New year

Its new years eve!

This year I took on alot of new challenges. I became athletic for the first time ever in late 2012, and in 2013 I completed several events I never would have done before. I didn't do all that I had hoped to because of the injury, but looking back now I realize I have made some huge accomplishments. The fact that I got out there and did all this stuff is something to be proud of.

What I did in 2013

• Achieved my goal of losing weight - 40 lbs
• Ran my first Spartan Race and 2 other obstacle races
• Ran my first 10k
• Won 2nd place in 3 races, 2 in my age group and 1 was overall female
• Ran 2-3 times each week with exception of April-August
• Made significant strength and flexibility gains through yoga

Where I fell short in 2013

• I lost half the year dealing with my hip and back pain. It took me a long time to figure out I needed to be moving more, not less
• Because of this setback I'm not where I thought I would be at this point. I had to pretty much start all over in September. Basically I'm right around the same place I was last year in terms of my mileage and strength
• Gained some weight back

What I want to do in 2014

• Run my first half marathon in February - the Augusta Half, and do 1-2 more throughout the year - will be looking for them in cities like Atlanta, Savannah, and Charleston
• Earn my Spartan Trifecta - Georgia and NC for sprints, Asheville for super, SC for beast
• Race in different cities and states
• Run more trails, and complete more Xterra races
• Strength train 2-3 times a week
• Lose a few extra pounds
• Eat cleaner

I have big things planned for 2014. I want to train more and harder. I want to get out there and do more. Hopefully I won't suffer any other injuries or setbacks. I'm dealing with my hip still, a case of Plantar Fasciitis which honestly isn't so bad. I don't know what all the fuss is about PF - yeah it's annoying but it doesn't stop me. I also have a cranky knee that pops but it doesn't really hurt. I'm going to do my best to treat, stretch, and strengthen everything to keep myself injury free. This stuff shouldn't stop me as long as I'm diligent. 

 Here's a look back at some of the things I did and places I've been this year, in no particular order ...

Happy new year!

Brutality is coming

So I've seriously lapsed on my strength training. I am just gonna come out and say this - I don't like strength training. I put it off and find excuses not to do it. I don't know why. I have the body type for it - my measurements are 40, 30, 36. I have huge shoulders and chest compared to the rest of my body. Spartan Race taught me that I should have probably been a weight lifter instead of a runner - I can flip tires, carry sandbags, and do Hercules Hoists all day long, but ask me to hop across some logs or cross a horizontal wall and I'll just fall on my ass. Still, for some reason I just keep putting off my strength training. No longer!!!

I am vowing to commit more time to strength training. I will train 2 times a week ideally, 1 time a week at the absolute minimum. This is in addition to yoga which could be considered strength training - so 3 times a week, 2 times a week minimum.

Tonight's workout definitely proved that I am rusty, however I somehow accomplished a first ever feat! I did one complete pull up from the ground (no jumping into it) and my chin cleared well over the bar. Before I had always jumped into it or not gotten my chin completely over. Yay! Now to just shorten my break time between pullups.

(Music of the day - Dethklok - great for brutal workouts!)

Holidays and the return to fitness

I'm back!

We were in Virginia for about a week visiting our family. It's not something we get to do very often, so we pretty much saturated ourselves with family and friends the entire time. It was exhausting at times. Crazy - spending an entire day with my wacky 79 year old dad, and my entire "quirky" family. Unexpected - my mom ended up in the hospital on Christmas eve, but she is totally fine now and shouldn't have any further issues. And it was fun - backyard fires, cookouts, beer, games, and just hanging around. The weather was all over the place - 80 degrees, then pouring rain, then 35 degrees. But I got some great walking time with my mom in her neighborhood - golf resort with tons of walking trails. I even snuck in a quick run. I ate whatever the hell I wanted, which includes many many cookies and just other not good for you stuff. We had a good time on our trip and enjoyed seeing everybody, but now I'm glad to be back in good old Georgia.

Of course I have to share my Christmas loot. Since we didn't have a huge budget for gifts this year (when do we ever???) I told my husband what I wanted/could really USE - a GPS watch. Lo and behold ...

YAY!

He got me the Nike Sportwatch! My husband is one of those people who will research products till he's blue in the face to find the best one. He said this one seemed to have the best user reviews and website, and so far this watch definitely does not disappoint. I have never owned a GPS watch before, until now I've just been getting by with a regular one and guesstimating how far I've gone. So I have no prior comparison, but I can definitely say this is pretty easy to use - simple interface, but it shows you everything you need to know. I don't want to be out there on the trail fiddling with buttons and menus, so the fact that it cuts to the chase is very good. The website is awesome. There are graphs, charts, stats, all time personal records, you can set goals, you can compare yourself to other Nike users - very dangerous for my competitive self! You can find anything you'd possibly want to know about your run - there is a map showing where you went, where you slowed down and sped up, and of course elevation, terrain, and even the weather/time of day. Yeah, pretty awesome stuff.

