20 miles

"Do I really have to run six more miles?" was my first thought after finishing my 20-miler yesterday. I don't think I could have coerced, bribed or coaxed another 6 miles out of my legs. Good thing I wasn't running the marathon and good thing I still have five weeks of training. Time enough for more speed and hill training - so I can convince my legs to give me six more miles come marathon day.

A few things I learned from my run yesterday. I might need to invest in some body glide. I had a little chaffing where my sports bra rubs just below my chest. Haven't had any problems with chaffing except with my 18 and 20 milers. I guess the warmer weather and more sweating equals chaffing.

Since my water-belt got swiped from the car break-in, I decided to try a hand water bottle instead of a belt. Yesterday was the longest run I've used it on and I love it. I use this hand-held Ultimate Direction Fast Draw Extreme water bottle and since it's fairly inexpensive (not quite the price of a water belt) I won't feel bad if at some point during those last six miles of the marathon, I decide to ditch the bottle alongside the road and run without it. Sometimes, just lightening your load by a mere 4.5 ozs. gives you a lift physically and especially mentally. Although, I will remember this time to remove my car key from the side pouch.

Five weeks, ladies. It's almost here.

Could a girl with $100 get a little friendly service?

I decided to reward myself today after my 19 mile run with a trip to a local shoe store. These Nikes are still okay, but if I renew before my shoes are completely thrashed, then they still work well as cross-trainers.

I walk in with my Runnersworld magazine- asking to try on a few of the shoes reviewed in a recent issue. Worker A says to me "dont use that to pick shoes, that is one person's opinion. It doesnt mean anything"....in a voice that accuses me of being completely stupid to be bringing my magazine in shopping with me. I ask to try a New Balance brand. Worker A says "We only sell running shoes in here, New balance is not a running shoe." (Okay, I know one of my best friends loves to run in New Balance, but whatever...)

Then someone else comes into the store and Worker B takes over helping me. She brings me 2 different brands that Ive requested. One is a Saucony, and one is an Aasics. Im kind of wanting to go back to this Aasics shoe, because Ive gone through 3 or 4 pairs of this particular Aasics in the past. But then it changed, and it wasnt as comfortable, so I thought I should just try something else. I ran down the sidewalk in both pairs of shoes. They both felt great.

I come back in saying "they both feel pretty good, although nothing feels GREAT after doing my 19 miler this morning!" I make this comment thinking I might get a knowing chuckle. I am aware that everyone in this store is constantly training for something big. Theyve "been there". Now, Im not really suffering much from my run this morning, but I feel that we can share a small chuckle together over the knowledge that a 19 mile run isnt cake. But worker B looks at me with a completely straight face- blank. Okay- I shouldve realized that nobody in this store will ever admit that a 19 mile run is any different than a 3 mile run. Kind protocol is to joke about these things being challenging, even if you secretly think that it is cake. Relate to the mortals.

Worker A asks if Im training for St George. This point is for later in the story. (o:

Back to the shoes- I say that they both feel equally great. Not sure which to pick. Is there a price difference? Yes, there is. One is significantly cheaper. Well, they both feel equal to me. Maybe Ill take the cheaper one then. Worker B says "At mile 20 of a marathon, you arent going to care about price." Well, Im thinking, everything else feeling equal, how should I choose, if not by price? Flip a magic coin? I actually WANTED her to give me a reason to choose the more expensive Aasics, just cause I consider myself an Aasics girl. I ask her "Is one more durable than the other?" She replies "No". Well, then, I say...Im not sure what else to base my decision on. They feel the same to me. "Dont choose based on price" she says. "okay. Ill take the Saucony's."

Im about to check out. I ask Worker B "what are you currently training for?" She says "tsk, (eye roll- think Bella Swan) lots of things." and then adds quietly "I will be at St George". Wouldnt a friendly person have said this earlier- when finding out Id be in St George? Cool, me too???

Maybe these people deserve to be running snobs. Maybe they are so awesome that they just cant relate to the mere mortals. Maybe running is so easy for them, that they have no clue what the rest of us are doing. But maybe just for the sake of the sale, they could ignore their own Awesomeness just for a moment and be cool to me?

Will I make the drive to the other running store? I dont know. I like to support a local running business here. What do you think? Ignore the condescending attitudes? Maybe just always bring a friend in, so we can at least make fun of their snobbery afterwards, and therefore feel validated by my friends? Or drive to the friendlier running store in the nearby town? What would you do?

