What Doesn't Kill You...

what is the end of that? something uplifting and positive, I'm sure.

well, p.t. Joe gave me the go-ahead to WALK. so i've been itchin to do so ever since...yesterday. so, today, when i had 2 hours b4 brad would head to work, i said, "i want to go for a 2 hour walk." i mean if walking is good, running is better, right? if running a couple of miles is good, running a LOT of miles is better, right? and when your muscles start to pull away from the bone and it is a painful NOT good thing...well, doing NOTHING is bad and WALKING is better, RIGHT?

tell me i'm right. or don't. i know i am.

funny thing: my hip muscles (IS there such a thing?) were feeling it! i don't walk slowly. but i also don't do that 'fast-walking' stride thing w/ my arms all up under my armpits and waggin my tail. (i bet yer glad about that!) but i do walk a quick clip. (say that 6 times fast.)

i listened to the end of my mystery story. ON MY JOGGER WALKMAN. yep, dug it outta the bowels of some drawer. no, really, brad listens to cds on it when he's falling asleep and we're not intertwined. so it's been out. but i haven't EXERCISED w/ it for years. and i haven't used it but one UNFORTUNATE day, running, ever since my wonderful aunt and uncle got me my wonderful ipod.

my PREVIOUSLY wonderful ipod. now it's puke. that's a nice term for what it is now. defunct. there. you get the pic. doesn't work. i will hopefully contact apple and hopefully they will send me a brand new one. i've heard of such things happening. even my techie hubby can't get it to do it's thang so, i give up.

for walking, tho, this old jogger thing is okay. it fit in my pocket. the pocket of a coat that i could wear because i was WALKING. and i don't bounce. so, no enell. and no bother w/ the jogger...it didn't bounce in my pocket. so there you have it.

but, walking still isn't very FUN... in other words it's kinda boring. so, i really could not make myself go very far. that's okay. i was feeling it. and a little bit of pain. so i feel okay in stopping.

2.2 miles
36.25 minutes

"fair-to-middlin' " (some phrase my mother uses...i think it means "it was so-so" or "it was okay") ( i hope that's what it means.) it has to be okay. someday i will set out w/...i dunno, a new ipod w/ lots of good songs and perhaps some scripture memory or something. with lots of time and i'll walk like for an hour. it will be my "long walk." i have to be fine w/ that. there MUST be options. or i will not survive and i'll blow up like a balloon. and, as the weather gets better, and IF i get a comfy seat, i can drag out the ole bike and put some SERIOUS mileage on that thing! okay, greg?

the itching is present. accounted for. took 1/2 a benadryl this morn. it is @ it's WORST in morn and night. ugh. a. lug.

but God is good and life is grand!=) God bless!

P.T. and The Itch

yes, i do have "the itch" to run. but i'm not addressing THAT itch, here.

it's been a little while since i've posted. i know my faithful FEW friends (who COMMENT) might wonder what's-a-goin' on...and then there's the fam members who LURK (yet DON'T comment) who prob don't even know what's goin' on...

well, i've been to p.t. 3 times now.
day 1, WED. was great. got ULTRASOUND on the sore spots! have you ever? this is weird. there's "THE ultrasound" that you get at about 20 wks prego. THAT'S the only ultrasound i knew of. this was different. duh. it was this machine that sends SOMETHING (ultrasound) deep penetrating to the deep muscle. if you feel a dull ache, then it's getting the bone and that's too deep. this is SO foreign to me. felt like nothing. i expected heat or SUMPIN. nothin. but i'm trusting it's working.
he gave me this band to do these leg exercises with; wall sits; orders to ice. no orders to stop running. just stop if the pain worsened on the run.

THURS i'm doing the stretching exercises w/ the band. SOMEWHERE in the course of this day, i develop this weird ITCHING. i'm itching all over my body. i notice it doesn't go away. it's irritating but i'm thinking....what is this? it will go away tomorrow.

p.t. day 2, FRI. i wake up and the itching is not gone. i take a generic benadryl and start my run. the itching was unBEARable at home but thought the run would take my mind of it.
i ran around and ended up down at p.t.
2.44 miles, 20+minutes. pretty dang-darn sore when i got there. that was the point. on WED when i'd shown up "cold" it was weird cuz i was talking about how much PAIN i was experiencing, yet, i wasn't in much pain at that moment. so, FRI., showing up WARM, i was in pain and it was more real. he does some pressing and massaging-type stuff. hurts pretty bad. BUT yknow the weird thing? now that i'm thinking it's not a stress fracture, my brain doesn't associate the pain w/ the breaking of bones...instead my brain is thinking, this is MUSCLE pain. it's more bearable. it's a psychological thing.

we talked about the itchy stuff. no conclusions. just weird, eyebrow-raised looks. of course, i'm feeling the effects of the antihistamine and so not too itchy. kind of thinking, "perhaps it's in my head??" i hope he doesn't think the same thing.

he ices at the end. tries different exercise things and balance things. he's just this young kid in p.t. school. he's an intern at the place i'm going. he's apart from his wife for this internship, while she's on campus, still studying. they're about 3 1/2 hours apart. wow. real nice KID! (i feel so old.) but wouldn'tchya know i'd find out about his life? course.

he says, let's back off the running and allow time for this thing to HEAL naturally. let's not AGGRAVATE it any more. fine. i'm cool with it. this week i've been thinking, "oK, maybe i'll shoot for a FARTHER-IN-THE-FUTURE marathon. it's okay." deeeep breaths. etc.

well, over the wkd, we were a very busy fam. and the ever-present ITCHING. oh.my.word. what is the fuh-LIPPING deal????? grief! oh. my. i'm in agony. when i scratch: long, raised, red lines appear on my skin. sometimes bumps. like hives. and i'm WRACKING my brain to go over all the things i've put in my body, TOUCHED, put ON my body...WHAT COULD BE DOING THIS???

somehow, w/ all that, i didn't do too much of at-home p.t.

is it the alleve and ibuprofen i've been using?? since september, max? could i already have liver damage? no way. is it the band? am i SUDDENLY allergic to latex? but i haven't even USED the band since thurs. no WAY am i touching that thing. so, after many showers and baking soda bath...should it still be affecting me? don't think so.

i used a hair gel that was in my med.cab. that i haven't used in months. could that be it? i threw it away, posthaste. we had recently changed deoderants. costco (come ON) doesn't have the big pack of DEGREE any more. i just buy those every coupla months and brad and i BOTH use them. (but diff. containers as he always leaves ONE STRAY armpit hair on the top. so i would have to use my FINGERNAIL and scrape it off b4 using! God forbid i get one of his HAIRS on me! so i have a hair fetish. it's not news. it's not a secret. it's not BAD that i share that. i don't even have readers for cryin-in-a-mud-puddle!) ANYhoo, the co quit degree and i had to buy DOVE! gasp! (btW: brad switched to something more manly. not than degree. degree was very manly. yet WOmanly and sporty for me. but dove?: not manly.) SO, immed. i quit that dove stuff. went right out to walmart and tried to find my good ole degree. course, couldn't find it. but got whatever degree i could find. looked for SANS fragrance but they ALL have it. ("parfum") ah well. i was using it a FEW DAYS AGO, surely i'm not SUDDENLY allergic to IT!

criminy! what is going on here? still itching.

so, today, p.t. day 3 MON: i thought this morning, outta the shower, that there were fire ants swarming all over my head. i'm starting to sweat. having to restrain myself from scratching my scalp. i try to focus on something else. the itch abates. but it DOES something to my NERVES!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhh

he has me start out on the treadmill. okay. folks. you know me by now, right? you KNOW my DREAM IN LIFE is to get on a treadmill, in SHORTS, already sweating out of the shower cuz of my nervous itching feeling, IN FRONT OF (literally) A LITTLE YOUNG BOY....and run. please? could i?

okay. don't worry about that young boy BEHIND you. just run. you're outside. PRETEND. you're outside. this is just a normal run. oh yeah, except for the fact that THE ONLY SOUND IS OF YOUR puh-OUNDING footsteps and your HEAVY breathing. aaaakkk.

btw: this kid is super nice and very professional.

he didn't think i overpronate that bad. we did that balance thing. he did that EXCRUCIATING deep muscle massage thing. more ice. he gave me new things to do SANS band-thing. thank God. and no lunges, or the like. cuz of knee pain when doing them. but there are wall squats to strengthen those muscles around the knee.

there was some discussion in the office today...and conferring amongst therapists about the itching thing. no conclusions. need MORE prayers.

aren't i a mess? what is it? the running? the move? help!

cast your burdens...on Jesus...for He cares...for you!

ps: i called mr little boy therapist guy. (okay, his name is Joe and he's really great. he deserves a name, huh?) Joe says i can go out and walk. "for one, two, three, even four miles...as long as it doesn't intensify the pain." so i'm going out for a walk tomorrow. k? maybe it won't be so bad. i crave a run. i'm sure i am not the same person i was 6 months ago. i have never craved a run. in my life. but here's my new life. and it itches.

