Cape Cod Runner

I recently moved this site over to a Wordpress supported site, mostly to add a stronger commerce feature - ie. shop for fun stuff!

Most feeds should change for you automatically, and bookmarks are capecodrunner.com as always!

Thank you Tumblr!

My husband and I are both 38 years old (him a little more than that), and we've chosen not to have children. I've held this post for a long time now, but hearing from a friend today whose marriage is ending over this same discussion, I thought it was about time I shared my perspective too.

Usually, saying you don't want kids brings about a bunch of the same:

"Children will change your life!"

"Oh, you'll change your mind."

"There's still plenty of time!"

"It's such a selfless thing!"

"You'll definitely love your own."

"There's still time" and "changing your mind" are about the worst comments you can say to someone who doesn't want children. See, the thing is, deciding NOT to have children is a much longer process than deciding TO have children. You want kids? BOOM, you've got one, and there's no backing out (fertility troubles aside). But you don't want kids when you're 30? There's still a good 10 years left of doubt, questions and defending yourself - sometimes defending yourself to your own self.

I admit, I adored spending eight days around this snuggly bum, Morris!

I've never babysat much, and I generally don't find kids cute (you know, I don't stop in my tracks to gawk at that "adorable baby/hat/feet" on the street). But deciding not to have children goes deeper than that, I know. The reasons I do find for having kids include "having someone to take care of us / entertain us when we're older" and "giving my parents a grandchild". Both of those reasons, however, require 18+ years of the stuff we don't want to do. And who says our kid won't steal all our money for a crack habit at age 23? ;-)

Spending time with 7-week old Morris resulted in a phone full of photos and selfies while he was snuggling with me in the Rockies. A super cute age! But his tiny toes and hairs were created by people we love, so I love him. I love our nieces and nephew too.

But here's the thing... I also love me, I love my husband and I love our life. And I'll be cliche and say we love our dogs! We aren't looking for anything "more" (quotes intended). Simple as that. Being a parent is selfless? Well heck, I'm as selfish as they come. Please don't try to stop me.

Yep, even strangers offer comments to try and change my mind, but thankfully society is starting to change this expected view juuuust a little bit. I do feel that people look down on us, which is sad. It's our personal decision and our life.

Gary and I are lucky to agree on this subject. We first met 17 years ago, and we definitely both assumed we'd want kids as we got older. I said I'd have them if he wanted them, he said he'd have them if I wanted them. There's been some slight swaying, particularly when I lost an ovary five years ago. As we watched our friends have kids, we said we'd be ready when they had their second. Surprisingly, many of them are now on their third! We've gone from not-feelin-it to a final, solid decision that are not having children. And what a relief it is to have a decision! We're moving on to the official steps in that direction.

Sure, I have NO IDEA who's going to take care of us when we're older, but I have always had visions of living like The Golden Girls with my buddies if I lose the love of my life. But hopefully we'll be doing our PT exercises together on the beach until we're 90. I'm excited to see where life goes!

Mostly though, I just wanted to share a perspective that is not a majority perspective, and encourage understanding for the differences that make each of us who we are. Embrace those friends without children! Don't exclude them just because you don't think they want to eat 1st-birthday cake. Maybe they're gonna be the best aunt and uncle buddies you can call on!

I'm pretty pumped for this new year, are you?!!

I love new years (and Mondays)! A chance to start fresh! To start with a plan, and set new goals. With a new year, I also love looking back at where I've been, what I accomplished, how I can improve, and am I the person I want to be?

We had a hectic week leading up to New Years Eve, but both yesterday and today are solidly dedicated to sitting with my planner, training journal and a handful of pens!

Well, first, there was a run and brunch with friends!

I've been listing EVERYTHING. What did I do to "Make Things Happen" in 2014? What (and who) are positive or negative influences in my life? What didn't work in 2014? What excites me? And of course, what are my goals for 2015?

I have several big roles in my life, so my goals "should" reflect that.

Business goals (photography, marketing, education)

Personal goals (health, my own fitness, life & inspiration)

Running/Cape Cod Runner goals (this blog & brand, marketing, clothing & gear, events)

I won't go into all of it here, but I do hope you're taking stock of your own 2014 to 2015 transition! Don't let the opportunity pass you by without putting some thought into who you are, where you've been, and where you're going! You could treat it like "any other day," but it's not. Be conscious in this moment!

