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Okay, so I've been wanting to ask what helps you all to be motivated when it is cold and dark out? I seem less happy when I start my runs and its so chilly. Eventually once I warm up and the endorphins kick in I'm happy again, but the cold is driving me crazy! Next time I know, sign up for a non-winter marathon. Haha!

But on another note, I found this week's motivation - I got my info from Disney. Just the waiver form and a pretty color booklet, but it has my race number on it. Now it's real. This is coming so fast. I can't wait but I think I'm starting to stress just a bit too!

Oh, and I don't know what's going on with my countdown. I'll try to figure it out, but if anyone knows what happened, let me know. Thanks.

Turkey day running.

I put the bird in the oven and went out for my run. I didn't have much time for the run so it was just a short one, but what a difference it makes! I could deal with my in-laws much easier after a good run. LOL!

I lowered my milage for the past few weeks (hence the relatively few posts) because after a long run a few weeks ago I felt some wierdness in my knees. Nothing serious, but I know my body and my knees were just needing a break. But, yesterday the knees felt great so I'm ready to pick the pace back up. Hopefully I'll keep up with the cross-training now that I'll be running more. I'm sure that has helped.

I think I'm just a nervous-Nelly and I don't want to work my body so hard that I do Disney and then don't run again. That's not my intention and so I want to make sure I put forth the effort and still have energy left to run after January.

I do think that with less than two months to Disney I may just suck it up and go to the gym and use the treadmill for a few runs a week to keep the knees happy. Plus, all of my speedwork has been close to the house on the pavement, so I may start going back to the track to use the more knee-friendly surface. It's just so boring running in circles.

Okay, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. As much as I don't want to be at work right now, I know I don't have to cook for another few days with all the leftovers we have, so I guess I'm happy. Haha!

Has it really been 9 days?

Where the heck does the time go? I am having a hard time keeping up with this thing! Sorry.

I took the weekend and did some cross training. I busted out a lot of my old workout videos and as easy as they used to be for me, this time they kicked my butt... and my abs... and my arms... and my back. I used to be able to do them and not get sore. Not this time. I've been so focused on my running that the rest of my muscles were ready for a change. Glad I did it, but glad to be back to running. I need to find the right balance. Maybe one of my easy days will become a cross train day.

It's just so hard to convince myself to cross-train. I get so focused on milage, milage, milage that I erroneously think I shouldn't take a break from the miles. I really need to work on balancing that all out.

Other than that. Training is going well. I'm excited because my most recent Disney e-mail said they are sending out packets by the 16th. That's tomorrow! Wohoo!!!

On a sad note, my two biggest fans have said they are not going to be able to come to Disney. That makes me sad, but I also am trying to figure out how to budget the cost of the trip. Disney is not a cheap place, so I also may need to rethink if I can really afford it. What a tough decision!

Trying to fit it all in.

My mom recently purchased a book for me from a used book store. It's a book about women's running co-authored by Joan Benoit Samuelson. Name sound familiar? If not, it should. I was born and raised in Maine, which happens to be where she is from. She is a distance runner and has held a ton of records in her career. Even won a gold medal in the marathon in the Olympics. I grew up watching her career and her accomplishments. It was amazing for a woman running in the 80's to do what she did.

The book is from 1995, but one thing that is neat about reading it is that running really doesn't change. Sure there are some things she talks about that are a bit different, and some things she doesn't talk about, but most of the advice is really great. She's so practical - really there is nothing she doesn't cover.

One thing she talks about is the progression of how you think of yourself. When you start running, you are someone who runs. After a while you gain consistency and become a runner. Then you start to want to compete and you become an athlete. I think at this point I think of myself as a runner, but maybe some day I'll become an athlete.

Also, she talks about fitting her runs in. Run to work and just carry a wet washcloth to clean up once you get there. (Made me think of Bill at Jury Duty.) Or running to the airport and having hubby pick her up on the way and cleaning up before her flight. So, in the spirit of "just fitting it in when I can" I'm going to do a random run today.

My car is in the shop (some clutch thing, but it's under warranty) and I knew I'd have to leave it there. I brought my running gear to the office. The van dropped me off at work early and I just now got the phone call that he is ready (the car's name is Fujita - it's an FJ cruiser. What other name could he have! LOL). So, I'm going to run to the dealer. It's almost lunch anyway, so I'm just skipping out a bit early. It's about 2.5 miles, nothing too long, but it'll be good to sneak a run in.

Sorry, time flies.

Everyday I get in to the office I make a to-do list. I'm a list person. I put blog on every list. For some reason that is one that just has not been crossed off all week. Grr!

When I ran last weekend I planned my blog in my head and then never got to write it. Booh!

Okay, first things first. BOSTON RED SOX WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS 2007!!!! Yeah baby!
Had to get that out of my system.

So last Saturday was supposed to be a light 20 minute jog since Sunday was to be a long run. I haven't been running enough lately so I thought I'd do my 3.1 mile loop, even though that takes longer than 20 minutes. A few weeks ago on Runner's Lounge, the blog, Amy had asked about new tunes to download. One of the suggestions was podrunner podcasts. I finally went and downloaded some and wow! What a difference music makes! The podcasts are free on itunes and they are about an hour long. They are broken down by beats per minute and so you can decide how fast you want the music by picking the podcast with a certain number of beats per minute and kind of match it with how fast you want to run.

I thought I put on an easy one but turns out I didn't. I put on one that was a bit faster than my normal pace. I normally don't run with my ipod but this time I did. I got to where I should have turned to finish my 3 mile square (well, actually rectangle) and decided to keep going. I then got to another place to turn and kept going. By the time I did get close to the house I was at 54 minutes and so I said "why not make it an even hour?" So I kept running until I hit 1 hour (1:00:12 actually) and then stopped. Turns out it was 5.35 miles.

The great part was that I felt like I could have kept going for forever! My legs felt great, my lungs were happy. The only thing was that my brain took over and said "look lady, you've been running for an hour and Water Boy is sleeping. You need to get some fluids or you'll screw yourself over for your next run." Stinkin brain ruinin my endorphin high.

On Sunday I was pretty sore so I did do my easy 3 miles, but I loved it because the previous run was so great.

I haven't had much time to get in runs this week. I feel like I spend waaaaay too much time in the office these days, but most of the really pressing stuff has been resolved this week. But I thought the same thing last week.

I was going to run a 5k here in town this weekend, but I want to get in more milage this weekend, so I'm going to run on my own instead. I think I'm going to put my $20 registration fee away and save it for my next pair of kicks. They will be bought this month because I have a coupon. Yay Marcy!!! Gotta love the coupons.

So that's my catchup report for this week. Fairly uneventful. Now I have a ton of catching up to do with my BRF's and then I need to go home so I can run. Have a great weekend.

Oh, and did I mention that my Red Sox won the World Series? No? Well, they did.

Three ways I know I'm a runner...

Well, okay four. My bracelet from Runner's Lounge tells me so. Woohoo! I got it on Monday and so I'm a happy lady.

Okay, no. While I was running before the ball game last night I decided I was a runner because:

1) I can blow a pretty good snot rocket in a strong headwind and not get any backsplatter (oops, sorry P, I hope you weren't eating your lunch just then.) Seriously, that's a talent and there's no way I'm stopping and ruining a PR to turn around with my back to the wind.

2) Instead of thinking that the town should plant more trees to prevent that nasty Dust Bowl from happening again, I think they should plant more trees so that same nasty headwind would quit slowing me down.

3) I have a list of clothes that I shouldn't wear on days that I run because they make me feel slower when I get to running. I'm not talking running gear. I have this pair of baggy jeans and every time I wear them the day of a run my run stinks. When I wear tighter clothes before the run I feel like my runs are better. Weird.

