Tiny Thunder Running

A little non traditional and a shorter version of Inspiration Thursday this week. I made this little poster-ish thing with some inspiration for my marathon training. The picture didn't come out the clearest and for some reason would not let me capture the entire poster, but you get the point. I will try to post the actual images of some of these in the upcoming weeks so that you can save them and maybe put them on your own inspirational poster for whatever purpose you need them to serve. I have always had a thing for quotes and scrapbooking so creating this project only felt natural. Now that I am almost at the halfway point in my training and definitely the hardest part, I know I will need these words more times than not. I will have hard days but I will push on because I know I can do it and I will do it. No matter what :) Happy Thursday!!

This was the first week I think I have actually stuck to the 3 weekly runs. In the beginning, I was running the same mileage, but in 2 days instead of 3. Mid- week runs are getting a little longer so I figured I'd better get in the routine of going on all 3 when possible. Basically, the week went like this.Tuesday- terrible 4 miles, Wednesday- awesome, hot as heck, 7 miles, Thursday- a really trying 4 miles that I refused to give up on even though my ankle was killing me at times. I don't understand how 4 miles is so hard sometimes. And then how 7 felt so great and freeing. Explain to me please? And then there was my 14 miler long run- and my longest ever at that!! For those of you following along, this makes 2 weekends in a row that I got to enjoy a rainy long run. Later on in training, I might complain about this, but for the time being, I am most definitely not. The humidity had been hanging around and even though the temps were lower, the humidity continued to make our

Sunday morning, when my alarm went off, I will admit I had a major "I don't wanna" moment. I was legit exhausted thanks to not being able to sleep two nights in a row and having a packed schedule the last two weeks. I really.. really.. didn't want to get out of bed. Thankfully I had made last minute (ish) plans Saturday evening to run with my coworker and friend Emily. She agreed to meet me at my house as soon as she could after her mom came to watch her little one around 7am. One of the first things I told her when she walked in the house was that I was SO glad we made these plans. She was right there with me. I had 9 miles on my training plan, she had 11. There was a route that I hadn't run in a while and it fit my 9 mile bill. The route is pretty hilly and has large chunks where there isn't much protection from the sun. Lucky for us- there was no sun, just overcast sky and rain! The temp was also right where it needed to be to make this a bearable run.

Oh my goodness you guys. I have so been wanting to do this giveaway for WEEKS now and never got my crap together enough to get it up here. I hope you will forgive me and I hope you will enter and tell all your friends!! What is  ENERGYbits  any way? In short it is an awesome natural fuel. A little been longer of an explaination, right from the source: " ENERGYbits® are tiny algae tabs so nutritionally dense, they eliminate fatigue and hunger instantly. Want a healthy, natural way to fuel your game or fire up your brain? ENERGYbits® are for you! NO caffeine, sugar, chemicals, gluten or soy, just pure, plant based nutrition, all for just ONE calorie per tab." In reality these beautiful green little guys are my heros. Is that a little extreme? Not really sorry!!  I actually tried these a little less than a year ago and have never looked back. I use them as fuel for running anything over 5 or so miles. I especially love my bits for long runs and they work like a charm

Yesterday afternoon I still didn't know exactly where I'd be running or whether or not I was running with anyone else. Then a fellow River Runner and coordinator for Girls on the Run, Kelly, messaged me and asked if I wanted to join up with her. I was pretty worried about slowing her down because she was quite a bit ahead of me last weekend! Worry was wasted as we were both pretty surprised with the pace we kept this morning. If I were to say I wasn't extremely happy with my efforts, it would be a lie. We met up at 7am (she was already 3.5 miles in) and headed on a lap around the island (the usual start out). From there we took the same path as last weekend- winding through the greenbelt and enjoying the views. Each mile that passed I was amazed that we were running sub-10 miles! It wasn't until mile 9 that I pushed over 10 minute miles which I will take as a major win. The fact that the overall was also sub-10 is also a major win. Not really entirely sure how thi

Yesterday I had 11 miles on the schedule which is the longest I have run since my half! It is kind of weird how excited I was to go this distance. On the schedule for the training team was 8 miles as their designated race is the Harrisburg Half scheduled September 7th (the day after my Bird in Hand half). And no, I am not running both! If I wasn't training for my first Marathon, I might have considered it but not this time. Anyway, we met at 6:30am on City Island (popular meeting spot), did introductions, then took off on our merry way. I was super excited that 2 ladies (Adrienne and Shawna)  I knew from the past were there and needed to take a slower pace. After my annoying ankle pain returning on Thursday, I wanted to take it slower but still get in my distance. It was nice to see these Adrienne and Shawna as its has been quite a long time since I got to run with either of them. Plus, it is always fun to share stories and catch up WHILE getting our sweat/run on. We toured a