October 2009 Summary

October 2009:

7 runs

41.8 miles

(+ 3 walks, 1 swim)

January 1 - October 31, 2009:

137 runs

611.3 miles

12:30 average pace

My goal for the year in January was 200 runs, 800 miles, less than 12 minute/mile average pace. {In 2008 I ran 153 times for 705.4 miles.} I'm behind schedule. I had to take a lot of time off in March and April due to a serious illness, and I sustained an injuring during the Chicago marathon that required no running for a month. It's highly doubtful that I'll meet my goals for this year. I've enjoyed slow runs on trails with the dogs; greatful that I recovered from Lyme disease; had a blast at the Chicago marathon with my friend;, and hope to make a successful running comeback in the near future. I think I had a record high mileage for August 2009 (102 miles). I started tracking my miles in SportTracks and Buckeye Outdoors in 2008. SportTracks shows the most mileage in a month as August 2009 (102 miles), closely followed by September 2008 (99 miles) and August 2008 (98 miles). But why didn't I put in more miles in July and September 2009? I used the "taper" excuse too much in September, and probably used the "it's too hot" excuse in July. No wonder I had an injury in the marathon! {I probably ran more miles in my younger years, but lost the data that I kept in my old computer in a different tracking program. Now I also keep a written log just in case the computer crashes.}

Oh well... just hope for a quick recovery and get back into building miles in November and December...

2 weeks after Chicago marathon

Tuesday: I know my doctor said no running, but I'm going CRAZY! Went for an easy 1.87 mile walk/jog with Riley. Legs are still not fully recovered, but it felt good to get out and exercise. Right knee has been hurting all day. Felt better during the jog/walk. Go figure...

At breakfast, my daughter said, "One marathon medal means you ran a marathon. Two medals mean you're a marathon runner." How profound!

Had the MRI of my left knee done today. My right knee actually hurts worse than the left. Wonder if I hurt it too? I seem to have different aches/pains in different locations each day.

Friday: Went for an easy 2.07 mile walk/jog with Riley this morning. Then went to my follow-up doctor appointment. Good news is no tears! But I have bursitis and tendonitis, caused by probably too much running. Doc stated more clearly, NO RUNNING until at least November. Then he referred me to physical therapy. Okay, okay... I'll just have to find some other activity...

Week summary:
Days run this week: 2
Miles run this week: 3.94
Highlight of the week: I don't need surgery!

1 week after Chicago marathon

Went to see my orthopaedic doctor this week. He thinks my knee pain is from illeotibial band friction, but I may have a meniscal tear too. He injected me with cortisone, said no running until at least November, and scheduled me for a MRI. I hope my meniscus isn't torn...

Chicago Marathon

Today I ran my second marathon; that's 26.2 miles for those of you non-runners. It didn't go as well as I had planned, but am happy that I was able to complete it. My day's story follows...

My phone alarm clock sounded at 4:15 a.m. (I had also set back-up alarms for every 5 minutes after.) With Kyra (my daughter) still asleep, I crawled out of bed and took a shower. I dressed and gathered stuff together. At 4:55 a.m., I woke Kyra and we went to Ty's room. Kyra crawled in bed with Sophia (Ty's daughter) and then Ty, Will and I went down to breakfast (Ty's mom is babysitting today). The original plan was that we would have breakfast and then go to Lisa's hotel since her hotel is on the way to the race starting location. But it was SO COLD that we decided to call Lisa and have her bring Bryn (Lisa's daughter) to stay inside with the rest of the girls rather than tagging along with us in the cold. I think I pottied a half-dozen times within an hour; caused by nervousness I guess. After tucking Bryn in with Sophia and Kyra, we went back down to the hotel breakfast room. Ty, Lisa and I made one last potty stop in the hotel lobby and all of our phones buzzed at once, while we were in adjacent stalls, with a text message from our friend Bryan saying "Go get 'em Lilburn Lightenin'"! Made for interesting bathroom talk, but thanks so much Bryan!

Ty, Will (Ty's hubby), Lisa, Gary (Lisa's hubby and the greatest orthopaedic surgeon on the planet) and I walked down to the race start. We stopped at the porto-o-potties and had limited time to get into our starting corral. After a quick photo, we headed to a corral. (photo from left to right: Ty, Lisa, me). Will and Gary stood back while we squeezed our way into a corral. THANKS Gary and Will for dropping off my bag since I didn't have enough time!