Doctor's Appt

Okay. i went. great doc. informative. willing to sit and listen. **A RUNNER.** interested in my CONTINUED running. spent a lot of time w/ me.

he ordered a bone scan. since (i knew this) stress fracture and shin splints don't show up on x-ray. he doesn't think either one of those w/b the case. also ordered p.t. and referred me to an office he really thinks is great. he thinks it is the out-of-balance muscles...i'm working on the muscles in calves ... a LOT... but the rest of the muscles are out of whack. so the idea is to work on the OPPOSITE muscles, build them up so they carry their weight? something like that.

interestingly: he says he's HEARD of programs like the one i'm working. but says something like, "typically they DON'T WORK!" well, he doesn't know my friends. i'm not knocking him.

one of the other insights he had was something like,....if you don't up your total weekly mileage enuff, it's more of a hardship on your legs for the one long run you DO do each wkd. well, if you have been reading, you'll remember this is one thing i worried about. i just thought that if each wk i added one mile, eventually, i could make my body run 26. apparently, all that OTHER mileage really does help.

don't get me wrong. i really do know THAT part of the program. it's just that, cuz of the pain, i can't run as many TIMES per wk.

so, we'll get to the bottom of this. i'm in RELIEF mode. with a little bit of FEAR-OF-THE-EXPENSE thrown in for good measure. i can't believe it took my 4months to get to a good m.d. and get this ball rolling. a side bennie, btw, is that he also wrote on the referral about my non-tracking knee. so i'll get exercises for and help w/ that too. he says in the LONG RUN using the brace could make the knee weaker.

ALSO, while he is uncertain as to whether or not i'll be able to run the YAKIMA MARATHON the first wkd of April, he is positive about the ability to keep running. no negativity here. a future marathon!!

so, all systems are still go. but i did not run today. i am going to go in to p.t. tomorrow a.m., "cold." i guess. i still think perhaps i should run there. we'll see. they said either way. what to do.

thank You, Lord...my God and my King...I surrender all

Ahh, Youth

sunday, january 22, 2006
2:30 p.m.
clear skies, lite wind on the way back
about 45 degrees. nice.
4.05 miles 42.32 min

met up w/ Christie and K (young girl from church...by young, i mean: SIXTEEN. VERY young. to me) and all was swell. we were going to do a slow 4. Christie had said, when she said K was coming, "yeah, i think it should be about YOUR pace." (i wonder what she gauges that by?)

my.goodness.

okay, so K is a sprinter.
apparently she can sprint for FOUR MILES.
yep. that's what i said.

from the get-go i felt like a big, fat SAUSAGE. that's the only way i can explain it.

perhaps it was the cheese-on-whole-wheat-tortilla i ate approx. 1.5 hours before we started.
perhaps it was the onset of cramps (yeahoo) i was starting to feel.
perhaps it was the FLOAT YOUR buh-LOAT (bloat) that comes w/ aforementioned cramps.
perhaps it was the few bites of egg-casserole-thingy that i made for the kiddos...for brunch-like.

i couldn't help it. i HAD to see how it turned out! i'm UN-domestic by nature. i ACTUALLY made something (my own recipe) last nite, put it in the fridge overnite, got home from church and stuck it in the oven. how can i NOT try it? it was delish.

most likely: perhaps 'twas a little of all of the above.

legs hurt at beginning, prob for 1.5 miles...then not again till about mile 3.

when stopped: WHOA, massive pain.

after took brace off left knee? buckled! weird-o-RAMA!

stopped for gas...hobbled to pay.

to my parents' to shower and p/u kidlets...hobbling. but by the time i left there, okay.

now, sitting here, searing, shooting pain up LEFT shin every once in a while. overall, legs feel okay when not touching them, tho.

here i come, doc.

peops have been encouraging me that maybe it will be as simple as getting some orthodics. BRING IT ON.

and that is all i have to say about that!

solo long run

well, the weather here in eastern washington state is gorgeous today...but i did have to battle 1000 mph winds! well, yahoo says up to 20 mph. i do believe that's at least how strong they were. one way that was okay. on the way back, tho, something to be desired. i wasn't starting at a place where i could make the decision to go the opposite direction. and, per usual, you don't really know you're going to struggle w/ wind issues until you are actually facing it. at least that's MY limited experience.

i wore a FANNY PACK for the first time in my not-so-young life. are you impressed? horrified? well, it was outta desperation. i can't really see running loops around my car. at least, today, that did not sound like fun. so. i had a vanilla bean GU packet to try out. i had my cell phone. and per a convo w/ running group the otra dia, i brought my ID. my van key. some raisins and trail mix. and my ipod. which for most of the run i actually KEPT in the fanny pack. cool.

it was so incredibly windy where i started, that, against better judgement, i pulled out the sweatshirt and wore it. it was apparent almost from the start that was a BAD choice. was hot from 1/2 mile! ugh.

happily, tho, i was listening to a book on cd: sue grafton's "s" is for silence...pretty good. so it was mind consuming.

i knew of 2 people's houses within the first 3 miles of my route. of course, since i started later in the a.m., i had had enuff coffee to necessitate an early-run-pit-stop. woe is me. i had tentatively planned to hit some gas stations that i know of in that neighborhood. i figure i sometimes buy a pop in there, surely, i could stop in, use the toidy and get a gulp of water. (the only thing the fanny pack didn't carry. coulda. but that woulda been bouncier. i opted for not.) (AND BTW i did NOT wear that fanny pack on my FANNY.)

since i had my cell phone i tried both of those peops' houses. neither home. well, i knew of another, about 1.5 miles away. so i called them. at this point i was wandering around in a cul-de-sac trying to shade my cell from the voracious WIND. i heard my garmin beep. it alerts me at each mile. while asking my friend, on the phone, if i could come to their house for a pit stop, i heard the garmin beep again! i looked down. TO MY HORROR i read "distance alert" again!! WHAT? at that point i was at only 2 miles. after it stopped SKIPPING it read about 2.5 MORE than i'd yet run!

what is wrong w/ that picture? HAS ANYONE OUT THERE HAD THIS PROBLEMO? why, oh why did it do that? amber, i remember once you said your garmin had added like .11 miles to your mileage i think. did you ever figure out why?

well, not only did i have to do MATH the rest of my trip...now it's in my garmin FOR LIFE. my history totals reads 145.3 miles. so forevermore i'll look at that and go, oh yeah, MINUS 2!! eek!

well, one of my new 'resolutions' (not new year, just a resolution) is to shorten my posts. not off to a good start am i? well, LONG runs need LONG posts, don' t they? i mean!

went up to my friend's house, went potty, shed the sweat shirt. back on the windy way.
down to a BAKERY run by a CHURCH at the turn-around point. our little homeschool co-op had a field trip there recently. i knew they'd give me a cup o' water. i was planning to take my GU.

oh.my.gosh. imagine: your toothPASTE is flavored vanilla bean and is clear. you open your mouth and squirt enuff of the thick stuff in there to fill it up. now imagine swallowing. are you there?
it tasted fine. but there is SOMETHING about having a mouthful of GOOOO and then trying to swallow it which does NOT come naturally nor does it FEEL good, NOR DOTH THE THROAT react well to the human trying to force it to do just that.
UGH-A-LUG!!

but i forced it down. the nice lady, frances, gave me a glorious cup of ice water! that helped.

then i was off again, back the way i'd come. now, that stuff was kinda thick in my throat. i got out a 1/2 stick of minty gum and tried to chew on that a bit, AGAINST the wind..so i'm also having to really concentrate on breathing. i'm moving especially slow.

so, the test was: did the GU really help? i just don't know. i think the water did. but the going was just SO SUPER-SLOW i cannot tell for sure if the carbs in the GU helped my "running."

close to the finish line, and in doing my mathematical equations in my head, i figured i'd better start zig-zagging to get in the appropriate mileage.
up one street, down the next, up the next, down the next and so on until i had run for 2 HOURS and 14 minutes (some walking and stretching, pottying, and the GU eating) ... and had gone 11.2 miles. (actual) BECUZ of the mix-up, i'm gonna load the kids up in the van and go do the mileage! oh well for gas prices, eh? when you've run for over TWO HOURS, you WANT (no, NEED) TO KNOW THE ACTUAL MILEAGE! =) and i'll p/u my sweatshirt. my sweat shirt that has a screen print on it of my GRANDPA JUMPING over the high-jump pole! my world-record-holding grandpa! so, no, that sweatshirt wasn't disposable. =)

so! tho i was incredibly slow. tho it was lonely. tho i am hacking and sore. IT IS DONE! yeahoooo!

for those of you who worry about my legs...my constant complaining is why, i know...i do have an appt w/ a SPORTS medicine general practitioner on tuesday...and guess what? he's a runner!

i will keep you posted.

i'm runnin in the rain, just runnin in the rain!

rain rain go away, come again some other day
actualmente, it really isn't too bad. we are IN THE DESERT, you know. so in general, we NEED rain. so i'm notta complainin'....but....well, it makes for a kinda WET run! i don't worry so much about my body. i will dry. i wear a hat (a new novelty for ME in 2005...originally as a disguise=)) so it's not like my face gets wet ('cept from sweat) and there's no rain running into my EYES (now, that would be a painola, katola.)

i guess all that just to comment on the fact it was raining for my run today. i would hate to just come on here and say, went for a run. it was painful.

i MEAN! that is OLD NEWS! come ON!

okay, so: 4 miles; 45.24 time. a few one minute walks. and a few stretches. i did do some sprints. now THAT musta been a sight to see! i just did loops around my neighborhood. YAY. we all know how much i love loops. (do i sound jewish? like george on seinfeld? hope not.)

