running, sunshine, and baseball

10 miles, last one, then 26.2. and after 26.2, i'm going to enjoy weekends of 10's and 12's!

this was a low week for me, lower than i wanted as i was forced to take tuesday off due to feeling a bit under the weather. monday was my day to teach spin twice, so i usually look forward to a longish, easy run on tuesday, which didn't happen. after teaching wednesday morning, i went for that longish run after work. 7 miles, easy, relaxing, and my legs felt good. thursday, i was going for 7 or so again. stopped at 5 cause it just wasn't my day! i managed to salvage my workout by doing some yoga, stretching, and ab work at home. gotta work those kinks out!

saturday, i met terri and jenny to run 10. vicki joined us for 8. we had a great time, and it ended up being a really quality run. it's funny, cause none of us wore our garmins! i was able to run my last mile and a half in pretty hard. it was a good day.

the weather was gorgeous this weekend. it was the perfect weather for one of my favorite things - college baseball! friday was opening weekend at the park, and i made it out for a few innings after work. saturday, after my run, i headed back out for day two. what a great day! i'm looking forward to spring, more baseball, and lots of 10 to 14 mile runs for a while! i'm going to enjoy life without training for a marathon for a while (until fall), and get back in the short distance game. my first few 5k times will be sucky, but i have to start somewhere! i have a few ideas for the fall, and i'm going to keep those to myself until i figure things out. there will definitely be a fall marathon, and i plan on getting there strong!!!

i hope to be celebrating and recovering this time next sunday from a FUN marathon! it's just for fun, right?

snow, long run, and camping

the first time it snowed this winter, i was on my way to las vegas to run the marathon. so i missed it. this time, i was home and off work. when it snows in the south, life shuts down, and people play! snow isn't a nuissance here, it's an excuse to be a kid again, takes tons of pictures, and talk about it for days. this is my first snow in my first home that i own. also my first snow with my best pal, molly. i spent the morning playing in the back yard with molly, and the afternoon 4-wheeler riding in the snow and mud. that was fun. below are a few pics.

after the fun in the snow, i was talked into 'camping'. i'm a country girl, but still not into the 'roughing it' kind of camping. we were in a nice camper, with a kitchen, heat, a shower, a bed, and a bathroom! we parked at paul b johnson start park and had a great view of the lake. we went down friday, and i came home today. saturday morning, i woke up and headed back to town to meet ginny and audrey to run. ginny was doing 16, and audrey ended up doing 14 with me, her longest distance ever. we met up at anatomies, a local gym, and ran about 7 miles in the hilly neighborhood. the lawns were still covered in snow and it was a lovely run. we met audrey's husband charles at the trace and planned to finish up with him. poor charles is suffering from a knee injury and had a tough time. after our run, the gang indulged in post-race pizza at mellow mushroom. i do think that is my favorite part of running - the post-run fellowship. below is a shot of the trace at our destination, epley station.

camping. i headed back to the camp after the run and pizza. we spent the afternoon relaxing outside, checking out the rest of the campsites, and then listening to the southern miss basketball game by the fire. we got brave and let molly enjoy the outdoors without a leash. she did great! and she LOVED camping! she loved sitting outside watching the birds, the geese on the lake, and just walking around sniffing things like dogs do. i can't wait to take her back in the summer so she can swim! we had a great weekend, and i was sad to come home today. snow is gone, run is over, and the relaxing weekend by the lake is done. these are the things in life that make going back to work ok.

bring the pain #9

i've been flip flopping back and forth about whether or not i wanted to run the full in new orleans. i registered for this marathon last june, and the plan was to keep working after vegas and go as hard as i can. you all know about my aches and pains and how it troubled my training. i then started wavering on the full and started thinking about the half.

a childhood friend ran his first marathon in baton rouge the same weekend i did vegas. he LOVED it. we discussed running new orleans together, for fun. in my wavering, i forgot all about it, until he mentioned it on facebook the other day. so it started me thinking. and after my sleepless night a couple nights ago, i started thinking that i can still do this. so today, i headed out for the test, a 20 miler.

