Juice

I know that I am delinquent in a Boston Marathon post (which was lifechanging and amazing and my favorite marathon EVER).

However, because this is my blog and my space and my time (wow, can you tell I am stressed out?), I am choosing to write about my decision to do a juice cleanse. I can think of a lot of reasons to say why I'm doing this - it's healthy, it rests your colon (??), it resets your body so that you crave only healthy food...but let's face it. The one and only reason why I am doing this is because in less than 3 months, over 150 sets of eyes will be on me and I will be paying a photographer thousands of dollars to take endless pictures of me.

SO now that we've all gotten over the fact that I am being shallow and silly, let's focus on the fact that I have already consumed 2 bottles of juice today and NO coffee.

I received a prep email that told me to cut out meat, alcohol, sugar, caffeine, etc to get ready for my cleanse. Of course, I received this email when I placed the order and not two days before the cleanse started. So while this was in the back of my mind, I chose to prep for my juice cleanse with a beer and 2 ice cream sandwiches. I figured that I wouldn't be eating a lot of calories for the next few days, so why not?

The juices arrived yesterday in a big cooler box. As I pulled them out and set them up in the fridge, I honestly sat there and thought, wow these just look delicious. This will be so fun. And then I ate an ice cream sandwich.

I woke up this morning and proudly skipped my coffee. I was all like, take that stimulants! I had a cup of hot water with lemon. Like an 98 year old grandma. I was really killing it for about 20 minutes, thinking about how I essentially don't need to eat because I am just a machine. Then I realized that the water with lemon was actually making me hungry. Like, craving a bowl of sugar cereal hungry.

But I persevered and packed up my juices for the day in a little cooler that the company had sent me and went off to work. I pulled out juice number one - a mix of celery, kale, spinach, green apple and...some other stuff. I was ready for my breakfast. I was hungry. I was pumped up. I am choosing health!

I was disappointed. Actually, I was gagging. Did I mention that I am not a fan of green juice? I guess a part of me assumed that when I paid $XXX (you don't even want to know) to do a juice cleanse, I would automatically start liking it. I thought maybe when I paid $XXX for juice, they would add unicorn powder to make it taste good. I just assumed that if millions of other people can do this, I could handle it without gagging.

So now I am on to juice #2 and am milking that as much as possible, since it is a fruit juice (mango pineapple coconut and they keep insisting that there is apple in this shit, but I am not tasting it) and #3 is another green one (shudder).

I'm determined to finish it (this juice or the cleanse? Not clear right now), but I'm not sure this is sustainable for someone like me. I'm already starting a list of foods that I want to eat when I'm done. Is this normal?

Intense Training

The Boston Marathon training plan that I've been following is pretty hard core. Yesterday I woke up at 5 to fit in 8 miles before work. I'm definitely not averse to getting up early to get a run in, but usually I don't do more than 5 miles when I need to be in the office before 9am. I was running in the dark yesterday, alternating between outside and the treadmill so that I could focus on speed, and I was thinking to myself, "why am I doing this?" So far in January I have run over 70 miles and it's only January 15!

This might be hard to believe but I usually don't run this much. I run for fun and so far, it's really worked for me. I still like running. I've completed 11 marathons, more than half of them under 4 hours, and qualified for Boston. Of course, I've had fantasies that I am perhaps a professional runner hiding underneath a normal person's body, and following training plans like this will ultimately lead me to marathon glory and world domination. But in reality, I think that following a training plan like this, running over 150 miles a month for 3.5 months, will probably just lead me to burn out.

But in response to my question of "Why am I doing this?" my brain immediately fired back at me: "because it's Boston." I'm not training for just any race. I'm going to run the Boston marathon and surely that merits trying a new training plan, budgeting for a massage every month, and getting up a little extra early every few days to fit in a 10 miler before work. However, I do think that I have to be careful to listen to my body and not get carried away. It's Boston but Boston is one piece of my life, one (very important) marathon in what will hopefully be hundreds of marathons throughout my life. Maybe if I tell myself in writing, it's ok to stretch and do some yoga on a day when you're supposed to run 10 miles, it will make it a little easier to do?

Ok better go run 10 miles now...

Here's to 2014

2013 was absolutely one of my best years yet, particularly, but not only, in running. I qualified for the Boston marathon and ran 3 marathons in under 4 hours. I completed a new race - the Richmond Marathon, and managed to stay injury free all year. I focused on stretching, massage, and nutrition and saw the benefits.

I also got engaged! My fiance has been to every marathon except one and has even starting doing 5k races with me. Now we just have to figure out how to incorporate running into our wedding...

So 2013 was a year of promises - a year of qualifying, engagements - a year of promises. 2014 will be the year that things HAPPEN. I will be running Boston on April 21 and getting married on September 12. That's only two days out of the whole year, but in the meantime, I'll be training and we'll be planning. My resolution for this year is to live in the moment, to live positively in the moment. I will try not to get bogged down by the insane training schedule that I'm following for Boston and I will try not to turn into a stressed out bridezilla during wedding planning. I want to try to enjoy every moment, to look at things without judgement, and to see how beautiful everything can be. This is a momentous year for me - I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I get to run the race of my dreams and I get to marry the man of my dreams.

September on the calendar that my mom made me for Christmas! It's the fiance and me at the Flying Pig Marathon!       

Confirmation: I'm going to Boston!

Boston Training:
December 30: 5 miles on the treadmill
December 31: 7+ miles - 4 miles outside, 3 miles at marathon pace on the treadmill (8:13 min miles)
January 1: am switching Thursday's workout for today and will do another 7-8 miles, some outside, and 5k on the treadmill at marathon pace