Well, the last two three weeks have been interesting. And yes, I started writing this post last week.

In regards to the events two weeks ago: A lot of things have happened. A lot of things have changed. But most importantly, a lot of things HAVE NOT changed. We are all still runners. Still doing what we love which means still running. It may even mean more to us now. #runforboston

Lately (probably about a few months now), and especially due to that week, I haven’t been as excitable and as energetic as I normally am. I’m usually a very happy, excited, fun loving person. I always pride myself on my uncanny ability to look at the bright side of everything.

In the recent months, that hasn’t been me. I’ve been grumpy and tired and emotional. My schedule has begun to wear on me: never catching up on sleep.

My birthday was uneventful/disappointing: most of my friends either ran away, blew me off, or didn’t even reply. (Although, I had a wonderful time catching up with Steph and Amanda and my Mom treated me to a wonderful dinner as well).

Work is not everything I hoped it would be: I thought getting a job at a gym would be a perfect situation for me to be in for when I’m finally a personal trainer; however I’ve gotten to see exactly how the personal training world is inside a big box gym. Not gonna happen…hopefully.

School is just getting tedious: I’ve already done 5 years of college, I’m ready to be done again.

Home life is not a safe haven: I feel like a burden.

And don’t even get me started on my more personal life.

The events two mondays ago did put things a little more in perspective for me. Running is was I love and it’s dependable. And I know that my future will definitely have to be involved with the running community; whether that means I become a professional running coach or maybe even a low-key sponsored runner, or even working for a race series, I HAVE to be involved with this community.

Then last Sunday happened. I returned to good ol’ Fort Collins. Home of my alma mater for my return to the Horsetooth Half. And I had a fantastic run. In my head, I ran with thoughts of the victims of Boston and for the Running for Angels virtual race. In the end, I was in such a good mood; maybe partly due to the runner’s high and the free beer, but my excitability had returned a little more! Stay tuned later this week for a post race recap!

Anyway, training is still going…not sure about how well. There’s only about 26 days left until my big race. And I’m nervous as fuck. Excuse the language. I wasn’t really nervous until last week. I got pretty sore and tight after my horsetooth half and have been taking it easy. One of the trainers at work keeps freaking me about about my flexibility – telling me not to finish training because I need to get more flexible or I will tear a muscle (what does he know, lol jk, although, NOT gonna happen). I also gotta stop listening to people!!! Some of my classmates are freaking me out becuase they think I should run close to, if not over, 26 miles before race day, even though a majority of plans out there stop you at 20 miles! AAAHHH!

Lets recap training for a sec before my brain explodes:

Training Week 12 – April 8th through April 14th

Monday: Rest day.

Tuesday: 5 miles due. 5 miles complete. I got super mad at my work and went to the competitors gym (24 hour Fitness) and ran a nice easy 5 miles on the dreadmill (it was a snow day). I was super distracted, my mind going crazy, so the miles just flew by, even for being on a treadmill. I followed up with a soak in the hot tub.

Wednesday: 8 miles due, 4 miles complete. We also did muscle fiber testing in school. No, we didn’t take biopsies of our muscles; but there is a way to figure out what types of muscle fibers your major groups of muscle are (i.e. endurance, strength or hypertrophy) through lifting.

Thursday: 5 miles due, 3 miles with fartleks on the treadmill.

Friday: My bday. It was supposed to be a rest day, but it was my bday, and I wanted to do things I loved. So I went for a casual 4 mile run. It was a beautiful day for it. Followed up by a massage and then this:

Yep, I finished by tattoo. : ) One of my best friends, Steph, hung out with me and then took me to dinner after the work was done. This project took 4 hours of needle work. I’m not sure how many of your have tattoos, but needless to say, I was in pain. I made it through the whole process, and then once it was finished almost passed out. BUT I didn’t – I was pretty close – and luckily Steph is a nurse 😉

Saturday: Sport Performance Enhancement Elective for school. We did a lot of running drills – sprinting – so I got a little bit of time on my feet. Followed up with dinner and drinks with my friend Amanda (who I’ve known since  we were 3 years old —- that makes our friends ship 23 years long now) at a new bar in town.

Sunday: MMM… not gonna lie, I didn’t do anything running wise. I didn’t feel like it. Instead, I slept in for the first time in a LOOOONG time and then went to Steph’s bridal shower. (This is the bridal shower for the wedding that I’m the maid of honor in, in May, in Maine). Then my mom took me to a delicious meal at The Green Briar in! Fancy Schmancy!

Total Miles Week 12: ~16 miles

Training Week 13 – April 15th – April 21st

Monday: Well, we all know what happened this day. I actually had run 2 miles on the treadmill on lunch while I flipped notes cards over to study for my test. It was when I hopped off that I checked my phone and learned of what happened.

Tuesday: #runforboston. 4.09 miles.

Wednesday: I didn’t feel like running. Not sure why. I was pretty grumpy at work so I did kickboxing so that I could punch and kick things. Exactly what I told my co-workers I was going to do: punch and kick things.

Thursday: 5 due or something like that but two got accomplished.

Friday: I was going to make up some lost miles, but man did I feel tight and sore. With my co-work freaking me out at work about tearing muscles, I spent an hour foam rolling and stretching.

