I'm back!

Well after not blogging for months, I have decided to start again! A lot has happened since I have stopped. I got hurt training for my first marathon. I still remember that date of my injury. It was Sept 13, 2010. So needless to say, I did not get to run my marathon. I tore a muscle in my calf and spent 6 weeks in physical therapy and had to take 12 weeks off of running. I have learned a lot since. I am hoping not to get hurt again. I have learned that running is a big part of my life but it is not everything. I love running and realize not to take it for granted. So here I am, recovered. I start training for my first marathon (again) in about a week! I am now going to to the Seattle Rock n Roll marathon. I did the half last year and loved it!

Today I ran a little over 4 miles. I had to make it quick because my boys had swimming lessons this morning. My pace was 8:30 which is great for me. I just wish I could keep that pace for my marathon. We will see..... My pace has gotten a lot better but I haven't started increasing my runs yet. I have threes running goals this year: 1- not get hurt 2- To actually be able to complete my marathon! 3- Qualify for Boston. I haven't told anyone about #3 yet so if you read this, you are the only the people that know about this goal! I am not sure if it will happen but one can dream right?! Okay well enough for today!

4 miles

8:30 pace

380 calories burned

The dreadful Hills!

This morning, I rolled of bed and ran the Hill's route. It is 6 miles. I did not want to get up this morning but knew I had to since it was going to be really hot again! I started off okay, my knee was a little sore but as I ran on, it felt better. I headed up nice hill which wasn't so bad this morning. I got down to the bottom of the preschool hill and realized that I did not reset my Garmin from my 5K I did last weekend. I wasn't sure what my real time was. Thankfully, I knew that the route was 6 miles. I made it up preschool hill and wanted to stop for a minute but I continued on. I try not to think about the hills because it will psych me out. So I put some fast music on and tried to think about something other than hills! It started to get warm towards the end of my run. I thought about doing 9 miles instead of 6. 9 miles is my long run this week. I just wasn't feeling it. It was hot, my Garmin time/distance was all messed up and I was thirsty. I didn't take my fuelbelt! So I stopped at 6.

I have two things to complain about:
1. I think I can eat whatever I want because I am burning a lot of calories, dangerous!

2. As I was running through a crosswalk today that said "walk" and was blinking for the cars to stop, then car driving fast didn't not want to stop so they honked at me! Seriously! How rude! Maybe they were jealous because they can't run!

Stats:

6 miles

9:14 pace

572 calories burned!

12 miles!

Last Friday, I ran 12 miles. It was my long run for the week. I haven't ran 12 miles since my half marathon. I had ran 11 miles sick the week before so I knew I could do it. I woke up early (I hate mornings!) took some shot blocks and was on my way. By the way, I like the Cliff Shot Blocks. I tried some Powerbar ones and they were awful! So back to my run. I started at my house, went up nice hill and ran past the Center. The next few miles were downhill and flat, which was nice! I felt pretty good. The sun was out but it wasn't too warm yet. It was time for mile long hill! I put on some fast music and I made it up! I actually felt pretty well at the top. At about my 5, I started having some pain on the top of my foot/ankle. It really hurt. I stopped and retied my shoes to see if that helped. It helped a little. It still hurt. I thought if I could turn down a street that was coming up and head home. This would give me about 6 miles. That would count as a run on my training schedule. Then I thought, I should just suck it up! So I continued. My foot actually started to feel better.

My run was pretty uneventful. I am so thankful for my fuelbelt! I love it on my long runs. I started to feel a little tired at mile 10 but I got through it. I was running towards some people holding political signs, they were blocking the sidewalk. I heard one guy say, watch out guys a jogger is going by. I said, it's okay and ran around them. I felt a little insulted, a jogger, really!!! How about a runner?! Okay, I have vented! When I got home, it was the usual, the kids were really excited to see me. I got to sit and ice my knee for about 10 minutes!! Oh what I wouldn't give to just sit and relax after a run!

Stats:

12 miles

9:36 pace

1107 calories burned!

Early morning run with Jill

Okay, I am so behind of my blog postings. Life is busy right now. I am going to blog about my last two long runs and my run today. I am going to skip the "small runs" that I have done recently to get caught up!

