Thoughts on Streaking – 43 days and counting.

I’ve been so tired.  The last several months, I’ve been working full time and going to school full time, and trying to find the time to train has been the absolute last thing I wanted to make myself do.  I mentioned in my last post that I’d been streaking for 2 weeks already.  Well, Sunday marked my 6 weeks I promised my friend and now I’ve decided to go through the end of the year and see what happens.

(Me on day 42)

With that, here are some of my thoughts:

1. I am not in better physical shape than I was 6 weeks ago.
2. My mind craves the run.
3. Running when sick sucks, but it is just 12-14 minutes, so I can make it through.
4. Talking friends into doing it with you is the best.
5. Finding a dog friend to run with you is even better.
6. I want to run more.
7. I don’t want to force running more.
8. I can listen to Miranda Lambert’s Vice on repeat.  3 repeats and I’m done with the run.
9. The treadmill can okay for just a mile.
10. I still like cushioned shoes.
11. A shitty sports bra is still shitty for just a mile.
12. Night running is fun.
13. Morning Jenn still can’t be convinced to get out of bed most days.
14. Running “just” a mile IS worth it.

Has anyone else been streaking?  Any benefits you’ve found that you’d like to add?

Hello. It’s me…

Hi friends!  I think it’s time for me to get back in the blogging wagon.  

What’s new? I decided about 6 weeks ago that running was stupid and I didn’t want to do it anymore.  I joined Planet Fitness and worked out a few times, but knew I had a race coming up that I had to do if I wanted the bling (King Crab Challenge).

I survived the race and a couple days later, one of my girlfriends challenged me to a streak.  She said, “Jenn, you are burnt out, but give it six weeks. Just a mile.” Two weeks later and I already see my mind shifting around running.  It’s just ten minutes (well, closer to 12). I use it as a quick stress break.  On my 10 hour days at work, I use it as my mid-day break and it’s great.  

Just 4 more weeks to go. 

I RAN!!

  
Look!  That’s sweat!  From a run!!

It’s been a month since I last ran.  I took my first conscious break since I started running in 2008.  I’m so glad I took the break.  I needed to want to run again.  As of 2 weeks in, I wanted to run again, but I had promised myself that I would take the entire month off just to give my body and mind the break that I believed I would need after running so much last fall.

And now I can say that I’m back!!  I look forward to many more runs.  🙂

Terrible Me

I am a terrible blogger!  Despite having a plan and being motivated, I lost it right away.  

Let’s see if we can do this again. 

Forgive me?  Here’s a picture of my cats as a consolation prize:  

 
Fall update and plan for the new year is forthcoming!

Just Run!

“Act like a horse, be dumb, just run.”

When I started running at the end of 2008, I ran across this quote somewhere in a running blog or somewhere else on the interwebs and not long after it became my signature line on the old Beginner’s Forum at Runner’s World.  It’s become my mantra and inspiration as I’ve run countless (and counted) miles since then.

My name is Jenn, and I just run (well, not really, I practice yoga now, but, I’ll talk about that later).  I ran cross-country in high school, but I was TERRIBLE!  As a junior, I was the last person on the JV team.  I had a great coach, though, and he was very inclusive.  I tried running a summer in college, and did well until my running partner and I didn’t have the same schedule and I wouldn’t run on my own.

At the end of 2008, I was living in the Dominican Republic, recently married, and realized that I had slowly been putting on the weight I had lost the previous 2 years.  It was “winter” time (in quotes because, well, Caribbean winter) and I was walking after work every day with a friend.  The sun was setting earlier and earlier and I decided in order to maximize my sunlight I would try running again.  I found a run/walk program on Runner’s World and started up (very similar to Couch-2-5K, but free).  Later I found out that my friend bet her boyfriend that I wouldn’t keep it up.  Seven years later, I’m still going strong!

In the DR, I did several 5Ks and 10Ks, but knew that I wanted to do longer races.  I was really enjoying my alone time and loved most of my runs.  Once I moved back to the States in 2010, I signed up for my first half marathon (the very first Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon).  I rolled right along to my first marathon in the spring of 2011, and my first ultra in the fall of 2011.  I was hooked!  Since then, I’ve completed 15 half marathons, 7 marathons, 2 ultras, and a lot of shorter races.  In 2012, I qualified for the Marathon Maniacs by running Berlin, Marine Corps, and Richmond marathons in 42 days.

So, as I go forward with my running life, I wanted to find a new way to be inspired.  I had been considering a blog for a while when I met Salt at a race this past weekend.  I went home that afternoon and signed up for WordPress.  I hope to document my training, race reports, and thoughts about running.  If I can make some new friends along the way, that’d be great, too!

Enough about me, tell me, how did you start running?  What keeps you inspired?

Just Run,

Jenn