Square One

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My 1st week of training for my second marathon is in the books and I feel like I have started back at square one. Taking a month off took more of a toll than I anticipated.

Last Sunday in particular was really tough. I admittedly started off a lot faster than intended as I really wanted to run with a certain group of people but about 5 km in, I realized that there was no way I could continue at that pace nor was it very smart to have done so up until that point. They were doing 16km and I only had 10 on the schedule so I wasn't sure how long I'd stick it out. Thankfully I ran into a couple of other friends who had already been running for 20km so they were happy to only do another 5 or so kilometers and dragged me along beside them. In the end I clocked that run in at just over 14km and I felt wrecked. It was discouraging and humbling. During marathon training I had felt so strong, I took that for granted. In a way, I think it is a good thing, it has given me a different kind of motivation and my body felt really rested and ready to get going again.

This Sunday, I once again had 10km on the schedule. Seemingly overnight, I woke up Saturday morning sick. I had had a bit of sore throat on/off throughout the week, but I felt like it was going away. Then when Saturday hit, everything fell apart. My sinuses felt so full and my throat was extremely sore. I decided that I would run on Sunday morning anyway. It wasn't a race, I was just going to teeter along at my own pace. I've heard that if your sickness is from the neck up, then it is okay to run, but usually I just go by how I feel and I didn't feel like sitting at home. So this morning, off I went. I dressed, what I thought, was warmly, and then I went outside...

Oh my, did I ever wish I had washed my long pants after Friday night's run, it was freezing! My weather app lied, it was WAY colder than -2 at our house. I didn't feel great, but once we got running, my spirits started to lift. One of the great things about moving to a new area is that I am not yet familiar with all the running routes yet, so it is always interesting, especially on a beautiful day like today! I met some new people along my run too which was also nice, as I'm still pretty new to the local running scene here.

Starting over is tough especially because of the year I had last year, but today I felt some of that strength in my legs coming back, there is some memory there and it will all come back with some hard work! Now to get rid of this head cold... Off to bed!

Buying a Treadmill

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When we moved I came to the realization that I wasn't going to make it through another winter of training without a treadmill. I've avoided it thus far by running before Cody goes to work and in the evenings which worked okay at our old house. There are 3 major problems with running early in the morning and late in the evening at our new house:

1. It's dangerous, at our old house we were in a populated area with lots of street lights and sidewalks so I felt relatively safe with my reflective gear on. Where we live now is pretty close to the "middle of nowhere" and it would be difficult for a car to see me in the dark even with all the reflective gear that I own.
2. Bears. As much as I love seeing wildlife, I really don't want to worry about it when I'm running.

As seen on my run in Whistler earlier this summer.

3. Hills. Essentially we live on a small mountain, so to get to our house there are several hills, no matter where I go I'd have to come back up all those hills to get home. As much as I "love" hill training, I don't want to do it every day...

As seen from the top of one of the hills heading up to our house.

So that's how a treadmill turned into a "moving expense" and I began the search. Typically I prefer to shop online, but in this case I decided I better head into a store and have a look at the so-called "dreadmills" in person.

Here are my tips for buying a treadmill:

1. Treadmill salesman are similar to car salesman and they will definitely feed you their sales pitch, so do your research before you go and have some models in mind.

2.  Have a budget. Obviously everyone wants the best of the best, but keep in mind that there are treadmills for every budget. You may not need all the bells and whistles there is to offer.

3. Consider the space. Is it necessary or more convenient to have a folding treadmill. Measure your area before you go to the store.

4. Lastly, consider the extras: Do you need a treadmill mat? What about delivery or warranty? I asked the salesman if he'd throw in delivery or a $100 treadmill mat, and happily I got the mat for free which will protect my flooring. I would also definitely consider the warranty, the brand will likely have one for the motor but you may want to consider an extended one through the dealer, there's a lot of moving parts and things that can go wrong and service calls can be expensive.

I ended up going with the one I had in mind which happened to be on sale!

It was delivered the day we moved in and though running on a treadmill is a lot different than the roads, I'm very happy with it. I also like having a place to display all my medals as inspiration. Don't get me wrong almost all of my long runs are still on the roads but for weekday 5-8ks and speed work this is where I'll be.

The last few weeks...

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The last few weeks of our life have been HUGE. We packed up our entire life into boxes and said goodbye to the first place we called home as a family. Things were broken, things were lost, lots of things are still in boxes but it's okay. It's okay because this is where I get to sit and post from, my very own beautiful back yard.

Last week I'll admit I was feeling apprehensive. I've moved more times than I can count in my lifetime and I was sure the last time would be "the last" for a while but sometimes your needs and your life changes. I'm sure it didn't help that we were temporarily living in our garage while the floors were being refinished.

Today I feel good, it is endlessly quiet here and though my house is still in complete disarray, the end is in sight! The floors are finished, now we just need to paint, unpack, and make it home.

Now that all this is over, its back to marathon training I go. I not surprisingly had to take a bit of a break from running this past week. Between moving furniture, boxes, and living in a garage/trailer, my body/mind was in no shape to go out and run.

For now though, I think I'll just sit and watch Griffin.

It's official, we're moving!

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I've been alluding to the fact for a while now that there's a lot of other stuff going on in my life right now besides running, blogging, and being a mom. 

Well the cat's out of the bag or rather the toddler's in the box? We're moving!

So there you have it, my explanation for my blog posts being so few and far between. Along with ramping up the distance for marathon training, we've been working hard at selling our house and finding a new one and now it's all finally in writing! 

Along with all of this I decided I was going to start some online courses this summer so now I have moving, marathon training, and school to worry about... It's going to be a very busy summer!

I'll be honest, I HATE moving and I've never done it with a toddler so this should be interesting... 1 month to the move and 2.5 months until the marathon!

So I hope you will forgive me if I'm not posting as often, I promise to stick with it and update you along the way!