I'm a running rockstar!

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, the impossible has become possible! Yes, this plump runner, this gal who has 30 extra pounds hanging around, has run nine miles, at one time even! Nine! I never ever thought that I could do that and enjoy it as much as I did. I even did it at a 13 minute per mile pace. That's incredible when I think back to my seven mile run that I ran at a 15:46 per mile time. I even experienced a "runner's high" today around mile seven. It was so great. It makes you feel like you can keep going forever. I was even able to keep the walking breaks down to one every 3/4 of a mile and even 1 1/2 miles inbetween. My legs feel a little stiff, and I'll probably be a tad sore tomorrow, but who cares?! Nine miles! I have never thought that I could be a distance runner. I know now that I can do anything I want. If I can run nine miles, I can run a marathon. It's so empowering to learn what you're really capable of. I still haven't lost any weight and I get frustrated about that, but today I'm on cloud 9 and I know that if I keep this up, the weight won't have a chance :)

Everything's going so well!

I think it's finally happened. I may have become addicted to running. I've started to notice that I feel like something is missing on my rest days. I had a successful third week following the training schedule. And as crazy as it sounds, I am looking forward to the 9 mile long run for next week. I haven't ever pushed myself that far and I am really excited to see how I do. My mile time has been steadily improving and despite the additional weight I've put on, my calves are starting to get that hard core runner look to them. Wooooo! They did look pretty good with my high heels today. It's always nice to have some positive reinforcement like that. I've also found motivation through using the dailymile.com site. I love all the information and feedback you can get there. Here's to another great week of running :)

7 miles and still able to stand under my own power!

I conquered the next long run last Saturday. 7 long hot miles. July is the WORST for training! Heat. So much heat. I'm sporting a fantastic tan line from my ipod arm bad. I just joined the dailymile.com site. It lets you log your distance and time and it does a nice little break down for you. Turns out my 7 mile adventure was done at a pace of 15:45 per mile. Yikes. I really need to get faster... I just hope that speed will come with my persistence. What has come from all this running I've been doing has been 5 extra pounds. Not okay body, sheesh. I've even been making sure to keep the diet in check and the scale keeps going up. Now the theory is that muscle weighs more than fat, so this up swing is normal and the weight will start to drop after this initial period. Let's hope so. I was already 25 lbs over what I want to weigh and having the scale go up another 5 took some drive out of me, not to mention the fact that I had to go shopping for a bridesmaid dress and the only sizes left were an XS and an XXL. The XXL basically fits. WTF? That same day I also purchased a shirt labeled Medium. Go figure. I have decided to just ignore all of that for now and keep on training the best that I can.

6 Miles!

I'm sure everyone was getting a little nervous after the 6 mile run threat. Well the prophesied 6 mile run did happen. And I even lived through it. Barely. And much to my surprise, a mile into my run, the first annual Mapleton/Spanish Fork area family track meet joined me at the track. Hooray! I wasn't quite sure what to do. Already a mile in, I didn't really want to switch venues, and my usual track is still closed. So I just stuck to the outside lane and did my best to stay out of everyone's way. It was a little awkward, but it wasn't a huge event and they finished up before I did... It took me an hour and a half to run the 6 miles (15 minute miles), which isn't bad for having never run that far in my entire life. I interspersed the walking breaks like the schedule suggests and it really helped. I haven't been sore, just stiff. I have mixed feelings about the walking breaks. While they obviously helped me get through the run, accomplishing the entire distance, I still feel a little guilty. It seems like cheating or something. But I have no illusions. I was already pretty sure this body would be walking parts of my half marathon anyway. And the method is supported by super hard core marathon runners, so I should just go with it, right? Next Saturday is the 7 mile run and we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for the heads up guys :P

So I am a diligent runner, waking up at 4:30 again this morning to go run. When I get to the high school track where I run every time, there's caution tape strung up and a big notice that says the track will be closed from today until July 15th. How come that sign wasn't up yesterday morning?! It's just a good thing that they built another high school not too far away so I could still get my run in. Now some people would argue that I should just run on the streets. To them I say, last time I ran on the streets in the dark, I sprained my ankle and couldn't run for the next 6 months. The track suits me just fine. Besides, you always know just how far you've gone and you don't have to worry about carrying your keys, water, or phone, since you can just leave it all in the car in the parking lot. Good times all around. The one advantage of this other track is that it's by the mouth of the canyon so there's a nice breeze that blows all morning, which comes in handy when it's already 71 degrees at 5 a.m. I'm glad I won't be running the half marathon until the end of October. By then the morning temps will be much more bearable. Don't get me wrong, I love 71 degree temperature, just not when I have to run.

Success!

Finally! I was able to haul this bruised and broken body out of bed at 4:30 a.m. to go running! The bruised and broken part is from yoga, somehow I keep getting banged up while finding peace... It was a successful 3 mile run, as per the schedule. I should be able to repeat this feat tomorrow, followed by my Thursday round of yoga after work. And now, enjoy this picture from my first race of the year, the Kiss Me Dirty mud run.

A rough start.

Monday holidays always throw off my groove. The day off from work is always welcome though. I didn't bother to work out Monday, since according to the Hal Higdon training schedule I'm following, Monday is a rest day. But I probably should have done something... seeing as I stayed out to late for "Friends of July". So  no morning run on Tuesday happened... Oops. Let me tell you, 4:30 a.m. rolls around too quickly sometimes. I'll hit up my yoga class tonight and hope that the hour I spend sweating my buns off will make up for the lack of running this morning. At least it'll help me get in bed sooner, so that the Wednesday run will happen. And apparently, according to the schedule, I'm supposed to run 6 miles this Saturday... 6 miles?! After having only run 3 miles, 3 of the days the week before? The farthest I have ever run without stopping was 5 miles and that was when I was running 4 miles a day, 3-4 times per week. And it nearly killed me. So you'll know if I lived through the 6 miler if I post after July 9th.

Well, here goes nothing.

So I started this thing, 101 goals for 1001 days. I made all kinds of goals. One of them was to start a blog (even though I've never even read a blog before..) and another one of them was to run a half marathon. Yikes. So far, this blog thing doesn't seem too scary. But the half marathon is a different story. I'm not one of those skinny, bean-pole types you always see doing things like that. I'm built for comfort, not speed. Hence the "plump runner". But I paid my money and I'm all signed up for the Halloween Half marathon in Provo this October. I have just under 4 months to get this "comfort" body race ready. I started out just yesterday with my first race of the year, the Kiss Me Dirty mud run up at Wheeler Farm. It was a 4 mile run, and it wasn't too bad. I am also signed up for the Dirty Dash and the Night of the Running Dead races. I'll do my best to post results and pictures of the progress towards what is a big goal, at least to me. And maybe someday, I'll be able to teach this body to run 26.2 miles.