Friday, November 11, 2011

Mrs. Bright Side


This week I started training for the Tinkerbell half marathon. It's at the end of January and I have plenty of time to prepare. That is just the way I like it. I also started back to work after being off for a prolonged period of time. So I am back to trying to squeeze running (like everything else that is squeezed in for dear life).

Here is my training schedule....

I use the Hal Higdon training method. That guys book was my go to for all of my races (all two of them so far) including my first ever which was a full marathon (yes, I am really nuts to have run a marathon as my first ever race). Well, I got through those just fine. So I continue to take his training tips and put them to good use.

I will follow this plan diligently as I have before so that I am ready come race day. That way I can sit back and enjoy the experience, and that looks something like this...
 13.1 miles of pure joy and exhilaration. 

But during training it is not all smiles. It's really hard to stick to that plan and get the miles in. When you have a full time job and 3 kids things just come up..especially going into the winter months when colds spread, and it seems to be constantly dark outside. It gets tricky, but I find a way. Even if it means getting up at 4am to run.

Sometimes, like yesterday, I have an interesting experience. So let me tell you what happened. I dropped off Nakiah at basketball practice and had 45 minutes to run. No prob, I thought. I just needed to squeeze in 3 miles. We were in an area I had trained in a bit before. I knew there was a trail that had a 5 mile loop  not too far away. My friend said there is a road near the middle that you can cut back on to make it just over 3 miles. Cool. Done and done. 

Well, here is where I have a confession to make. My name is Elizabeth, and I am directionally challenged. I can't read a map to save my life....especially the map on my iphone. So I missed the cut off by a mile. Time ticked by. I stood there trying to read this map. (The trail I was on didn't even show up on the darned thing!!) This is at 445 pm  and it's getting darker by the minute. At this point I have less than 1/2 hour to get back in time for Nakiah. I am 2.4 miles away, at the very least. Ok, I think, I'll just turn around and go the way I came. 

I got lost again. Big time.

I couldn't see any street signs until I got right up next to them...which was taking more time away from just running toward the courts. Now I have 15 minutes to get to him. I am still at least 2 miles away and have no idea what direction to head to get there. Time to panic.

Long story short I end up calling my husband at work. He tracks me (thank God for iphone tracking) and directs me on the phone as I am running. Imagine me sprinting, huffing, puffing, up hills, down hills, and him saying "at the next light take a left...now stay for five blocks....take a right...."

It was pitch dark. I was running my @$$ off. Seriously. I never knew I could run so fast for so long. I managed to cover 2.5 miles in a matter of 15 minutes. 6.2 total miles in 50 minutes (Usually my long distance pace is around 11 min/mile) I got there just 5 minutes late. Panting like a lunatic, but still, I got there.

I guess these things just happen when you are making you are...

:) So try to look at the bright side. You may not win Mother of the Year because you got lost in the woods and were 5 minutes late picking up your kid who is waiting with his brand new coach on the pitch dark courts wondering where in the heck you could be....but maybe you can run a lot faster than you would have ever dared. Maybe you already are epic...at getting really lost.


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