It's Pay Day!

Happy New Year, Peeps!

2018 has been some year.  I'm not even sure I want to process what that means, to tell the truth. I prefer to focus on the good stuff right now, so first a photo:

My last day of running this year was 12/30 with the Trail Sisters:

There were some real shenanigans going on here.

We ran the trails of Sand Run. Marta and I decided to finish our twelve miles with a 1/4 mile long hill because we are just badass that way.

Also, I jacked up my knee somehow, so I'm taking it easy today. There will be stretching and foam rolling on the agenda.

Ok, for those of you who haven't read my posts on Payday, here is the gist:

I pay myself $.50 for every mile I run, $1.00 for every racing mile, and $5.00 for every PR.  I deduct my race fees from this amount, and I deposit the total in a special savings account for my big ticket racing goal.  Here and here are some previous posts. Go ahead and read them; I'll wait.

Ok, ready?  Step one is to calculate the total miles of 2018. I get this figure from DailyMile.com, where I log my runs. This year I ran and walked 1,848 miles, which I'm very happy with because my goal was 1,700.

Step two is to add up the racing miles:

Home Run for the Homeless: 4.06
Run with Scissors: 13.3
Akron Marathon: 26.42
Race with Grace: 3.07
Burning River: 25.76
Medina Half Marathon: 13.12
Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon: 26.48
Pro Football Hall of Fame Half Marathon: 13.26
Fools 25K: 15.94

Total Racing Miles: 137.35

Step three is to subtract racing miles from total miles:

1,848 - 137 = 1,711

Step four is to multiply non-racing miles by .50 and then add to racing miles:

1,711 x .50= 855.5-> 856 + 137 = $993

Wow! This is a lot of moolah, but I'm not finished yet, Peeps. I still need to add up my racing fees and subtract them from the total:

Total: 993
         -351
           642

642 smackeroos!  Holy Shmoly! But wait!!!  I get to award myself 5 bucks for every PR, and I had 1 (The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, thanks to Marta!), so. . . .

647 dollars!  Whoa!

I will be depositing that money as soon as I get paid! My dream marathon account is certainly adding up! Paris, I will be running your streets soon!

So, I do this for myself because I am driven (shocking, right?), and I tend to punish myself for my shortcomings. It is super-important that I acknowledge my accomplishments, and this is a way for me to see real improvement. This is the highest paycheck I've earned to date, and I intend to earn more next year.

What do you do to reward your accomplishments, Peeps? It doesn't have to be money, and your goals don't have to involve running. You could practice mindfulness and meditation. You can take up a new sport or start walking or swimming. The thing is that OF COURSE the rewards to your body and spirit are obvious, but that doesn't always help when you want to sleep in and you know you should be training for a 50K by doing hill repeats (guilty). Find something you can use as an incentive (try not to make it donuts), and reward yourself for your effort. It can be gradual (at the end of each week that you accomplished a goal) or it can be the biggie at the end of the year (like my payday). Just do it!  You deserve this.

Speaking of what you deserve, why not treat yourself to one of the races in the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon series? Use my code, SI2019, for 10% off registration. Let's do this together!

However your year ended, I hope you ran it happily, Peeps!

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Race Recap: Run with Scissors

Highlights of last year's Run with Scissors:

1. Rain

2. Crying

3. Getting lost 1/2 mile from the finish

4. Running 3-4 extra miles

Because I've got some extra rage going on (How about you? Are you angry? No? Just me? Ok.), I signed up to take the whammy off the race.

Because I like to share my pain, I bullied persuaded the Trail Sisters to run it with me.

Of course the weather was the same: 43 degrees and rainy. Yuck. Luckily, we run in the woods, so we wouldn't get that wet from above. Running through the mud, however, was quite a different story. If mud baths are supposed to be good for the skin, I guarantee you that my feet and legs are glorious.

I found Mandy and Pam, my long-lost friends.

Early Trail Sisters selfie: Wendy, Nancy, Marta

Official Trail Sisters Selfie: Marta, Nicole, Laura, Me, Nancy, Wendy

We gathered at Pine Hollow at 9 AM to hear the Grim Reaper, Roy Heger, give us explanations of the course markings. Not wanting to get lost yet again, I listened very closely. The signs were very complicated:

What does he actually mean by that????

