Worst Case Scenario

What is the worst thing that could happen if I challenge myself?

This?

I am quite sure I will not get squashed by a giant... I am guilty of conjuring up the worst case scenario or playing the What if game. During my last half marathon I wore last years capri tights, I love those tights. But they have seen one race too many, one washing too many. They are thin. I'm talking you can see skin underneath thin! Not good. I got one last wear out of them and during the race I kept worrying that the stitching was going to give, they would split at the seam and leave my bare bottom for the world to see. Those tights held it together throughout the entire race (thank God). My point is that I have a bad habit of expecting the worst, passing up awesome opportunities because of what if, not taking chances because I am afraid to fail, or afraid of not living up to what I expect.

What are you putting off because of fear, what ifs, or the worst case scenario?

And now, how can I say no to all you bloggies out there encouraging me to run with THE Tall Mom on the Run? It’s a date! Thanks everyone! And Mel, I will most likely wear spandex (not my see through ones) and it is NOT cute.

Today is my weird workout day. I teach water aerobics so that was the first thing on my morning agenda. Then I did my easy three miles which was a relief to my sore rear, and weights. Man, I still can’t believe this soreness in my bottom. No wonder the Seattle Half marathon kicked my bootie last year, I was NOT in hill shape. I am thinking after a few more Hill Interval training sessions I will be at least a little bit better off than last year.

On a side note, Lynda Drews sent me a copy of her new book Run at Destruction, a true story about a close-knit culture of long-distance runners (i.e. people like you and me!). And to top it all off it was described by Sean Ryan, the Race Director of the Cellom Green Bay Marathon, as being "the John Grisham of the running world...". I can't wait to read it and give my book report! And there might be a little somthin' somethin' in it for you too! Maybe my first give away!?

Today I am grateful for:

Being healthy. You know how when you are sick all you can think about is how awesome it would be to not be sick? Well I am grateful for not being sick.

Tiny pumpkins scattered throughout my house.

A running date with Mel this weekend!

A good book to get lost in!

Run Happy Peeps!

Hills make my Bottom hurt

Today’s run was a little lot better than yesterday. Thanks to all you who reminded me that we sometimes have those not-so-good running days. Yesterday was the worst I have had in a long time.

My schedule called for 7x400m Intervals at 5K pace. I had planned on doing my run in the morning, but this cold, crisp air is making my morning runs a real challenge for me. So I went to work and decided to do my run this afternoon. I got home from work and cracked open a Vanilla Bean Gu. I don’t normally use these unless I am dong a long training run or in a race but today I felt sluggish. Plus I have GU on the mind (thanks to Tall Mom’s awesome Little Pink GU giveaway, check it out HERE)! I think it really helped me today in my work out!

I found a good hill that was just under 400 meters long with a flat start and a flat ending. I ran up that stupid hill SEVEN times. Normally when I do my intervals I run my fast one and jog a slow one (on a track). Today I decided to run up the hill and walk down. I didn’t want my down hills to be my fast splits after all (and I am being nice to my shin). My fast splits were slightly slower than they usually are on the track by about 10- 20 seconds, no surprise there

Today’s Stats:

1/2 mile warm up

Fast/Slow
2:04.00/ 3:45.63
1:54.65/ 3:57.72
2:04.58/ 3:39.02
2:10.14/ 3:59.46
2:01.13/ 3:46.11
2:04.78/ 4:07.56
2:02.50/ 3:57.53
3.5 Miles

4 Miles total

Overall it seems my splits were pretty consistent. Even so, I really wanted to quit. When I got three down I told myself that one more and I could quit, after all this was not normal interval training…BUT I didn’t. I did my fifth one and then there were only 2 left. You know that feeling you get when you wanted to quit but you stuck it out and didn’t quit? Well that is how I felt when I finished my last uphill. Pretty darn good.

My shin was not feeling 100% but it felt much better than yesterday. Plus this hill really kicked my booty. Literally, my bottom hurts.

Ok, now for a true confession. I might run with Mel over at Tall Mom on the Run this weekend (not familiar with her blog? Click the link above for the GU giveaway)! Now the truth is I think she may plum outrun me. :) I am new to this sub 9 min/mile business and have not dabbled in the sub 8 min/mile realm yet (not to mention that I can barely hold this pace for more than a few miles). I don’t want to slow her down. Although if she stops at another garage sale mid run I might stand a chance! She has 14 miles on her plan, I have 8. I could catch her at the tail end of her 14 and run her last 8, and I am sure she will still be faster. Should I do it?

