Friend Making Monday

Today wrapped up the month of September…which means today was my last day to log miles for the month of September.  I logged an amazing 148.4 miles in September!  WOW!

 

Last September was the last time I logged so many miles and my total for September 2013 was 148.75 (just .35 more than this month).

Now I want to talk a little bit about last September.  I ran all those miles last year at this time, not because I was training for anything but because I was running away from something.  I was running away from my emotions and my post-traumatic stress (PTS…a “step down” from full blown PTSD).  Why was I having PTS issues?  If you’ll recall (if you’ve been reading my blog that long, that is), a co-worker of my attempted suicide with a gun.  I had no idea how to deal with this.  I contacted my agency’s EAP (employee assistance program) and they set me up with a therapist.  However, that therapist wasn’t accepting any new clients.  So, I have no clue why she was even still on their list of therapists.  Instead of calling EAP back and finding a different therapist, I just opted to deal with it on my own.  I started running…A LOT.  I was running almost every day every week.  After 5 weeks of this, I had completely burnt myself out.  I had met with a trainer at my gym for a free consultation and she had put together a strength training workout and a weekly schedule for me for my running.  After that 5 weeks, I attempted to “switch gears” and start doing the program she made for me…instead, I just stopped.  I completely stopped working out.  I had already signed up for the Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon in San Antonio, TX that happened in November of last year.  I ran a cumulative of about 1.5 hours in the 6 weeks between when I stopped running (and also completely stopped any and all other forms of exercise as well) and when the half took place.  So, yea, I wasn’t even remotely trained for this race…but I wasn’t about to let $120 go to waste, so I went and ran it anyway.  I didn’t walk right for at least 3 days following the race.

Anyway, my point is, last year I racked up about the same amount of miles in the same month but it was for the wrong reason so it wasn’t healthy.  This year, I’m running with a healthy purpose: training for my very first full marathon.  I’m mentally in a much better place than I was at this point last year.  But, I have to be honest, my relationship with food is still in the same place.  I’m trying to change that.  I really am.  If I want to get back down to 170-ish, I need to get a handle on it.  One step I’m taking in that direction is to challenge myself…and I invite the rest of you to join me on this challenge.  I am challenging myself to NOT eat any restaurant food (fast or sit down) for the entire month of October unless it’s absolutely unavoidable (meaning unless I’m out with friends and they want to go eat out and it’s not something I can really duck out of…and in that case, I will get the healthiest thing I can find on the menu…grilled salmon, grilled chicken, steamed veggies, that kind of thing).

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And now it’s time for this week’s belated Friend Making Monday:

1. If I gave you $10,000 what would you spend it on?
A down payment on a house

2. If you could watch your favorite movie now, what would it be?
Dream for an Insomniac

3. If you could talk to anyone in the world, who would it be?
I would love to have a nice, looooooong conversation with Graham Hancock about everything concerning his book Fingerprints of the Gods.  I love that book…in fact, I need to read it again soon.  It is definitely one of my favorite books ever.

4. If you could wish one thing to come true this year, what would it be?
A huge pay raise at work

5. If you could live in any period of history, when would it be?
During the time of Sumeria.  I would really, REALLY love to see how the world was back then and what the culture was like.

6. If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?
My relationship with food.  I don’t want to be addicted to it.  I don’t want it to have the power over me that it has right now.  I know a lot of people that also have this problem.  Some have learned how to deal with it, some have maybe even learned to switch it off and retrain themselves…but I know for most it is an almost daily struggle.  I love eating healthy but sometimes it’s just not easy…it’s downright difficult and time consuming and sometimes even frustrating.

