Wednesday, March 25, 2015

13.1 v6

Hello from the land of the runners high! I'm still celebrating 2 half marathons in 7 days! Woot!! I even did speed work and a 5k course run in between!

As you can see the weather was VERY different. 85 and sunny in Sarasota to 50 and raining in Atlanta. Luckily I ran with a great friend and fellow coach and we had a blast despite the weather. There was something extremely magical about running down the middle of the usually crowded streets of my city in the rain.



Another challenge conquered. It's the best feeling in the world!!!!!

What surprises me is how good my body feels after all of that running. 36 miles in 7 days and it was almost easy ?!?! I think I've found a really good balance of running, strength training, yoga and massage. I'm desperate to work a spin class into the mix but the logistics are driving me nuts so I just decided I'm going to pick a class and go tomorrow. I'm going to have to "date around" before I can commit :)

Trying to update here more often so stay tuned!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

13.1 v5

Hi everyone! I'm freshly back from my FIFTH half marathon and I must have desperately needed some sun and a good race because I feel amazing!!

I drove down on Friday and came back on Monday so it was a quick trip but it couldn't have been much better. Traveling for a race can be stressful for me but it was so nice to just grab a few things and hit the road. I didn't need 6 layers or a jacket or neckwarmer or hat or gloves or any of that crap!!

The race was Sunday so I got to spend the whole morning on Saturday with my sister out in the bay stand-up paddle boarding. That is one of those things that as a fat girl could have NEVER imagined doing and now I do it every chance I get! Saturday night I ate dinner by myself then unashamedly walked down the street eating ice cream. Another former fat girl victory!! Sometimes it's the big things, sometimes it's the little things.

The race was early and sunrise was gorgeous.

I promised myself I wasn't going to try to break any records overdo it so I kept my comfortable 10:15 pace most of the way - I got a little fast when a good song came on but I paid attention and dialed it back a little. I'm glad I did because miles 11 and 12 were really hot and really hard. That's when the brain has to take over and try to get those little legs to make it the rest of the way. It was 85 degrees at the finish!!
Finishing was awesome with friends and family waiting - usually my races are too big for anyone to get near the finish line but this time I saw and heard everyone cheering!
  



I got to spend the rest of day doing what I love.....boating with my friends and eating oysters!
 

That same day, I got to announce to everyone that my design for the Peachtree Road Race t-shirt was picked for the final five! For those of you that don't know, it's the worlds largest 10k and there are over 60,000 shirts printed. It would be a HUGE honor for me to win this and I encourage you to vote for your favorite (hopefully mine!!!) You can vote every day for the next month! http://www.ajc.com/2015-ajc-peachtree-tshirt/ or click on the banner on the side bar.


Believe it or not my next half marathon is THIS SUNDAY. 2 half marathons in 7 days. I'm also coaching this week and doing a course run for the women's 5k so it's going to be a week full of running. I'm so incredibly grateful for my new life and all that my new love for running is teaching me about myself!

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!


Sunday, March 1, 2015

No turning back AKA #thestruggleisreal

Hi All and happy March!

I like to post every once in a while about  struggles that come up just so no one thinks it's rainbows and unicorns all the time in my world :) This $#!+ is hard sometimes.

I had a 10k to run this morning after staying up until after midnight to finish a project and luckily I got dressed BEFORE checking the weather. As soon as I opened the back door to let the dogs out - what a surprise it's barely above freezing and raining - JUST LIKE IT HAS BEEN ALL FREAKING WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think about going back to bed but that "I'm already dressed" thing comes in very handy here.

I had some extra time since It was pouring rain (still) so I sat in my car until THE VERY LAST minute that I could and still make the start of this race. I was half a mile from the start, already soaked and my stupid brain was trying to talk me out of it the WHOLE WAY.  I even turned around at one point to head back to the car.

These are the times when decisions matter.

When I saw Deena Kastor (2004 Bronze medalist in Athens for the women's marathon) speak at our Track Club social this year, she talked about the importance of taking every single decision seriously and that has resonated with me ever since. They might not seem like important decisions at that time, but they all matter and it adds up.
Thank you for the inspiration Deena!
I decided to run to the start which was the only way to stay warm. The first 3 miles were easy and the second three miles were ALL hills - stupid brain was at it again - wanting to walk the hills. I was arguing back at my brain "You've got this. You are a hill master.  Lean forward. Shorten your stride. Arms up. Chest up. Breathe deep." That helped but what REALLY worked was pretending the ponytail posse was behind me and I had to lead them up that hill because that's what I do. So, ponytails, thank you so much for being with me on my run even though you weren't and I had NOBODY to share snack time with. Airplane arms were also done. All by myself.

There was a small miracle at mile 4. As I rounded the corner, there stood my trainer who was taking her kids to Sunday School.  Just totally random. She looked gorgeous and I was soaking wet but I have to say I was super proud to look like crap and be running in the rain. She is SUCH a huge part of my success. I could have hugged her if I wasn't so gross and muddy and sweaty :)

It was a GREAT race and  I'm really glad I did it. Even more so, I fought those demons and made a whole string of good decisions which led to a whole day of feeling accomplished...and fast :)


Oh and then I ate half a Krispy Kreme and gave the rest to a squirrel.

Have a great week everyone! Here's to good decision making!