Medals and Margaritas
Two of my most favorite things… both of which go very well together. I don’t know what it is about margaritas – probably the salt. They are my perfect post race drink. And whoever invented them (the Mexican’s apparently), rocks. I finally got a greeeeaat one too many to count on Monday. The weather was awesome and we got to sit outside at Pier 14, right on the beach overlooking the ocean. I think I drank about 20 margs and ate enough salt to satisfy a camel – ? Do they like salt? Not sure but it sounds good.
tab numbero dos
perfection
Rewind to Saturday after the race… it was time to PARTY! Whit was done with her race and placed, Brooke accomplished her first 5k. Bill and Wes both had PRs and awesome race experiences. I blew my time away and met my secret goal and Tom was finally done hearing me bitch and complain about being nervous (pretty sure he had the most to celebrate out of anyone). So of course we had a fun day of drinking ahead of us.
Nothing makes an ice bath better like a cup of coffee oh… AND a glass of champagne. Score to that. I can’t say no to champagne. This was waiting for me when I got back to the room… awesome!
so excited!
Ice bathed it up, drank a few celebratory drinks and finally got my slow, hurting, tired butt moving enough to get ready to head out. After a few glasses of champagne, some coronas we were all set!
once it hits your lips...
We decided to do a little bar-hopping at Broadway at the Beach. Margaritaville was our first stop. For some nice refreshing drinks and food, of course. Starving by this point. I ate and tried to down my first drink on top of the 5 gallons of water I was drinking. Wasn’t feeling that great and didn’t know how I’d ever last and wondered what time would be acceptable to go to bed. My legs were killing me and I felt like I could barely keep my eyes open.
sunburnt blondes with drinks - hot?
not as good as it looks
Fast forward to a few frozen drinks later and some tunes on the Jukebox at Fat Tuesdays and we were good to go. Most of us, anyway 
picking out songs
being weird
the group
hold on... to your... ?
mexican
Which then turned into Sunday, lounging/drinking and then some… more pics to come!
Memory Lane Monday – The Entertainer
Hanging out with the rents and baby bro last night was a great time. I busted out all of our old photo albums and started going through them. ALWAYS a good time. Especially when you are drinking wine and reminiscing. I liked this pic because I am being weird as usual and entertaining Jake. There seemed to be a lot of pictures of us where I’m being goofy and posing or entertaining Jake the camera.
BI-LO Marathon Myrtle Beach, 2012 – Recap
that's right!
Well to say the least I was very nervous and anxious about this one. After walking around a lot on Friday and not exactly eating the best Friday night. I was starting to freak out a little bit more. Before bed I was feeling some knee pain and my legs were just kind of tired overall. I thought ‘Oh well, there is nothing I can do about this now, and I can’t change anything I’ve done over the past few weeks so it’s take it or leave it, and just DO it’. I knew running this race would be the confidence booster that I need right now to get things back on track for me and have me feeling awesome again. But I knew it could go the other way as well. What if… I DNF’ed!!!? Or hurt myself further, or had to walk, or got a bad time?? All these things running through my head. Marathon’s are truly a ‘mental mind fuck’.
Waking up at 4:45am that morning, I felt some hip tightness, my piriformis hurt and my right foot felt a little off. I decided to skip the oatmeal since I ate so much the night before and just took a caffeinated Stinger. Got ready, and wondered if this was really happening right now. I had dreams the night before about going trail running with a bunch of spectators cheering me on. Hopefully that was a good sign. And I actually got a decent sleep (for me). It is what it is at this point… I needed to own up, pull myself together and do it!
own up
Ready… met up with Whit and Bill in the lobby and we were off to the start. Being goofy and skipping/jogging to the start (Bill was, not me). I definitely was starting to feel the excitement building!
high five
Perfect timing, just enough to do a little stretching, jump in our corrals (which there weren’t really any), and stand in line for the bathroom. Since this was a pretty small race they just had a few flags set up with pacing times and where everyone could start. Half and Full Marathoners all started together. Walking around finding my spot I definitely felt proud to be wearing the Full Marathon, yellow bib. Waiting in line I was chatting with some tall dude probably in his late 50′s, who had run this race 47 times!! He was like “ya’ll tryin to get a sub 4″. I said “we’ll see”. We told each other good luck and we were off.
