Less than a week to RnR!!!!!!!!!!

Howdy all!  

So I've been running this week and biking so as to not wear out my legs again.  Yesterday I went for my longest run but unfortunately had to stop 3 miles shy of my intended distance.  I woke up and headed out and felt fantastic through the first 3 hours of the run until in the last half hour my monthly friend reared it's ugly head with back and stomach cramps.  Had it not been for that I would have finished 18 miles in a about 4 hours and feeling great!  I feel prepared for the marathon and ready to get into my corral.

My friend Erin was up for a visit and it was so good to talk to her because she's done a marathon and many other running races.  When she tells me she has no doubts I will finish the marathon I knew I could do it.  I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly the 3.5 hour run passed it wasn't has boring as I thought it would be at all.  I ran the first 10 miles without any walking and then didn't walk as much as I thought would through the last 5 miles.  My body hurt but nothing that I couldn't just grin and bear.  

I can't believe RnR is less than 6 days away!  I am sitting in the Oakland Airport right now waiting to board my flight to Detroit for my brother's wedding on Friday.  I plan on running 2 to 3 times while I'm there, just short 6 milers or less to keep my heart in shape but nothing too taxing.  I've tweaked a muscle in my groin which has been tender on the last 2 runs.  If it's still sore tomorrow and Thursday I'm going to focus more on swimming than running to less the pull on it.  I have my outfit picked out and my body glide in my suitcase!  I am so excited to do this marathon.  The training part of it for the last 6 months has been fun but now that we are so close I am really ready to have it over with.  Aside from actually finishing the Marathon I have achieved the goals that I meant a lot to me, I have stayed with the training program as best as I could (meaning I actually went running on regular basis), I increased my fitness level, and I enjoy running now it's no longer painful.  I know after the marathon I will continue to run, I've found my favorite distance is 10 miles, they have been my best runs and my most enjoyable.

HOLY CRAP I'M GONNA RUN A MARATHON!!!!!!! JOCELYN I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!!!!!!

Hurts so good!

I'm back in action and feeling amazing! Yesterday I got up at 6 and headed out to see how I felt running.  I've noticed that my runs are a lot more successful in the morning as opposed to mid-day or evening.  I didn't set any goals other than to just get out and try.  10 miles later I felt AMAZING!  I ran 10 miles WITHOUT WALKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I couldn't believe it, I thought I had done 12 miles so I was flipping out when I did it in 2 hours but then I realized I had miscalculated my laps in this one neighborhood. But who cares I still ran the entire time! I didn't walk until I was in sight of my house which is only possible about .10 of mile out. I started crying around mile 6 because I realized I was back in the game and that doing the marathon was still very possible.

I am so happy to know that my wind and fitness level are still intact. I've been so scared these past few months that I was losing them since I couldn't run at the same level. This past month has been so hard on me because I have wanted this so badly. It's also been hard for another important reason, every time I have started a training or weight loss regime I have started out fine then hit a roadblock, become discouraged and quit.  It's exactly what happened here, and it killed me because I had come so far in this endeavor.  This has been the first time I've actually seen the results of my hard work, being able to run 7, 8, 9, 10 then 12 miles made me feel so accomplished.  Then I moved home and felt as those I had smacked straight into a concrete wall.  The quitter in my went to work and I allowed this speed bump to become an impassable mountain. My Mom recognized what was happening and that's why last Sunday she worked me over.  I finally recognized what I was doing and decided to work with my challenge instead of raging against it.  

I wanted to push for more mileage yesterday but didn't want to push it and hurt myself.  It was so great not to have that energy crash a mile in.  Instead of pushing it on one day I got up again this morning and ran 8 miles, which even though I slept in between the runs was hella hard!  My hips and legs were very sore so going out running again was hard.  Runner's World talked about ways to train for a marathon without a lot of time in your day, one of the suggestions was to spilt your long run over two days because it will tax your body the same as in one day.  So Monday was 10 and today was 8 which is similar to an 18 mile run.  Oh it felt like it too!  It really made me understand what the 2nd half of this marathon is going to be like, painful!  But I was very pleased with how I was able to push myself and make it comfortable and  still ran over all the hills!  So San Diego here I come!

