Running into a wall...

So the running has reached a standstill.... its like all the sudden the running has caught up with my legs. I was suppose to run 8 on Saturday... didn't happen, ran 3 and my left shin was killing me, so stopped with the 3. Had hoped they'd feel better and could run my other 5 on Sunday but no luck... even yesterday & today my shin is aching... I know if its shin splint I have no choice but to lay off. But its killing me... I feel very fat... need to stop eating... FAST! Today is a scheduled off day, so I'm going to hit the gym after work for some weights and hopefully I'll feel like running tomorrow. Hubby is working tonight :(... so it will be a wild evening with the dogs! I seriously think they love it when he's gone so they can see their mom (me) spaz out at them.

Big news is... my fisher price kitchen I ordered off of Ebay two weeks ago will be here today!!! Can't wait to get home to check it out... now I just need fake food! Maybe the puppies and I will have a tea party tonight with my new kitchen! Joking!!!!!

Playing catch up...

Thursday I got my quick 3 mile run in, no problem. Saturday I had to run 6 miles... this actually felt good!!! It was a great way to start the day! Monday I had a 3 mile run, but due to all the snow on the ground I hit the treadmill instead of the road... about mile 1.5 started feeling faint... tried to walk it off... but still felt like I was gonna pass out. So I stopped at mile 2.1. I have a 5 mile run scheduled for tonight, but still ice/snow on the road. So I dont know what I will do. I may try to switch to a 3 miler tonight and then run 5 tomorrow. Who knows... I feel lazy after no running Sunday, short run on Monday, did weights yesterday... but I need to feel the cardio burn ya know!

Saturday we had date day in Evansville! My sweet husband volunteered to take me shopping!!! And he hates, hates, hates shopping. Found a cute things at Ann Taylor Loft though! Went out to a quick dinner at Logans and then we were back home with our furry kids. Sunday we went to church and then cleaned! He bought me a ice cream cake for Vday... yummy!!! I am still eating on it!

Til next time, Blue Skies!

Here I am again not keeping up with the posting. Well Saturday I was scheduled for a 5 mile run... but woke up to snow and ice on the ground. I can barely make it to and from my car with it on the ground, much less run 5 miles on it. So my sweet husband volunteered to drive me to the gym so I could get my run in a on a treadmill. Well I survived it, but I HATE running on treadmills. HATE HATE HATE treadmills.

Monday's run was short and simply, only a 3 miler! Nose & Ears got a little numb though. Today I have a 4 mile run ahead of me, but there is a good bit of snow & ice on the ground along with really strong, cold wind... so it looks like its back to the gym I go for another run on a treadmill. :(

Cutting the time off slowly...

Had a 4 mile run last night ... so short cause I'm only in my 2nd week of the training plan (ummm yea, yay for 8 more weeks of it). Cut some time off of it! Yay.... I've never ever ever been a fast runner, but I really want to start improving on my time.

I've found the secret to running longer is to keep your mind off on what a pain it is to run. Thinking about something else... anything else... just NOT running... well just not the pain of running. Yesterday I thought about running the New York Marathon... I made a deal with a friend in college that no mater where we were that in the year we turned 30 we'd run the New York Marathon. Well that means ALOT of training... but I really really really want to be a marathon runner, so I just have to do it. '

3 mile run tonight... then just being bored.

The Serious Runner in Me!

So now that I had ran a few 5k's and had kept up with the training... it was time for bigger and better things... aka, a bigger race. Well along with the Jax Marine Corp 5k we ran they too offer a half marathon. Well in 2008, my mom, little sister, and I all decided to train for that race. My sister LeighAnne was going to compete too but she's an advanced runner so it was nothing for her!

Training started 12 weeks from race day... aka in the middle of summer in Daytona Beach Florida for me. It was no easy task... I had to fit in runs around work and school... and some days get up super early to run before classes. Then on Saturdays I had my long runs.... and we are talking in 90 degree heat here people. I would literally come back and be soaked in my own sweat (sexy I know)... my face would be red from the heat... I would be so sticky from the sweat I would find little flies stuck to my face (sexy again I know). Many a Saturdays I'd run my long distance... hit up some pasta at Olive Garden (I wasted alot of money there during my college career)... then hit up the beach with friends... ah that was the life!

