Hot In The City: Countdown to Vegas Week 2

Holy heatwave Batman!  The temps this week have wreaked havoc on training plans and driven many of us inside to the dreadmill.  Here in the midwest, it looks like we will start to see a break from the heat by Thursday, but then we will be dodging thunderstorms as we schedule our runs.  I would still rather be hot than cold any day, so I'm just going to hydrate and try not to complain too much.  Here's how this week's training went:

Monday - Hills

Confession time: one of the main reasons I joined Black Girls Run Indianapolis was because I wanted to do these hill workouts on Monday.  I have no problem going out and doing a long run by myself any day - those are fun to me.  But putting in some of the hard work like hills, speed training, or cross training takes a group to make me accountable.  I'd been following these ladies on Instagram for a while and know they work hard and have fun together encouraging each other.  So I joined up and I'm really glad I did.  This week we ran suicides up Soap Box Derby Hill.  I never caught her, but I'm pretty sure Brandi kept moving those cones farther apart each round.  It was also Crazy Sock week, and you know I'm always up for wearing crazy socks.
Total miles: 4

Countdown to Vegas: Week 1

Team #MoHills - Pic by Brandi Nicole

Before I get into the wrap-up of training for Vegas, and some rambly thoughts that ran through my head this week, I first want to say thank you to everyone who's stopped by to read our blog.  We've been at it for a little over three years now, and I'm really humbled by the fact that so many of you are interested in what I have to say.  My most recent post - Independence Day - has vaulted over 2014's  Treadmills: Maybe They're Not That Bad to become our third most read post ever.  Wow.  So thank you to everyone who reads or even skims these rambly thoughts of mine.  You really have no idea what your support means to me.

Vegas

In November the #FBG and I will be heading out run to Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas.  There's a whole weekend of races of different distances, and I am planning to run the full marathon there.  It will be my second full and my first destination race.  Also my first time visiting Vegas.  I'm super excited about it.  I'm also trying to train for it a little better than I did for my first marathon.

Independence Day

FBG in Red White & Blue

I had been dreading the 4th of July weekend.  Last year it was really awful.  It was a little over two months after Kevin died, the shock was wearing off and I was starting to realize he's really never coming back.  Add to that all the memories of past 4th of July weekends camping, and the fact that it was actually the first holiday we spent together as a couple when we started dating.  I found myself really struggling and wallowing in sadness.

This year, as the weekend approached, I expected much of the same and I was feeling really down.  Side note to all my co-workers who wished me a happy long weekend: sorry for biting your heads off.  Sometimes I just don't have much patience with meaningless small talk.  I was expecting to feel lonely and pointless like I do a lot of weekends, and I just thought you all should magically know that and not be so cheery at me.

RunChatHunt Summer 2016

It's time again for the semiannual #RunChatHunt, a photo scavenger hunt hosted by RunChat.  This is always a lot of fun, and there are some great prizes, too.

It's pretty simple to play.  On your run, just be on the lookout for the items on the list to the right.  Take a picture, post it to Twitter/Instagram with the hashtag #RunChatHunt.  That's it!  You don't have to be a great photographer, just have fun.

I always like doing this for several reasons.  First, you already know I like playing around with photography.  Second, it makes me stay aware while I'm running.  Sure it's nice to zone out sometimes too, but it's fun to tune in to my surroundings and be on the lookout for an interesting or pretty shot that will check one of these items off.  Third, it makes me look for different running routes, and you know I like to change things up a lot.  I am still trying to think of a running route that will take me by Hilligoss Bakery and planning what kind of picture I'll take once I get there.

Finally, of course, it's fun to win prizes!  In last winter's #RunChatHunt, I won this sweet Nuun prize pack.  I had never even tried Nuun before winning this, and now it's one of my favorite things.

Go to http://www.therunchat.com/2016/05/31/runchathunt-is-back-with-new-items/ for full rules and details.  Follow me on Instagram (thazel411) or Twitter (TeresaHazel411) to see my #RunChatHunt finds.  If you are playing too, send me a message with your Instagram or Twitter account so I can follow you and see your finds too.

On the banks of Lake Junaluska

Epic Vacation Wrap-Up

Ten glorious days at home in the mountains of western North Carolina: spending time with family, catching up with friends, eating lots of good food, and of course running.  This place is so beautiful; just being outside and looking around is refreshing and restorative.

Since Kevin died, people often ask me if I'm going to move back.  The answer is: I don't know yet.  This will always be home, but so will Indianapolis.  Both places tug at my heart, but sometimes so does the idea of starting over somewhere new.  When the time is right, God will let me know where He wants me to be next.  So for now, I'm just going to keep doing epic every day right where I am.

And where I've been for the past ten days is Paxton Holler in Canton, NC, so here are some of my epic vacation highlights:

My May Runstreak & A Run(317) PR

May Runstreak

Run(317) Ambassadors on the Circle

I woke up Sunday, May 1st and decided to try a runstreak for the month of May.  A runstreak, for those of you who don't know, is running at least one mile every day for the length of the streak.  I follow other runners online who've done runstreaks of various lengths, but I've never attempted one.  Every time I think about it, I'm daunted by the idea of all the laundry that would go with it.

Normally I run three or four days a week, depending on what else I have going on.  But I was coming off a bad few weeks, and I decided to challenge myself to get out and run every day in May.  But not just run, I also wanted to make each day's run different in some way - different route, place, type of run, etc.  And I wanted to document each run in a different and interesting way.

Mini Marathon Wrap-Up

Pic by Judi Lee

It's been a month since I blogged, but it's been a really rough month and I just needed to pull inside my turtle shell and hide for a little while.  I sort of feel like still staying there, but I know that's not good for me, so here I am again to tell you about last Saturday's 500 Festival Mini Marathon.  Physically this race went really well, but emotionally/mentally I was all over the place.

Last Monday when I got home, I thought I saw Kevin.  The neighbor was standing right in front of our mailbox while checking his own.  He was turned so I only saw him from the back, and he was wearing an olive green jacket the same color as one Kevin had.  When I saw him standing there as I was driving up the street, just for a second I thought Kevin was getting the mail and I was a little surprised he was just getting home since he usually was earlier than me.  All this flashed through my head for just a second, and then I remembered.  And it broke my heart all over again.  I pulled in the garage and ran into the house crying hysterically.

So that kind of sets the stage for the whole week leading up to the Mini.  I've just been so weepy and emotional, and then I will go run and it's that magic reset button so I'm okay for a little while, until I start falling back down.  The nightmares came back - the ones where Kevin is alive he just doesn't want to be with me anymore.  All while I was still trying to get ready for a race that's a really big deal.  (For blog readers not in the Indy area, the Mini Marathon is huge: over 28,000 people ran it this year.  Seven times the population of Canton, NC, in one race.)  I was planning my outfit and posting updates on social media, but secretly I was wishing I hadn't even signed up for the Mini this year.  I thought maybe it was still too close to the crapiversary of Kevin's death and that I should've taken a few more weeks off from racing.