Fighter

I haven't updated in awhile. Perhaps it's because I'm ashamed of the fact that I haven't been keeping up entirely with my training. :( The last two "long" runs, I have not completed. Both times were because I ran out of time and needed to get home. But I have been trying to do more for my "short" runs to make up for it. I make excuses for myself though, and I shouldn't. Boo.


And now I am headed up to Fresno to start vacation. We are starting there, going to Lodi on Sunday, and driving to San Fransisco that night. Then on Tuesday we are meandering down to Monterey, staying till Thursday, and then home. With all the travelling I am nervous about keeping the training going. Thankfully my sister-in-law Grace (we are vacationing with my brothers and their families) is also training for a half marathon, so hopefully we can go running together. We'll see how it goes I guess.


I really love my running playlist. It's called "go running". I have on there a song called "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera. I believe, though I have not looked up the lyrics to confirm, that the song is about a man who treated her poorly but instead of letting it get her down she's now stronger and a fighter. For me, the man = fat. :) Yes, my fat. From being pregnant and eating poorly. Perhaps if you knew the chorus it would help:


'Cause it makes me that much stronger/Makes me work a little bit harder/It makes me that much wiser/So thanks for making me a fighter


Well, that's part of it. Anyway, it also makes me laugh at my silliness. Other good songs from my playlist: "Move Along" by the All American Rejects, (pretty much just those two words really, the rest of the song I don't get.) "Gotta Get Thru This" by Daniel Bedingfield, (that line is repeated....a lot.) Well, those are songs whose lyrics, or part there of, are inspiring, and I get motivated while I listen to them. Also, in Kirk Franklin's "Awesome God/He Reigns" he says "this is dedicated to all my people, who felt like giving up, and you didn't think you could make it" and then it goes into the song, which is basically "Our God Is An Awesome God" but really fun and upbeat and Kirk Frankliny. :) I love music!

Ok, so think of me this week and say a little prayer if you'd like. I am hoping that after vacation I can refocus and really get in gear for this race coming up in a little over a month. Eek! :) Again, we'll see how that goes.....

what is it about the short runs?

I just got in from my 5mi run this morning. Got up at 5am to begin preparations. Icing my knees and angling my foot to avoid putting pressure on the blisters now. :/

There's something unusual that happens in my mind when I know I have to run 3 miles vs. 5+ miles. When I have to go for a "short" run, I huff and puff and can hardly move my legs the entire time. Then I plop down on the couch to recover. When I go for a long run, (alone or with Beckyl :) my body is usually wide awake, pumped, and ready to go farther from the start. I always feel pretty great after the long ones.

I guess it's not a bad thing. I just wish I could be better prepared. The short runs are just as important and I don't want to struggle to the finish line because I was wimpy during half of my runs. My time is very consistent ~12:30min/mi +/- 15sec, so the struggle may not be evident (yet), but my body and my mind tell a very different story.

This morning was a great run. I love seeing God in everything - the mountains, the breezes, the plants, the animals, the people I pass. Today I was a little emotional, tearing up every now and then, just thinking about how unbelievable God is. It hardly felt like running - kinda like those dreams when you're running in slow-motion, but covering a lot of ground. I must've been delusional, though, because I was not any faster than normal. :P And even though my knees ache a little and I'll be hobbling around at work today, it still was a great run. I wish they were all like this.

The Great Roly Poly Migration

Sandra and I met at 5:30 on Sunday morning for our 7 mile run. I do not want to get up that early again on a Sunday when I'm planning to be at church at 9:15! We were on time to church, but I was SOOOOO tired, I could barely stay awake! (Sorry Randy!) But I think we did pretty good! We didn't run the whole way, but I would say we ran a good 5 of those miles, if not 5 1/2. Go us!

I have not done as well as I promised in my last post. I've had fast food a couple times....real fast food, like drive thru fast food. (Yes, I have specific ideas about what "fast food" is, meaning, I make excuses to still eat at some places.) I haven't always ran on the scheduled days, nor have I worked out on the "rest" days. Poo. But....

I have been running in the morning more, including the past two mornings. And I plan to run tomorrow morning too! I got proper running shoes!! I've been running in an old pair of walking shoes, the ones I bought for living in England, 5 years ago! So far, I love the new shoes. Today the tongue rubbed against my leg and it didn't feel too great, but I'll just wear a band aid tomorrow.

