Sunday (1/22): Sick Day

Monday (1/23): Sick Day

Tuesday (1/24): Sick Day

Wednesday (1/25): Sick Day

Thursday (1/26): Dance Class (1:30)

Friday (1/27): 5.6 miles in 1:20

Saturday (1/28): 6.7 miles in 1:20

Weekly Mileage: 12.3

Year Mileage to Date: 82.2

I enjoy them because I like reading about other people’s workouts, seeing their workout clothes (it’s like a fashion blog with running shoes), and getting motivated to enjoy my own workouts. Occasionally I pick up a new recipe from them, but often I get most of my food ideas from food bloggers (another Google reader category).

During the Marie Claire controversy I really started thinking about my motivations for reading healthy living bloggers. Despite having a history of disordered eating, I was never triggered by any of the food posts on these blogs, even when bloggers took pictures of breakfast, lunch and dinner. I kind of assumed that they were probably eating other things, and my “magazine filter” was always on, assuming that the pictures of their food were posed and lighted to make them look their best. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I never expected that my eating habits, or even my food, would look anything like theirs. I also never thought that I should be working out exactly like the bloggers I read. Instead, I took their workouts as possible training plans, learned about new activities, and gained inspiration from their struggles.

I was reminded of that time this morning when I was checking up on Carrots ‘N’ Cake and saw some interesting comments on one of her recent posts. Apparently, she’s recently gotten into CrossFit (side note: yay!) and is enjoying her workouts, and enjoying sharing them with her blog readers, as well as sharing some of her eats during the day. I’ve been reading Carrots ‘N’ Cake off and on for years, and it was really cool to get caught up on her current life. But some of her readers were not so happy, with many choosing to comment that they were tired of “all the CrossFit posts” and that they didn’t think that her food posts were “demonstrating healthy eating.” A few readers even said that they wished she would go back to posting Body Pump workouts and running recaps like she used to.

What?

Bloggers aren’t our personal magazine columnists. They don’t always write about one exercise, one eating style, or one athletic event. I can see how someone might feel a little sad if they’d “bonded” with a blogger over their love of one sport, and then the blogger switched to something new, but these are people with their own lives. They’re allowed to do whatever they want, and if they choose to share, that’s great. But they’re not obligated to only do one type of exercise, wear one type of clothing, or eat a certain way. If they’re enjoying their lifestyle and their eating choices are working for them, then they are living their life the best way they can.

It seems so disingenuous to start complaining that a blogger isn’t doing what they used to. Of course they’re not. They’re people, who are trying to enjoy the lives they have, not follow some template that they’re locked into just because they wrote about it once. I’m thankful that so many people around the world want to allow me to learn something about a piece of their lives, no matter what pieces they choose to share.

We grabbed our go cups of coffee and headed out. Try as I might, I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast. We drove through the fog/drizzle to Lake Poway and checked in at the race site. We listened to the briefing for the Bad Ass racers (they carried 30-50 pound packs and all their own water) before they set out, and then we had a half hour to wait before we took off.

I was miserable. I was positive that I was going to get lost, die, be unable to finish, or be the last one across the line (strangely enough, all of these fears felt exactly as awful…yay type A!) I tried to talk Leo into changing our “racing alone” strategy to stick with me, but he gently refused and reminded me that I had signed up because I wanted a challenge.

Which is true. I’m trying to fail at more things, rather than not trying anything at all. But I didn’t expect a challenge to feel so scary. Lesson learned.

I ate a Larabar (chocolate chip cookie dough btw, the only flavor I really like), before pulling on my gloves and getting out of the car. It had started to rain, and I briefly thought about putting on my thicker shirt, or my fleece but decided not to. (I would think about this decision ruefully a little later).

We heard our briefing, then took off. I really focused on not killing myself too early on in the race. Basically, we raced up a mountain, then back down, with a few fitness challenge stops along the way. The worst one was definitely the station that started with 10 tuck jumps and 10 pushups, then 9 tuck jumps and 9 pushups, and so on down to 1.