ready or not
give blood - get to the front of the line
It’s definitely hard to hold back at the beginning of the race. Especially when starting with Half Marathoners because everyone heads out really fast and you feel like you are going super slow. It’s all about pacing though and you have to remind yourself how far you have yet to go. I felt decent the first few miles, which worried me a little bit since they normally are crap. I was pacing at 8:30ish, which was faster than I had planned. But I went with it. Looked for Whit and T-Lo at mile 1 but must have missed them. Too bad because I was about to pass off my camera since all my pics were coming out like this…
am i drunk already?
There were a few out and back parts of this run and the first one came up so I started looking for Bill. We passed each other ‘looking good Bill!!!’, gave a shout out, and kept going. Not really sure why I forgot to take a pic for him. It’s fun and also a little tough to see the other people coming back already. One more reminder… it’s YOUR race, no one elses.
you and the miles
The airport was around mile 6ish? (Bill, confirm). The sun was rising and had some great shots. Looking all around, could see runners ahead of me up at a turn. To my left the people at the front of the pack way ahead. Gorgeous views, running, pushing ahead – this is what it’s all about.
who's the dude on the bike?
I kept my I-pod off until around 7 miles, just so I could really enjoy the run and have something to look forward to later on. I felt really good, some knee and ITB pain creeping up around the 6/7′s, but that is typical and wasn’t anything to be alarmed about. Starting listening to some good tunes and mile 10 seemed to come up quick. I knew I’d be seeing W&T at mile 11 so I started looking out for them and planned to stop, stretch, say hi and drop off my camera. They were super psyched to see me and hear that I felt good, but thought I was weird for stopping. I know if I stretch out sometimes or walk through water stops that I’ll run faster and more efficient when I start back up again so to me it is worth 30 seconds or so to stop if I’m gaining extra time and energy at the end. Either way I forgot to leave my camera anyway…
So I said bye and after seeing Whit and T-Bizzle at mile 11, I knew I had this race. I didn’t say anything about my time goal but at that point felt really good (despite still having 15 miles to go), and knew I would most likely break 4 if I kept up my pace the way I was heading. I was also about to start the ‘real’ part of the race. The - ’true dirt, hardcore, grit, take it or leave it, love it/hate it, push your limits, feel the pain, sweat, every muscle you own, every thread of perseverance you have, you against the miles’. Ok so I’m being a little dramatic, but I like the second half of the race better and when we split off from the Halfers I started to get really excited and feel the marathon love.
the split
just the marathoners now
I ended up not taking too many more pics at the end. I had a great time just enjoying the miles and the scenery. Surprisingly there were a decent amount of spectators after the half mark, which I wasn’t expecting. My one and only bathroom stop was around mile 16 I think. They had porto’s every few miles or so. Usually just one or two together. I didn’t feel like I had to go at all until then, which is nice because sometimes that can take a while, be annoying and waste time. The ones I picked were right on the beach, I ran in… no line, I even scored TP.
the sun is gonna rise
Running behind a legit Irish Goat for a while. Yes, that is actually how his race bib was registered. He was wearing the 5 fingered sneaks and running in a goat hat and silver race shorts. Makes me really want to do something creative one of these times. I asked him if I could take my pic with him. He smiled, and I’m sure thought I was a weirdo.
Right after the goat sighting, I was feeling really good and stepping it up. This was around 16/17. Then I noticed a runner collapsed, and a few others standing around him checking his pulse. Some people ran ahead and were waving down the EMT. Heard the ambulance sirens… and saw help on the way. 17.5 I decided there was no need to push it… I’d finish, and nothing is worth jeopardizing your health. Although ask me that question at mile 25 and I’ll tell you a different story. Later we did find out that the runner suffered from cardiac arrest and had to get rushed to the hospital… very serious and very scary.
