Category: Running

This weekend I ran in a race that proclaims that it is the 14th largest race in the United States. I’m hazy on the details of how they know year to year how large a race will be but in this case, it felt like the 14th largest race in the country.

There were 640 women in my age bracket!

Yes, in a 5 year age bracket. I didn’t win my age group. Though according to my math loving husband, my 34th pace finish was almost in the top 5%! There were so many people passing me, I was surprised there was anyone left behind me!

What I did wrong

I went out way too fast. I had not been training for faster than a 9 min mile pace for 6 miles and I wanted to be at 8:30 on race day. I was too fast for the first 2 miles, around an 8:10 to 8:15 and too slow in mile 4, over a 9 min. My average was around 8:45 but I think if I had started at the 8:30, I might have had a better chance of staying there.

It’s hard to “run your race”when there are 14,000 people around you, I really wanted to match my seed thime of 53-55. I managed to stay under but I think a more consistent run would have been better for me psychologicaly.

I shouldn’t have used ear buds or listened to music. This race is known for having a “Block Party” feel. There are bands on every corner and porch parties the entire way. I had my music turned down so I could hear if someone yelled “get out of the way!” or “runaway bus!” I didn’t really get into my own music due to the ambient noise. I didn’t really get into the live music or the party atmosphere because of my earbuds. I would have been better off leaving the music at home and enjoying the race.

I was nervous about being in a large crowd and it affected my sleep. I am a little paranoid and the though of a violent or random attack was in the back of my mind. I don’t know how much you can change the way you are wired. Large races like this one, might not be for me!

What I did right

I pushed hard and didn’t quit. Until the finish line, then I felt like I would throw up for a minute. I am a lazy runner. I don’t like pain. I had a cramp around mile 4 and actually stopped for a few seconds, touched my toes and then pressed on! After this, I got back on pace and finished to the best of my training.

I paid for parking earlier in the week. Not knowing the course and worried about navigating the “big city” on race morning, I did something I wouldn’t normally do. I paid for parking. In advance. I reserved a spot quite close to the start/finish line and it made the morning much easier. We even walked back before the start to put our sweatshirts in the car.

We arranged a meeting spot. Finding a single person out of 20,000 people in hard. Planning a meeting spot is easy. Do it the easy way. We were not running with our phones and made sure we had a meeting spot so one of us didn’t have to walk home.

I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried a new race, in a new city. This is what I love about running. Running is a great way to explore new places. I find that when I do too many of our local races, I lose this sense of freedom and exploration. One of my goals is to try new races in new places!

Yesterday I ran my fastest 5k. I am still getting over the sting of being in the 45-49 age bracket, it really doesn’t seem possible. At least I can take solace in the fact that I did indeed, run my fastest 5k. As soon as the throng of humanity is released at the start line, I take off. Maybe not as fast as some, but much faster than I would ever run on my own.

I will preface by acknowledging that a 24 minute 5k is not an impressive feat for many people. People like the rest of my family. My 12 year old ran a sub 21 minute race, the rest of them were even faster. For me, a woman of experience and wisdom, a sub 25 min 5k seemed impossible 2 years ago so to set a goal of sub 24 was like auditioning for Star Search! Dare to dream!

She might be wearing Hokas.

This winter, I took a break from races. I started feeling my wanna-be next hammer-toe start aching after my Christmas Town Dash 8k in December and decided to give myself a break. I still ran, but tried to find the warmest part of the day and took it pretty easy. I’ve picked it up slightly in the past month, averaging around 15 miles a week at a comfortable pace. Speed has not been my focus. I was apprehensive going into this 5K as my “comfortable” pace is easily 1 minute to a minute and a half slower than my last 5K pace. Towards the end of last year, I wanted to break the 24 minute mark for a 5K, I was somewhere around a 24:20 in my best race.

Yesterday, I ran a 24:04. I did not meet my goal of being sub 24 but now I really believe that it is possible. Sometimes we need to rethink the purpose of a goal. It’s not a failure if we don’t meet the goal, it’s a failure if we don’t give it our best shot.

If I can keep getting faster, despite my advancing years, I am inspired to think of all of the other things I can get better at. Or learn. We are never too old to learn new tricks!

So why is it that I run so much faster in a race? Am I just a lazy runner the rest of the time? I am assuming that adreneline has a lot to do with it. Running 5-6 miles vs 3.1 could help as well. Either way, I don’t particularly enjoy running fast so it would be difficult to force myself to run at race pace when I am not being pursued by my rivals.

