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Hi there! I'm Paula and I live in Orlando. I like to run and watch too much TV. I'm a lover of cupcakes and hater of chia seeds, even though I've never tried them. I eat peanut butter out of the jar and think Aaron Paul is my boyfriend.
Tag Archives: Running
Five for Friday
1. I’m gonna call it. The weather in Texas is better than the weather in Florida.
You hear that, Cely? I thought the weather was perfect during the three weeks I was there. I had to wear a jacket at least three of the days and then layed out in the sun after that to a clear, sunny sky with a cool breeze. I mean, Texas has indecisive weather and gets three months of total suck during the summer that is way worse than Florida, but then it’s over. The cold fronts from the West actually get to you and then you suck it all up and leave Florida in perpetual summer for 10 months of the year. You are rude, Texas. Learn to share those cold fronts.
2. I checked out my Daily Mile and realized there’s not much to do in Killeen.
I’m on a running break for the most part and still managed 84 miles in three weeks. Most of those miles were walking (so I could read books – I’ll tell you about those later) but still, that’s a lot of miles. I don’t think I ever hit 40 miles in a week during marathon training. I mean, I still gained 3.5 lbs during that three weeks. The will to eat crap 24/7 in Texas is a strong force that my inner buffet-lovin’ fat girl just can’t fight.
3. I registered for my first race of next season.
I’m running the Celebration Half Marathon. It’s super cheap ($50), about a half hour away from home, and brand new. This year, I’m really looking forward to running some new races. I’m getting tired of repeating the same ones year after year. So, no full marathons for me yet, though my next (and maybe last) full is going to be Chicago next year. I still have to consult with my personal marathon therapist about that decision. 
4. Speaking of running, I got that fast mile I’ve been working on up to a 7:47 pace last night! It was hard, but I didn’t feel like I was going to die afterwards. I think working on a fast mile has really helped my HIIT runs. This week, and for the first time since February, I was able to do an entire HIIT run without walking and I was back up to my 7:30 interval time. (I had to drop to a 8:00 and 8:30 pace.) So nice to get some speed back!
5. I watched The Office finale last night.
Soooo good. I loved it. Even hubs agreed and said he was happy to see a series finale that didn’t suck for once. It was cute to see what a difference even a crappy office job made in all their lives. I know some people hate The Office, but I’m totally gonna miss it. I loved it with and without Steve Carrell and I’m seriously going to miss everything about Jim.
Oh, and lastly, if you want to read Michelle’s sweet birth story, check it out here. It comes chalk-full of adorable pics of baby Evan and things said about her uterus and vagina that I will never be able to un-read.
Have a good weekend everyone. 
No More Ms. Nice Girl
Week one in Texas is almost over. It’s gone by really fast but at the same time really slow, which makes no sense. I spend all day in a computer lab, with no windows, talking with ten other people. I usually spend my lunch break with my co-workers as well. There’s nothing wrong with my job, it’s just that I’m not usually social for that many hours straight. It’s exhausting.
By the time I get back to the hotel, it’s like I’ve used up all my nice. I have a certain amount of nice that I like to spread throughout the day, but I’m forced to use it all from 8 – 5. I feel bad that my poor co-workers have to deal with me after hours. So after work, I try my best to avoid all people for the rest of the night and therefore end up spending hours in the gym. It is the only thing that brings the sanity back. I’m in the gym for so long that I’ve managed to get in over 10k steps on my pedometer three days in a row.
At least all the gym time means I’ve been working on that one fast mile:
- Tuesday’s mile: 9:05 pace
- Wednesday’s mile: 8:57 pace
- Thursday’s mile: 8:49 pace
Besides all the miles I’m putting in on the treadmill, I usually spend at least 40 minutes on the bike so I can read. I also did a pretty good ab workout last night that I’ll share with you guys later since I haven’t posted a workout in awhile.
So that’s my life right now.
