Catching up.

I know, I've been quiet for a couple days. I'm sorry. It wasn't that I didn't have anything to say (the day I have NOTHING to say is the day they put me 6 feet under, and even then I'll probably be watching the whole thing from somewhere else and making comments). It was more that the things I needed to say weren't for the electronic world. Certain things outside bloggyland had to come first. I wrote pages and pages in my personal journal, but nothing here. Actually, I worked more in my writing journal in the past 4 days than I had in the entire month of January. lol. So, I guess I need to catch up on this week. Sorry if this goes a little long ...

Feb. 6 @ Farnsworth

Monday and Wednesday's runs ... I've been feeling for a while that running on the paved W-C Trail so often was kind of spoiling me so I decided to head back to my old summer haunt, Farnsworth Metropark and the canal trail, for my 4 miles. I LOVE this trail. If I park in the lot closest to town (Roche de Bout) and head southwest (really the only way TO go since you're at the far end of the trail system), you get the best mix of straight, curves, pavement, gravel, dirt, and small hills you'll find on the whole trail. It was a GORGEOUS day with sunshine and just enough of a breeze to make me think twice about wearing a windbreaker (but I didn't). I had decided that I didn't want to look at my Garmin at all for pace and I had a pretty good idea of where I needed to turn around and head back for my distance. I was barely a mile into the run when I decided that I was right about the W-C Trail spoiling me. I toughed it out, though, and was pleasantly surprised when I got back to the car and looked at my Garmin. I was even happier when I got home and uploaded the info to my laptop and checked out my mile times. Honestly, I was expecting 20ish seconds slower and much more variation between miles. Even with the mud and dog-walker traffic, it was a fun run and I think I'm going to get back to running there more often. All the off-road work can only make me a stronger runner, right?

A little while after I got home Monday evening, my right knee started bothering me. It was a spot BEHIND my actual knee, towards the outside. If you know what this is, could you PLEASE tell me? I've had some discomfort here before, but never THIS bad. I wore my crappy old knee brace the rest of the night and all of Tuesday just to hold it steady incase I just tweaked it or something running on the trail Monday (wouldn't be the first time). I get so many aches and pains that I don't like going to the dr or even calling my aunt (who's a nurse) unless I KNOW it's serious (as in, I can't walk, crazy bruising, too painful to sleep, etc.).

My knee felt a bit better on Wednesday and I had speedwork on my training plan. I decided to risk it since this was my last run before my 5k this Saturday. I ran the first 2.5ish miles very slow a deliberately (~12:00/mi) to make sure my knee (and ankle) were ok. Seriously, every 5 minutes I was evaluating if my knee felt ok to keep going since the further I went, the further I was going to have to go to get home. Amazingly, the more I ran, the better they felt. Huh?! Since they were feeling ok, I decided to go for my speedwork. I ran the next mile alternating around 9:00/mi and 12:00/mi, using the electric poles along the trail as markers (they're between 0.16 and 0.2 miles apart, depending on how far you are from intersecting roads). The last half mile was run around 11:00/mi, as close to my 5k race pace as I could do safely through "downtown" with the traffic. Final time was right around 49 minutes, which I'm happy with since I had to spend so much time and attention on my knee. My knee was a little achy this morning, but I think I'll be just dandy for the race Saturday if I completely take it easy today and tomorrow. :)

I finished off my tubes of Zipfizz earlier this week and I decided I'd buy some more of the flavors I REALLY liked. Well, even though the company's website says they sell it, my WalMart doesn't carry the tubes, just the shots. Ugh. So, I looked up where else I could buy them in the area. Costco (which I don't have a membership for and I'm not getting one JUST for this stuff) and Vitamin Shoppe. Right. Thank goodness it's sold on Amazon. I'll just have to add it to my "wish list" and only buy it when I have enough Amazon credits. It's either #2 or #3 on my list right now. I think my pull-up bar is #1 (but that could change).

I've been keeping up on by Fab Ab February, have you? Like I said before, I'm doing this in addition to my #plankaday. I'm excited to say I've finally reached a new PR for planking. I've held a plank for a whole minute 3 days in a row now! I felt like I was going to puke afterwards the first time, but I did it! *happy dance* Also, apparently a LOT of people have been finding my blog the past couple days by googling "fab ab february". I think my daily visits have quadrupled the last 2 days. So HI if you're new here. Welcome to the nut house. lol.

I'm still working on the changes to the blog. The new "About Me" should be done within the next week. I've been working on it a little bit every night. Now that my crazy emotional outburst is running its course ("details" in the appreciation challenge for today), I can get a little clarity and be more realistic about it all. I know a little bit better what I want and how to make it happen.

- - -

I know I haven't been posting it on here, but I HAVE been working on my Appreciation Challenge. Every day, I've been writing down something about myself that I liked or I've been proud of. I've been appreciating the people around me. I won't talk about it on here too much, but I'm slowly coming out the other end of a multi-year tunnel of grief and emotional issues [see the old version of my "about me" ... before I take it down]. While I was writing my Super Bowl post Sunday night, I was on the phone with a good friend and something he said started me thinking about individual instances where friends have been there for me, helping me through tough times. As soon as I got off the phone with him, I started writing thank you's. I've written 10 letters so far. And cried while writing every. single. one. Most of them will never find the person they were written to, but it felt good to just write them, to acknowledge that person's influence in my life. I am able to recognize that person' effect on my life the last couple years, during my darkest times. I would be nowhere near the person I am today if not for my family and friends. I'll never stop appreciating them, but it's time for me to start stepping out of the shadow of the last couple years. It's a chapter in my life, not the whole book.