oh my

Breathe.

Ok, boys may not want to read much of this. It's boring PMS stuff ;-)

It starts with some irritation, at the world, at myself, at my jeans at my complexion, at my salt cravings. It moves quickly to an ache in the back, a bloat in the front, a rabid need to move and be still, to sleep and to rest and then to yell, cry and hide.

Some alien has taken me over and I'm no longer _me_. I'm the _me_ I don't want to be.

Ok, back to breathe (and a coffee refill).

It's week three of my program and I'm still loving it. I missed one workout (last night's run - due to exhaustion (the life kind)) and don't forsee anymore missed workouts in the next little while. I ran 32km's Sunday (not part of the program) in gearing up for Vancouver's full marathon on May 3rd. As a BOPer it took 4.5 hours. It could have taken less time, (maybe half an hour less), had I not been running with other people. I headed out with the 4:30 marathon group and they started dropping like flies after 22km's. Taking walk breaks every two minutes and I couldn't stand it anymore so broke away from them for the last third. I felt myself getting stronger listening to some very poppy and self-indulgent music like Daft Punk, Pink, Kanye West and then some excellent Ani Difranco tunes.

I've been talking lots about whether or not I should do the full in Vancouver. My husband said I should just be quiet about it from now on. He has a point. I resolve to only waffle about it to him from now on (haha he's probably sooo sick of hearing about it). I have made up my mind though and here is my race plan and goals:

1. run (not race) the marathon in my head.

That means staying cool, staying zen, staying within my body and not with other's expecations or paces.

2. experience the pain and elation of the marathon.

Hopefully to record the experience for future reference.

3. stop veering off the plan already!

This is seriously a fault of mine. Adding races, adding workouts, switching stuff up and burning out too early. August 30th is close but not THAT close. There is a plan for me and I need to stick to it.

4. recover with good food, rest, ice and get snappy again.

I'm sure there are doubts I can do this. But I don't doubt myself in this one regard.

Ok. Now that I've talked about it it's on the shelf. Only to be talked about to my training partners, mentors, coaches; Naomi and Greg and the man in my life who hears it all over and over again, John.





I wish I had something more exciting for you. My days are mostly wake up train, work, mother, eat, sleep and repeat. I'm already running out of laundry and dishes time. Caleb reminded me this morning we hadn't shopped for fabric for his puppet project at school. I was procrastinating on filling out the application for Noah to attend his school and dashing about this morning trying to find a birth certificate. Nothing seems to come easy (is that my perception because of the PMS haze???) except one thing: The stress disappears when I swim, when I bike, when I run (well we'll take a sorta on the run). There is so much joy in the freedom of movement.

Happy Training Everyone :)