In two different training runs, I unintentionally ran an extra 2.5 miles, and survived.
I got to run with a friend!
I took my bike on the trails behind my house and had my first good fall, in a giant mud puddle. I'm still picking gravel out of my knee, three days later.
I celebrated National Running Day with a 5 mile run along the lakeshore, which was awesome, but I was reminded not so gently about the importance of sunscreen and Body Glide, and how great an ice bath Lake Superior is.
I signed up for the AMR #FindYourStrong Half Marathon Chàllenge, and got my official training plan all set up. Now I'm feeling like it's really on.
And in non-running/biking activities, I was cutting some lilacs and missed with the scissors, taking off a pretty good chunk off my finger. I've gone through more band aids in this week than I have in the last year.
Yesterday I survived my first venture onto single track. Since I'm still a beginner at this whole mountain biking thing, we started out riding the Grom, the kids trail, just to get a feel for it. Kind of like when you're learning to downhill ski, you start with the bunny hill. We went around once, to see how it went, and it was all good, (only ran into one tree) so we started out again. And took a wrong turn.
I've had plenty of people tell me they don't like single track for various reasons. So I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I wasn't expecting that! The trail got hillier, and rockier, and twistier. We kept climbing, and suddenly we're riding on the edge of a gorge, with the rushing Carp River down below. Somehow we got onto Gorge-ous, a black diamond trail. Now that it's over, and I survived, and even rode well, I'm feeling pretty tough, and Stronger-than-I-thought. But at the time, it was the closest I've been to real fear in a long time. Like, asthma attack and I'm glad my Fitbit doesn't have a heart rate monitor! But we made it, we survived, and I have to say, when we looked at the trail map afterwards, and saw that we went from the kids trail straight to the black diamond, I was pretty excited. Those worries that I couldn't handle this, I'd never be good at it, faded into the background. The fear isn't gone by any means, and the thought of bouncing off a rock and flying over the edge is something I'm going to have to fight. But at least I know I have what I takes to get through it.
Today I had a 7 mile run on the training plan. After my crazy week, I grabbed my black Rockstar flower and stuck it in my hair. I don't wear that one too often. My brain has a hard time feeling like I've earned that rockstar status. But today I wore it proudly and rocked those 7 miles. Hills and all.
So to sum up what I learned this week....
Sunscreen. Don't leave home without it.
Always make sure you have your keys before the van gets locked.
Friends! I forget how much I need them sometimes.
Duct tape may not be the best idea to keep a band aid in place. It true that it's not going anywhere, but your skin may never be the same.
Don't sell yourself short. That moment when you want to tell yourself you can't, might be the same as when you realized you already did, and more.
Just because you don't feel like it, doesn't mean you aren't a Rockstar.
