Goals for 2014!!

Setting goals is one of my favorite things to do:). It's a time to imagine the future, dream of what's possible, celebrate past accomplishments and put failures behind you and move forward:). So with that in mind, here are the not-so-spectacular results from 2013...

Goals for 2013:

1. Run more often. This one was an epic fail:(. I ran less often in 2013 than during the previous two years. I'd love to make it all better by saying that I fell in love with another activity but that would be a lie. I fell in love with laziness:(
2. Do at least 12 in-person events, and one each month. I completed 16 in-person events in 2013 but missed an event for two months of the year :(
3. Complete two Half Marathons. This time I mean it :). Apparently I didn't. I completed one Half and a 10-miler
4. PR at two different distances - existing ones. I PR'd at the Tower of Terror:)
5. Lose 15 pounds. Ruh roh. I weigh exactly the same today as at the beginning of 2013:(

So what happened??? There were some really bright spots to the year but part of the problem with hitting the goals was simple lack of motivation. I fell out of love with running during some of the year and didn't switch successfully to something else to stay active. I need to build that flexibility into my goals for next year for sure. June was tough - with more focus on proper sleeping habits I would have had a better chance at getting up to run more easily which is key when it super hot. I also wasn't very organized which would have helped me bike and swim when I didn't feel like running. Eating has been a bit of a hot mess this year. Too much sugar and mindless overeating.

So, here are my goals for 2014...drumroll please...

1. Work out more often (3 times a week at least)
2 14 in-person events in 2014 (one each month and a couple of extras)
3. Any three of the following: 10K, sprint tri, bike 25 miles
4. Either PR or complete a 5K in under 30 minutes during an event
5. Lose 15 lbs!

How am I going to do all of these? Firstly, I'm making the commitment by writing these goals down! I've already signed up for Janathon (which means I need to work out every day for a month) to start out the year on track:). I've also signed up for '14 in 2014' which gives me access to a group of people on Facebook doing the same to keep me inspired and motivated. Planning is going to be really important so my next job is to make a race/training plan for the year, to include some speed work. On the weight loss front, I'm wearing a new Fitbit and tracking calories on myfitnesspal. To help manage the sugar cravings I'm going to be relying on my new, trusty Yonanas machine which is a great alternative to ice cream which is frankly the devil's spawn. I've also signed up for yoga with a friend so that will help me stay accountable and keep the stress levels down which has been a major driver in recent overeating episodes. On the motivation front - I'm also going to try and align my activity with good causes. I've signed up for www.weightlessproject.org to help fight malnutrition through activity and I'm going to pick some races with worthy beneficiaries. In 2014, my mantra is going to be "Running for a Reason"!!! I'm excited...

Juneathon is here!

So it's June 1st and this is the month that I traditionally slack off a bit (OK a lot) from running. Thanks to Denise at Run DMT, this year I've found Juneathon (see link on RHS) - a virtual, international network of people who are committed to working out (and blogging about it to stay accountable) every day for the whole month of June! This is exactly what I need, particularly now that Lu is not in town for a month and I feel lost without her all of a sudden! I'm prepared to commit to a minimum of 20 minutes a day (with longer sessions for training days) - and while I'm in the spirit of making commitments I'm going to shoot for eating 'clean' for a whole month too after reading this inspirational book:

I'm still going to shoot for running 3 times a week - but hopefully the regular, daily workout will help me stay motivated overall. I may even get used to the heat a little? I wonder how I'll feel in a whole month's time?? Wish me luck!!

Day 1: Ran 4:2 Sprints: 2.5 miles, 24:00 mins

Day 2: Weights: 20 mins

Day 3: Ran: 3.0 miles, 32:09 mins

Insanely hot. But totally my fault - I had to run in the evening since I didn't get my arse out of bed this morning at 6 liked I'd planned after staying up chit-chatting until nearly 2 a.m. But still - crazy hot. But I'm not whining. Because nobody likes a whiner. Not even other whiners...

Day 4: Bike: 8.0 miles, 48:58 mins
Day 5: Ran Treadmill: 4.4 miles, 40:00 mins, Weights: 20 mins
Day 6: Bike: 10.40 miles, 49:36 mins

Had a bit of a slip on the clean eating front today and had two (yep that would be two) protein bars and a piece of cake today. I had a ton of 'safety fruit' to hand so I have absolutely no excuses. I can't even say that I didn't enjoy it or felt guilty:)

Day 7: Gym Bike: ?? miles, 45:00 mins

Very lame workout after a horrendous eating day too. I can't seem to decide on my next event or which training to focus on. Feeling lost to be honest. A good night's sleep will help for sure...