So now we are ready for the race. The day before it I went up to JAX to meet up with my sister LeighAnne and some of her friends for a great dinner in JAX and a little shopping... we had a blast carb loading and drinking a few beers!!! I was so nervous going to sleep that night... that I may way up or forget some important part of my running gear for the next day. Got up the next day and headed to the start of the race at the Jacksonville Jags stadium... there I met up with my mom and little sister who had driven in from Georgia. Also my first ERAU friend Dan and my best friend Anne Claire drove up from Daytona... Dan was competing in the 5k and Anne Claire was cheering us on! I did forget something though... I normally wear two sports bra's when I run... this time I forgot the second one... oops! Anyways, my mom, Emma, and I all decided to run the race together.... gun goes off and .5 mile into it my mom has already pulled away. Seeing her lack of team spirit ;) Emma and I decide to run together... there were several times we wanted to stop & walk... but we pushed through it! Craziest part of run was when we went over one of the huge bridges in downtown Jax... rather that concrete on the bridge, it was a grate type of metal over it... so running over felt odd... plus you could see the water 100 ft below you through the holes in the grate... odd feeling, like you may fall through it! We kept seeing mile markers like 5, 7, 9 and kept telling each other just to make to the next mile... finally we got to say mile 10 and decided like hell we were walking that we had run that far we were just gonna keep running.... and we did. But at mile 11 Emma started to slow... so I broke away... the last few miles were a pain... you had to run up this huge ramp to a overhead, outdoor walkway and your legs were soooo tired... then you had to run by a coffee factory... after running 12 miles... the smell of coffee wants to make you puke. The last two miles I kept looking back thinking Emma was gonna make a late charge... my one goal in this race was to beat her! And guess what... I did!!!! Hahahahhaha Emma! :P I ran the entire 13.1 miles... felt like I had been run over by a train after that! We all went to Cracker Barrel after the race and loaded up on some yummy breakfast food! So that was my first half marathons... more to come!!!!

Me, LeighAnne, Emma, & My Mom at CB!

Most awesome pic ever taken by Dan... this is me & AC after the race... can you tell how tired I was???

So why running?

I ask myself that all the time, why do I run? I have an extreme love/hate relationship with it. I complain and whine about it... but I still run... I ache from it... but I still run. I've always been active, playing sports - softball, baseball, soccer, snowboarding, skiing, golf, racquetball, swimming... you name it, I played it. I always tried to run a bit... a couple of miles here and there. In college working out became more of an addiction thanks for my friend Chris... who for a summer got me on a radical work out and healthy eating plan... sadly, the eating plan isn't as good as it was then. In January after that I started at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University... my friend Bruce who was already a student suggested I run the Rolex 24 5k race with him... then my first ever new friend at school, Dan, suggested I run it too... then next thing I knew I had two of my roomies signed up as well! The race was really cool, it took you around the Daytona speedway and you got a free ticket to the Rolex 24 for running it!

My first roomies at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University... Rosie & Shirley!

Walking to the race in the early am with Shirley & Dan.

So after that I kept up with the running, I realized I enjoyed it and made several "running" buddies at school. We use to all go to the track and run together... then while we were running start talking about what we were hungry for... get done running and go get that food we had been craving!!! Later that year 2007, I ran the Jacksonville Marine Corp 5k with my mom, sisters Emma & LeighAnne. It had rained for days straight before this race and the finish was in a grassy flat area of a park. Well coming around the corner into the park finish I was a few seconds ahead of my little sister... then she started sprinting for the finish as did I... well the grassy finish was a huge mud pit... we both ended up with mud splattered all over us. And sadly, she finished .5 seconds ahead of me... I vowed there, never again would she beat me.

Emma, Me, LeighAnne, & My Mamma after the Jax Marine Corp 5k.

Catch Up!

So I am now way behind on this blog... what a great way to start it. Quick catch up... runs last week went well, short and quick to start with. Did my long run on Sunday, new route, so its always interesting to find out which houses have dogs! Thankfully if it wasn't for a very strong fence I'd probably be dog meat by now! Monday's run was short but ugly... my legs just didn't want to go. Have a 4 miler tonight... its in the high 30's here now (geez, this is gonna be a warm run)... dreading it but know if I get through the first mile I'll be ok.