Two things I am loving right now. My shoes and my socks! I am on the second exact pair of these Topos, they have a wide toe box, zero drop and they look nice! Unlike many wide toe-box shoes, you won’t look like you stole the bowling alley rejects.

Not a Hoka

I find that my socks make a huge difference, I tend to get large callous build up near my bunions and my little toe gets rubbed my any seams. I found these oddly named, Thirty48 socks. The ones I tried are ankle cut compression socks with a tab back. These socks are made for left and right feet specifically. I found they greatly reduced the friction I had been experiencing. If you have bunions and like a zero drop, try these shoes!

Pretty colors. Also not a Hoka.

I like these socks so much that I have been hand washing them. Really my only reason for doing so is that I will never remember to keep them out of the dryer! I don’t want them to shrink! This is a huge commitment from me, I don’t own anything that is hand wash only and have never taken anything to the dry cleaner. These socks are worth it! These are best socks I have found for running with bunions!

They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing and expecting a different outcome. Each year, I try to channel my inner Viking and embrace winter. I navigate through the shortest days, hopeful that each day is in theory getting more daylight than the day before. I run, despite the cold. Every January I am injured. I assume it is a combination of improper warm up and cool down as I am trying to get back into a warm space. This time it was my right plantar plate injury, I didn’t push it and stopped running for 3 weeks, slowly adding in short runs. I think it has healed but it has been so cold and I am afraid of re-injuring myself. Despite an aversion to indoor exercise, I bought a stationary bike. My hope is that when I am too injured to run, I will at least be able to bike. Maybe I can put my hair in curler and yell at the tv at the same time. Getting old sucks. I did shave 3 minutes off of my previous 8k time at the Christmas Town Dash so I like to think that my pain was not in vain!

I don’t typically run on trails. I hike quite often but at a sensible pace and not leaping over rocks and roots. Last summer we did our first trail race, documented for posterity here. Deciding that 6 miles in the woods left too little opportunity for injury, I signed my husband and myself up for am 8 mile race aptly named the “Crazy 8.”

In the pro column, the weather was beautiful, much cooler than it could have been. Also, it was not up the side of a mountain. On the con side, most of the race was on what I later learned were “black diamond” mountain bike trails. I ran up and down hills, sharp turns, roots and rocks running like the snotty nosed girl in the Blair Witch Project through a deep forest.

How does a 40 something year old transition to trail running when road running is your main focus?

I will let you know after I actually train for a trail run. The weather in the weeks leading to the race was very, very hot and humid, even for Virginia. I really couldn’t bring myself to run more than 5 or 6 miles at a time. I went into this race with a mindset that I would likely need to walk and had made peace with my inadequate training. We were told to assume 2 minutes per mile off of our normal race pace which for me would put me around 10 min mile using 5k pace but I really didn’t have a good reference for 8 miles so I assumed my 10 mile pace which when adjusted would be more like 11 min/mile.

I don’t understand how people can drink water when then run. If I drink water, even a sip within an hour and half of running I may as well throw myself on the ground doubled over with cramps. Maybe, like the grinch’s heart, my esophagus is 2 sizes too small? I can feel liquid sloshing around in there for hours. There were several water stations, I passed each hoping I wouldn’t be seized by a sudden and insatiable thirst. I wound up really enjoying the race, there is something soothing about running in the woods, I was alone for several miles but did mange to have a nice conversation with a runner for a mile or 2 in the middle portion of the race. The combination of sunlight and shadow coupled with the soft pine needles beneath my feet was a welcome change from the pounding of shoes on hot pavement.

I would love to say I did not fall. Technically nobody saw me fall so I guess it I could say it never happened. The only thing I wounded was my pride mixed with a little dirt here and there. The real lesson here is that roots look an awful lot like sticks but they do not move. The roots always win.

So what’s the verdict about trying out a longer trail run?

To me, the distance was not as much of an obstacle as I anticipated it would be. The undulating terrain was my bigger challenge and I could feel some strain on my ankles and calves. I run pretty regularly on a fairly hilly and rocky trail but these mountain bike trails have directional changes and switchbacks that I am not used to. Perhaps some sort of jazzercise would have better prepared me or at least helped me spring back up from my stumbles with “jazz hands!”