Are You Inside?

"Are you inside?" No, I'm not inside. This is what the Garmin asked of me today as I'm waiting for satellite sync out in the clear open area behind my hotel. It's never asked me this before. So, I answer no. It proceeds to ask, "Have you traveled several hundred miles since your last use?" Why yes, yes I have!!! Welcome to O'Fallon, Illinois little Garmin! Just thought this was something to share...this hasn't happened to me yet during my California travels. I must be syncing to a whole new set of satellites here in the Midwest! :) Wondered if any of you have yet had this question from your device...?

Anyways, enjoying our trip out here. There is a nice oval running path around a small lake with a fountain here behind our hotel. 3 times around is a little over a mile. A nice path, but boy is it humid! I waited until about sundown but I was still dripping! Nice to get in some speedwork around the "track" though!

Tomorrow I'm trying to talk Tim into driving me over to the St. Louis arch to take some pics of me running in the park there (although I'm sure if he tried to get a pic of me and the entire arch I would look like a tiny spec in the photo!). He asked me, "What time are we talkin'?" When I said, "Oh, maybe 6:00 or 6:30" he just laughed. We shall see what he says in the morning. ;) We were at the arch today just to explore and take the ride up to the top. Amazing! I highly recommend! There is a nice park with lots of beautiful trees and some small lakes surrounding the arch. Plenty of runners there, so I'd like to be one of them tomorrow! Also, for Saturday I'm hoping to run in Forest Park. Huge park here that is larger than Central Park in NY. :) I'll keep you ladies posted! Enjoy your long run Saturday as well!

I recommend hovering

We went to Las Sendas today, knowing we had a "cut back" week- shorter distance so that we could handle some hills.

It was an enjoyable run. Kind of humid, but I didnt think it was too hot. I felt way better off than my sweat level would have indicated to passers-by. Do people sweat more as they age?

It was Cynthia, Lisa, Karen and me. At one point, Karen and I took a small detour to get into the community pool and use the community bathrooms. There were a few swimmers out doing laps, and luckily for us, someone had left the gate ajar. I always line the public toilets with tp before sitting. I prefer tp over the crinkly paper covers sometimes offered. The tp was a BIG mistake today. The tp was completely stuck to my skin when I stood up. I had to roll it off in little balls. Im sure Karen was wondering why I was in there so long! Note to self: when sweaty, hover, dont sit.

At one point some bikers passed us and asked "Is this a running club?" We proudly replied "Why yes, the Islands Running Club". I feel like our little club is getting so official! Dan the running store guy knows of us, and now some people in Northeast Mesa know of us too. It just somehow feels funner to consider ourselves a club :)

I think we were annoying Karen because we kept saying how great it was to have such a "short, easy" run today- only 13 miles. Karen's longest run thus far has been 13 miles. But trust me, I would only consider 13 miles "short", while in the thick of marathon training! I still think Karen is the toughest of us- doing the majority of our runs with us, even though she is not training for anything.

Anyhow, 13 miles was clearly not enough, because I never even got around to asking Lisa how her anniversary date went last night???

And now I better get to the dishes and the mess that I left last night in order to go to bed at 9:00. Which I also highly recommend, when setting the alarm for 4.

Run Hannah Run!

Hannah, I'll be thinking about you tomorrow morning as you run your Hobble Creek Half. Here's hoping your legs feel strong, your mind is determined, you have a great race and most importantly you have fun! Don't go bananas and kill yourself. Meaning - take it easy especially while you're healing from your injury - you've got a marathon in October, young lady. Can't wait to hear the report.

More Shoe Talk Leads to Curiosity...

What brand and type of shoes do YOU wear? Do you have just one pair, two pairs of the same that you alternate, one road pair and one trail pair...?? Also, who uses custom orthotics or after market insoles? What kind? I need some good ones for my hiking boots because I don't want to overuse my custom ones or get them torn up from rocks and dirt while hiking. ;) Just curious...

Me:
One pair for the road - Brooks Aeriel (Motion Control)
One pair for the trail - Brooks Cascadia (Trail - these aren't profiled as "stability" shoes, but they are comfy, protective, and they have a good grip so I like them quite a bit for trails...can't wait to use them more when it gets cooler!)
And yes - I have custom orthotics from eSoles that have helped my knee pain tremendously! :)

Not quite enough...

