Week 37: Day 1

WEEK 37?!?!  Seriously??  I mean, I knew that was coming after week 36, but holy moly!!

Cabbage soup diet has gone very well.  Today is my final day - brown rice and veggies all day.  As much as I want!  I bet it won't be all that much.  I mean, I like brown rice...but I am having a hard time getting excited about it this morning.  Haha.

This time around, the cabbage soup plan has actually not been terrible.  I have really really enjoyed the soup and I just keep reminding myself that it's only 1 week!  I am actually thinking of doing 1 week of the soup, then taking 3 days off and starting another week with the soup.  The only problem is my training program increasing...the first 4 days are hard with no real protein.  It's a nice fall back plan, though, for when I get out of hand.  Haha.

Speaking of training - yesterday I went to a "park" I have driven by many, many times to see if there was a trail I could run.  Sure enough, I had 4 miles on the schedule and the sign showed a 2.4 mile path to the Monticello information center!  I decided to walk 5 minutes, then run until I got there and run all the way back.  I did exactly that, but either I was way faster than usual, or the mileage was off (I actually "mapped" the run when I got back on dailymile.com and it sure did say 2.4 miles each way!).  Anyway, I logged 40 minutes of fitness yesterday for Shrinkvivor and covered more than my 4 miles for training purposes.  Hooray!

Would you believe I have signed myself up for 2 5K's this weekend?  I'm kind of excited, actually.  I really, really want to get under 27 minutes and now i have TWO chances to do that!  The first race is in a town called Zion Crossroads just a few miles down the road from my house.  Saturday morning, 8 am...then I am having Zoe's birthday party at 11 am that day.  Whoo.  Luckily, I have only invited family, so they will be okay if I pass out in the middle.  Hahaha.  Then, Sunday, I was feeling all left out reading about the Nashville zombie run, so I signed up to do the Charlottesville zombie race!  It is being filmed and then made into a short film which will be screened on Monday night!  Super fun.  I really want to do a costume for both - okay to be the same one - but I have ZERO money and no real fun clothes to mess with.  Plus, I still need it to be comfortable for running.  Hmmm.  Any ideas?  Too bad I can't fit back into my prom dress yet (MAJOR goal), because that would be hilarious.  Prom Queen costume!  I don't have any fancy dresses...according to weather.com it's going to be chilly for both races.  I was thinking of wearing my black running skirt, bright orange tank top, and some black and orange striped knee-socks.  If all else fails, I guess Halloween colors are better than nothing!

I have written up a schedule for me and the littles to follow today.  Lots of outdoor play, scheduled snacks, midday storytime before lunch, QUIET time after lunch...I really hope we have a great day together.  Shaun left for work (yay!) and took the car today, so it's just me and them.  With no escape.  Hahahaha. 

Have a great day!
xoxo

Ridin' on a Heat Wave

Hey gang!

I want you to know I've written about five blogs in my head (usually during my runs!) but just forgot that critical typing step. ;) In any case - happy Tuesday! I can say for certain it's a happy Tuesday here at the homestead because we are currently counting down til when we leave for vacation this weekend - whoohoo! I'm actually excited to find new routes along the beach, maybe try a treadmill workout and have some new places to go!

First an update - I opted to not run the BDB 5k on Saturday. It was a twilight run (at 7:30 pm), and for those of you who live anywhere other than Alaska, I'm sure you've noticed the heat. I did a test run along the route last Thursday night, during which I "wrote" a blog titled "The One Where I Talk about (Extreme) Heat." No seriously - that's what I did while I ran. I went out after work at about 6:30 and it.was.HOT. Brutally so. I ran across the bridge and down to a boat ramp along the river, then turned around to head back. I admittedly walked the grade up the bridge the second time, but in my defense, I was getting a teensy bit dizzy haha. Then I picked back up and ran the rest of the way across, down the path and around back toward the parking lot. I've been using MapMyRun.com (neat website!) and the entire run was around 3.25 miles. Did I mention it was HOT? And the ramps up the bridge on either side are no joke - looooong hills going both ways.

So in any case, I hated running in the heat and running across that bridge, in the heat, with a few dozen people seemed like a terrible idea. Instead, I went and had drinks with my friend Erin (yay!) which was a much much better Saturday night.

I have not run yet this week. Mondays are off days because I have early staff meeting, and today ended up being off after Lucy had kind of a tough night last night (poor kid's allergies are making her crazy...and snotty), so I slept in a little. I'll be out WThF this week to get my three in before our trip, and I've mapped some new routes in my neighborhood to try, so I'm anxious to get going.

In any case, kind of a running fail so far this week. I think I've found a running plan I want to implement after we get back from vacation, so I'll post more about that next time. Hopefully it will help me improve my stamina and speed. In the meantime, everybody stay cool out there! After my adventure last week, I definitely recommend getting those workouts done early if you're going outside! Stay safe!

Ashley