Sandrina: Running Machine

So as you can see by Tink's post...we are in!!! There is absolutely no turning back at this point! I am very excited about this! Since I was at the end of my 5k training and I wanted to see how I was progressing...I ran a 5k this weekend. The whole time I kept thinking...how the hell am I going to run 10 more miles!!!! I did fairly well...28.41;sixth in my age group and 110/240 overall. So now on to the 10k training! Sorry my posts are not as funny or entertaining as everyone else...maybe they will become more interesting once I start going crazy from all the running!!

Tink: WE'RE IN.

it's official: sandrina and i registered. so now, i think we are all in. all of us. this is serious. i've kicked off my training today by not running yet. it's fucking hot. i'm just not feeling it. instead, i did a lot of other bullshit. i think i'm going to have to force myself to run tonight. ugghhh.
i hate running. who's idea was this?!?
erin - i'm going to use your strategy of being chased by princesses. or was it chasing princesses? either way, sparkles and wands are probably involved, so count me in.

p.s. - did we all pick a different princess for our runners' bibs? i picked ariel (of course!), sandrina is sleeping beauty. i'm assuming erin picked cinderella and kelly went with snow white - the only question mark i've got is michelle, but my guess is belle. i need to know for the tutus i will be crafting each of you. yeah, i said tutus. the drooling may commence.

Michelle: Better late than never...

Well, here I sit 11:00pm on a Tuesday evening, torn between the laundry piles that need folded and the bills that should have been sent out 2 days ago...you guessed it, I procrastinate. Some call it being lazy, I see it as using my time to enjoy life. I suppose this is the reason that it’s taken me 3 weeks to write an entry into this blog. I’ve convinced myself it was because I was to too busy or miles away from a computer when I was having my best thoughts but really it’s due to the trait I hate most about myself... the trait that I use procrastination to mask... the trait I’m fighting against to finish this half marathon... my fear of not being good enough.

So to bring everyone up to speed, about a month ago I was riding out to Philadelphia with Kelly, reading the sex scene in “Breaking Dawn” while bouncing from topic to topic with feverous speed as usual, when one of our ideas made us both kinda silent (a feat not achieved often, just ask our husbands). WE. WILL. BE. 30. I will be taking the leap in November and I promise to be waiting at the bottom of the cliff for the rest of us to follow with a bottle of Grey Goose and a jar of wrinkle cream. Anyway, this number really hasn’t meant much to me until recently, hell, sometimes I look at us all and still see obnoxious 17 year olds in high school, not really worried about anything because of course, we have all the time in the world. Do you ever feel like you are one of those people who slipped into a coma after some horrific accident only to wake up 10 years later not knowing how things became the way they are? Yep, that’s how I feel. In the past decade, I’ve experience college, grad school, a marriage, new job and have seen friends experience great success, babies, and heart breaks. In theory, I’ve lived a pretty full life. Most nights I can sleep easy after counting all of my many blessings but deep down I can’t shake that something is incomplete. So as Kelly and I began to quantify the magnitude of our impending birthdays we decided we needed to celebrate this with something huge, something we can be proud of to start our 30’s out on a positive - We obviously needed to run a marathon! Silly ideas like this have always flowed out of all of our mouths like vomit after drinking more than one of our famous margaritas (eww, that was sick sorry). I usually get so excited about and idea, like making a craft or teaching myself French only to fizzle out before I achieve any sort of measurable success, but not before I’ve purchased any an all accessories to help with the endeavor. In most cases, I don’t get too down about giving up because by that point I’ve moved onto the next idea to keep me going. I’m hoping this half marathon training will be different. It has to be different. Enough is enough. I need to start being honest with myself. Until now I’ve set my life up so I can’t possibly fail but by doing this I’ve never really challenged myself. I’ve shielded myself from feeling disappointment or that feeling that I wasn’t good enough. Training for this race is definitely not going to be easy. This is totally out of character but maybe that’s exactly what I need to wake me from my 20’s coma.

