Training for a half marathon is quite an amazing experience. You learn to push your body to new limits. Once race day gets here, you get to put all your hard work to the test. However, recovering from the half marathon after-the-fact is not always a smooth ride. Now that you’ve ran the half marathon, it’s time listen to your body and do a few nice gestures for it. After my first half-marathon I began to incorporate these 5 tips for half marathon recovery and it has really made a difference.

Hydrate

If there is one very thing your body needs most after a half marathon, it is hydrating. Your body has lost so much important liquid that it’s important to hydrate it as much as possible. Water is always the best option for hydrating. During a half marathon, your sweat rates are increased, due to your fitness level, the weather conditions, and your running pace. Basically, drink up, but don’t over-do it in the water department. I also like to incorporate Nuun electrolyte tabs. The electrolytes help with hydration and the flavor is also nice when you are just done with drinking only water all day. Plus it’s great to alleviate muscle cramping.

Stretch Those Muscles

There is probably nothing you want more than to just sit down and relax after you run a half marathon. While your body needs rest, it needs to be able to stretch first. Your body has just finished an amazing accomplishment and now it’s time to take care of it. You’ll want to stretch as many body parts as you can. Remember to take it easy and stretch slowly and tenderly! You’ll most likely experience soreness in the days ahead, but stretching helps you keep your muscles loose.

Foam Roll Out the Pain

Another way to recover from a half marathon is by using foam roller. Foam rolling is basically a form of self-massage that aids in the recovery of your muscles and helps to reduce injuries in your body after a half marathon. If you’re experiencing pain, you can use the foam roller to apply pressure to those sore spots can help alleviate it.

Grab a Massage

Getting a massage is by far my personal favorite for recovering after a half marathon. My go to massage place is Massage Envy. They have been great in helping me recover from half marathons in the muscle department. In fact, massage is something I incorporate in my training as well to help with overall total body care.

I love the mission of Massage Envy and how they have a passion to help everyone live just a little better. Total body care is really important and Massage Envy understands that. I love that massage helps to keep me performing my best. The first time I got a massage for as part of my training it was a light bulb moment for me on how I can use it to help my body recover. It really was me taking a moment to check over my body and make sure everything was functioning well.

Keep Moving

Although it might seem counterproductive, it’s not. It’s important to keep moving and walk through the days after your race to help keep your muscles full of oxygen and keep you from getting too stiff. Movement also helps with DOMs delayed onset muscle soreness. I like to take a long easy walk the day after my run and then slowly incorporate running back in when I feel ready to do so.

I have found as I have used the above tips that my body recovers a whole lot faster.

Have you run a longer distance race before? What do you do for total body care to recover?

It’s been 7 days since I ran my first half marathon and I’ve been mulling over how to write my race recap since I crossed that finish line.  I could write out each mile like I did in my Goldilocks 10k race recap, but I feel like this race was so much more than a traditional race recap.

Running a half marathon is something I never ever EVER thought I’d do. I’ve hated running my whole life, and yet I’ve oddly been attracted to it at the same time. I’d watch friends and bloggers accomplish PRs, conquer races, and smash goals. They’ve made it look so effortless and preached about it’s life changing ability. I’d read their posts on blogs and social media with envy. I knew I couldn’t do that.

I think there comes a time in our lives when ‘I Can’t‘ starts to get really damn annoying. For me that was August of this past year. I was still stuck carrying around a lot of extra weight, and I was generally unhappy with my fitness routine. I have a horrible habit of starting something and not seeing it through, and I wanted to do something to put an end to all of that. I decided to run a half marathon. At this point I was running, but I couldn’t even run a full mile without stopping.

I found a half marathon training plan, and enlisted the help of a few really awesome friends to help support me and I started doing it.

I was horribly slow, and there were so many times I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it, but I didn’t quit.

Slowly I found myself actually looking forward to my training runs, and as the miles started to increase I was so proud to have run 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 miles at once.

