Run.Chew.Sparkle

Okay so like always I am going to be open and honest about my training runs and today is no exception. I am also going to ramble and go on and on, and probably have a bunch of grammar mistakes. And this may be very long, a lot went on in these training miles. Bare with me, I am still in a little bit of a fog because this morning I ran 23 miles. Oh in case you over looked that and missed the post title... 23 MILES!!!! Now most training plans don't call to do 23 miles, usually nothing over 20 BUT Jeff Galloway recommends it, his training sometimes even has you doing 29 for the elite runners. I follow is training plan called "Planned to Finish". He does having us run 26 in training and then the 26 on the marathon. While, I think that is a good idea, I really do, for me it doesn't work. One because the weeks don't seem to match up with tapering and two because, I only want to experience 26.2 miles at the marathon and that is it. I want to run it once and...

So another week done and over with. This week was successful. My energy was up, it was a low mileage week, which I do like every so often. And I got some variety in this week too. Sunday:11 miles in Clearwater with Nanci and gang Monday: 2 mile walk with my LOVE Tuesday: 3 miles Wednesday: 11.6 miles on the bike Thursday: Rest Friday: 4 miles Saturday: Rest 18 Running Miles 13.6 XT miles I have been sleeping much better, my hunger of course is there. Some days I could eat everything in the kitchen and other days not so much. Tomorrow embarks on another crazy run day. Tomorrow morning, or actually in like 11 hours, I will be starting my 23 mile training run. I am not nervous or scared, I am kind of excited. I just want to run and go and get it over with it. Break that mental wall. I was going to get up at 3 like when I did 20 but I realized that was just way to early for me. I didn't feel right, it messed me all up that one hour. So on the back end of the runs, it wil...

I love everything about this!!! Share this for all runners. This was just what I needed to watch before I tackle my longest run before my marathon. My heart nearly exploded with love for this. I can not wait until Spring to see the film

I really enjoyed the Friday Five last week and I like that it is something different to post each Friday, so I am linking up with  Nanci ,  Mar On The Run  &  Eat Pray Run DC  &  Cynthia . I love that I saw this on Nanci's blog because I found some awesome running ladies to now follow and join in on the fun. It is crazy to me that September is two days away and Labor Day. I feel it is so early this year too. But with Labor Day comes the start of fall. Even though Fall doesn't really begin for us Floridan's until November haha, when the rest of the world is gearing down for winter. Anyway I love to pretend we are in fall weather here. Friday Five Fall Preview 1. MY MARATHON!!! This by far is what is driving me this whole fall. It is October 12, in PA, in the heart of NEPA. And if you have ever been to that part of the country, you know how beautiful it is that time of year. The leaves are changing or already changing. The weather is crisp...

Half way through the week my friends! And I'm ready for this week to be over but not because I'm over it but because Sunday is my Runday! A really, really long Runday! 23 miles on deck Sunday! And because Monday is Labor Day I'm off of work! That makes me even more excited because I plan on sleeping all day long!!   But let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we. Today is my day off and I have spent it like I should always spend my days off. I slept in until 9, went grocery shopping, laid out in the pool for 2 hours with my Nook. Literally I sat in the pool with my book the whole time. The water felt amazing on my legs too. I went for lunch with James to Pei Wei, he used a sick day today.  I love Pei wei and their lighter options. He loves that place and usually I'm not in the mood for it today. Today I was all over it. I came home and then took a two and half hour nap. Felt glorious. I feel no shame when I sleep the afternoon away. Days off are made for this, especi...

Happy Tuesday!! Today started off awesome with my typical Tuesday 3 mile run. I remember when I started my training, I didn't know if I would be able to do the 3 miles every Tuesday because it is my really early day at work. I have to be there by 815, and I am not one to get up early on a work day, I LOVE MY SNOOZE. But after doing this over and over, I really look forward to my Tuesday 3 miles. I might even keep this tradition going after marathon training. I always feel great and ready for the day, even if it is going to be a really long day like today was, a 10.50 hours. Oh and what made today even more amazing was this... COLD FRONT!!!! Hahaha! It wasn't all that cool but you could totally tell. It was glorious. And made me feel hope that fall is just around the corner. Seriously beside the whole marathon experience, I am more excited with the fact that it will be cooler and the leaves will be changing and low humidity in PA in October. We don...

