Here comes the sun

It's been hot and humid in central VA so far this week. This echos my mood. I'm in my last week of work, I got my final grade in Human Anatomy (A!! I can't believe I thought I was going to fail that class!!), and I'm getting ready to start a brand new academic program. I feel like this stage of my life I've been in since college, where I've been waiting for the next big thing to happen, is finally ending.

It's not that I've been unhappy in Charlottesville, especially since Jacob moved in with me. I've loved living with him for the past year! It's just that I haven't felt fulfilled or like I was moving forward. But now I am!

I'm working on changing my attitude, too. Focusing less on things that don't matter, and more on my attitude towards myself. I want to be the healthiest, happiest person I can be. And I am trying to remember that I am only accountable to myself. Only I will know if I eat too many calories in a day, and it's just myself I'm cheating. Only I have to live with the time I get in a race. I don't even have to tell anyone else what my time was if I don't want to! I'm trying to take responsibility for myself, and also try to care less what other people think. I'm responsible for my own happiness.

2 more days of work after today! There's a mood lifter if I ever saw one!

Half marathon recap

2:02:35!! I was pretty happy with that time. In the past few weeks, I've been feeling kind of lazy during my runs. Like I just don't want to pick up and go. So I was worried about this race. Even standing on the starting line, I just didn't feel 'in the zone' like I usually am before races. Maybe because it was a smaller race, and there wasn't a big crowd of spectators, I just wasn't fired up. I did run my first mile in 9:05. Negative split FAIL. I slowed down a little once I realized the mistake I had made, and I kept pretty steady for the rest of the race actually. Because it was a small race, they had these little tiny signs stuck in the grass to mark the miles. I kept missing them! For much of the race I had absolutely no idea what pace I was running. I just kept going how I felt, and it worked out OK. I felt better during the race than I had in the 10 miler, even though it was every bit as hot. It was VERY hot. And sunny. And there were gentle rolling hills all along the course... nothing huge, but definitely enough to slow you down a bit. Mile 11 was the worst, it had lots of steep little ups and downs. I do so much better on long gradual hills than short steep hills. So overall, I was so happy to finish in 2:02:35! My previous half marathon time (from Richmond in the fall) was 2:06:09, and that was an easier course on a MUCH cooler day. So yay for me!

Other fun activities over the weekend:
making pizza
eating pizza
making cookies
eating cookies
running
eating bagels
wine tasting
beer tasting
eating bagette with goat cheese and dried cherries
watching the Kentucky Derby
eating veggies
drinking water
setzer spritzers with cranberry apple juice
lounging by the pool
addressing 150 envelopes for Relay for Life
sunburn
eating ice cream
eating enchiladas

Yes, much of my weekend was spent fueling/refueling for the race. It was lovely. I don't think I gained weight overall either, or maybe just a pound.

This week will be a light exercise week. I think I'll go for a 3 or 4 mile easy jog today, unless it's raining, in which case I will gym it. We'll just have to wait and see!

1/2 marathon tomorrow!

I have been crazy busy this week. On Wednesday I took my anatomy final exam! I am DONE with that stupid online class (assuming I passed... I needed a 50 on the exam to get my C... I'm not too worried). The fiance and I also met with the pastor who is marrying us on Wednesday night. Interestingly, physical appearance came up. As in the 'if you could change one thing about your fiance's physical appearance what would it be?' question. I said I would change Jacob's weight... to GAIN! The boy is a stick and although he eats whatever he wants, he stays super skinny (no fair!) He said he would make me less concerned with my physical appearance. Which is fair to say. I value physical beauty in myself (as well as my surroundings).

Yesterday we went to a Moroccan restaurant to celebrate me finishing! I had a delicious falafel wrap and a cup of out of this world tomato soup with carrots and ginger. It was soooo good and perfect for 2 days before a race... carby and not too hard to digest.

Today my group at work is going out to lunch. I am planning to get a salad so that I won't weigh myself down too much for the race tomorrow or upset my sensitive tummy. Maybe an all-veggie sandwich. We'll see.

I'm super excited for Big to come down tonight so we can run our race! It's supposed to be HOT again. What is it with me and hot weather on runs? After the race, we're meeting Little and Little Little for some winery (and possible brewery) action. Mmmmmm....

My goal for the race is to beat my previous half marathon time of 2:06:09. I have been running fast enough that I should be able to do that, but I am worried that this course will be hillier than Richmond and also the heat is a major factor. My secondary goal is to actually run a negatively split race. Which means basically I will start off SUPER slow and see how much I can speed up at the end.

