"Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best." - Theodore I. Rubin

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Pasta from scratch + lonely dark mornings until....



your sister responds to your text at 5:30 am and calms you down enough to start your workout. My mind was a bit nervous for my workout this morning and therefore I kept waking up, starting at 4 am, until my alarm went off at 5. You would have thought it was a pre-race night with the way anxiety crept in. I got up and basically struggled to get my mind right and feel good about what I was doing. Sometimes I just feel so selfish with running professionally and not working another full time job; it makes me feel like I don't do enough with my life. Sam helped me feel more positive and reminded me that the hardest days to get going are the most important to get the hard work done. I popped in my Eminem CD driving to the road for my mile repeats, listened to "Not Afraid" and then got going with my warm up. I did 12x1 mile with 2 min recovery and hit them all in 5:34 or faster with my splits being 5:34, :32, :32, :27, :33, :30, :34, :34, :33, :32, :31, :24. A smile spread across my face when I finished and started to make my way back to my car. I treated myself to a large Caramel Machiatto from Tully's afterward :)

It's very hard getting up in the dark, going downstairs alone and getting ready for an extremely challenging workout, having your dogs look at you like "why the HECK are you up right now mom?!" and my body just wanting to run easy or go back to bed for a few hours! Yet the rest of this week and then next week are my last really hard weeks. When I'm in NYC in a few weeks I need to look back on everything I've been though these past few months, healing my foot (:)), working so.damn.hard. and realize that 26.2 miles needs to be a two and half hour celebration of my dedication, not something to be super nervous about or feared.

I have always wanted to get involved with the New Balance Girls on the Run program, so I think I'm going to look into volunteering with them here in the Phoenix area. Ever since I coached for a couple years at my old high school, I've wanted to get back into inspiring young kids and helping them get fitter, healthier and have fun doing it. Doing something like this will help me mentally because I always feel better when I can give back something to this amazing sport that has given me SOO much in life already. It makes me feel so good inside when I see kids get excited about running and achieving their goals.

Yesterday I went on a baking frenzy and made pumpkin spice muffins and cornbread from scratch. Then I decided to finally use my pasta roller and make pasta noodles from scratch for a big dinner for D, K and I :) It was soooo cool to make the dough and then cut it in pieces, roll it through the machine until it was just right, and then roll it through the linguine and spaghetti rollers. I put some pics up of the pasta drying on the counter and then in the strainer after I cooked it. Plain and simple..it.was.DELICIOUS!!! We all looooved it and I can't wait to make it again!! So yummy and 10 times better than dried pasta bought in the store :)

Quote for today: "Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success."- David Joseph Schwartz

6 comments:

  1. you're doing so fantastic and an inspiration to me. I need to work harder and not have each run be an easy run and this post is a motivation to me.

    The homemade pasta looks great and I love baking and eating it too. :)

    I've wanted to volunteer with Girls on the Run( didn't realize that Brooks was now the sponsor) but it hasn't fit into my schedule. If you volunteered it would mean so much to the girls. It would help them develop a base in running and self esteem...tools to help them through this tough thing called life.

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  2. 10X better than dried pasta? Now I want one. :) I just ran Chicago this past weekend and now that it is over I cannot wait to watch you run NYCM on tv. I think it's better to get the nerves out now and come race day you can be confident and focused. Good Luck!!

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  3. Christina,

    Thank you for your nice comments! I'm happy I can inspire you to want to run harder :) Yeah I didn't realize Brooks is sponsoring Girls on the Run either...I'm going to look into it right after NYC :)

    Kristen,

    How did Chicago go for you?? I hope you had a great experience! Thanks for the support and nice words :)

    Sally

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  4. Chicago was warm but I had a great time. Today I was bumped up from 99th place to 98th. I am hoping tomorrow they bump me up to 1st! Ha ha ;) Thank you for asking!

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  5. Awww Sal I am happy I got your text and was able to respond to get you a lil more excited for it...however excited you can really be for something like that. hahaha but look...you pushed through it and did an amazing job!! I am so proud of you, and just loooove boasting about you and your insane workouts to the girls on my team ;P I love you!! I cannot wait to see you, and to hear you cheer for me in 12 days!!! =] =] <3 XOXOXOXXO <3

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  6. Kristen,

    I finally looked up the results from Chicago! Great job on your race! Not sure if that is a PR but 2:59 is GREAT! I hope you have enjoyed some down time after the race :)

    Sally

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