Distracted...and full.

So today is my last day of work before heading off to Michigan. I'm honestly over this work thing...I know, isn't everyone. I have a lot of laundry and packing to do before our 5:30 AM departure tomorrow, and I'm starting to feel the stress. Contemplating and early departure from my work place.

I had a good run to the gym last night. My average stayed under 10's despite the monster hills and numerous traffic lights. I can tell that summer is on it's way because I was sweating like crazy....ahh the humidity. I suspected yesterday that I was not going to be sore from my Monday workout at IST, but I confirmed it today. No soreness, at all. Is this a good thing? I'm not sure. Either means I'm tough or I'm not working hard enough and I have no idea which one. I'm supposed to go in early to talk with the main man today. I'm a bit nervous because I've been sending him emails complaining about how expensive the training is. Then I checked with another personal trainer at the other gym that I go to...he charges $40/hour. Yikes!! I guess $15 isn't so bad. I'm such a dork. I think I can blame this one on NP. He's the one that made me so darn cheap!

This morning I drove to the gym to get a little cardio and physical therapy stuff in. Also to get another day at the gym since I was losing my lunch all last week and didn't make it in. Today after work I'll be going to IST again and then off to my community ed class. Hopefully I'll be able to pay attention with all the distraction floating around in my head.

I'm ready to get home and see everyone. It's been way too long!!

The Ups and Downs

So much has happened since my last post!! I'll try to take it in steps so it's not too overwhelming.

I think I mentioned my brief encounter with some flu like symptoms Tuesday morning. What I thought was going to be brief....turned into a three day battle for my livelihood. It was insane. I had the worst fever and body aches Tuesday night that I have ever experienced. I seriously wanted to die. The vomit was nothing but relief. I couldn't believe it. It took me two days to recover. All I could do is lay around all day, completely wiped out.

On top of my deathly flu, I was supposed to be preparing for a garage sale. That was nearly impossible. Luckily on Thursday I felt well enough to do a few things around the house while NP was at work. Then when he got home, we just starting hauling things out. We ended up with a LOT more stuff than I had expected. The sale was really successful on Friday with lots of street traffic, but a total flop on Saturday. We still made around $200, but it could have been a lot better. Now I have to deal with the mountain of leavings in my living room. Unfortunately, it may just have to stay there for a week or two.

By Sunday, I was finally feeling a bit more normal so I decided it was time to head out for a run. The weather was awful and I was lacking all motivation. I drove down to the WWT and sat in my car for around 15 minutes trying to talk myself into it. Then I got out with shorts on and a fleece. I started to run, but then realized I hadn't turned on my watch. While I was waiting for it to locate I got SO COLD! My legs were freezing and I finally had to get back in the car. I took my shoes off so that I could slip my wind pants back on....DANGEROUS. I had a serious urge to just start the car and head home, but I didn't. I put my pants on and my shoes on and I headed off. I thought I was going to die in the first minute, but then I leveled off a bit. It was pretty slow going, but I got through it.

Yesterday was my second session at IST. It was good. Not as hard on my shoulders as last time, and no cardio intervals. Kind of disappointing since I liked those. I'm a bit torn as to whether or not this is the best option for me. If it was more reasonably priced, I could see going down there all the time. But it's not. I just want to make sure that I'm getting my monies worth!! I don't think I'm going to end up as any sort of a power house with a once a week work out though. Bummer.

The worst part about those work outs is that I can never sleep the night after. It's kind of crappy. I was supposed to get up and run to the gym this morning, but I just couldn't do it. Now I'm going to have to do it in the yucky traffic after work today. Blah.

I'm not sure where tomorrow will take me. I've tentatively planned to go back to IST tomorrow after work. I'm not sure if a morning workout would be a good idea or not. I need the days at the gym though. I'll probably give it a shot.

Tomorrow night I have a mushroom growing class at 6:30, not those kind of mushrooms. Shitakes and stuff. Then I have to come home and pack. Yikes, it's going to be a crazy day.

I suppose I should finally get to that laundry today!!!

Sicky Icky

So last night I did my first class at IST. It was pretty cool. Luckily NP talked me out of going on a 5 mile run before I showed up. It was tough, mostly for my upper body. My legs get plenty of work and will probably weather the storm just fine. My arms are already pretty much out of commission though. I'm popping advil to help keep things level.

