Always An Adventure

The "Finding Amy...Again" journey has taken me on quite a few different "exercise adventures" over the past few years.  

It started at Clay Fitness + Nutrition, where, from day one three years ago, I was taken far beyond what I believed my body was capable of. This adventure, of course, continues to this day and my body is still challenged to exceed my expectations with every class I take!  

I've done several 5Ks over the past few years. My favorite was the Hilton Head Run For the Heritage that the Spicy Chicken & I did in 2011. Not only was it completely flat (my kind of race!) it was the first race we'd done together since the 1999 Denver Governor's Cup 10K. It was, consequently, also the last race we did together. Hmmm...

I also had a great time doing the Featheridge/Clay 5K Run to Rebuild with Moe in spring of 2011. Okay, maybe "great time" is a slight exaggeration, as this was her first true race and she may have cried once or twice along the way. But we did it, and even have the pictures to prove it!

Training for the Charlottesville Ten Miler this spring was probably the toughest adventure I've taken so far. Running distances does not come naturally to me. Hard as I tried, I never reached that "I love this!" moment so many runners speak of. I did, however, occasionally get to "I like this", which I deemed as success, considering I started from "I f'ing hate this!". Shin splints (which I later found were stress fractures) attempted to sideline me along the way, but with Callie's help I made it to the Finish Line. There are rumors that I uttered something like "I can't wait to do this again next year", but thankfully there's no actual proof!

This leads us to my latest adventure - the Susan G. Komen 3-Day.  Unlike other events, the 3-Day is truly not a race - it's a journey - a 60 mile journey! You wouldn't think you'd have to train for just walking, but you do (think blisters). Even then 20 miles doesn't seem like that big of a deal. That is until you realize that you're doing it all over again the next day AND the day after that...60 miles is a heck of a journey, and I cannot wait to take it!

My adventures have gone from a jog around the block, to 5k, to 10 miles, to 60 miles. What will your next adventure be?  

Spring Break

This was me on spring break last year

This was me on spring break this year

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!

The Frozen 5K

This is what I would've called the post I wrote after the "Fast Before The Feast" on Thanksgiving morning had I not chickened out. 

The weather forecasters were calling for "the coldest Thanksgiving Day in a decade" in White Bear Lake, Minnesota that day.  The  HIGH was supposed to be 12 degrees - and yes, that's Farenheit! Seriously? In Charlottesville I start running indoors when it gets below 40! At first I was I was determined to not let a little cold get me down. The chill in the air when we stepped off the airplane, however, quickly reminded me that even though in my heart I will always be a Minnesota Girl, the rest of  my body is not quite as convinced.  

I met my friends at a bar the night before the race completely convinced that it was too cold to run and figured they'd be on board.  Guess what?  They actually thought it would be FUN!  I should've known better than to think Jess, my long-time buddy Chris's adorable, size zero, runner girlfriend and my tiny, super woman, marathoner BFF Jenny would wimp out.  But Chris?  He's a professional golfer who dislikes the cold almost as much as I do. I thought for sure I could talk him into bloody mary's in the warm confines of a local bar.  But even he was on the "freezing your ass off bandwagon".  What was I going to do?  

After an evening of taking a lot of grief for being a wimp (and several other unrelated inadequacies) I was actually starting to believe I could do it.  Jess gave me a guilt-ridden speech about how she signed up for the race to support me and my journey (yes, I almost cried) and my friend Beth's husband had me writing victory blog posts in my head and visualizing myself coming across the finish line wearing a Charlottesville T-shirt with frozen tears of pride dripping down my face (though in my mind I kept seeing snot icicles instead).  

I went back to my parents house that night and changed directly into every layer of running clothes I had packed - shoes included (why didn't I invest in those SmartWool socks???).  It was nearly 1:30am and I had gone out that night thinking I wasn't going to do this race so I hadn't exactly prepped properly (my pre-race meal does not usually include bloody mary's). I figured I'd need to be ultra-prepared and even threw on my shoes. I set the alarm for 6:30am (a mere 5 hours away!) and settled into bed with visions of frostbite dancing in my head.

When alarm went off the next morning I wearily rose from the bed, walked straight out the back door onto my parents deck, took one slow, frozen breath in, and returned promptly to my warm, cozy, down comforter-covered bed with every intention of getting back up in "just a few minutes".  

And that was the end of my Frozen 5 K dreams.  I awoke a few hours later feeling refreshed and completely guilt ridden.  Chris, Jess, and Jenny (with her two sons!) all completed the race with great times and minimal effects from the hypothermia.  Jess managed to come in 40th overall out of 380 (yes, there are that many crazy people out there!) - and 6th for females with a time of 23:43!  And my buddy Chris (who, though a star hockey goalie in his youth had never run more than 1.5 miles prior to this race) followed not too far behind her at 28:27. Jen and the boys all averaged about an 8 minute mile, too.  I was clearly out of my league! 

While I left Minnesota on Sunday sans souvenir race tee and my pride, I did come away from  with a few valuable lessons learned.  1) I do not like the cold.  2) My friends are really awesome runners,  3)  I should not commit to something I cannot complete, and 4) Some traditions - like the one where we spend Thanksgiving at the condo in Hilton Head - are really good ones!  Join me there in 2011 for the The Hilton Head Bridge Run - where temperature will not be an excuse!

Right Now

I started writing a post about how I missed class Monday (which I will be making up on Friday) due to work and how I'm struggling to find balance...blah - blah - blah

I changed my mind on posting it, however, because one of my goals for this blog was to be real and honest.  While that post was both of those things, it's not how I'm feeling right now.  Right now I'm grumpy, frustrated and in pain because in the middle of a great workout this morning I f'd up my hip flexor again.  I hoped maybe it was just a little twinge, but by the time we were done I was in a lot of pain and I knew it wasn't good. 

Don't feel too sorry for me - it's nothing that a lot of ice and a little rest won't fix. It does, however, really piss me off because I feel like every time I get momentum I end up hurting something and it pushes me back down. I know that what I need to do - have to do - is just jump back up again, but sometimes it's okay to just sit and pout, right?  Okay, maybe not.


It's actually been awhile since I've had an injury, so I probably should've expected this would happen, but it doesn't come at a welcome time.  The holidays are around the corner and exercise such a key stress reducer for me, not to mention all the necessary calorie burning (egg nog, anyone?). And I'm heading home to White Bear in less than two weeks.  I was kind of hoping to drop a few extra lbs before then.  Silly, I know, but true.

I also came to the conclusion this week that my body is just not ready for the 10K I was planning on doing on Thanksgiving Day.  I'll still be running that morning, but only a 5K.  M, my dad are going to run/walk it.  My BFF (the beautiful, skinny marathoner!) and her family are joining in and so is another childhood friend, so it will be  a blast.  But I still can't tell you how much I hate that I had to back off one of my goals.