Still undecided

I still haven't decided whether I should get my lazy self up out of bed at 4 am on Sunday to go down to the Miami 1/2 marathon. And drag Vishal & Lisa with me. I've decided to at least go to the expo tomorrow and pick up my race packet (and maybe cash in my "free 15 minute massage" coupon!). Maybe it'll motivate me some. Still can't figure out what's holding me back. I haven't done a long run in so long...

I went for a walk today with some bursts of running. It was actually fun not to be tied to my watch, which I left at home. I was walking and then suddenly I felt like running, so I did. And then I walked some more. I remembered what it was like to actually run for fun.

Big decisions and major disappointments

The Miami 1/2 is this Sunday...I had already kindasorta accepted the fact that Andy probably wouldn't be there because of work and Buddy...but at least my dad, who knows the city like the back of his hand (read: the best places to park), would be there. Now, because of unforeseen circumstances, my parents have to go out of town until Sunday. So no ride. Despite my mom's insistance that my brother will drive me (hello, at 4 am???), I don't know what to do.

One the one hand, I've been looking forward to this race for months. Because of my leg cramps, my training schedule went by the wayside, but I've been trying to run as much as I can. I know I can run the 1/2, I just won't be raciing it (never my goal, in the first place). So what if it takes me 2 and 1/2 hrs instead of 2? I want my medal! It just feels like all those months of putting in the miles and trying so hard, and the ankle injury, was all for nothing. And I paid 70 bucks!!!! Mostly, that fact is not sitting well with the "new me", who doesn't like to waste $$ and is very conscious of where every penny is going. Should I think of this as money spent already and just move on?....drive myself to Miami and figure out where to park and show up? I'm used to not having a cheering section and going to races on my own, so why should this be any different? But something about the enormity of the event is making me very apprehensive about doing this one on my own.

I still don't know what to do....I don't think Vishal and Lisa want to spend their weekend driving me back and forth from Miami...part of me is just so mad that every single big race that I've planned (and paid money) for, I haven't been able to attend. It sucks. No wonder my motivation has been ZERO lately. Why bother??????



Why bother? I still dragged myself out of bed this morning at 6:30 and went for a run. Just do 30 minutes, I told myself. It'll make you feel better. It did. I did 40.

Updates

I don't know what I've been doing that I haven't updated my blog in so long, but here we go:

Sat 1/14
Today was my grandmother's birthday...I was looking forward to do doing two runs, an am and pm, but it didn't happen. It was so bitterly cold Sat morning, I ended up sleeping in with Andy. Actually, Buddy has an internal 8 a.m. timer, so we never get to sleep past 8, unless one of us (usually me) feeds him breakfast while the other (usually Andy) gets some more (but not much) sleep.

Sun 1/15
No running today. I wasn't feeling so great so I didn't do much of anything.

Mon 1/16
I did another sunset run of about 40 minutes, while Andy waited around for the UPS guy to bring his espresso machine. Poor thing. It never happened. But I did a nice run in.

Tues - Fri
No runs. Blah. Major cramping (of that other kind). The last thing I've been wanting to do is propel myself forward with any kind of speed. Being horizontal feels best...being curled up in the fetal position is even better. I walked 20 mins Thurs morning and another 20 Thurs night. Today I walked 30 minutes and I'll try to do at least another 20 tonight. If I do 30 minutes, that'll be 10 laps total -- that's 6 miles! I did lift weights on Wednesday, so I haven't been a total slob. I must be doing something right (mainly lifting more weights and eating smaller meals) because I finally (finally!!!) got my pre-wedding body back and managed to slip into my smallest pants with plenty of room to spare. It only took me a year.

The "Big One" is fast approaching!

I can't hide under the covers anymore...the Miami 1/2 Marathon is a couple of weeks away and it's too late to back out!!! Especially because I'm paying the marathon price to run the 1/2! (See past posts.) I'm finally starting to prepare mentally. Too bad my training plan (which was going AWESOME!) fell by the wayside when my foot and leg cramps returned. I'm lucky to be running at all, let alone the 3-5 days I'm trying to do. So I've already accepted the fact that I'm not going to set any PR's at the 1/2. I really want to just go there and run for fun and TRY to finish under 2 hrs. I really really hope I have some support there...maybe Andy can take a Sunday off to come out and cheer me on...pleeeze sweetie, if you're reading this! I think they have free coffee for the spectators! I know my dad will be there.