This morning I got up to run to the gym to make up for my lack of a 5 mile run yesterday. I made it to the gym just fine....cranking AC/DC the whole way, but things got a little ugly once I was there. I sat down to stretch for a minute and then I was assaulted by some crazy flu symptoms. My two little neighbor girls were passing around a flu bug this weekend and I'm pretty sure I've come down with it. It sucks. I'm really tired and a bit feverish. I'm ready to go back home and go to sleep. Another hour here and I'm done.

I'm really hoping I can beat this bug today because tomorrow is the last race in the NMTC spring series. I just found out that I'm 5th overall, so a good race tomorrow could be pretty exciting. I don't think I'll get any good prizes because I would still be about 10th to go up to the prize area (including the guys). But still. That's better than my 10th place finish last year!! Magney is a hard course so I don't know how well I'll do, but I'm hoping to at least come close to my normal pace.

Then I have to start gearing up for the garage sale. I have done nothing to prepare for it yet. I need to get my butt in gear!! I'm thinking it's all going to happen on Thursday night, unfortunately. Oh well, I'll be glad when it's over.

Last One!

So I did my last long run for this race. I went for 12 miles on Saturday. It was a great temperature, not too hot! I went out on the WWT and then added another 3.5 miles on the Munger. It was a bit boring, but not too bad. There were LOTs of people out enjoying the nice day. I dodged a lot of little bikers in training. My pace was okay. I didn't push too hard given my recent blood donation and I made it through just fine.

Afterwards I met up with my neighbor to go watch the boys climb. I even brought along my harness and shoes just in case I felt up to it. Turns out they had hooked up a nice little 5.6 that looked pretty appealing. I tied in and gave it a shot. I was a bit rusty, having not climbed in almost two years, but I felt good. I felt strong....funny because I know that a trip to the climbing gym would quickly remedy that!! The only bad part was that my toe nails were pretty sore. The two middle toenails are destine to fall off. Cramming them in climbing shoes and then putting tons of pressure on them....not pleasant. Once I got over that, no biggie. I just took my time and scurried up the wall. It felt great and really motivated me to get back in to climbing this year!

I did a bit of celebrating on Saturday night since I had such a great day, last of the long runs, and I got the big D in the mail on Friday! I was stoked. Maybe a few too many beers, but the smores were great. I'm so luck to live on such a great block! I don't know what I would do without all the company!

So Sunday....got some planting done, did some laundry, no working out. I took a few naps and ate way too much food. I'm paying for it on the scale today. My hopes of looking a lot better for my trip home are officially lost, but I will still keep plugging away.

Today I am set for a 4 mile run up to Enger Tower and then my first personal training session. I can't wait. Just hoping I'm not too sore tomorrow!!!

Friday Fun Day

So....I may have suffered a set back, but we'll get to that later.

Wednesday night was the all feared Chester Bowl run. Actually, I don't fear it at all, but NP dreads it. I showed up hoping to do well and as a result was a bundle of nerves, once again. It was a bit chilly and I didn't feel warmed up or really in any sort of running form, but I did it. I took off ahead of NP and never saw him again. This was the first race that I started to catch him at last year, but he sprinted to the end to beat me by a second. I didn't know how it would shake out this year, but he had an awful week so I assumed he would be a bit slower. The course was a lot hillier than I remembered from last year. Lots of long up hills and steep down hills. It was short enough that I didn't want to die though. I actually ended up beating a few people that I can never catch so I was pleased. And I took about 4 minutes off my time from last year. NP took two minutes off our time. It was a good race for both of us and the best part were the bags of Positively Third Street cookies waiting for us at the finish line!!! They were SO good, as always.

Thursday I went to boot camp again. It was HOT out. We ran down to Leif Ericson park in the little military/catch-up line. That sucked because there were some pretty quick runners in that group. And to top it off (here's where the set back comes in) I had given blood that morning. I felt a lot more tired than normal. The nurses had told me that I shouldn't work out at all. I decided to risk it, but made a point to stop and rest when I started feeling really tired. It worked out fine. Except the run back I guess. I was pretty much toast by that point.

This morning I went to Pilates and it felt AWESOME. She even changed up the routine a bit and incorporated some weight training!!!! And the best part, I think she even played the Beatles instead of Elton John!!!! Amazing.

So I was feeling pretty good until NP told me that my half marathon training was going to go out the window since I donated blood. I won't recoup all those red blood cells for another two months which is WAY past Grandma's on June 20th. I've talked to other people that say I'll be fine, but I don't know what to believe now. I'm bummed. Just when I thought I had a chance to PR, the wind has left my sails.