BY NOW, i've gotten SARAH'S running tunes onto my iPod. oh.my.goodness. was that ever a tri-AL! good grief. it's a good thing i have a very inteligente husband. i was working on that thing for hours. i think, POSSIBLY, there might be something wrong w/ my iPod. it is NOT as user-friendly as they'd make ya think. i mean, the downloading software, importing songs, converting to AAC (whatever THAT is) etc. etc. About 3 times i got it all on the Pod, computer SAID the iPod was completd, only to unhook the thing, plug in the earphones ... and ... nothing.

nada.

zip.

alas. HE finally figured out that, since we have an OLDER computer (mine of course) and the usb port on it is not as FAST as it really wants you to have...that we have to unhook printer and camera port. THEN the iPOD got all updated just dandy. (dandily?)

so, got to use her tunes in the iPod and it was cool. i still have to post the pic of my owie under enell!

sci-fi

wow! today i feel great. there have been some twinges. but just like, to remind me that there WAS pain there! weird, huh? can't say the same for where my enell rubbed me raw. that looks like a huge burn area. or like i peeled my skin off there, in a butterfly-shaped area. peeled like you peel a peach. it's very ouchy. lotsa neosporin.

was it all the sleep i got last nite? have i had a pain breakthru? like i went to the OUTER LIMITS of painland and have pushed thru? like in one of those sci-fi movies where someone sticks their hand and arm thru a liquid wall?

i sho hope so.

i did ice last nite...and today. perhaps the ice, the sleep? well, i'll see tomorrow.

so last week i went 4 days off. sad but true. 15 miles total. not so good. not for marathon training.

then i read rob's account of the 50K in Kirkland this wkd. i just have to write about that here: first, he did a little run w/ friends in the a.m. for 5 miles. later, he had to drive a ways and around 3 pm he began a FIFTY KILOMETER trail run...in the RAIN. this dude is major. you have to check it out. there are even pics. his link is to the left there, "running further." and FURTHER he doth run. it is a-MA-zing.

i think, oh, trail running sounds like so much fun. i dunno. lots of uncertain ground. oh, and then there's the DISTANCE. whooooo-eeeee!

okay: this week's PLAN is 4, 6, 4 and 11. (i kinda slipped backward a bit and joined up w/ these folks...they are RIGHT on track to do marathon in 16 wks. i was gonna be ready one wk early. so i am fine.)

the question remains, IS the long run of the wk the most important...in progressing to the goal of 26 miles? i mean, if my TOTAL wkly mileage isn't up to snuff, yet i continue adding 1 mile per wk to the long run.....come wk 16 my body will just think we're going out for the next longer, run, right? well, i know that w/ this program you have a taper. but i'm wondering... you get the drift of my train of thought.