Anyway, had a great run last night. And my Sox won. Life is good.

Redsox Dancefest

How'd it get to be Wednesday already?

Okay, so you may not know it, but I'm a huge Red Sox fan. They may not be the idiots of 2004, but how can you resist such happy guys? Haha! Seriously, I'm a Sox fan from birth, so you can't hold it against me.

I tried to get this post and the video in the same box, but for some reason when I went to add text it then made the video not appear. So, we'll see if later I have two videos and I'll try to fix it.

Okay, the video is sort of a ploy to make my whining seems less whiny. Work has been stressing me out a ton this past week and a half and I've been exhausted. My sister M and I were discussing it the other day. It's so frustrating that when you get stressed out there are things that everyone does to cope, for me it's running. However, when you get stressed out the most important things to maintain your sanity often get kicked to the wayside. Again, for me it's running.

So many last minute emergencies have popped up recently. Have I ever mentioned I'm a lawyer? I'm a solo attorney in a small town and I have a very specialized practice. However, my biggest frustration is that most people don't come to me until it's almost too late for me to help them. GAH!!! That's been happening just about everyday. Seriously. Why do you wait until 4:45pm on a Friday to come tell me someone is in jail and you need my help ASAP, when the dude has been in jail for 6 days. Why didn't you come to me 6 days ago?!?!

So, at this point I've had to keep my runs short and my blogposts practically non-existent. I've been maintaining but it's starting to stress me because I need to be increasing.

Okay, enough of all this. I'm still trying to bask in the glow of the excitement of Game One of the World Series at Fenway Park tonight. Go Sox!!!

I love these guys!

5 dollars saved

It was raining the whole day yesterday and I almost broke down and went to the gym to use the treadmill. I had called and found out I could use the gym for $5.00 a day if I'm not a member. Happily when I left work the sky was clearing. I had checked the radar and found that there would be a bit of a break in the rain so I dashed home and got out there while I could. I was a bit pressed for time since I had a meeting to go to. I did my 5k circle (which I'm getting a little sick of, btw) and got back before the rain started again.

The run was great! It was about 60 degrees and perfect. It was a bit windy, but this is Kansas so I really need to expect the wind. (That makes me think of that line from Monty Python "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." Okay, I'm a nerd.) I think that's a big factor of why I rarely use my ipod on my runs, there's so much wind in the ears (no, unfortunately not due to my speed) that it is kind of annoying to have both making so much rukus!

What was a pain though was that I've grown accustomed to running on the road for the asphalt, but yesterday there was so much water on the sides of the road I had to keep to the sidewalks. What a difference the concrete makes. Yuk!

On a whiny note, I've now read three BRFs who have their bracelets from Runners Lounge. I'm so sad since I don't have mine yet. Booo! I'm patient most of the time, but I'm excited to declare my runnerness in a cool blue rubber band. I know it's coming... I'll just have to stop waiting for it. It's like the watched pot that doesn't boil. *Sigh*

It's raining so that means we should talk about shoes

I talk about shoes a lot here! But, when I went to look at some shoes at the store downtown they had these MBTs and they were, well, funky. They are about the ugliest shoes I've seen, but they are meant to simulate walking barefoot on "natural terrrain" similar to a tribe in Africa who have strong legs because of so much walking on "natural terrain" (I sound like the informational video here!) I think they are strange looking, but I can't stop thinking about them and I can't figure out why. I may try a pair on, but they run about $250.00 here at the local store, so they will have to get added to my dream list should I like them. Has anyone tried these? I don't think they are really for running, but for everyday wear or walking they seem interesting...

Anyway, it's raining today. And, as usual here in Kansas, it's not just rain but lots of lightening as well. So much for my run today. I don't have a gym membership since I prefer to do my training outside, but I may just break down and get one so I can go use the treadmill. I may just see if I can pay for a day because I think if I had a full fledged membership I'd go to they gym and use the treadmill more than I should. But I want to run, so it's probably worth it.

Kick the Couch 5k

I ran the Kick the couch 5k yesterday and it was fun. Even though I didn't see the people I was running with, knowing there were people in over 6o countries running this weekend was pretty cool. 5k is the normal route I do around my house when I have my easy days, so it was like running on a normal day, but I decided to treat it like a race and try to do my best. So far the fastest I had run the route was 32:30 but I finished yesterday at 32:21! Woohoo!

Anyway, today I woke up with a cramp in my calf which freaked me out a bit. But after a walk it mellowed out. I've started to walk to work instead of drive. See, my work is only 1.4 miles from my house and I don't know why I usually drive. It's kind of like, until you decide to not be a bum any longer you'll keep on being a bum. I decided that walking to work is a good way to add some milage to the legs one way or another. Plus, it saves gas. Either way, I may as well be walking.

Toenails (no they're not black)

Has anyone else noticed that once you start running consistently your toenails grow like weeds? A side effect of running that I had not planned on. I mean really, I have to clip them like every five days whereas before it would be like every two weeks! Wierd.

Anyway, I was a pretty unhappy person last night when I got home from work for reasons that I won't go into. I am generally a pretty easygoing person and I rarely get mad (thank you Lord!) but last night I was so upset I felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest! What do you do in a situation like that? You go for a run of course!

So I went out more to get stress gone than to put on miles. I did a short run but ended up doing it pretty quickly and felt like I wanted to keep going. But I had things that I had to deal with so I stopped. Oh man, the running helped so much! People ask why we run, and my answer for today is that it helps me feel less likely to explode.

On another note, when I checked out the Toronto Runner's blog yesterday he talked about the worldwide half marathon . It's scheduled for this weekend and it's basically a way to know that you are running a half with people from all over the world. As of yesterday there were over 1100 people registered. They also have a "kick the couch 5k" which I thought was pretty neat. I signed up to do that. It's free and you don't get a t-shirt, but I like the idea of a global race. Cool.

Oh, and can any of you blogspot people tell me how I can make the words the link? For example, how could I make it so that where it says "worldwide half marathon" would be the link to the site instead of putting the link in separately? I'm so not a technology person. I can do some things, but I haven't figured that out yet.

Update: Thanks Nancy and Marcy. Your advice on fixing the link worked. Thanks for helping me to be a bit more computer literate!

Still here...

I'm still here. I just haven't had a chance to write in a few days. The computer is in the office and I had the holiday off and now I'm trying to catch up!

After reading about my BRFs experience in Chicago it reminds me that this is not a small goal. I mean, you get used to people's reactions when you tell them you want to run a marathon, but I have got to where it's like, yep 26.2 miles. No biggie... Uh, well it's a biggie. I have to remember that its not just follow the plan and do all the required runs and you'll breeze through it no problem. Who would have thought it would be in the 90's in Chicago in October? What makes me think Florida in January will be better? We could be freezing or sweltering... How do you prepare for that? I just hope all of those who ran Chicago don't get discouraged. It's a big goal to run a marathon and you should still do it if it didn't happen this time.

I've been running, doing a lot of walking, and blading with my little buddy, though I think he's had enough. He prefers his scooter. So sad!

Really what interests me are shoes. I'm planning on Adidas or Asics for my next pair. Since I now know I'm a pronater I can look at the right shoes. Over the weekend my hubby and I were walking around the big downtown shopping area of our little town and we went in to a shoe store. They had a ton of asics and so I looked at a lot. When I told the guy I was training for a marathon he showed me a pair of these: http://www.spirafootwear.com/ Have any of you seen these things? I was feeling the different asics and a few other brands and I was like "oh, these would be heavy after 10 miles" and so the guy handed me these. They have thick metal springs in them and they weigh about a ton. The salesguy was telling me that a lot of races don't allow them and if you do wear them and you win you won't be allowed to be the "official" winner (he said that's true for Boston). I'm telling you these things were heavy! Even if they could make you faster I would not want to run around with ten pound weights on my feet!

