Back in Business...

The Running & exercise business that is!

My thesis is done, classes are ancient history, & the poster session is over. In fact, at the poster session, I was completely shocked to be awarded an Exceptional Student award from the Faculty!! Seriously, me, a B/C student most of my life (straight A's in grad school though) who has had to bust my butt in every academic venture, received and exceptional student award! Now that grad school is officially over and my only remaining duty is to walk across the stage on Saturday, I can refocus on what is incredibly important to me, exercise!!!! Yay!!

The past 2 weeks I have been pushing myself to new places at the gym and feeling like a million bucks. I'm finally getting my energy back and my stress level is at an all time low. It has been a true struggle to fit my workouts into my crazy schedule over the past few months and I have definitely felt the difference. It's amazing how much your emotional well being is tied to your physical well being. I am acutely aware of how much I need exercise in my life and what an integral role it plays.

My gym began a program called Art of Strength that is focused around kettle bells, ropes, logs, etc. It started May 1 and I absolutely love it!! In a little over a week, I can already feel changes in how my muscles are working together as a team and strengthening my overall body. In addition to that, I tried a Body Attack class with has been supplementing some of my running. It is a high intensity, fast moving, cardio class that works well as a running alternative. While I'm not talking about actual running a great deal, I'm working on exercises that will help me run better and safer so I don't have a repeat of last years accident.

For now, this is where I'm at. I'm hitting the gym all but 1 day a week and running when I can. At this point, I've adjusted my running schedule a bit b/c of how hectic things have been. I just don't feel ready for the Buffalo 1/2 marathon, so I've axed that one. I also was a no show for the Pink Ribbon 5K, I had worked a 7 hour shift at Beale St the night before and Sunday morning my legs were shot. Right now I am really focusing on Boilermaker in July and the Rochester 1/2 marathon in Sept. Still haven't decided what fall marathon I want to do, but the ones I'm looking at still have a good deal of time before they will be full or registration closes. I need to see where my training goes over the next few weeks.