Welcome! I’m Caroline
follow me
Subscribe By Email
Search The Little Things Blog
Follow Me On Bloglovin’
Categories
Archives
Saturday morning I had the chance to again run the Color Me Rad 5k. As you might remember if you were reading my blog at this time last year, I ran the race last September, and I had a really excellent time. I went to the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Friday night to pick up my packet, which included my race bib, a temporary tattoo (which I didn’t use because last year it took a few days for it to completely come off), a t-shirt (I really like it, and I wore my one from last year quite a bit, so I’m assuming the same will be true this year), and a pair of sun glasses. Packet pick up was easy, and I didn’t have to pay anything to park.
On Saturday morning I was a bit nervous, as the forecast called for rain. While running a 5k in rain isn’t so bad, running a 5k race where powder is being thrown with the intent of trying to get as colorful as possible is less than ideal. Luckily I only encountered sprinkles throughout (but the people who scheduled a later wave time had to deal with pouring rain- bummer!), and the color stayed just fine. I signed up for the 9:20 wave, and parked at about 8:50 at a parking lot across the street (parking was $5 there), and took the shuttle to the starting line. Quick and easy.
The starting line people this year and last have been full of energy, and they get the crowd pretty pumped up and ready to go! They specifically give instructions for walkers to stay to the right, and runners to the left, but in both races walkers have been to the left. Apparently they don’t realize what a hassle it is for people who want to run to weave through all the strollers, etc. I love that this race is for everyone- I just wish that people would follow race instructions!
The color stations were lots of fun, and they didn’t skimp on color at all! Last year I left some of the color stations without much color on me, but this year I definitely did not!
I got a call from Melissa who was out on her long run, and had tried to time it so that she would run the part of the trail that hit the fairgrounds while I was there. She luckily got to a place on the route just before I got there, and she ran the last 2 miles of the race with me (she didn’t go through any of the color stations or cross the finish line), and it was really nice for me to have someone there with me!
except for a few blue drops of color, she stayed pretty clean!
They provide water bottles at about the 2 mile mark, and especially with the heat and humidity it was nice. The humidity was disgusting, and the temperature wasn’t so ideal. Sweat was dripping down my face (I had run 2 miles before the race, and followed it up with another one, for 6 total miles, done in cotton shirt and shorts. disgusting.), and my clothes were just not breathing. The water felt fantastic.
Right before the finish line they handed out a free packet of color to toss around too. I grabbed pink because… obviously, why wouldn’t I? 🙂 I finished, Melissa and I took a few pictures, and then she headed off for her last few miles (girl rocked 17 miles this weekend!!), and I ran a final mile to end back at my car to end the day with a 6 mile training run!
Before and After!
I brought a towel to sit on in the car and an extra plastic bag to throw in shoes, socks, compression sleeves, spi belt, and shirt for the car ride home.
This race was organized so well, and I loved the energy and excitement. Like I said last year, the race is well worth it, and you’ll have a blast if you sign up for it! You can visit their website here.
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s the most fun race you’ve ever run?
Happy Sunday! I know this is only week 2 of training, but my calf muscles were SORE this week. Last weekend I realized I had a few knots in my calves, so I scheduled a massage to have them worked out. My legs needed a very deep massage, and while they felt less tight, they’ve just felt tired most of the week. Here’s what the week looked like:
- Friday (8/29): 12 mile bikeride
- Saturday: 3.1 mile run, 17 mile bike
- Sunday: 4 mile race
- Monday: REST day
- Tuesday: 2.2 mile recovery walk (my legs were still feeling pretty heavy)
- Wednesday: 2.13 mile fast walk, 40 minutes pilates
- Thursday: 2.62 mile walk
I enjoyed walking this week. Wednesday was a really fast walk, but Tuesday and Thursday were definitely slower walks, which I enjoyed as we were having temps in the 90s.
Now it’s your turn to share! Are you training for anything right now? How’d your last week go?
If we were having coffee this morning… I would tell you all about my bike ride to Mackinac Island, and the day I spent there. I had the awesome privilege of getting to bike 50 miles to Mackinaw City FOR WORK, and then getting to spend an entire day biking around the island and eating fudge at pretty much every fudge shop. I had a really awesome time, and I would probably talk your ear off about it.
If we were having coffee this morning… I would probably tell you all sorts of stories about my cat Pooky who passed away two weeks ago. I miss him tremendously, but often find myself smiling and laughing about memories from his 17 years of life. I seriously lucked out with that cat, and I’d definitely want to share stories with you.
