Jumping My First Hurdle

It’s only been a week and i’ve already had my first challenge with one of my resolutions... and i kicked its tail!! Woo!

This past Saturday, Devon and I were suppose to start the training schedule but we chose not to go due to this ridiculous weather that Knoxville has been getting lately. However, if I have learned anything about runners it is that they are more persistent about running than the postal service is about delivering mail! So i knew i had to run even if it wasn’t with the group. I just couldn’t delay the very first run of my training. It would feel like a bad omen for the whole thing so i told myself i had to run 4 miles that day. I just had to.

I haven’t even had my treadmill for a month and I have already found myself thankful for having it repeatedly. On this almost training-disaster day i found myself, once again, thankful for having a treadmill as I was able to complete my run on schedule. BUT even better than that I pushed myself to 5 miles instead of 4!!

I had ran 3.5 miles on Christmas Eve and it almost killed me. I know that for the half-marathon I am going to have to decrease my pace if i ever hope to survive it so I decided to drop my pace from 5.5 to 5.2 for this 4 mile run. Just a minor change but it really made a huge difference. When I run on a treadmill I have to change the display or i find myself just staring at the distance. I was listening to music so I had given myself a goal of X number of songs and decided I would check the distance after the last song finished. When I finally checked the display it was at 3.4. I was feeling pretty good so i upped the speed to 5.5 and decided i would check it again after 3 songs. Just so happens that one of the songs was a really long Death Cab for Cutie song but i told myself 3 songs and would not let myself check it before then. I can be stubborn sometimes. [that might be an understatement] After the retardedly long songs i was at 4.4! I couldn’t stop there and just going .10 more to 4.5 seemed retarded so i set my sights on 5 and as previously stated I can be stubborn when i set a goal for myself so to 5 miles i ran and it was glorious, grand, and unbelievably gratifying! [believe it or not i did not use three “g” words on purpose, haha]. I haven’t ran 5 miles since my Junior year of high school and a year ago I wasn't sure i would ever run it again.

The very next day Devon pushed herself and ran 5 miles too! I don’t think either of us knew we had it in us. I definitely believe in pushing myself but never expected a 1.5 improvement.

I think you will surprise yourself more times than not if you give yourself the opportunity. Go ahead, give it a try. When you are done I’ll be here to tell you “I told you so”. :)

//Stacy//

[Edit: Originally posted on Wordpress]

Resolution: Complete a Half-Marathon (13.1 miles)

I think this one is pretty self explanatory. I have been running a lot lately and have completed two 5Ks without any problem. It is time to step it to Big Dog level! okay... maybe not Big Dog because that would be a full marathon... so how about Medium Dog level? At this point I am not concerned with speed, i just want to finish without passing out and, by the end, have ran the majority of it. The most I have ever ran at one time is 5 miles. 13.1 miles is incredibly intimidating but luckily I have 2 “team mates” for this journey. Devon, my running buddy and Mat, my “unofficial coach”. Devon and I are both new at running and are stumbling through this adventure together while Mat is a far more advanced runner that i met through Toastmasters [the site looks cheesy but it is actually a really good club] so he gets to put up with all my 500 beginner questions. Luckily he has lots of patience. Ha!

[Game plan] Covenant Health and The Knoxville Track Club have a FREE training program for their Marathon/Half-Marathon in April. So Devon and I are participating in that. The training includes a run every weekend at a pre-designated place. That will keep us increasing our distance at a good pace and teach us new trails! Also, I have already signed up for the Half-Marathon in April so if I give up i will just be throwing money away so there’s a little extra motivation even if i have to walk the whole thing! But I guarantee that wont happen.

Any other runners out there?
//Stacy//

 [Edit: Originally posted on Wordpress]

2011 Resolutions

Welcome to my first official post! I think it is fitting that my first post of 2011 is about my resolutions for the year. I blogged about my resolutions last year and i thought it was helpful and i enjoyed it so, i decided to give it another try this year. While I had decent results from my resolutions last year i, however, did not stick to the blogging part of it. Sure, the resolutions are what really count here but i’m going to try to stick to the blogging part as well this go round. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter at all then you could probably guess that fitness will have a big influence on my resolutions this year, however, i did include some that aren’t fitness related. Here is the list and then i will do a post for each that goes more in-depth. (I will link them too as i get them finished.)

Fitness Complete a Half-Marathon Work on Arm Strength Reach Goal Weight (half way there!) Educate Myself on Eating Better

Non-Fitness Use Less Paper Pay Off (another) Loan Be Less Selfish

So there they are in all their glory and I’m excited about working towards all of them!
Questions for my readers: - Do you usually make multiple resolutions or just one? - Do you usually end up keeping your resolution(s)? - What have you decided on for 2011?
Assuming i have any readers... Hello? Hello? *crickets* :)

Happy New Year!
 //Stacy//

[Edit: Originally posted on Wordpress]