And again...and again!!

Well!  Since my last post I've actually run the longest run ever, ever, EVER twice more!  (Woo-hoo!!)  (Oh yeah, and I turned 35.  Whoa.)  2 weeks ago Michele and I ran 16mi and today Erin and I ran 18mi, and I finally feel like I might just be able to pull this crazy marathon thing off.  (Phew!)

The 16mi run actually kind of super sucked.  It was a ridiculously hot & humid day, a lot of the run was in the blazing sun, and it was a struggle to stagger back to Michele's house at the end.  

Today, however, it was high 60s and light rain, which was actually really pleasant to run in (although wet feet = new blister, booooo).  But, the rain kept the bike path virtually desolate, which was a major plus.  Here's the proof that the run was accomplished, straight from my nike+ account.

A screenshot straight from nikeplus.com

Erin and I were pretty psyched with our run today - got our pace down to under 13:30min/mile.  Not too shabby!!  The weather was definitely a huge factor I think.  We did 2min/90sec run/walk intervals and I think that worked really, really well too.  Right now, that's definitely what I'm leaning towards for marathon day.

And I actually managed to do quite well running all my runs during my two weeks away (Lake Winnipaukee, home for a week, then Lake George).  In fact, despite my worry that I'd potentially slack off on vacation, it was the week home in between that I ended up not running...whoops!

But now there's only 2 loooooong runs left until the taper leading up to the marathon!  Next week 10mi, 2 weeks from now 20mi, then back to 10mi, then 23mi, and then 3 weeks of tapering.  Sweet!

The bonus for all this is that I actually got the hubs to start the couch to 5k program too!  Very proud of him.

14 miles done! Longest run ever, ever, ever, EVER!!

Feeling pretty awesome having finished the 14 mile long run!!  That's more than a half marathon!  Definitely the longest distance I've ever run at one time - EVER!  And while I wish I could do it a little faster, I am damn proud of the accomplishment.  I never thought I'd actually be able to run a marathon.  It's always been on my "bucket list" (I f@*%ing HATE that phrase!), it's always been a lifelong "dream" goal to run a marathon.  Back in my teens and 20s I knew I wanted to do it (and I've ALWAYS hated long distance running, so I really have no clue what that desire was all about- must be the masochist in me...) and expected I would "someday", but after hip surgery (and with that the realization that I'm not actually invincible - huh?  I'm not??) I kind of thought that running a marathon wasn't a realistic goal to have anymore.  Now that I've actually made it (more than!!) halfway there, it feels like this accomplishment is totally within arm's reach and I'm kind of peeing my pants about it!!

Now I just have to keep my ass in check and make sure I don't slack off during my vacation this week. Vacation = relaxation to me (well, as much relaxation as a mom of 2 crazy boys can get!) as well as LOTS of beer drinking (10am? sure! it's beer o'clock!) and LOTS delicious, naughty food and I find it VERY easy to forget about my workouts...Can't let that happen this week!!  Ok, maybe beer and junk food won't be avoided...let's be real...but I can't ditch out on my runs!!

Playlist Compiled

Finally spent some time on my Marathon playlist.  I ended up with 125 songs which I'm sure is WAY more than I need - iTunes tells me it's almost 8-1/2 hours of music!

Survived 12

I haven't been that great at blogging lately, huh?  I've been feeling a little burnt out from marathon training, and I think that's also triggering a lack of motivation to blog about it too, clearly.  I did get the 12mi run day out of the way though, so I'm pretty happy about that - although I pretty much still dread every other long run.  Running the 12 was much more enjoyable (not necessarily any easier, but definitely more enjoyable) because I met up with Erin and ran with her instead of running alone.  To me, that is key.  I had to get up at 4:30am on a Saturday morning to do it, but I'd probably do just about anything and drive just about anywhere to avoid running alone on the long runs.

We met up at the Minuteman Bikeway in Lexington, MA.  Sidenote: What a beautiful town Lexington is!  The cutest little downtown area!  Definitely now on my list of - would totally live there - locations.  Last week was actually supposed to be a recovery week and we were only supposed to run 6mi for the "long run", but since Erin was going out of town for work this week she decided to swap the weeks, so I did too.

I liked the Minuteman Bikeway as a running path a lot because it was very shady and flat.  Actually looking at the elevation profile, I am quite surprised to see that it's not quite as flat as it felt, but the change in gradient was very gradual, so at least you aren't looking giant hills in the face like at Winnekenni.

"Flat-ish" running path

The only negative aspect of the Minuteman Bikeway (besides it being quite a drive) is that it starts to get pretty busy.  That, and the fact that it's been a super hot summer so far, makes getting up at 4:30am totally worth it, so that as much of the run is completed as possible before the path gets too congested and before it gets unbearably hot out!!

It's quite nice to be in the recovery week this week and not to be dreading a LONG, long run again (at least not until NEXT week...)

Hills Be Damned!

So I survived the 10mi run on Saturday morning, but just barely...  Ugh, it was one of those runs that makes you question whether or not you can actually successfully complete the marathon no matter how long or hard you train for.  Those runs just plain suck.  Since I've been having trouble with my hip, I decided to try incorporating more trail running so that I'm not pounding the pavement all the time.  However, I think the trail at Winnekenni is just FAR, far too hilly.  Also, I started getting this sharp shooting pain occasionally in my right heel during the second loop.  Ugh, it's like my body is just looking for ways to fail me...Trying not to get myself too worked up about it (perhaps plantar fasciitis?) and just put it down to that I really, really need new running shoes...

Check out that elevation profile...

Considering the Chicago Marathon is supposed to be very flat, and that I found the super hilly run on Saturday too much to bare, perhaps it would make more sense to run the long runs on routes that are more similar to what the actual marathon will be like.

Yup, I'd say that's pretty flat!

Ok, now I get why so many people say that the Chicago Marathon is a great choice for first-timers.  That is seriously one flat course!!  That's pretty freaking awesome.  Well, I know that I can walk faster than a 15min/mile pace (I practiced on the treadmill the other day), so at worst, provided I am injury-free enough to at least walk, I WILL complete this marathon!!

St. Peter's Fiesta 5k - Gloucester, MA

So much fun!  It's been YEARS since I ran in a 5k race.  And it was just really fun to meet up with friends and also have my cuties on the sidelines cheering us all on.  They made me smile so big.
UPDATE: Results!  Time: 31:40  Not too shabby!

Just spotted my boys!

Fisher, Erin, Becky, Micah, Phoebe & Me

The route

After the race we hit up the Cape Ann Brewery (of course!) and had some delicious brews, good food, and great company.  My big guy recently announced that he wants to be a drummer in a rock band when he grows up, and the band that was setting up was awesome enough to let my guys play around on the drums.

The big guy living the rockstar dream!

Gotta be just like big brother!!

I said it's been forever since I ran a 5k, but I did do the Warrior Dash last summer.  That was about getting as muddy as possible and the fun obstacles (and beer)...so I don't really consider that a "running" race (although the BEST running races always involve beer somehow!)  I definitely didn't care about my time.  I just wanted to have fun, actually do all the obstacles and get some cool photos.

Stuck in the mud!

FIRE!

(This was pure photo op - the fire wasn't even that high, so it wasn't even a real 'obstacle', but still awesome!)

Another muddy photo op.

FINISHED!

(That giant hill in the back was SUPER fun to slide down in the mud!)

I definitely want to do more obstacle/mud races, but yesterday reminded me that I also enjoy just the simple challenge of a straight up 5k.  I'm kind of looking forward to when marathon training is over, just so I don't have to be so concerned with getting an(other) injury and can sign up for more of the fun stuff!  I don't think it would be wise to attempt the Warrior Dash or Spartan Sprint or any of the rest prior to the marathon because I got pretty pretty banged up doing the Dash last year (also got a nasty case of "Dash Rash" all over my legs that was NOT pleasant!!)

