I hate push-ups (and I'm not that fond of my husband right now either)

TGIF everyone

Here we are, the end of another week; it's been a busy one but they usually are. I'm feeling very fortunate that I have a three-day weekend as Monday is a Federal holiday :-)

I'm very frustrated with my push-up challenge and now I am letting my husband ruin it for me. For months he has been asking me why I always go upstairs to do my push-ups and sit-ups & he's curious why I won't do them in front of him. I have explained to him MULTIPLE times that I don't want him to tell me that I'm doing them wrong and that I feel self-conscious if I feel I'm being scrutinized.

I know that my push-ups aren't perfect and I am o.k. with that.

Well, I finally broke down the other day and started to do my Push-Up Fit Test in front of him; I had just finished Week 4 and this test was to determine if I was moving up to Week 5 or repeating Week 4 (again). My arms were a little sore and I wasn't really feeling it anyway; I should have known better..............

What was the FIRST thing out of his mouth? Keep your back straight.

What was the SECOND thing out of his mouth? Go lower.

At this point I tried, nicely, to ask him to leave me alone and not provide input into my push-up form; he then launched into a speech about if I was going to do them I should do them right and he was just trying to help. Didn't I want to do them right? I did not do enough to move on to Week 5 and I haven't done one push-up since then. Oh well..........

I am looking forward to a fun and hopefully relaxing weekend. Tonight I will be celebrating a dear friends 50th Birthday; tomorrow I am going to watch my son (who is a senior in college) coach his YMCA Youth Basketball Team; and on Monday I will be getting together with a few friends for scrapbooking and card making. I don't know yet what Valentine's Day will bring :-)

I have a 70 minute easy run scheduled for today; an 80 minute hill run (still easy pace) scheduled for tomorrow and a rest day on Sunday. I will get a full week's schedule from my new coach later this weekend and I'm excited to see what my running future holds. It will be interesting and challenging; right now he wants me to work on building my stamina, and trying to get me to be less fastidious about my pace, distance, etc. And what does this mean in the short term.........slow down, relax and listen to my body.

I'd like to start a "bloggy" mailing list; if you'd like to be included please send your Birthday and mailing address to kathyrafish@comcast.net

I did it!

I jumped off the deep end and hired a coach; I'm committed for 6 months now. I really want to get my BQ this year and I think this kind of accountability will help me.

The guy has a 2:23 Marathon PR and thinks he can hit 2:20.....he is obviously doing something right. I wonder why he wants to coach a mere mortal like me; a 4:00 hour marathon isn't considered that fast to the purists, but I know I can reach that goal and I am looking forward to the extra motivation and shaking up my training regime. He will be incorporating strength training into my plan as well and I know this will help me; my core is weak.

My training plan will vary from week to week, based on the previous week's results so it definitely won't be stale.

We're going to start out going longer during the week, at a slower pace - everything at an easy effort, feeling like you could do more when you're finished. I'm supposed to go for minutes as opposed to miles. I just feel like I'm getting faster (for me) and now I will need to slow down; it feels a little counter productive but I am willing to give it a try.

I got two great hills runs in this week at a pace that I am very happy with; tomorrow I start the "Official" training plan..............Day 1 = 70 minutes for Wednesday.

Go check out this amazing giveaway that Beth has going on; the fine folks at Champion have sent her some really cool gear to share with her peeps. Plus, you will roll on the floor laughing at her poop stories.

Have a great evening

Random babbling

Alisa pointed out to me that all the Oregon photos I posted were taken on nice, sunny days and she is right :-) We don't get as much sunshine as the rest of the world; but when it is sunny in Oregon, it is TO DIE FOR and nothing beats it. This is coming from a born and raised Southern California gal...........

Marcia talked about stalling the other day; about how hard it can be to get your rear in gear and out the door; I think we have all been there. I was there myself today; I had an hour to kill while I waited for my carpooler. It makes perfect sense for me to get a run in during this time, I've done it a few times, I had my gym bag with me, I didn't run yesterday, I probably can't run tomorrow - I fully intended to run. As the time got closer I did all the negative self-talk; it's windy, it's raining, I'm tired, I don't want to go - you all know the drill. Finally, push came to shove and I just forced myself out the door and got a decent 5.25 mile run in. I don't know about you guys, while sometimes it is hard to get out the door, I never regret getting the run in and I always feel so much better.

The Fitness Challenge that I was going to do at the gym was cancelled due to low participation; I'm really bummed. It was a great, affordable way to get in some personal training and a little friendly competition. I am now looking for Plan B. I'm considering hiring a coach, someone who incorporates strength training into a running regime; what do you guys think?

Julie has been doing this terrible thing recently ;-) She's posting about blogs she enjoys reading that she thinks others would enjoy; and she is right - they are all awesome. I can barely keep up reading all of these wonderful blogs, forget commenting on all of them. I'm a bad girl and read them at work most of the time (let's keep this as our little secret) but for some unknown technical reason I can't comment on all of them from my office. This is actually probably good as I might not ever get any work done.

