Unrequited Love

Last night was game night. Game night means lots of snacks and, usually, fast food. The crunch wrap box at Taco Bell just looked too tempting to turn down. Against my better judgement, I gobbled up that flour tortillas wrapped pseudo-Mexican food. 

Then we got to our friend’s house and the table held pretzels, trail mix, and Oreos. Those damn Oreos sat in front of my taunting me. Whispering my name and promises they couldn’t keep. I was weak and took two of them. Two can’t hurt you right? 

Wrong. 

The sweet goodness of the chocolate and cream-filled devils was short lived. I survived last night but, true to their deceitful nature, they came back to hurt me in the morning. It was hazy and grey outside this morning when I stumbled out of bed, head pounding. I didn’t want to go to training. I didn’t want to wake up. I just wanted to sleep to escape the pounding in my brain. 

I pushed through and committed to training. I sweated like a pig. I breathed deep throughout the session and explained to my awesome trainer that I wasn’t unhappy being there I was just struggling through a horrible headache brought on by my star-crossed love of all things gluten-ous. 

I feel like I have learned my lesson. I love pastas, breads, cookies, and pastries but they just don’t feel the same about me.

Training itself is going great. I’m seeing more and more definition in my muscles and I feel so much stronger in my running than I did before I started lifting. I’m getting super excited about princess weekend with just a touch of nerves. I can’t wait to run through the parks and maybe even make some new friends in person along the way. I’ll miss the anticipation once it’s over and have to find a new goal to work towards. 

What kind of struggles are you guys having? Any exciting races coming up for you (Disney or otherwise)?

Here It comes

I’m starting to feel it. It comes every time there is a big race ahead of me. I call it The Freak Out. Last year I was preparing (our trying to) for the Little Rock half marathon. It was my first one and I was terrified that I wouldn’t complete it. That was in March and the last two weeks of February were BAD. I was a mess!

The second half I did was in April and there wasn’t much time for The Freak Out because I registered last minute. The two nights before the race, however, was filled with nightmares. I forgot to give hubby my bags and had to run with them. Then there was a storm and Trina went a different way than we were supposed to and OMG the obstacle course (no there was not ACTUALLY an obstacle course within this race but my crazy mind dreamed one..)

This year it’s Princess Weekend. My first ever Disney race AND Challenge. I’m already freaking out and we still have 44 days left. I’m anxiety prone anyway. (I’m sure you are incredibly surprised at this fact.) But this is a bucket list item. Disney races are what truly sparked my love of running. It was the one I wanted to work toward. Don’t get me wrong, I WILL do another one someday but this is a big one.

I’m a snowballer. I’m worried about the race. I feel guilty spending all the money it takes. I feel guilty about taking time off work since we just took time off in October for vacation. Now our third person on the trip may not be able to go with us. It has turned in my head that I could get fired (even though I have vacation time available.). Or that my boss will think I don’t take my job seriously. Or…well you get the point. I’m driving hubby a bit crazy. Truthfully, I’m driving myself crazy too. I rarely take time off. One vacation a year and holidays. That’s it. We may not do any vacations throughout this year so there really isn’t a difference. I know these things but it’s hard to talk myself down once I get on the edge.

See what kind of crazy happens on a rest day!?

How are the rest of you feeling?

Overworked

I promise I am alive and have been working hard. Last week my motivation was way off. I felt slow and tired most of the week. My times were okay and I really did run. I did Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and again today. I did one strength training class too. The concert was awesome but I woke up feeling awful the next morning. Headache, fatigue, the whole nine. Friday, I had to take a bathroom break in the middle of my four mile run and it was a near disaster. 

That’s when my friend suggested to me that I might want to try a gluten free diet. I started doing some research and I think that may be part of the problem. I love all things gluten. Pasta and bread are my favorites. Thinking about my week, I noticed that the headaches followed cupcakes, taco bell, and burger king. The fatigue early in the week followed birthday cake. Friday’s issues followed a firehouse sub and brownie. It kind of made sense. I continued to make bad decisions over the weekend. Olive Garden does have gluten free options but I decided to try a regular one. It did not go well. I felt so heavy and gross. I have done a little research and have found that the best way to test yourself to see if you have a sensitivity to gluten is to eliminate it from your diet for several weeks and then re-introduce it to see if there is an effect. I’m going to be lightening my gluten intake for now and will eventually (after much research) eliminate it and see what happens. 

In other news, there was a great run clinic tonight that I rearranged my schedule to attend. The local running store had a newton rep come out and they let us test their shoes. I liked mine a lot at first. Mile 2 I started having some pain in the knees so I figure I will just wait until I get fitted on vacation to decide what to buy. I did enjoy the run with my girls though. The whole gang was together again. Four of us ran in a group and I was actually one of the faster paced ones in our particular group so that made me feel good. I hope to catch upon my postings and my reading this week. 

Here are a few pics from my run Friday. I love our nature center.   
   

 

Fall Running Begins!

It feels amazing here! The cool temps in the morning has been so perfect. It makes me want to run every morning instead of the alloted ones. My cross training has recently been pretty pathetic so I am fighting the run every day urge so that I can do better with it. Yesterday I hit the gym at the ungodly 5:30 am time for my first Iron Pump class in ages! It wasn’t easy but I made it through and was in a great mood for the rest of the day. Today’s run was in glorious 56 degree weather and I loved every minute! I ran straight through the 4 miles with only one walk break. I ended up with a pretty solid pace too! It was mid 11 minutes and I felt like I could go forever! I wanted to add more miles but I was supposed to have a 9 am appointment. Turns out, I could have done the extra miles. All my morning appointments cancelled so I had plenty of time. I even got my lawn mowed, which was desperately needed. I’m so pumped about fall running that I can barely stand it! 

