I’m Wingin’ It: Soaring Wings Half Marathon Training, Week Eight Recap

Fifty days.

Do you know how many search results pop up when you Google “what can I do in the next fifty days”?

I don’t either, because Google has apparently removed its estimated search result count. BUT…even if I can’t tell you the exact number, I can tell you there were loads of results.

“Lose Weight in 50 Days.”

“50 States in 50 Days.”

“50 Things to Throw Out in the Next 50 Days.”

“50 Good Deeds in 50 Days.”

“50 Books to Read in the Next 50 Days.”

On and on and on the list goes. Some of the options intrigued me, some made me laugh, some sounded awful…but you know what I’ve done in fifty days?

I’ve made it to week eight of my half marathon training. Can I get an EEEEEEK, y’all?! I’m eeeeeekin’ all over the place over here. I’ve always heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit, which means I am way beyond creating a workout habit in my life. If you remember the very first blog post of my half-marathon journey, that was one of my ultimate goals: developing a consistently healthier life for myself. Just one more, I promise…eeeeeeeeeek! This is really big for me, friends. I am actually, really, true-life sticking with it, and I just want to celebrate!

So here is what I’ve done this week, starting with the big five-oh:

• Day Fifty, Week Eight (Monday): 30 minutes of run four/walk two. I did 2.75 miles in the time, and I was pumped about it. Give me a few more runs and I’ll hit three miles in under thirty…just watch me.
• Day Fifty-One, Week Eight (Tuesday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via biking. I did seven miles – per the usual – but this time, I did solid uphill until the last two minutes. #beasting
• Day Fifty-Two, Week Eight (Wednesday): Rest day.
• Day Fifty-Three, Week Eight (Thursday): 30 minutes of run four/walk two combo. Another 2.75 miles this day!
• Day Fifty-Four, Week Eight (Friday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via yoga. I actually used to do yoga when I was in high school and enjoyed it, so I decided to give it a go since I was feeling a little under the weather. (Let’s just say that I’m not as flexible as I used to be.)
• Day Fifty-Five, Week Eight (Saturday): Six miles…yes…of run/walk intervals. In case you were wondering where this week’s increase from last week came in, here it is! For those of you who know where my parents live and where I live, I RAN TO THEIR HOUSE AND BACK (see the cover photo for proof). For those of you who don’t, THAT IS SIX MILES…and in 1:19:01! Craziness. Exciting, fun craziness.
• Day Fifty-Six, Week Eight (Saturday): Rest day. I did not run to my parents’ house and back on this day. Ha.

This week’s cheery, “I made it through fifty” anthems were “Bad Girls” by M.I.A., “Good Time, Good Life” by Erin Bowman, and “Work” by Britney Spears (ha…so that last one is what I finished my long run with, and I’ll just tell you, it got me moving!). Good rhythm, catchy lyrics, and plain ol’ fun…I just like ’em!

Week Eight was a good one for training and for motivation, but it was also another good one for fundraising. I am at $130; only $70 away from my Winged Warrior goal. If you’d like to help me reach that goal, visit my Soaring Wings fundraising page at https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/kyndall-brown/2017-soaring-wings-half-marathon-and-10k.

Thanks for checking in this week, and I’ll see you again at the end of week nine!

I’m Wingin’ It: Soaring Wings Half Marathon Training, Week Seven Recap

Do you remember the moment when you lost your last baby tooth?

I do. I was in 7th grade, and I remember thinking, “I’ve made it. This is adulthood. I wonder what the Tooth Fairy will bring for my very last one?” If memory serves me correctly, I believe I got a $20 bill (it may have been a $10). Either way, I was totally impressed by the Tooth Fairy.

That is what this week feels like for me: I’m officially past the “baby teeth” of my training. No more mostly walks…no more light weightlifting…no more springtime cool on Saturday mornings. Just the grueling adulthood of half-marathon training in the middle of a Southern summer. It isn’t that I pushed myself intensely harder than last week; it’s more that I looked back to my very first week of training and thought, “Woah. Look at how far the Training Fairy has brought me.”

