Obligatory Reflections Post (Stacey)

Dear Reader(s) - [I hope there's more than one of you anyway]

I have royally stunk at blogging the past few weeks. Life got crazy and composing letters to invisible people sunk lower and lower on my priority list.

Rest assured that nothing exciting in terms of my running happened over the past couple weeks. I skipped a couple of short runs, but did almost all of them and made good time with only a very brief scare with my left hip.

Yesterday, Kelsey and I completed our half marathon together.

It was difficult to put it simply. I almost enjoyed the first 5 miles or so. The next 5 felt really long. The last 3 couldn't go fast enough.

We made it in under our goal of 2.5 hours (not record breaking by any means, but pretty swell for two people who could barely run 2 miles 3 months ago). We only took a couple of walk breaks. Our carb loading and hydration served us well in the long run *harhar*.

We had fabulous split times. The first six miles taking us 1:10 and the last 7.1 taking us 1:18. So for once in my running career, I ran the second half faster than my first half. I was very pleased about that.

Neither of us are seriously injured. Kelsey's hip gave her problems thanks to the banked roads for the first 5 miles. My left leg was bloody at the end of it thanks to some serious chafing. We're both worn out and sore, but proud of ourselves.

Which brings me to my final reflection . . . am I a runner?

At the beginning of this adventure, the answer to this question would have been a strong, resounding, "NO!"

I hated running. I couldn't go very far or very fast. To review, my first run with my poor out of shape dog, my feeble and slow attempt at 2.5 miles, and my triumphant but nonetheless slow attempt at 3 miles.

Now, I tolerate running. This evening, while getting stressed over loan apps, I had an urge to run to make the anxiety go away. Now that's just crazy talk. Granted, I didn't do it, but the urge was still there, which is awfully impressive.

I can go far (13.1 miles to be precise).

I can go moderately fast (sub 9 minute mile isolated and about 11.25 min miles on the half).

I can run MUCH faster and farther than my poor puppy now.

I laugh at 2.5 miles and the idea of walking part of it seems ridiculous.

3 miles is my short run and I can do it more than 15 minutes faster than my first attempt.

Do these things make me a runner?

I've run regularly, but only for 12 weeks.

I tolerate running, but don't necessarily enjoy it.

It's an obligation, but one that makes me feel good about myself.

I enjoy the view as I run through the country and have been privileged to witness some truly spectacular sunsets.

I honestly cannot decide whether to call myself a runner. I still don't feel like I've earned the title for some reason. Maybe it's because at the race I still felt inferior to those people. The athletic ones. The ones with legitimate running clothes and gear. With slender, but strong legs. The ones who finish an hour before me. The ones who have likely been running for years.

So I don't think I'm a runner. But I am healthy, for the first time in years. Maybe first time ever. My heart rate was 52 when I went to the doctor's for an infected blister. I am comfortably in the healthy BMI range. I have lost an inch off my waist, four inches off my stomach, 1.5 inches off my hips, and 6 pounds.

I feel good about myself. I'm proud of myself. I'm comfortable with how I look. Which, if you're a female, you understand how much that means. :)

I doubt I'm doing any more half marathons in the future . . . well, near future anyway. I do, however, plan on staying in "5k shape" as I'm choosing to call it and run semi-regularly. Three/four times a week sounds good to me. And I get to decide how far and how fast I want to go! How thrilling!

So thank you to those of us who have gone along on this adventure with us, whether you ever commented or not.

Thanks to our families who encouraged us and reminded us to run, even when it was the last thing in the world we wanted to do.

A huge thanks to Kelsey, who got me into this whole mess to begin with. I love you. We should try this again in 5 years. ;)

Peace and Blessings. Peace and Blessings. Buh-bye.

(If you don't get that reference, it's ok. But you should be very sad.)

You Never Know (Kelsey)

I am sorry I have been a slacking blogger as of late. It's been 11 days since my last blog. And quite a lot has happened.

After that blog, I believe I ran once more? Maybe? I was supposed to run Thursday, cross train Friday, and run 12 on Saturday, but I failed to do all three. They ended up being quite busy days, busier than I anticipated. I decided to run my 12 that Sunday. However, I prepared rather horribly. I didn't carb load basically at all, I didn't hydrate very well, I didn't get as much sleep as I should have, and obviously, skipping a week of training and then skipping another two workouts after getting back into the swing of things didn't help either. I believe my advisers were half-correct in telling me that I wouldn't lose progress after a week of rest, because aerobically I didn't. I didn't have issues with breathing or heart rate really. But I am pretty sure I did lose progress in muscle build or something, because my legs were not as strong and capable as they had been. I did okay the first 6 miles, didn't walk at all, and then I hit a wall. I finished it and everything, but I was pretty tired and had to take numerous walk breaks and was pretty immobile when I returned. There was no serious pain really, just tired and the regular amount of sore you'd expect after 12 miles.

Monday morning, however, I woke up, and before I made it far out of my bedroom, I realized there was a problem. There was some serious pain in the back of my knee, kind of like where that ligament-y thing that you touch your toes to stretch is. It was more than just a "oh if I stretch, this will get better," kind of sore. It was pretty bad. I barely made it down the stairs when I called my mom in a touch of a panic. I spent all day on the couch, icing my knee off and on, popping ibuprofen, and skimming through WebMD diagnoses without much luck. I was beginning to get really worried that I had done something serious to it, like torn something somewhere. But it didn't make much sense because it seemed to me that if I had torn something, I would have realized it somewhere in the run or somewhere in the 6 hours after the run before I went to bed. Needless to say, there was no "easy 3" that day, and all that I had to give were some tears that were shed in fear that I may not be able to complete the half marathon unless I was in a wheel chair. Stacey and I both had one of those scary "what if I can't run this race?" moments in the last couple weeks, and they are not fun.

Tuesday I woke up, and it seemed a little better, but still not better to a point that I could walk normally on it or do anything close to running. I was still a little worried and trying to figure out if I should go in to a Ready Care or something. However, I wasn't 100% sure that I had health care insurance, and I was also too afraid they would tell me I couldn't run, so I never ended up going. I was still determined to exercise somehow, so I thought maybe I'd give bike riding a chance. I happily learned that it didn't hurt my knee at all, so I rode 6 miles to keep up my leg muscles and heart rate. I didn't take my phone with me, and my mother was rather cross upon my return, after I left on injured knee, giving her the impression that I was only riding around the block, and instead riding 6 miles without any form of mobile communication.

Wednesday I woke up and it was feeling better again. I tried running that night, but I still had to walk/run really awkwardly on it, so I switched to biking again. I took Thursday off, but by Friday, it felt fine, so I ran for 37 minutes. I'm not sure what the mileage was. It was raining outside so I couldn't bring my phone to track it, and I was at my friend's house whose backyard mileage I am not familiar with. I'm guessing it was around 3 miles though, considering how long I ran. Let me tell you, for someone who doesn't like doing laps, running like, 27 times around someone's backyard in the dark is INVIGORATING!!!! And by invigorating, I mean horribly boring. Halfway through, I was sure that I only had like, 5 minutes left, only to find that I actually had 17 minutes left. I hate laps. They're boring. Even in unknown backyards, though I know it quite familiarly now. But hey! No knee problems! So that's good.

Tonight I ran 5 and did so at a pace of about 10.5 minutes a mile. My knee felt fine and feels fine afterwards, particularly after icing it with ground beef that my mom needs to thaw for tomorrow's dinner apparently. That was weird. But hopefully I am good to go for Saturday. Praying for no more Monday morning scares. At least not until AFTER the race.

It's been pretty crazy. I virtually had no serious problem until "senior year" of training, when I experienced all the things you hope to not run into, namely ability-stunting illness and injury. It's put it into perspective for me. Tonight I was riding in a car with my mom, and I updated my facebook status to "In 6 days, I will run 13.1 miles." Immediately after I posted it, a truck pulled out in front of the car in front of us who miraculously manged to only clip the very back of its bumper. We also miraculously were able to brake early enough that we were able to narrowly avoid rear-ending the car in front of us. At the time, I had the ankle of my right leg propped up on my left knee pretty close to the glove compartment. I realized that if we had been involved in an accident, I very likely would have broken my ankle or knee, or both. It's highly likely that I would have had an injury that had prevented me from completing this race in 6 days. And of course while this race has been my goal, I can't take too much of the credit for myself. Each day I'm alive and breathing is a gift. Each day my body works well enough to carry itself a long distance is a blessing. And sure, I have put a lot of hard work into preparing my body to take me longer distances than I thought possible, but I must remember how easily it can be taken away from me. Whether I am able to complete this race or not, this training has been a blessing, and my success and accomplishment is not solely based on my attainment of a half marathon t-shirt, a "13.1" bumper sticker, and a check off my bucket list. Regardless, I have learned that I can do things I wasn't sure I could do. I can persevere and stick with something. I can defeat laziness and pain and apathy and adversity and reluctance and resistance, a lot of which originate within my own heart; my own mind. And I'm sure if I can do that on the sidewalks of my neighborhood, I can learn to do them in other sectors of my life as well. But I am also not invincible. I can have anything taken away from me at any point. This whole experience has been encouraging but also humbling. It's kind of a weird mix. But I don't think that I'd really trade it for much of anything. 

Some people think sports are just sports: some sort of game or competition involving athletic ability. Some people (myself included a little bit honestly) think that long distance running is for masochists. But there's more to it all than that. If you look hard enough, if you let it, I think it often has something for your soul too. That's true of a lot of things. It's just important to always be looking. To always to be thankful. And to always be striving.