Thank goodness today is Friday. I’m already mentally done for the week. Plus I’m really looking forward to this weekend. I have a 10k tomorrow morning with a friend and then more fun planned tomorrow night. Should be a good time and it might even make me nice again. No promises, though.
***
Reader Caitlin emailed me this link to some super cute Keep Running Boston t-shirts for sale.
They come in a lot of colors and all the proceeds support the One Fund Boston relief efforts, so if you want to support a good cause, make sure to check it out.
That Time I Became a Cougar
I signed up for the Orlando Half Marathon today.
The race is a week after the Space Coast half, which is why I wasn’t planning on running it, but eh, why not? The race is downtown which is 15 minutes away from my house so it’s not like I have to make an effort to get there.
Michelle and I ran this one two years ago and now we’re back for redemption! Ok. Not really. We’re run/walking it together and holding hands while we cross the finish line. Or I will leave her pregnant ass in the dust during the last mile just because I need to enjoy being faster than her while I can.
Thank you unborn child for making me faster than your mommy.
Speaking of running, I did a 5.5 tempo run on the treadmill last night.
- 1 @ 10:00
- 4 @ 8:51
- .50 @ 10:00
I’ve come to the conclusion that I totally suck at tempo runs. How is it possible that I ran the UCF 5 miler at a 9:08 pace but can’t run more than one tempo mile at 8:51 without taking a walk break? It happens every.freakin.time. Maybe it’s because I run at night and I’m tired from the day? But I suck at working out in the mornings too, so I can’t win.
At least I had a good distraction. I watched X-Factor which I don’t consistently watch since most of my life is wasted in front of the TV anyway but I like to catch it at the gym every now and then. One Direction performed on the show, who I’ve never seen before. Did anyone else see them? Not only did I not know they were a UK boy band (English accents!), but I didn’t know the band was formed on X-Factor. Then I started to wonder, how old do you have to be to be a cougar?
That’s Harry. I love him and he’s barely legal. But barely is still legal in the eyes of the law.
Seriously, how cute is he? And also, how creepy am I? (You can answer both of those.) Since last night, I’ve spent way too much time looking up pictures of him. Plus, he has nice teeth. I love a guy with nice teeth.
So there you have it. A running post turned into a creepy 36-year old woman predator post.
Scenes from a Run
I’m having an awesome time with my family in San Diego but I think I brought the crappy Florida weather with me because it’s been cloudy, humid, and raining or misting since I arrived. The weather let up for a little bit this morning, so I went for a short run and took a few pictures to share with you.
Fall leaves in my mom’s front yard. We’ll call this, “things we don’t have in Florida that excite me.”
See, Melissa? I can go on pretty runs too.
The hills here always kill me. They look so innocent in pictures.
This one brought me to an almost 13:00 minute mile pace. By the time I got to the top, I had to stop and put my hands on my knees to catch my breath. Nothing like a good hill to make you feel out of shape.
You may have noticed, I haven’t been bitching about my running shoes lately. I’m still rocking the Brooks Ghost 5’s and they’re treating me pretty well.
In the end, I ran 3.13 miles in 30 minutes. That’s a 9:36 pace which isn’t too bad considering I suck at hills because I never run them.
Plus, at least I was still faster than this guy.
Now I’m off to get my nails done and go to the mall with my mommy. 
Ready to Run
I have a busy weekend ahead of me so I thought I’d pop in and say hi since someone reminded me that I haven’t posted in three days.
Speaking of the blog, I only post about four times a week if I’m lucky, so if any of you miss me (ok, just Leigh and my mom), feel free to chat me up on Twitter, the blog Facebook page, Daily Mile, or Instagram. I’m kidding. My mom doesn’t miss me. Oh, and I have no idea how to link to Instagram, but I’m on there at @eatwatchrun. Basically, I need to be entertained at work so I’m not lonely. Otherwise, I just sit there and refresh my screen until someone talks to me. So sad.