A quick look at my training plans:

Race Goals: Martha's Vineyard 20-Miler in February, Vermont City Marathon in May - neither of those for a time goal - and something BIG for the fall. I haven't decided whether I want to go for a BQ at the Richmond, VA marathon or to set my sights on an ultra marathon. Those are vastly different training plans! I'll probably decide after Vermont. I'd also like to run about 5 trail races in 2015, and start participating in the TARC weekly trail runs near Boston.

Running Goals: I'm more than a month into Maffetone heart-rate training and not seeing much change, so today I'm upping the ante with the food/diet portion of Maffetone's book as well! Just two weeks at first, clearing my body of any carbohydrate intolerance to start the year. I'm really hoping to get my pace up, because our weekly run club and other runs with friends are stressing me out at a slow pace!

I live about an hour from downtown Boston, but I lived there for 5 years and often return on a weekly basis. I never wanted to be one of those [many] people who never crosses the bridge off Cape Cod. I love being connected to a city and its energy, and so many of my great friends are there!

So when Carolyn was coming to town over the holiday break, I was psyched she reached out to us Ragnar Cape Cod teammates - me and Jess! We made plans to run and brunch together along the Charles River!

I'm still running a slow Maffetone heart-rate training plan, so these gals were great to run alongside me at around a 10:30-11 minute pace! It was actually pretty cool to see my heart rate lower while chatting, and of course running such a flat path ;-)

We had brunch/lunch at Life Alive in Central Square, Cambridge, and OH. MY. YUM. Incredible vegetarian selection.

I have such wonderful memories of our full Ragnar team coming together last May - runners from all over the country, representing the Oiselle brand of women's clothing. It was definitely a weekend I will never forget, and I love continuing to meet up with these women (in Philly, NYC, Boston so far) and even receiving their holiday cards in the mail! Friends for life!

Just a little peek at our family Christmas card this year!

This was a folded vertical card, so what you're looking at above is the back and the front... and the inside below is from a shadow we captured of our family of four on the beach this winter!

What's funny - or not so funny - to me is that I'm a photographer by profession, and our card is pretty much all iPhone and Instagram photos! But who cares, photography is photography, and I love that we all have a camera in our pockets these days. Our card shows a full year of fun and adventure (and so many of our friends and family still have no idea what Instagram is ;-))!

Do you do anything fun and thought-out for your holiday card each year? I'm always lucky I can pull anything together when I'm photographing other people's families and designing wedding albums this time of year.

So there's this weird little twist of events that leaves me in Connecticut with my husband's family all week this week - without him, and without a car. I'm happy to travel by sneakers as much as I can while I'm here!

See, Hedman Family Christmas always happens over the weekend before Christmas, where 18 people head toward Fairfield, CT for a day, since the littlest kids all live here. And real Christmas isn't until Thursday this week. With my parents traveling down South in their RV, there's no one back home on Cape Cod to open presents under the tree with! So we figured we would stay in Connecticut and enjoy reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas", opening pajamas from Santa on Christmas Eve, and waking up with the excitement of our nieces and nephew!

When one of the families I'm closest to in my photography business (photographed one wedding, another one coming up, and other engagement sessions) asked, I said sure! I can photograph everyone when you're all together in Connecticut on December 23rd! But it turned out that Gary had to work, and we couldn't find a way around it, so he and "his" dog drove home on Sunday, and won't be back here until Christmas Eve. 

I'm here with "my" dog! It has been gray and damp, but he ran 2 of my 7 miles with me yesterday, and 3 today! We're right next to Fairfield University's campus, and I knew my way down to the beaches as well, where we run the Fairfield Half Marathon every June.

Wait, his dog and your dog?