In the final weeks of my 16 week training plan I got sick. First I had an infection that was followed by a horrible cold. I was knocked on my butt. I began to freak out that I was ruining all this training that I had done. I tried to push through it, but after two weeks of feeling like crap, I found out I had a sinus AND ear infection.  I missed my last long training run.

The week before the race I was finally feeling better and went out on a great 5 mile run. It felt so great. I was running, I wasn’t in pain, I wasn’t feeling sick. It was exactly the run I needed before the half marathon.  Except the next day I woke up to some intense pain in my hip. I wanted to scream. I was so frustrated. I barely made it through my 2 mile shake out run. I was nervous. I was scared to fail.

At the race expo picking up my packet and taking advantage of a photo op!

I’m not going to lie. I had some goals in mind going into the half marathon. I’m super competitive so just running is really hard for me to do. I wanted to finish in 2:45. My second goal was to finish in 3 hours. My final goal was just to finish.  After getting so sick and then dealing with some pain I decided I would try to just run this race for me. Not for the goals, but just to finish. I knew I wasn’t going to be fast. I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty, but I also knew I could do it.

Flat Emily ready to run! More on my gear and fuel in another post!

Race day was pretty amazing. I got to the Las Vegas strip at 1:30 and found there were shuttles to take us to the race rally. It was pretty cold for Las Vegas, and I even had to make a last minute run for some warmer gear that morning, so the idea of a warm shuttle bus was great.

We got to the race rally. I was amazed and overwhelmed to see how many people were there. 35,000 people were running the full and half marathon that day. Since it was the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll there were several couples that were going to get married during the race. What a cool concept!

I ate a banana and slowly sipped on my nuun water and made my way over to the main stage where Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis were headlining. They were really fun. I enjoyed hanging out and dancing until someone in front of me lit up a cigarette. (REALLY?) I decided to head over to the porta potty. I waited over an hour to get through the line, so I’m glad I did!

Potty Party! LOL! I say that to my kids all the time!

After that I decided to make my way over to the corrals. Except I was going the wrong direction for gear check. I’m so glad I asked when I did… Turns out they were closing gear check so I sprinted as fast I as I could about .25 miles and barely got my bag into the last truck. They didn’t make any announcements about gear check closing and A LOT of people missed it. I saw a lot of people running with their bags on the route and I said a silent thank you prayer that that wasn’t me.

I made my way to my corral (39) and the waiting game began. I think had it not been for a nice older man I would have been a mess of nerves, but he kept talking to me. He was from Vancouver and was here with his wife who was waiting for him to take his picture. He seemed a bit older than my parents maybe very late 60s or early 70s. He chatted with me about everything, and asked me which college I went to. I laughed and told him I’m a work at home mom with 2 kids, and he told me I looked way younger. He showed me this “really neat watch” he had. It was a garmin. He talked about his family and his previous races. He took my mind off the race. It was nice.

It took over an hour to get to the starting line, and by then I had to pee again. Soon we were off. Right away it became a race of duck and weave. People were walking from the get go, and not off to the side, but right in the middle. Or they’d run and then just stop. The miles were ticking off quickly and pretty soon we were in mile 3 and running down the middle of the Las Vegas strip. It was so cool to see people cheering from the bridges and the sidelines. I smiled and began to really enjoy it.

The first 6 miles were great. As I mentioned I had to go to the bathroom from the get go, but the porta potties all seemed to have huge lines as I passed. I finally decided at mile 6 to stop. Looking back, I wish I had waited longer.  Once I got back to running I seemed to have lost that rhythm I had to start. My pace started to slow. By mile 8 my hip started to really hurt. It felt like it had fingernails and was shredding the muscle every step. Mile 9 I was nearly in tears and gave into the game of walking chicken and walked. My head started to tell my body I couldn’t do this. I was feeling defeated. I had my PocketFuel nut butter, drank some water, stretched, re-tied my shoes. I tried to get my head back in the game, but I was so disappointed.