7. If you could have any question answered, what would it be?
This will be a 2-part question…1) is there other intelligent life somewhere out there in the universe and have we had contact with them throughout earth’s history, and 2) did we really originate on earth or were we transplanted here by “aliens”?  (haha, now you all probably think I’m a total weirdo)

8. If you could watch your favorite TV show right now, what would it be?
I’m going to go with Once Upon a Time for this question.  I want to watch it from the beginning.  When it first came on a few years ago, I didn’t have actual cable, I had one of those digital receivers and when I would watch it on TV, a lot of the time the signal would cut out and I would miss critical points in the episodes, so I just stopped watching it.  now, I want to buy it all on DVD and watch it from the beginning.

9. If you could have any kind of pet, what would you have?
I just heard of this breed the other day and I’m totally infatuated with it.  it is the Lykoi cat.  They’re only in their first generation (so they don’t know about any health problems or anything like that the breed might have).  They’re super cool.  Their nickname is the “werewolf cat.”  I want one.  I don’t care how much it costs, I want one.

10. If you could do your dream job 10 years from now, what would it be?
I would maybe say sewing for a living.  My plan for retirement is to sew like basic renaissance costume pieces and festival bags.  I will have an online etsy shop where I will sell my items year-round and then I will work about 3 renaissance festivals a year where I’m a vendor selling my items.  So, if I’m doing that 10 years from now, that would mean I would have retired 8 years early from my job…but I would only do that if I were guaranteed a 100% full retirement check.  I don’t want to have to attempt to make an actual living off my sewing business as it will be just me and I can only do sew so much

Getting Something Off My Chest

So, I want to talk a little about something that’s bothering me right now that has nothing to do with weight loss or running. 

Earlier this year, an ex-boyfriend found and messaged me on Facebook.  This is not a message I ever wanted to receive and let me tell you why.  I dated this guy for about 13 months.  While we were together, I got pregnant and the two of us decided together that we would terminate the pregnancy because of financial concerns.  We didn’t think we could give the baby everything it needed on our menial incomes.  While we were together, I loved him an incredible amount.  I mean, I would have done anything for him…literally.  While we were together, he cheated on me with 9 other women, the 9^th one, he got pregnant and promptly told me that “at least she won’t murder my baby.”  He said this like I had made the decision on my own and without consulting him at all.  He was the one that drove me to the clinic and picked me up when it was over.

When I finally broke up with him and came to the apartment to get my things (half of which he had removed from the apartment while I was gone so I couldn’t have them), he was drunk and threw a beer bottle at me and physically assaulted me.  Thankfully, I had not felt safe going by myself to get my things and had a friend/witness with me.  She was able to get him off of me and we removed what was left of my belongings.

So, when he messaged me on Facebook asking how I was and would I please respond to his message, I of course completely ignored him and blocked him.  This week, he found me on Instagram and started following me and posting comments on my pictures asking how I was doing.  So I blocked him on Instagram as well.  I really have no idea what has possessed him to think that I would want to talk to him…and frankly, I don’t care.  Which is why I never messaged him back asking him what he wants from me.  He is my past and he will remain there. 

A friend said maybe he wants to apologize for being horrible to me.  She didn’t know the extent of how horrible he was to me and when I told her she said, “oh no, no apology could make up for those things.”  There are exactly 2 people in this world that I hold grudges against and he is one of them.  I never think about him…or at least I didn’t until he started sending me messages.  Now I have all these bad memories floating around in my head.  But, you know what I’m going to do with those bad memories?  Use them as motivation for my runs!  Anger makes you run faster and harder and by doing that, you’re cleansing yourself of the bad memories and whatever hold they may have over you.  While I may have these bad memories floating around in my head and they do bring me a small amount of anger, that’s it.  That’s the only affect they have on me.  I will soon reforget about him.  I’m done and I’ve been done for a long time.

Whew!  I just had to get that out and off my chest.  I feel so much lighter now!  And now, back to weight loss efforts and running!  That’s a much better and more fun topic!