Last night's workout left me wanting a bit more. It was sprints with core exercises worked in. We would run on the football field, one end to the center. Get down in the grass (itchy!!!) and do a core exercise. 5 on each side/leg for the majority. Then run from the middle of the field to the other end and get down for another exercise, repeat. Me having a bit of a pilates passion, I just didn't think the small number of reps was doing much for us and it seemed like the run distance was short each time. Still, it was cool to get out there and do something different, but I hope if we do that again we can improve it a little. :)

When to get new shoes

Today is the first morning in these shoes where I felt the pounding on the bottom of my feet. So when I got the opportunity today, I opened up my workout log and counted the miles- 293.5 miles on these Nikes. It seems like I always feel the pounding on the bottom of my feet right when my shoes start to approach 300 miles. In the magazines, they say to replace your shoes every 300-400 miles or so. I wish I could get a little over 400 miles on a shoe...

Once I feel the need for a new shoe, I try to wait it out a couple more weeks. Same as needing a new haircut...

Im just curious how often you all usually have to replace your shoes. For many years I was only replacing them once a year- on my birthday. But with Marathon training, I feel that I have to do it allot more often.

Do you all feel it in your foot when you need new shoes? Or do you buy your shoes on a certain schedule?

New Shoes

For the last year now I've been dealing with achille's tendon pain.
Never had had it before then.
It started within a week, maybe even just a couple of days, after going to RunAZ and getting fitted with the "right" type of shoes for me. Unbeknownst to me I had been running all summer in a "Motion Control" without a problem and Dan switched me to a "Neutral". I had never done this before. I had been a Big 5 or Sport's Authority shopper before. But since I had decided I really wanted to get into running, with no more pregnancys on the horizon, I wanted to do it right. My achille's started hurting right at the end of a running club workout.
I asked both the club coach and Dan at RunAZ, "Could it be something about the shoes?" Both gave me the impression that that was a ridiculous question.
So I kept wearing the shoes, when I ran.
During the past year, I've tried resting it, icing it, stretching it, astm treatment, strength training, Adviling it and two physical therapists!
The second PT suggested I try a stability shoe with a firm heel counter, instead of the neutral one that RunAZ had recommended. Both of the shoes I got were Asics GT something, one was neutral and one was stability. Now I have to admit, I'm the one picking out the shoes, they just told me the type.
Well this summer I thought I'd bring along my "old" neutral ones, I'd only used them for a month before I switched to a stability shoe, just to stand and walk around it on our vacation to Yellowstone. Better than flip flops right? Well, I'll be darned if my achilles didn't start hurting just from standing and walking!
OK then, I thought, something about these shoes is not working for me! Not sure what!
Last week I went to the gym and wore my newer Asics "stability" shoe. After I did some stationary biking, I noticed my achilles felt a little more irritated. And I thought of a comment I had overheard Cynthia make last weekend about how she likes Saucony's because they are low around the ankle. I examined my Asics and noticed how high and firm they both were around the ankle and wondered if that could be the problem?
I went to SoleSports and told them my saga. I tried on a bunch and I mean a bunch of shoes, the salesperson got a workout! I ended up with a pair of Saucony's.
I tried them last week and they felt good. It didn't feel like they increased the irritation of the achilles at all, but since it had already been irritated earlier in the week I could feel a little bit of it still so I didn't run on Saturday.
I also went to Dillard's and got some supportive sandals to help my feet during the day. The soles of my feet have been really sore lately. And although Dan at RunAZ had told me that since I have high arches I can wear flip flops all I want, a Runner's World article I read last week when I was at the gym told a different story.
Which brings me to now. I'm so hoping that my problem has been the shoes. And I'd like to get into running again. But I'm nervous to find out for sure. It has been so frustating!
And it will be really annoying if it was the shoes to think I could have been doing marathon training right now if I'd gotten the right shoes last fall, instead of ones that gave me problems!
There is nothing I can do about that now. And I just need to get going! But I haven't been able to go early in the morning when I like to because I've got high-schoolers that need a ride. But we are bike shopping for them so they can ride to school. And then that time slot will become available.
I hope it goes well.
Injuries as you all know are so frustrating!
I hope I can be a part of training soon instead of just reading about your training, although I enjoy that too!

Tuesdays are Jinx

The last several Tuesdays have been rough on me. I usually look forward to our Tuesday runs. There is generally a big group of people and good conversation. For me the last several weeks I have ended up finishing the runs alone and usually in pain!

