Snow Snow Snow!

This morning I woke up and was like oh man it is snowing I wanted to run outside today and try all my new cold weather gear I got for Christmas. But my throat is a little sore and it's super wet I don't know, so I sat on the couch for 30 minutes or so and watched the travel channel. (hot girls in bikinis on the beach will do the trick every time) So I decided to gargle some salt water, take a cough drop, put on my new cold weather clothes, and hit the pavement!
This is the first time I have ever run in the snow or really temperatures below 40 degrees. (Yes I promise I live in Ohio and Missouri I am just a big baby) Snow is brutal it doesn't matter which direction you are running it is always pelting you in the face! Has anyone else noticed that or is it just me? I chose to run the trail because I knew the roads would be a mess and I didn't want to be another thing drivers had to keep an eye on.  I covered 4 miles today in the snow and only sacrificed one clove to being a kleenex. (Your nose never stops running when it's 34 degrees outside)I had a blast!

Ok onto these new running clothes...I asked and I received! And let me tell you i am so thankful! 
My grandpartents bought me this amazing pair of underarmor running tights! They are brilliant!!!!! They stay in place at the waist, have a cool zipper pocket in the waist band on the back, and are long enough i can tuck them under my heel inside my shoe! Yes I believe that is because I am short but who cares my ankles stay warm and dry! I have not brave enough to wear them by themselves just yet so I wore a pair of champion running shorts over top of them. The other great thing I got came from my dad. It is a champion fleece have zip. It is awesome! It zips up around my head so with my headband on my ears stay nice and warm, with also have the wicking technology to keep your skin dry, and my favorite part it has thumb holes! (Yes i know it's weird but I love them)

So there you have it my friends that is how I stayed warm as a sun tanner on a beach today on my 4 mile run. I love Christmas! I hope everyone has a happy and safe new years eve!

-Felicia

From the bad comes good.

Yesterdays anger was not a total fail. I turned my anger toward the gym, which means I ran 1 mile, did a full arm workout (with weights), a full leg workout (with weights) and a partial core workout (I ran out of time) So I will say my unhealthy anger at Disney let to some healthy soreness this morning.

In other news I found a really great race I would like to run in 2013 in France! However I will not make the same mistake twice...aka I wont register till I know exactly what my schedule is in London. But I will share it with you because its cool and exciting. So with that let me begin. I found the Rock N Roll race series not to long ago from reading Megan's blog I Run For Wine, http://www.irunforwine.net/ (yes I know I am late to the party on this one.) It is a 10miler, which I am a little afraid I might not be able to make, but I am going to push me to my limits and stay uninjured. The race is February 17, 2013 while I will be in London...so I thought what is a small train ride over to France for a 10 mile run.
 General Information

• Event Name: Rock ‘n’ Roll™ Nice 10 Miles of Carnaval
• Date:  Sunday, 17 February 2013
• Time:  9:15am
• Start Location: Promenade des Anglais
• Finish Location: Place Messena

Registration Fees

• € 17 – August 15 – October 31
• € 20 – 1 November – 31 December
• € 23 – 1 January – 10 February, 2013
• € 28 – Expo – 16 February, 2013           

Did I also mention registration isn't nearly as expensive as it is in the states! Ok so this race will put me in good standings to also run the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in October in St. Louis which means 3 medals! Yes I know there are only 2 shown here I can't seem to find the France one online...maybe they are keeping it a secret because it is the inaugural race. But the Rock N Roll series does what they call the heavy metal tour. The version of this tour I would be doing is one race in Europe and one race in the United States, which equals 3 medals.

 

Did I mention I like shinny things! Plus no medals to 3 medals in a  year sounds good to me! I also at some point would like to run this race in New Orleans just because I think it would be a neat place to run. Everyone says it is beautiful. 

 

I will get to goals for next year soon. Enjoy your weekend. 

 

-Felicia 

Angry!

