At least for the time being.

I was out trying to doing a 10 miler on Saturday and was just miserable. At mile 6 I asked myself why I was doing this and couldn’t come up with a good answer other than I had signed up for some long races so I was trying to train for them.

The truth is I have been dreading long runs for months.

I didn’t want to let my family down in March so I did the race and it wasn’t my best. For hours before it started I had a pit in my stomach and questioned what the heck I was doing.

Sure I am glad I got to see my family and had a great weekend with them but when it came to the race…

My heart just isn’t in it anymore.

But you know the best thing about this? I am an adult and can decide how I want to spend my time.

I don’t know what took me so long to figure this out. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders since coming to this realization.

I don’t know what this means for the marathon yet. Truthfully I wanted to run NYC so I could be 1 and done. I don’t know if I want to train for a marathon all over again.  I’ll figure it out as the summer draws closer.

For now, I am going to focus on the triathalon in July which I am super excited about.  I still enjoy short to mid distance running and have had a blast outside on the bike the past few weeks as the weather has warmed up. This weekend I’ll be hitting the pool as I work on my weakest tri sport – the swim!

(just ask my parents, I think I still have a bin of beauty products at their house and I haven’t lived there in years!)

I have been trying to get better about a consistent skincare regimen/routine and finally have one down so I thought I’d share the products that I’ve been using.

It helps working for a major beauty company,* usually a couple times a year they come around and give employees the latest and greatest product to try, which is how I came to start using one of these items:

mark act normal foaming cleanser

I go back and forth with this cleanser and another mark one, That’s Deep, which is a gel. I really like both – they do a good job of getting all my makeup off without drying my skin.

ANEW rejuvenate 24 hour 2-in-1 eye moisturizer

I feel so old using an eye cream! Ha! This is my second container of eye cream and my first time using this particular one (first was a freebie of ANEW Genics eye treatment they gave to us employees when it first came out, which I also liked but figured I’d try something new the next time). I like that it has a day cream with SPF and a night gel all in one container.

ANEW Clinical Pro-Line Eraser treatment

Oh my gosh this serum feels amazing on my face. I probably don’t *need* it yet but they gave all employees a freebie to try when it first came out last year and I fell in love. It is so smooth.

Solutions A.M. Total Radiance Lotion

And finally, after letting that serum sink in for a few minutes (I usually dry my hair or go feed the cats or something in the mean time) I use this lotion. Avon has re-vamped the Solutions line internationally and updated the packaging and expanded the line and I *wish* they would do this in the US. The product is good, yay SPF, but the packaging is looking way outdated!

*DISCLAIMER- I do work for Avon but all opinions are my own and I was not given any special compensation/recognition for this post.

Monday- 35 min elliptical; 10 min upper body strength training

Tuesday- 3 mile run (34:43)

Thursday- 3 mile hill repeats (34:25)

Friday- 30 min elliptical; 10 min upper body strength training; 7.1 mile bike ride (30:28)

It has been so gorgeous both of the last two Fridays I’ve been able to get out there on my bike after work! It felt so good!

Monday- 35 min elliptical

Tuesday- 5k run (34:45)

Wednesday- 6 x 400 run (3 miles; 32:05)

Friday- 30 min elliptical; 10 min upper body strength training

It had been about 2 weeks since I did any strength training and I could definitely tell this morning!

Whenever we tried to figure out the logistics of doing something smaller the list of people we wanted to include kept growing and in the end we realized we wanted to do something that would include all of our close family & friends!

Once we figured that out, finding a venue and date was relatively easy!

I am the type to make decisions rather quickly once I have my mind set on something so within a week of Mike seeing the place and liking it, we booked it!

Half Moon in Dobbs Ferry, NY on June 14, 2014.

It is RIGHT on the water with beautiful patios and a large, rather open interior. (keep your fingers crossed for good weather!)

It is funny, the first time I went there in summer 2011 I thought it would be a nice place for a wedding. Then my company had our holiday party there in 2011 and it went off smoothly and the food was delicious, there were probably 50-75 of us there for that. Finally Mike got to see the place last week when we went for dinner.

After we enjoyed ourselves at dinner I got back in touch with the event coordinator (she had sent me a bunch of info earlier in the year) and she invited us to come see the place set up for an event, so 2 days later we went back and it looked lovely. She gave us even more details and a blank contract to read over etc. After talking it over amongst ourselves and our families one last time we pulled the trigger!

I know June 2014 sounds like a long ways away but it will be here before we know it!

Tuesday- 60 min spin class

Wednesday- 60 min yoga class; 30 min walk

Thursday- 3 mile run (34:10); 0.30 mile warm up/cool down

Not too bad for the week of my first half marathon of 2013!

Mike and I came to New Bedford Friday afternoon and had a fun night downtown at a great beer/wings bar – Rose Alley Ale House. We then realized a friend recently moved to the area from Boston so we went to hang with him for a little bit.

Saturday morning I showed Mike around town and then my parent’s & brother came up and we got lunch at one of our old haunts – Freestones. Mike and I then headed out to Horseneck Beach for a 1.5 hour walk with my aunts & uncles and their dogs. We warmed up at my aunt’s house and also paid a visit to the barn/yard to see her 3 horses.