My progress is pretty nuts if you really think about it. I mean, seven weeks and one day ago my idea of exercise was picking up my next slice of pizza…and now I’m truly pushing myself FIVE days EVERY single week. Funny anecdotes and pictures aside, this stuff is hard, y’all! With each new week I think, “Maybe this will be the one where I quit feeling so sore or a little less tired.” While it’s true that I am (a lot) stronger and faster than I was seven weeks ago, I still have to consciously make an effort not to give up on every run, every bike ride, every weightlift circuit…and I haven’t. I won’t. You will see me cross that finish line in October if I have any-stinkin’-thing to say about it. Forget the difficulty…I want that “$20 bill from the Tooth Fairy” at the end of all this effort.

So now that I am done pep talkin’, here’s what I did this week:

• Day Forty-Three, Week Seven (Monday): 30 minutes of run four/walk two combo with two and a half miles during that time.
• Day Forty-Four, Week Seven (Tuesday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via biking – seven miles of hills included!
• Day Forty-Five, Week Seven (Wednesday): Rest day.
• Day Forty-Six, Week Seven (Thursday): 30 minutes of run four/walk two combo, again with two and a half miles during the timeframe.
• Day Forty-Seven, Week Seven (Friday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via circuit weightlifting.
• Day Forty-Eight, Week Seven (Saturday): Five miles of run three/walk two combo. (Really, it’s run three-ish/walk two-ish on this long-run day…I am to the point where I run what I can and walk when I need to rather than strictly following the clock. The mileage is the more important part on these days, anyway.) So…here’s the truth. Last week I finished this same routine at 1:04:17, and as I began week seven, my goal was to get a little closer to (if not under) the hour mark on this run. Ha. Haha. The problems started when I forgot to set my alarm and woke up shortly before 7…a full hour after my planned start time for running. Now, for those of you who are familiar with running in mid-July Arkansas weather, you do NOT just say “oopsie” and carry on, no problem. An extra hour can be the difference between warm-but-bearable and soggy-hellfire. So. With the only other alternative before me being five miles on a treadmill (GAG!), I decided to go the soggy-hellfire route…with no breakfast in me, because you just don’t tack on more soggy-hellfire than is absolutely necessary. The picture on the left side of my cover photo is me, halfway through my run, atop the hill by Turnberry (for you Conway peeps who know the area). Let me just say that I briefly considered stopping off into one of the houses being built there, taking a flop on the cool and shady concrete foundation, and calling Erin to come get me. I didn’t, as you now know…but it was a nice thought because I. WAS. DYING. Who knew that much liquid could come out of one’s pores? By the time I got home, I looked like I had already taken the ice-cold shower that followed (refer to the right side of the cover photo for a visual). Now…all that being said, I still got the five miles done in 1:05:48. I was dang proud of that time, too, considering the brutality of the morning. I’ll tell you…the best way to convert a sinner is to take them on a run like that and, at the end, say, “Is this really what you want?” It’ll work every time. (Joking. Sort of.)
• Day Forty-Nine, Week Seven (Sunday): Rest day.

Just like I am out of the baby stages of training, I am also out of the early stages of my fundraising efforts for Soaring Wings Ranch. With $120 now raised, I am only $80 away from my Winged Warrior goal. Check out my previous blog posts to find out more about this fundraiser, and go to my fundraising site if you would like to donate: https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/kyndall-brown/2017-soaring-wings-half-marathon-and-10k.

Just one more thing before I check out of week seven, friends: the songs that kept me moving. For this week, they were “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan, “Rockstar” by Smashmouth, and “99 Problems” by Jay-Z (except I changed the words for this one in my head to go more along the lines of “I’ve only got one problem and it’s this stupid run”.) Nothin’ like a little classic hip-hop fun to get you through ’em, right?

That’s all for week seven, y’all. I’ll see you on the other side of week eight!

I’m Wingin’ It: Soaring Wings Half Marathon Training, Week Six Recap

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I have a very diverse, eclectic ear for music.

