2017 has already been pretty great!
It started out with an email before NYE, informing me that I've been accepted as a Pro Compression Ambassador! I applied for this before Christmas and then kept my fingers and toes crossed that they would consider me. Finally the big day came, and I learned that I was chosen as a #RunHundredAmbassador ! AKA one of only 100 people they chose! Im so excited to be able to represent this company that I've loved and worn for quite a while now. I started with calve sleeves for OCR races, and now progressed to being obsessed with their over the calf socks! This is a product I personally use and LOVE LOVE LOVE. Not once have I ever gotten a blister, not even in my first marathon ran in September while wearing these socks. Plus, they have beautiful designs that I've never seen on other compression products. They're so incredible and I can't wait to share my love of them with you all!

 My new winter faves - The Ugly Sweater Sock!

Black and white stripes are also a go-to colour for me, since they match everything. Keep your eyes out for posts on discounts, etc!
For example, the new Sock Of The Month is beautiful.. I may have already ordered both colours ;)

Use code "Wings" for 40% off AND free shipping (to the US, sorry Canadian friends.. but good news is shipping is only like $9!)

Second awesome thing so far is that I started off New Years GREAT by running the Johnny Miles New Years Eve Resolution run with Kirk! He came first (typical haha) and I dressed up in lights and decorations, played some music and had a BLAST! This is typically how we run races haha, he wins and I bring the excitement. (Plus I wore my awesome Christmas socks!)

Hope everyones New Year was incredible as well! For now, I will be writing new goals for the year, (click HERE for some goal setting tips) and continuing training for my first half of the year coming up in February!
Happy Trails,
The Rural Runner

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As we say goodbye to October, we begin to leave behind Halloween and beginning of fall excitement. It starts to be weird running in a costume..

But, it's November!
Fall is in full swing and the days are still getting shorter. Before we know it, the weather will be cold, frost will cover the ground in the mornings and eventually we're going to have snow. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about goals for the winter. Don't wait till New Years to make/update your goals, do it now! How much easier it will be, when come New Years Resolutions.. you're already 2 months ahead! Starting early, you will be so much more likely to continue and carry on with your goals.

For me, I update my goals every month. November is no different.


This month my goals are:
- Run 3-4x a week
- 2 of those runs on trails
- Go to the gym at least once a week
- Yoga 2x a week
- Try something new - thinking mixed martial arts
- Use social media less - its such a huge waste of time scrolling through a news feed all day
- Drink 1 jug of water a day (about 2 L)
- Have a smoothie every morning
- Sugar free for the month. Thats right - no sugar November! (refined fake sugars.. fruit and carbs are fine and encouraged!)

What are your goals for the month? I would love to hear them!

Cheers,
The Rural Runner

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This past year, I've been super into hot yoga, as the town I moved to has an adorable little spot called The Yoga Barn. The majority of classes are either Hot Power Vinyasa, or Warm Yin Yoga. So depending on whether or not you want a solid sweatfest of a workout, or a peaceful relaxing stretching session, those are the options. For me, it all depends where my schedule and shift work lands. Most times after a night shift, I'll stay up to attend the 9am class. Or if I am off, I'll go to which ever one is the hottest class of the day. This week, I was luckily off for all 4 days of yoga! (She has classes Monday-Thursday with some extras on weekends sometimes).
So I registered into the Hot power classes all four days. And as I'm sitting here typing, I'm realizing just how sore I am from 4/4 days of hot yoga. It's not as easy of a workout as everyone seems to think, and so I figured I would share with you all the thoughts that go through my head while I'm in class.

