I’m baaaaaaaack – But where have I been, you might ask?

Well, mostly I’ve been sulking, eating way too much chocolate, revisiting the ways of the couch potato, and experiencing my first ever round of physical therapy (which I must say was surprisingly enjoyable – almost like getting a personal trainer at a gym without the crazy expense – thank you health insurance!).

Anyway, before I go into all of that, I first I owe you all an explanation on why I fell off the face of the earth after the Philly ½ marathon.

I mean, you HAVE noticed I never came back with a race report, right?

Yes?

Maybe so?

Not so much?

Fine. Well at least pretend that you cared that I was gone, OK? Humor me if you must.

So, long story not so short – I learned the lesson the hard way that you DO NOT, under any circumstances, EVER, let your physician play around with ANY medications you might be on, a month before a big race. I did exactly that, and in a nutshell, my body didn’t metabolize the drug properly causing me to have seizure-like episodes that conveniently hit me right smack in the middle of the freaking ½ marathon race!

Awesome, right?

I went down suddenly somewhere around mile 7 or 8 and the next thing I knew my highly anticipated race day turned into a mess of ambulances, medical tents, more ambulances, and the ultimate pleasure of spending the bulk of my race day in the emergency room of one of Philly’s finest hospitals.

Not exactly how I envisioned my race day.

Nope. Not even close.

There was no finish line crossed. No medal hung around my neck. No victory party with my teammates afterward.

Instead there were a lot of scary concerns (at one point the medics were asking questions to rule out a stroke!), some IV fluids, multiple medical tests, a slightly panicked husband, and lots of blood work.
Most of all, it ended as a day filled with embarrassment and disappointment.

I was embarrassed that for some unknown reason, I had failed. I had failed miserably in front of my teammates, coaches, family, and friends there cheering me on at the race that day. I had failed all of my supporters who had been along for the ride with me in one form or another since day one of training.

I was disappointed that I had trained SO hard for months, and knew I was SO physically and mentally ready for that race, and yet for some unknown reason, my body had failed me.
And the worst part was that no one could tell me why.

After some additional research and a lot more testing by my primary care doc, it was determined the medication change was the cause of the entire issue. At that point, I was forced to take some time off from running to get all of the “evil” medication out of my system. When I came back to running a month later, I was more determined than ever to run again – a little too determined for my own good.
I quickly broke one of the cardinal rules of running and pushed too far, too fast, too soon, and I landed myself in physical therapy for 7 weeks with some pretty nasty shin injuries.

More awesomeness, no?

You would think that at this point I’d just come to realize that perhaps running isn’t meant to be my “thing.” Maybe these are all pretty strong signs that I should just hang up my running shoes and take up something less strenuous – knitting, perhaps? Shuffleboard?

Yeah, that would make sense to most people. But nope, not me. Anyone who knows me well knows I’m way too stubborn for that line of thinking.

Instead I decided I’d show my body who was boss around here. If my body wasn’t going to cooperate like it should have for the ½ marathon, well, now it was going to pay the price. I would show my body who would be making the running rules around here.

Screw me on the ½ marathon, body? Fine! Now you will suffer the consequences by training for, and running in a FULL marathon. Take THAT (and please, please don’t kill me along the way, OK body? Thanks in advance…)!

So that’s right – I’m BAAAAAAAAAAACK! And I’m officially signed up with Team in Training once again. This time I will be running the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego FULL Marathon this coming Spring.

Sure, I’ll still be the slowest person in my Team in Training group again, and sure I’ll question what in the world I signed up for on a regular basis as I tackle these crazy long miles when “official” training starts later this month.

But there are a few things I’m quite certain of as I find myself in pre-training mode.

I most certainly WILL fight through each and every scheduled run. I most certainly WILL complete the entire marathon training, and I most certainly WON’T let anyone mess with any medications this time.

And you know the one thing I’m most certain about of all?

I am absolutely, positively, without a doubt in my mind, certain that I WILL cross that elusive finish line in San Diego after running a full 26.2 miles.

And I will have the biggest freaking smile on my face when I do (and I would appreciate if someone would hand me a celebratory adult beverage when I cross…and perhaps an oxygen tank… and maybe some anti-inflammatory medications for the pain…).

