Sunday Evening Update

It's been awhile since an update, which is directly due to my laziness - I'm not even going to lie! I did run 6 miles two days ago, had the day off yesterday, and ran outside for 4.25 miles this afternoon. I don't like running out in the cold, even if it is 40 degrees here! That's cold enough for me. :) Yesterday was my brothers birthday, in which we had pizza and hot wings and cake and ice cream for dinner.... as a result I ran like a slug today. I know it seems like a 'duh!' epiphany that what you eat affects your performance, but it really hit me this time! No more of that thank-you-very-much. I do feel alot better now that I am getting back into somewhat of my exercise routine...yesssss!

Okay, that's all folks!
Run on!

Back On Track

Back from KY.. and I officially feel like a whale! I brought all of my running gear with me to keep myself up, except a shoe. Who forgets one shoe?!? Me. So, four days of no physical activity combined with Grandma's Christmas goodies = one crazy girl dying to run! I ran a good five miles and walked with the incline on 4 for about 30 minutes. Felt GOOD! Need some new tunes though, I was pressing the skip button alot... but I don't want to buy iTunes until after Christmas, because nothing makes me more mad than when I buy something and then I get a gift card the next day. Speaking of Christmas.... 2 days! :D I love my inner kid :D

Oh, I'm thinking about beginning Spinning classes once spring semester sets in, I've read a couple runners write on their blogs about going to classes....

Take that, mind!

No workouts yesterday, my knees were killing me and demanding to be iced so I gave them the day off. Today I was anticipating a great run - usually after a day off I feel like I can run forever and it's just so relaxing....not today! After mile 3 I was ready to give up. It really irritated me because I was running more than a minute slower than my usual pace. So I made myself run until the mile four marker...when "Pump It" (Black Eyed Peas) came on the ole Ipod. Definitely a pump-me-up song, so I made myself run until 4.5. That's when the mind games started. As soon as my brain read 4.5 it said 'alright, we were only going to go until 4 and you tricked me, it's time to stop now' and immediately my legs felt heavy and my lungs hurt. But then I counter-thought 'this is absolutely ridiculous! I've been able to run 6 miles a day no problem, this is a whole 1.5 less than that! You big wimp!!!' So talking to myself the entire rest of the .5 mile, I made it to 5 miles. Ha! Not great I'll admit, but I ran a lot farther than what I wanted to. Good thing I'm stubborn. Heading to KY for Christmas tonight, so no updates for awhile.... maybe I'll see snow....yesssss!

Life is Good! :)

Inspiration

Okay, let time for me to inform you of one of my many obsessions... : Kelly Ripa! She is one of my inspirations when it comes to running. I watch Regis & Kelly almost every morning :) She's so cute and her body - to die for! (No homo... - ha!)

Anyways, yesterday was a 5 mile run, and today I worked out on the elliptical for 55 minutes with an easy 3 mile run following. Hey, you've gotta get rid of all those Christmas cookies somehow!
Speaking of cookies (which yes, are another one of my obsessions) I made 4 different kinds yesterday: Snickerdoodle, Sugar, Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate with Peanut Butter chips. Mmmmm! While I was busy slaving away making cookies, my dad made a homemade pizza for dinner - my favorite: Hawaiian! My family is made up of cookaholics. I love it. Life is good. :)

xoxo

Home Sweet Home!

I'm officially DONE with finals! It definitely feels like Christmas now :)

So after a day off from the gym, partying with my girlys to celebrate the end of the semester which included cheesecake, no bake peanutbutter cookies, cheese dip, pigs in a blanket, and waking up with a pounding hangover, I decided to head to the gym anyways and wear myself out. I did the elliptical for about an hour; I'm trying to alternate running and elliptical because I can go faster on the elliptical which helps build up my endurance and strength while giving my legs a break from pounding down on the ground.
Today I bundled up and ran outside, something I haven't done since the summer! I read online that you aren't supposed to wear cotton tshirts when its cold, and thankfully my brother had a underarmor one I borrowed, I need to invest in some of those! Its very hilly around here, but I ran for just about 50 minutes, so I'm guessing I ran around 4 to 4 1/2 miles (I cheated and walked a bit). I'm not used to the cold! I might have to splurge and get a three week membership to the gym...haha the rec center on campus spoils me.

