Banana Car

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! Hope you're keeping someone special in your heart this weekend.

So yesterday I did my long run....It went....okay. I mentally felt good, but my knees didn't do so well. I must have been overcompensating for the knee that I hurt in my bike fall, because my left knee started hurting horribly too! By mile 7, I just couldn't take the pain anymore. By mile 8 I decided to just quickly walk the rest of the way. I run on a out and back course so I didn't really have much choice to finish my 11 miles. I was proud that I did it and the first half felt alright. So I'm praying, hoping, that with more rest I will be pain free and able to run my half marathon THIS upcoming weekend!

I couldn't have asked for better weather yesterday. I wore a new Old Navy jacket that I got for around $6! and my capris and I was comfortable the whole way. I couldn't find my water bottle which would have been hard to carry anyway since my wrist still hurts from the whole bike incident. But it was cool enough that not having water wasn't a big deal. I did take some Cliff Shot Blocks (Raspberry, I believe). They seemed to work alright, but I got really hungry towards the end, but that could be because it took longer than it should have. The whole run/walk took me about two hours and twenty minutes. I think that is the time some people run whole marathons in!

I decided that Sunday and Monday would definitely be rest days. Buuut, I woke up to a beautiful day and I had no plans. Therefore, I decided to look for a trail that is about twenty minutes South of my house that I had never been to. I found the trail, I think, but I couldn't find a place to park! There were online directions, but it just stopped at what exit to get off, not where to go from there. I didn't feel comfortable leaving my car by the street where I saw a part of the path (I didn't see the other side, so I'm not even sure that was it!). I turned around and went to Starbucks instead, lol. I then thought of a park in my town that I had never been to that supposedly has a trail. Yeah couldn't find the park. Have these people never heard of putting up signs!?! I didn't look for the park too hard though because I was just getting frustrated. I went to my usual spot after all that driving around. I had thought about going North to some trails that I don't ride that often, but then I would have been driving for over an hour and that didn't sound appealing.

Waterfall along the Rail Trail

I was going to take a picture of some cute goslings, but the Mother geese were yelling at me so I went on. On my way back, they actually ran towards me and I have to ride in the grass because they got so close! I may have screamed a little. 12 mile ride under the lovely blue sky.

So now I'm home, just iced my knees which I may do again tonight. Tomorrow I have to work all day again, so I'll definitely get a rest day in. Tuesday I'll probably take another rest day. Maybe test the waters with just a small run on Wednesday, but we'll see.

Got an email about my Half for packet pickup and when my bus leaves to take me to the starting point. Eeeep. Nervous! This is not only my first half, but my first point to point (versus an out and back course). I'm excited to see how it feels. Also glad to learn there will be a porta potty at mile 7, just in case, lol.

And in case anyone needs a laugh, I leave you with this:

Actual car I spotted going down the interstate.

Knee Update and Freaking Out

Omg, omg, omg, omg! My FIRST HALF MARATHON is in a week and one day and I can't run right now! Needless to say I AM FREAKING OUT! Capitol letters freak out!

Since my bike crash last Friday, I've only run 3 miles, which was on Sunday. Since then it has hurt too much to run. So I've been using the elliptical and I'm taking today and tomorrow completely off to hopefully heal it. The bruising is getting better, it got pretty ugly, and the swelling is finally going down. I'm just praying that it's okay so that I can get a long run in on Saturday morning. Eeeep. My last good run was two weeks ago! I've barely run in two weeks!

Breathe, Alisha, breathe.

So I think at this point I'm not going to worry about any time goals and just concentrate on finishing. The course has a downhill trend, so I feel confident that I can do it, even if I have to walk. I would say that my other goal is to walk as little as possible. My training run this weekend will make or break my confidence I'm afraid for my race. I would like to do 11 miles, but it all depends on how I feel. Guess I'll just have to wait and see!

Fudge!

Oops

After a nice little job today with my biggest dog Mattie, I decided to go for a bike ride. I have a seat cover and it was a little crooked so I decided to try to adjust it while I was riding. Well you can guess how that turned out! Yeah I fell...

Thankfully I didn't get seriously hurt and no one saw me, I don't think. My knee does hurt though and has a big bump. My hands got a little scraped too, but they don't hurt.

Okay it might not look like much, but my knee doesn't feel good and better not hurt tomorrow! Only two more long runs before my half!

