Run the run

Holy Mother of all things good! I have 2 words for you.....

PUMPKIN SOUP

I have to start by saying that I am NOT a big fan of pumpkin, at least not in the sweet version that seems to be everywhere right now. Nope to the Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Nope to the Pumpkin Muffins and No thank you to the Pumpkin Cheesecake. But being fall and loving soups I figured I'd give this a shot. After all my sister absolutely LOVES pumpkin in any way shape or form and well, if I didn't like it I could always pass it along to her. It was very easy peasy and surprisingly (to me) delicious!! Just what I needed after the tongue lashing I had to give myself this morning on my run!

Here are the stats:
Duration: 1:02
Distance: 5:16 miles
mile 1: 12:21 (included .50 warm up)
mile 2: 11:13
mile 3: 12:17
mile 4: 12:31
mile 5: 10:58 (finally warmed up!)
last .16: 3:09 (cool down)

How does that saying go? "The road to Hell was paved with good intentions." Well I'm not sure it was HELL worthy but close enough. I set out this morning with good intentions and they quickly went to Hell in a handbasket! I hadn't even reached mile 2 yet and was walking. The internal dialogue had been started "just do 3 miles" "No, you set out to do 5, your doing 5, even if you have to walk it". Well, I decided I was doing 5 if it killed me and the faster my legs covered that 5 miles the sooner I'd be done. So, I kept putting one foot in front of the other and knew I'd get there eventually. The only mile that didn't include a walk break was mile 5 and that still felt slow.

The awesome thing about running though is that regardless how bad it feels while your doing it, finishing it always feels AMAZING! I was proud that I did what I set out to do. Happy that I got up early to do it and the rest of the day would be a walk in the park. I constantly have to remind myself that I cannot compare myself to other people that are running 8 and 9 minute miles. I'm just not there yet, may never be there but all I can do is strive to be MY best. Not THEIR best. And I also need to get out there and put in the miles. Reading, talking and blogging about running are not going to improve my running. It's the actual running that will make me stronger and I need to make a better effort to put in my miles.

xoxo,

Say hello to my little friend!!

Yep that's right folks, my little friend Garmin who is also known in this home as my 4th child!

Garmin arrived bright and early this morning and was taken on his Innaugural Run tonight. He performed fabulously. I on the other hand not so much...
I am still fairly congested from the cold I had last week and for some reason was really sore from Saturdays 5k and had this knot in my right calf the entire time I was running. I'm not even going to post the stats from my first workout their so pathetic... I ran 2 miles and took quiet a few walk breaks but even though the run wasn't what I had hoped it would be I did learn a couple things so it wasn't a complete bust.

1. just because it rained does not mean it is cold out - the long sleeve shirt was overkill and almost unbearably HOT!
2. Never, I repeat NEVER forget to stretch after a 5k - or you'll pay for it later
3. A lot of times when I'm running and start to feel winded, I would start to feel like my heart rate was too high...based on tonights run my heart rate never maxed out. It did get up there but never reached my max so I need to stop using that as an excuse and just suck it up and run, slow down if needed but stop using it as an excuse to walk.

Well my friends, I'm off to shower and crawl into bed...tonights reading material will be my Garmin Owner's Manual, I must learn all it can do!


xoxo,

Shoulda, coulda, woulda...

I wish I could say I was running as FAST as this photo would have you believe...
Josh aka: Speedy with his 2 sidekicks Michelle and Bern...

After a week long cold, which seemed to be getting better as the week progressed, I woke up this morning really tired and congested. I had such high hopes for this 5k, it was a hometown race, I knew the course like the back of my hand, it couldn't have been any flatter and I just wanted to PR...

shoulda:

• hydrated better this week, my water intake was the saddest it's been in a LONG time!
• ran at least twice this week, but coming off of a Cycling vacation (150 miles) and a cold, I rested.

coulda:

• had a PR with this course... :o(

woulda:

• been happy if SOMEONE from my family (the non-runners) had been there to cheer us on... after over a year of running races and having this in our hometown, merely blocks from home it would have been extremely nice to see the parents or kids at the finish line. I totally get that it's early on a Saturday but come on! I mean I've sat my cold sorry ass on many a soccer field, baseball field, gymnastics, dance...you get the picture. I understand WHY they didn't come but still if we're being honest here, it would have been nice. That's all I've got to say about that.
  

