Another weekend, another race

The Coal Creek Crossing 10 miler was a pretty solid race. Small, local (seriously, I ran back to my house to drop off my t shirt before hitting the start line), and great logo design.

The course was more dirt than I thought it'd be, which I think impacted my time a bit. My foot was also letting me know that 10 miles was maybe more than I should be doing right now, but I still managed to PR at this distance by around 6 minutes (compared to Garden of the Gods 10 miler). Still a few seconds shy of breaking 1:30 for 10 miles...argh. And I'm sure this coming weekend I'll be a few seconds shy of breaking 2 hours in the last half I'm signed up for (right now).

I know I've been terrible about blogging lately. That will likely continue, since the semester is starting to heat up (and it's only day 2...weeow).

I'm pretty stoked to be teaching a couple of Tabata cycling classes for the #fitsocial conference in a few weeks though. I'm thinking about coming up with a hashtag for my classes, so folks can tweet/instagram between Tabata rounds...any ideas? #pedalfaster? #strugglecycle? #fortheloveofgodwhydidicometothisclassagain?

Aww, Thanks!

In lieu of studying for ANOTHER midterm (effectively the 4th this week), I'm going to make a list of the things I've heard in the last few days that are, for better or worse, compliments.

"Yeah but you're in half marathon shape."

This is, apparently, what "half marathon shape" looks like for me. It's the most flattering of the pictures taken on Saturday, which is just kind of sad.

"I don't think you're awkward. No, you're just...blunt."

I don't have a picture for this. Google "blunt" and you get marijuana and Emily Blunt.

Awkward though....

Ouch.

"God Kat, why aren't you fatter?"

Yup, that's me.

Actually, that's about all I've got.

I got new shoes in the mail today (don't worry, this time I tried them on in person first). Sadly, I still can't wear shoes right now. The blister on my heel has taken on a life of its own and has gotten nasty. I accidentally hit my heel on the leg of a chair during my exam today and just about started crying it hurt so much. I'll spare you guys the pictures, but suffice it to say it required an emergency run to Target over lunch to get Bactine and bandaids.

Anywho.

Back to studying.

MIA

As expected, PT school has once again taken over my life and the first thing to get ditched is the blog. Honestly, I just feel like I can barely function as a normal human being in IRL social situations, making anything "virtual" just about impossible to fathom. I'm really not super interesting lately. I've been running a lot of races (a LOT of races), but they've been largely unremarkable...or at least not really "first post after a long hiatus" blog-worthy.

So rather than try to live up to what I'm thinking should be some grand reentrance into the blogging world, I'm just going to jot down a few things that I remember thinking during the Sand Creek Half Marathon yesterday.

Mile -0.5: "That's a hot spot. I should change shoes. But my car is far away. And I already put the timing chip on this pair. Maybe my heel will bleed this time and then I'll be a real runner."

It didn't bleed. Just a nickel-sized blister on the back that I keep popping because I'm gross and that's what I do with blisters.

Mile 7ish (aid station with Gu): "Gu gels are the grown up version of Otter Pops."

Took me a couple tries to figure out you slice your cheeks less if you just squeeze the stupid things.

Mile I don't even know anymore I just wanted it to be over: "I just want to be done. Please just let me be done."

It wasn't an awful race. It just wasn't awesome. I ran a 2:10:02, which was meh. Slowest half yet. In my defense, my feet hurt and I'd gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before. I have an anatomy exam (or 3) this week, and I hadn't run basically at all since my last half 3 weeks ago.

Oh yeah.

I run half marathons like they're nothing now. So there's that.

In June I ran the Garden of the Gods 10 Miler

Then my 4th Tough Mudder

I can't tell you how much I love that picture. I ran it with a few friends/classmates and my brother (the kid in the orange), and it was maybe my favorite one yet. Turns out having a bigger group is WAY more fun.

Then the next weekend I ran the Slacker Half Marathon, which is all down hill

During that race, I made a friend who, it turns out, is as addicted to races as I am. She's also a Sparkler, so it's easy to find each other.

I ran a whole mess of races in April and May too (and a couple in March as well)...here are a few other pictures:

Graffiti Run 5k

Drop Your Drawers 5k

Bunny Bolt 5k

I guess that's all the ones I have pictures from. Thought I had more selfies but I guess not. Oh well. As you can see, the skirt has been making its rounds. I think I've run 16 races this year and I have 11 more left through December. I guess that's probably enough, huh? One of those 11 is my first cycling event, Jam the Damz, to benefit Craig Hospital. They do amazing work with people who've sustained spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, and I'm hoping one day I get to join their team. If you're at all interested in helping out, please consider donating here!

What else...

Log n Blog is still going. Log your miles!

I'm almost to the point that I'm circling back on races...I'm already registered for Run the Rocks again.

I also started a facebook page for my running team (which has been 90% just me), The Gait Keepers. Every time a race has an option to register as a team for cheaper, I do. I decided that we should also have a tshirt option, so I made one.

Customized Women's Standard Weight T-Shirt

So that's going to arrive on my doorstep any day now. Can't wait.

Anywho. I'm sure there's an article I should be reading or a blood supply I should be drawing, so I'll leave it at that. Hopefully I'll be better about updating, but no promises. We'll see.

