First of all, thanks for stopping by and the well wishes!
Secondly, I need to address this subject for a second:
I've gotta figure out how you stay so focused when work and life tries to get in the way!
It all comes down to what is important in your life, what you choose to make a priority..what things must absolutely be done every day and what things can take a back seat. Aside from my obligation to my daughter, and my time spent working, my only priority every single day is to complete the workouts that I have planned out in advance. My goal when I leave work is to get that 30 minute XT session in, or knock out that 5 mile run. TV shows can wait, projects around the house can be put off until the weekend when there is more time to accomplish them. By focusing strictly on the workout, I'm able to accomplish what I set out to do 98% of the time. Everyone is different and I'm pretty lucky to not have a ton of other responsibilities, but I think you'll find that if you are really serious, and really want to commit to any type of training or exercise plan, you'll be amazed at how much free time you actually have. (this wasn't targeted right towards you...it can go for anyone)
Of course once that time is scheduled, you have to actually do the exercise.
Please forgive me in advance if I seem too harsh or rude as I'm saying this, but I 've noticed a trend around here in multiple journals. It's becoming increasingly acceptable to venture way off of plan, even completely off, come back again for a few weeks and then jump off of the plan again. Doing this is met with support from everyone..."hang in there"..."you'll get it back"...but rarely met with a level of accountability that is often times needed. Sure, the purpose of this whole deal is to support others on their quests to become healthy, stay healthy or even motivate themselves to simply get started. Maybe I'm different, but if I venture off of plan, I want my butt kicked.
No one can hit every single workout on every single day. People get sick, legitimate issues come into play...those things are fine. What's not fine to me is to feel unmotivated to go work out or run or do a fitness series on tv and think that it's ok to just blow it off. Even when unmotivated, we have to find a way to drag ourselves to our workout and get the thing done. We've taken the time to create journals, and take the time to post in them frequently, shouldn't we make that time worthwhile by actually completing our plans?
Believe me, we all struggle at times. We all get tired, we all get busy. But it's at those times when we need to look at ourselves and see what we are made of. For me, the sense of accomplishment of completing a 30 minute workout on a day when I just did not feel up to it is monstrous. If I let "the day" or "my mood" take over and not complete that workout, I feel even worse the next day.
I'll jump off of my soapbox now and I'm sorry if I offended anyone who reads, writes or lurks here...but sometimes we all need a serious gut check, a look inward and reestablish that commitment to ourselves. I certainly hope I didn't come across the wrong way...there are a lot of awesome people around here and the support is amazing. I don't think I would have lasted more than a month or so if it wasn't for the support of DIS'ers.
ANYWAY....on to what's up with me....
I broke down and bought a road bike yesterday

I'm really excited about the prospects of adding a different type of cross training to my routine (can't do the elliptical forever) and I've read that cycling complements runners very well. I will tell you that I realized just how far I've come along when during the initial conversation with the bike shop guy I uttered the words "I'm a competitive runner, just looking to add some cross training benefits to my current routine. But there is the prospect for competitive cycling in the near future."...a competitive runner

...SO COOL to be able to say that
So I mapped out a plan for the month of July that includes the following: 3 runs per week (easy, tempo and long), 3 XT sessions per week (2 bike rides and an elliptical), 3 light weight training days per week and 5 arm/ab routines per week (only 10 min each time). In addition, I will not eat ANY fast food..nor have sweet tea (ugh) or soda products. In order to accomplish the food part, I sat down and figured out what I'm gonna eat every day both lunches and dinners for the month.
Aside from all of that, I'm preparing for the race on Wednesday. I have a goal of either breaking or coming real close to breaking the 50 minute mark. It's gonna be hot and humid, so I'm not sure how that will play into everything...but I do know that I want to push myself to new levels and run the best race that I can.
Sorry this was so long today...thanks for reading...
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday week.