And then we took off. The first two miles are always difficult for me. I remember calling out, "Why are we even doing this???"

The response was a chorus of "Because you made us, you jerk!"

Oh yeah.

We hit the aid station at Pine Hollow, where Sydney and Sarah had some awesome food for us, including donuts! Then we quickly took off again.

We are already disregarding the trail markings. We are supposed to be running in the grass.

I started to feel really good, so I ran ahead a bit with Nicole, Dave, and Katrina (who ran dressed as Notorious RBG).  I decided to run by feel, meaning that if I felt angry/energized/angsty/good I would run faster, and if I felt tired/sluggish/sad I would run slower. We reached the halfway point, where we pulled out our scissors and cut a page from the book to prove that we were there.

Nicole 

Dammit, my eyes are closed.

Wendy and Marta demonstrate the proper way to run with scissors.

And now they cut their pages.

After that, Nicole and I decided that we wanted to be done with this race. I was getting cold and tired and hangry. We ran back to Pine Hollow for some bacon and love. Or bacony love. Then we took off up and down the Sound of Music Hills and back towards the Ledges. 

Oh, Ledges. You are so difficult with your sharp rocks and hidden roots. This is always where I get super-paranoid because I am afraid I'll break a foot or fall and hurt myself. I slowed down considerably, but Nicole was consumed by the desire to finish, so she pulled ahead. She was worried that I'd take a wrong turn (because this is where I went wrong last year), so I kept hearing her yell back, "Turn left!!! Turn here!" I told her to just go and stop worrying about me. She finished like a true Badass. 

Meanwhile, Wendy happened by, and we finished together. 

After crossing the finish line (this time running 13.4, not 17 miles), we filled our Run with Scissors mugs with yummy potato soup. Then I got to see Marta, Laura, and Nancy come in:

And we took our finish line picture with Roy:

I'm glad I ran this race, especially since the rumor is that we won't have it at the Ledges anymore. The park system is gorgeous in the fall, even in the rain and mud. The volunteers for this race were so kind and happy, and I love any aid station that serves up bacon.  Thank you, Running Forward and Giving Back, for a fun experience and the opportunity to pre-emptively burn calories before my Halloween shenanigans that night.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I go grocery shopping.

Are you running in costume this year, Peeps? Whether you are or not, I hope you run happy!

Like what you read? Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

Pay Day 2017

It is once again my Running Pay Day, Peeps. This means that I need to do a bunch of math to figure out how much money I can put into my special running savings account.

The background to Running Pay Day is this:

I once read of a running blogger who pays herself for each mile she runs. Needing some motivation that doesn't involve food, I thought this was a wonderful idea. Of course, because I am complicated, I must have many rules about how to pay myself. So, here is how it works:

First, I calculate the number of miles total I have run in 2017. This is easy because I log my miles into DailyMile.com. This year I ran 1,694 miles. Not bad considering my goal was 1,500!

30 more miles would have taken me to Salt Lake City, UT!

Next, I subtract the number of racing miles I ran because I pay myself $1.00 for each racing mile. I love going over the races I ran this year because it brings back ALL THE FEELS for each race. Here are the races I ran this year (Click on the links to revisit my recaps):

Pro-Football Hall of Fame Half Marathon: 13.1
Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon: 26.2
Medina Half Marathon: 13.1
Green Jewel 2-person relay: 14
Burning River 8-person relay: 16.5
Leave No Trace Half Marathon: 13.1
Medina Race with Grace 5k: 3.1
Akron Marathon: 26.2
Run with Scissors Half Marathon: 13.1 (I actually ran 16.5 miles for this, but that is another story.)
Home Run for the Homeless: 4

I have a total of 142.4 racing miles. I'll round that down to 142. That means I've earned $142 in racing miles--but wait! There is more!

I subtract my racing miles from my total miles, and I pay myself $.50 per training mile:

1,694-142= 1,552 miles x $.50= $776 dollars.

Then I add that to the racing miles:
$776 + $142 = $918 dollars

Wow. That is a chunk of change! Unfortunately, that is not how much I get paid.

