GOAL!!!

I have done it! 

101 miles in the month of August!

I went out yesterday with the hopes that after running 6 miles on Tuesday, I would be able to at least run 4. My knee area muscles were better, but my quads were still a little angry with me :)

Again, when I started out, I was feeling a little rusty, and had to talk myself into continuing no matter how I felt. Once I got past the first mile to mile and a half, I settled in and just kept running! I ended up running 7  yesterday! I was so proud of myself and I really understood that my first 6 miles on Tuesday were not some kind of fluke!

I had 7 left to do today and was really feeling it this morning. I walked a half first, to see what shape my legs were in, and then started running, I ended up running 7 again and then walked the last 1/2. Today was definitely a struggle. I REALLY should have taken a day off instead of doing 3 days of distance in a row that I am not used to doing, but tomorrow is the last day of the month and I have work in the morning and my sons football game in the evening. I was not sure I would be able to get any miles in, so today it had to be!

Tomorrow is rest day for sure. I will try to get out Saturday again to start my new month!

I have only lost 4 pounds this entire month- even with ALL of that exercise I was doing! 2 of those pounds just recently came off. It has been discouraging, to say the least, but I stuck with it. I knew I was building muscle, but it didn't help to not see the scale move. In the last week, I have been noticing changes in my legs. I have always had thunder thighs (even when I was younger, my thighs were a bit bigger/muscular). As of late, my thighs have been less muscle, more jiggle. I'm sure it's not apparent to most, but I can see more muscle definition in my thighs and calves now. Even if the scale is not moving, I still will be!

I started using myfitnesspal also, 2 weeks ago. I have realized that in my attempts to eat mostly clean, and burning up so many calories with my miles, I was undercutting my daily calories by a TON. I'm pretty sure (and really hoping) that is the reason I have not lost much yet. It's still trial and error at this point, but I'll work it all out.

Anyway, back to my major accomplishment :-D

As I sit here ( with a bag of frozen corn on one knee and a bag of frozen green beans on the other) I have realized a few things. 1.) We will be having green beans and corn for the next 2 days.  2.) I had pretty much skipped most of the c25k program and went straight to 10k!  3.) I have no doubts that I will be able to accomplish any distance that I set my mind to now! I am now totally obsessed with trying to see how far I can really push myself now! Once I got going today, I had to literally talk myself out of trying to run 8 today. My legs desperately need a recovery day! I really would have preferred to skip today to rest them and finish tomorrow, but I didn't want to chance not making my deadline.
No matter now. I have accomplished this goal and now I'm on to deciding next month's goals!
For now, this is where I will be!

Final Week Push- And Then Some!!

Final week! 

I have been striving to run/walk 100 miles in the month of August, and I only have a few days left!

86 miles!!!

I can hardly believe that I have gotten that many in!

It has been an interesting month. I have gone from excitement about my goal, to feeling more like I 'have to' keep up with the miles, to feeling like I finally get that fact that I need to make my 'me time' a priority!

Of course, being a mom, it's not always JUST 'me time'...

 

I've had some company along the way : )

 

My Gannon- sometimes he acts as my pace car! lol

 We have seen some pretty cool things, too. In this picture, you can see the 2 baby fawns that were hanging out along the trail the other evening.

Okay, so here is where shit gets real. I have a confession to make. 

In all of these miles I have done, I have not been running much. I know I have admitted that before, but I REALLY need to stress the fact that I have walked most of it. Mostly I have been doing 4- 6 miles each time I have gone out, and I have only ran a full mile (straight through) a handful of times. I have mostly been running a little, then walking A LOT, running a little, walking A LOT, etc. I totally know that the problem is NOT my muscles, nor is it my lack of endurance.

Well, I did not fully know that until today :-) I have known for awhile, that on some level, I have been sabotaging myself. I will get just a little way into a running interval, and then I will start to come up with reasons why I should just walk. 'It's too humid out', 'My ankle has a twinge in it- I don't want to injure myself', ' I worked all day and I shouldn't expect my body to be able to do this now'.....I have TONS of reasons why I should not be running at that point. 

Anyway- I was off work today. I had plans to run/walk 8 miles because I have to try to get the rest in by Thursday. I decided on my way out, that since I had no kid to distract me with his bike antics, and the trail is fairly deserted in the mornings, I was going to run- yes RUN- at LEAST a mile before I let myself walk. I know I could do at least that, but I have not pushed myself out of my comfort zone in quite some time. I started running and within a few minutes, the excuses started popping into my head. Ankle twinge, couldn't get set on my breathing, my hip was feeling sluggish, etc. It amazes me sometimes, just how wimpy I am!

I kept having to tell myself- Not today. You are NOT going to quit today. You are going to get to that mile!

