T-minus 24 Hours

Well...a little less. But let's go with it for dramatic effect.

The Pittsburgh Great Race is tomorrow. My first ever real, true race. (Not the first one I registered for, but the first one I'm actually going to do.) 

Today was packet pick-up and expo day. The expo was definitely smaller than the one we went to when Joe ran the marathon last year, but it was still fun. Picked up a new pair of running sunglasses (not risking losing my Fendis on the course!), snagged my bib and race shirt, and we're ready to go!

Then we headed to Fat Heads for some pre-race beers and sandwiches, and an amazing WVU win. 

Tonight we have a charity function to go to, then it's home to get ready. It's almost 5k time!!

Power to the ME!

I'm a liar. A big, dirty liar. And not just because I said that I was going to be a more faithful blogger. Let's just overlook that little white lie, kthankx.

No, I lied in this post, when I said that I can't run. Or, more accurately, that I hate to run. Because I got inspired, and next week, I'm running my first-ever race, the Pittsburgh Great Race 5k. Here's what happened.

Have you seen the Athleta Power to the She ad campaign? It's empowering, it's beautiful - I absolutely love it. And one day I was flipping through Joe's Runner's World, because naturally, there can't be written material in my house I haven't read yet. And I saw this ad:

Image Source

And I thought to myself, I love fall. But yet I watch it from inside a building - inside the house, inside work, inside the gym... I want to smell the fall air and hear the leaves crunching beneath my feet. And I want to wear some hot fall running clothes like that chick. So I think I need to run.

The next day, it was a fluke low-60s August day. So I laced up my shoes and trusty ankle brace, and started off. Walking. Not running. And it felt AMAZING. So I picked up my pace. And ran a little, walked a little, repeat. And by the time I looped our 'hood and made it back home, I'd covered more than 2.5 miles. WHAT?!?!?! Hellz yeah!!

And you know what? I was sore for a couple of days. And it was hard. But I did it. And two days later, I did it again. And two weeks later, I did three miles. And it's amazing. The sense of accomplishment in doing something that I always thought I sucked at is incredible. Yes, sometimes it still hurts. It hurt this morning, in fact. But I am sticking with it.

Why? Because I can. I'm doing it for me. To paraphrase the ad with the super cute shirt, Power to the ME!

No I Can't Run

Remember that old Phil Collins song? "I can't dance. I can't walk." Well I can't run.

The winter after Nicholas was born (what was that 2010? gah), the husband and I decided to do a 5k to help us get back into shape. So we started a Couch to 5k training plan. About 3 weeks in, I stumbled on the treadmill, and stumbled again the next day. That started a 2.5-year cycle of pain in my right ankle, orthopedic surgeons, X-Rays, MRIs and one evil cortisone injection, all culminating in a foot surgery to remove an extra bone that was jabbing into a cyst caused by - you guessed it - the stumble on the treadmill.

Scars are awesome. Ignore the cankle-esque look of this picture - I do have foot bones.

Along the way, I kept saying that I wanted to run. I wanted to be a racer - the race culture seemed so awesome, with people in costumes and crowds cheering you on as you push toward a goal. But in the end, I have to admit to myself that I hate running. What's more, I have a hard time doing it. Between the surgery and the tendonitis running rampant through my foot, a couple of miles on the pavement often  = a couple days of pain. And maybe that will change as the pounds drop off. But in the meantime, I need to focus on what I do enjoy.

And what is that? Swimming. And cycling. I have taken Spinning before, and I will again. And I'm happiest and most at peace when cutting through a cool pool. And maybe that's ok. Maybe I need to come to terms with who I am and what I enjoy, not what other people decide is fun. Accepting myself - a novel concept!

Are there any workouts you enjoy, and any that you avoid like the plague? Want to come to Spinning with me?

Workouts a la Pinterest

Typically, I work out in the gym. I'm one of those people who likes the atmosphere, and finds it easier to focus on working out there rather than churning on the treadmill in the basement. But yesterday, I couldn't make it. It would have been so easy to blow it off with some jalapeno Tostitos and salsa, but instead, my mind went to the 800 workouts I've pinned to my Fitness Pinterest board. Specifically, the Tone It Up Lean Arms Pyramid.

I pinned this via Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers, originally from here. 

I like the sound of a pyramid workout - start out with a set of reps, change exercises for each set of 10 on the way up, then repeat in reverse. I changed it up to make it work for me (aka, my free weights were buried somewhere in the basement, so I had to make modifications, and did one pyramid for each body part I wanted to focus on - arms, legs and abs).  In the end, it was a solid, sweaty, 30-minute workout.

Arms
10 pushups
20 dips
30 uppercuts (both arms punching = 1 count)
40 cross body jabs (both arms punching = 1 count)
50 count plank
**repeat in reverse**

Legs
10 calf raises
20 squats
30 lunges
40 toe touches (1 set standing, 1 set sitting)
50 count wall sit
60 jumping jacks
**repeat in reverse**

Abs
10 standing knee raises
20 reverse crunches
30 plank jacks (when I couldn't finish the last set of these, I supplemented with 10 count superman)
40 crunches
**repeat in reverse**

I love that I can swap in exercises that work the areas I need to focus on most. And today? I'm sore. Like SORE. Successful at-home workout!

Your turn: Do you exercise at home? Or are you solely a gym rat?

Chasing Pavement

When it comes to working out, I'm not the greatest runner in the world. Even more, I loathe the treadmill. Hello, shin splints! So when I'm at the gym, I'm usually in the pool or on the bike.

I'm not sure where you are, but today in Pittsburgh it was 60 degrees. On Monday, it will be snowing again, but today the skies were dry and the snow melted. Did I really want to spend the one warm day between now and May inside pedaling away to muted ESPN? Yeah, not so much.

So I laced up my Brooks and hit the pavement. And as I'm sitting here typing this I am unbelievably sore but I did it! I haven't run in three years, since I got hurt in week 3 of couch to 5k training. Three years and a surgery last September later, I'm starting again. One foot in front of another - a metaphor for this whole thing.

Yes, I'm slow, but I got up and got moving!