New Year, New Challenges!

A belated Happy 2015 to you all!

I know it's been a while since we last talked. Well, I talk - you listen. Such is the nature of the internet.

Since we last talked, I have completed my first half marathon (I know, I know...I'm crazy), and my training has gotten back on track! Mostly because of how disasterous my first half marathon effort was. But the important part was that when every part of my brain was screaming for me to just quit, I kept going and crossed that finish line. I've never been more proud of myself.

It threw something into sharp relief for me though: I was severely undertrained for that race...and so to prevent that from happening in two weeks at my dress rehearsal and in 6 weeks at Disney (EEEEEEK! 6 weeks!!!!), I've been diligently training. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up as another busy semester kicks off today.

On New Years Day I made a new challenge for myself: I'm going to run one race a month at least in 2015. This is huge! The girl who could barely run a year ago is doing what? I also want to try and improve my times by increasing my running intervals, but that's totally doable with races to train for, right? I'm not going beyond a half marathon just yet...but who knows? Maybe by the end of 2015 I'll feel ready to tackle a full...I'd love to take on the Dopey Challenge in 2017, so eventually I'll have to bite the bullet. But we'll see what changes between now and then.

Other than that, there isn't much to report. I finished all my race costumes this weekend, which was a very exciting accomplishment and now I just have to train and count the days till Disney. It's so unreal that the thing I decided I would do this time last year is coming up so soon.

I'm ready.

Operation Sparkle: Training slumps and new Challenges

Morning runners.

So I have two very important things to report: the first is good. The second not so much.

So firstly, I've signed up to run another half marathon. It's a sickness, readers. I tell you, A SICKNESS. They wave shiny objects in front of me and free t-shirts and I become:

No, really, this is basically what I say

I'm not only signed up for a half-marathon, I'm signed up for another challenge. In January of 2015. This one is a 5K Saturday and a 1/2 on Sunday. I did it for two reasons (besides the bling). 1) I wanted to use it as a sort of "dress rehearsal" for the Glass Slipper Challenge. I wanted to be able to take some time to see what recovering from one race to run another is going to look like before I get to Disney so I can do my best to enjoy my race-cation. 2) It fit PERFECTLY in with my training runs for that weekend, so I really had no excuse. I'm excited. And nervous. And excited. And nervous.

Now, for the not so good item. I think I'm entering a bit of a training slump. And I blame school. I'm heading into big conference season, and I have to get my first paper out before Christmas and most days when I get up in the morning, I think about how I have so much I could be doing if I got to school early.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to come to school, start an experiment and then go running. Thankfully, the weather has cooled off enough down here that I don't have to make it out first thing in the morning. Hopefully that will help me do my work and get my runs in.

Until then, I lace up and carry on. In the meantime, I'm also working on running in compression socks. The good news, I've found a form that doesn't cause me pain, but my quads don't have the strength built into them that my calves did to be able to go fast or sustain my run so I've made two major decisions as far as my training goes. The first is to restart my Glass Slipper Challenge training a little bit. I'm doing this so I can start building my distances in the socks with this form. The second is to start cross-training a little bit to build my leg muscles. I'm choosing squats and lunges to target my quads.

Hopefully this works. Keep racing.

Operation Sparkle: Running a PR and a new Blog Series

Morning runners,

Two big things happened this past Saturday, and I realized this morning that I have yet to tell you about either! Oops!

The first is that I ran my second 10K this past Saturday. I came out of the gate way too fast (ran a 10 minute mile, which was nice only to know I could do it), which kind of screwed me up for mile 2. It was slow. I couldn't breathe. I got a side cramp. And I really wanted to just sit down in the middle of the road and wait for someone to come take me back to my car.