It was 30 degrees. We were cold, but as soon as we were in the corral, we were packed like sardines and warmed up. Nothing like the body heat of thousands of runners! We cuddled close. We made a pact that if anyone needed to slow down for whatever reason, the other(s) were free to go on ahead to try to achieve their goal finish. We stuck together through the first 6 miles, including waiting on each other during a potty break around mile 1-2. But without warning my iPhone fell off my pants and in the minute or so that it took me to pick it up from the road and get going again, I lost sight of them in the massive crowd. I knew they were faster than me anyway, and I'm used to running alone, so it didn't bother me. I re-adjusted my iPhone, grabbed some water/gatorade, and kept going thinking that I may catch up to them. I sent Kyra a text message saying, "6 miles done." She responded, "Stop texting.start running. Good job good luck." At about mile 9 my left knee started hurting. I had shooting/stabbing pains on the outside of my knee. It HURT! I walked for a few minutes and when I started back running the pain was intermittent. At about mile 10, Lisa came up from behind and put her arm around me. They had stopped for another potty break and ended up behind me. Lisa gave me 3 advil and then they picked up their pace and left me behind (as I said they should do). At about mile 11, I saw Gary and Will. I ran over and hugged Gary and screamed, "MY KNEE HURTS!!!" He said, "Keep going". Kyra and I exchaged a few text messages and she wrote "Keep on going! You can do it! I wuv wu watts and watts!" and "Anyone can do 3 more miles, just 3 and then 3 more again.". When I got to the 12 mile mark I sent Kyra a text saying "3x4 done". Thirty minutes later I sent her a text saying that I just passed the Liver character that we saw at the race Expo. She responded with, "I just saw you on tv!". Right before the Liver character, I saw a TV camera and smiled as I passed wondering if it was live-feed. Guess it was! Glad Kyra could see me in the race after all. (It was still too cold for the girls to be out (34 degrees).) About 30 minutes later she sent me another text message asking what mile I was on. I responded, "Almost 15" and she wrote, "Good job! Keep on truckin!" At mile 17, the song Push It to the Limit by Corbin Bleu came on my iPod. This is one of my most motivational songs because it remindes me so much of Kyra and it pumps pushing it to the limit. I thought I sent a text to her, but it turns out that I sent it to Bryan saying, "Push it to thelimit / Corbin = 17 mi" But Kyra didn't get that text. When she asked next "what mile are you on?" I responded with "3x6". She replied with "Good. Keep doing good. we are rooting for you." Then she wrote, "I love you sooooooooooooooo much. You are doing great! text me when you cross the finish line. What mile are you on?" My response was "20". She wrote, "Great! how is your knee?". My reply was "Killing me. But i make it." Obviously at this point I didn't care about misspellings. I was in SO MUCH PAIN. She wrote back, "Hope it feels better. You are doing great!" At about mile 20 I was with the 5 hour pace group leader. I was optimistic and thrilled that I'd kept this pace until now. But it quickly went downhill as the stabbing pains intensified. Now I could no longer adjust my posture to make it go away. It hurt in any position except walking. The next text from Kyra was "How many miles have you run so far?" My response, "23 and moving slow". She asked, "Are you ok?" but I didn't notice that text message. At this point, I had removed my earphones and couldn't hear the text beep above the crowd/noise. She wrote again, "Have you finished yet?" and I replied, "24 miles. Walking. Knee hurts too bad to run anymore." She responded, "Ok. Well keep on doing your best. I love you soooooooooo much. Text me when you finish. You are princess kewl." Shortly after this, I stopped at a Medical Aid Tent and said that my knee hurt really bad, I don't want to stop, but could they please give me some pain medication. The doctor gave me two white tablets. Not sure what it was, but I took it and kept walking. The next several texts from Kyra become desperate because my earphones were no longer in my ear, I was struggling, and didn't feel the vibration or hear the beep that would indicate that she'd sent more messages. She wrote, "Where are you? Are you ok?", then "Answer me! I am worried about you!", then "Please text me now! I am serious!", and then "Call me now!" I walked the entire last two miles. I decided it just wasn't worth it to cry to the end when I could walk without the stabbing pain. I tried to jog when I saw the finish line, but it HURT too bad, so I decided to cross the finish line without tears, which meant walking. 5 hours and 45 minutes. What a bummer! But I received my finisher's medal, foil blanket, free beer and food. I picked up my gear bag and grabbed a bag of ice and exited the finish chute. At this point I saw the last few texts from Kyra and then I wrote "Finished". She responded with "You scared me. You wouldn't answer my call and all of my texts." I wrote back, "Sorry. Didn't hear it ring/beep. Am ok." Then Lisa called as I was about to call her/Ty. They were waiting for me and when I told her where I was, they came over to meet me. They had finished in 5 hours and 3 minutes; awesome! I was sitting on the ground with an ice-pack on my knee. Gary asked me to describe my knee problems and then said he thought it was my IT band, which is a common runner's injury.