We've been married 10 years next month, so obviously our dogs are not really "his" and "hers", but they are ;-) We take turns choosing and naming a dog, and right now Cajun is my bud! (Gary wanted a retrieving dog and brews beer, so he's with Brewer. I wanted a straight up of-course-I-rescued mutt and well, we called him "the Cajun dog" - from Baton Rouge - for too long before we could come up with a name). Also, having our own dogs allows us to blame the other person's dog for indiscretions around home.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming! I'm enjoying extra time with my sister-in-law, photographing a couple of sessions, meeting up with a high-school pal, running (on foot) around town, and I've even taught our 10 year old niece to knit! That's about the same age my grandmother taught me! But wait, I'm not old enough to be a grandma, so let's remember: I'm the aunt.

Hope you're having a great Christmas pre-game or Hanukkah in your home this week! It's kinda nice that our shopping stress was last week, and now we can just kick back!

One mile from my home are more than three miles of cranberry bog trails. If you follow me on Instagram, you see lots of cranberry bog photos, ha! But this week I was feeling exceptionally grateful for this slice of Cape Cod in my neighborhood!

For those not familiar, cranberry bogs are surrounded by a flat dirt road just wide enough for the workers and pickers to drive around. Narrower paths also cross through the bogs at any moment, allowing workers to reach all sections - or runners and walkers to alter their course!

What this means for me is that I run a mile on pavement before reaching at least 3-4 miles of flat, somewhat groomed trails! Yes, trails shouldn't be flat and groomed - that kinda takes the fun out of it! - but it's pretty nice to get off the roads and zone out in the beautiful scenery. And it has been very nice on my knee this year!

It's like a natural track, where I can loop as many times as I want. I can loop smaller, bigger... and I often find myself setting challenges to do another section more than I'd planned!

Today marks Day One of marathon training!

The Vermont City Marathon isn't until May 24th, but I boosted my training another month by signing up for the imperfectly-timed 20-Miler on Martha's Vineyard this February - two months from today.

It's kinda a big deal for me, HUGE! On the day I was supposed to start training for Vermont City last year - January 23rd - I was instead having surgery for a torn ACL (and more). It feels pretty amazing to be back to a position of strength and begin this glorious journey again!

Also though, I'm kinda happy it's a cross-training day, because my whirlwind 24 hours of photographing around NYC yesterday has left me a bit achy ;-)

This September and December, some friends and I ran the Fall Classic 5K and Winter Classic 5K in Cambridge, MA!

The Fall Classic was HOT and sweaty - a big ol' gross fest.

The Winter Classic this Sunday was freezing cold! I hear a ton of other friends were there too, but we seem to have rushed from huddling in the car to racing, and then to brunch again afterward, and I sadly missed saying hi to others!

For both races, we gathered up a bunch of us from the Oiselle ambassador team and "Flock"! It has been wonderful meeting great new running friends through the team this year!

The races were fun and social, but honestly, the 5K course (the same both times) was pretty darn boring. Just felt like a basic square through a not-so-scenic area. I might just be completely unused to the idea of running in cities though.

I'm ALWAYS up for great swag though, and because we did the two races, we also got a fleece jacket this December! Each race included a long-sleeve tech shirt, and the Winter Classic came with a pint glass too!

This was my last race of 2014! (I didn't actually "race" it... it was super crowded and slow) What a weird feeling to realize it's almost 2015!

What's your last race of the year? How do you plan out your new year of running ahead - do you set a full schedule ahead of time, or fly by the seat of your pants, for the most part?

Last night I sat down on the couch, after a full evening of designing wedding albums, and pulled out all the papers, pencils, white-out (yep!) and red pens! Like Liza said on Twitter, it is like back-to-school time for runners!!!! Customizing the upcoming training plan!

See, somehow I decided to throw a 20 mile race into the first month of my spring marathon training. What that means is that I'm reaching a 20-mile peak at least a month early, and need to make sure that the rest of my training doesn't result in over-training with too much time on my legs.

Having run one whole marathon in my life, I'm certainly no pro at this! But I do feel like I know myself and my mind & legs extremely well at this point. Even in my first-ever marathon (a 4:08 time), I combined a bit of Hal Higdon's Novice 1 program with the not-novice-at-all Hanson's Method for speed work. I don't follow recipes well. 

This time I printed out some of the later Higdon plans - mostly Intermediate ones - and I'm juggling the concepts of speed-work and heart-rate training (heart rate first, speed-work later).

