Sunday Summary: Who needs training...

Happiness is not a goal; 

it is a by-product.  

~Eleanor Roosevelt

Sand and Jury Duty

I might have found myself this weekend. Last week totally slipped through my fingers. Seriously like sand, slipping through my fingers I have no idea where my days went. No workouts, I can't recall what I had for dinners, what I did at work...it's all a blur. Did I mention the week before was similar? I had a jury summons. I was sure I was group 102, I repeated to many people that I was group 102 and was likely to be in a selection group. Come Monday I check the website. It says check again at 11:00. I check again and ta-da my group was dismissed! Woo, Hoo, jury fulfilled through January 2012. NOPE. I was group 104 and supposed to report Tuesday May 3rd. Oops. Got a friendly "Failure to Serve" postcard in the mail. I think they trick you with that darn postcard. It is the kind of thing you don't pay attention to and toss. Fortunately my husband reads mail. Now I have to explain to my boss that the brilliant person he just hired to be his Assistant District Manager doesn't pay attention to detail. I am going to go ahead and plead grandma funeral cloudy brain syndrome.

Finding Me

Saturday I went to a summer kick off party...albeit early. It was crazy windy and cold, but I had a wonderful time meeting new people, talking alot and eating and drinking like I have a fast metabolism. During this party I received 2 text messages. One from my weekday running partner, he was still sick with the flu and not running today's half marathon with me. My sorority sister who I signed up for this race with also texted, she too had the flu and wasn't going to make it. Ugh, I am terrible with be accountable to myself. First I did not train for today's half marathon. I was running it to be supportive of my sorority sister and to hang out with my running partner. When they both bailed, I was certain I would too. Also, this was what the forecast held for race day, 70% chance of rain from 7-10:

I checked my Facebook page before bed and saw that my running partner posted to my paged, "See you tomorrow." Ok, I needed to show up now. I laid out my clothes and had intentions of leaving my house by 6am for the 7am race. Gotta love small town country runs, I showed up at 6:47 am, parked on the country road that was also the race start, jogged a quarter mile to the start line and still had 3 minutes to spare. I started the run a little faster than planned. I felt like shooting for an 11 min mile pace was reasonable even though I hadn't trained. Here is the play by play, mile by mile:

1. Mile 1 10:44-slightly too fast
2. Mile 2 11:01-better (I love my garmin)
3. Mile 3 11:08
4. Mile 4 10:58-started out ok, had a PowerGel, ran by a dairy and smelled such awfulness that I quite literally had to stop and throw up, then hustle to get out of the of that stretch of course
5. Mile 5 11:11
6. Mile 6 13:01-this included a 2 minute potty break
7. Mile 7 11:01
8. Mile 8 11:12
9. Mile 9 11:02 Here I realized I was trucking along sub-11 and stopped and walked to regain my heart rate/breathing a little
10. Mile 10 11:19 the problem with walking in mile 9 is that it's a slippery slope. I walked a lot in the remaining miles of the run.
11. Mile 11 11:53 worst mile of the run...ok not as bad as dairy farm, throwing up on the side of the road, so 2nd worst. My hips were sore, my left IT started to remind me that I probably should have trained for the run.
12. Mile 12 11:14
13. Mile 13 10:40 Almost done! How did I run 10:40 and still walk so much? I was running faster than that:)
14. Mile 13.1 10:20 Woo Hoo!

 

Thoughts about the run. Well I finished in about 2:28 and I am happy that I was so consistent with my pace. Not professionally consistent, but really as best as I could do. I love my Garmin and it helped so much, but honestly I could feel my pace today and only used it to confirm that I was moving too fast a couple different times. I think having the Garmin has taught me to learn what my pace feels like and looks like in numbers. Also, people are funny. One lady ducked behind rail cars, buildings, fences, trees, you name it every half mile. Really? Do people have to go pee that much?! I love the diversity of clothes. I saw sweats and ked style generic sneaks and bright shiny new outfits with reflective strips and arm bands on each arm, head phones, fuel belts, wrist things...geez it was kind of ridiculous, but hey, who am I to judge. I had a hat, ear warmers, a buff, gloves, two long sleeves and my Garmin. Did you see the picture above? Yeah it was supposed to pour rain all morning. I dressed for that. It didn't rain. I was hot the first 4 miles, but it cooled down after so I probably could've done without the buff. It did help a little when I tried covering my face during cow dairy gross smelling mile.

Today I really feel like the by-product of my athletic endeavors really was happiness. There is such amazing sense of pride in completing anything challenging. Finishing this run strong and consistent made me remember that I am awesome and even my month plus long derailment does not make me a failure and did not set me back significantly. Finishing this run and then playing basketball made me feel strong, capable and helped me realize as bad as this past month plus of sporadic workouts (at best) has been, it is not as bad as I thought. Time to suck it up, be happy and move forward.

Why I Kick A$$: Because not only did I do 13.1 this morning, but I also played basketball this afternoon. Yup I kick A$$ because my legs still worked!

Thankful Three

1. Pear Press--so delicious
2. Sweet Tamale Corn Cakes at Cheesecake Factory
3. My husband, damn he's good looking