Couch to 5K- Week 3- Day 2

Somehow I feel farther behind, yet a little ahead, all at the same time... let me see if I can explain...

First- the intervals- 5 minute warm up walk (done)- 90 second run (ran 75 seconds)- 90 second walk (done) 3 minute run (walked it) 3 minute walk (done) 90 second run (ran 70 seconds) 90 second walk (done) 3 minute run (ran 1 minute, walked 1 minute, ran 30 seconds, walked 30 seconds) 5 minute cool down walk (done).

What I can say is this: I RAN my runs. I felt like I was going faster than ever. I passed walkers and thought I looked like a runner to them. My knee felt great (will try without the brace on Friday). Before I felt like I was always going the same speed but was just bouncing more during some of it, now I felt like I was running.

Now I took a week off and I am really proud of myself because I actually started up again. I just need a few weeks to keep at it. I had a few moments where my chest was very tight and I was coughing some, but I overall feel that this weeks program is doable for me. It may take me a month to get strong enough both physically and mentally, but I think I can do it eventually.

My foal for Friday is to run...completely run, both 90 second intervals. Then I can build from there.

I'm Baaaaack

I have been gone for another week visiting my mom and C. It was some wonderful time away and probably the last I will get until at least September. Show season is really heating up and with the farm markets I am busy about 5 days each week at shows, plus the other days in the workshop.

Dad and I are trying to take Mondays and Tuesday to do non shop things. This includes paperwork, gardening, the lawn, finishing the new bathroom, and grocery shopping (just to name a few things), then Wednesday-Sunday one or both of us has farm markets, craft shows, and days making things in the workshop. Every Friday we try to make an inventory and plan of attack for the next week, and every Monday we try and rest a little in order to have enough energy for the week ahead.

Since I got back I have been doing lots of paperwork, blogging, web updates, postage, supply ordering, and picking dozens of cucumbers from the garden. When I left they were the size of my thumb, when I got back they were bigger than my hand. I made my first batch of pickles, and didn't even bother to process them because I know I will be eating them all in the next few weeks. I harvested my garlic- the largest are the size of a baseball!

The plants I purchased for the front years that I thought would run out of space in about two years have run out now and I have loads of repositioning to do out front now. I am trying to work a few hours each morning while it is still cool outside and get caught up on the yard work. It will take at least a week!

Finally, I need to get back to running. I took a week off and need to start again. It would be easier for me if I would just keep on a schedule, but every time I stop and restart I am proud of myself, I usually just stop... and don't start again. So tomorrow I try to continue with Week 3. And will try not to get discouraged!

Couch to 5K- Week 3 Day 1

It was supposed to be Week 2 day 2 redux... but I had synced my IPod and forgot to e sure week two was checked to sync. so when I went to run when at my Mom's.. all I had was week 3... so I went for it...

First, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I am kinds glad I did it. It will take me a few weeks to get it, becaue the three minute run is daunting for sure.

The first interval is 90 seconds and I DID IT!!! Then I rest for 90 sec and the second interval is 3 minutes. I probably ran about 1 out of the three before I had to stop. My chest was really tight and I mostly feel it as a stabbing pain in my back and shoulder. So I walked the rest and the rest interval of 3 minutes too. The third running interval is 90 seconds again, I ran about 1 minute of it and walked till the fourth interval where I was supposed to run 3 minutes, but I ran 1, walked 1, and ran the last minute.

I figure that the whole trip including warm up and cool down was a little over 2 miles.

So far no knee pain since starting to use the brace. My right calf is a little tight and I keep trying to stretch it as ften as I can remember.

BTW.. I like the scale at my mom's better than mine at home. Not sure which one is accurate, but hers says I weight considerably less than I thought...

Bethlehem Farmer's Market- Week 1

What a WONDERFUL market.

Pros:

Lots of food
great sales
saw lots of customers I have seen at craft shows before
cute alpacas & yarn!!!
set up/tear down was easier than I thought it would be
free parking
access to a real potty
great music


Right now I can't really think of any cons... I am just so excited on how great it went. Maybe next week I will have some things to work on:)

Couch to 5K- Week 2- Day 1- redux

OK, so it is my second try at week 2. I bought a knee brace and used it for the first time today and it seemed to work well. No pain.

I ran 1/2 of the first four intervals and walked through the fifth and sixth. But I can feel myself getting stronger. I am walking faster and probably running faster too. I did my usual circuit almost twice before the end of the cool down period. That is quite a bit farther than I was run/walking just a week ago. So I feel good that what I haven't gained in running stamina I seemed to have gained in overall stamina and am going more miles than before in the same amount of time.

Saturday I run when at my moms. The first hill is a bit much but that should be my warm up walk and the rest is quite flat.

