Friday, July 30, 2010

Small amount of nerves

I'm starting to get nervous. I just read Robin's 10 Steps to Your First Ever Race Event post. And like, holy cow, am I really going to do this thing?!?!?

Things I'm nervous about:
1. Having to spend all my time in a port-a-potty
2. Having the blister I've been nursing rupture like a blown tire
3. Cramps, cramps, cramps
4. Throwing up
5. The voice in my head


However.....Husband and I are going to carb-load tonight. We're too nervous to do the pasta thing the night before the race (see above #4). Plus, I don't know where I'm going to find a gluten-free pasta restaurant that my entire family is going to want to go to in down-town Chicago.

On top of my nervousness, I am totally excited! I'm ready to Rock and Roll! Are you?

Happy running!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Pictures

Today Bentley climbed up and sat in Husband's lap.

He must have thought he was a lap-dog.

And then he chose this position to take a short nap in.


In case you were wondering.....he weighs 80 lbs!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Things that happened today:

1. Woke up at 5:30 to go for a 6-mile run with Husband. Held off a Brown Monster attack until after mile 3....but things didn't go well after that. This is really starting to get to me. My confidence about the half next week is really shaky because all I can think about is spending all my time in a port-a-potty.

2. Went to Yoga at the gym. I was excited about the class because I went to a beginner's class two weeks ago taught by the instructor and really liked her. Sadly, she was on vacation. There was a sub who was rather distracting.

3. Saving grace of the day....I became an aunt!!!!!!!! My sister-in-law gave birth this morning to a beautiful 8 lbs 3 oz baby boy. Yay!!! He is going to be spoiled rotten :) We're going to visit him right now :)

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Tired-er

Soooo flippin' tired!

I slept through both my alarms this morning. Thank goodness for the fool-proof Bentley alarm or I might have slept through most of the garage sale. (oh yea.....I've spent the last two days at my parents' house co-supervising a garage sale with my sister.)

I still have a wedding to drag myself through tonight before this week is over.

I haven't seen Husband for more than 15 minutes at a time all week. He told me last night as I crawled into bed at 11:00 PM that he has missed me. (oh yea...I haven't been out of town, just super freakin' busy!)

I haven't even had time to process that one week from today I will be maxing out my credit card at the Expo before the RNR Half.

Half-Marathon....that's 13.1 miles...the furthest I've ever run...ever. Am I ready? (small knot in stomach has started)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Tired

This week has not been my favorite. I signed up for a class this week about Writing Workshop and it's sucking the life out of me. Writing Workshop, for you non-teachers, is a school-related thing that I won't explain here. I am, however, loving the class. I am terrible at teaching writing and I really feel that this information will help make a huge difference in my teaching this year.

Sad things I've noticed while taking this class:

1. I'm really bad at teaching writing.
2. These are the most days in a row that I have showered all summer.
3. I am more ADD than I originally thought.

I did make it out for a short run with Husband this morning. Bentley woke me up at 5:50 and I figured, why not? Husband's alarm was going off so that he could get up and run, so I just got dressed and ran with him. This run was nothing special. I had a terrible time breathing because of the humidity and conducted some "very important business" in some very tall grass at mile 1.5 because I couldn't take it any more!!!!! UGH! But I managed to do just over 2.25 miles.

I also made it down to the running store after my class and purchased a new pair of running shoes. The man at the store said that my knee pain might not be being caused by my shoes. He said that good shoes can go for about 300 miles. Is he right? I purchased them in December and started running seriously in them in January, but didn't get into any high mileage until June. So....it's been 6 months total. But my shoes don't look "dead." There is not excessive wear or even discoloration. This man also told me to leave my number and he'd talk to one of the other employees who is a PT when he came in. Hopefully I'll get a call tomorrow. Anyway......I have a new pair of shoes......

Happy running!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Long Run Sunday

Today was our long run. Husband and I woke up early to tackle the 9-miler we had planned. I made him stick with me for the first 4.5 miles because I didn't know when we needed to turn around.

Too bad the Brown Monster was waiting to attack me around mile 2!!!!! Luckily we were running the trail and mile 2 includes a forest preserve with bathrooms. Score! I managed to make the next 5 miles without a problem. At the turn-around, though, Husband decided he'd had enough of my slow-poke pace (You can't expect a 6'4" man to keep up with a 5'1" for very long. It's just not physically possible.) So, I really did this run on my own.