Okay, here we go I'm ready for a workout.
Woah, should have came earlier, its PACKED in here.
Okay there's a spot I can fit in!
Shit, it's at the front of the class..
Well I hope people behind me don't try to follow what I'm doing.
Alright, childs pose to start. I can handle this.
Deep breath in through the nose, deep breath out through the mouth.
I'm totally not a nose breather.. it sounds like I'm snoring over here..
First pose.. I got this.
Okay this isn't so bad, I'm not even really sweating yet!
Well then.. that must have just been the warm up.
Yup, now I'm sweating.
Right, focus on breathing. Opps.
Downward dog, my favourite because I can take a breathing break!
Oh, never mind we're doing another flow again.
If we do any more chaturanga's I'm gonna chaturanga on the floor.
Okay, yes focus on breath.
I've never sweat SO much in my life.
Warrior 2.. my shoulders are on FIRE.
Is anyone else sweating as much as me?
Like.. I'm literally DRIPPING on the floor
Chatu-friggin-ranga.. aka just do a slow motion reverse pushup until you collapse on the floor
Embrace the pain
Okay the sweat is literally in my eyes and I can't see.
Good childs pose, I'm just gonna lay here and die for a second.
Nope, no break were going again.
Damn it there I go losing focus again!
Breath in and high mountain, breath out and fold.
Maybe if I grab my towel and wipe my ENTIRE BODY no one will notice?
I think I have ADHD..
Just. Breathe.
Warrior three.
Yep and I just fell over onto the girl beside me.. SORRY.
How do some people have such good balance?
Phewf I think were slowing down.
Ah my breathing is almost normal now.
Savasana.. my favourite pose.
YES the cold compress.. ALSO my favourite.
Mmm it smells like peppermint.
I never want to move from my mat EVER.
That was amazing.
Im gonna be sore tomorrow!
When can I do that again!?
Maybe after a shower..
Ew, is that really how much I sweat?
What a GREAT workout!

Some day, I might be able to get through an entire yoga class without letting my mind wander, but today is not that day!

Peace, Love, Yoga.

Namaste,

The Rural Runner

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This month, I had decided to again review and rewrite my goals. We're officially 5 months into the year (where is the time going?) and I decided it was a great time to add some new goals in. This month, I've decided to try to explore more of Nova Scotia, since I've lived here my entire life and there's still places Kirk and I haven't gone yet. To start, we went to Evangeline beach, a cute little beach close to our apartment where the tides are so high, you can either walk a kilometre out on mud, or there's too much water to even see any ground. We ended up there when the tide was in, and it was all the way to the stairs.

Also as a big goal this month, my boyfriend Kirk and I decided to go all of May sugar free. So far were on day 7 and haven't broken down and eaten any sweets. This challenge is pretty difficult because I constantly crave sugar whether it's chocolate, cookies, froyo.. Etc. It's also hard because families at work always bring in treats to leave at the nursing station, and we almost ALWAYS have goodies on night shift (gotta make shift work more bearable right?).

Some of the reactions I've gotten upon declining sugary treats are funny, others concerning. The main response is "oh I could never do that for an entire month" or "um why.. You're crazy.." Also got "so basically you're just going to eat vegetables all month?!"

Let me clear one thing up, when we said were giving up sugar for one month, that means no processed or fake sugars. No donuts, no ice cream, no pop (at all. Diet is just as bad if not worse), no candy. Fruit is FINE. I'm tired of everyone being so afraid of eating fruit "there's too much sugar" and then going and eating a fricken Big Mac (etc.). Fruit is natural, fruit helps with metabolism and to keep you regular, fruit can prevent heart disease and stroke, even some forms of cancer. Fruit is delicious, eat your fruits!!

And now we're off to start the drive to Fredericton, NB for our race this weekend! Race recap will come after.

Happy trails, 

The Rural Runner

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Hi there! Earlier this week during some random internet browsing, I came across a wonderful post. Reading it really made me think about all of the ways we sometimes hold ourselves back. We only get one life, and we need to take some chances and live life to the fullest, and thats what this list is all about..

Things to give up:

1. Doubting yourself

2. Negative thinking

3. Fear of failure

4. Criticizing others

5. Negative self talk

6. Procrastination

7. Fear of success

8. People pleasing

I think many of these things we all do in our daily lives without realizing it.

One of my biggest struggles is with fear of failure. Im always way too concerned with the "what if's?"

Its completely natural to have fear about some situations, but its important to overcome that feeling and take yourself out of your comfort zone. This is something I've been trying to focus on more, saying YES to life and experiencing as much as I can.

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

                                                                        - Nelson Mandela

Its a beautiful world out there, so overcome that fear and experience it!

