Colds, and Catching up.

Okay, so I fully apologize for the lack of posting, but life has been wild crazy busy for us the last few months!

There isn't too much to report in the running department due to being injured (toenail removal...OMG OUCH times a million) but after nearly 3 weeks of re-cooping, I did manage to run the Omaha Marathon 10k and the Komen Race for the Cure 5k. I felt like both my times were kinda sucky, but at least I finished them, which is all I really wanted to do.

My current plan is to work on losing 20 more lbs (9 lbs down, 11 more to go!), then in late January, early February I'll start half marathon training again for the Lincoln half marathon in May. I haven't run too much over the last few months, a few short 1-3 milers sporadically mixed in within my schedule, but nothing major. I'm actually enjoying the shorter runs because it gives me time to actually enjoy it, rather than dread all the miles. I'm not pushing myself right now because I know that soon enough I'll be back to the "schedule." On Thanksgiving we're running a turkey trot 5k, which means I get dibs on an extra piece of pumpkin pie, right?! Other than that, I am a little happy that cooler weather is here because I love to run in the cold. I guess I'm crazy like that! I bought new running gloves and a running hat so I'm eagerly awaiting my next brisk morning run in the cold weather.

I started school again so I'm in class twice a week and that makes our weekly family schedule just crazy! My son has karate twice a week, and scouts each week as well, and then add in homework and general life and we barely have time for much these days. We certainly try to enjoy our weekends, that's for sure!

Well, that's all for now...hopefully I'll post again more, soon. I'm hoping this cold scrams fast!!!!

Currently...

After the half, I basically gave myself permission to stop running for a short while. I rested, reveled in my accomplishment and took 10 full days off from putting on my running shoes. It felt good, I must admit. I felt free from the intense schedule of running I had been maintaining for the last 10+ weeks. It felt good to "sleep in" past 5am. It felt good not having to buy GU packets or bottle of G2 every week. It felt good not having to charge my iPod each and every night. Ahhh. Freedom!

After 10 days of rest I started to miss the euphoric feelings that running provided. I started to miss the love/hate relationship that running and I had with each other. I started thinking I was ready to, once again, hit the pavement.

Currently I'm running, but nothing scheduled and nothing more than 3 miles at a time. I'm enjoying the idea of running when I feel like it vs. running because the schedule says so. On a side note...why do shorter mile runs feel way harder sometimes than say the 5-7 mile runs??? Is it just me? Anyway, I try to get in at least 3 miles per run, a few times a week. I've researched a new running technique by Jeff Galloway, http://www.jeffgalloway.com/, that I've been trying out. It's definitely something to get used to, but I'm giving it a shot to see how it works for me.

I've signed up for a handful of races this fall but unfortunately I had an unexpectedly issue and had to have my big toenail removed (OMG OUCH!!!!), which had me canceling my first of the four upcoming races. That was a total bummer for many reasons but if there was any race to miss, this one was the one, so I'm okay with it.

I'm hoping my toe heals up and I can get back to running this week. I'm crossing my fingers that I'm not too sore to do the Corporate Cup run, which is next weekend.

*Fingers Crossed*

Upcoming races:

• Freedom 5k 9-11-10 (Canceled due to injury)
  
• Corporate Cup 10k 9-19-10
• Omaha Marathon 10k 9-26-10
• Koman Race for the Cure 5k 10-3-10

Half Marathon report, part 2

Eep! I completely forgot, until someone mentioned it to me, that I have yet to write up the second part of my half marathon report. Yikes, sorry! I'll make it short and sweet, and tidy up the lose ends here.
I met my friend, Julie, at the expo...she was the girl sitting looking through her race day goodie bag. I had never met her, but I recognized her from all the photos. I spotted her easy and walked up to her. We immediately smiled, hugged, and got all giddy! Here we were, surrounded by thousands of people who were equally hopped up on pre-race day adrenaline and we were meeting each other for the first time after being friends for the last 15 years! We walked around the expo for about an hour, chatted and got our photo taken in front of the race route, looked up our name on the print outs, picked up our T shirts (lame) and our free samples (Olive oil Julie?! lol), race bibs, and timing chip. Unless you really want to spend tons of money on "stuff" the expo really is a waste of time, imo. I thought it was ridiculous they made it "mandatory" for us to attend so I revolted by eating all the samples (energy bars, energy shots, drinks, etc, BEER!!!) and spending NO money. HA! I showed them. heh.
We decided that we both wanted to get back so we could each eat an early dinner and get a full nights sleep so we agreed to meet race morning around 5:30 am and hugged each other goodbye. L and I took the train back to the house (no funny stories as we were "pros" by this point) and ordered take out from a little place down the street. We were in bed by 8pm and even though I was keyed up beyond belief, was asleep by 9pm.
The alarm went off at 3:33am (good thing I sent two, because my first one didn't go off!!!) and I bolted up with major excitement. I ate half of a bagel with peanut butter, had a banana and drank almost a liter of G2. I woke L up and we proceeded to get dressed and ready. I pinned my bib number on, double, triple, and quadruple checked that I had all the necessities: chap stick, iPod, GU packets, safety pins, phone, and we headed out the door by 4:45am.

It was dark and quiet and admittedly slightly creepy. Luckily our 4 blocks we had to walk were uneventful until we made it up the train platform where a police cruiser came to an abrupt stop and officers got out of the car and yelled at some dudes on the corner to put their hands on their heads. Yikes. Before we knew it, we were on the L train headed downtown! Our first stop, there were only two of us marathon runners on the train with bib numbers on. Several stops later the train was PACKED to the gills with runners! It was so neat seeing everyone all geared up and excited, chatting it up about the race!
We got downtown, made our way through hundreds of people who were already getting their gear checked in, starting their stretches, and getting into placement. Once I found my friend at our corral, I made my way to the porta potties for my last pit stop, grabbed a bottle of water for a few last minute sips and headed back to our corral. The sun started to rise and before I knew it everyone was getting positioned. I kissed my husband goodbye, he told me good luck and that he was proud of me, took SEVERAL (hundred???) photos, and we were off to our starting spots. We did our warm up stretches and before long we were all packed in like a can of sardines.