The Martha's Vineyard 20-Miler takes place on February 14th, and the Vermont City Marathon is on May 24th. Factors considered:

I'm already trained to 13-16 miles, but need some chance to rest my legs right now.

Marathon training would have begun around January 15th

20-miler training would begin around now

We're disappearing to a remote island for a week after the 20-miler, for our 10-year wedding anniversary! Perfect timing!

I'm ultimately not running either race for a time goal, though I know I'm capable of a 4-hour marathon.

I'm giving myself two weeks to chill, with an official training schedule to begin on December 15th.

One last weird-o thing that hits me with customizing my own plan is that weekends are the absolute worst for me to do long runs! It's literally the exact opposite for everyone I know, but I work from home, for myself, five days a week. On weekends I like to devote time to R&R with loved ones. OR, most of the year I'm photographing a 10-hour wedding day every Saturday! But my training plan this winter hits a couple of perfect races on the weekends, such as a half and the 20-miler, so I will go with it for the time being.

I've never been so eager and festive so early in the holiday season! I was already lighting the balsam fir candles and watched a Christmas movie two weeks before Thanksgiving ;-) But now that we've officially made it past turkey, it's game on for the all the music and tree decorating too!

How did you take advantage of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday this year? Plans for Cyber Monday? Personally, I'd pay full price for something - and always local! - before I'm up for the challenge of traffic, parking and crowds these days. But it's a great time to start thinking of the perfect gift for the runners in my life! - and in yours!

My absolute favorite picks to gift your runner this season!

Winter Running Gear: gloves, hats, headbands, you name it! We like colors and options, so pick something that will make us think of you when we pull it on! I just snagged an awesomely run-perfect Skida hat, made in Vermont!

Yurbuds: Not fair that Yurbuds keeps innovating, because now I want the new magnet ones that reduce tangling! These earphones never ever fall out while running - the best!

Socks: Seriously, it's a cliche holiday gift, but like my friend at Live, Run, Grow points out, we runners live by our socks - and they're not cheap! My absolute favorites are Injinji and Darn Tough (from Vermont too!)

Erica Sara Designs: The most beautiful jewelry, completely customizable for your race, distance or favorite motto! I haven't taken my necklace off since my first time to 26.2 last fall! This will go right to her heart.

Handheld Gadgets: Simple $20-30 gifts for your runner, I personally love the Nathan Hydration handhelds, Ultimate Direction belts and packs, Armpocket phone carriers, or the Flipbelt to carry anything and everything (I love this for the gym). Every run requires something a little different, so these are fun gifts for any runner!

Road ID: A serious must for every runner or biker! Go ahead and make one on the website, or gift your loved one the option of customizing their own. These are fun AND will save your life!

Nutrition: so many fun options for stocking stuffers here! Maybe you know your runner's favorite, or maybe you want to help them try something new! You can peek back to my Favorite Fuels for Running post, or there's one I've been hoping to try soon myself - Tailwind Nutrition (individual sample packs)

ShowerPill: These are handy-dandy disposable body wipes that are perfect for those times we head to brunch after a run with friends! And, technically, you benefit a lot from this one too ;-)

Flyer Jacket: If you grab one pricer option to make that woman in your life swoon, she definitely needs this incredible layer from Oiselle! The perfect layer for all the weather from fall till spring!

Some of the above are my affiliate links to Amazon.com, but I always recommend stopping in your local running source too - they know best!

I’m so thankful for a lot of things in my 38th year of life (one being that everyone thinks I’m 28!). And I’m extremely thankful I get to share this world with YOU guys! Thanks for being here to share in the story and join in the encouragement of one another!!

On this 2014 Thanksgiving, we are waking up at my in-law’s home in Dorset, Vermont. The Stratton Mountain Gobble Gobble Wobble has been cancelled, and there is over a foot of snow outside our windows. My race outfit is laid out, and I’m thankful I’m the kinda crazy runner freak that’s still devising a safe way to get out there this morning ;-)

I’m thankful that I’m 10 months post surgery for tearing my ACL, MCL and meniscus on a trail run, and that I could barely remember which knee it was on our Tuesday morning hike!!

