Played It Safe

I left this morning thinking I would attempt 20 miles but play it by ear and see how I felt. Having not run more than 13 since the marathon, I didn't want to push it and end up getting hurt. Well, turns out I didn't have it in me today so the decision to do less was easy. My legs were so heavy and I felt like I just wasn't moving. I decided to turn around at mile 7 and just do 14. At least that gets me to my goal of 100 miles for the month. I usually wouldn't eat on a 14 miler but I had a Clif shot with me and took it around mile 8.5. I've been on the fence about gels, bloks, etc. I use them because I know I need nutrition on a long run but I could never *feel* a difference after eating one. But today I honestly noticed a difference and it definitely helped get me through the last 6 miles.

I'm taking today "off" from the new house. I need a day to catch up on some studying and napping!! I'll be up there tomorrow working while we wait for the new washer and dryer to get delivered. I'm looking forward to going out to dinner tonight...sushi!! Trying to convince my parents to come with us to give it a try but they are a little apprehensive. Oh, and when did hanging out with my parents become so fun??

First Female and Foto Friday

When I walked into the gym this morning the guy at the desk said, "first female!" I lit up thinking I was in a race, but no, I was just as the stupid gym. Wishful thinking.

It's Foto Friday over at Nikemom and the topic is running. We were suppose to be creative and I honestly tried to take a picture of my black toenail that is about to fall off (yes, that's as creative as I get), but I couldn't get the picture to turn out right. So, I'm going to leave you with this one from Reach the Beach. I was running really fast! ;-)

Now for the Biggest Loser Competition!! Today is Day 1! I'm really excited for everyone who signed up. There are 5 contestants so there's a good pot of money that will go to biggest loser at the end of the 13 weeks. I'm hoping these guys challenge me a little bit to see if I have it in me to motivate them and help them out along the way. It will be good practice for when I get my PT certification.

I'm suppose to run 20 miles tomorrow and I'm not sure that was the smartest idea. The longest I've run since the marathon was 13 so I'm not sure how I'll feel going for 20. I'm going to play it by ear and at least get 14-15 in. If I feel good, I'll keep going. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Black Pearl

So work and the new house are consuming my life and kicking my butt. Work is so busy that they have granted overtime, which is not something normally done. I'll be taking advantage of it, as soon as I have some extra seconds in the day. The extra cashola will definitely come in handy with the new house. Speaking of which, we just bought all the appliances for the kitchen. We are doing stainless steel but opted for this fridge instead. It's called black pearl, and has a mirror type finish. It's fingerprint resistant, too!! I think it's going to go really well with the black granite and cherry cabinets.

Running has been going well. My knees are feeling good and I actually don't have that sharp pain going down the stairs anymore. I have 19 miles to get in before Sunday to meet my goal of 100 for the month. With a long run scheduled for Saturday and the rest of the week, I should hit my target with no problem. I was worried about getting the miles in this month after I missed a week after the NO half from not feeling well.

I also have one more family member on board for the Biggest Loser Challenge. I think I'm more excited than anyone...but maybe because I'm Jillian and not a contestant.

Biggest Loser Competition

After eating a delicious (and artery clogging) dinner at my parents house last night, we decided it'd be fun to have a family Biggest Loser Competition. I'm not participating, but I get to be "Jillian" which I'm SO looking forward to. I wonder if I can make someone cry. Hmmm. It's $50 a person to enter and is 13 weeks long. The person who loses the most percentage of their starting weight wins the pot. We invited a bunch of people in our extended family to join, so I'm excited to see what kind of turnout we get. I'll be posting some updates, tips, recipes, etc for them on here. They are going to do great!!

I went to the gym during the day today. It's always interesting to go to the gym at a different time than normal. I sort of feel like newbie and a little out of place. Anyway, while I was running (did 7 miles) an old man came into the gym using a walker. It really got me thinking. Here was this old man who was moving at a snails pace. The effort it took for him to get there must have been pretty significant. He walked for a little bit on the treadmill then used several of the machines to lift. It was really inspirational to see this. People make so many excuses to not workout. I'm sorry, but I don't buy the "I don't have time", "I have kids", "Work is so busy", etc. We all have the same amount of time and we all have too much going on. Everyone can make the time to workout, it's just that not everyone wants to do it.

3rd PLACE!!!

Well, I ran the Frostbite 5 miler today. I wasn't expecting much as my legs were DEAD tired all day yesterday, last night and even this morning. I'm thinking I didn't warm up due to the cold during my 12 miler yesterday and that's why I was so sore/tired. Anyway, enough of that. Run went great! Started off a little rocky when at 1/4 mile into it I thought about stepping off to the side and not going any further. My IT was KILLING. Which is weird because it's been feeling great lately. (Could it be the new shoes?? Or is it the cold?? It definitely seems to bother me more when it's really cold out.) But I didn't quit, of course, and am really glad I didn't. I finished in 38:33 and earned my first age group award...3rd place in the 30-34 age group!! I'm really happy with myself. This is my first age group award. Here are my spits and a picture of my bling!

Mile 1 - 8:12
Mile 2 -7:37

Mile 3 - 7:37

Mile 4 - 7:33
Mile 5 - 7:11

Frozen Face

I ran 12 miles today and I'm frozen! It was about 20 degrees when we headed out but it didn't feel that bad. At the turn around point though, we started running into the wind and that's when it got sort of miserable. I'm not kidding that at one point I was trying to talk and I sounded like an idiot because my face was frozen and I couldn't move my mouth! When I got into the car and looked at myself I had frozen snot on my face but couldn't even feel it! Pretty. But I survived and I'm at home under 3 blankets right with a cup of coffee trying to warm up. I actually feel a little sore right now, maybe because I never really warmed up...?

I am running the Frostbite 5 miler tomorrow morning. Last year I finished in 40:35 so I'm curious to see if I can do any better this year. I'm not very good at running the short distances. One, I don't have the confidence to go out fast because I don't think I can sustain it. With marathon training, I know I have the endurance to be on my feet for a while so I feel much more confident with the long runs. And two, I don't think I'm fast or know how fast I am. This is one reason I'm looking forward to starting track workouts in the Spring. I want to push myself and make some progress with my speed. So, I'll let you know how the race goes tomorrow. I'm also looking forward to meeting fellow blogger Isaac!!

20in24 Training Schedule

After a lot of research, I think I finally decided on a training plan for 20in24. With my goal being 50 miles in 24 hours, my other goal is not to die. I plan on following this plan fairly loosely. It will be difficult to get the longer runs in during the week so I think I'll break those up and run twice a day instead. The most important thing for me to do is to get in the back to back long runs on Saturday and Sunday. Heh, if I thought I had no life during marathon training, I think it's about to get a lot worse!! But this is for a great cause so it's worth it!! I'm in a rush and couldn't figure out how to post the schedule in excel, so click on the link below if you're interested. It's actually a neat tool. You enter in your race date, distance, etc and it calculates a training plan for you. I know there are some of you out there considering this event...come on, do it with me!!

http://www.scrunners.org/ultrasch.php?month=7&day=18&year=2009&dow=6&schedule=50m&submit=Draw+Schedule

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, my eye is STILL twitching.