The official time the race started was 6:30am, which is what time the first corral of runners took off. I kid you not, it took us 45 minutes to cross the START line. It was 7:15am by the time our group was able to get going. We were already hot, already sweating, already TIRED and we hadn't even started yet.

Finally, we were off and we took it s l o w. Unfortunately I injured my hip on my last trianing run and it never properly had the chance to heal before the half so here I was, running in already 80 something degree heat with a gimpy hip (did I mention I was lucky enough to also be on my period?! Wow!) and I was praying HARD that I would have the endurance to finish this race I had trained so hard for.
Miles 1 and 2 went fast, but I realized my Nike+ wasn't calibrated correctly and was reading my pace to be faster and my miles to be quicker. It wasn't off by much, but when it said I was already at mile 3 and we weren't yet, that was a real drag for the mental aspect. Can you say downer? It basically screwed us up our first several miles, but by mile 4 I really didn't give a crap, as I was already wanting to die from heat exhaustion anyway. My friend was feeling a surge of energy and I told to GO WITH IT. I didn't care that she went ahead of me beacuse my entire goal during this whole race was just to finsih. Time didn't matter to me. I gave her the go ahead and off she went! Good for her!

Mile 5 came and to my surprise my husband was on the sidelines looking for me! I waved him down and slowed to a walk so I could eat a GU packet. It was so great seeing him and getting a kiss from him! He took my photo and off I went again.I can't say that it really started sucking til mile 6. By this time my hip was burning and throbbing like I had never felt, it was hotter than hell (I swear it was hell), my clothes were already saturated heavy with sweat, and I couldn't quench my thirst no mater how many cups of Cytomax and water/ice I drank. I had been running with a girl who asked if she could keep pace with us during the first several miles and by this time we were fast friends and chatting, keeping each other going and sharing water (hey! when you are running 13 miles on a 86 degree day and nearly dying of heat stroke you don't care about sharing water with strangers, you're just grateful for it, let me tell you!!!). Nicole and I took it easy for awhile, walked a bit, ran a bit, and learned lots of things about one another. I was grateful for the company as, surprisingly, I got bored with my iPod.

I think it was mile 8 that we got separated due to some people in her family coming to run with her. I didn't mind running the rest of the race "solo" (aside from the hundreds of people all around me still) as it gave me time to focus and sort out my feelings. By mile 9 I wanted to kill someone, my legs and hips hurt so bad, but they hurt WORSE when I slowed to a walk, so I kept running, just way slow. At each water/ice station I'd take several cups. Two to pour over me, two to drink, and a cup of ice to chew on during the run. The ice was the best thing I had ever had...well until they started handing out wet cold sponges on mile 11. OMG was that heavenly!

Mile 12 and 13 were a near blur. I remember feeling faint but just kept telling myself I was almost there. I saw many people sitting on the side, laying down, nearly passing out, and even saw a few get taken in by med techs. The absolute worst mile was that last one. Not only was there a slight incline towards the end (by this point my legs were jello!) but there were no more water stations. I wanted this race to be OVER already and I just wanted to be out of all the pain. Many people were cheering on the sidelines that we were almost there, that the end was in sight and I started getting emotional and excited. I was really going to finish this race. I was really going TO DO THIS!!!

The last .1 seemed to take forever. Once I turned a corner I saw the finish line and nearly bolted outta my sneakers! I don't remember much, just looking at the clock and realizing that all the agony was about to end! I made it to the finish, went through a "tunnel" of high 5's and nearly wanted to collapse! There Julie was waiting for me, open arms, and teary eyed! We embraced and I totally broke down. My emotions came flooding like crazy and the tears started running. All I remember her saying was, "We did it! We did it! Chicago was a bitch to run in this heat and we did it!" She pointed to my husband and I immediately made my way over to him, where again, there were more tears! My husband was so relieved to see me as he thought something had happened to me as he stopped getting the auto text updates he was Supposed to be getting from the timing chip throughout the entire race. He thought the heat and my injury had prevented me from finishing and that I was somewhere on the sidelines. He was SO happy to see me and gave me many many MANY hugs and kisses!

I got my medal (proudest moment ever aside from childbirth!!!!), my ice cold towel to put around my neck, my 3 popsicles I eagerly slurped up, my two bottles of water and then we made our way over to the sprinklers! Ahhhh sweet Jesus!

We collapsed onto a shady piece of grass and I could already feel the soreness creep into every single muscle in my body. I was a hot sweaty mess, but a PROUD hot sweaty mess! I didn't want to move but knew if we didn't I never get up. Besides, we still needed to get back to the train, get back to the house, get packed and get back on the road to Nebraska.

Oh why did we plan such a rushed trip!!!!!

Half Marathon Report, Part 1

I’m back from Chicago, body back to normal for the most part, soreness gone, and medal proudly hanging in my bedroom. Chicago was an experience for sure!

We arrived around 1am the night of Friday, July 30^th. The drive wasn’t bad, even though driving in the dark and in the rain is not only boring but also nerve wracking. We attempted listening to the audio book Cujo, by Stephen King, but just couldn’t get into it. We spent most of the time talking, laughing over silly stuff, and wishing we were already there. We only stopped for bathroom breaks and gas, putting our drive time around 7 hours. Maybe because of the anticipation, or maybe because of the dark, but for whatever reason it really felt more like 10+ hours.