But instead I kept going. I met and conquered a large hill and then around mile 4, I had a lovely time running the downhill of that hill and managed to cross the finish line at almost EXACTLY the time I was hoping to run (32 seconds over, but that's not too big in the grand scheme). So I had a new time to submit to runDisney, which allowed me to use their new webform to do the submission. I really like it better than the prospect of emailing someone. It even gives you an updated estimated finish time for the 1/2 from your entered time. I know I won't be in the end at the very least.

I am registered for 3 more 10Ks and I think that will be it. One is in October and I want to try and shave 15-20 minutes off my total time and then two weekends in a row in November. We'll see what October's time is before I set a goal for those.

Now onto the second big thing that happened Saturday...I began a new running series over on The Main Street Mouse. You should check it out...though it's things you mostly already know. I'll be sure to link you up everytime a new one is published.

I didn't run Tuesday as I was still kind of sore from pushing so much on Saturday (and almost maybe sorta breaking one of my toes on Sunday), but this morning I was back out on the road and did 2 easy miles. Managed to keep a 12 min pace while wearing my compression socks. Running in them is definitely getting better, but I still need to work on it.

That's all. Keep running junkies.

Operation Sparkle: We run on...

Morning Junkies-

I know it's been a long time since I wrote. When I last updated you on this journey, Mom had decided to come along. That hasn't changed (and probably won't since she has plane tickets and we have hotel reservations and whatnot), but since then a lot and not much has happened. And that's why I've been MIA.

The week after I posted that, I was frantically trying to get out a paper to my committee (fun reminder: I'm in grad school) and then I had to work on my slides for the public defense of that paper. Then the defense got rescheduled unexpectedly.

So I went to a friends house and we went to Six Flags and I made the one ADR mom and I wanted for Princess weekend (Breakfast/Brunch after the 10K at Akershus). And then I came back to school and did my exam and AM OFFICIALLY A PHD CANDIDATE.

That was great: I made it through the first week of classes and that Saturday I ran my first ever 13 miles...and I did it in 3:15, which is 15 minutes less than Disney's time limit, which gave me a great confidence boost.

But I quickly deflated. After I got home and showered and ate my post-run Mac n Cheese, I got a phone call from my dad.

My grandmother had passed away Friday night.

My world went into a tailspin. This is the first close family member I've ever lost. I literally had no idea what to do. Do I stay here and keep going to school? Do I go home for the funeral, miss a week of school and a race I've been registered for since June?

In the end, I went home and I missed the race. And it was the right thing to do.

But I kept lacing up my shoes and hitting the trails. I've got a race to train for, and grandma would never forgive me if I gave up for her.

I've started the training program for the GSC, which is about 4-6 weeks before I should have, but I need the buffer time for sick weeks, injuries, and travel I have coming up. I also have another 10K this coming weekend. I'm hoping for a new PR and really need to kick this respiratory thing I've had since my trip home. I've also started running in compression socks. Saturday was my first go in them and it didn't go well, but I think it was a combination of a lot of elements...hopefully, I can give them another go this week and decide whether to integrate them into this race or keep training and put them on for a race I'm registered for in November.

I'll let you know how things go. Until then, keep running.

Operation Sparkle: Running with someone to chEAR you on...

A very large development occured in Operation Sparkle this week: my mother decided to come along. She says she wants to be there when I cross the finish lines.

How did this happen? Well, it all started Wednesday night...I logged onto a FB group I'm in (part of The Main Street Mouse, this awesome Disney site I'm a part of...highly recommended for all your Disney info) and someone was talking about the best time to book a flight. I had intended to wait and try out that 60 day rule you read about on the internet. But just for curiosity's sake, after reading that FB thread, I went to check out the cost of my Princess Weekend ticket...and it was the lowest I've ever seen any airfare from my home airport. I needed to wait until morning for a payment to post and when I got back on, it was still the same price. So I screwed the 60 day rule and pounced.

Then I posted to FB about scoring a great deal. And Mom started texting me. When was my trip again? What time were my flights? If she wanted to come, could she?