I got a 4 mile treadmill run in on Monday evening; it sure seemed to me that it was much, much harder than running outside. In fact, I put the treadmill a full minute per mile slower than I would normally run. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I had an awesome 7+mile hill workout on Tuesday night; it was brutal, but felt so good.

My long run this weekend will be on Sunday; we're planning on 13 miles. A good way to start the day before all of the Superbowl festivities kick off.

Have a great day.

Why I love Oregon, the visual version

I love Wednesdays

I got out of bed on the wrong side of the bed this morning; you know the feeling, just a little crabby - no particular reason at all.........the feeling persisted most of the day but when my work day was done I put on my running shoes and headed out for a 5-1/2 mile run around my office. It was a BEAUTIFUL day in Portland; the sun was shining and the birds were signing! Post-run I immediately headed to Yoga and this was all I needed to get out of my funk. A feel like a new person.

I arrived home to multiple surprises, there was the Progresso Soup package that I had won from Amanda at Run to the Finish; my wonderful weekly box of organic fruits & vegetables and new pendant lights over my kitchen counter.

You have to go check out the awesome giveaway that Tricia is doing; she's giving away a Nathan Hydration belt! This was on my list for Santa this year; a must have item for any runner.

I neglected to mention the other really cool item I got last Friday, a nifty hat from Ron over at Punk Rock Tri Guy. Ron graciously gave EVERYONE that had commented on his blog recently one of the new hats he's having made for PUNK ROCK RACING. You HAVE to go check him out; he is HILARIOUS and he is doing a ton of really cool events this year, including his first IronMan.

It should be noted that I was wearing my new hat when I PR'd on Sunday! It is now my good luck hat.

Happy Hump Day

It's a PR baby; PR!

My half marathon this past Sunday was awesome! I finished in 1:55; which is a 4 minute PR for me - yeah me! It was cold for the entire race; and it pouring and windy for the last 4 miles, a PR in these conditions is even sweeter. While 40 degrees might not seem very cold to some of you you're pretty miserable when you're soaking wet.

We had plans to just go out and stay anywhere between an 8:45 and 9:15 pace; just have a nice run, well you know how plans go. Mind you, I really didn't think that an 8:45 pace for 13.1 miles would fall into the nice and easy category for me but WOW, I can't say it was hard for me.........My friend who wanted to take it easy didn't and she ended up taking off at a low 8:00 pace. Vicki and I didn't think we could sustain this pace for 13.1 so we let the others go at about mile 3 and just got into a groove and enjoyed the day. Just as we were commenting that the rain was staying away, it got very blustery and started to pour; maybe we jinxed it :-) We chatted the entire way and really enjoyed our time together; Vicki is a CPA so her life is just about over until April 15th so we know we won't have a ton of training runs together in the next 2-1/2 months. We kept saying we should slow down, but we never did. I was dead set on finishing in 1:58, which would have been a PR for me and I knew we were ahead of this pace for the entire race. I finished with some kick left and I feel great today; maybe I have a fast half in me......I'll get the opportunity to see on February 28th when I run the Max Muscle Half Marathon the next event on my race calendar.

I didn't get any photos and I am hopeful the race photographer got at least one decent one.

I "get" to repeat Week 4 of the 100 push-up challenge; I wasn't able to do the minimum number of psuh-ups to advance to Week 5. I'm o.k. with this though; in no way do I consider it a failure. I did 28 push-ups; when I started this challenge I couldn't even do 2!

I am moving on to Week 5 for the 200 sit-up challenge. The bummer is, now I am not the same schedule for both challenges; a little thing and I will get over it.

Lesson learned this week, when Lori says nice and easy - don't listen :-)

Busy week, sore arms and sunshine

Wow, this push-up challenge is starting to take its' toll on me, it's getting harder and harder. I just (barely) finished Day 2 of Week 4 - let's just say that the form on the last 4-5 was pretty bad. But I did it! I also did Day 2 Week 4 of the 200 sit-up challenge this evening and got a 3-1/2 mile fairly hilly run in. I guess I deserve to be tired.

The Fitness Challenge at the gym begins February 1 and I am really looking forward to this; with the exception of the push-ups and sit-ups all I have been doing is running and have been very neglectful of everything else.

I'm going to be running in the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon this Sunday; I have done this event twice and while I am not a fan of the course it is a very well organized event and a good PR course as it is nice and flat. As a bonus, I think the weather is supposed to be good this weekend.

Oregon has nothing on California in regards to rain they have been having recently; have you seen the photos? I have family in Southern California and they are all o.k., albeit a little soggy.

The sun has been out at some point the last two days; it is amazing what seeing the sun does for you, least of all it gives you hope that the rain won't last forever.