Oh my Lord… 1o days until I run the Baltimore Marathon.

This race is completely sneaking up on me.

The girls and I did our last long run this past Saturday. (17 miles) It was extra special for me, not only because it was the last official double digit run before the big event but also because my friend Kim joined in. I haven’t run with her for years. Literally. (She is Marine Corps Marathon bound.)

As I ran with Kim, Lori and Katie this week I felt an overwhelming sense of pride with regards to the company I was keeping. These women all have small children. Jobs. Demanding schedules. (Hell, Kim wakes up at 3:30am some days just to get her run in.) But each of them has a goal. Each has a dream. And I am so thrilled to be a part of that. Because there is nothing… NOTHING… like crossing that finish line and achieving that goal.

In any event…

I’ve got a couple of details to attend to before race day:

• New running hat. This is a must.
• New sports bra. (TMI? Perhaps.)
• Roctane, Body Glide and Chia stock up.
• Sleep. Water. Repeat.

I still can’t believe it is only 10 days away!

Best. 20 Mile. Run. Ever.

Brand new shoes. 7:00a.m. Mile 12.

This past Saturday morning was one of those days that reinforced my love for running. The sky was blue, the air was crisp, we all felt great and the conversation flowed…  it was the most perfect running day. (Insert heavenly choir here.)

Understand that our little trio is comprised of moms, so in order to hammer out the mileage that is required and still take care of our kids and responsibilities, we have to start quite literally before the sun rises. We meet at 5am and run for a good hour and a half before any sunshine peeks out. (It is not as bad as you are envisioning it, I promise. Okay, I admit that waking up at 4am does kind of suck. But other than that it is not bad at all.)

This week’s goal was 20 miles. Considering the fact that we scrapped last week’s run due to an overwhelming feeling of sickness from the crew, I was more than surprised that we felt so strong.

To top off the most perfect day, a random balloon arch was magically constructed in the park by our cars sometime during our four hour run.

Lori and her longest run to date!

This balloon arch coincided exactly with our GPS 20 mile mark. So, of course… we ran through it with our arms in the air hooting the whole way. (OF COURSE we did. Like you wouldn’t?)

Upcoming training strategy – working in a couple more hill runs prior to the Baltimore Marathon. That course is hilly!

GIVEAWAY ALERT!

For weeks now I have been attributing my energy levels to my new found chia seed obsession. And each week I get questions on Facebook and via email requesting more info about them.

So this week I am especially thrilled to offer a CHIA SEED GIVEAWAY! How would you like to win a two pound bag of Chia Seeds from ChiaSeedsDirect.com? Chia Seeds Direct not only offers the high quality chia seeds at low prices, but they also have free shipping on all U.S. orders. And as a bonus, they also offer a downloadable  free 16-page booklet on chia seeds, chia seeds benefits and chia seeds recipes.

How can you win?

• Like Hip As I Wanna Be on Facebook
• Tweet (If not on Twitter, post on Facebook): I just entered to win a fab #momsrunning #giveaway via @jennifergerlock : http://wp.me/pt2KK-1H3
• Leave me a comment here telling me you did both.

I’ll draw the winner and announce it on Saturday, September 24th. Good luck!

What a beautiful morning for a ridiculously early run! And by ridiculously early I mean waking at 4:00 a.m.

Truly, I’m all kinds of certifiable.

So the gals met at my house this morning to tackle our first HILL RUN and our last SINGLE DIGIT long run. Let me say that again…. LAST. SINGLE. DIGIT. LONG. RUN.

This is where the marathon training gets oh-so-fun.

Sorry, a little off track there…. back to the hill run. We’re working in hill workouts every other week because if you check the race  elevation chart (badly in need of an update IMHO) you see we will clearly need the training.  Surprisingly, our first one went pretty smoothly. We were incredibly strong, actually. My muscles might disagree with me tomorrow but as of now, all is good. Eight miles of hills now complete.

Because the New York Marathon last year kicked my ever-lovin’ butt, for this one I’ve decided to add a little drama into the mix. And by drama I mean ridiculously hard cross training action.

I really want to finish strong on this one.

So, the husband and have started the INSANITY WORKOUT.

I quickly discovered that there was a reason they named it “Insanity.”

OOPH!

And that is all that I have to say about that.

Yes, it really is that brutal. (Great review here if you are interested.)

So…. anyone else out there running? Are you training for a race or embarking on your own fitness journey? Love to hear about it!

My body and my brain are just not in sync these days.

My brain thinks that I am some kind of Deena Kastor. My body thinks that I am some kind of Roseanne Barr. The two just don’t jive.

I’m training along with Katie (running partner) for the London Marathon. Before you get all excited… SHE is running the London Marathon, I am accompanying her on her training runs. Which means that I am out there doing stupid long distances for no really good reason. Except for the fact that Katie is awesomesauce and I want to grow up and be just like her. (And everyone deserves to have a friend on their long run.)

We did a 14 mile run on Sunday and I admit it… I was tired. Muscle-ache tired. Take-a-nap tired. I don’t know what was wrong with me. I’m beginning to wonder if I might be anemic again? Because really, the training shouldn’t be that exhausting.

On Tuesday I ran four miles of intervals on the treadmill and I felt pretty strong on that run. But this morning the exhaustion once again returned and I skipped my run. I’m hoping to make up for it tonight. (You can follow my training using the Daily Mile widget on the side of my blog.) Each day I do not run I lift weights. So I get some cross-training in. But I have a feeling that I need to incorporate some more cardio on top of that to break through this exhaustion. Or I could get more sleep. It’s a toss up. Heh.

Allow me to digress a moment to show you a great  TED video I found with Christopher McDougall speaking. In this video, titled Born to Run, he explores the mysteries of the human desire to run. As part of the talk he shares the story of the marathoner with a compassionate spirit, an unlikely ultra-runner, and a hidden tribe in Mexico that runs to live. I really enjoyed it and hope that you do too!

Yes, you read that right.

I concede. (Stupid IT band.)

I am downgrading to the 1/2 marathon.  Considering the fact that I still can’t run longer than 6 miles without inflaming my stupid-no-good-IT-band, I am okay with that.  I had really, really, really wanted to tackle two full marathons this year but I guess it is just not in the cards for me.

So I will be running with Katie (and any of my other running pals… hint, hint!) in the Baltimore Half Marathon on October 10th.

I’m trying not to be bittter. I do kinda feel like my body betrayed me but, in reality,  I wasn’t stretching or cross-training enough. I brought it on myself.

On the postive side of things, I will earn the Maryland Double again this year.  (That would be a third medal you earn for completing both the Frederick and Baltimore races.) Hey, I am all about the bling!

2008 Maryland Double bling!

So slowly I am working on my training program for the half marathon.  I’m not worried.  I’ve actually run this particular race three times so I am really looking forward to it.

I am not going to concentrait on my time for this race because my PT says that speedwork would only aggravate my injury further.  I’m not really fond of it anyway so I was pretty happy getting that diagnosis. 

So if you live in or around Baltimore and plan on running in the Baltimore Running Festival – drop me a line and maybe we’ll get a chance to meet.  The more, the merrier!

OTHER RUNNING NOTES:

• My friend Kelly B. and I were discussing marathon training philosophy the other day and we found ourselves perplexed over just how many 20 mile training runs someone should tackle before the big day.  Everyone has a different opinion.  Some say one. I prefer two and she was thinking of doing two to three.  Kelly found a pretty interesting article online that suggests well, NONE. Fascinating!  Read it here.
• Interested in discovering a new running site?  Chic Runner is fun and Danica just posted some cool race videos from the San Francisco Half Marathon.  Check out the action here.