What Did I Do This Weekend???

Weekend in Review...

• Friday after work.. I walked a lovely 5.1 miles in the rain. It was a rough day and I just needed some down time. I had originally planned on running the 5 miles, but I've learned that when I'm frustrated, I don't run worth a crap. Interesting, huh?
• Saturday I worked till 4, then hubs and I went to TGI Fridays where I consumed one too many drinks! We went all out and had an appetizer, dinner, dessert and drinks (only me)! Not to worry, I had a buy one entree, get one entree free coupon! :) We then headed over to Best Buy to buy the Wii Resort game and then played that (and Tetris) the rest of the night!
• Sunday we lounged around till 1pm, then I went grocery shopping (where I bought too much frozen food), and then we enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL day by riding our bikes 16.3 miles on the awesome River Trail. I really should take pictures of that trail. It's awesome. We saw lots of boats, furry animals, a dog in a basket on a bike, a lady on a pink bike that kicked my @$$, and a submarine! It was awesome! And, let it be known that I'm now giving biking another try. Originally I hated it, but after a much better experience yesterday, I've decided it's not that bad... So, maybe more biking on the weekends??

Hope everyone is having an awesome Monday (is that possible) and remember, if we can get through this week, we have a 3 day weekend!! Yay!

My Week In Review

So, here it goes! Today is the day where I show you how my runs have been going. Since I was M.I.A off and on last week, I thought I'd post those runs too.

So, here is last week's runs (you'll have to click to enlarge):

Saturday was my longest run at 5 miles. I did pretty decent trying to keep my splits consistent. I still have some work to do, but I was pretty happy with it. It did warm up some Saturday morning and that sun was brutal! But, we made it through!



And now on to this week. I was suppose to do 3.5 miles last night, but I wimped out due to a 2 hour nap. So, I'm hoping to make that up tonight. We shall see!

Also, tomorrow I'm suppose to do 5 miles again, but I'll be at work! So, I'm hoping to make that run up on Sunday morning. Maybe I can talk hubs into riding his bike in circles around me!! On a different note... guess who took her first math practice test yesterday....ME! And, according to the scoring sheet, I'm in the top third of the testing group! Yes! Now, on to the harder math practice tests...then verbal...yay. That seriously made my day yesterday. I can't tell you how much math scares the beejebus out of me! I've always hated it! I still have a long ways to go though! :)

Prayers Needed

My grandmother's prognosis isn't all that great. Please say a prayer for her and our family. It's going to be a very long and tough battle. Things are not going as well as they have in the past and we've encountered a major setback. We still have hope. There is an experimental treatment that her doctor is trying to get her into. Please pray that this happens and that all goes well. Thank you.

M.I.A.

I was M.I.A yesterday, because I'm dead tired. Emotionally, mentally, & physically. Let's have a little recap.

• Studying every spare chance I get for the GMAT test. Anyone remember how to find the area of a triangle that's inside a circle, when given no values for that triangle?? Yeah... tell me about it.....
• Running in the evenings.
• Cooking dinner every day of the week.
• Doing other stupid household chores.
• Changes at work.
• Redoing/stressing over our budget so that we can save more money and move sometime soon.

Basically my schedule is as follows...

• 4am wake up
• 5am commute to work
• 6am at work
• 11-12 studying for GMAT while eating sandwich
• 3pm start commute home
• 3:45pm - 4pm Veg out in front of tv
• 4pm to 5pm Study for the GMAT
• 5pm begin cooking dinner, while doing kitchen chores
• 6pm eat with husband, if he's home yet, or go run, depending on day
• then eat dinner after run, shower and go to bed. It's 8:30 or 9 by this time.
• If I didn't go run, then I'm either doing laundry or cleaning the kitchen up.. and veg out in front of tv or study for GMAT. Btw, the weekdays I don't run are Wednesday and Friday.

Anyone wondering why I'm tired?? Because I either work, study, or run. The end. LOL
Did I mention that I put the dust pan in the fridge yesterday after sweeping the kitchen? What? You don't store your dust pan in the fridge?!?!
Other note worthy topics... Sister went to her first day of college yesterday (at my alma mater) and stepmother had a birthday yesterday as well.

Yippie!!!

Last night's 3.5 mile run went pretty well! I was concerned that we weren't going to be able to run due to storms and lightning, but it held out just long enough! The temperature was pretty decent too. It was around 80 and the humidity wasn't that bad!!


Now, as promised, here is Monday's run. I quoted the wrong overall pace. It was 12:27 not 12:24. But, who cares! Ha! (You'll have to click on it make it larger.)

Now, for last night's run! Another PR for me - 11:31 pace for a mile! woohoo! Not too shabby for the whole run either. I need to work on consistency...but who doesn't?! :)

Thankfully, tonight is a rest night. I'm dead tired! Not to mention, I have a ton of things to do such as...get my oil changed, tires rotated, and drop off a donation to the Goodwill....Oh and study some more stupid triangles (I'll elaborate sometime later...)...cook dinner... and do a quick load or two of laundry!

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Why Komen Is Close To My Heart

I'm taking a break from the usual running post to tell ya'll about something that is near and dear to my heart. It's called the Susan G Komen Foundation. Alot of ya'll are already familiar with this foundation, but for those of you who are not, here is a little rundown:

• For the past 25 years, the Komen Foundation has played a critical role in every major advancement in the fight against breast cancer - transforming how the world talks about and treats this disease, and helping to turn millions of breast cancer patients into breast cancer survivors.
• Susan G Komen fought breast cancer and spent her time thinking of ways to make life better for other women battling breast cancer. Moved by Susan's compassion for others, her sister promised she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer. Although Susan lost her battle, her legacy lives on through the work of the Foundation.
• The money raised by the Foundation provides free mammograms and helps support costly research.

