On Letting Go

So, as I mentioned yesterday, some big changes are on the horizon for me. I seem to have found a sublet (fingers crossed!), I found an excellent gym option in my new neighborhood and with the money I'll be saving I think I can pay off another credit card. Score!

Yet, with all the positive changes come some bittersweet ones. One thing I failed to consider is that not everyone in your life will react to the coming changes the way you want them to. Hopefully most of your friends and family will be supportive and excited for the new life changes you are making. But I'm sure each of us has one person in their life that feels threatened by change and reacts in a less than positive manner. In my case, I am a dealing with a friend who is choosing to make some negative comments in a very public forum about the upcoming changes in my life as well as the lives of other friends. It's a difficult situation. This friend is struggling with her own issues and I truly believe that her comments are coming from a place of fear and insecurity rather than genuine ill-will.

But, at what point do you let go? I made a decision a long time ago that there will be no more room in my life for negative influences. Sure, some of them you can't avoid. There will always be a cranky person on the Metro who will be rude or an annoying coworker you can't avoid. Those are the people you just need to deal with. But I spent so much of my twenties being scared and insecure and negative. I finally decided that my thirties would be a time of change (sense a them yet?); a time when I would stop concentrating on hating myself and my body and all the bad decisions I made and focus on being strong, healthy, beautiful and happy. It has not been easy at all. Every day is a struggle and my biggest enemy is myself. And really, when you spend so much time battling yourself so you need to battle someone else, too?

So I decided to let go. It's hard and I feel terribly guilty. But I also know that if I am going to be my strongest, healthiest, happiest self I can't let negative influences hold me back. I truly hope that my friend can find her way back to her happy self again. When that happens I will be ready to rekindle a wonderful friendship. But until that day I will be focusing on making my life the best that it can be.

Changes

Wow. The past two weeks have brought a lot of changes. For starters, the boy and I have decided to move in together. Furthermore, we are going to live in his condo that has been on the market since January but no one wants to buy. So, in the span of one conversation I went from renter to homeowner. That also means new neighborhood, new gym, new running routes and new routines. Oh, and I still have that 10 K to train for in the middle of all this and I haven't even started. Sigh. It's going to be a crazy 6 weeks.

Return and Refocus

Yeah, so hi. It's been a while. I know. I didn't mean to disappear for 4 months but stuff happened: weddings (not mine), warm weather, hot weather, "heat domes", debt ceilings, work going crazy, special someones to hang out with, allergies, vacation and a whole tapeworm incident (again, not mine) that is best never spoken of again.

Here is what didn't happen: running, training, eating healthy, sleeping much, losing weight.

But it's okay. It's been a great summer so far. Fun. Exciting. Lots of laughter and ice cream and time spent with friends.

Then I realized that I signed up for a 10K in October and I could probably count the number of times I've run since my 5K on one hand. My 5K in March which is also the last post I wrote. Oops.

So, I'm out of race shape and the scale hasn't budged and I should probably do something about that pretty soon.

So, here are some new things that happened: I bought new running shoes. I sold the car. I bought a new vegetarian cookbook. I returned to Weight Watchers. I went on three treadmill runs (slow, hot, painful).

And finally, I signed up for this. Lord help me.

Done!

My very first 5 k is done! It was COLD in D.C. this morning but the sun was out and I made it through. I was fortunate to have my friend Aline to run with. We both finished in under 45 minutes which was my goal for this race.

Now I am desperately trying to warm up. Hot coffee and homemade veggie pizza (with tempeh "sausage" - yum!) seem to be helping. I plan on spending the rest of my day curled up the couch with hot tea and movies. Tomorrow will be a yoga day instead of running day but now that's it's officially spring the weather should be warming up and I can get more out door runs in. Stay tuned for the next race!

Do Over?

Ugh, today I had the WORST run. My 5K is this Sunday and I hate to lose a training day but today I threw in the towel. I had a great run on Monday and anticipated that today would be just as great. I hopped on the treadmill and as soon as the run started I knew something was off. I've been having a tiny bit of soreness and tiredness but it usually wears off within the first few minutes. This time my hip hurt and my legs felt heavy and I was already breathing hard and I just wasn't feeling it. So, instead of pushing myself I decided to stop only 12 minutes in. I didn't want to run the risk of getting hurt. I know 3.1 miles is no big whoop to most people but it is for me.