And I’m thankful for the mish-mash of food we’re about to eat for Thanksgiving dinner today, because we were supposed to make it to more family (and ALL THE PIE!) in Connecticut today! We are so lucky to have a warm home, a food hoarder for a mother-in-law, and the laughter of family around us (but I’m still making apple pie as soon as we get home).

Lastly, I’m so thankful for the dog laying in bed next to me - which is so not allowed at home! - and that our family continues to grow in ADOPTED dogs each year. We gained two new pals this year, Luna and Duncan, and I’m so proud and honored to call both the rescuers and the rescuees my family!

I’m pretty excited to recap my Philly Half Marathon weekend, because it was a really great weekend! Fun was had, goals were met, and I got to enjoy my first big-city race experience!

My alarm went off at 2:15am Friday to catch the bus and then 6:25am plane outta Boston with travel pal Jess! We landed just over an hour later, and greeted our hostess Danielle with a big fat squeeze! The rest of our Friday consisted of shopping around town, hitting the expo and cozying up for dinner and good conversation on the couch at home. The expo was a pretty decent size, and there was tons of great branded gear to buy, but I think we all made it through with just the race shirts - because they alone were an awesome quality long-sleeve tech shirt!

We did a little shake-out run on Saturday, but mostly kept our feet up, watching the HBO series “Girls” (I’d never seen it) and just enjoying hangin’ together. We did, however, get off our butts to enjoy a great dinner in City Center with 16 other Oiselle teammates in town to race and cheer for the weekend! I love the camaraderie of this team!

Around this time, I actually started voicing what had been in my head for a couple of months: I wanted to run the full marathon. I have my reasons for this, but didn’t want to be a jackass on my new ACL, nor a jackass in the running community. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I just want to run more than one marathon. Plenty of people have run one and its a wonderful accomplishment, but in the community we’re all in, I still feel like such a newbie. Mostly though - and this may sound dumb to you, I know - it seemed like way less pressure to run Philly’s entire 26.2. I could run as slowly as I wanted without pressure, I already knew the weather was perfect, I could skip all the hype of a training cycle… But in the end, after only training to 16 miles this month, I decided (at the start line) to stick to my goal of a sub-2-hour half marathon.

Race morning! Another early morning alarm, but for a good cause. English muffin, peanut butter, banana… The Sunday morning routine of racers around the world! We took the subway about 10 minutes to City Hall and made our way on foot to the start. Still dark, it had the feeling of all those Instagram photos I’ve seen from other big city races, like San Fran and Chicago. Thousands of runners flocking in the same direction! We arrived just in time for a porta-potty break, bag drop, group hug and photo, and to snack on my Honey Stinger vanilla waffle amongst my peeps in the Black corral. My first-ever race with text tracking, corrals, and my first time ever checking a bag (which rocks, by the way!)

Ready, set, go! That’s what they said. It was comforting to start alongside marathoners and keep it to a gradual pace right over the line! The course was electrified with music right away, and I definitely felt excited and happy. For me to reach a goal of sub-2 hours was going to require kind of a lot at this point in time. My first half marathon back after ACL surgery was just last month, in a miserable (mentally) 2:08. Could I shave 8 minutes and change off my time here in Philly? 

I looked at my watch fairly regularly to eye my pace - usually around 8:45 to 9:15 - but I almost never looked at the miles. In fact, I don’t think I saw a single mile marker on the course either! The only indication I had were those fellow runners (you know those runners) who were constantly chatting numbers with their buddy. I occasionally looked up to enjoy the scenery of a new city, but I mostly tried to stay in my own world and relax my breath. Ate my Honey Stinger fruit smoothie chews along the way, and handheld water. A couple of uphills balanced very nicely with a lot of speedy downhills too. I don’t usually race the downhills because it seems so hard on the knees, but… well, what’s a knee without a little excitement, right? I needed to use those hills to my advantage.

I ran this race happier than maybe ever at the 13.1 distance. I didn’t want to die at mile 10 or 11, but I did start to slow and get into my head by 12. I finally looked at the numbers and did some racer’s math, which never helps, and I was tempted to bail on the idea of sub-2. Then two seconds later, racer’s math told me I was fine and eeeeasily had it. Tricks, dammit! As I cruised into the 12.5 mark (ish), I realized this was going to require an all-out SPRINT! Oh man… fine. “Let’s do this,” I caved to myself.

