Jambalaya

My future husband woke up early this morning because he had an early morning meeting to get to. So I got up with him, grabbed Atreyu and headed out for my 2 mile run. It was GORGEOUS this morning. The sun was out but not beating down, the air was cool, and there was the best little cool breeze ever.

Atreyu started out dragging again. At one point he dug his heels in and his collar slipped right off his head! So I put his collar back on and we didn't have that problem again. I just kept talking to him and he stayed at least right behind me. Then on the way home again he realized we were almost back and he shot out ahead of me and kept looking back like, "are ya comin'?". And then when we got home it was apparently run around time because he shot around the house like a pinball in a machine. He is so silly. Now he is conked out in his little bed.

The whole run my thoughts were everywhere. It was like a big pot of Jambalaya. I thought about wedding venues. I have all but 2 booked to view. I then thought about the fact that I need to ask the rabbi if women can hold up the chuppa at my wedding. And I also thought about the fact that now that I am engaged I seem to have stopped all normal thoughts and become obsessed with wedding planning. I have turned into one of those girls and I need to stop. So then I started thinking about how ridic excited I am that I got the internship with Sarah at AAF-KC.

I am so excited about learning all there is through this internship and gaining experience and growing. I am hoping that through meeting all the people that I will through this internship I can gain a full time position once the internship is over. I am hoping that this experience will open a whole universe of doors for me. The other great thing about this internship is that it is part time so I can still work for my dad when I am not busy with the internship.

Saturday is my first 18. I am a little nervous, but I know that Sarah will start me out slow and then push me in the end. I know I can conquer it! Then on Sunday Sarah and I are supposedly going to go boot blocking. If you are in our area and would like to join us and help us collect more money we would appreciate it!

Contradiction in mental states

I woke up this morning, put on my running shoes, leashed Atreyu and went out the door. Running today was a mental struggle. I started my cycle last night so I was feeling very sluggish this morning. There was a lot of, "keep going, it's a short run" going on in my head. Then at the beginning of the run I wasn't paying attention and shortly realized I started doing my route the hard way where the really steep hill is at the end, and I usually do that on my 2mile run and not my 3mile and def. not when I feel this way. So then I had to just keep encouraging myself because it was too late and I wasn't going to turn around.

So most of the run was filled with thoughts of just getting through it, but they other part of my brain was racing with excitement. I got engaged Saturday night so this morning I was thinking of all the things I need to get started on. Mostly my thoughts were about getting my ring sized today and trying on my mother's wedding dress. I have been thinking about this for 2 years now, and now that it is here it seems so surreal. It is very weird for me to realize that I am actually getting married to one of the most wonderful people in the world.

Basically my run was full of contradicting thoughts. My body and running mind were sluggish and a struggle, and the rest of my mind was racing with excitement. Thankfully though, I think the excitement got me all the way through my run even if I was slow.

I didn't get to go boot blocking on Sunday, 1) because I got engaged and ended up celebrating with family and 2)because I was unable to get in contact with Sarah. Hopefully next week we will be able to go out there together. Other than that, please still follow along and share my stories with others!

Silent Mile

Today was a special run because it was really in honor of those that we are doing this for. It started out with the TNT intern telling why TNT is so important to her. Then the honored patients said a couple words of what TNT means to them. After a very meaningful opening to our morning Sarah and I set out on our run. The first mile we ran in silence in honor of those we are doing this for and taking time to reflect and think about what all this means to us and what we have accomplished.

On the first mile out I thought about Sara T and others that I know that are affected by blood cancers. I was happy that the silent mile was today because it is Sara's birthday and I am always sad that I didn't do more for her when she needed friends and family the most. She is an incredible person and doesn't let cancer define her, she defines herself. I am glad that I could run in celebration of her on her birthday. I thought of what TNT does for LLS and how LLS saves our loved ones. It really pumped me up to know that I was helping in some small way and that research in this are is making such great strides because of what we are doing.

