Getting back on track

The last week has been hard, seeing the dr. and hearing what he has to say, trying to digest what he thinks is wrong with my back and then waiting to find out. Then Sunday, having one of the worst runs ever, such severe heartburn that it lasted for almost 48 hours. Still feeling it a little but getting better. I really wanted to throw in the towel on Sunday and just admit that I am not cut out to run a marathon, maybe halves is as good as I get...but I am not accepting that! Maybe I will not be a repeat marathoner, but I will cross that finish line on November 14 come hell or high water. (Of course unless my MRI reveals something crazy today).

So I am having a new renewed spirit and determination.

Today is the first day of the last 7 weeks to race day and I am going to stay motivated...GO ME!

Good News vs Bad News

Saw the dr. yesterday, he is a Sports Medicine Dr. that is associated with the marathon training team, I have heard wonderful things about him. Initially I went in for pain in my left knee and hip that mostly occur when I run the long distances. He ran me through all the regular tests checking both legs and seeing what hurt, nothing really hurt when he did all this of course making me feel silly. Then he had me run up and down the hallway and watch what happens and make comments like "oh look at that" "huh" "well there you go". He had two medical students with him so he was teaching them what to look for, I just kept running.

Finally he took me in the room and said he didn't think there is anything wrong with my knee or hip but my back. Really? My back - funny since I have had lots of back pain since I was in high school mainly when I was a cheerleader. Also my dad has had chronic back pain since I can remember so I just thought I inherited this condition.

Dr. Cutter decided to do x rays on my back. He took me to look at it and said he sees a slight curvature of the spine and then possibly a herniated disc or even a healed cracked back from years ago. I was stunned, didn't really know what to say. He then suggested I get an MRI to get a better look, so I go back next week. He did tell me I could keep training and running unless the pain got too bad. So now I just have to wait and see.

What is the most annoying...now my back hurts, I know I am crazy, my husband already told me that. Oh well guess I will know more next week.

Yuck!

I had been saying for a while the my toenail had fallen off but I was exaggerating a little bit, the toenail was blue and the nail was all loose. Well today it actually fell off, I mean I have no nail and it is so gross. Scary thing is it doesn't hurt. Now whether it will hurt tonight while I run 8 miles that is another story. However my mouth/teeth/face still hurts from 90 minutes of drilling to fill two cavities so I think the toe pain will have to be way bad to trump that.

Bonus is that dinner is done so when we get home from running and take the sitter home we can eat. Ahhh, sometimes planning ahead is so good.

Off to finally see the dr. tomorrow, had to cancel last weeks appt. Fingers crossed it is just my IT band.

Tiredness!!!!

Just 10 miles is what I told myself last week. I only have to run 10 this weekend, no biggie, so not the big deal as 15.5 was.

Alarm goes off on Sunday morning, 6:00am, first time I ever wanted to NOT get up! But I did since I was meeting Barrie at 6:40. When I hopped in her car we both had the same look on our face, let's just go home and go back to bed...but we didn't we headed to our team meeting and started running.

While 10 doesn't seem like a super long run these days you can't underestimate how much effort it still takes and that is still is a long run. We trudged through and complained a little, caught up on not talking for a few days. As soon as Barrie's watch said 10 miles we stopped cold and started walking. Funny thing is, she looked at her watch and we rocked a pretty fast time for 10 miles...guess sometimes it helps to not want to be there...you go faster.

Ok now getting to be TIRED and not just TIRED but TIIIIRRREEDDD!!!! I could totally crawl on the floor of the kitchen and go to sleep but I will not or actually can't. I will however plop myself on the couch to watch House tonight and not feel guilty. The good thing is that I am tired for a good reason but sometimes still so hard to push threw. The ironic thing is what wakes me up, running, I know I am getting addicted...or maybe just my body and mind is.

Date Night with my Hubby

Tom and I are both training for the marathon and will run it together but we cannot train together most of the time. He does the Saturday long runs and I do the Sunday ones with our respective teams. We pretty much are the same pace and always help each other through the hard times and emotional and physical lows.

Tonight we get to run together for our little date night. We have a sitter and will log in our 7 miles together:) It should be fun! Then home to get the kids to bed and finish the housework, oh the joys!

Then up again in the morning to meet my girls for our weekly Wednesday run :)

Its works miracles

So while I was complaining yesterday about the ice bath and concluded last night at bed time when my legs were still aching after taking well over the recommended amount of Motrin that it does not work. BUT this morning as I swung my legs over the side of the bed expecting to wake up the house with a yelp, I felt no pain, yes that is right my legs did not hurt. I could not believe it. So I will gladly suffer through an ice bath after the long runs if I don't have pain the day after. Highly recommend the ice bath...it was brutal but worked a miracle.

Oh and yes Laurie if you are reading this I have an appointment with the dr. on Friday to have my knee checked out.

