Two. More. Weeks.

I’m now (less than) two weeks out from my FIRST trail race.  It’s also my longest race ever.  To celebrate, I took a week off from my trail training to participate in my FAVORITE race of the year, the Panther Run.  Three distances to choose from, naturally, I went with the 15K.

It was an EPIC race.  Cool temps meant PR weather!  I fell into a comfortable pace early, running alongside a woman from my running group.  We didn’t speak at all.  I think we were each racing the other the entire time.  Trail running has encouraged me to power down the hills, even on the road now.  So once we started hitting hills, I pulled away, but was never too far ahead. Eventually we ended up right back together and raced it out for the last mile.  At the end, we exchanged a high five.  I hit a PR by 14 minutes.  Maybe it’s not as big of a deal, considering my only previous 15K was over a year and a half ago, but I’m still celebrating besting my time.

As for trail racing…I now have three trail races on my schedule between now and Thanksgiving.  One 15K, one 25K and a half marathon.  I’m super excited.  Although the elevation chart for the 25K is just a little bit intimidating.  I’ll leave you with this:

The New Year.

I am not a person who makes resolutions, never have been, never will be. I am a live in the moment person. I don’t give myself deadlines, I rarely put things in terms of numbers because that doesn’t work for me. I don’t want to be stressed. I think 99% of a goal is how you get there. I would like to run a marathon. I would like for it to be in 2015. Will it? Is that goal in stone? No. Life happens and I don’t ever want to be in a position where I’m beating myself up over missing a goal because something else awesome came up.

That said, it isn’t that I DON’T believe in setting goals. I do. I just prefer mine to be a bit more broad and have a bit more flexibility. It fits me better. So here are some of my goals to make 2014 the happiest year yet.

Save money.
Enjoy my last semester at Missouri State.
Skype with my family more often.
Stress less about things I can’t control – things work out.
Don’t be such a slave to the scale.
14 in 14
Take myself less seriously.
Run a sub-2:15 half marathon. Okay…sometimes I put numbers on my goals 🙂

What are your quality type goals for 2014?

Reverse Bucket List

After seeing this post over on Running With Ollie, it got me thinking. I don’t really have a bucket list. I have things I want to do, of course. I’m just not necessarily a person who sets huge deadlines for myself. I hate to feel like I failed…so I just don’t give myself a timeline. Which could also be why I end up procrastinating on things. Who knows.

Anyway. I have done a lot of things. Things that I don’t always think are as cool as others may think. So. Here goes.

1. My first ever airplane flight was alone, to Florida, to meet a friend in person for the first time (we met on a NASCAR fan fiction site) while she interned at DisneyWorld.
2. I joined a gym, alone, and guided myself on a weight loss and fitness journey.
3. I quit a full time job and took a part time job making WAY less money because my happiness was worth it.
4. I flew to Missouri to meet my now boyfriend after meeting on Twitter.
5. I got accepted to Arizona State University
6. I declined my acceptance at ASU to move to Missouri to be with my boyfriend and attend Missouri State University.
7. I have been to Lambeau Field twice.

If anything, I think these things show that I haven’t been afraid to try something different. I’m willing to step outside my comfort zone and give something a shot. It can be scary, but more often than not, it’s worth it. Of course, there are more things that I’ve done which I find to be pretty cool, but these are the things that I really find to have been “life defining”.

What is YOUR reverse bucket list?

14 in 2014

By now, I think we’ve covered that I’m somewhat competitive. And by that, I mean extremely competitive. Mostly against myself. That’s why this is so perfect!

Sign ups for the 14 in 2014 challenge are going on right now at Jill Conyers blog. I saw a post from Too Cute Runner on Instagram and knew this would be perfect for me! You can choose a specific distance or a combination and virtual events will be hosted as well.

I can’t wait for 2014 to kick off and know that I’ve challenged myself to 14 events in 2014!

Race Wish List

Last night, #RunChat started out about races and bucket lists. Which reminded me that I had started putting together mine!

How many of you have a racing wish list? Those runs or events that you just have to make sure you get to one day? For me, it’s hard to think about because you can’t put a date on all of them. I want to know I’m training for something RIGHT NOW. Let’s do this! All the same, I think it’s time I made a list.

SLO Marathon. This is my hometown race. Through the happiest city in America (seriously. We were on Oprah.). Through the vineyards. Ending at Madonna Inn. Something tells me that I want this to be my first marathon.

SLO Triathlon Again. Hometown triathlon. I just have to do it. My aunt did it a million years ago. I thought she was nuts. But I was way fat at the time and thought everything active was crazy. Now, I just have to do it.

Do I even need to explain this? No. Firemen meet you at the end to give you a Tiffany’s necklace. No explanation needed.

Bay to Breakers. Have to. All the craziness that SF has to offer wrapped up in a run. What could be more fun?!

Rock n Roll Vegas. It’s night. It’s fun. I have to do this someday.

I WILL run Boston. I’ve yet to complete a full marathon yet. But what runner doesn’t have Boston on their wish list??

What are your wish list runs? Why are they important to you?

July Goals and Week 2 TriTraining

Last night I wrote about how I do my goal setting for the month. This morning, it’s time to put it out there.

June is over, time to move on from what I didn’t accomplish. In the grand scheme, it was a great month. I got a promotion at work, bought a bike, signed up for a triathlon and lost six pounds. This month, I obviously want to stay strong with my triathlon training. I leave for California (HALLELUJAH!!!!) in 22 days and will be there for two weeks. My mind needs to be in the right set to maintain my training and diet so that my triathlon performance is top notch.

This weekends training went well, all things considered. The heat finally caught up to me and I was just exhausted. Saturday I was able to complete a couple miles of speed work, leg strength training and a 6 mile bike ride. Let me make this clear: the relationship with your significant other must be STRONG before you embark upon a bike ride with him or her.

Interested in having a fight? Go for a bike ride! I’m stubborn and prideful and I HATE not being good at something. Hate. Riding a bike? Yeah, not there yet. Downhill terrifies me. Boyfriend is a bit lot more seasoned than I am. And I hate to admit something scares me because who wants to be a wuss? Like anyone else, I’m not such a sweetheart when I get tired, hungry, sore or when I’m awake in general. You get the point. But I accept that he’s just trying to help me, even if he doesn’t understand how the female mind works from a motivation standpoint.

Sunday (after sleeping until 10:30!!) it was a 4 mile run (with hills, because what good is a run without hills and where can you run without hills in SWMO??) and a 20 mile bike ride. I’m gonna be honest, that run sucked. My pace was fine but my challenge hill gave me a case of “omg I’m going to vomit”.

I know the bike distance is only 12 miles for my triathlon but how can I get comfortable if I don’t spend time on the bike? It rained, we didn’t fight until mile 9 and I didn’t fall. So SUCCESS! Average pace was somewhere 13+mph so I’m getting better.

My biggest concern now is putting all of these things together. When do you start putting your training together? What is a realistic way to start?