“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.”- Lance Armstrong.

Well, I did it! I ran the furthest consecutive miles than I ever have in my whole life! On saturday I did my 14 mile training run. Note that my legs were still kind of recovering from last weekends red eye relay race.  

I started the run out strong with a pace of around an 8 minute mile, and by the end was running a 10 minute mile. Although I would have liked to have a little bit of a faster pace, I couldn’t be more proud of myself. So many times during the middle of that run I wanted to stop to walk..even if it was just for a minute. However, I kept pushing myself. Telling myself NOT to stop. I was my biggest cheerleader!! 

One of my favorite blog is written by this girl.. One time she posted about what she thinks about during a run. She said that when she is tired and wants to stop she keeps thinking about this quote.. . “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.”- Lance Armstrong. 

This quote not only made me run faster during my last race, but kept me going on Saturday. As much as I wanted to stop, I knew I would eventually make it to the end and the pain I was feeling would go away. I would walk away from this run being a stronger runner. 

Just as I thought by the end of my run I was on cloud nine. I accomplished something that I wasn’t sure that I could do..

 

Then I jumped into the lake to ice my legs .. 

 

And because I have no pictures from this past weekend (sorry i’m a bad blogger) AND because this is also suppose to be a blog about upcoming wedding, AND because I dislike when blogs don’t have pictures…I will leave you with a incredibly random picture of my amazing fiance and I the night we got engaged.

 

 

What keeps you going during your workouts?

run recaps and wedding dress shopping

Holy moly! When will I ever learn NOT to eat a meal before my runs?! I guess it was worth it though because I got to see some of my besties at dinner…

After dinner came a speedy/hilly run… I have not done speed work since before my injury. If I wasn’t running with someone else, I would have probably stopped and curled into a little ball on the side of the road. Also, my stomach was not happy with the salad I ate for dinner 30 minutes prior.. We started out with a one mile warm up then heated things up with a pretty quick pace. All together we did 3.25 run with a mile warm up and .25 mile cool down. I spent most of my run trying to keep up with this guy (my brother in law).  Don’t mind my amazing photography skills….

My legs were toasted afterwards and I spent some needed time with my foam roller.:)

Since I had plans to do some wedding dress shopping this afternoon, we planed another run for this morning (approximately 12 hours later).. My legs felt super tired but we were able to pull out 5 miles on a flat trail. Tomorrow is my last day before I go back home and we are going to do some of the trails that we will be running during the Red Eye Relay. I can’t even begin to explain how massive these hill are that we are going to run…I have to admit I am a little terrified!

Onward to the wedding dress update… I am terrible at making decisions and usually like both of my choices the same. Unfortunately, it has been no different with finding wedding dresses. I have loved everyone that I have tried on. I have finally narrowed it down to two of them. Since Aaron reads this blog I can’t really post any pictures so it will just have to remain a surprise…I will say that the one I am leaning towards is nothing that I would normally choose.. Typical right????

 

Did you have trouble picking out a wedding dress and what did it look like?!

 

Its FRIDAY!

Today I had the day off from work! I woke up super happy to face the day. Since I am going to be babysitting the whole weekend, I planned on doing my longer 6 mile run today. I originally planned on fitting in 6 before breakfast because I feel better running on an empty stomach. However, I waited a little too long and started to feel hunger pains in my stomach. It was then obvious that I HAD to make pancakes for myself and Aaron ..

Note: Remind me NEVER eat 2 huge pancakes before going on a hot long run…This did not feel good..

They were deliciously good! After fueling up, I got my running gear on and set off on my route. Today was my first day that I used my new Nike running hydration belt. It was HOT outside and I really needed to stay hydrated. It was perfect because it also has some pockets where I kept my cell phone, pepper spray and keys. I really didn’t notice it at all while I was running which was a major plus.

