The one where I run a half marathon

It was POURING rain that morning. Chilly and sopping wet. Thankfully, in the 30 minutes we waited to start (inside, thank god) it started to clear to a bit of a misting.

I started running with a few girls, but went out on my own after 12 minutes or so (they were continuing 10 and 1′s and I was feeling good enough to continue without the walk break). I felt strong and cheerful for the first 10k or so. It was pretty evident with a PR 10k – 1:01! I am so close to that sub 1hour 10k!!

It was a bit iffy around 15km – my back was aching and I was feeling a bit restless. I hadn’t packed any music because I had intended to run with friends and I think a good pump up song would have helped me at this point. We rounded a corner where you could see people a few KM’s ahead heading down the beach for the final 3km or so. That gave me an extra burst of energy (only 5km to go!) and I managed those last few kms in fairly good shape.

Cruelly, they put a big hill at 20km which I ran up out of sheer determination to make it to the finish in under 2:15.

Final time? 2:13:45.

Wahoo!!

xox,

b

Refreshed

Writing is cathartic, isn’t it?

Just getting all that frustration and doubt out of my head and onto my blog helped me sort through it all. I woke up this morning feeling ready to tackle this year and make some progress towards our goals and dreams.

I went to the gym this morning and did my arms workout in the co-ed (read: boys) section of the gym. I ignored all the staring as I struggled with my 10lb weights (I have seriously weak arms. Something I’m working on this year!) and I rocked the whole workout.

Today is a day for rest, more organization and visiting friends. It’s a nice break before going back to work tomorrow and oh so needed what with my emotional upheaval this weekend.

Happy Monday,

xox

b

Running: An update

At the beginning of the school year, I had decided that running was out of the question. I was too busy, had too many things on the go and I wasn’t going to be able to fit in any running (or exercise for that matter). Then I got an assignment for school to journal about an active living pursuit for the duration of my semester.

After a failed attempt at yoga (I’m just not that into yoga. I’m not nearly zen enough) I decided that what the heck – I love to run so I’ll run. In true B fashion, I immediately decided to do a marathon and made a very pretty rainbow coloured spreadsheet to track my training.

After a few rocky weeks, I really started to find my groove. I lost it for a bit during the weeks spent writing my final papers, missing out on a lot of my weekday runs. My ankle started to hurt on my long run last week – a sign that skipping out on those weekday runs was probably a bad idea. This week, I was totally dedicated and ran all my weekday runs and I’m happy to report only slight ankle pain at the very end of my long run today.

Anyways, I digress. A co-worker invited me to run with her group this morning so with fear that I wouldn’t be fast enough or fit into their group of ladies, I went and ran. It was fabulous. I’d forgotten how much fun running in a group was. This group of ladies are fun and energetic and all have a great love for running. I’ve decided to joint them for my long runs on Sundays and I couldn’t be happier.

So that’s the update. As it stands, I’m doing a half marathon in February and a marathon in May. I might be a bit crazy, but at least I’m having fun

Anyone else running?

xox

b

Adventures in the gym

Sweat poured down my face and dripped off my nose and onto the ground, hitting the dirty carpet of the gym floor. I was attempting a one point dumbbell row for the first time and I was frustrated. I was trying to read my book that had a picture and explanation of what exactly it was I was supposed to be doing with my arms, where my legs were supposed to be and how many repetitions I was supposed to do was far too many things to think of all at once. My one leg on the ground was shaking after the run, squats and step-ups I’d already done. I was trying to ignore the little voice in my head that was saying “if you don’t do it, no one will know.”

Then I turned my head and caught a glimpse of myself in the big gym mirrors. Those big gym mirrors that I often try to avoid looking at for fear of noticing my slightly too short athletic top that occasionally reveals a little white strip of my stomach. The stomach that makes me feel self-conscious and chubby, even after amazing myself with my ability to do a proper squat or real pushups. Today though, when I looked in the mirror at my T shape from the one point dumbbell row – one leg sticking straight out behind me, torso leaned forward creating a table with my back, arms lifting dumbbells in a row – I didn’t see the giggly stomach or the love handles or the stretch marks. I didn’t even see the frustration I felt. I saw strength. I saw muscles in my leg as it was hopelessly shaking holding up my body after being worked too hard, muscles in my arms pulling up dumbbells and determination on my face to get this darn exercise right even if it killed me.

For one of the first times in my memory, I saw myself as a strong, capable athlete rather than picking apart the pieces of myself I’m uncomfortable with. I focused on the ability rather than the weakness. The positive rather than the negative.