Here is my Nike Plus stuff for whoever is curious

Some of the other stuff I got - some snap reflective bands, kinda like those snap on bracelets from the 90's. Under Armor hoodie, a balance board, some headbands, reflective hat, and a little runner Christmas ornament. I got $150 cash and a gift card for Dick's, so I went there today and picked up a winter coat, the Nathan belt in the picture below, and a yoga block - stuff I needed badly!

I tested out my new watch on this morning's run - 5 miles at the canal. Once again, not alot of button mashing, just a few clicks and off I went. Man, after not running much for the past 2 weeks it was really hard to run 5 miles. Maybe it was a bit ambitious of me for my long run to be the first thing I do, but I have no time - the Augusta Half is coming and I need every weekend for long runs! I had cramps on my bad side, because for the last week I've been sleeping on a saggy bed and sitting in cars all the time. My pain flared up pretty bad last week, but it's getting better now that I'm back in my own bed. I got the 5 miles done despite the hurt. While I had a great holiday and enjoyed seeing our family, I was going nuts not exercising! I have seriously become addicted - I feel pent up and stressed if I go too long without it. Feels good to be back.

Checking in before the holiday

I'm kind of taking a break from my routines for the next couple weeks. This week I've been busy preparing for Christmas - buying/wrapping presents, and then tomorrow we are driving to Virginia to visit our family. We'll be there until Christmas day because unfortunately I'll have to go back to work. I may squeeze in a run at my mom's house one morning but that'll be about it. I plan on beefing up my training significantly in the new year.. and I'm in the process of figuring out a race schedule of sorts. Yay!

Navy Classic

It was a cold, dark, December morning as Karen laced up her faithful Saucony Hattori 2's and drove to Enterprise Mill to compete with valor in the Navy Classic.....


Just kidding. I'm not really going to write like that. And it wasn't really that cold - about 50 which really is perfect running weather for me since I'm one of those runners that's literally a hot mess at the end of the race. The forecasted rain held off until the late morning so I didn't have to worry about that. This race was a 10 miler and 5k. I'm not quite at the point where I could attempt the 10 miler - give it another month and I probably could, but not today. When I got there this morning I was feeling pretty good and pumped up. I decided to just push as hard as I can and try to get a good time. Under 30 minutes, maybe 28 minutes if possible. Well, strangely enough this was a pretty small race. Usually anything "military" in a military town draws tons of people, but I did find out that this was the first annual Navy Classic so I guess it may have been the newness factor. Oh well, I like smaller races because they make me more competitive. Most of the people here were doing the 10 miler so my race was even smaller. The race was downtown which is pretty much flat. Flat course, not alot of people, good weather... oh yeah. It's on. I'm going for an age group win.

We started shortly after the 10 mile racers and I immediately turned on beast mode. Not many people were in front of me and it pretty much stayed that way. There was 1 girl in front of me in a salmon colored tank top. I tried really hard to catch her but she just kept getting farther away and I just couldn't do it. I figured she was in her 20's like me but there wasn't really anything I could do about that. All I could do is just keep pushing. We ran through downtown and along the riverwalk. A good flat course, as I suspected. I was really starting to tire out at the end, but I had the willpower to tell "the voice" in my head to shut it and just keep going for a little longer. No one was in front of me except for 2 guys. I was nearing the finish line and saw this number-

25:42. TWENTY FIVE. Whaaat... How the hell is this possible? I was in complete disbelief. On top of that, as I crossed the finish line somebody said "First female!" I literally threw my hands up in the air and said "Oh my god!" I was a hot mess - exhausted, huffing and puffing, and for a moment there I could almost cry. I've never won a race and have never considered myself "that elite" to be able to do so. So after I calmed down a bit I got my free refreshments which were very good, then waited for the awards to start. I wasn't mentioned in the age group awards, which really threw me until they announced that there would be an overall winner proclaimed. But here's what threw me even further. I actually won second place. That girl with the salmon colored tank top got me. Which is why I was kind of confused when they said I was the first female.. but at the time I figured maybe she was running the 10 miler. So yes, a little disappointing that they screwed that up - but still, second female overall is WAY beyond anything I was expecting from myself.

It says 10 mile, which is kind of deceptive since that's not the race I ran. I don't want credit for something I didn't do. And that's really my only complaint about this race, is that they should have had separate medals for the 5k people. Other than that I liked the race and will definitely be back for the 10 mile next year.

Plus the shirts are awesome!

I love it!!!

Today was awesome. I have a new PR, one which I didn't think I was even capable of at this point. I placed 2nd overall which I wasn't expecting at all. Plus I met some great people today. Met a woman who just moved here from California and chatted with her about what it's like to run in Augusta before the race. After the race I was talking with an older man who has pretty much the same running timeline I have - started running in late 2012, dealt with an injury and had to quit over the summer, then started running again in September. Plus he does obstacle races too. Then there was this kid and his mom - if you saw this mom you probably would have thought it was a joke. She was stick thin, zero muscle, and wearing an all grey sweatsuit. Runners don't run in sweatsuits! But I am now eating those words because she kept pace with me the entire time, AND her 7 year old son ran the entire thing with her! They finished shortly after I did which must have been around 26-27 minutes. That's impressive as hell for a little kid! I congratulated them afterwards because that was just so awesome to watch. Running these races really allows you to meet some great people

It's been a great day.

