I Registered for Robie

I registered for Robie.  I registered for Robie.  I registered for ROBIE.  Who the hell do I think I am, Deena Kastor or something?  Seriously.  After I somehow managed to be one of 2100 people to register in 9 minutes and 46 seconds or something ridiculous like that, I freaked out and then ran 5 miles to my nearest CrossFit location.  No joke, that happened.  That being said, the CrossFit session was really just an on-ramp session that still managed to kick my ass.  But I survived, oh yes, I survived. 

I've been trying to get in 2 weekday runs and a weekend run since the beginning of February but with this whole CrossFit deal, my muscles have been SO SORE.  Our office started this CrossFit deal with the E3 location with some of the kids on our caseload at work during the first few weeks of February and I, being overly enthusiastic about the project, volunteered to be one of the POs to work out with the kids.  I never imagined I'd do so many damn air squats or that my legs could ever feel as sore as they did in February!  It pains me to say that CrossFit sidelined my running for about a week after I started.  My first 2 mile run after the first week of CrossFit took me 24 minutes.  I couldn't sit in a chair without bracing myself and I struggled to get up and down the stairs. 

I hurt.

Then something magical happened a few weeks later: I voluntarily chose to do air squats, sit ups, and push ups at home on a non-run day and I didn't hurt like hell afterward. 

And the next day I bought a 2 month membership to a CrossFit box. 

And in the mean time I've been training for Robie.  I've run hills and long runs and have tried to continue cross training as much as possible.  This weekend I ran my first ever route on Shaw Mountain Road with my friend, Renee.  Eight miles later, I didn't die.  I've got a long way to go before I'm officially ready to run Robie, and I highly doubt I'll ever be ready to run Robie, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to complete the race in under 3 hours.  We'll see how that all works out!

For now, enjoy these 2 pictures from Saturday's training run: one 5 miles in and the other after our 8 mile finish!