Passing the Baton

I’ve had a good run here as Fleet Feet Gaithersburg blogger but now it’s time for me to pass the baton—even though that was a double pun and I’m clearly on a roll.

I’m headed to Alabama for graduate school, but I have sincerely enjoyed my time at Fleet Feet. My phenomenal co-workers and customers have made my work experience a very positive one. And I have enjoyed sharing my running life with you, FF Gaithersburg fans. While writing this blog, I’ve run through Maryland, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and now, I look forward to new paths in Alabama. Now and always, here and far away, happy running, my friends!

- Maggie

Although Maggie is leaving, we will be announcing a new Fleet Feet team blogger soon!! Stay tuned :) In the meantime, we wish Maggie the best of luck on her future endeavors!

Your Help Required

Runners, Triathletes, Countrymen, Lend me your ear! I have awesome news: I’m going to graduate school in the fall in Tuscaloosa, Alabama of all places. I’m beyond excited, but what does this mean for my list of run-scuses? It means I have a time-frame. I have to find new trails, train up, and race by the first week of August. I have an inflexible deadline and no way to worm free. This is probably good practice for graduate school, along with instituting coffee as a form of liquid sleep.

So, back to my list:

1) I have persistent IT Band Syndrome

2) It’s too damn cold

3) I’m bored of running Seneca Creek/I don’t know other trails in the area

4) I’m not signed up for any races, so I don’t have a goal

Reviewing my run-scuses, I should be on #2, facing the cold but it’s nearly April and winter is all but done. So, I’m going to knock #2 out real quick and focus on 3 and 4.

To face those last bitter days of winter, I’m looking to film again for inspiration. And who are my role models, my fortitude when my fingers and toes feel numb? The brave crew of 4 men on the Jamaican bobsled team of Cool Runnings, who were actually based on a real Jamaican bobsled team that competed at the 1988 winter Olympics in Calgary.

If a group of Caribbeans can compete in frigid Alberta, I can face a 40° day.

O.K., on to the last run-scuses on my list! And this is where I’m really relying on help from you guys: I need new places to run. I run Seneca Creek all the time, but I’ve gotta test out some new trails. And yes, I’ve tried running the loop backwards.

And related to exploring new trails, I need a goal race. I think I’d like to do a trail half marathon, but I’m open to suggestions. If anyone has a favorite race they want to recommend, I’d love to hear about it.

Readers, if you’re in the know, share your wisdom. Your two-cents is invaluable to me— no pun intended. Comment below with trails and races and help a fellow runner out. And if you’re susceptible to bribes, I’m an excellent baker!

Happy running,

Maggie

If Forest Gump Can Do It...

Hi folks, I’m back this week to eradicate another running excuse! Last week, my challenge was learning hip and glute strengthening exercises to manage my IT band pain. So I hit the gym with Melissa “The Gluteus Guru” Barber to work out a strengthening regimen for me.  Not only did she guide me through my work-out but she also took pictures to demonstrate what the exercises look like in action and so that I could get a jump on my fitness modeling career.

1)      Box Squats— If you can, use a box or a bench that puts you just below parallel when you squat. When you stand, contract the glutes to propel you up.

2)      Bulgarian Split Squats—I’d recommend using less weight on this one than you did on the box squats. In my case, the un-weighted bar bell was enough of a challenge, but hopefully with enough practice, that will change.

3)      Bar Bell Hip Thrusts—

Contract as you bridge up.

 I like this one. It makes me look really intense…like I really know my way around a weight room.

**To do the hip and glute abductors, not shown above because my face looked too ridiculous in the pictures to include them in a public forum, do the following: Put an exercise band around both ankles. Extend your non-standing leg to the side until you feel resistance and do 20 reps. Then extend the non-standing leg behind the body and do 20 reps. Repeat on the other leg. Do 4 sets on each leg. You’ll feel the burn with this one folks, so do it last!

O.K., Time to review my list:

1) I have persistent IT Band Syndrome

2) It’s too damn cold

3) I’m bored of running Seneca Creek/I don’t know other trails in the area

4) I’m not signed up for any races, so I don’t have a goal

Second on my list is the cold. If I’d been strategic about this, I would have listed this second one last. Then I could have avoided addressing the problem altogether because it would be mid-March by the time I got around to it. BUT I didn’t, so check out my next post where I’ll face my winter wimpiness and get out there in the cold!

I usually try to end my blog with a question, but I’m going to sign out on an inspirational note today:

Forrest Gump could run for three years, two months, fourteen days, sixteen hours, and cross the Mississippi 4 times and he’s not even real. Just think of what you can accomplish!

-Maggie

A Haiku for You!

Roses, chocolate, jewelry, dinner by candle light. These are the hallmarks of Valentine’s day, but they are material things and love cannot be bought!

Sonnets, sestinas, ballads and odes. Poetry is the language of love! Call me a sap, but what could be more romantic than a lyrical outpouring in a formulated structure?

Don’t believe me? Just try not to swoon:

How do I love thee, running? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.

 

Ok, so maybe I didn’t write that, but I did test out my poetic inclinations and write a haiku just for you guys. Here it is:

Sunday, long run day

Think my nose hairs are frozen

…What I do for love

O.K., you’ve read my poem, now I want to read yours. I know you might be intimidated by my talents as a poet, so I’m offering an incentive. Whoever has the best running-themed haiku will win a $15 gift certificate and a free pair of Balega socks. Don’t you think that’s worth 17 syllables?

To refresh your memory, haikus are 3 line poems. The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7, and the third goes back to 5. If you comment below and follow those simple guidelines to bring out your inner poet, you could be the winner!

Can’t wait to read your responses.

-Maggie

Get Out of Hibernation Mode!

I have a confession to make:

For me, winter is a period profuse with excuse. In fact, I’d say excuses are the singular field in which my productivity increases. Basically, I go in to hibernation mode. And yet, here I am writing for a blog called Trampling Down Walls & Eradicating Excuses. I haven’t written an article in nearly a month because I haven’t been running as much as I would like to be, but that’s just another excuse, isn’t it?

And I know I’m not alone in this. There’s a wise adage that goes like this: “Excuses are like…” well, never mind. But the punchline is “Everbody has one.” So today I’m going to lay out all of the excuses I have not to run and week by week, I’m going to (do my best to) eradicate every single one of them.

1)      I have persistent IT Band Syndrome

2)      It’s too damn cold

3)      I’m bored of running Seneca Creek/I don’t know other trails in the area

4)      I’m not signed up for any races, so I don’t have a goal

At the top of my list is IT Band pain, which I’ve been struggling with since last March. I have the tools to work through the injury but I haven’t been consistent, especially with strengthening exercises. So, I asked our manager-in-training and resident glute/hip strengthening expert, Melissa to make me an idiot-proof work out plan. Here is what she came up with:

ü  Box Squats, 4 sets of 15

ü  Bulgarian Split Squats, 3 sets of 10

ü  Band Abductions & Kickbacks, 4 sets of 25

ü  Barbell Glute Raise/Hip Thrusts, 5 sets of 10

ü  Side Lunges, 3 sets of 12

I know what you’re thinking, Bulgarian Split Squats sound like a barbaric Ottoman torture technique. O.K., maybe that’s just what I’m thinking, but Melissa has assured me that with her guidance, in a few weeks, I will look exactly like this:

I bet Beyoncé never has IT Band problems.

Stay tuned for my next Blog update when I post pictures from my work-out sessions with Melissa and tackle my next excuse! Now it’s your turn. What are some of your excuses and how do you plan to work through them?

- Maggie