Slowly Tri-ing

Little Rock Half Marathon Recap - A New PR!!!

2012-03-06T19:33:00.003-06:00

Me & Jim

It was a great weekend in Little Rock, AR!!

I felt like I was going back to “where it all started”. In March 2009, Jim ran his first marathon in Little Rock and I went to watch him cross the finish line. I had been running some at that point, and had done maybe one 5K I think, but I certainly wasn’t a “runner” and I had never ran more than 4 miles. But that day changed everything. When I saw all the people gathered before the race, the excitement was overwhelming. I wanted in on it!! I decided then and there I would do a half marathon – and I did just 7 or 8 weeks later. And so the journey began.

Jim and I doing our pre-race, pre-race dance

But I digress….Jim and I arrived in Little Rock late Friday night, but we would have all day Saturday to enjoy the city. We stayed at the host hotel, so one huge convenience was the fact that the expo/packet pickup was literally attached to the hotel. All we had to do was walk down a few stairs and we were there! The Little Rock Marathon does a new theme every year. This year’s theme was disco, so there were disco balls everywhere, and yes posters of John Travolta and the Bee Gee’s. What marathon wouldn’t be complete without those?

We hit the expo and picked up our packets and then I (of course) did a little pre-race shopping. I purchased a couple of t-shirts – a long sleeve finisher’s shirt and a super cute running shirt, as well as a 26.2 emblem for my car. No, I wasn’t doing 26.2 here – but hey I had done it before and nothing wrong with proudly proclaiming it to the world. After spending a little time in the expo we headed back upstairs to the hotel for the “World Famous” Peabody Duck march.

One of my shirts- it says "My therapist has a wagging tail". Isn't it adorable? It has paw prints up the back.

The World Famous Ducks

At 11 am, the Duck Master comes out and tells the story of the Peabody Ducks. He then goes and retrieves the ducks from their home and they get on the elevator (this was probably the most exciting part – ducks in an elevator – there’s a site you don’t see every day). Then the ducks march up the red carpet and enter the fountain where they will stay for the next 6 hours. And that’s it. Then it’s done. Jim and I both looked at each other and said “Is that it?” It was a little anti-climatic. But hey, they are ducks, what do you expect?

We did run in to my friend Sunita at the Duck March. She was running the full marathon with her friend Meghan. Sunita has completed a few marathons, but this would be Meghan’s first. They both seemed pretty excited about it. We bid them farewell and headed to the River Market area to get some lunch and do some walking and site seeing.

Me, Sunita, and Meghan

The Little Rock downtown area is really beautiful with lots of little restaurants and shops and a great park and amphitheatre. In standard Jim and Michael fashion we hammed it up for a few pics, and then headed back to the hotel to relax for awhile before dinner.

Me trying to outrun the rabbit!

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to have dinner with our friends Buck and Samantha. They moved to Fayetteville, AR a few years ago for Sam to pursue her PhD so we don’t get to see them very often. Sam’s sister was running her first marathon, so they were going to be in town so we got together for dinner. It was so awesome to be able to just sit and relax and catch up! I wish we could have spent more time together, but unfortunately we both had other commitments this particular weekend.

Me & Jim, and our friends Buck & Sam

Finally race morning arrives! Jim and I are both up early (around 5:15 am) before the alarm even goes off. The race doesn’t start until 8am. Jim is excited. He hasn’t ran a half marathon in a long time, and he wanted to see how well he could do. He has been working so hard to switch to a forefoot running strike, and it’s taken a toll on his overall speed, but he’s feeling good and thinks he can run strong! I feel good too. I have a goal today to see if I can finish under 2:30, but I really have no idea if I can do it or not. I want to, but I’m not sure I have it in me. But I know I will run a strong race. I tell Jim I should finish somewhere between 2:30 and 2:45.

Jim and I do our World Famous Pre-race dance, of course, and then head to the starting line. Jim meets up with one of his blog followers Bobby and we all chat for a few minutes. Then we head out separate ways. I ended up going into the River Market building to keep warm before the race and ran in to another one of our friends, Christa, who’s also running the marathon. Christa and I chat for awhile and then wish each other good luck and get ready to race!

About 10 minutes til 8am I head to the start line. It’s a very narrow start, and there are thousands of people everywhere. The weather is perfect. It’s about 45 degrees, but sunny, and the wind is only about 10 mph. It’s a little chilly to start, but I know once I get going I will be totally fine. Finally the gun goes off and it’s time to go. Well, it should be time to go. I’m pretty far back from the race line. It’s literally about 5 minutes before we move and start walking to the start line. I pass the start, turn on my Garmin and get ready to rock! I know I have to maintain just under an 11:30 per mile pace to sneak in under 2:30, but I know I need to start slow. It’s so hard to do during that first mile. Everyone goes out fast and you feel like you are being passed constantly, but I keep telling myself – slow down. I do ok the first mile. I don’t go out too fast, I pace myself. The second mile I’m feeling good and I start speeding up. Several times I look at my Garmin and I’m in the 10s. I keep telling myself to slow down. I probably went a little bit too fast that 2^nd mile and I try to slow it down a bit for the 3^rd. For the next several miles I keep a fairly consistent pace in the low 11s. I know that since I will likely run more than 13.1 miles, so I will probably need to be well under the 11:30 pace. I have a pace chart with me and I am trying to gauge where I really need to be. I figure that if I can average an 11:20 on the Garmin, I should come in with some time to spare. WRONG!

The miles continue to tick away and I’m feeling really strong until about mile 10. At this point, I’m averaging around an 11:16 pace overall and I’ve ran the entire way, but then I encounter a pretty good hill. It’s not that steep, but it gradually climbs for about ¾ of a mile. At this point I am getting tired and I really want to stop and walk for a minute, but I don’t. I keep going. I’m too close to my goal. And I am thinking to myself, if I can somehow keep this pace I’m going to kill my PR. I finally make it through that and then there are just two miles to go. I had been trying to conserve some energy so I could push for a strong finish in those last two miles and I do. My last two miles are my fastest of the race and they are in the 10s! I finally hit mile 13 on my Garmin and I’m averaging an 11:15 pace, but wait – I can’t even see the finish line from here. My time reads around 2:25 I think….but I literally can’t see the finish line. Crap, it’s going to be so close. I start picking up the pace even more. I keep looking at my Garmin, the minutes are flying by. All of a sudden I’m at 2:28, and I can see the finish line but it still looks miles away. I run as fast as I can, and cross at 2:29:53!!!! I did it! I finished in under 2:30!! I am so excited to have met my goal, but also a little frustrated that my “official” results won’t quite show my effort. My Garmin pace was 11:14 per mile – let’s put that in perspective – my current 5K PR is 11:16 per mile, so this was FAST for me. However, my “official” pace was 11:27 per mile. My Garmin registered 13.34 miles, almost a quarter mile extra. I really need to get better the tangents I guess. All of my halfs have been a little off, but this is the longest one I have run.

Check out those last 3.34 miles! Solid!

Anyway, I am still super pumped. I just took another 2 ½ minutes of my half marathon PR and I met one of the 2012 goals to run a half marathon under 2:30! So, score, score!!

That's how a great race feels!

Jim is waiting for me at the finish line. As soon as he sees me he said “you PR’d” and I said Yes!! He congratulates me and said he couldn’t believe how fast I was running down the finish line. He was like you were flying! Yes, I believe I can fly! I then asked Jim how he did. He did GREAT! He finished the half in 1:33 – just 3 minutes from his half marathon PR! He was also 8^th in his age group. Amazing! He’s simply amazing! We are both ecstatic about our race.

It would have been fun to hang out and chill after the race, but unfortunately we had to rush back to the hotel to get checked out by noon. Yes, the HOST hotel, was not honoring late checkout for event participants – even though they were supposed to, even though I confirmed late check out with them on Thursday. With no warning, they put a note in our room sometime on Saturday so – oh by the way, no late check out tomorrow! Luckily we only did the half, so it wasn’t as big a deal for us (although it was still no fun to have to rush after finishing a tough race), but most people who ran the marathon were totally screwed. It’s the worst customer service I have ever experienced from a hotel. People were, as you can imagine, extremely upset! I still can’t believe it.

Anyway, hotel experience aside, it was a wonderful, wonderful weekend. It was great to spend time with my husband, see some friends, and run a great race. It is a marathon I would highly recommend to anyone. Overall, it is well organized and it’s in a great city! And the medals, well the medals are just crazy! The full marathon medal is the size of a dinner plate, and our half medal while considerably smaller than the full, is still much larger than most marathon medals.

Me & my medal

An Awesome Sunday Run

2012-02-20T07:30:00.000-06:00

Last October, I ran my fastest half marathon ever (officially averaging an 11:39 per mile pace - although my Garmin pace was 11:29). I was so happy, because I had taken 7 minutes off of my previous best. I was actually start to feel like a better run, like I was getting faster. Then, I started training for my first marathon. In order to get through the marathon I developed a walk run plan. I ran 3 minutes, and walked one. This worked great for the marathon and certainly helped me get through that very difficult task. The problem is it made me a "lazy" runner. After finishing the marathon, I found it difficult to run more than 4 or 5 minutes without having to stop and take a walk break, even on shorter 3 or 4 mile runs. While I was averaging 3 and 4 mile runs in the 11s in Oct, my shorter runs in January and February have been in the 12s. I've been discouraged because I lost my "speed".

Over the past few weeks, I have been adding speed work back in to my training and have been forcing myself to run more - no more walk breaks after a few miles. I have to tell myself - Michael you can run one mile, or two, or four! And I have been running more and have had some decent speed runs. I have a half marathon coming up in two weeks. So last Sunday, I went out for an 11 mile run. It was awful. After five miles I was so tired I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I ended up cutting the run to eight miles and averaged 12:51 per mile. I was so disappointed. Later that day, I got very sick (vomiting), so I think I was just sick and didn't realize it. So this weekend I was hoping for a much better result. I was going for 12 miles, which would be my longest run since the Disney marathon. I knew it would be tough, but I really wanted to get in 12 miles!

I am signed up for another half marathon in April, and one of the benefits of that race is that they provide supported group runs on Sundays. I had planned to go a few times, but had never actually made it out. This Sunday, the planned route was up to 12 miles, the weather was going to be about 35 degrees with light winds and sunny, it was the perfect day to give it a try. In all of my training over the last several years, I have never been to a group run. I almost always run by myself. I have always been afraid that my pace would be to slow. But I knew this was a pretty large group (about 100 people each week) so surely someone else would be as slow as me right?

So, I got up bright and early, headed out the door at 6:10 am, and dropped by my friend Michelle's house (she was going to run too, which helped get me out of bed Sunday). I was excited to find out they had tons of pace groups ranging from a 7:30 pace to walking. When they called out the 12:30 pace I left with that group - wait where's my group, finally one girls popped out and said she'd run with me. So here I was at a group run and it was me and one other girl. Oh well, at least I wouldn't have to run by myself. We started talking and it was so nice to have someone to run with. The route is a 6 mile out and back, so if you want to do less miles you have to adjust the route accordingly. She tells me she is only running five miles today - bummer, that means I'll only have a running partner for 2.5 miles of the 12 mile run. I run with her for the first 2.5 and I feel great. I say good bye and keep running. I haven't stopped to walk once. I am feeling great. I decide that I will try to run the first 6 miles without a break (other than a quick one to stop for water - which is every 2 miles). It's such a beautiful morning, and we are running through an older part of town with these gorgeous older homes. I feel wonderful. Then we run through Loose Park - hey, this is where Jim and I got married. A huge smile comes across my face.

For the first six miles I still see lots of people as people are heading back the other direction. But I knew the people would get less and less. There were several people who started behind me, but I knew most people wouldn't be doing the full 12 miles. Once I finally made it to the six mile turnaround, I only passed 2 people on the way back - wow only 2 people behind me. At mile six I am still feeling strong, as a matter of fact I have been getting faster as I run. I'm really in a zone. Can I run all 12 miles? I might just try. I finally reach mile 10 and I'm still feeling great. I am going to go for it the last two miles. I see two groups in front of me - 2 guys, and a little further up 2 girls. I pass the two guys, and one of them says to me, man you are really trucking - "I'm trying" I reply. I keep pushing, I'm running well, only a mile left. I finally come up on the two girls and pass them. Wow, look at me passing people at the end of a run - usually I'm dying at this point. I'm watching my Garmin and my overall pace keeps coming down - I think I can beat my KC half marathon pace. I get down to an 11:28 pace, but wait all of a sudden I'm kind of lost - I missed the turn. I stop and look around - oh crap there are the girls I passed turning way down the street. This slows me down, but I'm almost done. I end the 12 miles (12.1 actually since I missed my turn). My overall pace 11:33. Wow, I ran 12 miles - and I actually ran all 12 and I did it at what I thought was my fastest pace ever, but I guess it was just a few seconds shy of my best "Garmin" pace. Anyway, I didn't care. I was all smiles. I had just ran well, and ran hard. I had pushed myself and I had got it done!!

What a wonderful Sunday run. What a great day! Sometimes, it all comes together.

Check out those last two miles - the fastest all day (ignore that .1 that's where I got lost).

Fear

2012-02-15T13:36:00.000-06:00

I am afraid.

Afraid of what? Of failure. Around August of last year I started discussing the possibility of doing a Half Ironman with some of my girlfriends. It was a fun idea to talk about, but now it’s becoming more of a reality. I haven’t signed up for the race yet – why - because I’m afraid. I’m afraid of lots of things:

· I am afraid that my shoulder won’t hold out and that I’ll train and train only to be disappointed in the end and unable to race.

· I’m afraid I won’t physically be able to bike for 56 miles. I remember all too well my first (and only) 50 mile ride and how I thought I was going to die before I finished.

· I’m afraid that I will be too slow and get “swept” from the race. How disappointing would that be?

· I’m afraid of new injuries and the fact that I’m not sure my body is up for the challenge.

· I’m afraid of the training time and commitment.

· I’m afraid of getting a flat tire in the middle of the race and not being able to fix it.

· I’m afraid of finishing dead last.

· I’m afraid.

This isn’t my first big event. Over the past couple of years I’ve had several “firsts” – completing my first half marathon, first triathlon and first marathon. So why is this one troubling me so much? I do think my biggest fear is my shoulder. I’m still not certain that I am physically capable of doing the training to get to the point where I can swim 1.2 miles. I still know in the back of my mind that surgery has been recommended. I know that I’ve been swimming again for a month, but have seen little improvement. I don’t want to commit to the very hefty $250 race fee only to find out that I can’t race. But am I using that as an excuse not to move forward? I don’t know. If my shoulder was out of the equation, would I still be here?

I keep talking in terms of “if I train for this Half Ironman” and “if I do this Half Ironman”. I need to stop saying if and start saying when. I already know that I don’t have to commit physically to the race (i.e. sign up for it and pay the fee), but I need to commit mentally. I need to say I am training for a Half Ironman, I am going to do a Half Ironman in July. If at the end of the day my shoulder is an inhibitor, well it just is, that stuff happens, but I can’t keep letting that get in my way and give me an excuse to not try.

So friends, I’m saying it to the world. I am training for a Half Ironman. My journey begins February 27. I hope you will all be here to help me along the way. I know I’ll need your support.

What do you fear? Do you let it stop you?

“The miracle isn’t that I finished, it’s that I had the courage to start” – John Bingham

A Special Message

2012-02-14T08:53:00.000-06:00

My Bloggerversary!

2012-02-12T08:02:00.000-06:00

I just realized this morning, that today is my one year Bloggerversary!

It's kind of hard to believe that it's already been a year. The last twelve months have full of ups and downs - my first marathon, my first missed triathlon, and lots of other adventures. I've met a 100 or so new people. I've gained lots of new followers and lost a few along the way. I've enjoyed telling you all about me and getting to know all of you.

I hope I have another wonderful year this year! Thanks to all of you who have made this first year so special!

Hooked Me Right In…….

2012-02-08T04:43:00.000-06:00

I know this is not news to anyone, but Disney is a marketing genius.

So, when I ran the Disney World Marathon in January, all over the expo were t-shirts and medals showing Disney’s Coast to Coast Challenge. Basically, all you have to do is run a marathon or half marathon in both Disney parks in the same year and you automatically get an “extra” medal to commemorate this great accomplishment.

So immediately, before I even ran the marathon, my mind was churning. I knew I wanted that Coast to Coast medal. So after we got home I started looking at races at Disney Land. They don’t have a full marathon – shew – don’t have to go there again, but they do have a half in September. My sister lives in LA, so I thought, wow how awesome would that be? I could go visit my sister, run the half marathon, and get my medal(s) it’s a win-win-win!!

So I e-mailed my sister and asked about the timing of the visit, and added – would you want to run with me??? And she said “YES”! She has done a few half marathons before, but not in awhile. So now it’s like a win-win-win-win situation! I am super excited to run a race with my sister – something I’ve never done before.

So I’m all registered and just waiting on September now. Then you’ll see me with one of these babies – pretty sweet right?

Buffalo Run (Trail) 5k - Race Recap

2012-02-06T04:57:00.000-06:00

The pre-race dance!

One of my 2012 goals was to participate in at least one race event every month. Well, in Kansas City, in February, it's usually VERY cold and there aren't a lot of events to choose from, but when I saw the Buffalo 5K Trail Run at an nature sanctuary in beautiful Parkville, MO I thought it sounded like fun. I knew it could potentially be very cold and snowy, but Jim and I decided to take our chances.