Basically, if I like it, it’s on my playlist. I’m not tied to artists or genres or mainstream or album only. I just like good music.

That being said, there’s nothing like a gritty, serious Eminem choice while working out. Have y’all ever heard his song “Til I Collapse”?

If not, here are the first few lines:

“Cause sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak
And when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up
But you gotta search within you
And gotta find that inner strength
And just pull that [stuff] out of you
And get that motivation to not give up
And not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face, and collapse.”

Add those words in with a solid beat, and you have athletic gold. (Trust me. It sounds really good with the music…if you like hip-hop, anyway.)

Obviously, this song topped week six’s motivational playlist. I love it. Every time it comes on my iPod, I push myself harder, focus on my form a little more, remember my motivators a little better.

This week was a major push week, unlike last week’s fun-n-floaty vacation time in Chicago. Not only did I increase running time on more than one day, (…insert Jaws theme song here…) I also hit the five-mile long run on Saturday.

So here’s what I did each day:

• Day Thirty-Six, Week Six (Monday): 30 minutes of run three/walk two combo. I did two and a half sweaty miles. Let me tell you, I could feel the lazy long run on Saturday…my legs were achin’ after this one.
• Day Thirty-Seven, Week Six (Tuesday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via biking. I did the usual seven miles, but with increasing hills for all of the ride except the last five minutes. Phew! It was good for working out the extra soreness leftover from Monday, though.
• Day Thirty-Eight, Week Six (Wednesday): Rest day.
• Day Thirty-Nine, Week Six (Thursday): 30 minutes of run/walk combo, but I upped the run time to four minutes each and the walk time was at two minutes each. I hit 2.75 miles in that time.
• Day Forty, Week Six (Friday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via circuit weightlifting. Always feels good, especially when I can see the progress made through more weight on each machine! To give you an idea, number-wise, I’ve added 20-50 pounds on EVERY machine I use since I started six weeks ago. Oh, and those pictures of me at the gym in the cover photo? Yeah…I was holding my legs and body up WITH MY CORE MUSCLES FOR TEN-TWENTY SECONDS AT A TIME. How’s that for abs, y’all?
• Day Forty-One, Week Six (Saturday): Hoo-boy. This was my standard long-run day, but as I mentioned earlier, I upped the mileage AND run time on this day…FIVE miles of run three/walk two combo. My time, you ask? An hour, four minutes, and 17 seconds. Slay. My takeaway from this run is this – there should be an emoji specifically for runners who go over five miles in one run. It would be huffy and puffy and red-faced-sweaty and smiling (a bit crazily, but still smiling). It would look exactly like the face I made at the end of my run (see the cover photo), and I’d call it “No More Today, Please”. You’d use it, right?

Just like I went farther in my run, I’ve also made it a little farther in my Winged Warrior fundraising for Soaring Wings. I’m only $90 away from my set goal for the precious kiddos at the ranch, so would you consider making a donation that goes directly to them? If you would like to, visit my fundraising page at https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/kyndall-brown/2017-soaring-wings-half-marathon-and-10k.

Well…that’s it for week six. Thanks for checking in to make sure I actually survived the week, and thanks for your support of Soaring Wings and me. I’ll see you this time next week with a week seven update!

I’m Wingin’ It: Soaring Wings Half Marathon Training, Week Five Recap

Chicago is one of my favorite places on Earth.

There’s Wrigley Field and my beloved Cubbies.  Pizzeria Uno, Portillo’s, Giordano’s, Nuts on Clark…some of the best food anywhere.  Navy Pier.  Beautiful architecture.  The Chicago River weaving it’s way serenely through the city.  Millenium Park and The Bean.  The Magnificent Mile.

You just can’t beat it.

And did I mention that’s where Erin and I did my four-mile Saturday run this week?!  From one end of the Magnificent Mile to the other (more than once, of course!).

Yeah.  Talk about fantastic.

The whole week was pretty fantastic, actually.  My parents, grandparents, husband, and I went on a whirlwind trip that was planned a mere three weeks ago.  My Mam and Pop, Dad, and I are lifelong Cubs fans who have never been to Wrigley all together…so a few weeks ago, we decided to change that!  We crammed as much into the trip as we could, and I am so glad we went.  You never regret those kinds of memories.  Ever.

