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Friday, February 10, 2012

"It's not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you." ~Zig Ziglar

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 204:

"My candle burns at both ends It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light."
 ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

This is my quote of the moment, BlogLand. I have been running around crazy time... my sleep tracker says I'm averaging 6 hours of sleep a night (which means some nights, I'm sleeping less than that), and my brain has been going a million miles an hour. Yesterday, I admit, I came home, sat down for a couple minutes.... and the next thing I knew, I woke up several hours later. Yeah, no WOD that day. But I'm okay with that. Sometimes, you need to let your body dictate what's up. I figure that I worked out 5 of the last 7 days, so I'm still pretty on track. 

Today, however, I was determined. *HAD* to get up and run before work, as there would be no time after, and tomorrow there's no WOD, as I'm leaving work and driving to NH to meet up with one of my fellow Spartan Chicks - as we're RACING on Saturday!!

SO. This morning, I struggled (mornings. ugh.), but managed to drag myself out of bed with enough time for a run. In the interest of time, and the boredom I'm experiencing with my usual loop, I decided to do something a little different: Go back to where I started running. The place where it all began is a bike path a little ways away from my house... only difference this time, is I planned to run the extra mile TO the path, which happens to be up two pretty sizeable, long hills. I figured if I couldn't run as *long*, I should at least make it *hard*. 

Off I went. Nothing like 17 degrees to get you moving in the morning! I approached the first hill - that I used to walk as a warmup - and put my head down and KILLED that hill. No change in my pace, just kept moving. At the top of that (shorter) one, my run flattens out a bit, allowing me to catch my breath... which, surprisingly, was not that bad. I still felt pretty good. WOO. I was feeling kind of awesome, as I thought back on how 6 months ago, I puffed walking up that hill, and I had just RUN up it. 

Keep your goals in mind, and keep chasing them, folks... you WILL get there. 

Next, I navigated a little snowy/icy interlude and found myself at the bottom of The Hill. It's a LONG, 45+ degree incline. I started up... about halfway,  it got "hard". Well... welcome to Training, I told myself. If it was easy, everyone would do it. As I felt myself flagging a bit, a car started coming up the hill... I decided I couldn't look like a defeated runner, so I picked up the pace and raced the car in my head (whatever gets you there, right?). Next thing I know, I was at the top of the hill. .... AND STILL ABLE TO RUN. I didn't get to the top and have to do the hands-to-knees, or stop, or walk (I wanted to, a bit... but...)... I just kept running. This is a HUGE victory for me. I was proud of myself. 

After that, I traversed the icy/snowy/uneven terrain of the path. I will be all set when winter is over, let me just say. *sigh*
It killed my mile times, as there were times I had to trot along carefully, on the edge of the snowy path. However, stats were:
Time: 34:39 min
Distance: 2.97 mi
Ave Pace: 11:40 min/mi 

I was happy with that run today. The hills really helped me feel better about things. I was having a little Spartan anxiety, of late... Mostly because I realized that my first Spartan Race is 87 days away...*gulp*... however, the words I'm going to keep in mind, from a very wise Guru of mine:

"In 87 days you can move mountains. A 5 mile Spartan Race doesn't stand a chance."

So... tomorrow I'll be MIA, BlogLand (try not to miss me). Saturday, however, is my Frosty Knuckle 5K+ in Salisbury, MA. I'm soooo stoked. Not only am I anxious to see how well I can do on a flat course, now that I'm down a few more pounds, have been running more, am stronger, etc..... BUT, I also get to meet some more Spartan Ladies (Hi Peyton! Hi Daron!).
Not to worry. I will photo-document. :-)

Wish me some fast feet!!! 


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