i'm happy to say i made it. it wasn't the easiest 20 miles, but i've felt much worse, many times. it was a decent run, and i was able to keep the pace around a 10 minute mile. before vegas, i was doing 20 milers about a minute faster per mile, but i understand the shape i'm currently in. i understood the shape i was in then, and knew i had been in better shape than that even. however i'm happy for today's victory. i can't change the shape i'm in at this point for this marathon, so i accept it for what it is and celebrate that i did it. my last long run, 3 weeks ago, was a horrible 18 miler that left me walking and sick in the last 5 miles. the week before that, was a tough 16 miler. and the week before that, a pretty slow 14 miler. today, there was no guarantee i'd finish running 20 miles, but i did in an ok time with no walking.

so....new orleans marathon is back on the table. it won't be a PR, and i feel pretty confident it won't be my worst. it'll hurt like an SOB, but i'm going to have fun, run with a friend, and celebrate finishing my 9th marathon.

bring it on #9!

standing still

today was a blah day, with lots of rain, and a long stinking nap that has rendered me sleepless at midnight. luckily, i am off tomorrow, so sleep isn't overly important. however, it led me to facebook and the urge we all have to stalk. my browsing led me down a path i wasn't at all expecting. i thought i was just being nosey.

i won't go into details on what all was involved in my stalking, but as i've said before, 2009 was a tough year. i've been very fortunate in my now 37 years to not have that many tough times, so i've been trying lately to take it in stride and learn from it. i am learning from it daily. tonight, i realized i've been standing still for quite some time. not all came from this past year, but it certainly didn't help me to get moving again.

as i was lying here, listening to the rain, i started thinking that for a long time, i quit moving, almost quit living in some ways. i slowed down and started letting life pass me by. work, friends, training, my relationship with God. i also realized there were a lot of things i didn't want to do, but i still wished i was doing. for me, that's a strange place to be. to wish to get out and run, but not do it cause i hurt or just don't want to. to wish to go hang out with a group of friends, but not do it because i'm tired. to want to be at church, but find excuses not to go or fall back asleep. i have been standing still while life kept moving.

many of you reading my blog haven't known me but for a few years at most. i was a shy girl growing up and still have shy moments, but in college, i became larger than life. even in years after, i was often the center of a party, a group, a joke, laughter. in my older age, i've mellowed out, but i realized i have also shrunk. my personality is still there, but it lies quietly behind a wall. what built this wall? not one thing, but several. a collection of pieces over the last few years that instead of knocking down and moving on, i felt it easier to let them stack up. i can only assume that i felt letting them stack up wouldn't cause me any harm as i never had any issues before. all this time, i just thought i was growing older, changing interests, or something. i think if i'm wishing to do all these things i'm not doing, then i'm still the same me inside.

what to do now that i've had this midnight revelation? i don't know, but i can only hope and pray that now that i have realized that i've been standing still, i can start working on moving again. i don't expect to wake up tomorrow and go run a blistering tempo run, or start reading my Bible for an hour. let's face it, i've never been that motivated. i do expect to keep this realization on the forefront of my mind, and pray about it as often as i can.

you ask, what does this have to do with running and getting to boston? EVERYTHING! i can't be standing still to realize my goals.

run, for your life!

new shoes - to run or not to run

i love new shoes. i love old shoes! i love all shoes! this weekend, i got two new pair of shoes. one, a super sophisticated pair of high heels, and the other, a sleek new pair of running shoes. both were birthday presents! no better gift than shoes! for years, i've been wearing the Asics Gel Kayano, and i love these shoes. they are kind to my feet and my potential for shin splints. i broke them out last night for a run, and i was almost blinded. they are the WHITEST shoes! i commented on how white they are, and another runner said she loved bright new shoes cause they made her feel fast! i just feel like a nerd wearing bright, white new shoes. sadly, they'll get dirty and worn in no time. but they felt wonderful, and i'm reminded how much i love new running shoes or any new running toy for that matter. here's to lots of miles logged on these babies!

i ran at the track with a few others. a couple of girls weren't feeling it so i was easily swayed into just running some miles. since i had a good run on saturday, i was ok with that. i ended up getting in 6 and parts of this run were really good. i felt mostly pain free, until the end, and i'm feeling some tightness today in the IT band again. the road to recovery is apparently a long one. but i think i'm further down the road, finally.

a thought popped into my head earlier this week. switch from the full marathon to the half marathon in new orleans. reasons: 1) heart is not in the long miles lately, 2) body has been hit with a few issues - IT band, periformis, fatigue, 3) training hasn't been good at all. mostly, my heart isn't into the miles. i think what started as slow recovery from vegas turned into problems in the IT and periformis which resulted in losing my drive for 26.2 on february 28. i want to run something, i just need to thoroughly think it through before i make the decision to switch. i want no regrets, only happiness with whatever i decide.

