Philadelphia Marathon- 6 months away!!!

Yes, the countdown has already begun.

This is round two for me when it comes to Philadelphia Marathon attempts.  The difference between last time and this time…this time I am GOING to run it!  Yes, I will!!!

And I have a plan:

Strategy:  Start off slow and then back off!

In all seriousness though, I really do feel like if I keep up with my training the way I have been, I will be a marathon finisher no matter what come November 20th! 

I am sure that over the next six months, I will be full of questions and concerns about running my first marathon.  I anticipate ups and downs- days of feeling great and days of feeling like crap.  I know there will be some anxieties.  I know I say finishing is my only goal but I also know I will have finish times in mind.  I know I will think about every little detail leading up to the race.  I already have my training schedule.  I have a decent grip on what I want to do nutritionally.  I have all of you seasoned marathoners- trust me, your posts are going to be monumental to my training.  But what I have most right now, that I have honestly never had before with my running…is confidence.  And I think we all know that confidence is key!

There are only two things plaguing me currently:

*Fear of injuries- I don’t think I will ever not worry about injuries.  From day one of running, I have had issues-  knee, shin, hip, calves, feet…you name it.  It is only natural for me to worry about re-injury, which is why I am taking every possible step to stay uninjured.  I honestly cannot do more than I am doing…stretching, rolling, icing, wearing compressions…I have it all down, now my body just needs to stick with me!

*Long Distance Training- I can visualize myself starting at the line and crossing it again hours later when I finish.  But the idea of training those 16, 18, 20 and 22 mile runs seems insane to me!  When I think about those training runs, I get completely overwhelmed.  What route will I run?  Should I do an out and back or a loop?  What nutrition will I take?  Where will I carry it?  What if I need a bathroom?  What if the boredom kills me?  Questions like that run through my head daily.  I mean, things like nutrition and bathrooms are kind of taken care of for race day.  Training is a whole different beast! 

So runners- here is what I need from you:  please share your long-distance training tips with me so I can calm myself down!!!!

A HUGE Surprise For Me, A Wedding & Lots Of Photos

If you read my last post, you would know that this past weekend I was attending a surprise party for a friend on Friday and a wedding Saturday.  Well…the surprise party…was for me!!

I am honestly still in shock.  Stunned, even.  My actual 30th birthday is not until July 9, so even though I had an idea that something was being planned…never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be in May.  As many people noted…if I had thought it was for me, I would not have worn pants!!!!

Luckily my mom knows me too well and knows that I would want to wear a dress.  She snuck in my house, and my closet, the night before and took a few dresses.  Whew! 🙂

My cousin Megan did the honor of holding my dresses.

Picking the dress!

The whole night was overwhelming and is still a blur!  Thank goodness for photos!  Here are a few of my favorite ones.

The surprise:

My mom pulled it off!!!

Tiara time!

Things to see:

The party favors, my sign and the guestbook which was a scrapbook of photos.

I am a HUGE Phillies fan; my Uncle made these signs!

The cake my friend Danielle made

Dancing:

Friends and Family:

Love this one of Mom and me

Bestie Sarah

Best friend foreva and eva Jessica and my momma

My friend Danielle- I thought it was her party!

Some of my family (and me, after some wine!)

Having fun with work friends!

TT kids!

And of course, R2:

First time dancing 🙂

By the time we got home and had everything in the house on Friday night it was well after 1am.  We had an early wake up call Saturday because my good friend Kristen was getting married!  Her wedding was about 2 hours away in North Jersey with the reception about another 30 minutes north of there.  We went right from my house to R2’s, got ready and packed our bags and headed on our way.  The wedding was beautiful- gorgeous church and gorgeous bride!  The reception was an absolute blast.  The cocktail hour was full of amazing food and into the reception we danced and danced and danced!  Ok…and drank and drank and drank!  It was another super late, but really fun time!

Kristen and Joe

The TT kids

Love these girls!

My favorite photo of R2 and I, thus far.

Overall, it was pretty much the best weekend ever.  Sunday night, after returned from North Jersey, my parents met R2 at my house and we opened gifts.  I am a very lucky girl to have so many wonderful people in my life.  And I feel lucky to have all of you to share this with through the amazing blog world!

