Fall Seven Times, Get up... Late?

"If you're bored with life - you don't get up every morning with a burning desire

to do things - you don't have enough goals." -- Lou Holtz

We finished it. Kaitlyn and I finished our 30 day streak of running and walking at least one consecutive mile each day as part of the "Streaking with the Cool Kids" challenge. I'm so proud of her. Kaitlyn managed to rack up an impressive 50+ miles over her 30 day streak during long, hot summer days, and yet she rarely complained about it. Seriously proud of the kid. I'm going to miss her!

Me? Well, I'm another story. During our 30 day streak, I managed to "only" get 54 miles in. This wasn't Kaitlyn's fault. It was I that was more likely to suggest a shorter route or complain about the journey. My pace was out of whack. I'm slow as it is, but the last 30 days were terrible. I'm slower than ever, tighter than ever, and I feel more out of shape than I have in a very long time. And we won't even talk about my diet... yikes!

I have no one to blame but myself,  you know. I made excuse after excuse for sleeping in when I should have been up early for a run. I skipped workouts after work. I bought dinners out when I should have cooked, using my niece as my excuse to treat myself. I drank soda (gasp) after two months of abstinence. BAH!

My mom and my sister picked up my niece over the weekend, and I'm an empty nester once again. It's time for me to get back on track - I have literally no excuses to fail. I have a 10K this weekend, and I'm not looking forward to it (ok, ok... I might be looking forward to my hotel on the beach). I hope to get a respectable time, but it's not looking good!

Why is it that one change can throw me off so severely? What am I doing wrong? Ugh - truly a work in progress here, folks. There are a few people who I look to as inspiration on this journey. I don't tell them that, but maybe I should. I feel bad if/when others tell me that I have inspired their own fitness journeys. I'm so not worthy of that... but I'd like to be. Here's hoping that the next four months before my big race in November go better than the last four. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!

Until next time...

Becky

Fiddy

"Only one who wonders finds new paths." -- Norwegian proverb

Hola, amigos! Well, only 3 short days remain in our Streaking challenge! AND we are almost to the halfway point of our Century Run summer challenge! What better time to provide an update on my progress so far. In short? I'm exhausted! I can't remember the last time I was this deliriously tired... maybe last summer? Regardless... I'm tired, cranky, and ready to go back to my regular routine. 

The streak has been fun - my niece and I continue to find new ways to get our miles in, whether it be a short jog around the neighborhood or a challenging hike in the heat. A couple of weekends ago, we did a nearly 5 mile hike at Vasquez Rocks with some girls I met through Girls Who Hike LA (a team of which I am a moderator). While I hope to find time to blog about it later, it was a moderately strenuous hike - slightly under 5 miles (I forgot to turn the app on, so that's why it's only reflecting 3.99) and an elevation gain of roughly 1,000'. AND... we did it in 90+ degree heat! Whew!

We've been trying to mix things up during the work week too - whether it's testing new neighborhood routes in the dark to beat the heat, or walking the various trails at the park near my house, we try to forge a different path every single day! (Confession: There have been many days that doing just a mile has been hard lately. I don't know if it's work stress, personal stress, or heat exhaustion, but I am dog tired these days! But... we haven't skipped a day yet! Yay!)

We kicked off the last week of the Streak by visiting Pinnacles National Park for a hike. We had planned a longer hike than we ended up doing, but we were pretty proud with what we did! All in all, I have reached over 50 miles of walking, jogging, running, and hiking on this streak. I'm halfway to my century goal (which I now fully expect to exceed), and feeling stronger every day. 

But it hasn't been all wins, folks. Personal training sessions aside, I have not been fully committed to weight lifting. It sucks because I enjoy it, but I feel so guilty leaving my niece alone all day that I end up talking myself into skipping it after work so that I can spend my time with her. My runs have also suffered. I have been "streaking" with my niece, but she's not a runner. When I do run, it's usually short and not very fast. I really need to work on pace and endurance in the months ahead. Sigh.

My next race is coming up on July 10th in Ventura, and I hope to find time in the next two weeks to somewhat train for that accordingly. If not, it will be a lesson learned. (as if I am learning from any of these errors... sheesh). 

Are you streaking with the cool kids? Or did you join our century run? Neither? I don't blame you... my occasionally lazy behind wishes she didn't commit to so much too! But I do hope you're taking advantage of the warmer weather! Get outside! Explore! And tell me about it so I can live vicariously when I read about your adventures during breaks between my meetings on my iPhone! :)

In the meantime, it's bedtime for this girl... another marathon day of meetings awaits me in the morning! Hope you are happy and healthy, my friends!

Cheers!

Becky

Going Streaking!

Yes, friends - it's true. I have decided to go streaking... and I'm taking my niece with me! Ha!

Ok, ok... it's not that kind of streaking! What kind of auntie do you think I am? No, my niece and I have committed to a 30 day running/walking streak along with a thousand of our internet buddies, courtesy of Pink Cupcake Girl (aka Jenn Davis). The rules? You must run, walk, or jog at least one mile every single mile for 30 days. Yes, 30 days straight. No, you can't bank days and no, you can't make them up. No excuses. Period. 

As I mentioned earlier this summer, my niece and I have decided to complete 100 miles of running this summer (in June and July). This 30 day streak seemed to fall within that perfectly, so we added it to our plate. It's been great so far! It's given my niece and me a reason to be active every single day, and we've used it as an excuse to find creative ways to hit our mile+ target each day.

While we mostly get our miles done in the neighborhood, my niece and I do take opportunities to take our show on the road every now and then too. My niece and I had already decided we wanted to spend a lot of time hiking this summer, so this has fit well into our new routine (hiking is basically walking at an incline). A couple of Saturdays ago, for example, we used our daily goal to hike up to Raven's Landing at the Wind Wolves Preserve in Kern County!

Some days have been easier than others. When temperatures climbed past the 100 degree mark last week, it took a lot of dedication for the two of us to hit the pavement and get our steps in. I'm glad my niece has been here though - she keeps me accountable, and she makes it so much more fun!

Today was our 14th day, so we are just one day shy of the halfway point. I wish I could say that we are running faster or farther than when we started, but we aren't. I'm not sure why. Part of it has to be laziness (although I don't feel lazy), and I'm sure part of it has to do with the heat (although it's been cooler this week). Whatever it is, I hope we get after it for the second half of this challenge. Well, I hope that I get after it anyway. I have another 10K in less than a month, and I'd really like to beat my Tinkerbell 10K time :) 

For those of you still with us for the 100 miles of running summer challenge, we hit mile 26 today! If we stay at the current pace, we will easily meet the 100 mile goal. I'd really like to beat it though - here's hoping! Hope that all of you have a happy, healthy week!

Cheers!

Becky