But hopefully I'll get a chance to run another 5k or other race as part of marathon training because it definitely adds an element of fun to training.  And maybe I'll sign up for the Rebel Race since it's a month after the marathon and only 10 minutes from my house!  Or maybe the Spartan Time Trial at Fenway!  That just sounds so fun!  And there's an event my 4yo can do AND just to have access inside Fenway Park is awesome!  Hmmmm, decisions decisions!

The hip is angry

Well, I rested my hip over the weekend.  I felt like crap missing my long run.  It's hard to shake the voices in my head yelling "slacker!!" even when I know it's the smart thing to do.  Looking back over my training log I realized that because I missed a run when I went to CA to visit my sister a couple weeks ago (again, slacker!) I went from running a total of 10.7mi in week 3 to a total of 15.5mi the next week - an increase of almost 50% from one week to the next.  And by week 5 is when I started noticing a twinge in my hip.  Everything I read about training strongly suggests not increasing mileage more than 10% from week to week, so I suppose that wasn't very smart on my part.

I've been trying to think of everything I could have done to make my hip angry again.  It's probably as simple as coming back from an injury and pushing it too hard too fast.  I just had been feeling so good the past month with training, I was totally on a high.  It felt really good, and I finally felt like I was starting to get stronger and running better.

Could it have been switching out my orthotics?  Did that change my gait enough while running that it bothered my hip?  I somehow doubt it, but it was also these orthotics that I was wearing when I injured myself last time too (hmmm, my bad luck orthotics?)

Could it have been increasing my running interval time?  Maybe 3:2 is my magic interval.  It seems unlikely to me, but I had just tried 4:2 for the first time right before my hip really started to bother me.  Perhaps the extra minute per interval of high impact on my hip was just too much.  I hope not because I actually preferred the 4:2 intervals.

Did I do something wrong during spinning?  This also seems doubtful to me because I was definitely feeling a bit of a twinge even before spinning, but I did have a bit of a problem with my left pedal strap.  My first choice bike (decided after having it for all of 2 classes) was already taken when I got to the spinning studio.  It's a bike way in the back and directly next to a fan.  I'm actually surprised I was able to get it the first 2 times!  Anyway, the left strap on the foot pedal of the bike I had on Friday was super loose and I couldn't figure out how to tighten it.  I didn't think it was that big a deal until I realized well into the class that because my left foot was perpetually about to fall off the pedal, I definitely had a slightly uneven pedal stroke, but after I realized it I concentrated on pedaling evenly and didn't think it was that big a deal.

E suggested it's the crazy humidity that was bothering my hip.  Well, with these thunderstorms we've been having the last few days...maybe it's just another example of me already being a crazy old person whose arthritis acting up means I can predict the weather.

Ok, well, that's my slightly neurotic over-analysis of my hip not being happy with me at the moment.  Hopefully the rest I allowed myself, continuing to take it a little more easy than I have been (I'm thinking elliptical tomorrow instead of pounding pavement), and possibly scaling back a wee bit will allow me to ease right back into training and not affect me big picture.

Argh!

Went to spinning again this morning (3rd time) and I'm loving this class for how it fits into my marathon training schedule:

Monday- Cross-train

Tuesday- Short run

Wednesday- Weights

Thursday- Short run

Friday- Cross-train

Saturday- Long run

Sunday- REST

I've been swimming on Mondays, so spinning on Fridays makes for a nice, totally different type of cross-training to change it up.  My hip has been feeling slightly funny this week, but not painful.  Well, right toward the end of class today I started to feel a bit of a twinge.  I honestly couldn't determine if I'd possibly just gotten a slight pull in my upper quad or if it was my hip or what.  But it wasn't really that painful and we were just a moment or two from the end of class, so I didn't really think about it too much.  After class I did a ton of extra stretching, way more than I usually do, and then hit up the locker room for a shower.  It really still didn't even bother me that much, but once I got the boys home for some lunch I definitely started to notice it getting more painful to walk around the house.  I've now iced my hip and inner thigh at least 5 separate times.  I've tried massaging all around my hip and upper leg.  I've used my foam roller.  I've taken ibuprofen, and it's still quite painful.

<Sigh>So, now I'm sitting here the night before I'm supposed to run my long run of the week (9mi), and I'm having to seriously consider having a rest instead.  Logically I know it's the safe/smart thing to do because I don't want to further injure myself, but I find it SO HARD to stray off my plan.  And if I do stray off my plan, where do I jump back in?  Do I alter it so I still fit in my 9mi and then do my 10mi less than a week later? (guess that doesn't sound like the best idea), do I just skip my 9mi and do 10mi next week?  Or do I make my long run next week 9mi and alter mileage later on?  Should I do some light elliptical tomorrow or totally rest?  How long should I wait before I try running again?  Ugh, I HATE when my body doesn't behave the way I want it to.  WAH!

Maybe, just maybe, I'll ice a couple more times tonight and when I wake up tomorrow I'll magically feel better!  (Wishful thinking...)

A milestone day!

So my total logged training miles today entered the triple digits!  Woo-hoo!  I actually thought today's run kinda sucked, but now that I realized that I'm pretty psyched.  Although I just checked out B's, E's, & M's miles and they're lightyears ahead of me in mileage.  I guess they were pretty busy during those 3mos when I was injured!

Speaking of injury, my right hip has been bothering me a teensy tiny bit since my 8mile run.   It's not so much pain as it is just funny twitches all throughout my groin and especially my inner thigh.  My PT told me that when the hip is unstable the inner thigh muscles feel like they have to go into overdrive to help maintain stability.  Maybe I need to concentrate a little more on building the strength in my hips with some simple daily exercises.  Mental note: let's get on that Kate.

Wellness Program Swellness program

For health insurance we use the family plan through the company the hubs works for, and it's a pretty good plan.  I'm extremely resistant to change, so I generally tend to bitch about just about anything that changes from year to year within the plan.  A $5 co-pay increase? Bite me!  Now we have deductibles? Kiss my ass!  You need to send new cards to add our middle initial?  F you!  Ok, maybe I didn't have quite that reaction to the third example...but needless to say, when they decided to roll out the (not really required, but if you don't do it your monthly premium goes up 200%) Wellness Program, I definitely had a few words to say about it.

With the Wellness Program you have to fast and get your blood tested (for all the regular stuff, cholesterol, glucose, etc) and if you "fail" any of the categories tested they require you to work with a Wellness Coach to improve your health.  Incidentally, the night before the hubs and I both got our blood tested the first time, the hubs thought it would be an excellent idea to drink a bunch of wine and an entire pan of Rice Krispies treats until our fasting time had to start.  Yeah, guess who failed the glucose test the next day??  Luckily they let him have a redo with our primary care physician later on, so he didn't have the added hassle of working with a coach.  I honestly thank my lucky stars for that, because, no doubt, it would have been me making sure he completed whatever added tasks were required of him by the coach...

Without having to work with a coach, you have to complete some kind of required "health" task each quarter (and yes, I'm generally completing 2 each quarter...), and it's never usually that big a deal, it's just kind of annoying because it's something we HAVE to do and it's just in my personality to resist anything I'm told I HAVE to do that I don't want to.

So, since we're getting into the second half of June, I've started getting my reminders that the Quarter 2 health task is due.  Usually, it's log in and quickly find the one task that will only take me a few minutes and just get 'er done!  I just logged into my account to look at the options and I had to laugh a little bit.  Now that I'm well into marathon training, I actually am interested in pretty much every option and find myself pondering doing one to complete the task for credit and then going through them all anyway.  What is happening to me??

