Fitness Friday pt. 3

 Early morning cold run with Baby Boy. 

Happy Friday!!!

I really want to say "YES WE MADE IT TO ANOTHER WEEKEND!!!".

So picking up from last Friday, I got hooked on the whole sweatin buckets, being sore in places that I never knew could be sore, endorphin high that I got from laying the back patio daily in the Texas heat.

So once that project was finished I decided to pick up running AGAIN. I think each one of us goes through cycles in our lives where exercise is something we love or ignore :). Every time that I have embraced adding daily exercise into my life I begin with running. 

Its FREE, you can do it just about anywhere and it burns those calories at a pretty consistent rate. So, I did what anyone would do...I walked up the nearest field with my measuring tape. I measured out a little track, did some calculations ( on my phone, calculations in my head are scary wrong) and decided to run for 30 minutes.

That 30 minutes felt like an eternity and I decided on my next run that ,along with my measuring tape, I would bring water :).

I felt like every day was a new challenge to see how I could step up either my time or pace. I even drove around local parking lots in circles to see how many laps made a mile. I worked out my schedule to get in a run either before Adam left for work or right before dinner. 

In about 6-8 weeks I was able to run 5 miles without stopping. Now, after that 5th mile I stopped and dropped. It took a 2 hour nap, gallon of water and ibuprofen to regain any sort of normalcy for my day. But I wasn't satisfied.....I wanted to say that I could run 1/2 and full marathons. 

So off I went to get fitted for RUNNING SHOES. I realized that these 5 mile runs wouldn't be so awful on my feet if I had the right shoes.....get this, I ran about 300 miles in clearance tennis shoes from Kohls....you might say that I am a beast. or stupid.

My first pair of running shoes, Nike Flex were/are magical. Honestly. They were bright purple, a true sign of a committed runner right, obnoxiously bright shoes? They were wide around my toes, tight around my ..hmm, whats the middle of your foot called?, and as long as I wore socks with backlips never gave me a blister. Its crazy how much difference an actual running shoe can make in your life. In fact, its time for me to hang these up and get a new pair (they say that you should change shoes every 400-600 miles and I am way past due)...but I am reluctant to part with them. It would be like throwing away an old stuffed animal, that has gotten you through several ups and downs in your life. Cheese-tastic right.

My running shoes were the perfect fit for my Halloween costume as  Donatello. 

So, as of today I have run 4, 1/2 marathons and I haven't paid or signed up for any of them. I wake up, decide if my body is up for it that day and head on out. The thought of signing up for 1 single day of running, paying beacoups of money and being herded through one route with several other runners gives me instant pit stains. Its way too much pressure. What if I don't want to run that day, what if I am having cramps?, what if the weather is ugly, WHAT IF????? Its just not for me. However, when I am done running I always fist pump as if several others were watching me cross the finish line. Its normally just Goober though who knows that if he keeps mommies pace for these long runs he walks away with a starbucks drink as a reward. He grins when I fist pump, thats good enough for me.

***Soo, for all of my friends who have no clue what that word is in the last paragraph spelled beacoups, let me write it how I have always invisioned it as "BOOCOOS". I say this word at least 10 times a day. If you question that I have a student who tallies it daily in her sketchbook and I think I say it at least 5 times just in that one class. Anyways, this student is the one that educated me in the fact that BOOCOO is a french word and I was destroying it with my southern accent and misuse. I kinda thought it was a made up word and we all know you can use made up words however you want.

Enjoy the boocoos out of your running!