WW: Longing for Warmer Weather

This picture was taken mid-March during a 71* day…. Low- 40’s today :(

Weekly Roundup: January 30 – February 5

Monday:  Rest
Tuesday:  Rest
Wednesday (2/1): Rest
Thursday:  4 miles in 38:52
Friday:  Rest
Saturday:  Rest
Sunday:  Rest

Total for Week = 4 miles
Total for Month =  4 miles
Total for Year =  16.6 miles

*** @=outside run (refers to pace)  in=treadmill run (refers to minutes)

January  12.6 miles                                                       2011  329.45 miles
February   4 miles

 

Giveaways I Won 

I won 2 blog giveaways in the past month and received them both in the mail this week! :)  I won Dog Mace and a pair of WrightSocks…  I’m so excited about the dog mace because I can reclaim my old, most favorite, running route now without hopping in my car to park at the end of the road before I run!  Watch out doggies… I’m not afraid to spray you if you come after me!!!  ;)  The dog mace is animal approved… so it’s “safe”? … as safe as mace can be anyways lol…

By the way… sidenote:  one of these weeks I WILL get more than one run in! lol… jeesh!!  School just continues to be super crazy and I’ve been getting more jobs, so it’s all I can do to finish all my homework before the next day I go to school… maybe this week will be the week I can get in 2 or more runs!!  *fingers crossed* !! :)

Blog Posts From The Week

People Who Signed Up Are...
VLOG: 2012 Valentine's Day Card Swap Groups

Registered Races
 
5/5/12 – Cap City Half Marathon

18 Mile Long Run Recap (9/24)

Saturday 9/24: It started out pretty good, I was feeling confident and my legs felt great… I had the confidence I needed that would help me finish 18 miles…

And then, I had a run in with a dog.  If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I cannot stand dogs… especially when running!  I am scared stiff of them!

I was about 3 miles in when this dog came shooting across a yard.  I thought it would stop when it got to the road, but it didn’t… it came across two lanes, barking, growling, and scaring me half to death… I was screaming at it to go home, kicking at it, trying to get it to go away.  I’m not going to lie to you, this dog wasn’t very big, but it was the scariest thing to me… everyone has their own fears right?

Finally someone came out to check on me… I guess I was screaming bloody murder, and he got the dog to go back home… he acted like I was an idiot… what a jerk! I continued on my way, but you know when the adrenaline wears off and you are out of harms way… yeah, I started crying so I stopped (a good distance from that evil dog) in someone’s driveway and called my mom.  Mom’s make everything better :)  After telling her about my ordeal, she asked if I needed anything, and I realized that I had been so surprised by the dog that I had lost my gum… she brought me another piece along with a hug… I love my mom :)

I found it hard to get back into my groove after that… it took me about a mile or so and then I started feeling good about my run again… I took a GU Roctane around mile 5.  Once I got to the school/trail there were a gazillion people everywhere… there was a cross country meet going on, so I had to wind my way through everyone saying “on your left” “on your right” the whole time lol… I love running on the trail… there’s all sorts of people out and about… you’re never really alone :)

The halfway point (9 miles) ended up being where my husband works… pretty nifty how that works out ;) So I stopped and chatted for a few minutes while he filled up my water bottle for me and then I headed back.

Around mile 12 I really started having issues… the hills felt worse going back than they had when I first started out lol…(see garmin chart) I ended up walking up most of the hills on the way home… it was slow going…

I also had to stop and ask an older gentleman if he would fill up my water bottle for me because for some reason I was so thirsty the last 4 miles! I was so ready to be done and it seemed like there were hills on top of hills lol… It was tough mentally and my legs were so sore… but I finally made it home!!

18.01 miles in 3:31:31

The farthest I’ve ever run! I was thrilled that I finished and a little bit nervous when I thought that the marathon was 8.2 more miles than I had just run… how on earth will I finish a marathon?! Good thing the Columbus Marathon is mostly flat ;)

Tomorrow I have 20 miles and I’m thinking of doing it on flat ground.. we’ll see lol ;)

ONLY 15 DAYS TIL I RUN MY FIRST MARATHON!!! AHH!!

(Click the image to make it bigger)

Lazy Day

Well… Today was a lazy day as you can see… both the dog and I lounged around and napped all day long. 

For some reason, I like to wear hoods if I’m in a sweatshirt, makes me more gangsta awesome than I already am I’m sure… I’m still feeling quite crappy, but I’m so excited because tomorrow my mom and I are going to the big city (anything is “the big city” if it’s 30 or more minutes away from where we live lol) to shop for veils and a dress for her to wear to my wedding… it should be loads of fun and I’m just positive that my germs will take a day off since it’s president’s day tomorrow!  To those of you that get the day off.. enjoy it! :)

125 Days Left!

Frightful Friday

ok, so… I just got back from running (no I didn’t go this morning.. we switched our plans to tomorrow morning 7am)  and I can’t help but think that my run deserves a blog post.

I got all bundled up in my “winter gear” and headed outside totally in the mood for a great run!  It’s the coldest I’ve run in so far but it felt so refreshing!!  I was going to take my favorite route and headed down the lane when I saw those 3 dreaded dogs just waiting for me to come by so they could snap at my calves and heels…  I immediately turned around and headed the other direction.

“That’s ok” I thought  “A few more hills should be fun!”  and off I went!

I felt like I was running at a decently fast pace and I was really enjoying my run and battling up those hills was like a game to me… After each hill I conquered, I did a little fist pump at the top before running towards the next one…
childish? maybe.. fun? definitely!  ;)

I turned around when I decided it was getting too dark and that’s when it happened… my “perfect run”  turned into just a “good run”  … I got some side cramps.  But they usually go away pretty quickly so I powered through it and decided it wasn’t going to ruin my fun!

Not even a minute after my cramps went away, I started up a hill and halfway up, I passed a line of trees…

OUT OF NOWHERE COMES THIS ST BERNARD… running right towards me, barking so loudly!!!  If you’ve been following me for a while now, you know i HATE dogs!!!  Right away my vision started getting blurry, the blood drained from my face, and my muscles tensed up, I got an instant headache and kept saying
“go home”
“stay”
“good dog”
“go home”
“stay”

I felt like I was going in slow motion…  yes, for all you new followers, I’m deathly afraid of dogs… I try to act like I’m not, but all that flies out the window when you have a huge mass of 200 pounds running AT you!!

That’s when it really started going downhill… literally and figuratively… I made it to the other side of the hill and the dog finally went back home and I tried so hard to relax but I think my fear and adrenaline really did a number on my tummy!  I felt terrible!  like I was going to throw up or go to the bathroom and I kept telling myself that I really needed a Road ID and to start running with my phone.  What if something would’ve happened and that dog KILLED me and mauled my face?!  no one would be able to tell who I was or who to call… ugh!! Stupid dogs!  ok… maybe that last part… about the mauling… was a bit dramatic…

My tummy problems persisted and I had to run/walk the rest of the way home… I thought I was for sure gonna be a mess by the time I made it back home, but luckily I was not!  I made it in one piece and was never so happy to be home!!  This is my “I survived” pose:

Don’t mind my crazy hair, I think it has a mind of it’s own.  AND Yes, I have a “dog”, but he’s not really a dog… he’s a 7 year old puppy lol ;)  Look how cute he is!  all 7 lbs of him!  I probably wouldn’t mind if all dogs were Gabriel’s size! haha!

So yeah… that was my nice, relaxing, fun run turned stressful, run for my life and survive, run lol… are any of you deathly afraid of dogs? Or am I the only one?  How do you deal with dogs while you’re running? Especially BIG dogs!?