challenge

Hip Discomfort–Challenge Update

Last week I started having some hip discomfort (I say discomfort over pain because I have some clients who I know are in actual pain in their body that affects their daily tasks. This hasn’t been affecting my daily tasks, but since I’m training for a half marathon and getting ready to hike the Grand Canyon it does concern me.)

My first reaction was to be annoyed. This hip of mine was getting in the way of what Iwanted to be doing. It wasn’t really, I was pushing through it, but I really just wanted it to feel good and not be a nuisance.

Then I decided to change my perspective. Things like this always provide me an opportunity to learn something new about the body. I’m forced to do some very basic exercises if I want it to keep working with me and not against me.

The challenges I set this year are, of course, to get me healthier, but I guess I hope to learn something along the way. And it’s important to realize that when you ask you body to do a lot for you, you need to maintain it.

We all probably […]

Hip Discomfort–Challenge UpdateMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:47-04:00

Challenge Two: Running Buddies Make A Difference

So I figured it’s about time I gave you an update on my preparation for Challenge Number Two: The Surftown Half Marathon in Rhode Island. It’s a little over a month away and I think I’m on track. On Friday I ran 11.6 miles and I felt pretty good afterwards—only had a mild headache which tells me I need to hydrate better the day before.

I’m feeling good in general. I’d like to work on some drills to improve my pace. I think a ten minute mile is a realistic goal for me even though I’d like to do a 9.5 minute mile. I definitely want to do better than an eleven minute mile.

I invested in a water belt, which I ran with on Friday and really liked.

What has been really helpful is having running buddies. I can say with certainty that I would not have stuck to this on my own. When I was younger I used to look forward to running for an hour by myself. Now I don’t even want to go on a thirty minute run by myself. And I don’t see myself doing anything more than 3.5 miles alone. I […]

Challenge Two: Running Buddies Make A DifferenceMaggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:43-04:00

The Challenge Update

So my first challenge the Ragnar Relay was awesome. My second challenge the Warrior Dash was a dud. The Dash wasn’t, but I had an ear infection and couldn’t go. I wanted to be the people in these pictures, but I didn’t get to be (at least this year). My third challenge was going to be to hike the Grand Canyon, but we got rejected from the permit pool. (Keep your fingers crossed because I’ve applied again.) The Grand Canyon still may happen, but I was starting to feel a bit disillusioned with my challenges.

It wasn’t just that they weren’t working out as planned, but at first I felt like I was only getting prepared for them one week in advance, which wasn’t really the point. Then I started hiking a lot and was feeling like I was in really great hiking shape when I got the news that we were rejected for […]

The Challenge UpdateMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:50-04:00

Best Shape of My Life Challenge: Warrior Dash

So, I’m on this healthy lifestyle, right? I have a goal to get in the best shape of my life this year. The challenge started March 27th, and so far I’ve been sick about half the time. So what’s the lesson here? It’s a lesson, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to hear. It’s a lesson that created a debate in my house all last week.

This was the debate:

Matt: I don’t think we should go the Pennsylvania to do the Warrior Dash. You’ve been really run down and I don’t want to see you get sick again, especially two weeks before we leave for Switzerland.

Maggie’s Mind: Damn, he’s right, but it totally sucks.

Maggie Aloud: What do you want me to do, never work out again? I am feeling better. And, I really want to do the Warrior Dash. And I really want to see the friends we were going to see down there.

Matt: Me too, but is it worth it?

Maggie’s Mind: No, I don’t want to get pharyngitis again, but come on…this totally sucks!

Maggie Aloud: Let’s think on it and decide Friday.

(Note: this […]

Best Shape of My Life Challenge: Warrior DashMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:53-04:00

Warrior Dash Prep

Okay—so I’m supposed to run the Warrior Dash in Pennsylvania tomorrow. It is my second physical challenge of my 30th year. And here is what I’ve done to prepare for it:

That empty space about sums it up: a whole lot of nothing. I didn’t prepare for the Ragnar Relay as well as I wanted either, but I thought lesson learned; I’ll do better next time. It wasn’t entirely my fault since I got sick, but I hadn’t even looked through the course. Then a friend said to me, “You do know you have to run through fire, don’t you?”

“Um, no,” was my response. I looked at the course and it appears that I will actually be trying to leap over fire, which I think I’ll be able to do fairly well. So I’m a little less concerned. Plus I’ll have shoes on, so it should be as bad as it sounds.

Point is, I’m going to have to double time it for challenge there in order to make up for one and two. My challenge idea is still cool, but right now it isn’t serving its original purpose.

Warrior Dash PrepMaggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:46-04:00