There's a first time for everything

I made it to the double digits! I *finally* walked/ran at Stone Mountain (I know I've been saying I was gonna do this for a while, but I totally did it!), and it was really nice. The loop around the mountain is 5 miles and I just needed to do two loops and I'd have my 10 miles. I took 3 bottles of water (no need to be dehydrated!) and froze two of them halfway and the third, my Nalgene, 3/4 full. In the morning I filled it the rest of the day with water, that way it'd stay cold while I ran. I left my second bottle by my car tire so I could just pick it up and switch out the water bottles when I was halfway done. Then I'd have a cold drink left in the car when I was done with the run.

The route was really nice actually - most of it was in shade and it was more fun on the first lap because there were more people out. The second lap had a lot less people haha. I'd have to say it was fun just because I enjoy people watching while running. :) For example, one lady cyclist passed me probably 3 or 4 times, no doubt. Then there was a guy who wore a PRR tshirt from 2007 and on our 2nd passing he was like "You're doing a good job" and gave me a thumbs up. Of which I smiled and said "You too!" Then on my second lap these two ladies walking together stopped me and asked me if I was on my second lap. And I was. And the other lady was like "You're going 10 miles?!" Of which I totally said yes haha. It was just really funny. Their faces were in total shock haha. There were also some running etiquette issues with some ladies being plain rude and not getting out of the way for oncoming runners on the sidewalk. As in, they're walking side-by-side and then stay that way and only turn slightly for me to run by. So rude! But most of the people were courteous people. Who knew the walking/running etiquette. Yay for polite runners & walkers! :)

The back 3 miles of the mountain has the most shade (go figure), but the road also turns into a one way road for vehicles. The other lane is split in two - one for bikes and one for pedestrians. And then there's the sidewalk. I just really enjoyed the shade and whatnot. :) But the road itself went up and down in varying degrees the whole time - some short inclines and some a little more steep (I mean, I am running around a MOUNTAIN for goodness sake), but totally doable. It was good since I haven't really practiced hills and the Peachtree Road Race had got a couple pretty killer ones.

It seems that it doesn't matter the distance, but when I know I only have one mile left, that last mile is KILLER. It could be 3 miles or 10 miles and that last mile will be the one that is the most obnoxious and hardest to finish. But let me tell you, when I got back to my car, I dumped the rest of the water from the first bottle on my face and it felt sooooooooooooo good! I was worried that my body would have the same result that happened after the 15k - it would be painful to just move. But thankfully it only felt like it normally did after any other run. I was sore in the same places, but it wasn't like I couldn't move. I also thought that maybe today would be also painful and sore, but it's just the normal soreness. I'm so proud of my body! :)

I went into the 10 miler knowing that I wouldn't be able to run the whole thing, and the cool part is that I was okay with it. I ran most of it and I was proud of that. And I've never gone this far before! I've said since the beginning that once I got to the 10 miler and did that, THEN I'd be impressed with what I'm doing just because I've never gone that far before. And I'm totally proud of myself. :) I'd like to run more than walk, and I'm still going to try for it, but I'm okay with the fact that for the marathon I'll probably walk some it. :) Which is a long way from where I used to be. I used to get really upset and mad at myself if I didn't accomplish what I set out to do on a run. Now I revel in what I do and I'm happy with what I accomplish on a run. It's a definite turn around from the beginning.

So yeah, this was really freaking long. Sorry bout that. Now here's moving on to next week, whether it's a repeat or not! HONK! :)

I found a quarter!

Today I took my sweet time. It was freaking hot and the last thing I wanted to do was pass out and have a freaking heat stroke and puke on the side of the road. So I took full advantage of the shady places along the route. I didn't get out the door until after 5 so my morning runs have been moved to later in the day. Which means it's even hotter. Fail. Another factor that kept butting in was that my calves were totally sore in a place that they haven't been sore in a long time. The nice little stops also gave me the chance to let my legs rest and stop the nice little burning sensation. I blame climbing last night as the culprit.

Other fun facts of this run:

1. Thanks to Tiffany, I got to use my handy dandy new headband. :) It's a Halo headband and I really freaking like it. It totally kept my man sweat out of my eyeballs, which made my run a little less salty in the face region. PLUS it advertises that it absorbs odor and dude I totally smelled it just to check and it totally didn't smell like my man sweat! Okay so yeah, thanks Tiff! :)

2. I always feel that the second half of my run will go easier than the first half. And I'm always wrong. Especially when I know I'm close to being done. I need to remember that the second half is usually the more painful. And sweaty.

3. So there was this runner that passed me three times. The first time was the normal way - she was going the opposite direction that I was. We did the runner smile and that was it. The second time we had switched directions and she was on the other side of the road (she had a pink visor so it wasn't like I was specifically looking out for her....I ain't no creeper....gah). The third time, I was still headed back to my house and the girl passed me on the same side of the road, going the opposite direction. I'm assuming she went around a block or two, but geez manetti! Homegirl was a machine! This time we did the runner's smile AND the friendly wave.

4. I found a quarter! It was on my way back and I stopped in a shady place at a gas station, look down, and there it was! You can overlook pennies and nickels, but not a quarter! Totally put it in my little bitty runner's shorts pocket and it jingled the rest of the way home with my house key.

At this point I usually have one more short run before the long run on Saturday, but my schedule got a little screwy when I postponed my run the other day and that we've got the Vocare Meeting & Reunion on Saturday. So I'm gonna try to bust out the 1o miler on Friday. Oh lawd it's gonna be painful. But who knows - hopefully somewhat successful?