I am proud of myself for going out there after the last run was such a heartbreak. I actually missed the exercise and I overall feel stronger and more healthy. I find myself being more conscious of my eating habits (especially on run days) and have lost about 5 lbs so far. I am just barely under the 170 mark now and I really believe that this is making a change in me that I have been looking for for quite a while.

Plaza Growers Market Week 1

Hopefully it was just a mix of it being the first week and impending rain, but sales were terrible. I saw a few friendly faces and made 3 or 4 small sales, but most people were looking for food and snacks or weren't prepared to have the market start this week. Very few people even came by to look or sniff. I have to admit I was very dissapointed, especially after my sucess at the Bath Farmer's Market.

I know that I can't base the whole season on the first day... but...dissapointing is the word that describes the day :(

Couch to 5K- Week 2- Day 3

I feel like I am going backwards. I just didn't have a good day today. I tried running in a local park and hated it. Just bland, and worried about my car (had left my keys in it so I didn't have to carry them) and decided to run the "upper loop". Should have known that the word "upper" meant there was a big ass hill to climb to get to it.

I ran most of the first three intervals and tried to start the fourth. Just couldn't. It was so humid that the swat was just pouring off of me and I felt like I was breathing water. So I gave up and stopped. It was over 1.5 miles, so I figure that when I do the entire routine I run/walk about 2/5 right now.

I'm gonna see what the weather is like tomorrow and maybe try again, but definatly Wednesday for sure.

Best in Bloom Festival, Emmaus PA June 12-13

Pros:
1) extremely cheap to participate in
2) extremely local, just a mile or so from the house
3) great location- in front of the bike shop, near the farmer's market
4) music on Sunday (and they were fans of my soap already!)
5) sales were not bad, Sunday was better than Saturday
6) real bathrooms (could use the one in the bike shop)
7) good foot traffic due to the coffee crowd at the shop and the farmers market

Cons:
1) sales were slow and came in spurts... almost nothing until the last hour on Saturday
2) Sunday was oppressively hot and rain started around 2
3) Farm market runs 10-2, show 11-3... should be the same times I think
4) Way too spread out. Local businesses sponsor an artist to be in front of their store, and there needs to be more, or they need to be concentrated better. My nearest neighbor was a block away.
5) needs more/better advertisement. Not even a banner hung over Main Street. No one knew why we were even there!

Overall: on the list for maybe next year... like to participate in local, and it wasn't terrible, just long and hot, and near the road so you suck traffic fumes all day.

IndieMade Craft Market- June 12th

Lets start with the pros...

1) there were three soapmakers and I still almost made 10x my booth fee!

2) goodie bags that are given out make for a busy opening and start to the show

3) real bathrooms

4) pretty good live music all day

5) plenty of space between booths, and booths are 10x10

6) outside, but under cover, only the worst driving, horizontal rain could impact the displays and maybe not even that

7) three new possible shows from people scouting for crafters

8) volunteers to help you load in :)

Cons:

1) one of the hardest load in/outs I have done in a LONG time. One ramp, through a building (two doors to get through), into a second building, and then all the way across the ice rink. LONG WALK... with a dolly...that is heavy...I am physically sore from the day.

2) I think the show runs a little long, it could probably end an hour earlier for sure

3) well run but not overly friendly. when I got there I had a goodie bag in my stand with water, an apple, and two granola bars, but no one came by to check on me all day or to formally introduce themselves as part of the promotion team.

4) no volunteers to help you load out

5) after about 10 loads to the car and back, a few vendors were allowed to drive into the ice rink and load directly into their vehicles. This choice was never extended to me, even after a few people who seemed related to the show commented on how many trips I had to make. I feel like I was doomed by my own preparedness, and if I didn't have such a good (or any) hand truck, I may have been able to drive in and load out much easier.

Overall thoughts:

I will apply to the December show which I am told is much more busy with foot traffic. I would do this spring show again, but only with help to load in and out. The show itself wasn't busy enough to need two people to sell, but it certainly needs two people for load out especially.

Couch to 5K- Week 2- Day 2

So I took a bunch of time off.. my knees were killing me! When I got go run again I couldn't decide if I should go back and do week 1 again, or press on with week 2. I decided to press on with week 2.

The morning was bright and crisp, and I was running on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. I had planned on using the treadmill, but the gym wasn't open yet and I didn't want to wait or pay the spa fee just to use the treadmill. So I made it down to the boardwalk. I ran 45 sec-1min of each of the 6 90 sec intervals. The first I almost finished, and the rest I could tell I had taken too much time off.

But my knees didn't hurt before or after the run, or the next day. I will try again on Monday... week 2 redux... and I think I need to find a place to run with less hills.

Morgan Log House June Craft Fair

This show is TINY. And besides that the weather seems to impact it every time I have gone there. This Sunday we had a tornado watch and only half the vendors even showed up for the craft fair (there was only supposed to be 12 to begin with). Then some of the demonstrators didn't show (boo to the smithy people who didn't come!, and volunteers were late or nonexistent.