So a little over a week ago, I ran 11 miles with my friend Jill. This was an interesting run because I was sick. I woke up in the morning and didn't feel well but I knew that I needed to get the run done! So I rolled out of bed, ate a powerbar, drank some tea and headed to Jill's. Jill and I decided to just start running and if I felt too bad, we could cut our run short. So off we went. Right away, I felt terrible. I was having trouble breathing. I am not sure if any of you know what a child with Croup sounds like but we call it stridor. That's what I sounded like. Jill asked if I was okay, I said I was and we kept going. I had eaten a cough drop but it wasn't helping. We were almost to the top of mile long hill and I stopped, put some gum in my mouth, took off my long sleeve shirt and we started again. I started to feel better. I think it was the cold air! We ran a few more miles and decided that we could do 11! The rest of the run went well, we chatted and I was able to breathe! The last part of the run was nice hill of course, neither one of us wanted to run up it but WE DID! Yay for us. After making it up nice hill, it was mostly downhill to finish! After our run, we went and got a coffee! Love Starbucks! I was so happy to get my long run for the week done! It turns out that I would feel worse later that day. I felt the best when I was running!

Stats:

11.05 miles

10:10 pace

1035 calories burned

Foam Roller

Okay so I am so behind on my entries!!! Sorry, I have been, well lazy. So 9 days ago, I did a 5 mile run. I had been having some outer knee pain. I asked a doctor at my work, who also runs about my knee. He thought it was IT Band syndrome. He suggested a foam roller and printed out some exercises for me to do. The next day, I went to Target and bought the foam roller. It was reasonable, $24.99, just add that to my running gear total which is quickly adding up! I tried some exercises. That night, I decided to go on a run. And..... sure enough my knee was already feeling better. It was still a little sore but felt so much better. I stuck to a route close to my house. The run was nice. I ran at a slow pace and it was cooling off! I felt great after my run. I was happy to not run in the heat! Well this entry is going to be short and sweet. I will come back and add a picture of my foam roller. Happy running!

9 miles in the Sun!

So I ran 9 miles on Thursday. My husband was fishing, so I had to wait until he came home to run! I put my son Owen down for a nap and then my husband called to let me know that he was on his way home. So I got ready and was ready to go when he pulled in the driveway. I decided to use my fuelbelt for the first time since it was hot out. I am so glad I did! I decided to do a route that my friend Jill and I had ran a couple weeks ago. Of course my run started with running about a quarter of a mile then onto nice hill! After I ran up nice hill, I got a little break from the hills for about a mile. Then it was on to the hills again. The next big hill was mile long hill! It was hot and I was already tired. But I made it to the top and needed a drink! I drank some Gatorade but it just made mouth all sticky so I drank a little water. I only took two water bottles in my fuel belt. I should have taken all four of them. Anyway, I got about 5 miles into my run and thought, it's really hot! I was hot and tired and wanted to go home. But my training plan called for 9 miles. I so wanted to quit but I kept going. Every time I looked down at my Garmin, I was going too fast. It would say 8:45/8:55. I am trying to slow my pace so I can actually get to 26.2 miles! It didn't take long for the sun to slow me down! So after mile 5, I go a little lost. I was trying to remember where Jill and had turned. I looked up and thought, maybe it's this street, wrong! I ran and ran and nothing looked familiar. I started running into dead ends. I would turn down another street and dead end!! Finally I saw the BPA trail. I am familiar with this trail and knew it would come out at the Aquatic Center. So I hopped on the trail. I looked down at my Garmin to see how long it had been and it wasn't moving. I had stopped to get a drink of water about a mile back and forgot to turn my Garmin back on! I turned it back on, thinking I need to stop doing that. I was so relieved to see the Aquatic center! Only about 3 miles left! I made it home drenched in sweat and happy to be home. Why did this 9 mile run feel harder than my half marathon! So I go into my house and my husband says, " I saw you leaving the house with a geeky looking thing around your waste"! He was talking about my fuel belt, my cute yet nerdy hot pink fuel belt. This belt says yes I am a runner! So of course I went off about how "cool" it was. I was so happy for this run to be over!! I will have to post a picture of my fuel belt!

Stat:

9.1 miles

9:13 pace

745 calories burned

Elliptical Trainer

So I have two posts to do. This is the first one. I did the elliptical trainer as my cross train on Wednesday. I was planning on doing a run but of course didn't get up early and my hubby had to work at 1pm. So... I could not go running and had to do my cross train. We bought an elliptical trainer several years ago. It has been one of the best purchases that we have ever made. I hadn't done the elliptical trainer in a while. I decided to do 40 minutes. I put in on the level that I used to do. I did a lot of inclines. Let me just say that it totally kicked my butt! It was fairly hard. I was dripping in sweat after I finished. It was a great cross training workout. It was also a lot easier on my knee as well! Well folks, that is as about exciting as it gets! On to post number 2!