Things I accomplished while I was sick this week

This literally was my life this past week

Remember how I said I was feeling crappy on Saturday which is why I couldn't get through my bootcamp workout? Turns out I had an upper respiratory infection but it turns out the cure (Prednisone) made me sicker than the infection. Therefore I ended up having to take the entire week off from work. Here is everything I accomplished during this week:

It's ok to admit defeat...temporarily

I have two favorite quotes:
(Full quotes at the end of the post)

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think" 

"There is a vast difference between failure and temporary defeat" 

The majority of the time if I'm struggling during a workout or run, I try to keep the first quote running through my head to keep me going. This weekend however, I found myself looking to the second one in an effort to make myself feel better. 

A little backstory:

My best friend Frannie and I recently started doing a bootcamp at the gym we're now going to, run by an amazing trainer named G.I. Jen. I haven't been going as often as Frannie has, either due to my schedule, conflicts with my training sessions with Andre' or because of my health. I was really excited all week though to go to this Saturday's bootcamp because I was planning on bringing my new GR1 and bricks with me. What's that, you ask?

Experiments in My Kitchen

So, I know this isn't a food blog, but the hubby and I made a dish last night that I'm so excited about that I feel I had to share it. First though, let me explain why I even tried to make it in the first place.



I was informed by my trainer Andre', none to subtly, that I HAVE to start eating my veggies. Here's the problem: I don't particularly like them. Don't get me wrong, I want to like them, but I just don't. Here's a list of veggies I find tolerable:

• Steamed spinach (raw is too bitter)
• Steamed broccoli (again, not raw)
• Steamed cauliflower
• Lettuce
• Cucumbers (this was a recent realization, as in the past week. I had to work my way up to it though)
• Onions, if mixed in something
• Red bell peppers if cooked down
• Corn
• Cooked green beans 
• Potatoes

WE ARE SPARTA! (For real this time)

The familiar first chords of "Eye of the Tiger" start playing as we slowly make our way through the dusty fields, heading to where we'd be parking and shuttling to the Spartan Race. The tension and anticipation in the car is palpable; Brian is practically bouncing in his seat, Daniel has his eyes closed-steadying himself-and I'm sweating bullets and want to throw up. I try to lose myself in the lyrics and beat of the song to get my head right. There's a lot riding on today's race. It's Brian's and Daniel's first ever Spartan Race and they've both trained hard for it. I, on the other hand, have been on vacation in Colorado for the last week, eating like a kid who just escaped fat camp. I've done everything I shouldn't have done before a race-burned out my grip and forearms while bouldering, killed my legs on a super steep hike in Boulder, and apparently let myself get dehydrated. Spending a week in high altitude with next to no humidity was probably the worst thing I could have done before this race. The heat and humidity on this race day make you feel like you're practically chewing the air before being able to swallow. Yech.

No Room For Egos

The idea for this post came the other night while I was watching So You Think You Can Dance (and for the record, no, I don't think I can dance. I KNOW I can't dance beyond my slightly spastic "happy jigs" but I love watching this show. It's completely my guilty pleasure.). There were the requisite amazing dancers, the heartbreak stories, 1 Exorcist dancer, 2 absolutely A-Dorable kids, and the "I'm really embarrassed for you" dancers. There was one guy who was autistic and while his skills were not the greatest, he looked so happy while dancing, and to be honest, he was pretty fluid with some of his moves. The whole crowd went wild, as did the judges. They didn't send him through of course, but he was told to never stop dancing because it really just made him light up, and it really did. I genuinely enjoyed watching him dance, and he had a lot of guts and courage to get up on that stage. This was his performance:

But I'm on vacation, so the calories don't count...right?

I think one of the hardest things about going on vacation is the food. When you're at home in your normal routine, making the right (or at least better) food choices is much easier than when you are on vacation. On vacation you are surrounded by new foods and restaurants that you don't have at home, which makes you want to try all the things you wouldn't normally eat. When faced with a burger with cream cheese, jalapeños and bacon (don't judge just try it, it will change your life!) vs. a plain grilled chicken sandwich while on vacation, guess which one I'm choosing?

WE ARE SPARTA!....kinda...

Team Legendary: Brian, me, Daniel, Diana

This past Sunday I decided to hold a little training session with the group of people I'll be running the Spartan Race with in May. They are all obstacle racing virgins and I wanted this training session to help prepare them at least a little bit for the race. Although that's kind of like saying you want to eat a Vienna Sausage to prepare for a hot dog eating contest.

Going into it I was a little nervous, for a couple of reasons.