Our original plan of staying in a hotel right downtown was changed last minute due to some extended family being gracious enough to offer their uptown home to us. They were going to be out of town on their own weekend vacation, so they told us we could stay at their place. This was great for so many reasons! First just having the comforts of “home” is nice. Also staying with family, instead of a hotel saved us a few hundred dollars, not only because of the cost of the room, but mainly because of the ridiculous parking fee’s in downtown Chicago. Last but certainly not least, they have a gorgeous home and we felt we could truly relax while there.

We arrived at the house a little after 1am and it was still raining. We were in the city so it was quite interesting figuring out the parking situation, (which by the way if you don’t know how to parallel park in Chicago you can consider yourself screwed!) finding the right garage that went with the house (which entailed finding the correct narrow little alleyway, which also meant finding out who the hell parked a U-haul truck in the middle of the alley right in FRONT of the garage we needed to get into!), typing in codes, hunting around for the “secret” key, finding light switches in a house we had never been to before and figuring out how everything worked. We had a good time (honestly) figuring all these things out and managed with no problems. We took ourselves on a tour of the house and got ourselves comfortable and settled in for some sleep!

Saturday, July 31, I awoke early, around 6:30am. I got up and wandered into the kitchen and found cereal, bananas and milk. I flipped on the TV and enjoyed some background noise while I ate and figured out our game plan for the day. We needed to take the L train downtown, then take the Metra train to McCormick Place to get to the health and fitness expo so that not only could I meet my friend, Julie, but also so we could pick up our race packet and timing chip. I knew this would be an experience for us because we’ve never taken the train in Chicago before.

Larry woke up, ate breakfast and we enjoyed the early morning out on the back deck, which was adorned with the most beautiful flowers and plants I’d seen. It didn’t even feel like we were staying in the city, felt more like some private little cottage or bungalow. After we looked up our train schedules and directions, we showered and got dressed.

We headed out of the house plenty early enough to find the train terminal, which had us walking about 3-4 blocks. Normally I would welcome the walk, but given the fact that it felt like a thousand degrees out and that tomorrow I would be running 13.1 miles, I wanted to keep all leg movement to a serious minimum. Today was supposed to be a serious rest day! We found the terminal, which was right on the street (not what I expected) and right on the corner of the “rough crowd.” Visualize the home boyz, teeth full of grillz, paper bags around their 40s, shootin’ the breeze (or each other!), ladies with hiked up skirts, and older folk pushing their groceries carts of cans, talking to themselves and their imaginary friends. We quickly learned that in Chicago, there are many parts of the city where there's just a few block's difference between safe and potentially dangerous. While there were some “interesting” people on this stretch of the street, they pretty much kept to themselves and we carried ourselves like we knew where we were going. This was all quite the hilarious experience looking back NOW, but then??? Not so much!

I couldn’t figure how to scan my train card, couldn’t figure out the stupid turnstile, and couldn’t figure out how to get through, period! So much for looking like we knew what we were doing! We’re not stupid by any means; we had just never done this before. There was an entire line of not-so-patient, not-so-nice “regulars” behind me, who were not so happy with the obvious out of town girl in front of them (ME!) who didn’t know WHAT THE HELL she was doing and was going to cause them to miss their train. I figured it would be no problem to turn around and ask one of these “nice” people behind me to help me out. Yikes. I was greeted with a large black woman who had the most annoying steamed up look on her face, eye narrowed at me, TORQUED written all over her face. I was all, “Excuse me, could you be kind enough to tell me how to scan this card so we can get through” and I swear before I even got the words out, she yelled, “IT SAYS ENTER! GOOOO!” OMG, I never turned around so fast in my life. These people scared me! Can you say ordeal? We finally made it through the damn turnstiles and made our way up the zillion flights of stairs to the platform. Didn’t I say I wanted to do the least amount of legwork? Yeah forget that. My legs were ALREADY tired and we hadn’t even started our day yet.

We got upstairs and I asked a “normal looking” 20-something year old man if we were on the correct train platform for downtown (red line). He looked at my print out and confirmed we were in the right place, which was a relief. Once the train stopped and picked us up and we found a seat (or a pole in Larry’s case), he explained to us the next train stop we’d not only want to get off at, but then explained we needed to transfer to the brown line to get downtown. It seemed complicated, but once we figured it out, it was all quite easy. So far. I was so happy we finally ran into a nice person who was so helpful and went out of his way to make sure we were getting onto the correct trains. Little did I know that several hours later on the way back FROM the expo, we would see this same “normal looking” 20-something year old man screaming at the top of his lungs all kinds of profanities and ranting and raving like a maniac at the train staff for making him miss a certain train. Ooooh, I’m staying outta his way!

We made it downtown and next, needed to find the Metra train station, which I swear, no one in Chicago knew about. Part of downtown was blocked off for the filming of Transformers 3 and the streets were packed with people and their cameras wanting to get a shot of whatever famous celebrity might have been at the scene. There were Hollywood catering trucks everywhere, men in white aprons and food trays bustling in and out of buildings, cars honking like crazy, and people walking every which way, nearly all having a coffee cup glued to their hand and a cell phone attached to their ear. Here we were in the middle of it all, looking at our phones for GPS, looking at our directions trying to figure out in all the confusion how to get to the other train station. We asked a CTA employee who was guarding the blocked road to verify the directions we had and she ended up sending us 4 blocks into the WRONG direction. My legs were tired and I was starting to get CRABBY! I swear after several more loops around the block and asking 3 more people directions, we finally found a police officer to tell us the Metra train station was just around the corner, under ground.

