The First 10

The first 10 minutes of a treadmill run are the hardest for me.  On an outdoor run, getting out the door is the hard part.  On the treadmill, staying on the treadmill when I really don't want to be there is the hard part.  It's a little too tempting to just push that red stop button and step off if it's a hard run or you're just not feeling it...I'm not going to lie and say that I've never done this...at least once I got the TM in the house.  So, I have to get myself through the first 10 minutes.  Once I've reached that mini-milestone, completing the rest of the run is usually no problem.

Credit: www.someecards.com

Wednesday morning I chose to sleep in rather than get up and run, so I knew I had an evening run ahead of me, and I was dreading it all day.  Several times I had to talk myself out of skipping it - before I even got home!  So, immediately after I got to the house I ordered myself upstairs to change into running clothes so I wouldn't get comfy on the couch and while away the evening.  After a little procrastinating, I started channel surfing to find the "right" show to watch while running, and lo and behold, Pitch Perfect was on!  So I turned up the volume, flipped the switch on the TM, and started to move.

It still wasn't an easy run, but it was certainly made more enjoyable to have one of my favorite movies on, and the first 10 minutes just flew by!

NTX in August

Welcome to North Texas in August - the thermometer on the back porch (in the shade) officially registered 104 here on Sunday.  We've been hanging out pretty steadily in these temps for a few days now, and are forecast to endure a few more days of this before a "weak cold front" dips us back down into the high 90's later in the week.  Sad when you get excited about double digits.

Whew, let me tell you, this made for a pretty uncomfortable run on Saturday morning.  Even "only" doing 6 miles, and starting at 5am (already 84° at 5am) was pretty brutal.

On the bright side, training in these temps should, theoretically, make at least a couple of my fall races feel a little easier...  ;-)

Too Much and Not Much to Say...

I can't tell you how many times in the past six months I've sat in front of this screen and started to write something...anything...   It's not that I haven't had much to talk about (anybody who knows me in person, feel free to laugh at that thought), it's that sharing those thoughts didn't seem relevant.  I'd start a post about something on my mind, but then re-think and delete it because it's "not important" or "nobody wants to read that" or "this is just me whining about being slow" or "no one wants to hear about my lack of motivation AGAIN."

Source: http://certainlyher.com/

So instead of posting anything, I end up tweaking the page layouts, or updating my race schedule, or cleaning up the sidebars (looks better, no?  If you don't think so, don't tell me.).  I've been "on" the blog plenty...but still no new posts to be seen.

Here's my quick update just to prove I'm still alive and kicking, and still training.  Though training is...a loose term.  My Galloway group started up again at the end of May; I'm still a PGL and we've got a great group.   I'm slower than I'd like to be, but that's working out okay given our target training pace for our group members, but I still need to be pushing myself more mid-week, both in pace and mileage.  

Right now I'm doing good to get in 2-3 sessions during the week and the long run on the weekend.  The weekday sessions are at least one run, but sometimes it's one run and one fast-paced walk or one run and two fast-paced walks, the second run has been kinda infrequent.  I'm having trouble finding the motivation for a second weekday run later in the week, and it's either too hot in the evenings or my bed is much more comfortable than the treadmill in the morning...

Source: RunDisney

Next race up is the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge.  And challenge is precisely the right word.  The 10K and Half combination is exactly what I did at WDW in January with Minnie and Donald, but it wasn't part of a combo race, so the pressure wasn't on.  But they've released the medal designs, and they're awesome, so I'm going to do everything in my power to have that bling around my neck by the end of the weekend!  I'm also counting on some extra motivation from my excellent race partner, Nikki, who may have to drag me through parts of that half marathon course, but I think we'll get it done.

Source: RunDisney

I mean, those are worth dragging my ass through 19.3 miles of L.A. heat on Labor Day weekend, right?  Definitely.

I'm not going to make any promises about trying to be better about posting...I'm just going to go with the flow...posts will happen when they happen.  :-)