What shoes did I wear for a crazy 8 mile trail run? My regular road shoes. My current shoes are Topo Magnifly 3. I love the 0 drop of the Topo and the wide toe box but find they are more stable and ankle protecting than my Altras. I wasn’t hanging on the side of a sheer rock face and my shoes are pretty good on most surfaces. I could probably have used a little more tread but without practice, I think the extra weight would have had me clod hopping and tripping even more than I did. How many times did I trip you ask? Well, if I only count the times I hit the dirt and not just stumbled like a newborn fawn, then that number is 3. My pace was pretty much spot on the 2 minutes over 5k pace, slighly under a10 min per mile, finishing the race around and hour and 20 minutes. This was actually good enough to win me first in the 40-49 age group so I was pretty happy!

The lesson here is that it’s nice to run a race outside of your comfort zone. Experiencing, a different course, distance, pace, people, scenery all make your world a little more interesting. Running is a way to learn more about yourself and to give you strength in life’s uncertain times. You finished what you start and try your best. You may trip. You may fall but if you get out there and push your limits, you can’t fail.

If you haven’t yet tried a trail race, do it! The only runs I have regretted are the ones I didn’t do.

Hello world! It’s been a while. I have been running races and even had a PR in a 5k in April, a 24:27! At least I think it was a PR. I injured my psoas, which is just plain fun to say but not so fun to rehab in January. The psoas led to a hip flexor issue but I watched a million youtube videos and through a greater power and much stronger glutes, I have persevered!

If feel like my Altras contributed to my psoas pull/glute weakness. Though I love the zero drop, I felt like I had little arch support. As a runner with very high arches, I struggle to find a balance between restriction and support. I switched to Saucony Kinveras, which I liked for their light weight feel and support but after a few months, I began to get that familiar plantar plate ache, this time on the opposite foot. My plantar plate tear previously took me out of commission for about 2 months, I didn’t want to lose the best part of the spring/summer so I backed off and went back to my Hokas. I taped my 2nd toe down to prevent the curling I was starting to see and began a vigorous toe exercise regimen. I never thought my life would revolve around glute exercises and toe lifts, but, here I am.

After wearing the Hokas for a few weeks, the rocker bottom allowed me to take that strain off toes, I started looking for other options. I didn’t likt the narrow toe box on the Hokas, and I do feel the excessive stack height throws off my gait and doesn’t allow me to engage my now incredible glutes. I have never been as comfortable wearign a show as I was with the Altra Escalante but after a 10 mile race, and a very sore psoas, I checked into other zero or low drop shoes. I found the Topo Magnifly 3. These shoes are very comfortable, feel supportive but not bulky. Unlike the Altras, they don’t look like clown shoes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…. I removed the insert and used these alleged zero drop insoles to allow for a little more shock control. I can’t believe I paid this much for an insert, but my toe has been ok so far!

Back to the black hole that is Etsy. It reminds me of the halcyon days of yore when I was first on facebook and I wanted to see every comment and like. Like this blog, I will go months without posting and then go on a rager. I didn’t paint as much during the pandemic as I thought I would when contemplating what I would do during a pandemic. My house was busy all of the time and I just didn’t make it a priority. Recently I started painting again, I don’t have a lot more wall space and I hate trying to make prints, so I just started throwing more stuff on Etsy. Some of the work is generally appealing and some is a little more artsy-fartsy. Either way, the posting process is cumbersome and I have no idea how to use Instagram but I made a page anyway. I don’t share it because I somehow want to be anonymous which makes no sense, pretty much the same thing I do with this blog. A quiet, dignified Etsy shop. That 2 people a week visit. I have actually had 7 sales which is more than I thought I would have but less than I would need to make this an actual occupation. I would have to figure out how to make prints and doo-dads with my prints on them and that makes me want to take a nap, though if I am following my own advice and learning new tricks, I guess I should learn. Here are the latest additions to my Etsy shop!

    I have mixed feelings about 2020. While I do not enjoy being part of a pandemic, having my business shut down or depriving my children of any semblance of socialization, I did enjoy the time we spent together.

    Since we only ran a few races, we had extra time to train and I stepped out of my comfort zone. Speed training sounded like something for much younger people. Even my quarter mile intervals improved my 5k time by minutes. My last race of the year, my splits were 7:53, 8:01 and 7:55, significantly faster than any of my times last year. I didn’t necessarily run further, though I tried to mix in some longer runs with regularity.

    If you want to improve your 5k time, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of speed work. I dread Wednesdays because I am a lazy runner, but I feel so much stronger when I am done.

    Much like 2020, we have to get through the bad to experience the good. Here is hoping that 2021 is better for all of us.

    In a million years, I never would have predicted that I would run a 10 mile race let alone THRIVE in a 10 mile race. To be fair, like most humans, I am not very good at predicting things.

