Looking Back at 2013: A Year in Running

December 18, 2013January 2, 2014 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

How was your year in running? A few blogs I read have started posting their 2013 running recaps to look back at how their year went, with regard to running. In fact, Miss Zippy is doing a Year In Running Linkup, and after reading her post, as well as a few others, I decided to participate as well.

My Year In Running

2013 was certainly an interesting year for running for me. 2012 was the year I trained for a marathon, and two days before had to drop out of the race from injuries. I’m still not really over that pain yet and am not ready to spend all that time training again, only to be let down again. But in 2013 I regained my sense of running, got my running groove back (somewhat), and found that I really kind of like running half marathons.

Anyway, here are a few other highlights from 2013:

Best race experience? As far as overall race experiences, I really enjoyed the Rock and Roll Cleveland Half Marathon. I loved the bands on the course, the excitement of all the spectators throughout the city, the people I ran with (B and his sister), AND my parents were even there to cheer me on! Really I loved the run in general – everything but the hills!

Best run? Definitely the Women Who Run race. I somehow ran the 4 mi race much faster than I typically run AND since I came in 3rd in my age group for this women-only race, I got a picture with firefighters at the end of the run (see the bottom right photo in the collage above). Can you beat that?

Best new piece of gear? My best gear for 2013 hasn’t been super high tech. I’d say it’s either my running headband (I love the headbands from owl be sweating!) my hot pink PROCompression socks, or my armband. Not high tech, I know, but having an armband for my phone so I can listen to music or record my runs on Nike+ while I run has been incredible!

Best piece of running advice you received? “Push yourself.” Simple advice? Yes. But it works. B is always telling me that I need to push myself when I run – he somehow thinks that I am actually faster than I think I am – and sometimes it helps to hear him saying this as I’m doing speedwork or doing a race.

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? Learning that running for me is whatever I want it to be. If it’s about number of miles, so be it. If it’s for speed, that’s fine. If it’s just for fun and stress relief – that’s fine too. It really is whatever I want it to be!

Here are some of this year’s races (and posts about them):

Turkey Trot 5k in West Virginia (November)
St. Luke Pilgrim Run 5k (November) – came in first overall female somehow … I swear it was a small race
St Martin Cristo Rey 5k (November) – came in first in my age group – another small race 🙂
MidTown Cleveland HealthLine Classic 10K (October) – ran my first official 10K!
Rock N Roll Cleveland Half Marathon (October) – didn’t make our goal of a sub-2 hour half … oh well, there’s always next year 🙂
Women Who Run (June) – came in 3rd in my age group and had my fastest split times (for me)
Notre Dame Holy Half (March)
Inaugural Bockfest 5K (March)

AND my goal for the year, you may recall, was to run 1,000 miles. I passed that in August but kept going. A few weeks ago (nothing like a last minute goal, right?) I decided I’d try to get to 1,500. I’m hoping that if all goes well and I can fit in a few runs over the holiday break (hard without my gym!), I can meet that goal.
2013 year in running

A few questions for you:

How was your year in running? (You can read all my running-related posts here) Set any goals?
What was your favorite piece of running gear?
Any advice that you’ve learned this year?
How do you stay running during the holidays with travel, friends, families, etc.?

End of January Resolution Recap

February 4, 2013February 5, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

this is probably why my non-competitive self likes running

I really can’t believe that January is over. Another month has passed in 2013, and I’m another year older! I’m also even more on my way of keeping up my my goal for this year: 1,000 miles. The constant cold, snowy weather and roads, and broken treadmill in my building have been rough – but somehow I’ve managed to find time to wake up at the crack of dawn and get in at least a few miles before my days begin.

Here are how my past few weeks have gone:

wee of jan 21

Week of January 21

January 21: 5 mi, outdoors while staying at my cousin-in-laws’ house in Columbus
January 23: Birthday run! 6 mi dreadmill run while in Toledo for work
January 25: NOTHING. Had planned on running during my day off, but instead was SURPRISED with a trip to Miami!!
January 26: 4ish mile run in shorts and t-shirt and 70 degree weather. Wish I were still in Miami!
January 27: Back to Cleveland and ran 7 mi outdoors

Weekly total : 22 miles

week of jan 28

Last Week in January

January 28: 6 mi
January 29: 5.65 mi
January 30: 6.25 mi
January 31: 3.5 mi
February 2: 7.78 mi

