The China trip is upon us

Excuse me, but I have nothing exciting to talk about except going to China.  It’s kept me really busy trying to get things together.  I’m trying to get everything together so we don’t have to buy much when we are there.  I’m looking forward to spending the time with Willie and just exploring the city of Beijing and maybe Shanghai.  I’ve allowed myself to get excited for the trip but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried about some things.

Studying up! #chinese #china #travel #mandarin #marathontraining
I’m super worried about the language barrier I’m going to experience. The first couple of days we’ll be with race people but after that, we’re on our own. Doing the Rosetta Stone experience and actually being in the country is going to be really different! That’s why Willie and I headed to the store to get a phrase book and we got a travel guide. I don’t intend to get that much use out of travel guide but the phrase book will get used a lot.

I’m nervous about the time difference. I don’t want to be dog tired so this weekend we’re going to start acclimating to the new time so we’re not completely thrown off when we get there. Immediately after getting there, we are going to do some tour group things so that’s going to keep us awake for a while. Our main goal is to be as tired as possible but sleep when the Chinese sleep. After all, we are running a marathon on Thursday, which will be your Wednesday!

Look what I've got. Runners handbook for #thegreatwallofchina #marathon! It's so close! #runchat #china #travel #training
The official runner’s handbook came out last week. I’ve read the thing over a couple of million times. I’m not sure if it’s nervousness or excitement. It’s probably a little bit of both. As we inch closer to the race, I’m getting optimistic about the experience. Last month, I thought I wasn’t going to finish it. This month, I feel like I can do it even though it’s going to be the hardest experience of my life. BUT I GET TO RUN ON HISTORY! This is going to be a life changing experience.

Thanks @rachaelrayshow and @expedia for our #tripofalifetime to #china. We just got our #gopro to capture #thegreatwallofchina #marathon!
So life changing that Willie has decided he wants to video the marathon! You know what I think about that? It’s going to be cool, but his arm is going to hurt. This is Willie’s first marathon and I really hope it’s not his last. Do I want him to marathon like me? No! But I would like him to do another marathon, one day! This marathon is an adventure race much different than a road race. It’s more on a ultra marathon level, but I’m ready. Are you excited to see the footage?

Bad day so I needed a lonely #run but an amazing day in American running! #runchat

Right now this is the only thing on my mind! My mind has already left on the plane, but I still have to continue life. I wonder though, should I change my watch from miles to km?

Happy Friday and a good workout!

Happy Friday and a good workout!

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope this week has been kind to you because it’s been a pretty good week for me.  I’m feeling a little off my game because there has been no running and definitely no running in my weekend plans.  It’s just kind of odd for me since it’s something I’ve been doing a lot of for the past 8 months.  I’m taking the self-imposed zero week because I really just think I needed it.  I’ve run 5 marathons and several half marathons this year already.  My medal rack is overloaded, but I wouldn’t have it any other…

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Race Recap: Irving Marathon

Race Recap: Irving Marathon

On Saturday, I ran my 5th marathon of the year!  On Friday, I didn’t want to run the marathon.  Saturday morning, I was a feeling a little better around running the marathon, but I still didn’t want to do it.  To be honest, I didn’t want to run another marathon until China. A half marathon would be fine, but no fulls.  Physically I’m capable of doing it, but there is a huge mental toll the marathon puts on you and I’ve just been too busy which left me mentally tired.  I sucked it up though because the race directors were…

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Race Recap: Love.Run.Marathon Trail Race

Race Recap: Love.Run.Marathon Trail Race

Willie and I are training for Great Wall of China Marathon (GWCM).  I’ve been trying to get some out of the box things for us to do because training for the race is not like any other race.  The Great Wall is old, broken and steep!  Willie has only run the roads and we definitely won’t be doing that in China!  It was important for us to at least get a trail race in our training sessions so we’ll be ready come May!  My answer to the questions was the Love.Run.Marathon in Huntsville! First off, this race for a a…

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The training for China conundrum

The training for China conundrum

I’ve have some running events coming up but my focus has been on China.  Everything until that point is just training.  I shouldn’t be pushing for PRs or making a certain time.  I’m more interested in getting us on our feet for longer periods of time.  I’ve tried to explain to Willie the physicality of what is happening is the least of the problems; it’s the mental aspect of what is going to happen. I don’t know what I want to run The Great Wall of China Marathon but I do!  I guess I want to do it because it’s…

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Looking forward to China

Looking forward to China

Remember when we were on The Rachael Ray Show and she gave us a trip to China? You  may have forgotten but we haven’t.  It’s an exciting thing for us that we’re totally not prepared for.  We should have been on this months ago and now I feel like we’re in a big cram session. There are only two things we have done to prepare for the trip: buy Rosetta Stone and get things squared away for The Great Wall of China Marathon (and I’m even behind on that stuff). With The Louisiana Marathon weekend closely approaching, it’s time for…

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Lost and broken

Lost and broken

I hate to do this to you but I’m going to have a “let’s get real” moment with you.  It’s just something I need to get off my chest because I really think it’s been weighing me down.  So here it is: When the St. Jude Marathon was canceled it broke me! I know I ran the miles, but in my mind it wasn’t good enough! I started training for that marathon in June and I did almost every single run on my training plan except for 5 runs and those were always short runs I bailed on.  I invested…

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Taper makes me think

Taper makes me think

Today I was on the phone with a friend and they asked, “What’s the good word?” The good word is taper.  For all those who don’t know, taper happens close to a race where you scale back your mileage so you can rest up and recover for the race.  Taper is a good and bad thing.  It’s good because I won’t be running mega miles on the weekend but it bad because I’m not focused on running the mega mileage on the weekend.  It leaves room to think about other things. The thing that’s been on my mind lately is…

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Fresh pasta and meatballs

Fresh pasta and meatballs

Yesterday I had a very brutal run. It was my last long run before the marathon and it wasn’t really a fun run. It was windy and I gave myself a mental beating throughout the run. I talked myself out of running the marathon twice over the those 16 miles. Willie was there to supply me water/Nuun/words of encouragement every three miles. It was a very hard run but I made it through. And when I finished I noticed I ran those miles faster than last weekend. I just can’t believe that I let myself get mess with my head…

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Stopping the bad talk

Stopping the bad talk

This weekend was a supposed to be a time for rest.  It was supposed to be a time to relax so we went to visit a cute little girl and her family.  There was lots of princess talk and it was fun.  The infamous godchild is a big of ball of cuteness and fun. I also had my first visit to Charming Charlie.  It is like a SPARKLY RAINBOW EXPLODED in the store.  My mind was on overdrive the entire time I was in there.  I couldn’t focus on just one thing.  It was hard for me to found something…

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Race Recap & marathon training has taken me to 18 …

Race Recap & marathon training has taken me to 18 miles

When I tell people I’m running a marathon, I get a couple of strange looks. To those who run and love to do it, it isn’t a far fetched idea, but to the people who never run can’t seem to understand. People who don’t run, don’t understand why we like to run. When I took on the marathon, I was even clueless about it. Marathon training takes up a lot of time. I run four times a week which isn’t really a big deal, but the length of the runs is what takes up the time. I wake up at…

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