All in all, it was a fun run, extremely crowded and LOTS of very young kids and walkers. They had a huge turn out. I'm disapointed in myself but at the same time I know that in the moment I gave it my all. I guess my disapointment comes from the feeling that I've been running over a year now and my 5k times just are not improving, I feel that I should be closer to a 30 minute 5k by now. We start our half marathon training this week so hopefully with that and our increased distance I will see some improvement. It's been a good running year and overall I am proud to at least have stuck with it. As we come to the end of this year I can't help but think about what goals I'd like to make for the new year, I guess one would be to improve my 5k time and shoot for a 30 min time....

What goes UP must go DOWN...

This week was 2 years in the making... planning, saving, dreaming and worth every single dime and worry line! We knew ahead of time that we'd see one of the couples we toured with last time because I had kept in touch with them and we planned this together and I had requested the same tour leaders, one of whom I had stayed in touch with but we had no idea that 2 other people from our last tour would be joining us, it was purely coincidental but WONDERFUL!! So in all there were 10 people in our group, 8 of which had been on our last tour- it was like a reunion and we were all like long lost siblings who had just been reunited!

Our entire group on our last day of riding...so sad to see it end!

Sister riding UP a hill...one of many, cuz Vermont ain't flat!
One of the beautiful trails we rode...

The Causeway- this trail was Amazing, it cut all the way thru Lake Champlain, which to me seemed like an ocean it was SO BIG! This trail was about 6 miles long and it was so neat to ride with the lake on both sides of us.

This girl, this silly girl.... Oh the laughs we had on this trip!

Her goal for this trip was "not to fall" which for some odd reason she does quiet often...it's getting better but still she falls. I've often joked about getting a helmet cam just so I could see exactly what it is she's doing back there... well this time, I got to witness it firsthand.
In case you didn't know, Vermont ain't flat.... there are hills, there are trees and then there are HILLS!
This particular hill that we were riding was so steep that at some points you couldn't see the top because of the trees... I get to the top of the hill and stop to catch my breath, a few seconds later here comes Sister. Whizzing right by me and then BAM! Both her and the bike on the ground right in front of me! Not quiet sure what just happened I asked "what the heck?" and she says "I couldn't get my feet off the pedals!"
Apparently she realized about half way up the hill that she needed to stop and rest but couldn't because she couldn't unclip her shoes from the pedals...as she passes another one of our riders she yells "help me!" the other rider thinking she just needs some motivation yells "you can do it! keep on going!!" Well, she had no choice but to ride the rest of the way up the hill...and then lay it down right there. Once I realized she wasn't hurt (which, for as much as she falls, never gets hurt??) I couldn't control my laughter, none of us could...because really, what was she expecting the other rider to do at that point? Put her arms around her and hold her? Lay down and allow Sister to fall on her?? Really, there wasn't anything anyone could do for her at that moment....it was all quiet funny!

The weather was wet and cold the entire week, we had a couple hours of blue skies on a couple of the days but for the most part had rain every single day.... On Tuesday the rain came in around noon and we ended up riding the last 20+ miles in the freezing pouring down rain...that was a pretty miserable day!

This is me - the pocket on back of my jacket, filled with rain, mud and my new camera!! Yep, ruined. Bummer. I guess it's a good thing I have more than one camera but I was really liking this one...
All in all I would say that I prefer the Southern part of the state better than the Northern and I think next time I'll do Maine in the Summer!!

Next up..... half marathon training begins!

6 more sleeps!!!

