I hate to say it but...

I'm done. No, not done as in I've completed my 75 miles, but done as in I need to hang up my hat for the next couple of days. Yes, I'm "giving up" so to say, but I actually feel really good about it. I made the mistake of allowing myself to postpone some of my running days (way back when I went back to college for the weekend), and it messed me up for the rest of the month. Once I did it one time, I told myself I could do it more often than I really should've. So now I'm left with my last week of April, and 38 miles to go. On Saturday night, I planned out how many miles I was going to do for the next couple of days in order to reach my goal, and it required me waking up every morning at 530 to run at least 4 miles, plus going to the gym after work to run another (at least) 3. I told myself at first that I didn't care what it took, I can hurt myself now because I can recover later, but I wasn't going to fail at this. I was so determined to not let everyone down that I literally would run more than my body is capable of in a day. When I got home from work today, I seriously thought about what I was going to be putting my body through in the next week and I realized it just wasn't worth it. Am I a little sad that I didn't make my goal? Of course. But I still ran more miles this month than any other month this year.

So, I'm going to start fresh on Saturday (May 1st) and do my 75 miles, the right way. But for now, I'm going to enjoy going to the gym to do things other than run. I'm going to do whatever I want tomorrow, go back to cardio kickboxing on Wednesday (yay!) and I'm going to do spinning on Thursday. I'm going to take the DAY OFF on Friday without feeling guilty, and will start nice and fresh on Saturday morning.

Until next time...

That's What Friends Are For..

I was going to write this whole post about the different smells of New York City and basically how sick they make me feel during a morning run before I've eaten anything and before anyone sane is awake and functioning, but I decided to go the sentimental route today. I have been posting and talking about my rut for the past week and a half, and I know it's kind of like beating a dead horse, but I really didn't know what to do with myself! I was pretty much convinced that I wasn't going to make the goal that I set for myself, and I was getting nervous (although now I have a freakishly close connection to the kids in my class with behavior plans that get down on themselves when they don't reach their goals...). Slowly though, I realized the people around me have been helping me along this journey, whether they realize it or not.

When I posted my challenge and shared it with my near and dear Facebook friends, most of which I haven't spoken to, um ever, it, to my surprise, inspired some people to start challenges of their own. I slowly realized that I was having more and more conversations with people about working out, and they started reporting to me daily about what they had done at the gym or on their runs. I've been receiving little notes that I had inspired people to start goals of their own, which was not my intention at all. I've been inspired, too, by all of the connections I've been making along my journey. I understand that my rut is normal, that other people have them too, and that there really is every excuse in the world to not go for a run. That when people check in on me they genuinely want to hear about my successes, they aren't trying to nag me or get on my back because they think I'm not doing as much as I should (which I previously thought). I love hearing about what other people are doing, what events they are training for, and any type of advice they may have.

I can't thank everyone enough for the support and the funny stories that I've been getting along this (very bumpy) ride :)

I'm back on track though...I didn't run at all this weekend, or yesterday for that matter, but I ran this morning and again tonight, with a total of 6 miles today. I feel great, but I am definitely going to sleep in tomorrow. I usually get out of work earlier than normal on Wednesdays, so it is the perfect time to go for a nice long run.

37 down/38 to go!

In Need of Some Serious Help

This rut is not ending. If it weren’t for this blog and all of the people that I talk to on a daily basis on how far I’ve run, there is no way I would still be doing the challenge. There are a variety of factors that I think are going into this lack of motivation. The first one is that I am so unbelievably tired. I’m not sure if it’s because of allergy season or the fact that I’m still trying to catch up from last weekend, but all I ever want to do is come home and go to sleep. It also doesn’t help that I’ve had to stay at work later than usual lately, and by the time I get home I’m starving and just ready to relax. The weather also hasn’t been great (cold and cloudy), so I’ve been stuck on the treadmill all week and I don’t really have the chance to mix things up. My knees are starting to hurt too, and I’m just all over achy.

