Weekend recap

This weekend just flew by even though it was a nice relaxing one. Our weekends are already getting booked up through the summer so I enjoyed it.

I had a long run for Saturday. I was really stressed about it because I am still on my cleanse. I knew I would have enough energy because I have still been counting calories just to make sure that I am eating more than 1200 calories. I had been eating more than 1200 calories so I wasn't worried about running while starving.

I was a bit nervous about my lack of caffeine. I know that from the beginning I told myself to just limit caffeine, but as soon as I realized that the caffeine was the hardest for me to quit I really felt like I had to see it out. Thankfully, by Saturday morning I was already over the "stay in bed" phase. I realized though that Shot blocks wouldn't be considered clean foods and improvised. I ate a banana before my run and packed 3 dates and a coconut water for a mid run energy boost. I meant to bring some Shot blocks as an emergency back up, but I forgot.

I had 9 miles on the schedule and headed out. I started out really strong and my first 4 miles went by really fast. Unfortunately by 4.5 miles my side started to hurt a bit. I walked for a bit and stretched out my sides and got back to it. It went away by mile 5 and I felt pretty good again. Around mile 6 I stopped for my snack. I did pause my Garmin and I paced while eating my snack. I struggle during my next mile. I had to stop to walk a few times and would have totally eaten a Shot block if I remembered to pack it. By mile 7 I felt alive again and finished my last 2 miles strong(er). I ended being thankful that I didn't pack the shot blocks because I would have felt like I cheated and it's nice to know that there are healthy things to eat in route.

I took a picture of my favorite part of my run. There is this tunnel that lets you run under a road above. It's not very big, but something about the way my feet sound as they hit the pavement in the tunnel just makes me happy.

running through a tunnel

I am starting to think that putting a 2:30 goal on my first half marathon may be a bit to much. I am thinking I will probably finish closer to a 2:45, but I really don't care to much either way. I just want to finish. (I don't think I mentioned it earlier. I finished my 9 mile run in 1:45, averaging an 11:39pace.)

The rest of the weekend was mostly uneventful. I did try a few new recipes and went to a friend's jewelry party. I would have to say the jewelry party was probably one of the harder things to get through on the cleanse. There were mimosas and all sorts of delicious foods. I actually came close to accidentally eating a chip. I seriously was moving towards it without even thinking about it. I stopped myself and totally enjoyed my water. yum.

I will say that I am feeling amazing today! I am usually not dressed and out of the house until close to 10. Today little lady and I played a few games, both got dressed, ate, and got out of the house by 9:15. It was crazy. We came home and I got so much done around the house, made dinner, and took her on a little after dinner walk. The walk was almost a bust because once we got outside there were flurries and I didn't want to look to crazy taking a toddler for a snow walk. We just walked through the yard for a bit and then headed through the neighborhood behind us once the snow had stopped. She told me so had so much fun. I am thinking that could be a new after dinner activity for us. I loved it!

Weekend recap and more

So I survived the trip to the east side of the state...just barely. I will admit I was happy with my eating while there but my drinking was out of control.

After my run on Saturday I did indeed eat my oatmeal and salad. We drove straight to my cousin's house where she made tacos for the birthday party. I had one taco with meat, tomatoes, onions, and guacamole. I also enjoyed a side of dirty rice. Surprisingly my hand only dipped into the chips a few times. There was of course cake and ice cream. I had a small piece and one scoop of ice cream that I shared with little lady and thankfully she ate most of it for me.

Once most of the party goers left, a few of us enjoyed some wine together. We were waiting for my other cousin to make it over still. (My brother is really close to the cousin we were waiting for and they had planned on hanging out and invited hubby and I to join them all too.) The wine kept flowing and after three large glasses, I should have stopped. I did not. Shortly after my cousin got there I went with my SIL to take my nephew to her dad's house for the night (little lady was with my mom). I knew I was already drunk in the car but I didn't really think much of it. (My SIL had not had anything to drink yet. No one was harmed in the car ride.)

We got back to my cousin's and ended up going on a quick run to the liquor store for beer, wine, and liquor. We hung around my cousin's for a bit more and I probably had another glass of wine and then some how we all ended up heading out to the bar. (I was not driving. The hubby dropped my car at my mom's since he hadn't started drinking yet and we picked a bar about a half mile from my mom's.)