To be more specific- Michelle and I leave for Vermont in 6 days!!! Ever since we were little girls we counted down by 'sleeps'. I know this blog is primarily to journal my running and riding but honestly, it's all I can think of these days. I am so beside myself with excitement as the day grows near that I think I pee myself just a little every time I think of it!! To give you a bit of background, a co-worker and her husband took a bicycle tour with this company about 17 years ago. When she got back and I saw her pictures I knew at that very moment it was something I MUST DO. Well as we all know, life gets in the way. I was a single mother with 2 small children- this was not something I was going to be doing anytime soon.... fast forward 15 years -sister and I are now riding our bicycles thru southern Vermont and thoroughly enjoying EVERY SINGLE MOMENT. I knew then that I'd be back... which brings us to now, 2 years later, we are counting down the days till we leave again. This time we will be riding thru Northern Vermont, one day we will ride into Canada, one day into New York and we will also be doing some Kayaking... hold on while I go change my pants.... Ok I'm back. As if that wasn't enough, we met some of the nicest people on our last tour and I've kept in touch with one of the couples who live in Austin, Tx. They are going to be meeting us there and joining us on our tour!! And.... I've also kept in touch with the tour leaders we had the last time and have requested them, they have also told their office that they would love to be tour leaders on this tour so there's a good chance we will see them also!!!

A whole lotta walking goin' on...

I set out to do 5 miles this morning and my intent was to get up and be out of the house at 7am. I ended up getting up at around 7:15 and had some coffee and whole wheat toast w/ a little peanut butter. I decided to take my new water bottle with me so I filled that and put it in the freezer so it would be extra cold. It all seemed like a fabulous plan before I left the house...
Notes to self:

• cold water bottle= cold hands
• you know you need at least 1 hour between eating and running- don't try to fool yourself
• 8:30 is just too late to start a summer run
• the food you eat before a long run WILL affect the way you feel the next day

to say the least my run this morning was disappointing. When I started out I felt like I had put on my 83 year old grandmother's legs, I kept telling myself to push thru the first 2 miles, that the 'groove' would come but I had to take a walk break after 1.5 miles, another at 3.0 miles and the last 2 miles I think I walked every half mile, I never did 'find my groove' and merely traded my grandmothers legs for my mothers, they loosened a bit but never really got to feeling good... BUT on a positive note, I did learn some stuff that will help me in my Half Marathon training that we will be starting next month. Some of this I already knew but will need to make sure I pay closer attention in the future, like the time between eating and running and starting earlier to do a long run when it's hot. But the last note was something I had often wondered about. I wondered how much my diet actually affects my running. Now I know, it matters ALOT! Yesterday in the first half of the day my food was right on track- clean healthy food. But around 2:30 I ate 1/2 of a chocolate bar, had some more coffee, didn't drink enough water and to top it off I got home and ate 3/4 of ANOTHER chocolate bar and then for dinner I made bacon, eggs and toast and ate way tooooooo much bacon. Geez when I fall off the wagon I fall hard!!! It makes me sick just typing it, how on earth did I let myself eat that crap?! But that proves what I've know all along, I know NO MODERATION, I am better off not having a piece of chocolate because before you know it I've had 1 1/4 candy bars. I'm going to try to to this same 5 miles next week but am going to make a conscious effort to stay on track with a good mix of carbs and protein and LOTS of water the day before. We'll see.

I'm so excited to start Half Marathon training next month, Michelle is totally on board and we're going to try and do our long runs together so that should be fun. She runs a little slower than I do and I think that will be really good for me because I'm not a fast runner but seem to only have one speed, and will need to run a little slower for my long runs so her pace should fit just perfectly... I have printed out about 3-4 different training plans so we are going to talk about them on the airplane to Vermont-we leave 2 weeks from today (squeel!!!) and we will decide on one. Then we will start when we get back. We will do some cycling for cross training also since we will be doing the Tour de Palm Springs again this February. We are determined to finish that 100 miles this year (god help us). I will be blogging my way thru it, I hope you enjoy my journey.

Well, I'm off to shower the dried sweat off and enjoy my weekend.

Chain Reaction

I tell two friends, they tell two friends.... so the story goes. This morning we ran our September 5k, it was a memorial run at Mile Square Park. Michelle's friend Connie (pink stripes) ran with us. This was her very first 5k and she did amazing!!! She finished in something like 31 minutes! Woot Woot! It was blazing hot and started at 8:30, which as you know from previous posts, is just too late to start a summer run (in my opinion!!!). Anyway, I got to thinking after the race, how my crazy idea to 'become a runner' which came from another crazy idea 'to do a triathlon' has affected the people around me. I mean when I think about it, I knew going into it I'd drag Michelle along.... but then Josh started running, and then Jessica, and then Makenna...and now Connie. Who'da thunk it???

