Schedules, Snakes, and Ipods

Here's where we are on the workout status and all things half-marathon:

1. I got an email today from the director of the Gulf Coast CF Chapter to inform me that they were accepted as being one of the official charities of the Houston Marathon for the first time this year (they were probably tired of all my pesky emails, but hey, whatever works, right?)! This is great news because for the last 3 months I've been training but haven't known for sure if I will officially be able to fundraise in the Run for a Reason program. Read more about it here: http://www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com/Marathon/Run_for_a_Reason.htm

2. Scott, my I-run-marathons-and-make-it-look-easy husband, has mapped out a schedule for me. Not just any schedule. A training schedule. Up till now it's been all about getting in better shape, getting some pounds off (14.5 thank you very much!) and reducing the amount of weight I will have to carry around when I run. Oh, but now....he started explaining the next 6 months to me last night and I think I blacked out for a moment when he started talking about the weekends this fall and winter that I'll be having to do 9, 10, and 11 mile runs. Good times.

3. As I sit here blogging, covered in sweat, I'm realizing I just had one of the worst workouts ever. A couple of weeks ago I was able to reach the two mile mark on an early, crisp, cool, no-humid morning. This afternoon I had to run in 92 degree humidity with the sun beating down and I just couldn't do it. I tried to zone out and just let the ipod blare while thinking in my head, "shavasna, shavasna." "Shavasna" is an actual thing..I haven't gone looney. I go to a Thursday gentle yoga class and at the end of every class we practice shavasna...where we lay down, completely relaxed from head to toe and focus on the breathing. I've found that if I repeat it in my head, I have better control over my posture and breathing. But that's another story...

Anywho, I go to pass a couple that I thought had stopped on the sidewalk to let me by since they had a big, jumpy dog with them. But because the ipod was blaring and I was zoned out in my own little world, I started to pass them and the guy actually reached out and stopped me with his arm. I was about to whip out some ninja self-defense moves on him but then I looked down and saw it....a snake, about a foot long, with a diamond pattern on it's back and...what was that...a rattle on it's tail?!! I ripped the ipod from my ears and then could hear the warning that made me want curl into a fetal position.

So I said "screw it" and walked the rest of the way home.

These workouts are a lot like life...some days are awesome, some days are awful, some days are alright, and some days it's easy to get caught up in so much other stuff that we can't see what's right in front of us. Deep, I know.