We all slowed down a little when we got to steep switchbacks partway up the mountain. It was raining pretty steadily, and I was already soaked. But it was strangely fun to just keep trudging along up a mountain. I couldn’t see very far in front of me, or any distance off the mountain, since we were essentially inside a cloud. Gradually, I was all alone on the mountain.

I had been really worried that it would be too steep for me to handle (since I do not do well on actual “climbing”), but it was all do-able. At the top (where I later found out it was sleeting), we had to do 100 mountain climbers before heading down the mountain again. After my mountain climbers, I decided that my goal was to run the entire way down the mountain without stopping.

It was quite an adventure, as it was raining harder now, and I had to perfect a glasses wiping manuever that involved taking my glasses off with the least muddy portion of my gloves, wiping them on the back of my shirt (least muddy part), and then putting them back on. I did this probably every 8 minutes or so down the mountain. My arms were really numb at the top, and I started smacking them to get the blood flowing a little.

Despite all this, I was having a FANTASTIC time. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face, and I felt like such a badass covered in mud and sprinting down a mountain in the rain. That feeling only intensified when I was ordered to drop and perform 10 burpees in a mud puddle, before running up the hill to the finish.

I came down with a brutal cold later that day that I’m still recovering from, but it was totally worth it. Best run of the year so far.

Sunday (1/15): 4 miles walking in 50 minutes

Monday (1/16): 1640 vertical ft. of hiking in 3:30

Tuesday (1/17): Rest Day

Wednesday (1/18): 6.3 miles in 1:00.25

Thursday (1/19): Dance Class (1:30)

Friday (1/20): Rest Day

Saturday (1/21): 7 miles trail running (King of the Hill – Mt. Woodson)

50 Pushups

12 Lunges

100 Mountain Climbers

10 Burpees

50 Tuck Jumps

Weekly Mileage: 19.3 miles

Year Mileage to Date: 69.9 miles

Monday (1/9): Weights workout at UCLA

2 x 10 Back Lunges with 25 lb

2 x 10 Box Jumps

2 x :15 Single Leg Wall Squat

1 x :25 Wall Squat

2 x 10 Goblet Squat with 25 lb

2 x 10 Step-Ups with 17.5 lb

4 x 10 Pushups

2 x :30 Plank

Tuesday (1/10): 3.7 miles in 40 minutes

Wednesday (1/11): Rest Day

Thursday (1/12): 6 miles in 1:10, and 6 miles in 1:30

Friday (1/13): Rest Day

Saturday (1/14): 2.3 miles in 20 minutes

25 Pushups

Weekly Mileage: 18 miles

Year Mileage to Date: 50.6 miles

I began this morning with this:

And began my first 6 miles before sunrise in my local area, as determined by SunriseSunset.com, because there’s no way I know when the sun rises. Leo ran with me, despite only getting 1 hour of sleep, and we ran one of our usual 2.5 mile out-and-back routes, then tacked on a mile at the end for a total of 6.

After a breakfast of eggs and bacon, I grabbed my new coffee cup (yay!) and raced out the door to my internship, which was followed by a class on campus. After that, I headed out to run my second 6 miles, which turned into a loop and a half around the entire campus. (Note to other runners: don’t eat a kale salad before you go running. You’re welcome.)

I was really proud of myself for running most of my second 6 miles, because the route was really hilly, but really fun. My legs hurt less at the end than during my half marathon on the 7th, so yay for increased training.

I ended the run with this:

Sunrise and sunset in 1 day! Thus fulfilling the Sunrise/Sunset challenge. I also decided to document my footwear:

Thus fulfilling the Naturalist challenge. Also, rainbow socks, just because I’m cool.

The first 6 miles took about 1 hour 20 minutes, the second 6 miles took about 1 hour 30 minutes (I had to check 3 buildings for bathrooms…apparently they were all being renovated today.)

I’m so excited to keep completing challenges, and happy to have month 1 in the bag! 11 to go!

