The Hotel Circuit

Brittany Here!

I'm coming to you from a hotel room in Texarkana, Arkansas. We have had a wonderful weekend celebrating my niece's graduation. We have also been playing a whole heck of a ton of Mario Kart 8, which is a family tradition. The game calls most of their races "Circuits,"  so since I did all my working out at two different hotels in the last couple of days, I thought I would call it the hotel circuit.

Friday morning, I headed outside the hotel, to run a little bit in the parking lot. Not the most pretty view, but I needed to get that mile down! I did a little warm up walk, and then I took off. It was going really well, but I was listening to a podcast (Stuffed You Missed in History Class) it finished about half way through my run. I tried to put on a new episode, but it wasn't configuring right, so I stopped to mess with my phone, and couldn't pick up the momentum again afterwards. However, I finished it by walking. So goal complete. 

Lesson Learned: Never start a podcast that won't see you through the whole run!

This morning, I went down to the hotel fitness center to do some treadmill training. I'm telling you that treadmill seemed ancient, the belt was short and narrow. I started running, but the machine kept randomly pausing, and then I would nearly fall off. I didn't feel safe. So I hopped off, and I walked some laps around the indoor pool instead. It took like 30 laps to make a mile!

I'm so proud of myself for getting my work outs done, even if I didn't get the chance to push myself like I had planned. I didn't use vacation as an excuse.

Monday is 2 miles! Eck! But those will be two miles back on my home turf, Alabama.

Until Next Time,

Brittany

Day 1 in the books...

Yesterday I walked a mile with my local friend, Jackie. We had planned on trying to get 3 in, but the weather had other plans. I'm not a fan of running in torrential rain, thunder, and lightening so we called it a day. I was planning on going to do another mile today, unfortunately the rain never would stop long enough for me to go, so its looking like I'll be getting up in the morning and going...rain or shine. (Sans the lightening)

For me, the first workout is always the hardest. I'm hoping that now that the first one is in the books, the rest will come easier. :) I love running and the high I get when I finish, but the getting started part is always the challenge. I know once I get to the track to run that I won't back out. I guess that's a positive thing.

Looking forward to sharing this journey with all of you! :)

Until we meet again,

Jana

Week 1, Work Out 1

Hey Blogosphere!

It's Brittany here! I wanted to report on my first workout in our plan to go 13 miles in 13 weeks. Week One involves One Mile Workouts. It was raining outside today, so I knew I would have to use the treadmill a.k.a the dreadmill. I don't know why I'm so anti-treadmill, I just find treadmill running a lot more difficult than outdoor running.

Maybe it is because it forces to me to keep a consistent pace? I'm not really sure. I'm also a lot faster when I run outdoors because when I try to up the speed too much on the treadmill it just feels too hard.

After work, I did a two minute warm-up walk at a pace of 2.7 mph. I then started my mile jog. I did my first 0.2 miles at a 3.5 pace, but I was pretty winded, so I bumped it down to 3.3 mph. I did that for a half mile, and then I was able to bump it back up to 3.5 for the rest of the mile (0.3).  I ended up doing about a 17:54 minute mile. When I'm outdoors, I usually can do a mile in under 16 minutes. 

I do think the treadmill can be helpful in my journey, as I  need to learn to keep a consistent pace. So I will definitely incorporate some dreadmill time in my future training.

I'm so glad my first work out is in the books because getting started is always a big part of the battle for me.

I will be out of town this weekend, attending my niece's graduation in Texas. So I'm going to have to find some time for running on both Friday and Saturday! Staying on track on vacation has always been a failure in the past. But I'm not going to let being out of town be an excuse for me this time.  I'm going to rock it out this weekend!

Love,

Brittany

Here We Go!

 

Brittany (left) and Jana (Right) at the Cotton Row Run in Huntsville, Alabama on 5-26-2014

 

My name is Brittany, my best and closest friends call me Hofo (Don't even ask). I work as children and adolescents therapist, and I truly have a passion for all children and teens.I am nearing 30, and I live in the small town of Athens, Alabama with my nerdy but charming husband of five years, Adam. We have no kids and no pets, although I do get to pet sit my "baby sister" and my mother's undisputed favorite child, a white lab, named Carlee pretty frequently. I hope to remedy this no pets situation this summer when Adam and I purchase our first home. As for children? Who knows, ask us in a couple of years.