Want Some Free Coconut Water?

Yesterday, I was contacted by the people at GNC to try out their PHENOM coconut water.  Mine is in the mail, but you can also get a free sample of PHENOM coconut water.  All you have to do is comment on one of their blog articles by Sunday, May 15th.

 

More Great Workouts, A Fall, No More MBE & Racing. Oh, Randomness.

List post!

• You’ll notice I did not post an MBE this week.  Or maybe you won’t.  Either way, it was a good run but all good things must come to an end.  The truth is, there was so little participation and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with, that it became somewhat of a distraction.  I simply have too much going on, and too many things I want to blog about.
•  On Mothers Day, I worked at BFG for 12 hours!!!  12!  And worse, I fell right before my shift started.  I was taking the wine glasses out to the bar and the roller they were stacked on gave out.  Seven racks of wine glasses began to tumble and as I tried to save them and hold them up, I went down in a split with the racks on top of me.  I don’t think I have done a split since I was little!  I actually thought I hurt my leg, but turns out it was my back.  I don’t think it is anything major, but still…ouch!
• Ran 5 miles today 🙂  Yes, even with the back pain!  That was my second consecutive 5-miler that went fabulous!  My legs are holding up (thank goodness) and my endurance has been great.  Best of all my speed is getting better and better!
• The next two weekends are going to be crazy busy, but also so much fun.  This weekend, I have a surprise party for a friend (won’t write the name, I have no idea who reads my blog!) and a wedding for one of my closest teammates.  The following weekend, I am taking R2 to Lancaster for his birthday.  We are staying two nights at a B&B and I am taking him to the Lancaster Brewery for dinner and a tour (which he doesn’t know about yet) of the brewery.  I am so looking forward to some quality time with him.  And yes, I am an amazing girlfriend 🙂
• I am posting a poll on the right side of my blog- I am looking for a new car.  I currently drive a Toyota Corolla, which I love.  It has been good to me but I have always wanted a Honda Civic.  I am conflicted.  The cars are somewhat similar in size, gas mileage and even price.  I have also been throwing the idea of the Chevy Cruze around because it’s American and lower in price.  I don’t like that it replaces the Cobalt which was a bomb but I had a Cavalier for my first car which was in my family for like 15 years so I know they can make good cars that last long.  I’ll take any advice I can get on the Cruze and the Civic if you have any.   The poll is just for fun- help me pick my new car 🙂
• As many of you noted in my last post, my spirits are high and I am in a really good place right now.  The only thing in my life I wish I could change is my job.  Since I have so much good in my life outside of work, I feel like I can get through 8 hours a day.  Plus, I know how lucky I am to have a job in the first place!
• I have been noticing more and more people are running the Philadelphia Half & Marathon in November!  I’ll be staying in the city (even though I live 20 mins away!) and would love to do a bloggy meet-up.  I am thinking the afternoon of the expo, maybe designating a place for drinks/apps?  I am in the city a lot and know quite a few good places.  If this sparks enough interest, I will work on putting something together.
• I have decided on my second fall half-marathon.  I am going to run the Newport-Liberty Half on Sunday, September 25.  It is cheap, mostly flat and fairly close to home for me.  My friend lives pretty close and is running it with me, so travel will be relatively easy.  Anyone ever run this race?  Anyone planning to?

 

Ok interwebs, back to work for me.  Hope to catch up on my reader this week since I won’t be around this weekend!  Hope everyone is having a great week!

T-Minus One Month…

…Until my first tri of the season!!!  Ok, ok…that is an exaggeration since I am only the swimmer.  But, I am so excited to have the tri-season begin.  While this year is completely run focused for me, I do have two full tri’s and a few relay’s on the schedule.  And more than just the racing, once tri season begins I see all my teammates a lot more 🙂 Because of my work schedule, I don’t get to train with them much anymore and I have been missing them like crazy!!!!

