kttherobin-runs

 I just read an unpublished post from April 2019. So I published it. I wrote about getting close to 130 pounds and feeling stuck on an endless cycle of working out for health, getting caught up in trying to be "fit," and then getting discouraged when I didn't see results. That was almost three years ago. And here I am fighting the same fight. How depressing. Only now I'm over 130 pounds. A few things have changed in the "about" three years. In fall 2019, my migraines were getting so bad that my optic nerve swelled. I started losing my vision. I worried that I could be dying or going blind. I decided that I would run the Shamrock Half Marathon that year because it felt like time was running out. After lots of tests and worrying about MS, a brain tumor, etc., I had a lumbar puncture that revealed excessive brain fluid. They drained some the day before Thanksgiving. It took about a month to heal, but late December/January was going awesome for running. I traine...

One of the many frustrating things about health and fitness journeys for me is that it is never over. You don't just hit a magic weight and then get to relax and hang out there. No, it's always changing. We continue to get older. We run into different medical issues. We have injuries. Heck, the seasons change and disrupt routine. If nothing ever changed, we'd probably get bored with the routine anyway. My approach to my health and trying to be fit is always changing. I wrote a few years about my weight steadily increasing despite keeping the same healthy eating and exercise habits. It never stopped going up. I could never figure out why--and I still don't know why all the way. I would eat smarter, eliminate all snacking, never eat fast food (and only eat at restaurants when family is visiting like every couple of months), and work out harder. I did cardio. I did weights. I did Piyo. I did various workouts I found on Pinterest. Nothing helped. I guessed that maybe it w...

I feel like I need to change this blog to Robinson Runs since the boys are running now too. That expands the running to all of us since Chris is of course always running and never taking time off. This past fall, Chris thought he'd see how far Eliot could run and they ran a mile together. Eliot was only five at the time, and I was super impressed! He believe he ran in about 11 minutes. He continued to train a little in preparation for a kids' mile run at the Neptune Festival. He did great and won third place boy against some much older kids. He got called up on stage to receive a plague, which was really exciting. It was a hot, muggy day, and I did only mediocre in the 5k, so I was really proud of him. A few weeks ago, he ran a kids' 1k race at ODU. I'm not sure of his placement, but he made great time! This spring, I signed him up for the Healthy Kids Running Series. He would run every Sunday for five weeks in a quarter-mile race. He ran each week in about two minute...

It has been super hot lately. Heat index of 103 hot. The boys have been visiting their grandparents, so I've been getting up early and running guilt-free. I've beat the heat by running no later than 7:00 am. Phew! My pace is slow, but I've been trying to get to ten miles a week instead of nine (three three-mile runs). Something about ten just sounds better, more round. I don't know. So, to get there, I was trying to up my distance a little. I ran 3.5 on Thursday around the neighborhood. Today, I made Chris and Elizabeth (my sister-in-law) get up early and drove us out to Seashore State Park where we could run in the morning shade. It was still very humid, which made it tough. It seems that the humidity is worse in the morning, but the temperature is lower. I've been running in 85 degrees, but the humidity is crazy--like 96%! Anyway, Elizabeth and I ran four miles while Chris ran 7.2. We were all so hot and worn out (and soaked with sweat) when we finished, b...

It's been almost a year since I've updated, but I have been doing just fine with the running. Sometimes I take breaks as life gets busy with work, the kids, sickness, and all, but I always come back. I haven't posted each run on Instagram or anything lately, but I've kept to my goals. I run three days a week and usually do three miles. The heat is killer, so my pace is slow, just like last summer, but I'm OK with that. Paces change with the seasons, and I know I will just be that much faster in the fall. I hit 300 miles on my Nike+ app recently, which is a fun milestone. Despite not really changing my diet, I've slowly and steadily been gaining weight. Just a little here and there. Maybe it is age--I will be 30 this month. Maybe it is a hormonal thing. I don't know. I've tried switching medications due to persistent migraines, which also hinder me from running because it hurts very bad to run with a headache, so that might be part of the problem....

The heat has really affected my pace this summer, which I suppose goes for everyone else, really. When I started running, I just hoped to make it to a 10 minute/mile pace. I got there this past winter. Not for every run, but I did it a few times. And my big goal was to run a sub 30-minute 5k. And I did in December. This summer, though, I've mostly been running at an 11 or 12 minute/mile pace, which has been disappointing. I think I made it to 10'30" once. Anyway, today I thought I would see if I could run a sub 30-minute 5k. I wondered how I could do if I did run in a race. And the weather was perfect. It was 75 and overcast. I ran as hard as I could, and my watch said my pace was about 9'08" about the whole time, which would have put me under thirty minutes. In the last mile, I was so beat. I felt nauseous and crampy. I had to count to 20 over and over just to finish the last half mile. I made it, though. In the end (despite what my watch said), I ran a 9'4...