Official time: 1:59:36

PRETZELS at the finish line?!?!?! Amazing! I grabbed my medal, lots of foodie options, and immediately got my checked bag of warmth. Philly, you were good to me, and I would love to join you for 26.2 miles soon! The City of Brotherly Run & Sisterly Endurance!

Post-race brunch celebrations with my Ragnar Cape Cod ‘14 teammates! Such a great reunion!

Thank you also to Whiskey the Chug. He knows how to rock the hospitality in a big way.

Rolled out of bed and into a 4 mile run this morning - before a few more with run club tonight! Still slow going around 11 minute miles at my heart rate of 142, but the last week has seen a lot of group runs that made this difficult to stick to. Two more group runs this week and then the Philly Half, but after that I want to lock it down for true heart rate training!

[insert hot shower and a cup of steaming coffee]

So YES! The Philly Half-Marathon (and Marathon) is this Sunday! I'm so excited for another runcation trip with girlfriends, this time by plane! I think my goals have changed a bit, and here's what it's looking like...

TIME. Quite simply, I'd like to come in under 2 hours. I did originally want to treat this one as more of a goal race, to celebrate and finish out the full 12 months since knee injury, but three recent things kinda altered that feeling:

The Cape Cod Half-Marathon in October. This race was not that fun for me, but it took on the monumental role of being my first half-marathon back. I hadn't originally planned to run this one, but ultimately, it preceded Philly by a month.

My 16-miler in NYC. I'm way too happy to have run 16 miles and see those numbers keep growing! Sorry to leave you in the dust, 13.1.

Heart-rate training. I'm really intrigued with this and loving it, and I don't want to mess up any progress I'm already making. I will "race" Philly for sure, but I have no idea what all this super slow running has done to my training in the last couple of weeks.

FUN! I'm too excited to see these girlfriends than to work really hard at some crazy time goal. I want to celebrate and laugh and cocktail with the best of them! Jessica and I are flying down to stay with our friend Danielle, and Carolyn is also coming into town - that's a strong Ragnar Cape Cod reunion! (and so many more Instagram friends in town too!) That being said, Jess is running the full 26.2, so interpret "celebrating" more from a runner's perspective ;-) - at least before Sunday afternoon.

I'm probably more excited to cheer for Jess than I am to race my own race. She's worked so hard to get to this day, and I know Philly is going to treat her well! Probably 90% of my speed in the half marathon on Sunday will be to get to our Mile 14 and 25 cheering section before she passes!

The biggest reason I chose Philadephia for this fall is my LOVE for the city! After spending a month in Italy in 2013, and then going for a long run on a work trip to Philly later that summer, the comparisons were just outstanding. The fountains, gardens, statues and buildings of Philly are absolutely gorgeous. I'm really looking forward to the entire 13.1 mile experience!

Are you heading to Philly this weekend? I'll be wearing my Oiselle singlet, and later cheering at Mile 14 and 25! Hope to see you out there!

I've been testing out heart-rate training for about a week now, and wanted to share some of my initial thoughts!

I never really understood the point of heart-rate monitors until one of my favorite [sarcastic-as-hell] runners - Emily at Sweat Once a Day - blogged her new training goals last month. I'd heard some mumble jumble before, but hearing from an actual runner I could relate to really helped make it click. She's done an excellent job of summarizing Metabolic Efficiency Training (MET) and Dr. Phil Maffetone's 180 Formula - so click over to her blog post for more of the 101 playbook!

So why not give it a try? I snatched up a heart rate monitor last week. In my completely unprofessional, uninitiated opinion, I think we are on the cusp of something GREAT with heart rate monitors, so don't invest just yet. Most of them have a clunky chest strap right now, while a couple of newer products are attempting optical sensors directly on your wrist. But the best companies for GPS and the best companies for heart rate monitors haven't quite met in one device yet, and I think it's no more than six-ish months away. So I went with the cheaper strap to go with my year-and-a-half old Garmin 210.