HONK!

omg. hottest run ever today. i'm down at orange beach, AL and i decided to be all ambitious and take a run. once i got on the street behind Brit's, there was ZERO breeze and it was suuper sunny. Not only that, but my playlist sucked. I couldn't stay interested for like any entire song. I apparently need to do some weeding out of the songs i'm just not really feelin. Either way, i ran 20 minutes even though i felt like dying. plus i think i was a little dehydrated so that didn't help. i would love to increase my runs to 3 30 minute runs per week minimum. but this week i think it was like 2 20 minute runs. oh well. slow and steady wins the race. i'll be a runner someday. i'm actually starting to like it a little bit even though today's wasn't a ton of fun.

i think i need to do some like... mantra reciting before i go to sleep like: i love running and how it relieves my stress levels and gives me time to think.

hm. we'll see. heh.

Not quite the mountaintop experience

This morning I had planned on getting up early, around 7, get dressed, and head to Stone Mountain to run my 8 miles. The first sign that today's run was not going to go as planned was when I hit the snooze button. For an hour and a half. Yep. When I finally got up, going to Stone Mountain seemed like such a hassle. There's sign #2. I finally get out the door a little after 9, and all I can think of is that I totally don't feel like running haha. Today just wasn't going to be a successful run. Sure enough, it's hard for me to get past a continuous mile, and right under 3 miles I decide that this was it. I was almost out of water, (dude it got crazy humid really quickly today), and my legs just didn't want to move. I turned back and did something I haven't done in a while - I walked the rest of the way home. It took me what felt like forever, but I finally made it back.

Now for the positives of today's "run." I bought a new dry fit tank top (Nike, of course) yesterday. I really want one for the Peachtree Road Race since I sweat like a man. I still was sweating like a man, but my shirt felt so much better than the normal ole cotton tshirt. I wanted to get something that wasn't too clingy and showed all my curves - good ones and bad ones haha. Thankfully the one I found fit just like I wanted, so yay! And as much as I've made fun of Tiffany for wearing a headband while running, I finally caved in and decided that I need one......haha. Stylin' and profilin' with the headband!

Of course I'm a little sore from trying to get my body to move today. A tendon in my foot (a different one than normal - go figure) is not doing too well, and neither is my left knee. I've been throwing the ice packs on there a few times during the day, and will continue to do so the rest of the day. I think next week I'll push forward and see how it goes. I do want to run at the mountain, so hopefully that will happen. If you've been keeping up with our handy dandy blog, you should know that I get frustrated when I don't do what I set out to do on my runs. But now I'm okay with it. I still feel good that I at least tried today. I would've felt much worse if I didn't even try. I'm really enjoying this new outlook I have with running haha. It's much less stressful. :)

Alright friends - until next time - HONK!

Like walking in & out of a shower.

My run today was pretty much like I expected - not easy and a little painful. It started sprinkling right at the beginning, then stopped, and then rained a little harder, and then totally stopped. Like my dad always would say with these summer showers, it's like walking in and out of a shower. It felt good, but dude I already sweat like a man, which makes my tshirt totally soaked, and add in the rain, it was rough. Not the best tshirt situation, but I made do.

Today's run was a lot like my runs used to be - lots of tendons burning and calves being sore. I kinda expected it since I took those days off, but geez manetti I was ready for it to be over! The last mile and a half was KILLER. My legs felt like lead - it was really hard to pick them up off the ground to keep going. Needless to say, I was really glad to be done with my run. It's a good thing tomorrow is a rest day. Hopefully the next run will work out better. As well as the long run on Saturday. :)

Oh! The new braces didn't feel much different than the old ones. Maybe the knee braces helped a little bit more, but we'll see. Either way, it was probably a good idea to get new ones.

HONK!

Oooo wee!

So for those of you who don't know, I had to take a break last week for a few days. My body was getting pretty tired of running, which equaled into flared up tendons and painful knees. In order to not completely break down, I decided to take a few days off to recover. I started back today and I was a little worried because I'm the type of person that it's really easy for my body to lose whatever kind of athletic-ness I've gained in a short period of time. This week I'm working on Week 4 in the schedule, and tomorrow will be the real test (5 miles), but today went really well! I was really proud of myself and it wasn't nearly like I thought it would be. I was expecting lots of pain and getting tired really quickly. But there wasn't a lot of that at all! Yay! Tomorrow will be interesting, but we'll see.

I finally got new ankle & knee braces today. I really wore out the ones I've got, so hopefully tomorrow's run will go just as well with the help of the new braces. I've gotten where I ice down my knees a couple times a day (they're aching right now, actually), which is good practice I think. Overall I think I'm doing pretty well. I think some time soon I'll start doing speed work since I do want to get a little faster. :)

Hopefully this week will go well and I can move on up! :) HONK!

i love nature :)

so i'm back in the game. a week or two? ago i started running again. not following a program this time. just increasing my time bit by bit, not really closely following the frequency of my runs, but i think it must average about 3 days a week. today i ran for 20 minutes straight. my knee did start to complain by the end of it... i didn't do a good job of stretching beforehand, so it makes sense. i'm still encouraged that i ran that long. whoa. i just realized i haven't been able to run that long continuously since like october i think. man. i can't believe its been that long, but go me regardless.

tonight i ran on the greenway near lauren and patrick's. i'm totally obsessed with it. its just like, trails and boardwalks through the forest and marshy kind of areas. i saw a big turtle and a mom and about 6 ducklings, a bluebird, and a cardinal on my first run there, and tonight i saw a deer!! it was so cool, just grazing through the trees. it was also raining, which was fun, but then i got nervous because it was late-ish (8:30) and it seemed a little deserted and i was scared i'd get kidnapped. so there were parts that i totally sprinted through haha. which might have not helped the knees... oops.

yeah just wanted to post an update. now i need more running clothes!