Virgin Half Mary

I finished my first half marathon last weekend. It was hard and VERY painful. My jockstrap always says, "Suffer for it". That I did.

You can read the report HERE. I'm hoping to do another one next month, but we'll see how the leg is doing. I really don't understand why I love running so much. It freaking hurts!!

Buh-bye, June

Engage your abs.

Yea, you know. Because they're there. So you should, right? I don't know. I keep hearing that in my head at various times during various activities. Seems like a good idea.

Okay, so June is over. Well, I guess it's not technically over yet. But it's the last day of the month. And what a month it has been.
In June, I:

» Officially started paying rent for a new massage space (loving it!)
» Had a bit of a mental breakdown (okay, it was a pretty good one, but whatever)
» Swam a total of 2.1 miles (more than I've ever really swam...swum...swimmed? whatever)
» Biked 119.54 miles (definitely more than I've ever ridden in my life)
» Ran 23.29 miles (need to do more of this)
» Stayed up late on Sunday, the 27th, to watch Ironman Live (I hate your damn leader boards!) to watch Jeremy Webb kick ass and become an Ironman (wicka wicka whoohoo!)
» Lost 6 lbs. (4 of them were last week)

Thanks to some great pep texts/emails, I pulled my shit back together and I'm only moving forward from here. Thanks you guys. You know who you are.

A “Fish” in water � In Search of Awesome

A “Fish” in water � In Search of Awesome

Once again, I'm too lazy to post this in two different places. So please wander on over to my fitness blog and take a gander at what I learned about swimming.

May Day 5K

I thought I had written more posts this week. Odd. Oh well. It's been a busy week.

Ran the May Day 5K, "Run For the Veterans" yesterday here in Republic. It was fun. The course was an out and back in a residential area that was very well marked and manned by volunteers. The start was typical. I started in the middle of the pack as usual. There was a bit of a bottle neck as we transitioned from the road by the fitness center to the walking/running/cycling path. I don't think anyone got hurt, but I definitely was not liking the temporary "herd" feeling.

Realized real quick that the field was pretty fast. Mike said he started to worry because so many people were finishing and they still didn't see me. Then he realized the clock was no where NEAR my projected finish. That's the way it goes.

I kept it steady, worked on some things I've been having issues with on my training runs and tried to have fun. I did. Ha, around mile 2, there was this old guy standing out on his driveway with some sort of organ thing on a stand. He was turning a crank and it was making music. Not that I could really hear it over Static X. I thought it was pretty neat, though.

Official time: 00:33:28
Pace: 10:45/mile

Good: I had fun, worked on my breathing and staying relaxed. The proceeds for this race are going to build a Veteran's memorial here in Republic and to the Cox Fitness scholarship program.
Also Good: I weighed myself before the race... I lost 5 pounds last week. Whoot!
Bad: My left foot betrayed me near the end and started turning out to the left which took some power away from my push. Definitely caused some wasted energy there. Also bad, I was wearing a pink race belt with a red shirt. Ha! I know. I'm definitely not a fashion plate.

I should mention that my husband, kids, mother-in-law and neighbors all did the 1 mile Fun run/walk. :) I was proud of all of them for participating. My youngest ran the whole mile with the girl next door and was pretty stoked. I think he's hooked on running now which is awesome.

More goals? Yes, please.

Today I registered for my first half marathon. I'm going to do the Maynard Cohick Half Marathon at this year's Bass Pro Outdoor Fitness Festival. Last year I ran the 5K. That was my first race ever. I have sense run in three other 5K events and have one coming up this Saturday. I may not be very good at it, but I love running. It's a challenge every time I head out. I dig challenges. Especially self-imposed ones.

I ran today. I felt I had to. I wasn't really feeling up to it, but after receiving email from my "athletic advisor", Bobby, telling me how great I'm doing, I felt guilty not doing something. I've been riding my bike 13 miles and running as far as I can on Sundays. Last week was great. Today was meh. I'm okay with that. I wasn't really hydrated enough to be out running, but still managed to keep my pace under 00:13:00. I can totally live with that.

