Less than a month...

until my half (it's October 17th). And you know what?


I'm actually getting excited. Training has been going pretty well thus far (minus some knee discomfort that was cured by a new pair of running shoes) and the weather is finally, finally, FINALLY cooling off. I'm even starting to think that maaaaaybe I do have a chance at breaking 1:50 next month...it's still a lofty goal, but I have a little bit of hope this time.

Plus, I found out yesterday that one of J's friends has decided that he's doing the half also. Even though next weekend's 7 mile run will be the farthest he's ever ran. And he'll be in Europe for 10 days leading up to the race. He just wants to see if he can do it...and I want to see if I can beat him. Priorities, people. :D

Yesterday was a 6 mile cutback run. I've got an 11 mile run next Saturday, 12 the week after that, and then I start tapering. That 11 miles next Saturday is going to come in handy when we go out to dinner for J's 30th bday that night...japanese steakhouse, here I come!

Happy running!

Four years...

Four years ago, I went over to my parents' house for a Labor Day cookout. While I was there, I was looking for something in their bathroom and decided to step on the scale (sadly, I have never been one to resist stepping on the scale. I need to work on that. I swear, they put magnets in those things). To my dismay, the scale said a number that I had always said it would never get to. I said to myself "Goddamnit, this has got to stop. I'm getting married in two years, and that's plenty of time to get my butt back in shape." So on the way home, I went to the gym near my apartment and pretty much walked in and said "Sign me up, I don't care how much it costs." I started going religiously and eating healthier, and even decided to sign up for a Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5 mile run (thanks to my sister's cajoling).

And now here I am, four years and almost 30 lbs lighter. I actually like going the gym (especially if there's a spin class involved) and like running outside even more. Hell, I've run more 5ks and 10k's than I can count, and have three (soon to be four) half marathons under my belt (and still no desire to train for a full marathon). I still love my junk food, but have finally learned to show some restraint (sometimes) and do other things when I'm stressed besides eat. Like go on a run.

I will not post before/after pictures because I still don't really like to look at the before pictures very much, but you get the idea. I'm still not at my ideal weight, but I'm pretty close (within 10 lbs) and have been for a couple of years so I'm starting to make my peace with that. If I lose the weight, awesome, but if not that's okay too. The biggest thing is that I'm happier and healthier than I've ever been, and I will never let myself get back to where I was four years ago this weekend.


And that's enough about that. To recap this lovely long weekend-Football has returned to my life (Go Bucks!), my friend and her adorable puppy came to visit from Pittsburgh, I fell and scraped up my knee real good about 7.5 miles into my 9 mile long run on Saturday (no running w/running group due to my car getting a new transmission), my friend and I ran around Columbus a bit, I made it through a recovery run this AM without hurting myself, and I have to go back to work tomorrow :(

Whew!

Dude!

I got a blog award? Whaaaaaaat? You mean people actually read this thing? Apparently, Colleen at Irondiva does, because she gave it to me! Look how cute it is!

Along with this award, I have some things to answer, so here goes...

1. If you had a chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be? I wouldn't consider this a regret, but I wish I would have taken up running and stuck with it earlier in my life. I picked up running in fall 2006 (more on that in my next post) in an effort to help me lose the 25ish lbs I put on during grad school. My sister Alli had gotten bit by the running bug right around then, and she convinced me to do a local Turkey Trot 5mile run with her that Thanksgiving. How could I turn down a chance at a free pumpkin pie (the first 1000 male and 1000 female finishers got one)? So I started running at the gym more, in addition to the elliptical and bike work I was trying to adjust to, and lo and behold the Trot went far better than I anticipated (and I got my pie!) The next spring (2007), Alli and our youngest sister Julie decided to do the Flying Pig 1/2 marathon in Cincinnati...I knew I wasn't ready for that yet but happily tagged along for their 5k races here in Columbus, and even joined them for parts of their training runs while we were on Spring Break in Myrtle Beach. Somewhere along the way, I started to look forward to going on a run...four years later, countless 5ks and 10ks, and three (soon to be four) half marathons later, here I am. Much healthier, and a lot less stressed :) I feel like if I had picked up running in college, or even in the year I took off between getting my BA at Ohio State and starting my MA program in Cincinnati, I would have been able to head off the stress eating that was a big part of my weight gain and overall kept myself in much better physical shape. And I likely would have quit smoking a lot sooner than I did, too.

2. The second thing you have to do is pick 6 people and give them this award. You then have to inform the person that they have gotten this award. Oh jeebus. Here goes... Emily at A Day in the Life of Em, Brit at Duke's House , Katie at Vegetarian Lunchbox, Andrea at This Year's Love , Jill at Happy Hopefuls, and Sarah at TBDBITL-OT. These are all blogs I love to read, and therefore they're all awesome :)

3. The third and final thing is, thank the person who gave you the award. Colleen, thankyou for the super cute award! I've really enjoyed following your journeys through training for your Ironman races-what you and Tom do is an inspiration to us all. I know Louisville didn't go the way you planned, but you have so much to be proud of and I know you're going to keep on kicking ass!