i have completely enjoyed running during my last few runs. i'm feeling better and running a little better. i'm still moving forward and away from the burnout that begin in early 2008. running is a lot mental, but i think i'm WAY more mental than the worst mental runner. since my mental struggle began a couple years ago, i decided that whatever i run, i need to do it for the right reasons, whatever they may be. which is why i am considering the switch from 26.2 to 13.1. the reason would be to make sure i have fun that day NO MATTER WHAT.

stay tuned!!!!

crazy week - bad times, good times, and a year older

last week, my 18 miler went down the toilet! wowza, what a bad run. i've been hurting pretty badly in my IT band and periformis, and i have been taking it pretty easy now for weeks. saturday woke up to rain and just wasn't feeling a run for 18 miles in that mess. i slept in, hit the treadmill for a few boring, slow miles, and then finished up with stretching and core work. all part of fulfilling my goals for 2010. then watched the saints...who dat!

decided that i would go for the 18 on sunday. the leg was feeling pretty good, and i would rather get it done on the weekend it was scheduled instead of putting it off. i had a team, vicki and terri. vicki for the first 8 and terri for the last 10. it was cloudy, cool, and a bit too windy on sunday afternoon, but all in all, not bad weather for a long run. felt good in the first 8, and felt good in the next 4-6. the rest, DOWNHILL quickly. and it wasn't the IT band or periformis that canned me. it was some odd sensation of not being able to breathe! i would start feeling shortness of breath, try to deep breathe, feel my chest and back get super tight, then i would get lightheaded, and then nauseated. that cycled repeated consistently, beginning as soon as it ended. the only way to end it was to walk. poor terri, she had to endure my complaints, my apologies, and all the walking. i would have been ok with her leaving me, but i think she was worried i'd pass out! i was a little worried about that too.

finally, we made it back. terri left, and i headed home, feeling 'ok'. once at home, whoa. nausea, lightheadedness, and just plain old feeling bad. i got in the bed and called it a night! this weakness lingered for a day or two, and i have been taking it majorly easy. my good buddy terri ended up with a stomach virus the night of our run! she was way more ill than i was! i don't know what happened that day, but it was something weird!

tuesday was my birthday - 37. i got to have lunch with mom, have cake with work friends, and run with running friends. not a bad day. wednesday, i was courtside at the new orleans hornets game, at least during the 4th quarter. i am lucky to work for an organization that allows me to do really cool stuff more often than not. the hornets game, thanks to our association president, was one of them. we were treated to seats in a suite complete with a spread, and 4 courtside seats that we took turns using. i must say, the view was awesome from the floor. we had a great time, and it was a good addition to my birthday week. my birthday week will end with a long run tomorrow with vicki and ginny, and then i'm headed to jackson to do some shopping and have dinner.

i am continuing my 2010 goals of eating good, except for the birthday cake and basketball game food, but thanksfully, the cake is gone so i can get back on track. my running, however, is suffering. i don't know if i'm a little burned out post vegas marathon, or i'm legitmately having some issues. either way, i'm not quitting, but i'm not able to do anything more than just run. i don't feel physically able to do a lot. i'm still going to new orleans, and it will be a 'fun run', but i will regroup after i've recovered and get a new plan.

i'm excited to report that i'm fulfilling another goal today by going to yoga. classes at the payne center resumed this week with the start of school. i'm excited about this aspect of my goals and adding this back into my training and recovery. especially with the leg ailments that have hindered me lately.

i might be weak, but i will continue to Run For My Life!

hell is freezing

yes, you heard me. hell is freezing over cause i am eating healthy! i do not make resolutions, but i have goals for this year. as you remember, eating healthy is one. no other way to do it than to just do it!

my diet isn't horrible, but i do enjoy a lot of splurging and some bountiful meals. i still plan to splurge from time to time, but less of it. i also plan to make better choices and cut back the amount i eat. i started monday, and i'm happy with how it's been going. i am adding fruits in as snacks, going to eat more veggies, eat out less, and eat a better breakfast.

not only do i want to be healthier, i'd like to lose a few pounds. my running is up and down right now with this IT band / periformis problem so i definitely need the added boost of a healthier diet.

go me!