Getting Myself Through the Long Runs

This weekend, (after I ran 14 miles by myself on country roads at the lake) I went to our friends' lake and we were talking about how crazy I am for running... 

Of course the main question I get is -WHY? But #2 is always - HOW? Certainly the how comes with training physically and getting the miles on the legs, but for me it's more about mental training.

Here are the some phrases that go through my mind while I'm running:

Has it really only been .5 miles since the last time I looked at my watch?

I'm not sure I can do this

Be strong; keep moving 

Just keep putting one foot in front of the other 

Why the hell do I do this?

There's chocolate milk, beer (and perhaps pie) when I'm done

Some phrases are me attempting to motivate myself, but most are my brain trying to tell me to stop. So, the key for me is to either distract myself from myself or to get the good thoughts to outweigh the bad. 

Celina and Ashley certainly help distract me when we're running together, but when I'm alone, or during the silent parts of our runs - I need music! Here's the Spotify playlist I'm building for the big day: (Chicago Marathon Playlist 2014)

I'm going to need some more motivating thoughts for this weekend for 15 miles. Please send them my way!

Cheers,

-AB

Sunday Runday

Yep, it's Monday, not Sunday.

But we were all too busy running around for an update.

 

Check out these amazing views we had over the weekend!

 

 

Ally in Lake Wawasee.

After all of these beautiful pics from the lake

I definitely need to visit.

Group run at the lake!

 

Cel outrunning the rain clouds in 

Indy at the tribute to the Deaf School.

 

 

Country roads, take me home....

My husband and I were in Southern Indiana for the weekend.

Please excuse the blurry pic; it was really just that muggy.

 

 

And speaking of country roads,

check out Ashley's new friend in Tennessee!

 

Lora in Chicago.

Luckily she could speed away from

all of  those horny mating dragonflies!

 

And last, but not least,

it's Betsy's birthday today!

 

 

She's celebrating with runs in Paris

followed by cheese and wine treats.

 

Pretty nice way to spend a bday!

 

 

Happy Happy Birthday Betsy!

 

Cheers to running and how it takes you to places you've never been.

~KB

 

 

 

 



To wear your official race day shirt on race day?!?

FASHION FAUX PAS?

Being only a few years into racing I have often pondered this question! Also, with a background in fashion merchandising, I would never want to do anything faux pas, or so I tell myself :) This is a much different dilemma then the "what am I going to wear tonight" weekend ritual. 

You have to think about comfort ( who likes chafing?), mobility (nothing like needing to pull down your shorts every two minutes) and weather related attire. 

I am often confused on exactly who decided's on what material the shirts are going to be made of, or if they are going to be long or short sleeve!? I have raced in April with the official shirt short sleeves to then race in May, where the official shirt is long sleeve?!? Riddle me that Joker? Don't get me wrong, I love having the variety, I mean we do live in the midwest where it can be 70 degrees in July ( ahem, like today). 

So this brings me to my opinion, granted I am sure many will disagree, but I say NO race shirt on race day. For a couple reasons, namely:

-We all know what race you are running, we are running the same one right next to you. I enjoy the shirts so I can show it off later to people who weren't there "Hey look at what I did last weekend while you were still asleep! That's right I ran 13.1 or better yet a marathon!" 

-Also, with all these different races and different companies that make the shirts you never know how the fabric is going to feel when running for two hours or four. You are already putting your body through enough torture, it doesn't need the added scabs or chaffing that will most likely occur! 

-And lastly, being the social person that I am, this gives people the opportunity to share in other events you may at a later date want to do. That triathlon you have been thinking about but have yet to pull the trigger? Well what do you know, Jane who finished the race the same time as you is wearing her Minnesota Tri shirt and you want to know how it went, how did she train, and was it worth it? Jane you just inspired me to go sign up!!! Thank you for not wearing your race shirt :)

-CA

Sunday Runday!

Just a little recap from our weekend runs. 

Ally at Lake Wawasee

Betsy's To-Do list today: 

1. Run 13.1

2. Pack for Paris

3. Fly to Paris

The rest of us? 

1. Be super jealous of Betsy. 

Done and Done. 

