The Air Has Cleared

Finally! I am breathing much easier thanks to a snowstorm that came through Sunday and Monday. Of course that meant I had to shovel the driveway before heading to work on Monday, but oh well. It's been a while, and it's a great way to get the blood pumping early in the day.

It has been a crazy week, and I'm so glad I don't have to work tomorrow (booo-ring). But that doesn't mean it won't be crazy. It's the State Drill Team Competition (I'll be at UVU in Orem tomorrow if anyone's in the neighborhood, lol) to watch my sister compete. Luckily it doesn't start too early in the morning, since it's a 45 minute drive, but that just means it goes later into the evening. I was trying to get the Hubs to go snowboarding (so I wouldn't feel bad about him being home alone), but he's not sure if he can miss work. So he might be going on Saturday, which means he'll be home by himself tomorrow night, and I'll be all alone on Saturday. Who knows?

So I've been in a major running funk lately. I have serious post-race blahs. I've only been running once, and that was last Saturday with the South Davis Road Runners. It was raining and there were 7 of us. The guys took off together, and 3 of us girls ran together, and one lady ended up staying inside the rec center because her son was in a stroller (and she didn't have a cover). It was a bit of a tough run, partially because I hadn't run since my race the Saturday before, and partially because I was going at a pace that was a lot faster than I'm used to. I wanted to keep up with the other girls (ladies?), and I was good for the first couple of miles. But when we turned and started heading up hill, that pretty much did me in. I had to slow way down. I kept them in my line of sight for the most part, and at one point they turned around and ran back to where I was (which was really nice of them). However, they still ended up finishing several minutes before I did. I think the run was about 4.5 miles total. It was nice because it was a different route than I've ever run, and it was fun to have someone to talk to for the  first little bit (the one lady is in charge of the group, and the other girl was someone I hadn't met before, but both are really nice and fun).

Anyway, I sort of have no motivation right now. It's been really cold this week, but I really don't mind the cold. I think I've just felt exhausted lately. Our church schedule changed on Sunday, so I was even able to sleep in (which I haven't done in a long time), but I still feel tired. I really need to do better about drinking more water, so I know that's part of the problem. Plus, I've probably had a bit too much sugar lately, and I haven't been doing so well with my 5 fruits and veggies a day. I need to get back on track with that- I was doing so well, too. 

So today I really made an effort. I've already had seven 8-oz glasses of water (and the number of trips to the bathroom to prove it). Oh, another way I can tell I haven't had enough water is my lips get really, really chapped. They get chapped anyway, because of the climate here (cold dry air outside, and warm dry air inside), but they've been extra bad lately. Seriously, I should buy stock in Chapstick the way I go through it. As far as fruits and veggies, I had a banana with my oatmeal this morning (for the first time ever I actually sliced it and mixed it in- it was actually kind of good, especially with a bit of peanut butter mixed in, too). Then at lunch I had some baby carrots, a salad with cucumbers and half an orange (that was separate from the salad). For dinner I'm making some kind of chicken with broccoli and probably more salad, since it needs to be eaten before it goes brown. I also have leftover homemade garlic mashed red potatoes, but that's technically a starch, so I don't usually count it as a veggie.

Going back to the running, I really need to nail down my next race so that I'll have something to train for. That really helped me to get through December and the first half of January. I didn't want to blow my half-marathon, so I put in the training. But now that I don't have anything nailed down on the horizon, I'm slacking off. I am going to do a 5k on Valentine's Day, so maybe I should focus on trying to get faster in the next 2 weeks. The route is the same as the Thanksgiving 5k, so I can try for a course PR. I would really like to have a 5k under 30 minutes, so I guess I can work on that. I also want to another big race this year, but I'm having a hard time deciding. This whole trying to get pregnant thing is throwing me off, because I'm not sure what to plan for. Before I did my half-marathon, I was looking into the Ogden marathon, which is in May. The course looks really nice, and most of it is either flat or downhill. The half starts at the second half of the marathon course and goes around the reservoir, down the canyon and into downtown (only the last mile of the course is urban). The deadline before prices go up is January 31, and it's a $15 dollar difference before and after. So I would like to figure it out soon. I would have plenty of time to train for the marathon, but if I get pregnant, I'm just not sure how my body will react (it's not like I've been pregnant before, so I really have no idea, ha ha).

Another thing that's messing with my mind is the option to do the Salt Lake City half-marathon in April (it's the Saturday before the Boston Marathon). The prices for that went up on Jan 1, so that's not an issue (although it costs more than the Ogden race). And, my brother-in-law runs that race every year, so I would have someone to hang out with, and possibly run most of the race (since his finish times are just a tad bit slower than my recent finish time). Of course, I could also do both the SLC and Ogden half's, but that would be expensive (over $100) and it comes out of my own allowance money, not our joint budget, so it would be tight. Argh! I just can't decide what to do!! Oh yeah, and in the meantime, I have no idea how much to run. I could just run for enjoyment (now that's a concept), but I don't want to get too far behind in training for whichever race I decide to do.

So that's where I'm at right now. My weight has been pretty good lately- I'm back down around what I was before Thanksgiving, so that's good. The holiday gain is gone (although it was only about 5 pounds). Oh, and we finally had an electrician come out and do the wiring for the hot tub, so all we have to do now is clean it out and fill it up (which I was kind of hoping to do this weekend, but if the Hubs goes snowboarding on Saturday, we won't have time). Plus, I'd also like to get some kind of a barrier for the north side of the hot tub, so our neighbors don't watch us out their kitchen window. But I have no idea what would be a cheap, temporary fix until we can get some kind of gazebo or something when we have a bigger budget for it. Any suggestions would be welcome.

I hope you're all enjoying your week, and are ready for the Superbowl this Sunday (wahoo! for the big game, but boo-hoo for football season ending). I'm just happy that January is almost over, because in general it's a crappy month. And today is a nice, bright sunny day with clear skies so I can pretend that Spring is almost here (although it's barely above freezing outside).