What are some things you want to give up, in order to improve yourself?

The Rural Runner

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I believe that the main reason barely anyone is capable of sticking to a New Years resolution, is because we all make them and then forget about them within a week or so. Going to be completely honest, I have been so busy lately with working full time, running, social life (what social life?!), that I completely forgot about my resolutions (until now.. cough cough).

SO.. since its a new month, I decided to review and revise my resolutions, as a way of continually assessing whats working, whats not, and how to move forward and accomplish these goals.
Considering I have only 88 days until my first (ultra.. maybe) beast (excuse me while I faint on the floor).. I figured now is as good of a time as ever to rewrite some goals for my training and this race.

New February goals:

• Hill training once a week. I know how tough the UB is going to be, with all of its crazy elevation changes, so I am trying to physically and mentally prepare myself for this. So far I'm 2 weeks into my training plan and have already seen major improvements in my hill climbing ability. By the end of this I'm going to have the nicest calves ever. 

• 30 pushups and 30 situps a day. Something this easy is actually so hard to maintain. I have not been keeping up with this goal, but I know I need to work on it, so it stays on my list.

• One long run a week. If I am going to be able to do 26+ miles, I'm have to train for it. The best way to be prepared for a race is by mimicking the conditions. This goes hand in hand with the hill training. I know the race is an ultra distance, so I want to make sure I can actually physically run and handle an ultra before hand. This means treating long 20+ km runs the same as I would race day. Call it a trial run. Im talking nutrition, water, supplementation, similar trails.. I need to find whatever works for me and makes me feel more comfortable and prepared for the race.
  
  
  
• Do upper body training more often, at least once a week. I recognize this as one of my weaknesses in OCR races and have been trying to work on my strength much more so I'm able to make it across monkey bars and rigs, carry buckets up hills and complete hercules hoists with no difficulty.

• Another new goal this month is to work on getting rid of my doubts. I feel like a lot of us self-sabotage and hold ourselves back due to fear, when really, we have the capacity to accomplish amazing things. I want to live my life to the fullest and experience everything, which means letting go of the insecurities and taking a leap of faith that everything will work out.

The Rural Runner

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I'm finally back to work full time (long story short.. Was on a leave of absence), and feel like I've been busier than ever!

So far, January has been jam packed with work, reading, spending time in Cape Breton and of course training runs and workouts!

Since finishing my January half marathon.. My runs seem to be few and far between.. Only reaching 62km so far for the month. I've been lacking motivation lately, as I had finished the half that I trained for since October, and then kinda thought.. "Well, what now?". So I decided a good way to kick that motivation up a notch, is by making a new goal.. 

Enter Spartan Race ULTRA BEAST!

By 26+ miles, that really means... 

"of course it's gonna be more than 26 miles.. Expect to die on the side of a mountain for atleast 27 or 28 long and gruelling miles."

Just paraphrasing here.

Having not officially registered yet.. Because the race cost the same as like.. 4 months of groceries for me (plus $40 parking? What an expensive lifestyle!).

Yup $235 is a steep price to pay to torture yourself for 12 hours.

Which, by the way, my goal is to finish in under 12 hours. Kind of because I think that's an appropriate time for my first one.. But mostly just because I don't want to be out there for absolutely any longer than 12 hours. Seriously.

**UPDATE (March) - So I Have purchased and Eastern Canada Seasons Pass for Spartan Race, and have officially committed to the Montreal Ultra Beast on July 31!**

Sure, for the typical marathoner who is doing 26 miles no problem.. 12 hours sounds INCREDIBLY SLOW! But! You must realize that we will be going UP and then down.. Then up and down again.. Then up and down AGAIN, on the side of a 2000 foot mountain, all while mixing in 50 different obstacles including monkey bars, barbed wire crawls, rope climbs, bucket/log carries.. And whatever other instruments of torture Spartan Race has up its sleeves.

SO, my point is.. 12 hours is a pretty decent time for a first ultra beast. As long as I do not miss the cut off time, I'll be a happy camper!

Next topic, what I've been up to this month!

Since finishing the half, and deciding on this big new goal.. I've been focusing a lot more on building strength for carries and monkey bars at races, and doing longer runs.

