8 miles

I ran the last 5 miles of the Half Marathon course earlier this week and today I set out to run the first 8 miles. Sure, the forecast called for snow and rain, but that didn't deter me. I figure, I have to be prepared for any type of weather, because you never know what it will be like on race day. Besides, rule number 1 is:  There are NO EXCUSES!

Me and Francy (who is not running this Half Marathon and just wanted to offer support) decided to meet at the Metro close to the start of the run this afternoon. We both had that look of "what the heck are we doing out here????" look in our eyes, but we are equally crazy committed and we took off. We decided to run the first few miles to warm up and then throw some intervals in the mix whenever we got tired. In the first mile, I realized that perhaps I had hydrated too much and we had to take a detour to find a bathroom. The first 4 miles were uneventful. It was after that that our run started to fall apart.

At exactly 3pm the wind picked up and it started to snow/hail and pelt our faces. We passed by a store and the sign that was outside was picked up by the wind, headed towards us and landed right on Francy's foot. She started to limp after that for about a half mile, but then decided to just run through the pain. The course wasn't bad at all, minus a couple of moderately steep hills. It started to get colder and more windy at about mile 7, but we knew we could get through the last mile. That is right when we had our second incident. At 14th and Harvard Street, NW, we had the crossing signal, but this genius decided to back up after he had pulled out too far into the crosswalk. We tried to hurry and run behind the car before he hit us and there was a car coming up on the side of the road and it hit Francy. She tumbled to the ground in what seemed like slow motion and then started to crawl out of the street. It was the worse feeling ever to see it happen and not be able to help. The nice couple got out and talked with us while we determined that she was just scraped up and bruised. She was able to move her shoulder, elbow and hip, so we walked the last mile home. Whew! What a run.


TriBecca

My first 1/2 Marathon!

It just dawned on me today that I have less than 6 weeks until my first 1/2 Marathon. I will be running 13.1 miles around Washington, DC in the Rock and Roll Half Marathon on Saturday, March 17th and I am nervous!! I feel like I am behind in my training due to another ankle injury. Most people that are running this race ran 8 to 10 miles this past weekend and I am only up to running 5 miles. I plan to increase my mileage this coming weekend, but I am still a little nervous about it all. After my 5 mile run today, my legs were tired. I can't imagine how they will feel after running 7-8 miles this weekend, but I guess I will find out.

Wish me luck, say some prayers and as always, I hope to have some folks out there to cheer me on! Having friends on the course always gives me a reason to keep moving and smiling.


Tri Becca

The scale

I took the last two weeks off from work in December and decided to have a stay-cation. Well, that turned into me sitting on my couch buying myself way too many Christmas presents. The one that I am most excited about is my new Ironman Tanita scale! This thing is awesome. It measures not only weight, but body fat %, body water %, muscle mass, and about 10 other things. I have committed to weighing myself and recording all of the data on the 1st of each month and just weighing myself daily. I have read and overheard friends say that weighing yourself daily helps to shape the way you eat and your physical activities for the day. Yeah right. This can be mind torturing!

I was all excited when I noticed that the scale crept down to 5 pounds lighter, but twice in the month of January, it changed it's mind and decided to tell me that it was just kidding. Since I didn't check for body water % daily, I just chalked it up as having something to do with my hydration levels. Well, today I hopped on and recorded all of the data and while I was sad that I am only down 1 pound (which could have something to do with having the need to take Midol today), I have lost 2% of body fat! ....2%! I was so freaking exited that I wanted to kiss the scale. You know, there may be some truth to the saying "You are what you eat"! I have been watching my diet and lifting weights ( along with swimming, biking and running) and I think that it is working!

While I do have a long way to go to in my plan to decrease my body fat% and my weight, I will take my measurements today as WINNING! 



Tri Becca