Speaking of running...this was only the second time I worked out this week :s I've only run a little over two miles this week!!! I have plans to run in the morning before my family gets here for my cousin's graduation, but we'll see. Things have just been crazy and I don't know what happened. No excuses, just truth! And that truth is that my weight is up to 163, that's a four pound gain since two weeks ago. It'll get better, but I've GOT to work on my eating! UUGGH. I usually do well, until it comes to dinner. 

It's okay. I got this. I know I'll eat out tomorrow with my family, but next week I have no reason that I need to eat out and over indulge. I also need to remember that my body needs to be in good running condition. Have to start whipping myself into shape! 

And just for fun and to make you smile!

This is Buffy and she came to visit me at work today! :)

Shots from 4-Wheeling

My sweet rain suit. Seriously glad I had it though!

They were trying to cross the river that was really high due to rain.

These are some scenes from my 4-wheeling trip with my boyfriend's family. It was rather cold and rained a few times throughout the day. Minus having to turn around from a river being too high, it was a pretty good day!

Not Every Week is Great

Life is not all sunshine and butterflies. You know this and I know this. This week and last week have not been great as far as eating goes and today I had a craptastic run.

It really started with some stress from work last Thursday. Instead of going on the run that I knew would make me feel better, my body felt tired from the stress, so I came home and ate the rest of the bag of honey Kernel things that I had. Then, then! we ordered pizza. I ate three slices instead of stopping at two. After that I was supposed to clean house in preparation for my dad coming, nope that didn't happen. I took a three hour nap! Who does that!?! When I woke up (very confused at what day it was) I got a little bit of cleaning done and then went back to bed.

I realize that sometimes your body needs a break and that you have to deal with emotions in some manner. I don't mind that I took a glorious nap, but I do mind that I ate uncontrollably and when I was alone. It felt like I was 240 pounds all over again, hiding my eating from my boyfriend, and then over eating at dinner when he gets home. Frustrated to say the least, but it's all about learning. Next time I'll go straight for the nap ;) or at least take a walk when I don't feel like running or biking.

Of course I ate more junk food then planned over the weekend while I was in Tennessee. Even though I worked out all week, you really can't out work a bad diet. My weight is up this week at 161.2. I know it will eventually head back down, but I tend to do this over and over and that's why my weight loss has been rather slow. Sometimes I just get frustrated with myself and need to vent!

As far as workouts go for the week: I had my 5K on Sunday, did a 1 mile run and 20 minutes on a stationary bike at the hotel gym on Monday, did 8 miles on Tuesday, worked on cleaning our backyard up on Wednesday, 2 miles and 25 minutes on the stationary bike on Thursday, which brings me to my craptastic 10 mile run today. 

Oi Vay, I just could not get my head in this run. I started out already not feeling it and it just kept getting worse. Around mile 3 my stomach started hurting majorly and the bathroom isn't until mile 5. I seriously considered using the bushes, but it creeps me out so I just held on as best as I could. I had to walk a little so that my stomach would settle back down. I made it though. But after the pit stop I just had to energy left. I even ate some new fruit gummies (which I can't remember the brand right now and threw away the package), but they didn't give me any extra energy. My legs felt incredibly heavy and I just didn't have it in me. I didn't quit though. Best things about out and back courses, you have to finish to leave! I did have to walk a lot though and ended with an 11:30 pace. I'm surprised its not worse due to the amount of walking I did.

Well over ten minutes slower than my last 10 miler, but at least I experienced a difficult run and know I can finish it in case this happens at my half marathon. I suppose you could say I hit 'the wall' that runners always talk about. Blah I hope I don't experience it on my next one.

A couple of things could have caused this bad run. Not drinking enough water, the day before or the morning of. I didn't take a rest day the day before and maybe my body was tired. Maybe I should have slept a little longer so that I would have felt more rested. And my water bottle apparently wasn't closed all the way so kept spilling water all over myself and ran out of water more quickly.

Oh well though! It's over and I finished it! For every good run there are three bad ones and I had a pretty good run on Tuesday, so I guess this is just par for the course.

Hope you have a healthy weekend! Maybe 4-wheeling tomorrow with Richard and his family (I'm not that into it, but its quality time together) and then work Sunday.

AmazinGrace 5K and a PR

Shew what a long weekend! Just got back to my hometown today (Monday) from Kingsport, Tennessee and I won't be back home until tomorrow. It was a great weekend though. Lots of great family time! Lots of Scrabble was played and junk food eaten with a little running thrown in.

