Taper Time?

Ok, if I've learned nothing over the past year, it's that training is a must. Let me tell you, I am a HORRIBLE trainer when it comes to being prepared for these big races. I didn't train at ALL for the Army Ten Miler in October and I paid for it greatly but reinjuring myself and putting myself out of running commission for much longer than I probably should have. I let this injury overtake me mentally and didn't start training for GSC until the new year. Yeah, shoving 4 months of training into 7 weeks isn't really enjoyable either, but it's a much better option than not training at all!

I'm not going to lie, I'm thrilled that it's taper time. Some people hate taper, because they don't like to limit their running. Me though, I'm looking forward to getting my life back. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get down there and rock the GSC like I know that I can and will, but I'm also glad that I will be able to rededicate the hours I've put into running into something else. I'm sure that my professors would appreciate me putting those hours into my text books, and future Erika would prefer that they be put into wedding plans. And I know that Kevin is undoubtly looking forward to having a conversation that doesn't revolve around how sore I am, how my runs yet, or what my running costumes look like this year. 

Oy, I am SORE. I took my 5M fairly easy yesterday, because I knew I needed to get in a strong 10 today. But yeah, I've never run 15 miles in one weekend before. And I've never done it while fighting off cold cooties- usually the second I get the sniffles my training disappears and I curl up into a ball of useless misery. Not this year though, not 2 weeks out from completing the biggest races of my life. Not two weeks before I prove to myself and everyone around me that I am a runner and an athlete. I mean, don't all runners and athletes look like this?

I don't feel like an athlete right now. I'm bundled up on the couch with my compression socks in front of a fire that my love has so graciously built for me. And I know that tomorrow I will probably feel even worse. But by Tuesday, I'll have that same itch that everyone else gets during taper and I'll be dying to lace up. Just hoping that my muscles agree with me!

The Year of the Happy Endings

Welcome to my year of happy endings!

Why should anyone bother to read this? I'm just another almost 28 year old living out my dreams on the East Coast, right? Maybe. But anyone that bothers to get to know me will quickly realize that I'm not just another 20 something living in the big city, trying to make a name for myself.

I'm a school social worker with a passion for working with kids with disabilities.

I'm working on my PhD in Social Work part time, on top of working full time.

I'm planning my wedding, set to take place in just 129 days!

And on top of trying to balance all of the above, I'm chasing my Glass Slipper dream of racing in Disney for the 3rd time next month. Yeah, add training for that on to my normal schedule and you can just guess how prepared I might be for that one.

I thought I would try blogging for a number of reasons. Mostly, I need an outlet for all of the crazy thoughts in my head that my fiancee, family and friends are tired of hearing about on a regular basis, and what better audience than the internet! If my stories and antics are helpful to anyone else, even just by putting a smile on their face, than it makes every moment worth writing down. And I promise you, my life will provide plenty of laughable moments, and my kiddos at work will fill in the blanks when I'm having a relatively normal week.

Secondly though, I am literally spending the next year running toward my goals, including the one of getting married and starting this new phase of my life, which will hopefully one day include a family (that I can take to Disney as much as I want!). My first goal of 2014 though is to complete the GSC. And to be honest, I wasn't too positive about it until a couple of weeks ago. It took just a couple of days of work spent stalking Facebook and the Princess Half FB groups to get me completely motivated to get moving again. I joined a gym. I bought my first SparkleSkirt (that should have been enough right there, those things are AWESOME). I started planning my costumes. And I went back and found the blogs of the women who had run before me and motivated me to get through my training for my first Princess and first half LAST year at this time. And I started to realize something: those women, who I thought of as wonder women and my half marathon heros, are just normal women like me, talking about their experiences and sharing them with others.

Well, blow me over. I can do that too!

So here I am. I hope to encourage other first timers and other princesses to get out there and move, just like others have encouraged me. I've realized that it's never too late to start- I can say I didn't officially start training for GSC until January 3rd (my first run in 2 1/2 months) and 2 weeks later I'm ready and can't wait to get to Disney to hurdle my next challenge.

GSC will just be the first- followed quickly by trying to balance wedding planning and multivariate statistics for the next 4 months and keeping my sanity through Memorial Day weekend wedding craziness. Heaven knows how I'll be handling married life come May 25th when things REALLY get real. But I do know that I'm going to attack each hurdle like this first one- running with a purpose and a goal in mind. And hopefully at least someone reading this will be along for the ride!