I was close!

I came up a little short on my training schedule. My total mileage was suppose to be 25 this week but I only made it 21.75. Over all though I am not feeling too bad about it. Saturday ended up being a jam packed day-o-fun, no time to run. I did get up this morning for my long run and guess what? I have a new longest run, I made it 9 miles today. I have to say that I was pretty excited about it.

I did learn a little something about chaffing today. I haven't had problems until today but I came home with some spots that were rubbed raw. I think I will actually develop scabs on my lower back. Ouch!

Here I go...

I have offically started my training. I am trying to follow a training schedule so we will see how I do. I did get up at 6:15 am to run. Day one (yesterday) Rest Day- check. Day two run 4 miles- check. So far, so good but I am only into it 2 days out of 112 days. Though my days may be off a bit since I haven't picked out a race yet.

My weekly goal hit an early demise. Man if I could eat healthier and run I would be doing good. I guess all I can do is try and try again. Maybe I should just aim for moderation.

Everyone has bad days....

Right?

Well today is mine, or at least this morning was.

I headed out to do a long run this morning. I wasn't sure how far to push it since I am still sore and recovering. I decided I would make 7 miles my goal. I didn't feel great from the start, tired, tight muscles, and a slight side ache. At mile 2 I took a couple sips of water and then my side ache went from bad to worse. I ran another 1/4 mile then turned up the street to head home. I was beating myself up so I turned around and kept going. At mile 3 I gave up completely. I headed back home.

It was not a good walk home to say the least. I was disappointed with myself. I am afraid I am sabotaging myself before I even get started with my training. I know I did this morning , I walked out the door with it already in my head that I wasn't going to do well. So there I am walking home, now bawling and definitely having a pity party. I started going through all the why me's.....

Ok, I had planned to come home and list them all for you to get you in on my pity party. Maybe scrounge up some sympathy from all of you but my mind was changed.

I walked in the door and my hubby and baby girl were waiting for me (blessing number one and two). He asked me how my run went. Then came the water works again. He encouraged me and told me how proud he was (blessing number three). Then of course baby girl was being cute and made me laugh (blessing number 4). So instead of thinking of all the reasons why I should be depressed I am counting blessings. It should keep me busy because I think there are about a million of them (including all of you).

Tomorrow is another day. For today I am going to enjoy some family time. It is Father's Day weekend and my daughter's half birthday so we are going to celebrate. And I am going to keep focused on the positive.

Down for the count.

I had returned to running on Tuesday and had two good days but I had a workout snafu. I got a new magazine that had what I thought would be a great pre-run warm-up. My hubby is always telling me that warm-ups are important. I decided I was going to give it a try.

Wednesday before my run I was lunging, doing squats, hopping around on one leg, etc. Once I was finished my left hamstring and right quad didn't feel real great but because I am smart I went out and ran 4.5 miles anyway. Well I have been very sore for the past two days. This morning it was my excuse to stay in bed, that and the fact that I had to get up at 6am to run and it was super cold in the house this morning making it impossible to get out of bed and I have to work tonight until midnight and I am on call after that and......the excuses just kept coming.

I better muster up some will power because starting Monday I am going to start my Marathon training program. I have decided that since I know it is plausible I might as well try. The worst thing that will happen is that I will get into better shape trying and the best thing would be me running 26.2 miles. I have an additional goal, I want to also beat Oprah's time. I should probably goggle what it was before I set it in stone. Mostly I have decided that I want to complete one before I turn 35. I have a little over a year and a half. I can do this!

I am also going to get back to my weekly goals. They are probably going to be more focused on nutrition and possibly weight training because running is going to happen regardless.

Starting today I am going to try to eliminate sweets. There is a reason that this is the goal and that I am choosing to start on a Friday. Yesterday I am pretty sure that I ate at least 700 calories of garbage and although I am admitting that, I am not admitting what I ate. It is certainly too embarrassing. That doesn't include the pizza, mac-n-cheese, and the glass of wine I had at lunch. (Ash I wish you would've called for a hike, I needed it) Do you ever have those days? Wish me luck because sweets are my downfall.