Unfortunately I continued drinking at the bar, but switched to liquor. Around 12:30 it suddenly hit me that I was way to drunk. Whenever I have that revelation, I demand that the hubby take me home immediately. We found our coats and my cousin noticed we were taking off and refused to let us walk so he graciously drove us to my mom's. As soon as we walked in, I fell apart. Let's just say the night did not end pretty.

The next morning I woke up feeling okay, but extremely tired. Little lady woke up around 7 and the hubby needed help finding more wipes so I had to get out of bed. I laid pathetically on the couch the whole morning and maybe fell asleep for a few minutes (It's hard to fall asleep with a toddler roaming around). Since it was St. Patrick's Day my mom was making corned beef and cabbage and really wanted us to stay. I REALLY didn't feel like eating but I also REALLY didn't feel like moving so we sort of got roped into lunch. My mom invited my grandma over at 11 (my gma lives 2 houses down) so my goal was to get dressed by 11.

That did not happen so when I heard my grandma come in, I jumped in the shower quickly. I was hoping a shower would make me feel better but it made me realize how hard it was for me to stand. I felt weak. I got dressed and sat at the table with a piece of bread. I took a few bites and told the hubby that I needed to sleep for a little bit and then I could make the trip home.

The hubby woke me after a half hour and I felt SO much better. I rejoined my family and had a half of a corned beef sandwich and chatted for a bit. Then, we loaded up and got ready to head home. I almost made it out of my mom's house having only eaten that half sandwich, but she had bought us each a candy bar and I had to take it with me. I ate and enjoyed it in the car.

Sunday was supposed to be cross training but I just could not convince myself to do anything once we were home and settled. I decided to try to make it up this week.

Monday was the first day of my 10 day cleanse. I woke up to a fresh pot of coffee made by my wonderful husband. I have finally gotten him to make me coffee and I don't think he realized that I was not planning on coffee. I had to enjoy a half cup, but that was all I had. I managed just fine with resisting everything else on my list.

According to my training schedule I am supposed to run on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday but I needed to run Monday thru Wednesday because of a potential visitor. I could not convince myself to run but I did walk 3 miles on the treadmill. I felt okay with that because my right knee and calf have been feeling off. I thought maybe just walking would be good.

Tuesday I would have had 5 miles to run, but plans changed for this week and I didn't have to rush my runs in the beginning of the week. I was really tired yesterday mainly from lack of caffeine so I decided to count my 3 mile walk as cross training so that I would be caught up and just run 3 miles on Tuesday. I did walking and running on the treadmill because my calf was really tight, but my knee did feel better.

Today, Wednesday, I had to face up my mid week 5 mile run. I felt exhausted all day. I realize how much I rely on coffee. I really want to add a cup of coffee in the morning back, but I actually feel determined to finish the rest of the 10 days without caffeine. I was planning on waiting for the hubby to get home from work so I could run outside since it is the first day of spring. However, I looked out the window and saw this.

How is it still snowing?

I felt crabby from lack of caffeine and could not convince myself that I would run in the snow. I thought I would try 5 miles on the treadmill during nap time, but I was so unfocused. I almost decided to skip the run and blame it on the knee/calf issue, but I couldn't do it.

Once little lady went to sleep I hopped on the treadmill. I walked the first 0.1 mile and ran the last 0.9 mile of each mile. It took me forever (1:08:25) but I did it! I felt good and more awake than I felt all day. I didn't realize how sweaty I was until I went in the bathroom to shower.

sweaty chest! I earned it!

I am hoping to run my 3 miles outside tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will get nice soon so I can just take little lady with me on my week day runs.

Another year older (and maybe wiser)

So here I am just a little bit older than before. My birthday was on Sunday. I had a really nice weekend and the best part was, I didn't have to wash any dishes! :) My fun started Friday evening. The hubby had to run out to the store and was going to just wait until little lady was sleeping, but somehow things worked out that he took her with him to the store. That meant that I got to sit at home and enjoy a quiet, empty house. That hasn't happened in forever and I loved it. I had a stack of magazines piling up so I starting catching up.

Saturday morning we slowly got ready to go to Frederik Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies. I love just spending time as a family so I had a great time there. Little lady loved looking for all the butterflies and hubby loved showing her off. I feel like we don't go out as a family as much as I would like. I think once it's nicer out, we will have to get out with her more. We are also horrible at taking pictures while we are out so I asked the hubby to get a few pictures of me and little lady. I occasionally remember to snap some pictures of him and her, but I feel like I have very few photos of me with her. One of the pictures turned out pretty cute and the hubby actually printed out a nice copy of it for me for my birthday.