8 mile training run

It was one of those rare, glorious mornings here in beautiful Arkansas. I was due for my long run with my Saturday girl again. Those have come to be my favorite runs. She keeps me honest, motivated, and the conversation is great. I love my running friends! I arrived downtown before she did and sat with the other people I have never actually ran with before because, let’s face it, they are speed demon beasts that I can only dream of keeping up with. (One day, one day….) It was actually a little cold while we were all waiting to start. There were people even talking about how they thought about bringing a sweat shirt or jacket with them. There wasn’t a bit of humidity which was a relief! The air here can smother you at times and it’s no fun to run like that.

We set off with the intention to at least try for 10 miles. I needed 8 and she needed between 8 and 10. We set off down the greenway and looped through the university, past the early morning arrivals at tailgate park. We conquered the hill of death twice in our run. Our pace was pretty good. We both felt amazing and light on our feet. She had some flare ups with muscle cramps periodically but it was nothing that held her back. Then I started to feel like I need to go to the bathroom right around mile 3 (after the first hill of death visit). I kept going, though, and figured the feeling would go away. By mile 4 I knew I was going to have to stop. There were no bathrooms in sight so we had to get over the hill of death for the second time and hit the same gas station I had to stop at last time. We got there around mile 5.

We still felt good when we started back up after my pit stop but it put us behind and we were in a time crunch because she had somewhere to be. We decided to stop with 8 miles and and headed back toward the car. It felt harder on the way back. Partially because we took that break and partially because the wind was from the front of us and felt brutal. We finished up in pretty good time even with the bathroom stop and some walk breaks we took. I am just so tired of the bathroom issues. I’m going to change up my food before my runs and see if that helps. I also want to push myself to take less walk breaks. I’m fortunate because my running partner is super understanding and does not seem to mind the need for a bathroom stop. Hopefully the diet change will eliminate the need for one though and we can really fly. Next week I start the back to back runs to get ready for the Glass Slipper Challenge so I may not be able to hang with my partner on Saturday. That part makes me sad but I am looking forward to getting into the meat of the training.

Does anyone else have bathroom issues that get in the way during long runs? Any tips for getting rid of them? 

Rainy Days

I really have to get a treadmill. I hate running on the treadmill but I hate driving to the gym to run on a treadmill even more. I woke up on time today but it was raining. It had pretty much stopped by the time I got dressed so I decided to run in the neighborhood anyway. I was going to go to the gym but it was so nice outside I couldn’t resist. I’m kind of weird. I like running in the rain. It cools me off, which is never a bad thing. I have ran in the rain before. I even ran in a tiny bit of snow. Nothing like what my northern friends experience but it was still snow. I set out and thought it’s okay if it rains again. I got a mile in before the rain started and it was just a light rain at that point. A tenth of a mile later, it’s raining cats and dogs and I am soaked to the bone. Needless to say, I did not achieve the miles I wanted but I did get some in and my pace was pretty good. I’ll go again tomorrow as scheduled and not worry too much about what I didn’t do. What I DID do was get up on time. I’m pretty happy about that. 

46 days to Disney

Motivation

  
My biggest issue lately is, well, me. I love running, nothing has changed there. However, my motivation just hasn’t been where it was a month ago. We have been through a lot in the past few weeks and still have a ton of adjustments to make in the weeks to come. I’m not beating myself up or anything but I don’t want to lose focus. Believe it or not, I am happiest when I am working hard to achieve something. I know the journey to Princess weekend will be an amazing one and I’m so excited to be achieving the thing that got me into running in the first place. A big goal for me is to eventually do ALL of the Disney race and their challenges…over my lifetime that is, not all in one year or anything. 

I did get up and run this morning but it was so difficult to drag myself out of the covers and get ready. I was almost an hour later than planned getting started. I didn’t stress about it though. I got up, got ready, and went to the park. I did just over two miles and my pace was mediocre. My legs felt heavy and I quit before my goal of 4-5 miles because of a bathroom emergency. I hate that the park bathrooms don’t open in the early mornings on the weekdays. I plan to go back out for another run tomorrow and get the full time i was supposed to do. The group run is pllanned for Saturday and usual and I will be at spin class on Friday. Next week I will figure out a cross-training schedule that fits and, hopefully, get back into my routine. I like it there. It’s comfortable and nice. Let’s face it, I can control it and that is pretty important when my productivity in my job is not under my control. I can’t force people to attend their appointments. 

I’m at the point where I just have to kick my butt in gear. I decided to put my modest artistic skills ( terribly modest ones) to work. I made a positiveity board to hang on the wall in my room. Hubby was gracious enough to hang it for me and not complain. It has the advertisement for Princess weekend in the middle and a compliation of some of my favorite quotes. Maybe if that is one of the first things I see in the morning it will remind me that this journey is going to be worth it and special. 

In other news, I have a mere 47 days until I get to kick back and enjoy a vacation with hubby in Disney. I can’t wait to run with new and magical scenery.

What makes you motivated? What keeps you going when you just want to stay in bed or kick your feet back at the end of your hard day?