Big Fat Liar

After sleeping for a blissful 12 hours and 45 minutes last night, I awoke at 10:45 AM to find that the outside temperature was a mere 36 degrees. And while that isn't quite freezing, it is a long way from the 51 degrees that the weatherman had predicted.

Liar!

I decided to give it a few more hours to see if it would warm up any. By 3:00, it had climbed to a whopping 39 degrees.

So, I decided that wasn't warm enough for me to brave the rain, so I ran on the treadmill instead. Where I managed to actually run all 4 miles today!

Woo Hoo!

I also learned a very valuable lesson: Running and crying aren't a good combo!

While I was running, I was watching Save the Last Dance. I bet I have literally seen that movie 25 or 30 times by now, but it still reduces me to tears in several spots. Like after the ballet, when Sara is talking about giving up dancing because of her mom's death. And when her dad shows Sara her room all done and tells her he loves her. And when Derek goes on stage during her audition and tells her that she was born to [dance]. I kept having to hold back my tears in order to keep running or I knew I was going to start having a hard time breathing and have to quit.

I just love that movie! I guess the determination that Sara shows for her dancing is the same kind of determination it takes to train for a long race. Plus it's just an emotional, touching coming of age type story.

I highly recommend it to any females out there who haven't see it. All of you guys would probably just roll your eyes and call it a stupid chick flick!

Warm Up in the Forecast!

This morning I made up my two miles from Sunday. It's not the same as 4 miles in a row, but what's a girl to do?

I'll have another chance to conquer that tomorrow, as the schedule once again calls for 4 miles. I think I'll make it as long as the blisters don't hold me back. I have 3 on one foot and 2 on the other. Why oh why did I ever stop running? I hate the blisters I always get for the first few weeks that I start back up. I miss my calluses!

In happier news, it is actually supposed to get to 51 degrees tomorrow!! Yippee!

It's supposed to rain all day, but I don't even care. I'm looking forward to my first run outside in months!!

Getting My Butt Kicked

Loving this new training schedule?

Yeah. Not so much.

Sunday: Run 4 miles.

Ok, I can do that!

Oh wait...

Did you mean run 4 miles....

in a row?

Then again, maybe not.

I made it two miles before I ran out of steam. And my muscles have been screaming at me ever since.

But, today was better.

Tuesday: Run 3 miles.

Check!

It'll get easier. It has to.

Right?

I always bounce back pretty quickly. No reason this time should be any different! By this time next week, I know I'll be back in the grove. But this getting back into the swing of things is just plain kicking my butt.

Blog Face Lift

As is par for the course, I'm getting ready to give my blog a face lift! It seems that every time I begin training for a new race, I find it necessary to change the appearance of my blog. And, I'm even going to finally get around to fixing the side bar that got messed up when I switched to new blogger. So, please bear with me as I figure out exactly what I would like my blog to look like for the next 13 weeks!

Something Resembling Sanity

I've settled back into my routine and caught up from being gone on vacation. I'm pretty sure that I have most of the balls back up in the air.

For now, I'm holding off on making a decision about the Netflix vs Blockbuster idea. My boyfriend owns more movies than any sane person should, so I've decided I'll just raid his collection until he tells me to quit or I've exhausted the supply. Then I'll make a decision and join one of them. Thanks to everyone for their input!

It feels pretty good to say that my bills are paid, the laundry is done, the cat is feed, the plants are watered, and my to do list is down to only 98 pages from the 250 that it was at a few weeks ago!

The training schedule is taped to the fridge. As far as I can tell, my knee and ankle are doing fine, and I'm running out of excuses as to why I'm too busy to run.

So, it would appear that I'm finally back in the game. My schedule calls for 4 miles today, so my treadmill and I have a date in a little while.

Last night we had an ice storm and I don't quite trust myself to go run outside. I'm pretty much a big ol' klutz and I'm afraid that I'll fall and break something or twist my ankle if I try to brave a run on the slippery streets. I'm not willing to risk an injury just as I'm about to get going again!

So, me, the treadmill, and a movie are going to be fast friends this afternoon for my first run in so long that I don't even want to think about it!

I can't wait!

I've actually been looking forward to this moment for days. Wish me luck!!

My Hero

We all have heroes in our lives; people that we look up to for one reason or another.

My hero's name is Matthew. He is the most awesome kid in the world!!!

I met him a year ago when I became involved with Team in Training. He was my honored hero when I ran the Indy half marathon to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

He was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was 8 years old. And TOMORROW (Feb 14th) is his 15th birthday.That's one heck of a long time to be under going chemo! But he deals with it like a champ and lives up to his motto, "NEVER GIVE UP!" every day of his life.

He is even dearer to my heart because he is a runner, too. And I often think about him running in track meets the day after chemo when I am out there wanting to quit on a long run. It helps to keep things in perspective for me.

Matthew's mom keeps a website for him. Matthew loves to read the messages that people leave for him, so will you please help me make Matthew's birthday special by going to his website and leaving him a birthday wish in the guestbook!!

**link removed**

Thanks!!

Giving In

I have been resisting turning on the word verification for comments for over a year now. But, I just received 4 spam comments in less than 24 hours. So, I'm joining the masses and am giving in.

I hope it helps!

I have a new blogger question for all of you computer experts out there! In the old blogger, I was able to put a list of links in the side bar, but also include regular text that wasn't part of the link. For example, I had a list of my up coming races, each with a link to the race website, followed by the date of the race that was not part of the link - just regular text. I can't find a way to do this with the new blogger. Am I missing something? Please help!

I leave for the Bahamas late tonight! I can't wait. I'm hoping to return less stressed and ready to start training for my half marathon in May!

Happy Running!