Theres nothing like coming home from a run to an energized border collie ready to play!
Oh it's good to be home :)
Happy Saturday!

Laces

Was lazy and forgot to post yesterday...

Ran 6 miles (!) in 52:13

The story:
I was doing SO good, by mile 5 I was starting to feel the fatigue coming but I knew I could hold out for at least another mile. My running shoes thought otherwise. As soon as the treadmill read 5 miles my shoelace decided to play dirty little shoelace games and untied itself. I was livid. Of course I had to completely stop, bend over while huffing and puffing and becoming as red as a stop sign. I couldn't just start back again at the same pace I had been going, so I worked my speed back up after about 1/2 a mile, but knew that I would be done as soon as the numbers read 6 miles. Grr! Guess I'll be double knotting my laces from now on... It's not like my time was awful, it was actually very very good for me, but I'm sure I could have knocked off those 13 seconds if I hadn't have had to stop!

Found this picture on the web, and fell in love! It has four of my very favorite things: coffee, animal print, chocolate, and morning! I'm a huge morning person.

Today I had all the intentions of running, but my shin splints made me think otherwise. So annoying! Instead, I had a 50 minute workout on the elliptical burning 575 calories (yeah!) and some ab machine exercises. Not too bad, but I don't get the same feeling as I do after running. Hmph. I did waltz on over to the smoothie shop and grab a peanutbutter-chocolate-banana smoothie afterwards :) Best. Thing. Ever. I highly recommend.

This is finals week, and I'm about to go nuts! Although I'm ecstatic about Anatomy being over with, now I have to worry about Organic Chemistry...ugh. Oh the joys of being a college kid. Two more days, two more days. Can't wait to get out for Christmas.. everyone here is all nerves because of finals and I'm even finding myself becoming a little hermit-like. Making myself go to the gym does help me snap out of it though. :)

Until next time....
~Cheetah Girl

Hello! Okay, so this is officially my first blog! You might be asking, why would you want to start a running blog? Well... I was at the gym the other day and picked up a copy of Runner's World to give me something to look at while I ran. There was a certain quote in it that really struck me and made me think, so I googled what I remembered of it, hoping to find it so I could stick it on my bulletin board in my room. The link I clicked on happened to be a blogger's page, and I became curious as to see if that person was as inspired by it as I was. Reading the blog made me want to write my own blog, and so here I am!

"If you ran without sacrifice, congratulations. You just jogged."
Running hurts. It alwasys has. Wooly mammoths didn't just roll over onto a plate and serve themselves up to prehistoric man with fries and a shake. They had to be caught - and running down woolly mammoths was a bitch. Guss what? Running is still a bitch. But one with a purpose. It teaches us that good things do not come easy. It teaches us that we are capable of more than we think. It teaches us that hard work will be rewarded and laziness will be punished. Don't expect to learn those life lessons from running's shiftless stepchild, jogging. Next time you suffer of the roads of trails, suffer proudly. It means you run like an animal.
~Pearl Izumi

My roommate and I used to really push each other to run every-single-day. Now that she moved to a condo and I am stuck thoroughly enjoying dorm life (not!) I don't have as much motivation as before. And it's showing...I've gained about 10 pounds! Oh well, just something to work towards I guess. Today I ran 5 miles before about keeling over. My roommate and I used to run 10K's on the treadmill without stopping daily, so this is just a tad bit irritating.
I think tomorrow I'm going to try running around the indoor track instead of the treadmill. I just hope I can keep track of my laps so I don't end up running 12 miles instead of 6...ha!