Every Mile Earned

Breathe.  Breathe in. Breathe out.  Easy, right? Not this week.  Breathe. It's what My Musician says.  Breathe. It's what Coach Silver Fox says.  Breathe. It's what my Princess Unicorn says.  It's just a race, is what my Tinkerbell says.  Thanks kid.  I haven't talked much about how I'm feeling with anyone except My Musician.  I've chatted a bit with my coach and with my Unicorn but not to the extent that I'm struggling.   Why? I hate feeling weak.  I mean I can be vulnerable and share dumb things from my life, share moments of struggle but at times like this, IN the moment, I don't know how to reach out and share the depth of what I'm feeling. To share it IN the moment is admitting I'm feeling weak, afraid, uncertain (stupid, I know.)  That's what I'll try to do. I'm not looking for anyone to help me feel better. I know this is a battle with my mind and that the battle is effecting my...

Right before the finish line **sorry in advance, there are a lot of pictures.  It was a mini runcation for us too, not just a race ~ scroll to near the end for the race recap** It's been about two months and I still don't think I've fully processed my marathon and all the emotions attached. This was my second marathon.  My first was in 2010.  It took me 5-1/2 years before I was ready to run another one, even then I'm not sure I was really ready for this one. It was an emotional weekend all around.  We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday visiting Philly for the first time.  It's a beautiful city. Officially my second favorite city after Boston.  I love the historic cities. Thursday night I made chia seed pancakes. I have come to love them for my fuel. They are natural, healthy and give me lots of energy! I'm so grateful to my friend, TW, for introducing me to these! Friday morning, we put Tink on the bus, finished packing and hit the...

My big race this fall will be the Philadelphia Marathon in November. The countdown is now in the double digits, 99 days left.  Sounds like a lot but I know how fast November will get here. Between now and then though, I have 6 other races, 2-5k's, a 3.8 trail run, a 10k and 2 half marathons.   My coach calls them "B" races.  There are two races with specific goals but they are still "B" races.  They aren't my goal race of the season. Philly is the big one for me. I'm in week 4 of marathon training. I'm tired.  This week I have been sneaking in some extra sleep, here and there, which is helping. The last couple weeks I've been stressed, not eating right and not getting enough sleep. One of the women in my Sub 30 group posted something about overtraining that made me really evaluate the whole picture. This week I decided to not try to do it all. My house is trashed (my Musician is great at helping out a lot of the time), clean laundry is piled ...