Can’t even remember what mile this was but, Jake – I took this one for you, buddy!! Notice the Shoney’s in the background.
shoney's - don't ask
Miles 24/25 I was running with some Team in Training pacers. They were pacing for a 4:00 finish, but said they were ahead a little bit. I saw them throughout most of the race, on and off. But it was nice and encouraging to be finishing up the last few miles with them. One of the things that I love about marathons is that you meet a lot of people and can talk to random people along the way. I ran mile 22ish with some dude, and we were saying how it’s just a training run from here on out. That’s all we had left… just a few more. I met a VA state trooper, who I kept seeing along the course as well and we shared a few stories. Although apparently people don’t really like to chat it up during the end and I was getting some annoyed looks.
Mile 23 I saw a street sign and it was named ‘Wildwood Rd’ , I’d like to think of that as a little sign from Harv. Knew I could keep on going after that. My fav part of the race was towards the end on a little path, nice and shaded, breezy and perfect to push the limits. Lots of thinking done back here.
Rounding up the last mile, I think I crossed the 26 point and saw T-Bomb walking. Totally not seeing me or ready since I was way early. No energy to yell but luckily he turned around and was shocked to see me. I was like… ‘I KNOW! SUB 4, baby’, threw my sweaty camera to him and kept running. Then I saw Whit, Bill, Brooke and Wes. Bill’s voice was booming all the way into the chute. ‘Go, go, go!!!’. Amazing to have such awesome friends there supporting me. Having people cheer you on, especially at the end makes it all that much sweeter.
The part of the marathon that you think about on all your training runs and picture over and over again in your head has to be the end, the chute with all the spectators yelling your name. Seconds and feet from the finish, and crossing that line. I got the honor of rolling through the finish line with one of the wheelchair guys who I was talking with along the way. We told each other we were doing a great job and it was fun to cross the line with him. Booking it to the end, knowing I had time to spare hearing my name and the fact that I was doing a great job was an amazing feeling. THAT is what makes all the training worth it. THAT feeling crossing the finish line, finishing and knowing how much you rocked it! I wish I could harness that and feel that every morning when I woke up, or just every day.
my posture sucks
Either way… I finished up, got my medal and made my way over to the water. Saw Whit first and was so psyched that I had friends there with me at the end to enjoy! And we ALL had a lot to feel accomplished about.
I normally don’t like to do splits for a race because the Garm always seems to be off. But every time I passed the mile markers I got a ‘beep’ for a while. So I think this time it was fairly accurate.
26.39 – (per Garmin) 3:56:08 – 9:28, 8:49, 8:32, 8:34, 8:51, 8:46, 8:42, 9:42, 8:26, 8:45, 8:49, 9:15, 8:37, 8:40, 9:47, 10:15, 8:45, 8:41, 9:00, 8:46, 9:18, 8:47, 9:12, 9:11, 8:56, 8:29 – 7:56
26.2 – (per PrecisionRace.com) 3:55:47 – Splittime1 - 57:12 Splittime2 – 1:56:37
One Marathon Equals One Carrot Cake
5 gillion calories
How many marathons does it take to burn one big ass piece of carrot cake!? Probably more than one. I’d say… maybe two and a whole season of training. I’m not even sure how many calories were in this thing that I ate the other night but it was damn good. And I kind of didn’t even care.
Ok… so now I care. After running, and leading up to this race, I’ve pretty much been eating like food is going out of style despite the fact that I told myself I shouldn’t be. Well… I had 3 hours and 55 minutes to think about all this last Saturday and give myself a major mental pep talk. I also know my body could have worked a lot better and felt a lot better, had I been treating it like I was running a marathon, not like I was trying to score a spot on Biggest Loser. Although wouldn’t mind Bob Harper as a personal trainer (Shan – that one was for you ).
Anyway, thinking about all of this food stuff has finally put me back into my place. If you want to perform well, you have to pull out all the stops. You can’t go half-assed. It’s like training without doing speedwork (something else I’m awesome at doing). Besides the fact that your body recovers much quicker if you eat right, drink water and rest. So if PR-ing or BQ-ing is something that I truly truly want, then I have to step back and look at my life as a whole and not just as a ‘season’ or a ‘race’. It’s a lifestyle, it’s a love.
According to DailyMile I burned 3,053 calories while running Bi-Lo. Pretty cool. One of the reasons I love long runs.