Weekly total: 29 miles

This week was a mix of weather, meaning a mix of indoor and outdoor runs. Monday started out cold and windy and forced me indoors, but Tuesday ended up in the 60s, letting me run outside in shorts! Alas, it turned cold again quickly and even snowy by Saturday so that our 8 miler (which we didn’t quite make) was a snowy, wet run. I swear, it may have snowed 2-3 inches while we were running.

this is what the weather was like when we started our 8 miler

Dressed in layers. Turtleneck, sweatshirt, vest and leggings. After taking this photo, B said, “You’re not going to share this with everyone online are you?” I hadn’t thought about it (was just gonna send it to my mom), but since he mentioned it …

So where does that leave me for the month? 136 miles run in January. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep this up without a hitch and even get in 1 or 2 half marathons this year.

How are your 2013 goals coming along?

More Than Halfway Through January … On My Way to 1,000 miles

January 21, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

It’s January 21! You know what that means? That my birthday is in two days? Well … yes … but not what I was going for – it means that we’re more than halfway through the first month of the year. And for those of you wondering, I’m still pounding the pavement and keeping up with my goal for this year: 1,000 miles. Well, it’s been closer to pounding the treadmill due to the cold/wintry weather we’ve been having … which makes it even more difficult for me to motivate myself.

That’s right, I’m still tracking my miles and getting in just above my goal of 21 miles/week. The past few weeks I’ve gotten even more than 21, mostly because I’m prepping for what’s ahead – cold days and some work trips that interfere with my routine and will likely keep me inside or not running at all (like this week – I’m only in the office 1.5 days!).

Since I forgot to provide a recap last week, here are the past two weeks:

(image via my dailymile account)

January – Week #2:

January 7: 6.3 mi
January 8: 5.1 mi
January 9: 5.5 mi
January 10: 4.5 mi
January 12: 5.1 mi
January 13: 5.5 mi

Weekly total : 32 miles!

january week 3 from dailymile

January – Week #3:

January 14: 5.7 mi
January 15: 5.6 mi
January 16: 6.4 mi
January 17: 4.3 mi
January 19: 6.0 mi
January 20: 6.0 mi

Weekly total: 34 miles!

I don’t plan on keeping up this mileage pace the next few months – or even this week when I’m traveling sans gym two days this week (and the HIGH temp is in the teens … low in single digits!), but we’ll see what I can do!), which is why I aimed so high the past few weeks. With 11 days left in the month, I’d just like to get 20 more in. I hope that’s doable!

How are your 2013 goals coming along?

A new year … A new running goal

January 7, 2013January 8, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Last year, if you recall, I trained completely for and nearly ran the Cleveland marathon (if you must know what happened, read this post) … but after getting two stress fractures just two days before the race, I had to back out and take a month off from running. I haven’t signed up for a marathon since (but am looking into a few half marathons) but have a new goal for 2013 – to run more than 1,000 miles.

If you’re a runner, you know that 1,000 miles is nothing. Twentyish miles a week. Heck, a runner I follow on Twitter had more than 2,000 last year! Still, I haven’t yet been able to accomplish this goal. Two years ago I was at 820ish. Last year, even with all the running during marathon training, I was at 860ish. So this year, I’m going to try to get to 1,000.

2011 vs 2012 thanks to Dailymile

I’m only one week into the new year, but I’m already feeling slightly discouraged. What if I go on vacation for a few weeks and don’t run? What if I get injured again and can’t run for another month or so? What if I don’t make it? What if I don’t have enough time – between Bridge Builders, DCA City Advocates, a few other projects and of course work, the next few months are pretty crazy.

I’ll have to remember this when I think I don’t have enough time

Thank goodness for Dailymile … I already have words of encouragement from a few other runners:

running

So how did week 1 go? I did each workout on my beloved dreadmill at the gym (the treadmill in my building is broken) and got to the goal of 20 miles.

January 1: 5.6 mi
January 2: 5.1 mi
January 3: 5.5 mi
January 5: 6.1 mi
January 6: 4 mi

So in total, I got in about 26 miles! If I can keep up this pace, I’ll definitely make it. Sure, some weeks will be hard, but it will only get better as the weather improves.

What are your goals for 2013?

