TotR: Goal Updates

Oh yes, hi little blog, I am still alive!  It's been quite a time this year.  Lots has happened.  I'll share more about this in another post.  I promise I'll try to blog more frequently! Someone should text me daily reminders that I have a blog ;)

April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Patty from My No Guilt Life, and Erika from MCM Mama Runs host Tuesdays on the Run.  This week's topic is Goal Check In's from "New Year's Resolutions" made in January.  Since we're halfway through the year this is a great time to do so.  Except...I realized I'd never posted a list of goals in January.

Therefore, I'm going to made Mid-Year's Resolutions instead of New Year's.

1. Lose weight.  Yes, this is always a big one.  Yes, I've been losing weight.  But I've also been putting it back on.  So I guess this goal is really lose weight and keep it off.  I'm not sure exactly where I am now.  Probably somewhere between 155 and 160.  I'd like to be around 140 by the end of the year.

2. Exercise regularly.  Ideally, I'd like to work out 6 days a week in various forms, but that's probably not likely.  So for now, we'll say an average of running, yoga, and weight training at least once a week.  Hopefully with a goal lower than what I actually want, I can attain it.

3. Look into getting certified. I really want to become certified as a personal trainer and/or nutritionist.  I never looked into this before due to my ex telling me no one would want an overweight trainer or nutritionist...Now I want to actually look into it, get info on programs, and start saving money to do it.

4. Get a new PR running. I'd be happy with any PR, but preferably something in a 5k or longer.  

5. Read at least three books that aren't related to school.  I generally let school consume me, and only read related to that.  When I'm not in school, I'm generally just on the internet.  I need to start being productive and using my free time more wisely.

Any tips on achieving these goals?  Do you ever make mid-year goals?

Lauren

Publix Savannah Women's Half Marathon - 3/28/15

On Saturday, March 28th, my sister and I ran the inaugural Savannah Women's Half Marathon, sponsored by Publix.  Before I talk to you about running, I have to explain how important that sentence is.  I apologize for the sappy offshoot, but for me it's worth it!

I was adopted at birth, because my parents wanted to have a baby together but couldn't.  Cori is my biological (half) sister.  When I was 18, she found me on Facebook, and told me she wanted to be a part of my life.  I was overwhelmed at first, to say the least, but eventually did start talking to her.  Four years later, I'm so so so happy that I did.  Of course I love my non-biological siblings just as much, and nothing has changed there.  But, it's a lot different to have someone close to my age, and it was like having an instant best friend.  I met her in person for the first time when Ray and I vacationed in New England in Spring of 2013.  The second time was when she came down here for a long weekend, and a race!

Cori got in late Wednesday night.  Thursday was a pretty chill day.  Friday we had lunch with my parents, which I thought would be awkward, but ended up being really great!  Then we picked up our packets (which included a pasta strainer? thanks Publix!).  And then we got to be tourists and took a trolley ride! It started pouring rain about halfway through, but at least Cori got the true Georgia experience.  

Saturday we were up bright and early to head downtown for the race.  We were lucky to have Ray as our personal photographer and chauffeur (just don't tell him I called him that).  We were also lucky to get a parking spot right on the edge of Forsyth!  I was a little chilly at the start, hence the mylar blanket, but Cori is a Maine native as was totally fine.  I think it was around 50 at race start, and warmed up to about 65 at the maximum that day.  It was an absolutely perfect running day! Slightly overcast too.

The race started and ended in Forsyth Park. We made our way through a lot of downtown Savannah, a good chunk of which I'd never been through before.  Our midpoint of the race took us around Daffin.  We wound around a lot of squares, too.  It was a pretty course!

The water stops had really enthusiastic volunteers.  I feel like maybe there could have been one or two more, but I was pretty happy with them overall.  There weren't a lot of spectators out aside from the water stops, but my sister and I still had years of catching up, so we kept ourselves pretty entertained.  The spectators did pick up towards the end, when we were hurting, so that was good and helpful.

This was Cori's first half, so I was excited for her to be able to cross the finish line for the first time!  We were planning to do my normal 1:1 run:walk, but then ended up walking after mile 1.  Cori has some crowd anxiety issues, and they started acting up at the crowded start line.  It didn't help that we saw a lady fall within the first mile. She seemed to be fine, but it shook Cori up a bit, which I understood completely.  The 5k split off at around 2.5 miles so it did thin out a bit, but she had lingering anxieties.  So we kept walking.  

Let me tell you a thing - anyone who says people that walk races aren't true racers are so wrong.  Walking is hard!  And I knew it used different muscles from running, but I didn't realize just how severe the difference was.  I was hurting in muscles I didn't know existed.  I guess with run/walking I keep both sets of muscles happier.  But wow was I getting sore!