 The first 3/4 of it was a definite struggle, but then my breathing finally settled in, and I think my Advil 800 started kicking in, too! lol I started telling myself that I really didn't feel that bad and I could try for 2 miles! Once I got past 1, I was just counting the 1/4 mile hash marks, just chugging along until I got the 2 in, so I could walk. Funny thing is- by the time I got to the 2 mile mark, I was feeling good, so I kept jogging! I had finally pushed myself out of my comfort zone and was feeling fine! I used to be a distance runner when I was younger- like Jr. high younger. I know what if feels like to settle into that groove where you don't have to concentrate on your breathing any longer because it just comes naturally, and the point where you no longer feel every little discomfort in your legs- you can hardly feel them anymore because they are just doing their job- pumping back and forth, propelling you along. I hit that point around the 2 mile mark, so I figured I would jog out 3 if I could. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I was wondering if it would be impossible to go for 4? Aaannnnndddd.....

then I did. I hit the 4 mile marker with a smile on my face. And I kept going :-) I jogged along to the 5 mile marker and I was remembering the Biggest Loser episode that the really heavy Italian guy, Michael, was on the treadmill and he was going to stop at 3, but Bob told him to keep going. Michael kept going, and when he got to the 5 mile point, they all cheered him and he broke down and cried because he never would have dreamed that he could run that far at the weight he was.

That was totally me at the moment I got to 5 miles. I had the biggest smile on my face and a tear came to my eye. And still, I kept going!

I almost didn't want to stop at the 6, because I had gotten that far, there was no reason why I couldn't just jog the whole 8? As soon as I stopped, I knew the reason why- I dang near fell on my face!

Ahhh, yes. I remembered THAT feeling, also! The feeling that you get when you run your race as fast as you can, and kick it in as hard as you can for the last bit to cross that finish line and then pretty much almost fall down due to sheer muscle exhaustion? I had that! It was not from running fast, but from running further than I ever had in my life-so far :-) Did you read that??

FURTHER THAN I HAD EVER RAN IN MY LIFE.

SO FAR!

At that point, I wasn't sure I would even be able to walk the last 2 miles back to the car, but I stood there for a few minutes, stretched a little, and then was able to get back fine. It gave me plenty of time to revel in the feeling of accomplishment that I had, and also time to wonder if I should have just went for jogging the whole 8 miles. I know it was smart to stop at that point- I am feeling it deeply tonight! lol The worst ache I have is right along the lower outsides of my knees. And I don't blame them!

I also had the complete realization that my failure to run further than a mile on previous attempts was absolutely due to the fact that I was unwilling to get uncomfortable and push myself. Yes, I have had to be concerned about injury, because of my size and because I did not want anything to get in the way of accomplishing my goal this month. I fully know that there is no reason that I could not have pushed myself harder. My failure was in my brain- not in my body. 

I doubt that I will be running anything CLOSE to 6 miles tomorrow, but I have it on schedule to do 7 both days so I can be done on Thursday!!

Stay tuned!

So far...

So I have been trucking along with my miles this month. I have been walking a lot more than I expected, but I have been putting a lot more miles on this body than it has previously experienced. I have kind of been going through the C25K program- sometimes repeating the program to keep steady run/walk intervals. I have 13 days left and so far I have done

 

48 miles!!

I started this post this morning, and my mood was TOTALLY different then! I had skipped a few days in the beginning- I just figured that I would make it up another day. My sisters came to visit last weekend, and I did not get many miles in then. I was sitting at 42 miles this morning, and for the first time, I was feeling like I might actually not make this goal. The truth is, I have a family. I am doing what I can to make sure I am getting a little bit of time to myself every day, but it is HARD on some days. The other night, after work, throwing dinner together, taxi-ing kids, I only had about an hour and a half before it was going to get dark. I laced up the shoes and got down to the trail as fast as I could. 

Now, let me tell you, this trail may look like this in the daytime....

 

 

at night, it's a whole different place! A bit creepy because it gets dark much faster under the trees than it does out in the open! 

Of course the trail was deserted by then (it is out in the middle of  'B.F.E.' anyway), but I only felt comfortable doing 2 miles. I have this thing about getting too far away from where my car is parked- just in case. In case of what?.....I have no idea.

I do know that I went out yesterday with full intentions of doing 6 miles, but I only got 5 in. I know I am putting a bit of a strain on my body with all of these miles, and I am feeling like I may have strained a muscle in the front of my thigh or hip. Somewhere in there, after about 3 miles, it starts to ache. Enough that I occasionally feel a twinge of pain for a step, and then back to an ache again. When I start feeling it, it kind of scares me into thinking that I might not make it back to the car (truthfully, I know I will), or what if I really hurt myself by pushing it, so I had better quit as soon as I can for the day. It causes me to feel a little discouraged. So then I start doing the math: If I have 'X' amount of days left, and I still have to walk 'X' amount of miles, then I have to walk 'X' amount of miles every day and that is NOT skipping any days from now until the 31st.....to much worrying.