I just had to share this.  My runner friend that is less than happy about how I conduct my runs was talking to me about how amazing my 12 mile long run was this week.  We discussed what my goal pace was for the Dallas Marathon and I told her that it was 12:30 which would put me at a 5:27 finish and that I normally train at 12:30 with my shorter runs at a faster pace (like a tempo run, really).  After a little back and forth, she seemed more than satisfied that I was prepping myself in a decent manner and told me that I should ace my marathon if I stick to how I’ve been doing things (not in so many words, but that was the gist I got from what she did say)!  This means so much to me that she would say that.  Seriously made my entire week!

Recipe Sharing

Here is the promised recipe for my family's enchilada casserole.  If you can't read my mom's handwriting, let me type it out for you:

ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
2 cans kidney beans, drained
1 lg can tomato sauce
8 flour tortillas
3/4 lb sharp cheddar, grated
1 med onion, chopped
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
olives to sprinkle on top

directions
simmer salted meat & onion until done.  stir in beans & tomato sauce & chili powder and let simmer.  warm tortillas in microwave or oven.  sprinkle generous amount of cheese & roll tortillas, place in 9x13 baking dish.  when filled, cover with meat mixture, sprinkle cheese & olives.

Now, I think I promised a healthier version of this recipe.  Here it goes:

forgot to include the chili powder and olives in this shot

ingredients
2 lbs ground turkey
2 cans no salt added kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 lg can no salt added tomato sauce
6-8 sprouted grain tortillas (I used the Ezekiel brand)
2% shredded sharp cheddar, use "just enough"
1 med onion, chopped
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
olives to sprinkle on top

Obviously, the directions stay the same, however I remember my mom sticking it in the oven for a little bit after adding the meat mixture (I remember doing this myself when I would make it years ago as well...before I lost the original recipe card she sent me).  So, after pouring the meat mixture over the rolled tortillas and then sprinkling some cheese and sliced olives on top, I popped it in the oven for 6 minutes at 350°. 

here's a side view where you can sort of see the rolled up
tortillas with cheese inside of them and the meat mixture
on top

I went to SparkRecipes.com to figure out the nutritional content of both versions of the recipe, so here you go:

my mom's original recipe

with my substitutions

ENJOY!

YAY!

I just wanted to let everyone know, I *finally* got the forwarding from the previous address 100percentrunnergirl.com fixed so now it does and will direct you to the new address of sararunsthisweigh.com.  So very happy to finally have this fixed!

Friend Making Monday & 100 Mile Challenges

This week in running is rough so far.  2 out of 2 runs have just felt hard.  Yesterday’s 5K, I started off fine at a sub-11 min pace, but then dropped to 11:30-ish for miles 2 and 3, giving me the 11:18 average for the whole race.  Plus, I just felt like I was struggling to keep myself at that pace where last Sunday’s 5K I EASILY kept a 10:30-ish pace for the full 5K.  Then, this morning’s 8 miler was a slog.  I did good the first mile at 12:21, but it didn’t feel easy to me.  And it just kind of went downhill from there, really.  My last 2 miles were almost 14:00 each.  Oy.  But, I did it.  And, guess what!?!?!?!  I hit my 100 mile goal for the month of September.  Now, that does NOT mean I’m done running for the month.  Far from it.  I have about another 42.6 miles scheduled to run before the end of September.  I’m really excited to finish up this month and take a picture of my running log and post it on here with my official total of miles for the month.  I’m excited to do it all over again next month too.

And next month, not only am I buying into the #100Octobermiles challenge (I have plans to do this for every month of the year, collecting all 12 belt buckles that will then be displayed in a shadow box on my running wall), but I’m also participating in the ROCKtober 100 Challenge so that 100 miles (it will be more, of course) I’ll be running next month will all be in honor of breast cancer awareness.  In fact, I bought the “official” shirt for the ROCKtober challenge.

i got the shirt because in the month of october i can wear it
under my uniform shirt at work and plus it'll make a great
gym shirt!