I'm an Obedient co-Blogger (Stacey)

Kelsey got after me last night for not posting in a long time. So this is me posting.

Last week was an ultra fail week for me. Monday following my 10 mile I was at Cedar Point all day. So I didn't really count that as a day of rest so I rested Tuesday instead. Wednesday we started travelling for my best friend's wedding in Iowa so I did manage to run 5 miles on a treadmill in what was, essentially a sauna. So I was pretty proud of myself there. But that's where any pride in myself stops. Thursday -Saturday were absolutely INSANE with wedding shenanigans (with being the maid of honor, my attendance at all functions was slightly obligatory). So no running happened, partially due to time constraints and partially due to the emotionally and physically exhausting nature of weddings. Sunday was another travel day and we left early in the morning and got back after dark so I wasn't able to run then either, which brings me to this week . . .

Convincing myself to run Monday was incredibly difficult. After only running 5 miles last week, I was pretty annoyed with myself and really reluctant to put my body through it all again. I did however run 6 miles on Monday to make up for the fact that I didn't do a long run this past weekend.

Tuesday I was going to run 4 miles as scheduled, but due to an unforeseen nap that got pushed aside. Wednesday I decided to run the 4 instead. However, that was also a fail and I only made it 3 miles before I had to call my mom. On the bright side, it was a fast 3 mile time.

Today I was determined to do my 4 miles. I psyched myself up for it internally for most of the afternoon, and even though I was whining and procrastinating on my way out the door, I made it outside and started running. It ended up being a really great run and my fastest 4 mile time ever. Go figure. I don't get it.

I'm starting to get a little nervous about running 12 miles on Saturday. I know running is mostly a mind game though, so I'm trying to keep my thoughts positive. I'm trying to decide whether I want to break it up into 2 6 mile runs or 3 4 miles . . . I'm leaning towards the 4. We shall see. This whole half marathon thing is getting really real.

Holy gracious. What have I gotten myself into . . .

Regaining (Kelsey)

Well, I didn't get my miracle. I didn't start feeling any better til Saturday. I had talked to some people, who suggested that since it was just sort of a head cold to try and run anyway, but the dizziness made me really leery of attempting. Walking straight was even a bit of a challenge, so I refrained. My good friend, Tammera, who was an excellent track athlete at the college I attended, told me that I had about a week window where I would could not exercise and still not lose progress. And I about used up my week. However, on Saturday, I decided to bike instead of run, so I biked about 9 miles. I felt alright while doing it, but when I got back, I did feel like I was gonna pass out. Monday, I ran an easy three, and it went pretty well, except my throat got really dry. And tonight, I ran 4. It went fairly well. I didn't have to stop at all, which made me really happy. And actually, I made pretty great time. About 10.7 minutes per mile. So not bad at all. My heart rate and lungs were fine, which I was so thankful for. But by the end, my left hip was pretty sore, and an old blister on my right foot, which has had plenty of time to heal, was KILLING me towards the end. So not sure what I'm going to do about that.

Tonight, I noticed that it was a little bit cooler outside than usual so I wanted to run in a t shirt rather than the tanks I usually run in. I was just going through the t-shirts thrown on my bedroom floor, and happened to stumble upon my hardcore shirt.

Backstory: my hardcore shirt is this tye-dye shirt that I have owned since the 7th grade. I didn't wear it much til the end of high school and during my summers at camp, but hardcore things tend to happen to me when I wear the hardcore shirt. I built homes in Mexico in this shirt. I have rock climbed ledges in this shirt. I have rushed 100+ children to a small basement and entertained them with my guitar until my wrist bled in a monsoon-like thunderstorm in that shirt. I scaled a wall and cut open a gash in my toe in that shirt. (Yes, I know, blood shed from toe is not necessarily the epitome of hardcore, but still, it was blood shed as a result from scaling a wall. It counts.) I think other hardcore things may have happened in that shirt as well. So as a result of the frequency of blood, sweat, tears, work, mud, rain, and dirt that have been laced in the fabric, I have deemed it my hardcore shirt. And tonight seemed a decent occasion. Getting back on the horse after laying on a sofa for a week may need some hardcoreness. I succeeded with a good time, so I guess maybe that's hardcore. However, nothing that was astronomically hardcore happened. Except that today was the day for dead animals.

Little fact about me.... I enjoy stepping on crunchy leaves when I run. Because there's been such a drought, there's almost as many crunchy leaves on the sidewalk right now as there is in the fall. You see, when I step on a crunchy leaf, the crunch sets off an exothermic reaction, releasing a level of motivation through my body, shooting straight to the motivational cortex of my heart at a level that directly correlates to the level of crunch.  The result: a crunchy leaf crushed beneath foot results in a surge in motivation. Completely scientific. Also hardcore. So today, like usual, I was aiming for the crunchy-looking leaves that were distributed upon my path. I got about a mile into my route, when disaster struck. As my eyes caught glimpse of an approaching leaf, I prepared to crunch upon it. Then, at a moment that gave me long enough reaction time to avoid the step, but not long enough to avoid said step without doing a ridiculous girly looking hop, skip, jump, stutter step move thing, I realized that this leaf was an impostor. It was not at all a leaf. It was a dead..... thing.... I am not entirely sure what it was. If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that it was a naked mole rat. However, since those are not exactly a native animal to the mid-Michigan area, my second guess would be that it was a newborn squirrel. Whatever it was, it was dead, it was gross, and it was naked. Thank God I managed to miss it, because stepping on that would not have sent a surge of motivation. In fact, I'm fairly certain that would have caused an exothermic reaction, releasing nausea straight to the pit of my stomach.

I carried on, being more cautious of the leaves I was stepping on this time, and again, at around the 2 or 2.5 mile mark, I came across a dead frog! My entire training, I have not seen any dead animals tread upon the sidewalks that I have run upon. And then today, there were 2! It must be the hardcore shirt. Poor things. I'm sure they didn't see it coming.

In other news, STACEY AND I FINALLY ACTUALLY REGISTERED FOR OUR RACE!!!! :) And it is now "senior year." Hard to believe. It is getting so close....

Resurfacing (Kelsey)

I know all my adoring fans have missed me (my fan list, I suspect, accumulating to a whopping 0) but I have come back again. With some updates.

Good heavens. It has been a long time since I've posted. You know it's bad when Stacey's posted twice since my last = P It has been 2 weeks and one day since I last updated. This is unacceptable. But pretty much unavoidable.

Two weeks ago, I was helping with parking for a concert thing by my church. I ran Tuesday and Wednesday, and if I remember correctly, they went fine. Thursday I was supposed to, but I was doing parking and packing for camp and driving church vans to camp... I'm pretty sure I was supposed to do 4 and I tracked how much I was walking around to complete my various tasks, and I did something like, 3.5 just walking around. Friday was busy too, so I didn't exactly do cross training. And that Saturday, my 9 miler, was a failure. Biggest failure yet really.

That Saturday, I was at Covenant Hills, which is a camp I grew up at and have worked at the previous 3 summers. This past week was family camp, which is the week when families from all over the state come and bring their trailers and hang out and have church services and what not. Covenant Hills provides a terrain that differs quite distinctly from my own. And my first test on it was, of course, my niner. No easing into it. Covenant Hills is quite hilly, hence the name, and quite a bit of it is dirt roads and sand. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, I totally forgot to carb load, didn't really drink enough either... the run kind of crept up on my honestly... And I did horribly. I ended up doing 6 miles and walked the vast majority of it. I quickly learned that the dirt roads were more forgiving with their lesser amount of impact on my knees and hips, but quite unforgiving of my endurance, taking more force from each step and not giving as much of it back to me like the paved paths at home do. I also quickly learned that when I am not mentally into a run, it's pretty pointless. Most long run days, I psyche myself and get motivated and think about what it will be like to finish. I did not mentally prepare that day, and I had nothing to keep me going.

After that, I skipped my three easy miles on Sunday, gladly rested on Monday, skipped my 4(?) on Tuesday, and then Stacey joined me on Wednesday and I got back on track. We did our threes on Wednesday and Thursday and virtually didn't stop and had respectable times. Friday I cross trained with some swimming and some biking (both very fun) and Saturday, I completed my 10. Actually, my 10 was one of my favorite runs so far. I did much better on the carb loading this week, and also hydration. I peed clear like, 3 times before I left :) haha. My 10 was great because it held a new sort of accomplishment, and was also a route with a wide variety. It started out on paved flat country roads, then switched to hilly dirt country roads. Then I ran a couple miles on dirt trails, which was really challenging with lots of hills and softer dirt, but super fun. Probably my favorite part of the route. And finished up meandering around the campgrounds, mostly consisting of hilly dirt roads, a few sections paved. I figure this is closest to what the actual half-marathon route will be like, and I survived with a time of 2:03:36. That's a little over an average of 12 minute miles, which isn't my best, but since I misbehaved and wanted to make sure I survived, I took it a little easier on myself. I really didn't walk at all except for one brief strip where I was going down hill on a trail in the dark. That was more for safety. But yes. Nonetheless, I finished a double digit mileage, got back up after failing, and felt good about it. And Josh, my boyfriend, gets major kudos for running most of it with me. I met me about halfway through the hilly dirt country road stretch, and finished it out with me. I'm not sure how he does it. I have to train. He just seems to be a natural.

Sunday came, and I did my easy three by walking the whole time and catching up with an old friend on the phone. And then "catastrophe" struck.