Thoughts on the Spartan World Championship

So I finally got to watch the Spartan Race World Championship! They aired it on NBC Sports last weekend but that's a channel I don't have. Luckily someone put it up on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_8LeMOktQ

I highly recommend that you watch it. It's an hour long but SO worth it. Here's why

Spartan Races are hard. Challenging. But human beings need challenge in their lives. If you watch the video at one point they say "You wouldn't buy a Ferrari and just let it sit there collecting dust" So why would you do that with this amazing body you've been given? We're not being physically challenged anymore. Everything is done for us. This race is about getting back to what human beings were meant to do - run, sweat, swim, crawl, jump, climb - and get dirty! You will face your fears. Huge walls, heights, water, sharp things, fire, take your pick. But when you're out there, there's no room for fear. You realize you have to suck it up, take one step at a time, and literally pull yourself through it all. You can't let yourself think about it - you just have to do it. And it's not easy. You will hurt, you will bleed, you will shiver, you will sweat, you will curse and you will cry. But trust me when I say, the feeling of completing the hardest obstacles and crossing the finish line - is just unreal. It's worth all the suffering. Because these races TRULY show you what you are made of. You will discover that you are capable of things you never dreamed you could do. I truly believe Spartan Race can change your life.

This video was a great watch. It introduces you to the race - it's origins, what it's about, and the types of people who run it. They mostly focus on the elite heats, which makes sense since it is a world championship. But it also touches on the open heats and shares the stories of some of the racers. Some of these stories were incredible - people who were 500 and 700 pounds, a 14 year old girl who was racing for her father who passed away, a man who survived brain cancer, and even a man who rode his bike from Texas to Vermont just to be in the race! There are average joes out there doing this. There are people who have no legs out there doing this. And you'll see in the video that even these super fit elite athletes struggle on the course at times. Everyone is out there pushing the limits of their own bodies and fighting to finish. it is truly unifying.

It was interesting to watch the elite racers get through what is known as the hardest course in Spartan history. I had never seen them race before, and some of them make it look SO easy! The way they crawl up those ropes and just scramble through that barb wire is absolutely nuts. But every single elite had their own battle, whether it was the rope climb, tyrolean, barb wire pit, or just the freezing cold water - everyone's got a weak spot to overcome.

I think I will make the Vermont Beast a bucket list item for me. I've actually been to Killington as a kid on a ski trip (loved it) so I kind of feel like I have to go back ...
I cannot wait to get back to Conyers in March for the Georgia Sprint. One year will have been too long. But in 2014 I have alot to look forward to. I'm signed up for the Carolina Sprint, and have the Asheville Super and Carolina Beast in my sights as well. I really do love this sport. It's addictive, thrilling, and incredibly empowering. And I'd recommend it to anyone...

Hold it in

I've had a pretty good week of running. Also on monday I did my strength workout - I'm going to start using the Spartan WOD's again. That's what I did on monday - I had to modify it a little due to my space/materials I have, plus the fact that I don't run every day at this point. Lately I've been really busy with Christmas stuff and feeling like I have no time. But I haven't been too stressed and I think I have my regular exercise to thank for that.


TMI ahead...


Today's run was a little interesting. I went to the track on the base because I had to get groceries afterwards. Went into the gym to change. I kind of had to use the bathroom at this point - yep, THAT kind. I am pretty "regular" and don't usually have trouble with this. But it didn't wanna happen for some reason, so I figured I would just go run and then maybe 20-30 minutes after it would happen. Nope. About 3 minutes into the run my body was all like "Oh hey, that thing you wanted to do 10 minutes ago? I'm ready now! Let's do this!" I literally felt like I was about to crap my pants during the last half mile. I wanted to run really fast so I could get to the bathroom but I really couldn't. I just had to do my best to hold it in and just kind of tell my body "We're not doing this right now", finish the run, then make a mad dash for the bathroom in the gym. Ugh. Worst feeling ever. Doesn't usually happen to me.. but hey at least it wasn't during a race or something!

Speaking of races, I'm about to do another one! I am getting to the point where I'm not really going to be doing 5k's anymore, except maybe once in awhile, but I saw this one and really wanted to do it. It's the Navy Classic 10 miler/5k. Obviously at this point I'm not doing the 10 miler :(  but it will be a fun military themed race and I'll get to scout out the 10 miler for next year. I am really going to give this one my best attempt, after my last race with the painful gravel I feel like I really need a re-do.

It's time to kick some Navy butt.