Today I am grateful for:
An awesome $100 Fleet Feet gift card purchased for $50!
Hot showers!
My Little Buddy's super silly back to school pictures, he is that kid making the funny face in the class picture (classic).
Cozy blankets!

Run Happy Peeps!

Short and Not-So-Sweet

Today I was in a mood. Not quite sure what kind of mood it was but it was not exactly good. Normally a good run makes that mood go away, not today.

I set out for an easy 7 miles. Immediately I realized it was not going to be easy and to make things even more awesome (insert sarcasm here) I had over dressed. A mile in I tied my sweat shirt around my waist and continued on (annoying). Normally, I can lose myself in my thoughts and find myself in La La Land, not today. I have had some heavy things on my mind lately and I guess it carried over to my run and my LEGS. They felt heavy and just didn’t want to move. My right shin started aching and I started focusing on that ache. Not a good idea. With every step I could feel it and it felt like my leg might just snap in half if I hit the next step at just the wrong angle. Ewe! That would not be good. Then I imagined how that conversation would go, “Hi honey, my leg just snapped in two at the shin. Think you could give me a lift? Oh, whose phone am I using? Some stranger who just stopped to gawk at this sick leg wound.” I told you all I can be dramatic.

Needless to say I survived 4 measly miles without my leg snapping in two. I call today a success. And so it seems I am facing some early signs of my old shin splints. Yay ME.

Today’s stats:
4 Miles-slow.

Tomorrow I am planning on hitting up a hill to do my ¼ mile intervals. We will see how that goes.

Today I am grateful:
Burgers cooked on the grill.
My Little Buddy’s wild imagination that cracks me up constantly.
Houses that decorate for Halloween!
Costa Rican Coffee...mmmm....
Tall Mom is giving away some GU so head over and check it out! (click HERE!)

Listen to the Mustn'ts

Tonight The Hubs was reading short poems to my Little Buddy. The poem below caught my attention and I knew I had to share it with you all!

Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS

Listen to the SHOULDN'TS

The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me-
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.
-The Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends)

I know I am guilty of getting caught up the Mustn'ts, Don'ts, Shouldn'ts, Impossibles, Won'ts and Never Haves...but Anything can be!

Today I am grateful for:

The shortest trip in the history of Army Trips (Yay, hubs is home!)

The park!

Story time with my Little Buddy!

A most relaxing weekend!

Run Happy Peeps!

Farewell Run....

Oh I am so dramatic. :) The Hubs is headed out of town for the weekend so this morning I got to go for a great 3 mile run with him, which is a real treat and he hasn't been able to since his pretty serious ITB injury back in May. But let me back up.

Yesterday was my 35 min tempo run. It went ok. Tempos are not my favorite workout. I started out the first 10 min pretty slow, 10 min/mile to 9 min/mile pace. Then I slowly sped up every minute or less until I was running at around 7:30 min/mile range. By the time I hit that pace I only had to hold it for about 5 minutes then started to slow it down for the remaining 6 min. I was SO sweaty! I have never been so sweaty before! I was running on the treadmill and it was unusually hot in the gym but man, was I soaked. AN the RB was on the treadmill one over from me and she laughed at me because I had a perfect dry spot in the shape of my sports bra, the rest of the shirt was drenched. Ewe. In the end, the workout was done and I was happy.

So, today’s stats are my best yet!
3.05 miles
25:11.10
384 calories
155 bpm (average heart rate)

Mile 1: 8:15.52
Mile 2: 8:16.60
Mile 3: 8:03.60 (Wowzers!)

So I guess I need to run with The Hubs more often!!!

Now, I am a day off of my plan which works out ok. I can do my short 3 miler at the gym tomorrow (while my Little Buddy is in the nursery), rest Sunday, and hit my longer 7 mile run on Monday.

Today I am grateful for:
A good run.
Sore sore sore abs and hip flexors from Ab Ripper P90X!
Trips to the dog park!
Coffee!

Oh my goodness bloggy friends! You have to go check out Westford Mommy! She is having an awesome give away for a Mile 22 bag! If you have not checked these sweet bags out you HAVE to!! Clicky anywhere on this sentence!!!!

Run Happy peeps! And good luck to all of you out there running races!

Failure is a ROUGH word.

I found this quote today and it hit me like a brick wall:

"I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying."

Michael Jordan (#23! HA! I just had to add that!)

