Manhattan Half Marathon Race Recap

There is no good reason why I felt so attached and excited about the Manhattan Half Marathon. I waited all through November and then until early December until the date went live on NYRR. I made a vague effort towards training (okay, long runs, no speed work). And then, the weather gods decided to mess with our heads and make Saturday 22nd January the coldest day of the year. Of winter. So I spent most of this week freaking out that I was going to leave frozen body parts on the course. But unlike the last two races that I have signed up for, there was no backing out of this, not matter what. 

Friday night was spent eating a plate of spaghetti bolognese as big as my head, followed by mint chip ice cream. What is the point of running if we can't eat as much as humanely possible beforehand. I even managed to get to bed at around 10.30 which is earlier than I've been to bed in weeks and a total luxury. I slept like a total baby and was perfectly fine with my 6.30am alarm.

In a weird moment of organisation last night, I had even laid our my clothes the night before, so the morning of the race was a total breeze. Dress, make oatmeal, leave. I took a tupperware of oatmeal made with almond milk, blueberries, bananas, agave, and peanut butter on the subway. People, this is the best race food EVER. This is just delicious any day of the week. When I stepped out of the building I was literally smashed in the face with the fricking freezingess that 14 degrees really is. Holy crap. It's the sort of cold that makes your head hurt and breathing majorly challenging. 

When I got to 60th st there was an encouraging number of other runners who were clearly silly enough to be attempting to run 13 miles around the park with me. Everyone was wearing lots of layers (me included), but I started to doubt my "wear what I wear for 30F approach because it's a race and you'll be running harder" approach. I very nearly kept my extra jogging bottoms on and sleeveless puffa, but dumped them at the last minute. 

The corral system was rapidly dissolved, presumably in an effort to get everyone moving as quickly as possible. I guess if you were a yellow or red bibbed runner arriving at 7:55am it must have sucked, but for the rest of us it was great. I guess that the cold weather meant that turnout for the race was around 60-70% of who had signed up, but there were stlll a lot of runners. 

I use a little app on my phone to track my runs instead of a garmin. It works amazingly, but because I keep my phone in my back pocket, and I was wearing gloves, it meant that I decided to start it early and eat the first mile in time. Little did I know that I had done it 5 mins early, and my first pace update (a lovely lady tells me my distance, time, and average pace every 5 minutes) told me my average pace was 55 mins/mile!!! Things can only get better from here. 

The first two miles of this race were incredibly uncomfortable. My nose was frozen (and by that I mean my snot - GROSS!), and so were my fingers. I pulled my cuffins down (thanks Lululemon!) and sensation returned with vengeance in mile 2 - you know that painful defrosting feeling? YAY!). I did look ahead of me at some point and saw the most picturesque scene - hundreds of runners silhouetted against the morning sun with the steam of our breath rising. Beautiful. 

By mile 3 I finally relaxed into my stride and things started to feel fun. The Harlem Hills were just fine, for once. I remembered to take my gu's at mile 4, washing them down with the crunchy iced water that was laid out for us. My legs felt nice and strong, and I even started to worry that I had pushed myself too hard, too soon. However, my legs just kept going and going, feeling nice and good, and surprisingly, I was, well, not warm, but comfortable! 

I'll admit that from mile 4 until 11 it was all king of a blur. I remember after the second go around on the Harlem Hills sighing with relief that they were done, so that must have been at around mile 8. At mile 11 I did start getting tired and a little bored of running - the whole "I want this race to be over" feeling that we all get during a long one. At one point a guy started yelling that he wanted pancakes which at least made me laugh. I was feeling that I had a little bit more in me, so I tried to pick up the pace a little, which I was actually able to do - go legs!!! I pushed for the last 2 miles and brought myself home in a final time in 2:02:36 - a full 8 minutes faster than my last half marathon! Upon finishing my legs felt good, not winded or anything. It felt so good to finish strong and feel like my training and strength was in the right place. I then took off my headband and found it was frosted - funny!

Oh, and afterwards I ate a brioche, croissant, hot chocolate, berry cup, and orange juice in Pain Quotidien. Other diners literally stared at me. Hey! I ran 13 miles in freezing weather this morning!

New Year, New Goals

I have long given up making resolutions to be a fitter, stronger, nicer, tidier, more organized, less selfish, non-sugar-addicted person. Every single time those resolutions fall flat on their face and by January 4^th I’m back on the Krispy Kreme high. So this year, instead I’m making public my goals and intentions for the year, hoping that this blog will motivate me into taking them further.