The only issue I really had with this race is there were a lot of out and backs.  Daffin Park was a big one - we went through that park at least 5 different times.  It's a pretty park, but not a big one, and it got boring.  And there was a lot of "go down this street for less than a mile then come back" which I didn't appreciate.  It was just mentally draining, and since we were both physically drained at that point, it just stopped being fun.  We soldiered through though, and finally crossed the finish line! Sadly there were no mimosas, but we got a banana and we were on our way.

After a shower and a change of clothes (which only happened after we contemplated living in the car so we didn't have to walk up the stairs), we headed out to Tybee for lunch.  We had wayyyyyy too much delicious seafood, but happy tastebuds!  Then that night we were off to get our matching tattoos.  These were last minute but so much fun! I also wouldn't recommend running a half and getting a tattoo in the same day.  And then working for 5 hours the next day...not the best recovery plan but oh well!

Cori and I didn't have much time left together, but we made the most of it while relaxing!

In just two months we'll get to run our next half together, and have more adventures!

Friday Five: Good Things

Mar, Courtney, and Cynthia host Friday Five, and this week is Five Good Things to celebrate Good Friday.  I'm not much of a religious type, and I think I'm going with a little bit of a different interpretation.

Here are Five Good Things that I'll be focusing on doing this month!

1. Yoga at least twice a week - this will help manage my stress levels and help with my fitness.  May 1 is the last day of classes, so this entire month is really turning into crunch time.  As in I should be working on homework but instead I'm writing this blog post crunch time ;)

2.  Running at least twice a week - I have lots of good races coming up that I want to be stronger and faster for.  Unfortunately for me, this involves actually running!  I want to reconnect with it before it's obnoxiously hot down here and I have no motivation at all.

3.  Weight train at least once a week - I really want to get back into this.  I've been neglecting the gym, which hurts both my wallet and my heart! Eventually this will be back to more than once a week, but there's a lot of other things going on this month, and I want to give myself an attainable goal.

4.  Watch my micronutrients as well as my macros - I was doing pretty well on a low carb/high fat eating plan, but was sometimes left feeling light headed or dizzy.  From what I've read, this is often attributed to a lack of magnesium, potassium, or sodium (or a combination).  As I transition back to LCHF, I want to make sure I focus on these.

5.  Work on homework every day - I always procrastinate and do everything last minute.  I can't exactly do that with a 10 lesson unit plan that's due.  I have a schedule of what to work on each day, but I'm actually already behind on it!  I need to be able to break this into small chunks, for completion and my sanity.

These are the Five Good Things I'll be focusing on in April.

Do you like to set monthly goals, or yearly?

Lauren

TotR: A Year in Pictures

April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Patty from My No Guilt Life, and Erika from MCM Mama Runs host Tuesdays on the Run.

This week is about a year in pictures.  Today I'm doing my running year, but I'm thinking about doing some non-running pictures in a different post!

10k PR

Disney Princess Weekend 10k

Shamrock Run - racing anniversary!

Beaufort Twilight Run - best picture

Run the Bluegrass - first half!

Red Shoes Run - with out of state family

Nike Women's Half DC

Big Nasty Mud Run

Sunbury 5k - 2nd place age in age group

Disney Wine and Dine Half

First Turkey Trot

Space Coast Half - Ray's first!

Bridge Run 15k - 5k and mile PRs!

What was your favorite race this year?

Lauren

TotR: Gift Guide for Runners

April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Patty from My No Guilt Life, and Erika from MCM Mama Runs host Tuesdays on the Run.  This week we're talking about holiday gifts for runners!

In non-running related news, I've done almost all of my holiday shopping this year, so that's very exciting!

In running related news, here are the top items on my wishlist!

1. Garmin 220

I currently have my Garmin 10.  However, I'm trying to get more in tune with calories in vs. calories out, so I wear my Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor as well.  I feel juuuuusssttt a little dorky wearing both those watches at once.  Plus, it's a lot of things to start just before a run, because I use Nike+ on my phone as well (I like the social aspect of it!).  I got my boyfriend this watch for his birthday, and I like it overall better than my 10.  This is first on my wishlist!

2. Gone For a Run Bibfolio

Currently, all of my bibs are in a shoebox on a shelf.  And scattered in my car.  And scattered in my apartment.  There's probably one in my purse too.  Who knows?  Anyway, Gone For a Run has super cute bib folios, and I think it's a great way to keep them!