Magney to Munger and Back Again

I took advantage of the warm weather on Saturday to do my long run for the week. It was actually an interesting lay out for me since I'm normally a morning running. I had to work at a local flower/plant sale early Saturday morning, but was home by around 10:30. I decided to wait a bit to go running since I felt a bit sluggish. I laid down on the couch only to wake up at almost 1:00. OMG! I couldn't believe how long I had slept! I guess I was tired from a long work week and a few sleepless nights. Either way, I got up, ate some PB toast and headed out. NP brought the burglar along for a hike while I was running. We started out at the Magney Snively parking lot and ran the Superior Hiking Trail for about 3.25 miles. That took me across Skyline and through the woods to Ely's Peak and then down to the Munger trail. It was intense. The footing was tricky and I had to be super careful. Once I got down to the Munger I ran out another 2.25 miles and back to Ely's. Then up the trail again. The way back was even more intense because I was that much more tired out. I was really paranoid of rolling and ankle or falling. The last thing I need is to get hurt at this point!! It was crazy. The worst part was that, for the very first time, my watch seemed to have failed me. Having run out exactly 5.5 miles (according to the watch), I fully expected to be arriving safely at my car when my watch read 11 miles. However, I was smack dab in the middle of the woods when that happened! I was ready to cry. I so wanted my little adventure to be over!!!! I just had to keep running though. Luckily I dumped out on Skyline shortly after and just took the road back to the car. NP was just getting ready to go out and look for me when I got back...phew.

After the run we went out and I drank a LOT of water to go along with my beers. I wasn't sore or hung over the next day, yay!!

Monday I got out and did a good 5 mile run on the roads- down Grand to 40th and up to Skyline. It was nice to be out for just an hour and be done compared the the three hours I spent in the woods on Saturday. I made okay time. Then I came back, did some gardening and headed off to NP's mom's for a BBQ. I ate way too much and have continued that trend today. Everything feels tight- oh no!

I know it's shallow, but it matters. I want to look better than certain other females counterparts in my life. Right now....not doing such a good job of that. Time to regroup. I'm actually thinking of investing in some personal training sessions. Maybe that will help!!

Warm Weather...Cool Running

The weather has been all over the place lately, but I've still managed to get some pretty good runs in. I did about 4.5 miles up to Enger Tower and back on Monday night. It was hot, but I needed to get out there. My neighbors had also invited me to a BBQ right after I was done so I had extra motivation to pick up the pace. I finished my run, ran into the house to shower and was sipping margaritas in no time (not the best idea after a run, but I survived).

Tuesday I was bit hung over as I dipped into the 12 pack of Miller Lites in our fridge after the margaritas ran dry. So....I stayed in bed in the morning and opted for a trip to Petco that evening instead of a trip to the gym. oops.

Wednesday was the Western Waterfront Trail run. Again....SUPER HOT. I couldn't believe it. Almost 85 degrees or something crazy like that. I tried to keep a faster pace just because I'm so sick of being pokey all the time. I think I did okay. I fell off my pace quite a bit at the end, but I think the heat and dehydration got the best of me. I still managed to shave almost 4 minutes off my time from last year. Okay...so should I really be saying "shave"? Isn't 4 minutes more like hacking or gauging? Either way...I was almost a minute per mile faster. Not bad!!

Thursday I've been going to the evening boot camp class so I don't have to double up on Wednesdays. Normally this works out fine, but yesterday I showed up and the instructor said that we would be trail running in Chester Bowl. Um, what? Luckily a friend of mine showed up for the first time and he wasn't much of a runner. We walked a lot of the way. I was fine with that.

Today I am on a mission to find new running shoes. After my jaunt on the WWT, I actually ended up with a bruise on the ball of my foot. My shoes must just be too broken down. Probably doesn't help that I use them for step classes and all sorts of things that they aren't really meant for. I'm not excited about spending the money, but it will be worth it to save my feet a bit of suffering.

Tomorrow.....11 miles. I'm debating on doing it on the SHT trail just to be a bit easier to my feet. I'm concerned about water since I'll be out there a bit longer with the rough terrain. Do I just take my camelback? Or do I buy one of those fancy hand held water bottles? I think both options will annoy me, but which one will be less annoying? i'm guessing it's going to depend on how much those fancy water bottles cost....