Oh Hai.

I guess I never wrote about my first half, huh?

The gist of it:

I finished. I did better than I'd hoped, but it felt AWFUL. I wasn't the only one that felt awful though, so I didn't feel too badly.

At the end of the race, my brother ran backwards in front of me for a bit to get a couple of awesome pictures:

Yay!

Not yay! 

My time was 2:06:38, which I'm happy with. Considering I had to walk most of mile 8 because of bonk, that's not awful. IN case you feel like joining me, here's what's coming up:
 

 Don't judge - I know that's a lot of races. I'm addicted. I know. Oh well.

Spin has been going well too. Next week's class is going to be epic I think. Like, superhero epic. Mentally challenging, physically brutal (if you're doing it right), but rewarding. Should be awesome.

Midterms Playlist

Not great at posting interesting stuff, sorry about that. Here's tonight's playlist anyway:


Proud Heather Small
Paint It Black Vanessa Carlton
S&M (Come On) Rihanna
What The Hell Avril Lavigne
Planetary (GO!) My Chemical Romance
Panic Switch Silversun Pickups
Thriller/Heads Will Roll Glee Cast
Like OMG, Baby DJ Earworm
Till The World Ends Britney Spears
Into The Night (Featuring Chad Kroeger) Santana
Black Betty Ram Jam
This Is How A Heart Breaks Rob Thomas
Bass Creator Basshunter
Devour Shinedown
White Rabbit Emiliana Torrini

Another Tuesday, Another Playlist

Looks like I forgot to post last week's playlist.


30-min Electro Swing Mix (1) 29:12
Paramore - Crush Crush Crush (DjTaly 4:38
Highway Unicorn (Road To Love) Lady Gaga 4:16
Fall (Remixed By M83 VS Big Black Delta) Daft Punk 3:55
Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) Big & Rich 3:22
P!nk - Try (Cosmic Dawn Radio Edit) 4:18
Follow Me Follow Me (Fast 5 Hybrid Remix) Tejo Black Alien and Speed 3:08
Nicki Minaj Pound the Alarm Remix [R 4:43
Haddaway - What Is Love 2013 (Andrew 6:04
Zombie (Techno Remix) 5:22
Barbara Streisand (Original Mix) Duck Sauce 5:00
Linkin Park - In The End (DJ Yoj Rem 4:30
Celine Dion - I Drive All Night 5:19
Imprint DoubleDrive 4:00

That first song was just the "welcome to class, find a bike" song, obviously. The ride was a modified version of the Road Trip spin. Same basic ride, just a couple of extra hills thrown in for good measure.


This week's playlist is this:


Spaceman The Killers 4:47
The Longest Day of My Life Armin Van Buuren 10:23
Nicki Minaj Pound the Alarm Remix [R 4:43
Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch- Sw 3:28
Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worr 3:24
059 - Ke$ha - Take It Off DJ Willis (williswho.com) 3:35
I Want You To Want Me (Live) Cheap Trick 3:38
Some Nights Fun. 4:37
Set Fire to the Rain (House Remix) Capt Kirk 3:26
Danger Zone (Album Version) Kenny Loggins 3:38
Bulletproof La Roux 3:26
Titanium David Guetta Feat Sia 4:05
Eminem - Lose Yourself Eminem 5:26
Stubborn Love by The Lumineers (Lyri 4:33

It's going to be a "ride to the music" kind of week. Honestly, I haven't even listened to that playlist anyway, so it will likely change up a bit before class anyway.

That's about it. We're hitting midterms, so it's been and will continue to be a bumpy week.

Oh, and I ran my first half marathon on Sunday. So there's that.

Maybe soon there will be a race recap, since that was kind of a big deal race for me. 2:06:38, which isn't too shabby considering it was my first and I was just hoping to finish in one piece.

Anyway.

Sneak Peek Playlist

Here's the line up (more or less) for tomorrow:


Plowed - Sponge
Right Now - SR-71
The Art Of Losing - American Hi-Fi
Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood
Ke$ha - Die Young (Lyric Video)
Alexandra Stan - Mr Saxobeat
Usher - Scream (Audio)
Seven Nation Army (The Glitch Mob Remix) - The White Stripes
Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child
I Put A Spell On You - Marilyn Manson
Killin' It - Krewella
Remix (I Like The) - NKOTB
If I Had You - Adam Lambert
Thriller/Heads Will Roll - Glee Cast
Everybody & Ray Speak No Americano (Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP vs. Backstreet Boys vs. Ray Charles vs. Phantom of the Opera vs. Benny Benassi) Mashup-Germany vs. Faroff
Feel Again - OneRepublic
Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods
Walk - Foo Fighters

This whole 60 minutes instead of 45 thing is throwing me way off...I'm so used to having effectively 35 minutes of hard work to come up with - those extra 15 really make a difference. Blerg. There are a couple of songs I'm not totally sold on (Scream, for example - great beat but man it's a filthy song), but I think this will work. I really need to get a better vibe of who's going to be in the class and this will get easier I think. 

This one is my favorite though: 

 I feel like I should have some more BSB and N'Sync or something in there, but this isn't actually a 90's song. Go figure.

Anyway. That's the plan. For now. Hope to see you there!