1.       Run a race with an 8:30min/mile pace, and run a sub 2hr half marathon. My fastest race time is currently an 8:54 min/mile for a 5m race, and my only half marathon time was 2:11. I have 5 attempts at the half marathon this year at least, so with a bit of luck and some sensible training, I firmly believe I can move my time downwards. Running faster is one of my motivations for getting outside when I really don’t feel like it; running faster will only happen if I actually train to do so.

2.       Lose my fear of inversions. Or rather, try to lose my fear of inversions. I’ve now been doing yoga for over 6 months, but everytime I’m in a class that attempts to send me upside down, I break out into the cold sweats. The thing is, I want to be confident. I literally want to go upside down, but I’m holding onto some fear. I won’t get over the fear unless I commit to keep working on that side of my practice.

3.       Cook more meals for myself. I really used to cook every single night when I lived in Edinburgh. Not every day was fun, but most days it was. In 2010, I probably cooked about 10 meals max. This has got to change. I subscribe to Bon Appetit for goodness sake! So this is the year that I’ll try to cook at least 4 meals a month. I know, I can hear some people laughing into their keyboards there, but I have to start somewhere.

4.       Visit a new place. Over the years, I have spent a lot of time travelling, and have been lucky enough to have visited 6 out of 7 continents. (Antarctica, I haven’t forgotten about you!). However, in recent years, I have been lazy in my travelling, and gone back to places that I know and trust, rather than go new places. This year, I commit to trying somewhere new. Weirdly, despite my having grown up in Europe, I’ve never been to Italy, so this year might be the year.

5.       Get a new job. This is a biggie. I actually even want to move into an entirely new field, which is even scarier, and I don’t know whether it will be possible.

2010 Was The Best Year of My Life - Here's Why

2010 was without a doubt, one of the best years of my life. Perhaps one of the most satisfying things about it being such a good year is that a lot of the great things that happened were down to decisions that I made. Let’s do a round-up.

1.       I discovered exercise. In fact, between July 2009 and April 2010, I had probably been on 1 run and no gym trips. So, what changed this year, and why has the habit stuck? I realize that this is probably worth an entire blog post on its own, but this is the year I discovered niche classes with great soundtracks and simple but effective moves (hello Physique 57 and later Core Fusion), that there were yoga classes for beginners and no one is looking whether you can touch your toes, and that running is so much more fun if you set goals like races and have data like Runkeeper and Daily Mile to keep you motivated. I even ran my first half marathon!

2.       My social life expanded. I have now been living in NYC for 2 years. During the first year, I was having fun, but it felt like my social circle was really small. For whatever reason this year, my social life really took off, and I now feel so lucky and blessed to have great friends and opportunities to drink too many cocktails. As a result of my social life becoming fuller, I’m much less shy and more inclined to be open to meeting new people.

3.       My marriage got better and better. This might sound like a sappy point, and it is, but my husband and I just keep having fun together, enjoying each other’s company, growing together, and picking each other up when the other is down. Our second anniversary is coming up, and I’m thrilled to be sharing it with him.

4.       My pup grew up and became even more fun. Puppies are adorably cute but can be incredibly frustrating in their inability to walk in straight lines, not impulsively dash across busy streets tripping people with their leads, chewing your Mulberry bag, and needing to go to the vet every 6 weeks for some other random puppy problem. Dogs on the other hand are slightly less impetuous in their need to sniff every single thing in the street, can be trusted off leash in Central Park, and are endlessly loving and understanding of your need to just sit and snuggle some days. Moose is just about the perfect dog.
 

5.       My buying patterns changed. I adore fashion, and spend far too much on it. I didn’t stop spending too much on it (unfortunately I may never!), but I did move away from disposable fashion from H&M and Forever 21 to pieces with a much longer lifetime and better quality. Today my weaknesses are preppy classics from J Crew and Kate Spade, with a mix of downtown cool from Rag & Bone and Alexander Wang, although only when they’re on sale! Although my new tastes are expensive, I shop much less and buy things that give me a genuine pleasure, rather than a slightly sick, too much food at the Chinese buffet feeling. With shopping less and less, I am also feeling myself needing to go shopping less as well, which pleases me as well.
 
6.       My job has improved. This time last year, I was practically crying after work. Now, I’m busy, confident, and respected in my role.

Not all my behaviors in 2010 were perfect though!