By far the craziest thing I've set out to do yet.....

Consider yourself warned, this is by far the craziest thing I've made up my mind to do YET... I'm sure there will be crazier ideas in the future but for now this is it.

I'm going to run a Half Marathon. Yep. Me.

I'm posting this here for a few reasons

1. accountability, because Lord knows I need to be held accountable for something....
   
2. motivation, because sometimes there are just things I'd rather be doing than running....
3. because I can.

Makenna and I went and saw "Julie & Julia" yesterday and the movie got me thinking.....I could do that. But that would require massive amounts of cooking, eating and would probably cost a small fortune. That would not be good. BUT, I could train for a Half Marathon and blog about that... now that's something I could do!! It's an idea I've toyed around with for a while now, would greatly improve my running and be good for me a the same time. At this point it is only an idea, the next step is to come up with a training plan. I've been looking at a few different ones so I will make a decision on one of them, tweak it as needed to fit my life and fitness level and then I will post it here. I will have the training plan in place so that when I get back from Vermont next month I can start it the week I return. In a perfect world I would be able to do this before the end of the year- which would also allow me to cross off another 'goal' that I set at the beginning of the year- but according to Active.com there are no half marathons going on in December :o( there is however one in Irvine in January. I may not be able to cross it off this year but what an awesome way to start the new year right??
So, there you have it, my 'tentative' goal race will be in January, I will button down the training plan and start it when I return from Vermont. I'm not decided yet if I will try to blog daily and post about each workout or if I should make it a weekly post...more on that to follow.

Epiphanies and Kryptonite

A while back I wrote about how I was not cut out to be a distance runner, that I didn't understand why I felt the need to run any farther than 4 miles because anything longer than that was just painfully boring....fast forward a few months and about a hundred miles and BAM it turns out I may be cut out to be a distance runner after all. Who'd a thunk it?? I've realized in the past few weeks that after mile 2 or 3 comes "the zone" everyone talks about. I've known for a while that the first mile is just crap, it's like the first pancake of the batch- garbage. My legs just never feel right, my breathing hasn't mellowed and my head still hasn't commited at this point. But if I hang in there, past the first mile, past the second mile it comes. Mile 3 feels good, mile 4 feels good and mile 5 feels like I'm starting to get tired but could go another if I had to. It's still quite odd to me. I still sometimes don't believe that I'm doing it. But on those days where I don't let my head talk me out of it, if I keep on running and pound out the miles, it feels FABULOUS.

Over the past few months I've had some stress- it seems I've given the Men in my life way too much. Too much power, too much control, too much of myself. They have taken too much of my time, self esteem, confidence and I refuse to give them anything more. Running is the ONE THING that I control, I do it for ME and on MY terms. I won't let ANYONE take this from me.

Kryptonite- another lesson learned is that SUN and HEAT are Kryptonite!! I may as well be running underwater with cinder blocks on my feet if it gets too hot! I keep reminding myself that aside from running Summer is my very favorite season and I must enjoy it! Squeeze in a run when it's cool and enjoy the day for what it is. Stay away from 9:00am start times for races because only crazy people run after 8:00am and if you cannot avoid it make sure you have plenty of water with you.... your gonna need it!

work in progress

I've been following Kristin Armstrong's blog on Runner's World.com for quiet some time now. I am never dissapointed in her posts. On the contrary, I am almost always left with the feeling that she was speaking directly to me and that she and I are somehow connected. I'm sure that seems weird considering I have never met the woman and she knows nothing about me but it's true. I love the way she writes and her words wrap you up the way an old friend would having not seen you for way too long. After reading her last blog entry and feeling like I couldn't get enough I went in search of other things she has written. In my search I discovered that she wrote a book called "work in progress - An unfinished woman's guide to grace". I went out that very night to buy it. In my first sitting with the book I'm about 1/3 of the way thru it and I already know that I will read it again the minute I'm finished- there are pages highlighted and once again, she has spoken directly to me.