Just like I’ll never regret getting up before dawn on Saturday and running right through the heart of one of my favorite places with my hubbie in tow, stopping for some quick pictures along the way.  See, this run wasn’t really about the time for me, although I still hit my four-mile mark in right at an hour.  Instead, it was one of those really cool, living-in-the-now, smiling the whole way kind of moments.  When I started training five weeks ago, I couldn’t have guessed how many of those moments I would have along the way.  Honestly, I didn’t think I was even going to like the training…but here I am, talking about exercising while on vacation and (even more shocking) saying that I actually LIKED it!  This whole half-marathon journey is quickly turning into one of the most special things I have ever done, and I am already five weeks through it…wow!

I am also over HALF of the way to my fundraising goal thanks to some awesome donors out there like you, and I got an email from Soaring Wings on Thursday morning saying I have officially earned my wings for getting over the $100 mark.  Yay, friends!

If you want to know more about what I am fundraising for and why, check out the previous posts on my blog.  If you would like to contribute to my Winged Warrior fundraiser for Soaring Wings Ranch, visit my fundraising page here: https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/kyndall-brown/2017-soaring-wings-half-marathon-and-10k.

Now, for the readers who want to know about the training I did this week, I’ve listed all my workouts below.

• Week Five, Day Twenty-Nine (Monday): 30 minutes of run three/walk two combo.  I did just over two miles in the time.
• Week Five, Day Thirty (Tuesday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via circuit weightlifting.  I did weights today instead of Friday, because I knew I’d be away from my gym that day and wanted to keep my strength day in the mix.
• Week Five, Day Thirty-One (Wednesday): Rest day.
• Week Five, Day Thirty-Two (Thursday): 30 minutes of run three/walk two combo again.  I went right at two and a half miles this day, probably from the adrenaline of heading out of town later that day.  (Plus, I knew I needed the extra calories for that Pizzeria Uno pizza we headed for first thing upon entering the city!)
• Week Five, Day Thirty-Three (Friday): 30 minutes of crosstraining was the called-for task, but I tweaked this day a bit.  Since we ended up walking 7+ miles at Wrigley and downtown Chicago throughout the day, I ended up calling it even.  I mean we were on vacation, right?
• Week Five, Day Thirty-Four (Saturday): As you already know, I did the “Magnificent Four-Miler” before hopping on the plane to head back home.  Can I tell you one more time how cool it was?  It was SO COOL, y’all.
• Week Five, Day Thirty-Five (Sunday): Rest day.

Now there’s only one more thing you need to know before I wrap up my week five recap – my inspirational songs of the week.  You know one of them just had to be “Go Cubs Go”, right?  It’s only fitting.  The other one was “I Lived” by OneRepublic.  I mean, what song could be more appropriate when you find yourself in one of your favorite places with your favorite person, enjoying an unforgettable moment?  There aren’t many, I can tell you that!

So…there you have it.  Week Five.  The Chicago week.  It was pretty awesome.

Be sure to check in next week for a week six progress update.  You never know what I might do or where I’ll be!  Thanks for stopping by, thanks for supporting me and Soaring Wings, and I’ll see you next week.

I’m Wingin’ It: Soaring Wings Half Marathon Training, Week Four Recap

For those of you who want to know what and how I did in my week four training, I’ll tell you that it was a good week.  I made some progress (again!) toward being stronger and faster, especially in my long run on Saturday (four miles in 51:11…an under-thirteen-minute-mile pace…to Walgreens and back, which has some pretty significant hills along the way…hence the cover photo being my mid-run and I’m DONE photos from the long run day!).  The full synopsis of my training is at the end of this post, but before I get there, I want you to know that this was more of a reflective week for me than an exciting I’m-really-making-strides week.

The reflection started on Monday’s run, when the song “At My Best” by Machine Gun Kelly played first thing on my playlist.  As I heard this song and continued my run, I really spent some time thinking about why I’m pushing myself…why I’m truly doing this.

