Hooray for Fall!

Although it does feel like it was just the beginning of June yesterday, Summer didn't exactly FLY by for me this year. I had many hot runs and stayed extremely busy throughout the Summer months. Yesterday, as I sat out on a friends dock on the Intracoastal (I dog sat there this weekend), I soaked in the last little bit of Summer we have left. It was a gorgeous day. 

Guess that's how we got the name Carolina blue, huh? That's a BLUE sky if I've ever seen one!

I love Summer...but after my second one in the Carolina's with all the humidity, I am really looking forward to Fall. When the clock strikes 10:30pm tonight, we will officially be in the first day (or evening) of Fall 2014, yay! 

The reasons I love Fall are probably similar to what every other 20 something year old girl gets excited about...

• All Pumpkin EVERYTHING
• Crisp, cool mornings and evenings
• The sun setting before I do, ha (Okay maybe this one applies to 60 something year olds)
• Hoodies, running tights, boots and other fall clothes
• Fall colors! I love bright colors, but I'm ready for a change to the dark hues.
• Birthdays of some of my favorite people
• My brother and his girlfriend, Michelle visiting this weekend
• A trip to Seattle to celebrate his birthday and Thanksgiving with Michael and his family
• A trip to Omaha for Christmas with my family and for my Gram's 90th birthday!

Oh, and how about what I've been talking, blogging, living, breathing, sweating and training for all summer....

First up, October 19th- Myrtle Beach Mini (Half Marathon)

Then, November 15th I have half marathon number two at Ocean Isle Beach

Followed by the grand finale...my first full marathon- Kiawah Island December 13th, just 81 days away!

I haven't been super nervous for this race, until yesterday actually. I ran my furthest distance to date- 14 miles and it was no cake walk. With the weather finally starting to cool off I was expecting a strong run yesterday. That held true for about seven miles. I ran from my apartment to the beach and passed friends around mile 5.5 and was still able to yell to them as they flew by me on their mile 20! I went up a familiar trail at Summerrest Road and took a short walking break to enjoy a Gu at my halfway point.

 My next two miles took me back up the trail and starting to head back to my apartment. Right around mile nine, I was, as my dad likes to say, "a hurtin' unit!" It took everything I had just to pick my dang feet up off the pavement! I ended up resorting to a 90 second walk at the top of every mile from that point on and was able to finish my very slow, back half of seven miles for a total of 14.

Following my run, I first hobbled up the stairs (DEATH!) to fetch the Fitness Pups and walk them over to the dog park. There was no way I could actually walk them at this point so while they handled their business in the dog park, I sat and had a nice stretch. Then, it was time for the dreaded ice bath!

While the tub filled with water on the coldest setting, I wrapped myself in a hoody and prepared a recovery shake of two scoops Vanilla Juice Plus Complete, 2 cups of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and 1 frozen banana.

The first three or four minutes of an ice bath are absolutely treacherous. After that, I don't know what it is, but once my body is numb, I really actually enjoy ice baths! My stomach really wasn't ready for any food at this point, but because I know physiologically, we are most receptive to fuel within one hour post-workout, I downed my shake. It was like, deja vu of when I used to sit at the dinner table as a kid, long after the rest of my family was done eating and my mom would give me a five minute limit to finish my dinner. It was always some sort of meat hanging out on my plate that I thought maybe, just maybe, if I let it sit long enough that the Vegetarian gods would make it magically disappear. 

The rest of my day was spent with Marsha, reading and hanging out on their beautiful property until her parents returned from their trip. 

I enjoyed my favorite Kale salad from Costco with croutons as soon as my stomach was able to handle some actual food. 

As soon as Marsha got into this position, it immediately made me laugh. She's a pretty big dog, especially compared to my lil' 10 pound Grady. Whenever he gets in this position, I call him my Twinkie because that's exactly what he looks like!

Twinkie Marsha

Twinkie Grady

Adorable! Pups make me so happy. I hope you guys had a good weekend! 

What's on your agenda/race calendar for Fall?