I was FULL of energy today. I started off a lot faster than normal but I couldn't slow myself down. The first mile and a half had a lot of muddy spots so that slowed me down because I had to walk through those or else I would have fallen and broken something. I almost did fall at one point but a fellow Nike member was nice enough to grab me before anything fatal happened. After that section though, Sarah and I flew through the next 2 1/2 miles. We barely stopped at the water stops and on the way back through the muddy section we went slow through the mud but fast everywhere else.

For the last mile on the way back, I thought about how much I have grown as a runner because of TNT. It is amazing all the things TNT has given me. I am proud of my growth as a runner, and I am proud of my fundraising for something that affects so many. TNT has made something that I started so selfishly become something bigger than me and more important than I could have hoped for. At the very end Sarah took off at a sprint and while I can't sprint as fast as her, I did speed up to what I could and I was only a few steps behind her. I was really proud of myself for this. I am glad that she pushed me or else I totally would have kept going at the same speed and not pushed myself to completion. I feel like Sarah and I are a good running team. I'm really glad that I found her.

There was a fundraising faux pas yesterday. My sister called to tell me that I was way over my $5000 goal and I couldn't believe it. I was right not to believe it. Another team member's donations got put in my slot. It will be remedied on Monday. I am still $600 away from my goal. Tomorrow I think I am going boot blocking with Sarah probably around 11am so hopefully that will bring in a nice little sum. Please drive by and give me your change!! Call me or FB me if you want to know where we will be boot blocking. Please encourage others to either drive by with their change or just bring me their change. Thank you for all your support!

Routine

I got up a touch later on Wednesday than I had on Monday to get my run in. Fortunately the weather was still nice outside. The sun was shining and the air was cool. Starting out later also meant that on the way home, school had already started so traffic was gone! Atreyu and I headed out to do the 2 miles together and to start with the slow hill down and end with the steep hill last.

We started out great. Trey ran behind me for the first half but didn't make me drag him, so plus. Then for the second half when the run got harder, he shot out in front of me and kept looking back like, "are you coming?". The run itself felt easy even going up the steep hill. It is nice to know that these really short miles are become like a nice walk around the block.

Once we got back I threw Atreyu into the shower with me and gave him a good scrub down. He gave me the, "why are you doing this to me? I promise to be better." face. Then when I toweled him down he thought that was a game and when I whipped the towel off of him he shot out and around the house like a pinball.

Then I finished cleaning up and got myself out the door to start my day. My short mileage runs are becoming less interesting, but I am happy about this because it means they are becoming easy and routine. Thank you for reading and supporting. Tell those you know to help me raise money to cure blood-related diseases!

Back to school. Back to school.

This morning was incredible. For some reason I had a fire in me and I started out pretty fast for me. I thought about trying to make myself slow down but then decided that since it is a short run that I would just see how long the fire lasted.

The weather this morning was everything I could have asked for. No humidity, cool air, and a cool breeze. I felt like I could fly. On the way out I run past a high school and now that school is back in session, going past the school is a little tricky again because there are cars coming and going from everywhere. But they are pretty good people driving and they wait for me and let me pass.

About half way through my run I hit that park that I told you about in an earlier post and it was glorious. There were no camps there! It was almost empty except the occasional biker/runner/walker. I didn't have to weave through kids or worry about their unpredictability. I slowed down a slight touch about this point but I was still moving faster than usual.

I flew the rest of the way home. Even the half mile slight incline didn't seem to phase me. I got home and I didn't time my run but I new I had gone much faster than usual because I made it back before boyfriend left for work and if I had gone my normal pace I wouldn't have come close to making it back before he left. I feel really great about today.

I am sending out thank you letters for all my recent donations today. I am hoping to decide on a new fundraiser soon. I am about $600 away from my goal!

Thank you for all your support!

meh.

Saturday's run was a mixture of disappointment and pride all mixed into one which equals meh. It was my first 16 miles so I was nervous and excited all at the same time. I got to the trail and the weather was beautiful. I put a quick thank you in to the big man upstairs and then started the run with Sarah and was quickly joined by our mentor Amy.

