I’ve had a fairly successful week training wise.  I had one day where I ran and felt like I could have kept running for hours, love that!  Some things have changed.  I’m still doing a half next weekend, but not the one I originally was going to.  It’s a long story but I’m lucky I found another one to do.

Still trying to get back into the writing groove, so it might take a little time.  Right now I feel awkward with my posts.  I’m going to attempt to blog after my runs as much as possible, because I can tell you right now I don’t remember what it was I wanted to say…oops. I’m also hoping I’ll be able to change up the look of the blog, add more info, jazz it up – so to speak.

Sorry this is a pretty bad post 😛

 

The main goal: to crush the full marathon.  Let’s be real for a minute here: Even though I’ve run one before, it wasn’t good enough for me.  I acted like it was, and let’s face it..that was a joke.  I’m competitive and I need more.  So we’ll chalk it up to a long long run that was an experience.  Now, it’s game time. Time to crush the goal and stop fearing 26.2.

Mini goals to get there:

• Two half marathons, a week apart from one another.
• Body fat: 15%.
• Enter a competition of some sort (other than running.)
• Two a days.

Progress:

• Two half marathons: booked.  As for training, I’ve done intervals, hills, cross training, shorter distances, now I need to focus on longer runs.
• Body fat: Eh, need to stop stuffing my face when I get home from work.
• Competition: No progress.
• Two a days: going well.  Usually bikram yoga and something else, but I’m throwing in a variety so it’s all good. I haven’t felt like I’m overtraining so I’ll keep it up as long as it fits with the overall plan.

Time to restart this sucker!  For now, you just get cliffnotes….full rambles to come later.

 

The quick and dirty:

Still running.

I have two halves planned for next month: 7th Aug and 14th Aug.

Vegas full in December.

Started a 30 days of Bikram yoga challenge, today was the first day.

I love kettlebells for crosstraining.

I missed you all!

I tore into the box as soon as I got home and saw it had arrived.  Didn’t even change and shower before piecing it together and looking over the manual briefly.  SO EXCITED!

Sidenote:  How awesome is it that the picture was automatically labeled “Photo305” without my input?  Win.

Went for a blissful 45 minute run this morning and then caught up on some of my ever-piling-higher emails.  This “Daily Kick in the Butt” says it all:

Even after all these years, running continues to amaze me. Mostly in its ability to clarify – to make things OK and bring you back down to earth, even when things are insane. Especially when things are insane.

Mark Remy, Executive Editor, runnersworld.com

This past week I was going to write something about how this was the first 60 hr. week I’ve had (as opposed to averaging 80) since I went on holidays and of course my internet somehow got messed up and that it seemed like a huge break to have time to do things such as sleep.  Of course, I got a call and was put on for 32 hrs. during the weekend.  Scratch all those good sleep thoughts and hello 90+ hr. workweek – I despise you.

The good news is I squeezed in three runs and it was great to get out there consistently even though they were all pretty short.  I’ve been using my handheld waterbottle and I really like it.  I think it’s a great option for short or medium length runs.  Hopefully I’ll be able to put in normal hours in the upcoming weeks because I miss training (and you know, having a life.)

I have three unread issues of RW sitting on my coffee table, mocking me.  I feel detached from the sport even though I’ve put in some miles if that makes any sense?  I get jealous of people I see running during my commute and when I go to get food I wish I was instead going to a specialty store and trying on a bunch of new runners and stocking up on Gu.

Really, this is a long winded way of saying I’m tired of the all work, no play!

You all better be getting in more running than me.  If you aren’t though, feel free to commiserate.

I’m going to TRY to get in a 15k this week…wish me luck!

I had a phenomenal run yesterday evening and of course needed to share.  After work I was feeling like I didn’t want to drive let alone exercise but as soon as I stepped outside I felt like I HAD to run.  So I took off for a short twenty minutes and it was just one of those times when pace and distance did not matter and I savoured the simplicity of the run.  I love when things like that make my day.  Finally I’m feeling like  my running is back on track.

First of all, thank you for the birthday wishes and your kind words about Precious.

Running has been mediocre – not in quality but rather quantity.  I keep putting in more long working hours lately and that leaves a minute window of time for proper runs so I’ve been getting them in when I can.  Next week I think will be better in terms of hours so I really want to get in some nice long(er) runs and speed work.  I’m missing the consistency although I know easing back into the swing of things is for the best.  Hopefully I’ll have something semi-entertaining to report then.

Here are some pics and a video I took on holiday about a month ago.  I was fortunate enough to watch some local and pro windsurfers and kitesurfers prepare for some championship competitions, it was really cool to witness up close!

At the beginning of the month my cat, Precious, passed away.  I’ve grown up around animals all my life and am definitely an animal lover of all kinds.  Over my life I’ve of course  had to see some of them leave me as well and while their deaths all brought tears and I do love each in a special way Precious meant more than I can verbalize.

She seemed to get suddenly ill and lasted a week from the first day I noticed things were off.  Animals are often good at disguising their pain so perhaps she just didn’t show signs earlier.  I was fortunate enough to get home from work and pick her up and just hold her until she left me…she had waited to see me one last time and I was sobbing like a fool.  I’m glad she isn’t in pain any longer but it is still heartbreaking.

I’m lucky I was able to have her companionship for so long.  I got her a couple of months before my eighth birthday so she was always there for me growing up.  It’s going to be difficult not having her around any longer.  A few times (especially after work when I’m tired) I’ve started to look for her…it’s just bizarre to not have her around.  It may seem trivial that a cat could mean so much but I find that animals are often more in tune to your feelings than humans.  A similar thing happened with my horse when I was younger.  Or perhaps I’m just a pathetic sap.  I could go on about Precious for a long time but quite simply, she is the best cat ever.  I miss and love her dearly.

Today is my twenty fifth birthday…not quite sure how I feel about that yet, haha.  I was able to get in another beautiful run this morning so the day has definitely started out right.  It was still a short run although I was able to run it a little faster than yesterday (probably because I got some sleep.)  I’m off to work, I hope you all have a good running day as well!  The “Daily Kick in the Butt” from RW is a great one so I’ll leave you with that:

If you ever get a second chance in life for something, you’ve got to go all the way. – Lance Armstrong