3. I Love to Run Visual Training Log

I don't usually keep a training log, except for the smiley faces that dailymile and Nike+ let me choose.  I believe Garmin usually keeps the weather information, and of course pace/distance/time.  But this log looks like it lets you put a lot more detail into it, and I think it would be really good for me to have!

These are my 3 major running items.  I'm hoping to get some smaller stocking stuffer type items as well, such as Honey Stinger chews, great running socks, and maybe a hat or two!

What's on your running list?

Lauren

Wine and Dine Weekend

This past weekend, my boyfriend (Ray), roommate (Austin), and I headed down to Orlando for the Wine and Dine weekend!

Here's a recap of before and after the race, and I'll get to the race next!

We arrived Friday night and checked in.  We were staying at Port Orleans Riverside, and it was GORGEOUS! I'm absolutely in love with this resort, and hopefully we can stay here again sometime.  It was a little pricier than the value resorts we normally stay in, but I loved every second of being there.  It was a great atmosphere, and all the Disney details were perfect!

This is actually Saturday morning, shhhhh

After getting settled into the room, we headed off to the Polynesian.  We have a #runnerslove meet-up, where I got to see Meg, Lauren, and Kristy again (so exciting!) and a few other bloggers I hadn't met before.  I so wish I got to spend more time with all of these lovely ladies, but there was so much to do!



After that, we headed up to Kona Cafe for dinner.  Here you can see my #runnerslove headband, and my lovely pineapple.  It's the Lapu Lapu, and I've been wanting to try one since Princess weekend.  They're expensive, but this time I decided I was having it!  We also had lots of great sushi and food.  I was absolutely stuffed by the end of it, but I think it was a good day/night before the race dinner.  Nothing fried or heavy.




Saturday morning we woke up early to get to the expo before it opened.  We went to the food court at POR for breakfast.  I had a ham and cheese croissant, chocolate milk, and got a pain au chocolat for later!  We were able to get in to the expo early, which was super exciting.  There was no line at all to get my bib.  The official Disney merchandise was cleared out of the Field House by that time, it was just bib pick up and a photo opportunity.

We headed over to the Josten center, and truly got into expo mode.  I headed straight for the official merchandise, before too many people got to it!  The maroon jacket I really wanted was only left in XL's, which was kind of sad.  I did end up getting a grey I Did It shirt, a purple hoodie, and a magnet for my car.  Ray was sweet and bought me a purple tech shirt as well.

Austin was able to get a few things for his girlfriend, who was back at home, so that was sweet of him!

I also got 3 SweatyBands, 2 SparkleSkirts (one for my costume that night), one of Jeff Galloway's books (now signed by him), an orange hat for my costume, and probably a couple of other things I can't remember now.  Everything is in various states of being unpacked, so no pictures for now!





After the expo, we dropped everything back off at the hotel, then hopped on the boat to Downtown Disney.  I think this was a really calm and relaxing way to get there, even if it took a little longer!

We went to Raglan Road for lunch.  We got parmesan garlic truffle fries as an appetizer, which is one of my favorite Disney foods.  I had a grilled chicken breast sandwich (I don't remember what else was on it), and ended up bringing half of it back to the room as my pre-race food.

After lunch, we did a little bit of shopping.  I got a couple of presents for friends at home, and a Disney Vera Bradley backpack and matching wallet.  So, I'm no longer using my matching wristlet in my Disney Dooney purse, but my OCD will just have to live with that, since now I get an actual wallet with card slots, etc.

We hopped back on the boat and went to the resort to rest for a bit.  I was going to try to nap, but that didn't end up happening.  I hydrated as much as I could, rested, and tried to stay calm!  That didn't go very well, but I tried my very best.

I ate the other half of my sandwich around 4:30, I think, which ended up working well for me.

Around 6:30 I started getting ready, and was on a bus around 7:15.

The rest of the race will come in another post, but for now we're going to time travel to Sunday morning!

We woke up way earlier than I wanted to, but we had to check out and get back over to the Polynesian.  Side note, the Polynesian has now become the Pomeranian in our apartment, thanks to a forgetful roommate!  I had made reservations at O'hana, because I'd heard so many good things about it!  Let me tell you - nothing disappointed!! I'm absolutely in love with this place, and I got to have Mickey waffles for the first time ever!  Everything was perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious!! And I loved seeing the characters.

We stopped at the Florida mall on the way home so I could stop at Lush, and that sadly ended our wonderful weekend!






Have you been to O'hana? Were you at Wine and Dine?
Lauren

Big Nasty Mud Run Recap

So, I was waiting on this recap because I was hoping my boyfriend would get his GoPro video up and on YouTube before I posted, but he keeps forgetting.