Our winter in KC has been very mild so far with temps in the 50s and very little precipitation, but like clock work the rain came in just two days before the race and the temperatures dropped. We got about an inch or more of rain in the area. Then on Saturday night before the race we got a dusting of snow. I wasn't sure what to expect for my first trail race given the weather, but I was still ready to give it a go.

So Jim and I got up Sunday - it was cold, but not too terrible at all. It was about 35 degrees and sunny, so once you got going it really wasn't bad at all. The trail was very nice with alot of it covered in pea gravel or mulch. There was really only one bad stretch that was very muddy and slippery. It was a fairly long downhill stretch of probably a half mile or so. I had to be super careful about my footing, but managed to navigate the trail without biting it -so that made me very happy.

You start the run with some small rolling hills, and some bridges. I was rolling along pretty well for the first mile. Then right after the first mile you start up a huge hill. You climb just over 200 feet from mile 1 to 1.7. That's some serious elevation. I was initially running up this hill, but realized (as most people around me did) that it would probably be better to walk it if I didn't want to die. Once you crest the hill, the rest of the race is pretty much downhills or again some small rolling hills. The downhill section was pretty tricky, but it was kind of fun too, lots of mud and rocks.

This was my first trail race and I thought it was a blast. It was a really small race with only about 250 runners. I was surprised with how great I actually felt throughout the race. It made me happy with my current fitness level. Although my overall pace was pretty slow for a regular 5K I was happy with my finish time (for me). I finished with a 12:51 pace overall, but was honestly expecting to be around 14 or 15 minutes. You can see from my Garmin splits, that hill really impacted my overall time. But, I would definitely do this race again.

Jim - of course - managed to not only win his age group, but to also finish 2nd overall! Congrats Jim. You rock Baby!!!!

Spreading Like Wildfire!

2012-01-26T11:57:00.000-06:00

Sometimes there are things that go around the blog world like a virus. Not that they are bad, it’s just amazing to me how fast they spread. I was tagged by not one, but three great bloggers in the blog world’s latest and greatest “11 Things”. Thanks to Lindsay @ Chasing the Kenyans, Amber @ Gym Class Dropout and Julie @ You Just Have to Tri, for nominating me for this great honor.

I think you guys already know the drill, but in case you don’t here are the “rules”. Provide 11 random things about yourself and then answer 11 question provided by the blogger who tagged you. So, since Lindsay tagged me first I will be responding to her 11 questions. Sorry if you other ladies were just dying for me to answer yours J

So here goes, I’ve probably provided some of these before, but I’ll try not to duplicate.

11 Random Things You May Not Know About Me

My favorite (non-dog) animal is the hippopotamus.
I once sneezed a piece of hamburger meat out my nose. Gross I know, but true.
I have recently switched to a gluten-free diet.
I have a not so secret crush on Adam Levine.
Hello Hotness!

I was once addicted to video games and spent an entire summer until I beat Super Mario 2 or 3 (now I can’t remember which one).
I love stinky cheese (well really all cheese). But I love feta, blue cheese, goat cheese, etc.
I do not love stinky feet.
I have my MBA.
My hair is naturally ~~crazy~~ curly.
I am part Cherokee Indian
I went to see Lady Gaga in concert.

Lindsay’s Questions

You have the skills to go pro in any sport (except running/triathlons). What sport would you choose?
I’m going to go with tennis. I played in high school and a year in college and frankly was never really that good at it. I loved the sport though – so to be good at it would be awesome.

What is your favorite vegetable?

Red peppers; I love them hot or cold and on just about anything.

They're making a movie about your life. What actor/actress would play you?

Although she doesn’t look anything like me it would be cool if it was Reese Witherspoon. She just seems like a really sweet fun girl – just like me – ha!

See - doesn't she just look fun :)

Last book you read?

The Hunger Games

Last text message you sent?

To my husband “I love you Sweetie. Have a safe trip”.

What is your favorite meal/recipe to cook?

I love lasagna. I love making it and putting all the delicious layers together. Not so great now that I'm gluten free :(

Do you prefer dusting or vacuuming? (and when are you coming to do my house?)

I’m going to go with neither. I loathe housekeeping. LOATHE it!

If you could go on vacation to anywhere in the us or canada, where would you go?

I’ve been before – but I would definitely go to Maui again. The most beautiful and wonderful place on earth. As far as somewhere I haven’t been before I really want to go to NYC and see the sites – although I’ve heard Toronto is awesome too….I have difficulty making decisions – can you tell?

What's something you love about where you live?

It has a small town feel, but with big city amenities.

Something you don't love about where you live?

The WEATHER. It’s insanely hot and humid and miserable in the summer, and insanely cold and (usually) snow in the winter. We really only have about 3 or 4 months of the year when the weather is really nice.

What do you do when you have trouble falling asleep?

I use a relaxation technique I learned in theatre in college. I just try to relax every part of my body starting with my head all the way down to my toes – but I usually don’t make it to the toes before I fall asleep.

OK, here's the part where I'm supposed to nominate some more wonderful bloggers to carry this on, but I'm going to bet by now this thing has made it's rounds. If you haven't done it and want to feel freel to say I tagged you and GO FOR IT!

My First Swim

2012-01-23T17:02:00.002-06:00

Well, not actually my first one ever, but my first one since August. If you’ve been reading my blog awhile, you know my story…if not it goes something like this….

I was training for my first Olympic Distance Tri and had been training ALL summer. Just 9 days before the big day I woke up one morning and couldn’t move my shoulder – I had almost 0% range of motion and it was visibly displaced and the pain was incredibly intense. I had been having some minor shoulder pain, but nothing too severe. I couldn’t believe it. I immediately got in to see a Sports Med Dr. thinking they could shoot me with some cortisone or something and have me on my way. He immediately sent me for an MRI which showed I had done some major damage to the cartilage in my shoulder – basically what holds the ball in the socket was damaged and causing instability, inflammation, and pain! That was that, I stopped swimming. I didn’t get to do my triathlon. I did 10 weeks of physical therapy. I saw a surgeon twice – and he recommended I have surgery – but also told me I may never get 100% range of motion back. It was a Lose/Lose situation.

I had a marathon to train for, so I just decided to put the shoulder issue on the back burner and focus on running. And that’s what I have done for the last several months. The pain had mostly subsided on a day to day basis, but I still an’t sleep on my side and certain movements still cause pain – and it pops pretty much any time I move it, but it's tolerable.

Now that my Disney marathon is over – I decided it was time to start thinking about that shoulder again. I really want to do a Half Ironman this summer and I have a whole group of girlfriends who are training to do the Racine 70.3. I can’t do it if I can’t swim (obviously). I asked my ART guy about it and he seems to think he can help. This man has been magic so far and helped me with so many running injuries, but I’m still skeptical. This isn’t muscle damage – we are talking about some major damage to the shoulder - not muscle cartilage. Anyway, he starting working on it last week and he suggested some shoulder exercises for me to do, and he told me to get in the pool and start swimming as much as possible. He thinks I can be healed in a month if I put in the work.

So Saturday, I finally took the plunge (literally). I swam a whole 900 yards, and only about 700 of that with my arms. I worked on my kick for about 200 yards. When I first started it was pretty painful, but my shoulder loosened up and I was able to swim to my surprise. I took it slow and stretched every 50 yards. I iced when I got home and took some ibuprofen. I was pretty happy really. I honestly had no idea if I could even make the swim motion in the water - so it went as good or better than I anticipated. However, since Saturday my shoulder has ached pretty much non-stop, but is worse when I’m lying down. I go back to the Dr. tonight, so we’ll see how things go. I’m trying to be cautiously optimistic. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I don’t want to assume it’s not going to work either. I really, really don’t want to have shoulder surgery.

So that’s where I’m at. I’m tri-ing to be a triathlete again. I'm hopeful it's a possibility for me.

Oh, and in case you missed my marathon video that my SUPER hubs put together. You can check it out here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJmY_9dT3PI&context=C3f0ee59ADOEgsToPDskIIOpDuS6J6oHGZ24KQnQLO

My Walt Disney World Marathon - VIDEO

2012-01-20T13:55:00.001-06:00

I know some of you may already have seen this posted on Jim's blog, but I wanted to share it here too. I know a lot of people don't want to spend the time to watch someone else's video - and this one is 15 minutes which is pretty long - but it's really awesome - and not because it's about me!! It's just awesome because my wonderful husband spent so much time editing it, putting just the right clips, pics, and music together. I've heard from several people it might make you a little teary eyed.

It was such a wonderful and special day and it's so great to have these memories captured here forever! There could be some embarrassing dance moves and some morning hair on here - but it was worth it to have this day put on video.

Oh, I forgot to include the You Tube link before so here it is if you want to watch it in a little larger screen. Thanks everyone for watching and the amazing comments!! Seriously it means alot to me that something like this might also mean something to someone else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJmY_9dT3PI&context=C3f0ee59ADOEgsToPDskIIOpDuS6J6oHGZ24KQnQLO

Walt Disney World Marathon Review – One of the Best Days of My Life!

2012-01-13T05:33:00.002-06:00

WARNING: Really long post…..so many things to share!

Expo:

Marathon Expo....oh yea!!

Jim & I left the house about 5:30 am on Saturday to catch our flight to Orlando, Fl. First stop was to pick up my girlfriend Michelle, who was also running the marathon and then it was off to the airport. We arrived in Orlando around noon and headed straight for the expo. In the off chance that our flight was delayed, we had already arranged for our other friend Meredith to pick up our packets since the expo closed at 5pm, but we still wanted to visit the expo if we got to Orlando in time. The expo was at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which was really cool. Unfortunately by the time we got to the expo it was in its 3^rd day and close to closing so they were already sold out of a ton of merchandise. My only regret for the entire marathon is that we didn’t fly out on Friday. I think it would have made the trip a little more relaxing and there would have been a better selection at the expo. Nonetheless I was still able to pick out several items including an “I Did It” t-shirt – which seemed a bit pre-mature….but I didn’t know if they’d be available later and I really wanted it. I was a little nervous that I would jinx myself by purchasing it in advance.

Me & Jim at the airport. Ready to ROCK Disney!

Me & Michelle at the expo - it's huge!

Catch me if you can!

Pre-mature??? I hope not!

Pre-race:

Pre-race meal...delicious!

After the expo we headed to the condo – which was totally awesome! My friend Michelle works for a company that owns the condo so let’s just say she was able to get us a really good deal. She rocks!

Our awesome condo!

We had to wake up insanely early to get to the race so we had dinner about 5:00 pm. Meredith offered to make all of us dinner so we didn’t have to deal with the stress/time of eating out. It was an awesome spaghetti dinner with salad and bread! She was so nice to do this for us!! After dinner we pretty much headed back to the condo to try to get in bed early.

The race starts at 5:30 am, but they recommend you be at the park by 4am. You have to be in your corral by 5am, and it’s about a 30 minute walk to the corral starts. So we planned to leave our condo at 2:30 am to be sure we got there in time. We were only about 10 miles away, but we didn’t know what kind of delays we might have getting into the park. I planned to get up at 1:45 am, but I ended up getting up at 1 am instead– which is midnight Kansas City time! I think I managed to get in a whole 3 and half hours of sleep. Of course, no matter how sleepy - Jim and I must do our now world famous pre-race dance.

We all meet (me, Jim, Meredith and Michelle) and get in the car….a nervous excitement just filling it. It was Michelle and Meredith’s first marathon too! Of course, it was Jim’s 18^th so it was no big deal to him. He was excited for me though. We were all kind of sleepy and giggly, but ready to go!

The 3 M's in the VIP Tent!

We got to the race in plenty of time, and were actually some of the first ones there, but luckily we had all opted to pay the extra money for the Disney VIP tent and it was AWESOME!! It was totally worth the money. If you ever do the Disney Marathon I would highly recommend it. It is a climate controlled tent with tons of tables and chairs and places to sit where it’s nice and warm. You have your own porta potties with absolutely no lines, your own gear check area, an area to stretch, and tons of food both before and after the event. You even get a “VIP” gift after the race – which was a pair of Walt Disney World Marathon socks. They also had some of the Disney characters set up inside the tent to take pics with before and after the race.

Some pre-race coffee to wake me up!

Hey, I thought we were all doing something fun....maybe I shouldn't have had that coffee

About 4:30 we started heading for the start line. It was a little chilly for standing around/walking– about 55 degrees, but I knew it would be the perfect temperature for running.

There were people everywhere! We were literally shoulder to shoulder for the half mile or so that it took to get to the corrals. Disney was so organized though of course, and even had porta potties along the walking route –which we all ended up needing to stop at. It took probably 40 minutes to actually get to the corrals….although on a normal day it would probably take 20. There were just thousands of people. There were 8 corrals – A-H based on your approximate finish time. Jim and I were assigned to F, but Meredith and Michelle were assigned to B. So we wished each other good luck and parted ways, ready to race! Jim of course, would have been in the A corral, but he had chosen to run with slow me.

Me & Jim right before the race started

Once we found our corrals, it was not long before it was race time. I was so incredibly nervous. Would all my training be worth it? Would I finish? It was hard to breathe.

Race:

The first wave of runners went off promptly at 5:30 am. And a new wave went off every 3 minutes. Before long it was my time – they were calling for corral F to line up! They began playing “Shout” and I was singing and dancing along, trying to calm my nerves. The fireworks went off and it was time to go!!

Jim was awesome through the entire thing. He was encouraging, and trying to calm me down, and taking tons of pictures and video. I did all of my training runs completely on my own….so many hours by myself; it was really nice to have him by my side.

About mile 3 - still totally dark

When the race started it was still completely dark outside, which was fine as we were just running along the highway for the first couple of miles. The first few miles ticked away very quickly and then we headed into Epcot! That was awesome. It was like we weren’t really running a race at all, just visiting the park. Unfortunately, we were only in the park for about a mile, and then it was another long, long stretch of highway from about miles 4 to 10.

Me & Jim just being silly along the route

Probably around mile 8 or 9 the sun started coming up. It was getting warmer, but still not hot since it was only about 8 am. At mile 10 though the fun begins again as you enter the Magic Kingdom and run straight through Cinderella’s castle. I’m still feeling really good at this point, no issues at all to complain about. It’s a wonderful experience.

Heading toward the Castle!

After heading through the castle, you head back out of the park and embark on another long stretch of highway from about mile 11-16. During this stretch however, I reach the half way point – wahoo! I’m feeling really great and feeling pretty certain I can finish.

You enter Disney’s Animal Kingdom and run miles 16-17 here. They have tons of animals – birds, donkeys and even a TURTLE to look at or stop and take a picture with.

Hey turtle - you and me are just the same - SLOW!!

Then you run by Mount Everest, the Tree of Life, and Dino Land! Although I’m starting to get a little tired here, there are so many fun things to see it energizes me a bit.

It's easy to run a marathon when you are being chased by a dinosaur!

Hey is that Mt. Everest??

Jim and I stop to get a pic with Jimmy Cricket. We wait in line for a minute or so only to be told he’s got to go – WHAT?? I was a little upset by that. I didn’t mind losing a few minutes here and there to get a few fun pics along the race, but I still had a time I wanted to beat, and it was frustrating to lose those few minutes and not get a pic. Once you head out of Animal Kingdom you start toward the worst part of the race. I had read about this from several other people so I was expecting it. You are once again on a long stretch of lonely highway from mile 18-21. By this point it’s starting to get warm, I am starting to get tired, and there’s really not too much to look at. But, hey, I’m still having a GREAT time.

Jim has been by my side almost every step and has been so incredibly encouraging.

Baby, I love you!

Somehow, I find it in myself to run my fastest mile of the entire race in mile 19! Not sure why, I guess I was just “feeling” it. Of course, by mile 20 I was really “feeling” it, but in a different way. We come up over a bridge, one of the few hills in the race, and I set my left leg down and almost lose my footing. My knee just kind of feels like it’s going to give out. Jim was a little freaked out I think. I think he thought I was about to pass out. He was like are you ok, do you need some water, are you feeling light headed? I told him I was fine, my leg just kind of gave out due to fatigue I guess. I have had a myriad of injuries during my training, but I hadn’t had a single issue with my knee until that point. I could feel the tightness/fatigue in my knee through the rest of the race, but it didn’t bother me too bad. Around 20 miles I also started having some tightness in my left calf, which I had been dealing with for about 2 weeks. So, I would just periodically have to stop to stretch it out for a few minutes. But, I was still fine. I knew I was going to make it….only a few more miles really.

Really, six more miles???

Finally at mile 21 you start making your way back into the Disney parks. You run along a little beach area for awhile and then around mile 22 you head into Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s great to have something to look at again, but by this point I am really getting tired. 22 miles is the longest training run I had done, so I was running farther than I had ever ran before. Again, Jim continued to encourage me and tell me how proud of me he was. It was awesome! Finally, I reach mile 24 and starting making my way back into Epcot…to the finish. I know now that I am going to finish..no matter what I’m going to finish. I’m tired, so tired. I’m hurting, but I can almost taste the finish line. I get to mile 25 and can see the big giant Epcot ball, it’s so close. I just have to make it to that ball. Somewhere through mile 25 we are in Scandinavia or something and Jim keeps running up ahead of me to these groups of girls in costume and having them yell out “Go Michael”. It’s awesome!

At about mile 25, almost done!

One of our few character pics due to the long lines

Me & Jim just after the race.