I noticed today when I run that I stare at the ground quite a bit. In the past I've seen a roly poly or two on the trail, but today it was crazy! So many polys, and they were all crossing from one side to another. I did my best to avoid them, and as far as I know they all made it. But I can't speak for the other runners out there this morning. Or the lady who was walking her dog in a stroller.

I'm nervous about keeping up with my schedule in a couple weeks while I'm on vacation. We (Trev, the babe, and I) leave on the 31st in the evening and we'll be in Fresno the whole next day. I don't really like to run in areas I'm not familiar with, and my grandparents don't have a treadmill. And I'm supposed to run 9 miles that day. Ugh. Soooooo, I'm working on a plan.....or something. Pray for me that I can keep up the runs (tee hee) while I'm gone!

In 8 Hours....

...Sandra and I will be meeting to run. That's 5:30 am, people! We have to do 7 miles, so we need ample time to get the full run in. And we both have to be at church at 9:15. Oi, totally taking a nap tomorrow!! :)

Worst. Week. Ever. (for running that is)

I guess not for Sandra though! Congrats to her for having a successful week! Thank you Smams for inspiring me!

Alright, back to me! ;) Remember when I joked about taking a week off? Apparently I wasn't joking. This last week, I only ran once. So sad. So disappointed. And when I did run, it was a measly 3 miles, that I didn't even run the whole way, and was super grumpy with afterwards. I'm not quite sure what my deal was last week, but I just wasn't feeling it. Sat, I left for Temecula at 7:30 in the morning to do a wedding, and I didn't get home until 7:30 at night, so there would be no 6 mile run that night.

And I had EVERYTHING going for me! *I got the tires fixed for my jogging stroller so I can go out now in the morning with Declan, which is what I prefer to do instead of the treadmill. *I had a dr. appt this last week and I was weighed (fully clothed) at less than my home scale, and I'm now 157!!! SOOO much less than I started this year out with. *I tried on and FIT INTO 2 pairs of pre-pregnancy shorts, that I hadn't fit into since, well, before I was pregnant....which would be 2 years now. (Whoa, that's weird!)

So with all the goodness of this past week, apparently I thought I was off the hook of being responsible. Not so much. Ok, from here on out, we're gonna see some changes:

-No fast food.*
-Running the scheduled amount of miles on the scheduled days.
-Doing some weight training as well as running.
-Still doing some sort of exercise on my "rest" days. (Except Sunday's which are truly rest days.)
-Get really serious about this upcoming race by praying for strength and endurance for Sandra and I!

I'm sure there is more I can do and when I figure those out, I will add to this list. Next week I hope to be as positive as Sandra's post today! If you don't hear from me before than, wish me luck!!!

*except while on vacation July 31st-Aug 6th......by the way, in case you didn't know, my middle name is "Excuse." :)

success!

I did it! I accomplished the week's goals. yippee-skippy!

the sun just keeps getting brighter

I slept in today. Well, sleeping in for me is past 7am and I made it all the way to 7:45. Then I got on the compy. Then I had some cereal. Then I got back on the compy. Then I will do some dishes and tidying up of the apartment. And the sun just keeps getting brighter. If I go out an run now, I'll be squinty, sunburnt, and sweaty (all three very good 'S' names, by the way). I think I'll be running this evening when it's hot, but still less sun. I'm really not feeling 6 miles today and 3 miles tomorrow, but that's all I need to complete the week successfully...

honesty is the best policy

I was looking at my training schedule (a modified version of Becky's training schedule) and decided to be honest with myself.

I marked thru the days that I didn't run or didn't strength-train or didn't cross-train and it wasn't pretty. There is a column for the [assumed] total miles run for the week, and not once have I completed the total. I knew this to be true, but when I saw it on paper, it made me realize that I am seriously not accomplishing the goals I set. So now there is a new column. A 'Goal' column of the total miles I should run, and a 'Total' column for the miles I actually ran. They should be the same from now on. I also had a couple days of 'rest' that have now changed to some kind of exercise days.

Since it's getting warmer, I'm trying to run in the mornings during the week. There's fewer bugs, so that's a plus. And people are much friendlier. I can see where I'm going, the view of the mountains is nice, and it's so neat to watch all the little critters scurry about. Just don't forget sunblock!