If we were having coffee this morning… I would tell you all about the highlights of my summer, and what made it one of the most summers of my life. I worked hard, played hard, worked our hard, and made (and strengthened) some great friendships. I got to work on a fantastic project through work, and all in all it was a truly excellent summer. I really am going to miss the summer, but I’m happy to be back in a job I love as well.
If we were having coffee this morning… I would probably talk about the final season of Dexter (especially the final episode). I finally got around to watching the final episode over the past two weeks, and I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan of how the show ended. I really want to go back and watch the first few seasons though! Those were amazing!
If we were having coffee this morning… I would tell you all about the new link up that I am part of, called “You Can, We Can“. Our first link up was this week, and we celebrated with a giveaway. We’d love to have you join in on the link up this coming week!
If we were having coffee this morning… I’d probably ramble on and on about how thankful I am that I met Melissa at Carmel in April. Running with her these last few months has been really awesome. She just wrote a post on what makes a good running buddy, so make sure you go check it out! I love having someone to talk running with, go out on training runs with, and to have someone who can push me in my training. I would also probably tell you about our HOT and HUMID race that we ran last week.
If we were having coffee this morning… I would admit to you that I really enjoy watching Big Brother. I just watched the 2013 season of Big Brother Australia, and it was one of my favorite seasons of Big Brother ever! I’m not really enjoying this current season of US Big Brother, but I’m still watching it. Then I’d want to know what your current favorite show is.
Now I want to hear from you! If we were having coffee this morning, what would you tell me?
I’m thankful for a fun long weekend. I got to spend a morning with a friend from grad school, I snuck in two last days at the pool, I got a massage (not the relaxing kind, but the “kneed the knots out of your legs” kind of painful massage that is sometimes necessary for runners), and Melissa and I ran a race. It was a really good weekend.
I’m thankful for delicious desserts! After a long week of training last week, and to celebrate the end of a long weekend, I had dessert for dinner, and enjoyed some delicious churros at a Mexican Restaurant. I’m thankful for the little moments I have to savour dessert!
I’m thankful for more sunshine this past weekend than was expected. We were supposed to have big storms all weekend, and luckily we only had little pockets of rain throughout the weekend. That meant that I got lots more outdoors time than I thought I would get, and I’m definitely thankful for that.
I’m thankful for the sound that flip flops make when I walk. Seriously- I REALLY love the sound that flip flops make. I think it’s just connected to so many fantastic and wonderful moments throughout the years, so I’m so excited when I get to wear them again for the season. I was walking the other day, and spent almost a quarter of a mile just enjoying the flip- flop sound. It’s “the little things” in life, right?
I’m thankful for so my Ipod. It really makes long bike rides and teaching my pilates barre class so much easier. This summer I’ve really enjoyed listening to books on tape on my long bike rides, so I’ve been especially glad this summer to have it!
Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for today?
The ferry to Mackinac Island was pretty fun, although the weather was a little gross in the morning, so the water was extra choppy. The bridge is LONG, and it was interesting to see people out there painting it. The ferry captain made sure to go under the bridge, as the bridge separates Lake Michigan and Lake Heron.
The weather was still pretty chilly when we got to the island, so we immediately headed to J.L. Beanery, a quaint little coffee shop. While we opted to sit outside to enjoy the view of the water, it was still chilly, so we sipped on hot drinks while we talked. I got a chai tea latte, and it was fantastic.
The sun came out pretty quickly, so we headed to the main strip of shops to look at some of the cute stores they had, along with starting our day of sampling fudge (They have free fudge samples in the NUMEROUS fudge shops on the island, and it is expected that you will sample :D). We had brought our bikes onto the island, so it was really interesting to get used to biking so close to horses.
A group of us decided to meet down at the water, and it was shady when I took the picture, but the sun came out quickly, and I got burnt very quickly.
A group of us got tired of sitting on the beach, so we decided to bike around the circumference of the island, which is about 10ish miles. The views were absolutely breathtaking, and it seemed like every time we turned a corner, it just got more beautiful.
I absolutely loved having my own bike on the island, and enjoyed getting to explore the island on it.
Then it was time for more free fudge. Maple fudge was my standard for each shop, and then I got a second flavor at each place just for fun. After sampling a number of shops, I decided that JOANN’S FUDGE was by far the best, and made my fudge purchase there (you better believe after trying the fudge I couldn’t leave the island without it!). I got maple and chocolate cherry, and both flavors are delicious!
In between the pound of fudge I ate that day on the island, I also ate lunch and dinner there, and the food was absolutely delicious. I’m pretty sad to have only spent about 11 hours on the island, but I definitely tried to soak up as much of it as I could. I loved being able to bike with no cars around me, and I loved seeing all the taxis made up of horses. The island itself is quaint and beautiful, and I’m really hoping that we go back up there for work again next summer!