Finally, I reach mile 26 and it’s one of the coolest experiences ever. Right there, you know you are almost done, and to the right is this huge choir singing some wonderful song. They are dressed in bright gold and blue robes. It is so amazing. I almost lose it right there, but I hold on. I still have just a little bit more to go. Then we come around the corner and see the grandstands. There are so many people there cheering and screaming. Jim and I grab hands in a “victory” pose and cross the finish line together. I DID IT!!! I start bawling. I can’t believe it. After 4 months of training, battling injuries, and endless hours of running all alone….I did it. I am so happy. It’s hard for words to describe the awesome feeling I had when I crossed that finish line, with my wonderful husband beside me. It was a day I will never, ever forget.

So Happy!

Happy Cry!

My final finish time was 5:54:48. My ultimate goal was to finish, but I had hoped to finish under 6 hours, so I was very, very happy. I had really hoped to be around 5:45…but it was worth taking a few extra minutes to snap a few pictures along the route. I think if I hadn’t stopped for any pictures I probably would have been much closer to 5:45. But I’m glad to have the pictures and memories instead of the time, and let’s face it – after 5 hours does it really even matter that much? Plus, my Garmin registered 26.66 so I ran almost an additional half mile – that’s quite a bit!

Post-Race

Jim and I collect our medals and head over to the post race VIP tent where we meet back up with Meredith and Michelle. They both hugged me and congratulated me and I did the same for them.

Everyone’s race experience was a little different, but at the end of the day we could all proudly say we were a MARATHON finisher! And that was so awesome! We ate, chatted about our day and just celebrated in general.

Flying high after the marathon. Hey I'm balancing on one foot - that's pretty impressive after 26.2 miles!

When I got back to the condo I had a little marathon gift waiting for me from Jim. He had sneakily picked up a few items for me at the expo as well as a few items from home. It was awesome! Later that evening we went out for a nice celebratory steak dinner and of course dessert too!

Post race goodies from Jim!

Celebration dinner!

Monday was a light day of just recovering by hanging out by the pool and getting a massage.

Tuesday Jim and I headed to Universal Studios were we had another great day. Sadly on Wednesday we headed home. It was difficult to go and leave the warm sunny weather; at home it was cold and snow. Plus I really didn’t want to leave the glow of this great experience.

Help, someone help!

It's electric!!

I love you Woody!

Is that Jim peeing in the bushes again??

Post-Trip

Going back in to work Thursday morning I was a little bummed. It was cold, there was snow on the ground, and I was tired – plus my marathon was over. I had worked so hard and now all of that was over. Then I walked into my office and found this waiting for me. It was so amazing! I have the most wonderful and amazing co-workers EVER! It was such a huge pick me up.

Overall, my whole marathon experience from beginning to end was so incredibly amazing. I could share 100s more details with you, but this post is way too long already. My friends and Jim were so awesome and it was great to get to experience this with them too!

I DID IT! I am a marathoner! Wahoo!

I Did It!!!

2012-01-09T07:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was the most amazing day ever and I can proudly say that I am now a marathon finisher!! It was a wonderful time with my husband and friends and a day I will never forget. I can't wait to share all the details with you soon!

You Can Track if You Want To....

2012-01-04T05:43:00.000-06:00

You Can Leave Your Friends Behind,
Because if Your Friends Don't Track, and if
They Don't Track, then They're No Friends of Mine

OK, Seriously, if you have any desire to track me at Disney on Sunday below is the link to sign up for "Runner Tracking". Don't forget the race starts at 5:30 am, but I should be in the last corral so I probably won't start until after 6 am - but still - you could get some very early morning text messages - you might want to turn your volume off your phone til you get up :)

http://www.xacte.com/templates/disney/marathon/

My name is Michael Weatherly and I'm Bib # 8481 (but I don't think you need the bib#). You can track Jim too - he's 8479....but he'll be running with me.

Only 4 MORE DAYS!!! I can't believe it's almost here.

The Countdown is On – and Goals for Disney!

2011-12-30T13:17:00.000-06:00

I can’t believe it…..after months and months of training my FIRST marathon is almost here. Only 9 more days to the Walt Disney World Marathon – GULP.

Jack is cool, calm and collected...he's not worried a bit.

I am nervous. I have a million things running through my head: Did I train hard enough, what will the weather be like, what if my plane is delayed and I can’t make it, getting up at 1am for a race is INSANE – I’ll be exhausted before it starts, what if I cramp up, what if I can’t finish, what if I get sick???????…….all these crazy thoughts. Michael - JUST BREATHE!

So I thought I needed to put together some goals to help calm my nerves. My A, B, C Goals…..basically what I MUST do, what I would LIKE to do, and what I would LOVE to do.

Walt Disney World Marathon Goals

A Goals

Finish my first marathon

Have fun and enjoy every step of the experience

Spend quality time with my husband and girlfriends

Pace myself, don’t start too fast

B Goals

Finish in less than 6 hours

Finish with a smile on my face

Get great race pictures

Finish with no new injuries

Finish strong

C Goals

Finish between 5:45 and 5:59 (or below…but not gonna happen)

Do a cartwheel across the finish line – NO this isn’t serious….I couldn’t do a cartwheel without running 26.2, but it would make for a fun picture

Be able to walk the next day

So what do you think? Any “goals” I should add? Any advice from your first marathons? I’m going to give myself an ulcer if I don’t stop stressing about this race. Help ME J

2012 Races and Goals

2011-12-28T12:36:00.000-06:00

I have never actually sat down before and developed fitness goals. I've set a few in my head before, but this is the first time I've put it on "paper". It's kind of exciting and makes things seems a little more real. It will be fun to look back at the end of next year and see how I did!

Goals for 2012

Complete first marathon

Complete first Olympic Distance Tri (Hy-vee Triathlon – Take II)

Complete first Half Ironman

Finish a half marathon in under 2:30

Participate in at least one organized event every month

Run at least 13 miles once per month

Run a 5K with an average pace in the 10s

Log 1200 running miles

2012 Tenative Race Schedule

Jan 8 – Walt Disney World Marathon, Orlando, FL (first marathon)

Feb 8 – Buffalo Run 5K Trail Run, Parkville, MO (first trail run)

Mar 4 – Little Rock Half Marathon, Little Rock, AR

Apr 14 – Rock the Parkway Half Marathon, Kansas City, MO ("A" Race - PR??)

May 6 – Flying Pig Half Marathon, Cincinnati, OH (get to see my friend Coy Martinez)

Jun 16 – Topeka Tinman Triathlon, Topeka, KS (Long Course - trial run for the 70.3)

Jul 8 – Kansas City Royals All-Star Game 5K, Kansas City, MO

Jul 15 – Ford Ironman 70.3 Racine, Racine, WI ("A" Race; first 70.3)

Aug 5 – Sunflower to Roses Bike Tour, Overland Park, KS

Sep 2 – Hyvee Triathlon, Des Moines, IA (Olympic Distance - will end up being my first technical olympic)

Oct 20 – Kansas City Half Marathon, Kansas City, MO (this is a maybe race)

Nov ?

Dec ?

I'm sure I'll add a few more races here or there.

Disclaimer: My goals, as well as race schedule, are all 100% contingent on my shoulder. I haven’t posted much about it lately, but I still have no idea whether or not I am going to need shoulder surgery. In everyday life, my shoulder doesn’t cause me much pain, but I still can’t sleep on my left side without pain and it still feels extremely unstable. Certain movements still cause pain. I haven’t been in the pool since August, so I don’t really know what to expect. I kind of put it out of my mind while I focused on marathon training. I am hoping to have my ART Dr. start working on it after my marathon and see if it helps. If it doesn’t, that will probably mean surgery and I won’t be able to do any triathlons next year. If that happens though, I will wait until next fall to have the surgery and continue to bike and run until that point….at least that’s the plan for now.

Have you given any thought to 2012 yet? Any new goals/races??? Tell me what you are doing.

Oh, and if you read Jim's "conversation" post today, you were probably expecting a rebuttal. I have decided that if he is going to continue to completely fabricate conversations, I'm just going to ignore him. Well, that's probably not really true, I just really wanted to put this post out there.......I will actually have a little something for you regarding this ridiculous "PR" beard soon. Stay tuned...................................

Christmas Eve 20 Miler!

2011-12-27T06:05:00.001-06:00

Saturday was my LAST long run before Disney! So, I got up early on Christmas Eve morning and headed out. Technically I'm supposed to be in taper and was only supposed to do 12 on Saturday and not 20, but I missed a long run when I had a sinus infection and felt like I needed to "make it up"...so I did. I honestly think it was a good idea and will help me mentally. And I still had 15 days of taper....I think that's more than enough.

My training plan has had me alternating between long runs and shorter runs every other week once I hit 15 miles, so I had done 22 two weeks ago, but only 13 last week. My 22 miler really took it out of me. I had been sick and wasn't feeling it after about mile 3. I had severe calf cramps at 18 that I had to fight for the last 4 miles. I felt pretty miserable after the run...but when I was finished I still felt confident I could do the 26.2, but I just thought I would barely drag myself to the finish line. My 20 miler this week was completely different......

I felt great, almost the entire run. I started out feeling good, and I really felt pretty good overall until about mile 16 or 17, and even then I just started feeling pretty tired, but wasn't overly exhausted. When I was finished I walked in and said to Jim "I just kicked that 20 miler in the A$$!!" Pardon the language, but I was pretty excited about it. I then took Jack for a recovery walk and put in another mile and a half for a total of 21.5 miles for the day! It was a HUGE Confidence booster!! I finally feel ready for Disney!

And, my overall pace for the 20 miles was 12:57 per mile, which was over 39 seconds faster per mile than my 22 miler and even 23 seconds faster than my 19 miler! And to make things even better, the majority of my "injury" issues seem to have subsided. My hips and foot are feeling much better. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good........so two weeks of taper and then it's GO time!!

After my run there was lots to do to get ready for Christmas time with family. We had a GREAT Christmas! It was awesome to spend time with my family and just have some time to relax and unwind. I ATE WAY TOO MUCH and need to do some major scaling back on the eating this week.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas too! I'll leave you with a few pics.

Me & my beautiful niece

Jack with his new Angry Birds toy

My new running jacket - I love it!!

My awesome cow from Coy Martinez :)

Jim and our grandson Ryder with his new dump truck

If you missed my 2011 Recap, check it out here.

2011….A Mostly Great Year!

2011-12-23T10:17:00.001-06:00

Although 2011 has brought with it quite a few injuries, I also managed to achieve quite a few accomplishments. Here's my year in review:

Completed 19 organized events:

* 3 - Half Marathons - Oklahoma City (coldest half marathon EVER), MO' Cowbell (PR), and Kansas City (another PR)

Me & Madi after OKC....FREEZING!!!! Sick as a dog here!

Me & Coy after MO' Cowbell....Moooooo!

After the KC Half....Got Milk?

* 1 - 15K - Cerner 15K (first 15K so it was a PR). During the race I PR'd in the 5K, 10K and 15K points!! How cool!

Me & Jim after the Cerner 15K

Finish line of my first and fastest 15K

* 2 - 10Ks - Hospital Hill, The Northface Endurance Challenge (PR)

Hospital Hill 10K "Robot" pose

Northface Endurance Challenge - It was super HOT!

* 1 - 4 mile run - Westport 4 Miler

Luck of the Irish!

* 4 - 5Ks - Groundhog Run, Diva Dash, Corporate Challenge, Halloween Hustle

Me & Jim. Our first underground race. I was sick as a dog here too.

Before the Diva Dash. Super excited.

Before the Corporate Challenge 5K. Look how green everything was.....I miss that!

Pre-race Dance prior to the Halloween Hustle!

* 3 - Sprint Distance Triathlons - Topeka Tinman, WIN for KC Women's Tri (PR from previous year), Jackson County (huge PR from previous year)

Me & my friend Michelle with our race results at Topeka Tinman. Our first Tri of the season.

Me & Michelle after WIN Tri......after a long rain delay, the day turned out gorgeous.

A group of friends before the Jackson Co Tri. Future Racine 70.3 training team.

* 2 - Bike Tours - Tour De Lakes, Sunflowers to Roses

* 3 - Virtual Races - Cupcake Half Marathon (Jason @ Cook, Train, Eat, Race), the Jelly Bean 10K (Run With Jess) , and the I Just Felt Like Running Virtual 5K (Jeff at Detroit Runner)

Trained for my first Olympic Distance Tri (sadly didn’t finish it)

Sad face at packet pick-up for my should have been race

Trained for my first marathon (will complete on Jan 8)

Completed my first ever 50 mile bike ride

The "after" pic....we made it 50 miles!! It was the hottest day ever - around 100 degrees.

Got to be part of my stepdaughters first race ever (10K) and first half marathon and my stepsons first 5K

Madi & Jim at the Ground Hog 10K

Me & Gage being silly at the Halloween Hustle

All of us the night before OKC Half Marathon. Who knew it would rain buckets on race day.

Got to meet and run with Coy Martinez of First in Philly

Me & Coy at Mo' Cowbell

Learned how to use Clipless Pedals

It might have taken me a couple of tries to get the hang of it.

Set new 8 PRs over the course of the year (I think)

Ran my fastest mile ever in training

Ran a 10:14 mile....not fast for you, but fast for me!

Became a Blogger

So glad I started blogging and got to know all of you!!

Got to watch my husband cross the finish line of the Boston marathon and back to back marathons

Jim almost to the finish line at Boston. What an awesome experience.

Jim right after finishing the KC marathon - his first marathon in two days.

Jim, Me, Madi and Nate right after the Des Moines Marathon. That makes #2

Ran, biked and swam a lot of miles. I didn’t really start tracking this really well until about about March or so. Bummer I don’t have exact mileage to share, but I know it was my highest mileage year to date.

I look forward to an EVEN BETTER 2012!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-21T12:39:00.000-06:00

Jim, Jack & I Wish you ALL a very Merry Christmas.

I know many of you have seen this picture already. I guess that's the problem when you have a spouse who blogs too.

Many people have asked if that's really our kitchen or did we super impose this image somehow. Yes, that is really our kitchen and it is a real photo. Jack has mad skills!!

We look forward to sharing more stories with you in 2012! Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

ART Makes Me Cry

2011-12-19T17:55:00.002-06:00

I wish I could tell you that I had recently seen the works of Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in person and its beauty brought me to tears, but that is not the kind of “art” I’m talking about. I am talking about ART – active release technique. I’ve talked about it in my blog quite a bit over the last few months; it’s a specialized form of chiropractic medicine. Although, very, very different from traditional chiropractic manipulation.

After reading about ART several times in blogs, I searched out an ART Dr. in my area for some pain I was having in both hips. I have to say he has done wonders for me. When I first went in I could barely walk, much less run without pain. My hips felt locked up and out of place. Now, for the most part I have limited hip pain. It still comes on occasionally – like after a 22 mile run, but it doesn’t bother me day to day. About a month ago, I remember saying to the Dr., “You know this ART stuff is not so bad. I had heard so many times how painful it is supposed to be, but it really doesn’t hurt that bad”. He just smiled and said, “Well sometimes it just depends on what area of the body you are working on, but also some people just have a higher tolerance for pain”. I decided then and there that I must just be exceptionally tough. I’m not saying it doesn’t hurt – trust me it’s not a pleasant experience, it’s just that the pain was tolerable. And he was right, there were areas that were a little more painful, like when he worked on the adhesion in my abdomen, and he worked on my calves a few times too. Sometimes I would have to hold my breath a few times to get through it, but it was ok.

So last week when I developed some very sudden foot pain, I called him up and asked if he thought he could help. Well yes, of course, he was actually very good with foot pain. So I made an appointment and went in after work on Thursday night. My visit started with Mark, the “motion counselor” – not sure if that’s his technical title or not. Anyway, Mark provides you some specific stretches and exercises for the area that is hurting, and also hooks you up to some giant electrodes. I have had this done on my hip several times now, and it’s also not very pleasant – I knew the foot was going to be bad. So he slaps one very large electrode over the heel of my right foot, and then puts a couple others in the general area and cranks up the juice. Immediately my foot begins to tingle – it’s that pins and needles feeling you get when your foot is asleep, and then my toes start involuntarily spasming. My big toe is waving like it has just been crowned the next Miss “Toe Jam” America. The rest of my piggies are also doing a little dance of their own. Let me tell you – when your body parts are moving involuntarily – it is not a fun time. This lasts for about 10 minutes and then finally I am done and ready to see the Dr…..man I’m glad that’s over.

Dr. Black works on my hip for a few minutes first…ah not so bad. Then he does a little work on the calf…hurts but I’m getting through it just fine. Then he starts in on my foot. HOLY crap – that hurts! I begin to breathe in and out like I’m in labor. Before I know it I’m yelling out “OHHHHH Kelly Clarkson” like Steve Carrell in the 40 Year Old Virgin. Then I say a few other choice words, and he just responds, “ahhhh…..now we see the real you come out”. I’m thinking no, this is not the real me, this is the holy batman I’m about to give birth through my foot me. Before I know it, out of nowhere the tears go streaming down my face. I am crying…..involuntarily crying….I can’t stop it. It sucks. I can’t remember being in this much pain before. Poor Dr. Black, just looks at me and says “I’m sorry, I know this hurts, but I have to do it if you want to get better. If it makes you feel better my ex-wife used to have major foot problems, and every time I worked on her feet she always cried.” Hmmmm, I am thinking to myself, there’s probably a reason that “wife” was preceded by “ex” in that previous statement.

Anyway, this torture goes on for about 15 minutes (might have been less, but it seemed like forever) and it’s finally over. I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to stand up, but to my surprise when I put weight on my foot it actually felt better. I was able to run 5 miles on it the next morning. I have continued to stretch, exercise, ice, and heat the foot, and it has improved some. I go back for even more torture tonight. Wish me luck!