Ooh, and with any luck, all the upcoming running will work off the 8 tons of chocolate I ate while feeling sorry for myself and being sidelined by injury the last couple months. Because that would be a pretty sweet bonus

So with all that off my chest now, I ask you to please, feel free to follow along as I embark on my full marathon journey. I’m quite sure it won’t be pretty – but hey, you know it will all be shared, for better and for worse.

Keep on running,

It’s Almost Race Day!

So I realize I’ve been slacking on my posts, but I started getting all “Yay running!” and really, who wants to read that? I was starting to irritate myself with the “yay running” posts, so I knew it had to be bad.

Anyway, all the training has finally come to this – in less than 36 hours, I’ll be running in my very first race. Nothing like diving into a little old 1/2 marathon with only 18,499 other runners for my first one!
 
I’m scared to death! I’m excited, but just hoping I don’t throw up on the start line

Have my race day shirt washed and ready to go.



And made my son his own shirt to wear as he cheers me on. He keeps telling me he’s going to yell, “GO MOMMY GO!” when I run by, so I felt I should make him an appropriate shirt to wear.



And I also made him a sign to hold up!



And now I head to bed with a notepad next to me so I can keep writing down all the things I keep remembering I need to bring with me tomorrow as I head with my Team in Training group into the city to prep for the big day. Then 8 am on Sunday, the race begins!

See you all after it’s all over! Eeek! I can’t believe I’m doing this!

Keep on running,

Double Digits Times Two!

I can’t even believe I’m actually typing this. I truly never thought it would happen. I couldn’t ever imagine that even with the right training I would ever be saying what I’m about to say. But I am…
I ran 10 miles! Wait, let me scream it from the rooftops. I RAN 10 MILES!

Better yet, I ran 10 miles TWO separate times now!

That’s right. The girl who couldn’t even run a single mile without walking back in April can now run 10 miles without walking. Last week’s long run was supposed to be 8 miles, but after 8 miles I amazingly felt so good, I didn’t want to stop, so I pushed for 10 and I did it! This weekend, my training actually called for 10 miles this weekend, so I had to do it again – and I did!

I still can’t even believe it.

And it may sound kind of silly to say, but I’m pretty darn proud of myself.

I’m proud of myself for signing up for this in the first place. Team in Training requires a HUGE commitment and I’m generally quite the commitment-phobe, so the fact that I even signed up for this is pretty crazy.

I’m proud of myself for sticking with it. I have an unfortunate history of quitting things when they’ve become too hard. This training has been HARD. Really hard. Like, for the first month and a half I asked myself daily what I was doing to myself. I second-guessed myself at every group run when I was walking while others were running; when I was left so far behind the group that I became a search and rescue mission; when I felt like I was going to die with every single step of every single run, and I couldn’t wait to stop running from the moment I started. But I never gave up. I kept fighting, kept training, and for that, I’m proud.

I’m proud that in some sort of crazy way, I’ve managed to inspire others. As I sat on my couch night after night doing absolutely nothing remotely close to exercise back in April, I could have never imagined that I would be inspiring others to run, but somehow, I have! Do you have any idea how cool that is? I still can’t wrap my head around it!

I’m proud to be a positive role model for my son. He no longer sees an overweight mom who has no energy and no interest in exercise. He sees a much more fit mom who heads out for runs in the mornings and in the evenings. He waves to me as I run down the street and tells me all the time that he wants to run with me when he gets big (he also tells me he’s going to have coffee and soda when he gets big, too, so I guess I have a few more vices to give up to further enhance that ‘good role model’ status!).

I’m proud to be a part of my Team in Training group. What an amazing group of people. It sounds cheesy, but this group has completely changed my life. Four months ago, I couldn’t run a mile, and today I ran 10. Next week I’ll run 11. And in less than a month, I’ll be running 13.1 miles in my half marathon. And better yet – I’m ready for it and feel confident that not only will I finish, but I will finish strong. I never thought I’d be at this level when I signed up for this. I just never believed I would actually be able to do this. My whole hope was to finish the race without needing an ambulance escort! Now not only do I know I’ll finish strong, but I can’t wait to do it!

Thanks to Team in Training, I’m a runner now, and I don’t ever see that ending. I have plans to continue running, continue training, run more ½ marathons, and even train for a full marathon next year. I have plans to continue being an active participant of Team in Training for as long as my legs will let me run. Thank you, Team in Training – you’ve truly changed my life.

