HTFU

Lately, I find myself surrounded by animals. And not in the good, Snow White, help you with your chores kind of way. It's much more like this. Like, one of these things is not like the other when it comes to the physical challenges/races/accomplishments that are going down. I have a friend who's doing 10 century bike rides (that's 100 miles, per ride) this summer, another friend that was the first place female finisher of a 50K trail run, a boyfriend who just crushed 60 hours of Death Race, is signed up for GoRuck Selection, World's Toughest Mudder, AND Death Race 2014 and a little brother who owned the San Fran marathon with a time of 2:36:55, just to name a few. So...insert how happy I am for all of you on your individual accomplishments, because really, truly, I am impressed and in awe of what you've done and how hard you've worked to get there. But, I have to be honest. You're all a bunch of assholes.

Ok that was harsh, I know it, but if I can't jump up onto my unopposed position atop my internet soap box, I really see no value in having a blog. Because that's what it's there for, right?

The truth is, as has been stated on here before, I am a highly competitive person. Product of my position as child number three in a family of four? Without a doubt. And this highly competitive nature acting as a thinly veiled and convenient excuse to pardon my rampant jealousy? Absolutely. But at least I can be upfront about my flagrant bitchery....right?

Ok I just re-read what I wrote above and realize I come across like a total jerk. To be very honest, dear public-on-the-internet diary, it has nothing to do with how amazing at the things I suck at my friends are, it's just that I've been really frustrated with my own personal training and progress as of late and I'm taking it out on people who are just flat out better than me. Which has lead me back here. It seems nothing motivates me more than a little public accountability mixed with a little personal humiliation.

My last post I gave a quick run down on the races I'm signed up for in order to qualify for the 2014 NYC Marathon. I am two deep in my 9+1 programming through NYRR, and the results for both races were less than stellar. Both races were pretty straight forward and easy 5 milers, and both official times were more disappointing than expected. I also recently started CrossFit, and its been amazing and WAY more challenging than originally anticipated, which has been a bitter failure pill to swallow. Hand stand push ups? Pull ups? Double unders? Yeah right! And lastly, I have completely fallen off my paleo wagon. No weight gain, but I've definitely been feeling a lot worse--lack of energy, puffy and bloated and all around lazier.  Most people would take this as a sign to step away from the beer and carbs and get back with the program, right? Well, I am clearly not most people, because all I want to do is drown my sorrows in  food, which I've been allowing myself to do. And do often.

But no more! My next race is on July 21st, and it's a 10k in Queens. My goal is a solid 8 minute pace for the whole race. The weekend after that I'm doing GORUCK #3 in Long Beach. My goal for that is to push harder than I did during the last two. Both of these goals require me to start putting my money where my mouth is, which means taking the food out of said mouth, training harder, eating better and HTFU.

So I'll be back here for the next couple weeks. Expect to see some horrifying weigh in and measurement numbers, some embarrassing training splits and workouts, and some seriously aggressive food journal-ing. Try and contain your excitement....