Snow, Snow, go away!

Don't come back for a LONG LONG TIME! I am so sick of this snow! It's going to be April in 2 short hours and there is snow covering my front yard. OVER IT!!! I am ready to run outside, yet I refuse to do so if there is white, slippery stuff covering the sidewalks. So, I stick to the boring treadmill. This snow better get lost before the long runs start getting REALLY long! This weekend is just 5 miles, I can do that on the treadmill, I suppose! :)
i ran 3.5 yesterday and the knees were screaming, but I survived.
Tomorrow is the weekly weigh in! The scale better be kind to me ;)

Just a small town girl...

As I was beginning my run today this song came on my ipod and I knew it was a sign. "Don't stop believing!!!" That's right! I am going to do the damn thing! :)
So, not much else to report.
Goal for today: 3.5 miles SUCCESS!! :)
Tomorrow is a cycle day! My happy place! :)

week 3: FAIL!!!

Oh my heavens! I fell off track this week! We had birthdays and injuries and babies born and.....a whole bunch of other excuses that are just that, EXCUSES! I have not run since my 4 miles on Monday. I intended to get 5 miles in today, but alas, I didn't. I am disappointed in myself. Disappointed enough to go get on the treadmill at 9:42? No, but disappointed nonetheless. Luckily, Mr. Higdon planned for slackers like me when he put in the "run a 5k race" week. I guess I will be skipping that week and making up for my failure of a week. I got some crappy news today from my husband. He said that Chase Utley (some baseball player for a team that is NOT the Red Sox and who I therefore do not know) has the same injury that I have and the guys on ESPN said it is usually only resolved with surgery. I am going to put my faith in the sports med dr I saw in the fall who assured me I would be ok with rest, stretching and strength training rather than the announcers on a sports channel :)

In other news, Phil and I are really thinking about doing a Warrior Dash. there are 3 or 4 that are about 5 hours from us and we are trying to decide which one will fit best into our schedule this summer. I am scared..but excited!

Tomorrow is Monday and a new day, a new week. I WILL get all of my runs in this week, I have to! :)

Keeping up with the...

My biggest struggle with running is mental. I have horrible self image which leads to horrible self talk. If one of my friends posts their run on facebook and I see it before my run, I am doomed. I am constantly trying to keep up. A friend asked a question earlier about how do you stop comparing yourself...i need to find the answer to this question. I am CONSTANTLY comparing myself to everyone else. My best friend is skinnier, has bigger boobs, more money and worst of all..is faster than me. When she posts her run on facebook I am always thinking "crap, now i have to push really hard tonight." WHY??? I need to remember I am only racing against myself. Crawl, walk, run or roll..I just need to CROSS that finish line after 13.1 miles. ::::SIGH::: someday I will learn.
Goal today: 3.5 miles, Actual: 4 miles in 45 minutes. Slow, but DONE! :)

Another Sunday...another Cheat day

Well, I woke up with my knees still aching. About an hour later I was greeted by a puking 21 month old baby girl :( so, instead of trying to attempt a run like I was thinking of doing, I held sweet Adriana until she didn't want to be held anymore. She seemed to have perked as the day went on.
Tomorrow begins week #3. I am going to attempt 3.5 miles and hopefully succeed :) wish me luck!!!

Week 2: Complete...kind of :/

Well, I got my miles in..but they weren't all running miles. I went to the gym today feeling pretty good. I got on the treadmill and my knee started screaming at me about .5 a mile in. So, I decided to ignore it and keep going. When I got to mile 1, I knew I would be tempting fate if I kept going. So, I hopped off the treadmill and onto the arc trainer. I did a mile on there and then 3 miles on the bike and decided to hop back on the treadmill to see what I could do. I ended up running my fastest mile ever at 9:40. Which, to you runners out there may seem slow as heck, but for me, the wanna be runner, it was fast. I bought a new ice pack for my knee and I will stick to my strength and stretch routine so I can get across the finish line on May 29. I wish my body didn't hate running so much :(

FYI: McDonalds is NOT a good pre-run meal.

Ok, so, HI! I know I've been MIA. I am not good at this blog thing, but I promise to try to get better for those 1 or 2 people out there who actually read this!
So, I am almost done with week 2 of my training. And I'm still alive! :) Good news!!!
Today, I took the day off of work and spent the day with the family! We went on a playdate with my bff and Camden's bff. (they just happen to be mother and son! :)) Well, being that we live in a town with NOTHING to do, we went to McDonalds. I cheated BIG TIME on the diet and had an Angus Mushroom Swiss burger. It was tasty, but it was not kind to me on the treadmill afterward. I have never felt such a nasty feeling in my stomach. Around mile 2.5 I honestly thought about quitting. But, I decided to just speed up and get it over with, so I did. But, lesson learned here: NEVER EVER eat McDonald's before a run. Gross! My stomach still isn't quite right.
In other news: I ran on Monday, cycled on Tuesday and took Wednesday and Thursday off. Oops! But, tomorrow is my long run of 4 miles. Then, I will only have 10 weeks left! Can't believe it!