We started out slightly faster than usual, but not much. It felt like a good pace though so I didn't question it. The trail was a loop of 8 miles that we did twice. The first loop was pretty smooth, although on the way back Sarah started to pick up the pace and Amy and I had to slow her down because we knew we wouldn't be able to do a second loop at that pace.

Before starting the second loop I put some athletic tape on my knees and gave some to Amy because my hips were really sore for some reason and it was making my knees sore. The tape really helped but all along the second loop I kept getting more and more sore. The last 4 miles were actually a little painful for me. I had serious mental struggle with the last 4 miles.

Right at the beginning of the last 4 miles, Amy got sick from over-hydrating/fueling. We walked with her for a minute and then I ran a slow pace with her and Sarah took off ahead of us like her amazing self. Amy stayed with me most of the way but the last half mile she sped up and finished out her mileage with a bang. I slowly made it back to the finish. It was a struggle. In the end I was proud of myself because I didn't give up and walk, I ran everything except that minute with Amy and Sarah, and because I finished 16 miles for the first time. But I was also disappointed with myself because I was so slow and my body was not cooperating with me. I feel like I could have done so much better. So all in all, I feel very meh about the whole situation.

After the run I swung by the waldo-mart picked up 2 bags of ice and went home to take an ice-bath. I was also very fail-cakes at this. I only lasted 10 minutes in it instead of the instructed 15-20. I got in and it was so cold that my feet were in pain. I almost screamed and cried from the pain. It felt good on my legs, hips, and butt, but my feet burned and stiffed. So after 10 minutes I crawled out of the tub and sat on the floor waiting for the burning to stop and some movement to come back to my feet and then I got in a luke-warm shower. I think I am going to talk to coach Jen about this because I was very worried about my feet. I was sore for the rest of the day, but today I am feeling much better if not a little tired.

My boyfriend's family is donating today! So a little more to add to the fundraising pot. I am going to try and boot-block with Sarah the next time she goes out. Please donate if you haven't already and encourage those you know to donate! Click on the link above the posts to get to my fundraising page. Thank you for all your support!

2fer

This post will be covering both Monday and Wednesday trainings because my sister is in town and life has been busy and I didn't get a chance to share before now.

Monday I woke up and did my 3 miles. I decided to take Atreyu, my dog, with me since he had done so well the last time I took him. He did great again although we had trouble with the doggy fountain. When we go to the dog park he drinks happily from the doggy fountain, but the doggy fountain that is half-way through my 3 mile run he was scared of and wouldn't drink from it. All's well that ends well though because I put ice cubes in his water when we got home. The run itself was steady even though it was horribly hot since I didn't get outside until a little after 8.

Tuesday was Tae Kwondo training. The training was a slow-motion muscle memory training day. I love these because they work your muscles in a way you wouldn't believe. Basically each move has to be done very slowly and controlled, held and then repeated several times. I also spoke with my instructor and he has a Judo instructor that he recommends, so I am going to see if I can take some trial classes of that and some Krav-Maga classes. I would like to expand my martial arts knowledge.

Today I woke up an hour earlier because I had a morning appointment and I was hoping it might be a couple of degrees cooler. It was if not only because it was cloudy out and the sun wasn't beating on me. Atreyu came with me again and this time he dragged behind me the whole time. I picked up my pace today for my 2 miles and did my route backwards. That means instead of going down the huge hill and up the slow incline that is half a mile long, I went down the slow decline and up the steep hill that is a quarter mile long. It was a great run. I pushed myself and it felt great. Even Atreyu looked like he really liked it even though he was behind me almost the whole time.

Fundraising is slow. I am not able to boot-block for the next 2 weeks because I have places to be during that time. I am considering sitting outside a Wal-mart nearby or some other fundraiser like that. If you have a suggestion, please let me know. Thank you for supporting me and please share with others.