We made our way down to what seemed like a whole different world. It was nice! It was like an underground airport only for trains! It was a long terminal with restaurants, gift shops, bars, and lounge places. It was clean and cool and wait!!! Confusing! How do we know what train to take? Wait…where ARE the trains? We don’t see any, anywhere! Where is a schedule? What do you mean we need tickets? What tickets? Where do we find the tickets? How much are the tickets? Where do you even get on and off at? Oy! We made our way up to a ticket counter where we told the guy we had no idea what we needed to do and his attitude seriously upset me. All I’m going to say is that he was an ASS with a capital A, and I wanted nothing to do with these rude Chicago people anymore. NOT EVERYONE lives here and KNOWS WTF to do, excuse ME! After he gave us our tickets, we still had no idea where the train platforms were. We found an “information” counter and were greeted by, guess who? Yes! Another RUDE CITY EMPLOYEE who looked us like we were aliens. She had a stone cold face, pursed ruby red lips and eyes narrowed flat. WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THE NARROWED MEAN EYES IN THIS CITY?!?!?!?!?!

Long story even longer, we finally made it down a dark stairway, through some doors to a platform. Several minutes later we were on a nice clean train, sitting side by side in real seats and on our way underground to the expo at McCormick Place. The train conductor came by and punched our tickets and we were able to relax our minds (and our legs!!!!) for several minutes.

The good news…the train took us right under McCormick Place so we didn’t have to walk around the city anymore. We walked up a few flights of stairs and were smack in the middle of a huge convention center were thousands of other people were off to get their race packets as well. Ahhh…the first time all morning I felt like we belonged somewhere. I knew we were surrounded by people who were there for the same reasons we were! Yay comradery! Now I felt relaxed and ready to find my friend, Julie.

By the way, have I mentioned that I’ve known Julie for 15 years but this was to be our first time EVER meeting?! Wait…is that her? Sitting over there on a ledge looking through her race packet and good bag? I can’t quite tell, but I think it’s her. I’m not quite sure but I start to walk over anyway. I get up to this person and say, ‘Heyyyyy You!”

She looks up, and………

Because I Have Nothing Else To Do With All This Nervous Energy!

On Your Mark....Get Set...Go!

Emotions Running High!

This is the final week before the half marathon and my thoughts and feelings are all over the place! I feel a major surge deep within…kind of like I’m already at the start line just waiting to bolt off! (Which, by the way, I won’t be doing any kind of “bolting off” whatsoever. I plan on taking it slow and steady then entire 13.1 miles!)

This week I finally get my “easy” week in regards to training. I’ve pretty much been taking it easy anyway since my 12 miler a few Saturday’s ago, due to scheduling conflicts, kid schedules, and a weekend trip out of state to Texas, but this week it’s an official take-it-easy week. I have a 3-mile run today (Monday), a 3-mile run on Wednesday, and get this…a 2-mile WALK on Thursday. That’s it!!! I’m not sure I can handle just doing a 2 mile WALK, but I’m proud I’ve made it through the 10 weeks of training, so I’m going to enjoy the walk anyway.

This week I also start carb loading and cutting out all junk food, which I haven’t REALLY been eating during these last 10 weeks anyway. I’m purposely forgetting about the three scoops of raw cookie dough I gorged on this weekend and nearly had my head in the toilet throwing up over. My body was NOT happy with all that sugar! Gag!

Anyway, I’ll be choosing foods this week such as cereal, pancakes, potatoes, rice, and breads, (who would complain about THAT) along with a good amount of fruit and fruit juice. Starting on Wednesday or Thursday I will start drinking my G2 to keep my electrolytes at top level so I’m all maxed out by Sunday. I will attempt to get my best nights sleep on Friday night, because I know I’ll hardly get any sleep at all come Saturday night.

My husband and I are driving to Chicago but we still haven’t decided if we’re leaving Friday (hopeful) or Saturday. His work schedule may prevent us from leaving on Friday, which would leave us departing super early on Saturday morning. It’s still doable (a 9 hour drive) as long as we can make to the mandatory health and fitness Expo by 6pm Saturday to pick up my race packet and running bib. The Chicago half marathon does not allow ANYONE to pick up your race packet for you, under ANY circumstances and they do NOT allow you to get your race packet the day OF the race, so if you miss out on the Expo, essentially you’re screwed. I find this highly annoying that they don’t allow you to get the packet the morning of. *Grumble* Registration was $110.00 for this race, add in the cost of gas for getting up there and home again, add in splitting a hotel in downtown Chicago, plus parking and oh yeah, eating and that equals a lot of cash. I’ll be damned if I let ANYTHING stop me now, I’ve come too far!

Even though my husband isn’t running the race with me, his support and him being there FOR me is a true gift in and of itself. While I’m running, I’m sure he’ll be moseying around downtown snapping all kinds of amazing photos. I’m excited that he gets to be there with me and gets the chance to “site see” a little bit while waiting for me. I already can’t wait to see him at the finish line! I hope he has a pocket of tissue ready for me, as I’m sure I’ll be a crying mess at the end.

Also, one of the best parts about this whole trip is I get to FINALLY meet a friend of mine, Julie, that I’ve “known” for almost 15 years but have never met! We started out in our early 20’s (cough! cough!) being pen pal, if you can believe it. You know…before the days of text messaging and emails; real letters in the mail. We wrote back and forth and kept in touch all these years. Then technology came dancing by and we were able to keep in touch via email. Then a few years ago, Facebook happened and here we are! We have a lot in common, are both Virgos (that should explain a lot right there) and unfortunately both our mother’s passed away from breast cancer. This race is benefiting the American Cancer Society so this is BIG for us, and probably very emotional. So here we are, about to do our first half marathon together and meet for the first time! I can’t wait to see her after all these years.

