Tag Archives: Go! STL Marathon

Dear God…

Daily Life!, Running, , , , ,

That’s how my morning run went this morning. Dear God….please don’t let it rain on Sunday. Dear God….please don’t let there be another mid-race cancellation. Dear God…please don’t let me die.

Seriously. On my 4 mile run this morning, I prayed the entire time about my marathon on Sunday. I’m not sure why it’s really giving me anxiety today! In between my prayers, I would try to visualize myself doing well during the race. I tried to visualize myself charging up the daunting hills with ease. And I tried to picture myself crossing the finish line in a super-awesome victory pose. All of which I did, but it didn’t make me feel any less stressed. So then I just continued to pray. By the time I made it home, I was feeling kinda better and kinda worse about it. Why am I freaking out?!

I know I’ll be fine once we get to St. Louis and everything starts to fall into place. But this week of taper madness is hitting me hard. Maybe it’s because my first race was a little traumatic and I’m not sure if I’m ready to face it again. But I do know that this race cannot be any worse than my first one. There is a 0% chance of precip with a high of 60 degrees on race day. There are no thunderstorms with dropping temps in sight, and for that I am thankful! No more thunder-sleet racing for me!

Define Bottle

So my boss saw this super awesome bottle on the show Shark Tank (do you watch it?), and decided to go online to order one for herself. She also got me one as a surprise gift! IMG_3658 IMG_3656I was skeptical at first because fruit floating in my water kinda freaks me out. I don’t even get the lemons at restaurants because I hate the seeds getting in my water. But this fancy bottle takes care of all of those problems!

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I’ve been experimenting with my Define Bottle this week with new fruits and veggies. Halo oranges, cucumber slices, and strawberries have made it into my bottle so far. My fave? The cucumbers. Now I just need to get some fresh mint to add with the cucumber and it will be amazing! And as an added bonus, I haven’t been craving my normal packet of Crystal Light addition in my water that I usually have every afternoon. ‘Clean’ drinking at it’s finest!

This Week…

So far, this week has consisted of Jazzercise mostly. And carbo-loading a little. Carbs come in some very yummy forms at this Eastery time of year!

IMG_3671 IMG_3677I haven’t been home much to pack and focus on the weekend ahead (maybe that’s why I’m stressed?). Tonight my packing for the marathon will start, and I’m getting my haircut!

IMG_3680My hair is out of control right now, and I’m thinking a good cut of 3-4 inches will make it look healthy again. My love my long locks but my split ends are yucky. Maybe I should get my haircut more often than once every 6 months?? 🙂

Then tomorrow will consist of only 1 Jazzercise class, followed by me frantically finishing my packing. Luckily the forecast is making it easy to pack: crop running tights, a tank top, and rain jacket (just in case!). Done!

Friday, Mac is getting his summer haircut followed by his annual shots and checkup. He’s going to have all this done while mommy is at work, so he may not be very happy with me when I go to pick him up during lunch. But I’m just praying that they say he is healthy like usual!  Then right after work, we’ll load up and head out to STL for this fun weekend. I’m thankful the race is on Sunday so we will have Saturday to hit the expo and rest before my main event!

I got an email from the Go! STL Marathon yesterday telling me that my bib number will be 919. There’s no live steam video, but if you see any photos, watch for me! 919! They also offer athlete tracking for free – exciting! So Nick, my mom, and Nick’s mom will all receive text messages as I hit the splits during the course. I’m hoping this helps Nick to find me better throughout the course to keep any confusion at bay. Little Rock was confusing for him to say the least, so this one will be smoother!

Well have a great day everyone. Think of me while I carbo-load and prepare for the Go! STL Marathon weekend!

Dark Morning & Marathon Prep

Daily Life!, Running, , , ,

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope your day is going well. It’s rather cloudy and dreary here in Springfield. I would have much preferred to stay in bed today than come to my office. Oh the joys of adulthood. 🙂

I woke up this morning thinking it would be raining so I would go to the gym instead of run outside. It wasn’t raining but the wind was blowing around 25 mph, so I decided the gym it would be! Side note – if you are a runner, you know how annoying it can be to run on a windy day. Running against a strong wind is one of my biggest pet peeves.