The Good, The Bad, The Sad and The Super Cool

Its 3pm and I am still laying in bed.

Started the run at 7:30 this morning and finished about 3 hours later - yup I ran continuously for 3 hours, I know it sounds crazy and pretty much is!

The Good...

• I did it! I ran over 15.5 miles this morning, my longest run EVER. WHOO HOO!!!!!
• I had my runner moment, now I am sure I have this before and will probably have many more but it really was a monumental runner moment. We were at about mile 10 and running along the river on Riverside Dr. (Richmonders know how beautiful this is) The sun was shinning, the wind was blowing the humidity was low. The trees provided a nice shade as we glanced to the left and saw the beautiful James spotted with rocks, to the right beautiful Richmond River houses, amazing houses and lawns. AHH, the scenery was right. I was running with my good friend Barrie and weekly running partner and two coaches on our team - they were all telling marathon stories and commenting on the beauty of our run. At that moment I dropped back a little bit and drank it all in...knowing that I am a runner, let me say that again I AM A RUNNER! I was 10 miles into a 15 mile run, feeling great with great company on a great day. I knew at that moment that no matter what pains and obstacles lay ahead I will be crossing that marathon line, no matter what it takes to do it.
• Popsicles...at the VA Beach Half last year they handed out popsicles after coming through the shoot at the end, it was glorious, I seriously wanted to kiss the man who gave it to me. And today someone had popsicles for us then we finishes, OH the joy!!!!!
• I felt great, cardiovascularly I felt good and could have kept on going, which is such a good mental feeling.

The BAD...

• Ok nothing was really bad except maybe the walk from the finish line to my car and then desperately trying to get out of the car and into the house, that was bad, or just hysterical.
• ICE BATH BAD!!!!! I have given birth without drugs and the pain I felt for the 20 minutes of sitting in ice was probably just as bad a contractions during transition phase. Lily came in right before i was going to get in and I made her leave since i figured some obscene words would be uttered. However, no noise came out but some low volume whimpering and some crying, mostly I was just clenching my fists and praying for it to be over "MELT ICE, MELT"

The SAD...

• My knee, leg, ankle could not have hurt more for the last 2 miles. If it wasn't for the fact that my car was 2 miles away I would have layed down and just stopped. I am still trying to figure out if the pain was so bad or it was just worse due to the mental toll it took on me. I really wanted to cry and we rounded the corner for the last mile.
  
• I had to walk, I know it might not seem that bad but for me it was just annoying. Luckily Barrie was so great and willing to walk with me on and off the last 2 miles, it really helped. I did however run it in, I just could not finish my first 15 walking.
  

The Super Cool

• There are many things I love about my husband, too many to list. Today he rocked it! He got all my stuff for the ice bath, set up the tv with an extra cable so I could watch Grey's reruns on TIVO, got me donuts, a large coffee from DD, some flowers and had the kids write me notes that they put all over the bathroom. It was so wonderful, made the pain and torture of the actual bath a little more tolerable.

Well that is it. And just cause I know my sister Laurie will ask, I am making an appointment with a dr. in the morning to have my knee, leg, hip, whatever looked at. Sounds like it is a common problem with runners that a little PT and ice should make better. Fingers Crossed.

Holy Moly!

Just finished with a BBQ with friends, didn't get to indulge in any beer, hot dogs or hamburgers. Stuck to pasta, meatballs and bread. I did get to enjoy a cupcake - its a carb right? About to get ready to drink my 32 oz G2 before heading to bed.

Tomorrow is the big day and the start of when the training gets HARD. We are running 15.5 in the morning, my longest run EVER!! After this weekend the weekend runs don't go below 12 until two weeks before the marathon. And our weekday runs creep up to 7, 8, 9.

I am confident and excited with a twinge of nervousness. I know I can do it, just hope all the pain is minimal. Supposed to be the prettiest run of the training and the weather is going to be wonderful.

Another biggie tomorrow - my first ice bath. Seems to be a bit controversial in the running world, some say it is a must after a long run and some say it does not do anything to speed up your recovery. Anyhow I am going to give it a try. Here is what you do...
fill bathtub with cold water
add 2 16lb bag of ice
SIT in the bathtub until all the ice melts keeping your legs moving to not allow any warm pockets to occur.

Suggested by many during the ice bath - a good book (doing think I can concentrate) or a good movie (that is what I am going with) and a STIFF drink - I am thinking some coffee with maybe a little baileys or Kahlua. And the kicker is that you are supposed to warm up slowly. I am thinking this will be the hardest part!

All in all, tomorrow will be a big day. Good think we got the yard looking good and the house is in order and cleaned as best it could.

To bed I go.

