Time to Call Jillian Michaels

Today I can barely keep my eyes open. Perhaps because didn't get enough sleep...perhaps because I ran my lungs out yesterday.

First, let me back up. On Friday we had a quick 30 minute run which we completed before I went to work. Then we left for our Winter Retreat with the high schoolers for the weekend. It was a great time of worship and hearing God's word from a man named Frank Winans. He is a friend of Aaron's from California and he actually spoke at my Spring Break Road Trip when I was in high school. He's awesome and he brought it this weekend. God is real...and he wants a relationship with you. It was great. Jake's friend from a great place called Wilmington, NC came and led worship for us. Chad and his guitar rocked it all weekend and led us in great songs and great worship. Saturday night we had our "Hollywood Movie Premiere". The students dressed up as a movie character and each small group made their own movies. Mine was awesome, if I do say so myself...a twisted spin off combination of "The Bachelorette" and "Scary Movie". I'll post it here if stuart puts it online.

Whenever I'm gone for the whole weekend I feel out of touch with my "working out" self. So Monday seemed very far away from Friday. What's worse is that Monday was also the longest run (so far) on our training schedule. We were supposed to run for 1 hour and 15 minutes. We hit the road right before sunset. I won't bore you with too many details, but let me tell you that the hill at the end just about made me cuss...and cry. Stuart suggested that we push it and run hard up the hill...bad idea for a novice jogger. I felt like I needed to rip open my lungs and give them more air. Coach Stu explained that I need to breathe deeper and slower when I push myself like that. In through the nose, out through the mouth. I was wheezing and gasping for air at the top of the hill, while my husband was running circles around me. It was NOT fun. at all. All I could do was picture Jillian Michaels (from The Biggest Loser) yelling in my face commanding me not to quit. Thanks Jill. It got too dark to stay outside before we were done with our 75 minutes of torture. So we headed back to the fitness center. For some dumb reason only 3 of the 10 treadmills there are in working condition and Stuart got the last one. Darn...I guess I'll have to do the elliptical machine. So all in all, I still haven't run the max, but someday I will...someday. Today my lungs feel better and are ready to hit the road again soon. I can't wait to look back and laugh at how bad of a runner I used to be...ha!