g'nite all. and God bless you.

~~~cast your burdens on Jesus for He cares for you~~~

another day another alleve

hey! well, i went out: 4 p.m. clear, sunny, even. brisk but nice. i met up w/ my running TEAM. well, out of 4 of us (ran together last wk too), 2 of them ran the whole 10, i started at mile 4 and ran 6, and 1 (w/ major heel pain) started at mile 7 or 8, planning on running 2-3 but had to bag right out....so much pain she almost threw up! and, sun went down by mile 7.5 or 8, temp seemed to drop 5 degrees, AND there was a steep hill for about a 1/2 mile!

man, i was HURTIN from the start. usu the pain subsides w/in a matter of 7-10 minutes. not this time. i had ibuprofen an hour b4 too. what is up w/ that? around that mile 7.5 or 8 (boy a LOT happened right then, huh?) i slowed down and tried to walk/run down that hill. well, if i stopped and walked, it calmed down; then as i began running again, OWEEEEE, but then it would kind of numb up! weird.

got to the ending point (one of our homes) and i was at like 5.8 or so. so, OF COURSE, i kept running. i am NOT gonna stop at 5.8. sorrY! so way, jose. so, YAY, altogether 6.04 in 1 hour 18 minutes.

walking up the steps to the house, MUCHO painola. w/in a little while, tho, not so bad.

went home, kids at gparents for the nite, hubby home from snowmobiling in the mountains, and we decided to GO OUT. never! never do we go "out!" (well, hubby begs to differ. he says, "rarely.") y'see, we really enjoy "home dates!" we have the kiddos over nite @ one of the grandparents' homes...then we rent a movie, start a fire, and HAVE OURSELVES a fun date at home! we've only been in this house a year. we love it. so, anyhoo. we had a gift card from red lobster. so, i'sa showered and out we went. feeling pretty good too! couldn't be-LIEVE how much pain i'd been in during that run!

the other thing i have to tell...my awesome enell? i've ALWAYS struggled w/ the very bottom of where the eyehooks end, yknow? i've always worn one of those round make-up pads right there. but, of late, and with THIS enell (the new one), it is harder or sharper right there. the makeup pad is worthless! i mean, it's raw there! so i slathered it with neosporin, cut a washcloth in 1/2 and tucked IT in there. then, there was a mixup and i was in a hurry, when i met up for the start of my run, and i ditched the rag and used the makeup pad.

GUESS WHAT? when we got to the house, i took it out and was telling them about it, and i noticed it was red. i squeezed it and BLOOD is seeping out! i took it to the sink and WRUNG OUT THE BLOOD! my chest, we're talking right at the bottom/center of my rib cage, is rubbed RAW! i will try to take a pic and post it here.

that's it, baby. i had lobster pizza at the restaurant (it's on the appetizer menu). we both brought some home. WOW. it was great! and we didn't eat till stuffed. felt great.

watched mr & mrs smith. dumb. nasty. waste o' time. but all else fine! we're hitting the sack early. i'm thinking i need more sleep these days too.

and, did you catch that my run today means i ran 2 days in a row? and, tho i know it doesn't really COUNT, i did run 11 miles this wkd. just not at once.

praise God from Whom all blessings flow

bit the dust

well, i didn't "bonk"...i find all these terms so funny. the terms that are running-specific. like "hitting the wall" and "bonk-"ing. bonk. i really like that one. and, in all my yrs of off and on reading about running and off and on being in the circles, i only heard this term OF LATE! weird.

"fartlek" is another one. wait till i tell my kiddos about that one! GU is another unique thing. i can't remember if i 1st heard of that as "G-U" or "goo"... i can't even remember...don't even know if the latter is appropriate. but, boy, that took me a long time to figure out.

"splits" is another one. while i know most of the terms, this is one i still have not figured out. and sarah, i tried to figure out how to hyperlink w/in my posts but alas...i cannot.


well, here's the deal. about the dust...
i set out today, in the rain (have i mentioned, time and again, that i live in the desert? well, right now, this desert is just about FLOATING), trying to find a place to do my TEN (to 11) mile run. i wasn't sure i was going to do 11. i'm a week ahead of schedule in the 16 wk plan to run the Yakima marathon (also in the desert)...so i thought, i could run 10 and still be on track.

also, WHERE TO GO? i was going alone...so the possibilities were endless...sorta. i mean, doing 10+, you have to have a place to go potty if the need arises. also, you have to be able to park your car (if you have no other recourse) somewhere in the middle so you can stop there for fuel, or to strip or whatever.

i needed a change of venue. (did i mention my middle name is "I-need-change?" nice to meet you.) ( sorry, mom and dad, i've renamed myself. did i neglect to tell you? oops.) so, i headed down to the river. i've written a lot about running along the path down by the river. there are at least 3 main places to do that here. starting in Richland, start. in Pasco, or start. in Kennewick. Kennewick being the closest, i thought, well, i'll try that.

unfortunado, that (Kennewick side--tho all of Kennewick is most certainly not like that...just down by the river) seems to be where slimy things happen. you take a chance when you are down there alone. i thought better of this plan as i drove thru the park. there were lotsa sleazy looking vehicles down there...and, every once in awhile, it looked like the folks coming outta those cars, just woke up and rolled out. ugh. i decided against this place.

running low on gas i "temped fate" and got back on the highway, headed to Richland's section of park and path-along-(The Columbia)River. it's my fav. but it is still a little redundant...when you have to run out 2.5, back 2.5, re-fuel @ car and potty (at the very convenient, WARM bathrooms), then head out (in opposite direction) another 2.5 then back 2.5. OR, if i'd gone w/ 11 i could do the math (gasp) and go 6 to begin or 6 on last trip. whatever.

does that sound redundant to you? maybe i'm just a wimp. it seriously takes a LOT to get me out there (anywhere) in the first place. so, i'm not sure the route matters as much as just GETTING out there in the first place. but, truly, the first step is finding the route.

well, i did a very stupid thing. you seeeeee, my dear friend, sarah-the-Canuk (did i get that right?) of 'sarahspace'...she put together these GGGREAT running and cardio cds and SENT THEM TO ME!!! can U believe it? well, i had not the time to put them on my ipod yet. so i took the ANTIQUATED "jogger" cd player...it's claim to fame is that the cds don't skip even tho you're jogging. does this sound like something you'd do in 2006? I ASK YOU.

yep. only me. i took my un-handy little (not) zippered pencil bag (y'know, the kind that you store your pencils etc in ...in your notebook?) (in high school) that i discovered might work on my long run last week. pardon me if i do not YET have a "fuel belt." (yes, they really make little belts...it's a thing you put around your waist ---you must HAVE a waist--- and it has pouches, i guess, to contain your water bottles, gu packets, cell phone...whatever. i've only seen them from afar.) but anyhow, the PENCIL bag WAS my answer to that. i put the HUGE (discus size) (and yes, i've hucked it before!) cd jogger thingy in there, along w/ my car key and a candy. why didn't i just hold it in my hand, you ask? well, that would be becuz of the TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS happening this morning.

and, genius that i am, i thought, well, i'll just CONTAIN this relic inside this pouch. it will be EASIER to hold than just cradling it in my hand, discus-style. hmmmmm...

nope. the thing inside the pouch is the same size. (duh) and that remains too wide to hold comfortably unless i spread my fingers completely wide and hold w/ pinky and thumb. wearing gloves made it...and pouch is made of plastic on one side and vinyl on other...well, a little slippery. i tried folding one half over...and ultimately, i kind of held it by the edges...but then LO AND BEHOLD it did skip a mite.

well, for what it's worth ( a lot to me, sarah ) the music was AWESOME! I used my shuffle's earphones. they are awesome. well, my favorite HAD to be when i was ascending a hill (mountain to me...but i live in a flat desert. incase i haven't mentioned that yet. it's flat here. and a desert. altho you'd think it was seattle lately) and EYE OF THE TIGER came on! i have always DREAMED of running to Rocky tunes! aweSOME, Sarah! no wonder you love running!

other than that, i MUST SAY, that my fav tunes were the SPANISH ones! awesome beat. dunno what they were singing...i'm sure they were ALL praise -to-Jesus songs. ha ha! but they were great! truly. hope you don't have lotsa requests, now, sarah. for a fee, maybe? =)

all that to culminate in this sad-sack story of mine: the PITIFUL ending to my illustrious tale is that wimpy, whiney, painful kt got back to the van (you know, for the refueling, potty break, and to take off my outer layer?) and hopped in and drove home.



nice.

at like 3 miles i was feeling great. at 4 miles i just wanted to ditch the jogger cd player once and for all. i could NOT wait to get to van so i could either switch out to ipod or forget the tunes altogether. (well, that was anticipated from mile one but around mile 4 it got to be such a burden it started to affect my running.)

i think it was also at 4 miles when i started noticing my lower leg. you know the pain UNDER where you would normally have shin splints? yeah that. my never-ending-pain-place-that's-not-a-stress-fracture-but-WHAT-THE-HAY-IS-IT-place? YEAH THAT!

approaching 5 miles i was getting more and more fatigued. i stopped and walked a bit. i imagined myself flying on eagles' wings after letting down my burden. ( you can't imagine what a burden it was. )

my leg hurt. if you've been reading a LONG time, there was a day last fall, when i got to my longest run of my life: 8 miles. i was planning on running to my folks' house. excited me, WENT for it. at 4 miles i came to a crucial point: run straight and down to my own house, or turn and head to my parents. i was on such a HIGH that i could run this far, i IGNORED the throbbing pain in my knee and went for it. well, that was the last run for a LONG time and really set me back.

