The Week in Review

I'm tired. I don't know what it is but I feel so exhausted and I can't find a real reason for it. I have problems sleeping straight through the night but even still I seem to be getting enough of the shut eye. Work is light this week and I only had a local visit yesterday. On the training schedule is a recovery week of sorts. I had a great 6 mile run on Monday, probably a little faster pace than I should have been going, but I was feeling good and ready to push myself. Tuesday Jillian shredded me in a short 20 minutes. Still feeling the shred results yesterday I went for an easy 6 miles in the snow (oh I'm ready for winter to be done!). I may do some light cross-training or weights today if I clean my place in time. I can't say my husband and I love to clean or really ever do it very often. It is always a long drawn out process that only comes about because we are having a party or someone is visiting. The reason I'm cleaning? Visitors. My sister, her husband, and 3 of their friends are staying the weekend with us as they all have friends here and others are also flying in and staying elsewhere. This all equals a big hometown reunion in Chicago. So they will be staying where it's free :) It will be nice to see them but I really do hate cleaning. And when they come to visit I feel like such a mom. I make chex mix, taco dip, scotcharoo's, have all their favorite drinks, and the pantry/fridge are stocked. Alright off to get lunch and then clean the kitchen floor - good times :)

V-Day 14

Happy Valentines Day! To start my v-day off I ran a freezing 14 miles along the lakefront. It's the longest I have run in over a year! Last week I was warm in my shorts and long sleeve tee, this week I was in full winter running gear and there was a snow dusting on the ground from last night. The first 7 were good, the sun was sort of out, and I was comfortable in the 30 degrees. The 7 on the turnaround were a challenge. The wind coming off Lake Michigan made me want to stop, cry and call my husband to pick my sorry butt up. But I didn't - yay for small victories. I seriously thought I had lost my chin at one point there was no feeling. Once I reached the point of 3 miles remaining I was a bit further from the lake so the wind subsided slightly and I was able to pick my pace back up to where it should be. Although now everything hurts and even after a steaming hot shower and piling blankets on while sitting next to my space heater I'm still cold to the bone. Hopefully I warm up in time for dinner tonight :)

Not So Good

Yesterday I had one of those runs that made me mad and frustrated with the whole running game. On the schedule was a 5 mile tempo run. Not too bad...working on getting back into the "speed" workouts again. Literally not even a 1/4 mile into my warm-up I knew it wasn't going to be my night. After 1 1/2 miles into the tempo portion I had to stop and...walk! Oye! I couldn't find one reason to push through and walking felt so right ;) Now I know sometimes there are just these kind of days but yesterday it really annoyed me more than usual. Maybe I'm more tired than I realized from all this travel or possibly my not so healthy meals have finally caught up with me. Or a culmination of things - who knows?!?! I celebrated my crappy run with a glass of red wine. Probably not the best response but it took the edge off my annoyance :) Hopefully I can get some sleep and get back into it this weekend.

Today is my last day trip for February. Let's all say yay! It's a doozy though. Was up at 4:30 am to catch my 6:45 am flight and won't get back home until 9pm. Ugh. I just keep telling myself this is almost over then I can sleep. And work has taken to blocking all blogs and fun websites like facebook. This is a shocker for me as a homebased employee we are given more Internet leeway than the office based folks. So now to read/comment blogs and otherwise cyberstalk during the workday I know need to disconnect from the network. What a pain. But I guess it is a sacrifice that will need to be made :)

Freaky February

60 degrees...in February...Again! Luckily I don't travel until this evening to the ever fascinating Toledo, Ohio so I was to enjoy another beautiful February day. Since we all know these nice days are a freak occurrence in the north. It was great running in shorts and t-shirt outside. I actually enjoyed my short 4 miler more than usual. Who knows when I'll be able to go back outside without my running tights, hat, gloves, and coat in the next 1-2 months. After this I am ready for winter to be done unfortunately I think I saw snow showers on the extended forecast. Ugh.

This week is another crazy work travel week. A lot of long day trips to places like Queens, NY and Birmingham, AL. Yesterday felt like 7 days not 12 hours of travel. But this ridiculousness should be over soon and then I can plan a more normal travel schedule (normal travel - if that is even possible) and actually have time to run/workout rather than come home and collapse.

finally a break!

If only for a day we were blessed with a break from the freezing temps. Finally the iceberg known as Chicago started to melt on Saturday thanks to the 50 degree temps. I was like a little kid excited for Saturday morning cartoons when I woke up and looked up the temps on weather.com. I couldn't wait to get outside to run! Through the huge puddles and mud that formed all along the lake path I made it through my 12 mile run. Although I never really found my groove I didn't really mind the long run. My poor toes were little shriveled piggies only 3 miles in but that didn't even damper my mood. I only wish the amazing temps could stay right on through February but I know - no such luck.

A rant for today

Why do people stand on a moving walkway? It is one of my great annoyances. You find this rampant all over Vegas and in nearly every airport across the country. I especially love when people stand in the middle and block anyone from passing with all their luggage. Really? They aren not a ride! Are they really that tired that you can walk the oh 20 steps it would take to get across the walkway? Of course I always tend to get stuck behind these fine folks when I am in a super huge hurry and about to miss my flight ;) And that is my rant for today :)

2 better than 1?

Back sometime in December or January I thought it would be a fantastic idea to run 2 marathons this year with a couple of mini-motivational races throughout the year to help me stick with my training. I became more wary of this internal deal I made because I haven't run a single marathon in over a year (now I'm trying for 2!) and I have a problem committing to races. I go to the website, read through all the information, click the register button, stare, then close out of the browser without doing anything. The only reason I signed up for the Shamrock Shuffle 8k at the end of March is because all my non-running friends decided this is the year to run and I couldn't be the one who didn't ;) Now I did just give the Bank of America Chicago Marathon $125 of my hard earned cash to confirm my entry on Oct 11th and that is a huge commitment so far away. But my reasons for this are 1) the race usually fills up by March/April and if I didn't sign up while I was thinking of the race, well, it would be too late (I forget things very easily) and 2) I have some things to settle with the Chicago Marathon after the debacle 2 years ago (hospital, not finishing, etc). Even though I have committed to Chicago in October I can not bring myself to sign up for Cleveland in May. I have even gone as far as print out my training schedule which I started last week to get a "feel" for it! Am I scared? Hell yea, and nervous. Is it the course? Probably a little bit. Being from the Cleveland area I know it's not that exciting or spectator friendly. But I would have my family support since they all live around there still. Other than the 1 man team my husband makes up I don't have the family support in Chicago. Plus, a free room at my dad's house for the weekend so it makes the travel a bit easier. Maybe I'll go another week in this training and see how I'm really feeling. If anything I could at least run the half! I really just need to find a way to get over my race commitment phobias. It would be a lot less stressful if I could find a way to do that!