The Canal Trail

So I didn't end up going to the Spartan workout. There's a few factors at play here - I didn't get much sleep over the last 2 days. I found out last minute that my husband's battalion was having a christmas party, so we did that last night. He had last night and today off. But in the end I honestly didn't feel like getting up at 4 or 5 in the morning and driving 2 hours to Macon. Plus it was pouring rain. I know this sounds really whiny, excuse filled, and un Spartan of me, but I honestly just did not feel like making that drive. I also think at this point my time would be better served doing long runs in preparation for the Augusta half. The next 2 weekends I can't do long runs so I really needed to take advantage of today..

We got some heavy rain so I didn't think running on base would be a good idea. Instead I went to the Augusta Canal trail. It's a popular running trail around here which is some 14 or 15 miles long (I think?) I had been out to the start of the trail earlier this year - when I did the Resolution 5k or whatever it was called. The place I PR'ed!

Today I decided to start in the middle area of the trail, just to explore some new areas really. I don't think I will start from Eisenhower park again, however. It was a bit scary - I had to cross the canal on this 100% rusted metal bridge that didn't seem completely sturdy. Then the porta potty out there was right at the edge of a cliff, and it was leaning backwards slightly... so between the bridge and the bathroom I kinda had a feeling I might be tumbling into the canal or the Savannah river... lol.

I didn't have my phone with me for pictures, but I have some from the Resolution race. This is the area around the top of the trail - the same types of trees, foggy mornings, and water surrounds the trail itself

I do like the trail though. Its a flat, compacted dirt/gravel trail and even in the wintertime it is really pretty. It's along the Augusta canal obviously, and to the left is the Savannah river and the border to South Carolina. I think this would be a beautiful trail in the spring. Today certainly felt like spring. While some parts of the country are -30, it feels like freaking may in the south. 80 degrees, rainy, humid, STICKY!!! It was nice though, was about 67 when I went out which is a pretty perfect temp. There were tons of runners as I expected there would be. I ran 4.5 miles in 46 minutes, the run itself was difficult and kind of hurt at times. I wasn't feeling so hot this morning - probably as a result of the christmas party food/desserts. But it was a good run though, I was happy with it and it was nice to explore some new places.

I went downtown for a little bit too, wanted to eat at a certain restaurant but it wasn't open yet so I grabbed some yummy Quiznos instead. Saw some neat spots downtown..

I plan on coming back to the Canal for long runs in the future. Hadn't really been out here much before now because it's 30 minutes away from my house, but for my longer runs there really won't be many other good places to go. Aside from FATS, but that will be a new adventure entirely :)

Body Image

So far this has not been the most active week for me. I had 4 straight days of activity, including 4 very good miles on Saturday and a great Sunday yoga session where I really gave it a good effort. However, I didn't do anything on Monday because we met some friends at Starbucks, and yesterday I was just feeling flat out lazy. Tonight I did my strength workout and managed to work up a good sweat in 20 minutes. I already feel kinda sore.

Today I am feeling kind of fat. I don't know why, but there are some days when I look in the mirror and just think "yeah, I'm lookin GO-O-O-OD!!", but today was one of those days where I put on my form fitting workout gear, looked in the mirror and just said "Ugh..." I think the reason I feel this way right now is because my stomach has been all bloaty lately, probably from going back to fibery foods after 4 days of bad food. It's crazy, even after losing nearly 40 lbs I still feel fat sometimes. I've been this weight for awhile so I guess sometimes I forget that I used to weigh nearly 200 lbs. When this happens I usually look back through my progress pics just to get a little bit of a perspective shift. And I know most females deal with this from time to time. Generally I'd say I'm pretty happy with my body compared to most women, but every now and then I get a little down on myself. These are the times when I have to tell myself I'm not doing this to be "skinny", I'm doing this to be fit and strong. I work hard because I want to do epic shit! And I think as long as I'm working hard and doing epic shit, I can't hate on my body too much.

And the good news is, lately I am noticing that I just "feel" stronger. My little nagging pains are getting better - I am pretty sure I have a heel spur and I thought I was starting to get a case of runner's knee, but my heel isn't too bad most days and my knee hasn't bothered me in a week. Strangely I find that my hip and lower back feel better during periods where I'm really active. Case in point, I didn't work out for 2 days and spent alot of time playing Borderlands 2 with my husband - sitting in my chair. Plus I sit in a chair at work. And today the pain is kinda bad. Now I'm kind of regretting my slacking off!

This weekend I'm heading to Macon for the Spartan Workout. I'm gonna go ahead and go even if my husband has the day off, since I will probably be back around the time he would be waking up. As long as I'm not totally wiped out exhausted we should get to have a nice day together!

Gobble

Ugh.

I currently feel like a weighed down bloated piece of crap. Been eating way too much bad food lately and it shows!

However I did have a nice thanksgiving and I am enjoying my days off. My husband had to work on thanksgiving so we had a big breakfast together instead. I still made a little thanksgiving dinner too - turkey breast, mac and cheese, and a spinach/cranberry salad. And of course dessert because I am such a sugar fiend. I got about half my christmas shopping done online this morning too. Yay!

