Gallop for the Gravy

Oh yes. I now have a race goal for my Couch to 5K. I will be running the Gallop for the Gravy 5k on Thanksgiving morning. More room for turkey! My first "Turkey Trot"...heck my first 5K. And I am doing it the right way!



There it is. Official registration. Can't back off my challenge now. Eek!

Today is Day 3 of week 1. Same thing as the first 3 days...5 min warm-up and cool-down and 8 sections of 60 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking. I don't expect to be as fast as I was on Thursday. My mind is not mentally here and my body is exhausted, but I will push through and finish, and that's what counts.

I am going hiking in half an hour with Angie, probably a nice 3 mile loop around Umstead Park, get some blood flowing. Then a nice little trip to Whole Foods to stock up on fresh fruits and veggies. I grilled a whole lotta chicken at my sister's house yesterday so grilled chicken salads will be my go to lunch for the week. Maybe some grilled tilapia too...I got 2 lbs worth on sale last week at Whole Foods. As usual, I will update later after my run. Hope everyone has a good Sunday!

UPDATE: The hike was great this morning. We did a nice 3 miles, at a pretty good pace. A lot of roots so we had to engage the core and whole body so we wouldn't fall. Then we has a delicious breakfast at Whole Foods and I picked up some yummy fruit for my fruit smoothies for breakfast.
When I got back, I was able to motivate myself to go for my run. It was pretty warm, about 70, with the sun shining. This is very different to what I've been doing...which is running late afternoon when the sun has pretty much set. I though between the mental and physical exhaustion plus the heat would really throw me off any type of improvement.Well...

2.08 miles, pace of 14:23/min. Yup, I keep improving!! And I feel great. It's the pick-me-up I needed.
Now it's off to nap for a little bit, get a lot of schoolwork done, and then go watch some football with some girls from my program. Go Dolphins!

C25K W1D2

Week 1 Day 2. DONE! And I improved my distance and time!! According to the tracker on the Active.com C25K app, I ran 2 miles, at 14:59/mile. Wow. Considering I was at 15:30/mile on Tuesday, I'd say I"m doing okay! I kept giving myself a pep talk on the run.

I can do it! I am good enough! I am more than good enough! I can finish! And boy, did I. I ran when I needed to and for one of the jog segments I picked up the pace and I still felt good. The feeling after working out successfully...very few feelings better than that.
Running really is a good escape and lets me just think things through. I had a slight freak out today at school realizing I have a lot on my plate. But I can make it through, right?

Off to make myself a nice grilled chicken dinner (yay Foreman) and pick up some salad. Oh yea, after I shower :)

Another day

Today was a rough day. Not work wise or anything, just emotional. Yesterday was such a good day, I was happy, got a lot I was constantly on the verge of tears. It's a crappy feeling and know I shouldn't feel this way, but it's hard. I met with someone at UNC and will be meeting with a therapist soon. So yay! I am a big proponent of going to see someone if you need to. Time to take my own advice :)

I am going to dinner with a friend tonight at Moe's and instead of getting my usual burrito, I will be getting a salad. I love Moe's and I love their Homewrecker but too many carbs, so I'm going healthier. I am also trying to motivate myself to do some form of exercise. Maybe I'll do a workout from Nike Training Club (highly recommend!) or one from Workout trainer by skimble (both on iPhone).  Gotta keep active! And I am going to transition myself back to a meal plan one of my friend's gave me. It's a lot of fruit, veggies and protein, limited carbs. It did wonders and I felt great so makes sense to start it again, right?

UPDATE: Got the salad at Moe's. Worked out...15 minutes of core exercises that kicked by abs and 15 minutes of deep stretching. Definitely will help for tomorrow's run!

1st Day of C25K

So life has been slightly rough the last few weeks. There's been a lot of crying and emotional eating...pretty much all types of bad. I feel like I'm in a Friends episode...my "boy" and I are on a break right now, which is what has led to the frustrations and crying and all that fun stuff. We decided we would work on ourselves before we would move on and make our relationship stronger. Sounds so easy, but let me tell you, no no no, extremely difficult, especially when you live together. So he moved out and I'm here with my menagerie and a 2 bedroom apartment. I am working on cleaning it and rearranging it to make it more "me" and getting rid of all this crap I don't need. Seriously, how do I have so much stuff? But what's been even more difficult is I don't have anyone to talk to when I get home now.

My friends have been great and extremely supportive, but they can only do so much...I guess they have their own lives :) It's weird coming home and knowing there isn't another human being there to talk to about my day, plans for the week and all that jazz. Maybe that's why I am writing on the blog, so I can feel like I'm talking to someone. This is very much free thought, I realize, and I kind of like it like that. My dog, sweet as he is, hasn't learned to talk back yet, and my cat, well she just gives me attitude. I'm in the dumps and feeling sorry for myself sometimes so I've decided to start running again. It's hard to believe I ran my first half-marathon almost 2 years ago (Oct 31, 2010) and I'm starting from scratch now.

I am currently loading up my iPhone with songs to run...I will admit, a lot of them are break up songs. Any recommendations on good running songs are always welcome. I'll update this later tonight after my run. Oh, as some of you know, my hands swell when I run so I bought these gloves that supposedly keep your hands cool and help compress some. Hopefully they work. It's always awkward not being able to make a fist after I run.

 UPDATE: I did it! Week 1 Day 1, 5 min warm-up, 8 sets of 60 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking, 5 min cool down. 1.93 miles, 15:30/mile. Far cry from my 14:12 miles during my PR (ha!) of 3 hours, 6 minutes at Birmingham.

Silly me, even though I mentioned the gloved, I forgot them. BUT, my hands didn't swell as much! So yay for that. I know I don't have many people following me, but those that are...help me stay motivated. I should be doing runs 3 times a week. If you don't see another run posted by Friday, bring it up. Having a support system is key! And my friends are some of the best, if not the best, around :) Aren't you jealous? Haha.