I’m looking forward to this coming weekend.  I have the NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) charity 5K walk.  I raised over $100 in donations, so I earned a participant shirt and access to the post-walk BBQ party.  YAY!  Also, I’m walking as part of a team (TEAM SHERIFF…just like the running group) and we made pretty cool shirts that I’m excited to wear.  When I get it, I’ll be sure to post a picture of it.  Myself and the team “leader” designed it ourselves and it came out pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.  Anyway, the NAMI walk is this Saturday.  Sunday, I have another 5K!!!  This one is the Schlotzsky’s BunRun.  It used to happen at the end of April and used to also offer a 10K option.  However, they moved it to the fall and gave its time AND its course route to a brand new run called the Sunshine 10K, which I ran.  Anyway, when they moved the BunRun to September and to a new location, they dropped the 10K.  I had to think long and hard about whether I still wanted to run it.  In the end, I decided I did want to run it, so I registered.

I *wanted* to run this little local 5K put on by a mom’s club in the town I live in, but there was a snafu with Active.com and the price went up 24 hours before it was supposed to and I wasn’t about to pay $40 for a small, local 5K, no matter how much I want to do it.  I mean, heck, it’s the Tiara 5K…how great is that?  And it is small, so I might actually have a chance of placing in my age group, even with as slow as I am right now.  But, not this year.  Instead of the Tiara 5K, I’m going to do another virtual race!  It’s only $25.  And it’s a pretty funny medal.  It’s the Running Dead virtual race.  Since I have a 13.1 training long run scheduled for next Thursday (I’ll register for this race when I get paid next Monday), I’m going to do this one as a half marathon.  YAY!  Even though I don’t like zombies or the TV show The Walking Dead, I saw this medal and just had to have it…so I will.

if you just have to have this medal too, go here:
http://www.willrunforbling.com/the-running-dead-virtual-run-glow-in-the-dark/
to register

I would like to talk about my progress at the gym.  Since resigning up at Planet Fitness last Thursday, I have gone to the gym 3 times.  YAY!  I’m super proud of myself.  Sure, I’m just doing the 30-minute circuit training area, but it’s still strength training!  Don’t judge!  Everybody’s gotta start somewhere.  I figure I do more than enough cardio, so I skip the stepping stuff that you’re *supposed* to do between each machine and just do a circuit of the machines.  There is hardly ever another exerciser in this area at the times I go to the gym, so this isn’t a problem to do.  Since I skip the stepping stuff, in the same 30 minutes, I can make 2 rounds of the machines, which is what I did the first 2 trips to PF.  With yesterday’s trip, I made 3 rounds of the machines and then added 3 sets of 15 reps on the back extension machine at about 130#’s.  I will probably hit the circuit area again this evening sometime before bed and then again after tomorrow morning’s 7 mile run.  Wednesday, what I would *like* to do is to do 3 rounds of the circuit area then come home and do my Bob Harper’s Yoga for the Warrior.  We shall see if that happens (the yoga part, that is…I can guarantee the gym part will happen…unless I sleep too much that morning…haha).

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And now onto this week’s Friend Making Monday questions.  I submitted a list of questions to the hostess of this fun weekly activity.  Hopefully she’ll feature them sometime soon.  I want to put together a couple more lists of questions and submit them to her and see if she uses them.

1. If you were a city, which city would you choose and why?
Hmmm…I think I would be New York.  If I could get away with not sleeping (NY is the city that never sleeps) and just do things and be busy 24/7, I would.  Also, then I would have access to Central Park and I would run there every day.  Plus, I would LOVE to run the NY marathon.

2. What are your ten favorite foods?
Ooo…I like this so much better than just what is your favorite food.  My top 10!!!  Squee!  Okay, here we go:
- almond butter and preserves sandwiches on sprouted whole grain bread
- Noosa yogurt
- my family’s enchilada casserole recipe (I’ll be sharing this recipe soon)
- grilled cheese sandwiches
- eggs
- pizza
- bacon cheeseburgers
- Chick-fil-a anything
- Panda express honey walnut shrimp
- Frito’s (post-race, these are awesome!!!)