It started Sunday night, and by Monday morning, whatever it is, hit. I can't tell if it's allergies, or a cold, or allergies that turned into a cold... whatever it is, it has me down and out and unable to complete my runs the last 2 days. Day one consisted of a tickley throat and a runny nose and a touch of fever. Day two consisted of a fountain-like nose, complete with periods of dripping, congestion, frenzied sneezing, and me feeling like a balloon head. Also, lots of sleeping. This morning, day three, has consisted of more congestion and coughing, and the occasional sneeze, and fever now and then. I am desperately hoping to get off my tush and get some running in tomorrow, but it's quite the dilemma. Because if it is allergies, then whatever it is that my body does NOT want inside it, is out there, and running means going out there, likely getting more rejected substance back in my body. But if I don't run, I don't want to the think of the progress I'll lose : ( No one ever said on the schedule what to do if you got sick! Today, going upstairs and playing my guitar wore me out. So I'm hoping for a bit of a miracle here. Or a surgical mask. One of the two.

That's my update. Not too successful. But what can you do? At least I was blessed with a good 10 miler.

Want to lose 4 pounds in two hours?!?! (Stacey)

Are you run down, listless? Do you poop out at parties?*

Do you wish you could lose just a few more pounds?

Well I have a guaranteed solution for you! I lost 4 pounds myself! In just 2 hours!

You too, can enjoy these fantastic results in 2 hours. Just follow these simple steps:

1.) Wait until a 90+ degree day.

2.) Forget to drink water until about an hour before you plan to run.

3.) Drink at least 16 ounces in said half hour.

4.) Weigh yourself just prior to your run.

5.) Run 4 miles, or about 45 minutes outside.

6.) Weigh yourself just following your run. Try not to drip too much sweat on the scale.

7.) Celebrate your FABULOUS 4 pound results!


Well, it worked for me anyway . . . weirdest moment of my life was when I stepped on that scale before my post run hygiene routine (aka, a shower). Was not aware that kind of water weight was possible.


The next two days I get to be with Kelsey again! Yay for running buddies!


*Bonus points if you can name the origin of that quote.*

WILL THE MADNESS NEVER END?!? (Stacey)

I know, I'm super dramatic. What can I say? I'm a youngest child. :)

I ran 9 miles yesterday. It was gross. I was gross. I hurt a lot afterwords, but I did it. So I suppose I have reason to be proud of myself, but I was SUPER annoyed at how slow I went for the second half so it's sort of bittersweet. There are no major cool/fun stories about yesterday so I'll just share some random facts about the run:

-I ran 4 miles then 3 miles then 2 miles, still not sure how I feel about that arrangement.
-I saw another doe. So that makes 2 does at home, and a doe, 2 fawns, and a buck my engagement weekend run (in the storm . . . now that one was a good story).
-Running PAST your house multiple times over the course of a run is obnoxious. It's kinda mean to yourself. I ran by my house 3 times, 4 if you include when I ran in to get water and Gu.
-Triple berry Gu is much better than the mandarin variety. Although I still gagged a little . . .
-I saw this very large bird/goose thing fly from tree to tree. My parents think it was a wild turkey, I have NO idea what it was, but it was slightly disconcerting to run past the tree I knew it was lurking in . . .
-I have new blisters and have re-chafed areas that have just recently healed. I love running SO MUCH. *barfgagcough*

My brain can think of nothing else interesting . . .

Today I ran an "easy 3 miles" which really was 3.25 miles (ish), so I ran a mile, walked a bit, ran a mile, walked a bit, and ran a mile as fast as I thought I could, which ended up being 9 minutes. I was out of the house for a total of 35 minutes and feel pretty decent.

And that's all I have to say about that.

In regards to the title - I was musing yesterday about how far 9 miles is. It's far. I could run from my home to the Meijer store we frequent. Shoot dang. Also, it's not super far from 13.1 miles. So I'm almost to the half marathon distance! Huzzah! On the other hand, I still have a 10 mile, 11 mile, and 12 mile to run. . . . rawr. So I have 4 super long runs before I get to be done with this whole long distance thing. Plus all the little runs in between. I'm almost to the point where I don't totally HATE all the shorter runs. I actually kinda like my runs when they're less than 4 miles, but still, I am SO READY to be done with chafing and blisters and sweat DRIPPING off my face after a half hour outside and random muscle spasm cramps and not wanting to move for 6 hours after a run. But I still have 5 more weeks . . . ughuhbuh . . .

Halfway Results Are In! (Kelsey)

Well, we'll get the boring stuff out of the way first:

Sunday, I ran 3 easy, and they were very easy. I maybe ran like, a half mile of it. And each time I tried, my body was like, "You think you're doing what to me again? I don't think so..." So I was pretty content with walking. It was a pleasant temperature and I went without headphones. Two little boys asked me what my name was as I walked by. Their mother said they were a friendly couple of dudes. It was fairly uneventful. Monday I gladly rested, and today I ran my 4. I once again, realized about a mile and a half in that I had to pee, so I had my mom come pick me up. But my time, minus my bathroom break, was 43:27 for 4.06 miles... so about 10.7 minutes per mile. Not bad, not bad. I even took a brief walk break to squabble about a parking sign with my dad. Long story... moral of it, though, having your phone strapped to your arm has its ups and downs. And my body felt decent today. Legs and hips felt good, and breathing wasn't too bad either. Hurray, boring stuff done.

And now, to the results of my progress!!!

So far, I have calculated with my less than professional abilities, that 6 weeks into training, I have:

-Lost 0.5" on the widest/flabbiest part of my right thigh
-Lost 1" on the biggest part of my right bicep circumference (toned the muscle, lost some flab)
-Lost 1.5" on the widest circumference of my stomach (yeah buddy!)
-Lost 1" off my bust (that's not exactly exciting, but I guess I can handle losing it there if that's what it           takes to lose it other places. It's what padded bras are for, right? ;))
-Lost 0.5" off my waist
-Lost 1" off my tuchus (butt)
-Lost 1.25" off my hips
-Gained 0.5" in the midpoint of my upper leg
-Gained 0.5" in the thickest part of my calf (MUSCLEEEE!!!! All that pain payed off)
-And thus far, I have lost 7 pounds of weight! Woop woop!

So progress is going well! And we got 6 more weeks to track more progress. Very exciting.

A blogger, I am not (Stacey)

If you are paying attention to this blog at all, it is very quickly apparent who is better at blogging.

That would be my dear friend Kelsey. :) I keep forgetting to write because I don't see much point in it when my runs are boring. Or other times, I just flat out forget that I have to do so. Also, Kelsey is just the superior, and more comical, writer.

Anyway, my most recent hiatus does come with a good excuse. About a week and a half ago, my boyfriend proposed when I was visiting him in Illinois! :) So that weekend was filled with family and people fawning over me and sending me texts, facebook messages, and phone calls. It was a crazy exciting weekend, but crazy busy, and crazy HOT! Where he lives in Illinois is consistently about 5-10 degrees hotter than where I live. That weekend 3 of the 5 days I was there were over 105. The other two were in the 90s. Needless to say, his family didn't let me run on the day I was supposed to do my 7 miles because it was the hottest day of  the summer thus far. Two days later, still in Illinois, I tried to run my 7 miles and started, but then got caught in severe thunderstorm weather in the woods, on a trail, a mile and a half away from somewhere a car could pick me up. So that was an exciting (and fast) mile and a half. I ended up running only 3.5 miles instead of the planned 7 that day.

Needless to say, by that point, it was Monday and I just gave up on the idea of running 7 miles ever.

This past week I have run when I was supposed to, and as long as I was supposed to, but on Saturday when I was supposed to run 8 miles, I was on a camping trip with a bunch of teenage girls from youth group. So, that leads me to today, Sunday. I started my 8 mile run around 7:30 pm, carbbed up and hoping for the best.

Following the advice of Kelsey, I broke my run into two pieces so I could drop by my house to get a drink of water in the middle. All in all, the run wasn't too exciting. Except for, you know, the fact I finished it at all. . . .

Bunny trail: I took a shopping excursion at the beginning of the weekend. I picked up a tank top and a couple pairs of shorts that will be nicer to me while running, moreso than my cotton tees and poly/cotton blend shorts. My favorite pair of shorts are bright orange and yellow, thus affectionately called "traffic cone shorts." I also bought Gu and a Runner's World magazine approved fanny pack so I don't need shorts with pockets. Bunny trail over.

So I was at my house, in my traffic cone shorts, freshly sweaty and gross after my first 4 miles, which I completed in 42 minutes (woop woop!). After my cup of water, I decided to take/eat/ingest my Mandarin Orange flavored Gu while I was stopped anyway.

Now I like oranges. I like Mandarin Oranges. I like sweet things. Not a huuuuge fan of goopy textures, but I had mentally prepared myself the best I could for the experience of what I thought this substance would be like.

I did not prepare adequately . . .

I squeezed this large glop of this stuff in my mouth at once, toward the back of my tongue. Bad idea. After my mouth registered the extreme concentrated sweet taste, my nerve endings realized exactly  how much I truly hate the texture (similar to petroleum jelly, but smoother, and orange-ier), then the large mass of Gu was at the back of my throat and activated my gag reflex. My mom, who had previously been in the kitchen observing the fullness of my reaction, exited quickly saying, "If you're going to throw up! Do it in the bathroom!" She always knows the right thing to say . . . I got the rest of the package in my mouth in one more dollop, and this time I was a little better prepared and didn't aim straight for the back of my throat. For the remainder of my run, any time I burped I got a fresh reminder of the joyous experience. Three hours later, I can still taste the orange flavor occasionally, and I've eaten since.

The offending flavor is on the top left . . . 