If you want something to make you laugh, check out the pic from my last blog post. Hysterical. :)

Frisky Reindeer & HBBC Updates

2011-12-19T06:11:00.003-06:00

Last weekend I had my first ever 22 mile run and it really took it out of me! I have been having foot pain, IT band pain, you name it, it hurts on me right now. So, luckily this weekend my long run was only 13 miles. Who knew I would ever get to the place where I could put 13 miles and "only" in the same sentence. That feels pretty good.

Anyway, I was just running around my neighborhood on Saturday, and as I was approaching the 1 mile mark on my my run I came across a couple of reindeer in some random person's front yard that apparently got a little frisky overnight. I couldn't help but laugh and take a picture. I was hoping I wouldn't get caught taking the picture so they didn't think it was me who re-arranged their poor reindeer. And although I thought it was pretty hilarious, I was also hoping that they didn't have any kids. I wouldn't want to be the parents who had to explain this situation.

This is my last real training week before Disney. I have a 20 mile run on Saturday (Christmas Eve) and then it's taper time. This time, in 3 weeks, I'll be (hopefully) posting my race report and will be able to officially say I'm a marathoner!

HBBC Update:

Last week I earned quite a few points since I started my week with a 22 miler! Of course, I didn't run as much with the pain in my foot, so I biked alot more instead. My week looked something like this:

Miles Run/Walked: 31 Miles = 31 points
Miles Biked: 42 miles = 14 points
Hours Spent Weight Training: 1 hour 20 minutes = 5 points
Days I got in 7 fruits/veggies: 4 days = 4 points

Points Total = 54! Woot, Woot!

I've gotten a total of 194 points so far, which seems like alot, but I'm in the advanced group and there are some people who are earning like 80 points a week....no way I can compete with them. Plus this is my final week of hard training and then I move in to taper mode so my points will go down significantly. That's ok though, I've had a great time doing this and it's helped keep me accountable and focused on eating better!

If I Were a Race Horse I Would Have Been Put Down by Now

2011-12-15T16:24:00.001-06:00

“If I were a race horse I would have been put down by now”, I texted my friend Coy of First in Philly. If you know much about race horses, this is a sad but true statement. Unfortunately when they become injured or can’t perform well anymore many times they are put to rest. If they are lucky they find a nice home and someone to take care of them. But, if they were habitually injured they’d be glue for sure!

Soapy Horse (stolen from my friend Coy's FB page). Thanks Coy!

I feel like an injured race horse. Luckily for me no one is trying to put me out of my misery. Maybe they should….not literally….but sometimes I wonder if it’s time to hang up the racing dreams. But I really just can’t imagine doing that at all. Plus I have delusions of living out the Dreamer story (injured race horse returns to former glory). I can see the headlines now, "Habitually injured runner and triathlete Michael Weatherly breaks world record", or something like that!

My body drives me crazy. It literally revolts against me. I get over one injury only to have a new one creep up out of nowhere. Every time I make forward strides, something strikes and pushes me back again, but I keep moving forward. I don’t stop. I just try something else.

As most of you know I’ve been battling a hip injury for the last several months, but I’ve been a woman on a mission. I have been going to ART (active release technique) therapy 1 to 2 times a week for two months, I have been eating better and losing weight, I have been stretching daily, I have been working out my core daily and I have seen HUGE improvements. After my 22 miler, my left hip was a little sore, but it’s kind of worked itself out over the last few days. Things have been going great…….

Then……out of the blue……LITERALLY. I am walking across my bathroom floor when all of a sudden I have the most awful, burning, painful, cramping feeling in my right arch/heel. OUCH! Maybe it’s just a cramp………nope, still there an hour later, and another hour later, and the next morning. When I wake up Wednesday morning I can’t put any weight on that foot. It feels like someone sliced it open, pulled out the nerve and poured acid inside. So many of you are automatically thinking plantar fascitis right? That’s the same thing I thought when I had this two years ago. Turned out to be Tarsal Tunnel syndrome; it’s just like carpal tunnel, but it’s in your foot. You have a nerve that runs from you ankle into your heel which can get pretty inflamed. When this developed the last time I had 3 cortisone injections in my foot (not fun) which didn’t help at all. I ended up in a boot for 6 weeks and in tennis shoes and orthotics only for several months after that. It finally healed and hasn’t given me any problems, until now!

Seriously???? It’s 3 weeks til Disney. I will say this came on much more suddenly than last time, so I’m hoping it’s just some kind of weird flare up that will go away as quickly as it came on. And even as I’m writing this post, it has already improved some. But, I took action right away. I iced it immediately, took some ibuprofen, massaged it on the tennis ball and have been stretching my foot and calf every few hours for the last few days. Tonight I go see my ART Dr. to see what he can do for me.

I do not want this to be another Hyvee Triathlon where 1 week from the event I get sidelined. I can’t mentally deal with that.

Rest assured however, that I will be running the Disney Marathon. Some way, somehow, it will happen! Thanks alot for all of the great comments on my last post about my 22 miler by the way. They are seriously so encouraging!

I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to work so hard only to be habitually injured. I feel like a whiner and a complainer and that’s totally not my style. I ask myself all the time, am I just not tough enough??? Are these just minor things that other people just deal with, or am I just “special” in that I’m constantly developing some ridiculous new pain and injury. My ART Doc and I are trying to get to the bottom of this mystery.

OK, on a positive note. I lost another 1.4 pounds at Weight Watchers and reached my goal weight this week! (well I came within 2 pounds of my goal weight, which is all that is required by Weight Watchers to get back to Lifetime status). This means I get reimbursed for the 10 remaining weeks of our At Work Series! Woot! Money in the Bank! That’s a total of 12.2 pounds overall!

22 Miles and I Lived to Tell the Tale!

2011-12-12T15:55:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I was supposed to run 21 miles as part of my Disney Marathon training. After battling a sinus infection for a week, I just wasn’t up for the task. I cut it short and did 15 miles – which felt like a million. The previous week was a recovery week from the 19 miler I had done the week before…..so I hadn’t done a really long run in 3 weeks!! But I knew with Disney just 4 weeks away, I had to get in a good quality long run this weekend.

I know a lot of marathon training plans don’t take you over 20 miles, but I knew for me that mentally I had to get past 20. 6 more miles is a ton!! 4 more miles, well that just seems more “doable”. However, jumping from 19 to 22 was a lot – especially when I hadn’t done a long run in 3 weeks. I was determined to get out there and get it done though.

So yesterday I set out for a 22 miler! It was chilly, but the sun was shining. I started about 7:30 in the morning. It was about 30 degrees, but with winds of about 12 mph, the wind chill was around 23 degrees. I had frost built up on my shoulders by about mile 5. As I’ve mentioned before I do a run/walk technique and it works pretty well for me. I run 3 minutes and walk 1. I knew those last few miles would be difficult, so I told myself that once I got to mile 18 I could change it to a 2 minute run/2 minute walk.

By mile 10, I really wasn’t feeling it. I was tired, and drained. I still am not totally over my sinus infection, but I kept pushing. I did two 11 mile loops, and when I finally reached 11 miles, I thought, holy crap I have to do this again!! I was really starting to tire by mile 16, but kept pushing myself to keep that 3 to 1 ratio. A 3 minute run might not sound like a lot, and it’s not at mile 5, but by mile 16 it seems like forever. I finally made it to 18, and just about that time my left calf started cramping so badly I could hardly stand on it. I tried over and over to stretch it out, but it just wasn’t helping. My 2/2 ratio was kind of out of the window. I did the best I could, but I really kind of hobbled and limped my way through those last 4 miles, although still running some! It was pretty miserable. But I got through them…I really had no choice – I was 4 miles from home. I have had the calf cramping issue before and it’s always in that same calf. I’m not really sure what causes it. I was hydrating and using sport beans, and even ate a granola bar during my run. I am just super hopeful it doesn’t happen on race day.

I ended up averaging a 13:30 pace - I was doing a little better than that, but my 15 minute miles from 18-22 really hurt my overall average. Anyway, in case you were counting that means it took me almost 5 hours! 4 hours and 59 minutes to be exact. That is a LONG time. I’m serious, you fast runners just have no idea how lucky you are. All I kept thinking was this would have only taken Jim like 3 hours and it took me 5!!

At the end of the day though I made it and even ~~walked~~ hobbled another mile with Jack as recovery for a total of 23 miles and I know that had it been race day I would have finished. I would have limped to the finish, but I still would have finished! Only 4 weeks til Disney!!

Today I feel ok though. Better than I thought I would and I'm pretty happy about that.

THE END.

What UP Wednesday!

2011-12-07T14:13:00.000-06:00

What’s Up……

· It’s FREEZING!! This morning it was about 11 degrees with wind chills of about 4 or 5 degrees. I headed out for a 7 mile run, but decided just to do 5. I think that was plenty. This picture doesn’t do the cold justice….my eyelashes were literally frozen, and I had ice crystals on my head and gloves.

I'm Sexy and I know it! (Yes this is a hot look, if you are a Ninja!)

· I purchased this new Brook Baraclava (the headgear). It helped keep my head warm and toasty this morning, but I can’t really get used to running with something over my mouth and nose – I kept lowering below my mouth to breathe.

· Cold weather running sucks…..it means 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts & a jacket, 2 pairs of gloves and something on your head, face and neck! That has to add like 5 pounds to your body when running.

· Speaking of pounds, yesterday was weigh in day at Weight Watchers – I have lost 10.8 pounds to date!! (That’s 7 weeks if you’ve been counting) Woot! Woot!

· I have to run 22 miles this weekend. That’s a lot of miles! Only 5 weeks til Disney!

· It’s only 3 weekends til Christmas and I still haven’t finished decorating my tree (sigh).

What’s New in YOUR World?

From Bustin' Bootie to Feeling Puny!!

2011-12-04T15:38:00.001-06:00

Well if you read my post last week you know I was bustin' some bootie in the workout department - logging my most running miles in a single week ever and racking up 55 points in the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge.

Sick as a Dog!

Unfortunately that came crashing down this past week when I came down with a sinus infection and cold. Last Saturday I had a long run of only 10 miles (recovery week), but during my run I noticed my throat was really sore - I hoped it was just the cold air I was breathing in. After I got home, showered, stretched, etc I realized I was getting sick - CRAP! Saturday for the most part I felt ok, it was just that my throat was on fire. By Sunday, I knew I was coming down with something, but I decided I would still try to get in a bike ride on my trainer. As the day progressed I felt worse and worse. I tried to still do "something" most days whether it be a 2 or 3 mile walk/run or a few miles on the bike, but I didn't have much energy to dedicate to training, but so close to my first marathon I knew I had to keep doing something. Finally on Thursday I broke down and went to the Dr. where I found out I had a sinus infection (and cold), but I was given a Zpak antibiotic (yea!!!!). By Friday I was feeling much better and yesterday I was feeling ok enough to go for a 15 mile run. I was supposed to do 21.....but knew there was no way I could do my longest run to date feeling the way I was.

That missed 21 miler is going to hurt my training schedule a bit, but that's ok, I'm going to make it work - so 21 miles this weekend. I am hopeful to feel back to 100% so I can have a good running week overall. I really need it.

Anyway, in spite of the illness I still managed to rack up a few points this week in the HBBC!

Miles Walked/Ran - 17 miles = 17 points (1 point for each mile)
Miles Bike - 27 Miles = 9 points (1 point for each 3 miles biked)
Hours Strength Training - 1 hour and 20 minutes= 4 points (1 point for every 20 minutes)

Eating 7 servings of Fruits/Veggies = 4 points (1 point for each day you reach 7 servings)

Total Points: 34

I will say, being sick and knowing my points would be down helped me to focus on my eating my fruits and veggies a little more to get my points up. I'm sure it helps since I was sick anyway.

Bustin' Some Bootie!

2011-11-26T19:24:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I signed up for Amanda's Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge. It started last Saturday. It's pretty easy really, just track how many miles you walk, run, or bike or time spent doing weights or cardio. You get points for pretty much everything you do and then you can stay in shape over the holidays and compete against others for some great prizes. You can still sign up - just click on the link above.

It happens to be a bonus for me that I'm in the late stages of marathon training right now....so yeah...I can earn quite a few points. And it didn't hurt that I had my first ever 19 mile run the day after the challenge began.

Last week stacked up like this:

Miles Walked/Ran - 45 miles = 45 points (1 point for each mile)
Miles Bike - 21 Miles = 7 points (1 point for each 3 miles biked)
Hours Strength Training - 1 hour = 3 points (1 point for every 20 minutes)

Total Points - 55 - Woot!! Woot!!

You can also get points for 7 servings of fruits and veggies everyday. I didn't really track this but doubt (sadly) that I met that most days. So this week I have something new to focus on.

Hope you are all staying fit and active through the Holidays! I know I ate enough this weekend for 3 people.....NOT GOOD!! I wish I could say I feel fat and happy, but really I just feel fat!

What are you doing to stay in shape this holiday season????

19 Miles: Just a Walk in the Park!

2011-11-21T14:03:00.000-06:00

I wish!!

Well, the weather this weekend just plain sucked. I was planning to run 19 miles on Saturday, but I had to make a decision…….

Saturday’s weather was warm – about 65 degrees, but it was 25 to 30 mph winds, with occasional gusts in the 40s. I knew I would be miserable and exhausted running in those conditions, but my alternative was….

Sunday – Major cold front. Temperatures would be around 32 with 12 to 15 mph winds – so wind chills were in the low 20s.

Neither option was great, but at the end of the day I decided to opt for Sunday. While colder and still somewhat windy I knew I could bundle up and stay warm – there was nothing I could do to stay out of the winds on Saturday. I took Jack for a short walk on Saturday, and it was miserable, it didn’t matter which way you were walking the wind surrounded you can just about knocked you off your feet – I was glad with my final decision.

The run went ok, I finished and that’s was the most important part. I took my time – that’s for sure, and ended up averaging a 13:20 per mile pace. Yes that’s SLOW. It took me 4 hours and 14 minutes to do 19 miles. Seriously, you fast runners don’t know how lucky you are. Jim ran a marathon on Sunday too and finished nearly an hour ahead of me. But that’s ok, my goal time for my marathon is around a 13 minute pace so I guess 13:20 for a training run is not too bad – especially considering the weather conditions. I mean I was bundled from head to toe wearing two pairs of pants, a thermal compression top and fleece jacket, gloves and a warm winter hat. Plus I had my camelback and food with me. That’s a lot of extra weight to carry around on a run.

As I mentioned in my previous post I decided to try out eating while on the run this week. So I purchased some Cliff Mojo Bars (basically a trail mix bar – good carbs and some protein), Fig Newtons Strawberry Minis (good carbs, small and easy to eat), and some candy orange slices (got these for the pure sugar – 3 of those little babies is 130 calories so it was easy to get calories in). I also brought along my GU Chomps. I pulled the trail mix bar into tiny pieces and put everything in zip lock baggies. I decided to eat every 2 miles – I would have 1 orange slice, 1 piece of trail mix bar, and 2 mini fig newtons and some Gatorade. I would take a 2 minute walk break to eat. Then at miles 5, 9, 13, and 17, I would eat a GU Chomp. Mile 2 came and I tried to get my goodies out of my pack. It was more difficult than I thought. Trying to fumble the pack with my gloved hands proved impossible, so I had to remove my gloves and then pull out three separate zip locks. Already, I realized this wasn’t going to be an easy process and I was going to have to come up with something more efficient for my next run. My 2 minutes passed very quickly and when it was time to run again I still have the fig newtons and the orange slice to down – which I did while running. Mile 4 was much of the same thing – fumbling to get everything open and in my mouth. By mile 5 was time for my GU chomp, but I was feeling full….I didn’t want it. Mile 6 came and I still wasn’t ready for more. I just drank some Gatorade and kept moving. About mile 7 I finally had a GU, and by mile 8 I ate again. I don’t know exactly how many miles apart I was eating, but it was definitely more than 2. That’s what the training runs are for – to figure all this stuff out.

The good news is that the food was very helpful. I didn’t get all crampy and miserable at the end of my run and the food didn’t upset my stomach in the least. I was tired of course at the end of 19 miles, but I felt ok. After my 17 miler I didn’t think I could walk another step. After my nineteen miles I was READY to be done, but know I could have done more if needed. That felt good. All in all it was successful, and I just need to keep working at it to determine what’s going to work for me on marathon day. I am pretty sore today, but nothing too bad.

CONGRATS TO:

Jim at 50 after 40!! (that’s my husband). He set a PR at the Route 66 marathon in Tulsa! It wasn’t the PR he was hoping for, but I think he’s pretty AMAZING! He is the most consistent runner I have ever seen. He put in some hard work on a hard course. Way to go Sweetie!

Ryan my co-worker – remember the co-worker I interviewed a few months back after his first Ironman? Well, he did IM Arizona yesterday finishing in 9 hours and 14 minutes!!!!! He took almost 30 minutes off his finish time. AMAZING! I haven’t heard yet, but I think that should mean he earned a spot in Kona!

Just a cute picture of Jack as a puppy for no real reason at all.

Three Things Thursday X 2 + 1

2011-11-17T11:18:00.000-06:00

I got my new Brooks yesterday!! Can I just say that I LOVE them!! They are so amazingly comfortable. I took them out for their first trial run this morning. I was conservative and only ran 1 mile in them. I can definitely say that they work different muscles – almost immediately I could feel my calves, and about half mile in I could feel my hamstrings really working. I will definitely have to transition into the slowly. But overall, I am really happy with the purchase. It felt so weird when I took them off and started running in my normal running shoes.