    I would love to regale my readers (not that I have any) with my detailed training regimen. Running 10 miles might have been a good start. I didn’t do that. In fact, I had never run 10 miles, 7 ish was probably as far as I ever ventured before. You probably shouldn’t consider this training. What I lacked in actual distance training, I made up for in persistence, consistency, sporadic speed workouts and my spotify playlists. And lots of heart, having watched all of the 80’s movies, I knew the slow clap at the end of my journey would make everything ok.

    The day before the race, I was walking in to the kitchen when I caught the little toe of my left foot on a chair. It was a familiar feeling, I broke this toe walking past a Hummer sized strolled at Water Country a few years ago. I iced it, took the therapeutic dosage of Ibuprofen and shoved my foot into a running shoe to act as a compress.

    The conditions for the race were challenging, a steady 20 mph wind with gusts to 40 mph. I almost didn’t run, I was still having toe pain but it didn’t seem to be broken, it hurt whether I walked, ran or stood still. This was a race I have always wanted to do, I was going to do the irresponsible thing. Originally all four of us were supposed to race, an ankle injury side-lined my husband and I decided to defer my daughter’s race to next year. It was just me and my son. Mama and her boy.

    As we battled the wind to find the start line, close to a half mile from our packet pick up, I saw a line. A long line. As we are “social distancing” I thought it might have been the wave start line forming. No, this was the line for the porta-potty. Given the time I had before my start in the “elite women” group, there was no way I would get through that line. Yes, I was placed in the 1st women’s heat, talk about pressure. I have never run 10 miles in a row but because of my 5k time, I was placed in front. Super.

    I found a large tree in a ravine and headed to the woods. I guess that makes me a legit distance runner now.

    I had my music, or what I could hear of my music through the 40 mph wind gusts. I had my Samsung health ap, which still sound less cool than Runkeeper, but we don’t dwell on these things. My wave went off and I was running a 10 mile race, all 10 miles. It wasn’t until about a half mile in that I realized my GPS was not connecting! I kept restarting, but after being told I was running a 24 min mile, I gave up. The woman in front of me looked like she was keeping a good pace. As everyone pointed out to me after the race, I could have calculated my pace using the start time and the mile markers like our Puritan ancestor had to do. I wasn’t carrying an abacus and I was still trying to wrap my mind around the 10 miles in a row thing so I just laser focused on the woman in orange ahead of me.

    I felt great! Cold, but still strong until about mile 8. Before the race, I had the idea of bringing some gummy bears in my pocket in case I needed a carbohydrate boost. I jammed my cold hand into the tiny coin-sized pocket of my running shorts to pull out a sticky gummy bear and realized just how stupid this idea was. I now had sticky fingers and since I am an old lady who runs with her cell phone, I had made my useless running ap all sticky as well. Regardless, I stuck to the plan and ate the gummy bear. This made me thirsty and not at all revived.

    There is a happy ending, I made it to the end and my pace was just over 9 min per mile! Much faster than I was planning to run! My possibly broken toe didn’t hurt. I was only passed by a few 70 year-olds. A good day overall. Ultimately, I learned that I placed 3rd in my age group, which I guess makes me “elite” in a “good for you!” kind of way.

    . The aura of this race was much different from the frenetic pace of the 5k world. The fact that people actually stop in the middle of the race to use a port-a-potty was a foreign concept. I enjoyed the more leisurely pace and laid-back attitude.

    I was sore the next day. It’s been a while since I was sore after a race, it was a badge of honor! The slow clap never happened, but like a good 80’s movie, a positive attitude and the right clothes are 90 percent of the solution. I made some memories with my first born. I look forward to running in more distance races, especially trail races.

    I have new running shorts which I love, they are Baleaf, made in China likely by forced labor, but they are the best shorts I have ever worn. And they have real pockets, not tiny coin purse pockets! I am also loving my Altra Escalante 2 running shoes, I wore them over the past few races and have had sub 8 splits in my 5ks. These Balega socks have been great, no blisters, not even on my unfortunate bunion!

    It has been a busy week. Especially busy now that it is dark at 5 PM and I have my pajamas on by 6, so much to do in so little time.

    I was having a streak, I even took some photos (terrible of course) of several from scratch pumpkin pies I made. Though I am not a good baker, I do make everything from scratch, no mixes here. I took these precious little pie pumpkins and transformed them into crust-less pies! Why crust-less? Because otherwise I will be listening to the rumblings of a certain someone in my family who avoids extraneous gluten. I don’t particularly care about crust and as I would be making it from scratch, thus increasing my chances of disaster, I am happy to skip it.