Why I like to run....

I have decided there are very good reasons for why I like to run. I think mostly it is because it is only about me. I am alone and I have time to think. I also love that I am only competing with myself. Since I started timing myself I am enjoying my ability to push myself a little harder to improve my time. The only advantage I have today is that I am one day stronger then yesterday. Don't get me wrong, when I run in races I do enjoy passing people but in the end those people are only motivation for me to push myself a little harder and my only goal is to be better then I was.

Now that I have completed the relay I am searching for my next race.

I am contemplating a 5k in July, a 12k in August, an obstacle course 5k in September, the 8 or 18 mile around Payette Lake in September, Portland Marathon in October, or the Las Vegas Rock-n-Roll Marathon in December.

Hum....What to choose, all of them???? Definitely not. Most of them???? I would like to but I am not sure how far to push it. I am very tempted to put one of the Marathons on my training schedule but I do have a fear of failure. I used to think that just the idea was crazy but now it actually seems plausible if not even possible. Even though it is just about me I am definitely afraid of disappointing myself. Can I drum up the courage to even start training for one?

We Survived The Sawtooth Relay!

We survived our first Sawtooth Relay. I have to say my team rocked. We wanted our finish time to be less than 12 hours and our finish time ended up being 10 hours and 40 minutes. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

My hubby ran the first leg and our start time was 2:15 am. He said that it was a little crazy running alone in the dark in the wilderness. He was so much faster than the other 4 people with our start time. He was out there on his own.

This our friend Craig. Man, doesn't he look chipper? And it is just after 3 am.

He is actually the reason I started running. A friend and I wanted to get in shape so we decided to train for a 5k that took place on Craig's birthday. A group of us ran then went to breakfast. It was awesome that we incorporated exercise into our celebration. I have been running off and on since.

Cold and a little anxious (this was her first race) my stepmomma Kelley set off on her first leg. This whole experience came together because of her. She asked me quite a while back if I would be on the relay team with her. Hesitantly I said I would. It was great motivation for me to get back into running and I am very thankful I got the opportunity to run the race with her.

This our sweet volunteer, my stepbrother Taylor. He got his butt out of bed and to his designated spot by 2:30 am. It was a cold morning and he had to put in a 5 hour shift or we would get disqualified. He survived his shift, though he was certainly cold and tired!

This is my hubby Mark handing off to Craig at Galena Summit 8,701 feet. Mark ran 5.35 miles with an elevation gain of 1,331 feet. He did awesome passing people all the way up.

This is Craig running down the Ketchum side of Galena Summit. He was smoking. He mentioned that he was counting all the people that he past but quit counting at 8. He ran over 6 miles and had an elevation loss of 1,411 feet.

This is my beautiful stepsister Hannah at her first exchange point. I don't think that she knew what to expect when she signed up for the relay. That said, she rocked it! She put it all out there. She did look at me during her first leg and say,

"never again." I hope that before next year rolls around we will all have forgotten how painful it was.

This is me running away from the team as they were standing along side of the road giving me water and much needed support. The second leg was much more difficult then the first even though it was shorter, warmer, and supposedly down hill. I must have been tired from my first leg. All in all I did better then I thought I would, and I did love it. What a beautiful place to run!

This is Seren our last minute substitute running her last leg. She did amazing. This is the last picture that I took at the relay but I know everyone else has some so maybe I will post more once I get them.

Thank you, thank you to my whole team and to Kelley (the person who came up with this awesome idea in the first place). I really loved the experience and I am absolutely planning on running it again in 2011! Also thanks to our volunteer Taylor. And our support crew: Dad for driving the van, my sister and her family for coming to support us and also for watching my baby, and Jeff for providing entertainment for the kids and Riley dog and of course for driving our bed from Stanley to Ketchum without hitting a runner in the process. Go team!

I am a runner....

