Front Royal Scenery

Today I went to Front Royal to visit my parents. 6 miles was on the calendar but Lilly and Gremmy got  too excited about going to visit Grandma and Grandpa that we hopped in the car early instead! The weather was so mild that I decided to throw on my shoes and check out their local running trail/dog park right in the middle of the afternoon! It is an awesome 1 mile stretch that was busy with runners, walkers, bikers and some of my favorite kind of people, dog lovers! The path runs right along the river (well after the huge hill down) and the scenery is beautiful. I just wish it was longer! I am not a fan of running back and forth. I did get some extra mileage in by running around the school where I had parked my car. 

Getting Back

 

(Photo by I <3 to Run.)

So after not running for a week (plus) and being completely exhausted from an amazing vacation getting back into my training schedule was hard. Monday I was so tired I could barely move. I spent the day unpacking, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and getting back into reality! On Tuesday I couldn't drag myself out of bed. On Wednesday I decided I couldn't put it off any longer but decided to start slow with 3 miles. On Thursday 5 miles was on the calendar and those were the most miserable 5 miles I've ever run. During that hot 5 miles I doubted myself and swore that running was the devil. I am trying to convince myself now that the reward is not so great without the struggle and that these are the moments that will make crossing the finish line all the more meaningful.

100 Miles

Facebook sometimes gets me into situations! I "like" a lot of running pages. They share stories and motivation, offer advice and encouragement, post pictures and quotes and sometimes even challenges! 

Each month I <3 to Run hosts 100 mile challenge. I saw it in June and thought, "THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. 100 miles in one month. No way. No how." 

I saw it again today and decided to commit to it for August and drag a few friends along with me :).

100 miles in August is my goal!!!

Allure of the Seas

Our trip was amazing and I cannot say enough good things about Royal Caribbean or Allure of the Seas. We had an absolute blast EVEN if I didn't make it running once while on vacation.

I was feeling a little guilty but had to remind myself that I have been training hard and do deserve a break! There was always something going on that I didn't want to miss and given I started the trip miserable I thought it was best to take it easy! I kept having intentions of lacing up for a quick 3 miles on the track but there was literally always something going on that R and I wanted to do that I didn't ever find the time to make it to the track or the amazing gym. I keep telling myself there is next year and we did a lot of walking and I sort of exercised by climbing the rock wall and zip lining!

Here are just a few of our views from the ship <3! 

And here are a few of my desserts! We had an amazing wait staff and the ship was BEYOND accommodating! The head chef made a gluten free/dairy free dessert for me nightly and sometimes I ended up with three different options in front of me including delicious Udi's cookies! THIS is what made me feel MOST guilty about not running! 

Cruise

Woot woot! We are in Florida and our ship leaves tomorrow!!! I couldn't be MORE excited except… I have a fever of 102 and a sinus and ear infection. I feel like I was run over by a bus! Our morning was spent at CVS Minute Clinic and the rest of the day sleeping in the hotel room. So much for relaxing and enjoying Florida! Anyways, what does this have to do with running?! R has decided that running got me sick and I will therefore be taking a break during vacation! We will see how this goes… I was really looking forward to running on the Allure of the Seas running track on Deck 5 and in the amazing fitness center. For now I have been put on running restriction and given how I feel right now I am OK with that!

14.01

Today I set out to run 9 miles because the cruise is coming up and I am nervous about being able to stick to the schedule. I haven't ran 9 miles yet and I anticipated it being brutal but once again I amazed myself. At about mile 4 I get into a rhythm and somewhere after mile 5 I forget that I hate running and it feels like I could run forever! Mile 6, mile 7, mile 8, and mile 9 came back to back and I was feeling so good I decided to keep going. I stopped quick at mile 10 to text R and let him know I was safe and still going. MMR does NOT like if you try to do anything other than RUN during a workout so the first leg of my run was 10.26. I decided that I wanted to finish 13.1 and created a route that made Starbucks my finish line which was an additional 3 plus miles. I might have bribed myself with the Starbucks and it sure did make for good motivation. Thanks to the Starbucks app I was able to enjoy a refreshing Blackberry Mojito Tea Lemonade. I felt amazing after that and so proud! I just kicked 13.1's butt and a few months ago the idea of running 3 miles was crazy!

August Race

August is the ONLY month that I cannot find a race for! I am assuming that there aren't many races scheduled around here because of the NOVA heat. In my quest to find a local race I stumbled upon virtual races. You sign up online for your race/distance and then run it on your own wherever you want. Some are scheduled and others are flexible and you can do it anytime you wish. Some you receive bibs and others you just get flashy bling! I am still in search of the perfect race that has a bib and bling.

July- Firecracker and Freedom 5k OBX

I finished my 7th race of the year in OBX (my favorite place in the whole world). OBX means the world to me, if you don't know my whole story Roger and I visit OBX often and that is where he proposed and where we got married 2 years ago!

 I knew July would be a tough month to squeeze in a race because of our beach trips and our cruise, vacations have their way of cutting into things so I decided to look into OBX races! I was beyond thrilled to discover OBX Run Cations. They have 2 races a week during the summer and a Firecracker and Freedom 5k on July 4th! Hurricane Arthur tried to ruin our OBX trip and my July race but at the last minute decided to cause minimal damage and postpone the race 12 hours! I ran the race at my fastest 5k pace yet and finished 58/258 and 4/12 in my age division in 26:20! 

AND I got this jazzy blog badge too!

I AM a Runner!

6 months ago I would not have considered myself a runner! I was a "wannabe runner" or a "race addict"! Today I am a badass runner (she says humbly). I just ran 9 miles and I feel amazing! I actually could've KEPT running but decided not to push it since another long run is only a few days away before our cruise! I used to hate running to the end of the block! I am blown away at how far I have come and cannot wait to hit my next mile benchmark! 6 months ago running 3.1 seemed like a stupid idea and 6.2 seemed impossible! NOW 13.1 seems completely doable and I am right on track for the half marathon in September.