Now it’s your turn to share! Have you ever been to Mackinac Island? If so, what’s your favorite part of the island?
At 6:30am every morning by alarm blares my chosen alarm ringtone – the song from The Lord of the Rings movie. I feel it adds a level of sophistication to my otherwise dull morning. If it’s supposed to make babies smarter if you play instrumental music, who knows what it could do for my brain fog??
I’m not usually asleep when the alarm goes off at 6:30. What time I wake up each morning depends on whether I had a particularly insomniac night. Some mornings I have been awake for hours by the time the dreaded song pierces my ears. Others, maybe just half an hour. More than anything, the alarm signifies it is time for my first medication of the day.
Mornings can be particularly difficult for people with POTS. After many hours without anything to drink, we wake up dehydrated. I always keep a bottle of water next to bed and take a drink everytime I wake up throughout the night, which usually occurs multiple times. After I hit the snooze on my alarm at 6:30, I chug whatever is left in the water bottle.
Even after the water, I can’t get up right away. Trying to stand before I’m ready makes me dizzy, lightheaded and on the brink of fainting. So, I usually spend a few minutes just sitting up in bed. I’ve found it’s a great time to sneak in a few Candy Crush games on my tablet.
After a few minutes I “practice” getting up. This involves standing up next to the bed for a few minutes, then sitting back down. I repeat this a few times to give my body a chance to adjust to the postural changes. Once I’m finally up, I go to the kitchen and take medication.
Next comes the biggest challenge of my morning: the shower. Prior to POTS, I loved a good hot shower. I would stand and face the hot spray while its near-scalding temperatures would leave a large, red circle of burning flesh on my stomach. Now, my showers are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Heat causes blood vessels to dilate and makes it more difficult for my heart to pump blood back up to my chest, arms and head. For people who already regularly experience lightheadedness and dizziness, a hot shower can be a dangerous place. While a cold shower isn’t the most pleasant sensation, it’s great encouragement to keep my showers short.
On particularly symptomatic mornings (or mornings where I realize my legs are overdue for shaving), I have to sit on the floor of the shower. Shower chairs are available for people who have difficulty standing in the shower; however, they just aren’t practical for our tiny condo and bathroom. Nothing makes you realize it’s time to scrub your shower more than having to sit your naked butt down on it.
After the shower, I dry off and sit down on the bathroom rug for a few moments until the white spots in my vision disappear, or at least until I can see the kitchen through the spots. Next…breakfast time!!
I’m often nauseous in the morning and am not interested in food, but because my next round of medication doesn’t go over well on an empty stomach, I usually force myself to have something. These days, it’s a couple spoonfuls of plain applesauce. I also have a hot mug of chicken broth, since the sodium helps me to retain fluids. Not the same as a big plate of bacon and eggs, but it doesn’t make me vomit…..so there’s that. Applesauce and chicken broth – breakfast of champions!
A typical breakfast
After lying down on the bed for a few minutes to catch my breath, I head back to the bathroom to dry my hair. I have naturally wavy hair, but it’s that in-between curly and straight hair, reminiscent of Diana Ross, which becomes a giant frizzy mess if I don’t do something to tame it. But hair dryers are hot and usually involve a lot of standing. I’ve discovered that sitting on the bathroom rug while I hold the hair dryer does have its perks (cough, Candy Crush, cough).
Once my hair is dry and (somewhat) presentable, I stand in front of the bathroom mirror and put on makeup. Makeup is one of those “standing-only” activities for me, as the mirrors in our condo are standing height. I’m not a heavy makeup kind of girl – I prefer the natural look (and, if I’m being honest, I don’t know how to do fancy makeup). So, makeup application probably only takes about 5 minutes. However, standing that long in the morning makes me dizzy, and applying makeup while dizzy leads to me getting job offers as a clown. Not recommended. So, I take a quick seat for a minute or two break half way through applying makeup.
Finally, I get dressed for the day. I try to think about what I’m going to wear while drying my hair so I don’t have to spend too much time standing in front of the closet rummaging through my wardrobe. The ease with which I get dressed depends if it’s summer or winter. I don’t usually wear compression socks during the summer as I usually wear skirts to work, and I haven’t found an acceptable way to wear compression socks with a skirt without looking like my grandmother. However, during the winter, the compression socks fit nicely under pants, and no one is the wiser.