That being said, the stuff works. On my way out the door to start my 5th mile, I was pretty beat. 42 minutes is my best 4 mile time yet and to run that and still have another 4 to go . . . I was rather defeated. My legs were a little jello-y and my feet were getting the blistery feeling and my legs were starting to chafe. And above all, I was just worn out. I made up my mind, that if worst comes to worst and the dreaded stuff didn't work, I stop after 7 miles, because I hadn't run that distance yet. At most, I was hoping for 7.5 and decided that would be a disappointing but decent goal considering my past week and a half of running. However, by the time I hit mile 6 my energy was back up again, and when I turned around to come home for my last 2 miles I felt almost fresh. I'm not saying the stuff's magical or anything, but it definitely helped me complete the second half of my run. I highly doubt I would have been able to have the time I did (43 minutes for the second half) or even finish at all without it. I would have probably taken at least 1 walk break or cut it short like I had been planning.

Now, part of that might be psychosomatic. After all, as we've discussed, running is 80% in your head. However, the 25 g of carbohydrates might also have had something to do with it too . . . .

So was it worth it for me? Yes, I think it was. After all, taste is only temporary right? I'm just hoping the Tri-berry flavor (the only other one that sounded mildly appetizing to me at the store) is slightly better, and doesn't haunt my mouth quite so long.

Hot hot hot (Kelsey)

As I had predicted, the hotter than dickens status of our weather, if anything, just got hotter. It was unbelievably hot out this week. So I ran about 4 both Tuesday and Thursday. I was supposed to run 3 on Wednesday, but I don't do fireworks, and they were just legalized in my state this year, so this 4th was particularly explosive. And it was really hot. So I stayed inside and vied to move my 3 miles to next Wednesday and switch over that rest to this week. They both went alright, though my calves are starting to bother me again.

Today's 8 was alright. A lot better than the 7 from last week anyway. I ran all but maybe a half mile of it? I had 3 really brief walk breaks. The last couple miles were still hard, my legs and especially my hips were tired, but I managed to run 8.03 miles in 1 hour, 32 minutes and 46 seconds, and that's including a water stop and a bathroom break when after 2 miles, I realized I had to pee. It was a bit cooler this evening though, thank goodness. I could feel the cool pockets of air in the breeze from time to time. I gave up on trying to make an 8 mile route in my neighborhood and just decided to combine my regular routes. I have also decided that the long runs are getting long enough that I need some water breaks interspersed throughout. So today, we were that cool house in the suburbs that had a folding chair in the middle of the driveway with a water cooler that contained a cup of water, a gatorade, a cool spray bottle, some ice, and a rolling pin. But that seemed to work well. I started out with my 2 mile, then did an elongated 4 mile route, and finished with a shortened 2 mile route, with brief water/pee breaks between, and that worked pretty well.

I did far better at carb loading the day before this week. Actually I was a little concerned that if I ate another bite of a carb, that I would burst or turn into a loaf of whole grain bread. But it did seem to help in making me feel better than the 7 anyway. But seriously. You should hear this. Last night for dinner, I had macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and a sweet potato. This afternoon I had whole grain pasta with chicken, yogurt, an orange, and some cocoa covered almonds. I did some studying, and all these foods were recommended. It was fun having an excuse to eat so much :) SUCK IT ATKINS DIET!!! I get to eat carbs, AND still get in better shape

Stay tuned! Tomorrow I will post how many inches/weight I have lost!

Keep Walking, Running, Running for Miles (Kelsey)

I have two 3s, a cross training, and a 7 to report on I believe. All in varying degrees of success.

First things first, it is worthy to note that it has been hotter than the dickens around here lately, and it shows no promise of cooling down anytime soon either. This makes running a challenge. My 3 mile on Thursday went alright. I did not want to run it, that is for sure, but Josh was over, so we ran it together. We kept a decent pace and it felt alright throughout, but I sure could sense the cloud of heat that just seemed to be sticking to my body. It was literally almost like the heat from the day just kept stacking on itself, and when we ran at 7:30, the heat of the day was heavy. I hadn't remembered that kind of heat cloud being on me since my days of summer basketball practices in our hot high school gym for four hours a day, In the middle of August. The run went fine, but we were both quite sweaty.

Cross training went fine Friday. I rode my bike again. I don't really know how far I went, but it was a great 30 minutes or so to just clear my head and get in a little exercise. I had a heavy mind that day, and the bike ride really seemed to help.

Saturday, I had another wedding that took up pretty much all day, so once again, and hopefully for the last time, I postponed my long run. It wasn't easy to figure out where to squeeze in 7 miles on Sunday either. I had church in the morning and Josh had a baseball game at 6:15. I intended to run at 1 after church, but decided to take a nap instead. I didn't take off for my run until about 4 PM, and I'm not going to lie, that run was nothing short of a catastrophe. First of all, my route was ridiculous. I tried to map out a route for 7 miles in my neighborhood, but it was just too complicated. I made the map the wallpaper on my iPhone, but it was just too much. I was stopping every block or so to try and figure out where I was supposed to head next, and it was just way too much stopping and starting and not knowing where I was going. I don't think I drank enough before either, and I definitely didn't carb load enough. So I ran the first 4 miles and then called my mom to bring me water. The last 3 miles went horribly. I had nothing left to give. I kept trying to tell myself "Only 2 more miles! You can do it!" Then it became "Okay, at least run to the end of this street!" And eventually, it was "Okay, you only have a half mile more to walk." I didn't even humor myself with the thought of running anymore. I hadn't felt that bad since my disaster of a 3 mile run prior to the actual start of training. I literally almost cried a couple times. But this time I didn't really feel guilty. My feet were blistering. My thighs started chafing. My spit was the consistency of Elmers glue, and it was 91 degrees outside. 91. Degrees. So I finally finished. I didn't even look at my time. I'm sure it was awful. But alas, I couldn't have looked if I had tried because my dear iPhone did not survive. I'm not 100% if it was the heat that made it croak, or the 2 sprinklers I ran through, perhaps the combination, but whatever the cause, my iPhone was too delicate and the backlight broke. As sad and frustrating as that was, it did make me feel more hardcore. I outlasted an Apple product.

Today I went in to AT&T, and they told me I was eligible for an upgrade anyway, so I payed $99 and got a 4GS iPhone. I will have to treat this one more delicately on my runs I guess. But thank goodness, it worked out pretty well and didn't put me out of house and home. And today, to fuse my required easy 3 after the 7, but also to stay true to my rest for Monday, I walked about 2.5 miles. My dad walked with me, and it wasn't difficult obviously. But it was still hot.

OH! I almost forgot! Friday I went to Playmakers, which is a track store here in town, and had them help me out with getting the shoes that I needed to support me best. They are absolute geniuses over there. I told my attendant I had flat arches, she watched me walk across the floor, and told me exactly what I needed to keep my hips and knees and back from hurting after runs. So here are my new kicks! Plus, I have 30 days to see if they help or not... though I hope that promise still stands after today. I wore them for the first time in the walk, hoping to break them in, but a left over blister from my 7 shed my blood over the back heel within the first quarter mile. We'll see if they still take them back after bloodshed, or actually, hopefully, we won't have to see.

And then I found 5 dollars (Kelsey)

I sure am sore today. There are 9 miles under these feet from the last 28 hours, and my body is not hesitant to tell me what it thinks about that. My hips ain't lying, and neither is my lower back or knees. They are sore and were quite hesitant to do much today. My mom actually made fun of my "old lady noises" every time I stood up. So my easy 3 were quite easy today. It took me about 40 minutes and I walked a good chunk of it. I am certainly looking forward to my day of rest tomorrow. I looked up what to do online, because this may actually be the most sore I've been so far. A site suggested I ice it all and take some anti-inflammatories,  so I've been sitting on my couch with an awkwardly shaped ice container, popped an ibuprofen, and am watching the Tigers lose. Guess I've still got some more body destruction to go before I'm totally in shape.

I don't have much else to report about today, except for that on my run, I found a $5 bill laying the grass. So I'm under the impression that automatically makes this blog post better, right? Now I'm getting rewards of all shapes, sizes, and categories.

Sweet Carolina, bum bum bum (Kelsey)

Well since we last spoke, my running has been going better. Not perfect but better. Last Tuesday, my 3 miles was rough, but Thursday, I ran 4 miles, and I didn't walk a step, and I can honestly say that it really wasn't even hard to keep myself from stopping. The weather was perfect. It rained about 30 minutes before we (Josh ran with me) left, so the humidity and heat were down. I actually ran at 4 in the afternoon, which would have been impossible earlier in the week. But it was encouraging.

This past weekend, I covered over 1,400 miles. However, only one of them was on foot. Well running foot anyway. Friday, I was in a van from 7:30 AM until 11 PM, so there wasn't much opportunity for cross training. And Saturday, I was supposed to run six miles, but I had a wedding to go to, and I was at a random hotel and had no context of a route. I probably could have tried harder to run 6 miles, but I just didn't really feel like figuring it out, either the route or the timing. So I didn't. Though I did wake up at 9 and run with Josh and his sister (it was their cousin who was getting married) hence, the one mile. However, I kinda failed. Josh's sister is a college cross country and track runner so she had us going at a nice pace, and we ran in a hilly subdivision in humid and hot weather (even at 9 AM) and I was dehydrated and overtired and had less oxygen to work with in the higher altitudes of South Carolina. So I ashamedly had to make them stop twice, and I don't think it could have been more than a mile or two that we ran. I felt a little sheepish. I hate making people stop for me. But I did swim quite a bit on Saturday, so I wasn't completely exercise-less.