We slowly made our way back to the hotel. We tried to catch a taxi numerous times, but it was just too crowded. We kept walking and eventually caught a taxi a few blocks from the hotel. Ty was weaving as she walked, I could barely walk, and Lisa was the glue that held us together. The little girls and Ty's mom met us in the hotel lobby and then we went directly to the next door restaurant, Joe's Seafood, Steak and Stone Crab. It was a very nice restaurant and we were in our running clothes, sweatpants, hats and foil blankets. They let us in anyway. The food was delicious but I was in a daze. I sat at the head of the table between Will and Gary. Kyra was at the opposite end of the table with the rest of the little girls. I ate delicious bacon wrapped scallops with clam chowder and creamed corn. YUM!!!

After our mid-afternoon lunch, Gary and Will left to go to the airport. Ty, Lisa and I went back to our respective rooms and took showers. Then we all met at the hotel pool which is located on the top floor. The little girls swam while the big girls collapsed on the lounge chairs. Ty's mom said we looked wiped out. We were zombie-like. Ty and I were definitely still in a haze. Lisa somehow had it more together than we did. An hour later, we called the girls out of the pool and went our separate ways back to our separate hotel rooms. We'll meet for breakfast in the morning.

Kyra didn't eat much lunch because it was fancy macaroni and cheese, not the processed box kind that she loves. She was hungry after swimming and said that the hotel had a shop that sells microwavable food. So we walked down and picked out microwave mac-n-cheese, cup-o-soup for me, and ice cream. I'm too tired to go out to eat again. Kyra was so sweet! She made my soup for me! And later she brought my ice pack to me in bed. I was totally exhausted! I set the alarm clock for early in the morning and told her I was going to sleep and that she shouldn't stay up too late. Night night!

Week 16 of 17 Chicago Marathon Training

Monday: Ran 3.12 miles in 39:47 = 12:45 avg pace. Ran 1 mile with Tasha and then the rest with Riley on this wonderfully cool (63 degrees) morning.

Tuesday: Ran 3.1 miles in 38:51 = 12:31 avg pace. Love this cooler temperature (55 degrees)! Ran alone, without the pups. They were still cuddled in bed with Kyra when I was ready to leave. Debated about waking them up and taking Riley but decided to be selfish and run alone without the distraction. When I came home from work this evening, Riley greeted me with the note in his mouth that I leave on the nightstand for Kyra in the mornings when I run with him. It says, "Running with a pup around the neighborhood. Have phone. Love, Mommy". Guess this is his way of telling me he wants to go for a run!

Saturday: Ran 4.19 miles in 54:48 = 13:04 avg pace. It was a slow, choppy run with pups. Tasha's mile included lots of potty breaks, Riley's 2 miles included lots of texts from daughter. Then did a mile alone just to get at least one solid mile in. Can't believe I took 3 days off running. Why? No good reason. Time to get into a set routine.

Weekly summary:

Monday: Ran 3.12 miles

Tuesday: Ran 3.1 miles

Saturday: Ran 4.19 miles

Days run this week: 3

Miles run this week: 10.41

Highlight of the week: cooler temperatures + Riley bringing me the note

September 2009

September 2009:

14 runs

76.2 miles

January 1 - September 30:

130 runs

569.5 miles

12:28 average pace

My goal for the year (in January) was 200 runs, 800 miles, less than 12 min/mile average pace. I'm behind schedule. Having to take so much time off in March in April due to illness took a toll. Not sure if I'll be able to meet that goal, but should easily exceed last years number of days run (153). I seriously doubt I'll achieve the average pace goal since I'm doing a lot of long runs at slow pace, easy runs with dogs at slow pace, and trail runs at slow pace. Although I'd like to run faster, I'm enjoying slow runs with pups and on trails.