Today I picked up my race packet for the Tower of Terror 10-miler tomorrow night. It was held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports.
If you’ve seen one Disney expo, you’ve seen them all.
It’s easy to park, easy to pick up my bib, and there are tons of people around to answer questions and point you in the right direction. It was just like the Wine and Dine Expo two years ago. I just picked up my packet and left so I could make it to Crossfit on time, so I missed out on all the freebies they were giving away at the different booths.
The bibs are cute. The t-shirt is meh.
I got the women’s size medium and it’s too big. Plus, I hate t-shirts with undefined shoulders. Can you see what I’m talking about? It’s like it was made for someone who only has a neck and arms. Perhaps this would fit a T-Rex.
I look terrible enough when I’m working out, I do not need this shirt getting the terrible started early for me. So this is probably one of those shirts that will sit in my drawer for a year until I decide to use it to dust the house.
Anyway, I’m off to Sports Authority to try and find a few things to wear for the race. If you’re running the race tomorrow, I will be the one in the back with my butt a shining beacon in hot pink shorts. 
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
I work from home two days a week, which is super-crazy-awesome because it allows me to get in a lunchtime workout that I don’t normally get when I work from the office. Sometimes I’ll go to the gym and run four miles, but lately I’ve been loving these little 20 minute HIIT runs I’ve been doing at home (also on the treadmill).
They look like this:
- 1 mile @ 10:00 (warm up)
- 1.15 mile alternating every 30 seconds @ 7:30 and 10:00
That second mile is so hard that by the end of it, I can barely breathe, my legs are weak, and I feel like I got in a much longer workout. I’ve done this same run three times now and it’s so challenging, I haven’t had to change it up yet. Once I cool down, I have a crazy burst of energy which I need now that I’ve broken up with my secret lover…Diet Coke.
Why yes, I did spend time making that graphic.
I think I mentioned awhile ago that I was quitting Diet Coke. Well, that was going fairly well until Texas happened. During my two weeks there, I drank so much Diet Coke that it reached lab rat proportions. Not only was I drinking cans of it all day long but I was getting the fountain drinks at lunch too. Once I got back to Orlando, things didn’t change. I stopped the fountain drinks but could easily drink four cans a day, which I know is not good for me but it’s also not black tar heroine so get off my ass!
Sorry, that’s the Diet Coke talking.
Anyway, five days ago I decided that Diet Coke and I needed to go on a break again. I tell myself that I can have one Diet Coke if I really want it, but so far I haven’t. I even brought a Diet Coke to work yesterday just in case I became a raging bitch but I didn’t even feel like I needed it. You know what the Japanese call that?
I’m back to drinking water and sparkling water and I’ve been feeling pretty good so far. I haven’t had headaches from the lack of caffeine like I expected, but holy crap am I tired all.the.time now. I’m pretty sure I have been kept alive and preserved solely by Diet Coke. Without it, I’m relying on those 20 minute lunchtime runs to keep me awake the rest of the work day. I find staying awake really helpful when you want to remain employed and not homeless.
There’s a Nap for That
I ran with my crappy group again Saturday morning, probably for the last time. It’s a 4:30 marathon pace group. Last time I checked, a 4:30 marathon equals a 10:18 pace and every time I looked at my Garmin, we were running a freakin’ 9:00-9:15.
WHY was everyone was running so fast? I ended up slowing down and running in the back by myself, then I kept running while everyone else was at the 1.5 mile water stop. The group caught up to me, then passed me, just before the next water stop at mile three. I knew I couldn’t keep that pace up in the humidity, so I turned around and ran the last seven miles by myself.
The run sucked. That’s three consecutive long runs of suck in a row, if you’re counting. I ran a 10:17 pace which isn’t bad (and is better than last week) but I paused my Garmin and walked a lot, so who knows if that even counts.