Three weeks ago it was the heat I think. I had run on Saturday and again on Monday in the nice cool weather and then on Tuesday the heat (and some humidity) was back, darn it. I had to stop and walk and send the group ahead. The next week was dog trouble. I had fallen a bit behind (the Tuesday jinx was already starting) and then when crossing a street a dog jumped up on me and knocked me to the ground. I landed on my hip, knee and elbow, and my hip is still bruised. Today it was arch pain. It would come and go. When it came it was really painful - like a cramp that wanted to squeeze my little toes towards my heel. I stopped and walked when it got bad and the walking motion seemed to stretch it out a bit. I picked it back up and tried to stay with them until it was light enough out to send the group ahead and walk/run home. I cut my run a little short and came home and iced my foot. I think I will try to run easy this week, and luckily Saturday is a cut back day where we are heading for the hills again.

Hopefully the Tuesday Jinx will wear off soon - three's a charm right?

Kind of Funny

I went to a new running store to try on some shoes a few weeks ago. When I told him what I was training for and about my injury, the running store guy told me, "Train on pavement as little as possible." I simply said, "Uh, ok," but inwardly I wondered, "Where in the world do you find somewhere not pavement to train for a marathon???" I guess Marcie's 18-mile treadmill run would be the obvious answer. I didn't buy shoes from him. I went back to the store in Bountiful owned and run by a former University of Utah cross-country coach who assured me that I'd do fine running the marathon. "Just run slow if you need to and you'll make it," was his advice to me. And you know, I believe him.

PS I am excited about my new Amphipod RunLite TrailRunner. I've never run far enough to need to carry water with me before.

Surprised Myself

This Saturday was mile repeats. Funny, I'm now really finding out what all of these terms I see in Runners' World mean! When the schedule stated "3 miles" I wasn't sure how it would be accomplished, but it was a 10 minute warm up, two 1 mile repeats with 5 minutes rest in between, and a mile cool down. The goal here was to do the second mile faster than the first. The second mile didn't need to be faster by much (a couple seconds was fine), but I was nervous about this because the second time around only meant that it would be hotter out there! I actually surprised myself though - the first mile was 9:05. This was 12 seconds faster than my timed mile from last Saturday. I thought to myself during my 5 minutes of rest there was no way I could do it again. 2nd mile start was great, but I saw myself drop the pace at around .75 in...I wasn't sure what to do to get back on track. Luckily I always carry water with me because a little water as it was warming up out there got me around the corner at a quick enough pace to finish it out at 9:03 - 2 seconds faster than the first mile, but that was all it needed to be! By the way, did I mention I love my Garmin at times like this? :) I also think I did well running with my friend James - he is typically much faster than me so far in our training, but he unfortunately had a bit of knee pain that day so I did my best to keep up with him until that last quarter mile. Always motivating to have fast friends! I do hope his pain goes away though - that's never a good thing even if he helped my pace for the day. Can't remember what tomorrow night holds - I'm sure I'll have something interesting to report on Wednesday!

You only set your alarm for 4 am to do the thing you love the most

My Dad sets his alarm for 4 am during hunting season. Especially opening day. Noah's Dad sets his alarm for 4 am to study the scriptures. What are you willing to get up that early for?

Saturday we met at 4:30 to repeat last week. A 12 mile route to the gym, and then finish on the treadmills. Complete with recovery chocolate milk at the end. I thought about that chocolate milk all week- and had to repeat the experience!

I was very impressed with our friend Karen, who has been getting up so early with us to run- even though she is not registered for a marathon or any event. This isnt training for her, its a 4 am social opportunity! Im very glad she has been willing- she is a fun part of the group. She said 12 miles was good enough for her, so she stashed clothes in my car and took the opportunity to shower and do her hair while we finished our mileage. Weve decided the best thing about our new gym is the shower facility.

I didnt check how many calories I burned on the run saturday- maybe around 1800? Let me tell you, I MORE than replaced those 1800 calories throughout the day. Those long runs make me SO hungry! I eat all day on saturdays. How is a runner supposed to lose a pound or two? There's no way. Is this different for anyone else? Do any of you find that marathon training is a good weight loss method? If so, Im jealous.

Thanks for all the entries...its fun to get on the blog and see like 4 new entries to read! I love hearing about everyone's training programs!