So, what is it about her writing that speaks so loudly to my heart? She too is a mother raising 2 girls and 1 boy, she is a runner and most importantly she is a self proclaimed 'work in progress'. I feel about this book the way Oprah did when she read A New Earth (which I also loved). I remember her saying she went out and bought 30 copies of the book and gave them out. I intend to do the same (at least my scaled down version), I plan on going out and buying 3 copies of it to pass on (I refuse to part with my copy which will be dog-eared in no time!). I'm not sure yet who will receive them, but whomever it is they will be blessed.

I cannot expect every person I tell about this book to go out and read it, but if I could just share one paragraph from the book it would be this one. Keeping in mind I'm only 1/3 of the way thru the book, thus far this paragraph has touched me to the core and is my favorite paragraph:
"There is one surefire way to build trust with God. Scour His Word for His Promises and put them to the test! When you come up against a situation or circumstance beyond your own ability, instead of getting frightened or frustrated or calling everyone you know, try getting quiet." Now those are some powerful words! Let me think, how many times a day do I get frightened or frustrated and go on blabbing my mouth about it??? Oh maybe 1000! No matter how old I get I must be reminded, sometimes constantly, that I do NOT always know what is best and that I could use some Grace in my life and I too am a work in progress...

Will run for watermelon!!

Thursday evening Michelle, Josh and I ran the Summer Solstice Watermelon run, it was a 5 mile run thru El Dorado Park in Long Beach. It was kind of odd running on a Thursday evening and both Michelle and I thought it added a bit to the excitement. I tend to run best in the evening so I was thrilled at not having to be at a start line at 7am on a Sunday morning. Jessica went for moral support and she was given the job of "official photographer" which was kinda nice not having to worry about that part of it, but it was very nice seeing her smiling face at the halfway mark and again at the finish.
We get there, get our numbers, hit the bathrooms and line up at the Start line, which was facing the wrong way so standing behind it you couldn't see that the banner said START. This was my first indication that this run was not as organized as most we've done. Then I see a man and a woman standing on top of ladders next to the start line, wait their mouths are moving- he is giving directions! Verbally telling us what the course was (HUH????) well thank GOD I wasn't leading this pack because I couldn't hear a word he was saying.... and then she sang the National Anthem (from where we were she was lip singing!) and away we went. The course was flat with a few rolling hills, nothing major, nicely paved and overall a good course. It was a beautiful park with a lake so the scenery was nice too. I think we all did great times, Josh beat us once again with a time of about 50 min, I ran it in about 55 min and Michelle was behind me by a few minutes.
Afterward we got watermelons and took a bunch of pictures. The Honikels came to support Josh and they bought us all dinner afterwards which was very nice of them.
All in all it's been a great week of running, I finally broke my 10 mile mark with a total of 11.5 miles this week. I did 2 morning runs including one on Saturday morning, I got up early and did a nice 4 miles. I want to keep up with the morning runs as it gets hotter this may be the only cool part of the day to get a good run in.... I also want to try and get out with the running group from The Running Lab for maybe a longish run on Wednesdays.

My 1st 10k

This morning I ran my very 1st 10k and it was AWESOME!! Michelle and Josh did the 5k so I ran alone but that was ok. I started getting really nervous as the day was getting near, that big ole fear of failure lurking it's ugly head! It didn't matter how many people said "oh, you'll do fine" or how many times I tried to tell myself that all I have to do is put one foot in front of the other and worse case I knew I could walk 6.2 miles.... but I have these standards I set for myself, I expect to RUN the entire race, no walking allowed unless I'm injured (heaven forbid), I also expect to finish the race and NOT be the last one to cross the finish line, and lastly if I can beat my last time then I consider it a success. Since this was my 1st 10k there was no time to beat but based on my last 5k time of 35:16 (35min 16 sec) I wanted to finish in 1:10 (1hr 10 min). Todays race was at Knott's Berry Farm. The race started a few min late but I had my watch on and started the timer as I crossed the start line.... at the halfway point my time was 35:28 so I was happy with the first split and felt strong... head out for the rest of the course and pass 2 water stations but still felt good and figured I didn't want to mess up my groove and could make it the rest of the way.... the last mile my hamstrings started getting a little tight but still felt good....I knew the kids would be at the finish line this time so I was excited to see them and when I came around the corner onto home stretch I could see them all cheering for me and it was AWESOME!! My time- 1:10!!! All in all I think it was a great experience and couldn't have gone better. I wouldn't change a thing! I am so proud of myself for following thru and doing it. Now I need to cross that off of my New years goals! Yay!!