Bad mood

Stupid other people "working out". I did go running tonight, but I did not enjoy any of it. When I walked in, there was a guy in there already "using" one of the weight machines and the TV was on showing a baseball game. Every other time I've gone in, either there is no one there, or whoever is doesn't care about what's on the TV. Yes, I am that obnoxious person that asks if I can change the channel. I wouldn't like me much either. However, this time, it seemed that he did care about the game, so I didn't ask.....although I grumbled to myself and hoped he was leaving soon.

Before I go further, let me just say that other people's "work outs" are really weird sometimes. Like there is this man who's come in a few times while I'm running. He sometimes has gloves on and sometimes brings a mat which he does not use. He then proceeds to walk around, slightly aimlessly, and periodically lays down and does a leg lift or two. And then he'll lay there for a bit. He doesn't seem to really "work out" at all. There are the people who will sit on the bike and pedal at a very slow speed, doing nothing but maybe raising their heartbeat a beat or two. And then tonight, the baseball watching guy would move from machine to machine, do a couple reps, watch the game for 5 min, and then move on. One time he just sat there, not watching the game, picking his fingernails. It's like people think that just being inside the gym is good enough, that their intentions are what matter. Oh, if only that were the way.....

Tonight I also learned why Trevor will randomly tell the sports casters what idiots they are: because they are. Whenever a game is on at home, I tend to block out the announcers, mostly because I'm not really paying attention anyway. Tonight, I had no choice but to watch/read the subtitles for the game. Seriously, these guys are lame.

Also, apparently when I run on the treadmill, I run REALLY close to the display thingy. How do I know this? Because I've hit the HUGE pause button that's right in the front several times, not on purpose, and not always with my hands. Awesome.

Finally the guy left, so I was able to change the channel. I think the break in the run was not good for me, I never really got back into my "groove" and walked for a couple minutes. Yuck. But at least I was able to watch what I wanted. Distraction is what I need! TV, iPod, or Sandra*.....I always have at least one of those with me when I'm running, and when one is not working so well......watch out. Cause then I'll be in a bad mood.

*Sandra, just so you know, you have always worked superbly! :)

I wonder what would happen.....

...if I took a week off? I sure do want to right now. I wonder how far back it would set me. Farther than I'd like to be. Boo. I'm just not feeling it right now. I guess I need a pep talk. As happy as I am that the race is still 2 months away, that I still have that time to get ready, I want it to happen already so I can go back to running for leisure, not so much because I've signed up for something so huge. Who am I kidding......I've never run for leisure!! :) Hmm, it should be interesting to see how I keep up with running after the race. I guess we'll see in 2 and half months....

goals, schmoals

Since I didn't have any goals for the 10K from the start, it didn't seem all that bad, nor that much of an accomplishment. :/

6.2 miles is a lot! But I guess I got spoiled with the way the 5K had freebies, lots more people and events. I guess I really enjoy the "big scene" when it comes to racing, so, look out Disney! I'll be making crazy faces and leaping all over the place (especially thru the 'A' ;)

Despite what Becky thinks [that she held me back], it's quite the contrary. I absolutely feel that running with her is easier. At the end, I always feel like I could do more, but I know if I was on my own (which I am during the week for training) I always feel like quitting, and sometimes do. I wouldn't have run the whole race without her. Besides, Fried Green Tomatoes sounds like a pretty good movie. I don't know why I've never watched it.

I'm going to be taking some interim "after" pictures to motivate myself further. I think I need to see the progress when compared to my "before" pics. Eventually, I will post them, but they only go on my fridge for now. I'm hearing my Nike+iPod lady's voice, "Half-way point. Only 9 pounds remaining." Then eventually she will say, "You have reached your goal of 25 pounds lost. Celebrate by buying a new wardrobe." schweet.

P.S. Yes I understand that 9 is not half of 25. But I've been hovering around 12 pounds and VERY slowly inching my way down. It feels like I'm still only half-way there.

NOT last! :)

Sandra and I just ran a 10K......and we were not the last ones to finish, even though the guy on the loudspeaker said we were! :) It felt like we were because we never saw anyone behind us, but I could have sworn there were from the start. We were however, the last to finish under the banner, as it was taken down about 10 mintues after we finished, thinking everyone else had finished. But we waited and watched 3 more people come in after us so there! I feel kinda bad becasue I was not feeling well, and I feel like I held Sandra back. But she is a great friend and stayed with me (perhaps to hear what happens in Fried Green Tomatoes?) I hope that we can stay together in the half, but because we are both feeling good, I don't want to keep her back with that race! We'll see I guess, 2 months away!! We can do it!!! :)