Busy bee!

I've realized that I'm not a very good blogger. Good thing I've never wanted to start a blog about what's going on in my life because I'd probably only give updates every few weeks and that would be a really lame blog.

I have been SO busy lately ... it's like I finally bought a social life at the grocery store or something! Training is ... going. I'm finding it increasingly diffcult to manage my time and get my miles in. I wish I had been busier earlier in my training because the runs were so much shorter. We're steadily increasing miles now and it just takes so much more time. And my social calendar has exploded. I'm getting by though.

Last weekend, my Mom and I went to NY for the long weekend. My cousin Amanda and I went to run with her Team Challenge group on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I got there and felt really sick so we didn't end up running. Sometimes I just get really faint and dizzy and feel like I'm going to pass out. I haven't figured out what causes it, but I'm pretty sure it's not normal and it happens probably more often than it should. Regardless, I missed my 7 mile run and felt pretty down about it. It's hard to look at increasing mileage when you've missed out on training.

On Tuesday night, I made it to our group training run ... but late. Traffic is usually so bad getting out to Decatur, and if I don't leave work at the right moment I struggle to get there. Apparently the group had just left, so I was certain that I could catch up with them, so I set out by myself. Wrong answer ... they apparently did a different route than I did, so I ended up running the 4 miles by myself. It was getting pretty dark by the end, but it's a nice route that I took and it is a pretty well-populated area.

On Thursday night, there was a Team Challenge half-way there party for the season! It was at a hotel down in Midtown and it was so fun! It's so strange to see everyone actually dressed up in real clothes and wearing makeup! My friend Jennifer and I went together, and of course we got there late because of traffic. It was a good time though, and we learned some interesting "fun facts" about some of our teammates! :) Afterwards, we went out to Twisted Taco for dinner and drinks and it was nice to get out! Unfortunately, that also meant I got home really late and missed running on Thursday. Whoops!

My weekend was busy yet again .... I need a break! Friday night, I went with some colleagues from work to the Auditory Verbal Center gala. It was lots of fun and even more fun to put on a cute cocktail dress and high heels and spend a night out! I woke up super early on Saturday morning and drove to Charlotte .... for my favorite event .... the Nascar race! Of course, this meant that I missed yet another group training run, but I was determined to get my miles in anyways. I got to Charlotte around 10am, put on my running shoes, and set out to complete 8 miles through downtown Charlotte. I had mapped out my route in advance and was set to make 3 loops. It shouldn't have been that hard, but I sure couldn't follow my own directions and I got lost. No big surprise because sometimes I'm not the brightest crayon in the box. I ran through some questionable parts of Charlotte. I ran ... and ran ... and ran. Because once I was off my course I had no idea how far I was actually running. It was SO cold too ... like nose running, eyes burning, windy bitter cold. I ran for 2 hours and 15 minutes, and I'm pretty sure it was close to 8 miles by my calculations. I was absolutely exhausted, and cold, and tired, and slightly cranky. It's definitely a lot harder to run by yourself than it is with the group.

After my long run, we all headed out to Lowe's Motor Speedway, and tailgated for hours in the freezing cold. I'm pretty sure I negated any healthy benefit of running by drinking beer and eating Bojangles for an entire day. Maybe all the shivering I did over the course of the night evened some of it out! :)

This week is busy again, but at least this coming weekend I'll be in town so I can train with my team again. I miss seeing everyone! My fundraising deadline is approaching soon, but I'm getting so close to my goal! Make sure to check out my fundraising website and donate to the cause!