What I’ve been up to lately

Sooooo not a whole lot going on here lately, just trying to keep my Runner’s World Running Streak going!  It was pretty tough the first few days that I worked to make myself run when I got home, but I can say now that it’s gotten easier!  I feel like I’ve noticed me even feeling more energized throughout the day, so this streak is doing great things for me!

I finished up with school yesterday.  This semester was frustrating at times.. many, many times.. but I’m glad that I’m done with it and that I won’t have as many classes next semester AND I’m that much closer to being done!  Another fun thing yesterday, I was running and a man with a dog ran past me, we both said hello to each other and as soon as he did I thought to myself, that’s your old microbiology instructor!  (At least I was pretty sure that’s who it was)  So I continued with my run and thought to myself if I pass him again then I’ll ask him if he is who I think he is.  Sure enough after I turned around I saw him running my way and I instantly got nervous, I mean what if I ask this guy if he’s someone and he is TOTALLY NOT THAT PERSON?!?  Anyway I asked, and he said he was indeed my microbiology instructor (from 3 years ago and a lot of people take this class each semester) and before I could tell him who I was he said “Samantha Brown, right?”  You coulda knocked me over with a feather, I never thought that he would remember who I was!  So we had a nice little chat and then we continued on our way.  I like running for that reason, you start out and you never know who or what you’ll see along the way!  Little surprises like that make running that much more fun for me.

Today we got snow and couldn’t make it out to the rail trail so we had to go with plan B and run on the treadmill.  Josh hated it and me, I’m getting used to it.  I can’t seem to get myself to be able to run more than about 35 minutes or so at one time, but some running is better than no running!  We also finally put a TV down in the basement so we’ve got some entertainment while we’re running in the same place!

I also found out this week that…

I WON RANDOM DRAW INTO THE NIKE WOMEN’S HALF MARATHON IN D.C. IN APRIL!!!!!!!!  I was so excited to get the email after work one day this week and find out that I got in!!  I don’t know how many people registered but they were only going to select 15000, AND I’M ONE OF THE 15000!!!!!!!!  So excited!  This is just what I’ll need after running in Houston in January to keep me going and excited throughout the rest of winter!

A lot of nice things happening lately, finishing school, a great job, the run streak, and finding out I was selected for another race!  What cool things do you have going on in your life?

Thanks for reading!!

November recap and December Goals

Sooooo November was a pretty good month if I may say so myself!  I decorated my house for christmas today and figured I should go ahead and review the month of November and post my December goals since I have to work the next 3 days AND finish up my last few assignments of the semester!  I set some goals for myself and I’ll just give you all an update as to how well I did at hitting my goals.

I did end up drinking much more water than I had before.  I at least drank one full bottle a day (yeah, I know, you’re like what?  that’s really not that much water!  For me, this is progress!)

I didn’t end up running 85 miles… bummer I know, I ran 82.  SO CLOSE!  If I had done a cool down run after the half marathon and a warm up and cool down mile each at the turkey trot then I would’ve been right on.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda, right?  I know, and I promise not making excuses, just stating the lovely, truthful facts.

I did finish the miles of smiles half marathon, so YAY on that one!

I did not do so hot on the cross training goal, and when I say I didn’t do so hot I mean I didn’t do it at. all.  No excuse for this other than the fact that I just totally didn’t do it. oopsy…

I did have a much more positive attitude about myself and my running this month!  I tried not to take myself too seriously and I also made it a point to have more fun while I ran and relaxed and enjoyed it.

With this post, I will have made 5 posts to my blog this month, talk about cutting it close!  I didn’t have a whole lot to write about until recently, but I’m glad that I can say that I did actually make the 5 posts.

Now for December! 

This month I’m probably going to have a few less goals than last month seeing as I didn’t quite accomplish all of the goals I made last month.

1. I want to run 90 miles this month.  I know, you’re totally yelling SAMANTHA, YOU DIDN’T EVEN RUN 85 LAST MONTH!  HOW IN THE HECK ARE YOU GONNA DO MORE THAN WHAT YOU DIDN’T DO?  The answer to your query:  Umm… I’m just gonna try to run more than I did this past month!  If you read my last post (If you didn’t then you had better scroll on down the page and read it), you know that I’m doing the Runner’s World Run Streak which will add about 3 more miles to my total weekly mileage.  It doesn’t sound like a lot, but not running 3 days outta the week really kinda kills mileage.  Okay, enough with this one. 

2. I will try to make 8 posts to my blog in December!  I’m cranking it up a notch!  I’ll have a break from school for most of this month which will totally free up my evenings and free time to write things on here!

3. I want to find a race to run this month!  I currently don’t have any races scheduled for the month, it’s kind of a slow month for races and I do enjoy a good race!  If anyone in the north central WV area knows of any races in December, holla at ya girl!

I think that’ll be it for this month, not a lot I know, but if I get all of these done I will be more than happy!  What are your goals for December?

I’M GOING STREAKING!

Sooooo Runner’s World started a holiday running streak yesterday that will last through New Year’s day!  To complete the streak, I have to run at least one mile everyday, which I’m hoping I can make myself do after working 12 hour shifts.  I feel like this is just what I need to motivate me through December and make me feel better after a long day of work.  I have been so used to running 5-6 days a week since January when I began running, and since starting my new job in October I have noticed that I feel more sluggish and just plain yucky on the days that I don’t run.

I’m hoping that by changing up my routine and running at least a mile everyday, I’ll bring some fun into my runs and by putting a new twist on my running routine.  I ran on Thanksgiving and this morning, so I am hereby pledging that I will continue to run at least one mile everyday until New Year’s day!  No, I won’t be streaking through the quad, just on the rail trail… and my treadmill…fully clothed.