Sunday was another long stretch in a van, so no kind of running for me Sunday either, but tonight, Monday night, I decided to tackle the 6. There was quite the debacle, in my household, to try and figure out this 6 mile route. As I've said before, I'm kind of boxed in on all four sides, but my neighborhood is hard to find much more than a 4 mile route without having to bring a large sheet of directions. So I was hoping to discreetly leave and not exactly tell my parents that I was going to run 3 miles down Wood street (the busy, but less ghetto choice of the horizon expansion options) and be good with it. But then my mom asked... so I confessed. So at 7:30 PM as I was stretching, they were trying to come up with other options that weren't really feasible, so I offered to ride with my mom to my turn-around point and back to try and point out that I could run the route and not likely be hit by a car. So we got in the car, and instead of just seeing it and driving me back home, she dropped me off at the turnaround point and told me to start from there. This gave me quite the challenge of making up a route as I went. I was slightly irritated, and it was challenging, but it worked out alright. I ran the entire route except for when I had to cross a busy intersection and had to wait for probably a minute and a half or so for the okay-to-walk sign light up. I didn't jog in place cuz I would have felt dumb doing so in front of the 12 stationary cars waiting for their lights to turn green. I would have looked almost as foolish as I did talking into my bicep today all 18 times my mom called me when I was gone. Nothing is quite as encouraging as your mom calling you every 10 minutes and saying, "You aren't done yet?!?"

I have noticed in both my 4 mile from last week and 6 mile from this week, that once I hit about 1.5 or 2 miles, the rest of the run isn't really difficult. It wasn't too hard for me to keep myself running today and it wasn't too tempting to walk. My breathing was quite easy for basically the whole 6 miles, which is such a blessing. My legs started getting tired the last couple miles, and my toenails were reminding me that they need to be cut, but aside from that, 6 miles wasn't super awful at all. If anything, it was just a little boring. I never thought there'd be a day when I could run 6 straight miles. But today was that day. And it feels good to be that girl. I ran 6.04 miles in about 69 minutes, 67 or 68 if you don't count my wait at the intersection.

Well I am off to bed! And to explain how I'm rearranging the schedule, I'm doing 3 easy tomorrow, resting Wednesday, and 3 regular on Thursday and then going according to the schedule from here on out (hopefully, though I do have another out-of-town wedding to go to this Saturday too).

Catch up or Ketchup, Because Both are Sometimes Necessary (Stacey)

Yeah, I'm not certain where that title came from. I'm in an odd mood though and wasn't feeling super creative. So that's what my brain gave me. I clearly decided to go with it. :)

Anyway, this blog is going to play "catch up" in the sense that I have 3 runs I need to update you all (or you, the singular person who will read this [thanks Thister]) on. (And I had Ketchup on hot dogs twice this week, in case you were curious . . .)

So here goes:

Thursday I got back from a three day camping trip with about 15 teenagers, after which I was quite exhausted, and not super up to running that evening. So instead, I pushed my 4 mile scheduled run back a day and did on on Friday.

Friday, I finished the aforementioned run in a decent time (44 mins or so) and felt alright after it. My calves were abnormally tight though, especially after one mile. I took my easier route, opting not to bother with the big hill because the following day I had to run my first 6.

Saturday, I worked the majority of the afternoon in my family's camper, cleaning it out and fixing it up a bit so we can sell it. (Anyone in Southern Michigan looking for a camper?) After a couple hours of recoup, I did the dreaded change into my work out clothes and set off on my six mile run (after some extra stretching). Once I finished mile 2 I wanted to quit. My calves were really stiff again. The sun was in my face. I was running on a road I don't normally, and so I had to guess my benchmarks and had no landmarks to help me out. I wanted to turn around and go home, but I did not, because I knew I would be super upset with myself if I did, and if I did turn around, I'd end up running 4 miles anyway, so I might as well just go the extra two. Once I hit mile 3, I just started talking to myself, basically saying, from here on out, you're heading home. That, for some reason, really helped me get my head in the game, which as Kelsey mentioned, is 80% of the battle. Also, it helped that at about 3.5, my calves FINALLY started to loosen up and work with me. So my last two miles were almost enjoyable. I finished my 6.1 miles in the stellar time of 67 minutes. To say I was happy about that time would be a bit of an understatement. :)

Today, was a scheduled easy 3 miles. In order to force myself to take it easy, considering how I had to adjust the schedule for the previous two days, taking out a day of rest, I decided to bring my dog along again. And force me to go slow, she did. We probably walked a total of a half mile, spread out over the 3. By the 3rd mile I was basically forcing her down the road with me, and she was trailing me by a good 8 feet so so. Poor thing. She did her best though and she still seemed to love me afterwords. A run that normally takes me about 32 minutes, took me nearly 40. I wasn't bothered at all by it though, because I knew it was just because of Ginger, and it was for the best anyway.

So there we go. You are all caught up on my life. :)

Much love.

Sophomore Year Blues (Kelsey)

Well, kids, today I ran three miles, and it was rough. Until last Thursday, I hadn't walked a step of my runs (except for on the easy ones). Thursday, that streak was broken, and since then, I've walked small stretches of all of my runs. For some reason, in my mind, having to walk means defeat, so I'm quite frustrated with that fact. Today was just rough anyway, though I have a couple speculations as to why today was so particularly difficult. First of all, the training plan did not intend for me to run 10.6 miles in 3 days. I was supposed to run 10 miles in 4 days, so I'm sure my body was real happy with me for that. I also didn't help myself because I didn't take my "two easy miles" very easily yesterday, and also added 0.6 onto it to sort of punish myself for shorting my runs the week before and the long break in my 5 mile run. That was not conducive to feeling good about running 3 miles today. Also, it was hotter than the blazes out there. At 8:20, when I left, it was still over 80 degrees outside and it was as humid as death. I ran 3.06 miles in 35:56, which still ends up at 11.7 minutes a mile. Better than I thought. But I certainly didn't enjoy it and felt rather sluggish.

The other thing I've realized is that I've reached my sophomore year, if you will, of my training. The first 3 weeks are over, meaning I'm into the second quarter of the training. And the second quarter is always the worst. My sophomore year was my least favorite in both college and high school. The first quarter is new and exciting. And the third quarter, you're over halfway there and you can start to feel the end coming and you really start to get the hang of things, and the final quarter is just exciting because you're finishing. But the second quarter just drags because it's not new and exciting anymore and you've really still got quite a ways to go. I believe I have hit that stage in my training. It's not new and exciting anymore, and I'm not really even close to "almost there." It also doesn't help that my "freshman year" ended a bit roughly. On the bright side, this may possibly be the hardest stretch of training, so after I finish these next three weeks, hopefully it will get better and easier to motivate myself. 

I've kind of realized that running is really 80% mental. Of course there is physicality involved, but it's so mind over body. In "Eye of the Tiger," (cheesy that I refer to my training song, I know) there's a line that says "Risin' up to the challenge of our rival." Until today, I thought of my route or my run as my rival. "I must defeat these three miles." But my routes aren't my rival. My rival is my own body. It's my own mind. I have to, in a sense, defeat myself, my desire to stop, to walk, to stay on my couch. I really don't enjoy running. It's slightly torturous for a significant amount of each run. But I like the feeling when I return. I like feeling in shape. I like the feeling of doing something to better myself. And I enjoy, in a sense, realizing that I can mentally defeat some of the lesser parts of me on an almost daily basis. For the first time in a long time, I am starting to feel like a real athlete again. And I like that. 

Update on my Playlist:

As I said, it was subject to change. So here's how it stands as of now:

1. Diva by Beyonce

2. I'm Sexy And I Know It by LMFAO

3. Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor

4. Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar

5. Independent Woman by Destiny's Child

6. Jumpin' Jumpin' by Destiny's Child

7. Survivor by Destiny's Child

8. Step by Step by Whitney Houston

9. Wobble by V.I.C.

10. Queen of the Night by Whitney Houston

11. Misled by Celine Dion

12. Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine

13. Maneater by Nelly Furtado

14. The One by Mary J Blige

15. Only One by Yellowcard

16. A Boy Brushed Red... Living in Black and White by Underoath

17. Down, Set, Go by Underoath

18. Barton Hallow by The Civil Wars

19. All the Rowboats by Regina Spektor

20. Till The World Ends by I See Stars

As you can see, I took out some of the slower paced woman power ballads and added a little more R&B, some screamo, bluegrass, and whatever you call Regina Spektor. I've read from a few sources that for those who can tolerate it, screamo songs are good to work out to. I don't know that I'd listen to it in the gym, but when I'm running, it does give me some sort of release and simultaneous motivation to listen to someone do what I wish I could do, though I imagine I'd get cops called on me if I screamed while running, especially in suburbia.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Let's Get Down to Business (Stacey)

Finish it together everyone! . . . . To defeat! (Huh! Huyah!) The Huuunnnnsssssss!

Mmk, momentary ridiculousness aside, today I decided to start taking myself more seriously and get organized and do this whole running thing right (ish).

If anyone pays attention to this blog aside from Kelsey and myself, you will have noticed that the past few weeks I have been rather slackery about documenting my progress on a regular basis. I intend to improve on that. For whatever reason, this slacking off has also reached the point where I haven't been keeping track of my times and such. I decided that NEEDED to change in order for me to figure out my best times, average pace, running conditions, etc. all of which are helpful to someone with a Type A personality. So I developed a page on OneNote (the uber nerd's Microsoft Word), where I document the days I run, the weather, distance, time, and other miscellaneous notes about my workouts such as which route I take, random conditions to take into account (ie dogs chasing me, my dog slowing me down, whether I take walking breaks or have to stop for some random reason), and whatever other information I feel like documenting. I also have a space for my measurements that I've taken previously and that I'm going to take every 2 weeks or so. 

