More Than a Runner

"🎶 More than a runner...more than a runner to me...🎶 ~Apologies to the Bee Gees. 

This post was originally scheduled to go live Sunday from Montgomery, Alabama after a fun-filled active weekend with my co-host, Holly. As much as we tried, we just couldn't finish our posts and do them justice in time to open the Weekly Wrap on Sunday as we usually do. We debated about this all Sunday morning but on the drive to the airport, we finally made the decision to defer the Wrap to Monday morning. We hope y'all understand!

For me, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Yes, I was just in Wisconsin last week. And yes, I ran a race with Holly and a bunch of other blogger friends 2 weeks ago. It's been a busy couple of weeks. I even squeezed in a couple days of work between all this activity. Full disclosure: I also had more than a few "what was I thinking?" thoughts cross through my head. More than once.

It was all worth it.

If runners are good at anything, it's learning to roll with life. That's what I did and I've had a really fun couple of weeks--although I am pooped! I need a vacation...

Ok, let's wrap it up!

Before I left for Alabama, there was work and there was a little working out. Still tired from my Wisconsin weekend, I took Monday and Tuesday as rest days. I did go for a run on Wednesday. I set out to do 6 miles, but I felt yucky from my first step out the door. It never got better and after 3.5 miles, I called it quits. I'm not sure if it was the weather or too much weekend, but knowing I had to go to work, I decided to preserve whatever energy was left.

This was about 2 miles in and you can see it on my face.
Even running for a selfie felt bad. 

On Thursday, I went to CrossFit for my strength session with Sammy Jo followed by bootcamp. For strength training, I did back squats, 3 sets of 8 reps alternating with front and side lat lifts. That got my heart pounding! Coach SJ had me do an EMOM of barbell good mornings, thrusters, and the assault bike. After I recovered from 3 sets of that, I did some pull-up work. I don't know if it was the humidity or what, but I felt pretty nauseous. I was a little nervous about bootcamp. I had about 30 minutes to recover and I felt pretty good after that. The first EMOM was easy, I thought, no problem! But the rest of the workout was tough. At the end, I fought nausea. Was it RA? Was it humidity? Am I just in over my head? I took comfort in the struggle that the other participants were having. Is that wrong?

Also on Thursday, I traveled south for a long weekend with co-host, Holly. I arrived Thursday evening and we caught up over dinner. Even though we just saw each other 2 weeks ago, there was plenty to talk about. We also planned our weekend.

On Friday morning, we hopped into a beat-up van with 8 other people for our Coosa River Kayak Adventure. The owner gave us a lengthy safety 'briefing' with a few horror stories about people who were hurt or killed on the 7 mile journey. Were we scared? If anything, his stories made us more determined to conquer the Coosa. Heck, I've kayaked the Chicago River, which has its own set of hazards.

Holly and I set off down the river. We lost the people we started with and for the entire journey, we were alone. We listened for the sounds of Dueling Banjos, and thankfully, we didn't experience a re-enactment of Deliverance (graphic video warning). The first set of rapids was fun and easy--just some swirling water amidst the rocks. We congratulated ourselves on our master kayaking skills. We traversed a few more rapids with no problems save for me getting stuck on a rock. I couldn't get loose. Probably because we were laughing so hard.

Once I dislodged myself from the rock, we paddled further down the river. We heard the loud sound of rushing water. The real rapids! Here was the hazard that we were warned about. We had to make a decision. Do we go to the right for the class 3 rapids? Or to the left for the class 2 (novice) rapids?

I think you know what we did. Novice rapids? Oh, hell no. Sorry, Holly.

I made it down the rapids without incident, save for getting wet. When I turned around to check on Holly, I saw she was coming down sideways. Oh no. I checked my position in the swirling water. I was heading straight ahead and when I turned around again, there was Holly, floating down the rapids, her kayak upside down. We drifted down to calmer waters and I helped her get back in the kayak.

There were more rapids but the rest of our trip was uneventful, save for some unexplained large bruises on my leg. We were warned about "Coosa River tattoos" and I guess I got one. After we finished our kayaking adventure, we met Holly's husband for a quick BBQ sandwich and then it was off to the lake for waterskiing.

Because a 7 mile kayak adventure wasn't enough.

Holly graciously let me ski first. On my second attempt, I was up and on top of the water. I hadn't skied since last year and I was a little tentative at first. But it doesn't take long to get back in a groove.  As they say, it's just like riding a bike!

After Holly skied, we did our tandem thing. Oh my, that was fun!!! We skied multiple times that afternoon. I was so tired but I somehow could just keep on going.  Seriously,  I could give up running if I could ski all the time.

Saturday morning, we had planned to run, but one cup of coffee ran into 2 and instead, we put on our bathing suits and drifted in the pool. Our water therapy led to a side of beer. Later that afternoon, we were back on the lake with plans for more skiing. The lake had other ideas. The wind had kicked up and there was a pretty good chop. We drove around for quite a while, hoping it would calm down, but that never happened. Holly and I finally made the decision to suck it up and go. Getting out of the water was tough and skiing in the rough waters was really challenging. When we finally stopped both of us were breathing as hard as if we sprinted a 5k!

Our planned run finally happened Sunday morning. We are running bloggers, after all. I begged Holly to take me to some local trails and believe it or not, this was the first time she ran them too! We were greeted with this welcoming sign:

We never saw any gators, much to my disappointment!

but we decided to go for it. The trails were shaded and rustic. We made it about a mile before stopping to walk. After 2.5 miles we called it quits. We were no match for the 'feels like 97 degrees' conditions and went to breakfast. This means I ran a whopping 6 miles this week. But I what I did do made up for any lack of mileage. My runner's heart is full. It's been a great weekend. 

Do you ever substitute other activities for running or do you feel like you're missing out when you don't meet your mileage goals? Any other waterskiiers out there?  Have you ever adventure kayaked? 

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap! Holly and I co-host this fun fitness link up where fitness bloggers can share their workout and/or fitness recaps. All we ask is that you link back to us and comment on our blogs. You can use the badge below. Please comment on at least linked 3 blogs--even better is to come back and comment on the later linkers! Have a great week. 

An InLinkz Link-up

SaveSaveSaveSave