So, I decided to give up on my run 12 minutes in and tried the bike instead. I have not been good about cross training at all AND I know I need new sneakers but have been putting it off until the first race is over. But even on the bike my legs felt heavy and kind of achey. So, I gave up after about 6 minutes and just decided to stretch and have a healthy dinner instead. I'm hoping that I can get a do-over tomorrow morning with better results.

Lesson Learned

The Sprinkles truck paid a visit over by my office today and gave out 400 free cupcakes. They sold out in about an hour so I was lucky to get one. They are delicious and sugary and after eating one I didn't want an afternoon snack. Turns out that a cupcake is not a good pre-run snack. Flash forward about 3 hours and I hit a major wall with about 10 minutes left in the run. There was almost an incident. It reminded me of how I felt back in college when I thought it would be a great idea to roll out of bed and go straight to my 8AM swim class with no food or water and almost passed out in the showers afterward. Lesson learned: eat a proper healthy snack before working out. Always.

But, I survived and managed to make it through all of my run anyway even if it was a little erratic at the end. I've gone from being the girl huffing and puffing and dying after running for just 2 minutes to the girl who can run for almost 30 straight minutes without a break in just 6 short weeks. Imagine what I will be able to do in another 6 weeks!

And, I found another race to run! I found via my neighborhood blog that there is a Dead Man's Run 5K through the historic Congressional Cemetery. All proceeds go to the Cemetery's preservation society. It's the week before the Capitol Hill Classic 10K so it should be a good, fun practice run. I'm really excited about it!

Reality Check

Registration for the Marine Corps Marathon opened yesterday and closed today with all 30,000 spots full. I will not be one of the 30,000.

What happened? Well, a couple of things. Let's discuss.

The main issue is that I psyched myself out. I had been questioning for a while now whether or not this was such a good idea. For a beginning runner to attempt a 5K, a 10K, a 10 miler, a half and a full marathon in one calendar year? I know it can be done; I just don't know if I am being realistic about what I can safely and reasonably accomplish. My 5K is in three weeks and I am not where I think I should be with my training. Right now, I am doing 2 miles in 40 minutes on a treadmill. At this pace it's going to take me a full hour to run a 5K. It used to take me 30 minutes to walk the 1 and 3/4 miles to work. My pace is no where near where it needs to be to finish the marathon without being removed from the course and I'm not sure that 7 and 1/2 months is enough time for a first time runner to reach that point.

The second issue is money. It's a $90+ entry fee and I just don't have that kind of money right now. I sort of forgot about that part. Living on my own is fabulous and I don't ever want to live with roomates again (you know, unless I'm married to the roomate!) but it is expensive! Especially with the looming threat of a government shutdown that means this girl doesn't get paid for a while. (Dear Federal Gvernment: Please don't shut down. I don't want to be evicted because you stopped paying me and I can't make rent. Thank you. Love, Chelsea)

Now, that doesn't mean that I won't maybe possibly change my mind when the entry transfer period opens but we'll see.

But, if you have been paying attention, you remember that I am trying to be flexible and accepting of change and kinder to myself. SO! I am not getting all depressed and angry about this. I'm not giving up. I am simply re-evaluating my goals. I am running my very first 5K on March 20. The Capitol Hill Classic 10K is May 15 and it is conveniently located in my neighborhood. And, since I am missing the MCM, I am DEFINITELY running the Army 10 Miler in October. That's 3 out of my 5 races. That's more than half. More than half is...well, more than half. I will have completed most of my goal and the rest will just be rescheduled to 2012. Plus, I am going to run the Race for the Cure 5K in June and I figure that at that point I should have this running thing down. Four races in one year for a former couch potato is nothing to be ashamed of.

As for next year, I WILL be one of the 30,000 running the 37th MCM in 2012. In addition, I think I have a few girlfriends willing to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon (it looks like so much fun!). I will totally run the Scope It Out 5K , Cap Hill Classic and Army 10 Miler again. Hm, wait a minute. I do believe that is every race I wanted to run THIS year. So, I will accomplish my goals! Just in a slightly longer time frame. So, I'm not giving up. I'm just giving myself a reality check.