1.       I stopped blogging. I ran a beauty blog up until I went on vacation in September, and when I came back, I just didn’t feel like I had the time nor the inclination to start writing it again. Part of it was to do with not being able to find my voice, part of it was to do with feeling limited by talking about cosmetics, part of it was to do with the endless slog of taking photos, and part of it was to do with feeling shallow talking about lipstick. So I stopped. I don’t regret that so much as not taking the opportunity to redirect that energy into this blog, which I also neglected. One of the challenges that I find with blogging is that the best blogs are niche (fitness, food, make-up, books, fashion), whereas I am not a niche-person, and I want to be able to write about all of those things, but if I do, no one in their right mind would read it! Blogs which feature a book, then a recipe, then some pictures of me looking grumpy while wearing my new furry hat tend to have a hard time cultivating loyal readers unless a lot of time is spent on them. And unfortunately, time is something we all lack.
 
2.       I still can’t really walk in heels. I only wear heels when I’m heading out to dinner or drinks. I really wish I was one of those girls who can wear them every day.

3.       My diet is still 90% appalling, and sugar is still my best friend / dealer. A juice cleanse back in May did a reasonable job of breaking some bad habits, but they snuck their way back in. I just can’t imagine cooking or ordering whole wheat pasta ever, and snacking on almonds is anathema. Rewiring my mind and relationship with food requires some serious work. I did score a major deal on Gilt for Blue Print Cleanse so I'll have at least 2 juice cleanses this year which is fantastic. I just have to figure out how to hold onto those good habits!

Chairs Are Part of Practise Too

This weekend I tried a completely new yoga class – Iyengar Yoga at Yogaworks. The journey through the class ended up being journey for myself. I walked into the class and we were told to get a couple of blankets, a strap, a bolster, and A CHAIR.  A CHAIR?!?! What sort of class had I gotten myself into? A super easy class where we are going to figure out how to sit up straight? WHAT????

The class was ultimately working toward Revolved Side Angle pose (Parivrtta Parsvakonasasa), although you would never have know it from the start. Instead, we spent the first 30 minutes sitting in our chairs, working deeper into our twists, and moving our chests forward and down while keeping our hips on the chair. There seemed to be a lot of taking our chair to the wall, doing something, and then going back to the mat, and doing something else, all while working toward a deeper twist. At first, it all seemed so disconnected, and I was going crazy with frustration and boredom. I also should put in a disclaimer that while I am no twist master, I was finding the use of the chair easy because of my long arms. I am barely removed from a monkey. 

Back and forward, sitting with blankets, holding onto the chair legs. When was this going to end?? And then, suddenly, without me even realizing, the class became hard. I was no longer finding it easy to place my hand wherever I was supposed to. Even though they were supported by a chair, my thighs were burning with the stretch. We did a neat Warrior 2 using the chair to get our thighs parallel to the floor, which demonstrated just how hard that is, and really, how far away I am from that at the moment. And then suddenly, we were back on our mats, going into a really sweet, deep Revolved Side Angle pose, which although was tough to hold, was definitely the furthest and most “correct” version of that asana that I have ever done. It was incredible.

From there we moved into Shoulder Stands, which I am still completely incapable of making the “leap of fear” to get my legs in the air and up. If someone catches my legs and sets me up, I’m a happy camper. If anyone has any suggestions on literally how to make the leap, please, please let me know. Finally, those chairs came back into play with some nice supported back bends.

I came out of the class both feeling accomplished, and changed. I had learned to be a little more open, and a little more humble, and a lot more flexible, both in mind and body. A true yoga practice.

Monthly Goal Setting

Do you set monthly goals for yourself? I saw the following phrase on Lululemon’s twitter feed and decided to try it out for this month:

In October I will run ______ miles and go to _____ yoga classes

My goals for October are:

·         Run 40 miles
·         Go to 10 yoga classes
·         Go to 12 Core Fusion classes

So far my progress is:

·         Run 24 miles
·         Gone to 4 yoga classes
·         Gone to 5 core classes

I know, you’re thinking I won’t hit my targets, aren’t you? I know that it looks like that too, but I’m actually confident. I based my targets on my weekly exercise plans. Every couple of weeks I plan out my exercise schedule. It is based upon a couple of things – what classes I want to go to (like everyone, I have teacher preferences, and of course my favorite teachers for different things are scheduled at the same time), whether I’ve done a lot of core or yoga or running the previous week, if I have something I’m working toward like a race, and of course my social life. I do tend to overschedule myself, because I know that social life will 99 times trump working out, so I will never manage to get to everything I have scheduled for myself.

