Time is Love

Today, I made a vow.

I vowed to start blogging again.

Ya'll have heard all the excuses before, so I'm just gonna skip it and jump back to where we left offf.....

So quick recap of the last few month since my Kansas Half Marathon recap:

-Finished three more half marathons since then: Running with the Cows, Kansas City Corporate Challenge, and Hospital Hill

-Bailed AGAIN out of a triathlon

-Tried to jumble a training schedule, and work and school and well everything

-Failed to blog

-Gained some weight

-Paid off some debt

-Ate some good food, mostly candy

Thaaaaat's about it.....why do I blog again?  I am relatively uneventful, yet somehow I can always find a way to fill the page with words.  I'm mouthy like that I guess.

I have been thinking about doing a reformat, reorganizing and just generally redoing the blog.  Like new name and everything, but while the creative juices flow we shall stick to The Bosky Blog, a punny blog that no one fully understands.

 

Anyway, on to the important things.  I am not registered for any more races this year, well long ones that will require extensive training or maintenance.  Which really excites me because now, I feel like I can focus on different goals. Like getting to my goal weight, building some muskles, getting faster and giving my knee a chance to heal.  So next year when I go to attempt six half marathons in five months, I won't feel totally terrible about myself and lack of progress.

 

There's such a thing as tangible progress and intangible progress.  Quite honestly, if I have made any progress in the last year it's completely intangible, and I am unable to recognize it.  Ya'll might think I am too hard on myself, but the second I give myself a break I get stagnant and placid....and end up with a year of zip, oh like last year!

I need to focus, and werk.  It's like wicked hard to start, but I got out there today in 100 degree heat and hit the trail with my pooch.  We hit the hills, did some strength training moves and worked up a decent sweat.  The best feeling in the world right now is just being able to get out there, with no pressure.  I can relax and get the benefit of my run without stressing myself out about pace and my upcoming PR goal.

 

Goliath likes it too, because he doesn't feel so bad when he wants to stop and smell the pheromones.

What I ate today: Coffee with half and half and sugar, 1 cup of hot and sour soup, chicken and broccoli over white rice, slice of supreme pizza

How I worked out today: 3 mile sweat fest with Goliath

This Post Brought to You By: "Time is Love" Josh Turner

Gotta Keep Your Chin Up

Alright, so I have prolonged this post long enough.

Want to know why I did do the triathlon on Sunday?  Ok I will tell you.

WHY I DIDN'T RACE MY FIRST TRIATHLON ON SUNDAY, JUNE 12TH

1. I gave myself less than a month to train.  I know I most likely would have been fine, and would have finished but I am really sick of half-assing my races.  I also really hate, MEGALOATHE when people hear about running a marathon or a half marathon, and sign up a month before and think they can be ready.  It cheapens the months and months of training everyone else did.  I have too much respect for my triathlete counterparts to do that.  I am not naive to think that this would have been easy.  Training for a triathlon is hard work, it takes months of dedication and conditioning.  For me to just to show up, after a few weeks of mediocre training would have been an insult to those valiant souls who spent countless hours sweating on a bike, on the trail and in a pool/lake. 
2. I could not find a bike.  Silly excuse, but it turned out to be a pretty big obstacle for me.  I have never had a bicycle of my own since I was like seven years old.  At the age of seven, I fell of my brother's bicycle and left it on the sidewalk in front of my home to get a band aid.  Ten minutes later it was stolen.  I never had a bike since, I borrowed people's to get from here to there.  When, I lived in Honduras in 2005, I rode a bike for the first time in years but since my stay there I hadn't really been on a bike.  Being as busy as I am, I had a very small window of opportunity to track down a decent bike to ride during the race.  I found myself the Thursday before, frantically asking people and visiting bike shops for rentals.  Frankly, the bike shops were pretty snobby to me seeing as I had no idea what size I needed, I hadn't been on a bike since 2005 and I was asking to rent a 3k bike.  The rental would have been nearly $100 and honestly, my clumsy behind does not need to responsible for three thousand dollars of bicycle. 
3. I was scared.  Usually fear is something that I can handle, I get a little nervous about every race-not so much anymore-but there's always a twinge.  This though, this was something new.  This was something I knew NOTHING about.  I didn't even know how it would work. I have only seen pictures of triathlons.  I had so many strange questions, and doubts. It was overwhelming for me to show up completely under trained and not knowing what to expect.
4. I had no Open Water swimming experience.  NONE.  I had heard sooo many stories about people having anxiety attacks  in OW, and I could just feel that happening to me with all my already built up anxiety.
5. I am a chicken.

So that is why I bloggged and blogged about my pending triathlon, and why it did not happen.  Feel free to berate me, I think I deserve it.



Disappointment Dog



Why is it that EVERY TIME I go to type the word "triathlon" I always type "triathlong"?! Annoying, but probably something subliminal.

Sometimes There Will Be Rain

Sometimes there will be freezing rain. Sometimes there will be debilitating pain. Sometimes there will be weekends that must be dedicated to weddings. So sometimes there will be days where you can not run. It is only when sometimes becomes most times that things start getting difficult. Most times means you start losing endurance, and it becomes a nasty little cycle. You miss a day or two, and you know you are losing endurance and fitness. Knowing that the next time you get out there it's going to be hell, just makes you less likely to get out there.

All day today, I avoided running. Yeah, Julia AVOIDED running. I kept telling myself that I would go to the gym and run on the TREADMILL. What? Apparently, I was setting myself up. When I came home after Goliath slept all day it was clear, he needed a run too. He circled me, jumped up, licked my face and was just unusually excited. We both knew we needed to run, so click went the leash and boom went the ipod.

Do you ever just have a run where you aren't feeling it? Like you feel like your form is off, and you're just hurting and feel goofy? I didn't feel like a runner today. We ran two miles out, and walked the split back. I just wasn't feeling it today. Maybe it's because I was running in the evening when 99.95% of the time I run before noon, or maybe it's because my diet is so out of whack. Whatever it is, all that matters is that I got out there. Goliath was literally running in circles when we walked into a grassy field. He was galloping so quickly that he was tripping over his hind legs. Yeah, work that out in your head for a second... This went on for a few minutes until he found a stick.

Today's Challenge Question: What discourages you from running the most? How do you overcome it?

Challenge rules HERE

Today's Mileage: 2.26 run/ 2.01 walking
Time: 19:53 / untimed