About Me

Thursday, February 4, 2021

COFFEE TALK!


It would appear that Winter 2021 has finally made its grand entrance.

After all, this Midwest gal knows what a real Midwest winter feels like. Even though January treated us to a (mostly) mild winter interlude, the real winter weather was bound to show up. 

With the arrival of said real winter, I've been craving hot beverages 'round the clock. I also enjoy hanging with my running and fitness cohorts. What say we gather (virtually, of course), and have some (virtual) chatter. Shall we? 

Allow me to go first...

If we were gathered, I'd first tell you how my January played out. With the running streak behind me, it was time to "just run for running's sake" and see how the post-stress-fractured foot would hold up. I've been doing 3-mile runs on Mondays, 4-mile runs on Wednesdays, and 5-milers on Saturdays, with a few recovery runs mixed in on occasion. The elliptical and indoor bike have been my BFF's on a lot of my non-running days. Also, I've been doing a lot of walking and enjoying the great outdoors (that is, before it turned so frosty LOL).


If we were gathered, I'd also share my little outdoor activity streak. Thanks to the running streak, as well as Judy's inspiring goal of 21 daily minutes of activity for 2021, I've been outside every day since Thanksgiving. Most of those outside minutes are from walking and/or running. Yesterday, though, I was able to add over an hour of heavy (wet) snow shoveling to the mix. Yowza!


If we were gathered, I'd tell you about all my upcoming races/events that have already had some changes. For example, there's the Leprechaun Chase. Due to Covid protocol, the Omaha venue had to change its location (now in Papillion) and, therefore, also had to change the start time (from 4:00PM to 8:00AM, also with wave starts). Then, DAM to DSM got bumped from June 5th to August 28th, but will at least be able to utilize its traditional point-to-point course. And, the Fight for Air Climb will now be happening in May (instead of late March/early April) and will be an outdoor venue at Principal Park Stadium in Des Moines. Oh well, at least these events are far enough out that I'm confidant they will all happen. And, I can still train for them, regardless. One thing I'm doing, before the heavy duty training begins for the Climb is doing bi-weekly stair workouts and doing 10 flights as part of my warm-up for all of my runs. Total win-win!


If we were gathered, I'd give you an update on the foot. Let's just say I had a successful appointment with the podiatrist this week, and he gave me the green light to return to my normal routine. I've been eager to do a little speed training, more for fun than for anything (since there's no races happening very soon). I'm also itching to get back to longer weekend runs, so I'm glad to have this stress fracture behind me. 


Finally, if we were gathered, I'd show you my latest creation. As much as I love these pretty Ravenna 11's, they just needed a little "something," in my opinion. I'd gotten these laces from the 2018 Jingle Bell Run, and have been waiting for just such an opportunity.  


Anyways, those are a few things I'd share. We have a very cold weekend in the forecast, so dear old (quite literally) Milly may be seeing some action. Ugh. Stay tuned. I'll let you know how well she and I get along. I have a feeling she's not any more eager than I am for a reunion.

How about you? Anything you'd like to chat about? Did Winter, in all its frigid glory, come knocking? How was your January? Do you have any races on the roster for 2021?

 Since it's the first weekend of the month, I'm linking this with Deborah and Coco for the Ultimate Coffee Date.

I'm also linking this with MichelleReneeDarleneJenn and Zenaida for the Fit Five Friday Link-up.


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30 comments:

  1. Great news from the podiatrist! No races yet for me this year. I guess I need to start looking into them soon. :-) Hopefully your races will take place as scheduled. I get the changes that have to be made but while it is encouraging it also makes you wonder if they will happen.

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    1. Yes, I totally understand all the necessary changes, and I support all the protocol. It is what it is. It won't be this way forever ;-)

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  2. Great to hear that you got the green light from your podiatrist!

    Nice that you've got some in-person events lined up. Things are still very tentative here so I've been holding off on signing up for anything.

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    1. I'm excited to pin on a race bib again ;-) I'm glad these events are on the calendar...looking forward to easing back to the "normal."

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  3. Great news on the foot! yay! Glad to hear you have some real races coming up. No such luck here yet. I am hoping for Memorial Day but who knows? Super cute shoes enjoy them! Thanks for stopping in for coffee catch up

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    1. I'm thankful the stress fracture is over and done, but it certainly will always be in the back of my mind.

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  4. Yes winter came knocking but I tried not to let it hold me back.

    Good news about the foot.

    Looks like there will be racing in your future.

    I am hopeful more will open up for me. But many runners are still hesitant to partake.

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    1. I knew our January weather was too good to last LOL It's nice that February is such a short month ;-)

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  5. I'm kind of glad we were home for the snow dump but I'm glad we got outta Dodge before the polar temps set in. Glad your sfx is fully behind you now. Let's keep it that way!

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    1. You made your exit at the perfect time! It's gonna be very "chill" these next several days here...