so, at 4.84 miles i guess i didn't want to push it any more. if i'd been running with someone, i am sure i woulda pushed thru. i thought of olga (friend of robtherunner)...she posted recently that she needs people to help her push thru the pain. and i thought, if she was here, would she push me? is it sane to push thru?

i can almost guarantee that my probs would mostly go away if i lost a ton of weight. isn't that part of the overall plan tho?
should i run no more than 5-6 miles ... condition my bod for a yr and try to lose this weight, THEN try for a marathon? what am i doing? who am i kidding, if not myself?

i'm floundering here. i've shed the no-sugar/no-flour diet. why? becuz i have to eat carbs to run long mileages. i know i don't have to eat lots of extra carbs when i'm just running lower miles. i was actually doing fine, earlier in the fall when i was running 3-6 mile runs and eating no sugar/flour.

NOW i've started eating whole wheat bagels, tortillas, etc. trying to cut down on the fat. staying away from sugar except in gatorade and a little hard candy every once in awhile...esp 1/2 way thru a long run. dunno. bro thinks (rightly so) i should join a gym & do wts. maybe. i really hate that idea. $$$ etc. but i'm not looking for pity. you'll see me, here, keeping on! whichever road that leads down!

so, this is where my lazy week culminated. i bet y'all were just waiting w/ baited breath!
crazy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~sionara! kt

hills, lite rain, wind, speed

Monday run, plan 4 miles; hilly but nice flat road surface (un"cambered"), great gravelly shoulder too; sprinkling for 1st 1/2 mile; sun came out from clouds; little wind 1 p.m.

stats:
4.27 miles
42.03 minutes

not even gonna put my avges anymore. what's the point? i was really just doing it cuz it's LISTED on my GARMIN FORERUNNER (***qwik qwes--chee--OWN here: how do people put something like <<--that in highlighted blue, so that when the reader puts their mouse on it, it actually takes it to a link for the garmin forerunner???? PLS ADVISE!) ... but i don't really need to list it. i mean, if you just have a BASIC knowledge of mathematics you can DO THE MATH roughly. so it's really not necessary. PLUS, i'm not one of you runners who actually RUN FOR TIME. i just do it to do it. git'er done, i say! it's very fulfilling...but i shall run to run at this juncture. some day in future time perhaps i will run to beat records. who knows. i know for sho' it-ain't now.

i think what i felt for 1st 3/4 mile (approx) could be described as shin splints. on my left leg, the pain is in the rt place for them. on my rt leg, it is a little low. (location of where i thought i had a stress fracture...tibia, low.) but i'd taken 2 ibuprofen b4 run.

wow, HARD going for good mile. hills help w/ that. but i think i ran faster than norm. experimented w/ arm swings (like esp up the hillls...using arms more to lift me); on flatter or down hill surfaces sped up but still tried to soften blow w/ foot falls. gettin' me? am i explaining well? so, anyway, why'd i think i went faster? cuz of hills. overall my pace was pretty norm, but considering there were hills, it musta been faster. i really pushed it up the hills. it was like, i don't wanna be running this hill any LONGER than i have to, LET'S GET IT OVER WITH!

lotsa stretching. if my legs don't feel much better wed, i'll skip (so i'll have 2 rest days under my belt) and run 4-5 on thurs, then my long run sat. it is a little dificil to know what to do. when trying to be my own trainer (but this is where rob the runner, christie, and others come in, sarah, amber) i have to decide when to back off, when to push thru...i have to evaluate the pain. it's not like i'm wimping out, i don't think. cuz on my rest day, i usu feel some pain...think, i probly won't run tomorrow. then comes the run day and i'm like I'VE GOT TO GET OUT THERE! I MEAN, THE NEED...i NEVER thought i'd feel this way! it's so weird, new, diff'rent, cool, inspiring, etc.! i know sarah and rob feel this too. (rob X a-million, but YAknow!)

usually, on the run day (every other day being run day, opposite days being rest days), i feel great and can't WAIT to get out there. then i GET out there, start to run and OH MY GOSH. ouch! but after a mile feels purty darn good. all the wiggles are out...i get into a groove, and the road is MINE.

today, despite the pre-run ibuprofen, shins hurt again 3/4 of the way thru run...why i feel i might need to wait 2 days to run again. perhaps i should start waiting 2 days to run AFTER my long runs. what are your ideas. if i have to go every other day to start w/; have to have a 2 day break somewhere in there, HOW SHOULD I ORDER MY WEEKS? i'm sure you'll let me know, and thank you in advance.

somebody's gonna praise His Name, somebody's gonna call Him Lord; it'll either be you and me, OR it's gonna be a rock or tree...somebody...somebody's gonna praise His Name!!!

((((from today's run))))

from Petra

new week and I'M SORE

not joint pain, don'worry! not bad. but oh.my.gosh. my MUSCLES are sooorrre!! now, i do love that 'good-hurt' MUSCLE pain. i'll take this ANY day over the joint; knee; what-feels-like-BONE-pain-but-no-fracture-shows-up-on-x-rays kind of pain!!! hooo-weeeee.

post long run

weird. headache lasted till late afternoon yester-long-run-day. today woke up WAY EARLY w/ no head ache and less than norm aches and pains. after church down time w/ kids. (translate: kids and i all laying around on a bed, doing fun talking, reading, laughing, tickling TYPE stuff.) well, that always turns into the kids sitting on me in various places...i usu. have them rub my back, legs, etc. it felt so good. then i fell asleep for minutes at a time. i think overall, i maybe caught 15 minutes.

but when i woke up, o.good.grief! sore-NESS! isn't that weird? that DELAYED soreness? tonight i've been sitting on the floor, stretching and stretching. hams, calves (big time), ankles (no icky pain here, just feels good to stretch), tops of feet, bottoms of feet, even my upper and lower back ( these must be from lungs,...?). well, this is all new to me. not the muscle soreness. that's how i ALWAYS used to feel after running....cuz my running has ALWAYS been sporadic. now that i'm CONSISTENT, i hardly ever have sore muscles...i've been plagued w/ JOINT pain. so this is a nice change!

THANKS for all the advice. i too think hot tub post run mightn't be a good thing. problem with drinking my usu. am't of coffee in the a.m. is the am't of milk that would take AND that i'd have to (excuse me:) peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee very 15 steps! on days when my run is later or shorter run days, i usu.DO drink more. but on a day like yesterday, i was loathe to partake of my normal am't.

i dunno...it will take some fine-tuning. since none of you suffer from that phenomena, i will not worry about it. try diff'rent stuff like mentioned. and look forward and upward.

WALL

did i mention that i musta hit a physical WALL at 9 miles? that last mile, it was like i didn't have anything left. weird cuz the WHOLE time b4 that i was TOTALLY FINE. somewhere between miles 3 & 5 i did use the tactic of counting steps. i just thought i'd try it out. even tho i didn't NEED to. it was fun. made some time go by. did i mention praying too? we prayed jointly at one point...so when i left the group i prayed. out loud. alone. it was cool. i oft pray but never aloud. i've SUNG aloud but not pray.

different stuff. diff.experiences. fun. interesting. seeing how far your bod can go. setting a goal and going for it. finding strength you didn't know you had. it's all very cool. it's cool to be pushing 40, never having done anything bona fide MAJOR in your life, EVER, and then all of a sudden, thru a series of CIRCUMSTANCES, have this opportunity to GO FOR something HUGE! 2 challenge yourself in a way never dreamed. and have it be .. attainable. (i'm still scared a little to even say that. i mean it's not like i've actually done it.)

thank you

thank you again, christie for challenging me....running w/ me. for giving it to me straight on more than one occasion. to hope the cheerleader. to amber for inspiration. major! to sarah for encouragement & new friendship! also to ipodmomma, kim, oldhall. to robtherunner for advice...in-the-know advice! to all the commentors who encourage, support, advise, etc.

thank you, family: g, k, e, b, mom and dad for supporting my cause w/ the awesome garmin and (m,d) the enell! i feel like i should have your names emblazoned on my running gear! thanks my dear hubby for supporting me! you rock. i love you bunches. and to my kiddos for having patience ... i know you're not suffering. only way i'd do this.

well, now, that's the way to get mushy, eh? and that won't be the last time!

what's ahead:

mon 4 miles
tues rest
wed 5
thurs rest
friday 4
sat rest
sunday 11

this works out great this wk, doing every other day. the only change i'll make to the schedule would be to do the long run fri and the extra 4 miler on sunday. we shall see. it might depend on running groups/partners. the only other thing i MIGHT consider if i get joint-sore this week...would be to have 2 rest days in a row somewhere. if i do that i'd run the long run saturday.

i can't tell you how awesome it is to run WITH SOMEONE for at least the 1st part of a long run. yesterday i only actually ran side by side w/ peops for about 1/2 hour. but i felt like we were together for a full 1/2 of my long run. it really broke it up. i didn't feel so alone. AMBER: you gotta try it!

on the movie front

tonite i did watch "endurance." it is a documentary about Haile Gebrselassie who won the 10,000 meters in the atlanta olympics in 1996. WILL SOMEONE PLS tell me how far that is? anyway, he's from ethiopia and it's a pretty cool movie. liked it. disney out-of-the-ordinary documentary.

end of wk totals: 1/2/06--1/8/06

yes, i know the week actually ENDS tomorrow but there ain't no way in SMELL that i'n runnin tomorra! (my little kiddo girlie girl says, "i'n hungry" instead of i'm...i borrow from her.)

so, anyploo:
this week's training was:
mon rest, sore
tues 2.36 miles
wed rest, ouch
thurs surprisingly easy, fast, great 5 miles
friday rest, sore ... but MUSCLES this time, not joint pain! yeahoo! i love that "good hurt"
sat 10 miles! 2 whole hours. you read that right.
sun (tomorrow) i will rest. sweet, blissful rest. well, as blissful as it gets in a house full of my lovely darling children! oh yeah, and it's not like i will be sleeping in tomorrow. we go to EARLY church! WHICH i loved when it was HOT out by 7 a.m. but in the bleak winter, it is HARD to get up and out at that time of the a.m! that's okay. i just wish i got up that early every day of the week.