I didn't get any shoes yet, but I will be getting some soon. If you see me trying to get spiras remind me not to.

99 days to Disney!

Wow! we're in to double digits! That makes me nervous! It seems like such a short time to get ready!

But on the other hand, there are quite a few BRF's getting ready to run Chicago this weekend. I just want to wish you all safe treading, great weather, and smiles on your picture at the finish line. You've all been working hard and I know you'll do great! I can't wait to read about how you all did on Monday!

Unhappy feet

If you recall at the beginning of my blog I was so in love with my sweet Puma sneaks, and I blogged about them at least 4 times I think. I got them at the really fun running store and felt like a kid again! Well, as I put them on yesterday getting ready for my run, I see they just look worn. I was pretty bummed. There's a place near the laces where it's starting to fray.

Now, I know pretty shoes won't stay pretty for long, but these really look like I've gone a lot further in them than I have. I think they aren't really as cushy as they were in the beginning - of course not - but it feels like they wore out faster than they should. I don't run every day, so they get time to sponge back up (great English, I know).

I guess I just expected them to be "better" than previous shoes that I hadn't made such a big deal about. I've put about 50ish miles on these bad boys and they look in worse shape than a pair of adidas that I've had for forever and had put way more miles on (prior to getting fitted properly).

I know I need to get a second pair. I'm waiting to have the money to spend on another pair, but I won't be buying the same ones. I've been told by quite a few people that their asics are pretty indestructable so I may look in to those. I do always love adidas though (the running store I went to for the last shoes didn't carry adidas). Bummer. I still want to be in love with my sneaks, but I'm not.

But, on to better things.

About two minutes after I got home from work yesterday there was banging on my door. You all know who it was by now. NK was ready and asked if I was ready to go roller blading now. I said, "I'm sorry, but I have to run today." His response: "Why do you have to run today, it's not Sunday!" Kids remember everything. I had told him I wouldn't blade on Sundays because that was my long run day. Then yesterday he said "remind me what a marathon is again." I said 26.2 miles and he yells out "are you crazy!" I don't mind responses like that from 7 year olds.

So, leaving my sad little buddy behind I went out for my run. I was scheduled to do speed work, but since I missed the long run last weekend I wanted to log some more miles. I've really not been sticking to the plan I have, but I have been getting all the elements in, just not neccesarily on the right days.

I did my three miles and was walking the cooldown back to my house. NK2 (NK's older brother) was walking down the street and was like "why are you so red?" Haha! Um, I just ran 3 miles. He was impressed! I guess that seems long to a 13 year old.

Anyway, it was a good run. Much better than the previous night. Today is hubby's day to drive the carpool so I get to walk home from work. That usually gets me wanting to do my sprints so it should be a good night.

Found my club in the last 2 miles

Hmm, so many things to write, but I don't want the blog to turn into a big whinefest (well, maybe a little whining). Yesterday I was psyched for my run but I had a ton of crap stressing me out and it turned out not at all how I expected.

First, I am not an animal lover. So, the other week we found a mouse in our house (yes, it recently got cold) and it made me mad. We put out glue traps the first time we saw him, decon the second time we saw him and I saw him again yesterday. I have decided that the reason women screech (well, some of us anyway) when we see a mouse is not out of fright, but out of anger that the dang things dare show their faces in our homes! I'm allergic to cats, which everyone says is the surfire way to get rid of mice. So, now I'm just ticked.

I got running and this guy on a bike practically ran over me. I got ticked at that too. See, I'm a jumpy person so all of a sudden this dude flies by and I jump half out of my skin and he just looks at me and laughs. A$$.

Also, since I saw the mouse (we call him Miguelito) at lunch I lost my appetite. I ate a power bar before the run because I was starving since I skipped lunch. I however did not drink enough water and so I got stomach cramps.

After about 2/3 of the planned 3 mile run I was p*ssed off and grumpy and crampy and I walked. If I had been on a dirt road I would have been kicking rocks and doing the "razafracking, dangblanging" talk under my breath. I was on the road and there were lots of people out so I tried to keep my cool even though I was not happy.

I ran the last bit and went to the house to get water. After that I felt good and said, why am I letting this get to me?! I still was all gussied up for the run, so I went out and ran again. The short route, but it felt good that I didn't let the bad start ruin the whole run. In total it was 4.5 miles and most of it was running (except for the .6 miles that I was steaming and mad).

Good thing I'm a person that gets over stuff quickly.

Oh yeah, please let me live with the delusion that it is the same mouse. I do know that when you see one there like 20 you don't see. I grew up in the country with mice all the time, and even a squirrel once I think. I prefer to pretend that it is the same Miguelito all the time.

My little buddy found.

I did a bunch of walking on Friday since it was hubby's turn to drive the carpool. When I got home I saw my neighbor's kid walking down the street and decided to put on my roller blades and remind him that we were supposed to have gone on Wednesday. When I reminded him he was like "oh, yeah! Let me go get my skates on." And we went roller blading and it was a blast!

On Saturday I was scheduled for an easy run so I got that done in the morning. Then in the early afternoon, here comes NK (neighbor's kid) walking up my front steps with his roller blades on. So we went roller blading again but then DH and I had to go run errands. As soon as we got back from errands he rolled on over again.

NK and I were talking and he asked if I roller bladed much and I said I don't because I usually don't have anyone to go with. His eyes got big and he said "it's a good thing you found me then. We can roller blade every day." I told him I probably wouldn't want to go in the rain or snow, but we could go most days.

Yesterday I was supposed to do a long run but I wasn't able to get it in. I had to do a favor for my mother-in-law and then there were the soccer finals (our team won - WOHOO!). By the time we got home it was practically dark and we weren't home for three minutes before NK came over with his roller blades on! He is so funny!

So, I may not have ran as much as I would have liked, but I did get lots and lots of cross training in and I have a new shadow, so I think it all worked out. I'll try to get in extra milage on my normal runs this week to make up for the missed long run.

Oh, and on Friday I spent way too much time playing on www.runnerslounge.com . I probably will do the same today. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. It's a fun place to find people and information and it will just get better and better as others start to use it. Thanks Tom and Amy for creating it for us! You guys rock!

Was that the football team? I like to think so.

Unfortunately my little blading buddy was nowhere to be found when we were supposed to roller blade so I went by myself. I guess a six year old can't really make plans that far in advance since, you know, if his mom has to go grocery shopping or something he can't really say "No, Mom, I have to go rollerblading with the neighbor lady." I was sad, but I know I'll catch him sometime this weekend. Plus, I got to practice so that when I do go with him I'll look like an expert (yeah, right!)

Last night was my quarter-mile repeats. I decided to hit the track to do them rather than run around my neighborhood again. I wanted to give my legs a break from all the concrete and get onto a nice cushy surface. So, I went to the football stadium at the University.

Normally there are just other runners at the track. However, when I showed up last night there was a bunch of little kids (okay, maybe they were junior high... I feel like an old lady calling them little kids!) playing keep away in the middle of the track. They may have been leftovers from the jr. high football team practice, but who knows.

So, I did my warm up and then started doing my repeats. I almost got hit by a stray Nerf ball, but I felt like one kid stuck up for me when he shouted at his buddy "hey, there's a person there!" Kids. Fun!

So I did four repeats and felt like I wanted to walk a lap and catch my breath. As I got around the first turn I saw on the other side of the field all these dudes entering the area. The only people at the track up to this point were me and the punks, I mean kids. I was the only runner. So when I see all these guys coming on to the track I think, um, yeah, I'm not so much wanting to run anymore.