We did a nice 16km run, slow because of the ice, but a gorgeous day for it.

Afterwards we worked on some obstacles. The 8 foot walls are my arch nemesis.

Don't let the smile fool you.. Sandbag carries are harder than they look!

We also did a 10km run along the water, the snow was super deep which made the run a tad difficult. Gotta embrace the Cape Breton weather.

We also spent a couple hours snowshoeing as our cross training, a super fun way to get outside in the winter and be active!

This month I also was able to go out with my sister and friend Lee to The Middle Spoon. A local desert bar, and we stayed for lunch.. And of course cake!

I had the squash soup and chocolate cake for desert. 

Lisa and Lee shared the sweet and savoury platter in behind.

The hint of raspberry was delish!

Lisa had the peanut butter cheesecake and Lee had the lava cake (would totally get this one next time).. And yes, that says "spoon" and it's made of chocolate, too cute!

This month I've also been spending a lot of time reading..

So many books.. So little time!

This new year I had a personal resolution to read atleast one book a month, and so far it's going well. I've already read the book my sister Keshia gave me.. Girl on the Run by B. R. Myers and enjoyed that. Sometimes there's nothing better than resting the legs and getting lost in a book.

I'm currently enjoying Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. Such a great read so far and filled with plenty of laughs, also an interesting read being a mental health nurse with the book written all about how she handles her depression/anxiety.

Next up for light casual reading is The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I've watched the movies with Kirk and loved them, so he gave me the first book in the series for Christmas! I'm looking forward to beginning this series of books (4 total I believe).

I also have a new book that I like to refer to as my bible. It's called Relentless Forward Progress: A guide to running ultramarathons by Bryon Powell. There seems to be some great advice and tips in here that I'm hoping will help me with training, nutrition, etc during my race coming up in 3 months. There's also training plans within the book, and chapters on basically ANY question a beginner ultra runner like myself might ask. I'm excited to read this book, but will need to set aside a time where I can focus fully on it, and start to develop a training plan for myself, especially now that I have an official goal for April!

The other new book I have on my to read list is actually a big vegetarian cookbook. Which is great because I can simply flip through and find something to make for dinner. This cookbook, called Meatless has vegetarian recipes that range from simple quick snacks, to homemade soup, and even full meals! The pictures inside are absolutely gorgeous and detailed, and I can't wait to give some of these recipes a test run.

So that's how my January has been so far, a busy but wonderful start to the new year!

How has your 2016 been going? Any new goals for the year?

Cheers,

The Rural Runner

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After realizing now that I forgot to post about the 5k New Years Eve fun run I did with my boyfriend Kirk, I decided it's better late than never!

I signed us up for this free race sometime in October, which was good because it ended up selling out quickly! The race race bibs were super cute and had our 2016 New Years resolution written on them too (mine is to run my first marathon). We also got a nice hat with registration.. Which is super warm and I wear basically every outside run now.

Me and Kirk decided to dress up a little bit and wrapped ourselves in battery operated lights and wore happy new year hats! After all.. It was not timed and just a super fun event!

At the start line, we did a little countdown to new year (pretending it was actually midnight.. The race was really at like 5pm haha), and then they set off ALOT of amazing fireworks!

Everyone watching the fireworks when we started. That darn light up head band was falling off the entire time.. Worth it though!

The race was basically a little loop around the town, staying on the edge of the road or the sidewalk, with all right hand turns. There was a short part through a subdivision, which was great because people still had their Christmas lights on, and made for a more scenic run.

We weren't really pushing crazy hard, but somehow managed to PR my 5k at 26:36! It's not crazy fast.. And my goal is a sub 25min 5k. But it's not often I head out specifically for 5k fast paced runs, since I've been focusing so much more on longer distances recently, so I'm pretty excited about this!

All smiles at the finish knowing I hit a PR!

After the race there was tons of food and drinks to fill up on! Hot chocolate, timbits and subway deli sandwiches.

We're hoping to do this race again next year because it was such a blast!

After the race we headed back up to Cape Breton to go to a Celtic music concert and to celebrate together.

As much as wearing workout clothes all the time is great.. I LOVE any excuse to dress up!