Just learned that Joan Benoit hated running so much when she first started and was so embarrassed by how she looked running that she would actually walk every time a car was driving past her.  That's pretty awesome.  I'd like to think of her flipping the bird every time a car passes her too, but somehow I doubt that.

And WOW!  This looks MUY DELICIOSO!!  Can't wait to try!

Baked Avocado and Egg

                                                             -preheat oven to 425, have cast iron pan in there
                                                             -halve avocado, remove pit
                                                             -pour cracked egg into avocado halves
                                                             -top with cheese and/or desired spices
                                                             -place in oven and cook until egg is cooked to your desire

This recipe came from a presentation (one of the tasks) in the Wellness Program (they took it from Foodbeast.com).  I seriously cannot wait to try this!!  I wonder what other delicious delights I've missed from never taking this seriously before?

Blister in the Rain

So today's theme song would be Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes, only instead of Sun insert Rain.  Actually insert torrential downpour.  But we did it!  Erin, Michele & I deserve a gold star each for today's performance.  It was "long run" day and the distance for today was 6mi.  It literally started raining the second we got to the rail trail (at 6:45am...on a Saturday just for the record).  Gold stars all around for sure.

Blister in the Sun also brings back floods of memories of Jill too.  The progressively singing quietly part to then all of a sudden really loud "LET ME GO ON" (which I totally sang "Let me go wild" - whoops!) was just far too fun not to over exaggerate and sing to ourselves over and over (and over and over and...)

Well, at least it's on my "ugly" foot anyway...

REST DAY TOMORROW!!  WOO-HOO!!

Broken Cooch

If I had a daily theme song, (which I really should!) sidenote: start compiling list for daily theme song selection, then the song for today would be Broken Face by the Pixies, only instead of face it would be cooch.  And having a discussion with myself about substituting Face for Cooch in any context sounds extremely dirty.  (I'd say like 50 Shades of Grey dirty, except I technically can't draw that comparison based on any real observation seeing as someone needs to hurry up and finish The Hunger Games trilogy and board the mommy porn train!)

And why does someone have a broken cooch you ask?  Oh well, only because I decided to try spinning for the first time today.  I decided that they must make the spinning bike seats as uncomfortable as they are because it's the only way they can get you to do the hard core stuff standing up off the seat...  Very good workout though I have to say.  I actually really enjoyed it and plan to go again, so that's something anyway.

I wonder how bad it is for men?  There were quite a few men in the class this morning and now that I've given it some thought, I'm quite curious.  I had to do a fair amount of repositioning, leaning forward, backward, weight on the sitz bones, standing up, just to preserve my lady parts as much as possible!  But I imagine that men may not have quite that range of motion to work with...

So the daily theme song got me thinking about how I really need to work on my iPod playlist for the marathon.  If you consider that the average song length is probably 3:30 to 4:00, then I probably want in the range of 100 songs in my marathon playlist.  That would be about 5hr 50min to 6hr 40min of music.  Although I'll probably want to rock out to Kelly Clarkson's What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) more than once (or 3 or 10 times), so I guess I should probably aim for slightly fewer songs to allow for some motivating repeats.

<Sigh> Of course, like my theme song for today, anything Pixies reminds me of Jill and makes me sad, especially Where is my mind? we used to listen to that on repeat over and over in high school trying to figure out what the F- were the lyrics in the verse that started "I was swimming in the Carribean..." and then we'd continue "Animals were hiding behind the rocks.  Except for a little fish.  And they told me he's swimming, trying to talk to me Kuai Kaui", which didn't exactly make sense, but it was all sort of tropical related (except Hawaii's obviously not in the Carribean...but whatever poetic license, right?)  Only now (thanks internet!) looking at the actual song lyrics do I see that it's Coy Koi.  I'm positive I had never heard of Koi in high school, so I definitely would never have figured that out anyway.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I can thank Scott Baio (as in Scott Baio is 45...and Single), and yes, I'm serious, for familiarizing me with Koi with his Koi pond.  Although I'm pretty sure I always knew what they were, just not that they're called Koi.  

Speaking of getting song lyrics wrong, I always loved that Cingular Wireless (omg, remember them?) commercial where the guys are debating the lyrics to The Clash's Rock the Casbah, and the one guy thinks it's "lock the cashbox", but the other guy actually convinces him it's really "stop the catbox" because that makes sense!  Note to self: add Rock the Casbah to marathon playlist.

Nobody in the world has ever been able to memorize song lyrics like Jill though.  Her brain was like a human hard drive of song lyrics...and movie quotes.  I'm pretty sure she was the only person I knew who knew all the weird lyrics to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.  I'm glad she only ever used this incredible talent for good and not evil.

Please chase me!

I think I figured out how I can run the marathon in the required time (6hr 30min).  I just need a psychotic maniac wielding a machete to chase me.  Or zombies, maybe I need zombies like the Zombie Run.  So I'm calling for volunteers.  Forget passing out water with all the other volunteers - CHASE ME!!  PLEASE!  Today I was able to shave a little time off what my normal pace has been, but I'm convinced it's because I was running for my life.  The crazies in the sketchy house on the road next to mine were shooting very loud guns in their yard (only in NH...) and I was quite reluctant to become a moving target.

According to the Chicago Marathon rules and guidelines there will be an official Pace Van driving along the course at a 15:00/mile pace.  Mark my words, I'll be the runner the Pace Van accidentally drives over.

Memorial Day

We hosted the hubs' fam today for (another!) birthday BBQ party for the boys.  This marks the end of what feels like birthday "month" since both the boys have birthdays this month (10 days apart) and they somehow managed to score 3 separate (although joint) parties.

I always forget what day it is on long weekends, and this weekend was no different.  I usually live through Sunday, and totally behave like that day doesn't count, and then without fail Monday arrives only I think it's Sunday and it's like the last 24 hours never even happened.  It's not like I go on a huge bender and have a legitimate reason for forgetting the day, I think I'm just crazy.  Or old.  Either way.  So like always, I was totally convinced it was Sunday today and that it was my "rest day" in my training plan, but then had a moment of clarity somewhere in my 3rd beer of the BBQ and realized that I had already enjoyed my rest day and that unless I was ok getting off schedule I was going to have to muster up the motivation to run or at least do something.  (Getting off schedule because I'm "too busy" I still have guilt about, but can live with.  Simply for being a moron and forgetting the day, I can't live with).  Luckily, we had time to hit up Cedardale post party and before they closed, so I decided to try some outdoor lap swimming.  Also luckily, there was a man swimming in the next lane that I got to "race" (not that he was necessarily aware that we were racing).  That always makes it at least a little more enjoyable.  My goggles are failing me big time though, and for my last swim and this one I had to stop several times to adjust and get the water out.  My eyes are killing me now!  So I just ordered some really funky looking ones (Aqua Sphere Kayenne's) that got awesome reviews on Amazon.  Hopefully they work as well as is claimed.

Had to juggle my workouts around this week since I forgot that yesterday "counts".  And I was supposed to run today, so technically I finished Week 2 Day 2 of the program, but tomorrow I have to do Day 1 (run) and I want to try a spinning class on Friday, so now that will be a cross-train day.  I don't want to run 2 days in a row, so I guess this week it's going to be:

Monday- cross-train
Tuesday- short run
Wednesday- rest day
Thursday- short run
Friday- cross-train
Saturday- long run
Sunday- rest day

I really don't know how I'm supposed to fit the strength training in, since that's going to take an hour minimum every time and it's just sneaked in on the schedule on cross-train days.  I haven't really done any strength training yet though and Friday is my next cross-train day, so I might have to get some in before then.  Plus I really need to find time for extra stretching, icing, foam rolling, my back strengthening exercises....Man, this is complicated!  And time consuming!  Sheesh!  You'd think trying to run a marathon is a big deal or something...

