Back in the Saddle - aka - Cancelling the Pity Party

Today is the day  that I start again. Well, technically yesterday I took the first step, but today is the day where all the pieces are back into place.

See a week ago today, I had my lower left wisdom tooth removed. It was impacted below the jawline so it had to be removed by an oral surgeon in the fun, cut your jaw open kind of way. I was told before the procedure I was off any kind of heavy exercise, running and whatnot for 5 days. That was a rough pill to swallow for me.

Me, looking pathetic right after surgery

Well, I'd love to say that things went smoothly from there, but unfortunately not so much. See my tooth was a stubborn little bugger and didn't want to come out without a fight. The doctor eventually won, but not without a bit of damage to the nerve that runs right below there. Long story short, today is Day 7 of not having any feeling in the front of my face. Well, no feeling isn't exactly right, sometimes it feels like crazy. But only randomly. Needless to say, I've been a bit down in the dumps about the lack of activity and lack of feeling in my face and have had pretty much a week-long pity party.

But that's over now. Time to get back to work. Numbness or not.

So here's where I now. Basically, the not being able to feel my front teeth thing has made eating an issue for me. Most form of chewing are right out as of now which has made it a challenge to eat enough protein and veggies without actually having to chew protein and veggies. I've had to been creative in order to get in the calories I need, and I'll be honest, I've been failing. I met with a nutritionist last week and she wants me to eat 1300 calories per day. I've been averaging around 700 on a good day. I know, not cool.

Yesterday I picked me up a big ol' container of Plant Based Protein shake stuff, almond milk and berries and made up some overnight oats and a smoothie. I also cooked up some chicken breast and blended it within an inch of it's life along with some celery, onion powder and mayo in order to make pasty chicken salad. I will attempt to consume these items today to hit my calorie count.

Meanwhile, I ran a pretty slow 4.5 miles yesterday at Riverwalk to get back into the swing of running. This morning, I did the Bi/Tri/Shoulder class at Burn. That felt pretty good. Had half the smoothie before and half after, and while typing this, I am working on the overnight oats.

Also, this morning I set my weekly plan for both workouts and nutrition. I've never been consistent with keeping a bullet journal, but I am hoping that this week will be the one where I can make it stick.

Mostly, this week I'm working to get back in the saddle of my active lifestyle despite my new normal. Hopefully the numbness is temporary. But there's no way of knowing at this point when or if feeling will return, so sulking over it any longer is not longer an option.

5th annual Common Heart Firecracker Run

This year my Fleet Feet Training Group chose as their Summer goal race the 5th annual Common Heart Firecracker Run. It was my first time running this race, but I had heard some really great things about it from friends, so I was excited to do it. Not only was the course highly praised, but it is a great local race in that it supports the Common Heart charity, a local food pantry that does a lot of amazing work in the area. I signed up for the 10K course.

We've been having a rough summer here in the Charlotte area already as far as heat and humidity and race day was no exception. In fact, it was 98% humidity when I arrived that the race site in the Lake Park Village in Indian Trail, NC (about a 40 min drive for me). The Start/Finish area was located right in the village center near a big park and shops, so there was plenty of parking available. My training group coordinator had picked up our packets for us the day before so I cannot comment on pick up, but the packets were in red, white, and blue bags and contained the usual trinkets, a few pens, key chain, magnet, lots of sponsor flyers, literature about Common Heart and the race shirt. Shirts were your basic 100% cotton grey unisex t-shirt with race logo on front and sponsors on the back. TBH, I will probably never wear it.

15 minutes before the 7:30 10K start, we were all called to line up at the Start. The 10K course was a large 3 mile loop around the Lake Park Village with a few turns here and there (basically, it was the 5K course twice with the start backed up .2 miles from the finish to get in the requite miles. The 5K course had been officially certified, but not the 10K. 

There was lots of cloud cover and some slight rain at the start, which did nothing to dent the oppressive humidity and temps were already rising in the mid-70s. The loop was beautiful, winding past the park, through the business district, around a lake and weaving through a few streets in the neighborhood. There were lots of course volunteers and a few police officers to direct traffic (the roads were partially closed, but being inside a neighborhood, there was very little traffic, all of which was held or re-routed away from runners. There was an aid station at the half-way point of the loop so 5K runners got 1 water station at mile 1.5 while the 10K runners passed it at 1.5 and again at 4.5. The clouds dispersed pretty quickly after the start and soon we were in full sun with little to no shade on the course. The course was very flat, but the humidity and the heat made the race a real challenge. I fell pretty short of my 10K PR but it wasn't my worst 10K performance and the course atmosphere, scenery and supporting a great cause made up for my lack of performance. Let's put it this way, I plan to make an impressive come back when I run it again next year.

There were no participation medals for either distance, but 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall and AG winners received medals with 1st and 2nd also receiving gift cards to Omega Sports. Overall all, it was a great, well organized race for a great cause on a beautiful course, and I hope to run it again.

