybe if you come Saturday, I'll show you my smelly muddy shoes.

-Emily

Running tights and cupcakes

Two words: CWX tights. Amazing! After a year of restraining myself from buying a pair of these $70+ tights, I found a pair of above-the-knee black CWX tights at City Sports for $20!!!! I don't know why they were marked down so much, but I wasn't about to question the sticker price. I tested them out this morning on a run that I thought would be 8 or 9 miles -- but I felt great, and I think the tights really helped, and the run ended up being almost 15 miles. I felt like I could keep running and running -- it was one of those days. The tights hold all your muscles together and make you feel like your racing in a speed suit. Maybe it's just all in my head, but whatever it is, these CWX tights rock, and I hope we have more 50-degree days in Boston this winter so I can wear these slick capri-length tights.

The other highlight of my weekend was making the yummiest cupcakes yesterday. I got a new cook book called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and had a blast making the cutest and richest batch of Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes on Saturday. The cupcakes have cinnamon, ground almonds, coconut milk, lots of chocolate, and a teeny pinch of cayenne pepper for some kick. I even made a chocolate ganache frosting. Delish. I had a cupcake before my run this morning... :o)

Happy holidays everyone!
*megha

Toughin' it out on Tuesday

I was at first feeling sluggish on Tuesday. We met at the MIT track at 7 for a run around the river. I had run 30+ minutes to get there, and I could already feel the heaviness in my legs. We ran a few slow laps on the track, made a group trip to the bathroom, and then we were off. We ran with the group for a few minutes, and then Laura picked it up. I tried to stay with her. Katie Fobert joined us too. We were swift, moving, passing groups of casual male joggers every couple of minutes. I think we even passed a guy on a bike once. We pushed ourselves just hard enough that we could spit out a few words every once in a while, even a sentence every now and then, but definitely no paragraphs. I kept telling Laura -- you can speed up and go ahead if you want to -- overly aware that I may have been holding her back. She would say -- thanks! -- in her super sweet and upbeat Laura voice. After a few miles at that pace, I think we were both keenly aware that if either of us slowed down or sped up, we were just making the run as worthwhile for ourselves as possible. We all have busy lives and limited time to train and run. Easy days are great when they're easy. And moderate runs like the one we had pseudo-spontaneously planned for Tuesday are great when you are pushing yourself much harder than you would were you running solo, but not so hard that you fall into a trash can trying to puke after the run. We runners are so type A -- always trying to maximize our time and calculate efficiencies!

Luckily, we stayed together for almost 40 minutes until we stopped at the Cambridge/River St. bridge. We picked it up a touch more the last 7 minutes or so, all the way to that bridge. We couldn't really talk at that point. We stopped at the bridge and Laura ran me back to Mass. Ave. What a doll! I kept going and just ran home -- it's so much quicker than taking the Red Line to the Orange Line. I don't think I realized till Laura and I split up that my hands were ice cubes. I kept making fists and then opening my hands to keep the blood moving. Then I thought -- gosh, I am such a wuss. There are those guys on Mt. Hood who braved conditions a gazillion times more treacherous. And within a mile or so, my hands warmed up. Amazing! It's really quite amazing how you can train your body and your mind to push you far outside your comfort zone when you are running. Eventually, discomfort is comforting. Odd, isn't it?
*Megha

Running in Ohio

I'm in Ohio for the holidays. My mom got me a pair of awesome running tights for my birthday, and I took them for a test run today. My older brother came with me and we ran 6 miles of really rugged trails (the kinds of trails where you frequently lose the trail and search the ground for a space that looks kindof stamped down). There were briars and trees to jump over and puddles to run through. I got my new tights all dirty and even had a tangle with briars so bad I had to stop and de-thorn myself enough to keep running. When I got home and took my tights off, my legs were all scratched up from the briars and were even bleeding in places. But amazingly, my new tights were just fine. Whew.
-Emily

To Finish My Story

I think I started talking about this at the holiday party, then got sidetracked.

This morning I opened my birthday presents from Scott. He got me dark chocolate (first thought: yum) and an orchid (first thought: I'm going to kill this thing). I wasn't so excited about the delicate plant thing, but tried to scrounge a smile and "thanks." Besides not being very good with indoor plants and fearing that Bruce will eat them, Scott has always wanted an orchid. So I wasn't really thrilled that he got me a present that he wanted.

Anyway, after opening presents I went for a run. Went by the Mystic River and up in Malden and such. For the first few miles, I got myself riled up about this stupid orchid. I was cooking by mile three just thinking about how much I dislike fragile indoor plants. Then by mile five, I decided I was being an idiot and that indoor plants really aren't that bad, and why should I care about a silly birthday present anyway? By the time I got back home, I was in a much better mood.

This is one of the many reasons I love running: it helps me stay grounded!

-Emily

Great job Katie!

Hey all,

Megha, this was a great idea! I hope I don't forget how to log in everytime! Famous...great job today! Although I don't think I can contemplate a race on the track any time soon, you definitely inspired me.

Anyone up for a morning run EARLY on Monday???

Welcome, GBTC gals!

My favorite running partners:
Welcome to our very own running blog - exclusively for us ladies who run all around Boston and email incessantly about training runs, meets, races, pace charts, training philosophies, and more. Now we've got this handy dandy little blog to post any and all things related to running. You can recruit folks for a tempo run, catch a ride to a race nearby, find someone to run 200s with, exchange thoughts about the new dryfit running tights, trade training stories, post photos and running routes, maintain mileage logs, share recipes, and more. Everything your cyber-running persona can think of!

I invite you, my friends, to use this blog as a saavy little way to add some spice to your running and take advantage of our cool little community of dedicated women runners. So run, blog, and be merry!