Winter is here! I am not ready for this weather yet. It was 25 degrees this morning. When I came home from my run I had ice crystals on my gloves…..not used to that one! Brrrr……..

My Breaking Dawn midnight movie buddy had to cancel on me, but have no fear I ended up changing my plans and I’m going to an 8pm pre-screening tonight. I am however going all by myself. But I’ll be surrounded by literally thousands of other fans so it will still be fun!

My pace times are actually decreasing instead of increasing. This is very frustrating. I suppose it’s a combination of running with pain and the colder weather. Jim informs me his times get slower in the winter too. I am struggling to maintain around a 13 minute mile pace – even on my shorter runs. Just a few months ago I was hovering around 11:30…..it sucks! I did a “speed” run yesterday and my average pace was around 11:50 – I was doing those around 10:30 not that long ago. Arghh……

I do think my new Dr. is seriously on to something. He discovered a very tender spot in my abdomen – tender as in, when he applies pressure I can hardly stand up from the pain. It’s weird because I never even knew the pain was there. He thinks I might have an adhesion. I am having a few other medical tests done just to rule out other causes, but he’s still kind of working on it. For sure I have very tight rectus abdominus and psosas muscles. I did a little internet research on issues that can be caused by these muscles being tight – first thing mentioned for the rectus abdominus muscle is shoulder instability – what!! Crazy right? It’s amazing how interconnected our bodies are. The Psoas causes pain in the hip flexors. So anyway, still working on strengthening my core and going to ART a few times a week. I am not seeing over night improvement, but I didn’t expect to – I am however seeing some improvement so that’s encouraging.

I have 19 miles on tap for Saturday!! This will take me approximately 4 hours+. I will be experimenting with eating actual solid food while on the run. Since I am a slow runner and my marathon will take me between 5 and ½ and 6 hours I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it on gels alone, so I figure I better start getting it figured out now. It’s only 8 more weeks til marathon time! Do any of you eat during a long run? I know it’s not common, but I’m going to be out there a long time. I totally bonked on my 17 miler and almost couldn’t make it in the door. After I got some food in me I felt much better. I’m hopeful this will help me finish a little stronger this week.

Weight loss update. I've been doing Weight Watchers 3 weeks now and I'm down 6 pounds! Woot! It's not a ton of weight, but I'm going in the right direction!

Barefoot by Nature??

2011-11-14T10:04:00.001-06:00

So, as most of you who follow my blog know – I’ve been pretty unlucky in the injury arena. I’ve had my fair share of injuries, as I know many of you have as well. Injuries tend to make us branch out and try new things. I am pretty willing to try just about anything at this point to see if I can improve my current situation and make sure I get to Disney for my marathon in January

Last week I had ART (active release therapy) done twice. I also had a wonderful/painful massage on Friday. I go to a VERY good massage therapist. I asked her to work on my hip and she did. I was literally bruised within an hour of the massage with about 15 bright red bruises around the top of my left hip, and a few more on the right. I should note that I bruise pretty easily. She spent 30 full minutes on just the hip, hip flexors, and psoas muscle. During my run on Saturday I had very little pain in my hips and it was so wonderful. By Sunday, the pain was back, but not quite as intense. I am seeing some improvement. I was encouraged by the fact that some of the things I am doing are beginning to help.

I have also started reading the book Born to Run – which is awesome by the way. It’s not at all what I expected. It’s a lot of really exciting running stories kind of pieced together. I’m a little further than half way through the book, and I know at some point that talk more in depth about minimalist/barefoot running, but they have barely touched on it at this point. However, that said I have been doing a little reading and thinking of my own about the whole minimalist thing.

My husband Jim very adamantly thinks the minimalist running thing is a fad, and maybe it is. I guess only time will tell if it is a fad that goes away in a few years, or if it is a fad that keeps going and becomes more of a movement. Do I think that all running shoe companies have gotten on board to make sure they don’t get lost in the dust – yes I do, but is there something to the whole concept? I don’t know. I know I ordered my first pair of minimalist shoes this weekend – the new Brooks Pure Cadence. I tried them on at Dick’s and they felt AWESOME. Instantly AWESOME. I figure even if I don’t like them for running, I think they are super cute and will be a great addition to my shoe collection if nothing else.

Brooks Pure Cadence - a minimalist stability shoe

Anyway, this morning – just for an experiment I decided to try barefoot running. I only had a 3 mile recovery run on the schedule so it would be the perfect time to try. I decided to run the first mile in my shoes to warm-up – which I did and my hip was hurting pretty good this morning. After the first mile, I took my shoes off and ran in just my socks (while carrying one shoe in each hand – I’m sure I looked a little ridiculous). I decided to see if I could run a half mile….I didn’t want to do anything too crazy to start out. I ran a half mile just fine and you know what I felt GREAT. Within 2 strides I had zero pain in my hip – ZERO!! I’m serious. It was not what I expected at all. I figured without the cushion of the shoe my hip pain would be worse. I thought well it might help my form in the long run, but it’s going to hurt bad, but it didn’t. Maybe it was all in my head. After a half mile I put my shoes back on and ran another half mile – my hip was hurting again. Then I decided to try another half mile barefoot again. Same response – no pain in my hip. I ran the last half mile with shoes on – pain in the hip again.

So am I a barefoot runner convert? No. It was however a great experiment. I seriously can’t wait to get my new shoes though and see how they impact the pain level. Like I said, I’m willing to try new things at this point. Isn’t that what the endurance world is really all about? There are so many different things out there – different ways to eat – Paleo, Vegetarian, Raw foods, etc. Many of us are Garmin addicts, but some never even wear a watch. I think you keep experimenting until you find what works for you. And what works for you may not work for someone else and that’s ok.

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut…..

2011-11-10T09:48:00.000-06:00

Anyone remember that old Almond Joy/Mounds jingle?? I have it stuck in my head now, and maybe now so do you!

So, I am feeling like the nut these days – as in being cracked with the nutcracker. My body does not love me AT ALL. It is falling apart…just like the nut cracks and breaks apart, I am too. It’s so frustrating. I have been trying to be an endurance athlete since May of 2009, so not that long really, but in that time I have had: a tibial stress fracture, damaged cartilage in my shoulder that may still require surgery, two damaged nerves in my foot, constant back pain, and now pretty severe hip pain. I wouldn’t have any idea what it was actually like to train without pain or fear of the next injury. I had a pretty good run this summer. I was training hard and mostly injury free until the shoulder injury, and things have just kind of gone downhill from there.

So what am I doing about it? Re-evaluating, changing things. I am hopeful to make some positive changes that will impact me in the long run. I’m just afraid I’m doing too little, too late to be able to get me to the finish line of this marathon. I’m still plugging away at my marathon goal, but I’m in pain EVERY single run, EVERY single step. I’m scared to death I might have a stress fracture in my left hip, but I’m still running….and staying away from a Dr or an MRI I just don’t want to know.

What I am doing is seeing a new Dr. Yes, he is a chiropractor and I know a lot of people don’t believe in them, but I do. He is a specialized chiropractor who practices ART (Active Release Technique). Basically he works on the soft tissue that has been damaged by overuse. He also has a “movement coordinator” who gives you specific exercises and stretches to work on at home to improve the situation. I have been for 3 visits and have seen some improvement. He told me it’s going to take some time. He told me the damage I have done to my back has left my entire core unstable. It’s like I’m running on a house of cards. He thinks the shoulder injury was do to my unstable core, and certainly the current hip and back pain. So that’s what I’m working on. Stabilizing my core, which means DAILY core work – mainly planks and stretching literally every hour if I’m able. This Dr. also focuses on overall wellness which I think is pretty cool. What are other things that are impacting you? He suggested I read the books Born to Run and The Paleo Diet for Endurance Athletes. Yes, he is a proponent of minimalist running and the basic concepts of the Paleo Diet. I’m not crazy about the thoughts of doing Paleo, but at the end of the day I’m just about ready to try anything. I have read these theories before, they are not new to me, but maybe there is something to the fact that grains cause inflammation in the body – which I certainly don’t need to add more to what’ already there. So, over the next month or so, I will likely try the diet out for a few weeks.

I’m at this point. What do I really have to lose? I’m going to give this guy 4 to 6 weeks. If I’m following his regimen and seeing benefits from this “madness”, I will continue. If not, I’ll try something else. So that’s where I am……..hopeful….always hopeful!

Have any of you ever tried the Paleo diet? How about ART? Thoughts?????

I Have Answers & Giveaway Winner

2011-11-07T05:18:00.000-06:00

Thanks for playing along with my little "Versatile Blogger" Game. I had 25 people participate in this thrilling game. I really enjoyed reading your responses. So I know you have all been dying to find out what was True and what was False. So here we go.

1. "I am terrible with geography. Once during a job interview I had to write in all the States on a US map. I was only able to identify about 20 of them. Sad part is I still got the job."

- Well, 72% of you think I'm an idiot who knows virtually nothing about the Country I live in. And sadly, most of you would be correct. This one was was TRUE. I still have no idea why they had me do this because they obviously didn't care because I did get the job. I am pretty sure I even missed the State of Missouri - where I lived, but in my defense I had just moved here a month before. OK, really I have no defense This one is just embarrassing.

2. I once lived in a real Haunted House. Weird things happened all the time. The lights would go on and off on their own, shelves would knock against the wall for no reason, and the worse thing ever was when I was laying in my bed one night and heard someone say my name in a whisper “Miiiicccchhhhaaaaeeelllll”. Creepy!

- Most of you were torn with this one. It was almost evenly split with 48% thinking it was true and 52% false. This one is actually TRUE. I lived in a house that I swear was haunted when I was about 13. Maybe (probably) it was all in my head. But I do vividly remember jumping from the top of a bunk bed to the door of my bedroom after hearing my name called in a whisper one night. And the other stuff happened too. It was freaky stuff.

3. I am an expert pumpkin carver/decorator. It’s one of my FAVORITE parts of Halloween. I have even entered and won several pumpkin carving contests.

- This is another one you guys were pretty torn about with 52% thinking it was true and 48% false. This one is totally, and absolutely FALSE. I was just telling people at work the other day that I don't remember ever carving a pumpkin in my entire life. Maybe I did, but I sure don't remember it. I ran across the pic of the pumpkin I posted on Facebook and thought it was super cute so I decided to use it. I think I might try to re-create it next year!

4. My favorite book series of all time is the Twilight Saga. I read all the books in about 6 or 7 days. And, I do in fact have tickets for the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn.

- Well, most of you - 72% thought I was a serious Twilight fanatic. And you would be ABSOLUTELY correct! This one was totally TRUE. Sad, yes I know, but true. If you've been following my blog since the very beginning you knew this one because I've posted it before. And yes, I do have tickets for the midnight premiere of the latest movie. I am going with my best friend Cindy. We are pretty pathetic huh?

5. I have six tattoos, but all are hidden pretty well. Most people don’t realize I have any. My favorite tattoo is of a butterfly in honor of my Grandmother who thought they were the most spectacular creatures on earth.

- 56% of you thought this one was true, but it is absolutely FALSE. I actually do not have any tattoos. I think it's just my age. I'm kind of from the pre-tattoo era. If I was about 10 years younger who knows, maybe this one would be true.

6. I am pretty sure I’ve been abducted by aliens at least once in my life. I have vague memories about the experience. It seemed like a dream but when I woke up I had an unexplained “scoop” mark on my left leg. The scoop mark is a common theme among people who believe they have been abducted. I know it sounds crazy, but you wouldn’t understand until you experience it for yourself.

- Luckily, only 36% of you thought this one was true. But I am kind of surprised that anyone thought it was true. This is definitely FALSE. What do you think I'm crazy? Oh crap, now I've put this in print. Those aliens are going to find me and mess with me now.

7. For extra money in college, I used to do stand- up comedy on the weekends at a local comedy club. I was part of a warm-up act for the real comedian. I used to get so nervous before I went on that I would throw up at least twice. The stress didn’t seem worth the money so I only did it for 4 weeks.

- This one probably cracked me up the most. 64% actually thought this one was true. The whole throwing up because of nerves would probably be accurate if I had ever done something like this, but I haven't. This one is FALSE.

Now, for the winner. The average number of correct responses was about 4 of 7. But two of you (Julie of Adventure is out There and Coy of First in Philly) got 6 out of 7. I was pretty impressed!! But that meant we had a tie. So, as stated I used random.org to generate the winner. Kind of weird to generate a random number between 1 and 2! Anyway, I went with the order you entered - so Julie was #1 and Coy was #2.

Congrats to Julie!! Send me an e-mail (weatherlymh01@yahoo.com) and I'll get your gift certificate sent to you right away!

Again, thanks for playing along. I thought this was fun!

I Survived

2011-11-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

I ran my longest run to date this morning - 17 miles!!! And I lived to tell the tale. I never thought I had this in me. I guess from here until the marathon all my long runs will be new milestones, but I'm pretty excited to get through this one today. We had about 20 mile an hour winds today. It was cloudy and only about 45 degrees but I didn't let it stop me! It wasn't ideal but I got it done.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway - it ends tonight! See what you think you know about me.

Versatility and a Fun Giveaway!

2011-11-03T12:54:00.000-05:00

So I was graciously awarded the Versatile Blogger by the famous Big Daddy Diesel a few weeks ago. It’s pretty simple really – tell 7 random facts about yourself and then nominate 12 other people to do the same. Since I am so insanely versatile it was hard to narrow it down to just 7 things. Ha! No, that’s not true, I’m a pretty boring girl really, so to make this a little more exciting I decided to share 7 random things with you – some are true, some are false. So now it’s up to you to decide which ones are facts!

To make this even more fun, I might as well make a contest out of it. So, whoever has the most correct answers will win a $20 gift card to roadrunnersports.com. If there’s a tie, I’ll use random.org to select a winner. In your comments below just list the numbers 1 thru 7 and indicate if you think it’s “true” or “false”. If you don’t want to play along – no worries, you can still just comment like normal. I’ll accept comments through 8pm CST on Saturday, November 5^th and reveal the winner on Sunday. Have fun!

1. I am terrible with geography. Once during a job interview I had to write in all the States on a US map. I was only able to identify about 20 of them. Sad part is I still got the job. Seriously, could you fill this in?

2. I once lived in a real Haunted House. Weird things happened all the time. The lights would go on and off on their own, shelves would knock against the wall for no reason, and the worse thing ever was when I was laying in my bed one night and heard someone say my name in a whisper “Miiiicccchhhhaaaaeeelllll”. Creepy!

3. I am an expert pumpkin carver/decorator. It’s one of my FAVORITE parts of Halloween. I have even entered and won several pumpkin carving contests.

One of my winning creations

4. My favorite book series of all time is the Twilight Saga. I read all the books in about 6 or 7 days. And, I do in fact have tickets for the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn.

I did not actually take this photo.

Now, to nominate 12 more bloggers for this award…..hmmmm…since I never follow the rules I’m going to skip this part. If you enjoyed this post and want to do it on your own blog go for it!

Random Thoughts and Stuff

2011-11-01T19:08:00.001-05:00

Jim asked me the other day “Do you still blog?”…..yes, I do, but not often any more. I’m lucky to get out one blog a week…..and reading blogs has almost completely gone by the wayside. I seriously don’t know how people find the time. Between a full time job, training, and just life it seems like there is not enough time in the day. I really enjoy both reading and writing blogs, so it’s a shame I don’t have more time to dedicate to it.

Anyway, since I haven’t blogged in awhile I have lots of updates. I was going to do a Halloween Hustle 5K Race Recap, but just decided to make it part of this update.

First – a huge shout out to Coy Martinez of First in Philly who completed the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday and totally rocked it out!! She has been battling IT band pain for months but fought thru it for a strong finish!! You ROCK!

Halloween Hustle 5K……I dressed up like “Running on Empty” – yes it was my own creative idea. I thought it was pretty self explanatory and cool and running themed. I was dressed like a runner…to the extreme, with an empty fuel gauge around my neck. However, apparently most people did not get it. I think they had no idea what I was supposed to be. Oh well, maybe next year. Last year I was Flo from the Progressive commercials…..people seemed to totally get that one. Anyway, the race was long 3.4 miles vs. 3.1 so while my overall pace was technically a PR for me; my official race time was one of my slowest on record. That is frustrating. And I had been waiting all fall for a 5K race since my times had been improving so much…..but due to an injury I wasn't able to give much (read next bullet below) – I still finished in an 11:11 pace, but I know I’ve got at least a 10:45 if not 10:30ish pace in me…..again maybe next time.

Flo

Pre-race Dance

Injuries – I am still in physical therapy for my shoulder injury from August. Surgery is still a good possibility. I am still hopeful it won’t come to that, but I haven’t been able to swim in two months now. It sucks. New/Old injuries – as I’ve mentioned before I injured my back pretty badly about 5 years ago – so now I have periodic back pain and issues. Unfortunately since I started marathon training it’s been more consistent. I’ve had back pain for about the last 7 weeks on and off. For most of it I was able to push through it. The last two weeks I’ve not been so lucky and the “back” pain has really moved into my hips, especially my left hip. The pain has been pretty bad. I took off running for 3 days last week, and then did the Halloween 5K on Saturday…it was pretty painful. I was supposed to do my long run on Sunday and couldn’t. It was only a 9 mile run since it was a recovery week, but I still hated to miss a long run. But there was no way I could get through it. I tried, but only squeaked out .42 miles before calling it quits. I did however, bike for an hour and a half instead. That doesn’t cause me any pain. I rested on Monday, and tried to run again this morning. I did manage to make it through 2 miles. I have an ART (Active Release Therapy) appointment on Thursday. I’m hoping that will provide some relief. I have a 17 mile training run on Saturday that I just can’t afford to miss at this point in my marathon training.