So that brings me to this moment right now. I’m heading towards 30 going 90 miles an hour with no breaks (probably because I’ve forgotten to get my car serviced regularly, something I’m hoping to learn to do by the time I’m 40) and this princess has run out of reasons to procrastinate. I’ve purchased multiple pairs of workout pants, 4 new sports bras, the couch to 5k and couch to 10k apps on my iphone, 3 books on running, about $100 of new songs on itunes that I couldn’t possibly run without and new pair of running shoes...With any luck I can trade those in for comfy pair of glass slippers. On your mark, get set, go.

Michelle

“You may delay, but time will not” - Benjamin Franklin

Erin - Princess Down! We Got a Princess Down Over Here!!

Well, I'm proud to announce our first injury of our journey brought to you all by yours truly!

I've been following the tricky, deceiving Couch Potato to 5K plan. Listed on paper or the computer screen, it seems so simple! Numbers on the page in a neatly arranged column seem totally do-able. 9 weeks, small intervals, a nice, gradual crescendo to reach that 5K goal. It lulls you into a false sense of security with it's simple 1st week of run/walking for 60 then 90 seconds. I really felt like I was going places.

Now, let me be clear. I had started inside, on a nice treadmill, with a TV in front of me, towel and water bottle close at hand. Basically the wussiest way to start. I tricked myself into thinking I was going to nail this half marathon. Then I went outside...

The first week I attempted to run outside, my attempts were squashed by a combination of fear of heat stroke and intense procrastination. Once I get going, I will make myself train, it's just that damn first step! This past weekend, however, I was determined to get my ass outside and run. Here's my mental patient-like logic for this, "Well, if we train for it on the gigantic hills of the park, when we run in the flat Magic Kingdom, it will be soooooo easy!" Seems simple in theory, not so much in practice.

Michelle and I headed out to the park to run. It was cooler this weekend so we thought it would be a good time to start without fear of collapsing mid-interval. Saturday went off without a hitch... well, as long as you don't count the one rough 60 seconds where we attempted to get through it by dancing around while running as an old man with his dog watched in astonishment and then said to us "Let me guess, Dancing with the Stars, right?"

No sir, not stars. Princesses.

Sunday started out just fine. It was a little tedious for me. I was struggling, but to give myself as many small victories as possible I chalked it up to the fact that the plan suggests every other day training. I did my best and pushed right up to the end. We were having a few laughs, joking about how we'd never make it to the car and need to build a make-shift dwelling near one of the pavilions. I was just picturing my Swiss Family Robinson-inspired new home next to the horseshoe pits when disaster struck.

Either I tripped on uneven pavement, nothing or some magical little trickster elves were out to get me, but my ankle somehow bent all the way to the side in a direction it should NEVER bend! As we were going downhill, I was unable to keep my balance so I skinned my knee like a small child might. It was awful! I, apparently, went pale. I seriously thought I was either going to black out or puke... probably in that order.

After heaving myself off to the side of the road and laying there for 10 minutes or so I was able to hobble my way up the huge hill back to the car. I was even able to suck it up to stretch and do some ab workout stuff. As the day went on however, the ankle made its own progress. It grew to about twice it's size and by about 10pm, had turned a lovely shade of blue-ish purple.

What a way to start! We all knew something like this was going to happen! I had only hoped that I was a little farther along or at least running when it did... not strolling along on my cool down at little old lady speed. The good news is, it's already feeling better and I'm hoping to at least get a little running in by the end of the week. We'll have to wait and see though.

So everyone keep your fingers crossed for me and my bum ankle and bloody knee. All 3 of us are anxious to get back out there. Only about 200 days to go and I'm sure I can't spare a second! But if worse comes to worse, I'll just get my right glass slipper in 2 sizes up and find a gown to match my new bruise. Blue-ish purple really is my color!