    Riding high on the victory of my past pies, I flew too close to the sun and literally melted my pumpkin wings. Note to self, if your pie needs 5 or so minutes to be fully set in the middle it is not wise to step outside to do a little hedge clipping.

    The scorched earth pie began simply. Microwaving chunks of pumpkin until soft. Easy, right? All went well until I decided to use my food processor not just to puree the pumpkin but to blend my entire batter. It was at this point that I realized that I do not have one of those food processors in which one can blend soups and liquids. It leaks out of the bottom. After I cleaned this mess up and poured the remains into my pie pan, I popped this beauty into the oven. After about 40 minutes, I decided it needed about 5 more minutes to fully set. So I left it in for another hour while I pruned hedges on a glorious fall day.

    “Oh my god, the pie!”

    Apparently, virtual school makes it impossible to smell burning pumpkin pie. My children were oblivious to the disaster as I walked into the kitchen, realizing that I had left the pie in the oven.

    I didn’t realize how blurry this was until now. Probably from the steam.

    The saving grace of this pie, baked for well over 2 hours, was that it was crust-less. If there had been a gluten engorged crust to this particular pie, it would have turned to ash. Instead, the custard caramelized. My son actually said he preferred my burned pie to the others. That’s not really saying much. There’s a sound bite for you, “this burned pie tastes better tha n my other pumpkin pie, follow me for more recipes!”

    Breaking News, middle aged woman runs faster than she did before.

    Two earth shattering things in my running world. I am wearing new shoes and I ran a 24:44 5k on Saturday, a sub 8 min pace!

    The Hokas helped me recover from a foot injury, specifically a plantar plate tear. The rocker bottom allowed me to run without pressure on this healing area. On the other hand, I felt that the cushion contributed to some hip flexor/psoas pain. I have been using some Pilate and yoga strength training to work my glutes and to stretch my psoas. The Hokas helped me recover from a foot injury, specifically a plantar plate tear. The rocker bottom allowed me to run without pressure on this healing area. On the other hand, I felt that the cushion contributed to some hip flexor/psoas pain. I have been using some Pilate and yoga strength training to work my glutes and to stretch my psoas. Doesn’t that make me sound like a gym rat?

    Interestingly, foot pain has been my Achilles heel. I have bunions and high arches and I have been using an arch support in my running shoes. After listening to this podcast with guest, Irene Davis, PhD and with my reading on trigger points and muscle attachments, I decided to increase my foot flexibility and strengthen my arches. After several weeks of these exercises, I took out my arch supports. The first few runs I felt like I was getting blisters below my bunion. After that, I could feel my ankles getting stronger and much more range of motion in my toes.

    I ran in minimalist shoes before, the Merrell Arc 4. I was running in these when I had the plantar plate injury. Though I was running in Hokas, I believed in the mechanics of the minimal shoe. I have started running in the Altra Escalante and have been pleased with results. By focusing on proper form, especially a midfoot/forefoot strike pattern my feet feel strong. Picturing my daughter’s beautiful running form, particularly the leg extension. There is a more natural rhythm that I am falling into when I am focusing on my foot strike and leg extension which leads me to a faster pace!

    This weekend, I was shocked when my phone clocked my first mile at a 7:50! I kept each mile pretty consistent and finished with a 7:53 average pace, something I did not think would ever be possible. I did this with new shoes, no arch supports and a kick ass playlist.

    There is a metaphor in here somewhere. Sometimes the things you think are helping you are actually holding you back. Had I not decided to begin this foot exercise regimen and to cast aside the shoes I had been running in somewhat successfully, I would never know the glory of running like a slow motion Olympian. Sometimes you have to break it all down to rebuild it better. We are never too old to learn some new tricks.

    Loyal readers, I know there has been much anticipation about yesterday’s 5k. Despite the chilly temps and a looming full moon, I actually had a great race!

    My time was close to but not quite a PR, I was most proud of my negative splits. Still even prouder that I can use “negative split” in a sentence. I ran each mile slightly faster than the one prior with an average pace of 8:07. This comes naturally to me as the irrational fear of not being able to finish the race keeps me from starting out too fast. I will not fall into the speed trap.

    At one point I did see someone from our local run club taking photos, I smiled and waved. Smiled and waved. I smile and wave through most of my races, I smile and wave at the course marshals, at spectators. I thank the marshals and the water attendants. I like to think that even though I am not the fastest runner, I am the most pleasant and polite runner. The Miss Congeniality of road running! Or the psycho smiling woman, you choose.

