dean winchester and I talk about the dopey challenge

*Caution:  I just discovered Supernatural gifs… my life is a little more complete and I am not ashamed to admit this.  Just be prepared, okay?  I’ll start to wean myself off in the near future!

Is it just me, or has there been a huge increase in seat belt commercials?  Who isn’t wearing their seat belt these  days?  I don’t get it.  It’s like that joke about why do we need toilet paper commercials – who doesn’t use this?!

The last few days the Dopey Challenge has been on my mind a lot.  The images range from crossing the finish line of the marathon/last race triumphantly, to recovering in some Pro Compression socks by the pool to an all out melt down around mile 8 of the marathon while cursing the day I signed up for this ridiculous feat.

Hmmm… it’s still months away.  I’m already nervous.  I’m completely screwed.  I realized last night as I was laying in bed I will probably have a freak out each month leading up until the middle of December when it will be happening more often.  I’ve read over a few things about Dopey and some people think it will be tougher than running a 50 mile race because it’s stretched over four days.  So my legs will tighten up and then be expected to move again the next day.  Interesting.

BUT, all of this warped anxiety has had the whole, “MUST TRAIN” effect.  This is a positive.  This was also how I felt about tackling my first half marathon.  I still don’t understand it but I was more nervous for my half marathon than I was for the full.  Maybe because it was my first real long distance race.  Who knows.  I did stick with a training plan for that and ran a nice 2:04, which remains my half PR to this day.  Without even meaning to, I did speed training (with my running mates), long runs and tempo runs.  My training plan for Dopey includes all of this along with some cross training.

I do feel building this foundation is a good set up for training.  Get this, said training plan starts in the middle of June.  This feels absolutely crazy to me but I am also anxious to start.  I want to be on the road with this puppy.  I am thinking this will help calm my nerves when I am actually working on it.  Or I’ll simply be more neurotic than normal!

And some new running gear came in the mail today!  Wahoo!  I ordered a new sports bra (I bought one from a cheaper place and low and behold I bought the wrong one.  Once again, I didn’t follow my own advice!)  I also got a pair of long Rogas from Oiselle.  I found them on sale last week and I am super excited to try them out.  In fact, BOTH packages arrived today and I was so pumped I broke out some robot dance moves.  And then did this:

I could watch this all day

Moving on to a different topic without any type of functional transition… I really enjoy the Hungry Runner Girl’s blog.  I appreciate her upbeat attitude and the times when I have sent her an e-mail her responses were very genuine and kind.  I was reading the other day and realized that at every meal she has some kind of fruit or veggie.  I am all for fruits and veggies but I forget to add them to my meals.

I die… I also need to get some watermelon

I’ve been working on doing this as well.  Breakfast is easy because I am a banana consuming freak.  Lunch I seem to struggle a bit with and might need to start hitting up the cafeteria more so I can utilize their salad bar.  For dinner, I’ve started to work on eating a smaller portion of the main course (or just one serving – I know, the HORROR) and then having some fruit with it too.  It also seems to be easier during the summer and hopefully I can make it a habit.  Exciting stuff people!