Well considering I am writing this very late on Monday night, the motivational Monday doesn't really sit well, but hey I tried. And I love this quote. It is so true and everything I speak of, one of my favorite of all time. Believe in this forever!!! I got a great walk in tonight after work and had a special person going with me. My love, James, joined me for a two mile walk. It was sooooo nice to walk together, I was so excited to walk with him tonight. We went around our neighborhood. We talked and looked at houses we would love someday to own and move into. Then we jumped in our pool at the apartment and enjoyed a little drink before heading in doors for our dinner. It was a great way to end a crazy work day and start this week! Hope your Monday was great and use this motivation not just today but every day.

Good Sunday Morning!! I kicked off Week 18 with these awesome people this morning  Nanci and her hubby and her friend Corrina! We got in 11 miles doing the bridge I have now dubbed the Iron Girl Bridges. We ran through a lot of really beautiful areas and places of Clearwater I have never been. Nanci even hid a water cooler at mile 5 so we could stop and refill and drink cold ice water! It was genius and perfect timing. It's always a blast to run with friends and make new ones. Nanci's hubby ran the whole 11 miles too with us, the farthest he has ever run and he isn't even training for a race or a half or any marathon for that. How sweet and amazing is he!!  I would love James to do that with me or ride along BUT I can always count on him to be there when I get home with a big warm hug and a robe. Nanci and I even ran over the bridge non stop, no walking at all. I felt invincible doing that. I always try but I talk myself out of it and we set it to do it and wow, even after ...

Alrighty week 17 is done and over with it. And boy was it a crazy one, physically, emotionally and mentally. Today, I had planned 4 miles. This is normally not my schedule to run on a Saturday, but because I took my rest day on Thursday, I switched it up. I also wanted to see since, I didn't do two XT days this week, I figured I would do an extra run day. My training plan is usually only 3 a week, but I really want to push myself. Build my endurance even more, burn some more and make those legs move. It worked this week for sure. I thought this morning when I got up, I could just run after work and sleep in a bit. I have been very tired this week and the morning has been tough. It is dark, and cozy and I don't have many days I can sleep in. So I slept in until the last possible second before I had to get up for work. I worked my 8 hours and then once I got home, I made sure to get right into my running clothes. I wanted to make sure that my body and mind did not make th...

Good Friday Morning! It is a nice Friday morning over here, still hot, but this morning the humidity felt a little low. Maybe I am just going insane, but I could actually breathe this morning running. Yesterday, I nominated the day to be a rest day for me. While I really wish it was an all out, true, lay around all day long rest day, it was just a rest day from running and working out. I had to work an open to close, which by the way, are not fun by any means, so I figured, I wouldn't put any more pressure on my legs. I planned on running Thursday and Friday and then rest day Saturday, but you know you gotta role with the punches. I am glad I did, because at work, I am on my feet all day long, and my legs have taken quite a beating already this week. Today, I have a travel day for work, which is quite nice, so I got up at 6 and got 5 miles in. It was nice to just run around my neighborhood for more than 3 miles and I saw a lot of other people out running too, which is quite...

Kind of an update post from my last pity party post from the weigh in. No pun intended it weighed me down today, it made me a bit sad and mad. But man all those comments and encouragements, holy heck did they help. I ended up using the rest of my day off to just work on me. I have laundry to do and such, but I put it aside and just did whatever I wanted. I turned the T.V. on for only a little bit, I made myself an awesome lunch and laid out by the pool for well over an hour. It was freaking hot out there. I finished a book, If I Stay. I saw that the movie was coming out, it looked really good, but the ending, blahhh. I wasn't overly impressed with it. I understand that the book is an continuation. But blahh it wasn't all that great. I do want to see the movie to see if it matches up. I took a long 2 hour nap, no alarm set, just sleep and I got on the bike for 30 minutes, 5.80 miles. My legs were still feeling a bit heavy, so I just took the 30 minutes. Like Jeff Gallowa...

Today is weigh in Wednesday! Or at this point disappoint day!! I went to weigh in today and I had another gain... 4.8 pounds!! I was shocked and stunned and taken back. I have never really gotten upset but today I felt upset. That number stung because I feel I am doing everything right. I work out, eat right, take my vitamins, finally getting more sleep, I fuel my body and drink water. I ran alone 20 miles on Sunday! And I know on all my really long run weeks, I gain. My muscles are sore, they are heavy and I feel bloated but I mean come on scale. I beat myself up over it for a bit, staring at that number. I texted Nanci, I had to get in contact with another marathon, WW. She of course got me back on track, it's so amazing being able to share that with someone else. I then posted it to my Instagram and then was flooded with comments of support, motivation and slapping me back to reality!! Social media and friends telling me how far I have come and what I am accomplishing. Telling m...

