Ragnar Training....ack!!!!

Ok..... I set this crazy goal for myself to start off my Ragnar Relay training strong with a great first month.  Half way through the month of March was looking great... and even now I am looking at my log and I show running and eliptical combined total of nearly 80 miles.  My goal is 100.  Now I am at work for the weekend and I am just not sure that I am going to make it.  Not because I don't want to try, not because of an injury, but just because of time constraints.  Turns out that I do have to do more in this life of mine than run.  Urrgggg.   I am frustrated... but need to stay positive.  By the time I get through this weekend I will still have 3 days to get that 20 miles in... and who knows maybe I will get a run in tomorrow (Saturday too).  For now, I am stuck being frustrated, and trapped here at work.  The great news is that I had a wonderful night out with J and was honored to be part of her amazing gift this morning. She is surrounded by friends and prayers and I just know there will be another miracle in about 9 months!

I just don't see it....

Ok, here is the kind of random crap that goes through my mind while I am working out and have the gym to myself.  I continue to get compliments on my weight loss (no this is not me patting myself on the back)... but really the scale hasn't changed at all in about 6 months.  I know I have a few things that fit differently...so maybe the fat is just moving around.  Another random thought ... mid first random thought..... why are there mirrors EVERYWHERE in the gym?  Anyway, so I am trying to figure out what has changed.  This thought occurs to me while I am on the elliptical... then again walking by one of the dreaded mirrors.... then while lifting free weights.  Seriously, I just don't see it.  That is where the odd picture above comes in.  I was on one of those machines and working on my legs and I decide that maybe perhaps if I take a picture of my mid section that I could see my body for what everyone else sees.  The picture isn't horrific (I wouldn't post it if it was)  but I just don't see it.  So alas I am back at the scale hasn't changed in at least 6 months.... and I think everyone else is nuts too.

Other random thoughts while at the gym.... why does everyone leave the televisions on, and turned up so freakin' loud.  (yes, I am the gym mom that turns every thing off when I am alone there)  Why can't I decide where I want the fat to melt from?  Why am I not sleeping?  Why do I type a blog that no one else reads?  When will the street sweeper go by my house and whisk away the sand that is out there?  Must remember to drive slowly on the way home so as not to get pulled over again.  There were more, but I am tired now... off to dreamland for me.

Just say no to ....Jelly beans??

Last night at work I was sugar hungry.  I get that way sometimes.  I just have a craving for unnessary amounts of sugar.  So I purchased a bag of Starburst jelly beans on my Kwik Trip run.  It seems harmless enough... I even shared them with a couple of co-workers and one of the officers who stopped in. (This really is a short story that I am making very long.)  What I learned today is that jelly beans eaten between one and five in the morning do not make for a good run the following afternoon.  You would think that the sugar would get me moving.  I am here to tell you it does not.  My three mile run felt like I had a full case of jelly beans strapped to my butt.  It was not a great feeling...and I am quite positive it was not a pretty site.  Anyway, I survived a short run, lived to tell about it, and I was shocked but proud to admit that when I got to work today there were still jelly beans in my locker.  I had actually forgotten about them.  Hmmm.... sugar sounds good about now... and so the cycle begins again.

Seriously.... ME?!?

Ok....here is the background on this story. Back in January I went in for a one hour massage with Mandy...she is awesome. She also runs and we were talking about half marathons and marathons and she mentioned the Ragnar Relay. She said it was a lot of fun, and that I should do it if I could find 11 other people to run with me. I looked at it, but alas...I am but one person and that is all I did. Now, fast foreward about 2 months to a very energetic email that I received from Lisa (an old friend whom I am looking foreward to reconnecting with) about two weeks ago. Seriously? Me? Running Ragnar? Hmmmm....... The things that ran through my mind at the time... new year, new me, new life, hmmmm... never run Ragnar before....that is new. Hmmmm..... seriously, me? I'm in... both feet, I'm excited and nervous, but I am in. For anyone who stumbles face first upon my ramblings... here is the guts of what Ragnar really is. Twelve of your closest friends (they will be soon anyway), 195 miles of running, and 24 hours to run it relay style. We will be running from Winona MN to Minneapolis MN, zigzagging our way across the Mississippi river all the way up to Stillwater before winding back around to Minneapolis. Did I mention that this is running? Seriously, me? wow I must be nuts! Well, for the fun of it I decided to pick up where I had left off on this blog last summer sometime and actually blog about my training and the experiences that I have in the process. Let's go running!