Oh and I ordered some bondi bands a few weeks ago and they came yesterday! So now I will be running with 'Will run for BEER' on my forehead. AWESOME. I'm pretty sure that alone will make the race!

Weekend recap

I had a really busy weekend! But less busy (or at least less alcohol heavy) than the last 2 weekends. I really don't know how I ever got anything DONE in college... it seems like the day after I have more than 2 drinks, I'm just so out of it all day long!

On Saturday, Jacob and I picked out our wedding invitations! Yay! I really love them, they're plain and simple, but modern and really pretty. The paper is such good quality that it makes the simple invitation look so nice! We also looked at new apartments in Richmond, and though we weren't too thrilled with what we saw, we got to walk around down town and it made me so much more excited about moving there! I really can't wait :)

Saturday night we participated in Beer a Thon 2010. One of Jacob's friends had this idea... about 10 people met at a local pub and started working our way through their extensive beer list. Everyone tasted a little of everything. We went through 26 beers. I had some new stuff that was quite good! For some strange reason, after a while, all the beer started to taste like raisins to me. It was crazy... raisin isn't normally a taste I associate with beer. One of the other guys said he tasted raisins in a lot of the beers too so at least it's not just me!

I had a NICE run on Sunday. Jacob and I did the Monticello trail twice, so a little more than 8 miles. Even though it was HOT (I think it was probably in the 80's and very humid), I still had the best run I had had all week. I don't know why, maybe it was that 13 mile run last Monday, but I just hadn't been feeling good on my runs last week. I felt so much better and prepared for the race during this run! It was a nice reminder about why I love running.

I had some studying to do (gotta get that anatomy final done!), so I headed to the rooftop pool at my gym on Sunday afternoon. It was so nice to sit outside by a pool... this was the first time I've done it this season. It was hot (but not too hot) and sunny and fabulous... I kept taking study breaks to close my eyes and pretend I was in the Bahamas! I would open my eyes expecting to see the crystal clear aqua Caribbean looking back at me, and I was pretty disappointed to see the hills of Central Virginia. But hey, the sun was out, the sky was blue, everything was a lovely green, and I could see the hazy ridge line of Mont Alto/Carter's Mountain 5 miles away and know that I had just run up that! It was really a lovely day.

Late night munchies

I do not know what is wrong with me, but I have been craving desserts. Like not just one dessert, but 3 or 4 desserts. Maybe I'm not eating enough during the day? Humm, that's a possibility. But it seems no matter what I eat/don't eat, around 9 PM I want SWEETS! Last night I had jelly beans and cookies. Jelly beans are just highly processed sugar... why do I love them so much?

I am having a 'fat week' where I don't feel my best. And a lot of it is due to eating so much junk food. I need a good kick in the butt to get back on track!

Verdict: undecided

I finished my 13.14 miles. At first I felt great... major points for going on such a long run on a Monday! This is awesome! I'm so fabulous! Around mile 6 or 7 I started to get really, REALLY bored. I do almost all my runs with my fiance, and most of my longer runs with a group. So even with my iPod I was bored out of my mind for two hours and 15 minutes. I also started to hurt. My right knee, left shin, and legs in general were sore. Also, my lower back and abs were killing me when I finished. I don't know why, I can't remember that ever happening after a long run before.

I'm getting a little worried about this half marathon. Yesterday's run was hard, but I'm going to need to do the same distance faster during the race. I just did a 10 miler way faster than this... how did I do that? I'm kind of banking on the fact that tapering usually makes me feel better, and since I was running at a different time of day than I usually complete my long runs, maybe that was causing me to feel a little more tired than normal. Let's hope that's all it was!

My pants are starting to feel a little tight. I need to stop eating M&Ms and cookies and start focusing back on healthy, clean food. The scale said I had gained 3 pounds on Sunday (since last Tuesday) which I don't actually believe, but I do need to keep watching what I eat. I ended up eating about 2100 calories instead of my usual 1700 yesterday, but I don't feel too bad about that because of the long run. It's normal for me to eat more on a day that I run 10 miles or more.

So here's to recommitting to health!

Long run fail

I had a busy weekend with lots of booze. So I didn't do a long run. Well, there is only one more weekend before my half marathon on May 1, and the longest run I've done was 12 miles and that was like a month ago! I don't want to go into a half marathon without having done a recent long run. So I have planned a 13.1 mile long run for this evening. Yes, on a Monday after work. This will either be AWESOME or HORRIBLE. I am not sure which! I will post a recap tomorrow.

On the bright side, a cookout with a black bean burger and sweet potato fries is planned for tonight after my run! What a yummy way to refuel :)