Today, I was bound and determined that I was going to do 6. I HAD to even though yesterday was not good. I was actually worrying about it, so popped a few Advil about 30 minutes before I left for the trail. 

Genius. Seriously.

I. Felt. Fantastic.Today.

So fantastic, in fact, that I actually decided that since I have never been past the 3 mile marker yet (I start around the 5 and usually head down to the mile mark and then back past and up to the 6 if I want 6 miles). I mentioned to my husband that I didn't even know where the trail started, and he said, 'Cockroach-ville'. He was kind of right. Past the 3 mile, the trail joins with the road for about 1/2 mile. And it is 1/2 mile through people sitting on their porches of their trailers gawking at the bike riders and walkers, dogs chained to boxes in the yards barking at you, an old man in a motorized wheelchair riding a toddler in circles in the driveway, rusted out cars and trucks jacked up on cement blocks, and even a few guys taking a sledgehammer to a wrecked up demolition derby car- pounding the piss out of it! I was slightly more creeped out in the daylight there, than I was on the almost dark trail the other night!

Seriously, I was waiting to hear the banjo music start....

I finally got past all that, and on to where the trail separated from the road and back to the woods again, when I came up to the 2 mile marker. Really? I am 3 miles away from my car, just made it past what I assume my husband meant by 'Cockroach-ville' (cause if that was not, I shudder to think of what it is really like!), and I have to turn around and walk back through all that? Well I did, but I can safely say that I may NEVER make it all the way down to the beginning of that end of the trail. lol  I'll stick to turning around at the 3 mile marker!

I love my country trail with scenery like this....

and even this....

I feel much safer out here than I did there!
So anyway, this morning, I was discouraged that I only had 14 days left and I only had 42 miles in, and yesterday's 5 was weak and somewhat painful. My outlook was bleak this morning as I was wondering if I will make it more than 3 miles today and I felt so far behind already.
Getting this good 6 in today totally changed my outlook. I have made it THIS FAR! I have made it 48 freaking miles! No way in Hell am I going to not finish and reach my goal! I did the math- again. I have 13 days left and 52 miles, so I will finish on time if I do 4 miles a day. Add a few more 6 mile days in there, and I should not have any problem!

Life it good on the trail!

5 Days In...

Five days into the month and I am still workin it! Had to go to a family reunion this morning. Family reunions = FOOD. Let's just say that I have had 3 too many cheat meals this past week :-/ Got to get back to being serious about eating clean!

I had eggs with spinach and tomato this morning again. Was supposed to go grocery shopping, but I only got one store done instead of the 3 that I needed to go to. I will have to finish tomorrow. I really didn't eat as many meals today as I should have. I think the splurge at lunch was too much and I just was not hungry most of the day.

I did get out to do some walking/running at the trail. I took this picture of the covered bridge that is across the road from the parking lot. It is so beautiful.

You have to walk up the road from the parking lot to get to the bike trail and this runs along side of the road. I always walk through here on my way up to the trail and on the way back down.

I went out intending to do 2 miles and get back home, but I decided to get 3 in since I was there. At least I'm tacking on extra instead of leaving with less. 

My total for the month of August is now....

 

 85 more miles to go!

 

The guys here had some leftover yellowfin tuna and wahoo from our cookout last night. The fact that there was leftovers is a miracle in itself! I really didn't eat dinner. Not so good. But I still was not hungry! I had just gotten done making another batch of the Paleo Mayo (love!) and seriously was thinking that I should open a can of tuna and make some tuna salad real quick. 

Duh.

I would have been PISSED if I had opened a can of tuna and THEN turned around and saw the FRESH CAUGHT YELLOWFIN TUNA sitting on the stove!

Some days I swear my brain does not fire on all cylinders.

I used both tuna and the wahoo and topped a fresh picked tomato with some of it. 

  Delicious.

It has been getting easier and easier to throw together clean meals and snacks without much thought. Which is a good thing, because I can't stand when I have to put too much thought into food. I don't really love to cook, but I have a family and I have to do it. It is sometimes a challenge to have to cook one thing for myself, and then other things for them, but I'm trying my best to either incorporate my healthy dishes in to their meals or I will do what I can to alter what I am making them to make it much more clean for me. 

