Big Sur this time next week!!!

Wow!! Can you believe by this time next week I will be a proud finisher of Big Sur Marathon?! Oh yes and I will be wearing new hardware in the form of a finisher's medal.... oooo yeah!!!

It feels like forever ago that I came up with this great idea to run another marathon. Then I made my idea even greater by picking one of the top marathons in the world to run in.  Seriously! Lil ole me is going to be running in Big Sur, California. Taking in the amazing smells of the ocean and even more incredible views. Traditionally when I run I tune out and don't see the sights while I am running. Every once in awhile something will catch my eye but otherwise I am pretty focussed on the forward motion and getting 'er done. This marathon is going to bring a whole new experience to running. Please, oh please, tell me that the beautiful scenery is going to distract me from my screaming muscles and my brain asking me repeatedly "Why are we doing this?" "What were you thinking?" "What made you think this marathon would be more fun than the last one?" Yes there will be lots of self talk. 

This last week has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. I have gone from moments of seriously wanting to throw up. Full on anxiety of "What have I done?" I even had a moment where I wondered if it was too late to change to the half vs the full. Don't worry that thought didn't last long enough to even fully develop in my brain before it was tossed aside. At least for my first marathon I was naive and didn't know what to expect. This time I know the marathon deserves my full respect! It is one of the toughest challenges I have ever done in my life and I am bound and determined that this one will be a much more positive experience. In my first marathon I was a faster runner but this time I mentally stronger and at the end of the day that is what gets you to the finish line!

At the beginning of this year I created a vision board. The month leading up to new year's I started collecting pictures and sayings that inspired me. When I started pulling out my collection these two clippings came out together exactly how they are posted on my board- yes I do believe in signs....

This week I eagerly accept a rest week and next Sunday will bring what next Sunday is going to bring but I have some game of my own to show! After all "this is the place where I'm going to find out how good I can be" 

Reflections on running and life.....

Hi my name is Yvonne and I am 40 years old and about to complete my second marathon!! How cool is that?!

On my long run this week I realized that here I am ready to take on the challenge of "The Marathon" again in a couple short weeks. Never would I have imagined when I was younger that I would have had the ability to do this. As long runs give you "lots" of time to ponder I thought about the younger self vs the older self. Imagine if in my 20's I introduced myself to a pair of runners and a learn to run clinic. I can not tell you how much of a difference it would have made in my life.  I honestly believe if I had become the runner I am today in my younger years that I would not be where I am today. Not necessarily a bad thing as I am very happy where I am but I do believe that it would have opened an entire world to me. The crossover of challenging yourself physically and the power you receive back from it is amazing.

As a young Mom of two kids I basically hid in my house other than when I was working. I think back to the life that I led and have no idea how I did it. Why?! did I not pick up my runners and toss the kids into the stroller and hit the streets?! Randomly drop to the floor in my living room and do push ups?! I know I "thought" about it but that was it?! As time went on I did start to hit the streets walking and getting out there so please do not think I was a couch potato but everything was limited to what I "knew" I could do. I am so appreciative of the day that I decided I was going to challenge myself to something that I honestly had no idea if I could do it- Run!

Running was only the beginning. Learning to run leads to races, leads to marathons, leads to finding adventures around every corner. Never would I have imagined in my younger years that I would be living this amazing life. Climbing mountains, getting my yoga certification, mixed martial arts training, running an obstacle course in the mud. There is always the idea of the Ironman out there- how amazing would that be?! Fitness competitions? Who knows?! Now when I hear stories of high adventure it is always with a thought of mmmm maybe that it something I should try?! Ice climbing?! Mt Kilimanjaro?!

 With an amazing life comes amazing friendships that only encourage you to grow more and find new things to try.... I see it on a daily basis when I am asked how my training is going or what my new adventure is?  Comments of "Wow, good for you but I could never do that" "I would love to be able to do that but..... "  Forget the "but" and get out there!!! Stop watching reality TV shows and become your own reality.  There is so many amazing adventures to be had and each time I turn around I see another possibility! If I can do it, you can do it!!! You will be amazed how your leap of faith in yourself will encourage others to try as well.

Big Sur- 2 Weeks!

So hard to believe that only a few months ago I was out enjoying a ridiculously short 3K and thought up the fantastic idea of running in another marathon. Now here I am 2 weeks away today!!! Wow!

Thankfully last week was the end of the long crazy runs and this weeks was much shorter. As I headed out the door yesterday talking myself into what a "great idea" going for a run was. I encouraged myself with the fact that my run was only 22K, yep only 22K. In the very next breathe reality hits as I realize that is longer than a half freakin' marathon. Funny how you can get a skewed perception of distance.

