post thanksgiving, pre marathon.

marathon is in 5 days. AHHHHHHHHHH

i'm not ready. even slighty.

so i'll avoid it for now and post all of these pictures from my awesome week at home.

i did run while at home. and ran a race. boom.

leaving on a jet plane.

my tree with a hamster buried under it. true story.

face time with the old man

watching the sunrise on race day.

free mini cliff bars. best. idea. ever.

a little italian mimosas on thanksgiving.

thanks tasha.

snuggle buddies.

yep. that's mom.

looking pretty with the sil.

totally innocent.

power hour tradition at NMAS

belle sleeps rather bizarrely

puppy sock. leggins as pants. football. mmm saturdays at home

dropping bombs on mom in yahtzee.

sweet old man.

converted mom to ProCompression socks.

memphis is dark at 6am.

up in the clouds.

sunrise on an airplane.

i am taking this week (3 days before i get on a plane to go home again) to think of race strategies.

the winning contender so far: don't die.

solid advice.

wordless saturday.

well almost.

i've been a bad blogger since the last half marathon. over a month. eep.

so here's what i have been up too in picture form...

post disaster 1/2 mimosa party on my couch.

sharing personal space

wine and drawing with the lovely lady below.

taking over my left arm so i can't type

realizing even with a discount italy is expensive

i am a bad person, but i giggle every single time

fall colors in the north georgia mountains

the problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind - humphrey bogart

trader joe's fall flowers compliments of the mom

hair of the dog attempt.

break from atlanta

soothing the soul

forever driving. one tank - destin, atl, birmingham

surprise dinner for mom's birthday was a success

dracula beer coozie

too cool for me with her new mohawk

tag on the tail of my shirt i wore as a dress

the dirty guv'nahs

much deserved nap time

perks of babysitting

keeping my wine and drawing partner company

buying a little art for a good cause

questioning words with friends tactics..

3's across the board in the work truck.

snotty and sobbing.

i had a rough time convincing myself that today was thursday. i laid/lain/layed? in bed for a good 5 minutes contemplating what day of the week it was. legitimately had no idea.

i also have been sleeping later in the mornings because of a self imposed running rest break.

self imposed because of the disaster that was sunday at the Allstate 13.1

saturday mom and i went to the LA Fitness to get my packet. which was the lamest packet pick-up i have ever been too. but whatever.

mom and i watched lsu get clobbered and the georgia get stomped. bad day in our household in the football world.

after downing about 18 gallons of water, i finally convinced myself to go to bed.

this was the first race that i haven't been worried about sleeping late, missing the race, wearing no clothes to the race. typical worries that keep me up the whole night. i slept like a rock until the lovely hour of 445. mmmmm. should have known.

mom and i drove over to where the parking was for the race, walked to dunkin donuts...i had to potty, and failed, and then walked to the race. it wasn't a super big race, but it was just the half and a 5k. a bit of a bizarre combo if you ask me.

the race began in the dark, and it was a bit of an obstacle course. the neighborhood didn't have street lights, so you had to seriously watch out for the speed bumps and tree limbs.

i was falling nicely behind the 1:45 pace group. i knew i probably wouldn't be able to sustain it, but i figured it was a good place to be. the pace felt comfortable and the weather was beautiful.

i crested a hill just as the sun was coming up and it was absolutely spectacular. mile 7.5ish comes along and i feel that familiar tug at my knee. i knew the race was over for me.

so what does a 26 year old do, when she knows her IT band is shot, and she has +/- 6.6 miles to go? well this one sat on the curb and sobbed uncontrollably. SOBBED. i started to walk back, but i couldn't make myself. i wanted to finish. i HAD to finish.

snotty, tear streaked me jumped back in the pack and motored on. and by motored i mean walked/hobbled/jogged the rest of it.

if i had been able to keep my pace i would have finished right about 1:50 or so. a big PR for me. but alas, i didn't.

i ran my heart out the last .5 mile. and cried simultaneously.

not one of my finer moments.

but i must say, runners during a race are the most supportive people ever. EVER.

and it's over.

tomorrow is tentative run day 1.

eep.

sunday is race day.

eep.

but...the weather is supposed to be gorgeous.

perfect race weather if you ask me. and since you are reading this then i am going to pretend that you asked.


i am a bit nervous about this race because i was sick for a bit during training and because i got my first email about packet pickup....yesterday. yep yesterday. okay maybe it was monday and it was in my spam folder, but still. cutting it a bit close if you ask me.

running has actually been going really well lately, so i am excited to race it and not be super worried about the actual running aspect.

i know i can run 13.1 miles. i've done it before, 4 times to be exact. i am going into this course blind. i like it better that way. no scary hill pre-knowledge.

yes this probably isn't the best approach, but that's neither here nor there for to me. i like running just to run.