Guess who's back!?!

So it's been a while, but I'm happy (more like ecstatic!) to report that I'm back in action!  I can't say that I'm 100%, but I'm feeling good enough that I've jumped right back into training and so far so good!  The last few months have seen a lot of tears, a lot of temper tantrums (I just want to get back to the gym!  Wah!), a lot of physical therapy, a couple trips to my hip surgeon, and a lot of being impatient...

Good news (scratch that, FANTASTIC news) is that I got official word (after an MRI w/ contrast in my hip) that I absolutely did NOT get another labral tear - or any other kind of tear for that matter - in my hip again.  PHEW!  That would not have been pleasant news as my surgeon made it painfully clear that second surgeries for labral tear do not have a very high success rate.  So once again, PHEW!  He suspects that I just made the labrum "angry".  Ok, well, let's avoid that again ok?  Apparently my hip has a temper similar to this Irish hot head...  He also strongly suggested that I refrain from partaking in any more bootcamp classes because it's just asking for injury.  That's actually a major bummer because I absolutely LOVED bootcamp.  But if avoiding bootcamp = avoiding another hip injury then I guess that's just a smart decision.

I definitely did injure my back though, way back when I injured myself (Valentine's Day to be exact).  I've been doing lots of back strengthening exercises, and I was going to PT consistently for a while, but I haven't been lately (it's getting harder to fit it in the schedule!)  I still have some back pain and I still get some pain in my hip, but I think the benefit of training outweighs the pain, so I'm just going with it.  I definitely need to ice a lot though.

We joined a new gym for the summer (Cedardale) as a family membership that has a bunch of outdoor pools, wading pool, shallow kid pool, playground and sprayground for the kids and the largest number of cardio machines I've seen in 1 place, plus an indoor track and indoor adult only lap pool, so I'm pretty psyched about all the different ways I'll be able to cross-train, plus the ability to run around the track on my run days if the hubs is traveling and I have to run at the gym for the use of the babysitting room (instead of only having the option of treadmill indoors).  It also has a 2 bars, which I think pretty much rocks.

So today was the end of Week 1 of training (well, tomorrow is, but technically that's a rest day).  I did my "long" run for Week 1 today - it was supposed to be 1 hour ~ 5mi, but I'm definitely slower than that.  I've been following the 20 week Marathon Trainer Pro 26.2 for Pink training app on my iPhone, and I like it so far.  When I say "run," I really mean walking/running intervals, which is the way this training program is designed.  I don't want to run more than 3x per week because I think that will be too much stress on my hip, and I definitely don't want to run 2 consecutive days in a row.  This program right now has me running 2 shorter runs during the week and then a longer run on the weekend, 2 rest days (for now), and 2 cross-training days.  Pretty soon though (week 4 I think), one of the rest days is supposed to turn into another shorter run day (which will mean 4 runs/week AND running 2 days in a row every week), but I think I'll substitute that for another cross-train day.

I'm also loving my wireless headphones.  The hubs had a pair and kept trying to convince me to try them, but because they look a little ridiculous and I thought they wouldn't be comfortable while running, I totally resisted.  They're like headphones you wear around your neck instead of over your head and on your ears, and then there are wired earbuds that connect up from that.  I thought the part that just hangs around your neck would bounce too much, but it doesn't at all, and I'm a big fan of them.

So...Week 1 down...19 to go!

3 weeks and counting...

So it's now been 3 weeks (tomorrow) since I injured myself during bootcamp.  During the last 3 weeks I've done a whole lot of resting, stretching, icing, and taking anti-inflammatories.  The hubs and I also took the kids down to Disney World for a short vacation.  Luckily, I was fine walking around (I was pretty worried!)  but the sitting on the plane for hours on the way there or back did not do me any favors - nor struggling with luggage and heavy kids - nor the mini freezer inside the mini fridge that only chilled my ice packs to "cool".  (But we had a fantastic time, and I wouldn't trade it for anything!)

The good news is my hamstring/glute/hip are feeling tons better.  The bad news is that 2 days after my last post, I woke up in the morning and had this crazy lower back pain.  Actually it was pain and numbness, so that wasn't very cool.  I was actually in tears most of the day before we left for Disney because I wasn't sure I was going to be able to sit on the plane nor walk around for days at the parks and I didn't want to ruin it for the boys.  I'm not sure why this symptom was delayed, but my PT friend Sharon assured me that it's totally normal to have a back injury and not actually feel the pain there until later.  I can feel 2 vertebra that when I press on them they feel bruised, but the pain extends all over my lower back and gets 1,000x worse when I sit for too long.  The numbness comes and goes.  I decided to go to Pilates this morning because it's super low impact and I just NEED to start exercising again!  The marathon is 30 weeks away come this Sunday, and I'd at least like to re-start a training program!  I miss it!  (and I can't believe I ever thought I'd EVER say I miss running!!)  I was pretty happy during Pilates that I felt like I could do all the modified positions and also hold back when I felt like I needed to.  The pain actually felt like it subsided a bit during and right after, but as the day went on (and I had to sit while driving, as well as, pick up and carry my giant almost-2-year-old numerous times, and bend over a million times doing multiple loads of laundry and loading/unloading the dishwasher) the pain definitely returned.

I did finally relent and made an appointment with my primary care physician today because I was sick of just "waiting" to get better and when you're injured you hear 1,000 different opinions about what you should do...ice it, no heat it, no ice it...chiropractor, no massage therapy, no chiropractor...rest, no stretch, no stay active...you might have a bulged disc, no a pulled muscle, no your gait was off from your injured leg and you threw your back out walking funny...enough information to make my head spin!!  But it was all for naught right now because my primary care told me to rest for one more week with no exercise.  <Sigh>.  So I'm icing as I type.  <Sigh>.  I just want to get back out there!!

Injuries Suck!

So it's been a week since I got injured and I'm still not better.  <Sigh>.  I've been resting as much as possible, icing whenever I get the chance and taking ibuprofen - obviously I can't NOT walk at all, so when I do start walking around more the pain gets worse as the day goes on.  What's weird though is I went on a short, slow walk with a friend over the weekend while she was walking her dog, and I swear I actually even felt a little better after.  But by resting for this long I feel like I'm turning to mush and I hate it!

The good news is, I do not think I've actually injured my hip joint, which I was kind of freaking out about before.  I had been nervous about another labral tear, and then I thought maybe I had a touch of bursitis, but after my PT friend offered to do some range of motion exercises (Thank you! Sharon), it seems like my range of motion in my hip is fine and it doesn't appear that my bursa is giving me problems.  She performed a little bit of PT magic to release some of my spasming muscles.  It appears that I definitely have some kind of injury to my hamstring, possibly glute, piriformis, IT band, and who knows what else.  Admittedly, I only know what my hamstring and glute are in that list...  Sharon was shouting out the rest of them when trying to pinpoint where I felt pain.  The most pain I feel is in my right butt-cheek.  I don't know if it's constantly in spasm or I injured something there or what, but what probably worries me more is my hamstring.  I have tenderness (when I poke and prod) all the way from my butt-cheek to the back of my knee pretty much.

Looking at an image of the different parts of the hamstring, I have self-diagnosed that the part I've injured is the biceps femoris part of the hamstring because the pain seems to follow more towards the outer side of my leg, not inner.  Of course, an open connection to the internet and me are not a good combination.  I usually end up diagnosing myself with the worst possible of diseases.