Oh, and as a total side note, if anyone wears Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9s, and you’re concerned about switching to the new version, the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10s, DON’T BE! They’re pure fabulousness (if that was even a word) on your feet!

Keep on running!

Hitting Goals / Trusting the Training

First, I apologize for being MIA for a while. Between work being overly insane, planning a crazy little 3 year old’s birthday party, and trying to find time to log lots of long miles, I’ve really been slacking when it comes to keeping the blog alive and moving. I’ve started about 7 different posts, but just never got around to finishing them.

But it’s just time to get back on the blogging track, so let’s get this party restarted!

OK then. So now that the formalities are out of the way, I need to just brag really quick. I need to brag because I’m hitting CRAZY goals I never imagined hitting in my lifetime right now. I’m seriously amazed at the things my body is letting me do these days.

Case in point – this past Saturday, I ran NINE miles. Seriously. Not seven, not eight, but NINE miles! Nine miles run with no ambulance escort needed – I couldn’t have DREAMED about something so far fetched just a couple short months ago. And what was even crazier than the mileage I covered was that I wasn’t even the slowest person there! Bonus!

There were two other girls that I started out running with. Not uncommon – I often start with a few other people, but then they pick up speed and leave me chugging along at the back of the pack by myself. That’s the norm, and I’m just used to it at this point. Well, this week I kept thinking they must just both be having really slow runs themselves, because they continued running with me the entire time. That never happens, but heck, I wasn’t going to question it. I quite enjoyed the company for a change. I was secretly thankful for whatever was making my running partners all sluggish because it was working out quite nicely for me. It wasn’t until I finished the run and checked my average pace that I realized they weren’t running slowly – I was actually running pretty quickly! OK, well, I wasn’t exactly winning any speed records or anything, but my pace was only a little over an 11 minute mile – and that was the average for NINE miles. That’s completely crazy for me! And the time flew by with people to talk to. Much more fun than running alone all the time. Hope I get lucky with a run like that again this coming week!

Anyway, this all brings me to the moral of my post this week – trusting the training. When I started this journey, I really didn’t think there was any way I’d be able to actually meet this crazy goal. I mean, I signed up for it and I was going to try my hardest, but I never honestly thought I’d be physically able to RUN a ½ marathon. Maybe I’d walk a lot of it and run some of it, but running the entire thing just seemed like a crazy fantasy in the “what in the world was I thinking signing up for this?” sort of way. Everyone from the coaches, to the mentors, to the others in the running group told me over and over to just “trust the training” and I’d get there.

Sure…Have you people SEEN me run?

I would nod and smile politely, then roll my eyes when they weren’t looking. I mean really – I appreciated them humoring me, but I was quite sure there was no way I was going to get there, no matter how fabulous this supposed training plan was.

But I followed the plan. I followed it closely. Except for the days I was out recently with the knee injury, I’ve never missed a single training day since I started this program. I’ve run mornings and nights, in crazy heat and in pouring rain. There were days I came short of the goal mileage for some reason, and days I went well over the goal. I just ran. A lot. And I did my very best to follow the training plan. I wanted to trust the plan, but I just couldn’t imagine it would actually end up working.

Not for me, the total non-runner.

But then, one random Thursday, it just clicked. All the training. All the conditioning. All the hard work just clicked one day, and I was running. I was REALLY running! I was running 4 miles, then 5 miles. I was running 6 miles and 7 miles. I ran 9 miles this past weekend – and the kicker – the 9 miles wasn’t even THAT hard!

Crazy!

I followed the training plan and I’ve become a runner. A real runner. I now trust the training completely and in trusting the training I find myself amazed on a weekly basis at what my body is able to do, the distances I’m able to cover, and the fact that I’m actually having FUN doing it!

I’ve sure come a long way from the couch potato I was back in April. And I can guarantee that I will never go back to the person I was before. I’m a runner now. And call me crazy, but I intend to stay a runner for a long, long time.

So to wrap things up, allow me to first share a picture from our group run this week taken just prior to heading out for our hilly 9 miles.



