Day: April 19, 2011

>A little motivation goes a long way

~ Elizabeth W ~ 1 Comment

>Anyone who knows me knows that I hate running on treadmills. The weather in Illinois this week is, for lack of a better word, just crappy. Rain, thunderstorms, and chilly! I wouldn’t mind the storms so much if it were at least 60*. But, no luck there.

The taper is a strange phenomenon.. I’m not really supposed to be running hard, and I’m supposed to cut back on mileage, although no more than 50% than normal (~30 miles). It feels strange to rest so much. I did not want to go to the gym to run tonight. I did pack my gym bag this morning and take it with me, so I had no excuse.

I feel like even after cutting an activity out of my schedule I’m still so busy. But one thing that’s kept me working out even when there’s a list of things to do is to remember that my workout time is time for me, when I improve my health and spend time with myself. I’m worth it, and so are you. Make time for your health!

Then I got on the dreadmill, er, treadmill. My lower legs ached a bit from my new shoes, but I kept truckin’ on. Then this skinny girl hopped on the treadmill next to me and I’d be darned if she outran me. So I outran her, and eventually pushed to an 8:00 mile for the last 200 meters. Felt good! My “comfortable” pace is now around 9:40, as opposed to 10:00-10:15 a few months ago.

I cannot believe the marathon is only ten days away! Our last “long” run of eight miles is this weekend.. I remember when Gabi and I first ran eight miles.. that seems like such a long time ago!

This next week, nutrition and hydration will be crucial. It’s also time to start figuring out the details for driving down to Cham-bana, parking, picking up packets, etc. I’m starting to get really excited, and I’m envisioning myself putting that 26.2 sticker on my car. Eat my dust.

>Have a Six Flags Day!

~ Elizabeth W ~ Leave a comment

>We heard this from every newbie Six Flags worker all weekend. What is a Six Flags day, anyway?

The W’s took a little trip to St. Louis this past weekend. And by the W’s, I mean all of them. Well, minus one very important member of the family who just happens to be halfway around the world. We piled into a 15-passenger van and off we went early Saturday morning. Did I mention it was early?

It was a short but sweet trip to do something I love: riding roller coasters. I’m all about safe thrills… or somewhat safe. You know, flying over the Atlantic to go to Spain by myself at twenty years old, riding on a motorcycle to Florida and back, and screaming my face off on The Boss (Batman wasn’t nearly as scary this time).

I don’t do spinny rides.. no way, no how. The kids liked the little rides, which spin, so I watched instead of participated. Saturday we got our season passes (thanks to my in-laws!) and stuck together. I think we rode one big roller coaster. That evening we went swimming and hot tubbing at the hotel, and I took the girls for the night. We got to Skype with Uncle Aaron, and he snapped a picture of us.

Yep, that’s me and my adorable nieces (Lena, Rhianna, Zaia). Being an aunt is the best ever. I had the privilege of sleeping in the same bed as Lena, who’s 3, and she slept fine but squirmed all night, and at some points cuddled with me. Cutest. Thing. Ever. The cuddling, and her face. It’s pretty cool that I’ve been around these girls’ entire lives. Rhianna will be seven in May and I remember when I held her as a tiny baby.

Sunday morning we got to the park before it opened. Bruce, Keith and I went to ride rides.. we rode Batman, Ninja (twice!) and The Boss, which was my favorite. I’ve ridden it before, but I forgot how awesome it was. Bruce is, by far, the funniest person to ride a roller coaster with. It was fun hanging out with my “brothers”. They did tease me though, as all W’s do. When in line for Batman, Keith asked if he could break my leg so that we could get in the shorter line. Ha. The lady in front of us heard his comment and thought he was serious.

We, well, they were going to go on Superman, which is a straight drop, but there had been people stuck at the top. If Darrell hadn’t seen us and stopped us to buy us the Six Flags cups, we, I mean, they would have gone on that ride. (I might have gone had they talked me into it, and by might I mean probably.)

I plan on using my season pass and guest passes (yep, got some of those!) this summer. Unfortunately, there are no Six Flags parks closer to El Paso than San Antonio, which is ten hours away. Hopefully Aaron and I can go a couple times to Chicago or St. Louis before we move.

Speaking of which, two months-ish and counting…