Photo from orthoinfo.aaos.org

After having Sharon perform her magic on me last night, I was feeling WORLDS better when I woke up this morning, even practically skipped to her car during pre-school drop-off today to retrieve my purse that I'd left at her house.  Sadly, my euphoria of being healed was a bit short-lived as the pain came back more and more throughout the day.  I left a voicemail for one of the massage therapists at the Y because I think that's my next course of action.  There doesn't seem to be a plethora of "sports massage" therapists in the area that I could find easily online, and I'm not sure what types of massage the therapist I called at the Y specializes in, so hopefully she'll call me back soon.  In addition, I ordered a thigh compression sleeve from Amazon, which I remember wearing during HS track due to ongoing hamstring issues back then - and if I remember correctly, it was even my right hamstring then too...  Anyway, worth a try.

I also ordered a foam roller from Amazon as an "excellent aid for self massage of the upper and lower back, calf, hamstring, glutes and quads" and to perform "myofascial release" of the muscles.  It'll look something like this (although I doubt I'll look quite so happy doing it...)

Photo from Amazon.com

So yeah, that's what I've got for how to next proceed.  I should probably consider getting another pair of actual custom-made orthotics too.  Ugh!  I hate being injured!!!  I feel like I'm turning into a sloth!

Just a little old lady...

So Tuesday night, bootcamp was pretty awesome.  Tom kicked our butts as usual, and I was feeling really good.  Then pretty much at the end of class, I felt a little tweak in my right hamstring/butt/hip doing squats and my hip started burning a little.  Injury is always a bummer, but this also happens to be my "bad" hip, so when I feel something in my bad hip, I get more than bummed - I get very nervous.

Before I started doing bootcamp last April, the last time I worked out on a regular basis was in 2006 (the year I got married).  I was going to the gym 2-3 times per week before work to try to get in shape for my October wedding, and I was also walking everyday at lunch.  I continued going the gym and walking at lunch even after the wedding, and some time in Nov/Dec (I forget exactly when now) I was doing cardio and felt a little twinge in my right hip, but didn't think anything of it.  I finished my workout, and felt totally normal.  During lunch that day, my hip started hurting so much I had to stop walking, and within 3 days the pain was so bad that I couldn't walk at all.  Long story condensed a little, after visits to more than several doctors, more wrong diagnoses than I can remember, pain meds that I hated (and stopped taking), hours and hours of PT, bouts of being unable to walk, walking with a cane for a long time, pregnancy, and subsequently caring for a newborn - FINALLY I got the correct diagnosis of labral tear with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI).  It only took 2 years...  Funny enough, the longest pain-free time I had during all that time was when I was pregnant.  The doctor who ended up correctly diagnosing me, explained that everything loosens up and stretches out during pregnancy, so that's probably why - I even got to stop walking with the cane (grateful for that!)  Although, if anyone was able to rock a cane and rock it well at Foxwoods for Jill's bachelorette party, it was THIS girl!

So in December 2008, I had arthroscopic surgery to repair the tear in my labrum and shave off the bump causing the FAI in my right hip joint.  Immediately following the surgery, my husband took a week off work to take care of our 7-month old (and me), but the week after that he had to take us to my in-laws house to stay for a week because he had to go to Sweden for a week for work.  The night before he flew home we had The Great Ice Storm of '08 and lost power for 10 days.  I was on crutches, we had a 7mo baby, I was supposed to be going to PT (but couldn't - I don't think even my PT's office had power), and we had nowhere to live because we had no power...so we were nomads for the next week and a half (after already not being home for the previous week).  Needless to say, that was one of the most difficult and unpleasant times of my whole life.  As a result of the storm, I was very delayed on starting my PT, and I really don't think that did me ANY favors with my recovery.  I had to be on crutches for 6 weeks, and I don't think I ended up getting any PT scheduled until after I was already off the crutches.

Even after PT ended, I kept living an essentially sedentary lifestyle because

• after 2 years of being injured, being sedentary was in my "comfort zone," 
• it was "easy" to be sedentary because I was exhausted ALL the time having a baby who would NOT sleep through the night, and 
• despite the fact that I wasn't "injured" anymore, physical activity was still quite uncomfortable and even painful still - probably from not getting my PT done when I was supposed to.  (Built up scar tissue?)  Oh and ps- the hub's grandmother fell from a bus and BROKE her hip during this same time, and she recovered better than I did!  (and probably complained a lot less too...She's kind of a rock star).

I was lazy, unhappy, and pretty disgusted with myself.  But - I ended up getting pregnant again (with Little) that August (2009), so that put a damper on any significant plans of getting back in shape.  I did join the Y though, and attempted putting Big in the babysitting room more than a few times, so I could walk on the treadmill, but he would freak out and scream and cry and have his pathetic little face pressed up against the glass door smearing snot everywhere, and they have a 10min limit on that, so I had to keep coming to get him and I finally just gave up on that.  I thought Big had been a big baby (9lb 10oz), but then Little was born at 11lb 2oz.  (It's kind of funny to call him "Little").  I really was quite ridiculous looking as a pregnant lady.  Anyway, you just don't "recover" from that...the belly will NEVER be the same.  But after a bout of post partum depression and just generally feeling awful about myself, I started going back to the Y and getting serious about working out again.

 One of my first days back at the Y, I met Tom, the Health and Wellness Director, and we started talking about my fitness goals and stuff.  He told me he was attempting to put together a bootcamp class as long as he could find enough people for it (there's a 4 person minimum or they cancel classes).  Well, he found enough participants, and I have now consistently been going to bootcamp 2x/week since last April, and it has had such a positive effect on my life.  I'm a much happier person, I have more energy, I feel stronger and healthier, and it's just been great!  In Sept/Oct my friend Sharon (who was my PT after my surgery and then became a friend) started teaching Pilates on Monday mornings at the Y (and then in January she also started teaching it Wed. evenings, which I've been going to also).  So since the fall,  I've added in Pilates and love it.

Then came the goal of running the marathon in October, and subsequently the half marathon in May, and despite the fact that I've made no secret of despising running - I've gotten SO excited about running both of those races and they've become such a huge part of my life (with training schedules set to last practically the entire year).  And I've even noticed some significant changes in my strength and overall appearance, especially since I added regular running into my routine.  I feel toned, I can see some muscle definition, and I just feel like I'm getting in shape.  Now I'm doing bootcamp 2x/week, Pilates at least 1x/week, and running 3-4x/week and I couldn't be happier.  It's amazing what regular exercise can do for your body AND your mood/attitude.  So now I feel like I NEED it, and the thought that an injury - and possibly getting the SAME injury as before - royally freaks me out because not only does it pose the risk of not achieving my goals of running the half and full marathons, but it also represents the possibility of no longer being able to live the active lifestyle I've come to love and having to return to the land of despair, self-pity, and self-loathing...NOT someplace I ever want to be again!!

Therefore, I'm taking a few days off to rest and recover, and seriously crossing my fingers that all I did was strain/pull a muscle and I'll be back to normal in a little bit.  I've been icing on a regular basis and taking a regimen of Advil for inflammation and pain.  When it comes to injuring my "bad" hip, I have to take it very seriously.  I just CAN'T go back THERE...  Ugh, I do have "old lady" loves - a wee obsession with Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Perry Mason, Masterpiece Mystery on PBS, chamomile tea at night before bed, cross-stitching, comfortable, unattractive braziers (much to the hub's dismay), one-piece skirted swimsuits, all things Angela Lansbury...but I do NOT love my old lady hip...

