I'm Half Impressed with Myself

One of my fitness goals was to become good/accomplish something impressive doing something I hated doing.  

I think the reason I thought this up was because I was in the prime of my Crossfit career and was getting good at the Endurance, Strength, and all the other challenges Crossfit presents. I was getting good at it because I was OBSESSED and I loved it.  And when you love doing something, chances are you will get good/better at it. 

So I thought it would be interesting to pick something I hated, and get good at it.  For me, that was running.  So I said, I want to run a series of races.  5k, 10k, 10 Miler, and a Half Marathon within a year. 

So I started training.  I planned out my runs, CF days, rest days, etc and I was doing really well.  It was hard, and I usually bitched before my run, but I did them.  I got all the way up to my 10 Miler and the very next day I found out I was pregnant.  I tried to continue my running, but sadly I was one race short of reaching my goal.  

Fast Forward to 1 year later.  

One COULD ARGUE that all I needed to do was complete a Half Marathon, but I decided to completely start over with my running goal.  So in 2013, I started planning out my training to ultimately get me to a Half.  

So after training started, I completed a 5k, 10k, and 10 Miler, with only one more race to run.  The Elusive Half Marathon.  Not just ANY Half, but the half I had signed up for 2 previous times and didn't bother to show up to.  

Now that I'm typing this, it makes a hell of a lot more sense to me why I was practically weeping when I crossed the Start Line this morning.  I trained, I showed up, and I was really going to complete this unfinished goal I had for myself today.  

No, I'm not Usually This Smiley at 5am

If you asked me how the first hour of running went, I would say, I blinked and it was over.  I kid you not.  And then things started to get a bit ugly. 

This Picture was Taken and then I Started Sucking at Running

So I loved the Philly Half Marathon Course, except after mile 8.  Just as you are starting to feel the burn of running for a while, Philly is like oh hey, here are like 4 hills in a row.  It just took so much out of me and by mile 10, I wanted to quit.

Not to mention, I'm pretty sure the Philly Half, is really the Philly Half Plus .40 miles.  (As per my RunKeeper app). 

I walked when I needed, and ran when I could and dammit I finished.  It took me a humble 2 hours, 19 minutes, and 16 seconds to finish and more than a year to complete my running goal.  

I couldn't have done any of it without my supporting friends (some that even sponsored me!) and of course my wonderful family.  

The Swamp of Sadness

I've been having an extremely challenging time with life lately and the best comparison I could come up with was the Swamp of Sadness from The Never Ending Story.  

For those of you unfamiliar with The Swamp of Sadness, its a horrible place that if you start to get consumed with sadness, you sink and die.  If you, despite the gloomy surroundings stay positive, you can cross with no problems.  

I am the White Horse:  

Oh hey Karen & Dennis, your car engine broke and Mazda won't cover it, please pay us $9,000

Ok. So shitty things happen in life and you deal with them best you can.  Dennis' car engine broke and Mazda refused to honor their warranty.  $9,000 isn't chump change, but totally manageable.  Welcome to the Swamp of Sadness.

and then...

Oh hey Karen & Dennis, the plumbing in your PA House is F'ed up, it needs to be fixed

  So this was a $1,000 fix, again totally manageable, but things are starting to get tight, and its really starting to get to me. I'm about halfway sunk into the swamp. 

and then... 

Actually, there is something REALLY wrong with the plumbing and we have to Dig up the Yard and Replace the Pipe

And after hearing the cost of THAT repair, I literally found myself neck deep in the Swamp, and it wasn't looking good.  I felt like giving up.  I felt like every coupon I clipped to save money was for nothing, because in less than 2 months, I was pushed so far back financially, it was beyond believable.  I couldn't be more upset about what was happening, and everything else that I had ever been sad about consumed my brain.  It was not good.  

The only thing left to do was to sit down and see what cuts we could make to afford our unexpected expenses.   

1.  Crossfit.  It PAINS me to even admit to this.  Normally this expense we would defend to anybody that would say it's too expensive.  I still stand my ground that it is worth the cost, but only if you can afford it.  Currently we cannot.  We've talked about supplementing a true membership to Crossfit with looking at the Main Site's WODs and make do with the equipment we have and/or see if we can get some things via Craigslist until our situation changes.  

2.  Daycare.  Chain Daycare Centers are beyond expensive.  It's sickening how much they cost and there are only two other alternatives.  A.  Stay Home (which is not an option for us) or B. Bring your child to a "Basement" Daycare.  And that is the option we are choosing.  Obviously we are doing all the proper research and making sure Shane will be safe.  

3.  Cable.  Unfortunately, we are locked into a 2 year commitment with VIOS so until that is over, we have downgraded ANYTHING that was possible to save $ per month. 

4.  Cell Phone.  Again, waiting for our 2 year contract to be up and then switching companies to a cheaper alternative.  

5.  Misc. Cuts that hopefully will make up the difference. 

So here I am, trimmed to the bone, and feeling completely sick about what cuts I've needed to make in order to get to zero, and then something really weird happened.  

