The Struggle is real…..

I can’t believe that it has been two weeks since I posted my first post!  Well, I say that with a little sarcasm.  I knew it was going to be difficult to keep up with this blog but I honestly didn’t think it was going to be this difficult. Any mother knows how busy life can get during the week especially when you are training for a marathon or have any extra “Hobbies”.

Here are a few pictures of things that we did over the last two weeks…

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The last two weeks have been absolutely crazy!! My typical week involves work, gym, packing lunches, homework, dinners, piano lessons, CCD class, grocery shopping and many other daily chores that we all have to do to maintain our homes. All of that and I have crazily added on a training schedule for my marathon which involves 3 days of running, 1 day of Yoga, and 2 days of Body Pump. So, I am at the gym 6 out of the 7 days during the week and for an hour or more each time. I have been struggling with being able to find time to fit all of this in without having to take away my time that I have with my girls during the week. This is where the struggle has gotten real for me over the last two weeks. So real, that I was ready to call it quits on training for the marathon last week when I was getting ready to run my 14 miles on Sunday.

So, on Sunday (February 7^th) morning, I started texting my bestie (Kim) and told her that I can’t do it. I can’t dedicate 3-4 hours of my Sunday to running anymore. It is too much time away from home and the girls and I just can’t do it anymore. The struggle has gotten real for me and I need to take something off my plate. Kim was my saving grace this morning. :0) She immediately told me that I couldn’t quit. That it is too important to me and that if I quit now that I will regret it. She gave me the pep talk that I needed to continue training. I was only 6 weeks away!

Let me stop here and tell everyone the significance of the marathon and why Kimbo knew that I would regret it if I didn’t continue with the training. I mentioned on the main page of my blog that I have three children. Lilee (Age 7), Natalee (Age 15) and I also had a son. His name is Kevin (aka Bubbies) and he was a special needs child. He was a quadriplegic. Which means that he didn’t have full function of his legs and arms. He was fully dependent on us to take care of him. We aren’t sure why Kevin had Cerebral Palsy and the only thing the doctors could ever tell us is that something could have happened in utero. Anyways, because of Kevin’s disability he had a hard time fighting off infection. Kevin got the flu back in Winter of 2013 and he became an angel on March 20^th which is the same day of the Shamrock Marathon. This will be the third anniversary of his passing.

Kevin (aka Bubbies)…always with a smile  :0)

 

 

Me and Kim at the start of the Shamrock race last year!

Bling from the races!

Me, Kim and Steve all ran this race last year (Half Marathon) and at the end of the race Kim asked me if I would ever do a marathon. My initial answer was hell NO!! But then I thought about it and told her that if I ever decided to do a marathon it would be here. Flat course and it is a wonderful company (J&A Racing) that holds the event. They are also the ones that put on the Hampton Crawlin Crab race and that has been my favorite race so far.  A few months later I looked at the date (March 20th) and I told her that I am seriously considering doing the full marathon that day! After a lot of self-convincing, I made the commitment to start training for the full marathon after our Key West trip in January. I knew this would be the last opportunity I would get for many years to run on this day at the exact race that I said I would complete a marathon. I am so thankful that Kim and Steve both talked me into continuing my training.

On that Sunday, 14 miles was on the training schedule and I went out thinking that I was going to at a minimum get 10 miles done since I wasn’t feeling it. I figured 10 is better than nothing. I got out there and I don’t know how but I did the full 14 miles that day. It was a pretty uneventful run for me except around Mile 3-4. I was running and I was ready to get a Gu to fuel for the next 30-40 minutes. I reached into my fuel belt and pulled one out and opened it. I turned a corner and when I looked up I saw probably 50 birds flying from the ground into the sky. It was a beautiful sight. One of the wonderful things that I love about running is the scenery. :0) Of course I wanted to get a picture. I reach into my flip belt to pull out my cell phone and as I was doing that I forgot that I had the Gu in my left hand and some squeezed out all over my gloves. Ugh. I stupidly wiped it on my pants. I never knew how sticky the Gu was until today. It was now all over my gloves, my fuel belt and my pants. Let me also tell you that it was a bitter cold day and during the run my nose was running like a sieve. So I didn’t know what was Gu and what was snot on me!! I finally got my phone out of the belt and as soon as I went to go take the pictures a bird shit on my arm. WHAT THE ???? lol Ok, so it was a little funny but I knew at this point that I should turn around and be done with this run. If this wasn’t a sign that I shouldn’t be out here I don’t know what is!!?? I don’t know why or how but I continued the run and I am happy that I did because the rest of the run was uneventful and I felt pretty good. :0) One more training run closer to the actually race!! Woot, woot!! :0)

