A restful week.

I've been down this whole week.  I had a sore throat the evening before last week's Emerald City half marathon and woke up with one but thought it was from the cold air in the room. I ran the race and figured it was just the humidity dragging me down, but it was probably (most certainly) the plague that was brewing inside my sinuses.

I haven't taken a full week off from working out since the Columbus Marathon almost a year ago.  Like, completely completely off.  I came home from the race, we had a cookout with Kyle's family, and then I went to take a nap.  That lasted 12 hours when I had to get up for work at 4:30AM. I nearly fell asleep on the couch when I got home from work at 8PM and worked Tuesday as well.  I slept 10 hours that night and the next, worked Friday in the OR and was home at 4.. took a "nap" at 5pm that turned into another 12 hour nap.  I think my crazy life finally caught up with me and it hit me hard.  I haven't slept as much in a whole month as I have in the last week. My nose felt like a faucet, my taste was gone (probably a good thing), and I was coughing up my left lung.

It also gave me time to make a plan.  I'm on the upward swing and I'm ready to crush some goals in September.  I've gained back about 8-10 pounds from my lowest weight. I've been lazy and not sticking to a diet plan since I had to break up with my trainer, Darin. I'm doing a September challenge to keep myself accountable and working towards a short term goal.  I find I am more successful than looking at the larger picture ahead.  I've written in my planner workouts for every week from now through the wedding so I can take things truly one week at a time.  I made a meal plan for myself for the first week and we'll go from there.  I know most of the 8-10 pounds isn't true weight gain but from my lack of water intake when my body is used to the gallon+ a day I've been drinking for a long time, so those pounds should come back off easily (especially since my clothes really don't fit any differently). I'm hoping to be 5-8 pounds lower than my original lowest weight and be 180-183 by October 1st.  It's not all about the number, but seeing that number in comparison to the 245 that it used to read is a big win for me.

So that's the game plan for the next month, and it's all about consistency.  Consistent in my eating, running, and keeping active in general without sneaking to the cafeteria for cookies or pizza.  I know the progress I made last year in a months time and I know I can do it again.  Seriously - if you know me in real life and you see me trying to deviate from my plan - SAY SOMETHING. Seriously.  I do better when I know I have eyes on me and eat what's in my lunch box.

Tomorrow I have some miles to run and I'm going to a 90 minute Zumba class while I have the day off.  Starting September off the right way.

What are your September goals?

Emerald City Half Marathon Recap

Another race, another recap! I was pretty excited for this race with the unseasonably cool temperatures we had been having...notice I say HAD. The week of the Emerald City race was the hottest and most humid of the whole summer.

I spent Saurday evening in the suburb of Columbus near the race start. It is about 25 minutes from where I grew up and it's always good to be "home". I had my new favorite pre-race steak dinner (thanks to Kelsey and Brittney!) at Outback with my bridesmaid and beautiful friend Karley. Afterward we went to play with some puppies.

I wanted this little girl in a bad way, but our apartment can't handle two huskies.

I headed to bed around 9:00 and my alarm was set for 5:30. My throat felt a little sore after dinner but I thought it was just due to my love of the air conditioner keeping everything at below-arctic temperatures. I laid out my "flat Lindsat" and was ready to run with 3500 new friends in the morning.

5:30 came and I still had my sore throat but otherwise felt okay. I chugged water the day before trying to ensure I'd be hydrated and woke up to chug another liter. It was 70 degrees and 90% humidity at the starting line at 6:45AM. Yikes. It wasn't too long before I spotted Julie who I had met on Instagram and we had planned to see each other at the race. She was so so sweet and I immediately felt like we'd known each other for years. 

The race started at 7:00 after the national anthem was played. It was advertised as a flat course, a welcome change from hilly Cincinnati. The Columbus Marathon only has 100 feet of elevation change throughout the whole course and I was expecting something similar for this race. I was a little bit wrong but I made it through. 

