Will Run For Ice Cream

If you are a suffer of Plantar Fasciitis, you might want to take a moment and read this. When I broke my foot a couple of years ago, after being in 'the boot', I started having problems with the beginning of planter fasciitis. And for most runners, the mere mention of the word can strike fear. So I immediately began doing stretches and strengthening exercises. As most of you know, a tennis ball, golf ball or frozen water bottle seem to be the device of choice to use on the arch area of your foot. My tool of choice was a golf ball. It seemed to get to the area better than the tennis ball or water bottle. But after coming across the Oh Ball , I do believe that I will be retiring my golf ball. The Oh Ball looks like this And one thing that I really love about it is the handles. An issue I had with the golf ball (or other tools) was that as I would apply pressure, the ball would slip out or move off of the 'spot' that I was trying to work on. With the handl...

I am actually a little shocked that I did it. Ok, let me back up a little. As you know, I'm coming back from injury (I Took A Step, Felt the Pull, And Then the Pain ), and things have been progressing nicely. I'm working with a trainer who is keeping me in check. (Yeah, we all know someone needs to) So, at first, I just wanted to run the entire 10 Mile race in March. But as things are progressing, the truth is I really want to reach a timed goal. I discussed this with my trainer, and she's cautious as she doesn't want to risk re-injury. But on Tue she gave me a little test run to see how I tolerated a faster pace with my breathing. I did ok. So for today's run, she told me to run 3 miles at an 8:30 pace. Gulp. See, that's pretty much my PR for a 5K. I was excited to try. But I was also a little nervous. Because honestly, I really didn't know if I could do that. I mean, I've been running on the treadmill, and treadmill paces (even with a 1% incline) isn...

Well, if you've been following my blog, then you know that I'm coming back from injury. And at first I was beyond frustrated. Ok, I was pretty much border-line pissed at how slow things were progressing. I didn't know whether to give up completely or just throw caution to the wind, say $*&*** this, I'm just going to run and consequences be well you see where I'm going with this. Instead, I tried my best to 'trust the process'. ( note to those people who are trying to encourage injured runners, we really don't want to hear this slogan - or the word patience - just sayin ') Instead,  I had a little heart-to-heart with my trainer ( Personal Design Fitness ). I voiced my concerns. She listened, and after defining the difference between soreness and actual pain, she ramped up my training plan a bit with the understand that I had to continue to listen to my body. So far for long runs I've been able to run 4 hilly miles outside. In addi...

In addition to running, reading is also something that I enjoy doing. And although I don't get a lot of time to read lately, I do try to sneak it in whenever I can. So when I had the opportunity to review The Summit Seeker by Vanessa Runs, I was excited to read a book that the theme was about running. Image Source: Amazon Now, if you are looking for a book to tell you how to trail run or give you tips, this book isn't for you. This book is about a young woman, Vanessa, and her journey with trail running and ultra running. There were parts of the book that I had hoped she would expand a little, and I wasn't ready for her to move on to the next topic. And at times, I was ready for her to move on instead of continuing. But with anything, it's personal preference (especially when it comes to books). After reading The Summit Seeker, I was inspired to continue to dabble into trail running, and the thoughts of a future, ok maybe a  very distant future , ultra....

Well, today was "one of those days". You know the one, where you are driving down the interstate and your car window gets stuck and won't roll back up. It of course was only 8 degrees and 6:30am. And of all places, I was on my way to register my son for pre-school, which in itself is ridiculous. See, registration opened at 8:45am. But unless you got there super early, then chances were slim that you'd get into the class. At around 6:30ish, I was number 16 at that point. Yeah, that's how my day started, and the morning didn't seem to get much better. My plans of going to the gym were also side railed. So I tried another option. I told Lil Man we could watch a movie while I ran on the treadmill. He seemed in agreement with that. So that's just what we did. He is currently into The Polar Express. (He calls it the train movie). So, he got comfy on the couch while I got in my walk/run. I was actually 'allowed' to run 1.5 miles today during to...

I don't know about where you live, but here we've had one really brutally cold and quite snowy winter. As you know I'm coming back from injury, so the majority of my runs have been on the treadmill. But my trainer suggested that I get outside at least once a week for a run. I know that the difference in surface is important. I will run in the cold. But through my Winters here, I have learned that the right gear can make all of the difference in the world. So on a 19 degree (feels like 8) morning, I took my Respect Your Universe  endurance jacket out for a test run. There were several features about this jacket that I really liked. First, it has thumb holes (yahoo). Second, you can zip it up to where it will cover your nose/mouth (super score for really cold days). One thing to keep in mind though is to tie the strings into a bow or something that will shorten the strings (otherwise they will bounce around and drive you crazy). It also has pockets which ...