Married, well traveled, back for the attack!

I'm back! Well, I've been back in California for over a week, but I went on a Green Tortoise trip the weekend I came back (sans husband!).

I'm going to catch up on blogging soon - just wanted to say hi!

Jenica Szymanski Currie :)

Melting in the east coast, about to be married!

I can't believe how fast the last year has flown by. Since I got engaged last July, I ran two marathons, a 1/2 marathon, left my job, started a new job and planned a wedding. I had all of these grand work out plans for the time leading up to the wedding including a 25 pound weight lost plan. I only got about 10 pounds off for good (5 went before the marathon but has since come back) but I feel good about it. I've been working out since the last marathon but not as much as I'd like. My running plans are up in the air a bit. Hoped to run this week but it's been 95 plus for the last few days in Philadelphia, and that's too hot for me. I walked the dog down the street but we both gave up - it was that hot.

After the wedding, I plan on hoping back on the running wagon - still planning on running the NYC marathon this fall, and my new job has a gym!

First 5k!

My best running buddy Sarah now has a running coach! She's been trying new workouts and using a heart rate monitor to find the right pace. I am excited to watch her progress and to learn a thing or two from her as well! She was instructed to run a 5K and motivated me to join her. So last Saturday we did our second Dolphin Runners race - they have a few each month at different distances and locations around the city. This one started at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park.

Since this was my first 5k race, I can say that I did PR! I didn't really give myself a goal except to be under 30 minutes. The race started at a steepish downhill with almost a mile of uphill. It was very fun! Sarah rocked it and was the 6th woman to cross the finish line. I had an overall pace of 9:27 which isn't bad considering the downhill and my finish was 29:23. I could have kicked it maybe a little sooner, but I felt like it was a good workout.

I hope to run another one before the wedding!

I'm back

This month has flown by in a whirl. To sum things up, I've been working from home, traveling to the east coast, planning my wedding and had a wonderful girls weekend in Stinson Beach. What I haven't been doing is running. I did run once or twice in the last few weeks, and I have been walking a ton, but I really dropped the ball on my running. This seems to happen to me after a marathon.

Today I went out for an easy 5 mile run down Presidio to Chrissy Field and back. This is one of my favorite routes so it was a good way to say hello to running again.

I am getting married (!) in 5 weeks so I will be running and doing other fat shredding things in the next few weeks. Will keep you posted!

First weekend after a marathon - now what?

Woke up this morning without a plan - a running plan that is. This is the first weekend after the marathon, the first weekend in a very long time that I don't have a long run planned with Sarah or anyone. I woke up feeling a bit lost and tried to come up with a plan.

My favorite Saturday long run substitute is for some crazy reason, heading to the farmers market. Most Farmer's Markets take place on Saturday mornings when I'm usually out running. My favorites are the Oakland and the Mountain View farmer's markets. But now that I live back in San Francisco, I really haven't been going. The Ferry Building Farmer's Market is beautiful but crowded and overpriced so I decided to go to the Filmore Farmer's Market - they had cherries! They had cheese with sage! I spent about $40 mostly on the cheese, fruit, one or two veggies and salmon for Dan. Of course I saw lots of runners about and about and felt like a slacker. I think I'm going to head out for a run a little bit later with Dan, but for now, I'm going to go snack on some sage cheddar.

I was reading through my blog and saw my New Year's resolutions (running ones that is). And it looks like I've achieved two of them so far! I pr'ed in a 1/2 and a full marathon! Still haven't added any weight training to my workout schedule yet but I think I must this week. I'm down to less than two months before my wedding and I have a few pounds I want to shed. Sarah and I are going to do the sit up challenge and I want to get back into doing the 30 Day Shred. I'll give a report in a few days - hopefully I'll be inspired to do it.

Running Buns

I couple of weeks ago I bought these:

 Sarah and I have been obsessed with buns ever since we read the Runner's World issue with Kara Goucher preparing for the Olympics. She was wearing buns in those pictures and for some reason, we thought it was a good idea. We'll never be trained Olympians, but we can dress like them!

What are "buns" you may ask? They are very short running shorts, sometimes called compression shorts or boy shorts - they cover your "buns" and not much else. If you google buns, you'll find some interesting results. Some buns look like bikini bottoms but we didn't want to go that far.

So for the Avenue of the Giants marathon, we got buns to wear. I also thought I'd be in excellent, getting ready to get married shape. Which is sort of the case, although I am still eating loads of cheese and not quite doing any other type of exercise besides run. But still, I was determined.

Here's what buns look like on an 130ish pound, 5 foot 2 runner, at the beginning of a race:

Here's the end of the race:

My overall thoughts on these particular buns:

I found them to be pretty comfortable and somewhat flattering from most angles. They did ride up pretty quickly and by the end of the marathon I was far too tired to pick the wedgie, and they looked like bikini bottoms (it's good to know these things, right?). As Sarah said, "If I had a treadmill I'd run in them again." They are probably good for yoga, but not for running long distances. I may wear them for shorter runs or to the gym.

When I looked back at the product description, it doesn't say good for running, but all of the other ones I tried on that are supposedly good for running, rode up in the fitting room when I jogged in place. This one at least made it to the road test.

I think I may try and wear a running skirt at my next marathon.

Running Keen for Green

As runners, we make an impact on the environment (let's face it). Whether it's buying running gear made of bad things (or even just buying too much), participating in marathons that leave a trace, or leaving lots of old gear in our closets (when we could be donating them), we are making a difference, and it's not always good. I just wrote an article on Keen For Green, an informational/community site of bloggers writing about environmental issues, technologies, people  and political issues.

Check it out and run green.