Week 15 of 17 Chicago Marathon Training

Monday: My basement flooded during the night. There was 3 inches of water standing in it when I went downstairs this morning. The news reports many roads closed in the area due to washed out bridges, down trees, etc. The main roads that I would drive on to get to work are closed so I called into the office and said I'd be taking a vacation day to bail water out of my basement since I can't get to the office. I took a break from working on the basement around lunch time. It's still raining. So I went to the local indoor pool and swam 1000 meters. It felt great!

Wednesday: Easy run on the beach this evening for the first time in my Vibram FiveFingers Sprint. Ran 4.02 miles on the beach in 56:03 = 13:56 avg pace. Amazing rainbow over the ocean!

Thursday: (1) Did an easy 1.76 mile walk on the beach this morning before starting the day. So relaxing! (2) This evening I went a total of 5 miles on the beach. I started with a 1 mile warm up, then ran fartleks for 3 miles. Plan was for a total of 5 miles running, but blisters on bottom of feet said STOP NOW at 4 miles. Walked the last mile back to hotel in dark.

Weekly Summary:

Monday: Swam 1000 meters

Wednesday: Ran 4.02 miles

Thursday: Ran 4 miles, walked 2.76 miles

Days run this week: 2

Miles run this week: 8.03

Highlight of the week: running on the beach

Week 14 of 17 Chicago Marathon Training

Monday: Ran 3.34 miles this afternoon with the dogs. Ran 1 mile with Tasha (pictured) then traded her in for Riley. 40:30 = 12:07 avg pace

Wednesday: Early morning run in the rain. Ran 3.09 miles in 36:05 = 11:40 avg pace.

Thursday: Morning run after dropping Kyra off at school. Ran 3.34 miles with the dogs. Ran 1 mile with Tasha then traded her for Riley. 37:43 = 11:17 avg pace

Saturday: Morning run at Stone Mountain in flooding rain (70 degrees). It was raining hard when I arrived at Stone Mountain around 8 a.m. I debated about whether to even start. Then I decided that I might as well because the forecast for tomorrow is rain too and I might as well prepare myself for running in bad weather in case it's storming on marathon day. And besides, there were other people out there running in the rain so I might as well do it too. It was hard to run upstream on streets/sidewalk in ankle deep water, but I did it. Ran 20 miles in 4 hours and 36 minutes = 13:48 average pace. Had a 12:50 avg pace for the first 16 miles, but lost motivation when the torrential downpour returned and began walking a lot more. Oh well, 20 miles done in extreme weather! Then came home to flooded basement... water heater out... bummer!!!

Weekly summary:
Monday: 3.34 miles
Tuesday: 3.09 miles
Thursday: 3.34 miles

Saturday: 20 miles

Days run this week: 4
Miles run this week: 29.77
Highlight of the week: 20 mile run in flooding rains at Stone Mountain

Week 13 of 17 Chicago Marathon Training

Monday: Happy Labor Day! I took my old Trek 470 Fast Track road bicycle into Performance Bicycle for a tune-up and new tires today. I haven't ridden it in years... It's collected quite a bit of dust from just sitting in the basement, and the tires are dry-rotted. It was a gift from Santa way back in ~1995 and I used to ride it a good bit until mid-pregnancy (1998). I rode it occassionally after childbirth for a few years, but I don't think I've been on it more than a half-dozen times in the past five years. (A few years ago I purchased a cheap mountain bike for touring around the neighborhood with Kyra.) Anyway, about two weeks ago, a friend at work invited me to go with a small group of co-workers for a 40-mile ride on the Silver Comet Trail. I couldn't go because of mommy duties, plus my road bike was in disrepair and I seriously doubt my butt could handle being on a bike for that many miles since I haven't done any distance riding in about a decade. But this invite, plus hearing Lisa talk about triathlons, got me interested in cycling again. Plus, I think it would be a great way to boost my exercise to most days of the week without over-doing the running. I dropped it off at the bike shop and they said it would be ready for pick-up on Friday. While there, I purchased a new riding outfit (padded shorts, top, and riding gloves. Yay!

After the bike shop, I went in search for Vibram Five Fingers shoes. There has been a lot of talk on running podcasts and Twitter lately about running barefoot as well as these shoes. I know my overweight body needs more cushioning for running on the roads, so don't freak out. I've struggled with the challenges of running on the beach, though, and thought this may be the perfect solution. Running completely barefoot on the beach is great for short distances, but the sand rubs the soles of my feet raw for anything longer than about a mile. Regular shoes tend to sink too deep into the sand. Since I have a business trip to the beach coming up in a few weeks, I thought I'd purchase these and try them out. I bought a pair of FiveFingers Sprint at Abbadabbas.

