Wednesday, August 31, 2011

new direction

156.4 pounds. it seems i have reached a plateau. but, i guess that is supposed to happen every few months, and to be fair, the only exercise i got this week was on saturday. :)

now that the race is over, jason is back in school, i have the boys on a semi regular schedule, and the delish foods of fall are coming, it is time to get on track running again. i dont have to follow a schedule (like i did before... ha.) and dont have to run for distance, unless i just feel like it. how nice.

so expect some runs to be logged, and perhaps those last 8 pounds to be lost.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

the race: summer breeze half marathon 13.1 miles

friday morning at 1130 we left the house to drive to california. we arrived at 10 pacific time and quickly went to bed. the race was at 8am saturday morning, and hour from home.

i was up at 520. ate a bowl of oatmeal and a banana for breakfast, gathered the kids and loaded up into the yukon to drive to the race. all we needed to do at the race was to pick up our timing chips and warm up (and get over our nerves.)


i felt good. i stretched out my legs and did a little warm up jog with katie, no pain the whole time. i was excited to get to run again, and to be able to at least start out with katie for the first couple miles.


i prayed for us in the coral before the gun, for a pain free run with quick times. and God answers prayer.



a couple miles into the race, katie i and were hanging out at a 10:15/10:30 pace and feeling great. the temperature was good, fog blocked the hot sun, just a light breeze instead of a nasty headwind, and my leg felt fine- like it was never injured.

the aid stations were so nice to have, especially the farthest one out that was more than three miles from the one before. and it had skittles. i love skittles, but i have never enjoyed them as much as i did at 6.5 miles on saturday. except maybe at 10.5 miles. they were pretty great then too.


at ten miles, i let katie go on ahead. i wanted to turn it down a little, but kept her in my sight through the finish.


i was tired, but in good spirits at ten miles. i knew i could keep running. near 13 jason came and caught up with me to run the last bit, it was a nice surprise. when i knew the finish was close, i picked up the pace again. the finish is on the grass across the park from the path we ran on, and as soon as i hit the grass i sprinted in to the arch.


it felt good to speed up, and to know i would be finished in just seconds.



i did it. i ran all 13.1 miles. it was as if i had never been injured. but not only that, i did it much faster that i imagined i might be able to.

266th out of 339. 2:24:08, an 11 minute pace. fantastic.

and we all really did have a great time.


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

3 more days

i am up one pound this morning at 154.2 pounds, but im not entirely surprised by this. i did make and eat my weight in yummy breads yesterday.

also yesterday i went for a run just after 8 (when its finally cooled off) and didnt make it very far. my calf was cramping and its not worth hurting it to run, so i came back home. im hoping it was just some soreness from the 4 miles the day before, not another tear from the 4 miles the day before. so now i just wait and see what happens. this is not how i planned for the race to go.

Monday, August 22, 2011

im melting... melllltttinggggg....

4 miles in 45 minutes. well, kind of. i went out at just after 7 and did two, but it was WAY TOO HOT. at about 1.25 i really wanted to throw up, and that doesnt often happen to me on a run ever, let alone such a short one. it was just too too hot. i made it home in 24:30 and then went out again at 8:15 to finish up the 4 miles. i just started my timer where i left off, and finished in 45:06. those last two miles were so much better. i was less tired, in a better mood, more willing to continue running even though my miles were up... i need to remember, even though i want to get the run done earlier in the evening, i just cant do it in that kind of heat.

race day is getting close!

i just received my race day information email. and a little bit of the jitters. everything is pretty much what i expected except the water station placement: Half Marathon: 1.55, 3, 6.55, 10.1, 11.45 thats three and a half miles between stops 4 and 5, at what i think is going to be the hardest part of the race. yikes.

i hadnt planned on carrying water, and i dont really want to pack it for 8 miles before i take my first drink, but i think i might. guh. i dont know.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

i took a short run late last night after jason got home from work. it was about 2.25 miles but i dont have a time on it because i checked my podcast at the wrong time. oh well. i felt good, it was nice to get out again, and im looking forward to the next one.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

only 5 to go!

i stepped on the scale this morning and saw that i had gained 147 pounds. :|

just kidding.

kind of.

our scale has a memory setting. i use number 1, jason uses number 2. once in a while when the kids are playing with it they time it just right and mess up our settings. we dont always notice until after the reading shows our current weight- it then shows a gain or loss of whatever the difference is from the previous setting. todays difference was 147.0 pounds. yikes.

so i did some math. last week i weighed 156.4 pounds (after gaining almost 2 pounds), and this morning i weigh 153.2 pounds- a real loss of 3.2 pounds. that feels pretty good. this week i ran again, i lost some weight again... there is a lot going on in our little corner, so it really is nice to have a couple things working in my favor today.

on another note-

i have been reading numbers. if you remember, i started in 1 corinthians and have worked my way to the end of the new testament and back around the beginning. numbers isnt just the story of how many fighting men are in the people if israel, its also the story of the deaths of the people God has trusted to lead the people to the promised land.

i didnt know that God told aaron to go to the top of a particular mountain and there he would die. people talk about what it might be like to know the place and the time... im pretty sure i wouldnt enjoy it. aaron was the high priest (i think) and as such, must remain ceremonially clean at all times. if he were to become unclean, his priestly garments would also be unclean. thats not allowed. his clothes were specially made of fine materials and adorned and could not be discarded or washed like other clothes that were made unclean. my point: aaron couldnt die while wearing his priestly garments or they would be made unclean having touched a dead body.

so moses, aaron, and aarons son all go up the mountain together. aaron removes his clothes and moses places them on eleazer, aarons son, the new high priest. and then aaron dies.

just like that?