1) The previous day, the salad I'd eaten at a restaurant completely tore my insides apart, which left me really weak and kind of hating life the rest of the day. I woke up Sunday feeling like I'd been roofied- not a good feeling.

2) I think we've pretty much established that I'm a pretty shitty runner. I get nervous running around other people I know because I am so slow. I also knew that because I'm the experienced one, they were going to be looking to me for direction. I was worried I wouldn't live up to their expectations. Still don't know, kinda too afraid to ask.

A hard dose of reality...

 

Click to read news article about Tony Weathers' death at the Original Mud Run 

This past Saturday, April 14th, athlete Tony Weathers prepared himself to run an obstacle race called The Original Mud Run in Forth Worth, TX. He started the competitive wave at 2pm, but he never finished. The next morning his body was found in the Trinity river, one of the handful of water crossings that were part of the course.

According to news sources, Tony was an elite athlete, planning to open up his own personal training business soon. And while the website for The Original Mud Run, or OMR, says that you don't necessarily need to know how to swim because they have guide ropes and alternate land routes, Tony's trainer and family all say he was a strong swimmer.

The best laid plans, and all that jazz....

 


 I started this weekend with a plan in place for today. We'd wake up early, pack up Bexar's mountain bike and venture off to Government Canyon, a state park that I've been meaning to try running at for, oh I don't know, the past YEAR. I figured we'd park, stash a cooler near the beginning of the trail, then head off to the Back Country portion of the park, following a set of trails that Andre' had suggested. I'd run, Bexar would bike, and we'd have a grand ol' time.

Seriously, who WOULDN'T want to run this?

 False.

Here's what really happened:

My name is Katy, and I'm a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg addict

Oh Easter, how I love and loathe thee. I love all the delicious candy and chocolate that I only have access once a year to. And I loathe, well, all the delicious candy and chocolate that I only have access once a year to.

#1 on my list? Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Eggs.

Now, I love me some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and there isn't really anything I'd choose to eat over them. However, enter the Reese's PB Egg: more chocolate, and more PEANUT BUTTER (I may or may not have an unhealthy obsession with peanut butter in general). I have a particular way of eating them that luckily Bexar has learned to accept but garners a few stares from people not familiar with my process.

Hell's Hills 10k recap: Hills, Rocks, and a running hubby

This past Saturday was the Hell's Hills 10k trail run and first time I've run in months. It was also one of the very few times I've gotten the chance to run with my husband. It was great on both accounts! I actually wasn't supposed to be running with my husband for that race, I was supposed to be running with coworker and friend who unfortunately got super sick and couldn't go. My husband surprised me by volunteering to take his place. (Note, this is why I also have a lack of pictures of the race. Usually my photographer is on the sidelines capturing my badassery, this time he was running by my side!)

My husband is not a runner so he has always been my biggest supporter and "pack pony" as he likes to call himself at my races. I just recently talked him into starting the Couch to 5k running program and as of Saturday he'd completed two of the three days in the first week of the program. You know, where you run 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds for a total of 20 min? Yeah. He went from that to running at 10k. And he did a damn good job!

Chocolate Moltens, Easter-Rita's, and oh crap, what did I do to myback??

My Easter started out on a not too promising note yesterday. First I woke up and realized the Easter Bunny must have either gotten lost or just flat out forgot about me. I swallowed my disappointment and hurried to get ready for my session with Andre, only to realize halfway to the gym that he had sent a text a few hours prior that he was sick and couldn't make it to the gym. Thanks iPhone for not showing me I had that fairly important text, again.

Since Bexar was with me, I decided to just join him at his gym for a light workout and to foam roll my left hip which had been pinching and twinging ever since the 10k we'd run the previous day (review of Hells Hills to follow shortly). The first thing I did was grab their foam roller and go at my hip the same way I've been doing for the past year. A few minutes in and as I start to roll over to do my other side, I suddenly can't move. I mean, at all. Needless to say this chick was kinda panicking because Bexar was nowhere in sight.

Guess I should introduce myself...

As I'm new to this whole blogging thing, I'm not quite certain how to start. I guess I'll start by talking about myself (this is also my favorite topic, but I digress). I've been wanting to blog for a while, but I never really felt like I had a niche, I didn't have anything that anyone would want to read about. And then I got sick, again. And I realized that maybe there were people out there who might be interested in reading about someone who's actually a normal, regular person, trying to become a better athlete and runner, while also dealing with a chronic condition that would seem to be at odds with her goals. Then again, maybe not, who knows? I mean, I think I'm pretty interesting personally, but I may just be biased.