The more I run and train for the Seattle Half the more I worry that I wont be able to meet my goal of sub 2 hours. IF I don't reach my goal will it be failure? I honestly don't think so, 13.1 miles is a long way after all. And how many people head out to run a half marathon the weekend after Thanksgiving? Actually a lot according to the number of people that were running last year, aaaaanyway... But in the scheme of things running a half marathon at all is an accomplishment. Why do I neeeed to meet my goal so bad?

I feel like I can't move on to marathon training until I have broken the 2 hour half mark. I know, crazy.

In the end, I am trying. I am working harder, training harder and training smarter than I have for any other race. Only once before have I given everything I had only to fail, truly fail in every sense of the word. And that time is still considered a failure. But this, this half marathon will not be considered a failure. After all there is always another half, another race...another chance. For now I will give it my all and continue to train on these hills and shoot for a sub 2 hour half marathon on the toughest course I have ever run.

I will leave you all with this: "Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."- Lou Holtz

May you all find the Motivation and Attitude to reach your greatest Ability!

Today I am grateful for:

A beautiful drive along the water.

The Biggest Loser.

Warm and cozy PJ's.

Chore Charts that work like a charm for my 4 year old.

Run Happy Peeps!

Hills HURT.

There is no way around it, hills are painful. Simply, they hurt. Today on my 7 mile run I was pulled like a magnet to 30th street, the spawn of The Hill of Death. I set out with no route planned, just 7 miles on the Garmin, my MP3 player (not to be confused with my dead iPod), sunshine, and my thoughts. I ran and found myself running down 30th. The entire way down I was thinking “What goes down must come back up”. There is no way to get back home without running up a sick hill. At the end of the hill I turned to run on the (flat) path next to the water, but it is a popular place for walkers and often crowded and annoying, not to mention I would have ended up running up The Hill of Death to get to the street that leads back home. So I turned around and ran back up 30th, The Spawn of 36th. I did pretty well but it killed my time and my splits.

Stats for this run:
Mile 1: 8:45
Mile 2: 8:53
Mile 3: 8:41 (Elevation lost 766 ft to find myself 10 feet above sea level)
Mile 4: 12:10 (Ugh, elevation gained 760 feet)
Mile 5: 11:28 (recovering and feeling sorry for myself)
Mile 6: 9:49 (Hello 9 minute mile…)
Mile 7: 9:07 (that’s close to more like it)

I take it as a good sign that my times dropped after I recovered from the hill. No matter how much I hate hills, or how much they hurt, they are what I need right now. Seattle half is merciless, unforgiving and full of HILLS.

Now, for the hard part.

Accountability.

What happened to my mileage last week? 7.5 miles total. THAT my friends is terrible. Unacceptable. Inexcusable. I have no excuse. I skipped my 3 mile run on Friday, not sure why. And my long run today should have been counted for last weeks total but I do my weekly mileage Sunday to Saturday. I may reconsider and log my miles from Monday to Sunday. Anyway, for some reason the plan had this past week as a low mileage week. I have to trust plan and hope it will have me ready for Seattle in only 9 weeks! 9 weeks? NINE weeks...

Today I am grateful for:
Teriyaki
Wild blackberries
Cool tents in the living room for my Little Buddy to take a nap in.
My Wok, have I been openly grateful for that yet? Either way it is AWESOME!
All my AMAZING bloggy followers!

Runny Happy friends!

I'm SO HUNGRY.

Lately I have been so hungry! I know it is the running and the increased weight lifting but I just feel SO hungry all the time. And suprisingly, it is my rest days that are the hardest and I feel the most hungry. What is up with that!? I am trying to eat things that are good for me. My sugar challenge kind of fell off the cliff BUT I am super proud to admit that I am doing so much better and unofficially I have been cutting back on sweets. Just this week my husband was surprised that there was some Tuberlone that has been in the cabinet for about 3 or 4 weeks, I haven't eaten it. There is ice cream in the freezer left over from my son's birthday party (in early August). Now I am not saying that I don't eat anything with sugar or chocolate, that would be a lie. Simply I have cut back and it is getting easier. The challenge is finding snacks that make me feel full and are good for me but not gross.

What are some things you do when you are starving througout the day?

Today I am grateful for:
FRIDAY!!
Toothpaste (hey it is the simple things in life, right?)
Technology!
An awesome giveaway over at Fit This, Girl for her 100th celbration! Head over for your chance to win a sweet piece of jewelry (click anywhere on the sentence)!

Run Happy Peeps!!