WORKOUT – yoga class
ANATOMY FUN FACT – In the recovery period the conditions in muscle fibers are returned to normal, preexertion levels. After a period of moderate activity, it may take several hours for muscle fibers to recover. After sustained activity at higher levels, complete recovery can take a week.
Cold Turkey
Goals aren’t set in stone. They are meant to be met – first of all. And if you find yourself not reaching them, it’s time to change, reassess and update your goal so that it is more manageable and attainable. Instead of going cold-turkey.
HERE were my 2012 New Year Goals. I want to re-evaluate them and take a look again because I really want to keep up with them this year and follow through. Obvi since the first one on my list is to OWN IT. So how have I been doing.. ? Not that great. Definitely better with making an effort to do what I say I’m going to do. Can always improve on that, but I’m more aware of some of my actions and things that I say and commit to. Also keeping the balance even keel has been a bit better as well. Again, I’m more aware… and it’s going to be a long work in progress. Then there’s the eating… not good at all. Most of that comes with being stressed out though. And I need the mind frame that I don’t have to go ‘cold turkey’ but it’s a gradual, long term life change (not that it’s a change, but just getting back on track after the past few months). And thinking back to last year and how well I was eating and fueling my body during training. So here’s to the turkey…
BI-LO Marathon – Stats (Marathon #2)
BI-LO Marathon – Myrtle Beach, SC 2.18.12
APRIL FORSYTH #613
Philadelphia, PAAge: 29 Gender: F
| Distance | MAR |
| Clock Time | 3:56:12 |
| Chip Time | 3:55:47 |
| Age Grade | 57.4% |
| Split 6 5 M | 57:12 |
| Split 13 1 M | 1:56:37 |
| Split 18 5 M | 2:45:03 |
| Pace | 8:59 |
Can I get Some ‘Wooder’ Please?
Water, wooder, wuter, whater… however you say it. I need some! Running through the water stops at the race… apparently everyone knew I was from up North or from Philly. I would ask if they were handing out ‘wooder’ or powerade. And they would give me a funny look and say ‘you mean whater?’ Yes.
is that 'wooder'?
This week will consist of rest and lots of ‘wooder’. I think I hydrated pretty well after the race. To the point that I couldn’t even get drunk on Saturday night because I hydrated too much… which is a good thing. But I made up for that yesterday…
I’ll also be working on my race recap and fun stories from the weekend!! Good times – both fun and race.
Secret Goal
Well I DID it!!! I met my ‘secret goal’. The one that I didn’t tell anyone. The goal that I only had in my head and never actually said out loud. Until…. I got to the start today and was talking with another runner who asked me what my pace was today. And because I thought he was inquiring and wondering why I was in the 3:45 hour pace corral… I felt obligated to lie tell the truth about my real goal. And once I said it out loud I knew it was real, and I got scared. But, long story short (and no worries… you will get the full long story), but I met my “Secret Goal” and it was to Sub 4:00. Yes, yes, yes… I DID it! I could not be more proud right now, and I am on cloud 26.2 euphoria!!!
Bi-Lo, Pre-Marathon Thoughts
How do I feel about my overall training for the Bi Lo Marathon? Well… all things considered (injury, time off from running, weight, eating, attitude… etc etc), I think I did pretty damn well. With training, that is. We’ll see what happens on actual race day. Do I feel ready?? Yes and No. I guess that is always going to be the answer with a race though. Yes, I feel ready mentally… well I did anyway. Up until this week. Those last minute paranoid thoughts are starting to creep in. And with lack of sleep and trying to fight off a cold or whatever it is, I’m having those nagging doubts. Yesterday I was so tired I even thought about dropping down to the half. What the F*ck!? Seriously? I squashed that thought the mila-second it popped in my head.
When I really think about this, and think about my 20 miler I know I can do it. I know it’s going to be harder than SD, I know I will have to psych myself out and mentally prep and do a lot of pep talking. But I do feel mentally prepared for this. However… that is not everything – by a long shot. Am I physically ready? No. I did as much training as I could in the short amount of time that I had. I’m pretty surprised at my accomplishments, but I know I could be way ahead of where I am right now. Body/health aspect? No. Haven’t eaten as well as I should have been. Haven’t dropped the pounds that I should have or built up the muscle that I need. But… short time, it’s pretty decent and I am feeling good about it.