I know I have every excuse in the book right now, and I know that I need something to help me through the next two weeks. Before my run today, I had 48 more miles to go in exactly 2 weeks, which means 24 miles a week. I did 20 miles my first week, so what’s 4 more miles, right? I decided that instead of just allowing myself to go to the gym without a goal for the day, I am going to map out the rest of my month so I can ensure to get my goal completed by April 30. Here it is!

Friday, April 16: 4 miles/44 to go

Saturday, April 17: 3 miles/41 to go

Sunday, April 18: 3 miles/38 to go

Monday, April 19: 4 miles/34 to go

Tuesday, April 20: 3 miles/31 to go

Wednesday, April 21: 5 miles/26 to go

Thursday, April 22: 3 miles/23 to go

Friday, April 23: 3 miles/20 to go

Saturday, April 24: 4 miles/16 to go

Sunday, April 25: 2 miles/14 to go

Monday, April 26: 4 miles/10 to go

Tuesday, April 27: 3 miles/7 to go

Wednesday, April 28: 4 miles/ 3 to go

Thursday, April 29: 3 miles/0 to go

Friday, April 30: Leftover day

The way I’ve mapped it out, not only will I be done before the 30^th, but if something comes up now I will know that I have that extra day in case I need to make up any miles! This doesn’t look too hard…I think I actually may have found some motivation to finish this challenge!!

Warning: This Post May Have Too Much Information!

The gym that I belong to now is the first one that I have worked out in other than the gym at college. Now I went to a very small school, and the gym was definitely a reflection of how small my school really was. We had 4 treadmills, 5 ellipticals, and 4 bikes, and there was no guarantee that they would all be working on any given day. We were lucky enough to have a track indoors, but overall, this gym was not ideal. However, I didn't know any different, because I had never been to any other gym in my life.

Moving to New York City, of course the gyms are going to be a lot bigger. So when I joined the gym closest and most convenient to me, I was extremely overwhelmed. The one I belong to is one of the top 3 biggest gyms by this company in the city. Although it is nice to have so many options of machines, it has taken me a very long time to get used to all this gym has to offer, and all of the different types of people that I have encountered.

I think the one thing that I haven't gotten used to yet is the locker room. Now, boys, I know that in the movies it portrays girls' locker rooms as places where women walk around naked or with towels barely draped over them...well guess what...that's exactly what the locker room at my gym is like. It is completely disturbing to me. I am not one to walk around naked anywhere, even in my own apartment when my roommate isn't around, so it is crazy to me that women can so openly walk around with everything hanging out. Let me backtrack for a second though. Even though women are walking around naked, it doesn't mean that these women have "perfect" bodies that you see in the movies. A lot of them have stomach rolls, cellulite, and various other imperfections that at first I was kind of thrown off, and disturbed, to see. But after really thinking about it, they are saying a big "f you" to the media and magazines saying only a certain body type should be shown off. So at the risk of getting too sociological on you all, as disturbing as this is to me to have naked women walking around in front of me, if they are confident enough in their bodies then power to them!

Today was every man's fantasy though. I walked into the locker room and there were about 4 very skinny women openly changing in front of each other. Most of the time I just go on with my business, put my stuff in my locker and head out for my workout. This time, one woman did something that I actually couldn't believe. She put on her underwear, and started walking around the locker room topless. She then approached a mirror, and began applying makeup, TOPLESS! She stood at the mirror for about 5 minutes, looking at her face and applying makeup appropriately, almost as if she was fully clothed. Then she walked over to her clothes and put the rest of them on. Now that right there is where I draw the line. Do you really think your boobs look that good that you feel the need to flaunt them in front of an entire room of women? I am not okay with this.

Once I got over (what I felt was) an extremely offensive locker situation, I got on my treadmill and got started with my run. I just recently bought a new pair of shorts that are a size too big, so I was actually pretty nervous that they were going to be uncomfortable while I ran. I made sure to tie them very tightly, so there was no possibility of them falling down. I got about .15 of a mile into my run, when all of a sudden (here comes the TMI part), I realize that my underwear are slowly falling off of me. I try to subtly pull them up and try to save them from completely falling off, and it works for about a minute before they start to slip down again. It got to the point where my underwear had completely come off of my butt and were basically just hanging out on my legs. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by mirrors so I could tell that no one else knew what was going on, but I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to finish my run in this way. I had to stop after running .25 of a mile so I could go to the (now dreaded) locker room to take off my underwear. So yes, I had to finish my run going commando, and couldn't help but think how ironic it was that I had just criticized someone in the locker room for not having on undergarments, and here I am, running sans panties.

