Not Just About Running Anymore

 Oh My!  I don't even know where to begin to tell you about this week!  This journey is definitely a roller coaster ride.  It's only week 5 of this 16 week training and I've had to miss 2 long runs.  Week 2, I hurt my foot going too fast and this week my left hip has finally decided to tighten up and tell me to take it easy.  How can I take it easy when I've got 26 freakin' miles to run in 11 weeks.  I've said from the beginning I just want to make it to the start line injury free.  I have to tell you, I'm nervous.  I'm emotionally torn between resting or pushing it just a little further.  

I'M A BALLS TO THE WALL KINDA GIRL.  I'M THAT GIRL!

I get excited and pumped about something and I'm ready to do it and do it now.  

I keep running through my head everything I do to prevent these injuries.  I've explained all the stretching I do and I've even added more to my repertoire.  I don't skip on stretching.  I don't rush through it. I do it before I run, after I run, @ night, I do yoga, I've just bought resistant bands to strengthen my hips, I do that dreaded foam roller (and I've even gotten better @ it).  I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!!!  That's where I was on Friday.  That was my thinking.  That was my dilemma.  And, on Friday night I had to make a decision about Saturday.  I HAD to tell myself NO!  YOU CANNOT DO THAT 16 MILES TOMORROW!!!  ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND WOMAN!!!  I cried and I talked to my friends about it.  I tear up now just sittin' here typing about it.  How can this happen?  What am I doing wrong?  How can I fix it??  I was sooo looking forward to that 16 miles.  I really wanted to see how I would do, How I would handle it and how my body would react.  I even went to Modells on Friday and bought my fuel belt, I bought my gels, I bought new t-shirts, I bought recovery shakes.  I WAS READY!!!  By the end of the day on Friday I had to tell myself NO!  This was killing me!!

So, I decided not to let this ruin my weekend!  I slept in on Saturday, went to Brooklyn (by accident) and had an amazing lunch, found a new neighborhood, and drank some wine (I never drink wine).  For the last month I've been doing my long runs and just crashing afterwards until Sunday when I go to Yoga.  The weekend hasn't been too exciting in terms of getting outside my house and seeing the city.  

In the meantime, I decided there's something about my body that's not right, something MORE I need to do.  So I decided it's the other fitness aspect of this journey.  A new lifestyle, a realization that I can't just run and not do anything else.  I have a blog I follow, it's called BurningBabiFat.com (LOOK IT UP, IT'S AMAZING).  One of her posts this week was STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY (http://www.burningbabifat.com/2012/08/strong-is-new-skinny-what-drives-you.html?m=0).  When I read this post I had to really think about it and it really hit home.  I have to make myself strong for this marathon.  I need to work on my core, work on building more muscle.  I like to think my legs are strong, but my upper body could definitely use some work.  So, above the hips I go.  I started talking to my friend Maribel.  She's totally into nutrition and fitness.  In fact, check out her blog @ http://food4thoughtnyc.tumblr.com/.  She's amazing and has tons of stuff to share.  Honestly, I don't know what I would do w/out her @ this point.  She listens to me complain, cry, and wonder what the hell is going on w/me right now.  We were talking and she's lost a ton of weight and has gotten really healthy in the last few years.  She likes to do @ home DVD's and we started talking about the Jillian Michaels circuit training dvd's.  So, low and behold, I downloaded from Amazon today and did my first workout @ home to the DVD.  Ms Michaels had me going for 20 mins straight.  I enjoyed it and got my sweat on.  She says to do it every day and you'll lose weight and get fit in I don't know, like 30 days?  I'm not going to put a time limit on it.  I'm just going to work hard and see where it takes me.  I'm definitely not going to stop running.  I have tons of work to do there too.  I'm going to do this Jillian Michaels thing in addition to the running & yoga.  This is how it has to be for the next few months until the marathon.  I have to focus and get strong in these days to come and make sure I can do this.  I have to turn it into my new lifestyle if I want to get better.  

All that being said, I had a pretty good week running my short runs and getting motivated to try something new and begin to get disciplined.  Since I've started this blog, I've also started twitter.  You can follow me @  Start2Finish12.  I've begun to follow all these runners, tons of women who run, who inspire, who eat healthy, who are positive, and encouraging.  I'm telling you it's a whole new world for me.  These women are awesome.  They blog and tell you about their journey, post pictures, they go to seminars, they do so many things that it's just all so motivating.  This is what has kept me going this weekend.  Knowing that I'm not the only one w/these problems and knowing this isn't the end of this journey.  I know now I can do this.  There are women who do so many inspiring things that have kids and a family.  I don't have that so I have no excuses.  If they can take care of families and keep in shape, run marathons, run 1/2 marathons, do triathalons, I have to be able to do this w/just me.  So, I'm ready.  Let's get going.  I've learned about #plankaday.  I've been doing 1 min plankadays for the past 5 days.  This is just one little thing that can help build up my core to make me just a little stronger.  I wanna be STRONG!  Not just skinny.  I wanna be healthy.  Not just skinny.  I wanna be toned and lean.  I'm on a mission.  

It's more NOW than just a marathon!  

What is it that inspires you?  What motivates you and how far will you go to be the best you can be?  How far will you go to reach a goal?

KC

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxxoxox