Back in the Saddle

Had a few weeks off after the egg retrieval on November 4th but got back into the swing of things pretty quickly. Picked up a nearby race last minute- ran the Defender Dash at the Sheriff's Training Center on November 19. It was about 50 degrees and absolutely frigid in the mud pits, but it was a good race nonetheless.

The race was sponsored by Riverside County Sheriff, Riverside Fire, and March Air Reserve Base and a good majority of the people running were Sheriff, Fire, or military. The race was decent, didn't feel all that difficult in the midst of it. However, it looks like I was beaten and dragged- my body is covered in bruises and cuts and my toe nail just fell off. I look the worst now that I ever have after a race. I guess that means it was a good race. ;-) I finished 8th in my bracket and I'm pretty happy with my time and my pace, so good all the way around.

Been taking it easy this week because the war wounds have me a little sore still. Still managed to PR on my lat pull again, up to 160 now. I'm also good for a little comic relief at the gym apparently. Guys are always laughing at my methods of working the lat pull bar down given that I'm lifting more than I weigh and I will occasionally be left hanging off the bar. I've had a few guys offer to help, but most just stand back and laugh...until I get the bar down and do a couple reps. Then they shut up. Hehehe.

Signed up for a 10k on December 10 in preparation for my 8+ mile run in January. My first road race since I really got back into it, should be interesting. Still working on backgrounds with SDPD, fingers crossed!

Borrowed strength

There are no words to describe the dedication and power. This gives me strength when my own fails me. ♥

"I can do all thing through Him who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:13

Pause

Got a call today from a detective with SDPD regarding my backgrounds. I guess this is really where it all starts. Starting to get more and more nervous with each passing day. It's so crazy because I've been through these backgrounds before and never had a problem. But I think the idea of anyone inspecting every facet of your life is always little nerve wracking. The idea of someone doing it for a job with my dream department, even worse.

Workouts have come to a screetching halt for the time being. Started the second round of injections for the egg donation on Monday and woke up feeling like I got hit by a bus. Flu-like symptoms, joint pain, back pain, headaches... a whole mess of awesomeness. Apparently, these are common side effects from one of the medications and they're making it virtually impossible to do much of anything, let alone work out.

Thankfully the process itself is short and it's such an amazing gift to be able to give someone. I remind myself that the ultimate goal is a baby and it helps me push through the day when I can barely move. The pain meds did help quite a bit but have also left me a little groggy. I keep repeating to myself, "10 more days, 10 more days..." "9 more days, 9 more days..." We are looking at egg retrieval on November 4-6 and I'll be out of commission for a few days afterward. After that, it's on. Time for the big guns and gearing up for my big race(s) in January.

Testing, testing, one, two, three...

After a stressful drive down to San Diego, I made it to my test with time to spare. About 50 people had come to test. I was done in plenty of time and had until 12:45 when I would get my results. I wasn't worried until I saw person after person walking out with failed test results. I admit, although the test was very much common sense, I was still nervous. But it was my lucky day and I passed the test along with about 20 others. We were shuttled off to our initial background and spent the next three hours seated comfortably in a hard, plastic chair hashing out every ungodly detail of our lives to complete strangers. I think it's meant by design to make you feel a little beat up. A healthy dose of getting ready for the academy.

On my way home, because my day wasn't exciting already, I got rear ended on the freeway ...from the front. Could only happen to me. As if getting hit weren't enough the crazy girl seriously thought I hit her and refused to give me her information. Soooo, a call to CHP and her getting chewed a new one by two officers and my day was finally over. What is it about my crazy life?

And apparently something was sparked in me because I followed it all up with two new PR's on Saturday night. A brand new 2:10/mile on the bike followed by a 150 max on the lat pull. And because I'm just never satisfied, I managed two real hammer pull pull-ups and two chin ups on Sunday.

Is this what it feels like?

After a somewhat stressful day at work yesterday, I decided to hit the gym and work through some of that pent up energy. I had pretty low expectations since I figured my brain would be in a million other places. But as I settled in on the bike, everything else drained away, sort of like it does during a good run. I could hear my breathing, even over my music and it was rhythmic and pushed me even harder. I realized about 20 minutes in that I was going a lot faster than I had before. By the time I got to my 2 minute cool down I had already passed my PR. I've hung around 2:22 a mile for a while now and I crushed that last night with 2:15 a mile. Of course, I couldn't be satisfied with that alone. So I maxed my lat pull too. :-) I'm at 140 now and I'm on my way to pull ups. I could stand to feel like I did last night every night but then again, maybe getting it infrequently is part of what makes it special. Whatever it is, I'm still floating.

Confession

So, my blogs about San Diego hating me may have been a bit premature. Although I can't be faulted for my response, at least not in my humble opinion.

I did hear through the grapevine that San Diego had sent out invites on Friday 10/7 to take the written test, which was confirmed by the Department's employment website. It essentially reported that invites to test had been sent out and if you didn't receive one, thanks but no thanks.

I checked my email so many times that Friday that I'm surprised my phone didn't start cussing me out. Every time my inbox was empty. It was a long weekend and I had Monday off of work. Plenty of time to mope around all weekend- which I did fantastically. A Facebook post and two blog posts later, I was sufficiently complained out.

What I did not expect was to open my work email only to have an invitation to test staring at me. Wow. Now I feel like an ass.

Apparently, even though I input my personal email about a million times with the intention of having any correspondence available on my phone, the employment website the city uses had my work email as my "registered email" thereby overriding my personal email.

So, as much as it pains me to say, I was wrong. And, although I hate admitting that, there's nothing I'd rather have been wrong about than this. So, thank you San Diego for at least pretending to give this fat, old lady a chance. I'll see you Thursday. Best of luck to all the candidates. Aww, who am I kidding? Everyone out of my way- I've got something to prove to myself. ;-)

Back on the horse

I've jumped back into training and I forgot how good the endorphins feel. I'm switching it up a bit now, doing a lot of riding and upper body weight training.

With the gradual move to the time change, it's now totally dark when I would be running during football practice. Since I was typically running from home to practice (3-4 miles depending on my route) coupled with my desire to not have my body dumped in an open field, I'm not running to practice anymore. The route options for me are both too risky in the dark. That, and I'm really not a treadmill runner.

My goals for now are to PR on my ride and to finally master a pull up. Was so close to a PR tonight I could taste it. Need to drop below 2:22/mile to claim it and tonight was 2:23/mile. What a tease.

As for the pull up, I can get my forehead up to the bar so far so I keep asking myself what's another 6-8 inches? I have been working on reverse pull ups as recommended by several people and started working out on the lat pull at the gym. A few days ago, I realized that the lat pull should essentially be the equivalent of lifting my own body weight if I was able to do a pull up. Tonight I maxed out at 130. I am stoked right now. I probably could have pushed it more, but I am very, very happy with my max.

Oh, crap. Now I have to beat my PR AND my lat pull max.