The Do I???

OMG I hate being a woman sometimes, being a woman comes with this horrible, ugly, nasty monthly crap that's called a cycle. MONTHLY, yes. EVERY 4 weeks. Whatdahell? I don't need my insides for this reason anymore, take them out I don't want or need them.. So that begs the question, do I??? So a  question came to mind when I had all my running gear on, drinking my coffee and looking at that fierce wind thinking" do I want to run today"? NO, a big fat NO. I just do not want to run my mileage I had planned for this morning. Let me give you some reasons besides the monthly cycle.

1.I am tired
2.I am cold
3.I am in a bad mood
4.My big toes hurts ( yes I think I injured my big toe)
5.It's windy
6.Don't feel like it
7.I have a errand to run before work

Now as I am typing this I now feel indecisive. But I already have changed and put back on my warm pj's and sitting here with a cup of hot coffee, that just sounds so much better today. I rarely ever miss a run on my scheduled day. I will switch days to get my weekly mileage in but I wont miss. So what happens then is, as the day goes on I will say something to the effect of " dammit I should have ran this morning". But it gets me excited for tomorrows run, so its a win/lose situation. Also when I have to get in a run, come home get ready fast and run an errand it makes my run less enjoyable. I probably need to revamp my running schedule, Hum!!

When your mind and big toe are telling you to take an extra day off, it's very important that you listen to these elements. They are telling you this for a reason. If you decide that you need another day of rest then do it. At least that's what I'm going with. So don't feel guilty (sigh) and get excited about tomorrows beautiful run!! Have a great day everyone.. Oh guess what? IT'S THURSDAY!!!

Sooo, from the start

Well well, here it goes... My running adventure began about 6 years ago. I was going to college full time and taking care of 2 kids and a hubby. During this time I had gained weight and thought holy cow, how did this happen? So the next semester I decided to take kick boxing, what the hell was I thinking? It killed me for about 2 months until I stopped. Yes I failed college kick boxing. Sad I know. Well I was also dealing with the sickness and then death of my grandfather. It was so hard and I was so angry. I needed an outlet but not from the pain of losing him but from the weight. I had heard a ton about couch to 5k. I said I am going to do this, sounded easy enough,lol, and off I started. Well screw me upside down. I never knew how hard and technical and MENTAL running was. Well, I continued on with doing it. Stopping and starting over and over again. Long story short, I completely stopped running. I didn't love it at all, I hated it and I WAS DONE!!! Then something inside started to creep up on me about running. I was that girl in the car, staring at runners and thinking " gosh I wish I could just do it". Then go back to eating cookies and take out and then seeing a chick run and thinking the same thing.. I just wanted to run and be athletic. I wanted to be toned and just happy with my body as a woman. Well in 2011 we moved 18 hours away to beautiful Charleston, SC where there are like 50 beaches around us. We moved here and everyone one I knew was running. I started following a friend of mine in Savannah and her running quest and thought shit I am going to start Jan 1st 2012 of running. I started with couch to 5k again, running in my garage on my treadmill. I HATE THAT MACHINE. But it got me to a point where I was enjoying the run and after about 2 months I could see the results. I now had managed to get my first pair of "real running shoes". Boy I was a runner in my mind then. My hatred for the treadmill lead me to start running outside. HATED IT. I just hated it until I ran 6 miles in over a hour and like 20 mins. I kept watching my Savannah friend and thinking damn that bitch is AMAZING. I strive to be like her. She was then my new motivation. After about 6 months of running/walking I really started to think wow OK I am reading some awesome motivation here and one stuck out about stop being in a competition with other runners. That was huge. I compared myself to other runners who had been running for years. I only 6 months. I wanted to become better and I wanted to be able to run without walking. It was a huge goal of not stopping when I was tired, sweating,thirsty, in pain. I needed to push forward. I read an article about heart rate training, I started doing just that. I read about the training, the pros the cons. What my resting HR should be, what my race pace HR should be and what my long run HR should be. I remember I couldn't run more than 2.5 miles without walking. I was going to fast too soon. I had to retrain myself on how to run. I sought after running forums, blogs and other motivations. So I headed out to change my running. I can tell you that once I hit running 6 miles without walking was FREAKING huge. I cried, it was such a goal that I deeply wanted to reach and that I did. I hit a lot of road blocks, walls and mental fatigue. BUT I started to LOVE running. I at the moment knew I could and would stick with it. I ran my first 5k at 27:28 and it was glorious. I still to this day do HR training, I love it, I know my body. I know when I am exerting to much energy by my HR and I have terrible runs sometimes where I still might have to stop for about 2 mins, but then the next day I can do 12 miles without walking. I just finished my first half with my buddy from Sav. I ran the whole 13.1 miles, well according to Garmin 13.29 in 2:04.06 and I couldn't have been more proud of myself. I wept like a blabbering baby. I cant wait to do more, and maybe a full. I NEVER thought I could do this whole running thing. It was a year in January and I have no plans of quitting. I run 4 days a week and I stick to that schedule. Its important to find what works for you to get your run in. Please remember, once you get past the mental game, it becomes something you crave, you need, you look forward to. At least for me it isn't a outlet for losing weight, it's an outlet from life. For those 45 mins, 1 hour or some days hours lol, I am in my own zone. As soon as my garmin gets started its like a switch in my head and I leave that body and become my runner, my runner meaning I become the runner I want to be that day, that moment of clarity, that moment of kick ass music and peace. Then world is quiet, the mind is silent and that's when I know I am ready to go...

I sure hope I know what the hell I am doing

For some time I have been wanting to write a blog about running. Yes I know there are a ton out there, but what the hell. So I started thinking of names for months and nothing, zip, zero, nada. So here I was planning to run my first half in Charleston, SC with my runner buddy @ Savannah scrap booking, who is a total bad ass MARATHONER.. So I told her to I wanted to do a blog, but couldn't come up with names that I thought were cool, hip and express my running style. Riding home from getting our race packets, we were talking about running buddies. I said "you know I don't run well with others" hence the extreme excitement when I screamed oh shit, I now have the PERFECT blog title.. So here I am, starting this journey of blogging. I am excited about just being able to blab about life, running, the journey and such. I know my husband tries to listen but by the rolling of his eyes, I knew he was out in left field trying to be supportive and such a good listener. I give him a free pass now. More of me, my story of running and all good things to follow.