Dad was a trooper. He went and set up, put up the tent sides in case of rain, staked the tent down good and then just held on for the ride. Of the six or so that did come a few didn't have tents, and the person next to us had a tent that was so jury-rigged that it was actually dangerous. It blew over once, sending the screwdrivers used to hold it together into the air as shrapnel. Luckily no one was hurt.

His first sale of the day was pretty good. About 1/4 of the days sales. Then there was a big sale, that we knew was coming, because D had warned me that she wanted a mess of bath fizzies and that I needed to send enough down for her, (that was 1/2 the days sales) and the rest dribbled in here and there.

The vendors without tents were the first to go, then the other slowly started to pack up. When dad realized he would be there all alone, he made an executive decision and packed up too. The day was not lost, but this show is not growing as I had hoped it would be doing. Another one in August I think, then I will have to decide about next season or not. We will have to see how it goes.

Art in the Park- Kutztowm PA

I did not do all that bad. But certainly not good enough to go back next year. Sales were very slow (I averaged less than 1 sale an hour). It is not managed all that well, one person came by and didn't bother to introduce herself, I didn't even know she was someone running the show until another crafter told me she introduced herself to them. There is also a concession booth for food and drinks and it doesn't open untill the baseball games get going, but no one bothered to tell us, so at lunch time it looked like there was no place to get food. B's husband left to get them lunch, only to find the concession stand open about an hour later.

Upside: real bathrooms :)

So this is another one on the list of places not to go again next year. That list is getting pretty long already....bummer...

Couch to 5K- Week 2- Day 1

So Tuesday after I ran last my knees hurt. Wednesday they really hurt, and Thursday they were just sore. So I decided to run today since when I woke up they didn't hurt at all. But now I feel like I was more held back by my legs than my lungs today.

See, when I was really really little my feet stuck out like a duck. The doctors put me in shoes that looked like they were on backwards and stuck a bar between my shoes. It was supposed to being my feet where they belonged. I still tend to walk a little funny, and my legs kinda turn out a little. Then when I was in middle school I dislocated one of my knees. So I have never had really good luck with my legs. So I am thinking of going to the running store in town on Sunday and asking about knee braces or of they have any suggestions that wont cost me a mint.

Anyway, I got up really early because we have an air quality alert today starting at 9 am. I could see the haze and feel it even at 6 am when I ran. I am glad I didn't wait any longer to get out.

So today is the start of a new week. 6 intervals of 90 seconds each, with a 2 minute rest walk period between them. It starts with a 5 minute warm up and ends with a 5 minute cool down.

I walked the warm up and my knees were a little stiff. I ran both the first and second intervals, and half the third and fourth before they got truly sore. So I walked intervals 5 and 6 and most of the cool down, but I was home, so I decided to stop where I was.

I am really proud of making it the first two intervals and I feel if I can get a handle on the sore knee issue I will be able to breeze through this week faster than I expected. It may not take me 6 tries to complete it!

But the weekend is for rest. No running till Monday. And maybe some ice on my knees.

Mayfair Festival of the Arts 2010

What a wonderful weekend! The weather was great except for a few showers on Friday. Dad came and helped all weekend and even opened up for me a few days- Saturday so I could be at the Woodsong Hollow Farmer's Market and Sunday so I could have lunch with C and spend some time with him.

Thank you to everyone who was patient and kind to him as he gets used to helping customers at a busy show. He really loves the feeling of community and support you all show me and showed him as well.

Sales were up 36% even though I had competition in the form of another soapmaker. Overall I thought crowds were smaller, but those who came seemed to be buying more. There were few artisans, only like 50, but the show is dedicated to having a small show full of good artisans rather than a large show full of mediocre artisans. We are all hoping that the show will grow as we do better and better each year. Both in the number of artisans as well as the number of attendees. I know I will be back next year!

Couch to 5k- Week 1- Day 3- redux

I DID IT!! I can go on and try week 2 now. OK, I cheated, I stopped 10 seconds early on my fifth interval. I am not proud of that, and if I knew there was only 10 seconds left I may have been able to push through. But I RAN all the intervals. My walk may have been slow at times, and my run not too fast at times either, but I did the whole work out and I feel great!

I was supposed to run yesterday, but five days on my feet at Mayfair had done me in. I was tired and sore. I tried to run after the show closed but it was starting to rain and I don't have a waterproof case for my i pod yet.

So in two days- Thursday, I will start week two. It will probably take me a few weeks to do that one as well, but right now that is the last of my cares!

I also was told about first strides by a friend who is a mentor there. They meet on the parkway on Allentown starting in August and increase their running by 10% each week, and at the end of the training program the run a 5K. I figured by August I will either be finished with or pretty far along in this program and I may join that one when it starts.

OK, I am off too shower. I am pretty gross and am dripping on the keyboard. Cheers!!