It's GO Time! HOOD to Coast but First Seattle.

I'll be meeting up with some of these lovely ladies in a matter of hours!  Unfortunately, my husband (front and center) didn't make the all-women blogger team!  Next time honey.  

A random brain calls for random post so y'all know what that means, right?  Bullets it is!

• Hood to Coast is here this weekend.  I'm sure if you're an avid reader of running blogs then you haven't hear this news ANYWHERE else but here.  Ha!  
• I've had this trip on my mind for awhile now.  Ever since my vlog application attempt to get chosen for the Nuun Hydration Hood to Coast Team, I've had it as a goal to be there.  And here it is.  I made the team and I'm excited to be there.  Here's my application...so stinking long...I'm sure they fast forwarded most of it....but it earned me one amazing adventure that I'm honored to be about to embark on!  Bring it!  

• I'll be meeting over 30 beautiful running blogger women (do those words even go together smoothly? oh well) in just a matter of hours as we all make our way to Seattle, WA (where the Nuun headquarters are) from all over the country.  Most of these women I will be meeting for the first time.  
• I'm a pretty extroverted person for the most part.  Especially when I'm in social situations like this.  However, recently, I've been feeling painfully introverted in many ways.  Not sure why I said "painfully" but I suppose it has to do with the fact that I've had more to process lately and not all of it is happy stuff...I've kind of taken a step back from others and been kind of wrapped up snugly in myself.  At least more so than usual. But I'm confident that being in Seattle with all these awesome women will help me snap out of this turtle-like behavior and I'll be fully ready to share myself and bring the Amanda energy that I know is definitely in there waiting to dance.  
• Why processing?  Why more introverted?  Good questions.  I went to see The Odd Life of Timothy Green.  What a great movie.  So much there.  I could write an entire blog post or two on that movie and all the ways it spoke to me.  I'll save that one.  Anyway, on my way there, my husband and I were talking and I realized just how much was stuck in this brain of mine causing me stress...things that I wasn't even acknowledging and especially not dealing with or working through.  Just stuff jammed in there...my shoulders, back, neck, heart....all this stuff.  As I was listing some of these things and acknowledging them, there was instantly a release type of feeling.  The stressors are surely still there but at least I've made myself aware of them and have started to sort through them...you know, the refrigerator still needs cleaned out of all the crap that has gone bad but I'm slowly throwing stuff out and knowing what's in there.  :)  
• Stressors come in various packages.  I think that sometimes we think that things aren't big enough to matter, deal with, or allow ourselves to feel much about so we tuck them away.  Life is busy.  Emotions are messy.  We try not to stress.  But eventually, if too many of these little stressors come at once, I find myself with a whole lot of little stressors that add up to a spirt and body that is all out of whack.  Need to be better at this...being aware of things as they come so I can get rid of them and not end up carrying it all in my shoulders, back, neck, hips, and legs.  Ha!  
• I leave in 3 hours.  Kids are sleeping, bag isn't entirely packed, and I still hope to shower, get ready, wake the kids up and fill them up with LOVE and a good final impression before heading out for 5 days, and oh, I desperately need an adjustment from my chiropractor so trying to work that in too.  But then I'll be on the plane and ready to just relax and enjoy some awesome company and what I'm certain will be a bit LIFE adventure that changes me in some way.  
• Where's the Running At?  
• Hmm, Where's the Running At?  Did I already say that? That could be a song...Where's the Running At...Think of kind of a hip hop beat... Yup, well, maybe I need to ask that question one more time so somebody else can answer it for me because I'm really not so sure.  I had every intention to get to this weekend feeling happy, healthy, and ready to run fast.  So so ready to feel these legs move fast!  Don't we all want this for our bodies?  :)  But....
• Sometimes life has an entirely different plan for us....
• As of now...today...right this minute...my feet are hurting a bit.  My achilles and bottom of feet started bothering me sometime last week and my running as been sporadic.  Slow.  Not much.  This could be because of a number of things but I'm moving on now and trying to figure out how to GET WHOLE FAST!  And still finding a way to get some endorphins.  :)  
• I won't be running or attempting to run until my first leg on Friday night.  At that time, I will assess where I'm at.  If I feel good, I'll run smart.  If I don't feel good, I'll run smarter.  What I don't plan on doing is going out there and leaving my entire running wad on the Hood to Coast course...because...really, it isn't worth it.  I will run with my heart.  I will run happy.  I will run the best I can for what is best for my body.  It is obvious I have the beginnings of...that bad word of an injury that is so common...um, plantar fasciitis and probably some achilles tendonitis.  But as we all know, these things can be cared for.  And if we are smart, then we can move on quicker than if we are STUPID.  Stupid would be to ignore this.  Smart would be to do what I'm doing:
• I've got my feet taped (thanks to my dear hubby who just came out of having really awful PF for almost a year), stretches to do, and an optimistic attitude about the whole thing. However, I'm not going to lie....I do feel a little like this picture I posted a few weeks ago:

• I'm certain my teammates will understand that I might/will have to run slower than that sub 7 pace that I was dreaming of for many of my miles...if anything, just to have fun letting my running legs go...and bonus to be on a team doing it.  I know they've all been there with injury and know that taking care of our bodies is ESSENTIAL.  I know that they also know that this is crappy timing.
• I already feel more like my extroverted Happy Amanda self just writing this.  Seriously, I've got a smile on my face and my feet are telling me that THEY WILL BE FINE. 
• Excited to have fun, be smart, listen to my body, make new friendships, be in Seattle for a few days before and just see where this adventure takes me!  
• And now, I'm off to shower, pack, love on my kids, schedule that chiropractor appointment, do my feet exercises/stretches, and drink some Nuun (but the Nuun All Day kind) to get me in the Nuun Zone:

Lots of amazing ladies to make up three Nuun Teams.

So, Here's to What's Next!  It's GO Time!

Amanda
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