DAMN that felt GOOD!!!!

Happy Monday everyone (or as happy as a Monday can get!)

Today has been going well so far! I weighed in at 179lbs this morning - which is great considering the past few weekends I've been stuck around 181-182lbs after the weekend's foods and need to recover. I'm hopeful that I can continue to make some progress this week and maybe even see 174-175! I'm keeping sodium down and planning on a nice light dinner when I get home - perhaps some whole wheat pasta & veggies.

Today also celebrates "Happy Badwater Day" - marking the beginning of one of the greatest road races in history. The Badwater Ultramarathon is a 135 mile road race through Death Valley. Its one of the most difficult races in the world and runners regularly have to run on the white line of the road so their shoes don't melt!! OY!! Its astounding what people are able to accomplish with a little bit of determination & insanity! I'll be tracking today's race to see how it goes!! I'm sending lots of "ultramarathoning love" to anyone competing this year!!

Speaking of running - I started Week 5 today and the run was AMAZING! I know I ran yesterday, but due to my schedule I can't afford to take a day off and do multiple workouts on the same day during the week. That would just wipe me out too badly I think (not exactly something I want to push until I *HAVE* to, ya know?)...anyways, back to the running - the last time I completed the C25K program, Week 5 was my huge turning point. Its when I truly began to discover a love for running and everything that I can do with it!

Today's run was no different - I really truly enjoyed my run today, even though it was probably the hardest one yet! I maintained my 6.5 MPH speeds and totally rocked out my homemade playlists - which today consisted of Adele, Breaking Benjamin, Muse, Mumford & Sons, Pitbull (love him!), Katy Perry & Ke$ha - not a bad little mix I think! I had to cut the warm up & cool down short in order to fit it into my lunch at work - but starting next week I might start to struggle with fitting it into my daily work schedule (crap!) - so I'll have to start running either before or after work on my treadmill at home...not sure how that's going to work yet, but I'll make it happen! I am loving this training TOO much to make it not work! haha!

Here's my workout for today:

W5D1 Workout
Warm Up
Run for 5 Minutes at 6.5 MPH
Recover for 3 Minutes at 3.5 MPH
Run for 5 Minutes at 6.5 MPH
Recover for 3 Minutes at 3.5 MPH
Run for 5 Minutes at 6.5 MPH
Cool Down

Total Workout Time: 29 Minutes
Total Mileage: 2.18 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 300ish (I forgot to look at my Digital Display when I finished, so I'm guessing here)

So now onto the title of this blog - my run today made me feel SO good!!! I LOVE the powerful kick ass feeling I have when I finish something I've never done before!! Not sure if I'm going to try to run again later today - I feel so refreshed after this workout that I think I can handle another mile if I wanted to. I'll see how I'm feeling in about an hour and perhaps give it a shot! I think another mile at 6.5 MPH could definitely do me some good - if I end up doing that, I'll be sure to update with the information! Next running day is Wednesday - which is two 8 min splits...that should be super fun!! Wahoo!!!

Total Miles Ran in 2011: 63.2 Miles
Total Calories Burned "Running From My Issues": 9,082 Calories GONE