I sent out two text messages to my friends who I enlisted in the beginning of my training. One of them sent back:

“Hang in there, you are doing great. Remember a 15 minute mile is just as far as a 10 minute mile.”

She was right. I took a deep breath and looked up and saw the Las Vegas Stratosphere. I knew that I  was about 3 miles from the finish line. I decided to pick up the pace and start running again. I didn’t train to walk this race. I wasn’t going to break any records. I told myself to “RUN YOUR OWN RACE“.  After all, I’d never get to cross another “first half marathon” finish line again, and I wasn’t going to do it walking.

I’m pretty sure those last 3 miles were the slowest I’ve ever run. People were power walking with me, but I was in a rhythm and I knew if I stopped running it would be no different than me giving up on myself and I was done with ‘I can’t’ and I was done beating myself up.

I can’t believe I was smiling crossing the finish line in this picture. I was so close to giving into crying, which I thought I did as I crossed the finish line, but it must have been right afterwards.

That night as I crossed the finish line at a 3:30:09 I cried. I was so overcome by emotion. I became a runner right there on the Las Vegas strip. Sure, I wasn’t a fast runner, but I beat the mind games and let my body do what I trained to do. I ran my own race. 16 weeks prior I couldn’t run 1 mile without stopping. So while it was slower than some marathoner’s finishing times I was dang proud of my time. I decided that night to be done with being embarrassed about my slow pace. Time will come in time, but I’m done letting it make me feel like my accomplishments are anything less than what they are!

After all, I can only do better at my next half marathon.

My husband stayed up overseas until I crossed the finish line. He sent me a congratulatory text when he got the notice that I finished. (He’s deployed overseas and works 12 hour days so he had to go to bed.) The next day he called me and I told him about the race and then said “I can’t wait to do another one”. He responded “Really? Already?” I laughed at that one. It was like the pain of those dark 1.5 miles were gone and all that was left was thirteen point freaking one!

This was the back of my “It’s Vegas Baby!” shirt. I had a lot of people tap me to tell me they liked it. Thirteen Point Freaking One! It’s not something to ever be disappointed about.

I CAN do hard things, I am a runner, and now I am a half marathoner!

OMG! There are less than 60 days until I’m running my first half marathon on the Las Vegas strip. Compared to week 6 where I was struggling to find time to get my runs in my half marathon training for week 7 went great!

Actually, that’s not true. This week was exactly what I needed. I pushed through all my runs. I really let my body start to do it for me. I’m actually thinking this coming Saturday’s 7 miles might not kill me!

Week 7:

• Monday: Rest (Supposed to be Yoga & Strength… it didn’t happen.)
• Tuesday: 4.21 miles outside.
  It is still over 100 degrees here, and it’s not a walk in the park running in that heat, but it’s either that or run on the treadmill. I know understand why people call it the dreadmill…
  
• Wednesday: 2.5 miles + Strength to make up for Monday.
  Running was speed work intervals. This is a really fun workout run for me. I love the sprinting.
  
• Thursday: 4.23 miles outside.
  Not as hot as Tuesday, but I had to do it a bit later in the morning and that sun man… Is it Fall yet? I don’t think Las Vegas got the memo.
  
• Friday: Rest Day
• Saturday: Race Day! Red Rock 5k. 3.25 miles.
• Sunday: Yoga (Supposed to be cardio. I spent the day cleaning though – does that count? LOL!

Total Miles: 14.19
Total Planned Miles: 13.1 (Ironic at my half way mark right??!!)

Race Recap:

This was my first “real” 5k and it was a challenge. I thought for sure I’d be just fine until I watched a GoPro video of the course and realized there were WAY more hills than I’m used to. I was a bit nervous, but ready.