I am angry with Disney right now! They tell you on there website there is nothing they can do if you can not run...However if they had returned my email a month ago I would have found out you can move your registration to a different race for a small fee! Not listed on there web site!!! So I could be running a different half marathon in 2013 for the cost of not being able to run my first one but no one bothered to return my email...which I might add they ask you to email before you call! So now I am out $400 and don't get to run all because they didn't put it on there web site! Ugh I hate being angry at the happiest place on earth but come on!

-Felicia

Last Week

I have been gone for a few days and I apologize for that. Things got crazy quickly around here with the holidays. I mean 7 family Christmas parties plus friends, cooking, and baking, it's nuts but so worth it. Things being crazy means I have not done as well as I had hoped this week in the running world, but that is ok I have payed good attention to the food I have been eating and trying to eat 2 cookies instead of 10 everyday. (Successful 50% of the time) I did however spend this morning reading and catching up on every ones blogs. It sounds like every one is doing great on there training adventures through the holiday season! Congratulations to all of you!

We did do something fun this week though and I think we made a new tradition. We randomly decided on Wednesday night we wanted to go to Chicago! Kyle was craving an Al's Famous Italian Beef sandwich (though Italian beef is what all of my family does for Christmas dinner) and I wanted to go to Ikea to finish Christmas shopping. So we did! Pricelined a hotel which landed us at the hotel Felix right off of Michigan avenue and right down the street from Al's. Perfect! I took my camera and had a field day taking pictures of Chicago at night. I will post a couple though I have not had time to edit them or sort through what is good or bad so forgive me if there are wiggly ones.

If I was having any questions about it being Christmas time Chicago cleared it up for me! Merry Christmas everyone and I'll see you in a few days!

-Felicia 

Day 1!

Today I started my new half marathon training schedule. It was suppose to be a 1 mile day, however I started running and the next thing I knew I was at 2.5 miles. The weather was perfect and I was enjoying the new views of Downtown St. Louis.

This weeks goal (the goal of training was to loose 30lbs) is to 
      loose the 3lbs I have gained back being a slacker.
Eat my vegetables and fruit.
Get all of my runs in.

There you have it friends, I know its a short post but this week is going to be crazy. Please don't be offended by the short posts, they will for the most part be recaps.

-Felicia 

New Plan

Ok so after last nights post, which I thank you all for being so supportive, I have broken down the new training schedule. I would like to run the Athens, OH 1/2 marathon on Sunday April 14, I hope schedule allowing. So April 14 is 17 weeks from today I believe that this amount of time will allow me to work up from the bottom. Here it is:

Week 1 (12/17/12)
Run 
 1/1/2
 
Week 2 (12/24/12)
 Run 1/2/2

Week 3 (12/31/12)
 Run 2/2/3

Week 4 (1/7/13)
Run 3/2/3
 
Week 5 (1/14/13)
Run 3/3/4

Week 6 (2/21/13)
Run 3/3/5

Week 7 (1/28/13)
Run 3/4/6

Week 8 (2/4/13)
Run 3/4/7

Week 9 (2/11/13)
Run 4/5/7

Week 10 (2/18/13)
Run 4/5/8

Week 11 (2/25/13)
4/6/9

Week 12 (3/4/13)
Run 5/6/10 YOU CAN DO IT!!

Week 13 (3/11/13)
5/7/11

Week 14 (3/18/13)
4/6/11

Week 15 (3/25/13)
5/7/12

Week 16 (4/1/13)
3/4/6

Week 17 (4/8/13)WEEK OF THE RACE!
3/5/13.1!!!!!

There it is in print and published the running schedule for the next 17 weeks. On top of that there will be a day of arms, legs, and abs every running day. The rest I will flesh out this week...trial by error for the cross training. 