Day 8: Nothing
Day 9: Nothing
Day 10: Nothing

Oops :). Well it looks like pesky Juneathon has gotten the better of me after only 7 days! This weekend was horrendously busy and I have been so exhausted. I feel like I've been lurching from one place I had to be or task I had to do to the next. In short, life got in the way. And I let it happen :(...So what now? Well, I was thinking that maybe I can rewrite the rules a bit and give myself credit for 'doubling' up sessions? So basically I can 'buy back' a missed day if I do two different activities on one day?? It's worth a shot...now I really want to see if I can do that! And there's that 'eating clean' thing that I haven't stuck to...Juneathon - I'm coming BACK!

Day 11: Swim: 11.5 laps, 20:00 mins, Ran Treadmill: ?? miles, 25:00 mins

Great workout and one session bought back. Two more to get back on track...:)

Day 12: Gym Bike: ?? miles, 40:00 mins
Day 13: Nothing :(
Day 14: Gym Bike: ?? miles, 45:00 mins

OK so I'm still 3 sessions behind so I'm going to need to step this up if I'm going to be able to claim victory over Juneathon!! I have nothing major scheduled for this weekend so I have a perfect opportunity to catch up completely if I can just stay motivated! This 'daily' thing is so much tougher than I thought:).

Day 15: Ran 5:1 Intervals: 6 miles, 1:06:06 mins

I was totally dreading tonight since I haven't ran 6 miles on my own for a very long time and I've really been struggling to stay on track. It's often on nights like this that the Running Gods intervene and I see something really special and tonight was no exception. I've lived in Florida for nearly 15 years but I've never seen a Scarlet Kingsnake before...

OK so that's not my picture but mine looked exactly the same! I nearly stepped on him and for a second I wondered if I would be able to run to the hospital before certain death. Then I remembered 'If red touches yellow, it can kill a fellow. If red touches black, it is a friend of Jack' and realized he was harmless. And he didn't bite me anyway :). About 10 minutes later I caught the Epcot fireworks too. Florida is certainly hot but you get to see some amazing things when you're out for a run. Lucky me..:)

Day 16: Swim: 19.5 laps, 35:00 mins, Bike: 8.1 miles, 38:46 mins
Day 17: Swim: 13 laps, 20:00 mins, Ran Treadmill: ?? miles, 25:00 mins
Day 18: Swim: 13.5 laps, 20:00 mins, Bike: 7.5 miles, 33:18 mins

All caught up now:)

Day 19: Swim: 18.0 laps, 30:00 mins
Day 20: Run: 5.0 miles, 54:11 mins

Virtual run tonight for Emmett Sebright - a little boy with Craniosynostosis, a defect of the skull that inhibits brain growth. On June 20, 15 month old Emmett had his scheduled surgery - a cranial vault reconstruction. During the 7 to 8 hour surgery, his mother, Kathy planned to run on the treadmill at the hospital the entire time Emmett was in surgery. She pledged that she would not stop until he was out - even if it took the full 8 hours. Emmett's (virtual) Endurance Event was organized on Facebook as a show of solidarity and support.

Day 21: Nothing

Day 22: Gym Bike: ?? miles, 45:00 mins
Day 23: Swim: 15 laps, 25:00 mins

Just one more week to go and one session to catch up!

Day 24: Nothing
Day 25: Ran Treadmill: ?? miles, 45:00 mins

Great run tonight after a lethargic weekend. Feeling really motivated to catch up the two sessions I've fallen behind on and end the week strong :).

Day 26: Swim: 13 laps, 20:00 mins, Gym Bike: ?? miles, 30:00 mins

Just one more session to catch up and 4 days to go :)

Day 27: Ran: 3.0 miles, 32:25 mins
Day 28: Nothing :(

Day 29: Ran: 7.0 miles, 1:19:68 mins
Day 30: Swim: 12.5 laps, 20:00 mins, Ran: ?? miles, 20 mins, Gym Bike: ?? miles, 25:00 mins

All done...Juneathon verdict to follow...!

Swim, Bike and Run like a Mother...

Today was Mother's Day in the states and Lu and I did the Women's Danskin Super Sprint Triathlon!