Good Tuesday Morning. This morning I was very sleepy. I mean I hit that snooze and even reset my alarm numerous times this morning. I just could not get out of bed. And I understand that each day is different, some days I hop out of bed like a bunny and other times, I have to throw myself out of the bed in order to get going. Sometimes I don't mind getting up at 5:00 am and sometimes I just want to sleep in forever, especially the week of a really long run. Today, was that day. I seriously was contemplating moving my 3 miles to tomorrow and do a XT day today. But I figured I would have to get up to go to the gym, I can get up and go for my 3 miles. Those 3 miles were quite tough. My legs were so heavy. I mean sitting here right now, my legs feel like bricks. I really felt like I wasn't moving at all. I really, really need to do more stretching. I need to roll and stretch. Eventually, my legs warmed up a bit and felt much better. So I know if I was doing more than 3 miles, i...

Yup today I feel like I was hit by a big ol' truck!! I laid around all day yesterday but by body was very restless. I went to bed and got a good amount of sleep BUT once I woke up I was done for. I was sore, not too bad though, the Stick helped so much! BUT I do need to roll more, I'm so bad at that. And my energy was shot. I ate a lot of protein yesterday but I still woke up today just out of it. I mean completely out of it. I needed  more rest. I had to open the store so I asked my assistant if she could come in early and cover my shift. She did and got to leave almost 2 hours earlier. The minute I got home I went to sleep. Just a full on nap. And I have slept for 2.5 hours and had crazy, crazy dreams. Dreams about the marathon too. Not being fully prepared, people being there, etc. Very weird. I do feel a bit better.  I think for my long runs the day after is a must recovery/ rest day for me. And either take the day off or go in much later. I need to lay around, my body rea...

Okay I promise to always be real and upfront and not sugar coat anything when it comes to this training... And with that being said, today's 20 miles were really, really tough. I survived the 20 miles, but barely. I am sore, I am chaffed in all areas, areas you wouldn't even believe. That is what is hurting the most, I know everything else will start kicking in later and tomorrow morning. I think tomorrow might be a recovery day. Okay so this is how the 20 miles went down. The highlights of those 4 plus hours. I got up at 3:00 am. I was awake and ready to go. I had my waffles with peanut butter and brought a chocolate peanut butter GU for the ride. I drank my 16 oz of water and carried on. I felt really good this morning, despite the fact I hardly slept last night. My mind was on over drive from knowing I had to get up to run, I just couldn't fully sleep. I wanted too, so bad but nothing would turn off. I didn't realize how tired I was until I was getting in...

You know when you should relax and just cant.. Yeah that is what is going on with me tonight. I got out of work sort of early today because of the open to close I did on Monday and decided I needed to grocery shopping again. Seriously I love food shopping more than I love clothes shopping. Being able to have healthy food in my house, makes me more excited than anything and well with training, I love to eat. I am making myself lay on the couch all night. Feet up and relaxed, except for when I have to make my pasta. Which I plan on eating late again like I did last time. It really helped and kept me full before the run.  I have to get up at 3:00 am. I mean seriously who does that and is okay with it. I want to start running by 4:00 am, so I can be done after 8 and before the heat kicks in. I am hoping to be done with a little over 4 hours. I am not stressing about the mileage, I am just going to run like I did for 17 but with 3 more miles. Then I will have the whole rest of t...

Okay so tomorrow and Saturday I am using as Rest Days. I haven't had a rest day since last Thursday and I do have to say I am looking forward too, but this week hasn't been all that bad. I really am becoming a bit stronger. Today is a run day and normally the plan is to run for 30-45 minutes, I usually switch this all around and do kind of whatever I please, it usually sits between 3-5 miles, depending on what I have going on. Today, I did 5 miles. I am off of work today and made the decision last night to not set an alarm or anything, I was just going to sleep until I wanted to get up. I woke up around 7:30 and then went back to bed until a little after 10! I was thrilled and felt great. I had the idea I was going to go downtown tonight and run because I needed to go to Fit2Run after to get some fueling options for the 20 miler on Sunday. Well, I saw the weather looked overcast and rainy, so the pool idea was out, so I thought either time I run, it is going to be hot, mi...

My awesomely, marathon training, runner and WW loving,  friend Nanci over at  This Crazy Life of Mine , posted this yesterday and I LOVED it. I thought it was such a fun and unique post, that I wanted to do the same, since I am too all about running and training for my marathon. Check out Nanci's too, she has some great answers to hers!!! Would you rather? Running Edition 1. Would you rather run a 5k or a marathon? This is a tough one to answer since I am in the mist of training for my first ever marathon. I can tell you I love training for a marathon, the structure and time and patience and I love long distance running. I am loving the process and I am sure I am going to love the final race. But a 5k sometimes is just perfect. I love the distance, the excitement and the pace and ability to PR with a 5k. It is great warm-up and race to be able to do with friends. I'm going to say a marathon though because I love a challenge and life changing experiences. 2. Would you ra...