During the six years I worked in public education, I spent quite a bit of time with foster kids.  Really awesome foster kids.  Foster kids who changed my life more than I changed theirs, I think.

Like the seventeen-year-old young man (I’ll call him D) who told me I was the first adult he ever liked or trusted.  I smiled and laughed when he said it, but then I was quickly moved when he said, “No, Mrs. B.  I’m serious.”

Or the seventeen-year-old young lady (I’ll refer to her as C) who shared a love of books with me, and who was always glad to be in English class, and who was adopted that school year.  I’ll never forget her joyously writing her new adopted name on her paper one day and then running up to my desk to show me.  This young lady is now a mother herself, and she is dang proud to be one.  I’m proud of her, too.

And there’s the thirteen-year-old girl (I’ll call her I) who told me the harrowing story of how she came to live in a different state, hidden from her biological and first foster families for the horrific amount of abuse that she endured under their care.  The girl who, after telling me about some of the things she faced, said, “Mrs. Brown, I won’t be back after Christmas break because the court said my biological parents have been doing good, and they’re going to make me go back to them.  I’m scared to go back.”  She cried and cried, and I tried to do something, anything, over the next few days to keep her here, where she felt safe.  She didn’t come back after Christmas, and I think about her every day…wondering where she is, who is taking care of her, if she’s okay.

Those are just a few of the stories that really stuck in my soul from my years in public education.  The ones where these precious kids who I know and saw every day went through things that I honestly can’t imagine.

So why I am telling you all of this?

Those kids and their stories are why I’m a Winged Warrior this year.  They are why I’ve just finished week four of my training.  Although I won’t give you their names, I will tell you that I am doing this for much more than a medal and the glory of running a half marathon…I’m doing it for the foster kids I know like D, and C, and I.  I am doing it for the ones I don’t know, but who Soaring Wings does.  All of them are why I ask you to visit my fundraising page (https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/kyndall-brown/2017-soaring-wings-half-marathon-and-10k) and give a few dollars directly to Soaring Wings Ranch.

See, D and C and I are three of the many foster kids I know.  There are SO many more out there right this second in our state alone, who I don’t know, and who need us.  They need our love, our concern, our care, our attention.  They need a place to call home.

I am thankful to Soaring Wings for providing that.  I am grateful that people like the foster parents at Soaring Wings exist to take in those kids and love them through a little portion of their childhoods.  I’m thankful every day for the people who will do what they can monetarily and spiritually to provide for the kids who enter those doors.  And I’m fortunate to have an opportunity to support a place like Soaring Wings.

Thanks for bearing with me as I pour a little heart onto the Internet instead of humor this time.  If you would like to learn more about Soaring Wings or donate to them via my Winged Warrior fundraising page, visit the link listed earlier.  Thanks for stopping by, thanks for supporting me and Soaring Wings, and I’m finally going to tell you what I did this week NOW:

• Week Four, Day Twenty-Two (Monday): 28 minutes of run two/walk two combo.  I did two miles!
• Week Four, Day Twenty-Three (Tuesday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via biking.  I did seven miles with hill intervals like last week.
• Week Four, Day Twenty-Four (Wednesday): Rest day.
• Week Four, Day Twenty-Five (Thursday): 30 minutes of run three/walk two combo.  Yep…that’s more running than walking for the first time in my training, and I got two miles done!  Yippeeee!
• Week Four, Day Twenty-Six (Friday): 30 minutes of crosstraining via circuit weightlifting.
• Week Four, Day Twenty-Seven (Saturday): Another four miler of run two/walk two combo.  I’ve already told you how this day went, but there’s one really cool thing I have to mention.  You know how the song “At My Best” is what triggered this week’s motivation?  It was the song that I finished my long run listening to today (and I had my playlist set on random!).  How neat is that?
• Week Four, Day Twenty-Eight (Sunday): Rest day.

I’m a quarter of the way there, ladies and gentlemen!  What a great feeling.  Tune in next week to see how it’s going, and thanks for stopping by today.