I woke up...

Yesterday, I woke up and I was ticked. Not just angry... but really pissed off. I'm not sure why in particular but I know I've been easily irritable lately and down right mad the last several days or so. As I woke up, my sweet husband tried to cuddle me. I didn't want to cuddle. I was mad. I wanted to be left alone. I thought about all I had to do, and how I needed to shower. But I was so angry. I needed to run. I wanted to run.

No excuses. I just had to do it. I wasn't going to wait until later, why? later probably wouldn't come. So I got out of bed, put on my running clothes, laced up my new shoes, found my ipod and took off.

I thought about a lot of things while running. I thought about how irritable I've been lately. I've been cranky, ticked off, angry and really just down right pissed! I can't really express why just so many reasons and so many excuses. I thought about how bad I miss my healthy lifestyle, my healthy body and all the weight I've gained back. I've wanted to start over again so many times. I've purchased new running gear, new shoes. New running pants and new running shorts. I've really wanted to start over. But I didn't.



You know why? I can't seem to really figure it all out but I think it basically boils down to this... PRIDE. All my excuses since I've been healed revolve around pride and embarrassment. It's like the weight keeps coming on and on but I keep ignoring it like the problem isn't there but it is. I am really starting over this time though. In more ways than one. I'm starting over in my exercise and running routine. For health reasons, for weight reasons and for my own mental health reasons. And really, I'm starting over with my weight loss too. I've gained approx 50 of the 75 lbs that I lost back.



But you know what? I learned lessons from my past too. Including this... I can try again AND I already have the knowledge of everything my body is capable of doing. I can do this. I know what it takes. I also know what caused my long time train wreck.

So, I ran yesterday. I ran until I couldn't run anymore. It was probably a 1/2 mile. It could have been less... but then I walked caught my breath and ran again. I ended up run walking 2.6 miles according to my new Nike+ sensor. I was proud of myself, but embarrassed and ashamed at the same time. The whole time I ran, I thought about how far I had come, and where I am at now. I just needed that one run to prove to myself, I am the same self motivated person I've always been. I can be the person I want to be and I am working on it... starting NOW!


Did I mention, I signed up for a mudrun? It's a 3.5 mile run on April 21st. I signed up last week sometime. So, now I have a goal to work towards and a TON of friends who are doing it with me.

I met up with several friends last night and my friend Frankie and I decided to run together today. We're both needing to train. She came over tonight to run with me. I always tell her she is the younger blonde skinny version of myself. We really have a lot in common but she is 12 years younger than me. Anyways, we ran more than 5 miles tonight. We ran walked but we ran more than we walked and I was able to completely run the first mile. Mariyn, my 9 year old daughter, ran the first 2.6 mile with us. Well, actually, she made me eat her dust for 2.6 miles before she decided she was done running.

2 great runs, 2 days in a row. I WILL be sore tomorrow, I can say, I'm getting back on track! <3

Mission Accomplished - Mud Run

Challenging. Fun. Dirty. Those are the words I would use to describe the Merrell Down and Dirty 10K mud run, I participated in yesterday.

I knew the mud run was going to be challenging but I under-estimated how challenging it would be. My triathlon experience is the bar in which I compare every event to. I set the bar high but I love to meet a good challenge. This 10K mud run was MORE challenging then the triathlon in Tahoe and I did not expect it to be.

Yeah - I can run 6.2 miles on almost any given day now. But this it was -- different.

Zumara and I decorated shirts the night before to look like lady bugs. It ended up taking a lot longer than we had expected but it was fun. When I finished, I made a traditional runners dinner --Spaghetti. I splurged and got garlic bread too. Mariyn has been begging me to get garlic bread. YUM... I laid out all my clothes and the girls the night before.

Trying on the shirts after we finished coloring them.

I grabbed and set Mariyn's alarm clock for 5:30 am. Then I got to bed. It was pretty late and I needed to get up early. I wanted to leave by 6:30 am. Rich was planning on going hunting and set his alarm too. When I awoke, it was not to the alarm but to sunlight peeping through my window. Panicked I rolled over and seen it was 7:07 am. I ran to my phone to call Zumara, I was supposed to pick her up already. I got ready in less than 15 minutes. The girls ended up staying home with Rich because he too slept in too late to go hunting.



We arrived at Folsom Lake around 9 am, luckily the 10K started at 10 am.
Once we found parking we had to walk about a mile to check in near the start line. No big deal. I got to see a bunch of the 5K runners finishing up the last leg of the race, the lake and a view of an obstacle. The course going through the lake! Yes, if you look closely at this picture you will notice the runners are in the lake!