Social Media For New Year’s Resolutions – Part Three: Using Social Media to Go Green

February 16, 2010February 16, 2010 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Is 2010 the year you’re going green? Have you vowed to help the environment, start recycling more, use reusable grocery bags, drive a hybrid car, etc? If that’s the case, then social media can help. Social media offers a variety of resources that help you make greener choices, find environmentally friendly solutions and meet like-minded environmentally conscious folks.

Some places to check out if going green is your goal for the new year:

Bringing new meaning to reduce, reuse, recycle

Freecycle: Hate throwing out things? Wish you could find someone who needed your old stuff? You’re not alone – the Freecycle Network is for you. It’s a grassroots movement of people throughout the world who are donating and receiving stuff for free in their hometown. Freecycle is an online community of more than 4,800 groups and nearly 7 million people worldwide, all devoted to recycling and “keeping good stuff out of landfills.” To join in the movement, go to freecycle.org, type in your location, and the site will take you to local group’s homepage (sponsored by Yahoo Groups) where you can browse current listings of free stuff or post your own.

Making greener choices throughout your life

Sustainablog: So you made the commitment to living a greener lifestyle. But where do you even begin? If you’re looking for information on how to make your home or business more sustainable, Sustainablog provides a huge database of products designed to help you live a greener lifestyle, including products in or a variety of different categories, such as home & garden, bed & bath, health & fitness, eco child, clothing, cleaning and food. Sustainablog has it all – where else would you be able to find eco friendly staplers, green bedding, eco laundry products and a fair trade basketball all in one place?

Get informed and take action

Treehugger is another great resource if you’re looking to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. It’s a green news site with daily newsletters, blogs, videos, an online community and more. If going green is a completely new concept for you, visit Treehugger to get educated on all the issues and trends, from green fashion to sustainable energy. Nielsen rated the site the best sustainability blog in 2007.

Connect with people, organizations and causes

Care2 is an online community devoted to those who want to make a difference in the world. The site has four main sections: causes and news (with info about causes such as global warming, animal welfare, etc.), healthy and green living, take action (where you can find causes that need volunteers, create and sign petitions) and an online community. If you’ve decided to live a more sustainable lifestyle this year, consider joining this social networking site to learn about what you can be doing and meet others with similar goals.

And there’s more:

Not satisfied yet? Here are some other sites to check out:

Terrapass: site provides tips on how to stop global warming by reducing your carbon footprint. The website even has a cool carbon footprint calculator.

WikiaGreen: Launched by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, WikiaGreen is an open-source online community for the environmentally conscious. Think of it as the Wikipedia for green-minded people, with its content written from an environmental focus and featuring a call to action.

Skin Deep Cosmetic Database: Very specific site, but one of my favorites. One of my best friends from college showed me this site – it provides a database of all the cosmetics, creams, lotions, etc. that you could use and ranks them by how many chemicals they have, testing on animals, etc. You can search by product, ingredient or company and learn more about if the makeup you’re using is just as sustainable as you think!

Using Social Media to Be Charitable in 2010: A Case Study

February 3, 2010February 4, 2010 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 1 Comment

Case In Point: Haiti Hurricane Relief

To better illustrate how you can use social media for your charitable goals, I thought it’d be a good idea to highlight social media and its involvement with the recent hurricane relief in Haiti. The situation is a perfect example of how social media is connecting people to a cause they’re interested in. Here’s how:

Twitter: The number of organizations using Twitter to spread the word of relief efforts is too high to count. A good example – the Red Cross. According to Nielsen, the Twitter account for the Red Cross has gained more than 10,000 followers since the earthquake (as compared to its usual growth of 50 to 100 per day). The Red Cross continues to tweet about how people can help out. Its biggest campaign, a texting fundraiser (a user texts HAITI to 90999 and a $10 charge as a donation is added to your phone bill), has been highly successful. Within a week of initiating the campaign, more than $8 million was raised for relief efforts via this texting campaign.

President Barack Obama is even using Twitter to help raise awareness. In his supposedly first tweet ever, President Obama sent a message from the Red Cross’s disaster operation center. (Note: I’ve gotta give the Red Cross more kudos – they also have a blog, an online newsroom, and in addition to using Twitter are involved on Facebook, Flickr and YouTube)

Musician Wyclef Jean (born in Haiti), among other celebrities, is also using texting and Twitter to raise money. Right after news of the earthquake hit, Wyclef tweeted to his nearly 1.4 million followers: “Please text ‘Yéle’ to 501501 to donate $5 to Yéle Haiti. Your money will help with relief efforts. They need our help.” This message was retweeted in the days following (and is still being retweeted!), along with a Twitter video he posted about relief efforts. “Yele” was even on the top of Twitter’s Trending Topics list at one point.