Today, Sept 22nd, I was scheduled to run a 10 Mile Race.  With everything going on, I had been slacking in my training and just basically feeling sorry for myself.  In fact, I was SO close to just skipping the race all together.  

Then I thought about it more.  I said to myself, Karen, just run the first 5 miles and we'll consider it a win.  That will be my goal.  So, reluctantly, the family and I drove to start line and again, I was filled with disappointment   Less than 40 runners :(  It was so unmotivating.  UGH.

Fast Forward to mile 8.  Yes I said that right mile 8 was the mile I absolutely HAD to walk.  (I was so tired and the hill was mountainous ).  I was so excited/happy for myself.  The longest run I had trained with was 5 miles and I could barely do that.  I was on cloud 9, and when I crossed the finish line, I couldn't believe my eyes. 

01:43:30!

I was really happy.  For the first time in a long time, I felt happiness.  And now I'm starting to feel better about everything that has been happening to us.  Myself and family are healthy, we have a roof over our head, and we have the capability to make things work.  I hope this "happy" feeling lasts and with my new renewed attitude I hope that when upsetting things happen in the future, I don't take them so hard and personally.  

I've finally been lifted out of the Swamp and I hope I never ever get stuck in it again.  

There's No Place Like Home

I've been having an awesome series of weekends this summer and I wanted to talk about the last two specifically.  

Two weekends ago a few girlfriends and I decided to spend the weekend in Chicago, which is one of my favorite cities.  If you remember, Dennis and I went to Chicago for our "babymoon" aka the last time I could medically be on a plane and/or the last trip Dennis and I would take together as a 2 some, and we loved Chicago.  

During our babymoon, we were able to meet up with a few friends that we had made on various vacations, and specifically one that WE (yes I said we) inspired to join Crossfit.  Even though I was pregnant, and it was a billion degree's, our friend took us to her homebox (Windy City Crossfit) and we did a drop in.  

So when I booked my 2nd trip to Chicago, I immediately searched the affiliates page to see if there were any boxes near the hotel that would fit into my schedule.  

As luck would have it, I found myself about a mile from a new box, River North Crossfit.  I was stoked!  

So after a long day working, then traveling, and then drinking until the wee hours of the night, I walked my ass to the box to find this horrible, horrible WOD.  

And to top it off, it was a partner WOD, which I would need to be assigned since I was dropping in didn't know anybody.  I was swiftly paired up with another fellow dropper inner, a guy, and as luck would have it, was also a Crossfit Trainer.  NO PRESSURE!  

I already started to feel nervous about not performing as well as a guy, but a TRAINER guy none the less.  I immediately warned him of my sucky-ness and off we went.  As predicted, I was slower than Howard and he didn't give me near as much time to rest as I gave to him, thanks a lot!  We finished the WOD in 21 minutes and change, and I couldn't be happier with that!

But in all seriousness, he was super nice, gave me great pointers during the WOD and kept pushing me to do my best.  Thanks Howard!  

With the WOD done by 10am Saturday morning, I had the rest of the day and weekend to enjoy the lovely city of Chicago!

The OTHER weekend I wanted to specifically talk about is this past weekend. The Lehigh Valley for whatever reason, has more festivals than I could shake a stick at (that saying always cracks me up) and one of the bigger fest's is MUSIKFEST.  Basically its a festival with tents and food vendors and there are several different types of music that you can enjoy and there are some bigger acts too that require tickets.  

Well in any case, back in 2007 when Dennis and I just made it facebook official that we were dating, we went to Musikfest as one of our first dates, and it basically became a tradition for him and I to go.  This year was no different.  

So for the 18th weekend in a row, we packed our weekend bags and headed up to Allentown Friday after work.  

I, trying oh so hard to keep true to my running / training schedule thought it would be fun/nice to drop into my 2nd Home Box (610 you are/will always be #1) South Mountain Crossfit on Saturday morning to get in a WOD and to see some of my MUCH MISSED worker outers.  

I'm not gunna lie, it felt amazing to be back at SMCF.  The friendships and the sense of community there is to die for.  I got there and people were passing out T-shirts they got made for upcoming competitions they all signed up for, they were talking about BBQ's they were going to after today's WOD, and just being a bunch of awesome people.  They all welcomed Dennis, Shane and myself back with open arms and certainly stroked my ego by saying how amazing I look and how great I did on the WOD.  

I found myself being very sad of what I had left behind.  

I didn't want to waste my time being sad, so after KILLING that morning's WOD I spent my time chatting with all those that I have missed so dearly and it was just amazing.  I kept it together during my visit, but as Dennis, Shane and I pulled out of the parking lot, I lost it.  IT WAS SAD!  I didn't know how much I had been missing that part of my life until I set foot back into it for a short moment.  

I was able to pull myself together and enjoyed MUSIKFEST and especially enjoyed seeing KE$HA perform there!  I hope everybody else is having an equally amazing summer as I am and keep up the great work!     
                  

WOD:

1 Mile Run

4 Rounds:

8 HSPU

12 T2B

4 Rounds:

12 Stone to Shoulder

16 Lunges w/25lbs Weight