The low point of my run was when I stopped back at the same forest preserve to grab a drink. Even though it was early, it was very humid and the heat was creapin' up there. The only drinking fountain at the preserve was a water pump. I knew that Husband was going to stop and refill the water bottle he was carrying so I was hoping to catch him. Just as I came within sight, I saw him leaving. Oh well. I tried my hardest to pump that darn thing but I was just too tired. Some chick in her fancy shorts was lying on a picnic table, stretching, and watching my misery. Did she help me? Nope. I was so tired, exhausted, frustrated, and thirsty that I started crying. I stood there panting and crying and trying to pump this darn thing for about 5 minutes before something actually came out. That was when a gentleman I had passed on the trail stopped and pumped the pump for me. He was very nice. After I guzzled more water that I should have out of frustration, I thanked him and continued on my way.

For the last 2 miles, I managed a fairly decent-paced run/walk situation. There was more running than walking though, which made me happy. I needed to walk because all that water created some fantastic cramps in my sides. Ouch! That's what I get for being greedy.

I have noticed that I really enjoy running without my iPod. I ran the first 4.5 miles without it because I was with Husband. After we split up, I put my headphones in, but I couldn't seem to get into the music. I kept taking them out and just listening to my stride. It was rather interesting.

When we got home, I spent 20 minutes in an ice bath and am happy to report that I am not sore right now. My knees are not happy, but I think that is them telling me that I need new shoes.

Any advice on whether or not I should get some this close to a big race? Should I just get them and start breaking them in now and run the half in my old shoes? Or should I get them and then walk around in them a lot and do the rest of my training in them and then wear them for the half? My knees are really, really not happy.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Eat my words

So I guess you could say I can could go ahead and eat my words.

Remember all those posts about me begging for cross training advice because I couldn't afford a gym membership? Well....yea.....

I joined a gym.

Go ahead. You can say.....whatever it is you say to someone who says they won't do something and then they go ahead and do it.....

I do have reasons for going back on what I said I wouldn't do.

#1 My friend who belongs to this gym with her family told me that they were waiving the enrollment fee if you joined during the summer. Despite all the website digging I did, I could not find their prices and could not confirm my suspicions about the enrollment fee. When I went up and had my tour I found out that their enrollment fee was $200!!!!! Now you see why I wouldn't join before. I knew it would be outrageous. So glad I waited.

#2 I know they have great variety of classes. I'm not much for working out on machines....which is why I haven't joined the $20/month Average Joe's Gym. They offer the same classes in the morning that they do in the evening. This will be great for when i go back to school. I work out in the morning in the summer and will have to switch to the afternoon when school starts. I was a Y member last summer and had to drop because their class schedule was so weak in the evening. They offered practically nothing after 3:00 for the entire week. Ugh!

#3 I know people who belong there. I am taking a class with the same girl who told me about the enrollment fee. She works out all the time and has invited me to work out with her on multiple occasions.

#4 It gets darn cold here in the winter. 'Nough said.

So far I have been to an aqua aerobics class and a yoga class. I'm looking forward to taking a beginner's spin class after half training is done. I'm working on a weekly class schedule for my remaining summer weeks. When the fall schedule is published, I'll come up with a new plan from there.

Monday, July 12, 2010

The day after

Today was an ordinary day. It started off like any other day. Bentley woke me up at 6:00 AM. The moment I rolled over...well...it was the longest moment of my life because it took me that long to roll over. Holy cow! The pain! The soreness! I only made it down two steps before I had to turn around and descend the stairs backwards to avoid putting too much pressure on my knees. Of all the times I wish I could walk on my hands....I won't even tell you about the pain involved with attempting to sit on the toilet seat....

After feeding the dog and practically crawling back up the stairs, the simple act of lying back down exhausted me so much that I passed out for the next 4 hours. This marks the first time I've slept until 10:00 since college...probably.

I was finally able to wake myself up and get myself going. Lots of water and just enough Advil and I was able to get a few things done. Luckily I was able to get Ryan to help me clean up last night after dinner, so I wasn't angry that my house was messy and smelly this morning. (Remember my New Year's Resolution to wash my dishes after dinner? Yea...me neither...I'm trying to be better about that.)