I was trying to figure out who they were. They were definitely some team at the university becuase they were also young. They weren't fast enough to be the cross country team and they weren't thin enough to be the soccer team. So, I convinced myself they were the school's football team doing a run after practice. I mean, they were burly with big calf muscles, so I'm pretty sure they were the football team. I didn't sign up to run with them, and there were at least 30 of them. Too much testosterone at the track for me.

The repeats that I did get done were good. I think my goal for the marathon is going to be to complete it in 4:30ish. I at first wanted just to finish, but I think a time goal will make my training that much better, so 4:30 it is. I think it's doable based on what I run now. Wow, I better get moving!

Cross training for tonight

I love when I find new blogging runner friends (BRF's... thanks Tom!) or more usually when they find me. I read a post by See Zanne Run the other day (http://www.seezannerun.com/2007/09/honey-you-look-exhausted.html) and I was thinking about it when I did my run last night. I was thinking about her post and my old coach from Junior High Cross Country. He would always tell me that I ended my races too happy. If I had too big of a smile on my face then I wasn't pushing myself hard enough during the race. Then I was thinking about what if I did just push a little bit harder so that I didn't have a lot of energy after the run. Thinking about Zanne's awesome times, I decided I wanted to do my 3 miles just a bit faster than I normally do. Nothing too drastic, but just push a little more.

I don't really look at my watch during my runs, but I was thinking that my fastest time had been somewhere around 33 minutes (I checked today and my fastest was 33:20). So I pushed a bit and when I ended I looked at the watch and it was 32:30! Woah! That was 50 seconds faster than any previous time! Looks like that speed work is paying off.

On my cooldown walk back to the house I met one of the neighbor's kids. I think he is about 7 years old. The other day I watched him from the living room window tottering on a pair of roller blades. It was so funny I was laughing like crazy! Have you ever seen someone on rollerblades for the first time? It's pretty funny and this kid was having such a time of it!

So, when I saw him on the cooldown I told him I saw him and asked if he was learning. He was he said and then asked if I could skate. I told him I did own a pair and I could skate a little. He was so excited. "Let's go rollerblading right now!" Well, I had a bunch of errands to do, but I told him we could go the next day. "Can we go right when I get out of school?" This kid is so funny! But, I told him when I got out of work we could go. He was sad it wasn't now but he said tonight would be fine.

So that's the plan tonight. A bit of cross training. I don't rollerblade often but I do recall I always feel it in my shins first, so hopefully that will be a good strengthener for them. It should be fun. My quarter-mile repeats will just have to wait until tomorrow. (Boohoo)

To the soccer fields!

That's where I ran to on my Sunday run. Hubby wanted to go watch a soccer game (his team's in the playoffs - next week is the finals) and I wanted to go running. So, why not run to the soccer fields and ride home after the game? The fields are clear on the other side of town so I thought that would be great for my long run. Turns out the other side of town is 7 miles away. Seven. Miles. What the heck am I going to do when it gets time to run 20 miles? I'm going to have to run to Walmart and back and then to Walmart again and back again! UGH! I can see that getting boring fairly quickly.

The run to the fields were good except I ran with a water belt on. See, my hubby can't resist clearance items and when I was unpacking a box the other day I found a water belt/fanny pack thing. He had bought it I don't know how long ago (at least a year and a half by my reckoning) and I found it just when I needed it. Random, I know. So, looks like my water boy came through again.

Anyway, the thing was pretty darn uncomfortable, but I'll look in to getting a better one down the road at some point. It served it's purpose. It was strange how heavy it was and it was more comfortable to run with it at the front and not on the back, less bouncing. But I figure, if I get used to running with it on and it adds weight to my run, once I get to Disney and I don't have one on I'll feel much more fleet of foot. I'll take what I can.

It was fairly dark this morning at the time I normally leave the house on the weekday runs so I decided to wait until after work to run. I'm psyched for the run (no water to be weighing me down, yeah!) but I just didn't want to go in the dark.

Now my neighbors may think I'm crazy...

That's if they were paying attention. See, I missed my quarter mile repeats due to a stinkin storm on Wednesday and so I did a regular run on Thursday morning. It was my hubby's day to drive the carpool, so I also got a nice walk home from work. As I was walking I was thinking that would be a nice warm up to some speed work, so as soon as I got home I changed and did some sprints around the neighborhood. So, the neighbors would have seen me going by their house at least three times yesterday in three different outfits and my face in varying shades of red.

I ran as fast as I could for two minutes or to the next block and then stretched and then sprinted again. Not the quarter mile repeats, but it was actually really fun. I just ran as fast as I could. Kind of made me feel like a little kid running from the boogey man. Haha.

What was kind of cool was that I ran past the elementary school that is near my house. One of my nephews is 8 and he is a master soccer player already. It's in his blood. Two of his uncles are amazing players (my Dear Hubby would be if he hadn't broken his leg when he was 17). One of his great-great uncles played on a professional soccer team in El Salvador (where it's called futbol). So, as I walked past the school and it's playing fields I saw that my nephew was at practice. He can run all day and only eat a ring pop and never get tired. Granted there is about a 23 year age difference between the two of us but he was some fun inspiration to keep sprinting. Oh, and he is also coming to Disney with us, so he's another member of my team!

Stinkin Lightning

I don't mind running in the rain, but I draw the line at thunder and lightning. It was pouring when I left work and the sky was making an awful rukus, so I didn't get to do my quarter-mile repeats last night. Today, my hubby drives the carpool, so I knew I wouldn't get to go to the track tonight either. Instead I ran my lovely 3.1 miles this morning and it rocked. Well, actually, it was pretty uneventful except that my lovely pumas now look like runner's shoes. I had to squish through some mud to avoid some construction guys, so now they are no longer pristine. I like them better now I think.

Interesting sneaker history

Hmm, I got this in my inbox (thanks to BeachBody.com - yes, I bought turbo jam and I liked it) and thought it was interesting and so I'd share.

Test Your Sneaker IQ! By Joe Wilkes


What is the oldest sneaker?

Plimsoll shoes were developed in Britain in the 1830s by a rubber company. They were made of canvas with rubber soles and were sold as beach shoes. Vulcanization enabled better sole-making in the mid-to-late 19th century, and, in 1892, U.S. Rubber Company created a new line of shoes, called Keds. In 1917, advertising agent Henry Nelson McKinney coined the word "sneaker" to spotlight how quiet the shoes were when you walked.


What is the most popular sneaker ever?

Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars. Celebrating their 90th anniversary this year, over 750 million pairs of these basic rubber and canvas shoes have been sold. They were originally marketed as just "All-Stars," until basketball player/shoe salesman Chuck Taylor suggested adding a reinforcing patch on the ankle for extra support and, thereafter, the shoes were called "Chuck Taylor All-Stars." In World War II, the shoes became the official sneaker of the U.S. Armed Forces. At their peak in the 1960s, Converse controlled 80 percent of the sneaker market. Today, Converse is owned by former competitor Nike.


Who produced the first tennis shoe?

The first tennis shoe was created by brothers Adi and Rudolf Dassler in Germany in 1931 through their company Gebr der Dassler Schuhfabrik. Later in the 1940s, the brothers became estranged and split off into their own companies. Adi Dassler renamed the original company, using a conflation of his own name, Adidas. Rudolf founded a competing athletic shoe company, which he named Puma. Puma became the first shoe to use Velcro in its design in 1968.


What company did Blue Ribbon Sports become?

Nike. Founded by University of Oregon business major Phil Knight and coach Bill Bowerman in 1962, Blue Ribbon Sports was renamed Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory, in 1968. They added the famous "swoosh" in 1971, which they purchased from design student Carolyn Davidson for $35.