For example, if I actually did every single thing class I scheduled for myself in October my stats would be:

·         Run: 43.2 miles
·         Yoga: 13 classes
·         Core Fusion: 17 classes

Looking at that, it’s still pretty attainable, but would definitely involve some early starts. During the summer, working out in the morning isn’t utterly dreadful, but when you’re waking up in pitch black, going for that run or biking down to the studio just does not have the same appeal.

Does anyone else create monthly goals? Are you good at sticking to them?

Grete's Gallop Half Marathon Race Recap

It’s been over a week since I completed my very first half marathon, and already it feels as if it has faded into a distant memory. However, I know that I love reading race recaps, so I thought I should definitely share mine.

Pre-race

This was my first ever race, and I was feeling quite nervous. My husband and I walk our dog every Saturday morning in Central Park, so the morning started as usual. However, the whole race registration and people milling everywhere was not good for our wee pup Moose, who got really confused and upset that his Mom was leaving him, so started to freak out. My husband and I then had a fight about this not being good for him, and the fact I asked him to carry home my sweater. I ended up walking off without him even saying good luck, and stood in the corral feeling very lonely. I’m sure lots of people run on their own. However, nobody around me was, and I felt really alone and mad at my husband at the start. This is probably not the optimum way to start a race.

And we’re off!!

I was really nervous when we started running for a couple of reasons. I’d never really run a race before, I knew I hadn’t done enough training, and I had never run around the park in the clockwise direction, so I was acutely aware that I wasn’t really sure of what hills were where. Everyone around me seemed very in control and calm and comfortable. Inside I was shaking! I started off at a reasonably steady pace – around 10 min/miles. My Nike Plus iPhone app might only be $2.99 and offer integration with dailymile and let me view my runs online, but it doesn’t offer splits which drives me crazy. I did feel like I was going a little fast than I should have been, but nothing serious. The first couple of miles were very crowded, which meant that there was a good energy to run with, but as I’m not used to racing, also made me feel quite nervous.. Within 2 miles of the start of the race was the finishing line, so we had the strange sensation of running past the finish. I smiled when I saw the finish, before remembering I had a couple of hours more to run! My wee brain just had so many questions over the first couple of miles that I barely remember anything about it! I stopped for water at the first break and walked the water break. I have to admit that it felt strange to be walking so quickly into a race, but I was really trying to keep my body calm and slow it down.

The Harlem Hills

The Harlem Hills. The part of Central Park that every runner fears. I had never run them the clockwise direction, only the anti-clockwise. A couple of nights before, I had been for dinner with a runner who swore that clockwise is incredibly difficult. I was pretty scared. I started running uphill. I got to the top. I realized I was going downhill. Wait? That was it? That was The Big Hill? It’s a bump! So okay, I had a downhill (waterbreak) , and another uphill to run, but compared to the pain that I was expecting, it was all pretty easy, and my pace was still hovering around the 10 min/mile mark. So far, so good.

Miles 4-6

Miles 4 through 6 are my favorite on any longer run because by that stage my legs have warmed up and have a nice rhythm, and I’m feeling strong and proud of myself and how far I’ve already run. I regularly stop running, so I can always recall the pain of starting again, of how painful a 5k can feel if you haven’t run in 6 months, so feeling strong after 30 minutes for me is such an inspiring sense of achievement. The runners had started to spread out by this stage as well, so I had more space and less concerns over tripping up over someone else. I had also taken the first of my Gu packs, so I was feeling the start of a sugar rush as well. I even spotted something I’d never seen in the park before – Cleopatra’s Needle! Can you believe I must have been to the park over 30 times in the last couple of years that I have been living here, and I had never seen it?! However, right after I saw it, I began to feel a nagging pain in my knee, right where the IT band joins the knee. I’ve had this pain occasionally on long runs before, but never this bad, and never so early on in a run. Instead, I usually would get it a couple of hours after a run. No such grace period this time. My main thought when it came on was, “oh crap, now I have to run 8 miles in pain”. As the race was 2 loops around the park, I also ran past the finish line for a second time. This time, they had actually set up the “finishers” lane. That made me laugh as to how far back I really was from the finish line.