My hubby and I use to always get into an argument when he called me a runner. I always corrected him/ reminded him that I was a jogger. Finally one day I said, "let's goggle it." (It is where I find all my important information)

Wikipedia (another place I get all my information) said this:
The definition of jogging as compared with running is not standard. Dr. George Sheehan, a running expert, is quoted to have said "the difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank".[1] Others are usually more specific, defining jogging as running slower than 6 mph (10 minute per mile pace, 9.7 km/h, 6.2 min/km)

So I definitely was a jogger. 10 min per mile pace was right about where I was at. My most recent race I ran I was at around a 9 min 30 sec per mile pace, which was awesome. I don't often time myself but usually I am right around 10 min miles. I haven't been wearing a watch recently but my hubby thought I should because it might help me push myself. Well, as he always thinks he is....he was right.
Tuesday I wore my watch. At mile 1 I checked and was a little over a 9 min mile. Checked again at mile 2, I had slowed down a little bit. So the last mile I left it all out there. I ran around 8 min 55 sec/ mile pace which I was stoked about. I busted through the 9 min mile wall.
Today my hubby and I decided to go for a family run. We loaded up baby and the dog and headed to the greenbelt by the river. We set out for our 3 miler: hubby pushing the baby stroller and myself (thankfully) being pulled by the dog. So even after chasing sippy cups and shoes that flew out of the stroller we made it our 3 miles at 8 min 35 sec/ mile pace. I am super jacked. (even though I had a little help from my furry, four-legged friend) I think my hubby was impressed because now he wants me to set new goals like a 5K in 24 minutes and to run the 18 mile Payette Lake Run (all the way around the lake) in Sept (I usually do the 5K).

OH YEAH!!!

Today has been an awesome day!
Before I tell you about my awesome day I must tell you that I did great this week. I had a training schedule this week and I actually ended up running more!
On to my awesome day....
Our substitute relay racer was in town this weekend and she offered to go for my long run with me. Note- she was begged to join us and she agreed even though she hasn't been running since our St Patty race (that's her in the picture with me and baby girl). It was super fantastic to have someone to run with and I was able to chat without sucking wind. And....I ran 8 miles. Now have a new longest run distance. This week I am going to take it a little easy and rest up for the big day, or morning actually. I am super excited that I am up to 8 miles. Maybe a half-marathon isn't so far fetched for me.
Also part of my awesome day was a float on the Main Payette. It was super big water and lot's fun!

Happy National Running Day!

This evening I was feeling blue. I had just purchased some running pants and a top and really wanted to take them for a spin. Plus it is National Running Day. And my goal is to run, run, run this week. Oh but the rain. I kept watching outside hoping that it would let up. My hubby walked in the house and I was on the couch pouting. I really did not want to drive to the gym to run on the treadmill. I probably complained for 15 minutes until he finally told me to put on my stuff and head out the door. What's a little rain?
It was the best run that I have had for quite sometime. Running in the warm rain was way better then running in the warm bright sun. If it hadn't been for the fact that I wore a bright yellow "rain" jacket I got for running the Payette Lake Run last Sept it would've been perfect. The jacket is more like a shamwow then a rain jacket. (Now I know, I was wondering what I should do with it.)I only went 2.5 miles but it was perfect. After my run I took off my hat, lifted my chin toward the sky and walked around the block (literally) soaking in the rain.
Needless to say I walked into the house minus the pout. Thank you sweet cheeks for sending me out the door and into the rain.

Less then two weeks...

The relay is in less then 2 weeks so my weekly goal is going to be to keep running.
I am getting more and more nervous. I know that I can make it the distance (5.83 miles the first leg and 6.13 miles the second leg) but can I do it at a higher elevation and uphill the first leg? I had been planning on training like I was going to run a 1/2 marathon but somehow, as always, time got away from me. So if I had I would be running 10 miles on my long day this week. Not happening. I am guessing if I tried it would spell disaster. My goal is to stay mentally and physically healthy and uninjured at least until the race is over.
Today I ran 4.5 miles, my legs were a bit tired but I made it.