Turning a Corner

I spent today talking to my Mom about this whole thing and feeling awful that I'm not as excited as I should be for San Diego.  I made a decision, I'm going to run the Marathon. I will be at the start line in San Diego at 6:30am with Jocelyn, whether or not I cross the finish line is another story.  I've been really hard on myself for not feeling well. But I can't feel sorry for myself anymore, I just have to work with what I have. I am going to just keep running as much as I can until the marathon.  If I have to drop out then I have to drop out but I won't give up before I've evened tried.  I told Jocelyn I'd be there with her and I will at least start it with her.

And now I'm excited I get to see my best friends and make some awesome memories.  This will be my first marathon but will not be my last!

Depressed as Hell

Howdy all,

I am so down, I don't think I've been this down since I broke up with my ex-boyfriend a year ago. It's not looking like I'm going to be able to do this marathon, at least not the way I was hoping too. Mentally I am totally psyched out of running because every time I've tried in the last month has been a disaster minus one glorious 6 miler a few weeks ago. I am crushed that I am not well.  I am still waiting to hear about the blood tests that I had done on Tuesday. I am praying that it will be something with a simple fix in enough time for me to at least have the energy to drag through 26.2 miles.

It is heartbreaking to have your dream so close but it feels like it's slipping through your fingers. The marathon was my idea, I was the one who roped Jocelyn and Shannon into it.  The thought of not running next to Jocelyn 14 days makes me cry. She is doing so well, she is a testament to hard-work and perseverance. I feel awful because I'm not jumping up and down about San Diego right now and she is and she should be she's ready and going to do great.

My parents are telling me to chill and not run, what's the big deal? No one understands the pain and the suffering you go through to do this unless you've done it. I am trying to decide what I'm going to do, not run and cheer Jocelyn on louder than even her sister could do (Sorry Jenna but I would at least owe her that.) or run and take my chances that I have to drop out.  I'd love advice, feedback, anything.  This fucking sucks and there's no nicer way of putting it. I WANT MY MARATHON!

Where the hell have you been?

ok so it's been an obscene amount of time since I have posted to my blog and now we are 17 days away from the marathon.  I'm sure many of you are wondering where my training is at now, well it's at a dead stop and has been for a few weeks unfortunately.  Last I left you I was getting ready to go to Eugene for Grad School open house, I actually blogged from my phone but it didn't get posted so I will post that one for you to see where I was then.  While I was in Eugene I did a 6 mile run in just about an hour which is really fast for me.  It was my first time running at sea level in 6 months and it felt really good. The next day I woke up and was sick, I had a sinus/flu type of thing.  I flew back to Colorado that day which only made it worse.  When I got to Colorado we got hit by 3 huge snow storms and it completely shut down my running along with being sick.  So then I moved back home to California for the final phase of training and the transition between Colorado and Oregon.

I haven't felt like myself since I got home.  I tried to go for a run the day after I got home with my parents on their bikes and it was ugly. I tried some GU before I left and it tore up my stomach so I had to give up 4 miles in and my Dad came back with the car and picked me up.  I tried to take it easy since I had been working 60hr weeks for the last month I was in Colorado plus running.  I kept trying to run but I just felt sick and about a mile in crashed.  So I took some time off to rest then 2 weeks ago I ran 6 miles and felt great then I did a bunch of 4 mile speed workouts and felt like I was back on track.  Then I went up to Eugene to get a place to live and was so drained of energy the entire time I couldn't run while I was there. Then I came home and tried for a 12 mile run last friday, I felt fantastic up to mile 3 and then I crashed.  It felt like I had been running for 10 miles but I was only at mile 3.  I pushed through and ended up with a 9 miler but I probably only ran about 50% of it since I had to walk the last 3 miles home.  I have been sleeping 8+ hours every night and still waking up tired and crashing in the middle of the day.

I went to the doctor yesterday and they are doing some blood tests so next week hopefully I'll have an answer as to what is going on.  I am thinking it's anemia or a thyroid problem, the doctor is ruling out Mono but he was leaning towards some kind of virus that is hanging on in my system.  Either way I am not a happy camper.  I have been dreaming of this marathon for so long and now it's so close and I don't know if I will be physically capable of doing it.  Unless the doctor tells me I can't run it I think I will just try and if I have to drop out I have to drop out.  Please pray for me that my energy and motivation returns and that my body will respond to the rest.  I am going to try later today for a 6 miler because I'm feeling pretty good today.

Also if you'd like check out the photos of my new place in Eugene!  Best part? There's is a huge park with an awesome running trail next door!