We checked in got our stuff and it was time to line up at the start line. The race started in waves with the runners placing themselves by anticipated race pace. We were running late, and there were so many waves. Zumara and I quickly got a wave we could see room. It was the 8 -9 minute pace! So much faster than where we really are. The waves were very well organized the announcer was great a new wave started every 5 minutes. When it was our turn, the cannon went off - and we ran!



The first mile of the race was easy and fairly flat. The first obstacle, was small net with sand pit under. You had to crawl under the net and to the other side. Then continue on the run. No big deal, a little uncomfortable. Mile two, was up hill through smaller trails. It got a lot more challenging. Tree roots, rocks and who knows what were in the path.

Other obstacles we encountered included a giant hay pyramid, vertical wall, hurdles, cargo nets, vertical rope walls, the lake and of course, more mud pits! The obstacles were fun and both Zumara and I had no problems completing them. Other runners seemed to struggle with them more than we did. The pictures below are examples of the obstacles we encountered -- not us on our run.












Our biggest struggle was the terrain. One portion of the run, was a very steep climb. The trail had a very steep and narrow path. Once you reached the end of the path you turned and the path got steeper and continued to climb, 3 times this happened. My hamstrings were burning, and I was walking not running up the hill. Finally, we reached the top of the hill, where the obstacle was to climb over the cargo net. I got over, and took off running. Down hill, was equally hard on your body. Yeah you can go faster, but it wasn't safe. The trails were so small and hard to find footing. Plus the pressure on the knees was excruciating.

Around mile 5, Zumara and I stopped a bathroom not to far off the course. I really had to go, bad and had since we finished mile #1. The pit stop at the bathroom lost us a good 10 minutes. There were 6 bathrooms - 3 regular 3 porta potties. One regular was locked, one had no toilet paper and the others didn't flush. All three of the porta potties were out of toilet paper and completely dirty and covered in spider webs. We had to play musical bathrooms to be able to go.

Back on the run again, we were on the home stretch. You could hear the music back at the finish line. Feeling relief, Zumara and I said we were going to run the rest of the course. Around 6 miles or so, the course went off into the lake. and we had to follow the flagged area. The water was cold but it felt so good on your sore muscles. Some parts were shallow others were chest high and easier to swim than walk/run. Finally out of the water, we were in the home stretch and final obstacles.

The rope wall, had been soaped down and was our next challenge. The person in front of us, could not grab the rope and climb over the wall. She tried at least 3 times. The wall it's self looked really intimidating. I grabbed the rope on my first attempt and pulled myself over. Zumara was still at the bottom. I told her it was no problem, she had this. It was so much more intimidating than it was challenging.

Next we crawled into a giant mud pit. It was deep, and wet full of mud. You were to crawl under the flags and you got covered in mud. Mud in your face, mud in your hair, mud all over. Across the other side and over a little mud retaining wall and on to the finish line!

We did it, we can, we ran, we crawled, we conquered but most of all --- WE got down and dirty!

Official time: 1 hour 39 minutes 56 seconds! I ranked 92/112 for my age division. 908 of 1020 overall. Maybe not the greatest rankings but I'm proud of our time, especially considering we didn't have any running experience with hills or trails like that. Considering we lost 10 minutes or so in the bathroom. Considering our athletic ability and how far we've came. I anticipated finishing around 1 hour 30 minutes due to the obstacles. I had a great time and it was SO much fun! Even though, the 10K was so hard, I'm glad we chose it and rose to the challenge.

Mud Run

Mud run is on Sunday. I'm excited. I know I will finish, but I'm a little intimidated because I haven't gotten in a lot of running since my last 10K. We forced ourselves to run twice this week, Weds and Thurs night and we got in about 5 miles each night. Not bad but it took everything we had to get through those 5 miles. Thurs night we walked a .5 mile of it or so. I had already done body pump and cycle at the gym Thursday morning. The hill was just too much Thursday night. I had to take a break and walk once I got up the hill. We were talking and ended up walking further than originally planned.

Friday was crazy around here. The kids had their Halloween parties at school. I was busy with that and the usual Friday afternoon stuff. I never made it to the gym. I'm alright with that though -- considering I need down time to rest before my run. Plus, the muscles around my rib cage were sore from the workout the day before.

Since the mud run is on Halloween day, there is a costume contest. I'm not about running in the mud in a huge costume and ruining it. But Zumara and I decided to go with the spirit of Halloween and be lady bugs. We're wearing red shirts and painting black spots on them. It's going to be cute, fun and cheap.

I'm not expecting my time to be as fast as last 10K time. Last time, we were familiar with the course and it was regular paved run. This time, it's in the mud with lots of obstacles. I'm pretty sure that will slow us down. My goal is to have fun and finish.