Compression socks are one of those double-edged swords where I haven’t yet decided whether they’re worth the effort. If you’re not familiar, compression socks are special hosiery that compress the legs in order to increase blood circulation. They are often worn by runners and the elderly – Gramma and I have matching pairs – or anyone who may experience blood pooling. Because they are tight, they are not the easiest things to put on. Ladies, it’s like trying to put on a pair of skinny jeans that are two sizes too small. I have to lie down to try to get them on, and work them up inch by inch. Because they require so much energy, I take a quick snooze if I have a few minutes, and then swallow the rest of my medication. Finally, on particularly symptomatic mornings, I’ll check my pulse and blood pressure to make sure it’s safe to make the walk to my car and leave for work.
To make a long story short, I apologize ahead of time for anyone who may run into me in the morning 🙂
————————————————————————————————————————————
Thanks so much for sharing your story Lindsay! For more information on POTS, and to read other posts from my “living with POTS” series, click here!
Another thing to note- I had done speed work on Thursday, went on a bike ride on Friday, and then ran a 5k and did a 17 mile bike ride on Saturday. My legs were pretty tired. I also ran, including this race, a total number of miles this past week that is normally my peak week of training for a half marathon, and this was just week one of training. Melissa ran a solid 15 mile training run on Saturday as well. Needless to say, we both had pretty tired legs, and were not so much looking forward to the race.
We got to the race a little over an hour before it started, as we had no idea what the packet pick up situation would be. We didn’t have to wait in line at all, and it was all really smooth. Then we sat and people watched for about 45 minutes in Melissa’s car, and it was fascinating. Almost no one looked happy to be there, which was interesting. I’m not sure what it was, because normally before races people are excited and smiling. Not this race though- so strange.
We headed to the port-a-potties before the race, which I really really dislike using, but at least the line went quickly. Because it was a small race, we lined up right before the race start, and we were off. Suddenly it seemed like every single person was sprinting past us, which I’ve never really experienced at a race before. I couldn’t help but laughing really hard, because it was pretty clear that people were going out far too quickly.
This race can be quickly summarized as the “3 H’s”- heat, humidity, and hills.
I should mention the weather- it was 85 with humidity in the 60’s percent. It was HOT, even just standing in the shade before the race. I knew the race wasn’t going to be fantastic just because of my tired legs and the heat. Yikes.
It was clear pretty quickly that I was going to have a hard time breathing most of the race. The air was really thick, and people around us were breathing really deeply- more like gasping at times. The course also had a few bigger hills in it. I’ve mentioned before that I run on fairly flat ground, so any time I run hills in races it intimidates me a little bit. I think both Melissa and I are doing much better at running hills though, and we only walked during our designated walk breaks (we did the 2:1 run:walk method throughout the race), which I was happy about. Running up the hills doesn’t seem nearly as tough as it did when we met during the Carmel Half Marathon.
I was thankful for the moments of shade along the way, but most of the course was on the open road with sun shining down. Like I said, it was hot and we were sweating like crazy. There were two water stops along the way, but they both had pretty warm water, which was just not good since it was hot. Melissa and I had both brought hand held water bottles (I put nuun in mine), and we were happy to have them.
There were a few people out on the course cheering, and overall the race seemed to go by pretty quickly.
We came in at 48 minutes with a 12 minute per mile pace. Definitely slower than most of our runs this summer, but in light of the heat and the tired legs we were both running on due to our training, we were pretty pleased.
We crossed the finish line and immediately went to get the gatorade they had sitting out. It was cold and was exactly what both of us wanted. They also had bananas, granola bars, and cookies sitting out. We quickly grabbed stuff and immediately went back to the car to try to get into the air conditioning.
Running in the heat is difficult because of my POTS, and I have to slow down on days like this to keep myself safe. Overall, though, I’m proud of both of us and the effort we put forth in our training this week. Melissa and I have done lots of races together now (I think this is our 5th official race in 4 months, although you can sort of count her half marathon last weekend, as I ran the last few miles with her there too!).
I’m now icing my shins as they were a bit sore while I was running, and am planning a bit of a cut back week (yes, I know- it’s funny to “cut back” during week 2 of training, but given my last few weeks, it’s definitely necessary). I would certainly do the race again, although I wish that the race either started a bit later to avoid the heat of the day, or it would be moved to early on Labor Day morning. The $20 fee for the race was ideal, so I hope they do it again next year!
Now it’s your turn to share! How are you spending your Labor Day?
