What Goes Around Comes Around

People around me have been dropping like flies with the head cold of doom. It was only a matter of time before me and Chris got it. I have only run 1.5 miles this week and that almost killed me. Like I really think I almost died from a respiratory stand point. Luckily I had a rescue inhaler on hand. I did run the 1.5 miles with an average pace of 10:35 though so I was proud of that. Our plans to run the Pack Pint Run tonight have been canceled. We are definitely not going to be getting our miles in this week. Some how we have to find a way to run the 6 miles we have planned for this weekend or we will be too far off schedule. We just got signed up for the marathon so this is going to happen! I will just run it really slowly if I have to this weekend. Being sick sucks.

A Shorter Long Run

Yesterday's long run was actually shorter than the week before and as you can see I really needed it to be. My legs were beat. My lungs were beat. And surprisingly my butt was beat as well. I kept getting muscle cramps in my butt! I have never had that happen before. EVER. It was not comfortable and I had to really slow down my pace at the end of the run. Initially I wasn't too disappointed in my run considering how my body felt but Chris was disappointed in it and in my attitude. To be honest I really didn't want to run yesterday. I already knew how tired my body felt and I was not looking forward to it. I was going to run no matter what, I just was not going to be excited about it this time around. Let's hope Tuesday morning's run is better and my body has recuperated enough to run strong. 

What is My Marathon As Motivation Anyway?

The time has come to sit in contemplation about the hows and the whys of my decision to run a marathon. This week marks the beginning of my actual marathon training. I have finished the 10k and we are increasing our runs so that we are at the correct long run distance to start our formal training program. Looking ahead is more than a little intimidating. So now I must look deep inside and find the why. The answer I repeat to myself when (and the day will come) I don't think I can take one more step. The thing I remind myself of when there is one more mile of a long training run. The last long mile that seems impossible to conquer. What is it that I will remind myself of that motivates me to take that next step, and the next, and the step after that?

"That moment of inspiration- when we know what we are doing and why- is like an arrow that we shoot. Wherever that arrow goes, our mental and physical troops will follow" -Sakyong Mipham

Today while reading this quote it became clear to me that I can't just run a marathon. Without a clear picture of why I am doing it and what I want to accomplish I will never get to the finish line. I am not by nature one of those people who just decides to do something and then does it out of sheer stubbornness. Don't get me wrong I am the most stubborn person that I know but I use that stubbornness to not do things, not to do things! There has to be something I want at that finish line and I'm not talking about gifting myself a new outfit, the apple watch I want, or the tattoo that I keep telling myself I can have when I do something truly spectacular. I'm not saying I wont do any of those things for myself, but what I know about myself is that those things will not get me past the last mile marker and over the finish line.

So that brings me to asking myself what will carry me through training and across the finish line...

Is health a motivator for me?

When I really think about it health is not what is going to push me to my limit. I do want to improve my health but lets face it I don't have to run an entire marathon to do that!

Is weight loss/looking good a motivator?

This is not a race day motivator but it is a very real motivation during training. I have always been a small person but the years and the pounds are sneaking up on me!

Raise Awareness for a Cause?

Lots of people run a marathon to raise money and awareness to a cause that they believe in. While I find this inspirational it will not be my motivation this time around. This first marathon I will not be running for others.  Which brings me to...

To Mark a Goal Off of Chris's List Together?

So I was wrong, this is a big motivator for me. I will to some extent be running for someone else. It is extremely important to me that Chris accomplish his goals for this coming year and any goals that I can be apart of I will. (He did want to run the half marathon and I talked him into the full...remember I have to maintain that it was my idea!)

To Make New Friends?

This is a motivation for me, sort of. Its why we started doing the Pack Pint Runs and signed up for the 10k training (well and because 10k was a goal). That said, I haven't actually made any new friends yet doing these things so I don't think is is a major motivator. I do enjoy running with a lot of other people and feeling like I am part of something bigger than myself. Something BIGGER than MYSELF...I feel like I'm getting closer to my motivation.

The Sense of Accomplishment?

Yes! I think that is it...but lets make it more personal. What is it that I want to accomplish? Is it just the miles? I know it is not. I want to prove to myself that I am capable of something BIG! I am capable of something AWESOME! The only person who can stop ME is ME! I will not be stopped...especially not on MY BIRTHDAY!