My goal as I had been talking about was to run this entire race. I felt super good the whole time and was pacing myself appropriately, averaging a pace around 11:50 minute/mile. At the water stop around mile 10 I sort of lost my mojo. I had been keeping up with a gentleman and chatting with him off and on as we went. I run through water stops but I made the mistake of slowing down and just couldn't get myself consistently running again. It was so, so humid, I was DRENCHED in sweat, and the race was pretty small so the crowd support was limited out on the course. (I do have to give a big shout out to Corinne, Mrs. Loose, and Julie for being awesome cheerleaders! Corinne even made me a sign and waited the whole race for me to finish!)

I saw the firefighter relay running in FULL GEAR and using oxygen tanks out on the course, ahead of me, and that was pretty inspiring to say the least, especially considering the heat of the day. They also finished before me. Holy smokes.

(Photo credit to Corinne)

I found myself rounding the last corner and seeing civilization again and ran to the finish - 2:50:41 - and 10 minutes better than the Flying Pig and only 4 minutes from a PR. As the temps start to fall I fully expect to beat my PR at least once this race season.

I enjoyed the race and would definitely do it again! On to the Air Force half in Dayton in September!

Columbus Marathon Training - Double Time.

Last week ended up getting all sorts of crazy. I got some (not all as I wanted to) runs in, my 12 mile long run got cut to 8 miles due to getting massively sunburnt in the process. Yes, I wore sunscreen and am currently scratching my back on the edges of walls and door frames due to my skin peeling and being incredibly itchy. This week I've got another short 4 miles to do tonight when it hopefully cools down some as we're having the hottest week of the summer so far. I have my next half marathon, the Emerald City half, on Sunday and the race director already sent out a weather warning. It starts at 7AM so I'm hoping to make it through the race without becoming completely dehydrated. This week was supposed to be a 14 mile long run but 13.1 will have to do. My average pace has been staying around 11:30 without too much trouble and I even picked it up and started my long run last week in the 12's and finished overall at an 11:49 average minute/mile. Happy with that! My big goal is to run this entire half - something I've yet to do. The Little Miami half last August (and also the week I reached One-derland!) I almost ran the whole thing minus a mile or so in total and that's as close as I've come. I'm going to focus less on pace, more about enjoying the race and keeping my feet moving. When I get home after my 2 hour drive my future family & in-laws will be here for a cookout and I'll have enough hands to complete my simultaneous ALS ice bucket challenge AND Pie in the face for HD! Should be fun!

I'll leave you with some pictures from the past two weeks - I'll definitely get a race recap up ASAP after Sunday!

Ouch.

My welcome committee when I got home from a run :)

Columbus Marathon Training - Week 6.

Week 6 wasn't awesome. I'll lead with that.

I had two 4 milers, a 5 mile, and an 11 mile long run scheduled. I didn't make my distances, any of them, but I did run 4 times. I won't even break down my runs or my pace. I thought I may have developed a stress fracture when I cut my 11 mile run short to 3.5 miles Saturday morning due to some intense pain. I took two days off and went for a short run today and I feel like I'm okay. 

I have a half marathon next weekend and I want to be healthy for that and want to run the whole thing - that's my only goal. I'm nervous for the heat but it starts at 7:00 so it shouldn't be too bad. The mornings lately have been cool.

I'll leave you with some snapshots of the week. Hey, week 7, please be nice, okay?

Wedding Wednesday - August Edition.

I say this every time - but this year is FLYING!  Things are really coming together and I wish I could express just how truly excited I am for everything!  Between running and working and everything else… It'll be December before we know it!

The biggest things that happened over the last month were that we did our food and cake tastings, our Save the Dates went out, and I picked up my dress!

We chose to do our cake and food tasting on the same day so we didn't have to make two trips to Columbus for the purpose of stuffing our faces :)  We did our cake meeting first with Michelle of Sauer's Cakes who we loved and my tummy actually hurt from all the yummy flavors we were concocting to make our perfect cake.  I'm SO excited about it and it'll be a main focal point of the room for us and our guests.  It's going to be STUNNING!…and delicious!

