Hitting the Wall & Spaghetti Squash and "Meatballs"

Nightmare Run

Well, today one of my bigger running fears happened. I didn't just hit a wall (or 2), but I did it with my new running buddy. It's honestly one of the reasons I've shied away from running with others. It's one thing for me to have a running temper tantrum with Jason or alone, but with someone else...

The deck was really stacked against me, and I knew it too. My legs and feet had already traveled 13.5 miles over a 2-day period. Thursday is typically a rest day so that I can be fresh (mentally and physically) for my long run on Fridays.

However, Hurricane Isaac is about to cause us some headaches with regards to the weather. So, unless I wanted to swim my long run on Friday, I needed to try to go for it today.

So, tired legs (and feet), 26 mph gusting winds (coming from the swirling remnants of the hurricane), and 77 degrees with high humidity all add up to potential disaster. And it didn't help that my first 5 miles were entirely too fast. I think the fact that it was completely dark out, made me just a tad more nervous and I ran just a tad bit faster. In fact, mile 5 was an 8:34. Let's just say I was running out of gas quickly.

I met up with "A" at mile 5 and warned her that I was really out of sorts. I suggested we take the path of least resistance, in other words, as few hills as we could manage. She had actually ended up waking up early and decided to get in 4 before I got to her house at 6:15.

We took off mostly flat, then some down, then some up, then some flat. It wasn't horrible, but I just felt my legs slowing down like I was running through thickening cement. The thick air was making breathing much more labored as well.

All I can say is that I am so glad that "A" kept chatting away because it did help me stay out of my head. Well, I was all up in my head, but her company helped me more than if I had been on my own I think.

But, I was fairly embarrassed to be bonking like that. I know it happens. But I was holding her back of course. I certainly couldn't have been exactly pleasant to be running next to either. But she stuck with me regardless. We hit my house at mile 8.75 for me, and I told her I just couldn't keep going.

She was going to shoot for 10 (totally unplanned). And if I hadn't have been such a mess, then we could have gone a slightly different route making it easier for her to get to 10 by the time she got home. Again, another reason I felt bad.

She continued on and I paced up and down the block to try to cool down. I realized I was at 8.75 miles and I was ticked at myself. So after I was sort of calmed down, I decided to go for it. I made a very slow loop around and ended at 9.5 miles - mostly because I'm stubborn as hell.

What is your biggest running fear? Do you worry about hitting a wall with a running buddy? What do you do when you hit the wall or totally bonk?

Despite the crappy run, I did enjoy having company. I also enjoyed knowing I was on a virtual sherpa run again with Jo who hit double digits today. AND we were running in celebration of Melissa's big 3-0 birthday!

Lazy Dinner
Tonight was a very dreary, rainy evening. I decided to make a "quick" spaghetti sauce. In other words, not the family recipe that ends up taking 5+ hours. I picked up some spaghetti squash and used that in lieu of pasta.

Rather than make my own, I did take the lazy way out for "Meatballs" using LiteLife GimmeLean. Normally I prefer to keep processed foods to a minimum, but sometimes I'm lazy. Today, I was lazy.

Sometimes, I'm ok with being lazy ;-)

Daily To-Enjoy List:
Run (on the fence with that one)
Comforting dinner
Rainy, relaxing evening
Having long run done
Running buddies

Let's Have Coffee

If you're a regular blog reader, I'm sure you've seen similar posts, scenarios if you will, about what we might chat about or what I might say if we sat down and had coffee together. I think these can be fun. Maybe fun isn't the right word choice exactly. But maybe it is? They're transparent, showing who the blogger really is ... if they're being honest of course. It's not often you truly get to sit down with the person behind the blog. Banana Nut Biscotti with Banana Glaze If we were to have coffee together ... I would first let you know that I'm not a super fan of coffee. I drink mine with hot cocoa and it's mostly out of habit rather than the need for caffeine. I could forgo it on the weekends entirely. Since we're talking coffee, I would also let you know that I've never ordered coffee from Starbucks and only once from a true coffee shop. I've only been into 2 Starbucks shops - the original in Seattle and one in town wher...

KIND Bar Review + Apple Raisin Wheat Berry Salad

Weights & Step As much as I wanted to run today, I knew there was no getting up early enough to do so. Monday's are hard enough without getting up at 5 am to run. Yawn ... So, today I did my weights at lunch then cardio after work. Weights were pull muscles (biceps and back). I did 3 sets of 8 reps of the following: Biceps : Alternating curls Cross-body curls Zottoman curls Back: Single-arm horizontal row Underhand DB rows Double arm rows It was a pretty good workout. I felt pretty strong today for some reason. Love it when that happens. My legs were pretty sore from yesterday's workout, so I opted for a lower intensity cardio: Cathe's Low Impact Circuit - Cardio Only Premix plus abs. It was a great workout and helped to loosen up my legs. KIND Review I have been very remiss with my review of the KIND bars that I won from Jill @ My So Called Health LIfe . I won the Nut Delight. I don't know why, but I expected it to be a tad softer...

Jewelry and Overcoming the Fear of Failure

I guess I can blame this little hobby on Pinterest - jewelry making. More specifically, metal-stamped jewelry. Wasting time, skimming through Pinterest or seeing people posting pics of metal-stamped bracelets or necklaces, I thought, "hey, surely I can do that." So I started pinning ideas, looking up how-to videos, ordering the tools. Boxes of tools, gadgets and goods started arriving on the daily. I know my husband was really excited. Yep, I was going to do this! I felt like the child set free in a toy store. I didn't even know where to begin exactly. But I had some ideas. Lots and lots of ideas. I'm an idea girl as you'll soon learn. I set out my tools of the trade, all neat and tidy on my kitchen table ready to begin. Luckily, my husband who sits back and watches stepped in with some ideas on ways I could practice the stamping without using the more expensive washers and bars I'd so eagerly purchased. Smart man. What I didn't take into considerati...

Where's the Beach?

Search This Blog