The only triathlon I've ever done had a pool swim so my goal was to do one in open water. For this event they had a Sprint (0.5m swim, 12m bike and 3m run) and a Super Sprint (0.25m swim, 8m bike and 2m run) so we opted for the shorter distance since the swim seemed a bit more achievable for our first time in the dreaded open water. To train for the event, we have been working out about 4 times a week and each Sunday we've managed to get out of bed at the break of dawn to do a swim, bike and run at the pool in Celebration to practice all three together. We've worked really hard but were still really nervous.

We got up at 5am to get over to Clermont in time to do all of the transistion set-up. We loved the body mark-up and in particular the sign calling us 'athletes':)

Don't let the smiles fool you - once we were ready to go - we wanted to cry...

Look at beautiful Lake Minneola - I didn't expect it to be just like the beach!

We were the second wave with a 7:19 start time...

Here goes...

The Swim...I am amazed to say that my swim was so much better than I expected! I started at the back and stayed wide of the turn points and didn't get kicked or pushed at all. I felt strong and was able to beat a couple of swimmers in the first wave too! The Bike...it was so beautiful biking all the way around the lake although it was hilly in places. I was really pleased with how it went and it was so much more comfortable now that I've been biking regularly (and have a gel seat :)). It was also really nice to get so much support from the other ladies on the course. Everyone was cheering everyone else the whole time:). The Run...I was dreading the run the whole time I was on the bike. I had worked really hard and my Negative Nelly brain started to make me question if my legs would be able to run at all when I got done. When I got started out with the run I saw so many people were walking and was really tempted but pushed through and just ran as best as I could!

The ending was phenomenal. The spectators were just the best and we got a flower, a goodie bag, a great tech shirt and a gorgeous medal too!

Mike bought me a 'bad ass' biking shirt for Mother's Day - I love it!!

Maddy came to support me for Mother's Day too which made the whole thing extra special :)

I came in 10th out of 27 in my age category which was awesome! Lu came second in hers and won a free entry for next year! Go Lu!!!!! My results looked like this:

Yeah!!! But regardless of the times, I felt strong and healthy and happy. And ready to take on the full Sprint distance and an open water swim next time :)

Disney Princess Half Marathon!!

Today was a completely amazing experience for so many reasons :). One of my goals this year was to run two Half Marathons so I had planned one at the begining of the year and another towards the end. I just didn't feel ready for the Rock and Roll Half a few weeks back and was feeling terribly guilty about allowing myself to fall behind with training :(. When I discovered that Luciana was doing the Disney Princess Half a couple of weeks later, I signed up so that we could do it together. We worked really hard over the past few weeks to get ready and training with such a special partner has been a total joy :).

On Friday night before the race, we went to packet pick up at ESPN. We couldn't quite believe that our big weekend was here!

The Expo was just HUGE!

It started to hit us that in just a day or two we would officially be honorary Disney princesses :)

At the Expo we got to see running hero, Jeff Galloway speak. I even asked a question! We were totally star-struck. Here he is talking about 'downstairs' issues. Runners - you know what I'm talking 'bout.

The night before I just couldn't sleep hardly at all. There aren't many things scarier on the bedroom floor than the morning 'get up' all laid out...

On race day we had to meet at 3 a.m. to be sure to get there by 4 a.m. We were both really nervous but the outdoor dance party and photo opps were a great distraction...

We promised each other not to worry about time, to stay together, finish together and most importantly to have FUN :)

The runners are all placed into groups based on predicted finish time since there were about 15,000 of us! Each corral had a different song for the runners to get to the start line for their 'go' time and we started getting really excited (and terrified) as we watched the runners ahead of us get started...And then it was us and our song was Party Rock Anthem! The running Gods are good!

Ev'ry Day I'm Shuffling...

It hit 6:15, the fairy godmother waved her magic wand and we were finally off!

Every half mile or so there was some form of entertainment. Everything from a marching band playing the theme tune to Rocky, Disney characters, acrobats, trampoliners, a hot air balloon, live bands, racing car drivers, everything you can imagine!  As we ran past the Disney Wedding Chapel there were even about 10 groomsmen proposing to us with glass slippers as we ran by! It was so entertaining and I think I only listened to my ipod for maybe 2 songs the entire race!

The weather was absolutely perfect and the majority of runners had some kind of costume. As we heated up, there were literally hundreds of jackets and tutus discarded alongside the roadway:)

We ran all the way from the Epcot ball to the castle in Magic Kingdom and back again.

We didn't really start hurting until about mile 8 but we celebrated every single mile regardless. I think we were the among the last princesses with our sense of humor still intact at the end...

Look at some of the grumplestiltskins in the background!! And we were not even half-way yet...