Day of Rest...

So why do I feel so guilty? I feel like a sloth today! I didn't work out at all, it was a scheduled day off. But, I went out for a little girls' night last night and stayed out too late and consumed too many liquid calories, which in turn turned into me eating 1100 calories of greasy breakfast today. So, not only did I not exercise, I ate like a cow also. But, that is why I weigh in on Fridays, I've got a bunch of days to work that GNO off! Tomorrow's Goal: 3 miles!

Week 1: COMPLETE!!!!

Today is supposed to be my stretch and strength day, but Friday is treat day at work, so I needed to burn some serious calories! That, combined with being stuck at home with a sick and sleepy baby on a Friday night, made me decide to do my long run tonight instead of tomorrow morning! So, I completed my 4 mile run and it wasn't torture! I was slow, but I am just worried about getting the miles in right now, I will worry about speed later! And even better news! I get to go to cycling tomorrow morning!! YAY!!! :) I lost a pound this week, too! I hope I'm finally ready to lose this weight for GOOD!

Day 3: still not pretty..

I got my 3 mile run in..but it was ugly. Super ugly! But, there is no where to go but up! Time: 32:31.
Nothing else to report! ZUMBA tomorrow :)

Day 2: spin class!

I adjusted my whole training schedule so that I could fit spin class on Tuesday nights in :) It's my favorite workout and I just couldn't give it up altogether! I was willing to give up my Saturday morning Spin class for a while to fit in the long runs, but I MUST cycle at least once per week. So, today was a cross training day and I did my 45 minutes of cycling. Pretty uneventful day, training wise. Tomorrow's goal: 3 miles.

3 IS my lucky number :)

Day 1: 3 miles: complete!
It wasn't pretty, but it's done and I do believe the first step is the hardest! I ran 3 miles on my treadmill in 33 minutes and 33 seconds. Pretty neat number configuration!!
Here's how my run went:
Get home from work, listen to 3 cranky, non napped toddlers whine over everything. Feed said toddlers dinner, while listening to the oldest whine that he didn't want the dinner that he had asked for 3 seconds earlier. I gave 2 of the 3 a bath. Put pajamas on 3 children, put 3 little precious beings to sleep, cleaned up the chalk from the playroom walls. I then looked for my ipod for what seemed like forever, went up and down the basement stairs 3 times after finally finding my ipod. Started up the old treadmill and looked at how far I had run every 3 seconds wondering when it would be over. I saw 3 spiders hanging from my ceiling in my basement. Well, my next run is 3 miles on Wednesday, it's gotta be better than today's!
Tomorrow is a cross training day, but I forgot to call the Y in time to get a bike for cycling, so I may be running 2 miles instead. Here's hoping I get off the wait list and into my favorite class!!!

The Day Before Training..

It's like the day before a big test in high school. Will I pass? Am I prepared? Actually, maybe college is a better analogy because I remember thinking "WHAT WAS I THINKING?" the night before a lot of tests and that is the exact feeling I am having right now. Every time I walk into the kitchen to the get the kids a snack or up the stairs to put someone to nap, I am faced head on with a schedule that I have to stick to for the next 12 weeks. I'm scared! I did it before I can do it again..but I didn't do it before and what if history repeats itself and I get to 9 miles and get hurt? I keep reminding myself that I have carried three humans in this body (two of them at the SAME time!), that means my body is able to do this one little race, right? I have a horrible headache today and my stomach is a bit off...is it the stress of my non napping children? the stress of deciding whether I am going to change our entire lives and change careers? or is is my nerves asking me, for probably the millionth time "WHAT WAS I THINKING??"
Tomorrow's Goal: 3 miles

Let's try this again...

About a eight months ago I got the crazy idea that maybe I'd like to run a marathon someday. I decided to ease myself into it and registered for a half marathon! I talked my best friend's husband into running with me and away we went. I am world's slowest runner. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a tortoise pass me on one of my longer runs. But, I decided that all I cared about was crossing the finish line. I didn't care how long it took as long as I crossed that finish line on October 24. I stuck to my training..kind of. I became fairly confident that I was going to actually be able to cross this one thing off my bucket list. I clocked the mileage to my parents's house from my house and it was an even 9 miles. PERFECT! I would run there on my 9 mile day! Well....I ran there...but that was the last long run I would have for a while. I got injured. So, instead of crossing the finish line on October 24, I stood at at the finish line and watched other people cross it. But, I'm ready to cross the finish line!!! I am going to run the Buffalo Half Marathon on May 29th. Did you hear that? I AM GOING TO CROSS THAT FINISH LINE!!! I will get to knock two things off the bucket list that weekend! First, I'm going to see the NKOTBSB tour on May 28 and the following morning I'm going to do some "hanging tough" of my own! I'm going to cross the finish line of my first half marathon! Training starts on Monday..here goes nothin'...again!