Couch to ATHLETE!

Damn it was cold! I woke up Saturday morning with little interest in meeting my group for a run. It was so bad that I thought of texting Sue to let her know that I wouldn't be there and I started of thinking of all the excuses I could use to cancel. The included the following: I'm tired! Although very true because I got only five hours of sleep, it is a totally lame excuse. It's cold outside. Well this is not an excuse because I LOVE running in the cold and my running buddies know this. I don't feel good. This was true too but it was self inflicted. I know better than to have a draft beer at a grungy concert venue but I did it anyway the night before. Just two beers gave me a hangover. I have a cold. This would have been a flat out lie and I get annoyed when people tell me lies regarding anything. People can see through this stuff and then you become the unreliable running buddy. Forget that. So what did I do? I crawled out of bed. Took Dukie out, gave him...

This morning! This morning I set my alarm for a 4:45 am wake-up call. The purpose? To get myself prepared for the early wake-up calls that will begin on February 11th. What happened when the alarm went off? I hit snooze, and then again, and again and again, until 6:30 am. I'm starting to wonder how I am going to make this new training schedule work in my life. I got to work today and was chatting with one of my colleagues about my workout schedule and I was telling her that it needed some adjusting because the fact of the matter is I need friend time off the trail. I mean I often work out with a few of my very close friends in Columbus, they know everything there is to know about me but I like hanging out with them off the trail too. And all of the other friends that I don't work out with? With a weekend that includes two big work outs, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, basically, I will be working out a lot!!! I kind of freaked out when I realized I was on...

Unexpected opportunities come around from time to time and you have to make a choice. You either have to seize the opportunity, stare it in the face and accept it, or dismiss it and not recognize it as an opportunity. So my sister called me last week to tell me she was thinking about registering for her first half iron distance triathlon. I listened to her talk about the race and why she wanted to do it and every conversation I have had with my colleagues over the past couple of years flashed before my eyes. I told my sister she HAD to do it! I don't think, nor did I want any of my encouragement to impact her decision and I don't really think it did. All I know is that within an hour she posted on Facebook stating she registered for the event. I immediately wanted to do it too... I didn't really see the opportunity until the next day. I went to work and told my colleagues what happened the night before and about my desire to jump on the bandwagon. Both of my colleagues p...

This is a quickie for today. I'm working on another post but was way to excited about a completed project to wait and post this tomorrow (or later)... In my next post you are going to learn about an unanticipated opportunity that came about this week. It is going to be a lot of work and will require many hours on my bicycle. The thing I value most in life is my family. Well here in Ohio, my family is my dog. I can't leave him for extended hours while I train because I already leave him enough for work. So what to do... Bring him with!!! I converted a kid bike trailer into a dog bike trailer. Dukie will now be able to go on all of my bike rides with me, well at least the rides on the bike trails around town. Here is a picture of my buddy testing out his new ride: Total cost of this conversion? $17.68. Dukie is excited!!! Now if I can figure out how to convert a jogging stroller... Need to find a free one first. 

Have you ever tried figuring out the difference between the words moist and damp? I have. How about often and frequent? Yep, had that conversation too. I have actually spent countless hours trying to answer these questions much to some of my friends' dismay. As a matter of fact, I had this conversation TWICE while running this past week. Running is my therapy. I've said it before and I will say it again, going out for a run puts me at peace after particularly challenging days. I work hard, play hard and run hard. Sometimes when I get myself into living overload, meaning I am not taking time to relax, even running can seem less therapeutic, but a couple hours later? Well, that is when I find my peace, it just takes longer. This week I was a fairly cranky runner. I would show up, run silently or tell stories or argue over a simple word for the sake or arguing. Someone told me that I sometimes say things just because I need to disagree not necessarily because I actually...

I went out for a run with one of my friends today. This wasn't just a run; it was a HARD run. I don't know why... It wasn't all that fast (we were averaging just under 12 min/mi), it wasn't all that cold, it wasn't long, it just was hard.  Sometimes it simply can't be explained... Or can it? I don't talk about weight very often on my blog because who wants to hear from a heavy set athlete? But the fact of the matter is I have run a number of half marathons, a full marathon, countless sprint triathlons and finally tackled the Olympic distance triathlon in 2012. I know many people who wouldn't even attempt anything like this so I need to be proud and embrace where I came from! Pre 97 lbs weight loss I have joined and broken up with Weight Watchers on so many occasions I honestly can't even believe it. During my most recent relationship with weight watchers I actually lost 97 lbs and then I took a break. I honestly don't know why but...