I decided that if I finished in under 45 minutes (which is how long it takes me to run pushing 55 extra lbs (25lb BOB plus my 30lb kid!), I’d be happy. I started running great. 5 minutes into the race I was running at an 11 minute mile pace which is fast for me. I think I got caught up in the crowd. Then I hit the first huge hill (like straight up the side of a hill) followed by a long incline. That slowed me down quickly. I felt like I might for a minute have bit off too much, but I just kept repeating to myself “Go your own pace, let your legs do what they know how to do.” I finished in 44.37 according to my bib chip. I forgot to stop my watch right away but that had me at 44:48 and my gps said the course was 3.25 miles. I didn’t stop. I didn’t give up, and I felt like I could have kept going.

Honestly, I felt pretty great after my race. I totally get why people love doing races and am already excited for my next race.  I’ve got 4 more weeks until my first 10k race – The Goldilocks 10k which I anticipate will also be pretty hilly and 7 more weeks until the 13.1!

This week I’ve got 18 Miles planned including my 7 miler this Saturday. Fingers crossed this will be another great week!

If you haven’t been following my blog, I signed up for my first half marathon on November 16, 2014. I’ve never been a runner. In fact, I’ve actually written a post on why I will never be a runner. However, time and time again I get this urge to try again. I’m so glad I did. This time around running (although I’m very slow) seems to be sticking with me. It’s my “me time”, and something I’ve challenged myself with.

One of the things that have really been helping me accomplish my miles are my CEP Compression socks. I have shin pain of unknown origin and it can get really really painful. I had heard that CEP Compression socks can be helpful, so I was excited when I was sent a pair for review. At first I was a bit nervous, for some reason I thought they were for ‘serious’ runners. I’m glad I learned that wasn’t true, because these socks have been very helpful in helping me get through my longer runs!

I don’t know if it’s the warmth or the compression itself, but running in my CEP compression socks have me feeling like I could eek out more miles. Plus wearing them after my runs has helped cut down on my post run pain. I feel like if I had discovered them a few years ago I wouldn’t have given up on running so many times.

I was actually able to talk with a CEP spokesperson about the benefits of compression socks and who should be using them and how/why they work.

How does the compression work?

Every muscle cell in the body needs energy in the form of oxygen. This is transported to the muscles via the blood. The better the blood flow in the body, the better the muscles are supplied with oxygen and nutrients. CEP compression socks apply consistent compression to the calf, allowing the arterial walls to relax and the flow of oxygen-rich blood to increase by up to 40%. More oxygen means more power during performance and a faster recovery. Graduated medical grade compression that is tighter at the ankle improves vein health by reducing the veins’ diameter and pushing de-oxygenated blood back to the heart. Even when an athlete is at rest, CEP compression socks increase blood circulation by up to 30%** shortening recovery time.

What sets CEP apart from other compression socks?

CEP uses the science behind medical compression to help maximize performance and recovery. The compression is tightest in the ankle and gradually decreases in pressure as it comes up the leg. This graduated compression profile promotes the return of venous blood through the circulatory system. We measure calf circumference to ensure proper compression and compression is lower in the calf to effectively target the arteries and allow proper blood flower to the heart. The socks are anatomically correct with left and right feet.

Do you have to be a serious runner? Who can benefit from compression?

You do not have to be a serious runner to wear CEP socks. All athletes can benefit from the compression. Compression socks can also help non-athletes to reduce pain and fatigue, reduce swelling of the foot, ankle and leg, and prevent spider or varicose veins.

Are there any times one shouldn’t work out with the CEP socks?

No. Athletes of all types are encouraged to wear CEP.

Common mistakes when using compression socks?

It is super important to make sure you aren’t stretching your socks up, or pulling them up your leg. This can cause the elongation of the sock which leads to the sock coming up over your knee.
Make sure you don’t fold, cuff or scrunch the top of the sock. This can cause a doubling of the compression in the doubled area.

Washing and care instructions are easy to follow. We recommend laundering after every use. The 6 month every day guarantee ensures your CEP compression will perform if you were to wear them every day, 6 months in a row.

**Published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning

Well, whatever CEP is doing, it’s working! I’ve already bought myself two more pairs.

Connect with CEP on Facebook and Twitter.