-Felicia  

Not a happy one

When I decided to go to London and not rung the WDW half marathon I gave up on myself a little bit. Following the 15K I gave up on myself all together. I am angry, frustrated, and sad that it took finishing one race and not having another in the line up to make me go back to the person I was before I started training. During training I was brilliant, vibrant and fun to be around, I cared about my appearance and was becoming happy with the way I looked. I ate my veggies 4 servings a day minimum and 4 fruits a day maximum. I glowed. It seems what I have done in my training and becoming a better person has inspired others. Some of you know my sister started a health and fitness blog and is becoming a cleaner eating person as well as exercise being an everyday event. It seems I can keep other people motivated while I sit on the couch and eat popcorn and brownies for dinner. (Not sure how this works but I wish I did)
The farthest i have run since thanksgiving in a 5k on the treadmill and it is not a regular event. This week I went to the gym 2 days and today tried to run outside only to be sidelined by extreme pain in the left shin. My body is angry at me for falling off the wagon and I can not say I blame it I am angry at me to. I have no idea what to do about my shin but I will let it rest till I get to St. Louis on Monday. I will be in the gym on Tuesday trying as hard as I can to get back on the horse and feel good again. I will continue to run in London, Ireland, and Germany it is the best I can do and who wouldn't want to run in 3 beautiful places like those. AKA get your shit together Felicia there is nothing wrong with you you just being a baby!

Sorry for the negative post

-Felicia

Hodge Podge

 Vegetables for breakfast who does that? This kid apparently. Ok lets start this out the way my day started. I woke up this morning "inspired" headed off to the gym where I completed a 1 mile run at an 11:53 pace...as you can see in the picture.
 I then wondered off to do the napkin workout. I call it this because it's documentation is on a brown paper napkin that gets reemailed to  me every so often when I loose it. my boyfriend got the arm workout from a friend of his a few years ago and I have been doing it for the last few weeks on Mondays. This workout causes my arms to be a little sore for like 3 days and I only use 5lbs weight!! According to the man who wrote it (who i have never met) it is not about weight it is about form...I hope so because my arms get tired after 1 set at 5lbs.
Next in the line up was another 1 mile run...I split them up today it workedout better for me. Except this one I did on the treadmill a little slower. I am not kidding when I say this arm work out wears out the whole body. This mile was a little rougher. 

Off to a core workout which comes from mens health magazine. Not sure if that is where I should be getting my workouts, but it seems to be working nicely. Following said 15mins of core work I headed to do another mile on the treadmill...that didn't happen. I was so worn out it took all of my energy to make it a 1/4 mile.
So in total today I ran 2.25 miles, 30mins of arm work, and 15mins of core...not a bad day at the gym if I do say so myself.

So back to the vegetables for breakfast thing. I came home and was so hungry I could eat enough to feed an army. But instead I made this little creation. This my friends is a sweet potato pancake (without oil or butter), egg scramble with pork chop tomatoes and cheese, with 2 clementines.
It was surprisingly delicious! I will be eating it again this week (trying to clean out the fridge before leaving town)


Also I am looking into races for the 2013 year, if anyone has any good ones that they love I am all ears. I would prefer to stay in the midwest for most of them just because of cost of travel. But I am open to all suggestions! My lengths are 5K-half-marathon. The 2 i have chosen so far are the Athens OH half-marathon in April, and the hot chocolate 15K in Columbus OH in November other than that I am wide open!

Have a great week and keep working hard!
-Felicia

I want to be a runner

I want to be a runner and not just a groupy. A runner is someone in my mind who will run rain/snow or shine, cold or warm, morning noon or night, and unless has to does not take 3 weeks off from the thing they enjoy doing.

So with that being said I have joined a few "support groups" ok really they are beginning of the year challenges that I am hoping will keep me on the right track while the snow of January falls around us. (Does it snow in London?)
The first one is The Chilly Challenge 2013: 

This challenge is being hosted by Amy from Running Escapades and Janine from The Purple Giraffe. The Chilly Challenge starts January 1st. All you do is log your miles from walking, running or the elliptical for the month. Fantastic prizes are up for grabs too! You must pick a team – Team Escapades or Team Giraffe. I chose team Giraffe based on reading there blogs and pictures that where on there blogs. Ok honestly I chose team Giraffe because she wore an elf costume with sequence on it to a race how awesome is that! I am hoping that being part of a team will help me stay motivated, because bragging rights among friends is kind of everything.
The second on is 5 by the 5th Virtual Run Series: 

This challenge is being hosted by Laura at mommyrunfast.com. The rules are easy simply to run a 5K or 5 miler by the 5th of the month. There’s an option to run once or every month for a chance at winning great prizes. It starts January 1 and runs through June, hence the once or once a month (I should really include all information).