I still did my thursday 2 miles yesterday! I didn't have anything better to do. Went out to the creek near my house around 4pm. It was chilly but I warmed up eventually and it ended up being a beautiful day for a thanksgiving run. I even stopped to snap a few pictures

Most of the pretty fall leaves are on the ground now because we had a bunch of rain and wind come through here a few days back.

Something kind of funny happened too. You see, I was expecting to be the only person out on that trail at 4pm on thanksgiving. But actually there were quite a few walkers (there's a neighborhood right next to it) and there were even a couple bikers - no other runners though. Anyway, so I ran past these 2 girls who were walking. And one of them just looked at me and gave me the biggest open mouth stare ever. She looked at me like I was crazy. Am I? Crazy for running in short sleeves in 45 degrees at 4pm on thanksgiving? Maybe... but here's how I see it. I am lucky to be able to run. I am lucky to have a body which is in good condition, no physical or mental defects, no diseases. I have my aches and pains, but I have no injuries which cripple me. Many people cannot walk just like this girl was doing, let alone run. My husband is one of them. I know how much it frustrates him. So to pay tribute to the gifts I have been blessed with, I am out there running on thanksgiving. It is what I love to do, and I'd sure as hell rather do something active instead of sleep or sit around the house twiddling my thumbs. Running is how I give thanks for running. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Today I attempted to do my strength exercise and some stretching. It was pretty pathetic. I just feel so sluggish from all the food! Ugh! At least I did SOMEthing though. And I have not missed a day of my 30 burpees!

Tomorrow I am going on base to run 4 miles. They have a great dirt track that is perfectly flat, good for a person like myself who is just getting back into distance running. In fact I am going on base tonight too, my husband wants me to bring him some food - and I shall!

I may or may not be doing the Spartan Workout next weekend. My husband was planning to take that day off. Since we hardly see each other and I didn't pay anything to sign up for the workout, I think I'm gonna bail and spend the time with him if he does indeed have that day off. I can work out later - when you live the Army life, time together is precious

That's all for now... peace out yall!

Spartan pictures and Yurbuds

I'm super sleepy!

Went out for my 3.5 miles this morning. Saturdays are going to once again become my long run days, but since today's "long" run was only 3.5 I decided to go for speed as well. I'm freakin tired. It was hard. For some reason I felt like I had no energy but I still tried to push myself as hard as I could. I did it in 33-something minutes. I wish I was faster - I know I'm capable of faster speeds and I do realize it's going to take some time for me to get there, but I really am a speed demon. I have a hard time turning that off, lol. But with next saturday's 4 miles I will not be going for speed. 

It was a pretty morning, kinda grey and damp but it was really pretty with the autumn leaves. Now I'm really sleepy but I still need to clean house and do a bunch of other stuff - including burpees for day 6!

Also - I have new headphones! My old ones did the whole.. one ear dies and there's only this one precise angle where you can hold the cord and hear both ears. So I ditched them and got myself a pair of Yurbuds. I had heard good things about these and that they're supposedly made for runners. Found a pair on Amazon for $25 bucks, got them last monday and tried them out. 

They look really weird, kinda like alien pods or something. Basically it's a tunnel that goes into your ear which prevents the buds from falling out. I had to read the instructions thoroughly to get an understanding of how to position the tunnels and how to put them into my ears. I was worried because I have a tragus (the little nub of skin attached to your face, right in front of your ear hole) piercing in my left ear.. and even though it's over a year old and fully healed I'm still careful with it. But I don't get any problems or discomfort with these headphones. The sound is good and they don't fall out of my ears. The feel of them is kind of weird and I'm still getting used to it, but for $25 bucks they have been a huge upgrade from my previous ones which were always falling out of my ears. I think I'm gonna love these things

Also I saw that Spartan Race has this new photo gallery. Out of curiosity I looked through it to see if I had any more pictures, and I found some! Yay!

The faces of pain and exhaustion! 

 This just looks like I'm trying to hide from all the mud... lol

Now I just want to do another Spartan Race... 4 more months!

30 burpees, 30 days

Sup!

I'm here on a wednesday night, feeling quite sore

I started the 30 burpees, 30 days challenge ...put on by who? Spartan Race of course!

Burpees and I aren't friends. I did many of them in the weeks leading up to my Spartan sprint back in march. But it was never enough!! At my Spartan sprint I failed 4 obstacles, so that's 120 burpees. I did every damn one of those burpees. Can't do 30 in a row... I can do maybe 15 before I have to take a break. On that day I took many many breaks.. but I did every single burpee, unlike some who cheat. However, my goal is to be able to do more of them and take breaks less often. One day I'd like to be able to do 30 in a row. And with a trifecta in my dreams for 2014, being able to do 30 in a row would really help me out. Or at least being able to do more without tiring so quickly would suffice.