The rest of the day we spent at Knott's riding rides and having fun and now I'm exhausted so I am going to crawl into bed now....

live and learn...

They say running clears the mind and I hear that people solve problems while running... I learn more and more about myself when I run and it seems the longer I run the more I learn.

Yesterday Makenna and I went over to the bike trail for our long run. And about 2.5 miles in we were both starting to get tired, more her than me but I figured she was on her bike so she would be fine... At the turn around point we stopped for a quick drink and headed back. She did great for about another mile and then started complaining that her legs and butt were "killing her"... I kept reminding her that Pinkberry was waiting for her at the finish...that only worked for so long and at around mile 4 she was done! She got off her bike and said "that's it, I can't go anymore" so I ended up walking her bike back the last mile with her walking s-l-o-w-l-y behind me. All the while I realized a few things about myself, first is that I get bored way too easily and anything over 4 miles is just tedious and extremely boring!!! I have no idea why I felt like I needed to become a long distance runner, it's probably that whole "all or nothing" attitude I have where I can't just "dabble" in something, I gotta go gung-ho and all out! Well, now that I've gotten back into cycling and have been reminded how much I absolutely LOVE riding, the running just doesn't have the same appeal. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy running and the benefits of what it has done for me. And I have every intention of continuing to do my 3 days a week running and my monthly 5k because those are FUN, but I just don't have the desire to go out and run 5, 6, or 7 miles... I will do the 10k that I've committed to on the 15th because I have those 'goals' that I set at the beginning of the year and I would really like to accomplish as many of them as possible... I may just need to re-think the plan of attack. For example, I will need to run a minimum of 10 miles a week in order to make the 500 mile mark I want to hit by the end of the year and was counting on the longer miles to help get me there, but since that wont be happening I think instead of just running the 3 days a week I've been doing I will make an attempt at running every other day so that on some weeks I will have 4 days of running and that will help get some mileage in.

This morning I took the new wheels out for their initiation spin- 22 miles and another awesome ride! The seat is a bit harder than my old one so by the end of the ride the sit bones were screaming but that's good because I think with each ride they will get a little tougher and eventually the longer rides wont be as painful. I love the new bike and it rode like a dream. I was afraid that the breaks, gears and handlebars would be hard to get used to but it wasn't too bad and I think I'm going to get many, many wonderful miles of riding from this bike. I will post a picture soon.

Baby's got a new set of wheels....

Well, it started out with one of the best rides I've had since I started riding a couple years ago. I headed out to do 20 miles with a goal- 10 miles out non-stop, a short rest and 10 miles back non-stop. Trying to toughen up the sit bones and really the only way to do this is good ole' saddle time, so that's what I set out to do. I rode to Yorba Regional Park which is about 11 miles from home and made it there non-stop in just under an hour. Then stopped for a quick drink (2 minutes) and headed home. There must have been a slight tailwind because all I know is I was flying (or at least the 17-18mph I was doing sure felt that way to me)! I made it all the way back home in around 35-40 min!! It was awesome! That was what initiated the trip to REI to get a rack for my car- so I could take our bikes and go. When I got it home it did fit on my car, which I hadn't been sure it would, but then the bikes wouldn't fit on the rack - BUMMER! I packed it back up and returned it and figured I'd at least get a new helmet since I had been wearing that ugly lavendar one since I started riding and have been meaning to get a better one (or at least better looking one). REI didn't have anything I liked so I stopped at the bike shop- UH OH... that pretty Specialized Dolce was sitting over in the corner ON SALE calling my name.... literally! Well, I asked AL if they would take a bit more off and he said they would take another $50 off and they'd also give me $100 for my Specialized Exhibition that had about 55 miles on it and was only taking up space in the garage... "SOLD" It's a very pretty bike too, black with pink swirl design on the frame and I simply cannot wait to ride it! Tomorrow I am going to take it in to have them put my pedals on it and then Sunday morning I'm going to get up and try to hammer out a repeat of last weekends perfect ride.