Readers, you have no idea how exciting this made me. I'm so happy to share this with my mom. She's getting registered for some of the commemorative stuff and a chEAR squad package to support me every finish line. She made us some hotel reservations and we officially have a trip scheduled.

Now for the hard part - I'm in charge of planning all the FastPasses...ugh. This is more difficult than you could think it would be...because things I like to ride and things Mom like to ride couldn't be more different. She's told me she doesn't care, but I still want her to have a good time. Luckily I have 130 days to figure all this out before they can be booked.

Bought some fabric for my running costumes today. I am so excited about it. I had intended to wait, but the fabrics I had my eye on were on sale this week so I decided to bite the bullet and get the deal. Plus this gives me more time to figure out what I'm doing exactly with them.

The heat in Texas is getting even more intense and I'm not looking forward to my 14 mile run this coming Saturday. But Catie told me to worry about the miles under my feet and not the time. It will be hard for me to do but I'll do it.

193 days to reality. I'm more excited now than I knew I could be...and I was pretty effing excited before.

Operation Sparkle: This may just be okay...

So, there's this episode of "How I Met Your Mother" where Marshall is training to run the NYC marathon and gets hurt so Barney takes his spot without training to prove to Marshall you don't have to train to run a marathon. Barney completes the marathon with an unbelievable time, but then gets stuck on the subway because his legs stop working.

I lead off with that anecdote, not because I recently started rewatching HIMYM on Netflix (which I did, because I finished watching The West Wing for like the fourth or fifth time and I don't feel ready to watch Lost over again yet), but because this morning, I ran 11 miles.

And at the moment, with my buns, knees and feet so sore you'd think I just walked a theme park in flip flops, that's the mental image that popped into my mind. Barney on a subway not being able to make his legs work. Stairs are hard. Flat surfaces are hard.

But honestly, I'm so proud of myself. Because I ran 11 miles this morning. In a time I wouldn't want to be permanent, but totally workable...totally acceptable for 6 months from the race.

For the first time since I undertook this whole endeavour...since I decided "I'm doing Princess Weekend 2015", I actually believe I can do this.


Added the Princess 5K to my weekend agenda this weekend, which means it's a 5K, 10K and half in 3 days. So excited. I can't believe I'm actually going to do this. It's going to be such an amazing experience.

Operation Sparkle: Battling the Elements...

And Body parts I didn't even know existed. That should be the rest of this title.

First the elements. Two weeks ago, it rained ALOT here in Texas. Which let me tell you, is a welcome thing. Except that it, like, flash flooded. Which left lots of standing water around town. Which allowed for the breeding of Nature's own F-You to summer...MOSQUITOES.

Tuesday I went out for my 30 minute, 2.5 mile run and came home with about 9 mosquito bites. I thought I was dying that night. So Wednesday I went on a new natural mosquito repellant regiment. So far, it appears to be working and if it continues this way, I'll be sure to write about it in the future.

Saturday, I was due to run 9.5 miles. I didn't get started until about a half hour later than normal and after about an hour and a half, I had to call it quits after only 5 miles. It was hot. I was super slow. I was walking most of it. And I wasn't happy. I knew continuing was futile. So I went home and felt a bit crappy for the rest of the day. Then Sunday I went out, got my 4 miles in at a more normal time and thanked the gods for cloud cover.

But then yesterday, I was having some pretty bad knee pain. Turns out, I've apparently strained my IT band with the consecutive runs. Which is a part of my body I didn't even know existed until yesterday when Catie suggested that that's what it was.

So I went to WalMart and got a roller and a stretching rope and let me tell you...stretching has made it hurt soooooo good. To be safe, I skipped my maintenance run this morning. I hated to do it, but I know that injuring myself further would be worse than missing one maintenance run.

A week from tomorrow is registration day for Princess weekend. And at this point, injury is my worst fear. Hope with me that I can continue stretching my IT band and get back at it.

I've got a 4 mile run Saturday. Hopefully I'm at least back at it by then.