The Zen of Ultra Running

I don't really know when I can say my marathon training has begun. Seems like I've been running the same distance on Saturdays for the past couple weeks. This weekend I ran with a new trail running group at Hinckley park. It's the first time I ran the trails at Hinckley Reservation. A colleague who is also a runner told me that she likes to run there because it's close to our houses (she only lives 5 minutes from us). The trails were great. We ran a 12-mile loop, which had a lot of hills! I have a love hate relationship with hills but I know I need more hill workouts for the trail marathon in October. My trail runner friends showed me berry trees and we picked and ate berries along the way. It's a new experience. As someone who grew up in a big city and believes you can only get fruits and vegetables at a grocery store, this experience amazed me. One of us did not feel well so we cut the course short. Ended up with 12 miles. Next week I will be on vaca...

After we moved to Northeast Ohio, I found a yoga studio in Fairlawn (only 10 minutes from my house). It's a hot yoga studio and, from my experience with hot yoga in Eau Claire, I was pretty terrified of hot yoga. I remember hot yoga being excessive sweating, too fast pace, no drinking water for clients (available for purchase), and crowded room (all I worried about was trying not to kick the next person's head in three-legged dog).  Yoga Bliss, the studio in Fairlawn, is a completely different experience. Though the room is heated, I never feel it's too hot that I cannot breathe. The classes are power yoga in the hot yoga room. They also have basic vinyasa in a non-heated room but I've never been in those classes. Their power yoga classes are MUCH SLOWER than the hot yoga classes in Eau Claire giving me time to hold poses and breathe. I still sweat a lot but never feel that I almost pass out in every downward dog. The class is 75 minutes. The good thing about this stu...

Right after we moved to Ohio, I looked for a race that should be challenging enough to motivate me to train but not too challenging that I did not have time to train. I was looking at longer race but not more than a half marathon. Then, I found this race - the Muddy Paws 10 miles. I did my research by looking at the race organizer's website and saw that they had a dirty series trail race and the photos from previous years looked pretty good. There were 3 distances - a 2 mile, dog-friendly race, a 5 mile and a 10 mile race. After the Superior Spring 25K, I felt like I could do any trail race that was shorter than 25K (15 miles). So, I signed up for the 10 mile race. A good friend, S., whom I met through a running club took me out to the course. She and another friend, S., led me through the course once (on a super hot/humid day). One loop on the race course is 5 miles and for the 10 miles race you have to run it twice. After running the course with S. and S., I felt more confide...

Recently I've been trying to avoid using the word "First" in my posts (e.g., first race, first long run, etc). However, this race was actually my FIRST race in OH since we moved here! I signed up for North Canton 4th of July road race because my new boss told me about it. His wife is the director of North Canton YMCA so she had to work on the race day. Since we did not have any plan on the long weekend, I signed up for the race. There were 2 distances - 2 and 5 miles. I did the 5 mile race. It was a VERY HOT day. I did not do well in heat but I still managed to keep at 9.15min/mile pace. It's been a while since my last short road race and I kinda forgot how mundane it could be. The course took us through North Canton neighborhood with some hills. There were some spectators on the course but since it's a small race, it's pretty quiet. Maybe it's time to cut back on short races? I would rather save the money and spend it on bigger (more expensive) race...

My motivation to get out and run has been kinda low lately. Maybe it's because I miss running groups, maybe because I am new to the area, or maybe it's just me. My house is right next to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and there are so many trails and bike/hike trails to explore. I joined The Ohio Runners' Network (TORN) and went to their Speed/track workout on Wednesday. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. Did 4 miles on the track on Wednesday. On Friday, I ran another trail that is only 5 minutes from my house (Oak Hill trail). The big loop is about 4ish miles. Nice trail but I still miss my trail running friends. My breakdown was on Saturday. I was supposed to run 8 miles (long run) on that day. I got up, put on the running outfit, and drove to the trail start area. After debating with myself for 10 minutes, I decided to go home. I woke up late and did not get to the trail until 9am. P. and I were supposed to go to the city at 11 and I knew I would have come ho...