Goal = Finish

16 miles complete!!!!!!!

wouldn't it be nice to look like
this at a marathon finish line?

I would have liked a faster time but I need to just realize that my goal is to FINISH the marathon!!  Over the past year (and even further back) my body has been through complete hell!  I need to realize and accept that while I think its cool that my body is able to train and do this less than a year after "brain" surgery, that does not mean it still doesn't have needs and issues.  I cannot and should not be pushing it too hard, maybe when training for a future marathon I can.  But for right now, my goal is to finish with a smile.  I need to stop comparing times and I need to focus on me.  My body is amazing and I am so glad that I have recovered from my surgery without complications and I am so lucky that my whole tumor was removed.  I've also has nutrition issues in the past and I think its cool I'm doing well with that too.  My mood is amazing and I'm just all around feeling well.  I do have my tired and not motivated moments but I think that is normal for everyone during periods of life.  I am happy overall but I'm not happy every second.  There is an overall and long term happiness that I think I have and then there is an in the moment happiness and I think no one can say they are happy all the time.  Anyways, I just need to get my priorities for the marathon in line and not let anyone or myself believe otherwise.

Annapolis 10 miler next weekend!  I am so excited that my mom is coming with me!!!!!  I am beyond excited actually!  It means a lot to me that she is coming, words can't describe my happiness surrounding that.

First day back at work tomorrow after summer vacation.  Professional week this week and then the kiddos come next Monday (the 29th).  I am so excited for this year!



Today and Other Stuff

Yesterday was my birthday so I babysat and went out to dinner with friends.  I did not run because I didn't sleep well the night before and didn't want to get up early (I am not a morning person).  But that's ok, it was my birthday and it was a great day.  It had moments of not being a good day but my quick thinking made it a great day and so did my wonderful friends.

Today I did cross training at the gym.  Not too exciting but cross seems to be the thing I am lacking.  I did an hour.  I don't put my cross training on dailymile because I like knowing the total miles are running miles and the time it calculates is just from running.

The thing I hate about the gym is it highlights the areas of my body I need "fixed".  I know I'm thin-ish but there are certain areas I wish I could just lose fat in.  The main area is the muffin top (love handles) in the back.  I doubt they are that obvious but I notice them.  I'm running this marathon not to lose weight or alter my body, if happens fine but its not my goal.  My goal is to finish the marathon and show that my body is strong.  My 24th year of life was spent a lot in the hospital, in fact, I turned 23 in the hospital.  Having brain surgery and being in an ICU is scary.  I feel so blessed and lucky that I've had no complications and I'm doing this well.  This marathon is not about the way my body looks but what it can do.  I want my 25th year of life to be a healthy one.  However, like most women, today is just one of those days I wish the love handles would go.  I'm glad that my next round of hard core blood tests, my MRI, and appointments with my neurologist, endocrinologist, and neurosurgeon are all scheduled for November and December.  If I get bad news then at least I will have already ran the marathon.

not me (obviously), just thought it kind of fit my discussion of a strong capable body that can run, climb (the mountain), etc.

Tomorrow, my friend Nicole and I will be running 12 miles.  The most I've ever run in my life is 13.1 miles when I ran a half marathon in 2009.  Its crazy to think that my personal runs will be longer than that soon.  Then next week is semi-easy.  It'll be a 3-6-3-and then an 8k race.  I had to alter my running schedule to fit this awesome 8k night race in.  I have to take a class next week that is Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  And I babysit all day Wednesday.  Then I have a meeting Tuesday night and appointments Wednesday night.  And I'll have homework in this class.  So I'm hoping I can get it all in.  And I have moving and packing on my mind.... Ahhhhh!  Its a lot.

Well, I gotta get back to cleaning my bathroom... boooooooooooooooooo!

6 mile hill filled run

Last night I finished my treadmill run around 8:30pm-ish.  And then this morning, I wake up (around 10:30am) to a text message from my friend Nicole (the one I signed up to run the marathon with), she wanted to know if I wanted to run 6 miles with her in 30 minutes.  I was actually very excited because having someone to run with does two things for me 1) it keeps me social and 2) it pushes me to run harder.  I met her at her house and we went to a nearby regional park.  I should have realized that when the name of the park contains "hills" in it, it would be hard.  I think in total we ran more than 6 miles but we don't have high tech gizmos and gadgets and I can't map out the route on map my run.  The hills were a killer and this was a realization that my marathon dreams will be hard to obtain.

Nicole was ready and trained to run the Frederick half marathon last weekend so I shouldn't really be comparing but she seemed to have no problem with the run while I was struggling.  I'm glad she was with me though.  We differ in our goals for the marathon.  She wants a good time, I want to train, have fun, and finish.  I care about time but for my first marathon it isn't too important.  I am running it as a gift to myself.  in 2010 I spent about 4 months in various hospitals for seizures, surgery to remove my pituitary tumor, and other health issues.  It was a scary and painful year for me, my friends, and family.  Now that I am healthy and have the ok to exercise, I want to run this around the one year anniversary for my brain surgery.  I think it will be cool to look back on the day of the marathon and think "this time last year I was recovering from brain surgery".  The type of surgery was hard core for surgery but not hard core for brain surgery so please don't think I am some brave person for surviving.  But for me, it was a huge deal and a life-changing (and traumatizing) experience. 

So today was good.  I am glad I have Nicole to train with.  Tomorrow will be cross training and then rest on Monday.