I am very excited to report out that the first few K's were rough the body wasn't too happy about running and then woo hoo! Everything came together. At 10K I ran into a different perky pony-tailed girl and there was no way that this one was going to pass me! Thank you to whomever you are as you were the motivation I needed. Thank you to all the young, pony tailed girls out on the streets whom I was NOT willing to have pass me therefore I rocked the last half of my run actually completing the last half at a faster average pace than the first half!! Another great sign that my body is ready and it should rock "Big Sur" Oh yeah baby!!!

Ramp Up to Big Sur- Week 3

 Yesterday was a "vital" day for my mental preparedness for Big Sur! With the never ending hurdles of the last few weeks I needed mentally to have a good run so I could with confidence say "You are ready"! 

Going to bed the night before I did a short mediation and focussed on getting a great night's sleep and thinking of how successful the next day would be. Regardless of the hurdles I was going to finish successfully! Upon opening my eyes after an amazing nights sleep I realized all my "technical" socks were in the washing machine. For those of you who are not runners; you can create work arounds on most anything EXCEPT your shoes and your socks! I was determined that everything was going to go well and thank you to Nike DriFit those babies were dry in time to hit the pavement. First hurdle averted.

I was met for the beginning of my run with two of my many amazing friends. Thanks to Audie who came out to run the first portion of my training run. A "huge" special thank you to my friend Devan. You can not find a more true cheerleader of the human spirit than Devan. Although Devan's big (LOL) next race is an easy peasy 10K he was out there to run with me. I never expected anyone to volunteer to run the ridiculous amount of distance that I was intending to run. After all who volunteers to do that unless you have a race coming up. Well it appears my amazing friend does. 

The run itself  had an great start. The weather was beautiful. A little on the chilly side which is a good thing, and no wind! Yep you heard no wind! Amazing!!!! and beautiful sunshine! Off and literally running we go.... things were pretty uneventful until about 22-24K when the brain starts to kick in and play tricks.  It amazes me that in a 30 second time period you can tell yourself: "You got this!", "oh my god this is horrible", "feeling strong, feeling strong" " okay this sucks"! 

A mission was needed to be accomplished and there was no stopping! We continued on..... my pace was getting much slower but thankfully the legs were still moving. At 28/29K Devan and I separated. I was desperately waiting for my I Pod to tell me "6K left". I have no idea why but I needed to hear that number and knew when I heard all would be okay. The announcement came through the head phones and up went my pace. Don't get too excited it here, it probably increased by a 1/10th of  a second- LOL! At 30K I had this young girl with her bouncy ponytail fly past me. At first this got my "ggrrr" on and my brain instantly thought " really she is not running that fast we should catch her", my legs on the hand thought was hilarious and refused to work with my brain. So off went bouncy ponytail most likely proud of herself for having past said runner. My saving grace- I have determined that she was probably 3K into her run while I on the other hand was "30k" in! Today I will give her, her victory but next time..... the game is on!!!! 31.4K the dreaded happens. I out ran the life of my fully charged I Phone! Panic- how do I know my distance now?! Quickly the brain triggers into thoughts of prior runs and what the distances were.... I added a few side roads in and actually enjoyed the peace and quiet of no music. Although I still have not determined what my exact mileage was I am confident that I hit 35 and would have be close to 36K+. 

Yesterday I proved to myself that I am not only one step closer but 

"I GOT THIS BABY"!!! 

4 Weeks or O EM GEE.... 28 days

Hyperventilating here......4 Weeks or O EM GEE....who's kidding who?!  28  freakin days before I am running 26.2 freaking miles!!

I knew going in this would be the month where my dedication would need to show through. Its the busiest time of year for my work with multiple "important' things and season coming into play and my mileage should be through the roof! Insert panic here.... the last few weeks have been horrible for my training. Nothing like an injury here, a flu here and then a nice smash to the face (another story). Add in a complete lack of sleep and you have an under trained individual heading into the month prior to her marathon. See I am even typing in third person. Denial is an amazing thing... one problem?! Denial will not be running TWENTY SIX POINT FREAKING TWO MILES!!! No I will be the under trained athlete doing that crazy feat! Haaaaaaa!! 

The great thing about SMART goals when it comes to fitness is the ever important "A"= adaptable! Well adapt and adapt I have done. I altered my training to include riding my bike to get in my long distances. Although my legs fully believe that running and then bike riding are completely equal to running the full distance, mentally I am just not buying it. With each of these hurdles that have been thrown at me I "need" mentally to have a real tried and true long run and it is going to happen hell or high water! I am voting for the hell vs the high water, LOL! So whatever you are doing this upcoming Saturday morning please think of me as I will be putting on my kicks and running 34-36K regardless of weather, illness, injury whatever.... 

