Friday, February 15, 2013

Can I still do it? Week one.

Has it really been this long?  So much has happend since I stopped posting regularly.  A short catch-up:  Divorced, remarried, now a mom to a 6 month old, step-mom to 22, 20, 15, 12, and 8 year olds, and step-grammie to a 2 year old and 2 month old..  Have been racing, but really doing shorter distances over these past few years, but am ready to commit to another marathon.  I haven't been running as for about a year because of my pregnancy and then the birth of my daughter, but I'm posting here to commit to running 4 times a week and start building back up.  This next week I need to run any distance.  1 mile minimum.  May not seem like much, and I have been running longer bits, just not consistently.  This week is about discipline and making the rubber hit the road.
Let's see how it goes.  Anyone still out there?

Monday, October 27, 2008

Small bit of catch up...

Hi all! Sorry for the no-contact for 6 months! No, there were no restraining orders on the internet, just a crazy 4-hour-a-day commute and then a cross country move. So greetings from my temporary resting place of Massachusetts! Yay for being in New England in the fall! Yay for being closer to most of the family! Yay for gorgeous areas to run in!

Since my last post (bad blogger, bad blogger) I've finished a bunch of races. My brother and sister-in-law and I rocked the Oklahoma City Memorial Half marathon. A great run for a great cause. Fairly flat and lots of support on the race course. Plus, it was televised and we tivoed it and got to see ourselves on tv all sweaty and gross! Never mind that the female winner of the whole mary crossed the finish line about two minutes before I did. At least that's how I got on tv. LOL!

Then after that, I ran a 5k for the Kansas City Corporate Challenge. My tailbone was still sore, so no prs or anything, but it felt great to do it and I found a yarn shop to hit after the race. Not a wasted day, that's for sure!

A few weeks later I ran the Hospital Hill Half Marathon which is in Kansas City. I'm telling you, if you love hills, run this race. It was the most insane, hilly race I've seen, but the medal and the shirt were pretty cool and we got a pair of flip-flops for finishing. If it is possible that it was uphill both ways that's exactly what it was! Insane.

After that I trained for the Disneyland half marathon and ran that at the end of August. As a full mary finisher of the WDW marathon, I got a special "bi-coastal finisher medal" for finishing the DL half. That was a lot of fun because my brother and sister-in-law ran it too. It was her first half mary and she kicked butt!

No major races since that but my sister's P and M and myself ran a 5k with the Central Mass Runner's Club (that's not the name, but I just can't think of the right name right now...) It was a lot of fun because we are all running the marathon at DW in January and we all cheered each other on during this training race :)

I'm working up to the Goofy Challenge at Disney World in January. Insane, I know, but it will be fun. It's the half mary on Saturday and the whole mary on Sunday. Then, float around Typhoon Lagoon in a raft on Monday. Well, that's the plan anyway.

Okay, this was just a quick update, I'll post more soon since I'm no longer doing the commute. Keep running!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

H4951

Just a quick one to go over the plan for the OKC half mary. As I mentioned in my last post I took a spill last week and my tailbone has been a bit sore since then. It's better and less sore every day, but still not 100%. It's so frustrating to get to half mary eve and know I'm not going to be able to go like I want to! GRRR!



However, my brother B was with me at Disney and found me all over the course throughout the nearly 7 hours I was running. He has started running (along with most of my family) and he is doing the OKC half tomorrow as well. We've decided we are going to stick together throughout and we are going to do a combo of walking and running.



The plan is to walk three minutes and run two minutes throughout the race. He has been working really hard to build up his endurance in order to be out there on the road for 13.1 (and eventually Goofy challenge) and he started from doing no physical activity whatsoever. He's started off slow and steady increasing each week and will have no problem walking the 13.1 miles. He has started mixing in some runs throughout his workouts and his longest run has been about a mile and a half straight. With the pattern we are trying, it will be more running than he's done all at once. It should be great!



We are aiming for three hours, but we have no idea what it will be like once we get started. The wind has been fierce the past few weeks and so that may have an effect.



You can go to http://www.okcmarathon.com/ and check us out. My bib number is H4951 and his is H1413.



My SIL H will be joining us tomorrow as well. She's doing the 5k walk, but they don't give a chip for the 5k. Boo!!! We had a really great time at the expo today. She and I got bondi-bands in matching colors. Her's has 5k on it and mine has 13.1. B got one too and it says ENDURANCE, but he didn't want the girly blue that we picked out. Still very cool.



Hopefully we'll do you all proud tomorrow!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...

Okay, so it's not just Kansas that is windy. This weekend we (my brother B, my SIL H and I) will be running in Oklahoma City. B and I the half and H the 5k. But, the forecast said 15mph winds throughout the race! Can't I escape the blasted stuff!!! I need to move somewhere where there isn't this wind.

Anyway, not much to report. I took a little tumble in my house last Friday (don't unwind a phone cord while walking backwards just after DH vaccuumed and moved stuff around so that you trip over it while you are walking backwards and unwinding the phone cord) and I havn't run in a week. I fell pretty hard smack on me bum and my tailbone is sore. Well, not so much my tailbone as right where the tailbone hits the big ole bruise that I now have there. I've done a bit of walking trying to work through the owies, and today I thought I'd get to go for a run, but it didn't happen thanks to the rockin storms we get this time of year.

