Last night I spent the evening sipping wine, catching up on my overflowing inbox and doing some reading all from the comfort of my couch.
One thing I promised myself when I started marathon training was that I would listen to my body and give it rest when it asked for rest. That’s why it’s been easier for me to plan out my weeks one at a time, so I can really assess how busy I am with other things – like social activities and work – during each week and then plan my workouts around those things.
Yesterday I had “5:15 PM – yoga?” in my planner. The question mark was there because I added it in as an afterthought since I took Monday as a rest day already this week. But yesterday morning I woke up feeling really, really tired. Like could barely drag myself out of bed tired. I continued to feel tired through most of the work day.
After work I headed out for my usual walk with Chloe and on-the-spot decided that I would walk an extra 10 minutes with Chloe rather than go to the 90 minute yoga class I’d been thinking about. I still got a little bit of movement in but it was definitely more of a rest day since my walks with Chloe are more like a leisurely stroll!
Oh, and then I planked before bed. 1:30 was REALLY hard for me. My ultimate goal is a 3:00 plank but I have a long ways to go.
It was obviously just what I needed because this morning I leapt (OK, leapt is a strong word but I wasn’t as tired as I usually am at 5:30 AM) out of bed for my 5-mile run!! It was my first run all by myself in my full four weeks of training, which felt a little weird to be honest. Especially since it was on the same route I usually run with a friend or my group. The last two weeks haven’t looked like what I thought they would training-wise but I’ve been listening to what my body needs and I think that’s most important!
Off to work I go. Happy Friday!
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Question of the day: Anyone else in training for a spring marathon or race and find your body is asking for more rest than you planned to give it? What is everyone up to this weekend?
I may have a few new readers poking in around these parts now that the Run Van Blogger Announcement has been made on the Vancouver Marathon’s website, facebook page and twitter and my About Me page is reallyyyyy out of date (it’s on my neverending to do list!) so I thought I’d do a mini about me post for any new faces.
So, hi! I’m Amber. I’m 23 years old and I live in Kamloops, BC. I’ve been running since 2009 and I’ve ran one marathon, five half-marathons and several smaller races including trail races and a sprint triathlon. You can find race reports from every race I’ve ever ran here and you can learn more about my running story here.
Other than running my favourite activity is hot yoga! You can find me in the hot room 2-3 times per week and I find it to be excellent cross-training for my running. I also enjoy swimming, biking and have a love/hate relationship with strength training.
As much as I’d love to do all these fun workouts and blog full-time, these are just things I do outside of my full-time work in marketing and communications. I also do freelance writing for two local magazines on the side! I have a degree in journalism and writing is a passion of mine.
Another passion? Traveling. I love, love, love to travel! I’ve been lucky enough to visit Europe twice and do a bunch of other small trips around North America over the last few years. You can read more about my travels here.
And where would I be without my amazing family! I currently live with my fiance and our two pets; a boxer dog named Chloe and an orange tabby cat with thumbs named Webster. I’ve been with my fiance since I was 16 and he is my very best friend. My two pets make me laugh every single day and bring so much joy to my life. Our families live over 1,000 km away in Fort St. John, BC where we were both born and raised. Being so far away from family and friends when we first moved to Kamloops in 2008 was a big reason for me starting this blog and they are my biggest supporters in all my endeavours, even though they don’t totally get why I would want to run 42.2 km 
And if you want to know more you can check out this post for 21 random things about me or the top posts page!
Thanks for reading and following along on my marathon training journey! Oh, and make sure you like Girl with the Red Hair on Facebook and follow me on Twitter 
Whether you’re a new reader or not I would love for you to say hi in the comments section and tell me a little something about yourself. If you’re one of my wonderful, long-time readers then tell me something I might not know about you
A couple weeks ago I got an email that made me literally squeal with excitement! It was from the Vancouver International Marathon Society asking me if I’d like to be an official Run Van Blogger for the upcoming marathon.
Um, heck yes!
Back in 2009 when I first started running the Vancouver Half-Marathon was not only my first half-marathon, it was my first official running race ever. I loved everything about that race and had an amazing first racing experience. I credit that experience with getting me hooked on the sport of running.
Since then I’ve ran four more half-marathon’s, one full marathon and several smaller races including trail races and one sprint triathlon! I think it’s safe to say I’ve fallen completely in love with running and racing and I credit a lot of that to an amazing first race experience in Vancouver.
Another exciting thing is the fact that I love Vancouver! It is a beautiful city and I feel lucky to live so close to it. I absolutely cannot wait to run the new point-to-point course in May and explore the city from an entirely new perspective.
So what will this mean for my blog? Nothing much will change. I was already planning on blogging about my whole training experience and doing my weekly training recaps throughout the whole 18 weeks as well as do a final race report so the content of my blog really won’t be affected. Also, at the end of this whole process I will do a full review of the Running Room Training Clinic, which will be entirely my own views and opinions of course!
Thanks for all your support on the blog so far! I’m looking forward to the next 15 weeks leading up to the marathon!
Full Disclosure: In exchange for blogging about my training and racing experience (something I had planned to do anyways) the Vancouver International Marathon Society has offered me a free entry to the Marathon as well as covered the cost of my Running Room Training Clinic.
However, I was planning to do BOTH of these things anyways (and was already signed up for both) so this sweet deal is really just icing on the cake.
I will also get Media Accreditation on event day (which means more behind the scenes pictures and info for blog readers) and they are sending me an official training shirt and hat!
I also want to be clear that any views expressed on my blog are mine alone and do not represent the views of the marathon society, the BMO Vancouver Marathon or any related sponsors.
