Long Runs and Best Friends

We are down to less than 25 days to the next half marathon. Every summer I make training plans that I really don't stick to. It's hard with two jobs and juggling a house while still having 4 other fitness hobbies. 

I told Katrina we were going to get our 8 miles in and we did. We weren't going to but we did it. We actually fueled it with chocolate pie and beer because we weren't really planning on going. (Don't try that at home) Somehow it became our best run! Haha

We ran 8 miles with a 10:38 pace. Not too shabby I thought. I just bought my new watch and this was our first run with it. I didn't know how it worked and through the entire run it said that we had a 12 minute pace or more so when we finished well under 11 we were thrilled! 

This weekend will be 11 miles. Then we will go back to 8 and then to 6. Then race weekend in Jamestown,NY. I am so excited to see where one of my best friends grew up. 

I'm so glad that I found a great running partner that is close in speed with me. This is the first time that I've had someone to train with and I love it. 

Do you have any races coming up?

New job, less workout.

So, yesterday I started my new job. I absolutely love it but I haven't had much time to finish my training for Sunday's
half marathon. This half marathon is pretty much what has inspired me to start blogging and twittering my goals.

On the plus side my new job is awesome! Everyone is so nice and I get my own office with my name on the outside. I've been training an hour away from home which is the main reason I haven't had time to train for the race. Tomorrow night I'll be staying overnight in the city so I'm hoping to get some decent miles in during the morning before I go to work.

I'm working at a near by college getting students ready to get started with school. So far, it's like a dream. I went to school for fashion and really wanted to own my own store one day, but things change. I've always known that I really want to work with people. Tomorrow is day number 3 and I couldn't be more excited!

Sunday I did get a decent run in. I ran 7 miles with some complications. It was a good run in the way that I found new routes and trails while fighting through the wind, rain and cold while having an asthma attack and almost passing out at the end. Nothing about that really sounds all that great but it was still a decent run.
On this run, I went to my usual park, but I was so sick of running in a circle that i thought I would venture off. I started on my first mile on flat surface onto a hill. By mile 1.10 I had an asthma attack. Now, I've been feeling like I'm getting sick and everything has been laying in my chest so I've been doing my breathing treatments and trying to load up on good stuff. (Which has helped) so I had to take a minor walk break to use my inhaler, which has felt like the millionth time I might add, and kept hauling up the hill. I've been told that there were trails at this park I go to so I thought I would find some and I did. I don't mind venturing around this park because no matter where I get lost, I'll always be able to find my way out. It sounds stupid but I can.
So, going into this run, I had goals of making it to 8 miles. That changed. After my asthma attack issue, I felt a lot better. At 3-5 miles I literally felt like I could do this all day, then mile 6 hit.
Let me back up to 2 hours prior, I had only eaten the salad that's pictured. For breakfast, I had a banana, egg, and some toast and I went running at 5:45pm. Needless to say, I defiantly didn't have enough food in my body for that in to hit 8 miles. So, I get to mile 6 and I start to feel dizzy and unable to focus. Every time this happens I normally pass out shortly after. Logically thinking about it now, I should have stopped then but that would have been the logical route. So I finished my mile to hit 7, grabbed my water and my Gatorade and went for a short walk until my liquids were gone.

Afterwards, I went over to my sister's house for dinner and tea. I'm not going to lie, Sunday's are one of my favorite days.

Now there is less than 5 days until the marathon and I honestly don't know when I'll get a training run in. I'm really not too worried about it though, I've done 13 miles before and I have absolute faith in myself to do it again. I'm pretty confident that this rest I'm getting is going to help me more than hinder me.

It's time to speak.

This is one of those tragedies where you'll never forget where you were when you found out about what happened. Monday April 15, 2013 I was in the produce section of Walmart. I got a text from one of my best friends from San Francisco asking if I was there. Jokingly, not knowing what happened, I answered back, "Hell no haha I was trying to watch it on TV but then realized I didn't have the channel. " He then explained to me what happened and told me his CEO was there but had already finished and was safe.
You'll never forget where you were or what you were doing. I was in shock, I didn't know what to do or say. As I got on twitter, I saw a ton of posts of people trying to retweet where other runners were to make sure they were safe.

I've never seen so much support from a group of people. I'm proud to be a runner. From Yesterday until May 5, is "Runners united to remember" it's a Facebook group where every run is dedicated to the Boston Marathon and you log your miles. I celebrated with my last long run before the half marathon with a half marathon. Even though I needed my inhaler about 4 times, this was the first time that I wasn't concerned about not being about to breathe or worrying about the pain in my legs. I didn't check my watch every 5 minutes and I wasn't wishing it was over. I just ran. I let my mind drift off and went. It didn't matter what time I finished in because I was doing it for Boston.

It was also a day to wear your race shirt or blue and yellow for the marathon. I don't have many shirts because a few of the races I've done don't give shirts. I chose my turkey trot shirt where I PRed my 5k time that also had yellow in it.

Sunday Baby Biathlon

So lately I've been in a funk. Actually, since Easter. I ran my first half marathon the day before and then did a two mile walk on Easter Sunday. After that, I spent almost a whole week being a waste of life. I pretty much took off until Friday from running and the gym. I guess my body need to rest? I took on most of the Easter candy that I had received so we don't have to worry about that anymore.
I decided that I needed to get back at it on Friday with a walk to the park and then a run. That was a total fail. I walked to the park and my calves were in so much pain that after a 1.17 mile walk I needed a ride home. Afterwards I went to the gym to lift and a half mile on the elliptical. I still wasn't feeling like myself so I took Saturday off since I had to work night shift and I would be on my feet.
Sunday morning, I decided that I would get up and take on a little 2 mile run and a bike ride. Today turned out much better. I call it a "baby biathlon". It was just a 2 mile run and a 9.26 mile bike ride but it's still better than what I was doing lat week.
My goal by Friday is to accomplish a 14 mile run. Since I ran a half last week, I think that it's completely doable.