Notice the Gu (or is that snot?) on my leg and the Bird poop on my Arm!  Oh, how I don’t love running on these kind of days!  :0)

Here are my splits for this run….

 

Now that I got over the hurdle of running my long run for the week, I needed to figure out how I was going to fit in my training/running during the week without taking too much time away from my girls

Here is my new plan…..

Mondays – Yoga down in my basement with the littles. :0) Kim and her girls are planning on joining us. We plan on starting this either this week or next week. :0) We always like to do Yoga the Monday after our long runs so we get a good stretch in after the beaten that our bodies take from the long run.

Tuesday – 5-6 mile run day and my plan is to either run in the morning at 445am before work/school OR run at lunchtime with the bestie. This week I decided to run in the morning. I am a morning person and really enjoy my runs in the morning. This will be my first choice although I would rather run with my bestie and anyone that knows Kim she isn’t a morning person. :0)

 

Wednesdays – Body Pump at 6pm. I plan on going each week abd Natalee is going to start going with me to this class. She went with me this past week and really enjoyed herself. She did great! She stuck with it and didn’t miss a beat on all the reps.

Thursdays – 5-6 mile run day. I plan on doing the same and run in the mornings. :0) Back

Stevie B. getting his run in on Thursday at the Gym!  :0)

up plan is running at lunchtime. This week I ran in the evening which worked out since Natalee ended up going to a basketball game at the school.  I saw Steve (Kim’s husband) getting his run in tonight and I was so stoked to see one of my friends running towards the same goal as me and for such a special reason!!

 

Friday – OFF

Saturday – Body Pump at 1030am. I plan on going to this one every week and if Natalee decides to join me then Lilee can go with us and go to the daycare.

Sunday – Long run. I fit it in when I find time during the day. It is difficult to fit it in first thing in the morning because Lilee has CCD on these days at 945am and I would like to start attending the service at 830am on Sunday mornings. I didn’t have the girls today since they are both visiting their father but the struggle today was the bitter cold temperatures. There was 18 miles on the schedule for today and I didn’t think it was a good idea to run outside for three hours straight in the 14 degree temperatures. So, I hit the treadmill. Ugh….talk about the struggle being real. Anything past 6 miles is a BIG struggle for me on the treadmill. I left the house at 230pm and I knew that Steve was at the gym getting his run in. I got there and he was on mile 8. It was still a great motivation seeing him there and knowing that he is reaching for the same goal as me. He left when I was around mile 3. I was alone for mile 3 through 8 and then my bestie showed up!! YAY!! I was so excited. She even came with goodies. She had made these No-bake Banana Oat Energy Bites. They were delicious and I needed the energy. I was running out of energy and didn’t have any more Jelly Beans with me. She ran next to me from mile 8 through 15.  I was supposed to get 18 miles in today but 15 on the treadmill works for me!!  :0)  We got to catch up and talk the entire time. I miss my bestie so much on our runs!! I hope we get back to running together soon! :0)  Couldn’t have gotten it done without my bestie beside me for those last miles.  Wish I had a picture of us but we always forget until after we have parted each other.  Grrr

Does anyone else go through similar struggles and somehow…. someway power through and are so thankful that they did?? I would love to hear about the struggles that you have overcame recently.