13 weeks!!!  I have been training for the Crawlin Crab Shell Yeah Challenge (5k & half marathon) for 13 weeks!!  In fact, it was the week after summer vacation in Myrtle Beach when Sam and I started ramping up our miles and beginning our training.  So, it felt a little like a kick in the gut when I found out this morning that the race was cancelled due to the potential impact of Hurricane Joaquin.  I totally understand their decision and the importance of runner/volunteer safety so I think they made the right call.  With that being said, it still SUCKS!  Joaquin is a jerk.  I have a few options that I am considering, but not 100% sure what the new plan is yet.  The Woodrow Wilson Half Marathon, which I ran last year (recap here), has not been cancelled yet.  If Joaquin takes a chill pill, I am considering signing up for that one at the expo on Saturday.  If the weather doesn’t chill out, I am not sure what the weekend plans will be or if I will even be able to get in any miles.  We have received notification from the Crawlin’ Crab race officials that they are looking to reschedule the race weekend for Oct 16-18.  Gabby has a swim meet that weekend so I’m not sure it is going to work for me.  Time will tell.  You can’t mess with Mother Nature.  She has a mind of her own.

My training week has been a little messed up so I guess its just been one of those weeks.  Here’s a look at my workouts:

MONDAY

Sam and I took yoga on Monday.  It felt good to stretch out after Sunday’s long run, but it was also tough.  Track 1 was new to us and it involved a lot of squats.  I didn’t even realize my quads were sore from Sunday’s run until we started in the squat position – ouch!  After track 1, the remaining tracks were familiar and all felt good.  It was nice to get a good stretch.  On Monday night, I tagged Sam in a facebook post about Joaquin.

TUESDAY

Tuesday was supposed to be a 5 miler, but my stomach wasn’t feeling well.  I *almost* risked it, but decided it wouldn’t be the best idea.  It was probably a good thing because it started POURING while I was at swim with Gabby, which is when I would have been running.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday, Sam and I ran 5 miles after work.  We usually go to body pump, but since this is (was) race week, we didn’t want to be too sore, and we also needed to get our run in since we didn’t run Tuesday night.  It was a little warm/humid, but also cloudy.  It was a pretty good run.

On our run, we chatted a little bit about the approaching storm.  Sam didn’t seem very concerned so I thought maybe I was over-reacting (note that I am terrified of bad weather).  Later that night, I got a text from Sam.  lol.  She had finally sat down and watched the forecast.  She was now freaking out right along with me.  By the time I went to bed, I was convinced we were going to have to cancel.  At that point, they had extended the deferral deadline until Thursday night.  We decided we would make a decision the next day.

THURSDAY

Sam and I chatted a bit on the way in to work.  She found out we had till midnight to cancel the hotel so we said we would give it a bit longer and check the forecast again.  At 9:45, we got emails saying the race had been cancelled.

We had considered swimming tonight.  Since it was so close to the race, we wanted a low impact exercise and since I had to take Gabby to swim practice anyway, we decided to swim.  Well…here I sit at swim practice with Gabby.  I’m sitting on the sideline working on my blog instead of swimming.  Sam and I are both exhausted tonight and decided against it.  I have to admit it is a little intimidating to jump back in that pool.  Its been a few months for me.  I know that sounds silly and I don’t really know why I feel that way other than because I know I’m not a strong swimmer.  I realize how dumb that sounds as I am typing this and am now a little disappointed that I didn’t swim.  Once I get the courage to jump back in, I know I’ll be fine.  I really do want to get back to swimming.  I think I’m getting closer 😉  So anyway, today turned into a rest day.  I don’t know what I’ll do tomorrow.  My schedule is all messed up.  I want to do something since I took today off, but nothing extreme since I still could end up racing this weekend.

So to recap, my training has been a hot mess this week.  The weather has been a hot mess this week.  My stomach was a hot mess this week.  And for the cherry on top, my race was cancelled.  As my father likes to say, “Life is a shit sandwich, and every day you take a bite.”  lol!  Now it is time to make some lemonade out of these lemons 🙂  Stay tuned…