lifestyle

Inspiration.

I have this embedded in my head.
It's my screen saver, on my iPhone, and on my mind.. all the time.

I've been in training mode for the past 3 weeks.. training for what?
I'm not quite sure yet.
I have a half-marathon on my mind.. BUT, big BUT.. it happens to fall on the one day I'll be photographing a wedding.

This very situation has got me all wired up... feeling sick to my stomach.
Why?
Because I want this "half" so bad...
You know how you want something so bad, you can almost taste the blood, sweat, and tears ?
But the uncertainity of the day... is what's putting a big STOP sign on the whole thing.

I'm constantly thinking...
Okay, the race starts at 9am.. I already run 6 miles in one hour.. so 13.1 miles should be a good 2 hours.. 2 1/2 at the most.. That leaves 11:30am.. An hour to get ready to be at the wedding by 1pm.

But, I've never done it before.. What if I am in so much pain after I can barely walk yet alone keep up with a wedding's demands.

I sit here and act like this is the last half.. ever.
But it's not.. there's another one in October.

Whose keeping tabs? I say in my mind..
I am.

I really want to do this. But I just know... I shouldn't. But yet, I'm still training..

Well no one says I can't train for the October Half.. :)

If you only knew.. how bad I want it.. How much this would mean to me..

28 Minutes 55 Seconds.

Every now and then.. I'll stop by this blog and give it some love.
At one time or another, I thought it would be a great idea to keep these two blogs separate. I mean, who wants to hear me ramble on about my runs, bike rides, or races... So at that time, I thought it would be neat to keep it separate from my creative and family lifestyle. But somehow they just merge... and keeping the two has become harder than I thought. Some days I only have the energy to write in one blog. But I'm gonna try.

Look at that.. 7-0-4
My man.. got his shining moment!
I'm so envious. If you only knew how long I've been combing through these photos to find a piece of me in there.. and I did find one. Only thing you'd need a magnify glass to see me! (aarrgh)

But the proof is in the.. time chip :)

My goal for today was to try my damnest to make it under 3o minutes.
And finally after my 4th (?) 5K.. I did it!
And much like anything you are passionate about... I was indeed proud of myself.. BUT it left me wanting more. I kept thinking how I could've done so much better if I only did this or did that.

For one thing, when the gun went off, I booked it! Not  good. So when I saw that hill ahead... I felt like I was dying. And like all my runs.. that first mile and half, always kills me. Then my body starts to warm up and I feel freaking fantastic. I should've jumped around a bit jogged a little prior to the race. This time, I did dress less. I actually wore shorts in 35 degree weather. But I ended up doubling up on my top... and I wish I just wore a T-Shirt! I notice, I do so much better when I don't feel like a portable heater.  The other day I did a 7.7 mile run and I felt great because I dressed very lightly. I ended up taking my second layer off.  But that feeling you get on your last leg of the run, when you know just around the bend, is the finish line.. all of a sudden, that adrenaline kicks in and it's like someone just a lit your behind on fire. It felt amazing!

But I'm craving more.
I want to do better.
I want to challenge myself even more.
I want to do the things I never thought I could do.
I want to be like that girl who was already finishing up when I was only halfway through.

That's the thing with something you are truly passionate about... you're always wanting more.

 

Runkeeper + Map My Ride.

Using the Runkeeper to record my runs.. because my Nike Thingy Majingy is not working!! (again). So instead of buying another one (sigh) I'm gonna use a different running device.. cause obviously I'm a very technology dependent fool to boost my ego and to push me.  I'd love to use the Nike system on my iPhone, but I don't have the iPhone 4!  (wahh)

This was my first run back with my hubby.
As you can see, I went at a very slow pace to stay put with Rudy. I knew he hurt his ankle prior and this is his first outdoor run since then. So as much as I wanted to speed up and leave him behind..I really wanted him to get better and train him to get stronger so I did not want to leave him behind. I want to train with him for our first half marathon (hopefully) in June 18.

We biked later that afternoon.. A nice relaxing ride.

 

Frozen...

Frozen  Eyelashes, Eyebrows, and Nose Hairs..

It was freezing today.. but it was WARMER than the past 5 days, above 0.
I enjoyed this short run with hubby and the dog.
A light snowfall was coming down, with a bit of a breeze that stung my face, but overall, it felt really good. There's something about the snowfall, just like a bit of rain on a cool autumn afternoon, that just felt good.

Looking forward to tomorrow's run.

It's snowing as I speak.

Another 4.

Training Mode.
Decided to use The Nike Coach to help get my butt in gear.
Hubby and I will be doing a few races and plan to do the Half Marathon in the summer.
So I have my Nike Plus training me for an upcoming 5K, decided to train at an Intermediate Level. But today it proved to kick my butt. And why is it that we have a 6 miler on Saturday?  (wahh).

This is hubby and I before our 4 miler this afternoon. See our fake/forced smiles? Anything to help us get outside on this 20 degree, foggy, frosty day!

 

Haven't calibrated my new sensor yet.. this run was a little over 4 miles..
Tomorrow is a rest/run day.
Hoping to make it to Spin Class in the morning.

Week 2...
is starting off okay. But then again, it's only Tuesday!

Officially

Training!
Got a couple 5k's
And a half marathon ! Yup I've gone over the edge again ;)
And with some encouragement of other runners, I'm gonna do a half marathon in the summer !
Looks like my Nike training coach says I need to log another 4 miles tomorrow ;)

Official Time.