We had some champagne and danced until we were sweaty, it was a great way to ring in the new year!

So.. it's a little late.. But Happy New Year!

Here are some of my running/fitness goals for 2016:

- run my first marathon (Maratime race weekend, September 16)

- complete a Spartan Race Beast (April 30, in New Jersey)

- complete the Montreal Spartan Race Ultra Beast (July 31)

- do a muscle up

- do 10 pull-ups in a row (half way there!)

- do a 50k run for my birthday

- finish top 10 elite female at a Spartan Race

- sub 25 minute 5k

- sub 2:15 half marathon

Here's to making 2016 amazing!

What are some of your goals for this new year?

The Rural Runner

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Sometimes things just don't work out the way we want them to. Not everything can always go our ways I guess, because what fun would life be if it was always easy? (Trick question.. That would probably be great.) anyways, without the shitty things that happen, and the road blocks along the way, we wouldn't learn or gain anything. (I will explain the point to this later on.. Keep reading!)

I've been training for 3 months now for the Hypothermic Half marathon, January 17, and last week (stupidly) thought I would be working, so I convinced Kirk (well.. not really convinced cause he's always down for a gruelling/long run) anyways, I asked Kirk if he would like to do the half marathon with me a week before instead (plus were both pretty broke so saving $80 was another argument for running it early).

Either way, I was feeling pretty disappointed that I couldn't make it to the race (Ps.. I found out that I'm not actually working, opps.. We're still will not be entering though, were poor haha). So we figured we would go and run the same route we would have been taking during the race!

Luckily the entire trail was clear except for some snow half way (for about 6km). The temperature was fairly mild at only just below 0, so it was the perfect day for a long run.

We packed the camelbak, stashing Gu and shot bloks, did a quick warm up, started the tunes and our tracking watches, then we were on our way.

We maintained a pace around 6:00-6:30 The route was absolutely gorgeous and winded past multiple lakes, all while remaining completely flat. A great trail for PRs!

We hit the 10km mark at just over an hour, which was exciting because I was hoping to finish in under 2:30. However, shortly after was when my hip pain started (again, ugh) and we hit the first section of unpaved road with snow/ice. Neither of us had spikes and it slowed us down quite a bit, keeping our average pace at around 7:00/km.

We reached the turn around point and walked for the first time for a minute while we quickly ate some chocolate Gu, drank water and continued on our way (Btw, having a camelbak is a lifesaver).

Kirk was really pushing me near the end, we ran our quickest km of the entire half, at around 6:00/km.

It was so painful, I may have told Kirk he better run fast cause I was gonna catch up and kick his ass.. Haha I can't be held accountable for the things I say while run-suffering.

We finished the 21.1km at 2:33:58.

At first I was slightly disappointed that we didn't finish in under 2 and a half hours, like I'd hoped, but then I realized, there's 1 of 2 ways I can let this affect me. Either I can see it as a failure (pretty shitty way to look at it..) OR I can use this positively, and learn from it. I know more about my limits now and what kind of pace I can currently maintain for long distances, and also, I now know that I'm fully capable of emptying the tank with a couple fast kilometres toward the finish line.

You're always capable of more.

We can either take our struggles and find a positive within them, or ruin ourselves with stress over the negatives.

For this (non competitive) half marathon, I am going to look at the positives:

- even though I wasn't able to race the actual half marathon, I still ran the same distance and route anyways. After all, why put 3 months of hard work to waste?

- I got to spend 2.5 hours with my amazing boyfriend, enjoying (almost) every minute ;)

- I learned even more about my long distance running ability.

- I beat my original half marathon time by almost 30 minutes!! Yes, you read that right. A half hour PR. How can you not be happy with that? Especially since the races were less than 4 months apart. Which tells me that I've obviously made some serious improvements on my pace!

- after realizing we burned off like 1700 calories.. We went and got Izzy's bagels.. Our tradition and obsession (except for relish veggie burgers.. Can't beat it!). The Runger was real.

Overall, it was a great run with a lot of positives! Also, it added fuel to my fire and I will complete my next 21.1km run in under 2 and a half hours.