I’ve also been reading up on Racing Multiple Marathons in one season. I decided to look at Saturday, today, tomorrow as the official start of my marathon season. This race isn’t just a race, however the start of my training for the next few months, end goal – San Diego. With that said… I need to be cautious of my body, my time and how hard I am pushing myself. Meaning, if I don’t reach the time goals I want, that’s ok I’ll try not to be psychotic about it, it’s just a ‘training run’. And really, it is. It’s meant to be fun and enjoyable, and I’ll worry about time and effort when I run another race… maybe NYC?
HERE – is some motivation. Ben’s Story is awesome and so inspirational…
Goals: Yes I have a few. 1- finish and have fun (always) 2 – sub ?? (time goals always scare me). There’s always the secret number in my head that I won’t reveal until the race is over. But I think it changed from the time I came up with it a few weeks ago.
HERE is the course, Bib # 613
Looking back on my SD training, I did log more miles and definitely over a shorter period of time. The longest month I had last spring was 112 miles in May. And the most I’ve done this season is 141 in January. However I did have some of my fastest times last spring. So it will be a good comparison.
Uber paranoid! Always. But, it is what it is… things could go either way. Everything all needs to fall into place. Sleep, feeling well, aches and pains, ITBand, food and fuel the night before, morning of, going to the bathroom… not having any stomach problems, clothing malfunctions, weather, whatever. If everything comes together the night before and the morning of, and I feel decent… I know I will be able to do it, and do it well…
do the damn thing!!
Lost and Insecure
You Found Me…. at 4:30am, wide awake. Having a test, traveling and running a marathon all in one week is a lot of stress for a normal person whatever you’d classify me as. Especially not being ready for this race in a few ways where I’d like to have been. One major one would be getting lots of sleep this week, which obviously isn’t happening since I’m up at night taking crappy random pics with my cell phone camera and listening to music…
Next Week
I might actually agree with this guy…
really!?
Doubtful. But I KNOW I’m going to be hurting. Day two after the marathon, AND after flying. Never a great thing for your legs. I really really really hope I’m in a great mood from doing an awesome job. However, I know my body is going to hate me… and I’m anticipating some ITBand, knee issues and probably some major foot pain. Seeing as how training has gone and the problems that I’ve had, I can foresee how I’ll feel. SO I need to make suuuuuuuper sure that I rest, REST, REST!!! No hurry to start training for SD right away. I rather need to take a break and rest my body and then jump into training when I’m ready. I’m not going to lose that much in a few months. I should be able to hit up the long runs pretty easily again. I’m glad my coaches have been reminding me of this too, because I get way ahead of myself and too excited sometimes. It’s better to do two marathons in one season then only one because of injury or over training. (thanks, Aram).
WORKOUT – yoga
ANATOMY FUN FACT – Recovery Period: the conditions in muscle fibers are re-turned to normal, preexertion levels. After a period of moderate activity, it may take several hours for muscle fibers to recover. After sustained activity at higher levels, complete re-covery can take a week.
Memory Lane Monday – Em
In honor of Em’s baby shower coming up in a few weeks… (don’t worry, she knows about it). Her and Nate Dawg are going to make some of the best parents that I know and I’m so excited for them. Also excited for Em to be able to drink again a little selfish I know.
The Last Run
Today was my last run before the marathon. Needed to shake out my legs one more time and get them moving. Also wanted to feel for any aches and pains that my Doc could fix up on Monday. I’m trying to think back to last year before SD and what my last run felt like. I know I had major paranoia but can’t remember if my runs were as shitty as they have been lately. Today wasn’t too bad. Much better than my 11 minute one miler on the treadmill yesterday. I’ve been hurting for a while now…. not really sure why when I haven’t had a long run in over a week. Cutting back on all workouts, tapering my running so why does this happen. My body is screaming for a break and making sure that I take one? Who knows. This is why taper is hard, and the two weeks before the race, not running are even harder than all the training was. Over the next week I’ll be only doing yoga, and my PT on Monday. Lots of water!!! Tons of protein and healthy stuff.
