Month: November 2014

Couch to 5K Series: 3

Hey Couch to 5K-ers!! How are ya’ll feeling? You are almost done with your first week of training. Did you have any confusion? Did you stick with it all week? I hope your first week has been great and you’re ready to accomplish your first continuous mile tomorrow. Incase you are just tuning in, feel free to jump on board to completing your first ever 5k. Check out the warm-up week and week one to get caught up.

Week 2 will bump things up a notch but still you are only committing yourself to about 2hours the entire week. I know you can do it!

So who is committed to week 2 of training?!  

Just a Few Thoughts

So this post doesn’t really fall into any of the categories of this blog but…. Here are a few thoughts I’ve had over the last couple days….

1. Folding laundry might be the worst thing ever….can you tell I have laundry waiting for me in the dryer to fold? But really, come on engineering friends, can’t you come up with a folding machine too? How hard can it really be?

2. I am loving having sunny mornings. Not that it makes me get out of bed any earlier, but it is so nice to not be getting up in the dark anymore. Thanks daylight savings!

3. I’m looking for book suggestions…. I really like inspirational sports books and health and fitness books. Has anyone read Wheat Belly? I almost caved at target the other day and bought it but just wasn’t sure about it.

4. I’m thinking of taking a social media break; no Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for a month (with the exception of posting my blog of course). Who has done this before? Did you like it or did you feel like you were missing out on things? I feel like I waste so much time on social media that I am due for a break from it.

5. What would you like to see more of on this blog? More fitness routines? Healthy recipes? Life updates? Other? Always curious as to what my readers would like to see more of.

6. Shout-out to The Blue Dishes. I love reading your blog most every morning Haley. Does anyone have any blogs they really enjoy reading?

7. What are the holidays going to be like as an adult who has to work? I know this sounds strange to those of you who are seasoned veterans to the working world, but y’all this is my first year where I don’t have a huge break for the holidays….I have always been a student. I get two days for Thanksgiving and three for Christmas. I’m thankful for those days but also having a bit of a pity party over it.

8. I am really ready for a break from the endurance world. I love running but I am ready for a break. November 15th can’t come soon enough! As mentioned in here and here, I will be competing in Thunder Road Marathon on the 15th then it is off season for me.

Thats it for today! Hope you’re having a wonderful Thursday night!

5:45 1:49:26 13.1

Wondering what those random numbers are? Well I’ll clear up the confusion, they are the numbers that represent my Sunday morning. So lets start from the beginning with 5:45, this is the time that my alarm went off and 1:49:26 is the time it took for me to run 13.1miles. Continue reading for a recap of the entire City of Oaks Half Marathon.

5:45AM — the alarm goes off and boy am I thankful for day light savings time. That extra hour of sleep was clutch after all my other weekend madness.

6:15 — leave Bre’s apartment. Thanks for being such an amazing race morning host…I hope I wasn’t too loud as I moved about your apartment doing my typical race morning circles.

6:30 — Meet Kathryn at the start line for one last potty stop and to line up.

6:58 — Find the 1:45 pace group.

7:00 — The gun goes off and I am already thinking damn this is a quick pace so I quickly let the pacers go ahead of me but still keeping them close.

Mile 1 — Yep! I was right, the pace group went out really quick! Time to back off a bit.

Mile 2-3 — Settle in. Feeling good.

Mile  4 — Choke down some water. Running and drinking water is just something I will never master.

Mile 6 — Hello wind tunnel!

Mile 8 — Dear Peace Street hill, we will never be friends. You won the battle but I won the war. I walked about 30seconds of you but conquered the rest feeling strong.

Mile 9-10 — Uhh hello! forgot about you hilly Raleigh neighborhoods. You are so pretty and cute but must you be so hilly!?

Mile 11 — Whhhhyyyyy?! Really this extra little out and back is such a tease.

Mile 12 — HOME STRETCH!!!! Just have to make it past the NC State library and it is all downhill from there.

Mile 13 — maybe I should start smiling….there is a camera right in front of me….I’ll give it a try!

Mile 13.1 — DONE. 1hour, 49minutes, and 26seconds. I made it under 1:50 so I was a happy camper.

What I learned from the day:

1. If you want to run with a pace group, you need to ask the pacers if they are planning on banking time.
2. Not having spectators on the course specifically for you is super strange. Definitely have an even greater appreciation for my great race day parents now. Love you mom and dad!
3. Half marathon is a super awesome distance. It is tiring but you still can be a productive member of society after it is done with.
4. Take your fuel as you planned….I didn’t take anything along this race like I had planned too and definitely regretted it at about mile 12.
5. I should really sign up for more half marathons. This distance is really great.