okay, you REAL runners. here's my problemo: MAN DO I HAVE A HEAD-ACHE. it is seriously migraineous. what is up w/ that? why does this happen on my long run days? please, advice. i took 2 ibuprofen b4 run; 1 more 1/2 way thru run; 2 on way home from run.

post run, i drank water, ate an apple (over the course of 2 hours), drank power ade (32 oz), ate a few pretzels and 1/2 a ww bagel (i went over to my mom's right afterward to utilize their hot tub so i just nursed that sustenance)_..............

as said, the other thing i did was get into the hot tub...about 1/2 hour after finishing run. i never did take a shower later. could THIS be part of problem. i was in tub for 1/2 hour to 45 mins.

out of all that, WHAT am i doing wrong? i drank a TON of water all nite, only had one cup of coffee this morn...more water; water partway thru run. SO I REALLY DON'T THINK it's from lack of water.

perhaps THAT is it,...the lack of excess coffee in a.m. of the long runs? i limit myself since i will not be near a bathroom and since i will have excess jiggling of the bladder and body that encases it.
so maybe the prob is that i drink too much coffee on reg days.

wow!

that's all i can say...wow. if any one ever tells me they CAN'T run, i will have to argue w/ them. LOOK AT ME! if I can do it YOU can! in all seriousness! if your limbs function, if you can put one foot in front of the other, if you can breathe, YOU CAN RUN. you don't have to run a long ways. but people acted amazed when you say you've run x amt of miles. and i'm not even talkin' 10. i haven't told anyone but my fam yet. but "THREE MILES? i can't even run around the block" i do here that a lot. foo-ey!

today promised to be rainy. ugh. i had enuff waterlog last wk's long run for a century. so i wasn't excited about that part. BUT I WAS EXCITED about meeting friends to run w/! none of us are on the exact same page as far as mileage and where we are in our marathon training..and there are a FEW of us not exactly training for the marathon. so we all planned to meet at Richland High and we could run from there. our LOOP included "the shelter belt" this awesome path/trail that has been asphalted in the past few yrs and is even more wonderful to run/walk/bike on! it parallels the highway (240 around Richland) and is called the shelter belt becuz SOMEONE in all their wisdom YEARS ago (cuz i ran it as a teenager...blankety blank yrs ago!) planted a HUGE shelter of trees between the backyards of the houses and the highway. when I ran on it (back in the day) it was a gravelly, dirt-y trail. but it was fine and we used it. it intersects w/ roads leading out to the highway every so often but even w/ those streets, the SHELTER of the shelter belt is WAY comforting,... a nice, sorta soft, easy run. i'm sorry i can't think right now the exact mileage of the shelter belt itself. but if you're ever here, ya gotta run it. the river paths are prob the highest on the favorite scale, but this is gggreat too. i'd guess one length of the belt is prob 3 miles at least.

so, school down Thayer to belt, down belt to Swift, up Swift back to school. that was 3-4 (i'm talking THIS WAS THE PLAN stan) then, we'd get our drinks or whatever and go for another loop for those who's goal was 8; then i'd have to do another 2.

well, for ONE thing some of us rebelled and moved OUR start time to 9 instead of 7 a.m. I know we're wimps...but my dh was OFF today thus i didn't have to be back in a hurry. i had NOTHING planned today except for this run. a few others didn't wanna get up at the crack o' dawn either. well, what with arriving at varying times and having to scout around to find an entrance to the school so we could USE THE FACILITIES, we didn't start out till 930.

it didn't turn out the way we thought. we had one runner who is fighting bronchitis. she just couldn't get a breath. so, in a round about way, running most the loop, then doubling back to try and meet up w/ her husband, then running past him (we were going opposite directions at that point), and keeping on to meet w/ the bronchitis-sufferer again, only to find out she'd SUCKED IT UP and determinedly decided to run the whole double loop (w/ frequent stops to double over and try to cough ETC..poor thing)...so by THAT time i HAD to find the husband again...so far all i'd told him only made him worry and yet he'd never actually run into his wife himself! i can only imagine what he thought of ME! some lunatic who keeps running into him telling him various VARYING stories of his poor suffering wife!

ah me. but i was concerned about her. when i'd first left her, i wondered if she needed a hospital breathing treatment thingey...so i didn't want to NOT do the right thing.

well, when all was said and done and THEY were heading for the car, THEY had at least 8 miles under their belt! at that point i had about 7. when i'd gotten back to the school, i took off the UNDER layer shirt (not my wicking one today..just a cold, wet, cotton tee), off w/ my SA-WEATY hat, stretch, drink, take 2 more ibuprofen (i was hurting a bit), donned the sunglasses, ipod, AND i tried something new: hard candies. i put a rootbeer in my mouth and took off. see, i'd read that folks use like lifesavers..or gummi bears. well, gummis would be better cuz a big hard candy in your mouth is WEIRD. but breathing was fine so off i went. just to get a little glycogen coursing thru my veins (is that the right word?).

so anyway, we parted ways, me w/ a big fat rootbeer candy in my mouth, ipod blaring in my ears...down Thayer an extra mile and 1/2 or so, then back. oh.my.gosh. i'm telling ya: the 1st 1/2 hour was fast, with friends..very nice. we even PRAYED TOGETHER out loud! flew by!

2nd 1/2 hour--alone-- FLEW by. now THAT is unheard of. i mean i look down and the garmin reads 34 minutes; i look down again and it reads 1:03!! whassup w/ that? good anyway.

i don't even know how the last WHOLE hour went. i guess i wasn't really there. all i know is i got to mile 9 and that last mile was KILLER! ugh! what is UP w/ that? i THINK i've figured it out. i was anticipating a good run today. so i didn't have to fight any psych demons today. physically, i felt good (lungs) the whole way. but i think since i've DONE 8 MILES BEFORE, i'm GOOD to 8 miles. anything beyond that is GONNA BE HARD. is this common? i think there's something mental about it being the 'homestretch' and all. like you've given your all, your bod just wants to shut down and go.to.bed.now!

and is my garmin acting up or what? the other day it said my best mile was a 1+minute mile. today it says a 3+ minute mile. well WE ALL KNOW that is wrong-O bon-GO! but here are the stats:

9:30 a.m. nice, clear, bit of a cold breeze, otherwise NICE...sunny prolly 42 degrees
2.00 HOURS (yes, you read that right)
10.01 miles
avg 12.03 min/mi

that's the other thing i just have to comment on quickly....i was TRYING to fartlek (is that the term i use here?) where you POUR IT ON for a certain am't of space, then you slow down to reg pace, then you turn it on again...repeat, etc. well, i was doing that...and i was (in my mind) like, SPRINTING...and i'd look down at my garmin and my min/mi isn't even ever hitting a 9min/mi! whassup w/ that? is it cuz tho i THOUGHT i was sprinting i was just barely moving since i was on mile 9.5???? let me know.

all praise and glory to my heavenly FATHER

running movies or anything on celluloid

hi. any suggestions pls.
i have scoured my library. i come away with CHARIOTS OF FIRE (seen it. love it. now let's move on.), "endurance" (yet to watch it)...and that's about it. endurance looks like a documentary of sorts. it's okay. i actually would like docs over a real movie. unless it was a real movie about someone's journey to marathon or some such thing.

either my library is a silly, small town thing (very likely...our tri-city herald --newspaper-- is un-affectionately called "the tri-cycle herald") OR there is NOTHING out there.

help. i would even like to watch old footage of past olympics about running. have you ever been GLUED to the t.v. watching running events? that ALWAYS made me put DOWN the chips and dip, drop to the floor and start stretching...and as soon as it was over i'd be out hitting the pavement! great inspiration. but also, in a doc-type movie would have tips etc. from the big names, i'm sure.

i'm sure there's at least a movie out there about prefontaine. i've yet to find it. i used to read Ann Kiemel books. she was a Christian speaker and author who trained for a marathon. HER books, actually, gave me a deep-seated FEAR of the marathon training. it, for me, has been NOTHING like what she described YET! she had HORROR stories to tell. i think, basically, when people used to train for a marathon, they ONLY trained the EVERY-DAY-WAY. and lots of long long long runs. like doing a marathon every week. the NEW way is sooo much better. i mean, the proof will be in the pudding but that's what i'm thinking, by what i've read so far. (a lot.)

what about joan benoit samuelson? i mean there is stuff out there on joyner-kersee and griffith joyner. i find kid's books about them. i'm looking for distance runner docs or books!

comments welcome. **thanks in advance!!**

under 9 min mile

oh my goodness! i just did the math since my garmin was doing funky things (i'm sure it was MY problemo) and didn't keep track of my min/mi....so i did over 5 miles in about 45 minutes. even w/o the extra .5 miles and the minutes it took for that (cuz it would still average out) and even w/ the walking... i think i ran under a 9 minute mile.

yknow what this tells me...if i'm right about that.... is that i still have it in me. i wonder... could all my aches and pains be becuz of my wallowing pace?

i know this can't be. but it 'tis WEIRD, ain't it?

well, that explains why my hamstrings hurt tonite! i LOVE THAT! that's the backs-of-your-legs muscles, right? hams? quads in front? well anyway, cool! maybe one run a week i SHOULD run out on a busy street! what thinkest thou(s)?

thank You, Lord. for making me. for giving me lungs and legs. for letting me run!

no good title--creatively challenged

thx Rob the runner and Amber and Sarah and Kim for all the encouragement! you guys rock!
i need all the running expertise i can get. serious thanks! my bro gets thanks too. but he won't comment on my BLOG, only pvt email. he doesn't want to 'go public' w/ advice! why???? the WORLD would BENEFIT from what you have to say, my dear.

