Begin Again

I've had a blog for a while now - since moving to Aberdeen, SD in 2010 actually.  And I'll be perfectly honest and admit I haven't always kept up with it like I had intended.  Now however, so many of my friends are blogging away and not just occasionally but DAILY!  That has lit a fire under me for sure (competitive much?) so expect to be hearing more from me from now on.

I titled this post Begin Again not only because I'm blogging for the first time in several months (and love that T. Swift song), but because in many ways I feel like that's where I am in my life right now. I'm not starting over completely from scratch, but simply beginning again where I left off in many ways. Many things have changed.  My job is in a new department now and I LOVE IT, my personal life has changed tremendously in the last few months but with fresh perspective and hope, and I've even moved to a new apartment here in Lincoln.  Amidst all of that, I trained for and completed my second half marathon this past weekend and beat my time from last year by 6 whole minutes.

The heavy stuff can wait for another day.  Today I wanted to answer some questions I frequently get asked when I talk about running the half marathon.  Some of them serious, some of them not so much.

Q: Are you crazy?
A: Quite possibly, but I prefer to think only half crazy.

Q:  Have you always been a runner?
A:  No way!  Actually  I used to hate running and I even quit Junior High track after just one week.  Granted I was a scrawny little thing back then with no athletic ability or stamina but still, I wasn't a runner. I dabbled in running in college and grad school but never quite dove in.  Then when I moved to Lincoln in 2011 and watched my friend and my cousin run the half here in town I decided I was going to be there in 2012 (and sure enough I was and again in 2013).  Why it took this race to bring me around to running I'm not sure.  I've spent several days watching my sister run full marathons and never had the desire.  But something about Lincoln and the crowd and the route, just made it seem possible and - dare I say it - fun!

Q:  How do you stay motivated?
A:  I'll be honest, sometimes it's like this:

But most of the time the most motivating thing is progress.  Whether it's a change in my body, increased energy, being able to go an extra half mile or mile, breathing easier, seeing little changes makes you that much more excited to go out and try it again. Also having a looming deadline of a big race helps quite a bit too! 

Q:  What's on your running playlist?

A:  This is probably one of my favorite questions!  I love finding new music to run to and my playlist for the half ranged from Lady GaGa to Chris Tomlin to Garth Brooks.  If it has a good beat, if it's inspiring or motivating, it's likely to make the cut.  Here's a list of my current favorites, although they are constantly changing:  

1. Canned Heat - Jamiroquai
2. Strong Enough - Matthew West
3. How Far We've Come - Matchbox 20
4. I Will Wait - Mumford & Sons
5. Everybody Talks - Neon Trees
6. Lay Me Down - Chris Tomlin
7. Edge of Glory - Lady GaGa
8. Welcome to the Black Parade  - My Chemical Romance
9. Standing Outside the Fire - Garth Brooks
10. Perfect Day - Hoku

I've also got a couple "guilty pleasure" running songs on my iPod as well - ones that I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit!  Among them would be Stronger - Britney Spears and the Bellas Finale from Pitch Perfect. Actually I'm not at all embarrassed.  You try getting through 13.1 miles without a little bit of cheesy music!

So there you have it, a little bit of my formula for success (a.k.a. surviving) when it comes to the half marathon. I'm still debating whether I will sign up again next year or not, or try a different 13.1. Truth be told it would be hard to turn down the chance to run the Lincoln Half again.  The crowd and community support makes it all worth it and creates a fun environment in which to push yourself. For now my focus will be on keeping up with my running regimen even without a race looming on the calendar. I think I'll take this "off season" to really work on building my strength and my lung stamina and hopefully improve my pace a bit for the next race.  

What are you doing to begin again today? 

Meanwhile...

Time for a catch up post!  There is no excuse for having not written in this long, so I won't make one, but I will let you in on what I have been up to lately since I obviously haven't been blogging!

February:
In February I began training for the Lincoln Half Marathon.  It started out slow but I soon got into a rhythm and genuinely enjoying my training runs!  That is until....

March:
Training continued but about the second week in March I came down with an awful cold which then set up shop in my lungs.  As you can imagine, this made running a tad more difficult!  I was out of commission for a good three weeks and had to really work hard to even get back into training even though there was no way I was going to just pick up where I left off.  As a result I probably cut my training short a bit, not getting the long 12 mile run in before the Half but I did get the 10 miler in.

April:
This month was unbelievably busy between wrapping up the semester with the sorority chapter I advise, finishing my training once I was able to, a busy budget season at work, and a multitude of other activities. Before I knew it, May was here and the Half Marathon along with it!

May:
On May 6th I completed my first Half Marathon!  The day started out a little formidable when I woke at 5am to a massive thunderstorm hovering over Lincoln.  Sure enough however, by the time we drove down to the start, it had started to clear and the humidity fell and it actually ended up being an amazing day for the race! I did have to walk a little and didn't get the greatest time but I was delighted to finish!

Mom and I after my 2:47:55 finish!

With my cousin Jamie - one of my many inspirations to run the Lincoln Half - after stuffing ourselves silly post-race at Fireworks

June:
In June I basically fell off the running wagon between various trips, a wedding, house guests and everything else.  I did however get an awesome visit with my sister and her family at our Grandparents in Colorado.  Including my handsome nephew.
I also had the privilege of taking seven of my collegiate members of my sorority chapter here on campus to our national convention in Denver.  It was a phenomenal experience and I am so proud of the women who represented our chapter!

So that brings us to July and a torrent of wedding activity - more on that later! It's so hard to believe that 2012 is half over already - it will be Christmas before we know it - especially since Hobby Lobby already has Christmas decorations out (not kidding!).

Yesterday you said tomorrow

Well hey there friends.  I don't even know how to begin to apologize for actually taking FOUR months off of blogging (then again maybe nobody actually missed me?? Say it isn't so??!!)

But I am back and have a little something new for you.  A little journey that I hope you all will want to join me on.

You see it's funny, my last post in September was on September 18th and it was about my birthday, which mind you, was August 16th.  But the funny part is that on September 18th I actually did something that I NEVER EVER thought I would do in my lifetime.  That day I ran the Corporate Cup 10K in Omaha for the American Lung Association.  It was my first race and it was amazing not only to run the race and complete it but to see all of my hard work training pay off that day as I crossed the finish line.

So what happened after that?  Well it seems that when there is nothing to train for, I don't always stick with my running routine like I should.  So what does any sane, rational, intelligent person do?

Sign up for the Lincoln Half Marathon of course!!

Yep, that's right, I'm running 13.1 miles on May 6th and to be completely honest, at this point I am terrified.  But I just keep reminding myself that I never thought I would run 6.2 miles at one time and I did that, so now I just have to do that twice and then some...right?  At this point I'm building up my mileage before starting my "official" training program on February 14th - Happy Valentine's Day to me!

So I'm hoping you all will join me on this adventure (I don't mean literally - but by all means, if you'd like my training program, I'd be happy to share it with you).  I'll share the ups and downs of training, lessons learned, and hopefully on May 6th a victory pic of me crossing the finish line at Memorial Stadium!!  There is no better day than today people, so here we go!!

Oh and p.s. - I'm sure there will still be a fair share of wine reviews, restaurant ratings, and cooking challenges that I will share along the way - just with some tough runs and grueling workouts in between!!