Sunday (1/1): 10 pushups, 1 mile of Tabata sprints

Monday (1/2): 10K run in 1:15

Tuesday (1/3): 2.1 miles of running in 22 minutes, plus 7 x 7 pushups (42 total)

Wednesday (1/4): 5K in 28:49

Thursday (1/5): Full body stretch (rest day) and 3 x 10 pushups

Friday (1/6): 4 mile run in 43:00

Saturday (1/7): 13.1 miles (Southern CA Half Marathon) in 2:27.03

Sunday (1/8): 5K in 40:00

Week Mileage: 32.6

Year Mileage to Date: 32.6

Seeing it written out makes me more tired than I already am! Ready for a new week

This morning, Leo and I ran the Southern California Half Marathon, held in peaceful Irvine, CA. The race was set up to have around 6,000 participants, but it was extremely well run and organized.

We got there about 45 minutes early, and were able to park relatively close to the start with no problems. We picked up our numbers, timing chips, and swag bags (which…are not that swaggy, and contain mostly advertisements for other races) and t-shirts. I used the port-a-potties, and proceeded to feel like my hands were dirty for the rest of the day thanks to the giant “NON-POTABLE” signs on the handwashing stations. Ew.

We chilled in the car for awhile, stretched, and drank some Gatorade/water. Leo carried our 12 oz. Amphipod the entire race, full of orange Gatorade.We also put the finishing touches on our outfits. Leo was wearing a coordinated outfit from Loudmouth Golf (his sponsor), and I was wearing a matching Loudmouth skirt. We kept track of the comments on our outfits during the race, we got up to 15!

We made our way to the start and hung out in the 10:00-11:00 corral. The race start was uneventful, and the roads were nice and wide, eliminating a lot of dodging. After about 3 miles the course moved to some riverside bike paths, which made passing walkers a little more difficult, but I never had to change my pace to accommodate anyone else on the course. I had to stop for a bathroom break around mile 5, but ran the rest of the race without incident.

I felt fabulous until mile 10, when I really started hurting. It was mostly my feet, but my IT band on my right leg was acting up also. Leo did such an awesome job of encouraging me through the last 3 miles, and we crossed the finish line with an unofficial Garmin time of 2:25.00. Afterwards, we hobbled back to the car, and I sat and stretched for awhile while we refueled with the drink of champions. (Actually, Monster Rehab is better, but you take what you can get).

I’ve been in a lot of pain for the rest of the day, but have been icing a ton, and stretching as I can move various parts. Mostly just drinking lots of water and eating lots of carbs. Tomorrow I’ll be waking up early to watch Leo run another 13.1 miles in his quest to run 366K in January! I’m so glad that I got to run one of his races with him this month, he’s my favorite running partner.

My husband started what I’m calling his “January Experiment” today. He’s planning to run 366K in January to raise money for Livestrong and awareness for cancer prevention and health. He’s also doing it all wearing Loudmouth clothing. You can see his adventures at http://runningla.wordpress.com. This morning was the beginning, with a half marathon event at Huntington Beach.

I preferred to start off my New Year with something slightly less athletic (although I’m planning on running sprints later today) and opted to begin my New Year by reading Tina Fey’s Bossypants on my Kindle in the car. I love modern electronic devices.

I’m doing my own running adventure this year, by participating in the 12athon (https://www.facebook.com/Virtual12athon), wherein you run 12 miles on the 12th of every month (with varying challenges as you choose, to add points). Mostly because I think it will be fun, and add a slightly insane twist to my year.

January is going to be pretty insane, with running events almost every weekend (sometimes both days in a weekend), winter quarter starting, and the 12athon thrown in for good measure. But I think it’s going to be a great year.

Except for that whole “reciting vows on stage” part. Maybe I should practice those in front of a mirror.

I’ll post the ceremony text afterwards (no spoilers here!) because I know I used blogs extensively trying to find a good non-religious ceremony to borrow bits from. I think it turned out really well, but we’ll see how it goes over with everyone else.