Lazy Town

So I had Pilates today, and it was a good class.  And I've pretty much finalized my training schedule for the half marathon and actually feel pretty good about it, so I'm jazzed about that.  But that's not what is important today.  There is a show on the Sprout channel that my kids are in LOVE with called Lazy Town, and it must be discussed.  The premise of the show I actually think is pretty good because it's about  getting kids off the couch, unplugged from the TV, and instead to get them outside to play, be active, and eat healthy.  Sort of ironic, but they wouldn't be getting this "message" without being plugged into the TV in the first place, but we'll let that one slide.  Also, it's called Lazy Town, not Active Town, or Healthy Town or something else a little more obvious, and I get that the "new girl in town" Stephanie along with her friend(?), superhero(?), "secret" (i.e. "don't tell anyone, it's our little secret") friend(?) Sportacus come in to turn Lazy Town around from being filled with video game playing, lollipop eating, unhealthy, lazy "kids" (and by "kids" I mean creepy puppet things) into, for lack of a more clever title, Un-Lazy Town.  But for a long time, watching the Sprout channel, they were building up the premier of this awesome new show Lazy Town without any explanation as to what it was about.  And as a parent, every time the promo came on I'd think to myself, my kids don't need any more help being lazy and watching too much TV, thankyouverymuch!

So, the show, which I think is several years old now - (it's just airing on the Sprout channel for the first time now) - consists of a few human characters (Stephanie - "the new girl", Sportacus - "the super hero"(?), and Robbie Rotten - "the bad guy") and the rest are these super creepy puppet people.  (Although, some of these puppet people are growing on me.  Like Stingy, he sings this song "Mine" that's actually quite catchy, and now my little guy, whose vocab is growing exponentially, walks around the house claiming everything is "mine, mine, mine!" - Thanks, Lazy Town!)  And for your listening pleasure:

Stephanie is a super cute girl with bright pink hair and a pink dress, really high energy and perky, and she likes to break into dance and song at any given moment.  I quite like Stephanie actually.  She's not annoying or obnoxious, in my opinion, which a LOT of characters on kids shows are.

Photo from Lazytown.com

Robbie Rotten is quite a humorous character who as the "bad guy" doesn't do anything terribly wrong except try to keep the residents of Lazy Town being lazy.  He wears really funny Loooooooong pinstripe pants and matching super short vest, which definitely adds to the humor factor, but he has plenty of costumes he often wears to try to "trick" the residents of Lazy Town, with his ultimate goal of each plan to get everyone to eat candy or watch too much TV, etc.  As a parent, I totally approve of this type of "bad guy," and my kids think he is beyond hilarious so he gets big thumbs up.

Photo from Lazytown.com

So then comes Sportacus.  As a stand alone guy, I actually have nothing bad to say about him.  He does some pretty cool gymnastics flips and kicks and jumps, and he calls fruit "sports candy" which is a little pretentious, but if it gets my kids eating more fruit I'm all for it.  (Hell, I even made the mistake of calling soda "tickle drink" the first time my big one asked me what it was - it was meant as an explanation "it will tickle your tongue" but now he calls it "tickle drink" all the time and in public and it kind of makes me cringe, like Michael Jackson giving the kids at Neverland Ranch "Jesus Juice."  But I digress...)  He has this pretty funny pointy-style mustache, and I'm kind of a mustache fan, so I'm all for that.  And he lives in this pretty rad blimp thing that I guess just hovers over Lazy Town indefinitely?  Because he's always there to jump out and help save the day whenever his signal is called.

Photo from Lazytown.com

However, my biggest complaint regarding Sportacus is that his relationship with Stephanie is just a wee bit inappropriate in my opinion.  I kind of feel bad thinking this way because I do think it's important for children to have positive male role models, and I also think it's important for children to foster healthy relationships with adults who are not their parents, not family members, etc.  I'm just wondering whose brilliant idea it was to pair up a very young, cute girl with a full-grown man who just pops in out of nowhere in super tight pants with his package quite on display always doing jump split things with his crotch right at her eye level and her breaking into dance every other minute in front of him in a super short dress...  And evidently I'm not the only one who feels this way:

Photo from Cheezburger.com

And PLEASE notice that super creepy face in the back on the left.  WTF???  This is a kids show!!

So hardcore!

Totally planned on running on the treadmill at the Y today, but had no idea the Y closes at 4pm on Sundays.  Whoops!  That really does seem ridiculously early for a weekend day though...  I was quite in the thick of doing chores and lost track of time (although I really thought I had even more time to lose track of!)  So when the reality of an outdoor run in 20deg. temps and wind hit me, I decided to just jump right in or risk wimping out.  I got myself all decked out in appropriate cold weather running attire - running tights AND sweats, a L/S running shirt, my awesome new running pullover (it even has the thumbhole things on the sleeves!  I don't think I even mentioned that awesome feature when I was originally raving about it!), a soft-shell jacket, 2 pairs of gloves (my touch-screen running gloves - Agloves.com - LOVE THEM! just weren't quite enough, so I had to double up on gloves), fleece headband, and fleece neck-warmer thing that I usually wear for skiing/snowboarding.  Oh and just to make the hubs happy, I wore my day-glo neon yellow YOU CAN'T MISS ME vest.  He usually wants me to wear it even if it's bright and sunny out (really?) so I figured I should make him happy since it was getting dark soon-ish.  This is AWESOME me:

Yup, seriously awesome.  I feel like I kind of look like a running ninja.  Except I think the point of ninjas is to sneak up on you and attack when you least expect it, right?  So I guess I'd only be able to be a running ninja in a sea of hyper color t-shirts at an 80s themed party...hmmmmm.

So today was my 3mi day on my new run/walk interval training program, so I had to run 3mins/walk 2mins continuously until I reached 3 miles.  SHOCKINGLY, even in the cold and wind, I felt pretty darn good!  I was quite psyched about that, especially after my horrible run last weekend.  It puts you in such a different mental space than after a bad run.  So now I'm all jazzed!  Whooooo-hooooo!!  If I am going to run tomorrow though, which I am technically supposed to on my current 4 runs/week training plan (which might have to drop to 3 runs/week depending on my schedule), it will sadly have to be a treadmill run.  Clearly I run so much better outside seeing as yesterday it was a time goal of 35 mins (I went for 40 though including warmup and cool down) and didn't even make 3 miles.  Today I completed the 3mi distance goal in under 35mins!  (Did I mention it was 20deg out?!?! - yeah, I'm bragging.)  Am I starting to enjoy this??  No, can't be, this MUST be a fluke.  (please don't be a fluke, please don't be a fluke!)

Anyway, the hubs has been snoring like a chainsaw since 8:30pm and I still need to put a small dent in The Help on my Kindle since I only get to "borrow" it for 2 weeks, and I was just told it's really long.  Guess I should get a'readin!

Momma got some brand new shoes!

Drove down to Beverly to the New England Running Co. store today and had a really good experience.  Buying running shoes (any shoes!) is always dreadful for me, but I was very pleased today.  I decided it was time to retire my custom orthotics for good.  They're ridiculously old, uncomfortable, and they've been causing a major blister during runs.  I need something for my flat feet, so I got some Spenco PolySorb Total Support replacement insoles.  So far I can say that they are WAY more comfortable than my custom orthotics, but I can tell they definitely aren't perfect (not that I expected they would be).  I'm hoping that making this bold decision to replace my orthotics doesn't come back to bite me in the ass, so we'll see.

The shoes that worked out the best for me were Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12.  It's funny because I ended up with a totally different size than I usually get (I guess I should have had a proper fitting a long time ago!)  The guy fit me into a size 9 with a 2A (narrow) width and I usually get an 8 or 8 1/2 and medium width (only because medium is the easiest to come by), but then I have to tie the laces super tight.  I definitely should have done this a long time ago!