The race starts at 6:30am, that’s gun time anyway. It’ll probably take us at least 20-30 minutes to make our way up to the start line from our corral. With 25,000 runners, it’s not like we can all start right at the same time…can you say MESS?! We figure we’ll start around 7am and finish by 10am. We gave ourselves a generous estimated time of 3 hours. I plan on fully enjoying this experience, NOT worrying one bit about my time. I can’t wait to run in downtown Chicago, and along the water. I can’t wait to hear all the bands and enjoy the finish line concert (Five For Fighting!!!). This is truly going to be an amazing experience, I can already feel it.

The nerves have started to set in and I’m getting giddy! I can’t believe I did it! I can’t believe I’m days away from the biggest goal I have ever set for myself: running 13.1 miles! I can’t believe I’ve trained 10 weeks, pushed myself beyond limits I would have never imagine pushing myself though. I can’t believe how much I’ve pounded the pavement and accomplished running all those miles and just how far I’ve come. I started training and within a few short weeks, lost a precious baby and had to have major surgery. I only took a week off and jumped right back into training. What? I really did this? I sure did and I’m giving myself a huge well-deserved pat on the back for it.

I don’t care what place I come in at, because…I’ve already won!

So Close to the Finish Line!

I last left off just days away from my 11 mile run. I had been training 4 days a week for WEEKS, very strict, very scheduled and things were going very smoothly. When I ran my 10 I felt GREAT afterward. Great as in: Fan.Freakin.Tastic. I figured that since my 10 were nothing short of awesome, 11 could only be better…oh sheesh was I wrong.

As some of you runners may know, a run doesn’t always go as planned, no matter how much psyching up you do before hand. I had done all my “regular” things I do before my long Saturday miles. I carb loaded the day before, hydrated with lots of water and electrolytes, I ate healthy all week, I got good sleep, I had a positive attitude. Once again, I decided to do my 11 on a treadmill because of the weather that morning. I can’t remember if it was storming, or if I just didn’t want to deal with the horrible humidity, but for whatever the reasons, I decided to hit the gym and get those 11 miles done on the treadmill.

I DID get it done, at a great pace, no stopping, straight through, but let me tell you it was not pretty and definitely not worth the good pace. Actually it was quite awful. I’m trying not to be overly dramatic here, but when I say it was horrible, it really was. I pushed myself beyond limits I’ve never pushed before which was the only positive aspect of this run. I never knew I COULD push myself that far because by mile 6 my knees started hurting bad, and by mile 8 I wanted to cut someone. Deep. I tried to slow it down but going slow just didn’t feel right and all I could think about was if I kept up my speed I’d get the 11 over with sooner. The last two miles nearly killed me or so I thought it would anyway. I was angry and somewhat emotional. My entire body ached and all I could think about was getting done. Once I hit 11, I stopped and just stood on the treadmill. The world continued on around me, but my brain was stuck on PISSED. I don’t know what it was, but honestly I hated the experience and I was upset that I wasn’t feeling elated, proud, and full of pride, like I had hoped. My legs felt like noodles and I had zero energy, which was probably a good thing because I wanted to hurt someone at this point. I hobbled down to the locker room, nearly drowned myself in the sink, and tried to regain my composer again. Again, I gave the words hot mess a whole new meaning. I drank an entire huge G2 after, ate a Snickers and put myself into an ice bath. It only took my body a day to recover, but it took my mind days to get over that bad experience. I didn’t want to run anymore, wanted to pull out of the marathon, and didn’t even want to talk about running. I took SEVERAL days off not because my body needed it, but because my mind needed it. I don’t know what it was, but mentally I wasn’t in the right place. Or something.

*12 Miles*

I was still pretty bitter over my previous experience but managed a few “short” runs during the week (I never thought I’d ever consider a short mile run to be 6 miles!) and started geared myself up for my biggest and longest training run ever….12 miles! Again, I carb loaded starting the day before, loaded up on electrolytes by drinking my fill of G2 and made sure I had plenty of GU packets. I decided that no matter what the weather or humidity, I would do my 12 miles outside in preparation of the marathon. I checked out an audio book from the library and was very excited to see if listening to a book, rather than music for over 2 hours would help me get through the “boredom” of running 12 miles.

Saturday morning I started out early; I believe 5:45am, in hopes of beating the sun and heat. The weather was relatively mild, not too awful yet and I felt good and mentally ready! I started out, kept my pace S-L-O-W and started my audio book. Before I knew it I was at mile 3. I stopped for a quick 30 seconds water/mental break and started up again. At mile 5 I stopped for a GU and water break and felt really good at this point plus I was really enjoying the audio book. I continued to mile 8, stopped for another quick water/mental break and was greeted by my husband who had come out to check on me, give me an “I love you” note and told me how awesome I was doing. He had asked me how many miles I was at and when I said 8 he couldn’t believe it because he said I looked great, not out of breathe or anything. He mentioned that I didn’t even look like someone who had just run 8 miles!!! Hearing that from him made me feel good and gave me more energy to carry on. At mile 9 I stopped quick for another GU shot and took in a few swallows of water, then I was off again. I hit mile 11 and felt great knowing that I was embarking on my longest run EVER and felt so proud. I sipped a bunch of water and told myself that I only had 1 more mile left and that I WAS going to do it! My legs were really aching by now and I was mentally ready to be done, but knew that I was on my last few moments of this major milestone. My adrenaline carried me through the last half mile and I completed with that pride I desperately needed when I did that horrible 11 the week before. I finished and hobbled home, beaming with happiness. I drank up tons of G2, took some Advil, and got into an ice bath to soak. It felt heavenly!

Again, it only took a little over a day for my body to recover and I felt great! It’s so strange how even though it was only 1 mile more, the huge difference in the way the run felt compared to the 11 and how it left me feeling was a huge and monumental difference. I guess it just happens like that sometimes.

