I call them "Motivation"



Yes, it's VERY long.  A lot longer than I thought. 



That means ME.  Hells yeah!





What a wonderful motto.....

Running Program

Ok, so I'll admit - I started my running program again.  Sort of like the Couch to 5k program - I figured if I'm going to meet my running goals, I have to really get serious about this.  (Do you want to start counting how many times you'll read me saying this?  Go ahead, I think this is the 2nd or 3rd time already.)

I'm running another 5k in October in Florence so I have from now and then to get to my goal. 

The treadmill?  Oh, I haven't really touched it since I bought it.  It's just been too frigging hot to get my fat ass out there sweating on it.   BUT - I do know most of the people that work up front at the YMCA.  See, I'm not totally lazy.  I just prefer to run on treadmills that are inside air conditioned rooms.  Call me spoiled.  

Treadmill

I broke down and bought a treadmill.  Off Craigslist of course, but still, I bought a treadmill.  My thought is that on the days I can't get to the gym or early the AM, I can go for a run on the treadmill.  It's a really good thought.  I mean it is supposed to help me build my endurance and all right?

I've been on it ONCE.

Epic fail so far.

But I bought the damn thing.  So that's a step in the right direction.  I've only had it a week so let's not lose all hope.  YET.

Lickety Split

Today Al, I, Teresa and Haylee ran the Hartsville YMCA's Lickety Split 5k race.  It was at 8am and HOT.  Have I mentioned I hate summer in SC?  If I haven't, you should know I do.  But I digress - the course was extremely, EXTREMELY hilly - which I was NOT prepared for.  I expected a hill or two, but I swear to all things mighty that there must have been 100 hills we had to run up in this race.  Ok, maybe not 100, but at least 4 to 6.  No. Frigging. Joke.

So needless to say, my time sucked.   Two minutes worse than my last race and I was aiming for 40 minutes or less.  Al and I finished in 46 minutes.  Boo.  Haylee finished in 44 and Teresa finished in 39 (she's such a show off you know?).

Guess what though?  Even though my time sucked and the course nearly killed me - I won a medal.  HELLS YEAH!!!!!!  I finished third in my age group - which I don't really know what it was, but hey whatever.  I missed them calling out my name though, I swore the man said Amy Briggs so I didn't budge.  Al and Teresa kept saying "I think he said your name" but I knew there was just no way.  So many people finished ahead of me.  Teresa won first place in our age group - which surprised nobody cause like I said, she's a show off anyways.   I only keep her around because she's encouraging....

Training with Al

I've mentioned before that I don't like to run with Al.   He always proves that he didn't have many girlfriends before me.  How so you ask? 

Well, a perfect example would be our run together this morning.  We don't run together very often - usually only during races and then that only lasts a few minutes.   I woke up this morning with a sore back but decided I'd try to run anyways.  We start out walking over to the other neighborhood....me assuming my back would warm up and I'd feel better before we ran.  As soon as we started running, I knew it wasn't going to be a good run.  We ran/walked the half mile to the stop sign at the end of the road and I was already pouring buckets of sweat.  At 7am, it was cool but the sun came straight down on us so it was HOT.

Not nearly as hot as that race on the Racetrack where I think I saw a turtle melted to it.  But it was pretty close.

I started doing what I do best.  Bitching.  Complaining about my back, how hot it was, how I was the one having to stop running first, how I hate running, etc.  I do this well folks.  Pam and I have it down to an art form when we run together.  Me and Al?  Not so much.  I expected my husband to say something like:

"You're doing great!"

"You're better at running than you think."

"You look SSSOOOO hot in those tight spandex shorts."

Yes, I would have taken the last one as a compliment at this point.  All I got?  The "Al caught in headlights" look which resembles the "Deer caught in headlights" look.  He honestly didn't know what to say to my bitching and profanity.  I'm sorry, running makes me swear.  A lot. 

So there - that's how I know Al didn't have many girlfriends before me.....because if he had, he would have known that when I was going off on my rant, it was HIS job to make me feel like sucky at running.  He failed. 

But the main reason I hate running with Al - he's better at it than me.  But I'm not the one with a gross Planters Wart on my foot.  Just saying.  That's all I got. 

Feeling Good

You probably won't hear me say this often - but I'm feeling pretty good about running right now.  I've started some cross training and forcing myself (and Pam) NOT to run too much.  And I'm seeing some results which is AAAWWWWEEEESSSSSOOOMMMEEEE.  I'm working my hotness on the elipitical machine and doing some upper body work too.  I can die a happy woman if my legs *and* arms get toned. 

Know the best result of all?  My endurance!  I can run a little longer now and I totally think that kicks major ass.  I could cry that's how happy I am.  Of course, I still have a ways to go, but it's improvement.  I like improvement.  My arch enemy the treadmill has helped me build my endurance.....I don't run on it all the time, but it's a nice training tool.

So, maybe it's the head rush or all those crazy hormones running supposedly releases while you're doing it - but I'm considering doing a half marathon in November.

Say what????

Gotta have it

This is my new MUST have in my running journey.  It speaks so many truths about why I run.  :)