As I pulled out of garage to head to the gym, I noticed something was odd outside. It was oddly…. Dark. Like super dark. All of the street lights were off! What the heck?! It was creepy! So moral of the story – go with your gut feeling. Since I decided to go to the gym instead of run outside, I saved myself from having to run solo on some very dark streets! Now tomorrow morning they better have those babies back on for me, or the city will be getting a very angry call from me!

Marathon Prep

As of today, I’m 10 days out from the Go! STL marathon. I’m getting excited! And also nervous. But it’s a good thing. My nervous energy helps me get lots of prep work done! Last night I cleaned, did laundry, made dinner, and even had some couch time afterwards! It was glorious and gave me some down time to send some emails. My Jazzercise ladies are awesome to help me out with my classes when I go out of town. I just have to remember to ask them first! So I’m a little more stress free today as I got all my classes for next weekend taken care of. Whew!

Now I just have to worry about packing, getting mine and Mac’s haircut next week, traveling, carbo-loading, and the weather on race day! I’m thankful my Jazzer team makes things easier on me when I already have a lot on my mind. 🙂

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I’m ready to go make some more awesome memories like this one! Haha I love how optimistic I was at the beginning of the Little Rock Marathon. I feel like I learned a lot at the race that will help me get through this upcoming one.

1. Don’t panic. And just keep running. No matter what.
2. If something bad does happen, find a buddy. And stick with them until mile 25.2 when you can try to gun it to the end. 🙂
3. You’re going to be emotional, and that’s okay. The stress of 26.2 miles makes it acceptable to cry multiple times on race day.
4. Remember to have fun! It’s actually possible to enjoy yourself during a good portion of a full marathon.
5. And once again, DO NOT PANIC. Everything will be okay. But you must use your heart, mind, and legs to get yourself back to the finish line, your family, and your car. 🙂

I need to print this list and commit it to memory in case everything doesn’t run super smooth on race day. Something else I learned? Don’t drink too much coffee pre-race. And use the porta potties at the start line at least 2x before lining up. No more peeing at mile 2 for this girl!!

Well it’s going to be another busy night. I’m teaching 2 classes to help out an instructor that is traveling for work this week. Then I just have to make it through work tomorrow and 1 more class tomorrow night before Saturday is here! And my momma is coming to see me and do some shopping! It’s going to be a good weekend. I’m also going to squeeze in one last long run of 10 miles to help ease my mind before the week of tapering and carbo loading begins!

Have a great evening!>

Healthy is Hard

Daily Life!, , ,

Hey everyone! Happy Monday!! It’s been a great day. I had a whooping 4…that’s right, FOUR people show up to my Jazzercise class this morning. That never happens on Mondays!! I was pleasantly surprised, and it put me in a great mood to start my week.

So lately I’ve been struggling with eating healthy. I eat fruits and veggies everyday. But I also keep munching on not-so-healthy tortilla chips, popcorn, yada yada. The list could go on and on. And I am struggling to get back on track. I also feel like every weekend sends Nick and I into an unhealthy pit that I can’t dig us out of. Ugh. So tonight I tried to compromise. I told myself I would eat a giant salad and then I would see if I was still hungry before I headed back to the fridge immediately.

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I was truthfully not excited about this pile of veggies, but I ended up loving it. It was amazing actually. So I’m once again going to make it my mantra for the week: When you eat well, you feel well. So fill your tummy with the best! Let’s hope I can use this as motivation to get me through this week. Next week will be a little different…. I can’t believe I’ll already be carbo-loading! Where does the time go?!

But since my marathon is less than 2 weeks away, now is the perfect time to refine my eating and be as healthy as possible. I don’t need to add an extra pound or two before April 6!

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By the way, speaking of struggling to eat well, have you guys tried these? My lovely student Dede brought them to my attention last week, so I obviously had to run out and buy 2 bags this weekend! And they are delicious. 🙂 I took my 2nd bag to work today to share. My coworkers loved them as well! And they are only available at Walmart during Easter! So go getcha some. Also, Dede says they freeze well so buy extra!!

And for a little fun (and a nice little jab at dairy products that make me sick), I found this today.

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Isn’t he cute??! His little meme was just too perfect for this blog so I had to share.

Well I’m off to put my little Mac to bed. Have a good evening. Nighty night!>