Patrick Henry Photos

The end sprint! Barrie and I half way...and beautiful me :)

Good News for Tom

Nothing wrong with Tom's knee but some tightness..okay he said a bunch more medical stuff but he is not banned from running just to ease back into it. He is going to hit the road in the morning to see how it feels. Yeah!!!! Thanks Kim and Dr. Meyers.

Keep your fingers crossed!

First run this morning while juggling getting Lily up and ready and Tom off to work. All went well...but 5:30 is early to get up and it was not light for a while but the cooler weather was great. Did 4 today...one more run this week before 15 on Sunday.

Keep your fingers crossed for Tom today, heading to the orthopedist today to have his knee checked out. He had ACL surgery in 2006 and has been feeling a ton of pain, couldn't finish a run last week. I am hoping he just needs some PT. Would hate to lose my partner. Fingers crossed!

When did running 6 miles become to easy.

Yesterday I met my girls for a run, trying to get in our long run before school starts and we have to adjust our schedules to get everyone on the bus, dressed, hair combed and happy.

As I was running the 6, I thought to myself when did running 6 miles become to easy. A few months ago I would have dreaded heading out for 6 miles and I would have told everyone I ran that far. Now it is just a usual run and not difficult to get it done or remain active for the rest of the day. Feels great to say that!

Getting ready this weekend for a PR - 15 miles. Gotta carb up on Saturday night and drink lots of water. Hoping the weather cooperates and stays cool. Wish me luck.

Last Week

Last week was a little rough between recovering from going all out at the Half Marathon and Brooke being sick. I only got one run in during the week. It is hard to get up early when you are getting no sleep.

Wednesday I met my usual running group - 6 of us girls - we are a crazy, fun running group - always fun topics to discuss and lots of laughing, which is always good when running. Our plan was to run 6 miles. The weather was great, about 70ish, so refreshing from the summer of 90 at 6am. I was extremely pleased that my knee did not hurt at all. We were just about finished with the 6 miles when Barrie told me we were actually supposed to do 7 that day so we added on another mile to get in our weekday long run.

I was very bummed to not get my other runs in the rest of the week but sometimes life and kids are more important that your training.

My husband and I decided to take the kids to DC for the weekend, Brooke was feeling better and Lily and Sam were excited to see the museums and monuments. I decided to forgo my usual Sunday run and meet Barrie for a run. Barrie is currently a coach for the Richmond Half Marathon training team on Saturday, they were running 6 so I met Barrie an hour early and we ran 4 and then 6 with the training team. The first 4 was great, weather was nice and nothing hurt and we were running at a really good pace. Then 6...my knee was not feeling it and had to walk a bit around mile 5 - so frustrating. Iced it that afternoon on the way to DC.

Got a lot of cross training in this weekend. We walked all around the Mall in DC on Saturday afternoon. Felt good to work out the kinks in my legs. Sunday we biked with the kids around DC, that felt great for the knee...I will have to add that to my weekly routine!

Ok here I go again...trying to keep a blog to keep me inspired

This past Saturday I am officially half way through my training program for the Richmond Marathon. My husband Tom, my good friend Barrie and I ran the Patrick Henry Half marathon for a new PR (personal record). The run was long and humid, luckily the sun didn't peak through until we were finish, thank goodness. At mile 6 I was seriously doubting my ability to be able to finish 26.2 miles, mentally I was over the race but some cheers from Barrie's two sons and her husband help me get over the hump and the Gu I choked down at mile 8 energized me. Once we got to mile 10 I was thinking I am almost there only 3 more miles and then I can sit down. Mile 11 got a little difficult due to some major knee pain, mostly from the uneven roads we were running on. I had to stop and walk for a few seconds just to bend it a little so that helped. Mile 12.5 we could taste the finish line, just a run through the woods and our finish would be in our sight or so we thought. Barrie had run the race before and informed Tom and I that they moved the start/finish line back from it original stop, only like 500 yards the last time but she didn't think they were planning that this time. So here we come picking up some speed rounding the last corner looking for the big yellow finish line and IT IS NOT THERE...yup they moved it back 500 yards...I know you are thinking 500 yards SUCK IT UP but that seems like another mile after running 13.1 miles in record time. Mentally you think the race is over and to run just a little bit more in just mean. After being pissy for a few seconds we all quickly perked up as the crowds cheered and we could see the end in sight and TOM KICKS IT UP and starts sprinting (ok not sprinting sprinting but sprinting as much as you can on your dead legs). Amazingly we all picked up the pace and enjoyed the yells of encouragement and the race to beat the clock...finishing just under 2 hours 18 minutes, a new PR for both Tom and I. WHOO HOO it is done and we are ready for some cold drinks, cold towels, ice for aching knees and a somewhat lazy afternoon - how we will accomplish this - well let's just say there is a Wii involved.

So I will try and keep up with my training until the Marathon on November 14 and after that I don't know where my running with take me...London 2012 - HA!