So that's the plan of action. It's nothing too major, but I think it will help me, and give me some material to work with for blog posts.

Anyway, I ran 3 miles today because I'll be out of town for the next few days and won't be able to work out with any sort of regularity. Although, I may be able to run on some dunes on Thursday, so that will probably take the place of my cross training on Friday and I'll do the run I was supposed to do Thursday then. I'm not sure. We will see how it all turns out.

I switched up my 3 mile route for today due to boredom and the desire to tackle a particular hill that just about killed me on my 5 mile route. 

See the pretty red circle?  (Screenshot from runningmap.com) See that basically vertical line? Yeah, I get to climb, I mean run that thing . . . On my 5 mile route that is my last major obstacle before I get to my final mile. It will be the same for my 6 mile route also. So, rather than fear a stupid land form, I decided to incorporate it into as many of my runs as possible, which is like, all of them.

Yesterday, I tackled it during my 2 mile run, which, running a hill after 1 mile isn't too bad. Today, I ran 2 (poorly paced) miles before I got to the dang thing and nearly gave up about twenty feet from the top. I decided, however, that that would be a stupid decision so I kept "running" anyway.

So for now, the score is basically Hill 2 Me 1 but, so help me, I will be able to sprint up that thing by the end of the summer if I want to.

PS - I had two kids who were playing in their yard wave to me today while I was running past. I felt kinda cool. Plus it made me smile, which is always nice. :)

Week 3 Failures (Kelsey)

So now it's me who hasn't posted in forever...

Last week was busy and I was quite a bit more social than usual, so it was harder for me to find time to post.  It was also kind of a fail. An accidental fail, but a fail nonetheless.

I didn't run alone at all this week, which was interesting, because up until then, I'd only run alone. Sunday, on my 2.5 easy miles, I had RaeLee with me. I don't have an official 2.5 route, so I figured I would just add some lengths here and there to my 2 mile route. I felt bad having headphones in while running with her, so I ran without. Usually, I weave my headphones around my iPhone so that it stays in the arm strap, but that time I didn't bring them. I learned my lesson. My first problem arose because, little known fact, I have a phobia of fireworks. I hate them. They scare me. But Michigan decided to be awesome and legalize them this year, and apparently everyone is quite excited about that because it's not even close to the 4th yet, and people shoot them off ALL the time, especially when it starts approaching dusk. When I have my headphones in, I can't hear them and they don't bother me. But this particular Sunday, they were quite frequent, and I had no headphones. So that complicated things. Then, as we were returning on one of the random additions, my iPhone fell out of the arm strap straight onto the sidewalk. I picked it up, and it said "No SIM Card." At that point, another large firework went off, so I just decided to call it a day and return back. I have no idea my total distance or time because the fall ruined my odometer tracking for that run, though I'm pretty sure it was short of 2.5 miles.

Tuesday and Wednesday I ran with Stacey, and we ran both routes in their entirety and without too much difficulty. So thankfully, Stacey and I do not equal failure together. 

Thursday, I went to visit my supervisor from my internship this last semester and we ran together at Cascades. I asked if she'd be ready to run 3 miles with me without stopping, and she informed me that she usually runs 6 or 7 miles at a pace of about 8 or 9 minutes per mile. Then I felt sheepish. So we set out to run, and she told me it'd actually be 3.3 miles. However, when we finished, my odometer said we had gone 2.74 miles. She had told me that one loop was 1.5 miles and the other loop was 1.8 miles, however, after we got back, I realized that I had seen a sign that said one loop is 1.3 miles and the other is 1.5 miles, which is where my deficit of 0.3 miles came from. So that was shortened run number 2 of the week.

Friday was crazy busy, so I never ended up getting any real cross training in. And Saturday also ended up being more sleep deprived and busy than I had originally planned for, so I ended up skipping my 5 mile run that day too.

Sunday also turned out to be incredibly busy, but I knew that I couldn't skip two days in a row, especially not for my big run. We went to my sister's house for Father's Day, and the chicken ended up taking longer to cook than anticipated. Had I known how long it was going to take, I would have run before dinner, but I didn't, and we didn't get done eating until 7:20. I needed to run before it got dark out, so I didn't have a whole lot of time to digest before I stretched and left.... man did I learn my lesson.

My 5 mile fail was definitely my biggest fail of the week. My sister lives out more in the country, so I had my first country road running experience. That wasn't too bad, except that my rolling pin was at home and hadn't been utilized since Wednesday, so my calves were barking again. However... that ended up being the least of my problems...

Warning: if you are squeamish or do not like hearing about digestive functions, do not proceed. I have no shame. Or pride. One or the other...

Many in my family were afraid that running 5 miles so soon after eating would cause me to throw up. It turns out it was the opposite end I needed to be worried about. My route included running along two longer country roads that had a little subdivision that was off of the second one. About a tenth of a mile before the subdivision, I started to realize my predicament. For those of you who don't know, and I'm guessing most of you don't (though I'm fairly certain no one actually reads this) I have very finicky bowels. If it's number 1, I have a fair amount of leeway and can hold it for awhile. Not true with number 2. I have little warning before seeking a bathroom is absolutely imperative. It is never a good feeling when you know seeking a bathroom is imperative immediately and the closest restroom is 2.5 miles away and your only transportation is your feet. I forgot to mention that my nephew once again accompanied me on this run on his bike. He sort of knew the neighborhood and thought there might be a porter potty at a house near the back of the subdivision. I told him to lead the way. He sped off, which was not helpful for my predicament. Trying to run fast while also trying not to poop your pants is quite the challenge. We reached the back of the subdivision and alas, there was no porter potty.

At this point, I realized my options were either to call a family member to come pick me up and take me to a restroom, or to knock on a stranger's door, ask if I can use their bathroom, and then proceed to blow it up. I opted for option 1. I called my mom and did my best to tell her where I was and she agreed to come get me.  I promptly realized two things: 1. If I walked towards the entrance to the subdivision, she would find me faster, and 2. If I stopped moving, I was going to lose my "grip." So I awkwardly walked to the front of the entrance in that weird "I need to poop," waddle. I reached the front and was pacing back and forth with JD, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the vehicle. After I had ran/walked/waddled 2.6 miles, I saw a black SUV that I thought was my sister's Expedition, and then it passed me. Then I saw a white car and thought it was my sister's other vehicle. And then it passed me. It felt like eternity before I saw it. It was unmistakable. They had decided to pick me up in, of all the vehicles to choose: the 15-passenger church van. My parents and I had taken a load of kids to camp in it that day. They chose the slowest-driving, roughest-riding, most indiscreet vehicle that they could possibly choose for a mission such as this. And they brought the whole family except my brother-in-law, as if it was some sort of strange, Father's Day family outing. So I climbed in, they put JD's bike in the back, and we were off. It was like it was a scene straight out of Little Miss Sunshine or something. Unbelievable. However, the mission was a success and I made it. 

I got out of the bathroom and decided to finish up my run. This interruption was certainly not planned out in my route, so I just kinda made it up and tried to run for what I thought may be close to 2.4 miles. My odometer got messed up, so I ended up making my dad drive it to see what it actually was, and it was only 2.2 miles, so my 5 mile route ended up being short too. Shortened and also with a large running break in the middle, though I assure you, my heart rate was still up, and I did get the benefit of strengthening different muscles than usual: my rectal muscles and whatever muscles it takes to execute the poop waddle. And I returned with absolutely no dignity left. What an adventure. 

Well, there you have it. My week 3 failures. Though I did decide to make up for my 3 shortened runs by adding on an extra 0.6 miles to my 2 easy miles today. I'm a day behind schedule, but I'll skip the day of rest of be back on track tomorrow. Hopefully this week will be more successful than the previous. Though it did make for some good stories...

On Disappointments and Little Steps (Stacey)

So I did not run today, I was scheduled to cross train or rest, and I opted for the latter. Partially due to laziness, which I can freely acknowledge I suffer from periodically, and partially because I hurt from yesterday still and didn't want to over do it before tomorrow.

Yesterday, we were slated to run 3 miles, after two days of running 2.5 and 2 miles respectively (I'll comment more on those runs later). I didn't feel like it was going to be a particularly marvelous run, but I tried to put my best face on and do it to it.

I had to adapt my 3 mile route due to the fabulous barking German Shepard that chased me down previously so I cut off the end of the road were said pooch resides, and make up for it by running all the way back to my house, instead of stopping at the corner like I did previously. Moral of the story: my 3 mile is now 3.1 miles.

I really wasn't feeling awesome during the run by any stretch of the imagination, but by the time I had gotten to 1.5 or so I decided I was going fast enough that I might try having a goal of some sort. My fastest time up to this point was about 2 miles in 22 minutes (give or take, I'm working with a cell clock here) about a week and a half ago and I was pretty beat by the end of that. So, I decided now would be as good of a time as any to aim for 11 minute miles on a longer run. Despite my "kicking it up" a notch, I got to the 2 mile point by about 23 minutes and really pushed the last mile. I made it to the 3 mile point (ish) in about 32 minutes and home before my clock switched to the 34th minute. I counted the seconds before the clock switched, but I'm not confident in my counting ability with how winded I was, but my best guess is about 33:30 to go 3.1 miles. I was very very happy with that time.

I came in right after my parents got back from a walk and started snacking on some strawberries my mom was cutting. I shared with her my successful time, and her response was rather . . . lack luster. She was surprised I took so long (she was under the impression I told her I'd be home in 25 minutes) and thought I was running 2.5. Even after I corrected her, her enthusiasm was not as pointed as I was wanting it to be.