I was happy as a clam on my run thanking the Lord that I could finally run pain-free. I’ve avoided talking about my injury  on the blog because I wasn’t sure what was wrong, or how long it would take to fix.  When I first started feeling the pain it stressed me out to the max. Running means so much to me. It really helps me deal with stress and keeps me sane. I also knew that I wanted to run in the red-eye relay in July and figured that I wouldn’t be able to. After taking a long break from running and stretching on my own, I figured I was all healed and could start running again. However, the pain came back in full force. I finally went to see a chiropractor. He was confident that he knew what was wrong and could help me fix it. It turns out that I had an extremely tight Psoas. Weird word huh?! This is a common injury among runners. It is a muscle that runs down your stomach and connects to your hip flexor. Mine had knots up and down the muscle. It was forcing my hips to turn upwards and caused one of my legs to shorten. After a couple of weeks of deep massage in my stomach, and plenty of stretching I was seeing SO MUCH PROGRESS!!! I told my chiropractor that he saved my life and he laughed (and probably thought that I was crazy). However, I do think that this injury happened for a reason. It gave me a much-needed break from running that will help me to never take it for granted again. It also helped me to see how important it is to not over-train and listen to my body!

On my run I ran across a mamma duck and her babies. It made my heart cry a little

My adorable god-daughter sent me an amazing gift for mother’s day.

man oh man you can’t get a gift better than this! It made me miss her even more. All I want to do is hang out with her and spoil her with vegan treats .

                                                                                               Way to cute for words…

Her momma who is also my sister called me earlier this week with news on her rediscovered hobby.. RUNNING.  She was a cross-country star in high school and will probably be able to out run me in a couple of weeks. She is running in a 5k this June that includes wearing a chicken hat!! I must admit that  I am already looking up races for us to do this summer…

 

 

Ok back to sitting on the couch and resting my tired legs before babysitting tonight

Finally a post about my wedding

I’ve been a very bad blogger…I apologize for my lack of posts. In my defense I have been spending every moment that I am not at work reading the hunger games. I just finished the second book and now I am seriously debating whether I should drive an hour and a half to get the third book from my sister…

In other WEDDING news…

My amazing wedding planner sent me an e-mail informing me that it was time for our 12- month check in. It gave me a reality check that in one year and 4 days I will be marrying the love of my life!! I couldn’t be more excited! She also let me know what I should be planning for this month….

Church/ Reception Hall:

Double check.. We have both the church and reception hall set for June 1st. For the reception we decided to go with a bigger venue.  This place has everything that I wanted/ dreamed of for my perfect wedding. It’s a large room with a high ceiling and lots of windows. It has glittery lights that hang from above that will allow me to create my “mood lighting” .  It big enough to comfortably fit my guests, a band, bar, and dance floor (the most important thing).  It is connected to a hotel, which will allow guests to feel comfortable to stay and have a good time without the stress of finding a ride back to their room.

Collect pictures of Flowers, Cake design, Bridal Attire, Room Decor, etc :

Here are some of my pinterest ideas..

Wedding colors:

                              Source 

I like tall center pieces and candles.

Source 

I’ve loved peonies every since I was a little girl. I am really learning toward the all white bouquet.

Source 

I really want to try to have a vegan gluten free cake. I know some of you are gaging but I promise that I tasted one last week that was absolutely amazing…Even the non vegans agreed! If I could have it my way, I would like the cake to look a little something like this..

or this..

Source 

I want my bridesmaids to feel comfortable in their dresses. Therefore, I’ll have everyone in the same color but whatever style they choose. I’m debating whether to use one brand ( i know Jcrew has some cute ones) or to just have everyone choose their own from wherever.

Here is a picture from my sister-in law’s wedding. She used Jcrew..

I should also be looking for my dress this month! I’ve slightly been putting this off because I am TERRIBLE at making decisions and love absolutely every dress that I have tried on. Therefore I am going to make my sister and mom make the choice for me. I am also terrible at keeping secrets from Aaron. It will take everything I have to not show him the dress.

Have a happy Friday!!