It’s the last Friday of the month which means Marcia has opened the Runfessional!

It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by Darlene, Renée, Jenn, Zenaida, and me! So, let’s get started, shall we?

July Runfessions

Vacation Re-entry — Can I start by saying this week felt so l-o-n-g! Why is it that re-entry following a vacation is always so hectic?! I runfess that I didn’t realize just how much I needed this vacation until I actually got a chance to step away. While I enjoyed my staycation in May, nothing can beat time away. I’m determined to strike a better balance between work and home life moving forward.

New Shoe Delay — You may remember that I was lucky enough to win a pair of Brooks Glycerins as part of a Dick’s Sporting Goods giveaway. When they arrived at the end of June I couldn’t wait to run in them. Then my hip started acting a little wonky and I got skittish about changing shoes. Well, call me paranoid, but I runfess that I didn’t take them out for a run until just this past weekend.

Weather fatigue — OK…you know it’s coming so I’m just going to say it… I runfess that I am so over this weather! We had one of the rainiest Julys on record, and when it wasn’t pouring, the humidity was off the charts. I bracing myself for August.

Ready for training? — The time off from running while on vacation seems to have done my hip a world of good! But now with my fall races on the horizon, it’s time to start to increase my miles and I runfess that I’m a little nervous to see how my hip responds. I’ll be building some extra time into my schedule to return to some of my key PT exercises and I runfess that I’m willing to sacrifice some miles, if necessary to keep injury at bay.

How about you – any runfessions to share?

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!

Join My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Who’s ready for some fun?

It’s time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by Darlene, Renée, Jenn, Zenaida, and yours truly! And, since it’s the last Friday of the month, I’m linking up with Marcia for Runfessions. I’ve got a few things to share so let’s get to it!

Runfessions – June Edition

I runfess that I panicked a bit when my hip gave me trouble on my run a week ago. I’ve been working hard to keep up with my strength training and stretching – an injury after this effort would be so frustrating! I continue to stretch and roll like it’s my job and keep my fingers crossed.

I runfess that I am running out of patience for my Garmin. I mentioned back in April that my Forerunner 235 was occasionally finicky. Well, it’s getting worse not better as it becomes more and more temperamental. Clearly, its days are numbered, so I need to hurry up and settle on a replacement.

In an effort to give my eating a boost in the right direction, I runfess that I have returned to counting my macros. I have a love-hate relationship with this process. On the one hand, tracking has proven to help me to be more mindful of what I’m eating – on the other hand, the tracking is oh so tedious. But, for now, my clothes are fitting better so there’s that.

Any runfessions to share? 

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!
Join My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Please be sure to show your hosts some love and visit some of the other bloggers in the link-up. Who’s ready for some fun?

Happy Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by Darlene, Renée, Jenn, Zenaida, and yours truly! We appreciate all of you who have joined in to support this link-up!

And, since it’s the last Friday of the month, Marcia has opened the Runfessional. I’ve got a few things to share so let’s dive right in!

I runfess that I have slacked on post-run stretching and foam rolling lately and I think there’s a direct correlation to the ITB flare. Needless to say, I’m back on all my post-run recovery work like it’s my job.

A new gym recently opened where our former gym once stood. They are, of course, offering great deals to entice people to sign up. My husband and boys are all fired up to check out the gym and get the details on their family membership package. I runfess that I’m not as enthusiastic. Access to a greater range of weights would be great, but I must admit that I’m still a little leary of the idea of indoor workouts with random other people.

While I’m considering a couple of races for the fall, I runfess that the recent burst of summer weather has left me wondering just how far I want to be running during the next few months. If only there were a way to arrive at Fall start lines ready to go without enduring the summer slog.

Any runfessions to share? Do you make time for post-run recovery? Are you ready for summer running?

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!
Join My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Please be sure to show your hosts some love and visit some of the other bloggers in the link-up. Who’s ready for some fun?

It’s the last Friday of the month which means Marcia has opened the Runfessional! It’s also time for another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by Darlene, Renée, Jenn, Zenaida, and me! So, let’s get started, shall we?

April Runfessions

I runfess that I think I have a psychological block when it comes to mileage goals. I’m fine when mileage is part of a challenge (like run across the state, etc), but as a stand-alone, run XX miles goal for the month, not so much. I’m not a fan of feeling like I “have to run” just to hit an arbitrary target.  So for now, I’m letting go of any thoughts of annual mileage goals and the calendar math that goes with it, and we’ll just see how things play out in the end.

I runfess that the minute I made this decision earlier this week, I felt less stressed.

While I absolutely love the abstract pattern and purple color of my new Adrenalines, I runfess that it sometimes bothers me when they clash with some of my running outfits. Hmmm, do you think it’s time to do some shopping?

Now that our governor has given a green light to the return of road races, I runfess that I’m a little giddy to see the flow of race emails hitting my inbox. I already had plans to run one of my favorite 10Ks this summer, and now I finally feel like I can do some fall race planning.

Any runfessions to share? Do you set mileage goals? 

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!
Join My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Who’s ready for some fun?