As little engine said "I think I can!" "I think I can"

Ramp Up to Big Sur Week 7

 Oh yeah! Oh yeah! the body is finally coming back together and more importantly my week of fake it till you make it has also kicked in!!! 

After a tad bit of anxiety last week for missing a few weeks of training and then reviewing my training calendar to see that I did not have a run higher than 32K on my agenda?! With the instant feeling of "oh my! That's not good" Time to call in the support troops.... my awesome friend Devan was very kind to point out to me that half marathon training is only 12 weeks and here I was at that time 8 weeks still left of my training. Plenty of time to change up the program and make the adjustments needed. Yeah! 

While reorganizing my training plans I had an epiphany- it appears I can be quite delusional?! I know shocking!! During one of my many internal marathon conversations with myself I clicked into my lack of reality and training. As I was re-piecing my training calendar back together my internal voice clicked in "what was I thinking?! Did I honestly think that I could come up with a training calendar that would lead to this marathon being easy?! Its a marathon its not intended to be easy"  An Etch a Sketch moment later and I am back in the real world. A Marathon is hard! and its intended that way that's why it is called a "marathon"! 

Ramp Up to Big Sur Week 8

Week 9 and 8 is where the cold reality of marathon training really begins. It has been a really rough few weeks for me. Week 10 I hinted in my blog about my body not recovering fast enough and the mileage taking its toll. I was smart and listened to my body and took my week of recover. Usually during a week of recover I will still do some time of exercise-not this time! Full on out of commission for the entire week! 

  First training run back was one of those much loved long steady runs: 29-30K.  The night before I was filled with dread. Full on "why are you doing this? What are you thinking?" Friends of mine had a birthday party that night and everyone was having a blast. The thought of being irresponsible, joining into the fun and sabotaging my run was very much up, front and center in my mind. Well nope I held strong, had my 2 drinks, lots of water, watched the fights and went home immediately afterward to get some much needed sleep. Thankfully I made the ever important "run date". Upon waking up that morning it was the "only" reason I made it out the door. My speedy ever enthusiastic friends were ready to go..... I was on the fake till you make it plan! Early in the run my biggest cheerleader does his usual check in- "how you doing?' my response on that lovely morning. "I'm just going to smile and nod" So smile I did until approx 3-4K in, my knee felt like someone stuck a knife into it. As I knew my mental game was off I told myself " really?! you will look for any excuse to not run today" I continued to focus on the run and see if it got better or worse. Well worse it got! I called her quits at 6K with my entire left side in pain from hip to ankle. My friends continued off on their run and I  took the 1.5K short-cut back. That was one brutal kilometre and an half. I am still not sure if the pain throbbing through the entire of my body was the worst part or the mental abuse I was putting myself through. I started that run with such negative emotions that although my pain was very genuine I kept telling myself it was because "I didn't want to do it"" The mind is powerful and you were looking for an excuse to stop!"  Damn Type "A" personality. Needless to say the rest of that day was a right off. I spent the day stretching, medicating myself, bonding with my ice pack and tennis ball. Although I was quite happy to justify the ruin of that run as a mental undoing I spent the next 5 days in pain. Needless to say my body created an additional recovery week for itself.

  Well sometimes you just can't win!!! Now I bring you to this past Sunday. I know you are on the edge of your seat to find out how this run went.... well ha! ha! ha! It appears that the world and my body were not done. Physical injury aside this Sunday was spent mostly in bed yep! a cold! Originally I thought I could ride my bike, go to bed, ride my back, go to bed. Yes I know that Type "A" thing again! So I took the neck test. Neck test you ask?!- if you are sick from the neck up you can train, neck down you need to take it easy or not all! Well my cold was definitely in my chest and energy was non existent! Another long training run down. 

Which finally brings me to today! I have spent the last few days having a pity party while making plans on my action battle to get my training back in order. The one side of my brain is all over it! I know all the right things to say but the other side of my brain is not buying in. Thankfully it is a beautiful sunny day here and I took a look at my lovely fur babies and asked them the question "Girls, wanna run? Go run with Mom?!" Their excitement and enthusiasm was way too funny. I think if they could have peed their pants in excitement they would have. So off we went..... a short 6K that thankfully felt pretty good. I know I have to be very aware of my left side as it is still very sore and feeling weak but at least I got out there.... 

The mileage is on the calendar, I know the words to say and think?! I just have to find a way to make myself really believe it!!! So here is to a new page, grabbing my fitness by the horns and getting a move on..... and more importantly proving they are not just words!