I won two Blog Giveaways – literally like two or three weeks ago. I planned to give each its own blog recap…but alas I must give up the dream. Thanks to Christina at the Athletarian for the Tommie Copper Calf Sleeves – they are totally AWESOME! Thanks also to Caroline at Canadian Runner in Exile for an assortment of goodies including a book, some running fuel, and a cute headband. My gift pack was TERRIFIC!

Love these things!

Jack "modeling" with my gear!

Today was my first Weight Watchers weigh in. I lost 3.4 pounds! I was happy about that, although I still think since it was week 1 it could have been higher, but in the end it was a loss, and I am trying not to go to the extreme on my weight loss to make sure I have enough energy and fuel to train. Luckily for me last week was a recovery week, and I didn’t end up running much due to injury so I didn’t have any issues with not getting enough fuel.

I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award from Big Daddy Diesel…..that post is still to come. I promise.

Let me know if you are following my blog, and I’m not following yours. I used to be excellent at keeping track of new followers, but since I haven’t done a very good job of even logging on to my blog lately, I haven’t done a great job of that either. Seriously, I would love to follow you….so let me know!

I think that will do it for one blog. Sorry for the long list of random stuff!

Three Things Thursday

2011-10-27T06:20:00.002-05:00

I can't seem to find time to blog (again) so thought I would go with an old standby. Three Things Thursday:

Had a wonderful weekend with my sisters at Lake of the Ozarks. The weather was beautiful, the colors were beautiful, and of course time with my sisters was BEAUTIFUL. We don't get this kind of time often enough.

The Sisters

I joined Weight Watchers on Tuesday. I joined back in 2008 and lost 30 pounds. Since then I put about 15 of that back on. I knew with the holidays coming up if I didn't lose a few pounds now I'd be going in to the New Year with an extra 20 pounds I didn't want.....so it was time. My weight loss may be more moderate as I am trying to balance weight loss with marathon training.

Jack is the world's cutest puppy dog! Just saying!

My Butt Hurts Real Bad

2011-10-20T10:28:00.001-05:00

I’ve been repeating the title of this post in my head for a day now….in my best Napoleon Dynamite voice. No, my butt doesn’t hurt real bad because of my Sweet Dance moves, it hurts because of Jillian Michaels Killer Buns & Thighs video! Every time I sit down, every time I stand up, every time I move – IT HURTS!! The good kind of pain, like when you know you have worked a totally new muscle group.

As most of you know I’m training for my first marathon in January, and I’m not really a “runner” by trade – I’m a triathlete. But in late August I injured my shoulder and have not been able to swim. Also, since I’m running so much I haven’t been biking much lately so my workouts have mainly consisted of running lately. My running times are improving, but I’ve got a chronic back issue (I’ll share more about what I’ve discovered in a different post) that I know impedes my running. I know stronger hips, legs, and core will improve my running stamina and help with the back pain. So, I decided that since I’m not spending my time swimming and biking, I should get back to doing some more strength and core training.

So last week I purchased two Jillian Michaels DVDs – Killer Buns & Thighs and Six Week Six Pack. Both were very reasonably priced on Amazon at just under $9 each. Yesterday I decided to give the Buns & Thighs DVD a go. The DVD has 3 levels and each workout is about 30 minutes. I, of course, decided to start with Level 1, but I didn’t have 30 minutes to dedicate to it so I just did PART of the video. She does each series of moves twice, so I decided for times sake I would just run through them once. I can’t believe how sore I am from about a 20 minute workout. I can only imagine how I would feel if I had done the entire thing!

I totally expect to look like this in just 6 weeks!

It might not have been the best idea ever to start this week. I was still pretty sore and tired from my half marathon on Saturday and I have my first ever run over 13.1 miles this Saturday. When I ran this morning I felt my butt the entire time. But, I am a glutton for punishment so I’ll be throwing in the Six Pack abs DVD tonight after work. Wish me luck!! At least tomorrow is a rest day. I think I’m gonna need it!

Thanks so, so much to everyone for the very kind and encouraging words on my blog this week. I can’t tell you how thrilling it was to PR this weekend. I’m still basking in the glow of it. I’ve had other PRs recently, but nothing has felt as good as this one. I finally felt like a runner. I know an 11:39 pace is no record breaker, but for someone who’s never been able to get out of the 12s on long races it seemed like an almost unattainable accomplishment for me.

Have you seen Napoleon Dynamite? If not, what are you waiting for? Seriously, it’s a classic!

I Met this Girl Named Michael this Weekend

2011-10-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

and I really liked her. I don't know where she came from, but I hope she stays around.

This is my KC Half Marathon Recap:

Me & Jim post race

I have to admit, going into this race I was NOT excited. I had set a PR just two weeks prior at the MO' Cowbell Half Marathon which was pretty darn flat and the KC Half is HILLY (almost 700 feet of elevation gain) so I knew there was no way I could PR here. Plus two half marathons in two weeks was alot for me. It would just be a training race for my marathon and that would be just fine. I knew I'd still have fun because I was going with my hubby Jim and he was running his first of two back to back marathons (you can read his phenomenal post here). I knew no matter what I would be done in plenty of time to watch him cross the finish line and that would make me happy!

This race is my nemesis....seriously. In 2009 I ran my first half marathon and trained for it in only 7 weeks - my longest run going in to the race was only 8 miles and I finished in 2:52. I had so much fun at that race that I signed up for the KC half. For this one I got serious - I trained for 16 full weeks, I had long runs of 11 or 12 miles. I was so ready. Race day came and the hills kicked my BUTT! By mile 4 I seriously wasn't sure if I could even make it 13.1. I was so disappointed. The weather was cold and damp (it had rained just before race start). I ended up finishing in 2:50. I was just so upset that I had trained so hard and only took 2 minutes off my time. Then I signed up for the race again last year, and ended up with a tibial stress fracture and couldn't do it. I had all these mental images in my head going into the race. I knew I could improve my previous time, but I figured I'd finish somewhere around 2:45. I could live with that.

Course elevation from my Garmin

Jim and I got up early Saturday morning. It was chilly in the low 40s - but perfect for running. It was supposed to be in the mid 60s and sunny by the time we finished - and no wind - seriously another race with perfect weather. The weather in Missouri this October has just been wonderful!!

We arrived a little later than we anticipated and the line of traffic was crazy to get parked. Jim started panicking a bit, but I told him we would be fine - we still had about 45 minutes til race start. We got parked and headed our separate ways. Jim went to drop his gear bag and do his pre-race warm-up and I headed to the bathroom line where I would wait for almost 20 minutes! Race time was there before I knew it. I went out to the start line and started to get those little butterflies. Here we go again!

OK, although I knew I was going to be around 2:45 I had secretly printed out a 2:35 pace schedule. I knew I couldn't do 2:35 since my PR was 2:37 just two weeks ago, but I thought maybe it would be good to keep it and try to follow it for the first 6 miles or so until I got really tired. It's the pace chart the actual pace teams use, so it's paced with the hills in mind and of course it starts out slow to warm-up. I knew I should start slow because at MO' Cowbell I went out way too fast trying to "bank" some time, and really hit the wall in the last mile. It called for a 12:14 pace for the first mile and 12:04 for the second. The first mile was uphill so it was pretty easy to take it slow, although I still finished it in an 11:50 - still a bit faster than planned. The second mile was downhill so it was easy to speed up, that one was defnintely too fast at 11:16. At mile 3 you approach your first really big hill. It was about this point that I ran into the 2:30 pace team. They were walking up the hill, so I decided if they were walking it I would too. Seemed smart - my third mile was my slowest mile of the race. I felt like I was going too slow, so I ran past the 2:30 pacers, but then decided I must be going a little too fast if I was passing them so I slowed it down a bit and hung to the side of that group for awhile. I thought if I hung with them I'd slow my pace down. I was feeling great and running strong, it was hard to hold back, but I knew I should if I wanted to have anything left at the end. At some point the 2:35 pace group passed the 2:30 pace group...not sure why. Anyway, I just decided to try to kind of stay between these two groups. I had started well behind the 2:35 pacers, so I knew I was a few minutes ahead of this pace.

Miles 4-8 just kind of flew by. Normally about mile 4 I start my walk/run ratio, but I was feeling so good, I didin't do it. I walked through the water stops and walked for 1 minute at the end of each mile, but that was it. Miles 4-8 were really fast for me averaging around 11 minutes. Miles 8-10 are pretty much straight uphill, and I started to slow here, walking a bit more up some of the hills, but never for more than 30 seconds to a minute. I was kind of expecting to "give up" here. But suddenly when I finished mile 10 I realized - hey I only have a 5K left. I can do this. My overall pace was still around 11:30 and the course was ready to move into a nice long downhill to flat section. The 2:30 pacers had passed me, but I was still right behind the 2:35 pacers. I started thinking I could actually do it. I might be able to PR. At mile 12 I paced the 2:35 pacers and knew I had it. I crossed the finish line in 2:32:29 official time - a 5 minute PR from just two weeks ago where I had a 13 minute PR. I had cut 18 minutes of my best time between the two races!! I was grinning from ear to ear when I passed the finish line! My Garmin time had been 11:29, but I had also ran 13.29 instead of 13.1. It didn't matter. I had an overall pace in the 11s!!! I couldn't believe it. And I felt GREAT at the end of the race. I knew I could have run even farther.....which is good since I will be doing just that this weekend when I attempt my first 15 mile run and first run EVER over 13.1!

My Garmin splits

I finished, stretched, refueled and then waited for Jim to cross the finish line of marathon #1. He came strolling across - making it look easy of course. I still couldn't belive he'd be doing this again tomorrow. I won't go in to the details of his race, I'll let you read those for yourself, but know that I was INCREDIBLY proud of him on Sunday! What an amazing and inspiring athlete! Congrats Jim!!! I love you BABY!

So that's the story of how I met the NEW Michael.....the one who pushed herself, and ran her fastest race EVER! I seriously hope she stays around. I'd really like to see more of this girl!

This is a picture of a cow. This is for Coy Martinez :)

And of course what race is complete without a milk mustache pic!

DC - A Mostly Pictorial Post

2011-10-07T06:00:00.001-05:00

Well, as I mentioned in my last post. I ran my half marathon Sunday, showered, said my goodbyes to Coy and drove back home to Kansas City. I arrived home just in time for dinner, and to do some laundry and pack for another trip. I was heading to Washington, DC for work. I had a work group close out meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The meeting started at 8 am Tues morning, so I had to fly out on Monday. Since I had never been to DC before I decided to take a vacation day and go out early so I could make the most of my only day in town that wasn't booked solid. So I booked a 6:30 am flight out of Kansas City on Monday. I live an hour from the airport. This meant getting up at 3:30 am and leaving at 4:30 am to make my flight (with literally no time to spare - I got through the security gate as they were announcing "last call" for my flight).

Let me just tell you that getting up at 3:30 am after not having gone to bed until about 10:30 pm and running a half marathon the day before IS NOT easy. I have a hard time sleeping on planes, so that didn't really do me any good. Anyway, I arrived to my hotel around 11:15 am where thankfully I was able to check in early. I took a very, very quick 20 minute cat nap and then headed out to see the sites. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy on Monday - about 48 degrees and misty rain the entire day. Of course Tues and Wed when I was in meetings the weather was 70 and sunny. Anywho, I know most of you have probably been to DC before, but I hadn't. The city is just AWESOME! The monuments, museums, etc are so amazing. It was a great experience. I really want to go back now and spend some more time in this city. I just about walked my feet off.....seriously. I was so tired it was ridiculous. After spending about 6 hours walking around the city, I met up with a friend of a friend who lives in DC and she took me around to a few more spots and to dinner. She was so incredibly nice to do this. I didn't make it back to my hotel room until about 9:45 pm that night. I was exhausted!! I am still exhausted. Can't wait for the weekend.

Anyway, I know most of you have probably been to DC and have these pics yourselves, but here were a few of my favs. Notice the ominous clouds in the background of everyone - and most were taken during the day.

The new MLK memorial

A Night at the museum

Me as a caveman. Super cute!

MO Cowbell Half Marathon Race Recap

2011-10-05T06:41:00.002-05:00

On Saturday morning I was ready to make the four hour drive to Saint Charles, MO for the MO' Cowbell half marathon. I went to my car, opened the back hatch, got ready to put my suitcase in the car and guess who jumped in the back before I even had a chance to get the suitcase in? Jack....that's who!! He was ready for a trip. That dog makes me so sad sometimes, how was I supposed to leave that sweet face? But alas, I gave Mr. Jack a kiss on the snout and headed out.

I arrived in St. Charles right around 2pm for packet pickup. When you think about endurance sports, what's the first thing that comes to mind......drinking, smoking, and gambling??? But of course! So naturally, packet pickup was at the Ameristar Casino. When I got inside Coy of First in Philly was waiting for me!! Yea!! I finally got to meet her. We chit chatted for a minutes and then picked up our packets. Easy peasy!

Me & Coy doing our best running pose,

We decided to try our luck...and headed into the casino for a few minutes. I have literally gambled maybe 3 times in my life. I'm not good at losing money. We walked around and took a few pics until we got asked politely to stop. Yes, we were trying to steal the layout for our own casino. We finally settled on a couple of slot machines. I told Coy I had a $20 limit. I would play $20, but when it was gone, I was done.

Coy sneaking a pic of me & my cashout voucher

I pulled the lever and won like a $1.20 or something, Then I lost a few rounds, but then I hit some kind of mini jackpot. The machine started ringing and chiming and suddenly I had $40.25. I said that's it. I'm done! I'm cashing out!! And I did! I made $20.25 - go me! Coy lost her $20, but hey we still had an overall payout of .25 between us. Take that Ameristar!!

We then headed to the hotel to check in and hang out for awhile. Coy is AWESOME!! Seriously, she is so funny in her blog, but she is truly a great person - in person! I just loved getting to know her!

We then headed out to get some pre-race fuel. We landed a Pia's - an Italian restaurant. The first thing they gave us was a lovely basket of club crackers and a plate full of butter. Classy touch! Stay Classy St. Charles. We immediately started dying laughing thinking it was the funniest thing we had ever seen. I mean seriously, they give you breadsticks at flippin' Fazolis. What restaurant gives you cracker and butter?

Delicious huh?

Fast forward to Sunday morning. Race day! It's time to go. We wake up to 36 degree temps, not exactly the mid 40s that were projected. It was COLD. I had brought tights and shorts, but luckily decided to opt for shorts and a long sleeve shirt. I was glad I did because the race didn't start until 8:30 am and it warmed up quickly. The sun was bright, not a cloud in the sky. It was a beautiful day, but was definitely getting warm by the time we crossed the finish line.

My goals for the race 1) Have Fun!! 2) Set a PR. My previous best half marathon time was 2:50:45. I was hoping to be around 2:45. The course was mostly flat, but you encountered two pretty big hills at miles 10 and 11. Way to put the hills at the end of the race. Going into this race my longest run had been 10 miles, so I knew those last 3 were going to be tough, especially with the hills at the end. Plus I was still dealing

with some back pain, although it was much better going in to the race. I knew if I wanted to get a PR I would need to bank some time in those early miles. I know it's not the best race strategy to go out fast, but I took a chance. The first few miles were pretty easy. I had planned to run the first 3 miles, and then start my run/walk plan. By the end of mile 3 we were at about a 10:52 pace per mile which is very fast for me, and I was ready for that first walk break. It was probably a little bit too fast, but I had "banked" some time. We maintained a pretty consistent pace from miles 4-9 of around 11:45 - 12:15. But as anticipated, miles 10 and 11 were much slower and were closer to a 13 minute pace. Mile 12 was downhill and we really picked the pace back up and finished it in 11:56....but then I just fell apart during the last mile. I was tired and my back started cramping badly. For the first time during the race I couldn't complete my 3 minute run (it was just 3 minutes...you should be able to do anything for 3 minutes, right?). I just couldn't do it. I should have been excited and invigorated. I was at the end of the race, I only had one mile to go and it was mostly downhill, but I was struggling, big time. Coy was awesome! She kept say it's ok take a quick break, you are almost there, are you ready to start running again? She could have ran this race, much, much faster, but chose to run it with me. She was awesome, I know she helped push me through that last mile. She kept saying come on, I know we can get you to the finish line in under a 12 minute pace, but it's going to be close! I finally see the finish line, and I'm ready to run it out. I look at my Garmin and think I can do it! I can finish in under a 12 minute pace. I crossed the finish line in 2:37:21!! My fastest time by just over 13 minutes! The pace on my Garmin is 11:54!! Unfortunately, once again, the Garmin was slightly off. My race distance on my Garmin was 13.23 so my official time was 12:01! I was bummed, for just a second, but then I remembered that I just set a 13 minute PR on a half marathon - that's a minute less per mile. I was still super happy!

After we crossed the finish line we were awarded with an AWESOME cowbell finishers medal. We also got to take our pic with the cow. They gave you 3 copies - FREE!! Seriously, it was the little touches in this race that were just great! They also had one of the best race shirts I've gotten yet, a very nice gender specific long sleeve technical tee. For an inaugural race, they really had their act together.

I had one of the best race experiences ever. It was great to PR, but it was also great to run with my new friend Coy. I loved every second of my day. Give me MO' Cowbell next year for sure!