My goal today was to run for 50 minutes. It felt good. Maybe tomorrow I'll turn on the Garmin and see what my paces were like this week. I know the mileage will be way off, but that's okay. I can estimate. It's good that I'm doing it at the end of the week, so it's too late to cry about how I didn't run 30 miles. :) I'm looking forward to trying to split up my run tomorrow and go out there twice.

Still haven't decided on Sunday's 10K race. Still weighing the pros and cons:

Cons:

1. Waaaay too far away and gas is expensive!
2. The low temp Sat night/Sun morning is supposed to be in the 30s inland! Yikes!
3. It's Sunday and I want to sleep in with Andy (although, see Pros)
4. My "spending plan" is tight, and registration is 20 bucks

Pros:

1. I haven't raced in a LONG time and I'm looking forward to seeing some fellow runners again
2. It's a longer race, which are few and far between
3. They're having an expo = free food,goodies, and massages!
4. Free massage!!!!
5. I have Monday off, and so does Andy, so we can sleep in then
6. If I run 6.2 miles, I can enjoy a yummy breakfast! Eggs & bacon!!!
7. I can spare the 20 bucks -- and it's for scholarships, which I strongly believe in
8. Starbucks is a sponsor!!!!! (Free coffee for the caffeine addicted hubby)
   
   Okay, the pros are winning so far...I have until tonight to register online, unless I drag myself to the friendly depot and register there, thus saving $2.00.
   
   
   

Buddy's Christmas

Buddy got the biggest and best present this Christmas! A box full of new toys!

Bonus run

I woke up 10 mins late today...I'm not sure how I finally got up, especially with Andy still in bed next to me. Without enough to time for a full weight workout and only 30 mins to spare, I decided to go for a short run. My body felt heavy, like lead. Probably because I ran yesterday and I'm used to having a day off between runs to recover. But it still felt good to be out there, even if only for 30 minutes. I really want to run twice on the same day, at least once or twice a week, as recommended by RW. The problem is dragging myself out the door at night after work. Maybe I'll give it a try this weekend when I can go outside as the sun is setting.

My watch is rebelling against me!

My Garmin does NOT like that I'm not using it properly. I'm trying to stick with this whole "running for time" thing to keep myself from becoming too obsessive about my mileage (or lack thereof, rather). Today my goal was 50 minutes. To break it up a little, I decided to set my watch for 5 ten-minute intervals. I'm running and running and I look down to see the Garmin counting down from 18 minutes. Huh? At 12 minutes it tells me I did one interval and have 4 to go. What? I kept going and the next time I looked down I saw that the timer had frozen at just over 9 minutes. What the #@!#?!@# I stopped and started the timer again. Finally I stopped running and reset my run so I could check my time....the right time. I had run 18:51. Great. Another 31 minutes and change to go. I turned off the Garmin and turned it back on and just ran. Thirty one minutes. Somewhere along the way it beeped to tell me I had run 1 mile. Whatever. It felt good to run a little longer. I'll keep going like this: 50 mins, 55 mins, 60 mins, etc.

There's a cool-sounding race this Sunday I'd like to check out. I think I can squeeze 20 bucks out of my budget, but we'll see.

My goal this week is to get in 4 runs. One down, 3 to go!

Running for time

I don't know how I managed to run today...I got up and checked the temp: 65. Not bad at all. In fact, I've discovered in the past that 65 degrees is the ideal temperature for running in SoFla. What I didn't realize (or ignored, rather, because I saw it on the TV) was the gusting winds of 20-22 mph!!! Man. It was rough. Once again, afraid I would chicken out if I waited for the Garmin to calibrate, I told myself I would run for time, and not distance. Forty minutes. Piece of cake. It wasn't so bad after a while, and I remembered how I used to feel like I could just keep running and running forever. If it hadn't been so windy, I could have. I think I did about 45-50 mins; I can't be certain because my batteries died (or froze!). No leg pain today. Hopefully as the weather warms up, I'll be able to start running more.

First run of 2006!

I finally made it outside for a run after a two-week hiatus! My legs felt like lead and I had to stop after 2 miles. So sad. It felt great to sweat and breathe some fresh air, though. I forgot how much I missed it. I told myself I wouldn't count miles and set a goal to just run for 35 or 40 minutes to ease myself back into it. I started without letting the Garmin position itself and did 40 minutes. I was chugging along, so I probably did 4 miles. We'll see how my legs feel tomorrow morning! I haven't had a massive cramp in a couple of days (*knock wood*), so I don't want to overdo it.