Initial reaction is "MAN this is slow!" I need to run around a 10:30-11 minute/mile pace in order to keep my heart rate that low. A few of these runs have been so relaxing that it's actually more fun, but sometimes it's also an adjustment just to be gone for that long! (this morning's run was at least 15 minutes longer than usual!) And interestingly enough, you might need to dress warmer, because you won't be working up the same sweat!

I went out for 10 miles at a heart rate of 142 today (180 minus my age), and it was mostly wonderful! The fact that you're literally slowing down time is balanced by the reduced focus on distance and pace numbers, so I found that the time was passing quickly! I gotta admit, at times I kinda wished I had a sign on my back to let everyone know why I was shuffling through town... but the more I ran, the more I settled in, and the easier my heart rate was - which I can already see would allow my pace to pick up.

I also gotta admit that I haven't even started reading Maffetone's book yet, but I downloaded it to my Kindle and will start tonight! I also haven't been worrying about heart rate on our Tuesday night run-club runs, cause I'd rather be out there with friends! Lastly, I do have the Philly Half Marathon next weekend which I intend to race. But all in all, this seems like perfect timing, with six months to go before my next 26.2!

Already, some great friends are sharing their successes back to me on social media and the blog! Even attributing heart rate training for their PRs and BQs! Keep 'em coming! Have you had good results? I'd love to hear them as I push through these initial slow weeks!

Follow me on Strava for the gory details ;-)

A friend recently asked my advice as she sets up for her first big winter as a runner, AND while training for the Walt Disney World Marathon in January!

I used to kinda shut down my running in winter - still running here and there, but not when there was snow on the ground, that's for sure (good thing I love other winter sports!). But once my full obsession kicked in, I would have put on any amount of clothing and protection to head on out there! And I love Runner's World's holiday #runstreak which calls for at least a mile per day between Thanksgiving and New Years!

So what would my tips be for Winter Must-Haves? Top to bottom:

Head: a hat of course! Something breathable, warm and quick-drying. In other words, one that's truly made for activity and sweat. Make sure it covers your ears! On a warmer day, just covering your ears alone will make you so much happier (what are those things called?).

Face: sunglasses are something I wear much more often in my winter running! All that sunshine reflecting off the snow is one reason, but that icy wind is another. Sunscreen and lip balm should be top priorities too!

Core: my absolute top must for winter is a vest! I've only ever run in fleece and wind-blocking ones, as I think I'd be really steamy in a puffy vest. Keeping my core warm is so important to my comfort and willingness to stay out there in the first miles. Tip: unzip half way to roll down around your waist once you're warm.

Hands: make sure your gloves are breathable and quick drying too. Anything will do most days, but you might find it worth the investment to grab some from your running store with wind flaps as well (pull back when you don't want them, but definitely helpful on the worst of days!). Arm-warmers are a great option - and they really do work! - but you'll need to step it up further for that New England winter in January-March.

Legs: pants, in my mind, are an easier item to snatch from cheaper sources like Marhsalls/TJ Maxx/Target this time of year. They don't have to fit as perfectly or look as cute as shorts do, so save your $80 purchase more for one great outerwear piece for your upper half.

Feet: I asked around a LOT about this last year, and the general best-practice seems to be to wear trail sneakers combined with spikes. I recently purchased Goat Head Sole Spikes, but then also had the pleasure of meeting a more local NH company, IceSpike. Simply screw them into the bottom of your sneaks, and remove them when you want. Not a lotta push for Yaktrax, FYI - even the running specific ones.

What to Carry: One thing I haven't solved is how to keep water and cell phones warm enough to do their job! I hear some friends bring disposable hand-warmers, but I'd love to find a more natural way!

Winter doesn't just bring cold temperatures and icy conditions, but it's also a lot darker! Don't forget a reflective vest and headlamp if you plan to be out there running before or after the sun!

And remember, NO jumping up on slippery surfaces!

Brands for winter! Mizuno has a line of "BreathThermo" accessories and clothing that get warmer as you go! Oiselle just launched a greater focus on fleece and puffy coats this month!

I will admit, after having spent most of last winter indoors on the couch after ACL surgery, I have my doubts about this coming season. Training for a May marathon was my brilliant idea a year ago, but I deferred to 2015 because of injury and now feel like I kinda "have" to run it. Training begins in January and that scares me!