Helllooooo!
I haven't died or stopped running! I've just been an extremely busy little bee. I had a craaaappppp ton of school work, house sat for a friend (which involved two dogs, a cat, a chicken, a fish and several plants), worked 20 days in a row with 1 day off, and I had to move the same week as finals. I packed my entire two bedroom apartment in one day by myself and then moved it all and cleaned the whole place the next day. It was intense. All on top of which I've still be climbing, hiking and running. I don't know how. I really thought I was going to die for a little bit there.
But alas! I have resurfaced to the world with a little bit of breathing time. I'm still unpacking, but I'm not going to kill myself to get all of it done in one day. It's nice to be back to just having to work and train, without having to worry about school. By the way, got 100.3% in one class and an 88% in the other :) Score! Was pretty hard but I champed it up like a boss.
Anyway, just wanted to send out a quick hello and to say I haven't given up! I am still very much in training. The more I think about running the full marathon, the more I freak out because I don't know if I can do the whole distance. I looked at the half marathon map the other day...yeah...barely even want to drive that much let alone run it! haha It should be interesting. I know I can do it though. Just have to keep training and believe. Alright, well imma leave with a nice little photo of my new sexy climbing shoes! I'm super excited to break them in this week :)
Today I did some pretty intense pilates. I also tried another workout I found on the internet that works abs and arms. It's pretty hard. You have to stay in the plank position the entire time, even when resting between circuits. My abs are on fireeeee. Feels good though! Good workout. Welp, off to go do homework, get some sleep, wake up for school, go feed animals I'm housesitting, go to work...rinse and repeat every day. So tired.
Soooo I was suppose to run my 5 miles this past Saturday. But I was just so extremely exhausted from working 9 days in a row, going to school and doing all of that intense homework crap, taking care of my kitty, doing laundry, cleaning the whole apartment, yadda yadda yadda. It just all hit me. I was laying in bed when my alarm went off so I could get up and run before work, but I literally felt like I was going to throw up if I moved. So I stayed in bed until I had to start to get ready for work. And I'm so glad I did.
I think it's really important to listen to your body when training for something so intense as a half marathon and a full marathon. Sometimes you just need a break. Saturday was my break and I really needed it to rejuvenate myself. I did do pilates since I was running. I felt like I could do half an hour after work without dying.
So yeah, I moved my run from Saturday to today. Yeah, I didn't want to get up and go run 5 miles this morning either, but I did it. And it felt good. This is the first time I've run a longer distance and haven't had my side hurt. I think my new breathing method is helping a lot and I kept my brain distracted a lot today so I wouldn't focus as much on running and being tired. I feel good about how much I've done so far. I honestly don't know how I'm going to do the marathon though...let alone the half marathon haha Guess we will see!!
Oh, note to myself: Do not drink the chocolate milk protein drink too fast after running. You will feel like your stomach is going to burst or like it will come out your nose. Must drink slowly.
Well, it's off to take care of the animals and plants at the house I'm watching this week and then off to work and then to come home to do homework and laundry! I know you're jealous of my fun life. Ha.
Another short blog post. Did about an hour of pilates today after work. I also made some Mediterranean crusted salmon, steamed green beans and some brown rice for dinner. Pretty impressed with myself if I do say so! I don't really like salmon but I'm trying to force myself to like it since it's so good for you, especially after hard workouts. Let's see if I can make it happen.
I'm super exhausted so this will be short. Ran 4 miles. Died a little on the inside. I need a break from life for just a little bit...blaahhh
Today was a great workout. I went bouldering with some guys from work, Andy, Kawain and Drew. We tried out a new gym that has a cave you can boulder up from them first floor to the second...holy crap. It was awesome. But ridiculously hard!
We climbed a bunch of routes downstairs and upstairs, then we tried to tackle the beast cave. I got almost half way up one of the routes and both my pinkies decided to surprise me by having two huge blisters pop! I fell and my poor little pinkies cried a little. They wouldn't stop burning so I ripped the skin flaps off and rubbed chalk in them. That hurt even more but after a few minutes the burning stopped.
We kept trying to get at least one route on the cave done, but we were too tired from doing some harder routes earlier. We're going to go again next week and we will tackle one! It's super fun in the cave but you have to be really strong since you're practically upside down the whole way and just hanging by your fingers. I think I got those three hooked so now I'll have even more climbing partners :) Can't wait until we can do all the routes in the cave!
Alright, well it's off to work now. Should be so much ffuuuunnnn. Not.
Did my 3.5 mile run today and it felt great!
Running offers me some time to just think. Actually that's what helps me get through the run is to think about anything but running. Good time to work through a lot of thoughts that have been jumbled up in my head for awhile.
I'm starting to feel like I'm finding myself again. For a long, long time, it has felt like I haven't been myself or really know who I am. I'm becoming okay with just being by myself. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone.
Anywho, running is a total mental game. I noticed today that the first 20 min or so of my run is the hardest part for me for some reason. But once I get past that mark, I feel like I can run forever. Okay, maybe not forever, but it becomes so much easier and enjoyable. I'm always proud of myself for pushing myself past the point where I think I can't go on. I'm excited to keep on training and getting better and better.
Well, time to go finish my lab reports for class tomorrow. It's been a loooonnggg day. Can't wait for bed!
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