I know I'm not as prepared as I should be for OKC, but I'll take a sore bum for a week if it means that hubby did the vaccuuming. LOL! I'll let you know how it goes.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Kansas wind blows!

Last week's family run went better than the week before. We had a lot more people running with us. And, I was actually able to get the hubby up to run with me. We have been together for almost 8 years and I think I've only ever seen him run for the sake of running one time. He used to play soccer as a child until he broke his leg. He sometimes goes to see a local soccer team and he says he's "training" with them, but really he's talking and being an armchair coach. He's just not a runner.

This week, however, it was 60 degrees so he figured he'd go out with me and Gary and contribute some miles. Can I just say how much it drives me crazy that someone who has only run once in 8 years can go out and run like it's nothin'?!? Our first mile was faster than my normal pace by about a minute and he was doing it like he's been running for years. Gah! I know I can't compare myself but it ticked me off a bit. But on the other hand, I liked it because it made me pick up my pace and push myself more than normal.

What made it a semi-sweet victory though, was when we turned onto the last road before we got back to the house and he was like "okay, I need to stop, I'm tired" and I said "no way! We've been running into the wind and now that the wind will be pushing us, we ain't stopping." Then I kept running and he ran for a bit but stopped and walked the last part. It was a little victory because I felt like I could have gone on and on, but he was done. So I was a little less ticked because I could have beat him on the endurance factor if not necessarily the speed factor.

I did get a run in the day before as well, but the wind is driving me crazy this time of year. I just never stops and feels like you are running into a wall for the whole thing. I can see why early settlers to the plains would go crazy from the constant wind!

The commute continues, but the job is awesome! It's just the kind of thing I like to do. But, the sitting all day is making my legs mad at me. My IT bands after a few hours ache and are starting to talk to the rest of the body to start a rebellion. At least I work on the 14th floor and today I made the resolution to take the stairs in the morning when I get there and to get back up after lunch every day. It's strange that with all the running, 14 flights of stairs really was tough! But what a difference it made. My legs were a lot less mad at me.

Also it's *fancy-schmancy* place that I work so I have to wear fancy shoes. I don't know why I can drop $80-$100 bucks on a good pair of running shoes that I wear maybe 10-12 hours a week max, but I won't pay more than $30 for the pairs that I'll wear 40 hours. So, I'm resolved to get me a pair of fancy shoes that my feet and knees and legs will be happy with. If only my puma's were considered fancy wear!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Day three of the commute

And my legs are aching for a run! Believe me, the commute won't be long for long. I've signed up to do a 5k as part of the Corporate Challenge that my company competes in. That is on May 10th so I'm planning to be living closer by that time because no way I want to add a day to my commute, even though it's for a good cause!



On Saturday we went out and did the family run and it was amazing! This week we had a ton of family members all across the country going out at different times and then sending out an e-mail as we finished. It started with my brother in Florida, then he passed the torch on to my sisters in Massachusetts and I, then on and on all day. We called it the family relay since it went all throughout the day. It was really great to see the messages roll in with different times and distances from Maine, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Oregon and Kansas. My husband thought he should get some milage for washing the car, but we had to draw the line somewhere right? LOL!



We decided to all start a family blog about our getting fit. Some of us are walkers, runners, bicyclists, water polo players, hockey players, yogis, and a whole slew of different things! We are just trying to keep each other motivated. It's pretty cool. You should go check it out here.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Just catching up...

Where does the time go?! I'm going through a transition period right now - a good one this time. I'm changing jobs and Monday I start at the new place. I've had a ton of work to do to get ready for it, but I'm almost there. Problem is that I wake up every day looking forward to my run, but then get caught up in clients, paperwork and other wrapping-up drama and I realize it's 7pm and my run didn't get done! I've had pretty low milage the past two weeks and my legs are antsy! I've been doing my yoga, because I can do that even when it's dark out, and it really feels great to be able to hold poses longer and feel a deeper stretch. But really, I just want to be out hanging with Gary and Bill the Buffalo!

Last weekend we did a fun thing. Two of my sister's were on the phone with each other - one in Massachusetts and one in Georgia. They were looking for motivation to run and decided to go for a run together in their own states. They called me and we all went out at the same time. It was awesome. We did it for time and later found out two of our other siblings were running within an hour of that same time.

So this weekend, we've made it an official tradition and we are heading out again. No Georgia this time, but we have Florida and possibly Oregon represented so it will be fun. It's a fun motivation to know you're running with all the same people. We are trying to get our Marine Corps cousin T to run with us, because then we can say we run with Marines on the weekend. How cool is that?

Anyway, I'll be starting a commute to Kansas City next week, which is about 100 miles each way. Hopefully that won't last too long, but we'll see. I'm going to see if there's a place around work where I can try to get in lunchtime runs because I need the road!!!