We all freshened up and then met for dinner at Riccardis for some Italian carb-0-loading! I actually got Veal Parmesan but it came with a side of spgaghetti/red sauce so I still got some carbs in. It was a nice dinner with 12 or so of us there to spend time catching up!

Sunday I woke up to 20 degree weather. Eeek! Luckily the race didn’t start until 11 but it never really got much over 30 and the wind was brutal. I grabbed a bagel, juice, and small yogurt from the hotel breakfast area. I shared the bagel and juice with Mike and wasn’t sure how the yogurt would do as a pre-race option but it worked out OK. My parents went to the BEST DONUT PLACE in town (Mike and I went the day before so I wasn’t too tempted) and got me an iced coffee so I had some of that as well. I may have also eaten about 1/3 of a malsada from another bakery they stopped at, which was delicious, but again, didn’t want to chance any more since the race was drawing close.

Around 10:15 we headed out to meet up with everyone else and eventually found each other and headed over to the start. I figured I may be a bit over dressed but figured I could shed layers if need be because we were going to have a bunch of spectators on the course to hand things to!

My dad got a good pic of us at the start – my uncles “I thought they said rum” shirt got a few chuckles throughout the race:

It took us about 2 1/2 minutes to cross the start and we were off!

I wasn’t sure how I would do in this race – I knew we’d finish but I was a bit worried about my feet and how they would hold up given my past two springs in a boot on one or the other.

We ran through an industrial area for the first two miles and my garmin finally decided it wanted to work just after the first mile. According to the clock our first mile was about 12:10. I knew at that point this was going to be a slow race, especially given the wind we were running into.

Mile 3 brought us to our biggest hill of the course – about 105 ft of climb lasting 0.4 miles. It was daunting but we made it up running the whole way. It evened out after that for the next 8 miles. I was getting hot by mile 2 so I ditched my gloves and ear band tucked them into my pants so I wouldn’t lose them, by mile 4 I was still too hot so it was time to take off my Lululemon Toasty Tech pullover. Now my bib (which had the timing chip) was attached to this pullover so with my uncle’s help we got it off and 90% of the way back on my shirt underneath without stopping to walk but that last safety pin gave me trouble so I had a quick walk break. Success!

At mile 5 we saw all of our family so I handed them all my extra gear (sorry it was all a sweaty mess!) and we continued on.

I realized I hadn’t seen gatorade at any of the water stops and that is when I realized there must not be any, which made me a little worried. I started taking my sport beans around mile 5 and was done with them at mile 8. At this time we passed some portopotties and I decided to duck in quickly (too much iced coffee!) and only lost about a minute, maybe less.

I’ve never felt this way during a race/long run but my stomach was actually grumbling like I was hungry. My uncle had an extra GU with him so I gladly accepted his offer to have it – the blackberry flavor. It did the trick.

We were along the water at this point and the wind was just relentless, we were all questioning whether we should have ditched our heavier gear a few miles earlier. I started losing steam around mile 10 and we took a lot of walking breaks the next few miles, especially the 2nd biggest hill at mile 12.

But with a 1/2 mile to go I picked it up and told myself in 6-7 minutes we’d be done.

I was hoping to come in around 2:50 at this point and saw the clock ticking to 2:54 when we turned the corner to the finish. I saved enough to be able to book it and pass a few people and cross right at 2:54 – less the 2:25 it took us to cross the start and our official finish time was 2:51:35 – take out the bathroom stop and I am right around my 2:50.

1st 9 miles were all at a 12:20-12:58 pace and the last 4 were 13:20-14:20.

It was a very difficult race but I am glad we did it and had a good time running/catching up with my uncles. I know they could have gone much faster so I appreciate that we all stuck together!

Monday- 35 min elliptical; 10 min upper body strength training

Wednesday- 5k run (35:45); 0.25 mile warm up/cool down

Thursday- 35 min elliptical

Friday- 3 mile run (35:00)

4 day weekend has begun; half marathon on Sunday!

Sunday- 60 min spin class

Tuesday- 9 mile run (1:46:15); 0.30 warm up/cool down

Wednesday- 20 min Bob Harper Pure Burn Super Strength DVD

Thursday- 3.15 mile run (35 min); 0.25 warm up/cool down

Friday- 45 min spin class; 15 min strength training

So glad I got my 9 miler in! It isn’t looking like I will get a double digit run in but hopefully a handful of 7-milers, an 8-miler, and 9-miler will be enough half marathon prep for me at this point!

I can’t wait until the weather is warmer so I run outside more – I keep being a wuss in the cold even though I have some good cold weather running gear. I have used it a few times just not on long runs.

Felt so bad for the spin instructor Friday, it was snowing and only 8 people showed up and then the music wouldn’t work so she improvised a pretty good class for us – all intervals. You could tell she was anxious though.

In all of the time I have loved Lululemon products, it has only been the last year that I have embraced the Cool Racerback.

I was always a little put off by them – I thought they were too basic and thought they wouldn’t be flattering on me.

Imagine my surprise when I finally tried one on and fell in love.

It is fitted without being too tight and stays down when working out – nothing is more annoying than your shirt riding up while running! I have worn them for running, spinning, and strength training and it works well for all of those activities.

It also happens to be one of the cheaper (relatively speaking) items they sell at $42,  so whenever they come out with a new pattern or color that I love, I always go see if they make it in the Cool Racerback first!