Cel and Ashley in Indy

Lora on Lake Michigan. 

I really really miss training along the lake. 

And finally, I couldn't decide on my pic for the week. 

So I chose two. 

I happened upon these beauties being hauled out of a basement. 

The guy moving them said he found 50 containers of beer cans from the 70s. 

He got really weird when I asked him if he was giving them away....

....my precious....

And how cute is JDog 9 miles into our run? 

20 seconds later a bird pooped on me. 

hahahaha. 

Cheers to another week complete! 

84 days 'til race day....eek! 

-KB

Celina is Running to Defeat ALS

Our very own Celina Annable is running the Chicago Marathon for ALS. If you'd like to donate (she's so close to her goal!) you can do so here. 

Click on the red "DONATE NOW" button and search for Celina. 

Good luck, C! 

-AB-

My First Blog Post (Ever)

Well, before I get kicked out of The Accidental Runners I should probably blog! This is my first blog post ever, so get excited. 

I figure the best thing to do would be to introduce myself and how I got into running. It really does seem like an accident now that I think back to how it all began... 

It was 2004, and I was supposed to go to undergrad at IU or Purdue like the rest of my high school class, but I decided to go to Miami of Ohio in Oxford, OH. I'd visited a couple times and fell in love with the beautiful campus, but * full disclosure * it's the beautiful people that motivated me to avoid the freshman 15. 

Every girl at Miami (or so it seemed) was good-looking and well-dressed. So, as weird as it sounds, that's what motivated me to start running - I had to stay in shape if I was going to keep up with these ladies...  

So, I'd run around campus or on the treadmill before class and before long I wanted more. My mom was the first runner in our family and did the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon every year that I can remember (until her knees and hips wouldn't let her anymore). Then, my dad started picking up the slack and running (although he'd done the mini a few times with my mom) and it was my dad who convinced me to do my first half marathon (he'd been trying for years, but those were my terrible 'I know everything' teenage years). 

Now, I've lost count of how many halves I've done. And once 13.1 wasn't enough, I started getting into training for a full marathon. I've done the Chicago twice and the Marine Corps Marathon once (last year). My significant other (and now husband), Zach, even ran a marathon with me... that's when I really knew he was a keeper. We've since done several halves and even a triathlon together. Hopefully, I'll get him to do another full marathon with me someday!

I really look forward to seeing what Chicago 2014 brings. My personal goal is to PR and beat my Marine Corps Marathon time of 4:24:18. It should be easy to beat my other Chicago times since they were both right around 5 hours. 

Cheers,

-AB-

Sunday Runday!

Another weekend in the books! 

Betsy rocking the RocRace in Chicago

At the end of this lovely path is one of the few(!) 

water fountains in Philly. 

Jax and I usually happily sprint to it. 

Ashley, Cel and Ally jogging through Indy to Fountain Square. 

And speaking of happily sprinting towards refreshments,

they're much smarter than Jax and I. 

And finally, from Lora in Chicago: 

This leftover Halloween decoration was hanging over the sidewalk 

and I yelped like a scared dog when I ran under it/thought it was about to attack me. 

Just another reason to take your Halloween decor down by November, folks.

hahahaha. 

Happy training kids!

Don't forget to hydrate this week and watch out for obstacles! 

~KB

How to Remove Your Toenails Like a Boss

Well, it happened again. The stupid nail on the second toe of my left foot decided to abandon ship for the third running season in a row. Only this time it did not go gently into that good night. Last year I hardly noticed the process was happening, and when I took off my sock after a long run the nail just came right along with it. This year is another story. A giant blister formed under the nail, which triggered an infection that required a bit more attention to treat than simply taking off my socks. Now that I've sucessfully pulled out a part of my body, I thought I'd share my tips and tricks for you runners you may need to embark on this disgusting journey at some point in your training. Here we go!

Step One

Does your toenail look like this?

Yes? Congratulations! You've officially run so much you've killed your toenail, leaving a oozy, nasty, crusty, keratin-hooptie in it's place. If it's swollen and sore, don't try to remove it yet. It's probably infected and the swelling is your body trying to fight that off. You can relieve some pressure by draining the blister underneath (even if you can't see it, it's there) with a steralized needle. To steralize a needle, hold it over flame until it's too hot to touch. Keep it clean with soap and water, and try to wear open toed shoes as much as possible, or until your friends stop inviting you out to eat because your nasty-ass feet are making everyone lose their appetite.