ready to rock
Red Hot Love
Haven’t done a ‘things I’m obsessed with this month’ post in a while. And what better time to talk about love then February. I’ve always loved Valentine’s day… I’m not even really sure why. Who doesn’t love, roses, pink and red, and chocolate? Maybe that’s why. Anyway… here are some things I love lately…
1.New Nike rain jacket 2.VS lipgloss in ‘Slice of Heaven’ 3.Trail running 4.Looking forward, being nervous, anxious, scared, excited for another marathon!!! 5.Planning an upcoming vacay (done and done… and who would have thought, Vegas. 6.Planning my 30th B-day extravaganza 7.More blonde 8.THIS song 9.and THIS song 10.Enjoying one glass of wine, instead of downing a whole bottle 11.Tiff’s key necklaces 12.V-day (of course!) 13.Learning about the heart 14.This day in February 15.Red nails, red lips 16.Flannel shirts – especially when they are not my own 17.Kale 18.Chocolate covered espresso beans 19.Chocolate covered anything 20.Life (had to throw that one in there again for good measure – it’s been a while)
My Fundraising Page
Get ready because you are going to get tired of hearing me blab about this. But the fundraising and true running season has begun. And I’m ready to raise $$$$ and run for a REASON! So please consider donating and feel free to pass along my page to all your media outlets and web-based friends
Re-fueling Without Cookies
It’s hard to get back into good eating habits when you were off of them for so long. And your Mom and Grandmom made 20 zillion delicious cookies over the holidays, that you claimed you wouldn’t eat but ended up kicking back most of them. Is this acceptable when you are training? Yes… only if you are up to your 20 mile runs and are already in shape.
However this is not acceptable when you have lbs to shed while you are training. Over the past few weeks it has been very refreshing eating healthy again, and I feel better. However, I still have a while to go. And logging tons of miles and working out like crazy definitely requires lots of healthy food options. Trying to get a lot of protein in with a good mix of fruits, veggies and carbs.
Some things I’ve relied on throughout the past few weeks of training…
greens are good
Fallen in love with Kale, Spinach’s BFF. Goes with everything and super easy to throw in salads or just microwave and add it to rice, pasta… maybe even smoothies? Haven’t tried that one yet.
tastes like dessert for breakfast
tons of protein
Good old greek yogurt. I have yet to find anything that has this much protein, without all the sugar, fat etc and tastes so good. AND you can do so much with. Goes well with fruits, veggies, meat, fish… on a potato, in oatmeal… literally everything. There is just nothing that compares.
And of course, NO COOKIES! (ok… maybe one on my long run day) Especially when they are this good. But hey, at least this little guy has cherries in it..
cherry chocolate oatmeal
I Heart Running
True story. We all know that. However I am learning about the ‘real’ heart in Anatomy right now. VERY interesting and I am comparing a lot to real life. Our bodies are seriously amazing. Did you know that our hearts pump enough blood in one day to fill 40 – 55 gallon drums. That’s crazy. AND goes to show how important it is to keep our heart healthy… physically and emotionally ;)
heart strings
I scored a prime spot at Barnes & Noble today. Actually I had to stalk some girl and run over to her seat as soon as she got up, but whatever… I got a window seat. Lots of studying done and hopefully actually retained most of it.
staring out the window instead of studying
Good thing for this upcoming test because I don’t know what else I would do with myself during taper. I am getting more and more antsy everyday!!
WORKOUT – 6 miles, 15min bike, yoga
Memory Lane Monday – Ap and Lor
Ap and Lor together usually equals bad news… OR a really good time! I mentioned to my parents yesterday that her and I would be visiting Sin City in about a month. The consensus seemed to be that it was going to be a blast and also be careful and come back alive.
