-love- BellaMuse-

Ran my fasted mile to date yesterday-- 9:45. I knew I could do sub 10! Each second shaved is one second closer to my goal of sub 9! I let myself get talked into doing a 3 mile run yesterday with some runners who are way more advanced than I am, and I didn't realize it until we took off from our starting point at a sub 8 minute mile. Oops. Hello, recurring ankle injury! For the record, I did finish the 3 miles in a little under 33 minutes (okay, okay-- 32:57). That included the hobble walk/jog pace I maintained up and down hills. Sad face. On a much happier and brighter note-- I got my (very first) clipless pedals for the road bike yesterday. Installed them on the bike and clipped in and out on the indoor trainer to get the cleat position correct and to make sure my feet knew the drill. Grass practice is in order for tonight, but seeing those bad boys made me much more confident for Saturday's Tri! Today (Day 4) and tomorrow (Day 5) are taper/rest days. I'll do some walking and stretching/yoga for the next few days to loosen my calves and ankles. Hopefully I'll have some good-- no, great!-- Tri news to report on Saturday!

Thanks! I {heart} that you're half velociraptor, by the way. I frequently have the urge to buy a Hyundai Veloster just so I can call it The Velociraptor.

I love your examples of forbidden whining-- those are my thoughts exactly! I live in Wyoming, notorious for 9 months of winter, 2 weeks of Spring and Fall, tornado season, and the rest of the year hovering over 90 degrees. My excuses are usually, "It's snowing in May. It's a sign to not run" or "It's snowing in June. It's a sign not to run." I'm excited to build an interest in running now, before the snow flies, so that I can try to look forward to cold weather running (maybe).

Just because I joined a day late doesn't mean I haven't been working on my goals already! I spent about a million hours the last three days studying exciting Windows 7 configurations, and I'm pretty confident about taking the test. Yesterday I researched when and where I can take the official exam so that I can schedule it and use it as incentive. I have found that, much like pre-registration for a race, nothing helps me focus more than knowing I've paid non-refundable money for something. Monday (4/30) and Tuesday (5/1) mornings found me running through the neighborhood with Tonka (the dog). While he makes a great running companion, he's terrible at keeping a steady pace. Either we take the route we always do and he marks all the places he marked the day before, or we take a new route and he marks the places he'll need to mark the next day. Mile times were 10:38 (4/30) and 10:31 (5/1). I know I can do a sub 10, I just need to sneak out of the house without Tonka knowing. I'm going on a run tonight (in an hour, with a running partner and without the dog) so I'm excited to see what my "official" mile time is. Yesterday (5/1) also included a 9 mile bike ride on a terribly fitted mountain bike. I spend all the time in the world on my Cannondale (road bike) and no time at all on my Giant (mountain bike). Needless to say, an hour later, I learned my lesson and the Giant will get some tune-ups stat. Excited to do the mini-challenge (fastest mile): hopefully I get a good, fast run tonight! I'm cycling 15 miles as part of a triathlon on Saturday-- should see some good mile times from that! (Also means I'll meet my 20 miles in the saddle this week-- woot!) (I'm used to writing in a blog, not a forum... can you tell?)

Thanks everyone! @strickland: I'm excited to do the Disney Marathon because it sounds like so much fun, and I want to do the fun races while running is still new to me (my first "fun race" will be the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Denver in September). Once I get more confident, I'll start focusing on the hardcore stuff (BQ all the way!). I haven't decided if I'm doing the Disney Marathons next year or flying to Hawai'i to do the Hilo International Marathon in March 2013. A marathon in Hawai'i is my dream!

Somewhere between training for the zombie apocalypse and shelling out major dough at the gym, I fell in love with running. Combined with a slightly dormant (but still strong) love of cycling, I found myself wanting to push myself farther than I ever have before. Good news: I've never competed in races before, so I have plenty of room to grow. Bad news: I've never competed in races before. A few weeks ago I started running in earnest, and completed my first 5K on April 19th with a time around 33 minutes. Not bad, considering my hobbies include watching Doctor Who, playing old school Final Fantasy, and pretending to pass C++ classes (all of which are wonderfully time consuming). Now that I'm signed up for 10 more races this summer (8 running, 2 cycling), I figured I'd probably better train. Train like a guru. Thus, this summer is The Summer of Run (2012). Long term goals include: The Winter of Learn How To Swim (2012-13), The Spring of Disney Marathon Awesome (2013), and (my favorite) The Summer of Don't Drown During the Triathlons (2013). And, if I survive The Summer of Don't Drown, I plan to move on to The Year of (Half) Ironman (2014). Name: BellaMuse Race: Pixie Class: Scout Attributes: STR: 2 DEX: 3 STA: 3 CON: 2 WIS: 3 CHA: 2 Total: 15 Goals (Health): Run 1 mile, sub 9 minutes: DEX +3, STA: +1 Run 5K, sub 28 minutes: DEX +2, STA +3 Log 20 miles in the saddle (bike) per week; STA +2, STR +1 Goal (Lifestyle): Take (and pass) the MCTS: Windows 7, Configuration Exam 70-680; WIS +3 Current Stats: 1 Mile = 10:02 5K = 33:35 I'm pretty excited to join the forum of Scouts! I'm new to the site (and to forums in general-- what kind of nerd am I?), so I'm working on my profile slowly and surely. Good luck, everyone!!