So the deal is pretty simple - you do 30 burpees a day for 30 days. EVERY DAY! I'm on day 3 and on top of the 90 burpees, I've also run 2 miles and completed a pretty killer full body workout. Today I didn't do anything because I did all my grocery shopping and didn't get home until 7:30. The plan for this week is run 2 tomorrow, strength friday, run 3.5 saturday, and yoga on sunday. And do burpees.

I'm noticing some slight body definition changes in the 2 months that I've been active again. My PCOS has also been better and I'm really hoping it stays that way. It's amazing what exercise can do for you. And if it's one of those days where I just don't feel like it, I just make myself get off my ass and do it anyway. The one thing I tell myself is - who has ever completed a workout and said "Man, I really regret doing that!" NOBODY! Because you feel GREAT afterwards!

Great Santa Chase 5k

Last night I ran the 2nd annual Great Santa Chase. I ran the 1st annual last year - my first 5k race for time. This race takes place at Lights of the South, it's a place right near my house where you can take a hayride through christmas light displays. Except last night we were running through them!

This is the infamous castle. It's the finish point of the race. This year instead of looping the trail 3 times they had us go off into the parking lot for part of it. Which I'm actually thankful for and I'll explain why in a minute.

My goal for this year was to finish in under 30 minutes. Since my return to running 2 months ago I've been averaging around 10 minutes a mile, but I have not been doing speedwork at this point. It's really just been about getting back into it. Last year's time was 36:51 - it was a run filled with many walk breaks and water stops. So this year I was curious to see how much I've improved, even after 6 months off

There was a 1 mile fun run for the kids which was cute to watch. They had to try and catch Santa, but he was in a golf car so it wasn't exactly an easy task. 

Then our run began at sundown. I did a good job of pacing myself, and I did not stop to walk for even one second which is pretty awesome. But holy hell... the gravel!!! Yes, this is a gravel trail. Last year it wasn't a huge deal because I had my old shoes - minimal, but not completely barefoot. Well my trail shoes now are baaarrre-foot!!! There really isn't much protecting me from the huge rocks. It hurt like hell. And I think it definitely affected my speed. But I just did my best to grin and bare it. The run through the dirt parking lot was definitely welcome, even if I didn't get to look at any pretty lights during that part. Running through the lights was really fun and the weather was damn near perfect for shorts and a shortsleeve shirt. My finish time was 30:18, did not quite make my goal but that's ok because I beat the pants off of my previous time! I think that despite the gravel I did my best and paced myself really well to avoid burning out early. 

Me after the run, and the fire pit which kept me warm - by the time I finished it was a bit chilly!

Unfortunately my husband had to work so it was just me all by my lonesome, but I am thankful for the ability to be out there racing, even if I am by myself.

They had some pretty tasty free baked goods which were provided by a local bakery. I had a tiny piece of each - cinnamon bagel, some type of frosted scone, and sourdough bread

I'm not sure if I like my trail shoes, after my last 3 trail runs all of which involved gravel at some point during the race. Gravel freaking hurts in barefoot shoes. I'm not new to barefoot running, I just don't run on anything besides woodland trails and asphalt. Not sure if I want to tough it out and condition my feet for rough terrain, or just go for a more cushioned yet still minimal trail shoe. I guess I'll keep running in them for now and make a decision after I've had more time in them

Next saturday's run will be 3.5, as I slowly begin to build mileage for the Augusta Half in february!

The good side of weird schedules

My husband went back to work today for the first time since his foot surgery. He works a late afternoon/night shift and we don't really get weekends together. So for about 5 days, the only time we will see each other is when one of us is asleep. Sucks for me cause I feel like I never get to see him, but there are benefits to it. See, on nights when he is home I just want to hang out with him... which sometimes leads to rushing through my exercise time and not doing chores as often as I should. At least this way I can get more stuff done around the house and not feel like I have to rush through my workouts.

So tonight I did my strength training and had a date with my foam roller. I had a bunch of energy because we had a Thanksgiving lunch at work... carbs, yay!

Lately I've had a bit of heel pain in my left foot. I think maybe I've been favoring my left foot a bit during these several months of dealing with hip pain on my right side. Took a break from running for a week to see if it would do anything. It didn't really help initially, but the last 2 days have been a little better even though I ran yesterday. I'm not that worried about it. This week I realized I'm always going to have little nagging aches and pains. As long as they never become anything more than that, why let them stop me? These days I am stretching, massaging, icing, and foam rolling everything to minimize any possible issues. The truth is, if I stop everything each time I get aches and pains, then I'm never going to get anything done. Would I rather go back to my life of inactivity and never accomplish any challenges or have any cool stories to tell? Hell no! I'd rather do something awesome and be in pain sometimes than not even use the body I was given. 

So yes, I'm just going to take care of this as best I can and hope it doesn't turn into something serious like PF


This weekend I'm doing the Great Santa Chase 5k. It's here near my house at Lights of the South, a big Christmas light display here in East GA. They did this for the first time last year and it was my first REAL 5k where I ran for time. That time was 36:51, which I will surely beat the pants off this year. Will I meet my PR of 27:17? Probably not - since my return to running I've been averaging around 10min/mile. So I'll try to get a sub 30 minute run here.