What was the first company to charge $100 for a pair of athletic shoes?

New Balance charged $100 for its 990 model in 1983. It's rumored that if you divide the model number of New Balance shoes by 10, you'll get an approximation of the price. New Balance was originally founded in the early 1900s as a manufacturer of shoes for people with foot problems, specifically those who needed arch supports. In the 1970s, New Balance became known for its popular running shoe, and, despite its limited advertising, has become the fourth largest athletic shoe company behind Nike, Adidas/Reebok, and Puma.

Trying to get my mind off work

I've had a really blah past two weeks at work and so I was just reading other's blogs to get me excited about quarter-mile repeats tonight. Bill blogged about his team. I started thinking about those who are going with me to Disney, my team and remembered a cute story. My sister and nephew are coming. My nephew is 5 and he knows that we are going to Disney. He just started kindergarten a few weeks ago and the day before school started my sister said to him "Tomorrow is a big day. Aren't you excited?" His response was "Is tomorrow the day we go see Andi run?"

Oh. My. Word. We are going to Disney and he's excited to come see me run? He does know what Disney is, but he can't wait to see the big race. Okay, I think I just found some motivation. If he's excited about the run I'd better keep up my end of the bargain! Also, I think he knows that if he sees me while I'm running he gets to give me jelly beans or something called GU. What 5 year old doesn't like that?

It begins...

Today starts the official 17 weeks of training to get to Disney. As I laid in bed this morning thinking about it, I admit I started freaking out a bit. When I tell non-runners (which at this point I no longer consider myself) about the marathon there are so many responses. One kid (a salesman at a store where I bought some power bars) said, "oh, you shouldn't do that. It's so bad for you." Uh, what? I mean, I know all the pounding is not the most pleasant thing on your bones and joints, but to try and discourage a perfect stranger from doing something they've dreamed of for so long, that's just... I don't even know? Cruel? An indication of why there are so many health problems in the world? ( Also, he was like, "my doctor told me I shouldn't do it." Um, I've consulted a Doctor (http://marathondudebill.blogspot.com/) and he thinks running a marathon is great fun!)

So I thought of that punk this morning.

I was talking to my hubby's sister yesterday and she was like "how long is a marathon?" When I told her, she just started laughing. "You are going to run all that?" Ugh! What is wrong with people?

But then there are those who are encouraging, like all of you who are reading this. My mom and my oldest sister are loving it because they have a pretty good excuse to go to Disney. They say, "that's the last thing that we would think of doing, but if you want to do it, then do it." Do they know me or what? My family knows I've wanted to do this for a long time, so they are all supporting me.

So, thinking that today is day one of Countdown to Disney (woohoo!!!) I set out this morning still freaking out a bit. It wouldn't be normal if I didn't freak out a little bit. 26.2 miles is not something to take lightly. The run was great. I was well rested and it wasn't crazy hot like it has been (or freakishly cold like it was on Saturday). I'm really excited about what the next 17 weeks will bring. I try not to think of the 26.2 miles at the end, but just what I need to do today (thanks Nancy). I keep reading other's blogs about their last few long runs or starting their tapers ( http://www.breakingthetape.com/just-one-more-mile/ , http://mynicknameisbooger.blogspot.com/ ) and I can't even imagine getting to that point yet, but reading their stories makes me realize it's not an unachievable goal. It's just a matter of proper training and building up. It'll be fun and tiring. I know it'll be frustrating at times, rewarding at times and may make me question my sanity. But, it's on! Let's get running.

Happy Legs

It was such a nice day yesterday that I went for a walk after work. Relaxing and just nice. That got me all geared up and ready for this morning. I had such a nice run. The weather is great this time of year. It is so much cooler that it's kind of a nice reward for getting up that early. The one drawback is that it is staying darker later. Argh! I'll have to get me one of those headlamps to run with. Ha Ha!

It was just a short run this morning since the scheduled training starts on Monday. It was just nice to be out running after too long not running. My legs were feeling antsy and now they are much happier with me.

Way too long!

Sorry, it has been too long since I updated on here. I have been in over-stressed mode doing on a project for work, but I completed it yesterday so I can relax again (for a little while anyway).

At the end of last week I felt groggy and really not myself. It was really windy so there was all kinds of nastiness kicked up in the air and I had some fierce alllergies that sucked the life out of me. Over the weekend we went to visit my new SIL and I was all set for a long run on the treadmill at the gym in her complex, but she did not have the most recent code and I never got in. And, it's not an area I'm really familiar with, so I didn't feel comfortable running on the road.

So now it is Thursday and I feel a bit like a slug. I read Amy's post ( http://blog.runnerslounge.com/2007/09/red-alert-3-day.html )a few days ago about getting crabby when you don't get yours runs in and I really feel that! I am so excited about my run tonight.

I'm trying not to let myself get more stressed out about the lack of running. My official 17 weeks to Disney hard core training starts next Monday! Yikes! So I haven't been as worried as I could have been if I was off schedule.

Oh! And I want to say happy running to my cousin who is running the MDI half marathon in Maine this weekend. He's the one who convinced me to run Disney (because he's running it too), so I wish him well in his race this weekend!

Thanks for keeping with me.

Quarter mile repeats repeated

Okay, so now it is officially a tradition. I hit the track again Wednesday to do the repeats and they were fun. My legs are definitely ready for a break today. The repeats were harder this week than last, but since Monday was a holiday and I didn't have to work I cross trained instead of rested. Bad Andi! I know, I got overzealous. But, today, I'm resting and moving on. May try to add a few blocks to my three miler tomorrow, but we'll see.

I also want to send good wishes to Marathon Dude Bill who will be running his marathon this weekend. It's pretty exciting to reach that point and it's been great to read about your training. You'll do awesome! Enjoy it.

Slow crappy short run

Yesterday's run was everything the title says it was. Slow (38.10 compared to my fastest of 33:20 for the same route), crappy (wrong shorts, wrong shirt, wrong bra, wrong scrunchie, didn't drink enough water during the day, ate the wrong lunch, didn't stretch enough after my cross training on Monday so my muscles were all tight, no cute water boy bringing me towels in an air conditioned FJ, 93 degrees out) and short (my 3-mile route).

I was disappointed when I just felt crappy during my run - so many things were off! But then I got thinking about it and had to laugh. As much of a let down as the run was, it was my "easy" run. A month ago I would not have thought of a three mile run as easy. That would have been my long run and even on a good day it would have been difficult. So, I guess I can't let myself get upset.

One thing I can let myself get upset over is my new pair of socks. When I bought the new shoes I bought the fancy socks. I figured my feet were worth it and so I splurged. The first run in them was good. Didn't think too much about them, which is a good sign. Then on my long run this weekend I wore them only the second time. When I got done and took my sneaks off, there was a hole in the sock. I had cut my toenails on Saturday (the day before the run), so my nails weren't long. I was quite bummed. I'm going to send the socks back to the company - when you spend $10 for one pair of socks you'd think they would hold up better. ARGH! I had toyed with the idea of just sending them back without washing them because I was so upset, but then I calmed down and realized how gross that would be for the poor person who opened the package. I just can't be that mean or unhygenic.

Then I wondered, since my nails were not that long, is that an indication that my shoes may be too small? The shoes don't feel to small, but rubbing a hole in a brand new pair of socks... just made me wonder.

My new water boy

Just kidding. He's not new. Haha! I had an eight mile run on Sunday and it was awesome. I always wish I posted right after the run so I can get my excitement across, but the computer is in the office and I didn't want to come in on Labor Day. Kind of defeats the purpose of the holiday don't you think?

