yikes....

Last night, I had to get in an 8 mile run....and didnt get to leave work until 6:30. So I knew I had a long run ahead of me....and the rain was looming.

I found a little pouch made of crypton, from a fabric rep, that I was going to use to attempt to protect my iphone, and I set off running.

First of all, a long sleeved tshirt was a HORRIBLE choice, it was a weird combination of mugginess and cool and rainy, and humid. But it was too hot with the long sleeves. And second, my legs felt like lead weights. I couldnt get any sort of "speed" (which, again, is way slower than normal people), and one mile in I didnt see any way i'd make it through 8 miles. Also, my stomach had been bugging me all day (which is why I missed my morning BOMF run).

Anyways, 3 or so miles in, I realize...it is DEFINITELY going to be dark out for the better half of my run. And I'm running along kelly drive, alone.....and there's been so many rapes/attacks lately. So naturally, I spent most of my run scaring myself that someone was going to jump out of every single bush or corner. I was very jumpy, and just imagining the worst.

So much for a relaxing run, right?

And then it got worse....my stomach was KILLING me, and I knew I'd never make it back, 3 more miles to go, without a bathroom break. All I could think of was the picture that Dave posted awhile back, haha. It was dark, I was running a variety of options through my head........and finally, with one mile to go to Lloyd Hall (and bathrooms), a magical port-a-potty appeared. BUT.......it was scary, and dark, and i just saw shadows of giant spiders. It was awful....but it saved me life. And then I sprinted the last mile and a half home, because I was over it. I was over running, and just wanted to be home.

So I went to the grocery store, and made meatballs, and a bunch of healthy stuff....I'm determined to lose weight during this marathon training if it kills me!! And it just might!

So far today I had:
a screwed up smoothie (ice wouldnt crush, so it was like, strawberry soup)
4 mushrooms
1 roma tomato (my obsession)
healthy homemade meatballs, with some marinara, on a wheat bun.

sheesh......i just want to bury my head in a pizza and snickers feast. hehe.

Running 6 tonite, 6 tomorrow, 5k race saturday (plus 3), and biking 30 miles sunday. yikes...

one month down!

so i realized this morning, when i flipped my training calendar to a new page, that i've been in "official" marathon training for a whole month. kinda crazy how fast its going, and how far i've gone so far already (literally)

it was a little sad to flip the page, because it was nice seeing all the checkboxes filled in, with all the runs i've completed.....to a new month, and a page of glaringly empty boxes. It was also daunting to see the mileage leap this month. I guess the first month got kind of comfortable, with my weeks filled with 3's, 4's, some 6's, and then the long runs. This month i'll be facing some 8's and 9's during the week, which is something i'm not used to, and a little intimidating!

a quick update, since i haven't posted lately: two weeks ago we ran a very rainy, and very inspirational 12 miles with some of the guys from BOMF and my friends Kat and Diane, and other BOMF volunteers. It was an amazing run, and really got me back in the groove of training since I had missed the long run the weekend before. Last saturday we did yet another rainy 10 miler, with the same group, which was awesome. Not quite as easy for me, since I was having some rumblings in my tummy, and I ended up being sick the rest of the day. But I survived!

So yesterday, we woke up to some nice cool fall-like weather.....and what did I do instead of running? Laid around on my couch watching DVDs of Madmen, haha. oops. I had a dr's appt in the morning (yes, the "tummy alien" drama is still on-going, no real updates yet), and thought i'd run at night. I thought wrong!

So I was determined to make up that 4-miler, and not miss a run. This morning I ran a nice, easy 3.5 miles around Rittenhouse, all the way down to about 7th & walnut, then back. Of course, when I get in to work this morning, I hear about a girl being attacked on 21st & Locust (um, RIGHT down the street from me!) which left me a little freaked out, since I ran by there this morning, and walk by there at night ALL the time going to the gym. I'll be going to the store to get mace/pepper spray sometime this week for sure.

Tonite I'm going to make it a double-header by running 7 miles after work. I'm looking forward to it!

However....as I weighed myself this morning, and wrote it on the calendar.....I looked back a month ago, and realized....i GAINED 1lb this month! what the hell???? I'm tracking all my calories, i've cut back drinking a ton, and i'm eating healthy. what gives???? Its like fat is permanently glued to my body. So my goal for this month is to do some research on what foods I should eat when, to best repair muscles after runs, prep for long runs, etc. In a dream world, I'd love to write a cookbook about how to eat AND lose weight during marathon training. But alas, I wouldn't be a very good test dummy for this, since I cant seem to figure it out myself.

although i'm sure my daily Snickers doesnt help ;) but- its got peanuts and protein! haha. i started tracking my measurements too, maybe that will help me feel better about this, at least if i'm losing inches and not pounds.

I've got a 14 miler coming up this weekend, that will be the longest i've EVER run in my life, i'm both excited AND nervous!