Oh, one more thing. I found this and it's pretty great. Perfectly describes a hypoglycemic runner like myself...

10 Things HANGRY People Do  !!

Nip it in the bud

Grrrr.

I've been noticing some heel pain lately - the past 2 weeks or so, usually hurting the most the day after I run. Today I realized that it keeps coming back and that I really should do something about it before it gets any worse. Talked it over with my husband and his opinion is that it's a heel bruise. He's had alot of experience with foot pains and running injuries so I have a fair amount of trust in his theory. Google seems to support it. I don't think it's plantar because the pain doesn't extend into my arch, it's really just on the ball of my heel. It hurts when I put my foot down or stand on it but not when the tendon of my arch is in motion. The pain isn't really that bad. It would seem I just need to rest/ice/elevate for a few days until the pain subsides. So until I feel like the pain is better I'm going to hold off on running for awhile. I'd rather do that than have it develop into something worse.

Sucks that I'm dealing with another injury now. But at this point it's pretty early in the game so I'm trying to remain optimistic that this will be something that heals within a week or so. I probably just hit something wrong. I don't heel strike but maybe I accidentally did while running down a hill, because hills are everywhere in east Georgia

The plan is going to be to strength train in place of running for the time being

Good news, weighed in at 160 this morning! It will probably fluctuate a bit but at least it's not the same freakin number as day one :)

162

So I've been gradually increasing my activity over the past few weeks and it's been pretty successful. I'm running anywhere from 5-8 miles a week, practicing yoga again, and now I'm back to strength training too. Still working on my tight right hip - but I'm no longer in constant pain and it doesn't hurt to do everyday things like pushing a shopping cart or vacuuming. Progress is good.

And now that we're through with all the birthdays and halloweens, I'm officially on a quest to lose some weight. Unfortunately I've put on about 1 pound per month of inactivity (so that's 6 pounds) but now that I'm active again it's time to lose all that!

Starting weight - 162

Goal weight - 155. Then we'll see where I go from there

I think my BMI is still normal for 5'8" but I haven't measured it yet

Here's what's gonna happen...

• Tracking calories daily
• Exercise 5-6 days a week
• Making myself meet a deadline - weigh ins on wednesdays

I allow myself some exceptions on weekends but other than that I'll be sticking to this pretty tight. If I don't then it's never gonna happen

Weight loss isn't fun... sometimes it feels like I'm starving and I start craving everything in sight. But it should only be for a few weeks. After that I can eat for maintenance, just as long as I stay active, which I have every intention of doing

The Spartan Workout

Ok. I ate entirely too much halloween candy. Man I love sugar way too much!

Ran 5k yesterday morning at the creek. We had a ton of rain the night before so there were wet leaves plastered all over the trail. Part of the trail is on a long wooden bridge. Wet leaves on wood = very bad. Had to slow down to avoid slipping. The run took me about 32 minutes. Now that I've been running regularly for about a month I'm going to start challenging myself to do better each time. Increased speed, intervals, and limiting walk breaks. The stupid abdominal cramp still shows up but it's getting better. I can run through it most days.

Now it's sunday and I just finished my yoga. Something about right angle pose absolutely kills my right hip. I'm trying my best to hold these poses as long as possible in order to get the maximum benefit from the stretches. No pain at the moment!

Tomorrow will be a strength training session

Some cool news - I signed up for the Spartan Workout! Not sure what that is? It's a 2 hour long workout put on by the founders of Spartan Race. Here is a snippet taken from the website

The Spartan Race Fitness Team is focused on BUILDING BETTER HUMANS by developing:

• Stamina - the ability to endure
• Power - strength and speed
• Athleticism - complete integrated functional fitness, using the body in a way that it was intended to move
• Readiness - take on any challenge, any time!
• Tenacity - mental
• Attitude - a positive disposition even in the face of adversity

Sounds pretty awesome. It's completely free AND you get a free shirt! Mine is on 12/7 and it's in Macon which is about 2 hours away. Funny thing is, I am actually going to TRAIN for this. Think about that for a second. I am going to train for one single workout. But - it's 2 hours and it's Spartan. I'll be doing stuff I have probably never done before. So I need to make sure I ramp up my training over the next month so I don't die during this beast of a workout.

Is it really working???

I almost feel hesitant to post this. Because I feel like for the past 6 months, every time I started to notice an improvement in my symptoms the pain would always come back with a vengeance and prove me wrong.

However, I feel like (and hope) that this is different.

I've been working on hip openers and stretches with my husband. He's great at this stuff. In another life he could have been a yoga master. I've noticed improvement during the last 2 weeks, but what really seems to have helped almost instantly was the yoga I did on sunday.

