Color Me Rad and a change of plans...

Well the day had finally come to a end on Friday March 22 at 5:30 pm, the day I was so excited about and ready for. It was pick up packet for the Rad... Oh goodness well oh messy goodness, I have seen pictures of people who have ran it in the past and boy people looked like a bag is skittles. So off I went to get my packet. The guy said "can I have your name" I told him. He said your "oh with with team unicorn poo" hum yes that's us is all I could reply with. I had a great chuckle inside. Mer made it up, it was her mystical creature and unicorns have rainbow poo!! So there you go. Get my stuff look at some cool merchandise which I was eyeing the tall turquoise color me rad socks. Anyone who knows me, I love turquoise. But 8 bucks just seems high, walked around, came up to them again and yes I caved. So cool.. So came home had a good healthy meal, Chinese food 🎎🍜lol. Hey it's healthy 😉. Looked at my cool stuff and chilled until bedtime 💤💤💤💤Got up and it was cold and predicted rain. Fun, all I could think of was mud, colored powder and cold. But all in all it was a blast. Best 5k pace and time, very happy about that. BUT one thing did suck, yep color me rad had a sucky moment. My garmin didn't mark it 3.1 it was 2.74. I was mad, so I had to find places to make it a full 5k. You pay for a 5k, better make sure the markers they marked off are 3.1.. Other than that, I went some friends and they decided we needed to go to Walmart after the race. 😳 Is all I thought. No way you serious. At this point I wanted a shower and some more extra pics. Oh thanks Mer for driving😘. So of course I was like I'm staying in the car lol. They of course said no your not. 2 against 1 they won, 😔. So I will tell you the looks we got were priceless. Good laughs. Now on to home where I took a long hot shower and relaxed the rest of the day because I knew Sunday is LRS, so happy. wanted a good 12 miler BUT CHANGE OF PLANS!!! I need a row row row your boat just to get out of my front yard. It's pouring, and I do not mind running in the rain, I find it so relaxing but with thunder and lightening going on I opted to be a smart runner and enjoy the beauty of the rain even though its been raining since yesterday but it's serious when you have thunder and lightening. So I have to change my running schedule, which I hate 😡. So tomorrow is HIIT because I didn't run today and Tuesday I have a meeting. But you know I'm really hard on myself about missing a run, short or long. I love to run and I get excited to venture out. Sometimes when you don't give your body a break, Mother Nature will!!! Weekend wrap up: good and cold and weather sucked!!! Funny moment: my boogers are pink. Worst moment: my daughters hospital stay😪

Feelings of the day: Defeated and Depleted

Today I was super nervous and excited to do LRS. I went last weekend on a run to a bridge with my friend Ashley. I had a great time, the weather was amazing, the run was easy, so I thought I would take my LR somewhere different. I was excited to see a different scene, people actually running and loving it. I was excited to drive by myself to a new place, which totally scares the shit out of me. It's crazy how many times I looked at my google map yesterday. That's a huge fear of mine, is driving somewhere new, but lord knows I do own a smartphone and I do have GPS lol.. Any ways I was really proud of myself that I didn't get lost. Made it to my destination . I was excited and happy but oh shit that mood changed right off the start. You see this bridge has a 5% incline at the start for about a mile. I made it up feeling already tired. Mile one was hard, painful and oh my hell so windy. I probably could have flown off the bridge. But I made it up and across and down and then back up. Besides mile 1 sucking running ass, the rest of the 4 were beautiful. Still hard. I hate running in the wind. I really just kept praying for God to please help me through. So I come down the hill, stretch, get some water and proceed to start again at that horrible hill for the remainder of my run. During my break at the water station, I noticed a women who was I'm thinking late 60s. Which of course I don't think is old, my mother is in her 60s and Doesn't look a day over 50 ;) Well I start up that hill, she starts up the hill and well I could already feel the pain. Oh Lordy my legs were killing me. I wanted to quit, she was going up this hill like it was nothing. I trailed up it leaving some distance behind. Then out of breath I stopped and waited for her. We were running the hill together but I just couldn't do it. I stopped, I just gave up twice. I looked at her amazed, but inside I have never felt defeated. I have ran hills before, but running a half marathon didn't hurt as bad as this horrible incline. I wasn't mad or sad, I just felt defeated by that incline. After walking up it a little bit I decided to get moving. We then caught up together and ran the rest of the bridge down. She continued to run on and I stopped and smiled at her as she left running her happy 60ish self on. She was amazing, she kept on going and I quit. The pain was horrible and I just quit. It was too hard, why? Well I will not let that define me, I will do whatever it takes to make it up, I've done it before I can and WILL do it again. I have to, I have a race on that same bridge in APRIL 😯. After that run my body felt like it just ran 15 miles. I was depleted. Tired, sweaty and hurting so bad. When your body is use to the same terrain for months and months, it gets use to that surface, changing it up and doing something harder and more challenging makes your body react and not in a good way. My hips hurt, my calves are tight and I am EXHAUSTED!!! But all in all I can say is while I have these feelings, I know that I will not let them define my running. If anything I will be stronger and have more determination. So big scary, hard ass incline, we will meet again soon;)

Where I was and where I am....