My little lady loves to make silly faces.

I also had a long run scheduled for Saturday. During little lady's nap time, I prepared for an 8 mile run! I decided that I needed to start fueling during longer runs. My 7 mile run had been rough and I thought maybe mid-run fuel would have helped. I decided to bring 2 Clif shot blocks with me and a can of coconut water. (I didn't have a good way to carry water with me on my run and I wanted something that at least once I drank it, I didn't have to carry it back.) I also ate a kids Clif bar before my run since I hadn't eaten since my oatmeal breakfast.

I hit the trail and felt pretty good. I was focusing on not letting the mentality of "8 miles!!!" get to me. I knew that I had run 7, so why not 8? At just past 2 miles, I felt a horrible cramping on my right side. It was like runner's cramp, but much worse than I have felt. I slowed down and was trying to figure out what to do. The cold can of coconut water pressed into my ribs offered a bit of relief. I contemplated turning around, but I have read other runner's that had felt an odd pain and it would go away just as quickly as it came on. I decided that I would continue until 3 miles and then turn and head back if the pain was still there. I took 2 walking breaks and would stretch out my side as I walked. I kept my pace slow while I ran and by the time mile 3 rolled around, the pain was gone. I was relieved!

My next issue came with trying to figure out a mid-run fuel point. I purposely brought things with me that I would not have to bring back, but I also wasn't sure if I would find a garbage can along the trail. I kept my eyes out while I ran. At mile 3.5 I passed along a nice park/parking lot to access the trail that I was on. There were a few garbage cans at the park's entrance to the trail. Perfect! I didn't feel like fueling yet so I ran to mile 4, turned around and got back to the garbage around 4.5 miles. I stopped (and of course paused the Garmin) for about 2 minutes since I am not coordinated enough to eat, drink, and run. I got back to running and thankfully continued to feel great. Just before mile 6 I felt like running became easier. It's odd because when I checked my Garmin stats later on I noticed my heart rate was around 165 for most of the run and then around mile 6 it dropped to 158. I felt good!

I think fueling helped because my run didn't feel tough until mile 7.25. I felt sore in my hips, but otherwise just fine. I was so proud when my watch beeped for 8 miles! I finished in 1:32:16 That is an average of 11:30 minutes/mile! I was so happy with that. It included my walking breaks during the odd rib pain, but not the fueling stop. I think finishing my half marathon in under 2.5 hours is doable. I felt so proud of my run. I think it was the first run that I felt like a runner.

The only downside of my run was when I went to see how many calories I burned. I have always heard it's about 100 calories/mile. Usually I burn just a bit more than that, but close to 100/mile. I thought I would have burned about 850 calories, but according to my Garmin only 630 calories. I didn't let that get me down for long though! :)

Sunday was my actual birthday and it was wonderful. My hubby made me coffee and my baby knocked on my door yelling "happy birthday mommy!" The hubby had flowers for me along with some nice wine (for later) and some 10 pound weights. I was realizing my weights were getting much to easy for me. (I tried the 10 pounds out on Sunday and it was killer- in a good way). We went out to lunch and had friends over for dinner and cake/ice cream. It was a wonderful weekend.

Although I guess the celebrating didn't end there. I had to go to the dentist today. I decided to bring little lady with me for the first time just to start to get her used to it. She did a good job there! I was a proud momma! Although my dentist discovered signs that I am starting to grind my teeth. I have never been a teeth grinder so I don't know what to think about this. I am supposed to go back to get fitted for a bite guard. After settling things with the office lady, little lady and I walked out to the lobby. I was trying to wrestle put little lady back into her coat and the receptionist said something like, "oh, and one more thing..." and I looked up and they had a cupcake with a candle for me and said they wanted to celebrate me on another year younger. It was so sweet of them! They are so friendly there and go out of there way to make everyone feel special,. hey seriously send out birthday cards and texts as well as Christmas cards.

cupcake from my dentist's office

Time is flying

I finally feel like spring will be here in no time. There is a chance of snow today, but I feel like this is our last potential snow of this winter. We did get some snow last week, but thankfully it didn't affect my brother's travel plans!

My brother and his family were planning on getting over to my house Wednesday late afternoon. I had gotten the house ready and was expecting little lady to wake up from her nap and the door rang. I thought it would be my brother and family (a little earlier than expected, but I thought they wanted to surprise me a bit.) but it was a package. I finally received my Special K blog giveaway that I won.

