When life hands you lemonade….

You know that old saying:

When life hands you lemons.

Make Lemonade.

Life sort of sucks for you so you’re supposed to add a little water and sugar and WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM, things start to turn around for the better.

But what if instead of lemons you’re handed lemonade and find yourself wishing for a little more lemons rather than lemonade?

I know, I know…”what the hell is Tee talking about?!?

My running over the last year sort of petered off into a non-existence form of “exercise”. A lot of factors come in to play when thinking about why that happened:

• Winter for one. Holy mother of all that is white and frozen, our winter here sucked. We didn’t see our sidewalks from December until just a few weeks ago and when I say we didn’t see our sidewalks I mean there was at least a foot of ice on the sidewalks. The region of Halifax sort of screwed the pooch when it came to plowing this year. Long story (not worth telling) short = pretty much no one ran (or walked) outside unless absolutely necessary.

• Crossfit (and Aspergers). I know, seems weird to put those two things together but trust me they sort of go hand in hand. When you have little aspies floating around in your brain, you get caught up usually one thing in particular. It’s pretty much all you want to talk about. When I first moved to Halifax that one thing was running. I lived it. I breathed it. If I could have put some bbq sauce on it I probably would have eaten it. I looked at races all the time. I thought about running shoes and whether I should have 3 pairs or 300 pairs. I thought about running routes. The weather. What I should take with me when I run. I literally thought about running from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. Everything revolved around pounding the pavement and putting the miles in. For shits and giggles I’m gonna lump triathlon training in here too since, you know….running. Then last year I turned in my running shoes for some pretty kick ass looking crossfit shoes and that kool-aid tasted so refreshing going down, running became a blurry spot in the back of my mind. I still thought about it. I just didn’t do it nearly as much as I had (read: not at all)

A while back I started thinking about running again. Funny thing about living in Nova Scotia is we are pretty limited in our racing options. The season doesn’t really get kicked off to a “running” start (see what I did there), until the Bluenose marathon, which I’ve sworn off since earning my 26.2 (again, long story not worth telling) in May. From May until late Fall the running of the races can be found if you’re willing to drive a few hours, spend a few nights in a hotel and spend some serious out of pocket cashola to make it all happen. As the wheels started spinning and that urge to run took hold I started looking at race potentials. One of my favorites as always has been Maritime race weekend but it is also costly with one race happening Friday night and a  second longer race happening Saturday morning…

I want to run. I don’t want to spend the money. I want to run. I don’t want to spend the money. I want to run BUT THE MONEY IS GETTING IN THE WAY!!!

(Oh hello Facebook and random drawing to Maritime race weekend that I can’t possibly win because a gazillion other runners are also entering the random drawing, but what the hell let’s just see what happens)

Guess who won a free entry to Maritime Race Weekend Tartan Twosome? That’s right. This guy right here! So now that’s where the lemonade comes in. All delicious and refreshing. Quenching my thirst like I’ve been sitting in the hot sun all day. I get to pick the distance and since I’m so freaking thirsty I immediately choose 5k/Marathon.

(Here let me just take that entire pitcher of lemonade all to myself. No no, not just a glass the WHOLE DAMN PITCHER PLEASE glug glug glug….)

Sometimes when life gives you lemonade you don’t have to take the entire thing just because it’s being offered to you. I should have thought it out a little more, not bitten off waaaaaaay more than I can chew. Could I train my ass off for the next few months and get the miles in? Well of course I can. Would I enjoy the process? Doubtful. As my “official” training started I spent my fair share of time struggling with the notion that I would eventually be outside for up to 5 hours running on some hot day in July getting ready for what would be my 4th marathon.

The problem? I don’t want to spend that kind of time outside. I want to lift heavy shit. I want to go to the beach. I want to sleep in on Saturdays. I want to enjoy my running for an hour or two, ice bath then get on with the day. It took me a while to figure that out and even longer to give back some of that lemonade that I thought I was so thirsty for.

I’m officially signed up for the Tartan Twosome but now as a half marathoner. I’m much more relaxed about my training. I think half marys are the way to go when you’re thinking about finding a balance between running and crossfit or running and anything else in general. The physical struggle to get the miles in are still there as I “re-train” my body to get used to the idea of running a longer distance but I’ve let go of the mental struggle. I’m actually looking forward to running and figuring out the balance of pr’ing my deadlift (oh 200lbs I’m coming for you)….Crossfit Endurance is a thing and I like I’m gonna like this thing a lot.

In other news: All is ever changing here. Weight is up because I’m not at Costco anymore. Work is happening slowly but surely. My little grand niece Melly is hoping I come back sooner rather than later for a visit and Old Man Chester is still alive and kicking (and by kicking I mean sleeping)…

You know. Life. It happens.

You?