i wasn't even sure i was gonna go today. but this is how it works.

you hafta start at last nite's early bedtime. dh said, when he came home on his lunch (to fix dvd player vs. t.v. after he rearranged furniture earlier in day) THAT if i couldn't fight the munchies to GO TO BED. i said, what about all this mess? looking around the kitchen...keep in mind he's a real clean freak. while cleaning, i could stay up all nite, and i could keep eating! so, being the dh he is, he gave me this idea...(like i haven't thought of it b4) .. he said he'd RATHER have me go to bed and WIN that battle over food then have the kitchen cleaned up. wow. but gotta love him.

so, went to bed early w/ the girls in my bed. didn't have to fight katelin that way. dh puts them in their beds when he gets home. SOMEHOW kate ended up BACK IN OUR BED some time in the nite. good grief gerdie! i think we were ALL on MY SIDE of the bed by 3a.m.! whassup w/ that??

so, up at 6:45 w/ alarm, morning coffee x3 or so. i take it w/ milk and sugar free flavorings. somewhere this a.m. i also had 1/2 a w.w. bagel and 3 ibuprofens. (amber alerted me that you have to take 600mg of whatever it is i'm taking to actually do the job.)

9:00 a.m., d.s. and i started on his schoolwork. got a good 2 hours' done. euphoria! if you have a son, you know how like pulling teeth this can be at times! there were a few loads of laundry thrown in there too.

by 11:30 i'm feeling pretty good. wondering if i can still knock out a run b4 dh goes to work. i had to get to the bank today. sometime in the last 15 hours he musta mentioned something about RUNNING there to do the deposit. so, it's in my brain. only problem is that i'd have to run all the way down a BUSY ROAD. oh me! gasp. shudder.

got dressed and musta left by 12:15...cuz here's the stats.
12:15 p.m. Thursday, 1/5/06
**45.23min
**5.29 mi
there was one stoplite where i forgot to turn back on the watch...i think i lost about 1/2 mile. also, something was funky on my garmin...somehow it says my BEST (max) was 1.15min/mi! ha! now THAT is fun-ny! it also says 8.35min/mi avg. i know this can't be. somehow i had something extra going on there, so when i tried to pause my stopwatch thingy, it "autopaused" it...that was weird. i decided to just let it go since i almost BIT THE DUST while trying to fiddle w/ it. when i was in line (for an age) at the bank, i took off that option. but as you can see it messed up my stats.

so, we know i ran at LEAST 45 min and at least 5.29 miles. i walked the first 3/4 mile; walked up the last hill to my house, about a block; and the VERY last block to my home. i prolly only lost .5 miles when i forgot to turn back on my garmin.

blah blah blah

for the run...wow! it felt aaahhhhsome! why? ibuprofen? hyped up on coffee? (for you health nuts out there criticizing...i also drank a ton of water this a.m.....evidenced by the factoid that i went POTTY approx. 10 times this a.m....then 2x right before leaving house...and approx 15 minutes into run, definitely had to go again. thank God i'd gone b4 run. else i might not have made it thru!

no pain whatsoever. whaaaa???
i ran pretty fast at times and had to really CONCENTRATE on keeping it slow. i was well aware i might just be flying becuz i had taken those ibuprofens. but keep in mind i was on a busy road. what does that have to do w/ it? well, since i know 1/2 the people in this town, good chance a bunch of people i KNOW drove past me! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! i hate that thought. i TRIED to not pay any attn. to the extent that i almost bit it a few times. i really did try to watch my feet. it's a little difficult to watch the road i'm running on, the cars coming at me (tho there was a big shoulder), and keep breathing and pace under control.

so... there we have it!
that is how i go from thinking i'll just lay off till saturday's 10 miler to give bones/tissue a rest.
interesting?
i fear you're just bored to ttttteeeeeears!
i started to say sorry but i forgot, IT'S MY BLOG. not sorry that i wrote about me in my blog. bored? don't read! =)

oh yeah...there were 2 really cool things about my run, BESIDES THE FACT THAT I CAN:

I. i walked in to the bank, feeling a little foolish. the VERY 1ST PERSON I SAW was ANOTHER RUNNER! same idea i had! we smiled and talked right away!

II. listening to Petra and Passion (both praise cds) on my ipod shuffle. yknow the "breath" song? "everything that hath breath praise the Lord!" well, just as i was BREATHING hard, i started huffing, "praise You, Lord, that i HAVE breath...Praise You, Lord" etc etc etc.
not that WOWish but it was a cool moment. there in the midst of midday traffic. ya gotta love it!

so this is my week:
monday rest day
tuesday 5 mile plan...2.3 actual
wed rest, recover day
thursday 5+miles ... makeup and cuz felt great and cuz had to 'get to the bank' !
friday rest day
saturday 10 miler!
sunday, rest day

start over again on monday. 4 miles
wk of 1/9-1/15: 4-5-4-11
wk of 1/16-1/22: 4-6-4-12
wk of 1/23-1/29: 4-6-4-13

oy!

scared of pills

it's hard enuff for me to take ibuprofen. i have heard bad things about alleve...on the stummick.
now i'm trying to gag down my multi-vitamin. then, ibuprofen (now i know i need at least 3 for the anti-inflammatory effect, thx amber). then glucosamine. YUK. i'm supposed to take glucosamine 2x a day. or 2 pills at once. but they are big. brown. ugh-a-lug! yuk!

so, i've kinda gotten used to the ibuprofen. i can slide those down not too big of a problemo.
i've made it thru the multi-vitamin a few days now. for me, the best time to take these is b4 bed. so i can be lying down if they make me nauseous.

WHEN DO I FIT IN THE GLUCOSAMINE? yuk.

ideas? also, since it's made outta CARTILAGE from cows or various animals....yuk...does it REALLY break down in your bod? i read a thorough article about the stuff by Amby Burfoot in runner's world...then asked doc about it. pretty okay w/ it. still sorta grosses me out.

and let it be known, i do sort have a prob w/ gagging down horse pills...size wise... but i'm scared of getting queasy and i'm scared of it doing damage to stomach lining or sumpin.

sidenote: my dd katelin gets "stummy-aches!"

advice requested

no stress fracture found

okay, about the doc visit. i was there from 9 a.m. to 11:44 a.m. only about 10 minutes out in the waiting room but at least an hour in the exam room b4 i saw the doc! but he was super cool nice. not very informed about anything sports medicine, tho. wonder why their office is listed sports med in the phone book?

he did take xrays and didn't SEE any stress fracture. thinks it must be 'deep tissue' (am i getting that right?) ... said that ibuprofen has such a short 1/2 life (ahh take me back to chem...YUK) that it doesn't last in your bod that long. suggested i take 2 alleve 2x a day! yeahoo! i'm not big on taking anything...i definitely wasn't taking enuff ibuprofen to stay in my body all the time. i didn't know that was the goal. now that i know ... i guess perhaps i will take more o'dat stuff!

he was sympathetic to my 'cause' and never once told me i would need to quit running! that was my biggest fear. he agreed my knees aren't tracking...he listed it as patella tunnel syndrome...is that right? he thinks perhaps my lower leg problem stems from plantar fascitis. i was hoping THAT term would not come up in our conversation. to me, plantar fasc--- sounds like a TERMINAL diagnosis.

this nice doc was openly dumb about running in itself. kept promoting that i talk w/ the local running club and get their pick for a good sports med doc/place. DUUUUUHHH!!! I sorta KNEW i should do this. but, that IS sorta WHY i went THERE! i wonder if i should try to get my money back for today's appt? i guess it was informative in that i got the xrays. and the diagnosis of the knee thing.

i know i should call the local running club. i dunno what i've been waiting for. i guess kinda in denial about the whole thing. i hate to be a crying wolf.

another plus: he said he didn't think running w/ the brace is a problem.

is that everything? i think that's all. i'll go ahead and try for my scheduled 3 miler on thursday. i've read a LOT today about taking it easy. i wonder if i should be training for this marathon after all. i wonder if i should just run; easy, short runs; and shoot for 6 months away or sumpin?

i will pursue sports med. and i bought glucosamine today. possibly my overattempt to go lightly on my feet over corrected and i caused my own problem. perhaps if i back off on trying to land softly my gait will correct my pain problems.

over and out. any comments welcome!

only 2.36 miles

thanks.
i did go back out there this morning. when i did, it was very foggy! ick. it was also quite icy. here i am, trying to "stay outta the gutter" (remember, 'cambered surfaces') , off the icy spots (which also happen to be the sloping-down-to-the-gutter part of each side of the road)...so i'm slipping, keeping my eyes PEELED for cars so i can quickly-w/o-slipping get to the curb; trying out my new, sorta step: last nite read in runner's world that perhaps i'm trying too hard to land easy--on my heel; so they say to focus on pushing off on your big toe; SO in all this haze, i ran a couple of loops around my neighborhood. i knew i was cutting short my planned 5 miler, down to 3 but by the time i got around the 2nd time i realized i'd have to cut it even shorter to get to the doc in time. so:

stats: Tuesday, 1/3/06 7:51 a.m.
28.09 minutes
2.36 miles
max: 9.37 min/mi
avg: 11.56 min/mi

took 2 ibuprofen b4 starting out. okay pain wise.
exhilerating, tho, to have a quick run, shower fast and be out the door.
feels good to get it all done b4 8:30 a.m., too! love that!

ewww it's dark and frosty out there

can U believe i came here for inspiration. God, help me here, please.
i actually did roll my tired, cozy self outta bed at 630 am ... in the dark ... & DIDN'T let my tired self get back into the bed.
nope, brushed my teeth and started the laborious task of the enell bra and commenced the layering.
being up so early and leaving requires feeding the cats. (embarrassingly and hard-to-admittingly: THREE of them.) ugh.
so, here 'tis 7:13am and here i sit.
i went outside. stretched. worked on setting my forerunner to go off every mile (to do the walk one minute at ever mile thing). couldn't face it. came back in.
okay, now i'm gonna go.
