Tough Mudder? Oh Yeah!

What am I thinking??   It's two weeks after my September marathon!  Am I nuts!?!  The things I do for friends!    I'll be getting muddy -- and possibly electrocuted -- with this gal:

Ali.

I love you, girlfriend, but I would have been happy just to hang out having dinner -- which I may be eating through a straw after September 28.

So, training?  I'm thinking I may need to work on doing lots of pull ups.  I'm not sure I can do even one at this point.  Anyone have any other helpful suggestions?

Slowly Getting the Mojo Back

It was a tough couple of weeks after my marathon.  I really wasn't sure about doing a fall marathon and I pretty literally left it till the last minute to register before the price went up.  Two hours to be exact.    If you read my last post, then you know I've registered for another marathon.  I'm ready to get back at it and have had a couple of good, but challenging, runs since this journey started.  Before I decided to jump back on the bandwagon, the hubs and I went on a great vacation to San Diego and did some fun stuff like this:

Segway Fun in LaJolla

Running on the beach in Coronado

Doing some trail running in LaJolla

Hanging out at Petco Park in sweet seats behind home plate to watch the Padres play

I've also decided to change my training around a little.  I won't be running six times a week anymore because I'm back to riding my bike with these awesome ladies:

Girlfriend on the right is doing her first Ironman in November.  Girlfriend on the left is a 4x Ironman!

I've been hitting up the stairs on the Hamilton Escarpment for a great butt and calf workout.  I've mastered Chedoke (well, okay, not really -- I thought I had polio two days after I did Chedoke for the first time last week).  The hubs and I did Kenilworth last week, and this week I am tackling Chedoke and Dundurn stairs -- on.the.same.day.  Yeah, we're hardcore that way! -- with the hubs, this awesome gal and another awesome gal who I finally met in real life on the weekend though I've known her through Daily Mile for over six months.

Sweaty goodness after an early start on the Chedoke stairs.

Yoga has been a staple for the past six months.  I just can't believe it took me this long to try it.  I'm in love.  And now that the weather has been nicer - sort of - I've been pulling out my mat, my Bosu ball, my stability ball and doing some strength and core workouts in my backyard.

Slowly, but surely, all of the above things and being surrounded by truly incredible friends is leading me back to the one thing I truly love to do:  run.

And just because this picture makes me happy, I want to include it just to sign off.

The group I run with and some DM friends at the Moon in June.

Time to Start Again

It's been a whole four weeks since my marathon and I've been cajoled into contemplating a fall marathon.   So the nod is for the Erie Marathon at Presque Isle.  Technically, I guess it's still a summer marathon because it's on September 15th, which means that it could be just as warm as the last marathon I just ran.  At least I'll be training through the summer heat this time and won't have to worry about varying temperatures.  Go ahead and get cold if only for that one day.

It's touted as "quite possibly the flattest course in the country."  The country being USA, not Canada.  It's probably the least expensive marathon I've ever registered for at a whopping $50 and it's only a three-hour drive from home.   So at the very least it's another fun road trip with my best running buddies and shopping in Grove City.

To be completely honest, I'm not quite ready to be mentally in the game for this training.  I feel physically and emotionally spent from this past winter/spring training.  As much as I enjoyed it, it was tough.  

I'm hoping that this running funk is just a temporary one.  I shouldn't say it's a running funk.  It's a training funk.  And more of a training "alone" funk.   Most of my runs had been solo through the winter, but I'm going to have a couple of training partners this time around and someone (maybe two people) to pace me at the marathon.

Me and my pacer, Lynn :)

She qualified for Boston (again) in May at the same race I did.  She's awesome and wicked fast.   Janine has also been coerced into agreed to pace me to my qualifier.  She's run Boston countless times and has run over 20 marathons.

Lynn and Janine, aka "my pacers"

I am surrounded by greatness and truly incredible people.  I am thankful for wonderful friends.

So, here's to getting my groove back -- hopefully sooner rather than later.