The Road to H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks is Paved with Good Intentions.

So, starting my training on December 1 is an "epic FAIL." And I have no excuses. The only thing I can say for myself is that I've put my social life well ahead of my training. I've made some new friends and those friends...like to go out. Every. Single. Night. When I say "go out" I don't mean party per se (though there is plenty of that going on). Instead I mean meet for dinner, then drinks, then a movie. For those of you that know me this new set of priorities is a big change. In my defense, these are volleyball friends so the shenanigans tend to occur after we've played a few pick-up games. The upside = I'm still working out. The downside=the shenanigans start late and continue until the wee hours of the morning. The result = no 6 am running.

I can assure you that this will not be a permanent thing. But for this week this girl just wanted to have fun. I've promised myself that starting Sunday, I'll get back on the stick. Get serious. And start that training, since the race will be here before you know it...

*Belle*

You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks...Or Can You?

Today I managed to get a short run in this time with my older sister's yellow lab "Cash." To his (and her) credit he is a MUCH better runner than the puppy was, however, that is likely because those dogs are trained and ruled with an iron fist. The nicest part was that he walks with a "loose leash" meaning he basically stays beside you the whole time. He also sits and stays prior to crossing the street and won't release unless you give him the command. (FYI, my brother-in-law is trained almost as well as their dogs.)

Its a nice run with little traffic around my parents neighborhood in my Small Town, North Carolina. Cash set a good pace for the first 1/2 mile or so. You could tell he was happy to be out in the sun and nice weather. We were making good time, and on this route there is only one hill. (Obviously this route was chosen on purpose). However, this is one heck of a hill. I haven't ran the last two days as I was distracted by my 3-week old nephew who I did not want to put down. Because of this, the 1.5 miles I was running was a bit difficult. Running with Cash was a nice distraction, that is until he decided to stop. 1/2 way up the hill. At that point, Cash decided he was tired of running, and sat down. I'm sure it was quite a sight to see me trying to pull the 80 pound yellow lab the rest of the way up that hill. And once we got to the top, Cash was ready to go again...setting the pace for the rest of the way home. In short, he unknowingly (or knowingly) foiled my plan to have him pull me up the hill. Instead he turned the tables. Out-smarted by a yellow lab. Yep, that's me.

Tomorrow's run will be a family affair. My mom, sisters, nephew, and the 3 dogs are all heading down to the park. My plan, one dog per mile. That is, unless the dogs gang up on me, and out smart me again...

*Belle*

Catholic guilt, minus the Catholic.

I got up this morning with a million different things to do at the office and decided that running would have to go on hold for a few hours. Because I only ran twice last week, the guilt of not running combined with the double cheeseburger from Steak and Shake I had for dinner last night sent me over the edge. Thankfully, this morning was relatively smooth and I finished up with my tasks just before noon today. With no more excuses to make, I ran upstairs and changed into some warmer running clothes and took off! Week 2, day 1 is complete!

Since my actual "training" doesn't start until January, I don't quite feel a fire under my tush. I've made it a goal to run 4 days per week until December and then 5 days per week until January. I think its a reasonable goal without having to worry about peaking too early (like I did with my last 5k)!

Thanks to Belle (and her awesome P.T.), I am looking into getting a new pair of Asics in January. Right now I am running in a relatively older pair of shoes (1 yearish). They got me through this past summer and seem to be comfortable for the time being.

I also want to welcome Pocahontas to the blog! Like Belle, I am positive she will bring alot of fun experiences to the Triple Crown Princesses blog :)

*Mulan*

Small Steps

In the training program (that I technically start in December) my long run day will be on Saturday. With that in mind, on my modified training this month I've decided to follow suit. So today I ran 2.5 miles along a route known (in my head at least) as "The Loop." I've lived at my current place for around a year and a half, and have ran The Loop relatively frequently though the frequency varies based on my fitness routine. I've ran it enough, however, that its a pretty good gauge of my fitness level. Sometimes its been easy (yay me!) and sometimes I've not been able to finish. Well, today...it was most certainly not easy. However, I did finish. Right after the 1.5 mile mark, I hit one hell of a wall. Its was quite the reminder that I'm out of shape...despite that I was able to talk myself into finishing the run and it went something like this:

Ok, you are passing the place you usually stop, keep going.
See, now you can see the stoplight, get there.
8/10 of a mile left, make it to the first apartment complex
1/3 of the way there, get to the second fatso...
2/3 of the way there, wow you are out of shape!

So, it might not have been nice, but I pushed myself and finished...and I'll try not to pull a muscle patting myself on the back...

*Belle*

Day One Down...

So I did it. I got my butt out of bed at 6:00 am -- well more like 6:20 am (after pressing snooze 2 times, cursing my decision to run this half marathon, and praying that the sound outside my window was a torrential rain and not the fountain) -- and ran 1.5 miles. The good news is that I didn't die and actually it wasn't that bad. The bad news is that I've figured out that getting out of bed is half -- um, 85% -- of the challenge. The weather was amazing -- shorts and a t-shirt weather -- which is one of the perks to training in Florida even in November. (Sorry M, that's what you get for moving to Ohio.) And another unanticipated perk is that I was at the office before my bosses. So, if I can keep this up for the next 118 days, we can add "good for my career" to the list of benefits. (Which include being in better shape, weight loss (maybe...see next paragraph), telling people I have actually ran 13.1 miles at one time, and finally being 1/2 way toward running the real deal.)

Now the questions is, how far do I go? Do I add eating as though I'm training to the list, or take the excuse that I'm running a lot to eat the food I like -- with the fair in town that would include fried cheesecake, fried pickles, fried oreos, chicken fried bacon, and if I'm brave, fried butter...

*Belle*