Wanting to Stay Warm

As I was waking up this morning, I could hear the wind howling outside. Howling. Like it wanted to break our windows and come inside for a visit. Ugh. I wasn't up to running in the howling wind this morning and on top of that it was raining. I wasn't up for running in the rain, cold and wind. Triple threat. (Sorry Arizonians, you would probably love to run in a bit of cold weather right now.) But I was being a wimp this morning. And one of my little boys kept us up last night with a horrible cough. Poor thing. So I didn't get a good night's sleep and for some reason, I just wanted to stay warm.

So I headed over to the gym and ran on the treadmill. 18 miles was on the schedule. And I ran 18 miles on the treadmill. I started at an easy pace and then would pick it up at random times during the run. As I was nearing 16 miles, I picked up the pace to an 8 minute mile because I wanted it to be over so very badly. I was thinking to myself, "Must run faster. I want this to be over. Can't watch another infomercial or music video." Much prefer the outside scenery over the inside. It took me 2 hours and 49 minutes. It was a long 2 hours and 49 minutes, believe me. I hope I don't ever have to run that long on a treadmill again. But if I'm ever faced with that option, at least I know I can do it.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary to Cynthia and Lindy today! How unbelievable that you randomly share this occasion. :) Here's to the good men you have in your lives that support you in running and ALL you do! And to you two women for being amazing wives and moms! Your strong marriages are invaluable! Have a wonderful celebration weekend!

Not a Bad Thursday Night

Last night's meet wasn't too bad except for the fact that I was dripping with sweat after speed walking our 1/2 mile warm up! Ew...you didn't want to smell me on the drive home. ;) We had a warm, rainy and muggy day yesterday here. Anyways, it was run for 3 minutes at your target marathon or half-marathon race pace then rest for 3 minutes, run another 3 minutes, etc. We did that 4 times so that took about 25 minutes. I found that my co-worker Justine and I run at about the same pace right now (about a 10 min mile), so it was nice to be running with someone. We chatted it up and the time flew by. Pretty easy night on the track, but since it was so hot and sticky out I was glad for it being easy! Off for today and just 3 miles tomorrow morning plus a mile warm up, a mile cool down and a meeting about workouts. It feels weird starting over again with such a short "long" run, but my legs are still sore from Tuesday's hard running...I'll embrace the 3 miles and try to make it a fast 3!

Games?

So the first week of training is already interesting. Saturday was a timed mile in addition to about 2 miles total of warm up and cool down. My time was 9:17 – not bad for me at all, but let’s keep this number in mind as the months go along because this is the “baseline” and it should improve from here – I hope, but I never really thought this could be! After our cool down Saturday morning were all handed schedules and forms to fill out our goals followed by an introduction from Josh, our coach, talking about the season, making goals, etc. Some of us had a 5K race at South Mountain the next day. I was one of them – didn’t do the best out there, but it was hot and since it was an out and back ½ of the race was uphill. We took it easy and were just happy to have gotten out there and finished the race, meet up with running friends, etc.

Monday - 25 min easy on my elliptical at home.

The schedule for Tuesday’s training showed “Games”. I’m thinking all day Monday and Tuesday…what does “Games” mean? Well, we found out.

The first game had to do with a couple of dollar bills. Someone says a random number between 1 and 30. Josh counts over across the serial numbers of one of the bills the number said, whatever digit was there is how many yard lines we had to run on the football field before switching between easy and hard running. The luck of it comes in when someone drops the dollars on to the field, they can drop as 0, 1 or 2. If the dollars both land face up it counts as 2 (even – start easy), one up one down as 1 (odd – start hard), both down as zero (I think this would be all hard, but we never had this drop thank goodness!). We wanted the even drop in most cases because if the digit was 8, it would be 8 yard lines easy, 8 yard lines hard, then the remaining 6 yard lines easy again. There are 22 yard lines to cross on the field. We would run from one end of the field to the other and do the dollar drop again so that each time across the field was different. Kind of fun, but man does the sprinting get you winded! We finished that one off with 5 easy, 5 hard all the way up the field and back on the last round.

Next, Josh pulls out his cell phone and pulls up the phone number for one of the people on our team. Someone now has to pick a number between 1 and 10 for the digits in the phone number to count over. Even was to start out easy, odd was to start out hard. Now this game we wanted odd – it had to do with the way the light poles around the track are laid out, we would switch between easy and hard at each light pole. Just so happened that the longer distances between poles were at the even changes. And this time, luck was not on our side – most of this trip around the track was hard running! Thankfully we only had to go around once for our first night out there on the track! I can’t imagine what it will be like when we build up! That was only about 1.25 mile total running but it is amazing how sore my legs were when using them in a different way for sprinting, etc.