This week was a awesome running week for sure. I hadn't logged in that many miles in a while. 34.8 to be exact;). But it was well worth it. I was really happy to meet Ashley who loves up the street in my subdivision. Her son and Emily play together so that's how we meet last summer lol. But in just these last couple of weeks we have really connected. She has been working out with a trainer and I run so why wouldn't us workout freaks not get along? Lol!! So she asked me to run the Cooper Bridge with her and another awesome chick Kristi on Saturday. I of course jumped at it. I don't usually run on Saturday, it is rest day but I NEEDED a change of scenery and I thought that it would be awesome. So out we went and holy cow it was beautiful. I was just amazing to see so many other runners, run with Ashley and just enjoy weather that wasn't a freezing 50 degree day. It was fun. A lot of people would ask why is running fun, well don't. No runner can really express to a non runner the feeling of achievement, the determination, the training and of course the running shoes, cute running shirts and shorts lol.. It's a high that I love every time I run. Today was a day of just running. It wasn't a day of pace, distance or time. I didn't take my earbuds, I just talked to Ashley and looked at my beautiful view. I really enjoyed just the quiet and view of running. It was a very different change of pace. I push myself, I listen to music, I plan routes, not today. It was amazing. I realized how far I have come, how far I can go and all the goals I CAN achieve. All I can say is thanks Ashley for asking me to go and can't wait to do it again!! I might have to change my blog title ;)

Tenacious Twelve..

Well here came LRS and I knew it was going to be a longer run, I wasn't really looking forward to it to tell you the truth. Last week I missed 2 days due to a rest day and a docs appointment that I had to go to for Emily. I knew I wanted to make up for the run day missed but was skeptical about running 3 days in a row. I really don't understand how people can run everyday. I tell you I got major burnout on today's LR. I just wasn't feeling excited but I know why. 6.6 on Friday, 4 yesterday and 12 today. That 12 was hard. I started off thinking a different route was needed, parked my car and headed out a different way. I did this because I didn't want to run a big ass hill that I usually run up and around and back down to my finish. Everything was going smooth, but I will tell you since starting HIIT back up my pace was beginning to really improve. So I'm running along and look at my garmin and see in at a 9:20 pace. I told myself in the car I wanted to do around 9:30-9:35 pace. I knew I needed to slow down since I was ONLY at mile 3.7, I wasn't feeling like I should but I knew that I was going to fatigue if I didn't. So I kept going, wind and freezing cold blowing my face off. Look at Garmin and was at 9:42 I was ok with that. Getting ready to end my run i looked and i was only at mile 7.8 and thought shit I for sure thought I was at almost 10. Sooo damn pissed, I really wanted this run OVER. But I kept pushing myself. I kept saying"just keep running". That's what I kept doing. I didn't care about pace or time I just wanted it to be over. So here I see the big hill, damn I thought, I don't know if I can go up this. But a good song came on and I kept going. Having some trouble with my bungee cord shoe laces, I stopped, well I actually sat down lol and tightened them up more. Felt better but I still had a ways to go since I was at mile 9.1 lol. Oh God help me, give me some strength here. So I ran up the hill, pass the school, into the woods and back at the road, still not close to 12. So I had to do something, so I saw the soft ball fields and ran in there. Actually pretended I play and ran around some bases. As I was passing them it reminded me of back home and a sadness crept over me. I loved watching Emily play softball in Alvord. I loved seeing my friends and visiting, I loved watching her play, I realized how much I missed it. Well I was at 11.5 and I knew how much longer I needed and then I would be done. Soon enough I was done. DONE!!! I simply amazed myself again, looking back at previous 12 milers I was good and my pace stayed good. I achieved what I set my mind out to do. But there was no going home and relaxing. I had to take Emily to get some shoes, go grocery shopping and exchange my calf sleeves. Soo happy I got them cause my calves have been so tight. I love them!! All in all it was a hard run though. It was tenacious to say for sure. I'm so glad tomorrow is rest day for me!!