Giveaway:

CEP has generously offered to give a pair of their Run 2.0 CEP compression socks in winner’s choice of color/size to one lucky Our Knight Life reader! $60 Value!

Please use the below form to enter. Giveaway ends on 9/29 at 11:59pm and is open to US only.

I was sent a pair of CEP compression socks for review. All my thoughts and opinions are honest and my own. Affiliate links may be included.

 ** I’m hosting a Diet Bet that starts on 9/16! I’d love to have you join! Last time we had a combined weight loss of 721lbs and people won over $50! Join in at http://www.dietbetter.com/knightlife! $25 to play, 4 weeks to lose 4% of your body weight! I loved the support of the last group! JOIN HERE!**

How is it possible that I am already at the end of my 6th week of my half marathon training? That seems really crazy to me! Perhaps even more crazy is that I only have 10 weeks until the Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon! 10 WEEKS!!

This week was better than last. Since I’ve been awful about blogging (this deployment is kicking my butt! I simply can’t find time for everything!) I thought I’d recap my last 3 weeks really quickly.

Week 4

• Monday: Yoga
• Tuesday: 3.08 (slow) miles outside pushing D in the BOB
  
• Wednesday: 2.2 Miles – Sprint Work on the treadmill (I LOVED THIS WORKOUT!!)
• Thursday: Off Day
• Friday: 2.96 Miles on the treadmill. Was supposed to be 3.5 but I was racing the clock and the gym closing!
• Saturday: 2.5 Miles on the treadmill. Was supposed to be 5, I could barely eek out 2.5 due to extreme shin pain.
• Sunday: Rest/Ice Shin

Total Miles: 10.74
Total Miles Planned: 13.5

While I didn’t reach my goal I’m not sure I’ve ever run 10 miles in a week before so there is that!!

Week 5:

• Monday: Rest/Ice
• Tuesday: 3.5 miles outside pushing D in the BOB
  
• Wednesday: Unplanned Off… Life and the kids got in the way. I should have gotten on my elliptical, but I was upset and skipped it. Typing that makes me sound as silly as my kids were acting that day. No Excuses!
• Thursday: 3.4 HOT HOT HOT (106 degrees) miles run/walk outside with the BOB. This workout kicked my butt! It was my first run on this route and it has a pretty nice incline on 1/2 of the course, and the heat got to me. I walked way more than I wanted, but I got it done.
  
• Friday: Yoga/Strength Training (TODAY)
• Saturday:  5 miles! I did it! Officially the furthest I’ve ever run at one time!
• Sunday: Walk 2 miles (Done at a convention center and I’m pretty sure I did more than that!)

Total Miles: 13.9
Total Miles Scheduled: 16 No more missing my sprint day!! I would have done it on Friday, but I didn’t want to push my shin too much which is still pretty sore after Thursday’s run. That said I’m so proud of myself for finishing 5 miles on Saturday. I even felt like I could have possible gone a little bit more (which is good since next week I have 6 miles!)

Week 6

• Monday: Conference – This is walking 1 million square feet of expo space from 9am-4:30 pm. By the time I got home, the kids were wiped from being at safekey/daycare so we didn’t push it for the gym. I’m pretty sure I walked close to 3-4 miles each day.
• Tuesday: Conference
• Wednesday: Conference
• Thursday: OFF. I had planned 3.5 miles after K’s doctors appointment. However, we sat in traffic for 2 hours, and his appointment was 2.5 hours. Life!!
• Friday: 2.5 Miles
  
• Saturday: Planned 6 – Didn’t happen due to sick baby. 40 minutes on home elliptical instead.
• Sunday: Planned 6 – Had to cancel babysitter due to sick baby. 60 minutes on home elliptical instead.

Total Miles: 11.5-13.5 estimated (mostly walking not running as planned)
Total Miles Scheduled: 13 Life happens. I can’t control that. If my husband was home and not deployed I’d likely have been able to get my running miles in. But I can’t drag sick/tired kids to the gym. It’s not fair, and I’m okay with that. I will just do my best next week and hope that the extra weeks I was able to put into my training plan will balance this week out.