    When our run club posted photos on facebook from yesterday’s race, they did not post my smile and wave photo. Instead, I have a pretty scary and miserable looking picture, I didn’t even know there was a camera in the vicinity. Clearly I was unaware of the camera… “Hoka on line one, they want you to be the new face of running!”

    I think we have a clear winner for my Christmas card photos. I had better lift my feet a tad more if I am going to clear that speed bump!

    The moral of this story is, even if you think you are having the race of your life, smiling and waving at your fans, there may be a perspective that is different. I could choose to dwell on this photo or I can decide that my image of a strong, healthy, happy young runner is in fact the reality.

    Now, to stretch my psoas, a muscle I never even knew existed before last year. Sore ass I knew but not psoas.

    I have heard of people becoming born again virgins. Can one have a born-again PR? Let me begin by saying that I have run in a handful of races since the “Corn Teen” of 2020.

    not me

    The first two were tiny and shy, unsure of what to do in this Covid landscape. One was through the ground of mental hospital on an insanely (poor taste?) hot day. It was a race to promote mental health so there is that irony. Another was the slightly chaotic, very wet and very disappointing 8k that I was unprepared for written about here.

    I didn’t think I liked running in races, I am not especially fast, except compared to women of a certain age. Typically, I spend the first mile freaking out that I won’t be able to finish and that they will find me curled in the fetal position when they “sweep” the course at the end. The second mile I am cursing my idiotic ideas and vowing to never race again. “This is the last race I will ever run in, I will only run for fun from this day forth!” By the 3rd mile, I see the literal light at the end of the tunnel and I tell myself the faster I run the faster it will be over. It doesn’t help to think that when I am finishing mile 2, my much faster son has finished the race and is snacking.

    Is it me or is that last 0.1 unnecessary? Is it not the longest 100 meters on planet Earth? Do the laws of physics cease to exist? I always forget about that damn 0.1.

    Not running in actual races has made me slow. Not even particularly steady, but significantly slower. I thought I would be ok with this but I am not. There is still some life in this old girl yet.

    Back to my PR goal of running in the 25’s for my next 5k. Well, I was looking through our local run club results and the results from the last Turkey Trot we ran in Florida and found that I have already done this, more than once! I have no recollection of this, I thought my time was in the 26 range but no, 25:10 is my PR and I see no way that I am capable of running this time in 3 days. That’s something like an 8:06 pace, a pace which is perilously close to what I consider a “sprint.”

    But do I look good?

    On a positive note, I have been stealing the running sunglasses my son got for his birthday often enough that he finally yelled at me and I bought my own. Like everything I do and buy, I spent way too much time analyzing and being “frugal”. Ordinarily I buy whatever sunglasses are available from TJ Maxx or Marshalls, the idea of buying sunglasses without trying them on seemed foreign. How would I know if they were distorted or if I looked like a cast member from Dynasty?

    I settled on these and I love them, the Tifosi “Swank.” The matte finish is so much better for sweaty faces. Having the bright polarizing lens means I don’t have to keep pulling my glasses up and down depending on the tree canopy above, allowing me to leap gracefully over the rocks and roots on the trail. They look pretty cool, at least as cool as I am willing to look. Though more expensive then the 9.99 glasses I usually buy, they are not ridiculously expensive.

    In case I didn’t like the Tifosi’s, I bought these Knockarounds. I liked these too so I am keeping them both! They are a little less fancy than the Tifosis but they are still much better than my usual sunglasses!

    The pair of Goodr that my son has are nice too, I wasn’t as crazy about the mirrored lenses but they have a great lightweight feel and ample but not overly dark light blocking.

    All three of these brands, Knockarounds, Tifosi and Goodr have fun colors and remind me of the Swatch watches I so loved as a kid. I am coming full-circle, I will be the old lady trying to chase her best 5k time wearing some crazy sunglasses and checking my time on a swatch non-smart watch. Maybe a perm and bangs to complete my teen look?

    We can at least all agree, I will be wearing ugly Hokas.

    While I may not be able to run a 25:15, my goal is still to see a 25 in front of my time. I have been doing at least one speed workout a week, which I hate. I can feel a difference when I run faster, my legs hurt and I sound and look like Cujo on a hot day. Speed is not my friend. The one thing I have learned is to never say never, maybe I will like speed workouts someday. After my lobotomy.

    Next, I will regale you with spooky tales of my pumpkin pie.