Pre and Post Long Run Ritual with Melissa
I’ve also spent the last two months training with team in training, and will be raising money to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society while training. Would you like to partner with me and help raise money for blood cancer support and research? Here’s how my first week of training looked (I’m going to include a few more days than the traditional week, but most of my training weeks will go from Friday-Thursday for my recaps):
- Saturday (8/23): Travel to Ohio, 2 mile walk
- Sunday: 5.3 mile run, 3 mile walk (at Emerald City Half Marathon. I met melissa a bit after mile 10 and ran her in to the finish!)
- Monday: 2 mile walk, 30 minutes pilates
- Tuesday: 1.75 mile walk
- Wednesday: 3 mile walk
- Thursday: 2.18 mile run (speedwork), .9 mile walk
- Friday: 12 mile bike ride
- Saturday: 3.1 mile run, 17 mile bike ride
Most of my walks are slow and in the evenings after work, and serve to just shake out my stiff legs after my very sedentary job (it’s not uncommon for me to walk less than 5,000 steps by 5 pm-I sit all day…). I’m going to continue to do a number of different cross training activities while training, so we’ll see how it goes!
How’s that for a random title for a post?
First of all, I want to say a HUGE huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my military brother! While I had an excellent life as an only child, there’s not a day goes by that I’m not thankful that he was born and that he’s my brother. I’m not sure how I would’ve made it through my life/especially the last year without him. Happy Quarter Quell to you baby brother 🙂
So I have a great story for you. It starts with watching a video yesterday at work about cobras being able to bite and kill people after being decapitated (apparently they have that reflexive action for an hour even though they are basically dead) (here’s the link to the video if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4–p_3N5GPg )
Yesterday I was out on a run doing a speed work session that my soccer brother had read about in a journal this past spring. I was in my 3rd interval of sprinting, and saw what I thought was a bigger rock up ahead. I veered slightly, but as I was sprinting, I plowed ahead. I had a few strides left when I realized that what I thought was a rock was actually a severed snake head, and it looked very similar to the snake head in the video. My initial thought was simply “that’s gross”, and then my thoughts caught up with me, and I remembered the severed head still biting at things. Nervous that my foot was going to hit far too close to that head, I took a flying leap while screaming, and probably jumped higher than I have in years. After going a few steps more, I made sure to turn around and make sure that the disgusting head stayed put (it had. phew.). I needed to make sure the snake hadn’t attached itself to my shoe. I’m sure the people around me thought I was crazy (I was in a residential neighborhood), but I guess my flight or flight really kicked in based on that movie. Funny, right?
The speed work is getting easier. I’ve been doing it once every week to every other week depending on what’s going on, and it’s finally starting to feel a bit easier. I come very close to throwing up after each of the work outs though.
After doing a walking cool down from my speed work, I headed in to eat dinner while completing an online training program for biomedical research. Sounds like a fun evening, right? It really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, and went MUCH faster than I thought, so that was exciting.
So there’s my funny story for you as we head into our Labor Day Weekend. Although my “end of summer” kind of felt like last weekend since I started work up again this past Monday, this weekend is really the last summer hurrah, and I can’t wait! Hopefully no severed snake heads will be around.
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s the most disturbing thing you’ve seen while running?
Hello and happy Thursday once again! Now that I’ve started back to work, I’ve been trying to figure out my schedule, and when eating, exercising, and talking to people fit into all of that. Here’s what I’m thankful for today:
I’m thankful for my FitBit. I’m a numbers girl, and I love to see numbers organized in an inspiring and sensible fashion. haha. But seriously, I love being able to track my steps, especially because I have a VERY sedentary job. I’ve been known to pace around at night just to hit those 10,000 steps. 🙂
I’m thankful for friendship. Oh my, I don’t even know what I would do without them. I LOVE them- for the fun they bring, the lessons I learn through them, and the ways I’m a better person because of them. I’m thankful for the group of friends I have!
I’m thankful I got to see my college roommate. This past weekend I got to see my college roommate, and it put a HUGE smile on my face. She was my best friend through all 4 years of college, and I love her dearly to this day. We don’t get to see each other very often, but we do make sure to talk a few times a year. It was so good to physically be able to talk to her in person!
I’m thankful I have a job I love. Leaving summer break and all my free time is pretty difficult, but is definitely softened by going back to a job I truly love! I can’t imagine having to give up my summers for a job I hated.
I’m thankful for my legs. I’m thankful they carry me all the places I want to go, and allow me to run, walk, bike, and do what I need to do throughout each day.
I’m thankful for my brother (the military one): This brother is getting a special shout out today because his birthday is tomorrow, and I really wish I could be with him to celebrate. His birth took away my only child status, but I never really even cared about that at all. I’m so thankful he’s my sibling, and his support has meant the world to me, especially this past year!
Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for today?