My First Olympian Catcalls

I continuously ran farther this morning than I have in, well, years.  8.3 miles!  The last time I came even close was April 2013 when I ran 8 miles in 8 degree weather (oh, Alaska...).  A couple of weeks later I found out that I was pregnant with Miss Tess and quickly became waaaayyy to sick to walk, let alone run.

This run was tough in spots...miles 3 and 4 took forever.  Otherwise, though, I felt pretty good.  I am now considering myself "baptized" into running in the Pacific Northwest.  It poured rain during the entirety of my run and I came back soaked.  Also, I received my first two catcalls as an Olympian. Truly, a landmark day.  :)  The first one was some guy yelling something I couldn't at all understand as he drove past.  I'm going to assume he said, "Wow!  You're amazing!  Keep it up, you hot thing, you!"  The second was some enthusiastic honking and waving from two car-bound dudes speeding past.  I didn't recognize them, so I'm going to assume that they were also overcome with amazement at my beauty and tough-ness.  Perhaps I should do a post on humility.  Or positive affirmations?  Ha.

This was also the first time I ate anything during a long run.  I need to figure out what works for my body before I attempt my first half-marathon in January (more on that later).  I plan on trying some Gu and similar "foods", but today I ate a pack of fruit snacks.  I started eating them after running for about 50 minutes.  I think they helped me feel less tired during my run.  Also, when I do long runs, I almost always end up with a headache later in the day, no matter how much I hydrate.  Today, though, my head feels great and I wonder if it's because I took in some food during my run so that my body wasn't quite so depleted by my efforts.  By the way, Mott's fruit snacks are delicious.  I may now be stealing them regularly from my children's school-lunch stash...

 My Maia loves me...she was still willing to pose for a pic with me, even though I was very wet and most likely stinky.  She has said, though, that I need to talk about her a lot more in my blog posts.  :)  

My previously-mentioned favorite capris.  

A friend asked me what other workout DVDs I recommend.  So, I'll show you my vast collection (alongside my favorite Thanksgiving decoration, Tom): 

The Denise Austin one is wonderful!  It consists of a 30-minute cardio yoga segment, a 15-minute strength segment, and a 15-minute abdominal work section.  For a few years now, I've just done the 30-minute segment and called it good, because it actually is a great workout!  Now that I'm really wanting to get stronger, though, I've started adding the 15-minute strength segment.  I think it is a fairly easy workout to follow.  Denise's instructions are clear and I like how positive she is.  

The Jillian Michaels DVD is awesome!  I've only done Level 1 but it completely kicks my bum.  But in a good way, if that makes any sense.  It's a kettle bell workout, but she shows you how to do the moves with a hand weight, if that's all you have.  I just this week was able to do the jumping squats while holding my kettle bell.  Before, I had to put it on the floor and the move still made my legs scream.  It's so satisfying seeing tangible progress (I started doing this workout once a week about three months ago)!  Slowly, but surely, I am getting stronger.  Yippee!  

I hope you are all having a fantastic Saturday!  Tonight is date night "in" with my man: Papa Murphy's pizza and a movie.  Ahhhh, yeah.