My first run today was on the treadmill and it felt fine.  The shoes and inserts felt good.  I'm happy.  I went crazy with the moleskin, so as not to aggravate my healing blister.  The run was boring as hell because I had to stare at the clock on the treadmill to make sure I got the timing of my intervals right, so I felt like I was just counting down the clock the entire time.  I somehow messed up my interval timer app on my iPhone (accidentally shut the sounds off - so it couldn't inform me when the intervals were over...kind of the whole point of using the interval timer, so it seems a little silly that you can even turn the sounds OFF, but whatever!)  Have to run again tomorrow and now that I have my snazzy new running shoes, I'm not dreading it as much as I could be.

Got a babysitter and met some friends at Little Mexico tonight.  It was really fun (we so need to do this more often!)  I had a few drinks, and I'm worried I'm going to feel it in the morning!!

Thursday night bootcamp

Had bootcamp tonight and although I was still sore from Tuesday (and not in the right places!) it was a good class.  He worked us super hard.  I have to say that there's something really satisfying about every muscle in your body twitching from exhaustion and that it's only a matter of time before the twitching turns to soreness.  It's a good feeling, like you've earned the sleep you're going to get tonight (fingers crossed for a full night!)

Still anxious about getting back out running, but more excited about it than dreading it.  Still need to sort out my orthotics situation, and my blister still has a little ways to go to heal all the way, but hopefully I will be able to run this weekend without making it worse.  I went to CVS the other day and bought moleskin, Dr. Scholl's Blister Treatment, espom salt, and neosporin - so I should be covered!

Really glad tomorrow is rest day though!  And the hubs is working from home because we have an appt. with our tax guy at noon, so it's kind of like a 3-day weekend!  Woo-hoo!

How d'ya like them Apples?

Yay for Apple being super cool about my phone and just replacing it no questions asked.  Of course super cool me started having verbal diarrhea with explanation of how nothing "funky" happened, "it just stopped working I swear!"  (even though I had a sneaking suspicion it happened during bootcamp when my jacket got tossed around quite a bit and it was in my pocket - long story - but it gave me a guilty conscience I think) even after the guy gave me the printout receipt to turn in when I came back to pick up the new phone, so he really wasn't interested.  Why am I so socially retarded??

So angels singing in unison, I have a brand new iPhone 4s and got all my apps, contacts, texts, etc. back too.  Hallelujah!  

Earlier in the day, I took Big and Little to the dentist.  It still makes me laugh taking a not quite 21-month-old to the dentist, but he's on our dental insurance already and last time we were there with Big, the dentist kind of put the hard sell on to make Little an appt. too.  I'm so sad though because Big has a loose front tooth due to an injury (getting kicked square in the mouth by his little brother) and the dentist said the tooth is beginning to decay and will probably fall out.  But before it does it will get all discolored (and if it doesn't fall out on its own, the dentist will have to "wiggle it out" is how she phrased it).  We also have to hope it doesn't get infected.  I'm sad for my son for potentially getting a self-image complex so early in life, as if there aren't enough things to come later on that will do that for him - 3-1/2 is far too young!!!  Even if the hubs and I give him no reason to feel self-conscious, I'm sure that there will be somebody who no doubt won't be able to keep from pointing it out and making a thing of it.  I'm also devastated that he may be in pain with it at any point.  My poor munchkin!!  He's also been asking a LOT of questions lately about losing teeth since a couple of his older friends have lost some, and I just recently told him that it was going to be a long, long time until he loses any teeth...so now he'll probably NEVER believe me on anything substantial anymore...

Not going to Pilates again tonight (like last Wed.) only this week it's because my hip doesn't feel quite right from that crazy bootcamp last night, and I am NOT messing with my bad hip!  Plus my abs are still on fire, so I probably wouldn't even be able to get through the class!

Bootcamp Bitchcamp

Got my ass handed to me in bootcamp tonight.  We had a sub and I think she was trying to prove herself because she beat us to a pulp.  Ugh.  I wasn't that pleased about it, so now I'm revolting by having pepperoni pizza and drinking a beer.

And I don't know what's up with Pilates, but even after doing everything in modified position yesterday I still woke up this morning with sore triceps.  Please tell me that after 10 months of 2x/week bootcamp I don't get sore triceps from lifting an exercise ball over my head a few times.  Holy shitballs, what is going on with me lately?!  I have one bad run and everything goes all to hell!

The one good thing is that I now have a dedicated partner to run the half marathon with in May and we've agreed to run/walk it in intervals together.  So I've now switched gears completely and have researched all into doing the run/walk interval combo.  This is a real thing!  There are whole training plans on it!  Who knew?  I always figured you HAD to run non-stop or you were cheating.  But apparently, a lot of dedicated runners use this technique.  Had I ever known this, I would have been a runner a long time ago! This is like literally blowing my mind.  I'd love to go back to freshman/sophomore cross-country team (I quit after 2 years in HS - F-ing hated running!) and tell Mr. Gilman, "Yeah I think I'm going to do run 4 min/walk 1 min intervals at States this year and there's nothing you can do about it!"  And I'd probably have a PR!

Anyway, I'm in a super foul mood tonight after that bootcamp session, but also because my GD iPhone crapped the bed on me, and I'm going to have to try to sort that out tomorrow.  Really not looking forward to taking the boys into the Apple Store without reinforcements (i.e. Daddy).  Oh well, at least I'll get to try out my new Sit 'n Stand stroller.

Back on the horse

Ugh.  After my horrible run yesterday, the last thing I wanted to do was get back out there and torture myself again, but I knew if I didn't at least do something I would be mad at myself and feel like crap about it all week.  My friends offered up some pretty good advice after yesterday, and reminded me that I don't have to aim for a victory with every run.  Getting out even for a short jog or walk is better than sitting on your butt at home!  Point taken.  However, I still tried to come up with every chore that needed to be done before I could go run.  I also had never figured out what I was going to do with my blister, so that was almost going to be a deal breaker, but I found these giant square gauze pads with adhesive in the bathroom cabinet and they worked ok.  (Dang!  My last excuse foiled!)  I finally went out a little after 5pm (after making chili to eat for the Super Bowl - my last chore before I couldn't put it off any longer), and it was already quite dark and super cold ~25deg.

I decided to warm up by walking around the circle (about a half mile) and then trying to run it as fast as I could, and then walk again.  When it was time to start running, my knees hurt so bad every time my feet hit the pavement, but after a little while they finally stopped.  My lungs ached from the cold air, and my "fast run" was beyond pathetic, especially considering my circle isn't even a full half mile.  I am glad I got back out there, but I'm still pretty disappointed with myself.  Just felt really crappy this weekend, and the half marathon is really freaking me out!

First Road Run

Ugh.  I decided to move off the trail and go for a real road run.  About 4 miles.  It SUCKED.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  I hated every step and I never want to do it again.  <sigh>.  I have to do it again, I signed up for a freaking MARATHON!  Really, what was I thinking?  No seriously, what the F-#-*-K was I thinking?

I actually think I'm even more freaked out about the half marathon because a) it's a lot sooner (and now I legitimately don't think I'll be fully ready for it come May 6th), and b) I'm pretty sure I'll be running by myself.  I do have a good friend running it too, but her pace is probably close to twice as fast as mine, so I don't think I'll even be running in her dust because her dust will have already settled!  Also, at least at the marathon, my peeps will be there, and it will be a truly emotional experience.  I'm pretty sure we'll all stay together (or at least I hope we will!) no matter how long it takes us and cross the finish line together.

