Internet Was Down ALL WEEKEND!

Frustrating. Anyway, I'm going to do my post in chapters, because I have a lot to talk about over the last weekend, and I don't want it to be too hard to read.


Chapter 1. Friday

Went to Relay for Life after work (rode my bike there and back). The basic premise is that you walk around the track to fight cancer. I don't really understand it- nobody sponsors people per lap that you do (like some other philanthropies do), so why do people walk and walk and walk? But they do. And I'm glad they do- it's great to see people out and doing something that requires burning calories. It's rare in America.

Anyway, I walked. One of the groups were selling buttons that you attached a ribbon to, and everytime you went around the track, you got a bead to put on your ribbon. It was AWESOME. It encouraged so many people to walk more than they would have on their own...myself included. I walked 5 miles that night. The entire time I was walking I desperately wanted to be running. Walking felt slow and cumbersome. It was so frustrating to know I could run that far MUCH faster than I could walk it. One of my friends brought her stepson, and he was trying to beat her in the race for beads, so I sprinted with him for the last 200 yards of each lap for a few laps. It was awesome.

Button and beads from relay

Chapter 2. Saturday

Came back in the morning to run on the track so I could get more beads. You aren't really supposed to run, but it was 5:30am on a Saturday, so there were very few people there. I ran 4 miles and completed my long run for the week. It wasn't arduous at all (like track running normally is) because of the silly bead competition.

I got out of work early and came back an hour and a half before the event was over and walked another 3 miles. I think next year I'm going to take the weekend off of work and just see how many beads I can get (the group that did it this year is going to do it again next year because of how big of a hit it was).



Chapter 3. Sunday

Rest day.



Chapter 4. Monday

Ran- sort of. Had Thai food for lunch, and then went to the beach all day with no fluids. Attempted to run in the afternoon, and just about died. The warm up walk was ok- I could tell it wasn't going to be a spectacular run, but I didn't know how bad. Two minutes into the run, I had to walk. It felt like everytime my left foot struck the ground, a homeless man ran up to me and stabbed me in the gut. I tried running a few more times unsuccessfully, and grudgingly walked the rest of the route. Sigh.



Chapter 5. Tuesday

Crosstraining day. Biked 8 miles and then ran into the lake immediately and swam (90* heat is hot!!). It was SO refreshing. I'm going to do that more often.



Ok, enough of that. Tomorrow is a rest day, so nothing fun to update with tomorrow. However, I'm doing a 5K this weekend in Munising, MI and I'm SUPER EXCITED for it. My plan is to run full out and try to PR. It shouldn't be hard because at my last 5K (the only one I've done as an adult) I could have ran a lot more of it, but I ran with a friend and we took it easy and just enjoyed it. Plus, Nate (my fiance) is driving me to it, and he's never come to one of my races before, so that should be fun.



Woo!


The stairs I climb on crosstraining days...I wish the picture was bigger so you could see them all!

Meeting Results and Other Things from Yesterday

I was expecting a gain, and I got what I expected. Up 0.8lbs to 165.8. I have never been so happy to gain 0.8 in my life!! I was expecting it to be up like 2 whole pounds. 0.8 is nothing. 0.8 is a good dump.

Rode my bike to the meeting and back. Wasn't as bad as I expected- my butt is pretty darn sore after spin class on Wednesday...but my padded gel seal and padded bike shorts took the brunt of it for me. After the meeting I came home and ran 2.25 miles with my running buddy Erica.

I was REALLY not looking forward to this run. So much so that I wanted to call her and be like "don't come over, I'm a wuss". My quads are still (even today) killing me, my calves are pretty painful, and in general my legs feel like they're going to fall off. Running was the LAST thing I wanted to do.

I'm so glad I didn't wuss out!

The run was awesome. It was a great temperature outside. It didn't hurt to run as much as it does to go up and down stairs (or to even touch my legs). It made me feel very powerful. While I was running, I thought back on all the stuff I did this week...particularly the last two days. I thought about how when I told people I climbed the stairs twice their response was "Twice? In a row??" and they gave me disbelieving looks. I thought about how I followed that up by going to a spin class...on the same day. I thought about how I didn't find what I did that impressive or hard...just another day in the life of training for a half marathon.

While I was thinking about all of this, something amazing happened. I ran the 2.25 miles in 26 mins. I had to walk three different times for about 1 min a time. Overall, I ran a pace of 11:30 min/mile for the whole thing. For the running sections, I was really running at 11:03 min/mile.

Wait...what??

I know 11:03 isn't fast for most runners. I appreciate that. But for me, that is cookin'. More importantly, I was TIRED. I was SORE. I was NOT WANTING TO RUN. I was WHINY. And yet, I ran WAY FASTER than I should have. I was expecting closer to 12:30 or 13:00/mile with how I felt going into it.

I can't express how this makes me feel. I'm so proud of myself and how far I've come, and I'm proud of my body for taking a beating and coming back for more.

So...I guess next time I don't want to run...I just have to remember that my body is up for whatever I'm going to dish out if I just quit being a pussy about it.





Tonight I have the Relay for Life walk-a-thon. I'm making No-Pudge brownies to bring for our tent. I bought the mint kind as well...the batter tasted like mint fudge! God it was amazing.

Tomorrow is my four mile run!