Thursday PPR

Oh PPR (Pack Pint Run) how I totally wanted to crush you! But I failed. So last night we added an extra half mile on to the usual PPR route so that we would get our full 4 mile run in. Because of this we ended up running at the very end of the pack! Which must have affected me mentally because I pretty much killed myself on mile 2 and 3. Killed myself dead. I ended up having to walk some during the last mile. I was so disappointed! If I had just kept my pace reasonable I would have been fine. Still a pace of 10:32 is about exactly where I want to be...just with out the walking! Hopefully my 5 mile run tomorrow goes much more smoothly. I'm am hoping to stick right at the 10:30 pace for most of the run. 

Knitting! My friend Cristal sent me a picture of a arm knit scarf. I couldn't help myself. I'll try almost anything knitting related. I made her this scarf in about 20 minutes! How awesome is that? The picture doesn't do it justice. Too much cheese from me but it's really cool. 

Fuel:

Today's run was fueled by sushi form Sushi Neko and after the run the body was resupplied with some pizza from Upper Crust.

The Super (foggy) 10K

That's right we did it. We ran our first 10k. While it was not the farthest that Chris has ever run it was the farthest that I have ever run (without stopping to do an obstacle that is). Plus I did it at the fastest average pace to date!

The course was a little confusing and at the very end I wasn't sure I was going to make it without getting a stitch in my side but I did it and in the fastest time yet so I am super proud.

After the race our running group went out to lunch where I met Bob who taught me how to swing...who tried to teach me how to swing. I'm not the fastest learner!

I'm just now posting this because it is the first time I have had since the race when I have had time! So very busy! I have been eating really well though...until today. I will have to try harder the rest of the day and the rest of the week. :(

Otherwise Known as PPR

PPR (Pack Pint Run) is the weekly running event held at our local running shop. I haven't met a lot of people yet. Mostly all I have done is spend a lot of money! It's really fun though because it is like a party atmosphere. Everyone is running happy! Plus at the end they give you a free beer. What could be better than that?

One of the things that I really like about the PPR is that I get to see all different types of runners. There are the super athletes. They just fly past you on supper springy legs. They make it look so easy and almost magical. Then you have a bunch of people like me and Chris, just out there doing the best we can trying to increase our speed. The most inspirational people are the ones just starting their running journeys. I love seeing them and thinking how I felt when I first started. When I first started I didn't ever know if I was even going to be able to run a mile much less the 5k we really wanted to work up to. It's just fun to be reminded of where I have been, where I want to be, and where I will never get to even if I run every day for the rest of my life. I'm never going to be one of those gazelles that flies right through the miles. I'm just not built that way.

I run much better in groups of people though and I feel more accountable for my run. Usually when we go to PPR Chris runs with one of his friends which leaves me free to run at my own pace without any worries. Tonight Chris's running buddy couldn't make it so we got to run together. My pace was good and I felt great during the run. I feel like I'm ready for Saturdays long run.

The Fuel:

Breakfast: a piece of multi-grain bread with butter

Lunch: Taco salad

Dinner: Leftover southwestern soup and a piece of jalapeno bread

Extras: two beers after the run

ONWARD! - a marathon training book review

I needed a book to read on the train for our trip to Ft. Worth. A book about a woman running a marathon seemed like a good bet and it was. This book is not particularly long but I found it funny (like giggling to myself out loud funny) and a good source for some of the things to expect while training for a marathon. The book consists of Brook Kreder's blog posts during her training. I'm just going to be perfectly honest, this book is what got me back on here and blogging again. The way she documents all the funny, horrible, triumphant moments for her readers was inspiring. I have no readers as of now but hopefully one day I will pick up a couple. This is a short book and a super easy read. Really entertaining. I'm not sure that my training will look anything like Brook's but she gave me at least the courage to try. She put her failures right out there for everyone to see and then set out to prove that they were just bumps in the road not road blocks. The book does contain mass quantities of curse words (they are kind of bleeped out though). This didn't bother me because I am absolutely positive that my marathon journey will have a fair number of it's own curse words! I would recommend this book to anyone that is thinking about training for a marathon...that's a girl. I don't think a guy would get as much from it.

So before we went out for our long run this weekend I was really nervous. I actually had butterflies! It just started right before the run though and once we got started I felt good. This weekend we increase our distance by an entire mile. Up to this point we have increased at half mile intervals. I am freaking nervous right now and I have till Saturday to think about it. I can only imagine that it is going to get worse from here. We run tomorrow with the Pack. Hopefully I run well and feel strong I think that will help a lot. Skipping my run yesterday does not help! I really don't want to do that again unless I have to. 