Step Two

This is the fun part. Ideally you should wait until the cuticle has dried up "died" as well, meaning you can wiggle the toenail freely without a lot of pain. This may mean living with a dead nail on your foot for a few weeks, but pulling it off pain-free will be worth it. If it didn't get infected, you should be able to gently pull the nail away from the cuticle from left to right, releasing the nail from its bed all in once piece, with little if any blood. This is what I was able to do the first two times. However, this time the infected nail was going to affect my ability to keep running due to the pain, and I needed to get it off ASAP. So I steralized some tweezers, took a deep breath, and...

pulled! Since the cuticle was still attached to the dead nail it did bleed a bit, but it didn't hurt that bad. After you pull the nail out, wash the area with mild soap and water. I didn't bandage this up as I wanted it to dry out and harden as quickly as possible. A toe without a nail is pretty sensitive at first, so you want it to heal like, yesterday.

Step Three

Sweet relief. It's still a little sore, but now I won't have that thick, irritating, asshole-nail pushing into my nail bed with every step. I'll wrap it up for my run today, but otherwise I'm going to air it out as much as possible. It's also fun to shove in my husband's face.

You now have what many marathoners consider a badge of honor. And a toe that looks like an angry little bald man. Win win!

Oh, and if you do go get a pedicure (I mean, there's no reason the rest of the nails should suffer), make sure you warn the person doing your nails of your bald toe, for your sake and theirs.

Happy trails (and nails)!

-Lora

Sunday Runday

In the middle of happily stuffing our gullets at bbqs
and setting off fireworks over this long weekend,
we all managed to fit in a long run too.

Celina and Ashley super early on the Monon in Indy.

Betsy in Chicago taking advantage of free water at Taco Bell.

(This photo instantly made me want to drive to TB, thanks Bets!)

Lora cooling off her muscles in a chillier-than-expected Lake Michigan.

Jax has become a full on Philly meat head

and insists we run the Rocky (PMA) stairs during every long run.

Ally being a total B.A. and taking a Jagerbomb 

part way through her long run. 

This was met with total

"We're not worthy!"

from the rest of us wimmens. 

This wkd also marked the beginning 

of the looooonger-than-10-miler training runs for all of us...

Cheers to sticking with it ladies;

shit just got REAL. 

~KB

Dogspiration

In the words of one of my favorite childhood books, today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. There were dissapointments, frustration, and self doubt in both the personal and professional fronts, and rather than check my training schedule to see how many miles I was supposed to run that day after work, I went back to bed and let myself watch two hours of stupid television while mindlessly shoving a peanut butter, brie, and turkey sandwich (it sounds weird, but it's really delicious) down my gullet. But just when I was about to let Netflix start another episode of OOITB, my sweet pup, Ramona, who had been snoozing next to me, jumped up suddenly and went to the back door, as if she knew I had already seen the episode I was about to watch and had had enough watching me laying around like a sloth feeling sorry for myself. 

Which is exactly what I was doing. I drug myself out of bed and put on my running clothes, including a rain jacket, because despite it being the best summer month ever this is still Chicago and it's 55 degrees and raining. When she saw me up and dressed she started turning happy circles in the kitchen, like I was doing her the biggest favor by taking her out for an easy four miler along the lake. In reality, she was doing me the solid by not putting up with my bullshit, by encouraging me to take care of myself even when I don't feel like it at first, and reminding me that a run, even a rainy, cold, dark, dreary, one, can turn a bad day around and make you remember that running, like life, isn't about succeding every day, it's just about showing up. Thanks, Ramona. I owe you one.

"So are we running or what?"

-Lora

Some days....

3 miles is harder than 15. 

Sleep is more important than running. 

Running knocks you down instead of building you up. 

And then other days you see videos like this and keep going.

A word of warning though, 
this will make you feel all of your feelings. 

So if you don't feel like crying on your way to work, 
save this one for later. 

Happy training, friends. 

~KB