I did it. I have completed training! I actually made it through all those (10) weeks of blood, sweat, and tears. I pushed myself, I took my mind and body places it’s NEVER been before. I opened up a whole new world I never knew existed. It feels good and I am very proud of myself and of my body. I am very grateful that I have the body to move, and that I have the mind to make my body move!

More soon as Chicago is in just a few days! I’ll be writing about my game plan this week and all the excitement I’m feeling!

This is big. Very big!

My first skipped run, my best mile, and OH LOOK I have a webcam!

Please forget the fact that the angel of the web cam on my laptop was ALL. WRONG and makes me look like a giant! Oh well...I'll try for better next time! What do you think? Written entries or video diary entries? The video ones are easier, I admit! Feedback you shy ones!!!

Week 6

Monday morning and all I wanted to do was sleep. Got up, ran 4 (a good 4!), now sitting on sofa like a zombie wishing my coffee was already finished. Must get into shower...hair appointment later this morning. It's been too long since I had my hair done so I'm looking forward to some pizazz!

Two things:
1. Had another "best mile yet" during this mornings 4.
2. Had a GU gel on an empty stomach and it worked just great...no problems.

Happy Monday.

I'm a Perfect 10!!!

I did it! I ran 10 solid miles this morning!! I even felt good and didn't need CPR when done! To say I'm proud of myself would be HUGE understatement.

The run itself was pretty uneventful, thankfully there was nothing major to report about it, besides the fact that I got it done. Since my last couple of runs have been less than great, I was extremely nervous about this mornings 10. I couldn't imagine being able to run TEN MILES. At once. Without stopping. Without cramping. Without crying. Without being hospitalized.

It took me awhile to get to sleep last night but I forced myself because I knew I would need to be well rested and full of energy. I woke up at 5:45am, hit snooze and slept 'til a little after 6am. I woke up and forced myself to eat a plain bagel with honey peanut butter, a huge glass of water, and a banana. It's hard for me to eat first thing in the morning, especially peanut butter, but I got it down and I actually felt better. After I was dressed, I enjoyed a cup of coffee while giving myself a pep talk.

Why do I always get so nervous before a big run? Even though this wasn't any kind of race I was still super keyed up and I just wanted to get it started so that I could feel better. So much anticipation had my stomach in knots and I wasn't feeling that great. Then I realized I felt better if I just told myself, "Make it to 5. then go for 7, then go for 9. Once you're at 9 you're practically home free." This strategy helped a lot and I was able to fool myself into thinking that 10 was really only 5, 7, 9. Hey, sometimes these mind games really help and I'll take whatever works!

I dropped the kids off with their dad and headed to the gym. I stretched and drank a few sips of water and warmed up with a little bit of walking. It didn't take much before I was rearin' to go. I started running, paced myself slow and told myself I was in for the long haul. Luckily my music didn't get boring to me, and there was actually some good stuff on TV that interested me enough to watch. On Home and Garden TV a marathon of My First Place was on so I watched that. I've gotten very good at being able to run on the treadmill and watch TV while being able to read subtitles, which kills a lot of time if there is something good on.

I'm trying to learn how to drink water while running, something I didn't think I'd have to "learn" how to do, but I'm getting used to it, which is important since I'm super sensitive to nausea when I get dehydrated. Luckily I haven't gotten nauseated in a long time, so I must be taking in enough water, which makes me happy. When I hit mile 5 I was feeling great, no show of slowing down, but I went ahead and had a GU Gel so that I wouldn't dip in my energy. Fantastic choice because it gave me an awesome boost that carried me through miles 6-8 with ease.

My legs started hurting around mile 7, but they did last week on my 8 mile run so I knew I could push through it, which is exactly what I did. When I hit mile 8 I felt great knowing that this was the longest run I've ever done at one time. I felt energized, my breathing was good, and I knew I was going to take it to 10. Not a single doubt in my mind. My hips and back started to ache slightly at 8.5 and lasted all the way to 10, but I knew I had good form so I just kept telling myself I was almost done, just get through it.

I made it and still felt great. I didn't collapse or throw myself off the treadmill. I slowed down and walked it out for quite awhile because I was worried about my legs cramping. I drank the rest of my water, ate the ice and toweled myself off.

When I walked to my car I still felt great and was surprised at how good the entire 10 went. It was at that time that I realized that the half marathon was definitely something I could complete. I knew that if I made it to 10, then I would be able to do 13.1. I still have 5 weeks of training and know I'll be nice and strong for Chicago by then.

I'm pretty freakin' stoked that I was able to do 10. So stoked that I don't even care that I'm using the word STOKED. I've earned the rights to use it, ha ha. (If you haven't earned it and you use the word, I'm more than likely to think of you as a tool!)

I've worked hard for this goal of 10 and have put in a lot of dedication to make this happen, to make my mind and my body healthy and stronger. Today completes week 5 of training and I've logged in 21 miles of running this week. Next week starts week 6 and I'll be logging in a total of 24.

Damn. I'm close to being one of those REAL runners! Who knew?!

Day of Rest

Today was a much needed day of rest and I enjoyed it for the most part. I didn't exactly "rest" since the day was filled with errands and places to be, but at least I didn't have to run...yippee! I'm really trying hard not to think about my long run tomorrow morning...my T E N miles (sshhhh! Don't say it...spell it!). I can't bring myself to say it without freaking out, so I'm just going to pretend I didn't say it, AND I'm going to pretend that it's not T E N miles, it's just 2 or 3.

If you don't hear from me after tomorrow morning, I'm probably face down on some piece of concrete.

Good luck vibes my way wouldn't hurt, would it? Thanks.