So there you have it, my crazy numbers are explained and you now have the entire recap of my weekend. Hope you’re having a great week so far and getting in those couch to 5k training session. I’ll be back Friday (or Saturday if I’m slacking) with week two’s training.

Have a goodnight y’all!

72 Hours of Crazy

Hello Friends! I hope your week is off to a great start and you are well into your first week of couch to 5k training.

This past weekend was exactly as the title of this post says “72 Hours of Crazy,” I was in 3 different cities, got some exciting news, saw snow, spent time with great friends, and ran a half marathon. I’d say it was a pretty great weekend even though it has left me completely exhausted and still recovering.  So lets back it up to Friday where I got the exciting news….

After waiting around all last weekend to see if I would be a finalist…I finally got an email, and you guessed it, I was a finalist! Woohoo! Now that was all fine and dandy but that still meant I had to go through the final practical portion and guess what?! I got the job… on the spot! So excited to announce that I am now a personal trainer at the Harris YMCA. I have missed being in the gym so much over the last 10-11months and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be back at it again. I am so excited because now I get to spend part of my day talking about food and weight loss at Jenny Craig and the other part of my day teaching people how to exercise at the Y. Food and exercise, two of my favorite things are now apart of my everyday life and I get paid for each of them…pretty pumped!!

After receiving the exciting news in Charlotte, I headed up the mountain to Boone. My first stop was to see my baby brother who was now off crutches for the first time in what seems like forever. So great to see him up and walking again. He seems to be doing much better and is well on his way to making a great recovery from his hip surgery this past September.

Also while I was in the mountains, I was able to see one of my fellow marathon runners, Mrs. Jean. She is quite the inspiration to me as she is always happy and smiling no matter the situation. It was great visiting with her and hearing just how positive she is as she kicks cancers booty! I cannot wait to be back out on the asphalt with her running stride for stride in the months to come.

Following my visit with Mrs. Jean, it was time for family dinner. Yep, thats right, all four of us, no extras, around one table, sharing a meal. This doesn’t happen often but it was such a treat to catch up with everyone for a couple hours. Also at this table, I convinced myself that going out with my brother for Halloween was a good idea even though I had no costume and had to be at work in Charlotte at 8AM the next morning. Yikes!

So after dinner, I was off to scramble to put together a costume. I ended up being a minion and Alex was a frat star. The night started off quiet but once we made it to the Halloween party…I realized I was quite a bit to old for a college party! haha I have passed the days of thinking binge drinking and dressing in super skimpy clothes was cool and was way over the party pretty quickly. Nonetheless, it was still nice to get to go out with my brother and meet some of his friends. While we were there though, it started to snow!! Nothing crazy at first but by morning when I was leaving for work the trees were all covered. It was so pretty even if it was super super early in the morning!!

Saturday morning started like all my Saturday mornings as of recently, at work. We had a full morning of clients before I got in my car for my second weekend adventure. This time I was headed to Raleigh. Up till this weekend, I hadn’t been back since I left at the end of June so I made every minute count.

First stop was the City of Oaks Expo. Here I picked up my race packet and met with my friend Kathryn. I coached her for this marathon so we went over all the last minute pre-marathon stuff before heading our separate ways for the evening.

From Expo I headed to one of my closest friend, Bre’s,  new “grown-up” apartment for the night. It was so great catching up with her and learning all about the ins and outs of her new, grown up, life. We talked for hours and hours until I had to get some sleep since I had to run 13.1miles in the morning.

Sunday morning started bright and early with the City of Oaks half marathon. It was a great race and I highly recommend it. Its big enough to have a great atmosphere but small enough to not be overwhelming. I will tell you all about the race in tomorrows post. After the race, I got to see my Raleigh running partner, Kimberly. I hadn’t seen her but maybe once since I was in her wedding this summer. I can certainly attest to the fact that I am missing having her as I train for my upcoming marathon. Long runs just aren’t the same without her.

After a coffee with Kimberly it was time to cheer Kathryn on to the finish of her marathon, and y’all I cannot even tell you how proud of her I am. I ran the majority of the last mile with her and I have to say she is simply amazing. She finished so strong and set a personal best by about 6minutes!!

Once all the race day festivities were over, I was able to spend a little time with a fellow fitness friend, Will. He used to come to the bootcamp class I taught every week when I was at NC State. Hard to believe that the goofball that used to sing and dance to Miley Cyrus during my class will be finished with his PhD come May.

And to finish off the weekend, Bre and I headed to Moes for a quick, reminiscent dinner. While we were both in school it seemed like that was our weekly spot so it was oh so fitting to finish my crazy weekend there with her.

And now, back to reality. My bags are finally unpacked and I am gearing up for my next adventure! Any ideas of where I should go next?