Facebook: The Red Cross is not alone in its Facebook efforts. The Causes application has helped users donate funds to the relief effort. According to CNET, Joe Green, founder of Facebook Causes, posted a video of the destruction in Haiti. The Causes page also provides links to donate as well as a ranking of the members who have shared the video the most. The Oxfam American group is raising awareness about relief efforts and helping people donate. They had had 117,000 fans at the start of the week of the 18^th and as of that date the group’s Cause application had raised more than $110,000 for the Haitian quake relief.

Craigslist: The site posted a list of relief organizations, mentioning (in addition to Oxfam and Red Cross) Doctors Without Borders and CARE.

Donate photo courtesy Flickr user Mindful One. Some rights reserved.

Social Media For New Year’s Resolutions – Part Three: Using Social Media to Help Others

February 2, 2010January 30, 2010 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

*Note* This entry is part three of my blog posts in the 2010 series, Social Media For New Year’s Resolutions, as explained in this post.

So you’ve made a resolution this year to help others – good for you! You’re not alone, either. E-Philanthropy is on the rise (it grew 4% in 2008 and is growing each year) and it’s no surprise why – social media provides nonprofits, charities and other organizations or causes the ability to tap into a large, focused and connected network. Whether it’s donating your money or your time, social media can help you connect with the charities and causes you’re looking for.

Some tools you may find useful:

Good search: If you’re anything like me, you use Google (or Bing if that’s your fancy) on a daily, nearly hourly, basis. Wouldn’t it be great if searching online actually helped someone out? It can – check out GoodSearch.com. A do-gooder friend of mine showed me this site in college, and I’m glad to see it’s still up and running. It’s easy too – you choose a charity you support, search the web as usual, and they donate to your cause each time you search. You can add a Good Search toolbar to your browser to make searching (and donating) even easier.

Facebook Causes: Facebook describes its Causes Application as such: “Causes provides the tools so that any Facebook user can leverage their network of real friends to effect positive change.” Causes is a Facebook app that allows nonprofits (any U.S. registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit or Canadian registered charity) to raise money and alert Facebook users about the issues facing their organization today. If you’re looking to use social media to directly learn about a cause, hear what your networks or saying and/or donate directly, I suggest you browse the causes available.

If you’re sick of Facebook, there are other social networking sites that you can use to show your support and talk with others about a cause. Check out Care2 and Change.org to learn about issues and raise money for the charity of your choice.

YouTube: YouTube is so much more than laughing babies and drugged children coming home from the dentist. [Check out my post entitled YouTube…Why You Should Take It Seriously for some proof] If you’re a visual learner, why not use YouTube to get involved with a charity? If there’s a charity you’re particularly interested in, you can search YouTube to see what they say about themselves. You may learn something you didn’t know about them or find out about a new campaign. Or, check out the full listing of Nonprofits on YouTube and see which ones interest you. Some YouTube channels even let you donate to them right on their YouTube page via Google Checkout (see the pages of Autism Speaks and the ONE Campaign for examples).

Get Involved! There are some great sites that can let you know where help is needed and how you can help. Check out DoSomething.org and VolunteerMatch for an ever-growing list of local volunteer opportunities. Idealist.org also has a listing of volunteer openings, in addition to its record of paying jobs at non-profits.

Beware:

Because of the lowered transparency level that comes with social media, you’ve got to be careful about donating your money – you don’t want to be scammed. Never ever give your credit card information (or any other private info) to an organization or a cause you’ve never heard of – and always be wary of providing personal information you wouldn’t need to give out in real life (e.g. social security number, etc.). [Sidebar: Check out this post I wrote about a common Money Order scam on Craigslist] If something feels wrong, it probably is – trust your gut. The San Francisco Chronicle just did a nice piece on what to look out for when donating to Haiti relief funds, but the tips apply to all charities.

Speaking of Haiti relief funds, the use of social media for the recent Haitian hurricane relief is a great case in point. Stay tuned for a post about that!

