GR BQ Week 2: Hopefully This Isn't the Only Week I Feel Like a Badass

Hopefully This Isn't the Only Week I Feel Like a Badass

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One on one time with the best boy in the world. He asked me on a fire date. He wanted to make s'mores, but we had to roast Spider-Man waffles instead.

Roop is so interested in girly things. I'm not girly. I feel sorry for her. LOL.

I told you guys that last week was technically my first training week for the Grand Rapids Marathon. Because of the 10k, I wasn't really focused on it being the beginning of training. Anyway, I have a couple of things to share:

-I applied for the Sister Cities Exchange with the Columbus Marathon. If chosen, I would get to represent Columbus by running a marathon in Dresden, Germany. Long story short, I did not get it! It would have been a really cool experience, but I'm slightly relieved that I didn't get it because I really wanted to race a half in the fall. Now I'm excited about exploring my options for that.

-For those not familiar with my current running situation, I'll try to quickly fill you in. Of course, my goal has been to qualify for Boston. I finally qualified at the Carmel Marathon this past March. I beat my BQ time by 3 minutes, 10 seconds. In most of the recent years, that would make me a shoe-in to actually run the race. Last year the cutoff was 3 minutes, 23 seconds which means my time would not have cut it! UGH!! So scary. Because of this gray area, I decided to give it one more attempt to get into the 2019 Boston Marathon. On September 8th, I'll be running the race in Grand Rapids to see if I can improve my time a little bit.

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Curly headed goofball.

This will be my first experience with the Wahoo! Running group. I'm always up for trying new things when it comes to my training. When I saw my workouts for this week, I was like " You want me to do WHAT?!" With it being the beginning of the training cycle, long runs aren't really long runs yet. This week's "long run" was actually a longer speed workout. This week's speed workout was pretty normal, but the pace I was asked to run made me question my ability. I was fully convinced I would fail both of them before I even started. Here's how I fared:

• 6/4: 6.61 miles, 9:05/mile; Chest/Back workout, 1 hour. I'm still in a semi-funk with regards to running with people. This is going on week 3 or 4 of me being LAME! With that being said, I'm slowly coming around and think I'll be ready to make an appearance next week. Today, I chose sleep and decided to run after work. I followed that up with a lift sesh. I usually love my gym time, but I was in a pissy mood today. None of my gym friends were there to snap me out of my funk, so I just sulked until it was over. LOL.
  

  

  One of my favorite challenge poses from this week.

• 6/5: 7.67 miles, 8:36/mile. Bis/Tris, 1 hour. Once again, I couldn't get my ass out of bed. I opted for the treadmill rather than the afternoon sun and heat. I also didn't know if I could appropriately pace myself for the workout. I figured the treadmill would keep me honest. Workout: 15 min. warm up, 8x50 sec. at 6:35 pace with 50 sec. recovery, 1 mile easy, repeat the previously stated 50 sec. intervals, 15 min cool down. I realize the intervals are only 50 seconds, but seeing 6:35 scared the shit out of me. I'm hesitant to toot my own horn, but I handled it well. Maybe I expected the worst, but I did not die and finished feeling pretty awesome about the workout.
  

  

  Gainz, y'all.

• 6/6: 7.95 miles, 8:49/mile. Unfortunately, work was insanely busy, and I didn't have time to lift. With it being Global Running Day, I had to choose miles over muscles. It was the most wonderful run. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and the geese were minimal.
  

  

  So much sun. You can't help but be happy.

• 6/7: Haley's Chest/Shoulder Workout + Z's Stability exercises, 1 hour. Cross training day. Another busy work day left me with a decision to make. I was going to try to include some cycling and yoga, but I had even more documentation to finish than the day before. With me not being able to lift yesterday, I wanted to make it happen today. I needed my body to feel strong on a day that my mind felt weak.
  

  

  Mid-documentation meditation.

• 6/8: 10.9 miles, 8:11/mile. This was my long run for the week. I think I'm most proud of this one. I'm not sure why I doubt myself sometimes. Workout: 15 min. warm up, 3x2 miles at 7:36 pace with 2 min. recovery, 4x20 sec. at 6:35 pace with 20 sec. recovery, 20 min. cool down. Umm, I kicked this workout's ass. Fo reals. I felt so good during and after the run. It was such a confidence booster. Later that evening, as I was working on my puzzle (seriously, I'm putting together a puzzle), I could feel the fatigue in my legs. Don't you guys just love the feeling of hard work?!
  

  

  About this. Ordered a pitcher of margarita. I'm confident I had the higher percentage of it. I thought "Oh, we are at Creekside, let me get some yoga pics." In cowgirl boots?! Fresh off the margs?! This was an interesting process.

  
  

  

  Apparently it was best friends day. These are two of them. Talk to them on the daily. They know [most of] my secrets.

• 6/9: Haley's Back/Glute Workout, 1 hour. I told myself I was going to attend a hip hop fitness class at 9 a.m., but I didn't even get out of bed until 8:20! LOL. I still had a slight tequila headache and was fatigued from yesterday. I felt bad for skipping the class, but I wasn't feeling it. I made up for it by going to the gym later that morning.
  

  

  "Mommy, I want to make a funny face."

  
  

  

  Don't ask me how this happened. I was just goofing off. It was not easy! I did fall on my face a few times and only held it for a second. Literally.

• 6/10: 5.82 miles, 10:29/mile. I met a group of some of my favorites at Highbanks for a nature run. I just love this place. It never disappoints. This was also my first group run in about three weeks! I might be getting over that funk I've been in.
  

  

  Just a few more of my favorite people at Highbanks.

  
  

  

  Nature! WEEEEEE!!!