Fitness Friday: #Fear

You know, Eleanor Roosevelt was a pretty smart lady. (I believe she is also credited with one of my favorite quotes, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent," but that's a topic for a different post.)

Today I'm writing about FEAR. I'm going to be the first to admit that I'm pretty much a chickenshit when it comes to a lot of things. I've been known to have full-on panic attacks at the most irrational moments (a ride on a VERY TINY sailboat most recently comes to mind).  But today I'm feeling fear about something I shouldn't be afraid of.  I'm putting it out here to get it off my chest and hopefully out of my mind.

I'm scared for my first double-digit run tomorrow since getting injured back in April. (Has it really been almost 6 months??)

I'm not exactly sure WHAT scares me though. I've done that distance dozens of times. I'm running with an organized run & I know friends will be there. The course is familiar to me.

So what has me scared?

I think, at least for me, 10 miles is my half marathon barometer (for lack of a better word). If I can run 10, I know I can finish 13.1. So maybe I'm scared because this is like my midterm exam. This run will show how far I've come (and ultimately how far I have still to go).  I won't lie.  My legs are tired and sore this week. I've pushed them to paces they haven't consistently run before and tomorrow I'm going to push them to run a distance they haven't run since April 1st.  I want to be successful and finish with a smile on my face.

Wish me luck & think good thoughts for me (and all the other people running the Grand Rapids Marathon 10/20 training run). The weather looks absolutely beautiful for the run (sunny, high 40s and light wind).  I'm hoping the run turns out just as sunny.

Ready...Set...JUMP!


What scares you? What leap are you going to take?

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Thankful Thursday: September

Today's thanks comes in the form of a month. As sad as I get to see summer go, I'm also happy to see the return of fall.

The beginning of September symbolizes this return (even though fall doesn't technically start for a few weeks).

1. I'm thankful for the start of school. Even though my life is crazy & it's hard to connect with my friends (hello - I've barely even been on twitter lately) it's nice to get back to a routine. Seeing my students again also makes me smile. I got hugs from no fewer than 10 of last year's kids Tuesday morning. I really did miss those little munchkins.

2. Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Nuff said.

3. The weather WILL start to cool down. Eventually. The past few days we've still been in the throws of a heat wave, but the weatherman swears cooler temps are coming.

What is your favorite part of fall?

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Motivation Monday: Mantra?

Do you have a mantra? This might be mine for my first triathlon this Saturday:



What do you keep telling yourself when the going gets tough?

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Fitness Friday: Staying Positive

I'm choosing to be as positive as I can be today.  My calf still hurts but I'm rolling and stretching and still planning 7 miles tomorrow morning (I skipped my 5 mile run yesterday).  I'm hydrating and I'll eat pretty well today.

A good friend said to me this morning, "Just take it slow and get the miles done. Don't think about the time."

This is hard for me, but I'm going to give it a shot.  Walk if I need to and just get the miles done.  I have a 1/2 marathon on 4/1 and a 25k on 5/12.  My miles need to start ramping back up. While I *really* want to PR those two races, if my calf doesn't start behaving, that probably won't happen, but I'll finish the races because a DNF just isn't acceptable.

On the plus side, the strength training I've been doing might be paying off a little.  I knocked out 15 real push ups today!  I don't see any difference, my clothes don't fit better, and the number on the scale isn't doing down, but I've never been able to do 15 push ups before and I did that twice this week.  Today's was without stopping.  I'm pretty freaking proud of that.

What do you do to focus on the positive when all you want to do is be negative and mope?