It’s no secret that last year was a shitty year of running for me. It was riddled with missed training runs and empty promises to get back on the ball. I was constantly losing my mojo, and I was totally undisciplined. I had no PRs and I didn’t meet any of my goals.

Going into this year, I thought that I would have to start from square one. Ok, maybe not as bad as I was in 2007, but I thought I’d be pretty close. The surprising thing is that I’m not back at square one. With two fantastic races under my belt (Great Race of Agoura 5k & Seal Beach 10k), I’m just beginning to realize that I’m in a lot better shape than I think I am. And what’s even more surprising is that I’m actually in even better shape than I was in 2008, when I felt like I did my best.

I don’t mean to come off as an egomaniac, because I know I’m still hella slow and I know I have so much more to go before I get to where I want to be. But as I stepped out for an easy 4 miler this evening, I felt a real sense of ease, comfort, and confidence as I started my run. Like I knew running it all the way, easy, would be no problem. I don’t think I’ve ever really felt like that before. And as I ran a loop that I haven’t done since 2008, I was suddenly hit with how far I’ve come.

2008 Sheryl: I had to run 3:2 intervals and each mile took me 13 mins to complete. The half mile hill I had to go up had my heart racing and left me gasping for breath. I would have to cut into my run intervals and start walking, and my walk breaks got longer and longer.

Present Day Sheryl: Runs 13min/mi as an easy pace with a 153 (Zone 3) avg HR. No longer uses intervals! YAY! Thought this day would never come =)

So, I guess today’s Motivational Monday is about giving yourself a little credit and having more faith in yourself and your body… as cheesy as that sounds ;) I think we all have our own mental image of what we’re capable of, but most of the time we can do soooo much more! And I think that’s what’s so great about running.. you’re constantly surprising yourself =)

Happy Monday, all!

You may be thinking to yourself.. has she gone mad?? It’s THURSDAY, not Monday!

Nope =) I haven’t gone mad (yet),  but I just couldn’t wait to share this awesome idea that Raciel and I have come up with.

We both have some pretty big goals this year. For one thing, we both want to set PRs for all distances. I personally want to set a huge one for CIM, my redemption marathon, in December. My goal is to do it in around 5:30. Raciel also has an uber crazy October this year with a half marathon (RnR LA), her first sprint triathlon, AND a full marathon (Marine Corps) all coming within a week of each other. Craziness!

So, to say that we must be as fit as we can possibly be to achieve these goals is a total understatement.

Our solution?

We’ve decided to share a training calendar on Google calendar so that we’re both aware of what the other needs to be doing on any given day. There’s nothing like being accountable to someone else to get your butt into gear. At least that’s what we’re hoping! =)

If we aren’t doing our workouts… the virtual metal spatula must be broken out! For those unfamiliar with the metal spatula, no, Raciel and I aren’t into anything kinky! It’s a reference to the movie Run, Fat Boy Run. There, Dennis (the main character) is being trained by his BFF and his landlord, who rides a scooter next to him and smacks him with a metal spatula every time Dennis tries to walk. LOL

So yeah… bring it on! You guys now know what we’ve got to do! FYI, Raciel’s workouts have (RaD) in front of them. Feel free to leave your own metal spatula comments if we aren’t doing our workouts!

I first met my friend, Christine, during my first year in law school. We sat next to each other in Civil Procedure, my LEAST favorite subject of all time. I don’t remember how exactly we started talking, but I do remember that when we did, we could hardly stop. We were probably known by other students as those weird girls yapping for hours in the parking lot.. because that’s exactly what we did. We’d walk over to the parking lot, fully intending to leave for the day, only to continue talking in the parking lot for at least a couple of hours before we finally left. It was just our way!

Some fun pics of me and Christine =)

dancing the night away at the Factory for Popstarz night

photo booth fun with law school girlies at Natalie’s wedding

at the movie premiere for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

at the Join the Impact protest against Prop 8 in downtown LA

One of the many things I admire about Christine is that fitness has always been a very high priority in her life. She’s always been very active, involved in every activity you can think possibly think of. And her biggest fear about growing old is losing muscle mass. So she does everything she can to maintain what she has… and she’s got a lot!

check out those guns!
That’s Christine, arm wrestling with our friend’s bf at a club haha =)

As if arm wrestling in a club didn’t fully illustrate Christine’s badassery, I’ll share with you one of the funniest memories I have of her, which incidentally also shows how hard core Christine really is.