Anyways, that is games for that evening. Wednesday night was another 25 min easy on my elliptical at home, but I sure didn't want to move the legs! LOL Tonight’s meet is listed as “4 x 3 min w/3 min rest”. Details to come later – going to change out into my running clothes now! :)

Double Coupon for P.F. Chang's in January

Might be too late on this but it is worth a try if you are planning to sign up for P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon in January. I registered for the full! :)


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What Running Means To Me

I had to share this from Kristin Armstrong's blog Mile Markers:

"How do I express in language that will resonate with them how running kept me together when everything else seemed to be falling apart? Or how it keeps me sane and clear headed, and creates a pocket of silence in my core that no level of noise or chaos can touch for the remainder of the day? Or how it gives me an identity and a community that I wouldn't have otherwise? Or how it saved me twice from post-partum spiral? Or how it can alter my mood from sour to sweet, resetting my gratitude meter, in a mere 30 minutes? Or how it reminds me that I'm beautiful even when I feel nothing close to cute? Or how it reminds me that I'm strong and resilient, even at my puniest? Or how it cultivates a foundation and awareness of endurance that far exceeds the mere physical? Or how it has become a standing date with my girlfriends, scheduled, reliable, and heaven-sent? Or how it is a proven method to transcend cattiness, PMS, mood swings, and body image issues?"

She describes it so well.

{to read the entire post click here}

Just Running ... Scared.

So, I've been trying to catch up on all the time I missed while recovering. I just read about the 16 mile Saturday day run and Marcie's long run from a week or so ago. I'm scared that St. George is less than two months away and I have yet to run over 12 miles in a long run. I am building my miles back up and can't build up too quickly and risk injury again. Saturday I ran about eight and felt ok, just sore calves. This weekend I have 10 planned. In two weeks is the Hobble Creek 1/2. So, how high do I dare jump after that and how soon and how far from the marathon to allow recovery time? I was already supposed to have run one 20 miler and one 18 miler by this point. So, yeah. I'm feeling the pressure and total lack of confidence.

P.S. I ran in Vegas this week. I am so impressed by you Arizona runners. It is WAY too hot to run outside!

Expect the Unexpected

What do you think about before you drift off to sleep? If I'm running the next morning, it's usually about the route I'm running. I have a few routes: a one-mile loop, two-mile loop and five-mile loop. Usually I repeat loops or connect them together depending on how many miles I need to run. But for long runs, I usually head to the paved trail about 15 minutes from my house.

So last night I was thinking about the trail - where I was going to park, what direction I was going to run, the water fountains that are available, etc. But things didn't turn out how I envisioned them. About a half-mile into the trail, I came to a sign that said "This Trail is Closed." What? Why? What? I looked for a way around the sign but there was no going around the fence and barbed wire. They were making sure no one went beyond that point. So I turned around mad, dejected and mumbling under my breath, "Now what?" I wasn't familiar with the neighborhood and streets in that area but I needed to get the miles in so I just decided to run and see where I ended up. I ran on busy streets. Ran in unfamiliar neighborhoods. And I ran three tough hills. My legs are sure feeling those hills tonight. Maybe that's a good thing about my little detour this morning - the realization that I need to incorporate more hills in my running. And another realization, when a detour comes I should embrace it. It just might make me stronger.

Chocolate Milk Rocks!

This morning we did our 17 miles. Okay, I only did 16 miles. I think next week Ill bump it up- step up my game and merge with my groupie's program. They've been doing a harder program than I.

When my alarm goes off, I always run downstairs and set my watch outside to sync with the satellite, while I get ready. I am usually met by a blanket of hot air when I take that step outside. This morning was surprisingly cool! And even stayed pleasant throughout our run!

Cynthia had planned a good route for us- one that would keep us outside for 12 miles before we got to the gym where we could finish on the treadmills.

We had a new face in the mix today. Molly is a neighborhood friend who is training for Chicago marathon. And then it was Lisa, me, and Cynthia.

The only bad thing about it being nice outside, is that the last few miles on the treadmill were actually harder, instead of a relief. Id like to think that it is going to stay this way now, and that our saturdays need no longer include treadmills. But that is probably not the case. Today was probably a gift to remind us of cooler days in our future.