I'm coming for you next year, Hypothermic Half!

But for now, on to training for my first ultra, April 30 in New Jersey!

Stay positive friends,

The Rural Runner

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Yesterday I had a great run - 25km on Christmas Day! (ask me a year ago if I would have thought that was possible.. Haha no.)

This was my longest distance to date!

Now I am aiming for a new goal.. 30km, then 35, then 40, and the big goal - 50 km on my birthday (the end of June!). After all.. If you wanna be an ultra runner.. You've gotta train like one.

The weather was surprisingly warm for December (12 degrees!) .. And for the fact that I live in Canada. I ran all the way to a marsh trail. I didn't know about until my step sis mentioned it and said I would like the view. She was right.. The trail was beautiful and I will definitely be back!

Also.. Please note the beautiful camelbak my amazing boyfriend got me for Christmas!! I've been talking about getting one for ever, he's so thoughtful. It's fully insulated and holds 2L. I feel so safe running long distances now without worrying about getting dehydrated, and it's got a pocket that fits my phone and snacks perfectly.

Also.. Dad got me a hilarious pin that I stuck on my pack..

Hehe that little broccoli is so cute!

This Christmas was extra special to me because I got to spend it with Kirk. Our first Christmas together, and many more to come. We sat around the tree watching Christmas movies with my family eating tons of food and having some wonderful drinks that my step mom created, called Jack Frost.

Loved the red and gold theme we had going.

Judy's delicious drinks! I may have had a couple too many.. But it's the holidays ;)

Our gorgeous stuffed chicken. I don't eat meat anymore due to health problems, but I hear it was great! My sis Keshia raises them with her hubby.

We had so much leftover food holy moly.

Quinoa is the shit! Super good in salads too.. Just sayin.

I made this stuffing for everyone, and it's delicious! But takes like an hour to cook.. So never again. Also.. Yes I was drinking and cooking haha. I don't drink often, but holiday flavoured stuff is my weakness!

#whitegirlSolutions

I've eaten so much food this week.. I believe that Runger (running+hunger) is a thing.. And that's what I blame my appetite on. You run that far for training and can't help but be hungry after burning basically thousands of calories.

Seriously.. Keep your carbs away from me, cause I'll eat them.

It's like whenever I get home from a long run, I instantly turn into a bottomless pit. I ate an entire box of triscuits by myself haha. The Runger is real.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends, and hopefully you were able to stay active as well!

The Rural Runner

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After Saturday's near death experience and what I felt was a very crappy run (okay, obviously if you almost die, it was a shitty run).. I was looking forward to getting back out there and making things right. What some might call "get back on the horse" haha, well actually more like getting back on the trail.

As I was telling my boyfriend Kirk earlier, I have a theory that every bad run always precedes a great one. He completely agrees, it's like whenever you're having what seems like the worst run ever, getting back out there for another go is the best thing you can do. It's like redemption.. So hang in there, better days are coming.

Today I went out for a 10k run, just like any other normal day, except this run felt different than Saturday's. My legs weren't tired, I felt very energized and easily maintained my pace at under 6.00/km. This alone is great news for me because only a month ago my average pace was around 7.00/km.. So huge improvements in speed!

It was a little chilly and there was some snow on the ground, but overall it was a great, clear day for a run.

I finished the run in around 58 minutes.. A new PR for me! I was so excited because last week when I PR'ed my 10k in under an hour for the first time ever.. I was struggling hard. Literally pushing it with everything I had. Where as today it felt easy and natural for me. I happened to look down at my gps watch and was like "woah really.. Was that my time!?" Seriously.. Big improvements because last week I was panting like a dying animal.

Hahaha this was me last week.

2 cat pictures in one post.. I swear I'm not a crazy cat lady..

Anyway, I was also super excited today because I finally reached one of my newest goals.. To run 160km in one month!

Oh yeah baby, finally a member of the platinum club!

It's been a busy month with a lot of training for me and I'm really noticing the improvements I've made by sticking to my training plan. This half marathon in a January should be a piece of cake!

So remember, embrace the shitty runs, because more than likely something great is coming along right after!

Cheers friends,

The Rural Runner

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