I decided to take the dogs to the trails at Stone Mountain Park this afternoon for a leisurely trail run. Guess I should have known that it would be crowded on a holiday afternoon. Since there were so many people leisurely walking, and I had both dogs to manage around the people, it turned into a mostly walk/hike with a little bit of running. Oh well, it was 3.25 miles on my feet on the trails with the pups, which is a heck-of-a-lot better than no activity! (In my Patagonia Release trail shoes.)

Tuesday: I came home at lunch to take the dogs out since I still haven't fixed the hole under the fence and therefore, can't trust Tasha out in the yard without supervision. My lower legs are sore, especially near left ankle, and shin. I twisted my left ankle yesterday on the trail. My shins kept cramping so I walked more than usual. 2.73 miles total = 1 mile for Tasha + 1.73 miles for Riley. This evening, my daughter decided to break in my new Vibram FiveFingers for me. She loves them!

Wednesday: I decided to listen to my body and take a rest day since my shins were so sore yesterday.

Thursday: I'm on a business trip which started yesterday. I went to the Shuron Inc. Superfund Site in Barnwell, SC. When I filled out my travel itinerary in our travel system, no hotels showed up in the list of options. The nearest hotels in the system were in Aiken, SC and Augusta, GA. I chose a hotel located in Augusta, GA on the Riverwalk in hopes of it being a great place to run. It was a nice place to run, but the riverwalk wasn't as long as I had hoped it would be. Two loops equaled 3.07 miles (and my shins are still sore). It was very beautiful running along the Savannah River as the sun was rising! I'm thinking about returning to Augusta for the Augusta Chronical Half Marathon on November 1st. The medals from last year look like jack-o-lanterns, which would be a cool medal to have.

Weekend: I had planned to run a 12-mile long run this weekend, but couldn't fit it in. My daughter has horse riding lessons early on Saturday mornings and had her very first tennis match that afternoon. I would have had to start my run at 4:30 a.m. to get it in, and my body said it wasn't getting up that early on a weekend for a silly 12-miler. Sunday was busy with housework and errands. Oh well, I'll definitely get in my 20-miler next weekend!

Weekly summary:

Monday: 3.25 miles walk/hike/jog

Tuesday: 2.73 miles

Thursday: 3.07 miles

Days run this week: 3

Miles run this week: 5.8 + 3.25 walk/hike/jog = 9.05

Highlight of the week: taking my bike in for a tune-up + running somewhere new (Augusta, GA)

Week 12 of 17 Chicago Marathon Training

Tuesday: 68 degrees with light rain at 6:18 a.m. 3.33 miles = 1 mile in the neighborhood with Tasha then the rest with Riley (pictured). Felt tired, shins sore, went slow.

Thursday: 82 degrees with occassional rain sprinkles. 0.96 mile. Mostly walked with a little bit of jogging from home to elementary school to watch Boosterthon Fun Run. Kyra suggested that I wear my "26.2 miles run there, done that" t-shirt. I enjoyed cheering the kids on as they ran around a small loop track. Kyra ran 43 laps (16 laps = 1 mile). Way to go, girl!

Friday: 82 degrees and sunny. 2.1 miles. Took a late lunch break to return home from work to take the dogs out for a run. Had to keep them inside today since Tasha dug a hole under the fence yesterday... Took Tasha for 1.05 miles, then Riley for 1.05 miles around the neighborhood.

Saturday: 80 degrees and mix of clouds/rain and sunny. 20 miles. I didn't feel well this morning so put off run to afternoon. It was warm and humid. Enjoyed new park (Alexander); it has several paths/trails which kept it from getting too boring. Hit a mental low spot around 12-14 miles, but first 10 and last 5 were good. During run, drank only water, took Endurolytes (one every 20 minutes), and after the first hour, ate 1 clif shot blok per mile. This was my first time using the clif shot bloks. I like the clif shot bloks better than gels because they're not sticky! Need to buy more.

Sunday: Rest day. legs are sore and am TIRED! Didn't sleep well last night so took a nap after church. After a 4 hour nap, I felt so much better! 5 weeks til Chicago marathon!

Tuesday: 3.33 miles
Thursday: 0.96 miles
Friday: 2.1 miles
Saturday: 20.00 miles

Days run this week: 4
Miles run this week: 26.39
Highlight of the week: 20 miles at Alexander Park. Woo Hoo!!! Longest run in 2009!