When I got home, I crashed. After a glorious two hour nap, I went to Crossfit for workout number two. We did a double deck of cards workout which officially wiped me out for the day. I took another two hour nap when I got home, which didn’t include the laying on the couch comatose time beforehand.
Before we left, our trainer gave us this.
His wife made those. He also brought us giant cupcakes that she made the week before. I’m fairly certain he is working out a plan to fatten me up so I never leave him.
Then, my trainer went on to tell me how he’d love it if I went on the Paleo diet. Suuure. I’ll get right on that after I finish those 10 pastries.
Saturday night at some point, I finally got out of bed so hubs and I could meet Lisa at Ember downtown. I thought it would be a good idea to make my trainer proud, so I started off the night with a no carb shot of tequila.
That’s part of the Paleo diet, right? Also, that might be the biggest shot I’ve ever had. Ridiculous.
We ended up going to three more of our usual spots including a stop to say hello to my co-worker, Lee, who can pretty much be found downtown on any given night.
Then I ended the night with another nap. That one lasted about nine hours.
3M Race Plan
I’ve been keeping my fall 2012 race schedule pretty low-key after last year’s nine race burn-out. Currently, I’m registered for exactly two races: the Tower of Terror 10-miler at the end of this month and the Space Coast half at the end of November.
I don’t necessarily have a plan to register for more races, I’m just kind of playing things by ear. A couple weeks ago, this girl suggested I run the 3M Half Marathon with her.
After completely over-thinking it, I decided to register today. That means I’ll be heading back to Austin in January and running my first race in Texas. (I can cross another race state off my list!)
Anyone else running 3M?
I’m pretty happy about this decision mainly because the course is going to be an instant personal record. I’ve already decided I’m going to pad myself in bubble wrap and roll down down to the finish.
I know what you’re thinking. There’s some uphill in that race too. Well, I also have a plan for that. Once the incline starts, I’m going to hop on my filly.
Thank goodness I don’t have to leave her at home this time. She hates that.
So that’s the plan.
I expect that I’ll have a good chance of placing in my age category.
A Little Improvement
This morning, I ran 10 miles with my group. The run went better than last week’s hot mess and my pace improved by 30 seconds.
I’m not saying the run was good, just better. My endurance is in the crapper and honestly, I am really struggling out there. I’m sure it’s a combination of the humidity and my lack of long runs lately. I can’t tell you how many times Brad told me that a water stop was just around the corner to keep me from walking. Plus for the past 6 weeks, I’ve cut my daily carbohydrate intake in half. I know that’s not helping.
After talking with Brad, I decided not to run with my old group. He doesn’t want to take a step back in training and I agree; I think our old group would be a detriment to our pace. So we are going to suck it up…for now.
When we met at 5:30am, our pace leader told us the plan was to run 5 miles at a 10:00 pace, run 3 miles at a 9:00 pace, and then the last 2 miles at a 10:00 pace. He wanted us to practice running faster on tired legs. My legs are already sore from Crossfit last night, so I did not love this idea. I lasted for about a mile and a half before I had to take a walk break, so that 9:00 pace only happened in my dreams. And in the stories I’ll tell other people about this run in the future.
Once Brad and I made it to the water stop at mile 8, the rest of our group was already leaving. Or so I thought. Brad and I were getting ready to run our final two miles when our pace leader came up behind us. He waited for us.
Then I got all nervous that he found my blog somehow and knew I was complaining about him leaving runners. That’s probably not the case, but who knows? It was a little awkward for me.
So the plan for next week is to increase my carbs for breakfast and see how it goes. Also, I usually don’t fuel during a 10-miler but I think it’s probably time to break out the PB&J’s again before I’m found hungry, sweaty, incoherent, and eating grass in a ditch.
I’m glad this run is over and I’m looking forward to it getting easier. There’s always next week, right?
By the Numbers
*This post was deleted somehow today (8/31). I was able to restore the post but unfortunately lost all of your comments. 
*
It’s a random one today.