3. If you were a candy bar, which candy bar would it be and why?
This is a real thinker.  Hmm.  I don’t remember what they’re called but the chocolate bar that has the pockets of caramel inside…I’m a hard shell on the outside, but all soft and gooey on the inside.  Haha!

4. If you were to change your name, what would you change it to and why?
Astrid Olivia Hammond…Astrid is one of my favorite literary characters (from the book White Oleander), Olivia because that is my favorite girl name, Hammond because that was my family’s name before my grandpa was adopted illegally and they changed his name.

5. Do you prefer Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter?
Not summer.  I think, due to running, that winter is my favorite, closely followed by spring and then fall.  Summer is my least favorite, except that it’s perfect for going to water parks.

6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want to have?
I would have a computer or tablet with a battery that never dies, running attire, and available edible foods

7. Share your favorite material object that you already own.
I think my running scrapbook.  It shows all my accomplishments and therefore holds a lot of meaning for me.  Next favorite would be my running medals.

8. What item that you don't already have, would you most like to own?
A house.

9. If you could choose one vacation destination, where would it be and why?
Ireland…but then, I have already chosen it as my friend Amanda and I will be going there [finances permitting] next year late summer/early fall.  Why?  Because everything about Ireland is enticing.  So rich with history.  The countryside is gorgeous.  There are so many castles and other historic sites.  The pubs!  The sheep crossing the road in flocks!  There’s just so many reasons I want to go to Ireland.

10. If you were to create a slogan for your life, what would it be? (example: eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we all die)
“Anything is possible”  My friend Patricia gave it to me for Christmas last year when she custom ordered a medal rack for my race medals that had that motto on it.  I love it.  And it’s so true.  Anything is possible if you just believe it is.

Superhero 5K Race Report

This morning I ran the CASA Superhero 5K in Cedar Park, TX (a suburb of Austin, TX).  Like 90% of my races, I went alone.  Most people at this race were with friends or family.  There were, obviously, a LOT of kids at this race.  The kids 1K was to kick off at 8am with the 5K to follow at 8:30-ish…once all the kids were clear of the course.  I arrived way earlier than I had meant to.  It didn’t take me nearly as long to drive to the Cedar Park Center (where the Texas Stars hockey team plays) as I was thinking it would.  So, I sat in my car for about half an hour to minimize how much time I was just standing around before the run started.

So, around 7:40, I got out of the car and got my stuff together.  I pinned my bib to my shirt and put my phone in my gear belt and my earphones around my neck and then headed over toward where everyone was at.  I found the stage where they were bringing up and introducing the people who had entered the costume contest.  I watched that for a while and then started walking around a little bit.  I found some ladies doing the Cirque de Soleil ribbon thing.  So I watched them for a little bit.

Then, I moved on and found the Batmobile and Batman.  I snapped a picture of the Batmobile, noting that it had current registration and inspection stickers, meaning it is ROAD LEGAL!!!  How cool would it be to see that driving down the road?  Anyway, I asked a nice lady to snap a picture of me with Batman.  Just had to considering I was dressed as Batgirl!

the Super Selfie!  haha

I then went over to stand next to the start/finish corral.  The kids’ 1K had already started and was nearing finish.  I warmed up my legs as I watched the kids and their parents cross the finish line and get their kids’ 1K finishers’ medals.  There were a couple costumes that caught my eye as they crossed the finish line: the Lego family and Bowser.

All the kids were clear of the course by 8:30 so the 5K pretty much kicked off right on time.  I had opted not to pay the additional $5 for a timing chip (sort of regret that, but there were no age group awards, so really, what would the point have been?), so my sole timing method was my Garmin.  This is strictly a “fun run” so being timed isn’t really that big of a deal.  The airhorn sounded and we were off.  This was an out and back course.  The Batmobile lead us for the first half.  One thing that I absolutely LOVE about out and back courses is you get to see the leaders/elites that are running the race.  It’s so inspiring to see them busting it out and going so fast.