 

Last year I tipped my bathroom scale at nearly 400 pounds, and I made the difficult choice to have weight loss surgery (The Gastric Sleeve). As of today, I am 4 and a half months out of surgery,  and I have lost 110 pounds. I hope to share a little bit about my current journey on the blog.

 

This whole "become a runner" plan was hatched by Jana and I two years ago, when we were on a cross country road trip together. I'm thinking there is something about long hours spent driving across the U.S.A that makes your brain get crazy ideas like, "I Can Run a 5k." Because there is no other explanation for two girls, who would occasionally drive instead of walking a quarter of a mile to the cafeteria in college, would want to start running. That whole summer and fall we trained and completed our first 5k in September 2012.  We then did a 10k. We have done a dozen races since then, including some fun & silly ones (Color Me Rad, Tap n' Run, and the Foam Fest 5k). In fact, we just completed a Memorial Day 5k, the Cotton Row Run, this weekend (we walked it).

 

Just as impulsively as we decided to start running we have decided to complete the Disney world Princess Half Marathon in February 2015. I am so excited and so terrified at the same time. I am no where near the shape I need to be in yet. But I'm just trying to tell my inner critic to stuff a lid in it.

 

If you are wondering, I am planning to dress as Belle. Since she is my favorite Disney character of all time, and believe me, this girl here knows her Disney.  

 

Our plan is to work up to walking/running, a.k.a "wogging", 13 miles in 13 weeks, and then increasing our speed from there. I can't wait to document this journey I'm taking with one of my best friends.

 

I hope you will follow along with us on this little blog!

 

So let's get this party started already,
Brittany

Jump In...Jump Out...Introduce Yourself

One of the most annoying things I can remember about school was having to stand up in class and say your name, where you were from, and one interesting thing about yourself. As the years have progressed, I still don't really like this because I don't feel like you really get to know a person in two or three sentences. When I was in freshman in college, it was my first week on campus and we had to introduce ourselves, however instead of the typical state your name, etc we had to SING! The song was pretty simple and went like this:

 "Jump in, jump out, introduce yourself. I said jump in, jump out, introduce yourself. My name is                             . (Yeah) And I                                                    . (Yeah) So                                                   (Yeah)  And check me out.  (Yeah check her out!)"

After some quick thought, this is what I came up with.

"My name is Jana. (Yeah) And I can't drive. (Yeah) So get off the sidewalk. (Yeah) And check me out. (Yeah check her out!)"

While this was fun and entertaining and certainly let everyone on campus know to avoid me on the road at all costs, it still didn't quite do the justice of the actual introduction I would want to do for someone I was just meeting. So while I know most of us are into the short version, I'm here to give you the most accurate depiction of me. :)

My name is Jana and I'm from Jackson, MS. (Originally from Loxley, AL) I'm a 28yr old school teacher. (I teach 5th grade math and science.) I'm a proud graduate of Robertsdale High School in Robertsdale, AL (2004) and Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, MS (2008).  I am an authority on 80's music and culture...it's more like an obsession...and I honestly wish I could have been a teenager during that decade. I love all things beach related and could honestly never get tired of lying on the warm sand and listening to the sound of the waves as I read a paperback book. I have a very small group of close friends that I wouldn't trade for the world and an amazing boyfriend that has tolerated me and my craziness for the last 8 years. I have two pet turtles that my students rescued from certain doom from the walkway at school and I have no kids and have never been married. In my free time I enjoy painting, reading, and running races with my college roomie, Brittany. :)

This blog was created so Brittany and I could chronicle and document our progress to completing the Walt Disney World Princess Half Marathon that will take place on February 22, 2015. Brittany and I will be taking turns posting our workouts, ideas, thoughts, and overall experiences as we train for our very first half marathon ever! Considering two years ago we made the decision to start running, we have been looking for ways to push ourselves and grow as runners. I know that personally I'm slower than a turtle trudging through peanut butter, but I'm still running and I have found that it is addictive. I'm looking forward to seeing where we go and how much we can do. :)

We walked a 5k today called the Cotton Row 5k, which was held in memory of those who gave their lives for our freedoms, and was a great start to our training season! We have 13 weeks to get to 13 miles and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you here.

That's all for now!

Until we meet again,

Jana