1. I had a great run last night. I think there’s something to knowing that I’m going to the gym and will only be there for 35 minutes, because shorter workouts are really doing it for me lately. The run wasn’t anything special, just three miles, but it felt awesome and ended up being the tiniest progression run in the world.
It’s possible only I find that funny. Tiniest violin? Anything? Fine, here was the run.
- 1 @ 10:00 (.05 incline)
- 1 @ 9:40 (.05 incline)
- 1 @ 9:22 (1% incline)
That extra .05% incline in the last mile was unusually hard. Am I just a big baby? Because you wouldn’t think half of a percentage would make that much of a difference. I need to gradually increase my incline anyway so I figured I would do it during my easy runs to make them a little more challenging.
2. Our dryer stopped working last weekend. Well, it spins but it doesn’t heat up, so now our entire house is being used as a ghetto clothesline.
I made a service appointment at Sears online a few days ago and the confirmation page said that someone would be calling to confirm the appointment. Well, they are supposed to arrive today and I haven’t heard from them. So I called and spoke to someone named Caramel and the extremely helpful conversation went like this:
Caramel: Thank you for calling Sears, this is Caramel.
Me: Hi there. I made a service appointment online but never received a confirmation call, so I was just calling to confirm someone would be coming out today.
Caramel: *silence*
Me: Hello?
Caramel: Yes.
Me: Can you hear me?
Caramel: What is your number?
Me: *gives her number*
*Silence*
Caramel: For your dryer?
Me: Yes.
Caramel: Yes
*Silence for a good 20 seconds*
Me: So you have my appointment and I’m good to go and should expect someone today?
Caramel: Yes.
Is it too much to ask for…more words? That’s all I want. Just a few more words so that wasn’t the most awkward conversation ever. And honestly, if your name is Caramel, people expect more of you. That’s just how it is.
3. Hubs and I had a double date with the in-laws this weekend. We went to dinner at Ale House (one of my favorite chains in Florida) and then went to see Premium Rush, along with the other 10 people in America.
Alright, so it bombed at the box office but we all liked it. It was good fun. I’m not saying you need to (premium -ha?) rush out to the theatre to see it, but if you’re looking for something to do on a Friday night when it’s on video, pour yourself a frosty beverage and check it out. Plus, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is adorable so even if you hate it, you’ve got that.
4. Speaking of Friday nights at home and nothing to do, hubs and I found this movie On-Demand, watched the trailer, and decided we had to see it. The trailer gave us chills.
The movie was really good. It’s not gory and it’s not really scary but it makes you feel so tense the entire time because you know something is going to happen. It was filmed as if it was shot with one camera in one take, so that makes it even creepier when you can hear things happening in other rooms but can’t see them. Plus, I think the camera work was really well done and that’s not something I normally notice in a movie. So, if you like thrillers, check this one out.
It stars Elizabeth Olsen (the Olsen twins’ younger sister), who I’ve never seen before but I thought she was really good. Also, I’m pretty sure she is what the Olsen twins would look like if they were remotely attractive. Or at least brushed their hair and stopped looking like hobos. Elizabeth definitely got the looks in the family.
I guess Elizabeth just didn’t get all the money. Maybe that’s why the twins are the multi-millionaires? It’s like karma evening things out.
5. I don’t have a number five for you but I can’t just leave it at four because that feels wrong. So, here’s a picture of Pants that I took today.
Remember when hubs and I got that video of Pants growling? Well, I’m working on getting another video of her latest adorable thing. We had a jacket on the floor (that was going to Goodwill) and when she was playing one day, she jumped on it and tried to smooth out all the lumps with her paws to make it flat. It was so damn cute. Of course the jacket never made it to Goodwill and is still on the floor because we want to see her do it all the time, but it never happens when we have the camera ready. What a sneaky minx. I’ll keep trying.
Hopefully I can get more adorable Pants videos and then I can go viral just like this girl.
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