Running in Kansas 2012

Running in Kansas, while on vacation, would be easy because of the flat landscape. Right? I was wrong.  The roads surrounding my parent's place are dirt roads and uneven.  I manage to find hard surfaces somewhere in the middle of the road but I had to keep tracking it down and moving across the road like I'd been drinking!  I gave up powering through the dirt and sandy areas.
I saw a doe my first morning, crossing the road and headed into a pasture. The weather was around 92 degrees both of the mornings I ran with a little hot humid wind. Unlike California, if it was hot during the day in Kansas, it would be hot at night then into the morning.
I did 4 miles one morning and only completed 3 miles the second time because I had suffered a severe back sprain. Silly, but I thought I would run the pain out of my back. Hahaha wrong again!
My parent's place is amazing, beautiful, and peaceful.  Although soft dirt roads aren't ideal for me to run on, the views make up for it.

Just Push Play

Week upon week of steady quality runs & cross training, I come home today with a schedule day of P90x Core Synergistics.  Instead, I sit down with a bag of tortilla chips and salsa.  At this point, I figured I earned it, right? I have a zillion excuses of why I needed to feast on these chips and blow off my workout: stressful day at work, wild fire near by, & I need a break.  It lasted about 5 minutes. I put the away the food and reached for some juice to help with my craving.
I realized it wasn't about the chips & salsa, it was about missing a work out.  I have less than 15 weeks left until my first marathon. Over the weekend I was preaching to my husband about how important it stay focus on my workouts (yes, I believe he was listening to me), so I can finish this 26.2 mile run. Reading tons of blogs and talking to post marathon runners, proper productive training is the key to success. I do a lot a hills now and make hill workouts as part of my short runs too. Since my back owie, strength training has pushed everything else out of my mind.  It definitely keeps me occupied during those miles.

So as Tony Horton says, "just push play & do you best"!

Two of my favorite cross & strength training videos.