I texted Kels, like I normally do, after a run to compare times and how it felt and everything, and she gave me a hearty "Good job!" but my ego was still seeking a bit more attention. I texted my boyfriend the good news, but he was at work so unable to respond in a way that validated my pride.

By this point, I had pretty much given up on people being as excited as I was. I really can't blame them, right? Not everyone is going to understand my accomplishments the way I wish they could simply because they are not in my shoes (har har). And I really tried to brush it off.

It kept nagging at me though - leading me down a path of self pity and over-thinking: "Maybe I'm making too big of a deal out of this. I'm just running, and not even that fast. Middle schoolers can run faster than me right now. I took what, maybe 2 minutes off my last time? That's not THAT impressive, maybe everyone's right and I'm thinking too highly of myself."

Clearly, I am ever the bright sunny optimist.

In the interest of full disclosure: I'm also currently struggling with finding a job for the summer and have about reached the threshold where it makes sense for me to continue looking. A lot of other things are on my mind, most linked to employment, and to a certain degree, I just wanted to feel good about myself and like I was doing something.

As I was thinking today though, because I over-process everything, and I realized that it really didn't matter. None of it did. I had a great run yesterday. I felt good about myself. People who cared about me were happy for me. My expectations for confetti cannons and noise makers every time I reach a goal are unrealistic. (I even hear that people have their own lives to worry about?!)

Goals are important. They're about the only part of running I actually like.

Feeling good about myself is important. This is actually becoming a central focus of my training.

Improving bit by bit and progressing in my fitness is important. Kinda the whole purpose really.

Sharing my successes with people I care about is important. Even when I don't get the validation I'm looking for.

Everything else is just pride and ego getting in the way of getting through this adventure with as much joy as possible.

And WHAMO, those my friends, are what I do believe you call life lessons.

Stupid running . . . making me learn things about myself and life in general . . . how obnoxious . . .

------------------
5 miles tomorrow . . . heavens to Betsy . . .

The 4 Miles Twice (Kelsey)

Until yesterday, I had not yet mapped out my 4 mile route, so I figured it was time. And I was scheduled for some cross training anyway, so I figured it'd be a good time to bike out a route. I set out with my boyfriend, Josh, to map a route. Though our first task was to free another bike for him to ride. He offered to run next to me, but that seemed cruel.

I had my bike from college all ready, but he still needed one. We have a teeny tiny pink bike, a small purple bike, an ancient blue bike, and a regular white mountain bike, so we opted for the white one. It was quite the adventure getting it down, since it was hanging off the garage ceiling over my college stuff, but after we cleared a pathway, we did manage to get it down. However, there were 3 wasp nests attached to it: 2 on the wheels and 1 on the spokes. We chiseled them off eventually. I presumed they were old ones from last summer (bike hasn't seen the road in awhile) but after crushing them a little more, a giant queen wasp croaked her way out and scared the bajeebers out of me. It was likewise with the other 2 nests, though none of us got stung thankfully. The emerging wasps seemed to be worse for wear, so I was able to step on them before they caused me any harm. After de-wasping the bike, it was evident that the tires were uselessly flat. We got out the bike pump and blew them up, and THEN we were finally ready to go.

We set out on a decent route, though was surprised how slowly the mileage was adding up. Every time I checked to see how we were doing, I thought we had gone at least a half mile or more farther than we had. We were doing well until we charted the northwest side of my neighborhood. We got lost. It's the one quadrant I don't know very well. Eventually, after coming upon the same streets a few times, we were spit out in some area I knew, so we made it back alright, at 4.06 miles. However, I knew there was no chance I would be able to successfully recreate the route from memory. When we got back, I found this site: http://www.runningmap.com/, which could prove to be quite helpful. I tried to map a route that was very similar to the one we biked, and it looked very similar to what I imagine a gerrymandering map would like like. It's quite unconventional and convoluted, and to be honest, I had to carry a sticky note with me that had turn by turn directions for the middle section because there was no way I was going to remember it. But nonetheless, today I tried out my 4 mile route on foot.

Today was hot. I tried to push fluids all day and ran in the evening so it would be a little cooler, but I was still hot and my mouth still dried out pretty fast. However, I actually enjoyed it a little. I did 4.0 miles in 47:15 and didn't walk a step. I must confess, though, this route starts out by going *gasp* south. While it feels unnatural to start out south, it feels more unnatural to return by going west, so starting by going south and returning east was the option I vied for. I'm a fan of the route. It has a variety of scenery and explores some parts of the neighborhood that I don't see much. "The hill," did make it's way into this route as well, but I take half of it diagonally, which makes it better somehow. And the rest isn't too hilly, so it's a nice little route, though I'm gonna have to take my sticky note with me the first few times I take it. 

Oh! Also, my calves/shins were 100% better today! Josh gave me a few stretches to try and also told me, oddly enough, that using a rolling pin on your calves helps because it squeezes out the lactic acid or something like that. So about 30 minutes before I started running, I rolling pinned my calves, then I stretched them well, and they behaved themselves much better. Also, the couple times they started to threaten to hurt, I focused on trying to land more on the middle of my feet rather than my toes, like this article that Stacey showed me advised, and that seemed to fight off the threat. So, thanks to Josh and Stacey, my calves behaved :) Which made the 4 miles MUCH more bearable.

Well, here lies the end of week 2 : ) Still feeling good. 11.5 miles total this week. Sweet. 10 weeks to go.

Three Mile Thursday (Kelsey)

Man, I am really frustrated. It would have been perfect to say that on three mile Thursday, I ran 3 miles in thirty-three minutes. But it's not quite true. I ran it in just over 33 minutes. I was something like, 20 seconds off from being Dr.Seuss again. Had I known that, I would have sprinted my last stretch. Bummer.

That's about all there is to report. I ran 3.03 miles in 34:20. My calves and shins are starting to get a little better, but certainly still not pain free. I hate my 3 mile route. Mercy. Aside from the big hill, which obviously makes it a challenge, there are several various medium sized hills between the hill and the ponds, and I did notice more laboring in my breathing again today. I even drank a ton of water and have been eating bananas in many various forms. The last couple mornings, I've had them for breakfast fried, which is quite delightful, I may say. And this morning, I had them cut up in my cereal, which was also good. I've heard that bananas are good for sore muscles or something like that.

Also, today was my third straight run with no sign of the evil bird. Perhaps that dilemma has passed. I surely hope so.

Two Mile Tuesday (Kelsey)

Well, as the title says, today was Tuesday, and I ran 2 miles, ironically in 22 minutes. 2 miles on Tuesday in 22 minutes. I could be Dr.Seuss again.

It felt alright. I started out fairly slow, took up a medium pace in the middle, and really pushed it at the end. I tend to do that because I get sick of running and can feel the end in sight. I did feel a little more stress on my breathing today, but I did push it a bit, so that's probably good. Precisely, I went 2.07 miles in 22:24, so a little under an 11-minute-mile average. Hopefully that will continue to improve. If I ran that speed consistently in the half, that would give me a little under a 2.5 hour time. My calves and shins did give me some problem again. I tried to stretch them out really well, but they were still tight, especially when I got back. However, I put some water in some Dixie cups and froze them and have been rubbing those on my legs after runs, and that helps a lot.

In other news, so far, my nephew's good luck has rubbed off on my easy miles from Sunday and my 2 miles today. No bird attackings. So that's been nice.

Also, I've decided to do a little extra work on the side to tone some muscles that may not get a lot of love from running. So along with the training, I will also be doing 20 sit ups, 20 push ups, and 20 tricep dips every day. It's not really a whole lot, but I hope it can make a little difference. We'll see if I increase the reps as I go or not.

I Promise I'm Not Dead (Stacey)

I've only been lacking motivation to write.

My runs have all been largely uneventful but successful so I decided not to bore you with more posts like the Memorial Day one.

However, I have encountered some fun animal life due to where I live.

For example:
- A deer crossed the road about 40 feet in front of me once. That was kind of cool. She also seemed fairly uninterested in me because I was clearly not coming at her very quickly.

- I nearly ran on a snake. Yeah, no joke. I literally had to hop to my right really quickly because I looked down at my feet and realized something with eyes was looking back at me. It left me alone though. So that's nice.

- I got chased down by a German Shepard "puppy". I don't buy puppy though . . . that thing was at least up to my knees. I'm betting a year old. Thankfully the owner was outside with him though. And advised me to stop running because he likes to chase things, but "I promise he doesn't bite!" So comforting. Needless to say, I might be adjusting my 3 mile route . . . .

- We have some weird spiders wandering about our roads. Generally if I ever have cause to look at my feet I can catch a few moving around. Euh . . . reason #23 for never running barefoot out here.

- I ran around a dead squirrel the other day . . . YAY ROADKILL!

So anyway, that's all I can think of in terms of animals . . . . I'm noticing a theme here those between these notes and Kelsey's problem with the bird . . . .

I really don't like animals . . .

Week 1: Done (Kelsey)

Well, today I ran my 3 miles, and thus came the close to Week 1 of Training. So in the last 7 days, I have completed 7.5 miles of running. So we're doing great! That means that if I do everything I ran this entire week, twice, without stopping, in one setting, I will have completed my half marathon..... Haha what have I gotten myself into? Sometimes perspective isn't helpful...