Here are my current goals:
Keep running 3X per week and work on getting my pace down to 12:00/mile
Ride my bike, John Holmes, for 13 miles, twice per week. I need to start watching my speed and keep my average at about 13.5 mph.

These are awesome realistic goals. I don't what I would do with Bobby. He says he's not my coach. HE calls himself my athletic advisor (I know you were wondering who said that since it was in quotes), but that sounds too much like athletic supporter. This has resulted in his new nickname from me: Jockstrap. And here I never thought I would need one! ;)

What's the dealio?

Let's see... I've been in a pool ONCE since my last post. I (obviously) did not drown. I've been running and riding as I get the chance. Those also have not killed me. I have a buckeye account which rocks so I can SEE how awesome I am (or badly I suck).

Having trouble running lately and not sure why. Sunday before last I ran 4 miles and felt awesome. That was the farthest I've ever run. I was super proud of myself. For various reasons, the rest of that week I sucked on my (attempted) runs. Not getting more than about a mile and a half in before complete failure. What the hell? I don't know. This past Sunday, I managed to eke out three miles. But only because I had to make it home. I was in so much pain when I finally struggled up the few steps from the garage into the house. I started bawling and managed to make it into the living room before making it to the floor and crying some more. WHY did my damn legs hurt so bad? What had happened? What changed? Why was I able to kick so much ass just a week before this? I took my very first no-ice ice bath that day. I ran enough cold water to cover my legs and got in, fully dressed. HOLY SHIITAKE!!! Well, it made me stop crying... Because I couldn't freaking breathe! I seriously began to think I would never take a full breath ever again. How do you people DO that??! Jeebus.

Yesterday was better. I biked 12.29 miles in 26+mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph. Yes, I will mention that every time because it made it really damn hard. REALLY hard. If you have any idea where I live (near Wilson's Creek Battlefield) you know that there are some pretty decent hills nearby. I'm new at this. Those hills hurt like a mo'fo'. But I did it. In just over an hour. A couple of hours after that, I headed out for a run. I ran 2 miles and it took an eternity. Okay, really it only took about 29 min. I had to walk a lot more than I wanted to because my left leg started up again.

So here's what I need to do:
* sign up for swimming lessons (I swam 300 yds in 17:20...REALLY need to improve THAT)
* find the $$ to pay my dude co-worker to perform 2 hrs of magic on my legs/hips/glutes at least once a week
* stop whining... I swear, I'll work on it. But sweet baby jeebus, it gets windy here in the middle!
* take my baby, John Holmes, in for a spring tune up. They're free for crying out loud.

I promise to work on the whining thing. I will try to remember that with training conditions like this, I could very well be a machine by August. ;) And that would rock faces.

On a funny note, I got a haircut yesterday and the girl cut it too short. It's so hard to tell when you have curly hair how short it is until it's completely dry. I will be rockin' it Mammy style (or finding time to straighten it) for a while ;). So here's a pic of the result....

Livestrong Benefit 5K for LAF

I did some running yesterday. Not my fastest race time, but not my worst either. You can read about it over here.

Who's Got Two Feet and Some Snazzy New Kicks? THIS Girl!

Amazing what some nice weather and a new pair of shoes can do for ones mood. I bought new running shoes yesterday at The Starting Block. It was the first time I've ever had gait analysis done to buy a pair of shoes. Awesome! Found out I don't walk quite right. I overpronate slightly, but not every time. It figures.
I bought a pair of Newton Running Lady Isaac Guidance Trainers. These are, hands down, the most comfortable running shoes I've ever put on my feet. And I hate shoes. In my opinion, all shoes should be like Vibram Fivefingers. Well, except for people who do manual labor and could drop heavy things on their feet. ;)
My "life and tri coach" says of that picture, "It's a triathlete's foot!" Of course, that was yesterday. Today, he's not speaking to me because he found out I've never seen 'The Big Labowski'. Now I have to find time to watch this movie...

Yeah, I'm going to need these...

Vibram Five Fingers Bikila Barefoot Running Shoe Coming in March or April (New model) - Vibram Five Fingers Fans