Morning Traffic Alert

Today is my day off. I usually get a day off during the week if I get the pleasure of working on Saturday morning. What a trade! I can do all those weekend things during the week without the weekend rush.  It's nice.  Today I plan on doing a Costco run and a trip to REI to buy a cycling jersey. I haven't been on my bike all season. How stupid am I?! I decided to get some riding done this morning.

It's going to be a hot one today. I got up at 5am...on my day off. Who does that? I do because it's going to be near 100 this afternoon and I was really aching to get some mileage in.
Knowing lastnight that I was going to be getting up early, I prepped my bike for the morning. I didn't want to give myself any excuses to get out of the ride. The only thing I had to do this morning was fill my water bottles and hit the road. I did dottle around for about a half hour trying to get myself to wake up and get some breakfast into my body. Thank god I remembered I didn't have a trail pass, so I had to get out the checkbook and pay the DNR for use of their trails. Of course there was no one on the route to check to see if I actually had my pass. Oh well. Now I'll have it for next time.

The Badger State Trail passes just west of my neighborhood giving me very easy access. From the trail head to the south, the trail is all limestone, to the north from the trail head, it is paved. So I headed north towards Madison. The trail becomes the South West Commuter trail as it gets into Madison proper. I hit the Madison line right around 6:20. There weren't that many people on the trail at that point and crossing some of the major roads wasn't too time consuming. For those of you that know Madison, I hit trail traffic right after the trail passed Odana Rd. I was amazed how many people were commuting into downtown from outlying areas. I really wish I had the ability to do this and not show up to work completely sweaty. (I have a retail banking job and there is no shower in the building, so there is no way for me to be presentable and appropriate when I'm meeting with customers if I bike to work.) I actually hit a Thursday morning traffic jam on the SW Commuter Trail once I hit Camp Randall (this was my turn around point).

According to my Garmin, I rode 19.6 miles before my Garmin's battery died. That will teach me to charge it overnight before. Ooops! If you want to view my Garmin info, you can do so HERE.

Looking East from Seminole Hwy

Overall, I believe I did about 23 miles of riding. Thats a good first ride for me. I didn't have any flats, like last year's first ride. 

The other point to this ride was to see if it was something I could complete before going to work. There is a 12 mile out and back that I could do it under an hour. This is definitely doable to before work. I have no excuse not to. As long as I can get back home before 7, I should be able to pull it off easily.

Ps. So far no pain from my SI joint yet. That is always good news.

One Foot Infront of the Other

I ran 7 miles today! It wasn't all running but only walked 2 minutes at a time and I finished 3.1 miles in my fastest time ever! So yea, it was a good run. I went into this run not doing a long run day in two weeks. Two weeks ago is when I did 6 miles and had horrible blisters from my old shoes. I was disappointed in my time that day so I was actually nervous about this weeks 7 mile run. Next weeks 8 miles is now scaring me but I will just have to get over it.

My training this week was lacking by one day of running but I did get some bike time in. My running time last week was sooo hard. I just wasn't feeling it at all. I was just putting one foot in front of the other. Do you have days where it's just hard to stay moving forward?

Todays run just wasnt like that. Today's run went really well. I ate a bagel about an hour before my run and just kept plodding away on the treadmill. I was super excited about getting 3.1 miles done fast and I was shocked when 6 miles this week was faster than it was two weeks ago. So yea, today was one of those good days that makes me think 13.1 miles isn't that far fetched.

Btw, I'm running a Marathon

***Caution, there are some naughty words in this post.***

Did I tell you I'm running a marathon? I don't believe I did. This has been a post that has been coming I just haven't found the motivation to sit down and write it. But today is a good day so you're getting the news today. MY GOD I'M RUNNING A MARATHON! I am completely freaking out.

The date is October 7th, 2012. After my post about my 2012 events there was some questions as to why I just don't participate in a full marathon this year. Well, I had a whole list of excuses. There was the one about only running a 5k so far. There was the one about being too fat. There was the one about having other races planned for the year. I hadn't even ran a half marathon. How was I going to be able to run a full 26.2 miles in 9 months!? Thank you to Christian at The Maple Grove Barefoot Guy for being the first one to suggest I do something that scares the shit out of me. I didn't like a post he put on his Facebook page a couple of weeks ago. And quote "I'm enjoying seeing my friends attempt crazy awesome things they didn't think they could do. For the rest of you, your excuses and "I can't do it" attitude is annoying. Harden the fuck up. That is all..." I'm sure I'm not the only one this was directed to. Atleast I hope I'm not. (Christian and I went to high school together. He was two years older than me and a much better clarinet player. Please go check out his blog. It's witty and extremely informative, even if you are not a barefoot runner).