Last year, after my first 5K, my great-aunt invited me to her house to run in the AmazinGrace 5K that her church created. It's benefits the local hospital. This year was the 5th year they have put on this race. To commemorate it, they invited Biggest Loser Season 8 contestant and inspirational speaker, Abby Rike.

My grandmother, Abby Rike, and I

She was a very good speaker. Her story is completely devestating and yet so full of hope. She had to overcome physical weight to help her overcome the emotional weight of losing her whole family in a car accident. If you are interested in her story, here is a link to her book Working It Out.

After getting back to the hotel and letting my niece and cousin swim, it was time to get ready for the race. I made a race day no-no and wore new pants. They ended up being fine, though they did slip a little at first. That's pretty usual with my pants, lol.

Even though it was about to rain, again, my whole family came out to watch me run. I really do have the best and most supportive family a girl could ask for.

 My time last year for this race was 33:58. My goal for this race was to run in 30 or under.This is a small local race and the attendance was down this year, no doubt due to the rain. It's a very flat course, but last year it was blazing hot! I was sweating before the race even began. This year was very different. It was cloudy and rainy the whole day. So I was worried that it was going to be a huge downpour and windy and I wouldn't be able to run the way I wanted. Thankully, it turned out to be great! It drizzled just slightly during the run but the rest of the time the sun was out and it was in the 60's.

The girl in the purple shirt passed me right at the end, dang it! I tried to keep up with her to pass her, but no luck! haha



With such a flat course, I got a PR! It wasn't the under 30 minutes I was hoping for, but I made it in 30 minutes and 4 seconds! Doh, so close! I was still happy with my overall pace of 9:40. I stopped at the two water stations for a sip, though I didn't really need them, and now wish I hadn't or I might have made it under the 30 mark. But I'm totally happy with how I ran and will have something to work on for the next race. I even got 6th in my age group, of 25-29, out of 17. I came in 165 out of 402. It's pretty cool to see my improvement over time on the same course.

(Which, by the way, less than four weeks until my first half-marathon!! EEEEEP!)

One cool thing about this race is that a big group of people from Fleet Feet, who train together in a couch to 5K program all run together and wear the same shirts. They encourage one another on the course and you can see the pride in their eyes for themselves and everyone else who ran with them. That feeling of pride doesn't come with ease, but with hours put in to training and doing something for the first time. I really wish we had something like that in West Virginia. If anyone wants to sponsor me, I'll run the shop for you! ;)

After the race we all went out to Texas Roadhouse where I enjoyed a steak, salad, and a sweet potato and rolls and sweet tea. My family loves me enough to even put up with my smellyness while we ate. Then more Scrabble happened. Did I mention that my family is made up of a lot of teachers and therefore a lot of Scrabble happens when we all get together? Love it!

Today was all traveling back and some of this:

With some of this added in:

More travel tomorrow and lots of sleep tonight! Hope you had a good weekend!

Ghostly Legs

Little late on getting this up, but this week has been a bit crazy. I went to my hometown this past weekend, had a great time meeting up with friends, going with my family to the circus, and then some shopping with my mom. Then I returned home, went to spin class with some strength training on Monday, 6 Miles on Tuesday, and today I'm riding my bike on the rail-trail. What's been crazy though is that I'm cleaning my house and getting things ready for my father to move in! He got a job up towards my home and is going to live with my boyfriend and I for a little while.

So anyway, this weight loss journey is all about pushing myself out of my comfort zones so that I never go back to my sedentary life. Last week I did something waaaay out of my comfort zone. I signed up for a multi-sport club! I haven't heard anything from them yet, but I'm sure I will soon. This is going to be so uncomfortable for me. One, I don't particularly like working out in front of other people. Two, I'm worried I'm going to be the slowest one there! and Three, meeting all kinds of new people is a little daunting. I'm an introvert by nature, so putting myself out there and on this blog is sometimes terrifying!

The other thing I did to push myself out of my comfort zone is to get and wear running shorts. I have never before run in shorts. As a bigger person the less skin you show is usually more comfortable, so I never wear shorts! But they felt great in the hot weather and just may be my new favorite thing to run in. Try not to be blinded by my ghostly white legs! What can I say, I don't like tanning beds and like I said before I never wear shorts! (Those are my dogs, btw. Just added them in there because they are cute, lol).

Guess I should get back to work. I'm excited for the upcoming weekend. I'm headed to Tennessee for a 5K and hopefully a PR!