Full on Crazy!!

Hi everyone! Long time no update. Hoping there are some people that are still reading this! :)

SO much has happened since my last update so I thought I'd just share some pics...

I ran a half marathon in Edinburgh, Scotland - My first international half!

Frozen at the finish in Musselburgh. 25 mph winds and 40ish degrees. In MAY!!!

After that my favorite race of the year the Peachtree Road Race. The biggest 10k in the world. Pouring rain but SO exciting this year because I would know at the finish if my shirt design won........

It won! 60,000+ shirts were printed with MY DESIGN!

The finisher shirt is a huge deal so there was lots of paparazzi (LOL)...

...and drinking combined with yoga (do not try this at home or on shopping center sidewalks)

Speaking of yoga, it's still one of THE MOST important things in my life. I think it's hilarious when people say "You're so lucky you can do those 'advanced' poses. Well luck has nothing to do with it. Almost 5 years of constant practice. Even when I was 250 pounds. I've been working for 2 months on the handstand!

You just can't beat a good 'crow'.

That's me in the front row in the middle working on my 'Eka Pada' (borrowed from Instagram from my amazing teacher @wellnesswithjenn) We have Cobra Camp every Tuesday and Thursday at 6am and I'm HOOKED!

I'm was also made the pace team captain for the 10 minute milers for this session of fall half marathon training. I'm 10:30-11 min mile usually and I've had to significantly "up my game" to keep the group on pace.

These ladies are in my pace group and they are WARRIORS. Over 500 pounds lost between the 5 of us. It's almost hard to believe!!

Thanks to the Track Club and yoga, I'm now a morning work out person. I run with these other fools at 5:45 every Wednesday morning to get our interval/speed training in. It's so hard to get up but we are done before sunrise and that is one of the greatest feelings in the world!

What's next you say? I've been wondering that for a while. My goal for this year was not to have a goal and just enjoy my new life for a while but this year is coming to an end (FAST) and I have definitely chosen a big one.

That's right! 26.2 is in my future. I'm TRULY only planning on doing this one time because I want to keep running until I'm really old but I just HAVE to do it once. There are people out there that don't think I should do this but I have everything in place I need to be successful. I have an incredible support system, the greatest running friends on earth and a real Olympian for a coach who will make sure I'm trained and (God willing) injury free.

It's going to be an interesting experiment with nutrition for this. I've gained about 10 pounds which is something that doesn't seem fair at all but happens during distance running training for a lot of people. I require more carbs and can justify more carbs because of running but as a full on addict, I can lose control pretty quick. The honeymoon is over with the sleeve. It's all me now and the struggle is VERY real. Today I tried steel cut oats before speed training and I could really feel the energy from that. I'm going to keep track of how different foods work for energy during running and appetite after. Evening is the worst for me - after dinner and before bed is a dangerous time. I keep telling myself I'll just drink tea and it won't happen. LOL. Right.

So, now I'm officially in training for a marathon! I will continue to coach my half marathon training up until our race on Thanksgiving and then after that start increasing my mileage per my training plan. I've never run farther than 13.1. Here's to new miles!!!  I'll keep you posted!!