"What doesn't kill you makes a fighter..."- Kelly Clarkson, What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)

UGH.

Yeah, I'm a little perturbed today.

So my calf strain healed and I got back to running today. The run went well. Only did 1.5 miles of running to make sure not to aggravate the strain if it wasn't totally healed. Well, after running some errands, and cleaning  much of the apartment (which I did in supportive shoes) I notice my left ankle is sore and stiff. And of course it is the achilles tendon that is sore and stiff. I'm praying that I didn't really hurt it and it is just being sore and a pain (literally).

It's always something isn't it?

That's about right...

I hate being overweight (as I have finally reached a BMI under obese, I can safely say I'm overweight. yay!). Being overweight makes everything harder. Most normal, healthy, semi-in-shape people can start training to run and if they have the right shoe they usually don't come across any injuries until they are going much farther than 2.5-3 miles. Or at least it feels that way! I want to run. I have to run. There are so many people saying I can't and I can not let them win. I will not sit by while they smile smugly knowing they were right all along.

Because they're not.

Who wouldn't want to be a unicorn?

Sure I might not keep my commitments, change my mind easily, and make crazy impromptu decisions, but this is one decision, one dream, I REFUSE to give up on. I have a huge race in November I WILL RUN. I need to learn how to run hills without pulling my muscles because this race is hill crazy! I'm just thankful that I have a great running store very close by with staff that have done marathons to get advice from. I'll wrap my legs up in whatever I need to as long as I can continue training and getting better without injury. I'm sure I'm not the only fat runner they've ever had.

Slow and strong, baby!

I'm trying, I'm concerned and I want to be better. That has to count for something, right?

My apologies as that was a bit of a rant [understatement of the year], but I really need to reassess and remember why I'm doing this. I'm doing it to stick to something for once in my life. And it will happen, it will just take a lot of time and work.

Time, time time.

The food front hasn't been good either this week. I had 2 failed recipes one right after the other this week. I'm hoping tonight's dinner goes well. It's basically a mexican inspired frittata, and I can cook eggs well so fingers crossed! I found a lot of good recipes online and next week is looking much more promising than this week.

This week has just been a knock down, drag out, Murphy's law kind of week. Definitely looking forward to my Friday beer tomorrow. Well, the "beer" will actually be cider. I have a new Woodchuck Cider to try, nom nom!

If only... :)

One day I'll look back at this time and (hopefully) be able to say this was my fork in the road, my turning point and I decided to keep going. I know there are a lot more forks in the road and injuries and setbacks, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

New Doctor Who: 23 days

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Mileage: running- 1.6, walking .6

"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."- Joshua J Marine

So this weekend we went to visit my husband's family. It was also the start of my outside training. And of course it was snowing.

Did I wuss out? Did the snow and laziness of a Saturday after 3.5 hours in the car get the better of me? 

HECK NO!

I got suited up with a few layers, borrowed some gloves and earmuffs, strapped on my new HRM and got out there! And the hills...oh the hills! I managed to suck it up and traverse the hills slowly while making sure I didn't fall on snow or ice. After going up and down hills the part of the road that was flat felt AMAZING. I ran about 2 miles but boy was I SLOW! I logged 15 minute miles. Ugh. But for my first time on hills, outside, in the snow, I'd say that was rather good. 

Courtesy of blog.saucony.com

Now the first 10 minutes of the run I wanted to turn around and go back. It was cold, my eyes were stinging and watering from the cold wind and my lungs didn't want to cooperate. After the 10 minute mark, I started getting a good pace and my body was warming up. The worst part was running into the wind, but I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. The last 5 minutes I couldn't feel anything below my belly button. I'm planning on getting real running tights this fall since my pants were victoria's secret skinny yoga pants that kept falling down. Oh I must have been a sight with my belly sticking out, ha ha! 

At least I did it.

Sadly, I pulled my calf muscle. I didn't feel it until the day after. I thought I was just sore, but when the pain persisted today and I couldn't bear weight on it without it buckling on me I knew I strained it. I was beyond angry this morning because today is beautiful and sunny, mild temperatures, and a perfect day to run outside. Grumble grumble. 

So today instead of running, I decided to do some weight training and focused on the upper body so as not to aggravate my leg any further. I could be angry with myself for not preventing this little injury, but instead I'm using this rest time to get back into weights and strength training. I hate strength training because it is so much harder than cardio, but the hard truth is that I need it. I need strong muscles to help prevent injuries. I need less body fat. Also, I would like to have some semblance of upper body strength. 

All in good time I suppose. 

On the food front I have nothing to share as of yet, but I do have a lot of new recipes to try out this week! Tonight's dinner are cheeseburgers with  baked sweet potato fries. I've been craving a burger but can't do fast food burgers anymore due to stomach issues and I didn't want to spend $14 on a burger in a restaurant. I'm super hungry today so I'm looking forward to getting it started shortly! 

Can anyone recommend a good scale? My scale has seen better days and is no longer giving me anywhere near accurate readouts. 

Now to rest for 10 minutes and on to dinner prep!

Countdown to new Doctor Who: 26 days

Courtesy of Doctor Who and the Tardis by Craig Hurle