Happy February!

Hello and Happy February (a day late)! I can’t believe that the month of January has already come and gone.

I didn’t really think through the fact that this whole post numbering system was going to get more difficult now that it isn’t January. I won’t be able to just name my posts based on the day of the month. I will probably miscalculate at some point.

Also FYI, if you ever need to calculate the number of days between two dates, you can use this handy little calculator –> http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html. I use it at work sometimes and felt the need to share.

Rebecca and I have been having some mathematical difficulties in calculating our #runlovechallenge mileage, which is actually quite comical given the fact that we both have master’s degrees and that I am a CPA and she teaches math! Ha. After the Big Beach Marathon & Half Marathon Sunday, we are “officially” at 182 of our 214. We are counting 15 miles for that day, because I ran the half and she ran the full. We ran the same course for 13 of the miles and I also did a short warm up and cool down. We didn’t technically run those miles together, in a side-by-side sense, but we figure that it was close enough!

Speaking of numbers, I “ran the numbers” on January training and I plan to do a monthly recap at the end of each month to summarize the month (from a running perspective) and see what was accomplished. I think taking time to look back and reflect will be beneficial to my overall training. Here we go …

Total running: 355.50 miles. This is a lot (for me). Now that I am no longer marathon training, the mileage will be significantly less in February.

Workouts: 4. 3 X 2 miles, 20 miles w/ last 4 @ GMP (goal marathon pace), 6 X 1 mile, and a 4 mile wave tempo.

Longest run: 24 miles!

Shortest run: 4 miles.

Favorite run: The Battleship Run!

Favorite race: First Light Marathon Relay!

Rest Days: 1

Cross Training: Um … does walking and/or tennis count as cross training? If so, 18 miles of walking (16 with my mom and 2 with Brooks) and ~ 5 hours of tennis (I played doubles twice). I didn’t do yoga all month! Oops. I really need to work on that.

Other random data from the month: 152.75 hours worked and 250.03 hours slept (averaging 8 hrs. and 4 min. per night). I’m definitely an 8 hours a night kind of a girl! I’m also definitely a data-obsessed kind of girl. Fitbit tracks my sleep time, which I think is really interesting. I definitely feel so much better on days when I have gotten my 8 hours the night before. I don’t get 8 hours every night, but I make up for it with naps on Saturday and/or Sunday (preferably both). Those naps are crucial to bringing my average up to 8.

There you have it. I’d say that January was a pretty good month. I am looking forward to more races and lower mileage in February! Don’t get me wrong, I love high-mileage training, but I’m ready for a little bit of a break from that for a little bit. I’ve got 3 races planned for February: a 5K, a 15K and half marathon in February. I’m excited to run all. of. the. races.

I’ve actually already matched my # of rest days for January and beat my shortest run (I did a 3 mile run this evening) and we are only at February 2nd! I’m definitely on track to meet my goal of less miles this month.

Now that we have “closed the books” on January (I’m throwing out random accounting terminology, so you know it must be tax season), let’s talk about February for a minute. I found a challenge on Pinterest that I think I want to do for the month of February. It’s meant to be done in a personal journal, which I think will be good, but I also might share some of it here with you guys <3

First of all, I want to clarify this whole concept of “love yourself.” I am not referring to a prideful, worldly type of self-worshiping love. I am talking about being thankful and appreciative of the person I am in Christ. A love based on humility and thankfulness, not on pride or arrogance.

Loving yourself is a critical part of your spiritual journey. Loving yourself as the person that God created can help to free you from the bondage of self-rejection, self-hatred, bitterness, low self-esteem, being overly critical of yourself, etc. The list goes on and on really. For me, it can be a daily struggle. Satan tries to plant lies in my head, but I will not let him win.

We were all created in God’s own image. Our bodies and our minds were formed by The Lord in His likeness. Let’s take a lesson from David and praise God, because we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

David wasn’t boasting in who he was, but rather being thankful and rejoicing over the beautiful creation that God made in him! I am hopeful that this challenge will challenge me to base my self worth using The Lord’s valuation and no one else’s.

Anyone else need to practice some self-love? If so, join me in this 28 day challenge. I just realized that we will need to add a day to this. Hmm … I’ll come up with something good!

In other news …

Daniel and I have started watching Friends on Netflix. He hasn’t ever seen all of them and we were needing a new series. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in quite a while. I had forgotten how funny that show was.

We’ve been getting in lots of quality cuddle/sleeping time on the couch.

Oh, and Daniel made me a shoe rack. My pile of shoes had gotten a little bit out of control, so I asked if he could make something for me. He definitely delivered. It’s perfect.

That’s all I’ve got tonight folks. Talk to you soon!