Slacker

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I wrote. I could make a lot of excuses (holidays, travel, work, etc.) but the truth is that I was just uninterested. I started this blog to record my efforts to train for a marathon and I haven't been doing that. I've hardly been doing any running at all, to be honest. Between foot pains and knee pains, I just haven't been able to do much without putting myself in danger of serious damage.

Mac and I at Teotihuacan in Mexico

I have been exercising, nevertheless. Lately I've been focusing a lot more on strength and flexibility than endurance training. I'm still doing something active 5-6 days a week, and now that the wedding is creeping up, I really want to focus on my arms and shoulders. When I was rock climbing regularly a couple of years ago, my back and arms were so strong--they weren't big and manly, but they were definitely more sculpted than they currently are. So I've been doing 3 days of upper body work, plus 20-30 minutes of biking or the elliptical or some running, and then 2 days of lower body work and 1 day of just longer cardio (45 minutes or an hour). I also try to do some light yoga a few days a week.

I ran last week outside in the rain. It was really fun, but my achilles tendon was so tight that it was painful and I had to stop at 1.75 miles. I know the achilles is a dangerous tendon to mess with (hence the phrase "achilles heel" that is used to allude to weakness in a person's character), but I don't see how it could possibly be in danger of tearing since I feel like I haven't REALLY been pushing myself at all for what feels like forever. I miss running, and I am hoping to start training for the Rock 'n' Roll marathon in a month or so.

I have a lot of things to look forward to here in the next few weeks. Shannon is throwing me a bridal shower here in Birmingham on Sunday, and I am going to have my hair trial done that day too. I am also having my second meeting with the Sonnet House so I can finally figure out what else I need to do for this shindig. The following weekend will be my bridal shower/bachelorette party weekend in Fernandina with my bridal party and other college friends. I am SO excited about that and I can't believe how close it is! I am such a lucky girl--I have wonderful friends, a wonderful family, and a wonderful boy to marry :)