I'm Still Alive and Still Running

Quick update: If you can't already tell from my relative silence this week, I have sucked at blogging. I have barely opened up this laptop since Monday. As the title of this post explains, I am still alive, and I am still running. 

This week, I've been a bit off on my schedule, but I'm still getting my miles in. Between terrible weather the first couple days, people breaking appointments that keep me waiting all morning instead of running, and the return of asthma/allergy season, this has been an interesting week. I didn't even get to run Monday or Tuesday. I ran for a bit on Wednesday, but only got through about 3.5 miles with a hacking asthma cough before I had to call it a day. When I woke up Thursday morning, I knew I needed to get in a pretty big run to catch up with my projected mileage. I was feeling pretty antsy to go out and enjoy the new beautiful weather, so I decided to try the eight-mile trek that I had been having so much trouble with on Saturdays. If I was able do it, I would know for a fact that my problems with it were a Saturday morning preparation and nutrition issue, not a "omigod-I'm-so-terrible-at-running-and-I-should-quit" problem.

I combined my regular running route with my route of hills in Iroquois Park. This is also the route that the Papa John's 10-miler takes, which I'll be running in exactly one week on March 26. It was a pretty amazing run. The air was crisp, clear, and easy to breathe. There was a bit of a chill, but not too much as to let me run in a t-shirt and never get uncomfortable. I finished it in 1:24:58, which is pretty good considering I wasn't pushing my pace at all. So it turns out that I can actually run eight miles (it's about time) and I can feel pretty fantastic afterward. I am now going into the 10-miler and the half-marathon (running that on April 30) with a whole lot more confidence. No longer worried.

Currently waiting for my carb-filled breakfast to digest a bit more before I go out there and attempt to run 13.1. Run, walk, or crawl, there will be 13.1 miles done today. No excuses. I don't care how long it takes me, I have to finish this distance so I can move on with my life and stop worrying about whether or not I can do it. The worrying is really messing up my training.

My 10k from Last Week is Still Haunting Me

Just kidding. I'm over it. That pace calculator that Tri-James posted in the comment on my 10k report really helped me put things into perspective. I did better than I realized. So thanks, James! I really liked that marathon number it gave me! Hoping I can actually push it and accomplish that on May 1 in Cincinnati.

The point of this section is that the official photos of the race are up. My pictures from the 5k were really stupid (and no, you'll never see them on here), so I was hoping to spot the camera this time and look really cool when I passed it. I saw a guy on this ladder with a professional-looking camera around mile 4 and I immediately got into good form and made sure my face looked as normal as possible. Well, apparently, that camera didn't take any pictures of me. But the camera I didn't see at the finish line took a whole lot of pictures of me during my final sprint at the finish line! Yep, I look like a dope. I really wasn't in as much pain as this photo indicates:

Fail. At least I have a coworker gets a big kick out of these awful race photos I take. I'm going to nail it on the 10-miler, though! Mark my words!

The Biggest Loser

Remember how I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I joined my work's Biggest Loser contest? Well, I'm winning. I am down 7.5 lbs in the last two weeks. I know I'm not supposed to be worrying about this contest so much, but I'm getting a bit into it now because I'm doing so well. I want to win. Trying to let it go, though. This is really just a way for me to refrain from gaining any weight. I'm proud of some of my coworkers, though! One of them joined my gym and she loves it! It's pretty inspiring to watch her become so passionate about adopting a healthy lifestyle and I hope it sticks. As much as I love winning and love seeing the number on the scale drop for me, I'm rooting for her. So far, she deserves it.