Spoke Too Soon

Yup, the evil cold has returned. This time with sore throat and hives. And just in time for a bit of freakishly warm spring weather perfect for running outside. I managed to drag myself to the gym anyway and got some really good runs in. It's nice to know that even with a respiratory infection, I'm still stronger than I think. However, today I am scheduled for another run but I think I'm going to spend the day on the couch with a box of tissues instead. I feel SO GUILTY about missing a run, especially since the 5K is one month from tomorrow. But I think the smart thing to do is to let my body rest so I can kick this cold once and for all and be strong for the remainder of my training.

So, what do you do when you are sick? Do you take the day off and rest or keep on going? I've heard so many conflicting pieces of advice on this one. But I think I'm going to follow my gut this time and rest up.

Roll With The Changes

So, I was all set to do Day 2 of Week 3 of the 5K training plan (that's a lot of numbers). I am FINALLY feeling better and I had an amazing run on Monday. I was actually super excited to do another one and then I went downstairs to the gym and

...all the treadmills were full.

I use my building's gym and it's pretty decent but we only have 4 treadmills and they are a pretty hot commodity for the after work crowd. I went back after 15 minutes to see if someone had left but they were still full. So I gave up and decided to make dinner instead.

I realized this week that evening workouts are better for me. I guess it's the fact that I've fueled and hydrated all day instead of stumbling out of bed and straight to the gym with no food or water. I run faster, I last longer and I feel better when I work out in the evening. But apparently a lot of people feel the same way so I have to be flexible and willing to change my routine.

I LOVE routines and have a hard time deviating from them. It's the OCD part of me. Normally, I would have been annoyed that my workout wasn't going to happen and pouted and decided to give up and eat a cookie. One of my (many) 2011 resolutions is to accept that things won't always go as I plan and to roll with the changes. I have a bad habit of holding myself to an impossibly high standard and then when I inevitably fail I beat myself up and then just give up.

But not this time. Instead, I will get up early tomorrow morning (5:45 alarm, ugh) and go do my run. I may struggle more than I would at the end of the day but the point is to get it done. And eventually it will warm up enough that I can run outside and not have to worry about treadmill availability at all!

Ugh

I'm STILL sick. The cold seems to have stalled into some kind of icky congestion and I am incredibly nauseous and tired. I fluctuate between feeling sick at the thought of food and needing to eat an entire (mini) loaf of bread. And no, before anyone asks, I am NOT pregnant. I think, and my mother agrees, that it's probably post nasal drip from the congestion making my stomach feel all kinds of ick which in turn makes me not want to eat. It's happened before. Water seems to help, which is good because I am also massively thirsty. Probably dehydration from the cold.

But, I did manage to work out. I took it easy and actually had to cut short one of my running blocks (only by a minute, I doubt it made a difference). I am still on Week 2 of the 5K training plan although I should be on Week 3. With all the colds and congestion I've had the past month I've missed a lot of time and I don't feel ready to move on to the next level. I'm disappointed but I think taking it easy on my body until I feel better rather than pushing it is the smartest move. Hopefully this won't last long. I'm going to cross my fingers and blame it on normal cold and flu season and hope that the flu shot I got will lessen the severity of any symptoms I get.

And on that note, I am off to bed! Here's hoping that I have much more fun posts coming up soon.

Still Here

I haven't gone anywhere, I swear. I've had a busy week and a half but I'm still hanging in there.

Unfortunately, I have been a total lazy butt and haven't been keeping up with my training plan the way I should. I blame cold weather, a suddenly booming social life (must be the new zodiac sign) and a Dr. Who DVR fest. But, since one of my New Year's resolutions is to be more forgiving of myself, I am going to appreciate the fact that I worked out at least one day and promise myself that I will try harder this week.

Of course, I woke up this morning with the beginnings of another cold but I am still going to get up tomorrow and do my best. The nice thing about allowing myself plenty of time to train for my 5K is that I can get sick and take it easy for a week and still be ready to run. I hope this cold passes quickly but if not I will still be in good shape.

