Burst Into Summer - August 31st

Well, here we are at the end of another challenge.  We Burst into Summer, and I sure hope that everyone is ending the summer a little healthier, maybe a little (or a lot) lighter, and motivated to keep going into the fall.  I know I've been waning a bit on my motivation, but in the end I know that I want to get on my treadmill or head out for that long run or do my strength...I do still have Tough Mudder coming up in...OMG... 17 days.  *twitch twitch*  But I'm excited about it at the same time.  I rarely get myself worked up over a race or an event.  Ok, there was that freak out last December over 26.2 but we won't talk about that.

Maybe it's because life has gotten busier and more chaotic, but I know I can do the mileage of Tough Mudder.  Will it be hard at elevation with an elevation gain of 2300 ft? Most definitely.  But I think with 20 obstacles over 10 miles that there will be enough "rest" time in between the actual miles that I'm not worried about.  The obstacles are going to be hard.  No doubt about that.  I'm expecting to be bruised and scraped and possibly a bit bloody by the end.  There are only 4 obstacles that I know I will have my stomach in my throat - 3 of them water related and the fourth, of course, the electric shock therapy.  But out of 20?  Having a little healthy fear is a good thing.  And I've been working *hard* on my upper body strength.  Check me out. 

Know that I had already done 12 each way by this point in my day. 

I tooted my own horn and posted this video to Twitter on Monday.  I'm very proud of what I've accomplished with my upper body strength.  As a life-long runner, I've always neglected the rest of me, especially my upper body.  Between the 100 pushup challenge that we started the year with along with NTC and boot camp moving on to the Tough Mudder workout, I have shoulder muscles and arm muscles that have never existed before.  I'm already trying to plan out what I'm going to do after Tough Mudder, because I refuse to let those muscles disappear.  

I have been pseudo-training for my next half marathon which is on September 11th.  I say pseudo-training because I've been doing a long run on the weekend to prep for this.  All my other running miles have been intervals as prescribed by the Tough Mudder workout.  Last weekend I ran 12 miles.  There was walking involved, but I felt strong throughout the whole thing.  Was I tired at the end? Heck, yeah.  And my legs were still tired when I did my intervals on Monday, but I did them.  This weekend is my "taper" weekend.  I'm only doing 8 miles.  After Tough Mudder I have no races on my schedule.  And this makes me sad.  I know there are a few races that my lovely friends around the country are planning on doing, but either I can't justify the cost to get there (hello, Grand Rapids Marathon and Bari!) or they fall at an inconvenient time when I'm already traveling (hello, wine country half marathon and Ashley). 

I am running the 10k with The Sisterhood on October 22nd though.  You should join me and a bunch of other Sisters and Brothers and either run/walk/wog a 5k or 10k on the 22nd.  Pick your race, sign up, run *your* hood.  You'll get a t-shirt and even some bling (a medal) for completing your race!  I'm all about the bling.  

Another little tidbit here.  I'm going to out Tiffany here.  And she may kill me...but I know she really loves me.  She is running the Nike Women's Marathon (half) in October (which I wish I had gotten picked in the lottery!) and was thinking about continuing on with her training and running her first full 26.2 in January (?) in her neck of the woods.  How fun would it be to ramp up and run her first marathon with her?  Oh, yeah.  There's that whole business of long training runs and not enough time or daylight during winter running.  

I just know that I need something on the books for after the new year.  I need to find a race that I can afford and look forward to.  I need a race to keep me motivated.  I also looked up my stats for this year on Daily Mile.  For the year I'm at 511 miles.  That seems to paltry.  I'd like to hit 800 miles for my yearly total.  That means that between now and the end of the year I have to average 15.1 miles a week.  Which really isn't that much all things considering if I continue to run 3-4 days a week.  

So that's my summer summary.  (Heh. That's fun to say.  "summer summary").  As always I look forward to what those lovely ladies (and gentleman) at The Sisterhood have cooked up for the next challenge.  Are you ready?