Nailed it

I had an awesome run outdoors today!

Since the last time I posted, I have given up on waking up before work to go running. I'm usually out the door of my apartment at 6:20AM at the latest to go to work. Since, I'm probably not going to wake up at 4AM any time soon, running before work is probably not going to happen again. EVER!

I feel like this every morning when my alarm goes off. 

Usually thinking about running after work makes me want to kill myself, thanks to the weather. But today, I just went out and did it. Yes it was annoying to have to drive to a place where I can run, especially since traffic around LSU is crazy. But the aftermath was definitely worth it.

I definitely did not negative split. In fact, I gradually get slower. After 3 miles, I was ready to call it in, but I was not close to the car and I really wanted to get as close to 6 miles as possible. 

This is the longest run that's ever happend in Louisiana sadly. But on the bright side, this run made me realize that I could be a runner again with the right motivation.

I really wanted to run 6 miles, but I kept on getting slower and every step felt torturous. With the excuse that if I get too bad of blisters and chafing, I won't be able to run next time, I just called it quits. 

I still had to walk back to the car because I planned my route ambitiously, but it was nice to be able to walk. I also awkwardly attempted to take my own picture, but then my sweaty hands kept on messing it  up.  

This is pretty much the only place that I drive to in order to run. 

 I briefly considered doing some sit ups when I got back to the parking area, but then I had no more f*cks left to give. All I wanted to do was to take a nap, so I drove home.

Exactly what I felt like after finishing the run. 

Hopefully, I'll remember this run and be motivated to run more. During last year, races were enough to keep me motivated for most of the year, but now I don't think it's working anymore, maybe because I haven't put down any real money for races yet.

How do you force yourself to get out the door? I feel like the hardest part of the run is always the beginning. 

Also, a little Louisiana humor for your amusement. What do you call a bayou that's lonely? 

A bayou self!! You're welcome for the laugh. 

If I was an Olympian

Sometimes it frustrates me that I have little to no willpower. Something always comes up and I always end up using it as an excuse to not stick it through. I was on a great exercise kick for a while. If I didn't feel like actually working out, I would at least go for a zumba class and trick myself into thinking that dancing would be a fun way to spend an hour.

But after Monday's hip hop class, I just stopped getting up for a run or a gym class. Even yesterday, when I was starting my new running training plan, I let sleep and dinner plans get in the way of getting in my 3 miles.

This morning, as I was snoozing, I thought if I was an Olympian, where would I be? At the lake getting a run in, duh. So despite the late night (midnight is a crazy late night for me now), I jumped out of bed, who am I kidding, it was more of a roll, packed up my gym bag and went for a run at the lake.

On a random note, I also completely forgot to pack a bra in my gym bag, so I'm going to have to sit in my sports bra all day at work.

The view at the start of the run. 

I covered the 3 miles at a 9:50/mile pace, which was a struggle. I would like to blame the heat and humidity. And I guess the no running for a while could have had something to do with it. 

Much brighter by the end of the 3 miles. 

So begins my training for a possible half in October and/or possible half or full in December. Not the best the start, since I did miss the first day, but thanks to the Olympics I got the miles in. 

I did think if I were an Olympic gymnast (Gabby), where would I be? That made me think about stretching, but clearly seeing as I'm not an Olympic gymnast, I skimped on that part. Don't worry I'll maybe stretch later. Maybe . . . if I am watching TV. 

Apparently this is the hardest vault ever in gymnastics. I bet she stretches a lot. 

You guys try it! Think, if you were an Olympian, where would you be? I might go out to lunch with my coworkers and eat like Michael Phelps, but that's just me. 

Running is awesome!

I always knew that running was awesome (Okay, to be honest the only reason that I kept at running was because I can't swim and I hate cycling). But once I got started with the whole running consistently few times a week, I grew to love it. 

Unfortunately, despite the fact that I'm in "marathon training," (in quotes because what I'm doing now isn't really marathon training, it won't even amount to 5K training), there has been very little running going on for the past month. Some of it my fault, and some of it not. Err, I guess if you count injuries as not my fault. But let's not play the blame game here especially since I'm pretty sure I'd lose. 

Even though, when I run, I'm all, "I'm going to run ultra marathons and be awesome at life because running's awesome," once I stop, it takes about two days for me to forget the awesome endorphin high, no rehab necessary. 

How could I have ever thought that running could be more fun than a nap?

Recently, I had forgotten entirely why I even started running in the first place, and definitely couldn't understand why I thought running 26.2 miles consecutively was a good idea. It was nice to sit around, eat Easter chocolates, and take naps to prepare for late nights of school work. 

I don't think I would have laced up my Asics at all for the rest of the semester except for the Seneca 7 relay. (Don't worry Jamie, I didn't forget!) Until I realized that during this past week, almost every night, I'd get stressed and crazy. The venti coffees at 9PM clearly couldn't be the cause. 