What saved me this week was that I had ground up a whole tray of chicken breasts and made chicken burgers out of that. I ended up with 15 or 16 burgers! After we had them for dinner that night, I still had 8 left, so I threw them in the freezer. If I couldn't figure out what to make myself for dinner, I would pull out a baggie of chicken burgers (2 in each bag). Those were easy enough to thaw out and take for lunch or eat for dinner, and I have used them all. I guess that is a good thing about eating clean and making batches of stuff- once I find something I like, I can literally eat it over and over again without getting tired of it. At least for awhile. Once I DO get tired of something, I probably won't eat it for months afterward!

Day 4 Done

Today was not great in the food area. Breakfast was fabulous-made eggs and sauteed baby spinach, garlic with tomato and had some watermelon.

 

Had some errands to run and finally, at 1:30 (and at about 94 degrees outside), I made it down to the bike trail. I had it in my mind that I was going to walk/run 4 miles today. I ended up doing 6!! Proud of myself? 

You betcha!

I admit that I did end up doing more walking than running, but I'm okay with that. I'm just getting back at it, and it has been awhile, so I do not want to risk injuring myself by pushing too hard. Besides that, it was about 94 degrees out with like 120% humidity. Running was just not feeling good out there. Heck. Breathing was not feeling good out there! But I stuck it out and did the 6. I have to get it in when I can, and I had the extra time today. So I doubled my total today for the month:

  

 Only 88 more miles to go!

Got back from the trail and realized that I had not had lunch yet and it was after 3. I quickly heated 2 chicken burgers and ate those and got a few dishes ready for a cookout with the neighbors. 

As you can see, I provided a veggie and a 'fruit'. lol

 

Okay, so it was drinks with fruit juice in them. Doesn't count, huh? Shoot.

We had some good food- fresh caught Wahoo and Yellowfin Tuna on the grill, and I made a bowl of cucumbers and sour cream. My neighbor made a rice dish, stuffed sweet peppers, and mushrooms wrapped in bacon. Let's just say that she is not in to eating clean :) I did have a bit of everything, but it certainly was not clean. Oh well. There will be days like this. 

And every one is a learning experience.

Running, Walking, Biking, Crawling....

I have been thinking lately that I should be setting goals. I never really do that, because I don't have the confidence in myself to believe that I will reach any goals- kind of like the whole New Years Resolution thing. As I am deciding what goals I can set for myself, I have to be sure that they are actually attainable. I do not have a gym membership at this time, I do not have a treadmill (YET! I am working on getting one from someone I know), I do not have a swimming pool.
I'm not sure where on Facebook I got the idea from, but someone had held a challenge to run, walk, bike, etc. 100 miles in a month. Yeah, that's right....

100 MILES

in the month of August.

That's a pretty ambitious goal. I have been trying to run off and on over the last year and a half, but lately, it's been more off. I could list off the reasons why I have not been, but reasons are just excuses. What I DO have available to me is this:

 A beautiful, wonderfully scenic, bike trail.

Of course, it's hot as balls outside, but the part of the trail I go to is mostly shaded. And partly decorated...

 ( This makes me smile every time I pass it)

This is what I can do. 100 miles seems very daunting, but I am sure I can do it! Like I said: Run, walk, bike, or crawl.....
Today I ran/walked. Need to work back up to where I was.

I am just going to have to keep at it almost every day. I am thinking that I will not be able to afford to skip too many days or I will not finish by the end of the month. Even though I have not been on a bike for years, I think it's high time I get back to it! There are 3 parking lots near my house for this trail, but my favorite spot is close to the 5 mile marker. Yes! There are mile markers and also some kind soul has gone down through and marked a little white line on the pavement at each quarter mile. Makes it nice to gauge how far into each mile you are. If I were to ride a bike on some days, I may be able to ride to the beginning of the trail and back. That would be 10 miles in one ride. A good way to work my legs, and a great way to add up some mileage! I will have to decide on a limit for biking miles, though. I want the better part to be walked and ran. It would be nice to have a variety of options.
So Wednesday, was August 1. I worked all day, and had a bad ending to my work day. I let shit get into my head and it upset me. When I got home, I only had a little over an hour before my sister was bringing my son, so I knew, even as crappy as I felt, I needed to get some sort of mileage in. I walked 2 miles and got back home in time to meet her. At least it was something.
I skipped Thursday. Gasp! So horrible, but I did have a reason an excuse why I skipped. I needed shoes. What I was wearing was my previous running shoes/turned work shoes (because I haven't been running). My feet don't feel very well after working all day, and adding 2 fast paced walking miles on was even worse!
I picked up a new pair today, so I hit the trail to try them out tonight. I ended up doing 4 miles, and worked on running some parts of it. I can't believe how fast I get out of shape when I quit running! My feet (and shins) felt better tonight after 4 miles than they did after 2 the other day. I can't wait to see the miles add up!
Miles for the month so far....