Spicy Update: Battle at 7.75 miles; Victory at 10!

Countdown till Half Marathon

11 Days!!!!

Hey Ya'll!

Nope, I'm not from Texas, though sometimes I wish I was... Totally am a country girl though.

ANYWAY! I'm here to tell you about my Measurement Monday! Yes, I know it's Tuesday. And yes, I know it's currently... 10:06 pm. Spunky and I have decided to combine our Measurement/Weighing days. I am always on here on Mondays and I actually seem to have time on Mondays to right an update. So I will do a Measurement Monday Spicy Edition along with our AWESOME SPUNKY doing her Measurement Mondays! :D Exciting!

I realized I never told you about my 7.75 mile run.

It was a battle.

On a cold, Saturday morning... duh, duh, duhhhhhhh..... (haha... just kidding)

Kind of. It really was a cold Saturday morning. September 15th to be exact. We had family over, but I went running anyway! Then came home and made a YUMMY breakfast for everyone! I WILL be sharing that recipe with you on Friday. I promise. There, I promised. Now I have to do it.

AND, the run was a battle. A battle of the mind, body, and yes... even my soul. Okay, not my soul, but it was a battle and I can prove it!

Exhibit A 

(pardon my not so freshly polished toe nails... 

that is really embarrassing for a cosmetologist...who loves nails...)

Exhibit B

I tripped around... five miles and my toenail... the one painted bloody orange... sliced open my other toe. Note to self; and other runners out there. CUT YOUR TOENAILS! Do NOT run with long(ish) nails. I didn't think my toenails were long until this run. And you want to know the crazy part? I ran through the pain! I kept running and I finished strong even with a sliced open toe... I don't recommend doing that either.

Ah... life... full of learning experiences.

So even though the run got the better of me, haha my toe, I won! I finished that run in 1 hour 48 minutes, with walking breaks to eat my gu chomps and re-fuel. I also broke my PR time for one mile! My first mile was 11:57! WOOT!!! That made me happy. Unfortunately after this run I didn't feel a since of accomplishment like I was hoping. I mean... hello! I had just run 7.75 miles and I felt nothing! WHAT?! I was in pain, I was hungry, and I was tired. That's it. I got home, made breakfast, visited with the family we had over, and falling asleep during everything. Including falling asleep on the floor (I was embarrassed the next day when I was actually awake enough to realize where I had fallen asleep) while talking to two of my sister-in-laws while the hubs conversed and played computer games with his cousin. We had a full house. :)

However! The title of this post has Victory at 10! Because, this last saturday, September 29th. I ran 10.07 miles! And I felt accomplishment. I didn't PR, but I don't care. I was shooting for 2 hours and 10-15 minutes. I finished in 2 hours 18 minutes! Woot!!! The first mile was the hardest. It was 48 degrees outside when I left the house. Yup... 48 degrees... COLD!!!! I wanted to run back inside.

I have a treadmill...

              it scares me...

                         it blew up on me...

literally.

That's a story for another time though!

Besides that... I HATE running on a treadmill. I feel like a sorry little hamster running around on a wheel. So I kept going. Trying to get my cold, freezing body to warm up. It didn't warm up very fast, but once it did, I was feeling good. I ran four miles without stopping. Usually I run three, oh so I guess I did PR!!!! Just not with time. I was going to run five. I was feeling SO going though that I was going to run five, but I knew I needed fuel, especially if I was going to run ten miles. I called Spunky and talked for a while. Yup, I talked while I ran. More like I asked a question and let her tell me all about it while I ran. It was a great distraction and it made the time pass really fast. I talked to my Mom too! She told me that the last two miles is the hardest. She was right. I could have really used someone to talk to during that. However, I was doing okay until 9 miles. Then it hit me. I was tired.

And then... a song came on. I was at 9.5 (ish) miles. Beautiful Soul, by Jesse McCartney. Obviously that young man doesn't know what that song did for me as a teenager, but it still to this day helps me.

And I cried. For those of you who don't know the song... I'm sorry. It is a good song. The whole song means so much to me, but there is one line that really hit me this time hearing it.

"I know that you are something special"

My heart swelled up a million times it felt like and suddenly I was practically gasping for air as I cried. I am something special. Look how far I've come? I was about to complete a 10 mile run! I have lost almost thirty pounds! I am such a better person inside and out then I was even just six months ago! I realized... that I am something special. I may not be where I want to be, but I'm making progress everyday and I will get there.

Talk about a runners high! Oh man... it felt amazing. And I felt amazing after I finished at 10.07 miles.

I also weighed 159.0 before my run, and 157.0 after my run, but after I had drank almost a bottle and a half of water so it was probably somewhere in the 156's. Yesterday I weighed 159.6. I'm actually okay with this weight because last Tuesday I weighed in at 163. I don't know if it was just an off day. A bad weigh in, or what. But I am just happy to see that is not what I weigh. Also, it's that time of month so I am probably weighing more right now anyway. Ugh. Oh well. I'll take it.

10 mile victory!!! :D

Check back on Friday for the yummy breakfast I made for the family.

Until Next Time,
Spicy