Happy Runniversary to Me

Pre race - ready to run

Today is the Anniversary of my first race. 3 years ago and a bit more, I decided I wanted to get healthy and for some reason, running was my answer. In Feb. 2014, I set a goal, I was going to run a 5K at the annual Come See Me festival that April. I ordered a Couch to 5K program on my phone and set to work. I followed the plan to a T and on race day, I was incredibly nervous, but ready. That was 3 years ago today. I did my first 5K, running the whole way, in a respectable 35:40 min.

Crossing the finish line!

3 years, -40 lbs, hundreds of new running friends and too many races later to count later, I am still going. Every year when the Come See Me Road Races roll around I get a bit nostalgic. The past 2 years, I ran the Half Marathon option, but this year I am doing the 5K again (they phased out the Half this year) on April 22nd. Here's to many more!

What was your first race? Have you run it since?

The Big Question

Why? I get that asked of me a lot. Why do you run? Here's my story -

I have struggled with being healthy for most of my adult life. Never really happy with how I looked or how I felt, but not really unhappy enough to do much more about it than sporadic dieting and/or exercise. I wasn't really obese, but I wasn't thin by any stretch of the imagination. Just in that zone where you get comfortable.

In Feb. 2014, we decided to take my little one on a birthday trip to Disney World. When we got home, I started the daunting task of going through the over 1,000 photos we (and others in our group of 9) took during the week long trip. Looking at photo after photo after photo, there was no denying it, I looked FAT. That week I decided that was it. I was going to get into shape. I didn't have a whole lot of disposable income due to just dropping $5,000 on a week long Disney trip, so I figured, hey, it's free to run. I used  a gift card left over from Christmas to Kohls to buy a pair of Nike running shoes and downloaded a free Couch to 5K app on my phone and hit the road. Almost 3 years later, I have learned so much more (including that running is NOT free) and I'm still at it. I've lost 40 pounds, become so much healthier, accomplished a number of goals and made life-long friendships.

So for me, ultimately it started as a free/cheap way to lose weight, but running has become a bit addictive to me now. I start to get antsy if I go to long without a run now. It has become a part of who I am.

How about you? Why do you run?

Overcoming Self Doubt - Or At Least Pretending To

I haven't posted again since my first post because I was in a kind of bad place motivation wise. See, I am not to most optimistic girl on the block, and I had a HUGE goal race this past weekend. One that would determine my running course for the rest of the year. And I had little confidence I would make it and was letting that self doubt affect everything else in my life. Long story short - I needed to hit a 10K time of or below 58:13 to qualify for a race team that I've really really been wanting to make. And this was it, last chance. Plus the last qualification timing I missed by 7 seconds. 7!!!

Long story short... after all the doubt, up to and including a mini breakdown at the start line where a friend let me cry on her shoulder, I did it. I ran it in 56:49. I'd like to say I had a dig deep moment and convinced myself I could do it and that fueled me, but the truth is, on the course even I was so convinced I'd miss the mark I actually stopped on one hill for a few seconds and sobbed a little before forcing myself to keep going. That little negative voice inside is my weakness, but being stubborn keeps it a bit at bay - I know this about myself and will struggle with it forever I think.

So how about you? What do you do when it seems like you'll fail? At one point I joked that I refused to miss the mark by seconds again, that instead, I'd lay down flat on the road when it was obvious I wouldn't make it, and just be done then and there. Luckily my stubbornness won out in the end this time. This time... 

2017 Trail Gnome Run - Happy New Year

I started the 2017 the same way as I did 2016, by running through the muddy woods with 249 other crazies and consuming yummy "good luck" food afterwards.

This was my second year doing the Baxter Trail Club New Year's Day Run and it will not be my last. This year's race was particularly fun as the swag had a cute Gnome theme, so now I have not only an awesome and adorable tech shirt, but also, all participants that hung around for the door prizes were given a Gnome pint glass.

All week I was anxious about the race as rain was in the forecast off and on both before and during the race. Last year it had rained for almost a full month prior to race day, so I know what this trail is like when it is full on muddy. Luckily, the rain held off until the early morning hours and even then, it was more of a light drizzle than rain. Plus, it pretty much fully stopped during the race. While it was still pretty muddy, conditions were pretty good with only one section really treacherous. With the much improved conditions, I was able to shave about 10 minutes off my time over last year and finished 13th female overall and 4th in my Age Group. While I had really really hoped to place, I cannot be upset about my time.

After the race, the main sponsor, Legal Remedy Brewery, treated us to craft beers on tap and a huge spread of New Year's Southern classics - Pork BBQ, Collards, Black Eye Peas and Cornbread, all to bring such and wealth in the upcoming year. It was crazy yummy and worth the entry just for the food.

I will for sure start of 2018 with this race, and since I will be advancing to the next age group in July, I will for sure place next year. Who knows, I may even brave the 18K.

So how about you? Any running or racing today? Tell me all about it. And have a very Happy 2017!!