Marathon Mom

We are in a week of minimal activities as dance intensives are auditions are over for now and due to the results O has chosen to give up team gymnastics due to scheduling conflicts so no gymnastics either this week. Perfect time to get focused on meal planning and better eating again. O also informed us a week ago that she was becoming a vegetarian for a week, this has changed to her being vegetarian forever. I am thrilled, Matt indifferent. We have been have her give input on meals as well and she seems very excited to not eat meat. Much different than when I became vegetarian (the first time) and my mom took me to the doctor who told her how unhealthy it was and I was forced to eat meat or not be in sports! What?! I’m glad things are changing. My training mileage and intensity is increasing so I find myself hungry! I had to explain hangry to O on Friday after staying at the beach through lunch Friday! The UCAN Coffee Bar I ate at 10am and the almonds I snacked on the 4 hours we ...

No matter how hard I physically train I have managed to mentally defeat myself at the worst times. Any runner knows that running is not all physical and the mental side of running is huge, for me at least 50% of a run is mental. In the beginning running was only fun (okay not always fun). I had no real goals other than get out and run, finish a race, go a little further. In these days I'm sure I still had a mental side but it was easier to accept that it didn't go well and I could back off. Then I overtrained, ran daily, became injured and kept missing my goals, I focused soley on physical training and I kept falling short. Next phase I became a mom, running was again something I did. I enjoyed the time for me, getting out and training when others said I never would. I also benefited from the postpartum speed with a year and half of amazing running that came pretty easy, knocking of PRs at every distance. A hamstring injury, full time job, lack of good training and I was not w...

This past Saturday was a local 3.7 mile race, it runs 1 loop around a lake giving it the weird distance. I have run this 2 or 3 times in the past, most recently 4 years ago when I finished 2nd in my AG with a time of 28:00. I rarely race anything under a half marathon. Let's be honest, I hate the feeling of pushing so hard you hurt! I'd rather suffer to a little less extent for a longer time! Earlier in the week the weather was perfect for running, 60s and cloudy, but come Saturday the heat wave returned, hot humid ad heat index reaching 100+, yuck! Friday evening Cooper startled when someone came to the door and used my foot/ankle as a launching pad resulting in multiple scratches and a deeper cut right on the top of my foot where my laces hit! I had no idea if this would cause me pain to run. We got there with a little time to spare, I took an easy warm up run to adjust the laces to not rub then met up with some MRTT friends. We complained about the heat and got ready to ...