Despite the wardrobe malfunction, I was able to run my 3 miles, and I am now getting back on track. I think I'm going to start making myself do "double sessions" in the morning and at night to get my miles in and really get back to where I should be. We'll see if that actually happens, but it's a thought!

27 down/48 to go!

I know, I know, I'm sorry...

I've clearly been very busy which is why I haven't been posting lately. Although I must admit, I really do appreciate all of the people that told me they missed reading what I have to write. It makes me realize that I really do have to finish my 75 miles no matter what...so I guess the advice that I should say my goal publicly really does work!

I went back to college this weekend...and to be completely honest I debated on whether or not I should even do 75 miles this month because of this weekend, and how unproductive, and self destructive, I knew I could potentially be. But because I committed to it on April 1st I decided that I was going to do as much as I could to keep up with my goal, despite the upcoming weekend of complete ridiculousness. I woke up at 530am on Friday to go for my run, knowing that I was going to be leaving work to drive to school as soon as I could. It actually felt really good to wake up so early. When I got outside, I realized it was pouring rain, which is my favorite weather to run in. I ended up doing 2 miles, and came back completely soaking wet. I managed to not only go for a run, but shower and do my hair and get to work on time. It makes me realize that if I know I have a busy day after work I can make the sacrifice and wake up early to get my run in :)

I got to college at around 10pm, and canceled out all of the hard work I did that morning by partying with my friends. Not the best of ideas, but hey, if you're going to go back to college for just a weekend, there's nothing wrong with pretending like you can still party like you're in college...right? Needless to say, waking up on Saturday morning wasn't fun, but I ran a mile nonetheless. The mile was actually so easy that I checked the treadmill 4 times, the time, how many laps I had done, and the distance off to the side, and it all said a mile. Still not believing the treadmill, I checked my phone and the clocks around me to see if it was possible to run a mile in the amount of time that I did. It ended up that I had indeed ran a mile, and I then knew that running Sunday morning shouldn't be that hard either.

Well, I was wrong. I partied a little bit harder on Saturday night, and Sunday morning a treadmill run was not happening. Because we were checking out of our hotel at 11am, I promised myself that I would run outside at some point before I went to bed. Well, ladies and gents, my streak is over. I felt so bad all day, and when I was at the point where I finally felt good enough to run, it was dark out and cold out, and I didn't have the proper clothes, so I made the executive decision to not run. I felt okay about it, and I know that the streak part of my goal isn't as important to me as making my milage. HOWEVER, I didn't run on Monday or Tuesday either. So now I'm in a rut. And I know I need to get out of it. In order to make my goal I need to run at least 3 miles a day for the rest of the month...and I will do just that...promise!

I also am making a goal for myself to treat my body a lot better than I did this weekend...including eating right and not drinking as much as I have been...looks like it's time to grow up and get my priorities straight!

Until tomorrow...

24 miles down/51 to go...

So Wednesday is my cardio kickboxing day. I started taking classes at college, tried them out at my gym here, and now I am completely hooked. When I was in class today though, I noticed that there are a couple of different types of people that take these large group gym classes.

1. The person with the "I'm better than everyone here" attitude. That's usually the girl who is front row center, and is over exaggerating every move to try to prove that she is tougher, better, and more coordinated than everyone else. She is constantly trying to make it known that she has been to this class before, either by going one step ahead of the instructor or being the "model" when the instructor is trying to explain the next move, even without being asked.

