Goals

My running and fitness goals have changed so much over the past almost two years. I have gone back and forth in my head about whether or not I "care" if I get faster or not. I am currently applying to run for a charity in Boston 2015, but I'm scared about the fundraising minimum amount and not sure if I'd be successful at that. After talking to a runner friend on the phone tonight, I was reminded of how much I'd save financially if I didn't have to chance paying the difference of the amount I raise and the minimum I'm supposed to raise. A lot. So... back to the mindset of wanting to get faster.

Things that I worry about in trying to get faster:

• what if I can't? what if I just suck and can't get faster?
• what if I get injured by trying to change too much too quickly?
• what if I do improve a lot and still never qualify for Boston? 
• what if I don't know what to do to get faster? 
• what if I start to hate running because of the difficulty in getting faster?

I realize these are all silly questions (that or legit concerns), and need to just embrace the fact that it could work or I could have bad luck and it doesn't work. Either way I need to try. I bought a book to read on kindle about getting faster; Matt Fitzgerald is one of the authors, so hopefully it's good. 

I also realize that in order to get faster, I need to lose some weight. Someone already pointed out on Facebook that I need to be the correct "fitness level and body composition" in order to take a large amount of time off my PR. Is it going to be difficult to do more if I'm hungry from losing weight? 

So many questions...

Saturday Long Run and Sunday Decorating

I was planning on running in Elkhorn Saturday morning on a route I made on my Garmin Connect site, but decided to run from home instead. I made some steel cut oats with leftover pineapple from Thanksgiving for breakfast and it was yummy. :) I felt like I was running in place for the first half of my run; the wind didn't seem bad when I first stepped outside, but when I was trying to run against it I seemed to be standing still. I ran four miles out in the wind and turned around to do the four miles back home and it was much easier with a tailwind! My average pace doesn't show it being easier, but I felt it. 

Speaking of average pace, I'm hoping that at some point I become a little more consistent with my splits. Yesterday's run differed in over a minute per mile pace. I feel like as I run more and more it will even out more (I hope!). 

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 1:24:13.3 8.00 10:32 1 10:22.9 1.00 10:23 2 10:05.4 1.00 10:05 3 10:30.0 1.00 10:30 4 10:36.1 1.00 10:36 5 11:04.2 1.00 11:04 6 10:38.4 1.00 10:38 7 10:26.2 1.00 10:26 8 10:30.3 1.00 10:29

I forgot to take a picture before I ran and this isn't the best picture... but oh well. It was nice enough outside that I got by with just an Under Armour cold gear top and fleece, and a pair of Mizuno tights. 

Today I put my Christmas tree up! I don't put a ton of decorations up, but I have a few. It calms me to look at the tree and lights, and I'm glad I got it up early. 

I also met a friend at Panera for lunch and to help her study for a test. It is always nice to relax there and catch up. 

I have eight days left on my Dietbet! I have two pounds to lose in order to win (my share of the "pot"). I'm not sure how close other people are to hitting their goal - it looks like a few people are pretty close. I think that website is a great motivator for people to stay on track with their weight and support each other. If this one goes well, I might set up another for the rest of December. 

Black Friday Lunch

Thank goodness I didn't stress myself out at the stores today! I stayed at Tricia's last night and had my day planned out; and then Tricia had a change of her plans as of late last night so I had to reschedule some stuff. It worked out well in the end, and I think she enjoyed her day. :) I ended up helping her put up her Christmas tree this morning, and then drove home. I bundled up and went out for a quick four-miler on my favorite route. I love the bright morning runs out in the country! The snow looks so pretty and if you're bundled up well enough, the cool air feels good on your face, not freezing cold.

I'm loving the new cold gear I got for my birthday from Ellen and Robin - the shirts are a perfect fit and are keeping me warm!

I met my old college roommate, Kris, for lunch today in Rockford. The traffic was crazy and she had been shopping in the morning. She said that she got some good deals but that the wait in line wasn't worth it necessarily. I'd have to agree; most years I'd much rather skip the Black Friday craze and just stay in. We do an annual lunch date on this day, but most years I'm just making the trip to the restaurant and then back home.

I need to get busy with my Christmas decorations tomorrow; I drug my tree box upstairs today but haven't gotten it open yet. I love the first day of having the tree up - it's such a pleasant feeling to see the colors. :)

I planned a "long run" for tomorrow in a nearby town tomorrow morning. As of now I think I'll do 8; my longest run since my marathon is the 10k I did last Sunday. I had originally planned for 10, but I'll see how I feel when I'm running. I want to try running on new routes when I can, and I don't have any races this weekend.

Thanksgiving

I've had a lot happen since I last posted! I've ran many races, including my first half marathon (race) and marathon!

I want to try blogging again to stay accountable for my eating and running, as well as keeping track of my running gear so I can see what's working well and not.

I've totally fallen in love with running and everything related to it!! I've ordered snowshoes to try snowshoeing and snowshoe races in January.  They should arrive on Monday, so I'm hoping we still have some snow to try them out! I've also ordered Yaktrax to be able to run on icy sidewalks and roads. I'm gearing up for winter! I actually need to curb my running gear spending... it's getting a little out of hand! :)

Today was Thanksgiving, and I am happy and proud of my control so far today. I made a plan for the day, for running, eating and then other things I had to do. I ran four miles in Brodhead this morning.  It was a brisk morning, about 20 degrees. No wind, and sunny - a great morning for a run if you're bundled up! My hip and glute in my right leg were really stiff today (and have been since last Sunday's 10k). About 1/3 mile in it felt good, though. I ran a 2 mile out and back route to the edge of town. It was a great way to start the day.