That's my short version... By the way, all of that information was taken from their Arkansas Affiliate website. Now, on to why it matters so much to me, personally.
I've known several women who have had breast cancer, but it never hit home until my grandmother was diagnosed. Through her, I've seen how breast cancer affects not only those who have been diagnosed, but their families as well. My grandmother has fought and survived breast cancer twice and is now fighting cancer for a third time. Whenever I think of something that might seem challenging or something I'm unsure if I can overcome, I think of her. She's shown me that you can overcome anything if you fight hard enough. She truly has been an inspiration to myself and I'm sure others as well.
I'd like for us to fight hard and to raise enough money for research and free mammograms, so that one day we can put an end to this awful disease. If we all just give a small donation, such as $5, we can raise a huge amount of money. Wouldn't it be an awesome feeling to know that your $5 donation could help find the cure for breast cancer?! So, I'm asking you, instead of spending $5 on lunch today or on a smoldering hot drink, please take that $5 and give it to a worthy cause. I promise it will make your day so much better than that greasy hamburger would!!
If you'd like to donate, please click on the Susan G Komen icon on the sidebar on the right. You wont be sorry you did!

Another 3 Miles Finished!

Well, I was a bit concerned about last night's run. The weather station said the humidity was above 70% and it was 87 degrees out - meaning it felt like 97 degrees (they said). I didn't want a repeat of Tuesday night. So, I was worried.


Worried for no good reason. Hubs and I ventured out there and I can honestly say that was the best weather we've had for a run in a while. Don't get me wrong, the air was still thick and hot, but it wasn't near as bad as it has been. So below you'll see my stats:


Not nearly as bad as Tuesday, but still not up to my usual pace. But, I'm thrilled still. I was dead tired and didn't feel like running, but I made myself do it. Also, something to note, I did 4 & 1 and kept to it, only taking two unscheduled stops. :) Now, let's hope that tomorrow's 4 miler will be better! I'm a much better runner in the mornings than the evenings, but due to my work schedule I can't possibly get up any earlier to go running - I get up at 4am just to go to work!! So, I'm really excited about Saturday's run - even though we're meeting up at 8am and I think that's a tad too late. It's already starting to get hot by that time!

Anywho, tonight is either biking or yoga - I haven't made my mind up yet. Hope everyone has a great Friday and weekend!!

Some Like It Hot

...I do not! :)


Yesterday our Half Marathon training group met up for the first time. There were about 90 people there, which was far more than last year. It was really nice to see that many people out there and see some of my old running buddies from last year! Not to mention, one of the beginning group leaders was my step mom's friend who also lives across the street from my grandmother AND coached my siblings during cross country. So, I know this lady very well and have known her since I was knee high to a grasshopper :) It was awesome, she gives off so much positive energy.


The heat though, was not awesome, and the only energy it gave off was negative. FAIL. It was 97 degrees according to the Beast. Yes. Add the humidity in and it was the recipe for disaster. And disaster it was. I have the splits to prove it.

As you can see, I sucked it up. I did 4 & 1 on the first mile... then after that it just kinda crumbled. Oh well. The heat kicked my @$$. Not the first time and wont be the last.
I've noticed that I tend to get all Negative Nancy when I'm really sucking on a run. While talking to Brandi, I told her I was dying and that I had already seen Hell and was waiting on Heaven. Yeah, I'm not sure that makes sense, but at the time it did. Or at least I thought it did. I've gotta stop that mess, no more negative thoughts. Maybe I'll think of the Power Rangers like Chic Runner does. ha.
Anyways, today is a rest day, thank goodness. I have some much needed housework to tend to!
Happy Wednesday everyone! We're half way to the weekend!

Speed Work

First things first... As promised, here is a picture of our new ride. It's a 2010 Toyota Tundra which we have nicknamed "The Black Beast" (my Tahoe is known as The Beast).

Yesterday was the "official" Half Marathon Training Day 1. It called for just 2 miles (it's the shortest run of the week). So after hubs got home from work, we changed into our running gear and headed out to the running trail. It was a scorching 93 degrees and I have no idea how high the humidity was, but it was definitely out in full force.


While stretching hubs asks when we're gonna do some speed work. I said, well we can turn our Monday's into speed work days since they're just short runs anyways. So he asked if I wanted to start today. "Um, well, we're not at a track." is what I replied, but he didn't seem to care. So, we improvised and made our own speed work plan.


We ran the 2.3 miles, running 1 minute for as fast as we can and walking 2 minutes at a good pace (which later turned into a crawl). I definitely gave it my all! By the way, hubs can run ALOT faster than me. My fastest pace was 7:48. (Remember, I'm not as fast as you speed demons, but thus the reason for the speed work.) Anywho, I really felt myself pushing further and reaching down deep. I was usually able to hold somewhere between an 8 & 9 minute pace, but towards the end, I was holding a 9 - 10 minute pace. Not extremely bad for my first speed work session. Next Monday, we'll definitely be hitting up the track to do it the correct way!

Tonight's run calls for 3 miles. I'll definitely FOR SURE have my splits to report tomorrow. :) Happy Tuesday all!


P.S. Never get to the point of frustration with your hair, that you decide to get it cut at the Wal-Mart Salon. That's a whole other post. But to my defense, my hair lady is hard to get into and I didn't want to wait. ha.