They even had decent finish line photos.

My race recap is a bit delayed because I'm currently in DC for work. After driving the 4 hours home from the race, I had to pack for another trip. I got up at 3:30 am to head to DC on Monday morning. But more on this later..........

Everyone Needs A Little MO’ Cowbell!

2011-09-29T09:27:00.000-05:00

This Sunday I will run my first half marathon since the May 1 Oklahoma City DISASTER (if you didn’t read that recap you can read it here). It was the coldest, rainiest, slowest, most miserable run of my life.

The MO’ Cowbell is going to be CRAZY COOL.

You can get your picture taken with this life size charmer…..

The weather forecast for Sunday:

PERFECTION!!

The race is mostly flat from miles 1-9, 10-11 are pretty much uphill, and 12-13 are downhill. AWESOME!

I’ll be meeting and running with coy Martinez of First in Philly! SUPER AWESOME!

It’s going to be an absolutely AMAZING Day!

My only wish – that I was more prepared. I am in full marathon training mode, but I’m early into my training. My longest run since May has only been 10 miles. I did 8, 10, and 9.3 over the last several weeks. I know I can get through the half, but I do think I’ll start struggling a bit around mile 10…..just in time for the hills. I’m also STILL dealing with some back pain. My visit to the chiropractor last night brought some much needed relief, but it’s still painful. I’m hoping I’ll continue to improve over the next several days.

I had to skip my speed run yesterday. I was supposed to do 5 miles (3 speed). I ran/walked 2 and called it quits. I was in way too much pain – it was very frustrating. So today my back felt much better and I decided that instead of my regular 4 mile easy run I would do a 4 mile speed run (2 miles speed) since I missed it yesterday. I did my two miles in 10:24 and 10:20. My overall pace for the 4 miles including the warm-up and recovery mile was 11:08….NICE! My times are improving.

I’ll probably do a couple of miles on Friday and maybe even Saturday before I head to St. Charles, MO for the race. That's it....then it's COWBELL time!

3 PRs in One Race - Cerner 15K Race Report

2011-09-24T21:35:00.000-05:00

This morning Jim and I headed over to Kansas City, KS for the first annual Cerner 15K race. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful morning! The weather was literally perfect for running. It was about 52 degrees, sunny, and light winds. There was moderate humidity (about 75%) but with temps like that you really didn't notice.

For some reason Jim and I were both really not feeling the race this morning. I've been having some trouble with my low back, and have been limping around all week. I've had my physical therapist work on it some during my shoulder appointments, but it hasn't provided much relief. Jim said he just wasn't into it. He had just ran a marathon two weeks ago and had back to back long runs of 18 and 20 last weekend...and I think he was just a little tired. I was too. As I limped across the room to the bathroom, he said "Let's just not go". To which I responded...."whatever, we are going". We both knew we were going....sometimes you just have to get the grumps out. So we got our running clothes on and did our pre-race "dance ritual" to get in the mood. This time Jack got in on the action.

Me trying to do the "sprinkler" - oops blocked Jim from the shot :)

We arrived early and sat in the car to stay warm. 52 degrees is awesome for running, but a little chilly for standing around. It was just a short walk to the race start so we could stay in the car until about 15 minutes before the race. After a few trips to the porta potty we headed over to the race to warm up a bit. I was planning to take it slow. I have a half marathon next weekend, and with my back a little out of whack I figured I'd be lucky to average a 12:30 pace, but I secretly hoped I'd still finish around the 12 minute mark. My plan was to use this as a training run vs. a race. I would run it the same way I was doing my long runs on the weekend. I have been running the first 3 miles (with a 1 minute walk break in between miles) and then doing a 3 minute run/ 1 minute walk combination for the rest of the miles. This is my running plan for my marathon.

The race started and I was off....running slowly to start...taking it easy, or so I thought. I looked down at my Garmin when I was about a 1/2 mile into the race and I was averaging a 10:30 pace. Oops, that race adrenaline will get you every time. I slowed down..again or so I thought, but when I hit mile 1 my pace was 10:37. OK, I really needed to slow down, I still had 8.3 more miles to go. However, I was feeling good, so I decided to skip the 1 minute walk between the first few miles. Maybe I would just run the first three without stopping. Mile 2 comes....10:54, slower but still a little fast. However, at this time I realize, at this pace I could break my 5K PR. It won't be an official PR, but that's ok. I slow down a bit more, but not too much. Mile 3...11:18. Now I'm watching my watch, to see it hit 3.1. When my Garmin registers 3.1 my time is 34:02. That's a 10:58 pace....that's sub 11!!! My previous 5K PR was a 34:58 - an 11:16 pace. I didn't crush my PR or anything, but I beat it....and I still had more than 6 miles to go.

OK, I knew I had to get serious now and slow down, or I was going to completely burn out. So I decided to stick to my plan and start doing my 3/1 run walk method. Mile 4 was mostly down hill, so in spite of my walk/run method I still did it in 11:16. My next few miles were certainly slower, but I was still feeling really good. As I approached mile 5, I realized if I just kept a decent pace I was also going to beat my 10K PR. I started envisioning my blog post...3 PRs...yes I was thinking about blogging while racing. You know you guys do it too! I kept tabs on my Garmin and hit 6.2 miles at 1:09:3, an 11:11 pace. I killed my best 10K time which was 1:14:17 - a pace of 12:01. I killed it!!!!

I was running on air. I still felt strong....but then came the hills. From about mile 6 to 8, it seemed like it was literally up hill the entire way. There had been several pretty steep but short hills throughout the race, but these were long gradual hills. Mile 6 to 7 was uphill, then a short break, and then back uphill again for mile 7 to 8! But I stayed strong. Once I finally reached mile 8, I knew I was good. I looked at my Garmin and I was averaging an 11:30 pace. I decided my goal was to keep that. I wanted to end with an 11:30 overall pace. Finally, shortly after mile 9, you see the entrance to the Live Strong Sporting Park where Sporting Kansas City (our pro soccer team) plays and I know the finish line is close. I looked at my Garmin, I'm still at 11:30, I can't slow down if I want to keep my pace. I enter the stadium and I can see the finish line - I didn't expect it to be so close. I sprint the last few feet and run across the finish line with 11:29 on the Garmin! I threw my hands up in the air! So excited for such a wonderful race.

Jim captured me coming across the finish line.

I finished in 1:47:43 with a pace of 11:29. Unfortunately, as we all know you usually run a little bit more than the exact race distance so although my official race time was 1:47:39, my official pace was 11:34. That was a bit of a bummer, for a second, and then I realized I had just PR'd in 3 races...a 5K, a 10K, and a 15K (just because it was my first 15K). I had just finished a race with an 11:34 pace. I had never finished a race over 3 miles with less than a 12 minute pace before....EVER!

15K Finisher gift....nice!

It was a great day. In spite of my own personal bests, I was 904 out of 975 runners. That part is so frustrating to me. How can I do so well, but still so bad? But I can't focus on that. I had a great race and I improved and that's all that matters at the end of the day! I was fast for me.

Jim of course did AWESOME as usual finishing 1st place in his age group. If you don't follow my husband's blog (50after40) you should. He is truly an amazing athlete and does some amazing things. You can read all about his race experience here. I am so proud to be married to such a running super stud...yes Honey.....I said it, you are a running STUD! I love you baby! It was great to be able to share such a wonderful day of running with my husband.

Jim accepting his medal...I wasn't a very good photographer

Sorry if you read Jim's blog and see some of the same pics....we did do the same race after all.

Up next.....MO' Cowbell! I know I won't be able to run this fast for 13.1 next weekend, but maybe, just maybe I'll finish around the 12 minute pace which would be another PR. I'm hopeful to have this same wonderful weather....but who knows. Today was a great day, one you don't get very often. I'm thankful for it.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend as well and had AWESOME racing or training experiences of your own!

Here We Go Again!!!

2011-09-20T09:37:00.001-05:00

Well if you have been following my husband Jim’s blog for awhile then you know that periodically he likes to embellish or totally make up stories about conversations we have around the house, and then I of course have to respond and set the record straight. So here we go again…..The Story of the MO’ Cowbell Half Marathon……the CORRECT and actual ACCURATE version of the story. Even his dates are wrong….come on now honey!!

Me & Jim

If you would like to read Jim’s “version” of the story….you can read it here.

Last Friday, I happen to come across the most awesome half marathon of all time. The MO’ Cowbell Half Marathon in St. Charles, MO (near St Louis). I mean the medal is a cowbell and they are trying to set a record for the most cowbells, and then of course there is the SNL skit that goes along with the race theme. Brilliant!! Maybe you already ready my last post about it. Anyway, here’s the story.

So, again, last Friday, I happen to find this race and I sent Jim the following e-mail……to which he did not respond all day.

On Friday night, we have the following conversation:

Me: Hey did you get that e-mail I sent you?

Jim: Oh probably, but I never pay any attention whatsoever to anything you ever send me or say to me. Why what was it?

Me: Oh, just quite possibly the most AWESOME Half Marathon of all time – the MO’ Cowbell HM. They have an awesome logo so I bet the t-shirt is pretty cool and it just looks like so much fun, and it’s only 4 hours away. It’s in 3 weeks, what do you think?

Jim: Michael, I’m not sure what you don’t understand about my Back to Back marathons. That would be my last weekend to get in two long runs….and a half marathon just won’t cut it. I mean, you know I am the most amazing athlete of all time right? Have I mentioned to you that I’m running back to back marathons??? Do you know how many people have done that in the history of mankind….two – me and Dean Karnazes. We’ll have to do your silly half marathon some other time. My training schedule is way too important to be interrupted with some trifle half marathon.

Me: Oh, ok sweetie. I understand you need to train. Maybe next year. Maybe I could just sit and stare at some rocks or something that weekend.

Flash forward to Sunday. I post my blog about how I’d love to do the race, and how Jim “crushed” my dreams….yes it’s there on Sunday….that he said NOOOOOO!!! I have written internet proof that his interpretation of this is entirely false.

Sunday afternoon, Coy Martinez of First in Philly leaves me a comment about how it sounds like fun, and maybe she would do it with me next year. (If you don’t read Coy’s blog you seriously should. She has the funniest blog on the web…I promise. It’s a daily dose of humor.) Anyway, I just responded back with a well if you wanted to do it this year, I would totally be in. I won’t bother you with the barrage of details from all the back and forth e-mails, but at the end of the day she decides to do it. Wahooo!! I get to do my half marathon, meet Coy and have a girls weekend!! Perfect ending!

Flash forward again to Sunday night.

Me: Hey honey, guess what??!! Coy is going to do the MO Cowbell Half Marathon with me! Isn’t that cool?

Jim: Yeah, it will be fun to meet her.

Me: Huh?? You said you didn’t want to do it.

Jim: Um well, that’s before I saw your blog post about it and found out Coy was going to be there. After all there is only one other person in the blog world who can rival my humor….so I have to meet her, so I’m thinking about doing it.

Me: Hmmm……..

Monday

Me: Hey, I just got an e-mail from Coy – she’s registered for the race. I can’t wait to go run it and meet her.

Jim: Yes, I think I will go too.

Me: Wouldn’t you rather stay home and run? I mean I don’t want you not to get in those long runs and crash and burn during those back to backs…….Dean K. would be so disappointed in you.

Jim: But I want to go.

Me: Too late! You missed your chance. You already said no. Now it’s a girls weekend and that’s all there is to it! Sorry man.

Jim: OK sweetie, you girls go and have fun!

The morale of this story. MICHAEL is always right. If she says something is going to be AWESOME than it is. Jump on the bandwagon early, or the bandwagon leaves you....sitting in the dust...crying...wishing you could have MO' Cowbell PLEASE!

One other thing to note, I DO NOT commonly use the word penis....in casual conversation. Come on now honey, at least try to make it realistic.

I Love Gimmicky Races

2011-09-18T07:18:00.001-05:00

I love a race that has a gimmick. Halloween races where you get to wear costumes, the Diva Races that have cupcakes and tiaras, etc. Call me silly, I can't help myself. So when I came across the MO' Cowbell Half Marathon in St. Louis I was immediately interested.......just because it has cowbell in the name and I love the SNL cowbell skit and I love to hear a cowbell at a race. What a fun race idea. Check out the medal and logo.

This is an inaugural race and looks like it only has a about 1000 runners, but they are going to try to set a record for the most cowbells. I just love it. It is about 4 hours from our house, so I immediately sent the link to Jim to say let's do this race. He crushed my dreams by telling me a half marathon just wouldn't cut it for the training he needs right now :( I'm bummed. I want to do this race. It's in 2 weeks, and I wouldn't be quite ready for it yet.....but I would be close enough. Oh well, maybe next year. Sounds like fun though huh?

In other news, I completed my first 10 mile run in a very long time. It went GREAT. I averaged exactly a 12 minute mile which was 10 seconds per mile faster than my 8 miler last week. It was a cool fall day in the mid 50s. It also rained about the last 3 miles, which made those last few miles pretty darn cold.

Jim and I are doing our first 15K race next weekend. It should be fun. We finish in the new Live Strong soccer stadium. I guess the stadium finishes are the new "it" thing in racing.....yet another gimmick! Love it!

Off to see the KC Royals today in their last Sunday home game of the season. We are taking our grandson Ryder to see his first baseball game. He is so excited.....no really he could care less. I guess it's the adults that are more excited.

Hope everyone has had a terrific weekend!

Do you guys like gimmicky races? If so what's been your favorite and why?

Party Rock!

2011-09-14T19:41:00.000-05:00

Nothing to do with running, biking or swimming. I just think it's HILARIOUS! It's only 1 minute. Check it out if you haven't seen it. Enjoy!

Who Knew I was THIS Fast!

2011-09-13T11:38:00.001-05:00

Speed is relative….as they say, so when I say I am FAST, I mean fast for me. I know I don’t have to say it again, but I am a slow runner. I own it, it’s ok. It’s just who I am.

This morning I had a 5 mile “speed” run planned. This included a 1 mile super slow warm-up, 3 – 1 mile “sprints”, and a 1 mile super slow cool down. I was hoping to negative split the three miles. My goal was to do 11:15, 11:10, and 11:05. My average pace is around 12:00 – 12:30 so this was still a pretty quick pace for me. My 5K PR is an 11:15 pace….so seriously this would be fast for me.

No, this is not really me, but I was this excited!

I run early, as in 5am and still completely dark early. So I can’t see my Garmin. I have no idea what my pace is. After my 1 mile warm up, I just decided to run at a good pace. One that felt difficult, but not overwhelming. I pushed myself and when mile 2 beeped I pushed the light on my Garmin and what popped up – 10:49. What? 10:49, who’s this girl? I just ran 1 mile in 10:49. That’s smoking fast. I still wanted to do negative splits, but I had just ran too fast. What the heck, I’ll push it and see what happens. Mile 3 – 10:33……HOLY Toledo! Now I was done for, no way could I go faster than that for my 4^th mile, but I’ll give it all I’ve got. Mile 4 – 10:30…..wahooo I ROCKED it! I negative split like a CHAMP!! Mile 5, slow, slow, cool down. I couldn’t believe it. I would have killed my 5K PR this morning and the weather was even hot. It was 70 degrees this morning with 70% humidity. Not exactly ideal running conditions.

What a great way to start the day. Now, I have to tell you the complete truth. I did stop in between each mile for a quick stretch, just to make sure I didn’t pull anything. I’m not sure I could have put those times together consecutively, but even with the short break, I was super happy with my run!! I love it when a plan comes together!

Now, tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll be back to my old slow self, but that’s ok. At least I know I have it in me to go faster. Those miles in the 10:30s are my fastest miles on record. That’s right, I broke a record this morning baby!! Love it!

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Thanks for all the thoughtful and wonderful comments on my blog lately about my shoulder injury! Seriously, you guys are so awesome! If you missed my update, read it here. I started my PT last night. Fingers crossed things go well!

I Get Knocked Down...But I Get Up Again!!

2011-09-10T17:07:00.000-05:00

Great, AMAZING, AWESOME news! At least for now.....I don't need shoulder surgery! Yea!!! I could not be happier!

Will was pretty excited to hear the news too!

I went to the Dr. yesterday (I was able to get in to see a different doctor a little earlier) and he said he thought surgery might be jumping the gun at this point. He wants me to do a month of Physical Therapy with a daily anti- inflammatory and come back for a re-evaluation in a month. So, I could be here again in a month, but for now I feel like I have at least a month to keep moving toward my marathon and other fall races. I'm a little perplexed by what the PT is going to do for me because he did said I had sublexation in the joint (meaning it is shifiting) which is doing cartilage damage and "flattening" out the humeral head of my shoulder, but he thought a good majority of my pain was coming from inflammation of the rotator cuff and that if we could reduce that inflammation it will hopefully reduce my pain.

I can't swim....at all...for I'm not sure how long, and he wasn't crazy about me cycling either due to the pressure it puts on your shoulder and the chances for falling, but he thought running should be ok or stationary biking. I probably will keep cycling, at least short distances while the weather is still nice. I have been cycling anyway, and while it does hurt more than just sitting, it doesn't seem to bother me too badly. But the good news is I can keep running. I had already registered for a 15K in 2 weeks, a half marathon in mid Oct, and of course the Disney Marathon in January, so I feel like I can keep working toward these races and that feels GREAT!

This morning I got up for an 8 mile run and felt wonderful. The weather is finally just about PERFECT here in Kansas City. It was sunny and about 65 this morning......ahhhhhh, amazing! I did my 8 miles at a 12:11 per mile pace which is not bad for me at all. My long runs all summer were closer to 13 min miles with the heat.