I kept myself to one piece of dessert today - personal victory. :) I have about 12 days to lose 2 pounds for my Dietbet. I'm hoping to stay on track to make it!!

Tomorrow is tree day - both Tricia's and mine. :)

New Blog to Follow

I stumbled across a new blog that I love, it's called Run, Eat, Repeat. Monica, the blogger, is hilarious and gives great advice. I'm going back now and reading her earliest blogs, which gives me inspiration for mine. :) It won't start out at the same caliber as others who have been blogging for years, and that's okay.

Today I'm off to start my two weeks of teaching summer school. I like that I get a head start with some of my kids, and it gets me in to my room to start getting ready early. :). I still have to finish the other school work that I've been working on, and it needs to be done by Wednesday - thank goodness, 'cuz I'm sick of thinking about it!!

The scale has been stuck for about a week now... I need to get back to tracking all of my food. I'm going to attempt to track it and photograph it so I'm not as quick to scarf things down in a hurry without considering if I really want it or not. I want to lose about 13 more pounds and it's taking forever!

Breakfast today: coffee, 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 tbsp sugar, Activia Greek strawberry yogurt, 1 piece oatnut Brownberry bread, 1 tbsp No Sugar Added boysenberry preserves. = 7 PP

Snack: 2 bananas = 0 PP

Lunch: Harvest Chicken Salad wrap on Flatout Multigrain flatbread, Stacy's Naked pita chips, grapes = 11 PP

Summer school went well this morning! Everything worked well and I'm all set to go for tomorrow! :) Working on school stuff at home on the deck...

Only a couple more days of working on this before it's gotta be done!

I really would like to look into getting a health, wellness or fitness certification. I've thought this since college, but for a few years I fell out of love of the field, then back into it. I'm not sure how I would use it, other than in my daily life with family and friends, and possibly with my coaching.

Dinner tonight was one of my new favorites - turkey sausage with cheese! Two sausages (can you see the oozing cheese?!?), two corn on the cobb with blue bonnet light margarine, and applesauce. Yumm... 

For exercise today I did my third day of Insanity; so far I love it, but for some reason my activelink doesn't recognize much of the movement, so it doesn't give me much for points...grr. 

Rest Day

I am so sad that summer is coming to an end already... it's the second day of August! I have one week of non-teaching left, which is going to be spent on grad class work, and then two weeks of teaching summer school and then inservices start. Holy crap this summer went by so fast!

Today Burkie and I took a walk in the morning, and then I did laundry and did some straightening up around the house. I spent some of the day doing grad class work, and then went to school to try to get some documents that were saved on the school server - and then got there and the server was down! I am mentoring someone this year, so I have to get that person some general documents for them to use and now will have to wait until Monday.

Today was a rest day for my running program, which always feels weird. I usually spend the day wondering when I'm going to leave for my run. :) I took Burk for another walk later in the afternoon again today, so at I at least got 75% of my Activelink activity points in for the day. It connects to my Weight Watchers program and automatically gives my extra earned points to my weekly points. It kind of works like a fitbit, or a pedometer, only it measures all movement - not just steps.

Tomorrow my parents and sister are coming to visit, and we have plans to go on a boat tour and reservations to go out to eat in a nearby town where none of them have eaten before. I hope they enjoy both things. :)

MIA

Sorry, I've been missing a couple days. :) I got home late two nights ago when I had anticipated writing my blog for that day. But the good news was I found a new (to me elliptical) from Craigslist and brought it home! I had my cousin-in-law lend me the use of his truck, but he ended up driving and helping me load/unload the machine and carry it up to my house. I LOVE the new machine! It's only been used a couple times and is pretty much brand new. It sells for $999 new, and I bought it for $200! Steal of a deal! :) I love it so far.

Yesterday was kind of a boring day, and I basically just worked out on the new machine, took Burk for a walk, ran, and did laundry. I did run some errands in town, but other than that I didn't have much on the agenda.

Today I went to my local farmer's market; however when I got there, it was mostly picked over. I still bought some produce, and had it for dinner tonight. I got sweet corn, potatoes, blueberries, and tomatoes. Tomorrow I'm going to go to another local produce stand in town and get some more fruits and vegetables so I have some good stuff for this weekend. My parents and sister are visiting and we're celebrating my dad's birthday. He loves taking a boat tour of a nearby lake, so we'll do that on Saturday, and probably go out to eat.

My running has gone well this week; it's been a pretty easy mileage week so far. Sunday was Insanity, Monday was a rest day, Tuesday was 3 miles, Wednesday was 4 miles, today was 3 miles, tomorrow is a rest day, and Saturday is the kicker - 9 mile long run. I haven't ran that far since I did my half on the treadmill, and I have to make sure I get it done early in the morning that day since my family is coming.

Burkie and I took a walk somewhat late tonight after dinner. He was so excited to go that it's hard to not take him every day! :) He loves being outside and seeing things around the neighborhood, and I love getting to exercise peacefully and listening to my podcasts on my ipod. Recently I've been listening to a lot of Adam Carolla's and Dr. Drew Pinsky's podcasts (separate ones and ones of them together).