Anyway, I decided to run on the road since last week's 7 miles at the track was incredibly boring. Plus, when you have to count laps it really makes the distance seem so much longer. I don't live in a really big town, so I kind of had to run from my house to the end of town and then back and then go the other direction to the other end of town.

I was dreaming about running when I woke up and it was more of a nightmare. I was dreaming that I was running past a field, a field that I run by on my 3-mile route. The farmer was mowing the grass, but it was really tall and bright green and it was flying everywhere. I was breathing it in while I ran and had to stop because I was choking on it. I was coughing up the grass and I blew my nose and huge clods of grass came out of my nose. That is when I woke up. Needless, to say, the idea of a run right then was not sounding like fun.

But, I got up had some water and a power bar. The night before, my hubby (the new water boy) said to wake him up when I left and he would find me on the run and bring me water. He usually works until about 3 in the morning, so 8am is not a real fun time of day for him. But, I got out on my run, ran out to Prairie - about 2.5 miles and turned around. About 45 minutes in, here comes my hubby and he brought my water, some powerade and a towel. I didn't even tell him to bring the towel! He asked if I wanted a ride back home or if I was going to keep going. I said I'd keep going and he said he'd find me in a little while with more water.

At five miles, I was going to be close to my house, so I said I'd swing by and get some water and take a gel. As I turned the corner to take me to my road I saw the water boy pull out of the road but turn in the opposite direction. I tried jumping up and down and waving my arms, but he didn't see me. That took quite a lot of energy, but I was close to home, so I just watched him drive away and knew he'd freak out a bit when he didn't find me.

I got home and found my gel. I've read not so great things taste-wise about the gels, and so I wasn't looking forward to trying it. I opened the crazy package of vanilla gel and it wasn't nearly as gross as I thought it would be. I think I had psyched myself up so much thinking that it was going to be really gross, that it couldn't have been as bad as I was imagining. It tasted kind of like vanilla frosting, but kind of greasy feeling. Wierd.

Since I was in the house the thought crept in that I could just say enough for today. But, since I already ate the gel stopping wasn't going to happen. I would have taken it for nothing. So I hit the road again and did the last three miles, complete with another visit from the water boy.

I'm going to get some kind of hydration system, but I kind of liked having a delivery man. If you know my hubby, it's a very un-him thing to do to wake up early on a Sunday to hunt me down and bring me water. It was kind of nice. I could get use to that kind of service.

The great part of the run though, was that I didn't feel like I had been run over by a train at the end of it and I could actually function later on in the day. That is a good sign! I was so excited after the run. The shoes were great. The weather was awesome. This is why we run. Sometimes we have crappy or average runs, but it's days like Sunday where things were just right. That's we need to remember.

Dirt running

When I woke up this morning it was about 60 degrees! I was so tempted to roll over and go back to sleep because it hasn't been that cool here since about April. I did snooze a few times extra, but then got out of bed and hit the road.

It felt odd running this morning. I probably should have worn pants instead of shorts and I think I started too fast because by the time I hit the first turn I was tired. I made it home, didn't break any records, but I felt good that I did it. That's the important part.

One thing that may have hurt my time was that on the second leg I tried something different. See, I've read about the different running surfaces and how concrete is basically "poison for your legs." Unfortunately the sidewalks here are all concrete and on the road there is about a foot and a half border on the side of the asphalt of concrete, so that if I wanted to run on the asphalt, I would be running in the middle of the road.

The other day I was thinking that I could run on the grass in between the sidewalk and the road, but this time of year, since it's so dry, they let it get pretty long, so it's really not good for running. Today as I ran, I noticed that on one part they had dug up all the grass and it was now dirt. So I thought, why not run in the dirt - any bit helps right? It felt wierd running on the dirt when you've been running on concrete or on the track. It felt like I had to lift my foot higher as I was running. It was dry, so it wasn't muddy, but it wasn't really packed down either. So, I think this little adventure slowed my run down. But, I'd much rather sacrifice time for happier legs!

Short run

So, when I say I'm going to do "speed work" I think you may be envisioning a fast run that's a good distance. Not so. I have found a plan that I am comfortable with to train for Disney. It is a 17 week plan, so I have a few weeks to go before that starts. At this point I am trying to work up a good base to be ready for the schedule.

One of the runs that the plan has you do are quarter mile repeats where you run a quarter mile (one lap around the track) at a certain pace. Then you rest two minutes and go another lap. Each week you'll increase how many total laps you do. The goal is to keep your pace consistent on each lap and get your legs used to a faster movement, so then when you "slow down" to your marathon pace, your legs will think that's easy compared to the faster pace in the quarter mile repeats.

On the first week of the plan you do 6 repeats, so 1.5 miles, plus a warm up and cool down. I decided I wanted to try it and see what pace I could do. That may help me decide what finishing time I want to have as a goal for my marathon. So, I thought, I'll just do a mile of these (or four repeats) to see what they feel like, plus it was my bonus 4th day, so any milage was an increase over last week, but we don't want to over-do it.

I ran a slow half mile warm up. Stretched. Then I did my first lap. 2:17. I was happy with that and said, okay, my other laps need to stay within 10 seconds of that (5 seconds faster or slower). Second lap was 2:13, third was 2:15, fourth was 2:16. I just did the four, and I felt really great! I was definitely tired, considering I did my last 3.1 miler in 33:20, so normally have a just over 11 minute mile pace. As I did my cool down half mile while pondering the repeats I thought "that is less than ten minutes for the mile!" Granted, there was a two minute rest in between, but still. That's way faster than my normal.

Then, as I started thinking more (on my ride home from the track, once I had some water and could think more clearly) and did the math, that is a 9:01 mile. Woah! I almost did a 9 minute mile! That rocks! Plus, I felt different after the run. It was just a mile sprinting, but I definitely felt like I had worked hard. My quads are sore today, and I feel it in my calfs. I take that as a good sign. I worked my body in a different way and that feels great!

So, I think I'll make that my official Wednesday run and each week I'll add more repeats. By the time I start the official 17 week schedule, I'll be better prepared.

Oh, and I did wear the new sneaks. They'll get a break today and be happy and ready for tomorrow's run. (You didn't think I'd go the whole thing without talking about my new shoes, did you?)

Oh, yeah! Then I was so excited about my run I ran up and down the stadium steps. Twice. Not a big huge stadium, but it was a nice little bonus. Maybe that's why my quads are a bit sore. Hmmm...

About shoes (again)

It seems like all I do is talk about shoes these days, but I have a question. Now that I have a pair of shoes that are properly fitted to my feet, do I only wear those or do I still alternate? I have two other pair of shoes from before my trip to the running store. One pair was my favorite and the other pair I just didn't know why I didn't like to run in them. Now that I know what the shoe should be like, the pair that was my favorite has support (though less than the new pair) where it should for my foot. The pair that I wasn't comfortable with has no support at all where my foot needs it, so now I know why it didn't work. And those are officially no longer going on my feet for a run.

So the question is, do I stick with the old pair that is medium support and alternate it with the new shoes until I get another pair of new shoes? Or do I just wear the new shoes and by the time I buy another pair of those they'll be broken in and ready for a rest on alternating days? I'm running 4 days a week, so they mostly will have a day to bounce back, except for one time a week I'll wear them twice in a row. Or is that the only day I should use the old shoes so that the new ones will always have a rest day in between runs?

Seems like I should know the answer to this, but I figured I'd ask you out there who have more experience.

So happy with my new shoes!

I used them today for my 3-mile run and they were awesome. The first mile, my feet didn't know what to think. They were like "what's this? Comfy shoes? How are we supposed to run in comfy shoes?" Then my feet got used to it and the run turned out great. I've decided that in my previous runs it wasn't so much that my legs got tired, but my feet got tired. I ended the three miles and my feet were still ready to go.

