Zenaida Arroyo

15
Dec
2020

Tuesday Topics: My best running views

This week’s Tuesday Topic is: Share your best running views. You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post. Remember to link up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!

Happy Tuesday! I am counting down the days till Winter Break. This morning I am in a training session for a new math program we plan to pilot for our students. The one we currently use isn’t really the best so I am excited to hopefully use a better math curriculum.

I love running in Chicago. Of course my favorite place to run is the lakefront. The views are amazing! I haven’t run there in months and truly miss it. I cannot make it there to run and then be ready to start work at 8:30am.

For the past couple of months I have been running by my house. It is so easy to just head out the door and run 5 or 6 miles and be back in time for work. I like it that it isn’t dark when I head out. However, that will change once I go back to school. I will need to be out there again at 6am. Oh well.

This is one of my routes. Not my best drawing but it works.

Sometimes I go a little further north because it is in the area that I am interested in buying a house. I get excited when I see a sign in the front yard, but it turns out it s a sign congratulating a graduate. I keep on looking for a house for sale. I almost bought one last year but someone beat me to it. Then earlier this year there was one that I wanted to check out but someone else beat me to it too.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my running views. They may not be as exciting as a lakefront view, but to me it is more than that.

This fire station is 2 blocks north from from my house. Whenever I see it I think about that day last year in March when my mother had a stroke. Thanks to the paramedics she was quickly rushed to the hospital where “luckily” it was a mild stroke.

This is heading out south. It is the train station (Orange Line) which takes you to Midway Airport and downtown. How I loved taking this train when I worked downtown. This train has taken me to the airport many times (I miss traveling) and to Grant Park for a race.

Running north on Pulaski is my favorite store. You see it, right? It is also close to the area I want to live in.

Pete’s Market is next to Target. Now you see why I want to live in this area? Target and Pete’s Market are the two places I shop to get pretty much everything I need.

I’ve run these streets and sidewalks a lot. I’ve laughed, smiled, and cried while out there. I’ve mentioned that running is my ME time. It is the time for me to think or not think and simply enjoy my music. It gets me ready for the day. More than even I am thankful for running.

13
Dec
2020

Weekly Run Down: Week #1 of training for a 10k and almost Winter Break!

categories: Running, Weekly Recap, Weekly Run Down

Well, here we go again. I finished training for a 5k and proudly met my goal. With no live races on my schedule, now I am going to train for a 10k and run my own race. The goal is somewhere between 1:05-1:06. Excited and looking forward to it!

This week went by fast and it was really a blur. The weather was pretty good for December. It wasn’t that cold which I am happy about.

Wednesday morning I slept in and it was 7 when I got up. By this time I am out running. I knew I didn’t have enough time to do my workout (1/2 mile repeats for a total of 4 miles) so I ran for 20 minutes. I made it home in time to shower and get ready, quickly do my hair for crazy hair day, and log in for my students.

Friday morning I was excited to see a sunrise and stopped to take a picture. However, I am not sure what exactly happened but I took out my phone from my Koala Clip and dropped it. I have a case and a screen protector but I can still see a crack. I was hoping it was the screen protector but it looks like it is the actual screen. Ugh, I hate to have to pay over $100 to fix it. I am not going to do it now since it isn’t that noticeable.

I don’t remember the last time I ran in the rain. It was raining yesterday in the mid 40s with barely any wind. I was supposed to run 5 miles with the last 2 miles at a faster pace. I told my coach that I wasn’t sure how many I would do. I ended up with 4 miles and the last mile was nowhere near my target pace. Honestly I didn’t care. I was glad to be home because by then I was very cold.

This past week was all MAP testing for my kids. Remember, my students take 4 tests in Reading and Math in both English and Spanish. It went a lot better than expected but towards the end they were all tired. One of them was in tears and I felt so bad for her. I hate that they have to take these tests during this time.

Also, we got an email that teachers are to return to the classroom on January 11th and students on the 25th. It will be interesting to see if that actually happens.

Just one more week!

Overall it was another good week of running. I decided to pause my Peloton membership because I have not been taking advantage of it. However, now I am wondering if I should just downgrade to the Digital Membership. I know I should be doing more than just running but haven’t been able to figure out how to schedule it and make it work.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

08
Dec
2020

Tuesday Topics: My year in bling

categories: Tuesday Topics

This week’s Tuesday Topic is: Show us your year in bling! You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post. Feel free to post any running related blog postRemember to link up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!

No doubt this has been an interesting year. I started off the year with a few races in my calendar. Now I don’t remember how many but I do remember that a couple were half marathons in various states. I was really hoping to complete my goal of running a half marathon in each state. Maybe 2022?

I may not have run many races but I have been busy running all of the miles. Those that have been reading along know I started working with a coach in May. I have made many improvements and each month have also increased my mileage. And let’s not forget my running streak! 🙂

Here is a list of the races I ran this year. They were not all live races but I still ran and got some swag (except the last one).

Publix Atlanta Half Marathon – This was only real race I ran this year in March. It was hilly and hard. I had more fun spectating the Olympic Marathon Trials the day before. The medal was OK but I definitely earned it.

The Great Run Across Illinois – I did this with Marcia. The goal was to run 210 miles and we did it. I did not order the medal but did get a shirt.

Quad-City Times Bix 7 – A virtual race done with friends too. Thanks to Kim for organizing the group! We had lots of run coordinating our outfits. Running 7 miles was not easy due to the heat but still made the best of it. No medal but I got a shirt as well.