Tomorrow Makenna and I are going to take her bike over to the riverbed and I'm going to run 5.7 miles or die trying.... I wanted to do 5.5 but the mile markers I need to use are spaced out that far so until I get a Garmin and can tell how far I've run this is what I have to work with.

I was reading Kristin Armstrong's blog earlier and she said something on there that kinda hit home for me and I am going to try and remember this, especially for this long run, the longest run for me so far. It said
"A quiet and tenacious voice spoke to me and told me to take my time, go whatever pace I needed to go, but under no circumstance was I permitted to quit."

I'm hoping for the best but am fairly nervous- damn that fear of failure hang up!!

I eat therefore I run (or ride)....

I think that would be a cute saying to put on my license plate frame. It came to me one day when my stomach was trying to convince me I hadn't eaten in days when in fact it had only been a couple hours. It's no secret that I LOVE FOOD but I've noticed in the past couple of weeks I'll be absolutely fine one minute and the very next minute I will be starving as if I hadn't eaten in days. It's the weirdest thing.

This morning Michelle and I had breakfast and then headed out for our 30 mile ride and about 5 miles after we headed back from the beach, WHAM-O there was that appetite!! With 10+ miles to go all I had was Lemon Sublime GU and down it went.... you gotta be desperate to down Lemon Sublime GU!! The weather was fabulous, beach was bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds but about 8 miles from home it got really dark and the sky opened up and poured on us. I don't think a hot shower ever felt so good!! I think we're as ready as we are going to be for next weekend and I am really looking forward to it.

rain rain go away....

Funny how a little rain can mess up a perfectly good ride... Michelle and I are supposed to ride 30 miles tomorrow in our own feeble attempt at getting ready to ride our first Century next weekend... who needs training (smart people)? We tried to get a 30 mile ride in a few weeks ago and got rained out and it's raining now and supposed to rain all day tomorrow which means we will need to ride on Sunday which would be fine except I'm supposed to run 5 miles on sunday? I'm in week 6 of my 8 week 10k training, luckily if I have to repeat a week or two I have given myself plenty of time before the 10k which is March 15th so I will be ok.

I'm still running 3-4 days a week and increasing my mileage on my weekend runs and I think I'm at about 44 miles into my 500 mile goal for this year, it doesn't sound like much right now but I'm hoping once my mileage increases it'll start balancing out, but it is only February so I'm not too worried. I have also been journaling every single day.

Work still sucks and seems to get worse from day to day but I know I'm lucky to have a job so I'm trying my very best to be grateful and not resentful, I'll keep trying...

Resolutions - who can resist em?

Not me that's for sure!!   And because I have such a huge fear of failure I made sure that I chose ones that I have complete control over...as long as I work hard they are all achievable!  Here they are:

1. listen more & talk less
2. run 500 miles
3. do a 5k/10k every month
4. train for and complete a 10k
5. and a half marathon
6. ride a Century
7. take one FABULOUS trip (Vermont)
8. journal the entire year
9. spend less, save more
10. work at living simply

Today is Sunday, ending the first week of the new year and I'm happy and proud to say that I am right no track to a good year.  I've ran 3 days this week doing a 10k training plan to prepare for a 10k March 15th- the Coaster Run at Knott's.  So I've got 8 miles down and 492 to go... Saturday we are running a 5k and I've journaled every day so far!  

Because 2008 was such an exhausting and challenging year, the hardest by far, I am counting on the strength I gained from that year to carry me thru this year.   I am so very grateful that I have a wonderful home, very near to my parents and Makenna's school and am looking forward to a great year!  Happy 2009!! xoxo