As we ran out toward the turn-around point, it felt like it was all uphill.  The way back did feel like it required less effort.  However, when I checked my Garmin data when I got home, the elevation profile wasn’t really all that dramatic, so maybe it was just an off day for my legs.  No biggie.  I still ran faster than my current comfortable pace, so that’s a really good thing.  I had an average pace of about 11:18 min/mi.  Very nice indeed.  These 5K’s I’ve been running are sort of my speedwork.  I really would have wished that the pace was another 45 seconds faster per mile, but my legs just weren’t having it.

Speaking of running faster…I know a good part of my problem is the addition 25 lbs I’m packing.  I’m well on my way to making the gym and strength training a regular thing in my weeks, so that should help.  The main thing, though, is my eating.  It is severely out of control and I need to get a handle on it like nothing else.  But, I’ll talk about that another post…this is a race report!

I really did enjoy this race and I want to do it again next year.  Of course, I’ll have more than just a week to prep for it, so I can have more fun with my costume!  If I like my costume enough next year, I’ll enter the costume contest!  Post-race there was a photo “booth” where you could get free photos, so of course I got one! 

Since I had instant photos from the race, I was able to put together my scrapbook page for this race as soon as I got out of the shower!  WOOHOO!  And, let me tell you, this is my absolute favorite page I’ve done so far.  It is such a fun page!  I started with this comicbook inspired alphabet I found the other day.  The pack of letters only came with one of each letter and I didn’t feel like buying 2 packs of the letters just so I could spell out “SUPERHERO.”  On top of that, there were no numbers with this pack of letters AND the letters are like 3 inches tall.  That’s huge.  So, I scanned them into my computer and then I copy/pasted in paint the letters I needed to spell out “SUPERHERO.”  Plus I created a number 5!  YAY!  Then, I printed out “SUPERHERO 5K” on photo paper and cut them out so I could title the page with them.  When I found the comicbook letters, I also found some comicbook graphic style stickers, so I picked a couple of those to use.  And, I also had some clothing tags that were the Batman symbol, so you know those got used.

 

New Habits

“I do not need to manufacture strength and determination from scratch. Instead I uncover, rediscover, that which is always within me. At times those traits are lost from my view, dark clouds block my view. But that doesn't mean they are gone, only temporarily hidden. And when the clouds part, I'll dance around in my inner sunshine.” –Michelle

A fellow weight loss/healthy lifestyle blogger “friend” of mine posted this on her blog’s Facebook page recently.  It really resonated with me because of how things have been for me the past couple months.  Just the other day, I decided that I’m completely sick of dieting and trying to lose weight…despite the fact that I almost desperately need to do so.  I’m doing all this running, so I’m fairly fit…however, I’m eating like crap about half of the time…or I’m just eating too much of the stuff that is good for me, which makes it “bad” because I’m overeating.  And, as they say you can’t out-exercise a bad diet. 

I’ve been trying to lessen how much junk I take in.  For instance, the last week and a half I have been going somewhere and buying my breakfast.  The other day I went to Trader Joe’s and found this cereal and it is amazing.

So, the past couple days I have eaten a bowl of that with my favorite plain unsweetened almond milk and then, right before I get ready for work, I scramble 3 eggs and put some sea salt on them.  So, that nixes the buying breakfast habit I had started getting myself into.  And I’ve been trying to not bring too much food with me to work.  I have been bringing a yogurt (Noosa is my favorite) or buffalo jerky, a sandwich and some fruit.  And then I’ll eat them at 2 hour intervals to keep hunger at bay.  Then, when I get home (the past 3 days, anyway) I eat a serving of salmon.  So, not a LOT of food and, for the most part, good food.  My sandwich choices have been either a no-nitrate turkey lunchmeat, slice of tomato, some purple onion rings, and whole grain mustard on sprouted grain bread…or…almond butter and sugar free jelly on sprouted grain bread.