2. The girl that is at the class so she can look at herself in the mirror. You can usually point these people out before you even walk into the exercise room. They are the girls with the perfectly straight hair put into a perfect pony tail, with the tight pink workout shirt and black leggings who make sure they are showing just enough stomach to show everyone how skinny they are without just wearing a sports bra. The second they walk into the room they look at themselves in every mirror and at every angle. During the class, not only do they watch themselves in the mirror, but they make pouty faces (think Paris Hilton) at themselves while they work out.

3. The 2 girls who came together to try a new work out, but don't actually want to be there. These girls were the most annoying in my class today. For the last 5 minutes of class, we did a couple of strength training things to help work out our legs a little more. Everyone in the class was silent, exhausted from a long workout and trying to concentrate on their form. But of course there are the two girls next to me who have decided to basically give up on the class and talk about their plans for this weekend...a little too loud to be comfortable. It would be one thing if the music was loud or other people were talking, but the instructor put the music low for a reason, and to be honest, I don't really care what bar you want to go to so that you will "coincidentally" run into your crush.

4. "Space Invaders"- These people are the worst. Absolute worst. The instructor for the class I take is so good that we have to sign up a day in advance in order to get a spot in the room. There are 35 spots, which gives people more than enough room to have some space to move around. Not only do we have to move around, but there is kicking involved in a KICKboxing class. However, there are still those people who decide to stand a little too close to you so you feel like every move you make you are either going to punch them in the face or kick them in the groin. I always have to do that awkward move-while-doing-jumpingjacks so that I can have my own space, and thats never easy. So if you're going to take a class that involves a lot of moving around, look around you and make sure you have enough room to kick and punch the air without risking knocking someone out. Thanks. :)

5. The girl that's always one step behind. Now this isn't awful, and I've definitely been that person before because sometimes the combinations that the trainers decide to teach aren't the easiest, but in this case I'm referring to that one girl that is ALWAYS one step behind. Either that, or she is using the wrong foot or hand. Look around for a second, and think about what you're doing. If you see everyone else using their right hand, use your right hand. If you can't figure out your left from your right, put your thumbs out and your index fingers up. The hand that makes an L is your left hand, the one that doesn't is your right. Study that for next week. Thanks.

6. The girl that just doesn't listen. Now this is hard as well because a lot of times the music is pretty loud and the instructor isn't always that articulate, but that's another reason why this guy is so good. He yells at everyone and keeps it fast paced so that we're never resting and we're always moving. However, there's always those people who aren't paying attention to what we're actually doing and they either dance in place the entire hour or are still doing jumping jacks when we are working on a combination. Pay attention! It will only benefit you in the long run!

Although these types of people annoy me at group classes, they definitely make the class interesting and keep me thinking about things other than the fact that my legs burn and I can't wait to eat some ice cream :) I'm hoping for a good story about one of them next week!

I ran 2 miles after my class today, and I must admit it was completely brutal, but I was completely determined to get to 20 miles today, and I did it!! I know that this coming week I probably won't get to 20 because I have a lot going on, but I will definitely try my best to run as much as I can :)

20 miles down/55 to go!!

zzzzzzzzzz....

WARNING: I'm going to be completely boring tonight. I went back to work today and I am absolutely exhausted. So exhausted that I took the escalator out of the subway instead of the stairs, which I think is only the 2nd time I've ever done that. After relaxing on the couch for a little bit, I waited until Biggest Loser time and went to the gym. I thoroughly enjoy watching The Biggest Loser while I work out, mostly because I pretend like Jillian is talking to me when I'm starting to slow down. I remembered to use a towel to cover my time and milage today so that I was concentrating more on the TV than my treadmill, and it worked wonderfully. The first time I looked at my milage I had already run over 3 miles! I decided to go for 4 miles today, and although the last mile was rough, I did it and got off the treadmill feeling very accomplished. I've run 18 miles in 6 days and I feel really good about myself. I signed up for a cardio kickboxing class for tomorrow night so I'm already anticipating a short run before I head to the class. My goal is to run 2 miles so that I can run a total of 20 miles in 7 days! If I keep up this trend I'll end up running MORE than 75 miles in April...but let's not get ahead of ourselves....

Anyway, it's off to bed. Told ya it was going to be a boring one ;)

18 down/57 to go!