Back in the Saddle

Yesterday was awesome.  Awesome eating, awesome training, awesome day!

After not getting in much exercise over the weekend (more on that later), I decided to start the week off right.  I had a great day of eating, getting in lots of water (read: going to the bathroom at work so many times I lost count), and ending the day with some great miles.  After work, Dustin and I went out to a new Mexican restaurant in town (good food, bad service, weird atmosphere).  I had the mango chicken but only ate about a third so I didn't have any excuse to talk myself out of running.

Dustin went to a round-up meeting (go cowboy...he's vice president at fair this year, which shows you how redneck we really are) and I headed to workout.  My stomach wasn't feeling very good as a result of TOM and ingesting a minimal amount of spicy salsa, so I decided that the treadmill at my work gym would be my safest route.

The downside of my work gym is that there is no air conditioning and the windows are all facing west, so it is hotter than HELL in there in the evening.  I kept all the lights off and hit the treadmill.  By the first half mile, I looked like I'd been running for hours.  Drenched!

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it long, but kept working on my intervals, not letting myself get off!  I ended up doing 3.7 miles before throwing in the towel and heading home for the night!

Ok, here comes the weekend workout excuse:  SNAKES!

My fear came to a head this weekend when my mother-in-law told me she saw a giant rattlesnake at the foot of our driveway, right where I had run past the night before.  Thus, no running on the road for awhile at home.  All running will be done in town before I go home at night, either outside on safer roads or on the work treadmill.  While Dustin assures me that I would still be fine running on our driveway, I prefer to stay away from any and all snake encounters.  Yuck!

Busy, Busy

So for the past week I've been extremely busy!  It's nice to feel needed...sometimes I feel like we have too much help at work, but this week a lot of people have been gone, giving me more things to do.  Also, I worked on both Saturday and Sunday for fire, getting in some awesome overtime hours!  Thus, my exercise has been slightly lacking.

Last night, however, I got in a great run!  I put in interval times/distances into my garmin (love it!) and headed out.  I finished 4.1 miles, and felt like I could go forever.  I'm really glad I've figured out the interval feature on the Garmin because it helps me to be a smarter runner.  On the treadmill I can focus on intervals and pace easily, but when I get on the road I tend to go too fast too early.  With interval timing, I can get in a great run using the run/walk method while getting in more miles than I would by pushing too hard just running.  (You might be thinking: DUH!  I'm a little slow sometimes.)

So I have my half-marathon picked out for October 30, but I haven't registered yet.  I'm not trying to back out, but because I hadn't been working on my base miles much before my actual training plan started (this week), I'm going to play it by ear as to how I do and whether or not I'm going to do the half.  If I can stick with my training plan and get in my long runs as planned, I'll go ahead and do the half.  If I don't (it's not a matter of CAN, it's a matter of WILL), I'm not going to risk injury by running the half if my body isn't ready.

I'll keep you posted as to how I'm doing.  I've got 6 miles lined up for this weekend, so we'll see how that goes!  I'm excited for it, if that's any consolation!

TGIF by the way!

Nightmares

So you know how I said I was DEATHLY afraid of snakes?  (Well, I might not have said it, but it was definitely implied!)  At work today there was a snake in the foyer, about to make its way into the office.  The only good thing about the situation was that the UPS man happened to walk in and scare said snake back outside.

I called Dustin and told him he has to drive 25 miles into town, pick me up, and carry me out to my car.  I don't do snakes.

Anyway, after that fun rant, I'm off to plug out 4 miles or so.  Except maybe I won't now, because a fire was just dispatched right where we are haying and have cattle.  Sometimes it pays working for the gov, because I know when things are happening.  I can go pretend I still fight fire!

Sunday Funday

Horrible title...sorry about that!

After my run on Saturday, I went to the store for some much needed groceries.  We have been trying to eat up some wedding food (read: pasta salad), but have finally either finished some of it off or have thrown it away.  It's been a week, and by now we are either sick of eating our weight in pasta salad and cut up fruit or it has gone bad.  We still have about 15 tri tips in the freezer though, and will be slowly eating our way through that for the next few months.

Saturday night was a bridal shower/bachelorette party for a cousin.  She's marrying Dustin's best friend, and although we've had issues in the past (not she and I, but just her in general...long story), we had an excellent time with our friends and ended the night at a new bar/grill in town.  I was proud of myself because normally, I'd be the one to stay out late and drink, but I capped my night off with water and drove home (I still didn't get home until 1:30!).

Sunday was a fun day for me.  Not fun in the sense that I got to do something new and exciting, but fun because I didn't have any expectations!  Our house is still a mess from all the presents and wedding stuff, and I slowly went through and organized *almost* everything while watching DVR'd episodes of Grey's on the couch!  What a great day!  I've been getting up and working on house/wedding stuff for so long that I haven't had a weekend day to just RELAX!

We also put together our brand new BBQ last night, so many great meals to come on it!  Yay!

A few more pictures from the wedding:

I'm looking pretty mischevious!

Just married!

My parents!

Have a great day!