I am off work today and the next 4 days and I have some plans.  There will be eating out, but there will also be a lot of eating at home.  I plan to do some cooking and then portioning it out and freezing it for easy thaw, heat and eat meals that are fairly healthy.  I’ll try to remember to post the recipe (along with my healthier substitutions that I’ll be making) the day I make it in case any of you want to try it.  Something I’ve been thinking about the past week or so that I think would help me get my behind back in the gym and start doing some regular strength training is…drum roll please…joining a second gym.  Yes, you read that right…a SECOND gym.  I have been a member of 24 Hour Fitness since February 2013 and I love it.  They have a lap pool that I love to use and they have all sorts of equipment that I also love to use.  However, their location to me isn’t exactly “convenient” if I just wanted to be quick about going to the gym.  Also, the workout I currently do when/if I go to 24 Hour takes me a minimum of 45 minutes, sometimes longer.  Also, 24 Hour is about 8 miles, 15 minutes, away from where I live.  So there’s nothing quick about going to 24 Hour.  So…what did I do?  Planet Fitness opened up a new location about 1.5 miles away from where I live.  Location: SUPER convenient.

I was originally just going to do the single club, $10/mth, membership.  However…I forgot that there is a start-up fee.  Ugh.  It was going to be $74 to sign up for the cheap membership.  BUT…they are currently running a special on the premium “Black Card” membership (the $20, all-club, all-the-extras).  The current pro-rated monthly rate plus a $10 start-up fee.  So, I paid just $31.59 today instead of $74.  And, now, I have a second gym membership.  It kind of works out, they not only have the hydromassage beds but they also have massage chairs with calf massagers on them…how great would those be after a long run?!?!?!  Oh yea!  The other main reason aside from location convenience that I wanted to join PF is that they have a wonderful circuit training area.  So, this is PERFECT for a true quick trip to the gym.  Tops, a 5 minute drive each way to the gym, then 30 minutes of the circuit training area and boom, quality strength training in the books!  I figure I can get myself to PF 2-3 times a week.  Once it’s become a full-on habit, I can change out one PF day for a 24 Hour day and do my longer workout there.

I am running another 5K this Sunday!  YAY!  It’s the CASA Superhero 5K.  I found and bought a Batgirl shirt with a cape at Wal-Mart the other day, so I’ll be wearing that shirt to run in.  I opted not to be timed by them because that was an extra $5.  So, that’ll be fun!  I have this comic book style washi tape (it’s got the BOOM, POW, etc that they have in comics on it) that I want to use to frame the bib on the scrapbook page for it.

Also, I'm down to 87 days until the Dallas Marathon!!! 

I decided that I wanted to have even MORE fun with this countdown.  Originally, I printed out 2 different versions of each number 0-9.  Well, today I printed out 2 more of each number so now I have 4 different versions of all the numbers to add a little more variety to the countdown!  :)

Another thing I did today was to go ahead and type up my ENTIRE marathon training schedule!  WOW!  If I follow it as I have typed it up, from August 17th through December 12th, I will run 551.35 miles!!!  OMG!  That is epic, just epic.  And I can't tell you how excited I am to do this!  At the start of this year, I had made a goal with myself that I wanted to run at least 900 miles this year.  When I fell off the running wagon this summer, I didn't think that I would be able to reach that goal.  Thanks to marathon training, I believe i will meet that goal, plus a few extra miles.  Oh, and I didn't include the 26.2 miles of the actual marathon in the training mileage...so, that's another 26.2 miles on top of the 551.35!  Then, I'll take 1.5 or 2 weeks completely off from running after the marathon and then start back up again with the plan of running as many half marathons as I can next year!!!