PS – Lor, don’t hate me for posting this…
Goals – the good, the bad, the ugly
Found THIS post today by MichaelRunner - an Ultra Marathoner and Cyclist (no, I don’t hate all of them) who I follow on Twitter. I’m really glad I read this because it made me step back a bit and really think about what I’m doing here over the next few months. Goals are great!! However, goals that are set too high or too unrealistic can be counter productive. One – if you set your goal ridiculously high that it would be impossible to achieve then you are going to be disappointed and down on yourself. For instance if I said I wanted to be a millionaire by the end of 2012, yes that is an amazing goal and of course I would want that – who wouldn’t? But is it going to happen? Not unless I win the lottery or find some rich dude to marry (better chances with the lottery). And number Two – goals are met to be set, and attained and then made bigger and better. So you want something that you can actually reach. I also love MR’s take on Training Sabotage and other people. Sometimes I would have to tell people that I gave up this or that during training or that I wanted to lose 5 more lbs. Or that I can’t go out because I wanted to run the next day. And people would say ‘ oh you are fine ‘ or ‘you can still drink’ or ‘you are crazy for trying to lose more weight’ etc. etc. Whatever the case may be but I would get really really annoyed. It’s not their goal it’s MY goal. And have they ever ran a marathon or trained their ass off for something that they wanted so badly!!? Maybe, maybe not. But unless they are me and have the same exact goal then don’t give advice or try to sabotage my good intentions. And last but not least… REST.
Groundhog Says…
Go to VEGAS!! Ok. He’s apparently always right. 6 more weeks of winter, what does that mean? Plan a little vacation. Last year I went to Mexico with Whit and Em for what we liked to call the first annual “Girl’s Gone Wild Weekend” (GGWWI). And no it wasn’t crazy… we basically just laid on the beach, drank a lot and hung out in the sun. Glorious and much needed in January. Well, this year it’s a different group, but I wanted to keep the tradition going so Lor and I decided to hit up Vegas. Why!? Um, why NOT!? SO psyched!
Cold Beer on a Friday Night
The sweet taste of a cold beer, especially when you have been depriving yourself. Glorious. I had a little Heine last night at the Team in Training Kickoff event. It tasted oh SO good. Great event last night and I am super excited to start the training and fundraising season again. Also love the fact that all of our practices are on Saturday mornings this year. The main reason – Saturday drinking after running. Score. It was nice to get the schedule and see when the long runs will be and how I can plan out my spring training. I’ll talk more about this later. One marathon at a time is enough to think about.
Anyway, had a decent run this morning. The real taper began today since I only did 8, steady pace, didn’t look at the Garm too much and just enjoyed the run. It feels weird not to push it. And it feels unnatural to only be running 8. I was a little hard on myself after Wednesday’s run of 12. My body hurt a lot and I didn’t feel like I pushed as hard as I could have. Thinking to myself… ‘what the hell, it was only 12!’. Then I get realistic and think…. seriously 12 miles is good! What is my prob? This is what the marathon craziness does to me.
Well it was worth it today because it was nice and sunny out. Even though my hands were freezing. And on the way back I heard THIS (something about it just makes you want to drive around a back mountain road in your truck with the windows open and radio blaring), and then saw this…
reasons to run
Put a smile on my face as I rounded a corner and saw the sun glistening off of the water, combined with the music and thoughts of drinking and having a good time. Life. Is. Good.
WORKOUT – 8 miles, yoga class
Shot Bloks
These guys are starting to replace my love for Sharkies. 200 cals for two servings, which is one pack. Just the right amount of chewy-ness. Mostly all organic and natural. Packed with electrolytes and cals in each cube so you can track how much you are taking in. You can pop one at a time or eat the whole thing before a run (like I do of course). And what’s the best part… some even have caffeine!
Taper Whether you Like it or Not
We all know I hate taper… obviously from THIS, and my overall complaining about not running. However my body is screaming ‘taper!’ this time. I’ve been having a hard time getting my legs to get that amazing you could run forever feeling… pretty much since my first 16 miler. So my body is telling me, and basically making me taper… whether I want to or not. I’ve been getting slower and slower, and it’s harder and harder. I can’t remember if this happened last time or not. But either way I’ll listen to what my body is telling me. Damn you, taper.
taper it up
We are coming down to the wire and it’s about that time when I start to feel really out of shape, not trained or at all ready. Tired. Wondering how I ever ran so far and felt so good. Rib hurts, back hurts… sleepless nights. This is taper, love it or leave it.
So what am I going to do with all of my spare time? Start packing for SC…
all my running crap