His comment really got me thinking, a lot, about what I'm doing here. Last fall's duathlon was a challenge but I knew, when I signed up for it, that I was a strong biker and the running was a doable distance. I knew I could do it.  A marathon on the other hand, I have no idea if I can do it. I'd like to think I can. I actually know I can do it. It's just getting over the self doubt that sit quietly in the back of my brain, ready to jump out at me when I have a bad day or when the running is just too hard. If I put my mind to it, I can do anything right?

The craving to be successful and cross the finish line is so strong it brings me to tears if I think about it too much. I know there are people that support me to that final moment. I need to rally these people around me. My family and my husband are behind me. My closest friends, my blogging friends especially Anne at Twelve-in-Twelve who will also be running this event, her first marathon as well. Read about her commitment here.  It's the people that doubt me that I need to let go of. I know people will judge me. I often think that they think I am too fat to run 26.2 miles and that I will never make it. I'm really not going to let this get to me because I don't see THEM getting up at 5am to run in the morning before work!

What are you doing this year that scares the shit out of you?

So here I am. Marathoner in training!

Women Empowering Eachother

I've been at a standstill as far as entries lately. Maybe it is pure laziness to take the time out of my evenings to sit down and write. But I think it is more a lack of motivation to find something to write about. I have to blog ideas in my head, tomorrow night I will write about how much stronger I feel since I have started working out.

Tonight, I will write off a comment made my Becky at The Fab Miss B. She commented on my last entry about everybody loving my Prior Fat Girl shirt. She said "I love to hear stories about women cheering each other on and being inspired by one another's successes. Way to go Amy!" I wanted to expand on that comment.

This is really quite a bit more thinking than I usually put into my posts. I think it is really important that women support one another! When I first started trying to run, over a couple of years ago, I was worried that I wouldn't be any good at it. I was worried that there were expectations and standards that I would never meet. After a while, I figured out those standards were in my head.  I figured out that everyone starts someplace and that is something that I have to keep in my head every time I want to just stop running. I have found support from other women! Some from my friends, some from the Prior Fat Pack, some from even my family.

My mom and my sister have always been a great support system for me. Even though my sister is an accomplished triathlete, she still pushes me and cheers me on every time I reach a personal milestone, even if it is just running a 5k. My family keeps pushing me and supporting me towards my goals. I thank them for that. I don't know what I would do with out them. I really wish I lived closer to them!

I attended college 2.5 hours from where I grew up. After breaking up with my high school boyfriend, I was at a complete loss at what to do with my time outside of school. I found support from wonderful women after joining my sorority, Sigma Sigma Sigma. There sure was a lot of drama but it lead to meeting some of my closest friends to this day. I get their support, even after college. This also includes the women that weren't in my organization but in other Greek organizations.

My friends, old and new. Even just a passing, "hey how's it going" means a lot to me. My PFP friends and join me in 5k races around the nation. My friends in Madison, that volunteer to drag me out for a workout. It really means so much to me.

Women should support each other. It maybe be something so small as an unexpected card (this is some thing I really enjoy doing, it often makes someone's day). It may come from a great friend or a complete stranger.

Eleanor Roosevelt, activist You Learn by Living
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Motivation

As I get on my bike that is set up in my basement, I leave you with my motivation for the day.

My 10 Things

I spent some of my time this afternoon coming up with my 10 Things. These 10 things are supposed to be used when I am feeling weak and all I want is the ice cream in the freezer (the ice cream is gone now) or when I just cant get my ass off the couch to work out. I came up with my 10 things and then promptly left them at work. So this list is a work in progress and will probably change as my motivations change.

1.  Be able to run a 5k without stopping
2.  Be able to stop shopping for clothing at the big girl stores
3.  Be able to decrease the amount of cholesterol medication I am taking
4.  Decrease my cholesterol numbers
5.  When we are ready, to be able to have a healthy pregnancy and not be chronically obese when said pregnancy is done.
6.  Get rid of the fold line across my belly that seems to be there permanently. (I apologize if that is too much information but it's true)
7.  Buy some new bras that actually fit me correctly.
8.  Buy a really cute/sexy red dress (I've always secretly wanted one of these)
9.  Be stylish at upcoming weddings.
10. Be able to run with my sister.

This really helped me get through my cravings on Tuesday but it didn't work too well today because I forgot about them. Silly me.  They are keeping my fingers out of the jelly beans I bought during a weak moment at Walgreen's today.

Do you have 10 Things or something that keeps you from giving in to your cravings?

I Used To Be Fat - A tv show

"I Used To Be Fat" motivated me to get my butt in gear tonight to work out. It is a new show on MTV about teens that are fat and are sick of it. These kids are given personal trainers and then given around 100 days to get skinny. I think that time period is crazy. How many of those kids are going to gain back all 60+ pounds when they go off to college. I dont know. It motivated me tonight.