when i run the full in december i will probably make dad drive the entire course with me, while i rock nervously in the front seat. sounds like a good combo. 26.2 miles is a long way dude, give me a break.

i also get ridiculously nervous before races. even 5ks. don't ask. same thing when i have to take a test, call someone on the phone....awesome opossum.

source

mental block.

some days i get this feeling of world ending doom.

it doesn't happen all that often anymore.

but when it does, oscar the grouch better look out.

i had one of those days today.

too many things had piled up in my brain and i couldn't focus.

all i wanted to do was go home and lay down. bury everything in the covers and wake up tomorrow and start over.

but i didn't.

mainly because it was an absolutely stunner of a day and because darwin wouldn't let me.

i had a bit of a breakdown on the phone with him and then i went for a run.

one of those runs where you bargain with yourself to run that hill and then you can be done. you promise yourself you will make up for it in the morning when you run.

today i pushed through that bargain. i was already out there after all.

it was a fairly action packed run. dodging people, watching a lady almost ram straight into a pedestrian crossing sign in the middle of the street, and rescuing a dog.

the rescue came when i watched a man taking his trash can back up to his house and watched him open the gates at the top of the driveway. i pushed right on and as i crossed the street i heard a man yelling the same name over and over again.

i turned and saw the most adorable (i mean fierce) little creature running at me. so i turned and ran back towards the dog, as he was crossing the street without looking both ways. i put my arms out and said why hello precious as his owner is still running up the street towards us. i took him by the collar and passed him off.

it was just the break i needed to rejuvinate my run.

the only reason i stopped my run is i realized that i had stopped sweating. never good.

my reward for my long run:

two, going on three, bottles of water
popcorn with chocolate chips for dinner
scrubs and a giant sweatshirt

perfection. 

mea culpa for the no pictures. if you want pictures check out this: whimsywanderlust.tumblr.com

wordless.tuesday.

because i am a terrible blogger and because i am still a terrible blogger and am exhausted here is my 2 weeks (almost) (yes i am sorry) wrap up.

today was my first long run in a while. i fought off a cold for a week and a half. lot of prescription drugs and lack of motion. a couple of dropped pounds later (court, does this count as getting to race weight?) and i am slowly working back into the game. should make the half in october interesting.

pictures will have to suffice. i am sleepy.

pre-illness morning play date.

stupid google maps. turn around and start over. i think not.

car surfing.

closet organizing.

birthday weekend beer.

birthday party dress.

favorite birthday text. one minute after my birthday officially began no doubt

my co-pilot

booking. blegh.

Race weight

I ran today for the first time in over a week. I was laid up most of this week with an upper respitory infection. Awesome opossum.

Now that my ears don't feel as if they may actually explode things are on the up and up. Therefore I decided to give running a go.

Needless to say, it didn't go so hot.

It's always really hard for me to tell myself that it's okay, because I am not one hundred percent. And I know that, but when I am running its miserable. So today I am just thankful that I was able to lace up my shoes and get out there to pound some pavement.  Some short pavement, but it was beautiful and it was outside.

That brings me to a secondary topic that I have been thinking about for a while now and that is weight. Weight is always as taboo subject even more so for girls.

Near as I can tell most girls have three stages of weigh: goal weight, comfortable weight, and by god I will never weigh that much weight. I for one am guilty of it. I usually hover in between goal and comfort. It depends on how much beer I have had....

Ive been researching around about "race weight" and I've been coming across some issues.

1. Active.com says I should weigh between 13-17 pounds ideally. Somehow I think they may be missing a couple of digits in that one.. I found another one on runningtools.com and it says I am right on track, if not a little under. Finding a clear answer is tough.

2. With all the information out there, it's hard to get a steady answer and when you really only hear the number, it's working as a disadvantage. Girls tend to gravitate towards what a number means in their head vs. what it means for them physically. We forget that muscle weighs more than fat.

3. The number goes hand in hand with proper nutrition and fueling. I by no means am a perfectionist (unless you look at my closet.) but remembering to properly fuel is tough when you are fixated on achieving a number. People are busy, life is tough, but make it a priority. I have been pushing myself to make it one and the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is make a meal, so I make light easy prepared meals in advance so I can just heat them up.

4. I understand that weight is a factor in healthy living, but why does it always have to be about weight? Why can't it be about fueling and training yourself to be the best you can be and making yourself happy. A lot of people using running as a weight loss program and that is an amazing feat don't get me wrong, I did it as well, but we get caught up in the weight loss portion of it. Running is about endorphins, challenges, and making yourself proud. Losing weight is just a side effect. Running impacts more of your life than just weight and I wish more magazines, articles and literature out there showed that.

Okay I'm done being serious, but I've been thinking about that one for a while now.

I hope everyone has a lovely Labor Day weekend. I am headed off to work and then tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY!

Woooooo.

(for those of you wondering, I wrote this on my iPad so that's why things are properly capitalized.) and pardon any typos...