After my husband got back from football camp, we headed off to our local running store to stock up on some running basics that we didn't have. Here's what we got:



I am nursing one heck of a blister on the ball of my right foot so I'm really looking forward to combining those Balengas with the Body Glide tomorrow for an easy 2-miler. I'm also a huge fan of the GU Chomps because they are gluten free!!! I was able to snag a sample pack at the RNR Chicago expo last year. I wasn't running last year, but I ate them anyway. They gave me quite the energy boost :)

Random note:

On our way to the running store, we heard an emergency update that there was a tornado in the next county over from us. It was near a town that was much further south that we were, so we didn't worry. The skies were cloudy, but nothing that would cause us alarm. On our way home from the store, we heard a weather update from the station that said we could expect steady rain for the evening and that there were some tornado watches in an area just north of our house. As we were coming up over a hill right by our neighborhood, the tornado siren at the top of the hill started going off. (Our county just spent a ton of money to put up free standing, rotating sirens all over our county. There is one about a quarter mile from our house. Bentley howls when they test it on the first Tuesday of every month.) Every hair on my body stood on end and I told my husband that we should get home quickly. We were up on a very high hill and could see for miles and we didn't see any sign of a tornado anywhere. After we turned into our neighborhood my husband turned the car around and said, "I just want to check something." He points to the clouds to the north of the neighborhood and says, "I've never seen a funnel cloud, but what does that look like to you?" And there it was! A very wispy, slowly descending funnel cloud! Oh my gosh! It was north of us, so we didn't have too much cause for worry, but it was still kinda creepy.

So that's my story for the day :) Happy running and watch out for tornadoes!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Distance P-frickin-R

Holy Cow People!

I just ran 8 miles! (well....I ran 8 miles at 7:00 tonight, but you I just got around to posting about it)

I hurt like I've never hurt before.

We had family over (ran with the sisters) for dinner after the run and then watched True Blood (we're sickly addicted to that show) so I didn't get to take the ice bath I planned on. But I did stretch during the show.

I feel awesome.

Friday, July 9, 2010

One week in Paradise


Doesn't this just look amazing??

Husband and I have returned from our vacation to Paradise. We had planned to have a lot of fun in the sun. However, the weather had a different plan. Apparently the sun decided to take a vacation also. It wasn't terrible. It was not as hot and sticky as it could have been. It kept people off the golf course for Husband. He was able to walk on every course he tried and play 18 holes in less than 3 hours. The sun did come out of hiding for our last two days.

Running update:
We did bring our running shoes to Paradise with us. If you read my last post, you know that we got in a run on Friday morning. The bug I picked up on the plane did not make it an easy run. It also didn't make for an easy next few days. But I eventually got it under control. The husband, however, had a great week of running. He even managed an 8-miler...the last 2 miles of which were in the pouring rain. I'm just slightly jealous that he could venture so far from the bathroom. We had planned on running a beach 5K on Tuesday evening, but the weather and my bug kept us from the race.


The view of Paradise.

I spent time by the pool instead. How awesome is that pool? I almost read an entire book. I might have finished it, but it was really hard to get into.

Now we are home and back to reality. I plan on running a short distance tomorrow and a long distance on Sunday. I will get back on the training wagon as soon as possible....however my insides still feel like they've been bugged. :(



Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy 4th!!!

Happy Birthday America :)

Husband and I are currently in Florida enjoying the sun and fun....well no sun. For some reason I seem to have left the sun in IL. Oh yea....and I picked up a bug on the plane and have made great friends with the bathroom :(

I did manage 3 miles on Friday before the Sick Monster really hit me. (Left Husband and thrned around because the stormach grumbles were becoming too painful to ignore.) Yesterday was a total loss because of how crappy I felt. This morning Husband made it out for 8-something miles (I'm totally jealous) in the pouring rain/thunderstorm while I slept off the rest of the Sick Monster.

This morning I'm feeling much better. Hopefully this keeps going. It stinks being sick in a beautiful place like this.

Also..........sooooo excited to hear that Katye is running RNR Chicago!!!! I'll get to meet a Bloggy Idol :) One more reason to get my butt in gear with this training...can't embarass myself in front of Miss Katye.