I thought it would be here sooner because it was supposed to be for an Oscars party. There is a faux red carpet, popcorn chips, nail polish, voting ballots and $100 to throw a party. Since the Oscars have already happened, I can't really use the whole idea but it still went to good use. I shared the popcorn chips with my family and I had made a few snacks and bought drinks for their visit. I told the hubby that I wanted to save the gift card to buy something nice when I reach goal. I am thinking a really nice pair of jeans that I would never spend the money on.

I actually won something! And it was awesome!

close up of the good stuff

So back to my brother's visit...It was so nice to see him, his wife, their son, and their dogs. Our house felt full! When my brother walked in he made a quick comment about me "looking good." It really meant a lot to me because he really doesn't say stuff like that so I felt pretty good.

I stayed mostly on track during their visit. On Wednesday, I tracked everything and did well. Thursday was not as well for me. I have mentioned it before, but I totally lose control when I am tired. Little lady has gone back to her 5:30 am wake ups and I do not function well. (I know, I am such a baby about sleep.) Thankfully, my brother doesn't stay up very late so I still got to bed at a decent hour, but I don't care what time I go to bed 5:30 is not fun to wake up.

I felt out of it all day on Thursday. I made an oatmeal bake for breakfast and was starving by lunch. We took the kids to a little coffee shop/playground and their was a Qdoba next door. I never really go there so I had no clue what to get. I panicked and just ordered the veggie burrito with brown rice, black beans and no cheese or sour cream. It was huge so I just ate half. It filled me up for a bit, but since I had snacks in the house I grazed all afternoon. We went out to dinner and I totally had a California Reuben and fries. I ate pretty much the whole thing. It was delicious though!

Friday was another early morning. Little lady really wanted to be sure she didn't miss out on saying good bye to her new friends so she of course woke up at 5:30 (this was the 6th morning in a row!). My family left by 6:30 am (they had an appointment for their new housing- I swear I did not kick them out.) and I was just exhausted.

Little lady loved the family visiting, but mostly the dog she called "big one."

Once the hubby left for work, I was exhausted and lonely. I was supposed to go to a Mom's Club meeting, but I knew I wouldn't really be social so I decided to skip it. I also didn't want to stay home so little lady and I headed out to Target to use a Christmas gift card.

It was fun, but I still felt off. I had cross training on the schedule for my training and just couldn't handle it. I decided to skip it and try to take a nap. I don't know why I  couldn't imagine napping without eating a huge lunch first, but I definitely over did lunch and then just laid there miserably. Little lady didn't take a super long nap either so I never fell asleep. I felt even worse as the day went on.

We ended up driving to Detroit Friday to visit some friends. I really didn't want to go, but we were missing our friend's birthday party Saturday night so we wanted to at least celebrate a bit with him. Friday night was rough being so exhausted and I secretly really wish we hadn't gone.

We didn't fall asleep until almost 2 am and thankfully little lady slept until just after 7. However another night of not very good sleep was not what I needed. We woke up and eventually got ready for breakfast with friends. All I wanted to do all day was eat and unfortunately hubby didn't seem motivated either. We stopped at a grocery store on the way home for ice cream, chips and sushi. Good planning! Saturday was a waste health wise. I didn't do my long run or make up my cross training.

We went to bed really early on Saturday night, like little lady went to bed at 7:30 and we were in bed at 7:35 early. Yikes. I think I actually fell asleep by 8:30/9. It was nice. Little lady woke up around 5:30 (of course she did!) and I tossed the monitor to the side and mumbled something about not being able to handle it yet but I would get her in a bit. I did not get her. The hubby woke up and took the monitor away from me and eventually saved little lady from her crib. I vaguely remember them coming in to kiss me a few times. It would wake me and I would think, "ok, I should get up. I will just close my eyes for one more minute and then I will get up." That must have happened quite a few times because it was almost 10am by the time I woke up. I felt amazing though! I didn't even mind that I slept half of the day away. It was worth it.

When little lady went down for her nap, I knew what I had to do. I had to get out there and run 7 miles! I was excited and nervous. I definitely regretted all the junk I ate on Saturday, but I did it! The worst part about the run was that my Garmin died at 6.91 miles. I was bummed and felt like I cheated out on my run even though I kept running. I guess I am glad that it didn't die earlier though.

