This last week has pretty much sucked in the training (or doing anything for that matter) department. I just wasn’t feeling it or myself. Not that I was ill just had no motivation at all. I mean zip, zero, zilch……nothing.
I took Monday off after being hit in the head Sunday evening by a football. Still didn’t feel “right” so I felt better doing nothing. Well, Tuesday through Saturday came and went and I still didn’t do anything.
Today, I did something. I strapped on my Motoactv watch (which I REALLY need to tell y’all about cause it ROCKS – literally!), my running shoes, grabbed my water bottle and out I went. Figured this session wouldn’t be too bad cause I’ve had to “run” longer in previous sessions.
I was wrong.
It absolutely sucked.
Not sure if it was a week of nothing (I’m sure it didn’t help) or bad nutrition (well, maybe not enough of it actually) which played a bigger role. Now I truly understand when someone says they “pushed through it”. I must confess it wasn’t a far or long distance compared to those who do 1/2 and full marathons or the likes but it was tough for me. I know, I know you aren’t suppose to compare yourself to others (actually read something about that earlier today) but it’s hard not to sometimes.
I pushed and I finished and I didn’t stop when I wanted to. My back, arms, legs, and butt were telling me to stop but I didn’t. I told myself I could do it and I did.
So I’m proud of myself for that!
It still sucked
(I think that might be a record for the number of times I could write the word “sucked”)
I’m taking a quick side step from training talk (or lack there of) to spend a moment reflecting on an event that happened one year ago today.
Last year, tornadoes ripped through the southeast destroying land, houses, buildings and lives. Amongst the cities devastated was my beloved Tuscaloosa. No I’m not from T-town but I spent 5 of the best years there and do consider it home to a degree. It will always be a special place to me for many reasons and this tragedy hit home though I was far away in Texas.
Somehow during this horrendous event, the University was completely spared. What was not spared was a good portion of the town. A one mile wide tornado swept through upheaving everything in its path. Devastation I’ve never seen before.
Right afterwards, I (as well as 1000s of others) was mesmerized by tales, stories, pictures and videos posted all over the net showing mother nature’s calling card. I can’t even tell you how many tears were shed during this time. My heart went out to everyone affected and those who knew them.
I was indirectly affected not only by this tornado destroying my beloved town but a football player acquaintance during my time at Bama lost his daughter. She was one of the unfortunate souls, at the young age of 21. I can remember seeing her at football events years ago, she was all of 2 or 3 years old at the time. Even though I’m not a parent, I still can’t imagine the loss of a child and wouldn’t want that for anyone.
This song was written in memory of Loryn and the events of April 27. It is written and sung by Sean Rivers.
Emotions for days after this ran high. I felt useless. I wanted to help but didn’t know how. Well, I figured out a way to do a fundraiser – silicone wrist bands. On this wrist band were the words “Two Teams ~ One State”. The band was half red and half blue. Red for Alabama and blue for Auburn. This was done because of the efforts from many Auburn fans, students, employees, you name it that stepped up to help. We may be enemies on the field but in a crisis we are one.
Because others felt like me and wanted to help, I received donation after donation for the bands before they ever made it in my hands. I raised enough to put together about 40 bags of necessities – toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, conditioner, facial wipes, q-tips, lotion, anything I could think of you would need.
I also packed myself up and drove to Tuscaloosa, stopping at Sam’s Club & Walmart on the way to fill up my vehicle with additional supplies.
In Tuscaloosa I volunteered out in Northport, helping them organize the donations. It was AMAZING seeing all the stuff people were giving.
Taken from the Bo Bikes Bama Facebook page
It was difficult to look at the damage in and around Tuscaloosa. It’s what I imagined a war zone would look like.
It’s now one year later to the day. Tuscaloosa has come a long way but still has quite a way to go. We’ve had some positive things happen – Alabama Football won the National Championship as well as the Gymnastics team (back to back championships at that!!). It’s been a long road and still a journey left to travel.
I’ll never forget that day and the weeks that followed. I give my heart to those affected and those whom we’ve lost.
Forever in our hearts, forever in our thoughts.
Roll Tide.
P.S. I almost forgot and I’m glad I remembered – this was something I really wanted to add to this post (my memory is horrible these days). In light of the year anniversary of the tornadoes, Bo Jackson rode 300 miles through areas hit by the tornadoes. The bicycle he rode had all 252 names of the people who perished that horrible day(s). The last figure I saw on his Facebook page, he raised $389,000!! That is awesome!! The finale of the ride was in Tuscaloosa today.
As promised, I now have a donation page live with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation! This is so exciting! Anyway, you can go to this link if you’d like to make a flat donation – CLICK HERE!
If you’d rather donate per mile, please email me with the amount per mile. I’ll contact you in middle December with the total miles I completed participating in various events. My email is me@letstriagain.com.
Once everything was set up, I was trying to determine my goal. When reading what others have done, one common goal was based on the number of days a loved one was alive. I considered this but since this is a one woman event, I knew that goal was out of reach – at least to start with.
So instead I decided to do the number of days my grandmother was alive during my lifetime. With this, my goal was established - $6,313! This is pretty lofty but I will do my best to make it happen!
Please, email/forward/spread the love to all your friends and family (even the ones you don’t like!) in order for me to reach people I normally wouldn’t. Any and all help will be appreciated!
As you can tell from my previous two posts, I spent my weekend sitting in a continuing education course. Granted, it was a great course and I learned a lot – I still wanted to be anywhere else but there. The weather was GORGEOUS on Saturday with low humidity and temps which is very rare for the Houston area. This made my desire to be outside stronger.
Saturday I was supposed to swim but I REALLY wanted to be outside when I got home. So that’s what I did. Went for a jog/run and it felt really good. I think I’m getting a hang of this stuff!
Because of no swimming on Saturday, it was pushed to Sunday. Again I wanted to be outside so I figured out how to do it! I was gonna walk to a local park for some live music then return home to swim in the apartment pool. I was hoping with all my might this pool had warmed up.
Here are some pics I took walking to the park.
That boat ramp you can barely see (above) because of the sun is the starting point for my sprint tri on May 5 and also for Ironman Texas.
Beautiful walk to the park and as you can see, I wasn’t the only person there. I settled in with my blanket and my Tab so I could do some reading.
I was lying on my belly enjoying myself when I was suddenly NAILED on the head by a football.
SON OF A #@$%$#%!!!! I can’t tell you how much that hurt. Thankfully I had on my sunglasses cause I’m not gonna lie, tears welled up in my eyes.
A kid grabbed the ball and asked that I was ok, I said I was fine. I went about my business of reading and being nosey as to why a fire truck and ambulance had just arrived. After a few minutes, a little boy was carried by his dad (assuming) off with the firemen. Sad. Hopefully he’s ok.
Anyway, about 15 minutes later a man approaches me and asks if I’m ok cause he’s the one who threw the football. He apologizes (not very sincerely) and asks again if I’m ok. Really?? It takes you that long to apologize?? A grown man should have better sense. I decided I was done with park at this point, packed up and went home.
Needless to say I didn’t get my swim in. Just wasn’t feeling great which continued into Monday. Possible mild concussion but definitely not full-blown, no pounding headaches or throwing up (though nauseated til today).
I’m determined to get in the pool tonight (but conveniently procrastinating). Planning on checking the temp of the apartment pool shortly to determine whether I’ll stay here or go to the gym. Keep your fingers crossed and say many prayers that I swim tonight!
On a fun positive note – I found these amazing, scrumptious frozen bars at the store the other night!! Oh so good! If you find some, pick them up! Healthy, protein, yummy and cold – great combination!