Miles 8-10

I had been hoping to start speeding up at around Mile 8, as I had theoretically been going slower than I was able. However, the aching in my left knee was agony, and so my attempts at increasing my pace were pretty pathetic. These were pretty painful miles, although the pain did subside a little every time I had a walking break. For the record. I stopped at almost every water break except for the last couple, and walked about 15 yards every time drinking my water. I forgot to have my Gu gel at mile 8, and ended up having it just before I took on the Harlem Hills for a second time. Orange Gu without water is really nasty – that was definitely a mistake, although my stomach didn’t hurt, and I’m sure the energy was good for me. Remember how first time I flew up those hills? Ha! This time, with my IT band really hurting, I felt like I was barely crawling, although I never stopped running. But every single stride hurt. Of course, every thing that goes up must come down, and I definitely made up for pace racing down the downhills. Knowing that this was the last time I was running them I really let myself go and ran as fast as I liked. They also took the strain off my left knee.

The longest I had run before the half marathon was 9 miles a couple of weeks before. An experienced runner advised me that I would most likely struggle through mile 10 as my body wouldn’t be used to the extra mileage. Yet another thing for me to worry about! Honestly, most of the advise that people give you before running should be thrown out as it causes people to stress out even more! I sailed through mile 10, and was incredibly happy to be in the home straight.

Miles 11-13.2

The main thing about miles 11-13.2 was OWOWOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOWOW. Both knees were now in excruciating pain. I stumbled twice, although I didn’t actually fall. If I had fallen, there was no way I was getting up. Mentally, I was trying to be as strong as I could be, knowing that I was going to finish this race. However strong my mind was trying to be, my body was aching along, keeping moving, but barely more than that. At mile 11, my husband turned up on his bike. Yes, that very husband who I had had a fight with that morning came back and biked a huge chunk of the race course to try and find me. What a trooper! We ran / biked together for a little bit before he decided to get out of the way of the other runners. I only had 1.5 miles left to go! The pain in both knees was almost mind numbing. When the finish line was in sight, I tried to pick up my pace so that at least I would be running with some pace over the finishline, but even by this point, I was barely able to keep my legs moving.  

I FINISHED!!! In 2hrs 11mins. I had set a must beat target time of 2:15, so I was pleased I had managed to beat that, but knew that if I hadn’t been in such pain, I could have done a much better job. I was sore and exhausted. My husband and I started to walk out of the park, where we bumped into our much more experienced marathon runner friends, and then went back in for the famous waffles. We actually got the last waffles they were serving – score! My husband biked home and I took a taxi. Even walking one block at this point felt a real stretch as my legs tightened up and my stomach was in knots and extremely nauseous. I drank a lot of water, took a shower, and had a nap for a couple of hours. When I woke up, my legs were exhausted and incredibly sore, but I was ready to eat. And eat and eat and eat.

Here's my splits:

Mile 1: 10:39

Mile 2: 10:19

Mile 3: 8:23

Mile 4: 9:17

Mile 5: 9:13

Mile 6: 10:26

Mile 7: 7:59

Mile 8: 9:27

Mile 9: 9:49

Mile 10: 10:36

Mile 11: 9:25

Mile 12: 10:26

Mile 13: 10:26

Mile 0.2:

After doing a bit of googling, my knee pain was caused by a pretty common IT band inflammation that comes on from overtraining. In my case, the mileage jump from 9 to zero to 13 was just too much, and in future (and there will be a future!), there will be many more training runs in my training schedule, and I’ll try not to plan as many vacations during the run-up to halves. It’s pretty silly to try and run a half marathon with less than 15 training runs. Oops. But overall, I feel so strong and proud and have a real sense of achievement, and am looking forward to running many, many more.

Training Week in Review

Last week was my first week of training, and it was moderately successful. A completely successful week would be one where I actually complete all of my scheduled workouts, but I am notoriously terrible at actually completing a whole week of planned activity. I do what I can. I know, what a terrible role model.

I went to CoreFusion and CoreFusion Yoga back to back on Monday at Exhale Spa at the Gaansevoort. I regularly do CoreFusion (usually at least 3 times a week, if not 4 or 5 depending on what other activities I have lined up), but had never tried CoreFusion Yoga. As I have mentioned before, I have been doing yoga for the last couple of months at YogaWorks, so I have a little bit of an idea of some basic poses but I'm no pro.

