Injuries and Illness - The Mental Game

Well, with any training, there is always the risk of injury. Thankfully, mine is small, but was a big setback. Broke my toe in the middle of the homestretch for Shamrock Marathon Training. I had MRSA when I was training for the Shamrock Half Marathon last year. I'm trying to figure out how I'm really that unlucky HAHA!

But from all of this, I have discovered how much your mindset can change things. While I haven't been able to run like I needed to, I really think that I am mentally prepared for the marathon. And honestly, I think that is the hardest part of marathon training. The moment I registered for the marathon, my first thought was "Holy crap, I have to run 26.2 miles. Can I honestly do that???" And while it was super exciting to think that I was going to be able to officially call myself a "Marathoner", I was totally freaking out. And the self doubt set in immediately. It wasn't anything like when I signed up for my first half. This was totally different!!

I'm ready. I really wasn't sure if I was ever going to get that point mentally. I know that I had to cut my training short and that it's going to be really hard, but mentally, I'm ready for the challenge.

Challenges

So, I have decided to make 2014 my year of Challenges! As I've gone through my training for the Shamrock Marathon, I started to realize how easy the shorter runs have become for me. So, I decided to add the Anthem 8K and do what J&A Racing calls the "Whale Challenge." With the Challenge, you do the Anthem 8K on Saturday and the Shamrock Marathon on Sunday. You get a medal for each individual race and a separate medal for completing the Whale Challenge.

So, in the spirit of challenging myself, I have decided to do as many of the race challenges as I can. I am currently signed up for three! The first will be the Whale Challenge. My next Challenge will be the Patriots Challenge as part of the Run for the Dream in Williamsburg, VA. This challenge includes an 8K on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday. The third challenge will be the Shell Yeah Challenge as part of the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon. For this challenge, you run a 5K on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday. What challenges will you be doing this year? Sound off in the comments! 

First Medal of 2014!

Excited to say that I officially have my first medal of 2014! I decided to try my first Virtual Race! I'm going to say that I'm a fan. I registered a few months ago knowing that I would be pretty far into marathon training and that a half marathon would be totally doable! I decided to do one through Mom's Run this Town. They are a great group and if they had a chapter where I live, I would totally join (as I am a Mom to my lovely cat Lynx). Registration was free and it was only $10 to order the medal. It came in the mail on Saturday and so I went out and did my 13.1 right then and there! Wasn't fast, but I got the miles under my feet and I'm feeling good for Shamrock!! Take a look at this awesome medal :)

Shamrock Spotlight

So thankful to Beachy Runner and Breath of Sunshine for featuring me as today's Shamrock Spotlight!! Make sure to click on the links and head over to both of their blogs and check it out!!

Temptation

Ok, so I'm going to be honest here. I have a huge sweet tooth!! I rarely crave salty foods, but pretty much crave sweet things 100% of the time. It doesn't help that, especially in America, we have sweet foods sitting out there everywhere!! It's really hard for me to resist sometimes, but I have found that mt Team BeachBody Challenge Group has really helped me! It's a Facebook group and we are all trying to become healthier people. We have to check in everyday and let everybody know what we ate and what workout we did. With my new job it makes it way too easy to eat out everyday. That was getting really expensive and quite frankly, I've put on 15 pounds since I started! 

I follow a couple other runners on Instagram who had all been raving about Shakeology. I have tried weight watchers and slim fast in the past and I've had luck, but even with the WW meetings, I never really felt any connection to the people there or any support. Finally decided to try Shakeology and was very surprised with all that it came with. I ordered one bag to try it and got an email telling me that I now had a free membership to Team BeachBody and that my Coach would be contacting me. No monthly dues or anything, you just buy the product. She contacted me and added me to the challenge group where I have met some of the nicest people! They comment on everything that is post and have really been encouraging. It's really nice to know that I can post a pic of something I really wanted to eat, but resisted temptation and they will all cheer me on and give advice on healthy alternatives! I'm so thankful to all of them! 

This morning I went to 7-11 to get a coffee...walked right past the doughnuts and grabbed a banana. Still sweet, but not nearly as bad! What is your biggest temptation? What do you do to avoid it or eat in place of it? Sound off!

The Return!

Well guys, it has been a crazy year. I'm going to be totally honest and tell you that I really didn't know what route I wanted to take with the blog, so I just sort of stopped. I think I have finally figured everything out, so I'm going to give it another go....

A Year in Review:
When we last spoke, I was training for my first half marathon. Proud to say I completed it and two others!!

Shamrock Half Marathon, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Rock n' Roll Half Marathon, Virginia Beach, Virginia

I've also finished a bunch of 5Ks, 10Ks, and a 10 Miler:

Surf-n-Santa 10 Miler, Virginia Beach, Virginia

And I am proud to say that I am officially training for my first full marathon! I will be doing the Shamrock Marathon on March 16, 2014 in Virginia Beach. While I am really nervous, I'm also ridiculously excited! I am sooo looking forward to being able to say that I am a "Marathon Runner". 

Also, over the past year I have become an Independent Coach for Team BeachBody and a running Ambassador for Fit2Run in Estero, Florida. I am so happy to be taking on these two awesome rolls to help other people with their fitness goals! I'll be doing frequent updates to the blog to let you know how my weight loss and marathon training goes! Can't wait for you to start on this journey with me!

Workout Tips

I may or may not be slightly addicted to Pinterest. Ok, so I'm ridiculously addicted to Pinterest. However, there are some really helpful and frugal tips on there! I have recently created a running board on there with lots of good quotes and ideas. One of my favorite pins on there is Workout Tips. The idea is that you take a jar (any that you happen to already have laying around collecting dust) and every time that you do a workout, you give yourself a dollar. You can set a goal for yourself ($100, end of a training plan, etc.) and when you reach your goal, you take the money and use it for something awesome! This is my jar: 

My goal is to save up until I complete my half marathon next month. I'm taking the next day off of work and plan on using my "tip jar" to treat myself to a massage :) I'm super excited about my massage and honestly it makes me feel really good to put a dollar in there after every workout! What are you going to use your "tips" for?