ALL HEART/no lungs--

yes, this one's all about me...and why running is the best medicine:

when you're mothering a toddler and an infant you need an outlet.  i've tried it the other way (no outlet style) and find that i am a better mom and better wife if i have "julee time". trey knows this, which is why most days he pushes me out the door... and i seriously come home a new person.

running is my time to think, time to reflect, time to pray, and sometimes just time to turn up the volume on my ipod and turn down the volume of everyday life, which has proven to be quite overwhelming at times... mostly because, when doing the same thing over and over and over in a day, you get so wrapped up in it and it becomes all-consuming. everything becomes a big deal because you forget that there's more to life than a blow-out diaper or a short or missed nap.  these things really shouldn't rock my boat, but they do... unless i run ;) 

so i've been back at it for one solid week. that's 22 whopping fresh miles under my belt.  i seem to thrive on improvement. there's nothing more motivating to me than to note the changes that takes place through training.  i'm always wow'd by what the body can do and it encourages me each day to push harder and faster just knowing that i am becoming a more "efficient system" and working toward paces that, currently, seem dreamy but in the end are possible! wow!

so, where i'm at currently: 
before this week i had run about 4 or 5 times total since may '11.  so this is what we call starting from scratch...i'm at the zero of my working toward hero plan.  i have 8 weeks of base training before i start my 16 week marathon training plan, which will end happily at the dallas marathon on december 6th! it is there that i plan to "pr" (sub 3:07) and in a perfect running world, accomplish a sub 3:00:00 finish. there, i've said it.  this is just the kind of accountability i need to take me to the next level ;) the two people that read my blog now know-- and will hopefully hold me to this little plan.
i've dreamed about the sub-3 marathon for quite a few years now (and set this little dream aside to accomplish my even bigger dream, the guinn-girls) so now it's time to get'er done.  as i've said before, i'm 30, i just entered my running prime (so they say?), and now it's go time.

so, as you may know, a mile is a great indicator of your current fitness level. so i've decided to time my mile once a week just to know where i'm at and to keep myself motivated by watching the times drop.  you can be a part of this great endeavor as i will attach my stop watch finishes to this post.

week one: 6:56.  hard to believe that one mile at this pace just about killed me...and in order to accomplish my sub 3 i need to do 26 miles at a 6:53 or so. there's a long road ahead but i LIVE for the challenge!!!

week 2: watch me drop watch me drop!! ;) is that negative splits i see? working my way into the five's...one week at a time.

week 3: this was a mental-gain...not so much physical since i ran this 4 days after the previous timed mile and had only run one other time between.  i just told myself that i had to beat the 6:35. started a little over-ambitiously...but still came out ahead! getting close to the sub 6!

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week 4: yikes! haven't been running as much. got in a 5 miler before my san antonio trip and one 6 miler while there...that's about all. going to hopefully run one more time and then do the time trial! just hoping for anything under 6:20! we shall see.

all heart/no lungs- that's how this little timed mile went down. trey went back to work -- LAME-- we miss him like crazy around here...and somewhere in the middle of that chaos finding time to run became a little harder. so, i only ran one time over the course of about 12 days. timed my mile though... as mentioned, all heart. but either way, watch me drop watch me drop!! time to step it up though and be consistent..SLOW AND STEADY DOES NOT WIN THE RACE!! ;)

see you next week. sub 6:13. that's all i'm asking for.

week 5: ran at high noon in 100 degree temps. not cool. but it's the only time i could get it in.  not a whole lot of running going on right now... trey and i are both busy preparing for the students to arrive. in the midst of all that we got evy sleep trained and joy potty trained. i'll take this 6:11!

real training starts august 19th!  this is when i am going to be SERIOUS!!  looking to be sub 6 in 2 or 3 weeks and looking forward to sprinting about town and hardly feeling winded. ;) 

#longroadahead

#inittoguinnit

working toward speedy-guinnzales status?

okay, this is my final pre-training time.  real training starts....today. i realize that i'm already two days late on starting the plan. the problem is, i got talked into signing up for this CROSSFIT competition that has left me unable to walk/run and lift anything heavier than evy for the past three days. feeling good today finally and planning to start running TONIGHT!!!

LET'S DO THIS. #SO READY!