Happy Friday and welcome to another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by Darlene, Renée, Jenn, Zenaida, and me!

It’s the last Friday of the month, so I’m linking up with Marcia to share a Runfession or two…so let’s get started.

March Runfessions

I runfess that I am in a running rut…on the one hand, I have no complaints because my runs have felt pretty good! But on the other hand, the runs are all starting to feel and look the same. I need to mix up the distances, routes, paces…something. It’s time to shake things up a bit I think.

I runfess that I decided to take the deferral credit on my entry in the New England 10 Miler Series. While this race series had announced a tentative in-person schedule (after being postponed from 2020), I shared over coffee that race organizers have already had to alter the schedule given COVID restrictions. With still so much uncertainty around when I will be vaccinated and varying state restrictions, I opted to take the deferral credit. The credit gives me the option to register for any of the races offered by this race group later in the year or in 2022. I runfess that I’m happier not stressing about if and when these races might go off. I’m still fairly confident that we won’t be racing in this area much before the summer.

In the battle between wearing multiple layers and catching the sunrise vs fewer layers and warmer afternoon sunshine, I runfess that the warmer temps are winning. I’m just tired of wearing all the layers so, for now, I’m letting the weather app dictate the time of day that I run.

Any runfessions to share? Do you let the weather dictate your runs?

Welcome to FitFive Friday!

Join My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Who’s ready for some fun?

Happy Friday!

A big thank you to everyone who’s linked up or stopped by to support the new Fit Five Friday link-up! My co-hosts Darlene, Renee, Jenn, Zenaida and I really appreciate the support!

And, speaking of link-ups, it’s the last Friday of the month, so I’m linking up with Marcia to share some Runfessions…let’s get started, shall we?

February Runfessions

I runfess that I am winter-weary. While I love cold weather running, all of the snow and ice this month have made outdoor running really challenging. I’ve done my best to take it all in stride, but I’m really ready to move on.

February wraps up this weekend and with it, the enCore28 daily core challenge. After my daily yoga challenge in January, and now this core challenge, the obvious question is what’s next? I runfess that after two months of daily challenges, I’m kinda looking forward to having no daily “challenge” on the plan for March.

I runfess that I have finally put an in-person race on my 2021 calendar –  the Narragansett Summer Running Festival! This is a great local race and I’m psyched that they’re making a go of it this year. I also runfess that what sealed the deal for me was the RD’s promise to offer a full refund and to not go virtual if COVID restrictions prevent a live event from taking place. It’s not until July and more and more things are opening up here in MA, so I’m hopeful!

Lastly, I have been jonesing to buy a new pair of run shoes. I runfess this is not about need, my running mileage has been on the low end and I have a couple of pairs in rotation…and still I stalk the websites.

Any runfessions to share? Have you registered for or run any in-person races yet? How many pairs of running shoes are too many?

Here are the guidelines:

• Your link should center around some kind of fitness (exercise, wellness, mental health, nutrition… really the possibilities are endless!)
• Please link back to your hosts! It’s the right thing to do!
• Share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!
• Feel free to share about Fit Five Friday on your social media! Tag #FitFiveFriday to get the word out!

Welcome to another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida!

It’s also the last Friday of the month which means Marcia has opened the Runfessional. So I’m combining the two in one post – here come my 5 runfessions for January!

Five Runfessions for January

At the start of the month, I set the goal of daily yoga. Today marks Day 29 of my yoga streak. I runfess (or is it yoga-fess?) that I surprised myself for getting this far in the streak. Honestly, when I threw out this idea of daily yoga as a goal I didn’t have a lot of confidence that this one would stick. It’s nice when you surprise yourself!

That said, I yoga-fess that this challenge has not endeared me to yoga – I’m just not a yoga person. Having said that I cannot deny that this daily time on my mat seems to have helped. So, the million-dollar question is, will yoga stay in the mix come February?

I am happy to be back to pain-free running and will now be building up my base again. However, I runfess that I continue to have no interest in “running long.” I have been thinking about working my way back up to an 8-mile long run but with winter’s bitter cold temps finally making an appearance, the motivation is low.

And, why 8 miles you may ask? That distance has always been the “sweet spot” for me – it’s not a big leap from there to dial-up training to the half marathon distance. On the other hand, I runfess that I just do not see myself signing up for a virtual half marathon again any time soon. If I’m running a half marathon I really need/want it to be an in-person event. Given the way things are playing out, I do not foresee any in-person races happening until at least the fall.

I also runfess that my love of my Peloton bike is certainly not helping my motivation to run far in the bitter cold. There are so many classes I want to take, and new content is always being added. Sometimes it’s a struggle between deciding to head out for a run or hitting the bike.

So tell me, have you tried daily yoga? Are you motivated to run long without a race on your calendar?

Here are the guidelines:

• Your link should center around some kind of fitness (exercise, wellness, mental health, nutrition… the possibilities are endless!)
• Please link back to your hosts! It’s the right thing to do!
• Share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!
• Feel free to share about Fit Five Friday on your social media! Tag #FitFiveFriday to get the word out!