Last thing I did this morning was look more into the Athens half marathon. It is 13 weeks away and will require a little catch up for my body. These 2 things above I hope will help me do that. Feel free to register I believe both events will be a blast and healthy at the same time! 
Have a great weekend every one!

-Felicia

Somehting to look forward to!

I have made a decision. I will run the NYC Marathon before I turn 30! Whoa that is a large commitment. I am 26 years old at this very moment in time and know that after running the 15 K that my body can handle a half marathon (which I am looking for one to run) But with that being said I am not sure it can do 26.2 miles without a lot of pushing and training...aka what running is for. So at some point in the next 4 years I will recieve a NYC Marathon medal.

 

So what are we going to do to get there you ask? I have no idea yet. I will be registering to run the Athens, OH half marathon on Sunday April 14, 2013. After that I am not sure...I have a lot of research to do on fuel, food, and running schedules over the next few months. As well as finish reading the rest of Runners World Big Book of Marathons and Half Marathons. That means that this post is to tell you all I have a goal and I am going to need your support, advice, and encouragement to get there. It is a huge goal I never ever thought I would ever set for myself. 

A year ago I was 10lbs heavier and had no interest in running let alone 26.2 miles. I also was incredibly unhappy with myself and my life the way it was playing out. Running has helped me to center myself as a person and has helped begin the pulling out of a dark scary place I was headed. Though I am not finished coming out of that place, not even close if we want to be honest about it, having a long term goal is the best thing I can do for myself. Something to work for something to look forward to, something to count down to, and something to satisfy the pain I feel on a regular basis. As this new adventure begins some posts may get super personal and dark, but I promise they wont all be that way and lets be honest four 10 weeks I will be training all over Europe so how terrible could that be! Thank you in advance for being loyal and amazing! 

-Felicia

Sorry Sorry Sorry!

Sorry Sorry Sorry! I have been a terrible blogger the last few weeks! Things have been nuts! I have been trying to keep up with all of you guys and I keep forgetting to write about me. Although I am not sure forgetting is the right word I think I am avoiding writing about me. For some reason I have found myself in a slump and hitting a wall (not that I haven't mentioned it) My boyfriend says it is just post race blues...nothing to train for and no goal set to achieve...maybe he is right so I am looking for a race only a 5K maybe a 10K to run in December either in Ohio or in St. Louis (depending on where I am at the time) We are going to try his theory that I am a goal oriented human who needs something to look forward too. I mean come on I count down to everything!

In other news I got up yesterday and hit the gym! 1 mile run on the treadmill, the napkin arm workout (boyfriend specialty), men's health core workout, and some good stretching. I felt great after no pain just sweat. Though my arms got sore as the day went on. Today I got up and ran 2 miles outside! It was 55 degrees when I finally decided I should run even if I don't have time to make my goal (bc I over slept) So 2 miles instead of 3 in 23:34.

In bigger news! I bought my ticket to the UK and then promptly bought a ticket to Dublin, Ireland for a weekend stay (no place to sleep yet any suggestions are welcome!) 2 days ago Kyle bought his ticket to come visit for a week while I am there and last night I bought 2 tickets to Munich, Germany! Kyle has always wanted to go and see/drink/eat at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich so for Christmas my mom and I are splitting the cost to get him and I there...and he is paying for the hotel (my Christmas present)  So this year in a span of 2.5 months I will see more of the world then I have in my whole life and I will get to cross at least 3 things off my bucket list!
#1 Drink Guinness in Ireland check
#7 Live in London
#14 Go to Hofbräuhaus in Munich

Lastly I promise that within the next few weeks (after finals) I will post pictures of what my semester has been like and all the work that I have been doing.

Oh! Lastly for real! I will not be setting monthly goals I will be setting weekly goals to see if that helps with the slump. This weeks goals...#1 Do all workouts that were scheduled in my planner,
#2 loose 3lbs, #3 Sleep more (failing so far) #4 Do all the elf4health challenges this week.

-Felicia