Today's run wasn't too bad. 3.09 miles in 35 minutes. I ran the whole way except for 2 brief periods that I took to try and stretch out my calves. And by brief periods, I mean probably about 10 seconds each. And they didn't help. My breathing was a little more labored today, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that my 3 mile route is quite a bit more challenging than my 2 mile route. I have to run up more hills, including THE hill, which is indeed quite the challenge. But I could still handle my breathing okay. It was my calves that were killing me. I even went and bought some inserts to try and help, but they didn't seem to do the trick. My calves were just CLENCHED the whole time, and I had some hints of shin splints, especially in my left shin, as well. My ribs are still a touch sore, but not as bad as they were two days ago. I also made the mistake of wearing a long sleeve shirt on my run. It seemed perhaps a bit chilly, and I was afraid it was going to rain, so I wore it to protect my iPhone mostly. However, it did not rain, and it just ended up making me really sweaty which also got my iPhone a little wet.

There were no bird attacks today. I even grabbed a stick a little before I got to the corner to swing at it, but there was no bird to hit, so instead I just looked like a crazy girl running with a stick. Better a stick than a tennis racket I guess? My 11-year-old nephew also went with me on my run, though he didn't run, he just rode his bike behind me. I had warned him about the bird, so after we rounded the corner with our safety still intact, he informed me he must be my good luck charm. Hopefully his luck will rub off and stay. 

I finally made my running playlist today. It goes as follows, though it is subject to change:

(I generally shuffle the playlist, so my runs consist of a combination of the following:..)
1. Diva by Beyonce
2. I'm Sexy And I Know It by LMFAO

3. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston

5. Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

6. Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar

7. Independent Women by Destiny's Child

8. Jumpin' Jumpin' by Destiny's Child

9. Survivor by Destiny's Child

10. Wobble by V.I.C.

11. I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston

12. Step by Step by Whitney Houston

13. Queen of the Night by Whitney Houston

14. Misled by Celine Dion

15. Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine (Just for Stacey)

I realize it is kind of a weird running mix. So we're gonna see how it goes. But I already know I like running to R&B songs (young and old, hence the Destiny's Child), and I feel inspired by power woman songs, and Eye of the Tiger is my giant inspiration song for all things challenging, so we're gonna see how the inspiring 80s ballad songs go. I can tell you one for sure, though, that is going to stay... Survivor by Destiny's Child. That one came on before "The Hill," and I think it is largely because of this song that I made it. I realize the song is about a girl being a boss after a break up, but the chorus says "I'm a survivor. I'm not gonna give up. I'm not gonna stop, I'm gonna work harder. I'm a survivor. I'm gonna make it. I will survive and keep on surviving," and MERCY is that inspirational when you're running your fat legs up a hill and your calves feel like they're going to burst out of your epidermis. No no, hill. You will not defeat me. Cuz I'm just gonna work harder.

Well, see peace out, week 1. Bring on week 2 :)

The Dog Days Are Over (Kelsey)

Well today I ran my 2.5 miles, as scheduled. And it was an interesting run.

First off, I was successful in finding some gear to make it easier to run with my iPhone. I got the typical arm band thing that attaches it to my bicep, and also got some new headphones, all for under $20. Go me.

I didn't really get to test out the armband today, though, because it was raining. I didn't figure having my iPhone in straight exposure to water was a very solid plan, so I put it in my shorts pocket under some sweatpants instead and strung the headphones under my underarmor, which I conveniently found right before my run. Two days ago, I ran in a tank top and shorts. Yay Michigan weather. I ran 2.59 miles in 31:10 today, which I can accurately report since I had my trusty odometer ap going. I felt pretty good about it. I didn't stop to walk at all and didn't really feel tempted to much either. My breathing was good and easy too. But it wasn't a perfect run. My calves were really tight pretty much the entire run and for a bit when I got back, and my left hamstring was bothering me for part of the run too. Also, I'm noticing after the fact that it feels like I got punched in the lower edge of both ribs. It hurts to the touch even. So I'm not sure what that's all about.

Also what made it from being a perfect run, I got attacked not once, but twice by that red-winged blackbird. I think maybe he was making up for his lack of disturbance from my last run. Although I suspect that he is actually a she and is probably protecting some nest somewhere on that corner. She doesn't just attack me it turns out. The first time, I didn't notice what corner I was on because I was concentrating on changing the song until the bird attacked me. But the second time, there was a lady coming up that corner as I was approaching. She had an umbrella and was clueless, but the bird definitely attacked her umbrella and then went and settled in a tree on the right side. So I ran as close to the left side as I could to stay out of her path, but she definitely still attacked me. Something has to be done. She's getting more tenacious and I had to sprint around that corner today because she wouldn't leave me alone. She's got me balling up my fists like Mohammed Ali every time I see a bird anywhere now. Anyone have any suggestions?

Overall, good run, especially considering how cold and rainy it was.

Official Training Day 1: Check (Kelsey)

Well, today may not be an interesting post, my friends. But it is a victorious one.

Today was two miles. So I ventured out around 8:10 pm and ran my 2 miles. And I didn't have to stop and walk once WOOHOO!!! That was about all that happened really. And I took somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes, I think closer to 20. So not too bad of a pace. There was no shin splints. There was no walking. There were no cat calls. And there were no bird attacks. It was just a beautiful night for a successful run. I felt like stopping, but I didn't. I can't wait for the day when 2 miles feels easy. Today's 2 wasn't necessarily easy, but I made it. So that's progress, right?

In other news, today I bought a Whitney Houston greatest hits CD. I'm thinking this may be good running music... we shall see. I am also hoping to find something to attach my iPod to myself when I run tomorrow so I can actually listen to music when I run. So wish me luck :)

Memorial Day Run (Stacey)

Yeah I know, super creative title, right? :) I'm exhausted, try not to judge.

Today was a fabulous day, spent mostly with family and friends from church, eating great food. No complaints coming from me!

After everyone left, I started my Week 1 with a 2 mile run. I wanted to cut what has previously been 26 minutes for 2 miles down, and made it a goal to get down to 24 minutes.

Long story short, I did it! I have displayed a knack thus far for pacing myself without too much trouble, which I am very excited about and hope that remains true for the longer runs.

I was rather worn out after today's two miles, which I took as a sign I set a good goal for myself. We'll see how positive I feel about the decision tomorrow. :)

I apologize for the lack of humor in this post, as well as any lack of clarity. I almost forgot to post today and I decided posting something lame was better than posting nothing.

Anywho, I hope to do better Wednesday. Peace out dudes.

At the end of Week 0 (Stacey)

I'm deciding to call this Week 0 because according to the 12 week training plan, I start next week on Week 1. I did the work of Week 1 this past week, more or less anyway.

But I declare this week a success! For the following reasons:

• Today I was able to complete 2 miles, running the whole way, something I was unable to do 5 days ago.
• I ran 4 times this week, for a total of 9.5 miles.
• I've been eating more fruits, especially after working out, like a good runner.

I do need to be better about a few things:

• Finding some good stretches for my hip. That's my biggest physical complaint at this point. Oh, and band-aids for the blisters developing on my arches and toes. (Yes, I know, two very random places. I'm baffled too.)
• Not being so whiny about working out ahead of time. My propensity to complain is a character flaw of mine and this is as good of a way to practice being better as any.
• More veggies! Om nom nom.
• Make a playlist for myself. Could help with pacing as well as listening enjoyment.

Anywho, I ran 2 "easy" miles today in 26 minutes. No respiratory distress or super bad cramps. Just a mildly upset stomach afterwords, which i attribute to eating a little too close to the start of my run.

Tomorrow is my first day of rest since Wednesday and I am looking forward to it.

Peace and blessings. Peace and blessings.

Ay Ya Wa Wa (Kelsey)

I realize it's been less than 24 hours since my last post, but I have a bachelorette party on the other side of the state tonight, so I had to run this afternoon instead of this evening.

First things first, I woke up a little earlier this morning and went to WalMart to legitimize my running experience. I was on a quest for track shorts, running tanks, and a means of bangs management. Along with my flat feet, I have been blessed with a cone-shaped dome which makes keeping a headband on my head quite challenging. It generally stays for awhile and then ends up going towards the top of my head like a yamaka with a hole in it. We used to try to have team headbands for both soccer and basketball, but generally, mine never made it past warm-ups. I compromised by never having bangs, but now I do have them and I am fond of them. But they are not fond of me running.

I found some good running outfits, including a pair of dark gray shorts, a fun pair of royal blue shorts, and a light-red tank with dark gray stripes down the sides that coordinate nicely with my gray shorts, as well as a sleek black tank. Fortunately, I was also quite successful on my bangs management quest. It turns out that hard plastic headbands actually stay on my head! I am so excited. Those were never an option in either basketball or soccer, so I hadn't thought about it til I was in the store and saw them. And sure enough, they were valiant and stayed right where I put them for my whole run. Victory!

Unfortunately, my three-mile run was not as successful as my trip to WalMart. My clothes are far more legitimate than I am now. My shins behaved and my thighs only got a little itchy, but I felt like I was trucking around twice the amount of weight as I was last night. I am a bit ashamed to say, but I probably walked about half, if not more of the route today. It surprised me because normally when I walk, it is because I need to catch my breath. But today had nothing to do with my breathing and everything to do with my body. My legs felt mammoth and just did not want to run. I felt like I was putting in a lot of work to go pretty slow and just didn't have it in me. I am not altogether sure what to make of this, though I have two theories. Theory 1: My body was mad at me for measuring it last night, so it decided to make me feel every inch I measured, or Theory 2: Only giving my body 15 hours to rest was not quite enough, especially for the beginning. I'm pretty sure it was Theory 2. So today, I felt like quite the fat lard, but hey, at least my top coordinated with my shorts so I looked good doing it.

Oh! On another note, there were no cat calls today, but that same red winged blackbird attacked me in the same corner of the ponds today! I hope he is not looking to start some sort of vendetta against me, because I am not sentimental towards birds and would have no problem bringing my tennis racket with on my next run. He will not win.