finding yourself – Movin' it with Michelle

Gosh, it’s been such a busy week that I haven’t had time to sit down to unwind and write. Honestly, I’ve been battling writers block terribly this week, so rather than just babble I decided to give myself a few days and see if I could come up with something…

Well, it’s been almost a week and still, I got nothin’ really all that witty or wonderful to say.

LOL

I did however manage to ~~almost~~ keep up with my marathon training this week, and have successfully completed my 17 miler. I ran on Friday as its my weekend to pull supervisory duty at the hospital. I met up with a couple of my running friends, and had a blast catching up with both of them during our miles. Melissa stuck with us for 12 miles, and Janel stayed with me until 15.5 miles where she decided it best to call it at 16 so I took off to finish the last mile and a half alone. All in all, my run felt great despite having to stretch several times. My ITB just doesn’t want to loosen up, so I am being ginger with it as to prevent injury the best I can. I foam roll every night now, and ice my knee after long runs. I also did yoga once this week, and weight training twice.

Next weekend I’ll be doing my first half marathon/race of 2015 and I am really looking forward to it. It’s my PR race (2:01), and although I don’t plan on racing it as I’ll have another 5 miles to tack on after the race, I do look forward to running it for the 3rd year in a row. It’s literally almost in my back yard, and these trails and I have had many a memory made on them. They’ve listened to me when I didn’t want to listen to myself, and they’ve given me back my wings so to speak more times than I can count. If you remember, I did my 15 miler a few weeks ago on the very trails where this race will take place, and I learned a lot about myself that day.

I’m also looking forward to seeing Wendy from Taking the Long Way home (do you read her blog? If not, head over now!) at the finish line as she’ll be toeing the line of this race too, but is much faster than me so will finish before I do. Bonus for me, as it will be a huge welcome to see her smiling face at the finish line.

Lessons learned this week are:

-I’ve got more fuel in my tank than I realized. After my long run Friday, I honestly felt like I could’ve kept going for several more miles. YAY!

-People will support you, or they won’t. Does it matter? NO…as long as you believe in yourself. I need to remind myself of this far too often, so I’m saying it out loud.
-Respect the distance you are running, always. ‘Nuff said.

What’s your favorite distance to run? Do you repeat races you’ve previously ran?

Have a great week, y’all! Keep Movin’ Forward!!!

❤ Michelle

I haven’t blogged all week…yes, total blogger fail as my goal this year was to blog at least twice a week. But I found some inspiration on the trails tonight, and feel compelled to share it with you all…

I am 41 years old…or young, depending on how you look at it. My outward appearance shows the normal signs of aging, with crevices deepening under my eyes, and on my forehead. But my heart and soul, although wise with age, state otherwise…

Today I had an 8 mile long run planned, and I had to giggle at the fact I was a bit daunted by my last two long runs…last weekend was a 10 miler, which was plain HARD. Last year at this time I would say when someone asked me how far I was running that I was “only” going 8/10 miles, but after a winter in Chiberia and lack of running long, I have a new found respect for distance running.

That being said, I found out a lot about myself today during my 8 miler…

1. I love to run.
2. Running can be hard.
3. Waving and high fiving other runners is something I will always do…
4. Respect others on the trail as much as you respect your own space. We are all out there MOVING for a reason…
5. There comes a time during nearly every run (for me) that I forget I am running…and suddenly I am flying, dancing, and moving with the wind…the trails are simply my platform, and I find a joy in that moment of euphoria that compares to nearly nothing…
6. Sometimes, if not nearly always, you need to forget all the reasons you ‘can’t’ and push forward to all the reasons you CAN.
7. Take all the negative energy, lack of support, and naysayer CRAP, and use it as fuel to keep you moving forward.
8. Prove ’em wrong, always, and prove to yourself that fear is simply fuel for your success.
9. Run with your heart first, and your legs will follow suit.
10. Respect, Love, and Embrace every single distance.

Here are some photos seen from my run today…