I had a good food day today:

Breakfast: green smoothie and half an English muffin

Lunch: small salad, tabouli, and a multi grain sandwich

Dinner: Santa Fe soup and a piece of jalapeno cheddar bread

It Was Yoga This Morning

Fitness

Well really it was just super cold this morning! I'm such a wimp. I know I should have gone and ran but I wimped out and did a Jillian Michael's yoga workout instead. I am really feeling guilty about it now though. Let me tell you I needed the yoga! I didn't even realize how tight my legs had gotten until I started doing the workout this morning. Ouch! Plus that workout was hard. It was no lay around and stretch video. There were whole portions I couldn't even keep up to. I think that video will start showing up more in the rotation...if I had a rotation. Point is-more stretching is needed. Actually there are several points:

• I can't touch my own toes! There I said it. It's embarrassing but very true. Not only that but I would say I have always been at least 8 inches way from those ugly little suckers. One day toes I will touch you.
• Running is making me even less stretchy than normal. I have actually been worried about pulling something because of how tight my muscles are in my legs. I know Chris is worried about this too.
• I need more core strength! The video this morning was definitely a core workout and next to not being flexible that is my next worse fitness strength.

On my ever growing list of things to do today is to find a yoga video for runners for Chris and I to do at night to help with all the tight muscles we are experiencing. I would hate to mess up our chances at training for this marathon because we didn't stretch enough.

Nutrition

The last couple days we have been eating much better than we had been.

Yesterday

Breakfast: Green smoothie with half an English muffin
Lunch: Small salad (too small!)
Snack: Trail mix
Dinner: Jalapeno sausages with acorn squash and turnips
Dessert: Two sunflower seed cookies

Today

Breakfast: Green smoothie with half an English muffin

Lunch: Multi-grain sandwich with tabbouleh and a small salad 

Dinner: Frito Chili Pie (hey it was class night)

A Little Ft. Worth

Really it was just a little. We went on basically a two day trip to Ft. Worth. A little while back we road the train and thought that it would be something that Flint was old enough for and would really like. Since this was going to be a long weekend we decided it would be as good a time as any to head down and see what would happen. 

Flint loved the train ride and it was event free in the good way. On the way there we made sure Flint knew that we would have to walk everywhere. It was going to be city living for us. Flint deemed us "city civilians". Once we got there we went to our hotel and discovered that even though it was more than four hours before check in we could get our room. That was a life saver later in the day. 

We were starving so it was time to hoof it to a lunch destination. Flint decided that it was a cheeseburger day so that is what we went looking for. Once we found something on our phones that looked like it would give the boy a burger we were off. Unfortunately the place we found, although to the gills with kids, was not a kid friendly restaurant. There were inappropriate things written on the walls which of course we paid no attention to but Flint's new to the wonderful world of reading eyes caught. There was also some inappropriate tile work in the men's bathroom apparently as well. He loved his burger though. 

Once we had some lunch in our bellies it was time to go see what the Ft. Worth Water Gardens were all about. I can tell you that they were all about AWESOME. I think the pictures tell you everything you need to know. Flint loved it. When we were done it was time to go rest for a bit before the nights festivities.

It just so happened that the night we were going to be there a Christmas parade was going to be going on right outside of our hotel. Flint loved the parade. His favorite part was at the very beginning when they had a bunch of Elvis lookalikes riding mini motorcycles. That was pretty much the highlight for Flint. They were better than Santa. Santa wasn't doing wheelies though so he didn't really have a chance.

The next morning we decided to stay in downtown and just go places that we could walk to. We spent the morning at the Water Gardens. At lunch we decided on something safe! BBQ. I've never been in an inappropriate barbecue joint. Flint had another cheeseburger. Big surprise.

After some lunch it was time for a movie. The movie was way better than I expected. See below the crazy comfortable recliner that were the seats in this theater. Flint was in love. We saw Penguins of Madagascar. It was funnier than anticipated.

Earlier in the day we had discovered that Molly the Trolley was free! Flint was ready to try out some trolley riding after the movie. We needed to go back to the hotel and pick up our bags and head over to the train station. Flint loved the trolley. 

The rest of the trip was a little less fun. The train didn't leave the station till more than an hour after it's posted departure. The good news is that Flint handled it way better than me. He was a real trooper and a professional traveler. 

As for running...today was a rest day. We have quite a few training for the 10k. We only run 3 times a week. I'm not sure how that will change when we start training for the marathon. Today I am just focusing on eating right and drinking lots of water.