Day 4: 3 words - Colina de Destino

I took a an unscheduled weekend break. Ya know...things come up...birthdays to be had....headaches....yadda yadda yaddd....excuses excuses....and I've got a million of em.

So today, before heading into work, I decided to enjoy the cool air and overcast morning and head to Lake Johnson for a run around the water. It was great. I FELT great. Maybe it was the couple of days off ... who knows? And before I know it...I'm cruisin' pretty good.

But not long after I start to hit my stride.... there it is....my nemesis....La Colina de Destino! I've seen her many times before and many times over I've dominated her, but today...with the lack of runs under my belt and definitely the lack of hill training...this time, she got the best of me.

The hills at Lake Johnson are not the worst in Raleigh by and means. In my humble opinion, Umstead is king of that castle. But LJ definitely has its tough ones. And La Colina de Destino got me today.

But at least I started some hills...and it will only get better with time and training. Soon I will be ready for Umstead's La Colina de Guadeloupe and La Colina de Victoria! But not yet :-)

Day 3: Scenery in full effect!

When I set out on my Wednesday run...all I was hoping for was better than yesterday. And it was. My foot did start to numb up toward the end...but I think this will pass in the next week or so. So in all, I felt a LOT better.

When I took off, I went in a different direction on the new greenway that had just opened up across the street from the college where I work..shout out to Wake Tech! The way I went had been closed off due to construction. So I was pretty pumped to try something new. I always like a new adventure when I run. It makes the distances not seem as far when I am looking at new things. The route I've been traveling is the Neuse River Green way. Which is also a part of the Capital Area Greenway. And pretty soon it will be linked to the Mountains to Sea Trail which will cover the length of North Carolina. How cool is that! Maybe one day I will conquer that...but for now...I will stick to my current goal of the Rock 'n' Roll Raleigh Marathon.

While on my run there were some very cool additions to the trail that really showed the pride in creating this piece of outdoors for us North Carolinians.

Simple things like a piece of art...

And this pedestrian bridge that goes over the Neuse. If you're traveling up 401N just past 540 and Wake Tech's North Campus...you'll see it on the West side. It's nicely done.

In all...it was a good run. I felt good and my progess to getting back in shape is, well, shaping up nicely.

Feeling Numb about it.

So today was an absolute beaut outside. Perfect day for a run. 

But as soon as my feet hit the pavement I just knew it was going to be a rough one. And sure 'nough, about a mile and a half in...I could feel my right foot start to get heavy. 

It's a weird feeling...not unlike the feeling of an appendage 'falling asleep'...but without the pins and needles feeling. It's like the circulation just isn't getting down there. This has happened many times before, and it usually goes away once I start getting in shape. It's just not a good feeling and it makes the training really hard. But it's no excuse. I must keep pushing forward.

I'm an editing idiot!

So, I'm awesome. As most of you know. *insert laugh track here* But seriously now, most of you know I am an editor and photographer (video mainly) and this is passion. But of course, on my very first vlog post about my training, I have a mistake. And somehow it got by all the views. Even Dara, who is, in my opinion, the visual editor supreme. When I put up the graphic of the day 1 with the 'todays' date...it said April 7, 2012!!!

*cue the Huey Lewis and the News 'Back in Time' song* 

Wow!! Well, all is well. It is fixed and snuggled up closely with my blog again. Blog and Vlog together again. Awwwwww.

Day 1...Oh Crap.

Well, here I go. Doing something unnatural. I mean really? 26.2 Miles????!!!!! Come on...What am I thinking?! But, I guess since I am putting it out there like this, you all on the internets can be my support system. Cheering me on when it gets too hard or when I feel like giving this up. Anyway, on this journey I'm going to put up various videos of my training and how it is going. I hope you will subscribe to my vlog and my YouTube channel to keep up to date with my journey. It's a long journey. A year in fact - April 13, 2014. Which also happens to be Dara's birthday. Nice bday present, bud! So, here is Day 1! Let's Go!