Sorry I’ve been MIA. I’ve been busy trying to get some things in order. But, don’t worry, I’ll get you all caught up.
Wednesday is usually the day my best friend and I go for a walk in the Park. Last week we realized that with Autumn quickly approaching, the sun sets pretty early in the evening. We knew that walking in the dark again was out of the question. So, we decided to stay in and workout with Bob on the Biggest Loser Cardio Max DVD. We did level 1, and encouraged each other all the way through until the end. It was a great workout and we were both really sweating. However, we might have to figure out a better place to put the coffee table, because 2 big girls doing cardio in my living room needed a little more space….My plan was to stick to my running schedule and go to the gym after we finished, but I was too tired, and didn’t go.
Friday, at work we were allowed to dress up in costumes to celebrate Halloween. I work at a very conservative law firm and we are never allowed to wear jeans or have casual days. So, all of us paralegals got together and decided that we would wear jeans, and dress up as “paralegals who work at a law firm with casual Fridays.” It was kinda funny. The human resources people thought it was creative, and we all knew with the workload they give us, there was no way they were going to send us all of us home….One of the attorneys dressed up as Flo from the Progressive Car Insurance commercials. Another senior attorney dressed as the Chilean Miner and 2 associates dressed up too, one dressed as his wife and the other as his girlfriend. It was sooo funny they had the signs and everything. It was quite the conversation piece…if you don’t know the story, during a candle light vigil for the trapped miners, one of the wives was shocked to hear another woman chanting her husband’s name. I guess it’s actually more sad than funny…It was just funny that they chose that as a Halloween costume.…Another guy was actually a little scary dressed as Michael Myers from the Halloween movies….Friday night, I cooked Parmesan crusted tilapia, mixed veggies and rice. It was so good and filling. I stayed at home and watched a movie because my sinuses are bothering me AGAIN. I’ve never had this many repeat sinus issues in my life.
Saturday afternoon my little sister and I went to the park. She told me she was “happy to have her sister back” …referring to the fact that Mr. Man and I are no longer dating, and we get to spend more time together…. I ran for just a little bit, and then couldn’t run anymore. I don’t know really why…was it this allergy cold sinus thing? Was I just being lazy? Was it because my ankle was hurting? Do I have a mental block with week 3? I don’t know; I was disappointed with myself. I didn’t feel like giving up or anything, we still walked about 2 miles, but I just didn’t run. I’m so glad that I signed up for the Team in Training. The kick off is next week-end, and then the sessions with the trainer will start. I think a change of scene and a new plan will get me motivated again.
Today, I went to church. My plan was to go to the studio afterwards and create Week 3 for the bridge to 10k, but that’s nearly impossible with my nasal voice. I sound like a frog and I’m constantly blowing my nose and making gross throat noises. I don’t actually feel sick, I sound worse than it actually is…..Well that’s about it. I hope to get back to running tomorrow.
The Bridge to 10 K training podcast for Week 1 is finally up! It’s available for you to download. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think.
All day long I was fighting myself about tonight’s run. I was sitting at my desk at work, asking myself, why in the world did I sign up for a half marathon? Who would volunteer to run 13 miles? Then, I started thinking to myself, I probably can’t even do it…This evening when I came home, I talked on the phone with my best friend until almost 7 pm, like that would make my running obligations disappear. When I got off the phone, the run was still there looming in my thoughts. How did Monday come so quickly? I got dressed in my cut off t-shirt and sweat pants anyway and picked up my little sister, who asked to join me. I was dreading today’s workout all the way through the warm-up walk and part of the first 90 second run. Then it hit me, “Why am I fighting myself?” Is that not one of the dumbest things a person can do? We have so many things that are out of our control on a daily basis, why waste time and energy fighting myself? It was time to stop being lazy and making excuses….I started to run a little faster, and the looming, “you’ll never make it” cloud above me started to fade. It’s all mental. It’s just a head game that I play with myself. But the good part is, I have control over my thoughts, and your thoughts shape your reality….so, with a cramp in my side, and my juicy calf muscles burning on fire, I boldly tackled Day 1 of Week 3.
I drug myself out of bed at 10 this morning and cooked some breakfast. I tend to stick to my workout plan better when I have a specific plan like, Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Finally by about 1 this afternoon I was able to dig out enough motivation to go to the park. I knew before I got there that I didn’t feel like running. My stomach was hurting and I was tired. As soon as I heard the running plan for today, I changed to another song. That’s pretty bad to turn off my own podcast, but I just didn’t feel like it. I wanted to take in the beautiful fall day; it was a sunny, yet breezy 75 degrees. I strolled along and looked at the different lakes and trees. There couples on picnics and Dad’s fishing with their kids. Then, I ran into some new construction and a fork in the road of my normal path. I was being adventurous and decided to try the road less traveled. There was a newly paved path on the opposite side of the lake. I almost got lost, but was nice to see the park from a different perspective. Or, I was just walking so slowly, that I actually paid attention to the ripples in the pond and the burnt orange colored autumn leaves. I enjoyed it; it was nice to relax with nature after long week at work. After about an hour, I had made my way back to my car. I’ll probably start Week 3 on Monday, because tomorrow I have a studio appointment. Our goal is to finish Week 2 of the Bridge to 10K podcast. I’m going to work on getting the page setup for you download soon. Well, I’ll chat with y’all later, I’m about to take a shower and go to the movies with my girl from work. Have a Great Weekend!
Well, first things first, I’m going to talk about the big pink elephant standing in the room that everyone sees, but no one wants to talk about. What the heck am I talking about? Mr. Man….. If you really regularly read my blog you probably noticed that I haven’t mentioned him. That’s because we’re no longer dating…*pause for gasp*…..Don’t worry or freak out. I’m okay…really I am….I’m not just saying it. I would give details, but I respect that everyone does not like their personal business broadcast over the internet. But I will say that it ended amicably; there was no drama, no tears. Long story short, we were good on all the little things. We had fun playing games, dancing, and even working out together, but we had different ideas when it came to our visions of the future. In order for a relationship to work, both people have to want the same things, and we didn’t. So…. that’s about all I can say….
I went to the LLS Team in Training meeting last night and officially signed the contract stating that I would finish the Half Marathon and raise at least $900 to help find a cure for cancer. There’s no turning back now….Since today is Wednesday, my best friend and I went to the park. I told her that I was finishing up Week 2 and that I would have to run intervals while she walked. It wasn’t even 7 o’clock yet, but the sun was already set. We were both a little nervous about working out in Forest Park after dark. My friend jokingly looked up at the sky and started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, since the moon and stars were already shining. We walked and talked during the 5 minute warm up, and then I took off running for the first interval. As it got darker and darker, I felt less and less safe. I started walking back towards her. I would run ahead and then walk back, so that we could still see each other. By that last run, it was really dark. I started hearing weird things, I felt like Dorothy in the enchanted forest, scared that one of those winged monkey things were gonna jump out at me. All of the other bikers and runners had flashing lights, but; we only had the will to get in our routine Wednesday workout, clueless that we should’ve had appropriate night gear. I told my girl that our “Wednesday Walk” was going to have to become our Wednesday Workout at home DVD. She quickly agreed, as our cool down became a hurried walk back to my car. Our legs were totally feeling the burn, but we were still moving quickly, so as not to become a scene from a scary movie or tomorrow’s newspaper headline. We’re big city girls and walking alone in a public park at night, is just not something that you do…. Thankfully, we survived the night without getting mugged or run over by a biker. I survived all 3 days of Week 2 and welcome the challenge of Week 3.