Social Media For New Year’s Resolutions – Part Two: Using Social Media to Get More Sleep

January 21, 2010February 16, 2010 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

*Note* This entry is part two of my blog posts in the 2010 series, Social Media For New Year’s Resolutions, as explained in this post.

Another popular New Year’s Resolution is to get more sleep.* It may seem counter-intuitive that social media can help you get more sleep; after all, doesn’t staying up and playing on the Internet actually prevent you from going to bed and getting that sleep you need? (Especially you – estivator – who commented on my resolution introductory blog post past midnight!) In reality, it may not. A recent study, as highlighted in this University of New Hampshire news release shows that social media use does not affect students’ sleeping habits — so why should it affect yours?

Not only does social media NOT hurt your sleeping habits, but it can actually HELP you get more sleep. Here’s how:

1. Social media can provide the education you need to get more sleep: If you look carefully, there are plenty of sources of information about what exactly a good night’s sleep is, how to get it, etc. A good resource that I like is The Insomnia Blog, by Dr. Michael Breus, who also has a Twitter Account. Another informative sleep account to check out on Twitter is the Sleep Foundation.

2. Social media holds you accountable! If you make it a goal for yourself to get more sleep and share this goal with others – wouldn’t you feel like you’re letting them (and not just yourself) down when you reported a failure? Take, for example, what Arianna Huffington from the Huffington Post and Cindi Leive from Glamour are doing – they’re taking their New Year’s Resolution to get more sleep to the next level by blogging about it and calling it the Sleep Challenge 2010.

Arianna introduces her challenge on her latest blog post (an excerpt of which I’ve included below):

As women, we make a lot of New Year’s resolutions — “lose 10 pounds” and “finally write that novel” and “lose 10 pounds — seriously.” But this year, the two of us (that’s HuffPost‘s Arianna Huffington and Glamour‘s Cindi Leive) are suggesting you make a New Year’s resolution that could improve the status of all women in this country, starting with you … If you ask us, the next feminist issue is sleep. And in order for women to get ahead in this country, we’re all going to have to lie down and take a nap …

We’re saying no to the zombie side of things and, as of January 4, resolving to get a full night’s sleep every night for a month … Inspired? Then join our one-month sleep challenge. We’ll be blogging on glamour.com and the Huffington Post every Monday and Thursday about how our quest for more sleep is going. You’ll get tips from health experts like Dr. Michael Breus and answers to some of your own personal questions about how to work more sleep into your life.

3. Social media provides the tools you need to make sure you’re getting a better night’s sleep. I haven’t been able to look too deeply into any of these, but would love to check out:

Yawnlog: This site tracks the number of hours you sleep each night and charts your progress for you so you can look at patterns over time (and relate it to how you feel each day/week/etc.). It also lets you log and tag dreams. If you want, you can also use the site to see how many hours your friends are sleeping and what they’re dreaming about too.
iPhone Apps: There are so many cool apps for your iPhone (and hopefully soon, Droid!) to help you sleep better. The Sleep Cycle App (via LifeHacker) supposedly can tell how deep of a sleep you’re in so that you’re only awoken from a light slumber, therefore feeling more rested. A Good Night’s Sleep iPhone App (via iPhone Application List) provides a series of sounds and music for you to fall asleep to and also has a feature to “gently awaken users,” to ensure a “gradual, peaceful start to each day.”
Another new add-on for your iPhone: Check out the iHome+Sleep: This “social music alarm clock” was just announced at the recent CES. It’s an iPhone app that works with a whole new line of home music players. It has some really cool features, including “Sleep Cards,” which let you set different alarm templates with their own settings, such as certain settings for weekends, etc. Another cool feature for us social media geeks – you can wake up to your favorite RSS feed, or a list of what your Facebook and Twitter friends were doing during the night (thus allowing you to sleep soundly knowing you’re not missing anything!). Another way the iHome+Sleep helps you sleep better? According to Macworld.com, think of the product as “the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, except, you know, for sleeping.” Its unique feature, Sleep Stats, lets the user “view a running record of the times you sleep, naps you record, and average hours of bedtime and per-night sleeping. If you’re find yourself dragging and exhausted every now and then, this might be a great way to help track down a possible reason.”

If you find any other cool ways to use social media to help you get a better night’s sleep, let me know.

*Disclaimer: I work for a client in the sleep industry. While they’re not related to any of the services mentioned above, they still lead me to know of and want to stress the importance of a good night’s sleep!