Cynthia did all the pre-work for this run. She stashed her car for our return ride home, and even went the extra mile. In the car was a cooler full of ice and very cold, individual sized "Rockin Refuel, protein fortified lowfat chocolate milk." I highly recommend it as a post-run recovery drink. It hit the spot!

Now we all know that its better not to drink our calories. Chocolate milk seems like a luxury only allowed to the lucky younger generation. After our long run I felt TOTALLY justified to indulge. I felt like I was living in luxury there, with my creamy cold chocolate milk.

Thank God for the small, but huge pleasures in life!

Needing Some More Motivation...and Getting It!

Just sharing my excitement with you ladies that I'm starting to train with a running club on Saturday morning! We meet at 7 different rotating locations around the valley on Saturday mornings (typically for long runs) and every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:00pm at the Scottsdale Community College track. I've known many people from the group for a couple of years now, but I always thought I lived too far away from SCC to make it worth while. This year I found out that a couple other coworkers that live just barely closer than I do are joining. Hearing that was all I needed to decide that I can do this too! I've been needing some more motivation and encouragement lately and what could be better than an entire group of fun runners?!

From what I hear we will be starting off this Saturday at the beginning - a timed mile. I've never really done this. I've always set out for more than a mile and I never thought to just try my best at a single mile. This gives a baseline to track your improvement. It will be at around 6:30am, so I hope I still do pretty well in the heat. I'm about to get used to it though - 7:00pm twice a week outside will do it! Lucky we don't have too much longer to deal with it.

Anyways, I'll keep all of you posted on how my training is going. I will start my training with those that are going for a full marathon. If I can keep up with the training without knee pain or injury I will continue and go for the PF Chang's full here in Phoenix. If not, I'll try to do a few half marathons along with relays. I'm just excited to get back to consistency here! If any of you are interested in joining, let me know and I'll get you the info. I paid $150 total for 6 months of training - not bad for all you get! Web site isn't completely up to date, but here it is if you are curious: http://www.iknowaguyracing.com

Cut-back week

Our training program has a reduction in mileage about every 3rd week. Today we set out to do 10-11 miles. We wanted to travel to Las Sendas- a 30 minute drive, and still get finished before the sun was up long enough to make it hot out. So I set my alarm for 4 am. I must REALLY love this sport! (o:

Pretty early in the run I had a jumping cactus attack me! Ouch! I had a little ball of prickles stuck in the back of my lower leg. I told Sarah, Cynthia, and Lisa to keep going. I was about to grab that prickly and pull it out. Luckily Sarah yelled "no" and she got some sticks and pulled it out of me using 2 sticks to get it. Thankyou Sarah. Im glad I didnt touch it.

Hannah- add cactus to your list of things we endure to be tough and participate in this sport!

The run was pleasant for awhile after that until my bowels started to complain big-time. So then I had to walk-run for over a mile until the loop came back to a porto-pottie we'd passed earlier. Thank goodness it was there, or I wouldve had to go home!

The rest of the run was good. Then home to my traditional post-run scrambled eggs and toast. I feel great and Im about to hit the shower, as soon as this baby on my lap allows me to disappear for 15 minutes.

I cant wait for next saturday.

Out Running

Today was a 15.5 miler. I was a little worried previous to the run for two reasons. My husband and I ate at a Thai restaurant last night. Ate some delicious spicy curry. Love spicy. But wasn't sure how my stomach would handle it on the long run this morning. Turns out, my stomach liked it. I think my stomach and I can be friends forever. The second reason I was worried is because I haven't done this long of a run for a while and I was worried how my foot would handle it. Sometimes the plantar fasciitis acts up the longer the run. But the foot felt fine. In fact, today was a great run. I started the run easy and thought I would pick-it up at the halfway point. I did have little bursts of energy after the halfway point but decided to relax and enjoy this run. These are the kind of runs that I need to give me confidence that I can go the distance for a marathon.

Hannah, hang in there! Patience. So much patience. I kept thinking this morning how TOUGH we have to be. We have to be tough to work our way out of an injury, run in the heat, run on treadmills where it seems like it takes forever to run one mile (at least, that's how I feel on a treadmill) and for all our toughness our end reward will be running 26.2 miles together in 9 weeks. What a reward it will be! Can't wait!

How was your run this morning?