I know there will always be days when I feel fat, tired, weak, out of place, frustrated or scared. Now that I’ve seen a bit of the positive though, I’m making a renewed effort to try to see the strong, dedicated, hard-working, determined and capable athlete more often.

xox,

b

——————

I’m working through Stage 2 of the New Rules of Lifting for Women in case anyone’s  wondering why in the world I’m doing a one point dumbbell row at the gym.

Mission: Successful!

I walked every day at work this week. Today I’ll get tons  of walking in while I run all my errands. I am so proud because it’s cold and rainy and everyone at work laughed as I went out to walk. But I did it! Yay me!

Next week, I will repeat.

Makes me not feel so guilty as I snack on chocolate chips and read blogs.

Oops.

Happy Friday!

xox

b

One Step at a Time

Can I just say that I love you guys and your list lovin? Seriously. You make me feel less like a crazy lady all alone – now I’m a crazy lady with all you crazy list makers too! And that is so much better than going it alone.

I’m feeling a bit like I’m in a rut (again! I know! Can’t this girl just get out of the rut already?!) when it comes to life. I’m blaming it on busyness. With work, my new job (which I can’t blog about but oh.my.gosh. I wish I could) and keeping up with life things like you know cooking and doing laundry I’m finding it hard to find time for me. I think specifically in the form of exercise. I go for so long without any significant exercise and then I decide one day that I’d like to run a half marathon. I look at some training plans and realize it’s too late to start training for one this spring and then decide I’d rather read my twitter feed and stay on my couch.

It’s a vicious cycle. So I think I’m going to start small. Rain or shine, I’m going to walk on my lunch break this week. I did today, so 3 more days of walking to go. Just getting my body moving makes me feel better about myself and life in general.

I really need to learn baby steps instead of crashing head first into things. One.step.at.a.time.

xox

b

Guest Post!

Me again (twice in one day! wow!)

I’m guest posting over at Breathe Gently for Aly while she’s galavanting the world. Go check out my exercise post and say hi!

Also – big news in my little family. T accepted a job offer this afternoon! He starts on Monday! I’m breathing heavy sighs of relief over here and am so proud and excited for him!

xox

b

My clumsy self

I love that so many of you run. I especially love that so many of you are running after an injury. Just like me! Yay!

After all that lovey dovey I love running yay! post yesterday, I was feeling really like I didn’t want to do my run in the dark overcast weather we had. I got all dressed anyways (that’s the hardest part for me. Convincing myself to change clothes. Once I’m in running stuff, I’ll go for sure.) and decided to run home from work. I got about 1km in and I tripped on the side walk and fell. Yay for my hands, because they saved my face (and my teeth!!) from hitting the pavement. Unfortunately, my hands and knees look like this: (warning, warning, pictures of blood ahead!)

 

Nice, eh? T came to pick me up because I was bleeding all over and I wanted to clean the rocks out of my hand before I lost the courage It’s all good now, but I felt like kind of an idiot. I’m the girl who trips on the side walk.

In general, I’m a clumsy person. I’ve walked into a pole because I was talking to friends and not paying attention. I walk into my knee height bed all the time. I walk into doors and walls and corners. I drop things, I cut myself, I grate my fingers instead of the cheese. Who knows how I manage to work with sharp instruments at work without any incident!

I think I am the queen of clumsy. Can anyone else compete?

xox

b

Woohoo Running!

I haven’t talked a lot about my running again. I talked about my failed attempt at the couch to 5k program. Besides that though.. I am still running and I’m a little scared to talk about it. I don’t want to jinx it! For now, I will say that I used to love to run pre-injury and then while I was healing, talked myself out of ever wanting to run again.

Now that I’m back at it, I can truly say I really have missed it. I enjoy running. I love forgetting about my crappy day at work and forcing my body to work harder. I love the sweaty glow at the end when I know I’ve worked hard. I love how great I feel after. I’m taking it slow. I’ll talk about that part later. But for now, I’m so glad I decided to pick it back up.

Who else is a runner?

xox

b

Music??

I’ve decided to take a few days off until I post about our honeymoon. I’m not quite sure what to say about it yet. I’m going to have to stew about it for a little bit I think.

Until then, I need some new music. I’m running again and the music on my iPod is so lame.

So help me, please? What do you run to? What do you work out to? What do you love?

The only song that I have on my iPod currently that motivates me is Run Home by Priestess.

Thanks!

xox

b