Hope everyone's weekend is going as GREAT as mine!

The Hyvee Triathlon Race....errrr Spectators Report

2011-09-06T06:54:00.000-05:00

Well, those of you who have been following my blog know that Sunday should have been a HUGE day for me. My first, official, OLYMPIC distance Triathlon. The Hyvee Triathlon in Des Moines, IA. I trained for months and I was ready to take on that 1500 Meter swim, 25 mile bike, and 10K run...but alas, it was not to be. Instead it looks like I'm facing shoulder surgery and an uncertain race future. I couldn't get in to see the specialist for 3 weeks! That really sucks. I just want to know what's going on and how long I can expect for recovery.

From what I've been reading, the prognosis is likely surgery, and the recovery is lengthy. Although it's arthroscopic - because it is your shoulder (and a very movable body part) - it pretty much means no physical activity besides walking or a stationary bike for 2 to 3 months and no swimming for at least 6 months!! At least that's what I've been reading. That will be truly devastating and throw my first marathon and many other races out the window. Sigh.....I digress...this post is supposed to be about the Hyvee Triathlon.

I decided that in spite of the fact that I couldn't race, I wanted to go to the race anyway. I wanted to go ahead and pick up my packet and get my free stuff. This was a $150 race...so I had already invested a lot of money. I wanted my stuff dang it. Plus, I thought it would be fun to go watch the pros race. Unfortunately, we didn't end up seeing the pros race. I didn't realize that they didn't race until late in the afternoon and we hadn't planned on staying in Des Moines that long. We did go to the race and watch the Elite Men and Women and some of the Age Group race. It was fun to see those first few racers cross the finish line and to cheer on so many different people. I did get to see one of the Coach's from my Women's triathlon class cross the finish line. She got 2nd overall for the Women in the Age Group Tri. She is truly an amazing athlete!

I had SEVERAL teary moments throughout the weekend. I was trying so hard to stay positive, but everything was difficult. I kept thinking about how I SHOULD be feeling - nervous, giddy, anxious, excited, but instead I felt sad and depressed. When I picked up my packet I had to say, I'm not racing, can I skip the 20 minute safety briefing and just pick up my packet. The expo should have been fun and exciting. It would have been cool mixing in with all the other athletes. I tried to enjoy myself in spite of it and I did. I had ups and downs. One minute I was fine, the next I was not.

Sorry, about the race. The race itself looked AWESOME! It was just another reason to be disappointed. It was such a major production. The finish line was padded in blue carpet with flowers and banners. It was amazing. It finished at the Capital Building in downtown Des Moines and there were enough Grandstands set up for probably 5000 spectators.

The finishers area

The Capitol building

It truly looked like you were at some huge world class event. And I guess you kind of were. There were literally athletes here from all over the world. This was the first ever 5150 Championship race. The 5150 is a new race series from the people who produce the Ironman race series. There was a Pro Race, an Elite Championship race, and then the Age Group Triathlon. There were 60 pros, about 300 athletes in the Elite race, and about 1500 in the Age Group race. They said there were over $1 million in prize money and awards for all the races. The male and female winners of the Elite Championship race won Mini Coopers and some other prizes. The Elite Cup (pro race) winners won over $150,000. So yes, the race was a pretty big deal! It would have been so much fun to be a part of.

The Men's Elite Winner - Adam Webber

The Para Triathlon World Record Holder - he is blind - and he swims, bikes, and runs with a partner! Crazy!

The Women's Elite winner - Kimberly Pancoast

The packets were definitely the best race swag I have ever seen. I was seriously glad I went to pick up my packet. You got lots of great stuff. You got a backpack, a bike jersey, a stocking cap, a visor and lots of other "stuff" including sunglasses, a shower cap, and some food. It was sponsored by Hyvee afterall....a local grocery market chain in our Region (which is based out of Iowa). I even bought a separate race t-shirt. It says 5150 on the back, spelled out with all of the race participants names. Mine is on there. I had been trying to decide if I would use or wear any of the stuff since I didn't do the race, but then I decided I put ALL of the work into it. I did everything I was supposed to do. I knew I was ready and would have finished. I didn't earn the finisher's medal, but I did earn the gear. And I am going to wear it.

Sad Michael...picking up her packet at the expo

The backpack

My name is in the "0"

I wish I had more details to share, but I have no stories about setting up my transition or that huge monster hill at mile 2 on the bike. I just hope to find myself in Des Moines, IA next year....proudly crossing that finish line and earning my medal! But for now, I am trying to stay active. I am still running and biking until I'm told I can't. That's all I can do. I am still working toward my marathon in January....I'm just continuing to move on.

On a separate note, Jim got me the cutest necklace ever. It was supposed to be my "Congratulations" present, but instead it was more of a "hope this cheers you up" present. But I love it! It has a turtle on it! I have pretty much been wearing it non-stop since Friday.

Nope....No Hyvee....Shoulder Update

2011-09-02T16:08:00.000-05:00

Well, here's the deal on my shoulder.

First off, I will not be doing the Hyvee race this weekend. I am extremely disappointed, to say the least. I have put in 5 long months of training. I have worked so hard, I am so ready, but I am trying to make the right decision and not make the situation any worse.

The MRI suggests that I do have a SLAP lesion or tear - which is
"A superior labral anterior-posterior (SLAP) lesion is an injury to the part of the shoulder called the labrum. The labrum is the cuff of cartilage that extends the socket part of the shoulder blade to better accept the ball end of the arm bone. A SLAP lesion is a tear that occurs where the tendon of the biceps muscle meets the labrum".

Basically from what I've read you have a layer of cartilage in your shoulder socket that helps keep the shoulder in place...when this gets damaged you have a SLAP lesion or tear. It's most common among pitchers because of the repetitive overhead motion, but I guess it can happen to swimmers to. If you are really interested you can read more here or there is lots of information on line.

http://www.orthospecmd.com/SLAPlesion.html

I also have some other cartilage fraying at the anterior of the shoulder and possible Hill-Sachs lesion which is caused by shoulder dislocation....I've never dislocated my shoulder before, unless this injury dislocated it. Which I believe it did at least partially. I also have some tendonosis and bursal surface fraying...whatever the heck that means. Basically, my shoulder is totally messed up.

I have been referred to an Orthopedist, but my doctor thought the next step would be orthoscopic surgery to get a better look at what's going on, but I'll wait to see what the Dr. says. Apparently this is not something that generally heals itself or is improved through physical therapy. So that's where I'm at. I have no idea what this means to my future races, or how quickly I will need to do something. I do know that I'm in alot of pain and want it to go away.

Trying to stay positive :) Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Mind Games

2011-09-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

An old commercial about drug addiction used to say, “Your Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste”, but sometimes I think your mind is just a terrible thing. Things get in your head and you can’t get them out. I’m struggling.

It’s Thursday – I’m supposed to have my biggest race EVER on Sunday. I have no idea if I’m going to be able to race or not. Things have been up and down for the past week. Last Friday – Monday I had intense shoulder pain that I could hardly bear, by Monday night it had improved and I was certain my shoulder had just been out of place. I went to a Sports Medicine doctor on Tuesday. He evaluated me, told me he was almost 100% certain it was tendonitis (just an overuse injury/inflammation). He said if that’s all it was I would be fine to race on Sunday. He would give me some steroids. I would be in some pain, but I wouldn’t do any damage to myself. After the race I could come back and he would set up some type of rehab to get me back in tip top shape. I was on cloud 9!! But, just to be safe, he scheduled a CT scan………

Flash forward to yesterday…..call from Doctor – So, it’s not tendonitis, there’s some cartilage damage. I need you to go in for an MRI so we can see how extensive it is. My first thought was….huh? I’m too young for that aren’t I, and I haven’t been swimming that long. My second thought was, cartilage damage doesn’t sound like a big deal…I mean is it really going to get worse? Then, I started doing some internet research – probably a bad idea. Based on my symptoms and some tests available on You Tube, I’m pretty certain I have a SLAP tear. What the heck is that?

It’s an acronym (Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior)…yeah that tells you a lot huh?

It’s a common problem among baseball players and it’s caused by repeated overhead movements. It’s also common among swimmers. Basically, you have a ring of cartilage that goes around your shoulder socket and it attaches at one of the biceps tendons. You can get a tear in the area where the tendon attaches to the cartilage. I have not been diagnosed with this, but I swear everything I read about it is 100% accurate to what I have been and am feeling. Time will tell. I had my MRI this morning. I’m hoping to get the results of by tomorrow.

I’m not sure what the doctor will recommend – race, don’t race, surgery??? Who knows? I don’t like unknowns. My mind goes to the worse. I won’t be able to race. I’ll have to have surgery. I won’t be able to do that Half Ironman next summer that I’ve already been somewhat secretly planning for (expect with my circle of girlfriends who are all planning to do it too).

Then I think. What if I just race anyway……what if the pain is so intense I can’t do the swim. It is almost a mile swim after all. We are talking about 45 minutes in the water (at least for me), maybe even more with an injury. What if they have to pull me out of the water and rescue me? I don’t want to be one of those people. That would be mortifying.

I just don’t know. I’ve put in 5 hard months of training. I want to race, but I want to be smart. I’m trying to stay positive. I still don’t even have a diagnosis yet. These are the things I know:

1. If I can’t race – IT WILL NOT be the end of the world. Things like this happen to people all of the time and they survive.

2. If I can’t race – I WILL be able to race again. I don’t know when, but this is not forever.

3. If I can’t race – I WILL still go to Des Moines. I will watch the 5i50 Championship Series and it will be fun.

4. I WILL not let this defeat me. I WILL not.

I’ll keep you posted when I hear more. I’m still looking for that swimmer!!! I’m serious. Anyone that wants to do the swim portion of Hyvee on Sunday let me know. I’ll make Jim run and I can bike. We’ll be a great team J

GIVEAWAY WINNER & Shoulder Update

2011-08-30T06:15:00.000-05:00

I had 52 valid entries for my Giveaway. Random.org chose lucky number 21 which was Rose @ Hacker Half Marathon. Congrats Rose! Go check out her blog if you don't follow it! It's great!

Rose - Please e-mail your address to weatherlymh01@yahoo.com and I'll get your gift card in the mail right away.

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Shoulder Update:

My shoulder is feeling much better. It popped and cracked about 100 time yesterday which seems to have put it mostly back in place. There is still some pain but not nearly as intense. I was probably at about an 8 or 9 pain level on a scale of 1 to 10. I'm probably more like a 4 or 5 now. I have an appointment with a Sports Medicine doctor this afternoon so I'm hoping he'll be able to shed some light on the situation. I'll also be curious to see what he says about my race on Sunday. Those happy thoughts, prayers, good vibes from you guys seem to be working - so keep sending them my way!!

Why There May Be No Hyvee ......... and a 10K

2011-08-28T19:40:00.001-05:00

Caution: I haven't even started typing this, but I have a feeling it's going to be a long post .....if you are just interested in the 10K Recap...skip to the bottom.

As most of my followers know, I have my 7th triathlon next Sunday and my FIRST Olympic distance race. I started seriously training for this triathlon at the end of April. I am ready. I put in my training, I am improving my race times from last year. I AM READY for this RACE.....except - I am injured. If I had to race today, there is no way I could. I have had my share of injuries in the past from back problems, to a tibial stress fracture, foot issues. And I swear it's like a pattern for me. It's like my body revolts against me before big races.

The week before my first tri this year, I pulled a hamstring. The week before and during my first half marathon of the year I was incredibly sick with a head cold and fever. And now I have injured the rotator cuff of my shoulder - almost out of the blue.

Last week I swam twice...nothing extraordinary. I went to Masters Swim on Tuesday and swam about 2200 yards. On Thursday, I had a short swim of only 1000 yards. On Wed and Thurs I was feeling some very minor pain in my rotator cuff...the kind of pain that was just kind of there, but didn't even require Ibuprofen or anything. On Thursday, I said to my coach, you know I'm starting to get a little minor shoulder pain...maybe I'm doing something wrong. After I finish the Hyvee Triathlon, I really want to start focusing on technique vs. endurance. I swam Thursday and felt fine. I went to a movie with my girlfriend after the swim and felt fine. I went to bed feeling FINE! On Friday morning I woke up and I couldn't move my shoulder the pain was so intense.....and it's pretty much been that way for three days now. I looked in the mirror and my left shoulder was probably two to three inches lower than my right shoulder. There was a visible difference between then.

I thought, I must just have slept wrong or something and my shoulder is out of place. I struggled through the pain most of the day Friday during work and then went to the Chiropractor that afternoon. I sat in the waiting room, dying of pain. Tears in my eyes I hurt so bad. I just knew that I would have relief in a few minutes though. I went in to his office....yes, he said, it does appear the shoulder is a bit out of place. But, your muscles are so inflamed and spasming so badly, there's not going to be much I can do for you. I won't be able to get your shoulder in place until your muscles relax and then it will probably happen on it's own. He did some gentle stretching and put some kinesiology tape on shoulder to help try to keep it in place. I was devastated. I needed relief from the pain. I had a busy weekend with a 30 mile bike and a 10K run planned. My last "long" workouts before my triathlon.

I can suffer through the bike and run. I learned that this weekend. I however, cannot swim unless this improves. I can lift my arm overhead, but I can not lift it behind me or side to side. If I physically try to do the movement of the high arm recovery stroke - I CAN'T do it. Physically, the restriction in my shoulder is too great. I cannot put my hand on my hip. I can't put on my deodorant under the right arm because I can't cross my shoulder across my body. I can't wash my hands, it's too painful. I can't explain how much this hurts.

I went ahead and did my bike ride on Saturday, cutting it to a 25 miler instead of 30. It was slightly painful, but the bike doesn't require alot from your shoulders. Hills were a little tough, but I managed. I had really hoped to wake up this morning and feel much better. It has been 2 days of ice and Aleve. But my shoulder hurt worse this am than ever. I'm not sleeping much at all. I can't move during the night because it causes immediate pain. I sleep on my left side, which is the one that's injured so I can't sleep in my natural position. I'm forced to sleep on my back...even sleeping on my right side is too painful.

I woke up this morning for my 10K and decided I couldn't do it. I was in too much pain and running does require the use of your shoulder - at least some. I sat in bed and cried. Cried because I was in pain, cried because I couldn't do something simple like go run a 10K, cried because I knew my possibility of doing Hyvee in a week was fading. And then I just got mad, and decided I was going to go run. Jim said he didn't think it was a good idea. He said I should probably stay home and get some rest. I thought to myself.....would this honestly change anything? Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't, but I was going to try.

I put my running clothes on and went and ran around the block just to see if I could run. I had a very unnatural body position. I kept my left arm up and couldn't force myself to swing it. I was swinging my right arm and keeping my left still. There was pain, but it was minimal. I might look a little silly, but I could get through it. I wanted to race and I was going to do it.

NORTHFACE ENDURANCE CHALLENGE 10K

- This was an inaugural race in Kansas City. It's typically a trail race in other cities, and this was the only city where it was a road race. They had a marathon, ultra marathon and marathon relay on Saturday and a 5K, 10K, and half marathon on Sunday.
- I saw it advertised in Runner's World and immediately wanted to do it. My training plan had me doing a 6 mile run this weekend, and I thought this would be perfect. Plus, it's the exact run distance of my tri next week. It was a perfect "practice" event.
- Only one hitch, it was the same day as the Royals 5K, an event Jim and I have done for the last 2 years, and where I currently hold my 5K PR. Plus Madi (my step daughter) and her boyfriend Nate were also going to do the Royals race. It was difficult to decide, and a bit odd that Jim and I would split up. But he signed up for the Royals 5K and I signed up for this one.
- The race was great and well organized for an inaugural event. Dean Karnazes was there to kick off the race, and was available for a meet and great after the race, but I didn't stay long enough.
- The swag was pretty good. You got a Northface technical tee that you had screen printed on site. Everyone got a different color and type of t-shirt, which I thought was kind of cool and then they screen printed it with the exact event you completed. So not everyone in Kansas City is running around with the same race shirt. I liked the idea.

- You also go a medal, which was great too. It didn't matter which race you completed.

- If you did the half marathon or above, you also got Northface arm warmers. I was bummed I didn't get these....but maybe next year.
- The race was pretty hilly - as pretty much every race in downtown Kansas City is. My calves are a bit tight after the many hills.
- It was a little cooler this morning, but still pretty humid. I was definitely hot, but luckily some of the race was through some shaded parts of the city so you go to get some relief from the sun.
- My final time was 1:14:17 - a pace of 12:01 per mile. It wasn't great, but it was ok, and was just over a 3 minute PR for the 10K distance.
- There were only 464 participants. I was 405 of 464. Man I need to be faster on the run.
- My shoulder actually loosened up during the race and felt alot better. It wasn't much of an issue at all. I was afraid I would end up being in so much pain I would walk, but I didn't. I pushed through and got a PR. That made me happy. The shoulder pain relief was short lived and I'm pretty much back in severe pain as I write this.

That's all. That's where I'm at. I'm hopeful that I will improve enough to just be able to get through the swim somehow next Sunday. I do still have a full week. I'm not going to do much, if anything this week as far as training out goes. If my shoulder feels significantly better by Thursday, I may go for a very short swim just to test the waters and my flexibility, but we'll see.

Anyone up for a team triathlon next Sunday that lives in the Des Moines area?????? Maybe I can switch races.

Anyone else ever had a major shoulder injury? What did you do for it? I would be open to anything that might help speed recovery!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already. It ends tomorrow!