After our cake meeting we went to our venue for our tasting.  There are so many events every week at our venue that they invite 50 people at a time for their tastings and it's quite an undertaking.  They had everything set up as far as tables, linens, chairs, center pieces…just like it were someone's event.  They seated us, we had our first appetizer on the table and were pointed toward the mashed potato martini bar station which was phenomenal.  Martini glasses filled with red skinned mashed potatoes and a variety of potato toppings - AMAZING.  I had two.  Whoops.  Then we were offered to go up to the appetizer station where we tried meatballs, wraps, bruschetta, and more.  THEN, we went to the entree portion where we had 7 main entree meats to try and they were all spectacular.  They had their gormet breads to try and they finished the giant meal with a buckeye, chocolate covered apples and strawberries.  YUM.  I couldn't eat a meal the rest of the day, and this was at 2pm.  I was so. full.  It was so fun and we shared the day of tastings with my maid of honor, Christina, and her boyfriend Brian so it was great to have some company!

I knew my dress was supposed to come in sometime in July and it was the last week and I was (not so) patiently waiting for the call that it had come in.  With a few days of the month to spare, I got the call, and arranged with my 3rd bridesmaid, Karley, who hadn't seen the dress yet, to come with me to pick it up and have a girls day!  I had all my accessories and shoes and it fit!  It actually needs taken in a little (woo hoo!) and I absolutely love it.  It's hanging in my closet right now and all I want to do is wear it around all day every day. I can't wait to reveal it to you all!

Next up?  Stuffing invitations and maybe my one small DIY project I want to work on - table numbers! Thanks for being an awesome wedding month, July!  I'll leave you with some of my favorite Save the Date selfies I got from excited friends!

Columbus Marathon Training Week 5 - Double Digits!

Sometimes you're early with posts, and sometimes you're a little late.  

I've officially ran all the miles and finished week 5 of marathon training for the Columbus Marathon!  I even worried about the rain and clearly, and more importantly, all my electronic devices, so I ran my long run - 10 MILES - on a TREADMILL this week.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  I worked night shift after my long run and have a few days off to begin week 6 immediately after typing this post, so let's get to re-cappin'!

Tuesday - I ran between night shifts.  It was hot, Penny was acting crazy, and I didn't want to crate her nor did I want to run with her in 80 degree weather, so I did two quick laps around the apartment complex for 1.34 miles, pace of 11:23.  Few miles are better than no miles in my book.

Wednesday night I also chose the treadmill for a super late run.  I'm super thankful for my foot pod that goes with my Garmin because it can more accurately track my distance when I'm indoors based upon strides calculated while being used outdoors with the satellites. 3 miles total with an average pace of 11:24.  I think I found my sweet spot.

Thursday I was going for 5 miles but ran out of time, so I got in 4.09 miles at 11:32 pace.  Not shabby.

Saturday morning was the longest I've ever run without walking, also the longest I've ever ran on a treadmill and also my PR for this distance.  Holy shoot. I felt super comfortable, my breathing was spot on, I had a great pace, and I was watching Bridesmaids on my phone.  Thank goodness for movie rentals from iTunes because my battery gets killed when I'm at the gym without WiFi.  The time passed surprisingly quickly and it wasn't *too* terrible.  I may even do it again for a longer run with a longer movie :)  10 miles done before 10AM at 11:29 pace. 1:54:52.  I was shooting for anything less than 2 hours and I saved more than 5 minutes on my time.  My fastest 8-12 mile distance according to my RunKeeper.  Pretty proud.

Moving onward and upward with training - 12 miles this week.  Sometime.  I don't know when with my crazy week I have going on but I'll make time, and it may even been Saturday morning again before I work that night again like this week.  It's not so bad really…. wake up, run all the miles, get taken to a nice lunch by your fiancé, AND get an epic nap in before work.  Not a bad Saturday at all!

I also wanted to share I got chosen for a game show!  I interviewed and auditioned this last week, in sort of a whirlwind, and I found out last night I will be on TV!  I'm not sure exactly how much I can share at this point but I know I'll be filming it in the next month or two and then I'll be able to share how you can watch! So exciting! Off to lace up my shoes...

My game show display!