Saturday:  3.1 miles. I accomplished some chores around the house while I waited for my cat do be done at the vet (I had to get her sedated and shaved, poor kitty, because she was really matted). Then, I last minute decided to do the Rave Run here in Denver! One of my co-workers had volunteered and got me a free entry. I didn’t get a tshirt but I did get a bib (so I didn’t have to be a race bandit) and some fun glow-y stuff! It was actually quite

fun. It started at 8:30pm, when the sun was fully down, and everyone had lights with glowing glasses, gloves, bracelets, etc. There were lights, lasers and fun blow up glow-y things along the whole course. Not sure if I’d do it again but glad I did it. Maybe I’ll write up an official review.

Sunday: HORSETOOTH HALF! (13.1 miles) And the day I got my running excitement back.

Total mile for Week 13: ~24 miles

Training Week 14: April 22nd – April 28th

Monday: SO SORE! REST!

Tuesday: Still pretty sore and tight. I chose to rest most of the day. Did have to workout at school.

Wednesday: Easing back into it. I ran 1.26 miles at school for a cardio assessment.

Thursday: 4.5 miles at work. Felt alright. Just slow.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Day two of the Sport Performance elective I am taking. Did a lot of agility drills.

Sunday: 19.5 miles. Dear god was I painful after. The run wasn’t that great either. I made sure to foam roll before, because I’ve still been very tight especially my hamstrings and hips. I made it out, half way, just fine. Not too much to report. I brought along my new fuel belt that my mom got me for my bday. I filled the bottles (I got the two bottled one), one with water and one with a Nuun electrolyte tab. I stocked it with a granola bar and a stinger energy gel. When I was about 9 miles into the run, my Strava running app quit on me. I knew I needed to go a little bit further to make it halfway and turn around. I tried Mapmyrun and that wouldn’t work and finally runtastic saved the day. At the halfway point, I decided to give the energy gel a try.

GROSS. I had the strawberry stinger energy gel. And it tasted like strawberry flavored hooka. I’m not sure if any of you used to smoke hooka (yes, back when I was in college, I did that a lot), but that’s exactly what it tasted like, and is NOT something I wasnted to ingest!!!! AT ALL. I literally almost puked at the smell and taste. I’m hoping the other flavors are better. I wasn’t able to finish it, so I ate a few bites of my granola bar, which I had brought just in case, because I know I can eat that on runs. I am trying/testing different energy gels so I know what I want to bring for my marathon.

Even though I had only finished half of it, it still gave me a little bit of energy. But then my legs started to cramp. At mile 11, I was in a lot of pain and had to walk on and off. It was awful. It also didn’t help that it one of the first HOT days of the year…up in the 70’s. I had finished my water by mile 13 or 14, still having 6 more to go. None of the water fountains at any of the parks were working either! Finally, I passed a family that was sitting by a fountain, asked them if it was on, and they said no but offered me one of their bottles of water! I probably thanked them 5 times more than an appropriate amount. I was so thankful for that water. I trotted, off and on, the remaining two miles. My calfs were hurting and my hamstring were hurting. It was ridiculous. Like verge of tears. They were just tight, and I think the verge of tears was mostly due to frustration. But I made it the rest of the way home.

I stopped at the gas station and picked up a gatorade, chocolate mile (what!? It’s actually one of the best recovery drinks!) and a bag of ice.

Ice? Yep….I finally had my first ice bath. If that doesn’t make me one of the toughest people in the world, than I don’t know what does. I also may have uttered a FEW profanities. I had never done an ice bath before (other than at the Tough Mudder a couple years ago, but that wasn’t directly by choice). I followed this piece of advice from Runlikealady. Although, I found that I COULD NOT keep my toes in. It was decently tolerable if I left my toes out.

Total miles for week 14: ~25.25

Some fun, new info for you all:

I officially registered for the race I will be doing in Maine. This is the same week that I’m out there for that wedding and also the weekend before my marathon. (I”m only a doing 15k, so it’s just in line with tapering). I will be doing the Sugarloaf 15k.

I also registered for the Dino Half Marathon in Vernal, Utah. This weekend! I know, I’m pretty random. But it’s only a 5 hour drive, and it was perfect timing with training, and I could use the mini-two day vaca.

ALSO, I’m officially doing the Tough Mudder again this year!!! This is my most exciting info for you all! I’m really excited for it! I’ll probably get my ass kicked, but it’ll be fun! A very special friend registered me, and I’m really excited about this event! June 16th!

Since it’s been awhile since I’ve had a post, I’ve been behind on reading my emails. A handful of the people I follow were actually at the boston. There are also a lot of other bloggers that have a better way with words than I do. If you’re interested, the following are links to my fellow bloggers’ boston posts:

Boston Participants (there was a handful more, I just didn’t save the emails):

Lavender Running (Parking) – The Boston Post, One Week Later

The Boring Runner – Boston Marathon Bombs-My Thoughts 

Others’ Thoughts:

Run Nerds Rock! – Running Miles for Boston

TRexRunner – Boston.

Dan’s Marathon– On the 2013 Boston Marathon