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  6. Love that you changed up the shoelaces on your sneakers to make them a little more "fun" :)
    That's great news about your foot update!

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    1. I've been wanting to change out the blue laces ever since I got the shoes (right after Black Friday), and had forgotten about these red ones. Go bright or go home, right?

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  7. Congrats on the green light for all activity! Cute laces.

    The 21 minutes is your goal, Kim, not mine (and mine got derailed pretty quickly! There have definitely been days cold enough or snowy enough that I've hibernated. But there's always some activity. :)

    Quite frankly, I'm not so sure there'll be races for me this year, either, but only time will tell. Sorry about all the changes to yours -- but knowing you, I'm sure that you'll have in person races this year.

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    1. HA ha...for some reason, I thought you'd mentioned "21 minutes" in some capacity for 2021. I'm not sure how much longer I can maintain that, especially these next few days with sub-ZERO wind hills in the forecast. Fingers crossed!!!

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  8. Great January miles, Kim! I am always so impressed with the variety of activities you do. We got walloped by Jack Frost last weekend too. Ugh! I was hoping for another mild, snow-less winter. Isn't it fun to look forward to some real in-person races? I have 3 trail races on the schedule this spring. All of them are tiny and they all have COVID mitigation procedures in place, but they are real, live races once again!

    Glad you got the good news from your podiatrist. Now you can spiceup your training with even more variety! :)

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    1. I look forward to hearing more about your races! My Leprechaun Chase will have more of a trail setting now, so that will be interesting!

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  9. we're supposed to be getting winter this weekend. There's been a mad rush to by sleds and skates. Dutch people are snow-fun crazy! I will be staying away from ice and thick snow but if it's still walkable Sunday then I'll be out there to enjoy it.

    I'm so so glad the foot is doing so well!! amazing!

    and great that you still have some events on the schedule. I have the feeling here in NL it will be a repeat of 2020. We are in such a bad state with the lack of vaccines. 17 million people and we've only vaccinated 300K people so far. So far behind :(

    love the shoe laces ! perfect!

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    1. I knew it was only a matter of time before our winter got real LOL

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  10. Yay for a good report on your stress fracture! It's great that the Fight for Air Climb will move to a safer venue and won't be canceled. I know how much you enjoy that event.

    Make sure to save some miles on those shoes for your Independence Day run/race!

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    1. These shoes will be perfect for that! The Climb has always been on inside stairwells< so it will be interesting how they do it outdoors.

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  11. I am so so so glad your foot is good to go!

    I think there will be a lot of changes and adjustments to events as the year progresses. The good news is we are learning as we go and I have high hopes for progress!

    Love the laces in your shoes! How perfect!

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    1. I'm very optimistic, too, for the fate of races this year ;-)

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  12. The big marathon in my area has been teasing that the race may not be in the big city this year b/c the city isn't issuing race permits. All I know is that I'm getting my 13.1 whether it's on the real race or virtual. Over coffee I would tell you that I've gotten my treadmill legs back. I don't think I'll do any crazy long runs on the mill but I had some pretty good runs this week and I'm content to 'mill it for the rest of winter if I need to. Maybe I should save this for runfessions, but I tried out the latest Brooks Launch this week and they were so, so good and they come in a lot of really cute styles so I may be dropping some major $$ on shoes this year.

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    1. Yes, when you find a shoe that is perfect, it's a good strategy to stock up! I did that with a pair of Brooks Adrenalines a couple years ago...they kept getting marked down, so I kept buying them before the new model came out ;-)

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  13. Stay warm! I'm so glad to hear your stress fracture is healed. You were very smart about your recovery, so it makes sense that you're good to go now.

    At least you have a few races on the horizon! My February marathon was postponed (with no new date) and I'm afraid that Rock 'n' Roll marathon, which is in June and should be my 40th, will probably be postponed or canceled too.

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  14. Yay on being cleared by your ortho! Interesting on all the race changes. I hope my November races don’t have to be “adjusted”!

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  15. Adding those red laces to the shoes really make them pop! So happy to hear your stress fracture is now a thing of the past and it's going to feel good to get back to some speedwork. I always complain about speedwork but it really helps to change things up! Well done on a solid January!

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  16. Glad to hear you finally got the green light from your podiatrist. Now here's to hoping those races actually take place.

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  17. Yay for your foot! One thing about stress fractures- assuming that you follow the correct healing protocol, they're pretty simple. I did hear somewhere that after 6-8 weeks they're 90% healed, but that last 10% can take up to a year. It shouldn't hold you back from anything you want to do, but if you do feel a little pain don't worry about it- it's just that last 10% healing up. Good luck with your cold and snowy weekend!

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  18. I've been pretty terrible about exercising consistently lately but will be restarting (once again) with at-home workouts. Best of luck on your training + glad to hear that you get to go back to your normal routine! <3!

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