There were two mats to the finish line (not sure why) hence the 2 end times. I crossed the first mat at 29:55 and the second mat at 30:07

If you ask me, I'll take the first time :)

Next race, I definitely want to try to make under 30 minutes... hoping to get at least 25 minutes.

Team R & R

It was a gorgeous day for a race! Well, I'd prefer warmer than 28 degrees, but my last 5K was at whopping 10 degrees, so I'm not gonna complain.

This time I had the luxury of having my other half, my running partner, my best friend with me.  Too bad he still felt pretty sick, he's on antibiotics and all for his strep throat (eek) and poor guy was coughing up a storm most of the way there. But he stuck with it and made it all the way. 

 

They said it was a crowd of several thousand!

 

Getting ready at the starting line (and not it's not that warm, lady behind me in shorts). But I did over dress (once again)! I could have done without the extra layer.

We were literally bumping elbows as we started. I had a minor malfunction on my iPod, it started to play my "Relaxing" playlist, so as the crowd was pumped to start, I had on some Nickelback.. slow rock?  I quickly changed it to get some Jay Z pumping through my ears!  That was more like it!

This was the first time I've ran in a week (or two).  And for not running in 2 weeks, I did pretty good. I had a good rhythm and I did leave hubby behind a bit, because I knew he was not feeling good and I was quite the opposite. As he nodded to give me the go ahead to move ahead, I did.  I did lose momentum by turning back to see where he was.. but I kept going.

The course itself quickly turned into a 2 way.. as we came around the bend, I could see people already turning around. I thought, "damn these 5-7 min/ mile runners!" LOL!  It only made me want to push more, then realized the sign said "Mile One"..

I always say that I'm gonna book it in my last mile.. but I didn't, again (slapping myself).  But next time I will, for sure... and you can bet, the first thing I did when we got home was google the next upcoming races in Anchorage.

The official times are not in yet.  This was the first time I ran with a timing sensor. But when I crossed the finish line I think it said 30:30.  That would bring me to the average 10 min/miles.  Not bad.. I wish I had done in 25 minutes instead.. but I look forward to working on that.

So far.. it's still a gorgeous day in AK... stopped in to let Kai take a nap, but everyone else is outside (except hubby who has to work tonight..)

Water Pack + Me = No Good.

So I ran with my water pack today...

The one I got from REI that I was so excited to finally get. I was looking forward to my long distance run today  (since Sunday was a no go for me)..

And then.. after only a mile into it..

I HATED IT!!

I hated something tied to my waste.
I hated the heavy water bouncing up and down in the front, on the side, or in the back.. No mater how I positioned it, I did not like it!

And then no matter how many times I tightened that thing up to stay on my hips and NOT my tummy.. it kept finding its way up.. to my tummy..  So finally, a mile and a half into.. I said Screw It!  And took the water out and held it in my hand and left the "lighter" belt over me. 

So the entire 8 mile run.. I'm annoyed. My mind is not there.. I'm thinking how frustrated I am that I have to carry the water.. when I could easily do that with a water bottle and saved me 25 bucks. My mind went into complain (and whiny) mode. I could easily find one thing and complain about it. (My hand is uncomfortable from holding this, my right foot kinda hurts, my hands are warm with the gloves on, then I took the gloves off and now they are cold.)  I did this whining thing for pretty much the entire hour of my run. And to top it off, I could not get my pace thing to work on my Nike Plus.. (that was annoying me too) so I was more like at a 11-12 min/mile pace.

Mind over matter..

I should've known not to let all those little things bother me on what was a nice long run that I've been waiting for and look forward too. Needless to say, I was never more excited to enter my neighborhood and jump in a hot shower..

Tomorrow is a new day.. and although I really should not run back to back.. I may have to do a short distance just to go to that 'happy' place of mine.

Twofold.

I had twice the cardio.. twice the fun.

Monday nights are my Turbokick Night, my favorite class thus far! It is a kick*** cardio that always gets my heart rate up there and I dare not miss it! But it was such a BEAUTIFUL day today..  It was in the mid 30's, the sun was shining, the sound of our rooftops melting.. break up is just around the corner. All I could think about was running. Granted I ran a good 6 miles the day before, I knew I really should have a day of rest to let my muscles rest and restore.  But, every time I looked out that window.. I knew I just had to be a part of that gorgeous day outside!

So I set out to just run a couple of miles.. I said I wouldn't even go to the bridge.. just 2, maybe 2.5 miles max, a nice swift run... But being out there, the sun shining against my face.. (love that sun no matter what degrees it is out there!) I ran with a big ol' smile on my face. It was getting so warm in my one layered outfit that I tried to pull up my sleeves as high as I could because I was sweating so much. I really think I could have ran in shorts! (Of course I saw a fellow runner in shorts, he beat me to the punch!) I ended up going a little pass the bridge after all. And what was supposed to be an easy 2 mile run became an almost 4 mile run. I do wish the snow was plowed though.. running through mush slows me down big time. It always feels like I'm sinking in and I have to work twice as hard because I have to lift my legs up higher to run over the "mush".

Nonetheless.. I enjoyed the sun, the warmth, mush and all..

I got home with just an hour to spare before Turbokick started. And I admit I debated whether to go or not. My muscles were still in pain and I needed to stretch more than work out even more.

Nonetheless.. I went and I pushed hard. I love the instructor.. she totally rocks! She makes you want to jump while you punch, or get low, and just push till you are in sheer pain... After all, like she says, it is OUR workout.

Let's see what Tuesday brings..