CoreFusion kicked my ass (literally!) as usual. I was expecting CoreFusion Yoga to be a little more slow-paced, and focusing on the stretching, lengthening aspects of yoga. No sireee!! The hour was spent doing push-ups in plank position, holding chair position and pulsing up and down (my thighs!! the burn!!!), lunges and and generally sweating and burning a lot. If I had been prepared for this, I probably would have enjoyed it, and even relished the challenge of really pushing my body. As it happens, I was looking forward to some calming yoga, and this certainly wasn't that. I didn't have a great time, but did get a great workout, so I cannot complain. And even though I didn't have a great time, I will actually be back for the double whammy, so it cannot have been that bad!!

Tuesday ended up being a complete rest day due to a laser session which means no sweating. I felt really bored and guilty for doing nothing that day. I did use the time to go and see Eat, Pray, Love with a friend. I hope I'm not alienating potential readers by saying that that movie was not for me. I didn't love the book either so maybe it was a done deal on not loving the movie. Javier was very hot though. James Franco was very funny, but I'm not sure he was supposed to be...

Wednesday was therefore my first run of the week. I did a 4 miles in 39:11 mins, which works out at 10:03 min/mile pace. I was playing around with my pace that day, so I'm not concerned that the time isn't as good as I would like. I ran the first half very slow, and then tried to speed up the second half f the run to catch up to being under 10 min/mile pace. I didn't make it, unfortunately, but I was experimenting, so it's okay.

Thursday was a double whammy day: I did another 4 mile run (38:44, so very slightly faster) which was ridiculously hot. I ended up running at about 4.30 in the afternoon, and the whole run was really about surviving and not passing out with heat. I came back home, took a very quick cold shower, hopped on my bike and headed to CoreFusion. For the first time in my life, I had a pretty easy instructor, and the class was not as painful as I thought it might have been. I was really dreading it!

Friday was another rest day. I ended up accidentally having a lot of wine at dinner at Hundred Acres (I love that place!), which was not so clever, and had to drink about 5 glasses of water when I came home.

My Saturday Running Playlist (I just shuffle)

Saturday was the day I was dreading. I had to run 6 miles around the Central Park loop. This is the same course as the race, and I have biked it a couple of times, so I know that there are quite a lot of hills, and it's not a super easy run. It was warm, and I haven't run 6 miles in over a year. I was genuinely scared, and really thinking that I wouldn't be able to make it.

I started out at a fairly slow pace, sticking to about 10:07 min/miles. This is a bit slower than I normally run, and I was very self-conscious that everyone was overtaking me. However, I was still moving, and my heart rate was very controlled, and I had no pain anywhere. There was nothing to worry about. Then, the dreaded Harlem Hills appeared. I had a long downhill, following by a really long uphill, and then another downhill. Just as the long uphill appeared, Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart came on my iPod. (Yes, I really am that uncool). OMG!!! Who knew that 80s ballads are THE BEST THING EVER FOR POWERING UP HILLS. 7 minutes of going the distance and even almost enjoying it. WOAH. (Yes, I know that I overused the capslock key in the last 200 words, but that is how strongly I feel).

The last couple of miles were a struggle because I picked up the pace and it was getting much much warmer. If I had kept going at the slow trucker pace that I was going, I probably could have made it to 8 miles, but since I sped up, I was beat at the 6.2 mile mark. Total time: 1:02hrs. Pace: a respectable 9:57 min/mile.

I was pretty tired after the run, and headed straight to yoga, where I had one of my favorite classes ever. I had a new instructor a YogaWorks, and he had such infectious energy that it uplifted me and made my proud, energized, relaxed, tall, and stretched. Heaven. I then met one of my friends at the Highline and we proceeded to wander around for a couple of hours. My only folly? I didn't eat enough during the whole day, and by 8pm I was exhausted, so no crazy Saturday plans for me.

The Moose

The only thing I really had planned for Sunday was yoga. It was awesome again, especially going into some easy shoulder stands. It rained all day, so the rest of the day was spent snuggling in with the Moose. How could you not want to snuggle with the Moose?

So, how did I compare to my plan:


Monday: Core Fusion and Core Fusion Yoga

Tuesday: 4 mile run

Wednesday: 2 mile run 4 mile run and Core Fusion

Thursday: 4 mile run and yoga and Core Fusion

Friday: REST DAY!!!!

Saturday: 6 mile run (eeek!!) and yoga

Sunday: Core Fusion and yoga

That's a lot of scoring out! But I only lost out on a 2 mile run, a yoga session, and a Core Fusion session. That's not hideous, is it? This week is MUST TRY HARDER.