It was a smaller group than usual, but just a great bunch of people, all running for an amazing cause. I’m in the purple shirt with the white visor on the left. Not the best picture, and MAN I could use a tan! But you can at least see that I really do exist and really do go out on these crazy runs I speak of each week

And last, but not least, allow me to close the post by sharing a few things that have come out of my mouth in recent days. Things I NEVER thought anyone would ever hear me say:

“Sweet! I only have a short 3 mile run tonight.”

“I don’t really get into my groove until 2.5 – 3 miles.”

“The first 7 miles of that run were a piece of cake.”

“I’m actually starting to enjoy running more WITHOUT my music than with my music.”

“I ran 9 miles!” (or 8 miles, or 7 miles, or 6 miles, or 5 miles, or 4 miles – 3 miles I actually thought I might hit someday…)

“Set the alarm for 4:45 am so I can run 5.5 miles tomorrow before work.”

“I can’t wait to go running!”

“I can’t wait for the 10 mile run!”

And the scariest of all…

“Maybe I’ll train for a full marathon next year!”

Keep on running,

Goal: 5.5 miles – Reality: 3.22 miles / “Listen to your body”

“Listen to your body.” A popular phrase that seems to surround me these days.

A popular phrase I’ve heard about a million times in the past month from some pretty knowledgeable people – my doctor, my coach, my friends who are experienced runners.

A phrase that makes wonderful sense – I mean you SHOULD listen to your body, right? Why wouldn’t you? Seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

Well, as most things in life, sometimes those things that make the most perfect sense are the hardest things to actually do.

I’m trying, though. I’m really making a concerted effort to listen to my body and not push my knee farther than I should. It’s not as easy as you would think it should be because I have constant thoughts of, “I can’t miss anymore training. I have to build back up on my miles. I can’t slack even for a second for the rest of my runs!” running through my head.

But I have to stop thinking that way. I have to just listen to my body. Even when I don’t necessarily like what my body has to say.

Like tonight. Tonight my body told me to cut my run short.

My knee felt good after Monday’s short 3.5 mile run. My knee was a little achy after Tuesday’s longer 5.5 mile run. Tonight my knee waved the white flag and surrendered after some of the crazy hills around the 2 mile mark, and it was getting really painful toward the 3 mile mark. I hated to stop because I’m already behind on my mileage thanks to the 2 weeks of training I missed from the initial injury. But tonight I honestly wasn’t all that worried about the miles. I was much more afraid of reinjuring things and not being able to train again for a while. So I listened to my body and cut tonight’s mileage short in order to be as ready and healed as possible for my 8 mile run on Saturday.

My coach was strangely proud. He has been watching me closely in training, just waiting for me to dive back in before I really should. He was happy to see me actually listening to my body and not trying to push through tonight. He was also quick to remind me that by listening to my body and stopping short tonight, I wouldn’t have to listen the ever dreaded “told you so!” from him after pushing myself harder than he would have liked. Yeah, yeah, thanks Coach. You win this one. For now…

So tonight wasn’t the best run, but there’s always Saturday. I may not be able to run the full 8 miles without walking, or I might survive running the whole thing but it might be slower than my usual snail’s pace, but I’ll do my best, listen to my body, and hopefully my knee will hang in there with me.

Keep on running,

There Should be Awards for Last Place

Have you ever played in a golf tournament? The winning team always gets a prize, of course, but the last place team always gets something, too. It’s kind of like a nice way to humor them for even showing up that day and making the attempt at the sport.  I feel that it’s only right that running should take a lesson in awarding prizes from the world of golf tournaments, and that it would only be right for the last place runner in any running event to win a prize as well.

Because, well, let’s face it – I would pretty much always win.

I’ve really learned to embrace my slowness over the past couple months.  I didn’t come into the acceptance phase easily, but I got there. And I remind myself each week that running alone at the back of the pack is making me a very independent runner with an impressive skill for reading the coach’s horribly written (and usually at least slightly incorrect) directions. Being the slow runner on my team is just who I am. Finishing my team training runs last in the group is just what I do.  And I do it well.

Maybe a little too well.

Last Saturday, my last place finish was just all out impressive. We had an All-Team Picnic with Team in Training, so all the running, cycling, walking, hiking, and triathlon teams from the Harrisburg, Lancaster and York areas all met to train together in the morning, then enjoy a picnic after training.
There were over 70 people there total, and in the group were three different running teams. Out of the three different running teams, I STILL managed to be the very last person to finish the training run!