This week I have my first “real” 5k race on Saturday. I’ve done fun runs in the past, but this one is a memorial run and it’s in the Red Rock area in Vegas so I’m hoping it’s pretty!  I also have 10 miles planned in addition to that race. I am hoping for a pain free and issue free week.

Alright everyone! I’m trying something new. What’s New Wednesday is all the fun and sometimes not fun new things that is happening in Our Knight Life! Check out what’s new this week!

What’s New Wednesday:

New School!

The biggest and newest thing in our home is that I officially have a kindergartener! K started full-day kinder and after a slightly bumpy first day he seems to love it! I am so sad that he’s not home with me, and I had some pretty intense emotions over his first day. But I know he’s ready to go to school, and I’m looking forward to having some one on one time with Baby D. When he grows up he wants to be an “Airplane Police Officer”. This is the 3rd year in a row he’s wanted to be some type of police officer. There is nothing more I want for him than that his dreams and ambitions come true. That and to stay a little boy a little bit longer, but I don’t think I have to worry about that one!

(Doing his best Optimus Prime impression!)

New Hairdo!

Before my husband deployed this past week I was able to get into the salon and get a much needed highlight/low-light. I really needed this done. It had been MONTHS since I last got it done, so I had a pretty natural “ombre” look going on. I had my stylist add a lot of low-lights so as to help blend it all together and give me a look that is a lot less maintenance.

New Career?

Okay, not really, but never ever did I ever think that my blog could lead to me getting to do a TV news segment. I was lucky to be asked to showcase some fun back to school items! You can watch the video here, and enter the giveaway here! I think I got the bug! I’d love to do this again and again!

New Sport:

I love watching my boys do new things. My son has previously played t-ball, but his league was very unorganized so he didn’t really like it. I was surprised when he asked to play again. Turns out he’s too old now for t-ball and is in an actual little league now with coach pitch! Before practice I told him to try his best, and have fun. I explained there wouldn’t be a T and not to be upset if he didn’t hit the ball at first. Turns out I didn’t have to worry so much about that! He hit his first 3 pitches! He’s loving this league, and I’m obsessed with watching him have fun!

New Obsession!

You guys! I can’t stop eating this amazing Greek salad. It’s simple. It’s easy to make a lot of it. It’s easy to build a meal around it, and it tastes SO DANG GOOD! Such a simple combination of food and seasoning.

New Trails!

My half marathon training is going pretty good. A few bumps, a lot of “Am I doing this right?” and “Can I really do this?”. What I’m most excited for though is now that it’s starting to cool off a little bit, and K is in school full days, I’m able to run outside! It’s easier in some ways, and harder in others. My miles were certainly slower today than I was expecting, but with a view like this, does that really matter?

New Food!

I took K to get some frozen yogurt today, and I picked out some watermelon sorbet that I knew I could let D try. It was gluten free, soy free, dairy free, and didn’t seem to have any other glaring ingredients that I’d worry he’d react to, and while I never know what he will react to ever since food trials in April D hasn’t ingested any food. He puts stuff in his mouth and he smooshes it around and spits it out. Or he will accidentally get it to the back of his throat and he gags instead of swallowing. It wasn’t until 2 weeks ago that he even started to swallow water. So I didn’t think he’d want anything to do with it after a taste. I was wrong. He LOVED it. He tried it, scrunched his face up from the cold, opened his eyes wide from the flavor, and then swallowed and laughed. He asked and signed “please” and “more”. Even K was laughing at his reaction. So far no reactions, and this gives me real hope I may be able to try some other foods perhaps even purees again and get him to actually eat them. Everything else aside, isn’t it amazing to watch your child discover food for the first time?

What’s New With You?

