We're getting down and dirty this year.

So... bring it, 2013. 

I am ready.

Today began my training for the Oakland Running Festival half-marathon. I think announced some day several days ago as the beginning, but that turned out to be a lie. And this was my first run since Jingle Bell Hell three weeks ago, so yeah...start of the training cycle. 

Who knows if I'll make it to race day, but I'm operating as if. The power of positive thinking :)

This morning I was lolling about in bed, thinking about running but being completely non-committal about when... which was not really working for my husband. He's smart. He knew that my non-committal-ness was not a good sign. And he had agreed to help keep me 'on task' with regard to working out for the next few months. Yay, husband :) So he got to work...

We are going to go to the park this afternoon as a family...and you will run your favorite loop while the kids and I go for a hike.

Statement of fact. Not a question. Boom. 

This afternoon we went to the park as a family...and I ran my favorite loop while he and the kids went for a hike.

I was greeted by this...

Running in frosting...with puddles.

I slipped and fell...

...on my ass.

But I'm A-okay.

Inverted giraffe again. 

All that white is reflected light off of water, which means mud.

Do we need any more pictures of mud?

I have more if we do.

So all of that to write a post about a slow little 3.5-mile run. But it was the first run of 2013 and a training cycle. But since I was smiling the whole time (for real) even in the mud and even when I fell on my butt, I'm taking it as a sign...an auspicious sign:

I'm going to have a happy new year...for the whole year. Even if I wind up dirty and on my ass...it will be with a happy smile on my face, mark my words.

Water + Ice + Naked = AWESOME!

Well, not entirely naked...

Long-sleeved t-shirt rolled up and tucked in... kept me just warm enough to sit up to my waist in a cold-water-and-ice-cube-filled bathtub for 20 minutes. When was this a style? Wasn't it eight grade?

On my long run two weeks ago, SarahLouWou and ReneighRuns and I were discussing ice baths. One of them had engaged in a 'conversation' with someone who said that ice baths were inconsequential and a waste... having no benefit to the ice bather. All three of us vehemently disagreed with this point of view. I checked and there are just too many results in an "ice reducing inflammation" google search for me to pick one, but most indicate that ice will help. And our personal experiences support that claim. I'm thinking that guy just wanted to stir the pot.

My ice bath today came after my 11.1-mile run. It was rainy. It was hilly. It got muddy. But...

I did it :)

I wanted needed a 'no pressure' run. I needed to not think about pace and just make the miles happen. No Garmin. No iPod. Just a watch, and I only brought the watch because I needed to be home by a certain time and was prepared to turn around early if I needed to. Of course, I am compulsive, so I did keep track of my times... but I was also relaxed enough to not stress about being not fast :)

I returned to the scene of my post-Apocalyptic preparation run... brutal hills. Rolling, 'gentle' hills on a dirt trail with a net gain and lots of tree roots for the first 0.78-mi followed by The Widowmaker ... 0.75-mi up up up. 

It was overcast and misty when I started. By the time I was a mile and a half in and at the paved road at the top of the hilly dirt trail, it was truly raining. I did the 4-out-and-4-back, taking my first-ever caffeinated* GU somewhere along the return. HOLY CRAP! That thing sent me flying! Whoa! My pace uncontrollably quickened by about a minute per mile. I was really excited as I neared the end of the paved road because the last 1.56 miles is all downhill! 

What I wasn't banking on was the mud :P

This was not your 'slogging through the mud' kind of mud... it was 'stick to the bottom of your shoes and collect in a gigantic lump the size and shape of half a football' kind of mud! Stability was a real issue. I spent a few minutes trying to scrape it off and then another few trying to shuffle it off... and even though I have only taken two soil science classes and didn't have my sample test kit with me, I would venture the guess that it had a very high clay content because it kept balling up and sticking like mad. Sure signs of clay.

This is after the run and after I have walked some of it off.

Very camouflaged ... looks just like the muddy, gravelly ground.

It was seriously about 3X thicker than this at some points in the run.

But I made it without falling... even though I was laughing so hard at how awkward the mud was that I could hardly see! I finally hit a weird groove about a half mile from the end and felt like I was really motoring... but who knows? 

What did I learn today?

1. Mud and rain are absolutely not the enemy!
2. No-goal, pressure-less runs are useful and can be fun!
3. I really and truly LOVE ice baths!
4. Caffeine in my system is freaky stuff...remind me not to take it when I need to talk to people!

Second-to-last long run before Long Beach Half...

done and logged :)

*I can't normally do caffeine. It turns me into a freak. Like Hammy in Over the Hedge. I guess a long run/race is an okay time to be like a coked-up squirrel.

How do YOU feel about immersing your body in cold water? 

I am only in it for the therapeutic effects... my husband and my daughter like swimming in it!

What has been your experience with caffeine?

It is seriously like speed for me. It is scary stuff :P

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Remember to give some love to my friend Catey from Random Thoughts from the Zoo! She is the super gorgeous and amazingly nice mom of 8 kids :)

Not only will she be running her first marathon this coming weekend (St. George in Utah) but she needs your votes! She is a finalist in the Hapari swimwear contest and you can vote for her in her zebra swimsuit by going HERE and "liking" her picture. And she is looking to maintain a top 10 place in the Top 25 Big Family Blog Contest at Circle of Moms...vote for that one HERE!