Eh. Running.

The past week I have really not been in the mood to run. Or I have been craving a good run, but at an inconvenient time and it is driving me crazy! Usually I just put on my shoes and go, knowing that I will be grateful in 3 minutes. That isn't happening this week. I started work. That is my lame excuse. Running around at work in the 90 degree weather all day sucks the energy right out of me. I am trying to think of a plan or schedule that will work for me this summer so that I can meet my goals and feel better about myself. Right now I think the one plan that will work is running on my days off, which are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully I will be back in the swing of things enough to be able to fit in another short run during the end of the week. Some days I wish I was a morning person and could consistently wake up at 7 am to go running, but no matter what time I go to bed, that is NEVER going to happen. Oh well. I will be happy with my 3 days a week running schedule for now. I knew lulls in my running were going to happen, so this isn't much of a surprise. I just have to get back up to speed this week.

My road trip week with Travis

I am hoping that blogging about my trip last week will be a way that I can live it again. Ha ha pretty sad, I know. It started out with me picking up Travis at the Spokane airport Monday night around 5:30 and then we drove to Pullman. Not even 20 minutes into the drive Travis got pulled over... in his defense, neither of us knew what the speed limit was and we were keeping pace with the old pick up in front of us. But either way, I thought it was hilarious :)

We visited with his friend Yelonda for a while and ended up leaving around 1 am to make the drive to Missoula. At about 6 or 7 am we pulled into the Motel 6 that I made our reservations at. They let us know that they canceled our reservations and sent us back up the road to another hotel. Thankfully we were able to get a few hours of sleep and rest before we headed back on the road for Yellowstone. Travis was awesome and drove all day. We stopped to take pictures at several signs, a patch of snow, and of some "moose" on the side of the road. Sadly, we got to Yellowstone right before dark and wouldn't have made it to Old Faithful by nightfall, so decided to continue on to Rexburg instead.

Travis had a few places he wanted to see in Rexburg, starting with the Wal-Mart, Taco Bell, and the BYU-Idaho campus. We took our pictures with the BYU-I sign and then swung by my old apartment to show off "Tuskanky."

This was the long road trip day, because we drove on down to Logan to visit his friend Kim. We stayed there for a couple days while Travis was sweet and patient and set up her computer. The second night there we all went out mini golfing and that was an adventure with spilling milkshakes and slow walkers. It was fun though :)

The next stop was to see Harmony in Lehi, Ut. She had to go to work so Travis and I had a few hours of time to enjoy together not traveling. It was spent at the MTC, Provo Temple and Provo Canyon. It was quite possibly, my favorite part of the trip.

We played some Mariokart and I was entertained with them playing Guitar Hero later that night.

Friday morning we went down to see Travis' cousin Cory and his son. It was nice and relaxing and I got to play with 15 month old Derek. He is Rock's age, so it was extra fun for me. Not to mention the fact that he preferred me over Travis ;)

We left Salem and headed to Maggie Moo's for ice cream with some of my family. It is my new favorite ice cream place. Grandpa, Grandma, Beckie, Doug and Kelse showed up and we had a good time. Everyone was very impressed with Travis, which didn't surprise me at all.

After ice cream we met up with Rachel and went to Temple Square. I enjoyed walking around the grounds and taking pictures. Then we went to Star Trek and I managed not to cry during the first 5 minutes. A HUGE accomplishment!!

Saturday morning came way too soon and I was not full of sunshine and rainbows as I sat in the passenger's seat to drop him off at the airport. I am very grateful for this past week and the time I had to spend with Travis and get to know him better, but I will be even more thankful when we don't have the airport goodbyes.

Now I'm looking forward to the next trip!! :)

That Yo Dog???

Kellie and I went walking tonight to Banjo Creek Farms and back, which is 3 miles round trip. To preface this, I will say that my community is about 50 latin/50 white, so we don't get a fun variety of accents or languages. As we were walking by the lake we saw an SUV off the road with some kids hanging on it. One of the kids started getting worried as we got closer and was eying Sabri. He yelled out, "That yo dog?!" I told him it was and that she was very sweet. He looked very relieved. On our way back we noticed that they had their canoe, lawn chairs and cooler out in the middle of the road. This might be the country, but they sure aren't the only people trying to use this road! A car came and they refused to move. It was hilarious because they were all yelling at each other and since they were neither white nor latin, we know they do not live within 2 hours of here. We got home and my dad asked us who was outside. The funny part of that question is that the family was about a mile away, but my dad could hear them clearly, and could tell that they weren't from around here. The joys of a small town that gets invaded by tourists that leave their brain at home during the summer.