I’m glad I gave myself a lot of leeway in the beginning meaning I’ve basically been repeating my week 1 for the first 3 weeks. For once I realized that until school started life was going to be a bit chaotic. My husband deployed again yesterday. So our morning started off rough with another goodbye.

I wasn’t really able to get a good picture… the sun was making my phone blur everything out, and I had to wake the boys up to say goodbye and they were both cranky. This picture is our tradition. It goes back 5 years. We take one at the beginning and the end of a deployment, so I took what I could get.  I wish I’d have been better about keeping all these pictures in one place to look back on. They are on Facebook somewhere, in some random albums, but we have them, and we take them, and it’s tradition.

I thought I had this deployment neatly and compactly packed up. I knew it was coming — they always do. I hadn’t cried prior to him leaving like I have in the past, but the moment he walked out the door it was like someone ripped my neatly packed deployment bag out of my hands. I wanted to sit on the couch. I wanted to sulk in the pain I was feeling inside.  My boys were so crabby, and already fighting with each other and it was only 8am.

I was supposed to run 2 miles or cross train on Wednesday. I wanted to skip it. I almost did. Until I ran across a thread on Facebook from Runners World. It simply said “Having a tough time pulling yourself out of bed to run early? (It’s okay, we all do!) What do you tell yourself to get you up and at ’em?”

There were several great answers (read them here), a few stuck out at me. Like this one…

Isn’t that the truth?

And then there was this video. (Sorry wordpress isn’t allowing me to embed this for some reason… it’s worth a click if you need a kick in the pants!)

Seriously, if that isn’t enough to get you motivated, I don’t know what would. I looked down at my boys and realized I owed them more than sitting on the couch and being sad. Yes, it’s okay to be sad, but sitting in the house all day wasn’t going to be good for anyone…

You know what happened?

I had a kick butt run. I’ve been run/walking most of my miles as I’m still a newbie runner. Today I said just go until you can’t, take a breath, and do it again. 2.2 miles later I ran the whole thing and I felt good about it. I finished off my workout with some strength training.

I was feeling good. I got into my car and the following series of songs came on the radio. I was listening to 80s music for the same reason I always do… it’s like cheap therapy!

“I got something to tell you. I got something to say. I’m gonna put this dream in motion. Never let nothing stand in my way. When the going gets tough. The tough get going” <— Cheap therapy.

I laughed. “Time” by Culture Club was next. I was still jamming out in the car. The kids thought I was pretty silly. Then Bruce Springsteen came on with “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and my son yelled from the back seat “Mom, why didn’t you just tell me they had a song about this?” I laughed again. We’ve been working on that with him, so I guess he agrees with me that music is a learning tool!  The rest of the day passed and it was okay.

Today I had 3 miles planned. I woke up feeling the weight of my husband being gone, and fought with our insurance to get our son’s formula covered (well their voice mail anyway…), then I tried once again to get his feeding therapy scheduled which they won’t do until someone cancels… we’ve been waiting for that cancellation for 5 weeks now. I was exhausted before I’d even taken off my pajamas.

Instead of focusing on that, I took a deep breath and moved on. I registered for 2 more races, the Red Rock 5k on Sept 20th, a race that is supposed to be beautiful and is dedicated to he memory of a high-school cross-country legend, Travis “T-Bolt” Boulton.

The second race is the Strip Poker 5k on January 31st.

Registration just opened so I got the early bird price and it sounds like a fun race. Basically you come dressed in 6 layers and your strip 5 of them to be donated to a local charity called Opportunity Village here in Las Vegas. You also collect cards along the race to use for a poker game at the finish line. Fun right?

So some days have to be go with the flow days… Thursday’s run get’s pushed to Friday, and that’s okay. I’ve already got my workout gear laid out and ready to go!

For the rest of the week I have 4 miles planned on Saturday (which will be my longest run yet) and cross training on Sunday.  Next week K starts Kindergarten and I think know I will be an emotional mess, but I will be able to get into a regular training schedule and hopefully get some additional outdoor runs in as well!

What motivates you to get out the door and get your workout on?