Now I have to deduct the amount of race fees I paid this year. Booooo. I didn't keep EXACT track of the racing fees (because it is painful), but I do have a good idea. One note: for two of these races, I paid more in order to donate to a race-affiliated charity, but I will not count that as a racing fee since it was voluntary.

The total for these races comes to about $446.  Honestly, not bad for ten running events that gave me hours of pleasure (WHAT????).

Ok, 918-446 = $472.   BUT WAIT!!!!

I award myself a $5.00 bonus for every PR, and I had two this year, soooooo. . .

$472 + $10 = $482

This is the most I've earned in a year. I am super-pleased with myself, particularly since the 300+ extra miles I've run this year have clearly made a difference in my paycheck.


Here is the thing:

I realize that I'm paying myself in my own money, but I am going to put that money into a savings account that I've had for years, and it will go toward my dream race: the Paris marathon. Normally, I wouldn't dream of spending any of that money on myself.  Too often women, especially mothers, refuse to reward themselves or put themselves first in any situation. I will not be a part of that. I worked damned hard this year, and I will reward myself with the promise of something that will be just for me.

Not only that, but the hard cash that I earned actually benefits me twice: All of those training miles helped me to build my endurance and (rarely) speed. I learned so much about what I'm capable of doing by training and racing, and even though there was some pain involved, I wouldn't change any of it. . . even getting lost in the woods during a trail race. I deserve to celebrate me.

How can you celebrate yourself, Peeps? What goals have you set for 2018? How can you reward them? It doesn't have to be as complicated as my system (Lord knows there are easier ways!), but you should find a way to fete your accomplishments and reward your work. It can make the difference between getting outside in the snow. . . or staying in bed and regretting that decision.

As for me, I have goals for 2018, and I am already getting started on them! This will be the best year. . . and the best ME yet!

This is clearly not the best me. . .but I'm working on it!

Whatever your goals and rewards are, I hope you run happy, Peeps!


Like what you read? Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

End of Year Running Review

I am typing this on the last day of 2017.  This is the moment where I review my running goals for the year. Let's get to it, shall we?

Goal #1: Run the Cleveland Marathon all by myself without freaking out.

Melissa, Rachel, and me at the Expo

The Ambassadors at the starting line

Mission Accomplished! I definitely had moments of insecurity at the VIP Dinner, but I ran that sucker all by myself like a boss. From this race, I learned that I don't necessarily need to rely on anything (like music) or anyone to run a marathon.

Goal #2: Run more trail races.

Me, Candice, Kristin. Burning River, Leg 5

Goddesses + Mother Runners. Leave No Trace Half Marathon

Marta, Me, Nicole, Spooky Ghost. Run with Scissors Half Marathon

Mission Accomplished! I had counted on running Burning River, but the other two trail half-marathons were kind of spur of the moment decisions.  I'm really glad that I ran them. From these races, I learned that I don't have to kill myself just to run a race. I can just enjoy it.

Goal #3: PR at the Akron Marathon.  This was a stretch goal, I admit. The weather on the day of the race was incredibly hot and humid, and I was tempted to drop to the half. I really freaked myself out. . .and then I got my shit together and got the job done. I told myself that I would just run easy because it was silly to believe that I could PR in that kind of weather. . .but I still wanted to meet that goal.

Still freaked out at Expo

PR, Baby!

Mission Accomplished! I PR'd by about 90 seconds, and I consider that an incredible accomplishment. I learned that I am much stronger than I think, and I think I'm pretty badass.

Goal #4: Run at least 1,500 miles.

Mission Accomplished! I learned that the best way for me to train is to put in lots of longer miles, one of which must be a midweek long run of 7-10 miles. This was the best way for me to run two marathons without getting injured. 

I finished my running year with eight miles on the Towpath with Marta. It was bitter cold, and the snow wasn't packed, so we got a great glute workout.

We look like we are about to rob a bank, but really we are gearing up for the run.

I have had a successful running year, and now I'm thinking about my new goals for 2018. I've got some ideas, but I will leave that for another post. For now, I'm going to bid you a Happy New Year. I hope you met your goals for the year, and I hope you have some challenging goals for next year. Whatever your goals, I hope you run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read? Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!