Serious athlete poses...

The magical halfway point...:)

This pic says it all :)

It got pretty tough after about 8 or 9 miles but we pushed through and stuck to our 5/1 intervals. As soon as we could see the Epcot ball it all seemed to rush by. My favorite part of the entire race was just before the finish line when we turned a corner and there was a huge gospel choir. We were both moved to tears and grabbed each other's hands for our big 'over the line' moment :)

The medals were so pretty...

Despite the fact that afterwards I felt like I'd been hit by a truck, I'll never forget this race. And I promise to follow the training (yes all of it) next time. And there definitely will be a next time. Thank you Princess Lu - look at what we did together!! You were right - pain is temporary, but pride is permanent :)

My First Half Marathon!

I think today is one of the proudest days of my life :). This morning I completed my first Half Marathon, the Women's Running Magazine's Women's Half in St. Petersburg to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! Back in February, several of my girlfriends completed their first Half Marathons. When I was approached by another friend to join her team for this race I thought it was about time that I gave it a shot (they later bailed so I actually ended up running alone :(). I registered online and got a free 12-week training program so I decided to follow it as closely as I could and only run on raceday if I had completed the training. For me, I found it easier to commit to doing a training program rather than the actual race which felt like a mountain to climb at that time. Anyway, the training went really well - one of the biggest challenges was learning to do long runs alone since I knew Mike wouldn't be joining me on the day :( - until about week 9 when I injured my ankle. I had already started to exceed the mileage on the long runs a bit so I think it was a case of too much, too soon. Anyway, after a particularly bad run one night, I actually passed out from the pain in my ankle! I took this as a sign to take a week off and instead of giving up altogether I decided to substitute the training runs for the crosstrainer at the gym and be a lot more careful, particularly on long runs. I was very nervous when it came time for the only 10-miler during training (the program only went up to 10 miles based on the assumption that adrenaline would get you to 13 on the day:)) but I managed to do it without too much trouble at all! That was the point at which I decided that I would go for it and do the race itself :).

There were about 7,000 registrants so the bib pick up is all handled the day before. We booked a hotel in St. Pete for Saturday night and drove over earlier in the day to get the fancy bag of goodies and T-shirt.

Just a little terrifying to see my name on the list...

One of the best pieces of advice that I had was not to do anything different from training on the actual day. With that in mind, I ran in my old Newtons and promised myself a pair of these if I actually managed to finish (and ever wanted to run again :))...

We caught the sunset after the Expo and took a walk on the beach on the way to the restaurant to 'carb up.'

When we got to the hotel, there was a wedding reception by the pool. They had fireworks while Maddy was taking a swim!

To ease my nerves I got everything organized and laid out for the next day. It didn't work; I barely slept at all :(...

We woke up to leave at just after 5am. At this point I just wanted for it to be over...

Aside from all the runners wearing pink, everything at the hotel was pink, including the Christmas tree!

When we arrived I was totally overwhelmed by the scale of the whole thing. It was quite reassuring to know I wasn't going to be suffering alone. That didn't stop the tears though and I didn't stop crying until we actually started running...

I planned on taking millions of photos during the race but very quickly decided to just focus on being present with the whole experience. The course route went past several landmarks in St. Pete and there were 7 live bands. I barely even used my ipod, the spectators were just incredible and I also met several fantastic ladies throughout the race! I did get a picture of the pier at mile 8...

After 10 miles I started to feel very nervous since I hadn't ever run that far before. It was starting to get a little too hot, the breeze had subsided and my feet were starting to get really sore. My favorite part of the whole race though was running through the air-conditioned Tropicana Field stadium on the astroturf and seeing the 12th mile marker right outside! I couldn't believe how close we were to the finish but I still didn't believe I would actually make it until I had less than a half mile to go:). I was also amazed at how close I was going to be to my fantasy time of 2:30! It suddenly occurred to me that I was just about to do something that I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I was capable of and I burst into tears (again) as I crossed the line and hugged the lady who gave me my beautiful medal :). 

The start/finish line was right outside the beautiful Dali museum...

Mike was so very proud of me!

After a couple of pics I was ready to go home and get some food and rest. When I woke up later on I took a walk to stretch out my legs a bit and reflect on the whole experience. I saw online that my time was 2:31:54 which I am completely thrilled with! So what next??? I'm really not sure. I'm pretty sure that I don't ever think I could take on a Full but I'm also pretty sure that I would do a Half again. For now, I'm going to celebrate for a while and wait and see how I feel later on :)...