im not sure how i feel about that. and even more, once he is dead, moses and especially eleazar cant touch him (or carry his body down the mountain to be buried) or they would become unclean. did they even cover his body with stones? i dont know. but its really interesting to think about the details, and im sure God had it all figured out.

a similar story is that of moses. God told him it was his time to die- to go to a certain place (i dont remember if it was the top of a mountain, or over the jordan... cant remember where) but to go there, and look at all the land that he had given to the israelites and once he had seen it all, he would die.

i talked to jason about that last night. his comment, how slowly or quickly do you think moses scanned the land? knowing that when he had seen it all, he would die. he had been with God on a regular basis, i wonder if it was kind of no big deal to him?

so yeah, numbers. give it a read some time. get through the counting of troops and some sacrifices and there is a lot of good stuff in there.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

3 miles

i RAN THREE MILES last night. (33 minutes.) it didnt hurt, and i still dont hurt this morning. it felt like such a victory after being in such pain, and just not running for weeks. i havent run more than 2 miles since my 9 on july 19. a month ago. it just felt good is what im saying.

im a little bit sore this morning, but plan to do another 3 miles tonight after the baby shower im going to, if i dont get home too late.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

these shoes werent made for walking

i went out again tonight for a short 1 mile while jason got the kids clean before bed. i felt good the whole time, and made it back in 10:30. i think im ready to start running again. just a little bit, but hopefully enough that im not walking 13.1 miles in a couple weeks.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

first time on the new legs.

i ran two miles tonight in a little over 20 minutes with jason and the kids trailing me. my leg felt good, my body felt hot, tired, and ready to quit. we wrapped and iced my leg at home, and the real test will be how it feels the next time. last time we did this my first run out on it was good, and the second was awful. fingers crossed.

not settling

ive been a little down this morning. i havent done any cross training (except some serious weed pulling on monday at the empty lots) and i have felt like ive gained some weight. this morning i weigh 156.4 pounds for a gain of 1.8 pounds this week. that was more than i expected, and a much larger gain than ive had in quite a while.

im bummed. but, its a new week, and i can make a change. ive been telling jason that we do not have to settle in situations and now i just have to tell myself not to settle here.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

endurance

yesterday morning i did level two under great protest. it is so much harder first thing in the morning. after that was over the kids and i got together and headed to Shu's for some new insoles and laces for jason. i love the insoles. i think they are super comfortable, definitely more supportive, and pink to boot. now i just hope they will help the injury. we also got some laces for jasons shoes (that desperately need replaced) because his have broken three times now. (he really, really, really needs new shoes.)

we worked out a schedule for today that includes picking up our fruit basket, a morning and evening work out for me (between 8am and 7pm) and a full day of work for him. it involved working from home for a while while the kids were both awake, and i really appreciate that.

at 8:10 i got to the gym and put in 60 minutes on the elliptical. i sweat a lot. i managed 5.7 miles which is a 10 and a half minute mile. its a pretty good pace for the elliptical. i am stamped and going back this evening for a second long work out. im hoping to get in around 5:30 and stay till close at 7.

now i just hope this works. id love to be able to jog a bit of the race in a few weeks. (21 days)

Thursday, August 4, 2011

running injured part 2

i didnt post last night because i was too bummed to write anything less than completely depressing. so heres the whole story.

yesterday morning i stepped on the scale and weighed 154.6 pounds, a loss of 1 pound. good. then followed a long day with minimal napping and maximum hysterical crying from both children. jason came home late because he went into work late (same story this morning) and at 815 last night i left for what should have been an easy 2 mile run.

should have been. i walked several minutes to get my legs moving, then started out on an easy jog. a quarter mile in i was stiff, but fine. three quarters in i was achy. at the end of a mile and a half i could have sat down and cried. i ran at a 10:30 pace, but the whole time i felt like i was running in glue. my feet were just stuck to the ground. and i hurt. my calf felt like a giant knot and i could feel a limp in my stride. i walked out the last half mile and went home to sulk.

we are three weeks out from this race, and if i cant make it 2 miles at what feels like an easy pace, how am i ever going to make it 13? good question, right? after a nights rest i think i have a plan. it has several parts. i am going to get new insoles for my shoes that have more instep support to help with over pronation. that is one of the big causes for calf strain. also, i am going to rely heavily on my jillian dvd and possibly my last 3 rec center passes for some elliptical work to keep my endurance up. (with the rec, i can mimic a long run by going in the morning for an hour or so, then going back in the evening for a second long work out.) as far as the actual race goes, i think i will opt for some run/walk to get through the miles.

i am not the type of person who will push myself when injured enough to cause further injury. when it hurts and i should rest, i do. i am not happy about it. actually, im really pretty irritated about the whole situation, but i know its best in the long run to get my leg to heal so that i can enjoy running again.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

whiney whine complainy pants

i went for a run this evening. i walked out to the loop, then ran a mile and a quarter from there. i checked my time when i got back to the loop again: 12:28. thats 10 minute mile pace. i was pretty shocked.

my leg feels fine, though my knee is pretty achy from being off the cement for almost 2 weeks. (as in, i quit early because of the ache. boo. ouch. blah blah blah. i fel very much the baby because of this.) that should lessen with each run the same as it did when i first got out of the gym. but besides that, i ran pretty fast, considering my time off and that i tried to take it easy and keep it at a jog for this first run.

im wrapped tonight and will try another slightly longer run tomorrow, inching my way back into it for this race.

25 days.
i spent another 20 minutes with my jillian dvd last night, but i still havent got a run in. jasons running when he gets home this evening, so i am hoping that will be my chance to test out this leg. im getting a bit nervous with the race being in a little over 3 weeks. i dont need to be fast, but i do want to know that i can complete the distance in a reasonable amount of time.