Good News Saturday

 Its the second day of the year. January of 2016 is in full swing. We had a short run this morning 10 miles. My girlfriend has a big race coming up. The San Diego 50 miler. I am so excited for her. 

 Can you tell ? She has done all the proper training and she is already a strong runner so I know she is going to have a great race. This is one of the perks that comes with running with awesome people . I feel like we are all on the same team. I feel so lucky that I have friends I get to show up for because they dare to dream big. That translates to when my friends run I go cheer them on.

Going into the new year one of the goals I have is to keep my zeal for life going. Life can get boring if you let it and I admit I love to dream but that is part of what keeps me happy. Running gives me time to dream and almost all my runs include time to dream. Clear my mind,  let go of worries I just do not need to hold on too and my biggest thing is how incredibly grateful I feel for my life when I run. The distance does not matter and most of the time I do not know what my pace is but when I am done what I take with me is this Joy, gratitude and I get to feel good about myself because I got my work out in. Its a win win situation if you ask me. 

Keep your face always toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you. Walt Whitman 

28 miles…Why yes please

This weekend our run took us to Lake Hodges. It seems like we run there a lot but it seems to be our most of our winter runs take place there. You can run a long way and still see people along the entire trail. Saturday we ran for about 6 hours. Mt girl friend is going to race a 50 mile race there so we are training. Ever since finding out I got into Western I feel like I really need to convince myself that I can do this. My friends seem to think I can so now I just need to believe it too. That's why when my GF said she was running 28 miles I felt like I wanted to join her. It was not a hard run we kept it easy. I just love spending all morning outside so when I was asked if I wanted to run the 28 I said yes please 

Jazz Hands Peeps

It really felt like a great morning. It was cold and the sun was out. There was lots of talking going on and we saw friends out there. I am really excited about Western so much so my tummy hurts every time I think about it. I just need to keep showing up for long runs long work outs and anything else I can do to make sure I run that race in under 30 hours. I am sure I will be focusing a lot on that race.

Day 10

7:20 am   Lake Cuyamaca
15 miles
42 degrees
Many good people

Day 6. On running my first 100 mile race

Hi .. I am officially running the San Diego 100 . I will be running 100 miles in June. I am nervous excited. I am feeling little or big butterflies in my tummy and I am more motivated now to train my butt of so I can have a good 100 mile race experience. Does that exist ? I payed and they took my money so that means I am in.   Gloria will be running her first 100 mile race. OMG

I made my room reservations and I told my dad. I feel like I won something. This is what this feels like for me. I went to the running fair and the had a raffle and they picked my number and I won and I get to run with all these amazing people and do something I have never done before and I have a couple months to train to do this thing to the best of my ability. 
AHHHH !!! What else could a girl ask for beside having a guy who says he will take care of everything he needs to so I can train for this.  Oh wait I have that too. Can you tell I am excited.  I have been thinking about this for years. I just did not think that I would have the opportunity to train for a race like this but  look its here. I am so so so excited to do this. You know how they say dream big. This is my big dream. Great way to start of the year. I have my first race of the year in 10 days. Then let the training begin. 

Day 3

Oh My Gosh it was so cold this morning. We started running at 6:30 am and it was 32 degrees. I was freezing my a-- off. I even made cold noises for about 20 minutes. I thought to myself what are you doing G. Then when I got to the top of raptor ridge even though I have been up there so many times I looked down and thought to myself.  I run so I can experience moments like these. Its just that feeling of I love this and I love this view and hey people I am doing what I love. I am running . Its passionate and so filling. Maybe that's why there are so many pictures of runners jumping they feel Passion too.

On my way back to my car the sun was shinning I felt warm and all was good. 

Then I took this little guy out for a run. I chased him and he chased me and all of this and so much more fill my heart to the core with love and happiness.
I read this quote today and it really hit home. You must take responsibility for your own happiness. I do not know the author but its so true. In life you have to seek out what you want and need no one else can do it for you. 

24 miles from the back

I ran 24 miles today way behind my friends today from the back.
This morning it was hard getting out of bed at 5 am because it was cold and early and I was being a baby. I finally just thought about race day and how its only 3 weeks away and that was enough to get my warm body out of bed dressed and out the door by 6am. It was 34 degrees outside and my car does not get warm quickly. I was freezing. Luckily I was only cold for about an hour before the sun came out and made everything better. 

Lately running with this group has been humbling. I am always the last one and they all kindly wait for me every couple miles. I felt kinda bad showing up today because these long mile weeks make my weekend runs harder. My legs are tired but somehow I know or tell myself that hey I must be getting stronger. All I want to do on race day is my best. That's why I show up. This guy Robert usually always comes back to run with me . We talk and it helps the last long miles go by faster.

Today we ran 24 miles of the 50 mile course we are running in 3 weeks. The Hodges 50 miler. Everyone will be running the same race. That makes it so much more exciting.

This is part of course. I have grown to love this course. I used to cringe at the thought of running here because its was so hard for me but slowly it getting easier and my heart has grown fond of Lake Hodges. I have good time here. 

So about my run today. I got my butt kicked a bit , I spent a lot of time way behind my group but I loved every minute of it and the cool guys I ran with. It was a good run day. I also feel thinner after all the food I ate the last three days...

Weekend update

I found a way to make myself get outside and run and have fun..I ran with friends. I made plans and committed to joining them for my long runs and it really helped. If you read my blog you know this last month I have not been excited about running. I would rather be in my warm house or sleeping in :(  Winter has been known to do this to me. 

Here they are the group . They are really nice people and very motivated runner. I can tell you one thing for sure if I keep running with them I will become a better runner. So today's run was hard for me we ran Mission trails and it was so hard. The hills were the real deal and the down hill had those slippery small rocks and they were all over the place. The really sad part is I was the last one every time on today run and they had to wait for me every time. 

This was the view it was amazing and that's one of the reasons we run right.. To see views like these.

So guess how they got this picture. I was the last one. The positive side is I will get stronger and now I have a group to run with on the weekends so this will motivate me to get outside and run. I ran 32 miles this weekend .  How was your weekend ?