Now tell me that’s not just beyond impressive.

I mean, to finish last in my own group is expected, but when every single runner out of three teams finishes before you, well, that just takes last place to a whole new level. Really, there should be some sort of award for that.

Ok, now granted, the coach wouldn’t let me run the entire thing because I’m still coming back from my knee injury – and he wasn’t letting me out of his sight for fear I’d cheat and run more than I should, so I had to walk about half of the mileage, which obviously didn’t help my last place cause.

And granted it was also on the hottest day of the year so far. One weather station had the heat index at 109 on Saturday, and it was easily over 100 by the time our run ended. We were all roasting as we ran! And granted, the two people out of the entire group who were truly slower than I was both ended up feeling awful from the excessive heat and were picked up by a staff member in a lovely air conditioned car and taken off the course, leaving me alone at the back of the pack once again with the coach.

At least it’s a familiar place for me – the back of the pack, that is. Now where’s my prize?

Oh well. The good news is that despite my walk/run combo training on Saturday, I survived the 8 miles in the 100+ degree heat, and my knee seems to be healing nicely. It’s still not 100%, but it’s very close. I’m even back to fully running this week, though I’m still taking it very slowly as I work my mileage back up.

And on a really cool note – look at all these people who came out to train on Saturday. Every single person here is running to to find a cure for blood cancers. Every person here is training like crazy and raising thousands of dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. What an amazing group of people supporting an amazing cause. I’m so proud to be part of this team!



So I’m officially back out and running this week and just trying not to push too hard. I survived 3.5 miles yesterday and 5.5 miles today. It was definitely harder than it should have been (note to self – when you map out a new run, make sure the last mile of a 5.5 mile run isn’t straight uphill), but after almost 2 full weeks of not running, really, I shouldn’t be surprised that I lost a little in my training.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem that I’ve fallen too far backwards in my training. I just have to force myself to keep the pace a bit on the slower side for at least a few more runs until the knee is 100% healed so I build back up gradually and don’t reinjure it at the same time. It’s all good, though. I’m just happy to be back out and running again!

Ha! Never in a million years did I think those words would come from me!

Taking a nice rest day tomorrow to ease my aching muscles (amazing how much your muscles hurt again after just a short time off!), but I’ll be back for another 5.5 miles on Thursday.

Keep on running,

Goal: Anything even remotely resembling running! – Reality: 3.1 miles of speedy movement / I’m BAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Well, sort of.

My knee is finally on the mend, and I’m back to training. Sure, it’s not exactly the level of training I’m scheduled to be doing right now, and yes, my life still involves a very close relationship with my ice pack, but hey – I’m out on the road, and I’m moving again, so that’s a darn good start in my book.

My coach’s hope is that I’ll be back to fully running by this time next week. My hope is overestimating my recovery time and I’ll be back to running before then.

I headed out for the team run today because my coach wanted to talk to me more about the specifics of my knee injury and see if we could come up with a good game plan on modifying my training to keep me at a good physical level until I can fully run again. Technically I should have been running 5 miles today, but instead I did what was kind a cross between a REALLY speedy walk combined with a REALLY pathetic jog. But hey – either way, I was moving, I was moving quickly, and it felt FABULOUS!

The knee really didn’t bother me much at all during the hilly 3 mile adventure today. I would feel it a little on some of the downhills, but overall nothing bad at all! This is a big improvement over even yesterday, so things are definitely on the right track again.

Sure, I won’t be able to run my 8 mile scheduled run on Saturday, but maybe I can do my combo speed walk/pathetic jog for, I don’t know, 5 of the 8 miles? Sure! That seems possible. Not ideal, but I’ll be happy with it at this point. In the meantime I’ll be seeing a whole heck of a lot of fast walking, biking, and elliptical training until I’m fully recovered – which quite frankly sounds a heck of a lot more exhausting to me than my usual training. Makes me hope for that fast recovery even more.

I’m just beyond happy that I survived 3 miles tonight without pain – even if it wasn’t a true run. This is definitely encouraging! Hopefully the training momentum continues from here so I’m back to where I need to be in no time. Gotta keep the faith!

Keep on running,