We had just wrapped up day 1 of the bar exam and I was EXHAUSTED. We had 2 more days to go, 12 more hours of testing. And if that weren’t scary enough, my friends and I were all still feeling unprepared despite the fact that we had spent basically 50-60 hours a week for the past 3 months studying for that dang test. So, it only made sense that after a quick dinner that night we all went back to our rooms to review.

I was sitting on my bed, desperately trying to cram, and as I was cramming, Christine was swimming laps at the hotel pool. The next thing I know, I look up and she’s doing a series of pilates drills in our hotel room. I was thinking in my head… What in the world is she doing?? Doesn’t she know we still have 2 days left?? After she was done with her pilates, she wanted to get in a game of tennis with me. haha I was seriously astounded. Physical fitness is so important to Christine that she couldn’t even let a day go by without working out.. not even when those days coincide with the bar exam! Hard core!

For the majority of my life, I’ve been the complete opposite of Christine. In elementary school and junior high, I loved to play games and I guess you could say I was a pretty fit kid. When high school hit, we said goodbye to recess and with less activity, I slowly started to get “softer.” I wasn’t as fit anymore and I started to gain weight. I followed this trend for basically the next 10-15 years, until I was about to turn 29. Then one fateful night, Christine and I had one of those long, rambling parking lot conversations.

You see, I’ve always thought about getting fit and losing weight, but primarily for very superficial reasons: I want to look freakin’ hot! hahaha ok, not really. But I do want to look and feel better. I knew that getting fit and losing weight were all great things and made you healthier, but Christine brought up a point that I don’t think I’ve directly thought about, the nitty gritty bits of life… that being fit could make some things easier for us. Things like, going through pregnancy, giving birth, and even fighting off and recovering from illnesses, sometimes serious ones are easier when your body is in good condition.

I know… it was a total DUH moment.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially since in the short span of 2 months, I’ve managed to get sick TWICE already. When I was my most active (during my first year of running), I didn’t get sick at all. And I attribute that completely to my being more active and healthy and fit. Now that I’ve been off the band wagon for some time now, I’ve been injured and sick and injured and sick. And now, I’m dealing with some bizarre situation with my hands and my forearms (a story for another day). Things were just better when I was in good shape. Shocker, I know ;)

My family background also gives me a big reason to stay fit and healthy. We’re plagued with a myriad of medical maladies, so it’s even more important for me to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The key is prevention!

So, I guess the main point of this rambling post is that having a long, healthy, better-quality life helps motivate me to keep at it. And to help me get there, I need to channel hardcore Christine and make fitness a priority in my life!

Like 5 years ago, Raciel gifted me with a pack of stickers. She said I should use it to mark off the days when I’ve completed my workout.

Well, it took me about 2 years to actually start using them, but I’ve since discovered that it is by far one of the best ways to keep myself motivated. Nothing is more gratifying than peeling off a sticker and marking off another day on my training schedule. It makes me feel so accomplished when I start to see that page fill up with stickers.

What can I say? I’m a kindergartener at heart ;)

Starting a new thing here :) Every Monday, I’ll post about things that help motivate me to keep running, especially during times when I’d rather stay in my warm bed than put mileage on these tree trunk legs of mine.

First up! Daily Mile Challenges. If you’re a Daily Miler, add me as a friend! We can motivate each other =)

In case you’re not familiar with Daily Mile, it’s a site where you can keep track of your daily mileage and other workouts. You can input your workouts manually or you can import them directly from your Ipod if you have the Nike+ system. Garmin support is still pending. I can’t wait for this feature!

Daily Mile is also a type of social networking site (think Facebook). You can interact with other runners, send motivation, comment on their workouts and pictures, and write on their wall. They also have widgets that you can place on your site that displays your most current workout and a countdown to your races this year. They also have funny ones that tell you how many cheeseburgers or donuts you’ve earned!

But I think one of the best features on Daily Mile is their Challenges. Challenges are created by other users who want to set certain running goals and these challenges are typically open to the public, so anyone can join them. Some of the challenges I’m a part of right now are:

• Run 500 Miles in 2010
• Run 750 Miles in 2010
• Valentine’s Day 5k
• St. Patrick’s Day 10k

The first two are totally in line with my goal to run at least 500 miles this year and hopefully log more than 800 miles by year’s end. The Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day challenges are just for fun =) I love watching my numbers go up and watching how I compare to other people, even if they are strangers. It brings out the competitive side of me, and usually is enough to get me out the door. Plus, seeing how close I am to reaching my goals helps me visualize and keep in mind the task at hand.

So sign up, join some challenges, and hopefully we’ll be finishers by the time 2011 rolls around!  =)