Fun Stuff

Just got back from visiting and running with my sister at Eastern Illinois University. So much fun!

This week I have a lot to look forward to. Here's a big list:

* Enjoy Spring Break!
* Watch the men build a fence for Bentley in our back yard.
* Run on that trail that I found last month! It's finally warm enough and dry enough!
* Run my first 5K on Saturday with my husband!
* Cook Easter dinner for my husband's family on Sunday.
* Enjoy an extra day for Spring Break on Easter Monday.

OK. So the list wasn't that big. But it's a lot for me.

Plus....I ran close to 6 miles so far this week! Ye-haw! And I'm going to run more! Yay for motivation and great weather!

Brown Monsters and Knee Pain

I'm finally on Spring Break! Did I go to the beach? On a cruise?

Nope. I went to Charleston, Illinois to visit Eastern Illinois University and my sister. Yay! I graduated from here and it's nice to go back. Notice the complete lack of anything surrounding this tiny little town in the middle of no where! Ha!

Since I arrived yesterday, we've gone running twice. Yesterday was a nice 3.6 mile walk/run. We walked to the campus trail, ran the campus trail, and then walked back to her apartment. The campus trail is about 2 miles long. So, yay! After being totally lazy, it was nice to get out and run.

This morning we went for a run around 9:30 and did about 3 miles. It felt great! I still had lung issues, but the shin pain didn't bother me at all. What did bother me during both runs was the Brown Monster. (Code Name: #2)

I haven't had this problem in quite a while. Since I've been running mostly in the afternoon, I haven't felt the urge to "free the Brown Monster" during a run. It used to happen to me all the time around the 2 mile mark. Now it rarely happens. However, the moment I got down here, I can't seem to get rid of it! I had to walk 2 times yesterday and luckily the bathrooms at the football stadium were open or we would have had a problem. This morning though, we had to walk 3 times and cut the run short. Both times the Brown Monster was released in the proper location and not in the bushes, but this is starting to worry me. It could just be a 24- hour problem, but it's still annoying. Any advice?

Also, my sister is experiencing pain in the back of her left knee. I e-mailed my PT friend and am also going to throw this one out to you guys/girls. She is currently training for the Illinois Marathon on May 1st. She was able to get up to about 13 miles on her training plan before her knee really started to bother her. The pain is in the back of her left knee down both the tendons. (The picture is up at the top because I can't get it to move down here.) This pain sometimes moves toward the lower front of her knee. If she rests and ices it, it becomes stiff. It stays stiff for the first 3 miles of a run and then loosens up around mile 4. She said it feels fine after that but hasn't run more than 10 miles since. It bothered her so much today that she stopped when the Brown Monster made me stop. I know she probably needs to see a doctor, but insurance makes that difficult right now. Any advice?

This week = Total Fail

My focus was not on myself this week. It was getting everything squared away at school instead.

It's report card time again and I of course left all my grade-entering until the last minute. It took me one whole hour to get it all entered in!

Another reason for working my butt off at school is that it's Spring Break! I wanted nothing to be hanging over my head during this break. I wanted to relax.

But in doing all of that I neglected my fitness efforts. I ate what I wanted and when I wanted it. As you can tell from my Tasty Tuesday post, I did cook some great dinners :) I didn't give myself enough time to go for a run. I didn't make myself get off the couch and get in a workout with a DVD. I didn't care about me enough.

All of that self-neglect made my weekly visit to the WW scale very depressing. I now understand how I got to this unacceptable weight in the first place. If I can put on that much weight in one week, it's a wonder that I'm not twice as big. I know that this journey will have good weeks and bad weeks....but that doesn't make the bad weeks suck any less.

Here's hoping that I can keep myself motivated during my week off....