The plan this week is to add another day. I have found a plan (after looking at a lot of them) that I feel comfortable with to help me train for Disney. It is a 17 week plan that involves running 4-6 days a week. At this point I'm running three days and so I want to get up to four before the 17 weeks starts. I've read about having a base to start with before you "officially" can say you are training for a marathon. Two more weeks and it's official, though I think the day I signed up for the race I could officially say I was in training.

Today is an easy day here at work and so I've been looking at other peoples blogs and it's so great to read other people's stories. I was just reading Running Hoosier (http://runninghoosier.blogspot.com/) and he commented that reading other peoples stories makes him want to get out there and run. I find that to be so true! I ran this morning so I'm good for the day, but then I read someone else's story and I think "maybe I should run when I get home, just for fun this time." What is it about us that makes us just want to get out there? Some days it really is hard to say, "no, I already ran. I don't want to burn out. Stick with the plan!" Sometimes not sticking with the plan can be just as fun though. Right Bill?http://marathondudebill.blogspot.com/2007/08/thursdayand-that-means-thai-food.html

Fun at the running store!

So the hubby and I went up to the big city of Topeka on Saturday and we went to The Great Plains Running Company. It's a running specialty store and I was excited! The people there were great and gave me a big high five when I told them I had signed up for Disney and needed a gait analysis.

It was a bit wierd running on a treadmill in my bare feet, but it helped because I learned I have, for the most part, normal pronation but my right foot may pronate (roll inward when it hits the ground) a bit more. Knowing that, the person helping me went and got about 7 pairs of shoes for me to try on. The first ones were great, but I tried them all on. It was fun because the last time I went shoe shopping like this was when I was about 8. She measured my foot and tied the laces for me and everything. Haha!

I know I made a breakthrough when I resigned myself to buying the best pair for my feet even if they were the ugliest ones (I just am not a fan of yellow!) We did a comparison by putting the top two on, one on each foot and then switched. Happily for me, the winner (they fit just right, I felt like Goldilocks) was the pretty pair. (And they were on sale!) So now I have pretty blue and light gray Puma Complete Tenos IVs and they are awesome.

Alas, since Sunday was my long run I was not going to break them in then. So, I am super excited for my run tomorrow to test them out. Yay for new shoes! I never get this excited about shoes, just so you know.

The long run yesterday was good. Since I had done 6.25 last week, I said I should try for 7, 5 of which had to be running. It was tough and I found myself frustrated that I just ran out of steam. But then I thought about it and realized I ran out of steam about 1.25 miles later than I did last week, so that was encouraging. Total distance was 7.25 I'm going to add a fourth day of running this week, probably speed work.

Still happy and still excited about running.

Doing research...

I did my three mile run this morning and it was solid. I did it a minute faster than I had done it on Tuesday, and the whole time I was running I felt like I was going slower than I had on the previous run. It was pretty windy and for the majority of the run it was coming at me sideways. Of course, the shortest part of the run was when it was at my back so I didn't get much help there! Ha.

Today in between clients I've been trying to come up with a running schedule. A lot of places I've looked recommend running three days a week and rest or cross train the other days and have two day rest before your long run. Other places advocated running every day - which at this point I'm not ready for. Another site suggests two long runs a week and a speed run and then moderate runs the other three days with one day of rest per week.

Right now I'm just running three days a week, but I feel like I should be doing more, so next week I'm going to try to up it to four, which hopefully will be speed work, and then increase as I feel ready. I still have a long way to go, but it's fun planning the journey!

3 mile run

Yep, I set out on my three miles this morning and I ran the whole thing! WOOHOO!!! The route is a rectangle and right before I make the last turn to get back to the starting point there is a hill. I always get to the top of the hill and for some reason (and it really does happen every time) I think East Street is one block further than it actually is. It's a pleasant surprise when I see that I'm nearly there, but today when I saw the street sign I just started giggling like a mad woman. I knew I was almost to the end and I would be able to make it. While the giggling didn't help my breathing much, it felt so good I didn't care.

When I made the last turn, I tried to pick up the pace just a bit. I guess the pace was what I've recently learned is a tempo pace. It's faster than what I was doing so that it's definitely harder, but it's not quite a sprint. I finished laughing just about as hard as when I saw the street sign. Gotta love the endorphins!

A cross training day is definitely in order for tomorrow. After the long run on Sunday, my legs felt pretty tired today. I know I need to do some cross training and I'm thinking maybe some yoga or pilates would be great for all the stretching.

Weekend run

So, on Sunday I decided I had to log 5+ miles be it running, walking, or barely moving my feet. I thought, since it was going to be a long run that I would go do it on the track around the football stadium at good ole ESU (Go Hornets!) since that's better on the joints than concrete. My hubby is a big soccer fan and there's a league in my town that has games every Sunday. So, brilliant me, said to hubby "drop me off at the stadium and pick me up after the game". We made a specific route for me to start walking home by and he would pick me up wherever he found me.

So, I slathered on the sweatproof 45 spf and filled my water bottle with ice and we went. I figured, the longer I was at the track, the less I'd have to walk home (game started at 11, two 45 minute halves, a 15 minute halftime, 10 minutes for him to talk to his friends about what they did right/wrong and then 10 minutes to drive across town), so I wasn't in any rush. I decided to walk a warm up mile. My muscles have been getting tight during my runs, so I wanted to get them ready for the run by stretching them once I was warmed up. I was feeling great. The temperature had gone down about 15 degrees since the day before and clouds had rolled in so it wouldn't heat up as much as the past week.

So, the thing about running on a track is that, like a treadmill, it's kind of boring. You're just running in circles. It's better on your body, but ugh! And then you have to keep count of how many laps you did. So, I decided to make it easier, I would turn around and run the opposite direction every mile so that I'd only have to count as high as four.

By the end of the mile warm-up I was feeling good. Ran mile two and three great! I find I feel like I overheat a lot and so at the start of mile four I walked a lap and cooled down a bit (but told myself I'd have to do a lap of sprint/walk to make up for it in my cooldown mile). By the start of the 5th mile, my water was almost gone (the ice had melted long ago) but I thought, the cooldown mile will be good and I won't be as hot.

With the water in my bottle gone, I started looking everywhere for a water fountain. This is the university's football stadium, so there should be one somewhere right? I took detours around the track trying to find a fountain. I went up the stadium, no fountain. I tried the bathrooms, locked. I found the football offices and woohoo the doors are open! But, while the temporary a.c. blast is nice, no water. I tried the door to the football locker room and it was open, I peaked in with my eyes half covered, still no water from what I could see and I wasn't brave enough to go all the way in. Must not have been that thirsty right?

I continued my second to last lap and I'm just walking along and on one wall of the stadium I saw a tiny little metal thing on the wall. Could it be a fountain? I decided to sprint to it and find out. It's a fountain! I'm all excited. The football guys need water, so of course there's got to be water for them. I'm sweating and gross, my mouth is dry, but I know I'm getting water. I turn the handle and... nothing. ARGH!!!

I thought to myself, okay, I'm just not going to think about it. I look at my hand and my fingers are pruned. I think that's pretty gross. I can't get water and my fingers look like they've been in water all day because I'm sweating so much. (Actually, in a gross way that's kind of cool too.)

As I leave the track, I think, wow! In total I did 6.25 miles! That's great! That's nearly a quarter of what I need for Disney (oh, yeah, did I mention I finally signed up to run Disney? YAHOO!) and I'm feeling pretty good. I did walk and learned I need to buy a bigger water bottle, but I did the farthest distance I have to date. I'm thinking it's about 1:00 and so Hubby should find me soon, so I start walking, trying not to think about water. I'd drink a ton when I get home.