I have been working really hard on my swimming these past few weeks because I am back with a vengance against this swim!  Last year I also did the swim portion of the relay for this tri and it was a small distaster.  It was freezing, raining and I threw up in the water.  Yeah, that wasn’t so much fun!  My time was downright embarassing and I was not happy with the performance.  This year though…I got this!  Black Bear beware 🙂

In addition to swimming, my spring training in general has been going really well.  I am slowly (very slowly) building up my run mileage.  I am rolling, icing, stretching, repeating my way through recovering from each run.  So far, so good.  I have been using the Elliptical more and more (and I am actually, dare I say, starting to like it?!?!) and I think that it really helping me with my running.  Other than pilates when I get the chance, the Elliptical is my sole cross-training outside of swimming and biking.  Which I suppose adds up to a lot of cross-training when I think about it! 

I am both impressed with and proud of myself for sticking to my workout schedule as well as I have while holding down two jobs and making time for family, friends and R2.  I have been steadily getting to the gym (or running outside 🙂 ) 4-5 days a week.  My preference would be to work out 5 days a week, every week.  Sometimes though, two-a-days are necessary to free up the time during the rest of the week.  In fact, next week, I have three two-a-days planned!  Crazy girl?  Yes, yes I am!  But the hard work and serious dedication is paying off in a major way.  Not only do I feel great physically but I look great too.  I don’t think, in my life, I have ever looked at myself and felt like I looked this good.  It almost feels concieted to say such a thing.  But I am really just proud of myself.  I still have flaws (and I point them out to myself often) but for once, I actually feel like I am ready for bathing suit season!

This next month is going to be crazy busy (ok, what month hasn’t been??)!  I have quite a bit planned in May, including the wedding of a good friend of mine and a long weekend trip to Lancaster for R2’s birthday.  On top of birthday parties, graduations, a few 5K’s and Memorial Day festivities, I have a feeling May is going to fly by!

30 Days Of Truth- Day 6

Day 6- Something you hope you never have to do in your life.

This took less than a second for me to assess.  While I do not even have children of my own yet, my biggest fear in life, is losing them.  I cannot on any level, comprehend for one second, what they might feel like or how I would ever deal.

When my friend died, I remember vividly watching his mother scream and reach for his coffin as they lowered him into the ground.  That image is forever imprinted in my mind.  Over the years since his death, his mom has become a good friend of mine.  We have talked for hours on end about Jimmy; she has shared with me much of her grief.  For all the sadness I have felt over the years…as much as it hurt me to the core to lose my friend…I cannot on any level comprehend the hurt in her heart.

Almost 11 years have passed since Jimmy died.  Although not overly religious, Karen will often say it is her faith that got her through.  I don’t know what would get me through.  I’m not sure I have faith like that.  I’m not sure what I have, but I do know I hope I am never forced to come to grips with it.  I don’t want to find out if I can be THAT strong.  Ever.

Day 1 –> Something you hate about yourself

Day 2 –> Something you love about yourself

Day 3 –> Something you have to forgive yourself for

Day 4 –> Something you have to forgive someone else for

Day 5 –> Something you hope to do in your life

Monday Brain Exchange Week 34- Being Green

Every Monday, at the end of the current weeks M.B.E answer, I will post a question for the following week.  This way you can cue your post for Monday if you wish.  If Monday doesn’t work for you, you can still play along any day of the week that works best. If you want to play along, all you have to do is post the question and your answer on your own blog.  If you prefer to simply answer in the comments section below, that is okay too!

This Weeks Topic:  Running Green

This Weeks Question:  In celebration of (a very belated) Earth Day, tell us how you do your part in leaving the Earth better than we found it by recycling, using alternative energy sources, doing something natural and etc…

Here is the honest truth.  I do not liter.  I recycle.  I reuse.  And that is about it.

I do feel like I do my part, but I don’t put aside time to think more outside of the box.  Not too long ago, Denise wrote a post about how she stays green and I was (am) in awe of her determination to be as green as possible!

The one major thing I wish I could do different, isn’t possible.  I would love to ride my bike to work but there are no accessible roads.  The commute would be treacherous on a bike, at best.  I am always jealous of those who can commute to work by other modes of transportation other than a car.

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Next Weeks Topic: Handling Set-Backs

Next Weeks Question: What kind of set-backs have you experienced when it comes to your sport?  Have you had an injury, financial issue or other stress that has interfered with your training and how did/do you handle it?