That's me. That's what I look like, except less cuter and fuzzier. 

Normally, my crazy is maintainable although if you ask my bf, Stefan, he'd disagree. But this was like off the walls freaking out. After many hysterical nights, I thought maybe this not running thing's contributing to this excess freak out energy.

So today, I stepped out for some easy two miler to easy back into things and to test out my hip. AND IT FELT AWESOME! Once I got over the restricting myself to run for only two miles thing, it was great! I felt normal again. And that was enough endorphin and energy usage to prevent myself from crossing over to the stressed and unproductive. 

Today's lesson: A run a day keeps the therapist away. 

Or this works too. I guess. But a run is so much better. 

Do your runs affect your moods/outlook on life? 

Things I would like to accomplish

Writing yesterday's post made me realize how close graduation and my marathon are approaching. Before they get here in two months ish, I'd like to get a few things accomplished.

• Leave the freshman 15 in college -  I have definitely gained the freshman 15 and have held on to it for dear life. Yeah, it definitely has to go. Not to mention, getting leaner will help me with my running. 

• Start dressing for success - I'm usually a throw on any clean shirt and some jeans kind of a girl despite the fact that I like fashion (my google reader has at least 10 fashion blogs). I just can never be bold enough to wear daring things. Umm, daring for me is anything other than jeans and a shirt. I actually started on that today by purchasing a sailor inspired dress. Horizontal stripes may not be the most flattering thing on me, but I liked the bright orange color. 

• Run more - I like to run, but it doesn't always make my priority list. However, with the first bullet and the whole marathon in two months thing, I kind of need to get on this. Unfortunately, my butt muscle (I'm sure there's a better word for it) has been super tight. I first thought it was my IT band, but now I'm starting to think that it's just the butt muscle. When I bend down to touch my toes, my butt area feels very tight. 

That's what I want to do in the next two months in a nutshell. 

On a non goal making front, today was a perfect day to relax at the beach. 

I could have tried to be sexy like the girls sunbathing just outside of the frame of the picture, but running clothes were way more comfortable. 

My plans of lounging at the beach was ruined when the bf found a way to take perfect jump shots with the ipod touch. We then spent an hour jumping and taking photos of ourselves. I seriously have about 50 jumping shots. 

Oh, and I have finally crossed over to the dark side of running with music. I bought myself an arm band, tuned into my "booty" playlist (exactly what it sounds like, a playlist full of booty songs), and ran slow 4 miles by the ocean.

It was easy to speed ahead listening to songs like "Salt Shaker" AKA one of the best songs ever!  

The original plan was to go for 8, but my butt muscle was so sore that going faster or for more miles wasn't a good idea for me. I kept the pace just under 10:00/mile and that was uncomfortable in the booty area. I don't think it's anything serious. I just need to be vigilant about stretching and listen to more "Breath, Stretch, and Shake"from the playlist. 

Sadly, I'll be spending the whole day at the airport tomorrow on my way back to upstate New York. My plan is to try to stretch as much as possible to get this tightness out. And make more playlists for running. Of course with "Saltshaker." 

Good night! I'm off to stretch some more. And here's a fun pic with odd quotation marks. 

I'm not sure what they mean by "lessons." They also have a sign on the other side of the store that says surfboard skate board "rentals." Is this a secrete code for crack? Anyways, this store always makes me laugh. 

Exciting Morning

For my dog, that is. He had a little morning visitor.

Look how cute it is. I was tempted to try and domesticate it. 

Thanks to this little guy, my dog went into a barking frenzy that started at 5AM and lasted for a good part of morning. So an easy shake out run did not happen. 

Dante, my dog, actually barked right on top of the opossum with his spit dripping on the little guy. But he didn't attempt to bite it or any other thing that normal German Shepherds might do. He just got super excited and wanted to play. 

Please play with me? 

As a result, instead of going for a run, I took Dante out on a long walk in an attempt to let the opossum get over his fear and escape. 

Fun Fact: LA county animal control does not remove wild animals. I've always thought that was what animal control was for. I guess now I know. 

But tomorrow, I will definitely get in some more of the "junk miles." Although, I do think that they are helping me love running. And I will have company. 

Remember when I said that I've been learning tennis from my parents' friend. And how the lesson went on for over two hours? If not, here you go.  Well, tomorrow he wanted to run at least four miles with me. Revenge time! J.K. I will hopefully start him on a road to a marathon. He has the desire, but has a hard time running more than two miles due to boredom. So I'm supposed to force him to run four. 

I love running with people along the beach. It feels very relaxed. And there are no hills. 

Hopefully, I can run faster than he can. Otherwise, it will be embarrassing. Since he's considerably older (my parents' age) and hasn't ran in a long time. That's what sucks about being known as a person who runs a lot. Everyone expects me to be fast. 

Hope everyone's New Year is starting off nicely with a good run. And I forgot to mention this last time, but I plan on running 1000+ miles this year. Who's with me?