I left the track and passed by a building - campus safety. I go in and right inside the door are soda machines, but I don't have any change on me! It's in the car which Hubby has! Argh! So, I found a bathroom, and as gross as it seems, I filled my water in the sink in there. It was warm. It was straight from the tap. It was from a public restroom. But I think it was the best tasting water I've had in 15 years.

It is about 2.5 miles from the stadium to my house. I was hoping not to have to walk the whole thing. By now my feet were sore, my shirt was soaked and I had long lost all that sweatproof SPF. Hubby found me on the walk before I reached home, but I had already walked almost 1.75 miles of the distance. So, that makes almost 8 miles for the day. But, I did it, and that feels great!

Smells to keep you motivated on your run.

Today I woke up and the initial thought was to roll over and go back to sleep. But, no, I know it's just too hot in the afternoon to go running this time of year and so I forced myself awake and started the coffee brewing and hit the road.

I had thought, "oh, I'll just do my 2 mile run this morning, it's Friday." Dumb excuse I know. So, if you picture a rectangle and then in one corner of the rectangle make an arc - I live on the arc part, and the outside rectangle is a three mile square (well, my car's odometer says 3.3 miles, but when I plotted it on runnersworld.com it says 3.01 miles, so I split the difference and say it's a 5k). If I go the opposite direction of the 3 mile rectangle and run to the next main road and back, that's two miles. Or that's what I thought until I plotted that out and it turned out to only be 1.75.

So, I started walking to the rectangle and once I crossed the road to the sidewalk and started running I said, "no way am I just going to do the 2-mile (1.75), it's Friday!" Much better excuse right? And I'm so glad I made that decision. I've done the 3 mile loop about 4 times now, and it gets easier every time. I ran almost the whole thing today - only stopped one time for a small stretch for those darn hip flexors (anyone know a good exercise to strengthen them?). And, when I reached the point I though I was going to stop, there was a squashed skunk in the road - that will make you run just a bit futher to get away from the smell!

The last two blocks before I get back to the starting point I usually try to sprint, but it usually is just a faster jog. Today, I actually sprinted that part and really felt like I was working really hard. My breathing was good and when I finished, I didn't feel like puking. Always a good sign.

I really feel like today's run was my best one yet. It feels great to see progress being made and feeling the difference in my body. Plus, I went to Walmart and got me a cheap water (and I assume sweat) resistant watch with a timer on it. I haven't really been tracking my time since I switched from the treadmill to the road so I don't know what the middle times were. But when I was doing the treadmill, my 5ks were somewhere around 42-45 minutes. Today it was 34:16! That's progress and that feels great. Thanks for all your encouragement. I really appreciated it, and it keeps me motivated.

5 pounds = 5 minutes

As I was checking out a fellow runner's blog, they said in a recent article that 5 pounds extra adds 5 more minutes on your marathon time. That is shocking to me! I have no illusions that it's easy to run with all this extra weight, but that right there is a pretty good motivation to be more careful what I eat!

Running as soon as you wake up

I'm still in the beginning stages of getting my routine down, so today I decided to go for my run about 10 minutes after I woke up. From what I've read on various sites and in various books, it doesn't make that much of a difference when you run as long as you do it. I have been trying to wake up, eat something small and then get out on the road about an hour later. But today I ran first.

I did my 3 mile run and it turned out that running right when you get up wasn't so bad as I had imagined. Like I said previously, I feel a little awkward when I run in the morning, kind of clumsy, but that's just me. So, at the start I was feeling goofy, but then I found my groove and my pace and it was really great!

I was thinking as I ran, that a lot of running is just a mental head game with yourself. That's no revelation, most runners will tell you that. But what I find about me is that I get to where I'm running and I start thinking about walking. So today when I found that feeling creeping in, I started thinking about all the reasons why I felt like I should walk? Sometimes, I should walk, but I think I have a tendency to walk more than I really need to. I mean, if I'm listening to my body I should know the difference between what is a feeling that signals it's time to walk and just the voices of defeat trying to talk to me and make me stop.

So, as I was running today, I decided to list reasons why I would stop:
Am I too hot?
Do I need a drink?
Am I breathing too hard?
Is there a piece of lint in my sock that is irritating my foot?
Did I wear the wrong shoes, bra, shorts, t-shirt?
Is there sweat dripping into my eyes?
Do I feel like my muscles are tightening up so I need to stretch?
Is the pavement uneven?
Am I just feeling lazy today?
Do I have a slow song stuck in my head that's bringing me down?
Am I thinking too much about outside issues and not concentrating on the workout?
Am I afraid someone will see me and laugh?

I found that once I started going through that list and trying to figure out why I would stop running and walk, I'd ran a lot further than I had the last time I did it. While some of the things on the list are worth walking for, a good number of them can be remedied by just bringing your concentration back to your running, your pace and just paying attention to what you're doing insted of letting your mind wander.

While I did have to stop because my hip flexors needed a stretch (and that's a good reason for stopping- I don't want any injuries!) I found that I ran way more than I would have if I hadn't tried to figure out what was making me want to stop.

All in all it was a good run and I think I enjoyed it more when I just woke up because it really got me energized and ready for the day!

Fartleks

Okay, so back in high school I played field hockey and our coach always made us do fartleks, which were one of the drills that I liked (that and Indian sprints, though I don't know if that is PC these days...). I have a training log on Runnersworld.com and I saw an article about fartleks and it brought back memories of field hockey days.

I've been running now for about two months, and while I started on the tread mill, after the 5-mile road race, I said bye bye to the treadmill. However, I know the treadmill is a good surface to run on, so I found a track here in town at the University football stadium and I went there for the first time on Sunday. The plan was to do fartleks.

Now in high school, a fartlek was sprint-jog-walk-sprint. I'm not sure if that is the proper form, but that's what I was going to do. It was only about 9:15 am and so the tempurature hadn't had the chance to go up too much. I walked a warm-up lap and then did a lap where I sprinted-jogged-walked-sprinted around the track and then walked a lap.

I've become used to the normal route I take around my house. It's about two miles, and I try to do that three times a week and I run the whole time. I thought I was making progress, but then when I got to the track and did this drill with sprints, I was a little disappointed! I know training takes a lot of patience, but I was like "I hope I'm in better shape than that!"

Just makes me realize I need to not just get the miles in, but now it's time to run just a bit faster and run a bit longer. I think I worry that since I'm overweight, I don't want to stress out my bones, joints and muscles before my body is realistically ready to deal with that kind of stress. Either way, I'm still psyched that I'm making progress. I know my run today will be improved even though the fartleks were hard.

It is however, very hot again today. On Sunday when we got back from the track at about 10:30 it was already 95 degrees. It's been like that all week. That makes it really hard to get out and run, but as long as I know my limits, I think it'll be okay.

What a great morning to run!

First let me just start by saying that whenever I try to keep a journal I always put off the start because I feel like I have to write a big introduction. But, as I want to keep this up as much as possible, I'll save the big intro for when I have more time (once my work project is done?).

I ran this morning and it was so great. The days have been so hot here that it is still in the 90's at 9:00 at night. So, this morning it was only 73 and it had stormed last night after weeks without rain, so it was just refreshing. I just ran my short run because I find myself awkward in the mornings. I do better in the afternoon/evening runs, but I would love to be a morning runner instead. But it's hard to wrestle on a sports bra first thing when you roll out of bed.

Welcome!

I envision this as a running journal to be used to keep me motivated as well as keep track of my thoughts as I start getting geared up to become a running machine! Currently, I have a project that I'm preparing for work, and as a reward for getting it done I will do my first "official" post. Maybe even try to get a picture or two up here...

However, back to work so I can get my project done and get posting!