One way I am beating this cold is with dleicious homemade soup! Unfortunately, I followed another blogger's adaption of a recipe and I think she may have doubled the recipe or wrote the recipe wrong. I checked the link for the source recipe AFTER I made my soup and realized that the bean and grain portions were about 1/2 of what she used....my soup was VERY thick but still delicious. I will spare you a picture until I make it again properly but I'm hoping that hot veggie soup, warm cornbread muffins and plenty of Stash Lemon Ginger tea (my favorite) will have me feeling better in no time. Until then, I will leave you with a picture of the boy who has been keeping me cozy all day.

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Bonus

"William, Kate & 8 Royal Weddings" is on TLC!!!!! I am loving it! I feel the need to buy a commemorative tea set.

So, I finished Week 1 of my Couch to 5K plan and I feel amazing. I am energized and excited and I swear that my pants are looser already. That could also be because I banished the office candy bowl from my cubicle. But, I am having doubts as to whether I committed myself to something bigger than I can handle. Most of the resources I've read agree that a beginner runner should not even think about running a marathon in the first 12 months. I should be concentrating a 5K and then maybe a second 5K and then maybe I can think about a 10K. A 5k, 10K, 10 Miler, Half-Marathon and Marathon in one calendar year is insane. And it probably is. And I am probably going to regret this and I am probably going to fail. But does that mean I shouldn't do it anyway? Or at least try until my body says to stop? This is something I think I am going to wrestle with for awhile. Stay tuned.

On a much more fun note, I went crazy shopping this weekend. I rampaged through Target and Pier 1 and bought whatever girly, frilly thing my heart desired. I just moved into my first all-by-myself apartment and I am having a wonderful time decorating it with whatever girly, flowery thing that strikes my fancy. I have no one to answer to but myself and I enjoy it. The cat may not like it but he doesn't appear to be saying much:


And now I am relaxing. It has been COLD in the District this weekend. I had planned to have an "unfried" chicken salad but it was far too cold and blustery for anything other than piping hot comfort food. I found a potato chowder recipe on the Weight Watchers website and after a harrowing trip to the grocery store (the less said about it the better) I had the slow cooker going. After a few hours I had a delicious soup and I added some warm cornbread muffins on the side for a yummy dinner.



Now I am curling up with a glass of cheap red wine and "Eat Pray Love" on Netflix and I am relaxing before an AM treadmill session and back to work. Good night!

Day 2

Day 2 of the Beginner's 5K program and still going well. It seems that evening workouts work better for me...mostly because I can't out of bed in the morning. Maybe I'll be more motivated when it's actually light outside when I wake up in the morning. But right now, dark + cold apartment + warm bed = lazy girl. But it's the workout and not the time that matters so I won't feel guilty. One of my (many) 2011 resolutions is to be more forgiving of myself when I'm not perfect.

And, at some point, I will get some pictures up here to make my posts more interesting. As soon as I can figure out this whole photo upload thing. I meant to take a picture of the yummy post-workout dinner I made but I ate it all up before I could remember!

So, like last night, I'm off to drink some warm chammomile tea and watch paranoid disaster documentaries with the cat. Goodnight!

Happy New Year!

So, it appears that I am a little late to the game with my 2011 post but it's time for an update. So, what have I been doing for the past two weeks? Honestly, not a whole heck of a lot. I didn't work out for a single minute while I was at my parents' house. I brought my sneakers and my workout clothes and then they just...sat there. In my defense, a blizzard in New England plus spending time with my niece and nephew didn't leave a lot of opportunity for working out. But I didn't do very much when I got back home, either.

However, today I got up on the treadmill and started Day 1 of the 5K training plan. So far so good. I downloaded the 5K Training Plan from http://personalrunningtrainer.com and I think I will like it. It's a basic walk 2-minute, run 1-minute program that lasts about 35 to 40 minutes with a cool down. The music is some pretty cheesy house music (anyone else flashing back to season 1 of Jersey Shore?) but it's catchy and keeps me motivated. I found the program to be pretty easy to keep up with but I still broke one heck of a sweat. I'm looking forward to Day 2.

Now I'm off to drink some warm tea and watch the season premier of Pretty Little Liars!