I haven't yet actually addressed the reason for running the marathon in this blog, so I guess I probably should.    It's actually been something that's always been on my "bucket list" (man I hate that phrase!), but the catalyst for doing it now was the death of one of my best friends, Jill, one of my peeps, from breast cancer this past November.  The Susan G. Komen Foundation (an organization that had a huge impact on Jill's life, the lives of members of her family, and one that we'd participated in fundraising events in the past) had chosen the 2012 Chicago Marathon to be one of its Marathons for the Cure this year.  Jill ran the Chicago Marathon with our friend, Becky, in 2003, and before she got really sick again, we had actually discussed running it together (possibly this year).  So, essentially, it was a no brainer.  A really great way to honor the memory of an amazing friend, a fundraising event for a great charity, and hopefully a way to grieve productively by giving us something to focus on...or at least give us a reason to pound out anger and frustration over miles of pavement!

Anyway, it was suggested to me today that I had perhaps pushed myself too far, too fast in my training because I essentially went from no running to 4 miles in a very short amount of time.  I had over-credited myself as being ready for that from having done bootcamp 2x/week for the last 9 months, but I think that was definitely wrong.  Running shouldn't suck this much.  I just have a hard time feeling like I'm going "backward" and once I make a certain distance (like the 4 miles I achieved last week), I feel like I'm not working hard enough if I don't run AT LEAST that far from now on.  I know, I know, I need to seriously change that attitude or I risk failure.  I think that tomorrow, provided I can find a way to buffer the awful blister I got today, I will try some interval training.  I'm afraid if I take tomorrow off from running, I may never go back!!

Feeling a little guilty...

I had bootcamp tonight and it was a good one, so I am feeling a little less guilty now, but I skipped Pilates last night (and any additional run I might have been planning on doing).  All day today I felt a little bit like a lazy bum.  It's weird how that is, since the hubs has been on a business trip since yesterday morning, so I've been non-stop with the kids for the last almost 48 hours - probably the farthest thing from a lazy bum I could be, but I still beat myself up all day for having skipped my workout yesterday.  At least I skipped because the kids and I were having fun visiting friends!

Hotel is all booked for the marathon!  Very psyched!  Now if Komen could just stop causing controversy, so I could get back to soliciting donations without feeling icky about it (at least more icky than soliciting donations makes me feel just by default anyway!) I would be even more enthusiastic right now.

Still hoping the weather is nice enough this weekend to try my new running route though!

Taco Tuesday!

So last night was bootcamp, but more importantly it was Taco Tuesday!!  (75cent tacos at our local Mexican place).  Bootcamp wasn't that bad, but maybe that's because I knew there was a big reward afterward - can't beat a Dos Equis and 75cent tacos!

Just another Pilates Monday

Whoa, whoa...I wish it were Friday...whoa, whoa...cause that's my rest day, an "I don't have to run day"...whoa, whoa.  Incidentally, I realized the other day, playing Words with Friends, that I've always spelled whoa as woah and didn't even realize I was spelling it wrong until WWF wouldn't let me play the word.  Things WWF taught me...And apparently I made up a real word the other day too.  Azoth, it's real, play it on WWF.  Just make sure the Z is in the right spot like a TL or that you hit a TW or something because I didn't and it really didn't net me that many points.  If you're going to make up a word as impressive as Azoth it should at least be a 30+ pointer.

Anyway, I digress.  Today was a Pilates day.  I'm loving Pilates on Monday.  The time is perfect (10am), which is late enough that I'm not rushing and I can usually get a load of laundry thrown in and/or load/unload the dishwasher before running out the door, but it's early enough that you get home (~11:15am) and it's still pretty early and there's lots of the day left.  Plus there's an open gymnastics on Mondays at 3pm, so that's a perfect window of time to get lunch together and also get a bunch of chores done around the house without feeling too guilty because the kids still have open gymnastics to look forward to (and get all their spaz out - thanks open gym!)

I paid attention to my odometer on the way to/from the Y today and realized it's ~4mi.  Despite the fact that I just ran that distance yesterday and that it's a relatively short drive, it still seems like a super long distance!  And it really freaked me out!  Like running from home to the Y isn't even close to HALF of the half marathon.  Christ!  What was I thinking??  But at least I just figured out a new route to try this weekend if it's nice out.  I mapped it out on the Dailymile website and titled it "YMCA to home" before realizing that when you create a running route it's not kept private on your profile, it goes into the public route log.  So you're welcome serial killers and rapists!  You've got a map straight to my house now!  (I did change the name to something a little less "here is a map to my house, my husband travels for work generally 2 out of 4 weeks each month, so please come have your way with me" instead, but having a public map with a line drawn straight to my house does make me feel a little icky.  I wish there was a "keep private" option!  I know, I know, drama queen, but still...

Wash, rinse, repeat

Another Winnekenni Trail run, hopefully I can find some new trails this spring because I think Winnekenni is going to get old fast.  But I'll get to my run later.

This morning when I woke up, at 9am (the hubs let me sleep in this AM, although I'm not sure there was actually much option involved), despite the fact that I got a really good night's sleep (finally!), I felt totally worn out when I got up.  I was dreading going out running more than anything.  It felt like every one of my limbs weighed a million pounds, so I was definitely lazy for a while.  I was impressed with the hubs this morning though, he was feeling quite motivated and even took the kids to the babysitting room at the gym to get a workout in.  That gave me the opportunity to hit up Kohl's for some new sports bras sans kids (it's the only way to get your Kohl's on).  I went a little giddy in the fitness section and ended up buying a bunch of sports bras, some new running tights, and a new outer layer (w/ media pocket & secret car key pocket on the arm).  I'm such a sucker for secret pockets!

I finally got out for my run around 3ish and literally wanted to quit about 10 steps into it.  I decided to run the opposite direction around Kenoza Lake at Winnekenni today than I did yesterday so that I wouldn't make the 2.58 mile marker mistake again.  It was supposedly ~40deg again today, but it was really windy so it definitely felt a LOT colder, and the wind made it feel like I wasn't even moving forward.  Really kind of regretted running "backwards" today too because the sun was totally in my eyes and there was a lot of glare off the water and ice on the trail and I felt a bit foolish for attempting a trail run in those conditions.  Really had to be super careful going over the ice today, there was a lot more than yesterday.  I also decided to try to run a different way and completely follow the trail on the edge of the lake instead of the mapped out route on the Winnekenni website (which has you run on the road for about a 1/2 mile or maybe 3/4 and I hate that part).  I guess they have you run that way for a reason because I ended up in an area with all these No Trespassing signs up and had to run around a building at the water reservoir just to get back to the road (whoops!) Lesson learned.  That definitely added some distance that I wasn't expecting though!

Despite the wind and how much I was NOT enjoying the run, I didn't look at my iPhone until I was already at 2.68 miles though and I was psyched!  Progress!  By then I'd gotten to an easier part of the trail more in the woods than on the water's edge and the wind was more blocked, so I kept running for a while longer.  Still hated every step, but I just really wanted to see how far I could go.  Didn't look at my phone again until 3.92 miles!  (I had a little internal goal, once I knew I was near 3 miles to make it to these benches I had remembered along the trail) and I guess they were further than I thought because I was NOT expecting to get to 3.92 miles!  So then I stared at the screen for another 0.08 miles just to make it to an even 4 and the time was 47:20.  So that means I got under 12:00/mile average for the run!  Holy crap!  I was pretty shocked.  And I'd have been more pleased except that the run sucked so bad I'm afraid I will never want to get back out and run again!  Also, I realized I had a giant blister on the arch of my right foot and I still had to walk all the way back to my car (almost a mile).  Ugh.  I'm glad it's over anyway!

I got another donation today, so I'm up to $200 now I think.  I really need to remember to send out some thank you emails soon to the people who have already donated, but not now because it's WAY past my bedtime!  G'night!