Week 2: 1/2 of a long run and marathon trip prep

It rained all day long here in Tempe. We are thankful for the moisture even if it did dampen my mood and affected my running for the day. When I was younger, I used to express my displeasure with bad weather frequently but was caught by my mother a couple of times--uttering my frustration. "I hate the wind" or "I hate the rain" was something I wasn't supposed to say. Mom taught me that the elements are to be respected because they are sacred. It took a couple more reminders from mother to not comment on bad weather anymore. I keep these things in mind and relent to the fact that I just gotta roll with the punches when unfavorable weather is present.

Rolling with the punches meant running on the treadmill today. I feel like a chump because I didn't do my 6 miles. I was only able to push out 3.25 miles before the portly security guy came in and rained on our parade. Neither my husband or I had a watch on us and the gym doesn't have a clock so I couldn't tell if he had arrived early or not. We found that the a-hole stormed in about 4-5 minutes early and started shutting down. I was peeved and now I have to go complain to the management about it. Usually, the gyms I used to go to gave me a couple minutes after closing time to get in my last couple of minutes to run and then take off.

I'm doing my packing for my trip right now. I was doing some searching online about the city of Lakeport. It seems runner-friendly and the scenery is spectacular. If I get in any runs, it will be early in the morning so my friend and I can do some tourist-y activities in the evening after the meetings.

Some things I did today:

• searched around the Eugene Marathon site for hotel discounts. Only discount was for the Hilton and that was fully booked.
• sought an awesome deal for 2 flight tickets and a rental car from Portland on Priceline.com. Hubby and I are going to buy the goods on Thursday when I get paid.
  
• finally cashed in the birthday gift card from Target and scored a beginner's yoga kit. Will take it on the trip with me.
• got really excited about getting close to making the Eugene trip a reality!!!

...now I'm thinking about whether I'll wake up early enough to get the rest of my long run mileage in at the gym before taking off for San Fran. We'll see.

Holy cow...I'm beginning Week 3 of training! I've definitely noticed that my legs have gotten stronger. I don't see any movement on the scale yet. I'm just happy I can hold out on the treadmill running 3+ miles non-stop. Yay Me!

Tonight's Numbers:
Running - 3.25 miles @ 11:50 pace (incline 0.5 - 1.0%)

Week 1: Slowly but Surely Breaking 3 Miles

I'm slowly but surely making my way up to the 3 mile mark. It's been a while since I've run this distance non-stop so of course, I'm very proud of myself! I wanted to run outside on the road but it was getting late and since the hubby is always concerned for my safety, I decided to run on the treadmill again. I will run outside on Thursday evening. Until then, I'll be looking forward to it. :)

I've been running between the ranges of 4.9 - 5.3. It's a far cry from the 6.0 range I'm used to and the low numbers have taken some getting used to.

Before setting out this evening, I had a dinner of edamame and a Simply Asia Sesame Noodle Microwaveable Bowl. I didn't feel like cooking nor dining out so I dug around my pantry until I found something suitable to eat. I've been eating a lot of soy beans lately. I've always liked them but three weeks ago I had them again at Pei Wei and since then it's all that's on my stomach's wishlist. I buy these frozen bags from Target every chance I get. I find they help quell my hunger during the time period of getting off work and actually having dinner.

During the day, I've been trying to lay off the caffeine from coffee. A co-worker told me to drink more tea to get my little doses of caffeine and started me off with this delicious Yogi tea, Chai Green Tea. It totally revitalized my love for tea. In the morning I'll drink about 2 cups of green tea and 1-2 cups again in the afternoon. It sure beats getting coffee breath!

I think I'll go buy some tomorrow. :)

Today's Numbers:
Running - 3.0 miles @ 12:00 pace (didn't record the duration)
Walking - 1.6 miles @ 17:00 pace (30 min)