There were a few times over the last few weeks that I should have updated... not that I have been training much, and I'll get to that later, but I did have a few good work outs to update about... like doing push ups in Texas over Thanksgiving Break with my mom's poodle confused by them. Or the swimming at the Off Season Triathlon where I was in a lane with other girls all doing the same, which helped push me to go harder. Oh, and I also did more push ups that day, in the pool, after the pool, and at brunch, so I am at least keeping up with the preparation for the 100 push up challenge. But instead of telling you about those good work outs, I am updating today, and I wish I had better news to share about my results at the Jingle All the Way 10k this morning. Instead it goes to show that I can't reach my goals if I don't prepare. After my 29:07 5k in October, I wanted to strive for under an hour for a 10k. But I made many mistakes. First of all, I only ran a hand full of times since the 5k, and most weren't very good runs. Then, yesterday while I was out for a swim, I figured I'd incorporate some push ups and ended up doing a total of 100 push ups during the swim workout on the deck of the pool, which would have been a fun workout to tell you about if I didn't have a race today... but I did, so it actually counts a mistake for this race.
So before the race even started, I wasn't running prepared and I was already physically tired from the day before... and I couldn't find my garmin watch. To add insult to injury, they were OUT OF BELLS when I did my packet pick up!!!! I did not get to jingle all the way or even part of the way! There was no jingling for me during the 10k, only jiggling (explanatory note: the race is suppose to give out bells prior to the race so you jingle while running).
I felt OK (not great) the first 5k. Then the second 5k hurt. My knees hurt. My back hurt. My IT band was tight. I was tired. It wasn't cute. The rainy weather wasn't even an issue - it was all due to my lack of preparation. So I was no way near my goal. End time was 66:09 minutes. UGH! Average 10:39 minute miles. UGH. Ugly. Only 1 minute 23 seconds better than the 10k I did last year.
And now post race, I still hurt. My back really hurts. My knees kind of hurt, even after icing them. But as always, I need to focus on what I learned:
1. If I don't prepare or train, I won't get better or faster.
2. Doing lots of push ups won't make me a faster runner.
3. I need to stop being a wuss about running in the cold. I ran in shorts, a long sleeve dry tech shirt, gloves, and a head band thingy that covers my ears today despite the cold weather and drizzly rain, and that was plenty. I need to just suck it up and get out there.
So yeah, that is my whiny post about things not always being happy - that sometimes it's not all rainbows and puppies... BUT I can't end this blog post sounding so mopey and pitiful, especially when there are still puppies involved.
Last week, my parents got me an adorable shih tzu puppy. A little girl that I have named Ninja because she's mostly black and hard to see. They'll keep her in Texas for the next couple of months while I figure out my living situation so I can be in a place that allows dogs and while they start to train her, but I am getting almost daily puppy updates from my mom. Enjoy puppy pictures. 
