Which Way is Up?

I'm completely torn about what direction this little ol' blog is going to go in the future. I mean, it's not like I have really put a lot of time or effort into it period and I've been debating for weeks now on whether I just want to completely kill it off or not. I know I've confessed in the past that I'm not a "blogger"...but I do really enjoy having an outlet. I just get really guilty when I don't have time to put in what I think it, and any readers I possibly might have that haven't completely given up on me, deserve.

And I absolutely hate, hate, hate that when I am gone from this space for a few weeks that I feel like I need to come back and do an update dump because that's just boring for me and for you. Right??

But oh man - have I had a lot going on! hahahaha

For one thing, I ran a marathon!!!!! It's hard to believe, even still, and I feel like it's taken on that somewhat hazy dream-like quality. It was HARD, yo. I mean, running a marathon is no joke at all. But I have to say that I am SO GLAD I did it. Do I feel like it changed my life? Yeah, maybe a little bit. Not to get all philosophical or anything, but surviving the long months of training and then the actual race left me realizing that I truly am stronger than I give myself credit for most of the time. It was a battle, and I won. It wasn't the prettiest victory ever, but it doesn't even matter. I. Did. It. I don't care how long it took me or how ugly it was in the process; what matters is that not even once during the race did I think "forget it, just call the wagon because I'm done". Even when my entire body was screaming in pain during the last couple of miles I knew that quitting wasn't even close to an option. I knew without a doubt that I was going to cross that finish line. And I did!!! And I bawled when I did...I am actually tearing up now just thinking about it. It was AH-MAZING!!!

Flat Kristen, ready to run with Team SunRype and Active Advantage!

At the halfway point...I stopped to pose because I wanted at least ONE picture of me not looking absolutely horrific. LOL

I did it!!!!! Moments after crossing the finish line and getting the medal!

My favorite medal by far!!! So proud, but still so surprised!!

But I'm glad it is in the rear view mirror now! I'm really working on focusing on losing this weight. Can you believe that the scale maybe budged a pound during all that training? I know right - so RUDE! But I can't complain because I know I lost inches. I haven't measured but my clothes fit very differently and my legs show definition that they've probably never shown. But the challenge now is to not eat like I'm still training for a marathon. HA! Easier said than done...But I am determined to lose the rest of this weight. I'm at about 175 right now and would, ideally, like to be at 140. So do the math and that means 35 pounds which is not insignificant and will not be easy. But I think I'm finally ready to make this my primary health focus now that the injury/illness and the marathon are out of the way.

I'm also excited to start working on speed again. I definitely know that I let myself get very (way too very) comfortable with those oh-so-slow marathon paces. Especially following the knee disaster and not feeling like I could push it lest I cause damage to the progress I had already made. So between injury recovery and marathon I'm running at paces that are close to my beginning stats. I ran a virtual 10k this past weekend and it kicked my butt. And I know it is primarily because I'm just not used to running (my) fast anymore. I'm used to slooooooowwwww...time to get me un-used to that feeling!!

Which brings me to what is coming up on the race schedule! Last year I ran the Run Riverside Challenge and will be doing it again this year with the first race up in just two weeks - The Hometown Heroes Honor Run. I absolutely loved this race last year and even walked away with a PR (it was only a few seconds, but whatev!) without even trying. One of my goals from way back in the beginning of this year was to PR in every race distance so this one needs to be a PR if I want to make that happen since I'm not sure if I'll have another one in 2014. Then after that will be a 10k at the Riverside Mission Inn run and finally it will all culminate in the Citrus Heritage Run in January 2015 (I'm counting it as a PR for "this year" if I get one since I haven't done another half during 2014 and this one is less than 2 weeks into the new year.)

My plan to master these is the Train Like a Mother Own It Half-Marathon training plan. Yes, I wasn't able to live up to the expectations of the TLAM Finish It Marathon plan as it ended up being rather aggressive for this newbie at that distance, but the half is a distance I'm a little more comfortable with and since I'm working on some fast, it should give me that. Keeping my fingers crossed I can pull off some PR's over the next several months!

There's a lot of other stuff happening, but I will perhaps save that for another day. I don't know where I'm going with this blog right now, so I'm going to just see how it all shakes out over the next couple of months and if the posts are few and far between or the quality is crap, then I'll re-evaluate.

Until then, live happy, my friends!