I completely forgot to post my weigh in from this week. I weighed in yesterday because I thought I was going to be hanging out with James and his mom for the day. My plans got all switched around, but I still weighed in anyway. To my surprise and very pleasant surprise, I was down 1.6. I was so thrilled to see that happen. I was very good last week. I ate all my weeklies and a couple of my activity points. I did earn 68 activity points last week too. I made sure I am on my water quest and I felt great all week. I was sleeping really awesome too, probably because James was away for most of the week too. He is the worst sleeper, moves all over the place, snores like a freaking monster, so it was a nice change of pace. And I had my time of the month too the end of the week, but I still lost. This week is a bit of a challenge because I have 20 miles on Sunday. I am really, really going to work hard on that day to be on track, fuel my body properly and hydrate like crazy. I am hoping ...

Happy Hump Day!!!!!! So this post is about to be totally random and all over the place, but I have just gotten back from a Travel day of work and I am all jacked up on Iced Coffee. FYI, McDonald's has Iced Coffee any size for a 1.00. I am all about being cheap and I got a LARGE Sugar Free Vanilla Iced Coffee for a Buck, that bad boy was 5pp but it was tasty and got me through my no AC, hot as hell drive home in traffic today. That is the only reason I would ever go to a McDonald's anyway. Any who, as you know I am all about my marathon. I mean for almost 4 months now we have been talking about. Talking about my training, what I am eating, what I have been running, my XT, etc. I haven't really been talking about how it is making me feel, well I guess, I have but not in an intimate way I suppose. Here's the real, honest deal and with the fact that my 20 miles in coming up on Sunday, I am sure I will be even more emotional. This training has changed my life. I know...

Happy Tuesday Morning... Yesterday was a bit of a world wind day for me. After working all day and being exhausted on Sunday, I planned yesterday morning to get up at 6 and do my XT on the bike before I had to be to work at 8:15. BUT, I was dead tired, it was raining and I just wanted some more sleep. I am a pure baby like that. I love my sleep and try to get it as much as I truly can. So I skipped the alarm and got a good hour of sleep. I figured since I got out of work at 4:30, I would go meet up with James and his mom for some dinner and then come home and get on the bike. I packed my bag and everything. They came in to see me at work and literally as I was telling them I would be seeing them in a few hours, the girl who was suppose to work, called off. Story of my life. So I was left there to do an open to close. I wasn't prepared for an open to close, meaning no food, no drinks and really uncomfortable shoes. Luckily they were still in the mall, so the best boyfriend...

Okay so the countdown is getting smaller and smaller. Two months from today, if we do it by Sundays until my marathon, but if we count it from 12th-12th, 62 days!!!! OH MY FREAKING GOD!! This whole training process have been flying by and before we know it I will be posting on marathon day. Anyway before I give myself a heartache, a little recap of the last two days, since I didn't post yesterday. I was off of work yesterday and instead of sleeping and using the day as a rest day, which Saturdays normally are, I got up at 6 and went running for 4.50 mils. My legs felt a bit heavy and I felt like I was really pushing but it felt great either way. After my run, I made plans to meet up with James's mom for the day since he had to work and I wanted to get downtown. It would be the first time that we hung out together alone, without James. And we had an absolute blast. She is truly an amazing mother and so much fun. We went shopping at all the little shops of downtown, we...

It is Friday!! Woohoo!! I have to get through 8 hours of work and then I am off tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have to work Sunday, but hey a Saturday off is still really awesome. I got up this morning after 8. I set my alarm for 7, but well we know the drill. I hit snooze for quite some time. I swear the long run weeks, definitely drag me down a bit towards the end of the week. Since, I didn't run yesterday, I did this morning. I didn't think that running at 8:30 would be so bad. Geez, boy was I wrong! It was so hot and humid and my legs felt like I was carrying bricks. I wasn't miserable but I wasn't happy for sure. Running my intervals were even hard. I had to walk a bit more. Despite how tired I am, I am going to have to get up earlier than 8. The latest is 7, I think, or wait until late in the evening. But I got 4 miles in and made it through, even if I was drenched from head to toe in sweat. Oh and starving! Here is a little fun for ya, two songs I am LOVING rig...