While I am pushing my body to get ready for the big half marathon coming up this fall, I am also having to learn my limits..did I mention how I hate that? When I have a 20 mile week it seems my body gives out. I'm sure that it is due to the fact that I only have one adrenal gland...I don't know how - but I am pretty sure it's related. So I had a 20 mile week, then last week I pushed it hard (in the heat) Monday and Tuesday. That kind of forced me to take Wednesday off. I really wanted to try to get 20 miles in four days. It didn't work - I found my limit.  Now I could have pushed myself a little harder got some miles on Wednesday and more on Thursday. I had to get groceries and stuff in that time frame on Friday so I needed to get all my miles on M-Th. But my steam ran out. This used to really frustrate me. But as I am learning that a slow week doesn't mean it's over, and it doesn't mean a failure - I'm getting to where I'm okay with giving it my b...

That may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but I almost had to sacrifice my Monday run due to another obligation. It was okay, but it only gives me 4 days in a row to run and some weeks I need an off day in the middle. My goal of course is to work up to running all 5 days - with a little biking thrown in. I have several goals right now - but I can do them all at the same time basically, so it's not too overwhelming. The heat has got to be beaten, miles have to increase, and I need to lose at least another 10 pounds. Since none of these are mutually exclusive I should be able to work out a plan! Sometimes we give up too soon on projects or plans because it gets too complicated. That can make us feel like none of them is do-able! I am finding that if I hang in there and don't change the goals just because of a complication I can figure out a way to accomplish almost anything! Here's an example. When I am running I get all sorts of ideas. I write stuff in my head f...

I have officially lost 5 pounds over the last week. It certainly took a lot of willpower to make the necessary dietary changes. Plus by body is sore from the extra activity. Some would say that willpower comes easily. I think something else gives strength to willpower... discomfort. As long as we are comfortable where we are we will not feel like we need to make any changes. All too often we become comfortable with our discomfort rather than making the choice to change we embrace it as the norm and do nothing about it. But discomfort is what gives us the drive to change. I was thinking about the baby eagle and how when it is time for them to grow up she removes all the "fluff" from the nest. This causes the bird great discomfort - enough for them to find another place to stay. Would it make any sense if the little bird went out and built a nest without the cushions so they could have one "just like mom's because it was so uncomfortable ? lol! Of course not! We ...

Okay so yesterday was supposed to be my long run. It had been over a month since I'd run over 5 miles or so. To help myself be successful in my endeavors I set two goals. Running two hours was my minimum, I would not accept less than that of myself. The second goal was I really wanted to do 10 miles. It didn't have to be in the two hours of course... I met several obstacles that I was not expecting. For one it was already in the upper 80's and I really wasn't prepared or conditioned for that! I did wear my camelbak as I always do on my long runs. And after about 5 miles just about every joint in my body was reminding me of two things a) how old I am and b) how difficult it was to run! And my poor toes! I've lost one toenail and have two more apparently getting ready to go through the same process...And by the time I got home I was nursing two good sized blisters... how'd that make me feel? Elated!! It is sort of like a rite of passage for a runner! So I made...