Week 7 Day 3 completed yesterday with a 5k!

You may be thinking ... "Are you crazy? You ran a 5k?" Yep thats what the title says.  So week 7 started with the schedule saying I was supposed to run 2.5 miles all three days. I thought this is going to be hard. I started Monday and it was hard. Then Wednesday it was equally as hard. Well I had been invited to run this 5k (3.1 miles) in Charlotte at the very beginning of this process which I thought was maybe possible but then began thinking as the days went by it was more and more outrageous.  Well I knew this week was going to be the deciding factor. So after Monday was tough and Wednesday was as well. I was really considering just not registering. However something in me just could not stop thinking about it.  I finally just made a decision and registered. Well Saturday came rather quickly. I had no idea how to prepare. I had no idea how I would feel. The morning of the race happend upon me and I got up out of the bed and got dressed and headed out with my wonderful supportive family. The kids were wired and I was sleepy. I was so anxious and nervous I could not make myself eat. I barely choked down a few bites of oatmeal. The traffic was horrible which made the anticipation that much worse. We arrived and I got my number and got ready to start. I walked into a sea of people right before the gun sounded and we were off. I was thinking ... "wow am I really doing this?" I just settled in to a comfortable pace and began. I had gone .3 of a mile ...LOL... and started to think wow this is going to be a long run. I watched people running much faster then me pass by. I even had people pushing jogging strollers cruising by me but I just kept my head up and pushed forward.  As I persevered and neared then ending it was a surreal feeling.  Knowing I had not stopped at all to walk was just a great feeling. Seeing the spectators lined up on each side of the finish area gave me a last minute rush. I pushed and tried to gain some speed for the finish. Crossing that finish line felt amazing! The sense of accomplishment I felt was crazy. I was on cloud nine. My cousins husband Chris Pate met up with me shortly after I finished to see how I did. He was one of my inspirations to start running. I had watched him start a while back and watched him lose weight from running. It was nice to see someone else there that had just ran it as well not to mention one of the people who inspired me in the beginning. Overall the day was fabulous.  I hope to run more races and soon.

Week 7 Day 2

The band that tracks my runs is not as accurate all of the sudden. I am pretty sure I only ran 2.5 based on the laps around the track.

Ok so not much to write about today. I went back to the track today so that I did not have the hills. I noticed a huge difference in my cardio at the end. I also noticed a difference in my back. My upper middle back seems to tighten more at the track I guess because I am in an upright position the entire time and never get to lean into a hill or let momentum take me down a hill. I think I still will take the track over the hills though. I seemed very tired through the whole run today. I do not know if it was lack of sleep or the garbage food I had yesterday with our busy schedule. I look forward to Friday somehow even though when I am out there I want to quit, but there is something freaky it does to my brain an hour or so after I am done. Its so addictive to torture myself  .... LOL.

Week 7 Day 1

Ok so Friday it was horribly hard to run 2.5 miles straight. I think the program is little fast at this point. It should have had you run 2.0 for a week first. It just throws you into 2.5 miles and this week all three days are 2.5 miles. Today I wanted to change up the scenery some because that track is so boring. So I ran up Broadway Street and onto Oak Street. The scenery did make a huge a difference but one thing I was not prepared for were the hills. Running 2.5 miles Friday on flat ground was tough enough and then adding hills was torture. I was so ready to quit today and at about 1.8 I was done physically but mentally I pushed. I made it to 2.5 but it honestly made me not want to ever run again. I really think the 5k Saturday will not be a good thing. I would probably end up waling after 2.5 or so or torturing myself to push through but I just do not want to burn myself out and start resenting running all together.  As far as next week going up to 2.75 we will see.

To try a 5k Saturday or not to? That is the Question!

If you have followed me on facebook from the very beginning of this running journey you'll remember me saying that there was a race at the end of October. Some of you encouraged me to go for it even though my program that trains me for a 5k would still be 2 weeks away. Well its GO time or not. I have to register by Thursday to commit myself and make plans. So what do you think? Should I attempt it. I just ran 2.5 miles on Friday but it was a struggle and only heart pushed me through. A 5k is 3 miles. Hmm just don't know what to do. I have a busy week with 3 things going on during the evenings of this week. I feel like I don't have time to mentally prepare. I would love to hear feedback on here or on facebook.

Be blessed!

Week 6 Day 3 ..... No more walking

Well today was a doozy like last Friday with a straight run no walking and it was for 2.5 miles. I barely got through last Friday at 2 miles and was very concerned. I got started and was pretty much what I was expecting and I just put my head down and pushed forward. After lap 5 of 10 I was pretty spent in my back but I had 5 to go. It was actually overwhelming the way I felt knowing I was only half way. I just kept saying "I am not quitting I am not quitting." There were times I was actually so fatigued in my muscles, my legs tried to stop running and I had to kind of jolt myself to continue. I know people out there that run or could run this distance don't understand why its so hard, but you gotta remember I am almost 70 pounds overweight. So you out there that think this distance is not hard put 70 pounds in a back pack and take off and let me know how that goes. LOL. I made it though but this was the start of no more walking in the program. All 3 days next week are the same as today and then just continue to get longer. I honestly thought today there is no way I can go through what I did today 3 times next week. Then I told myself that when the time comes I will be ready I cannot think about that during what I am feeling right now. I have learned that you cannot make decisions based on feelings. This whole process has been changing me more then just physically. It has changed me mentally and emotionally.

 Have a great day everyone.

Week 6 Day 2 Complete actually completely soaked!!

Well today I had 2 obstacles. The first was I am not driving my car right now because I hit a deer Sunday. So how exactly do I get to the track to run? That was problem #1. Problem #2 was its pouring rain. Hmmm what to do? So I decided I would suck it up and run in the rain an hope it tapers off. Then I found out that I could drive a friends truck from work to the track. Well I got to work early because I rode with my wife in to town. So I thought problem #1 was solved. Once I got here I realized the truck was in the warehouse and really did not feel like going through the trouble of getting it out. So I decided to run down Oak Street where I work. However, still raining, so I said to myself "it will taper off just do your part and get out there like you did the other day and remember once you got out there it stopped raining."  Today not the same story. I get about 1/2 mile from the office and it starts pouring harder. I now have rain just pouring off my head into my face. My jacket kind of repels water a little but not a down pour. So my jacket is beginning to become soaked. My shoes are getting damper and I can start to feel it in my socks. Then what do you know I looked up for traffic while crossing a road and ran right through a huge puddle. Now both feet were soaked and I was only halfway through my run. I knew this experience could only make me stronger so I continued. One thing I did not realize was the large hills I was running down I had to run up on the way back. That added so much more muscle fatigue, which sucks oxygen, to a distance I was already barely making on flat ground. I was determined to not let it beat me and finished my 2 miles this morning soaking wet up hills. Hey I felt good though after knowing I did it. I did like the scenery better not having that monotonous track that you go around and around. So maybe Friday I will find somewhere else that does not have so many hills. Overall very proud of myself.

I WAS SOAKED!!

Week 6 Day 1 Complete

Today was not so good. I finished the work out for today,but I tried to improve on time and distance and it wore me out to quick so the rest of the workout was really miserable. A lot of things happened yesterday and this weekend which had me off mentally, and my body was just not ready for today either. I ate some junky food this weekend so I don't think I was fueling myself properly for today. Overall just blah today. Actually hated it. I feel like I will get it together for Wednesday though. Keeping my head up.