Go Becky Go

This run was amazing today. I don’t know what did it, but something just made everything feel great. 

Every time I was getting ready to feel slowed down and walk where I normally would walk, I just kept going. My legs weren’t giving up. I ran almost the entire time. And with those hills, that’s normally just near impossible for me. 

I’m thinking maybe it was the shoes, I used my Brooks instead of my Montrails, or maybe, just MAYBE, I’m getting better and stronger??

Dinner and my run splits (don’t mind the gray box I accidentally hit buttons after my run)!

Dinner: Chicken breast, a banana, a tomato, and green beans!

My splits! DO YOU SEE THAT? Under 11 minute mile on the last mile! 

Ahhhhhh I love progress. And when I listen to myself when I make goals. I just wanted to see myself run faster, and push harder, and I did :)

4 miles. 49:33. 12:24/mile pace.
My fastest average pace yet in training!

It was a hard run. But I did it. Things I would like to work on: “finishing strong”. Because always always always when I’m almost at the end I walk. I just stop caring.

So.. There’s that. I made it through day 3 of whole 30. After my run I went straight to the hospital to see my mom, stopped by the cafe and bought a pre packaged broccoli salad that seemed as paleo as a pre packaged salad could be. I think the dressing that was in there was not all whole 30 approved but with all the raw vegetables in that salad I feel like it made up for it. Raw broccoli? My first time ever having it. It was bearable with the bacon in my salad (and I know, technically no bacon either but something’s gotta give and I don’t buy it at home). So.. Yeah.

*Also fun fact: I haven’t worn my “Will Run for Beer” shirt since the Kalamazoo marathon last year!!

Another long day spent mostly at the hospital with my mom. No change there.

Did still manage my run for the day, went to do the Jack Quinn’s 5k. It was turned into like a memorial run, everyone was asked to wear race shirts if they had them and for them to be red white or blue, didn’t have any running shirts on me that quite fit the criteria so I went for my Denver RnR marathon shirt. News crews were all over our group, taping us running and interviewing people about Boston.

Good about this run: it’s the fastest I’ve run Jack Quinn’s since August of last year! My fastest time ever is 33:45 for this 5k, there’s this one big hill in the middle that always gets me. My goal for the year is to beat that. My fastest 5k ever I think was like a 29:30ish? I kinda want to beat that too but it’s not a priority. 

Had two beers after the run. Not one of my better choices but one I just got because it sounded so nice and the second my friend bought for me. After the run had a long talk with one of my friends about our running goals, and this one guy got in our conversation and was telling me how I need to start practicing going up Pike’s Peak now or otherwise the altitude stuff will kill me. I will be incorporating it into my runs soon but not quite at this time. That is all for today.

Barely made it to the gym today. I almost didn’t, but at the last minute I was like well the gym is on the way… Did my sprint intervals, 15 minutes easy with 12 30-second hill intervals, followed by 15 minutes easy. I sweated out all the sweat. Also for your amusement is my sweat smiley face that looks like he’s a little angry and sticking his tongue out, also wanted to show how my car looked when it started off as spotless and after 45 minutes wtf snow.

Today was long. First my mom went into surgery, and while she was still in surgery the explosions in Boston happened. Fortunately my friends that were there in Boston have been accounted for and my mom’s surgery went well.

As for my mom’s surgery, the surgeon says it looks like he got everything and that he checked her other organs to make sure the cancer hasn’t spread and he said everything looked good. Now we’re just waiting for the pathology results to make sure nothing got to her lymph nodes. He said what she had was called like, carcinoid tumors or something like that. That if for some reason she does still have it it’s at least a slow moving cancer. Now we just have to wait. I just get so sad seeing her in the hospital bed, on top of the ng tube, oxygen, and the iv that was hooked up to her, now she’s got a central line in addition to an epidural catheter plus a regular catheter, plus a drain coming from her stomach. I hate seeing her like this. I know my mom is older (64), but she just.. Needs to get better.

Was all kinds of snowy up on Pike’s Peak today, but luckily it didn’t get to us! Perfect day for running if you ignore the wind. 

This is my third long run training for this race, my average time per mile on the first run (in which I ran 6 miles) was 15:07, my average time per mile today where I ran 8 miles? 13:53! Sure, still slow as hell, but over a minute per mile faster, and that’s with more hills! There are so many hills here. And I’m almost at having done the whole race course! the big loop goes all the way around and then through the middle of the loop somehow. Still figuring it out. Overall, a difficult but good run.

Sad to say though, this will be my last week training with headphones, because race day they aren’t allowed. Plus, I almost have a heart attack every time the cyclists pass me. Need to have that self motivation! So we’ll see what effect it will have on my times next week…

Besides that, been at the hospital all today. My mom’s going into surgery tomorrow at about noon. She’s not in much pain at the moment but she’s still not comfortable thanks to the NG tube they have in her. After surgery she won’t have it anymore though so she’s excited. Think good thoughts everyone, we’re going to need them.