Most painful day yet

I did not run yesterday. I didn't do any strength training either. Instead, I woke up with intense pain and spent 30 minutes trying to drag myself upstairs to get help. As soon as I made it to the top of the stairs crawling, I was thankful to see Marissa in the kitchen. I had been screaming her name for the past half hour, trying to get her attention. But I was sure what felt like yelling for help, was only a groan barely making it past my lips. After attempting another to get Marissa to see me, she came running over. I think she was afraid to touch me because she ran outside to get my dad. My dad came in, and rolled me on my back so he could make sure it wasn't appendicitis. He called the doctor's office to see who was on call and then asked me if I wanted to change before going in. As if I cared what I looked like! I would have been fine going in naked if that meant I was relieved of the pain. But I did come up with two things I needed; a bra and deodorant. I guess those two things are important to me, even when I am not coherent enough to care about anything else. Rissa went to my room to get them and then my dad asked if I wanted a blessing. I am grateful that he was thinking about that and was able to help me out in that way. It was a great comfort to me. It was about then that I remembered that I didn't have insurance and that the pain I was feeling was probably due to a cyst rupturing. I have had one do that before and there isn't anything that the doctors could do for me besides drugging me up, so I opted to stay home and see what happened after taking some "Tylenol." Thankfully, the pill my dad gave me was a whole lot stronger than Tylenol and also knocked me out for a few hours. The soreness is still there, but it is mostly just an achey feeling now. Two days of pure laziness is what has happened. I guess that is what I needed. I will have to go running 5 miles before I leave to pick up Travis from the airport just so I don't feel so fat and lazy :)

Treadmill Day

Today I was wanting to watch a tv show and since it was windy, I decided to go on the treadmill with weights. It felt incredibly cleansing to sweat that much. Yeah, I know that is disgusting, but it's true :)

I'm learning

My day was kind of shot, so I didn't get my running in today. But one thing I learned from my last jog, was that I can't eat before i run. It makes me nauseous. Is that how you spell it? It looks funny...oh well. I tried eating a small breakfast of yogurt a couple hours before I ran, but it still made my stomach ache to run after eating. I'm still trying to find something that doesn't effect me like that. And I have been remembering to take Jocie's advice and drinking my whey protein shake after I run. I add fresh fruit and a splash of orange juice, and it isn't too bad :P

Working in the Shoes

I am still trying to work in my shoes. It has been a year since I have had to do this, so I forgot how much I hate this process. My feet burn and ache, no matter what shoe I get. I remembered today why I used to go to a podiatrist :) Today I ran and walked around Dry Lake again but it burned! I'm hoping it doesn't take much longer to work them in.

My First Official 5K

After falling asleep around 2 this morning, and then waking up every 30 minutes afraid that I slept in, I woke up for the last time at 7. Got dressed and was leaving when I realized I couldn't find my iPod. Still can't actually. Kellie and I went down to register and I was starting to wonder about what I have signed up for. I was the only person there that had an ounce of extra fat and didn't have those cute running shorts. I missed the message about how any overweight people had to work the water station or route lol. Kellie and I kept joking around about coming in last, but at least we would finish, when a group of about 40 girls came. They had to have been around 8-12 years old. My prayers were answered! I eyed up my competition and realized these girls would probably kick my trash too ha ha. They were part of a group called, "Girls on the Run." I had a couple cousins in the mix, so we joked and talked with them until we started the Jig.

I was planning on running with Kellie, until she wanted to walk after going .2 miles. I asked her if it was okay if I kept going and she agreed. So I kept pace with a few of the little girls until they stopped. Then I was on my own for about a mile until a few ladies caught up to me. That only lasted until I sped up to another couple of little girls. We ran together until the end. I thought the end 1/2 mile would have been the most exhausting part, but with the sides of the road lined with people cheering you on, it was so easy to keep going and even push harder. It felt wonderful to run through the gates and know that I successfully finished my first official race :)

Three lessons learned from this race:

1) Don't wait until the morning of the race to find your iPod and get your playlist on there early!
2) FIND OUT YOUR OFFICIAL TIME!!
3) Take pictures during the race, so you have a better way to document the experience.

Hopefully I can fix my wrongs for the 10K next month :)

Playlist

I can't sleep and am thinking of all the songs I would put on my iPod if I could find the cord to download music to it. Most of the songs I keep thinking of are super corny and very random, but something about each one makes me want to move. :) Here's my playlist for future reference...