Monday I had to run 3 miles. I have decided to focus a little bit on my speed on my shorter runs. I have been keeping my speed around 11 minute miles, although on Sunday's long run they were closer to 12 minute miles. My goal for my 3 mile run was to keep each mile under 11 minute/mile. I did it! I finished in 32:17! It felt good. I really had to push myself, but I did it. I would love to run a 5k in less than 30 minutes. Maybe this will be the summer for that as well.

Sorry for the long update. I didn't think I had that much going on but I guess I did.

Spring is such a tease!

Yesterday was 40 degrees AND sunny! Little lady and I were out running errands and by the afternoon I wanted to take my winter coat off and soak up the sun. I immediately sent the hubby a message asking if I could run outside when he got home from work as long as he didn't pick up over time. I was so excited when he agreed and didn't think there would be overtime.

He came home and I was all dressed for an outdoor run. It felt great and my time wasn't to bad. I averaged an 11 minute mile for 4 miles. My first 3 miles were faster than an 11 minute mile, but my last mile is uphill and was 11:30 minute mile. I felt great and was proud of my time.

The bright sun had actually melted the snow covering the trail. This is just one day after my previous picture of this trail (snow covered).

It felt so good to finish and feel accomplished. I realized the treadmill is not for me. I really don't feel awesome when I am done on the treadmill. I am just glad that it's over and I think about quitting about every 0.1 mile. Recently I have been thinking that maybe the half marathon would be to much for me and I was worried that I got myself in to deep. The treadmill makes me slower and not as happy. These past two runs outside have made me remember that happy feeling from running. (Not exactly runner's high on both of these runs, just the "I am done running and now feel awesome!") I feel like a half marathon will be totally doable again!

I will still have to use the treadmill a bit, but I am going to try really hard to get my long run and the longer run of the weekdays done outside. Once spring is actually here and temps are above 50, I can push little lady in the jogging stroller again. I am excited for that too. I loved her being a part of my running experience too. I felt like a positive example for her. (Although, I also really like my runs alone.)

Today I am actually taking my rest day from Sunday. I haven't had a rest day in a week. I am proud of that, but actually felt a bit sore today. I am happy to rest. I also noticed that I felt starving today. I ate breakfast an hour earlier because I was just so hungry. I still felt a little hungry after eating breakfast but if I eat to much in the morning, I lose all control. We went out to little lady's "school" and when we got home I scarfed down lunch with her. I had planned on eating lighter today since I wasn't working out, but I haven't eaten any "extra" calories from any of the past few workouts. (I have eaten at the high range of the day though.) I plugged in everything I planned on eating for my meals for the day and was still almost 300 calories under the minimum for the day. I decided to have lunch part 2 while little lady was napping. I made a sandwich (which I have been craving- I used to have one every day for lunch and I don't think I have since last summer.) and it was delicious. I still felt like eating more, but I drank a few glasses of water and got working on the house. I still feel slightly hungry, but I don't want to turn it into a binge. I am thinking I will need something else before dinner so fruit will be my friend today.

Well, I need to go finish cleaning up this house. My brother and his family should be here tomorrow and I can't wait to see them. We are expecting some serious snow though and I am hoping that somehow things will still work out.

Another first (sort of)

I finally did my first half marathon training run outside! It felt so good to be out there! But more about that in a minute.

This morning was a little out of sorts. Due to unexpected circumstances, we were all dressed and in the car by 7 am. Since we were already up and out we decided to go out for Sunday breakfast. I hate panicking whenever the hubby suggests going out to eat so I am trying to really focus on self control while dining out.

My favorite restaurant wasn't open until 8 (probably a good thing since it's much harder to use control on amazing food) so we decided to just go to a little diner type place in our small town. It's not the best breakfast, but I was really just going to enjoy my two favorite people.

We got there and I looked over the menu. They didn't have anything to special, just the usual omelettes, eggs, pancakes... I was thinking of getting an egg white omelette with just veggies but I really wanted a side of potatoes. I thought about getting them as well and just having a few bites. Then, I realized I didn't want the omelette at all. I was just getting it because it seemed like a good choice. I thought that if I wanted potatoes, I should get something with potatoes. I found a skillet with potatoes topped with veggies and cheese. I ordered it without the cheese and only ate half of it. To be fair, it was not delicious (I think all/most of the veggies were canned) but the potatoes hit the spot. I felt good about my choice and was surprised that I felt full. I realized that if I hadn't stop to drink coffee and focus on if I wanted more, I would have totally finished the meal. It was a good reminder for me to stop while eating and focus on how I am actually feeling.