This is the same yoga video I did for 3 months prior to the onset of all the pain. I attempted to keep doing it, but I would always get to certain stretches that made it hurt. At the time I had no idea what I was dealing with. The pain seemed to be in my lower back, so I was thinking I probably had a back problem that could potentially be serious. So I thought pain = bad, and any time I got myself into a pose that hurt I just flat out didn't do it. After awhile I gave up yoga and all other activity completely.

But on sunday I decided to just do the whole thing and see what happened. I pushed myself through the painful poses. The triangles, right angles, warrior 3's, standing splits, and half moons. All the warrior poses gave me some grief. I was sore for about an hour afterward, then all of a sudden - no pain. I haven't had any pain since then aside from some brief morning soreness. Not even any tightness when I stick my right hip out and bend to the left - a move that always felt tight and painful.

Tonight I went for a 2 mile run and it was really good. No tightness or pain in my hip like there has always been. My abdominal cramp was there, but instead of a sharp run-stopping pain it was more like a constant ache, something I could at least run through. We did more stretching afterward which left me a little sore, but now there's not really any pain to report.

I'm going to keep doing all of this religiously and hope this really is my ticket to recovery

Zombie 5k

I have run another race!

Yesterday I did the Zombie 5k on Fort Gordon! I did this race last year, and it was my first "official" 5k ever - but I don't really count it as my first real race (I'll explain why in a minute) Last year I ran this race at the beginning of my weight loss quest. I weighed somewhere around 190 lbs. Here's me from last year's race... not really sure why I'm in front of the bathrooms, but there ya go

This is me before running yesterday's race, almost exactly one year later

It's amazing what a difference 35 lbs will make


This is a different kind of race. It's on some pretty sandy and hilly trails through the woods. Obviously there are zombies who chase you. You're given 3 flags on a belt (like flag football) and if you lose all 3 you die. One zombie can only take one flag, so it's not like you can lose all 3 at the same time. But it's pretty hard. Last year hardly anyone survived. I was signed up for the 4th wave of this year's race, and at the starting line they had told us that only 1 person had survived so far. And my wave was only 10 people. Yeah, we're gonna die...lol.

So I started the race at the front with a couple that looked pretty fit and fast. I never saw the people who were behind me. It was pretty much just me and this couple, and eventually we met up with another guy who was waiting for people to team up with. Basically if you're by yourself you die. This race is not about time - it's about survival. Because even if you're fast and finish first it doesn't count unless you have at least 1 flag left. The whole race was pretty much sprinting when there were zombies and then walking or maybe light jogging the rest of the way. Some of the zombies didn't really try to get you, but others were fast and relentless. Mainly the 20-something's Army guys. I lost 1 flag early to a really fast one. About midway through the course we saw some zombies ahead, and a guy off to the far far right just standing there. He was really far away and didn't look like he was going to make an attempt to get us. He waved at me. I waved back. Then the zombies ahead of us came and we were running. All of a sudden, *fwoop!* The waving zombie had snuck up on my left side and grabbed my flag. That was one hell of a sneaky zombie, I didn't even hear him coming! And I realized I really made myself a target by waving at him. Oh well. Flag #2 was lost. Not long after we entered this area

(This photo was taken by Fort Gordon Boss)

This was the start of what would be a never ending huge field of zombies. Somehow I made it through here with my last flag but I had to go way off the course into the grass. I felt like I was sprinting full speed for 1-2 minutes, which I'm not really used to doing these days. Not long after the huge zombie field I lost my third flag. The zombie was on my left side and the flag was on my right, but somehow even after dodging out of the way he was able to grab it. He had a super arm or something. So from this point on I acted as bait for the rest of my group so they could survive. It was semi effective but after hordes of really fast and relentless zombies the others ended up losing their flags too. Then towards the end of the race some volunteers rode by us on an ATV and tosses us some flags. I guess they felt bad because nobody was surviving! But we made it past the last few zombies and approached the finish line

I sort-of survived! I got a medal!

 2nd place for females 20-29 :)

I think I finished around 40 minutes, not a good time by any means but I was going at the pace of my survival group

Once again I had a great time doing this race. I hope they keep doing it, because I think it's turning into a tradition for me

After the race we met up with one of my husband's Army friends and we went to Jersey Mike's subs. Chipotle Cheesesteak... mmmhhmm. Then we made an impromptu decision to run by Walmart and grab some halloween decorations. We went back on base and decorated our trucks and ourselves for the battalion Trunk or Treat. I gave myself some face wound tattoos. Not bad for about 30 minutes of planning inside a Walmart

Even though we don't have kids we both had a really good time at the trunk or treat. Plus it was good to see some of my husband's friends and help support his battalion. He made an improvised costume too and actually ended up winning a prize - candy plus a sweet parking pass - which he can make great use of once he gets back to work (he had foot surgery recently) 

Today I'm going to do some yoga to stretch everything out after yesterday. I'm quite sore as my body is not really used to sprinting for long periods of time. But no hip or back pain to report :)