September 20, Ray (boyfriend), Carly (co-worker/friend), Austin (roommate) and I ran the Big Nasty Mud Run just outside of Pooler, GA.  It's 4.7 miles and I believe 33 obstacles.  Ray and I chose to just walk between obstacles, and Carly and Austin would usually run and then wait for us to catch up.

It was long.  It was tiring.  I will say this - Vibrams are the way to go for a mud run!  I did one last year as well wearing sneakers, and they felt like they weighed and extra 20 pounds each.  Plus, my arch didn't hurt at all, despite walking on all completely uneven terrain, which it normally starts to around 6 miles or so in "normal" shoes on the road.

There were some obstacles I couldn't do, because I didn't feel I had the balance and/or strength.  Some I freaked out about but did anyway.  Anything I have to go up and over,  I have a hard time with mentally.  For instance, there were walls about 4 feet high that we had to go up and over.  I lifted myself up, looked to the other side, and freaked out and let myself back down.  With the encouragement of my little crew (and some strangers!) I was finally able to do all of them - about 5 or 6 total I think.  Same thing with the less stable under/overs which were more just random slats of wood.  They terrified me, but I did (most) of them!

A lot of obstacles were in the water - fine by me, I just swam when it got too deep to walk.  That was way easier anyway!  Some places were more a swamp or just a few inches to a foot of water.  Then I worried about alligators and water moccasins.  We never saw anything, but the thought was always in my mind!

I did manage to accomplish a lot more than I thought I would, and I only skipped maybe...2 and a half obstacles total?

Until the fall.

At one point, there was a cargo net that you had to climb up, then roll/climb across another (horizontal) one, then slide down a fireman's pole.  I watched other people.  They made it look easy.  Ray told me not to do it.  I thought I'd be fine, from all the other people making it look easy.  Spoiler alert - I wasn't fine.  I reached out with both arms and grabbed the pole, like they told me to, then put one foot out around it.  The nice volunteer coaching me through it at the top told me to just wrap the other leg around the pole too, then squeeze as tight as I could with my upper thighs.  It didn't work.  I want to say it was maybe 20 feet high? I'm not entirely sure.  All I can tell you is that one second I was standing on the platform, and the next I was on the ground and couldn't move my right leg.

Most of the pain was just shock and wore off fairly quickly.  My right knee just felt bruised after that.  They offered to get an ATV to take me to the finish, but I said I would walk it.  In retrospect, I should have asked how far the finish was, but I decided to walk.  I knew I wasn't injured, just bruised.  So I continued along the course, my knee literally instantly visibly bruised and swollen, and finished just fine.  I didn't do the rest of the obstacles, but there were only a few left, and it was less than a half mile to the end.

We rinsed off, changed, got some food, and got home.  And yes, I walked up to our third floor apartment just fine.  Well, we were sitting and watching the footage, and I noticed my LEFT knee (the good one) was sore.  This had to be around 3 hours after me falling.  I figured it was just because my legs were up on the coffee table, and they sometimes get sore when I do that.  So I bent them on to the couch like I always do to fix it.  It didn't get less sore.  And by the time I went to get up to go the bedroom, I couldn't straighten it.  By the end of the night, I couldn't bend it more than it was or straighten it, or put weight on it.

Of course, I freaked out.  I decided I tore something, I wouldn't be able to run at Wine and Dine or Space Coast, or probably ever again really, and I was going to have to have surgery.  Of course, this was me being completely dramatic.  I started icing it (I had put Biofreeze on before and it did literally nothing to help) which helped some.  Ray and I were supposed to stay in a hotel downtown that Saturday night (a birthday present from my parents), so I was a complete mess because I ruined it.  I was crying because of that, because of pain, because I felt stupid for trying when Ray said not to, etc. It was a pretty bad night.  Sunday and Monday I stayed on crutches as much as possible (especially to keep weight off of it walking around campus) and this seemed to help for the most part.  Tuesday both of my knees were sore in a way nothing has ever been sore on me before, and I'm not quite sure how to explain it.  This lasted through probably the following Monday for it to really go away.  Yes, I did a 5k during that period, and yes, it sucked.

I still have some residual soreness once in a while, especially if my knee goes sideways at all, and my calves are still pretty tight, I guess from compensating.  And for a while, I had a pretty nasty bruise.

Overall though, the Mud Run was a great experience.  I learned that I can accomplish more than I thought, I do need to strength train, and sometimes I really should trust my gut.

These are the few good pictures that were up of us, and my bruise, at least 5-6 days after getting it.  I'll let you know when we finally have the video up!

On my very upper thigh

Have you ever done a mud or obstacle run?
Lauren