Heat + Hills = Hate

I decided to do my 3 miles outside today because the last time I went to the gym and did the treadmill I nearly gagged on all the old timer smells that were filling the air. Please don't get me wrong...I love old people. They are so cute in their little jogging outfits, and I always smile at them sweetly when I pass them. For the most part they are always so happy and cheerful and it actually makes me happy to see them out exercising. Now I understand that when you get a little older, your sense of smell goes, but why in the sweet name of Jesus do some of them have to put on perfume or cologne?! Like a gallon?!?! Some of them even have hair slicking stuff on...that I CAN SMELL. Maybe I have a bionic sense of smell, but I'm super sensitive to any scent when I run and sometimes even the heavy smell of wet hay or weeds when I run outside will make me gag. To prevent this, I like to run inside on some days, so you can possibly see my aggravation when little old lady Gladys has massive amounts of powdery rose smelling perfume on. What's worse? The blond bimbo with a full face full of oil thick make up and sprays upon sprays of Debbie Gibson's Electric Youth perfume who prances into the gym, doesn't really do much but fix her hair every two seconds and sips on a water bottle. Sheesh. I just can't seem to win. I'm going to have to start wearing a creepy Michael Jackson face mask every time I run. That would really look great.

Anyway...where was I??? I had to wait til almost 9am because of dropping the kids off at day camp and VBS. When I run outside I like to run early...as in 5:30am early, so having to wait til 9am almost seems torture. The sun was ablaze already and I felt waaaaay sloooooow and waaaaay tirrrrred this morning.

I set out and picked a trail I hadn't done before. I *looked* flat enough to me. Turns out that "flat enough" wasn't flat, or at least it didn't feel like it today to my legs that felt like led. I pushed on through and like usual, felt nice and warmed up right as it was time to end. Go figure.

I ran 3.11 and cooled down with a nice walk and a bunch of water. My face feels sunburn, which I hope it's not. I wore a hat, Chapstick, and sunglasses to help protect, but I forgot my sunscreen. Must remember to keep some in the car.

I'm glad that's over with because I really need a rest day. Saturday I have my BIG 10 to do. I'm partially dreading it because right now I can't possibly imagine being able to run 10 miles straight, but I'm also excited because I KNOW I'm going to succeed and I'm going to be so freakin proud of myself when I'm done. I may not be able to move for the rest of the day, but I'll be proud nonetheless.

GU Report

After I loaded my Nike+ today, I got notice that I finally hit the green level. That means I've synced a total of 157.23 miles. Go me! Some dude (pro skateboarder ????) came on and "congratulated me," which struck me funny, but hey I'll take a confidence boost!



Today I had 5 miles. I can't say that it was awful or anything, but it wasn't amazing awesome. I guess every run can't be great. Bummer.

I dropped my son off at day camp, dropped my daughter off at VBS and then headed to the gym. It was raining again (!!!) and thundering and lightening, so today was another DREADmill run.




I finally decided I wanted to try a GU gel because after last weeks 8 miles, I could have really used a "boost" around mile 7. This weekend I have 10 miles and KNOW I will need something to recharge me. I didn't want to go into a 10 mile run trying the GU for the first time for fear of stomach cramps. I'm thinking that doesn't sound like such a great time, so today I decided to try one in the middle of my 5 miles to see how my body reacted.

I chose the Chocolate Outrage first because I've heard such great things about it and I definitely wasn't disappointed. Oh yum! This stuff seriously tasted like brownie batter/chocolate frosting. It had the consistency of the same and left no gross aftertaste, so I was pleased at how easy it was to get down. I was waiting for a stomach ache, just because I tend to have a sensitive stomach when I run anyway, but thankfully this caused me no issues or cramps. Woot for that. I felt a good boost of energy that last almost the entire run, but I do admit that my mind wasn't into it this morning, which as anyone who runs knows, it's all mental. Really. Mile 4 to 5 really blew. I was winy inside my head and begging the kilometers to go faster! faster! faster! I upped my speed during the last mile just to get the hell done.

I felt good after I finally finished, said a quick prayer thanking God for my health in that I CAN run, and thanked my legs for carrying me through yet another long run.

My knees on the other hand? Yeah they must have not of felt the love because they are cursing me out for sure today. Sorry guys! Just 3 miles tomorrow and then you can have a rest day. Please be good for me. I really do KNEED you. :)

Yeah. I crack myself up on a daily basis. Kinda. Anyway, off to down some Advil.

Short Miles, Big Smiles! Monday, June 21, 2010

Today was a good run, a “short” 3 miles. When I woke up, it felt good knowing I didn’t have to kick it into high gear, hurry, and still get ready for work. Today I’m officially on summer vacation!

Instead of my normal 5am alarm, I was able to sleep until 5:45, which felt great. I woke up and took my time getting up and getting functional. I brewed some coffee, fixed an egg and piece of toast, and read the morning news. Larry is doing this super intense workout called P90X, so while I was eating breakfast and waking up, he was downstairs doing his ab workout. I looked out the window and saw it was lightly raining, but that the sky was dark with a greenish tint to it. That meant STORMS. I could hear thunder in the distance and since we’ve had some crazy scary lightening the past several days, I knew I wouldn’t be running outside this morning.

I finished my coffee and breakfast and then got dressed. When L left for work shortly after 7, I got my water, towel, and iPod ready and left for the gym. It was raining pretty hard at this point and the sky was pretty dark. I was wishing I were at home, snuggled in the nice cozy bed, rather than on my way to run. Oh well, I’ll feel better about my decision after.

Once I got to the gym, I realized that I had forgotten that all the old timers speed walk around the track this early in the morning. This is some SERIOUS BUSINESS PEOPLE! You should see these little old people fly around the track with their fanny packs, hand weights, and towels over their shoulders. They had severe written all over their velour jogging suites and white sneakers and I wasn’t about to get in the way of THAT, so off to the treadmills I went! Whew!