thought maybe i'd get inspiration from all the commenters on my blog. no, not yet. the faithful, i'm sure will respond in SOME fashion. remember, i am seeing the DOC this a.m!
i did read a lot of helpful stuff in runner's world mag last nite whist icing my shins, tibias and knees! about glucosamine (all positive...miraculous, even) and about my gait or my footfall or how i push off ...how THAT could be my 'problem.' too bad it says you really have to go to like a UNIVERSITY that specializes in running gait to try and work on the problem.
can't i JUST run?
Oh, Lord, what is the lesson 2B learned here? Guide me, teach me. Make me moldable.
okay, now i'm gonna go.
=)

salt and headache and baring it all

okay, at the risk of OVER POSTING ON MY OWN BLOG IN ONE DAY i must mention a few things.

I. i forgot to tell y'all, i had a wonderful experience: LAST week, after my 7-mile (long) run, i came home and noticed something white on my forehead. what is that? it was a bit crusty. i scraped some off. then, lightbulb. i actually TASTED it. SALT. ohmygosh! i ran into the kitchen. "HONEY, i have SALT on my forehead!!!" i was SO excited! i remember when my friend hope told me the gross part about her first marathon were the huge chunks of salt on her forehead...SWEAT that solidified. at the time i thought, "that is TOTALLY disgusting." that was when i had no desire to run a marathon. i seriously thought she was off her nut.

so, last saturday, i thought, "I'VE ARRIVED! I HAVE SALT ON MY FOREHEAD!" i was deliriously happy! weird, i know.
just thought i'd share.
since i share everything else here.

***a friend wrote me an EMAIL --you'll see why in a sec-- saying she just doesn't "get" sharing her innermost thoughts in cyberspace. thus, i think, the reason she emailed me instead of commenting right in my blog! love you KIM. now every one knows your innermost thought!***

II. about the headache. after my 8 miler on friday i developed an excruciating, almost debilitating headache later in the day. like the precursor to a migraine. thank God it was gone by day's end. normally, that sorta thing would turn into a full blown migraine the next day. yuk.

well, i was reading in my great manual, The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer about dehydration. the effects of dehydration are headache, nausea, diarrhea, etc. Could i have been dehydrated? doesn't the RAIN count for something? doesn't the fact that i was DRENCHED count for some of the hydration? isn't that the definition of HYDRATE? i DID drink a whole bottle of water on the way home. and a whole bottle (16 ounces) of gatorade. if the monsoon didn't HYDRATE me, certainly all that FLUID did!

who knows, maybe it was just a flukey thing. but NONE of those symptoms were around next day. hmmmmm...

III. lastly, a few posts ago, i mentioned 'baring my arse' or some such verbage. sarah elaine posted a comment that she HOPED I WAS WEARING SHORTS OR SOMETHING. so, of COURSE, i MUST clarify! yes, i was COVERING my behind w/ regular running stuff. i actually wore 3 layers: underwear, run.shorts, and sweats! what i WASN'T wearing was like a big shirt, or a sweatshirt tied at the waist...or sum such thing to COVER my "arse." i feel like it's a security blanket. my dh sweetly points out that it doesn't make it look smaller. he's just being honest! =) i've always kidded myself that if i cover it up w/ something (ie shirt, etc.) it's sorta hidden ... like folks won't know it's (all) there! ha!

the things we do.

what i've found though...in my quest to be 'normal'...like a normal size, a normal eater, a normal anything...is that MOST PEOPLE (i dare venture: EVERYone) is abnormal JUST LIKE ME in our thought patterns, phobias, dysfunctions...

yeahoo...i fit in after all!

what a pleasant experience

i wonder why i avoid the doc office.
okay, let's forget the fact that there is a VERY tired, cranky toddler-kiddo screeching to be let down and to play. her mom is very loudly reproaching her...very loudly 'shush'ing her (why do we ALL need to be shushed? i thought the whole point of shushing was to keep things QUIETer...but NOOOO, we must all listen to "SHHHSSSH" loud as day)

***time out. i thought i was funny. as soon as that poor family got called in (i think the staff had pity on us and just moved them to their own exam room) you could almost feel the collective sigh of relief. i said, out loud, "i wonder what the total blood pressure in this room is right now?" and i even laughed out loud.
not too many REALLY SICK people laughed w/ me but the relief was PALPABLE. one guy actually said the kid might need some discipline.
i bet the little girl is happy HE IS NOT HER DAD!
in all MY wisdom, i was thinking more along the lines of: when daddy has to go to the doctor, mommy stays home with little-girl-who-would-rather-be-playing-w/-her-dollies-than-sitting-on-a-CHAIR-IN-A-WAITING-ROOM-FOR-A-GAZILLION-HOURS. what do you think of that?***

forget the fact that after 45 minutes of waiting, 4 people going AHEAD of me tho they arrived AFTER me, having to be BUZZED into the bathroom (okay, i'm in podunk-town here, must we use high-tech, high-security POTTY PLACES??? before that, i WASN'T scared to squat and pee.) ...I STILL was not going to see a doctor for QUITE aWHILE....

forget the fact that i was sitting there having doubts about this whole thing..."Lord, should I really be here?" i was pressing on the offending bone, feeling if it REALLY hurt today --yep. i kept coming back to, "i'll get an x-ray and i will RULE OUT stress fracture and get some good M.D. advice." so there i'd sit again....hoping not to get the hideous flu or lung disease from the INFECTED (the "really sick") people around me.

finally, i told the very nice (really, she was) receptionist i'd have to come back another day. at which point she SCHEDULED me an APPOINTMENT (novel idea) for the next morn! turns out, at this walk-in clinic (whose doc IS on the acceptable-docs-for-my-insurance list), if you CALL-AHEAD you can GET YOUR NAME ON A LIST, which puts you higher up in the order for being called once you physically come in! FUNNY. i DID call in. they didn't tell me about that option.

wonder why i hate the whole doctor's office visit routine??

postscript: and guess what? tonite, i feel pretty good, and i'm itching for a run in the morn! tomorrow is my scheduled 5 miler for the wk. wkday medium run. i think i'll go for it. if i can drag my bootie outta bed early enuff. then i'll be good and sore or whatever when i go to the doc. =) my dh says, "remember, honey, they can't SEE your pain." usually i brush off comments like that at first, only to later realize they had some deep meaning at which point i again go, wow, what a man i married! =) do you see the deeper meaning? enlighten me. it might come to me later.

also: i had the wonderful chance to visit this afternoon w/ a friend and her hubby. he has been home from iraq for nearly a year now. THX, JAMES, FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY. anyhoo, his job here in the U.S. is doing xrays and mri.s i think...some sort of imaging, anyway. he succinctly pointed out that they wouldn't be able to see a stress fracture on an xray anyway. need a bone scan. yes, i've read that. so, again, i'm questioning my decision to go. but what's my alternative. besides the off chance that a sports med doc will appear out of the woodwork and OFFER his opinion to me..... this is the best thing i can think of. how i wish i knew someone...

a look at THIS week

tues 5 miles
thurs 3 miles
sat 10, yep 10 miles
i know that looks like low miles overall
but i'm tellin' ya, folks, i gotta run EVERY OTHER DAY. period.
so, we'll see how this works out over the long haul. k?

next wk would bring runs on mon-wed-fri-sun
see?

so, i'll keep going as long as i'm able.
i will letchya know what the doc says tomorrow. of course!

i love You, Lord

and i lift my voice

to worship YOU

oh my soul

rejoice

take JOY, my King

in what You hear

let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear

1/1/2006 end of week 19 total miles

***wow***

end of the week 3 miler ... pain

amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me...i once was lost but NOW I'M FOUND, was blind but now i seeeeeeeeeee....i love the Lord Jesus!

Sunday, JANUARY 1, 2006 1:11 p.m. 38 degrees, dry air, wet road.

well, it was a painful run today. fun b/c my 7 y.o. dd rode her bike w/ me! it's warm enuff again! also a milestone: ran w/o a layer covering my arse. this is news. i am not totally sure how i looked. trying not to care. perfectly warm enuff. of course, had my new wicking shirt on. need to wash today. i've worn it every single run since i bought it. love it!

tried brace on right knee instead of usu. left. thought i'd give my right knee a break. i dunno what part of the mix was 'wrong' (?) but the place where i have self-diagnosed a possible stress fract. was REALLY hurting. i started praying at about 2 miles, for wisdom in picking a doc...or knowing for SURE if i even need to go. you know, you read about the signals ... if it hurts for 2 days in a row, lay off for a day. if it hurts for 2 whole wks, see a doc. well, i guess i'll have to look at my history and see if i've been hard-core running on this marathon schedule for 2 whole wks. who am i kidding. i know i have. but see, the pain comes and goes.

then, i start to panic. what if he says i can't run? (well, i don't always believe what they say anyway.) i wish i had a FRIEND who was a sports med person, plus a runner. wouldn't that be great? as it is, i think i've found a sports med doc who is on my insurance. now, dunno if he's a runner. perhaps i should go visit this p.t. guy i used to see (for p.t after car accident YEARS ago) pretty sure they are all runners there. anyway, back up to that sports med guy (also a g.p.) ... i hear his bedside manner ain't all that great. i want a pro-running opinion.

the one RUNNING doc i know of for sure is an orthapedic guy...gone to all my life...but NOT ON MY INSURANCE any more! i.hate.insurance. ever mentioned that B4? well, Uknow what i mean. love not having to pay full price. hate having to go w/ certain docs instead of who i WANT. irritating beyond belief. esp.once we had kids. REALLY irritating. but i don't want to be a complainer. i'm SO THANKFUL FOR ALL we have and for HAVING INSURANCE COVERAGE AT ALL. let it be known: I'M THANKFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

stats:

33.27 min

3.02 miles

11.05 min/mi avg

9.01 min/mi max

...........glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to all men.........