We came home and I tracked everything I ate. It wasn't to bad. I guesstimated about 600 calories. Definitely more than I usually spend on breakfast, but it was nice to have a Sunday morning out to breakfast with just my little family. I planned out the rest of my meals today and can totally make it work into my calories.

I was thinking after last Sunday's disaster of a breakfast out, I needed to make sure to stay on track before I veer off course for another week. I figured a run should happen. My schedule has Sunday as a rest day and Monday-Wednesday 3-5 mile runs. I thought that since my legs felt good I would just do Monday's run today and then run again on Monday(unless my legs say no) and Wednesday. (I want to run on those days because I am meeting up with a friend on Monday, which usually involves food of some sorts and my brother is coming to town on Wednesday, which usually includes some drinking. I want some extra calories on those days.)

I decided that I would get ready to run before I changed my mind. I looked outside and it wasn't snowing at the moment, so I checked the weather. It was low 30s and a 30% chance of snow. I decided that I would head outside for a run. I just planned on doing 3 miles and told the hubby that if it was awful I would just do 1 mile outside and finish up at home on the treadmill.

Oh wow, was I glad I went outside. It felt so good to be out there running. Can I also say how much I love our trail?!? It was packed down from other runners and bikers. It made me feel connected in some way to the other local people that feel it necessary to get out in the snow and run. I even passed another runner out there at one point. It feels good to feel involved in some way in the active community. Plus, the snow can be beautiful and it was really peaceful to be out there.

snow covered trail

snow peaking out as I finish up my run

I am thinking my next long run (7 miles) may just be done outside in the snow! I actually regretted not gearing up and heading out yesterday.

Random three day weekend

I have already had two Non Scale victories this weekend! Although to be fair, the hubby took yesterday off work so I am halfway in to a three day weekend and both victories are fitness related.

Friday is my cross training day for half marathon training. I have decided that I will mostly use my elliptical for cross training until spring weather is here and I can enjoy bike rides. So Friday morning I put on my workout gear and headed down to the basement where all workout equipment goes to die the elliptical is stored. I dusted it off and hopped on. Of course the batteries were dead. I could still use it, but I wouldn't be able to see any info or change the resistance. I dug through our batteries and found every single type of battery other than the kind I needed. Normally, I would throw in the towel and complained about it all day and of course used it as an excuse to just skip the elliptical until we got batteries.

Something miraculous happened instead, I headed back down stairs with my heart rate monitor on and made up a workout and just focused on keeping my heart rate up. I did some jogging, jumping jacks, jump rope and even dusted off an old step for step aerobics and spent a song 'stepping.' I had decided I would just spend a half hour cross training, so I moved it for 30 minutes and burned 150 calories. Not my strongest workout, but I burned more calories than I would have feeling bad for myself and lack of elliptical batteries. (While out on Friday I did pick up batteries so crisis averted for next week.)

Today, Saturday, is my long run day. I had decided that I could do most of my weekday, short runs on the treadmill during little lady's naps until spring when I break out the jogging stroller again. I had planned on doing my long runs on the weekend so I could run them outside while hubs watches little lady. I did not want to do ANY long runs on the treadmill.

This week we have been covered with about a foot of snow. I don't mind running in the cold or snow, but I am afraid of slipping on ice. The trail that I run on is used by snow mobiles if there is more than an inch of snow on the trail. I figured the snow out there is a snow mobiler's dream and I feared I would be run down by a snow mobile. I debated about switching the long run to Sunday, but figured it would be just as snowy tomorrow and I had to face reality. I would be doing a long run on my treadmill.

I felt so happy when I actually completed my long run. To be fair, the run was only 4 miles and as training progresses I will have to run 4 or 5 miles during the week, which may have to be done on the treadmill. It was a huge accomplishment for me since; 1- I didn't use the snow as an excuse to skip a run and 2- I actually ran 4 miles in my room today! It felt good and I ran 3.15 miles and then walked for .1 mile and finished the rest running. Completing that run on the treadmill made me feel much more confident for my week day runs. I was hesitant that I would ever do the 4/5 miles runs on the treadmill, but I know that if I could do 4 miles then I can definitely do 5 miles. There is no stopping me now!

With that run I have officially completed one week of half marathon training! Only 11 more to go!