The 3 miles weren’t bad, I held steady and enjoyed watching the old folks on the track, which kept my mind off most of my own run. I sweated a lot today, which I don’t mind, because hello I’m running my BUNS OFF, therefore I SHOULD be sweating, but today it just felt gross. Good thing I’m not there to impress because I give the words HOT MESS a whole new meaning… and not necessarily a good one.

When I was done with my 3, I realized it was the same time that my son’s summer day camp starts and since he gets dropped off in the mornings at the same center I workout at I had a good chance of seeing him on his first day (his dad was dropping him off). This excited me, so I quickly cleaned the treadmill, hopped off, and headed out to the gym part. Sure enough I saw Collin in his circle and trotted down to say hi. I keep forgetting that he’s old enough now to get embarrassed at things and I think I mortified him when he realized his sweat-drenched mom with a huge ridiculous smile plastered on her face was headed his way. In fact he looked shocked to see me obviously he wasn’t expecting it. He ended up waving and smiling and I didn’t TOTALLY embarrass him and insist on a hug or anything, just went over and said hi and told him to have an awesome day. Of course it being the first day, all the kids were sitting in silence, none of them knowing anyone, but all eyes were on the crazy glistening lady with blotchy face and sweat soaked shirt trying to figure out who she was and why she was standing in front of them….um yeah, I guess that WOULD embarrass any 9 year old. Ooops. I gave him a quick smile and wink and said goodbye, told him I’d pick him up later this afternoon and I high tailed it outta there. Someday he’ll appreciate stuff like that. He may have been rolling his eyes with embarrassment, but I walked out with a skip in my step and a smile on my face. I just ran 3 miles and I got to see my boy!

It’s the little things!

8 Miles!

Can I get a woot! woot! Or a high five! Or a Hell yeah! Or even just a thumbs up here?! I just finished running my 8 miles! EIGHT freakin miles!!! That is the farthest I've ever run at one time and I didn't stop once. I'm totally patting myself on the back and you can better believe I had a smile a mile wide when I hit that mile 8!

I chose to do my 8 this morning on the treadmill at the gym for a few reasons.
1. My knees have been a little bothersome lately and I wanted to be good to my joints, rather than pounding the pavement and causing any injury. I'm listening to my body and I know when it's good to run the trail or track outside or run the treadmill inside. My body knows what I need so I'm listening.
2. HYDRATION! I've gotten pretty good at my water intake. I drink water all day and always carry a water bottle with me. I used to HATE drinking water...ick. Now I love it. I can run an hour and be okay with just what water I've hydrated my body with, but after that I not only NEED water, but it's necessary to your body. I knew that if I wanted to stay hydrated and stay away from nausea, I'd have to intake water after 1 hour. A coworker has a hydration belt that she said I could borrow, but for today I just decided having water at the treadmill would work easier, so that's what I did.
3. People watching. Time goes faster when you can watch all the people coming in and out of the gym and working out. It also make me feel more accountable and makes me wanna work harder when I know that those same people *I'm* watching, are probably people watching by watching ME! See?! It all works out! :)

This morning I woke up at 5:45am...yes even on a Saturday. I wanted to eat a decent breakfast and give it an hour of digestion before running. I ate egg beaters, a piece of wheat toast, and a few watermelon pieces. It worked well and I had plenty of energy and "go" for most of then entire 8 miles. And NO NAUSEA! Yay!

Mile 1: Felt great and time went fast.
Mile 2: Felt great and found my pace, but my shins! They were screaming but I just kept working thought the pain.
Mile 3: I felt like I had to pee but I was determined not to stop that early. Once I started thinking about it, it's all I COULD think about. My knees started hurting a little on this mile, but again, just pushed on through the pain. Energy level felt great and I was still keeping my pace.
Mile 4-6: Felt good, pace good, energy high, good even breathing. Really enjoying it all.
Mile 7: This is where I felt a slight dip in energy. Nothing major, but this is where I could have definitely used another burst of energy. Not sure I'm brave enough to try the Gu gels just yet, but I really wished I had had something. Time starting to drag just a little.
Mile 8: Back to feeling great, letting my adrenaline take me to the end. Upped my pace back at mile 6 and kept it up the last two miles. Drenched sweaty mess but feeling great!

I finished, kissed the first person I saw, which luckily just happened to be my husband who was on the treadmill next to me. I FINISHED EIGHT FREAKIN MILES AND FELT GREAT!

Of course I'll be downing Advil later and hobbling, but damn...I DID IT!

Hi and welcome *waves frantically with huge smile*

That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going.

I just love that quote! It's so true and fits perfectly. That's how my journey started. One day I was walking and that walk turned into a jog and that jog turned into a run and that run turned into a goal and that goal turned into a race. It's kind of strange actually. I've never envisioned myself to be a "runner" and I've never had a desire to be a runner. I still, even with several races under my belt, don't really consider myself a RUNNER. I can't say that I ever will. I take that back...perhaps after I finish this half marathon without having to be drug across the line by paramedics, then, just then...I *might* consider myself a real deal.

Half marathon in only 6 weeks. *gulp* I'm on week 4 of my training. Unfortunately I was hospitalized and had surgery just 4 short weeks ago as well. I took a week to recover and then I jumped (more like hobbled) back into running. It was slow and steady, but at least I got myself back out there. It's what I needed to do. Not only for my physical recovery, but for my mental recovery. Running does something amazing to me, mentally. It clears my mind and brings me to a place where I can feel at peace.

I've been able to build myself back up and now I'm consistently running four days a week. I logged 16 miles in last week, and this week I'll have a total of 19. This is a huge goal of mine and damn does it make me proud!

Maybe, just maybe some day soon, I'll get to be one of those real "runners!"