1) Metro Station; True to Me
2) Eric Church; Love Your Love the Most
3) Marvin Gaye; Let's Get it On
4) Zack Brown Band; Chicken Fried
5) Ne-Yo; Miss Independent
6) Boys Like Girls; Thunder
7) Nickelback; Gotta Be Somebody
8) Darius Rucker; Alright
9) Zack Brown Band; Whatever It Is
10) Enrique Iglesias; Escape

Oh, how I wish I could find my cord! This would be awesome for tomorrow!! Now I need to try to sleep again...

I have heard that you are supposed to rest the day before a race.... I'm not sure how much of a rest I need before a 3.5 mile race, but I am more than willing to give it a try :) Here is to pre-race day rest!

Definitely not 8 miles

My feet decided that they didn't want to run 8 miles today. Usually I would tell them to shut up and keep moving, but with my Pig Jig on Saturday, I backed off. I broke my running up today. I ran a few miles in Chelan, then came home for a couple hours and ran another 2 miles. I spent about an hour looking up nutrition facts and tips on runnersworld.com trying to help me eat the right foods that will give me energy during my runs, while not overloading me. We will see how it goes.

New Shoes and 8 Miles

I took a break day for my birthday and yesterday I finally bought new shoes! I ran a mile and did some exercises to try to work them in. I hate working in new shoes. It seems like no matter which style or size I get, after wearing them for a little while, my heels get bloody. Everything went well for the one mile run I went on, so I am hoping it stays that way.

Ironically, I was planning on running my 8 miles today. I still want to, but I am not a fan of bloody feet, so I am going to run around Riverwalk to see how it goes. I have my 5K on Saturday and don't want my feet messed up for that but I want my shoes worked in. I love this timing...

Monday

After taking two days off in a row, I needed to get out for a while. I don't want to hurt my knee or hip, so decided to go for an easy 6.5 run/walk. I walked up most of the steep hills (which made up about 2 miles of that route) and ran the rest. My knee didn't start to act up until I hit mile 5, but even then it was just annoying rather than painful. The stretching exercises I have been doing and the new shoe inserts have made it so I don't have any problems with my hip anymore. I can only imagine how much better I will feel when my taxes come back and I can buy new shoes :) And I will be buying more than one pair! Unless my computer keeps insisting on acting up, in which case I will be getting a new laptop and only one pair of shoes. It was such a nice route though. I ran around Dry Lake to Banjo Creek Farms, along Wapato Lake, then looped around Roses Lake and ended up back at my house. It was the first time I have made that run and it was nice to mix things up.

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order. (Mosiah 4:27)

This is my excuse for this lazy week :) Taking care of myself and not pushing too hard combined with diligence, will help me to ultimately "win the prize." Or so I tell myself.

This Week

The after running picture :)

I know and have read several articles about having bad running days, but I never expected to have bad running weeks. All week I have been lethargic and my body has been aching. I have chalked most of it up to the cold that I have and the rest of it up to either sheer laziness or bad running shoes. Trying to help myself out, I bought new shoe inserts and a knee brace. I parked my car, got out and did my warm up lap, then realized that I forgot my brace, so I drove home to run around Dry Lake instead.

My 4 mile run turned into a 4 mile run/walk. Dry Lake is a scenic route and I hardly ever see anyone driving on that road. I was running on the left side of the road, pretty much in the dirt, when a 1/2 ton, red truck came barreling down the road behind me. Usually when people see a runner they try to get over to the opposite side of the road. Not this one. They completely came onto the wrong side of the road and I had to move so they wouldn't hit me. This was the first time in a long time that I had the urge to scream every word not appropriate for a lady to say, that my grandma taught me. Holding myself back since the truck was already 1/4 mile away, I also restrained from using gestures to express my displeasure...

Continuing on with my luck, a bug flew into my eye and it took me 1 1/2 miles to get it out. Then as soon as I did, I got harassed by a drunk group of fishermen at the campground. It was 2 in the afternoon and they were wasted! Right after I passed them I got chased by a black lab that kept jumping on me and nipping me. Not a fun experience when the biter is a dog ha ha. Jogging away, checking over my shoulder to make sure the lab wasn't there anymore, I came up on a pit bull. I would rather have the lab. The pit bull chased me with his owners yelling and running after him. We made an interesting picture I am sure. It was a relief to make it home in one piece :)