California Coast 500 Challenge – I did this with my BibRave Pro friends. The goal was to run 250 miles from June 8-September 7. I wasn’t sure if I would complete it because I had to quarantine and could not leave my house (I don’t have a treadmill either). I needed about 20 more miles. Once I was able to run outside, I got it done. However, I then found out that the deadline had been extended due to the fires happening at that time. I did get a medal, but got the wrong one. I was told that I could send it back and I would get the correct one. I got lazy and just kept it. 🙂 I also got a shirt.

Unofficial virtual 5K – I had to add this one. No medal and no shirt, but being proud of meeting my goal.

Overall, it wasn’t too bad. Like many of you, I made the best of it. I got 2 medals and 3 shirts. I like the shirts that I got. They’re soft and comfortable. They’re a reminder of the challenges I did during this “awful” time.

06
Dec
2020

Weekly Run Down: Running 100 days and 32:22

categories: Running, Weekly Recap, Weekly Run Down

Can you believe today is my 100th day of my running streak? I can hardly believe it myself. No way did I think it would go this long. How much longer will I keep doing it? Who knows.

Monday was the last day in November and I ran 2.67 miles. I was supposed to do 4 but it was very windy and the wind wore me out. I did some quick math and knew that I’d met my goal to run more miles than I did in October. I ended up with 104.71 miles.

The most exciting thing happened on Wednesday. So for the past 9 weeks I have been training for a 5k. My goal was to finish it in 33:30. I’ve had some great workouts and have done much better than expected (i.e., I’ve run 3 miles without stopping and have done many runs with negative splits.)

My coach had set up my 5k race for Saturday. Last week on Sunday we talked about it more and while I was excited about it, I was also nervous. What if I didn’t meet my goal? I was also worried about the wind. Well, at that point I couldn’t worry about it too much since there was nothing I could do about it. I was running 3.10 miles on Saturday no matter what.

Fast forward to Wednesday and I went out for my run. I was supposed to run a progressive run of 3 miles with the first mile between 11:30-11:45 pace. I didn’t feel like I was going that “fast” but when I looked at my watch I was running at a 10:30 pace. It wasn’t cold nor windy. I kept going and just went with the flow. I finished my first mile in 10:37. It was faster than I was supposed to but kept going. Halfway through the second mile I was in the 10:20s. I had to make a decision. Could I keep running at this pace? Could I run 3.10 miles in 33:30 or faster? There was only one way to find out. I kept going. I finished mile 2 in 10:30. Mile 3 is when it started to feel hard. I wanted to stop just for a few seconds. But I was so close and while I was breathing hard and it was feeling hard, I kept running. I finished mile 3 in 10:19 which is the fastest mile in this training cycle. I had programmed my regular 3 mile run in my Garmin with the specified paces, so of course it stopped at the end of mile 3. I stopped running and then pressed the resume button to run .10 miles. Finally done! Finish time is 32:22. I had met my goal!!! I was so happy and could not believe it. By then it was about 8am so I had to quickly get home to shower and get ready for school. It wasn’t until later in the day that it really hit me what I had done. My PR is 29:48 from May 2011. I have never trained for a 5k and while it wasn’t an official PR nor an actual race, I am very pleased with how I did.

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So what’s next? Train for a 10K. My PR is 1:04:02 from September 2010. My coach told me my goal will be around 1:05-1:06. Excited to see how I do!

In the school department, Friday afternoon I found out I got a new student. She is a transfer from a GE classroom in my school. You can just imagine how I felt that day. I was annoyed and frustrated, but mostly angry. I cannot believe that a District will allow that many students in a classroom. It may be fine during a regular school year (one year I had 29), but definitely NOT during virtual learning. There are just so many other things I want to say and write here (I am sure you can imagine), but I will not because, well, it won’t be appropriate.

Saw a cute friend this morning while out on my run. 🙂

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

01
Dec
2020

Tuesday Topics: Holiday gifts for runners

categories: Tuesday Topics

This week’s Tuesday Topic is: Holiday gifts for runners. You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post. Remember to link up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!

Hey there! Welcome to December! It is time (or maybe you already did) to start thinking of gifts for your runner friends. Here are a few of my suggestions but I am also including posts from other blogger friends with their suggestions.

5 Holiday Gift Ideas for New Running Moms

5 Gift Ideas To Keep You Fit in Quarantine

Complete holiday gift guide for the Peloton obsessed

11 Amazing Holiday Gifts for Runners

Gifts cards – You can never go wrong with a gift card. Personally I love them. Some great stores include Amazon, Zappos, and Running Warehouse.

Garmin watch – Recently I ordered a refurbished Garmin 235 from Amazon for $117. For the past few weeks it’s been available for $99.

Koala Clip – I love mine and use it on every run. It is perfect to carry my phone.

Socks – A runner can never have too many socks. A few of my favorites are Lily Trotters, Balega, and Smartwool. I have also heard great things about Feetures and Swiftwick.

ROAD iD – I’ve had mine now for a few years. I even got one for my mom when she traveled back and forth to Mexico. Hers is retired since now she is never by herself. I wear mine all of the time and never take it off.

Peloton Membership – There are two options: the All-Access Membership ($39/month) where you can access the entire library of classes on the Peloton and take workouts on the go with the Peloton App and the Peloton Digital Membership ($12.99/month) where you can take Peloton studio and outdoor running classes on the Peloton App (Peloton bike or tread is not required).

Spiral hair ties – A friend of mine introduced me to them a few months ago and since then I have been using them. I know they’re not as tight as a hair elastic hair tie (I use two) but I like that they don’t pull out my hair when I take it out.

What else would you add here? Which one of these gifts would you like to get?