I Signed Up For What?!?!

One of the blogs I read regularly (Carina’s Running Career) recently posted this paraphrased quote from one of her yoga instructors:  “Try.  Try the posture.  Even if you can't do it all the way, you need to try.  It's not just going to magically happen one day.  You have to work at it.  You get 1% better one day, and 1% better some other day, eventually that's how you make progress.  Standing it out, watching it, not trying is not going to get you any closer.  Just try it.  Don't think about it, just try.”  Basically, just because you can’t do something perfect your first time doing it, doesn’t mean it isn’t worth practicing and practicing until you CAN do it as close to perfect for you as is possible.  Things worth having aren’t free.  Things worth doing aren’t easy.  Great advice and wisdom right there.  Just because it’s hard now doesn’t mean it will still be hard a month or 3 from now.  I need to apply that to running lately.  I’ve been wholly unmotivated to run due to the heat and humidity in central Texas right now.  That’s just a crutch and a super lame excuse.  And I need to stop using it and just get out there and try.  Why?  Because I love to run and I’m depriving myself of a great joy in my life.

 

I recently did something completely crazy.  If you follow me on Facebook, then you already know what that something is.  For those of you that don’t follow me on Facebook, I registered for a MARATHON.  Yep, 26.2 miles.  A full marathon.  The full mary.  I have never run more than 15 miles at one go, and never more than 17 in one day (2 runs: one 9 miler and one 8 miler).  Needless to say, I’m very excited but I’m also quite scared.  I wish they hadn’t capped registration at July 31^st.  I wish there had been more time for me to “get comfortable” with the idea of me actually tackling this feat.  But there wasn’t.  I had to throw all my chips in.  I’m scared because, right now, I haven’t ran since July 13^th.  I haven’t done any sort of exercise since July 13^th.  Nothing.  Well, I did an hour and a half hike with a friend this past Saturday.  But that’s it. 

 

 

Everyone says “if you can run a half marathon, you can run a full marathon.”  I’m sure that’s 100% accurate, but that doesn’t lessen my apprehension over this.  Now, when I’m doing my long training runs and I’m getting up to around 20 miles, at that point I will relax and believe I can do it.  Also, don’t take that adage to mean that just because I can rock a half marathon that a full marathon will be a breeze for me.  Nope.  Not gonna happen.  While I’m almost completely convinced that I will enjoy the experience, it will not be easy…I WILL have to work to finish it.  And I’m perfectly okay with that.

 

So, while I registered for the marathon with my end of July paycheck, I had also wanted to register for 2 races I want to do in September with that same check, but I’m going to have to wait until my mid-August check for those 2. 

 

Also with my end of July check, I went yesterday and bought a 5 cubic foot chest freezer!  YAY!  It’s being delivered on Sunday.  If I have the money with my mid-August check, I will be buying a vacuum sealer that will help my prepped and portioned food stay good for longer.  Tomorrow, I need to clean up the clutter that’s in my dining room where I’ll be putting the freezer.  I’m going to take most of it to my storage unit and put the other things, like my sewing machine, in my closet.  So, tomorrow, a bunch of cleaning.  I’d like to also get around to unpacking my suitcases from my trip to Oregon in June! 

 

I have a confession to make.  I cheated on my diet.  Shame, shame, shame.  I feel it, let me tell you.  The heavy protein days (Wednesdays and Thursdays) are the hardest for me.  The rest of the time, no cravings.  So, this past Wednesday and Thursday, I ate candy.  Then, on Thursday, when I got home from work, I added a rice cake with almond butter on it and 8 whole grain Ritz crackers with peanut butter on them to the mix.  Ugh.  Good news…as much as I feared a gain on the scale the next morning, I was the exact same weight as Thursday morning.  Whew.  I’m totally okay with that.  BUT!  TTOTM is now over, so hopefully I’ll see a drop on the scale now.  <fingers crossed>

 

Also, Friday night, I got asked to stay over for the night shift and I wasn’t able to go home and get my planned food, so I had to break the diet...that showed up as a 1 lb gain on the scale this morning...but I'm pretty sure that's some water weight and not actual weight gain.  So, not worried about it right now.