Friday, December 20, 2013

Friday Five

one.  Christmas is 5 days away! I am hoping I don't have to run to the stores for anything else before the big day. I do have a few things to check off my list but since we won't be seeing some folks until after Christmas I'm thinking I can hit up a few places post holiday. I have Santa wrapping to do and that seems to be my only real issue. And honestly it's not much of an issue except I have to figure out when/where I will wrap stuff because I have one kid (7) that still believes and the other kid (10) doesn't. So while I can lock myself in the bedroom there is still the whole, "What are you doing?????"

two. I am super excited that each year I get so much time off work to spend with my family for the holidays. We close Friday at 5pm and reopen on Jan. 2nd. Woohoo. Normally this would mean lots of sleeping in and not really answering to an alarm clock. This yr will be a little different though. I'll answer to an alarm clock to get my runs in but then I get to go home and enjoy family time instead of rushing off to work. My kiddos (I think) are kinda excited about having us all home for a while as a family.

three. Running related here - I fell and ate some major sidewalk on yesterday morning's 5 miler. We were roughly .15 miles in when the sidewalk just reached right up and grabbed my foot. haha I hit hard and kinda just laid there a minute until the stinging went away. I'm still trying to figure out just how in the world I fell the way I did. Left knee banged, scraped and bruised. Right shoulder bruised and tender. When I got up I even told my friend that my jaw (right side) hurt. Weird weird fall. I used my achy body and restless night of sleep as an excuse to skip out on my 5am hill repeat session. Those bad boys will be getting done at 5pm instead.

four. I'm trying hard to get real again in the fitness/weight loss department. I can run and run and run and stick to that schedule pretty well, but the whole eat well/lift weights/cross train thing seems to be the hardest for me these days. I think it's because for so long it wasn't a real issue. It just came naturally (the healthy diet) and even when I did splurge I was in tune with what I was doing and marathon training provided me with a way to maintain my weight, so I didn't worry a lot. Now that the marathon is over and I'm back to base running phase I keep trying to work on adding my weights and a little cross training but my schedule still feels so tight. However, I really am going to try to get it all in. It's just hard, yo!

five. In regards to the above post - I just registered for a New Year's Day race and accepted a mileage challenge for winter. That should keep things in check!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Rocket City Marathon - from the other side

This past weekend my awesome husband ran his first (and according to him, Only!) marathon. The first thing I will say is that I am so incredibly proud of him. You guys KNOW,  know that a marathon is not easy. But let me tell you what the last month or so has been like for my guy.

First of all, he is a former football player at the University of Tennessee. He's suffered foot/ankle injuries that he's never fully overcome. Yet, with that he still trained hard for his marathon. There days/nights where his feet/ankles and toe joints made him too miserable to sleep and the week of his marathon the man was drinking baking soda and wearing the wooden shoe of shame to help ease the pain.  To say he is a determined human being is putting it lightly.

Secondly, he lost his one true hero on 11/11 this year.. his dad passed away very unexpectedly. There were times towards the end of his training he fought the mental battle between moving forward and getting it done or calling it quits and putting the marathon behind him. He knew it would be hard physically and even emotionally but with this the emotional battle was bigger. He still persevered.

We made the trip to Huntsville, AL for the Rocket City Marathon alone. We arrived at the very small expo to pick up his packet, ate dinner, checked into our room and were in bed at a decent hour. The forecast all week called for 100% chance of rain. We awoke Saturday morning to pouring rain but it was to move out by the race start. That was a plus. Belly full and dressed to go we headed to the race start line.




Once all the runners were off I really had no clue what to do. I was in a city I didn't know, alone. The first thing on my mind was coffee at that point and I knew I could plug Starbucks into my GPS. So, I did that. I figured if I was able to find the Starbucks and then plug the intersection of the 15 mile point, which is where I was meeting hubby I would be good to go. It was rough finding the Starbucks but only because I kept getting to one road and the lady saying, "You have reached your destination." That Starbucks must have been hiding in a building! Anyway, I had plenty of time before I had to be at mile 15 but was stressing over the direction and all this extra time I had. Nerves were getting me already.

Once I found my beloved latte I was on my way. I got to the 15 mile mark with so much time to spare that I was able to see the leaders of the race and cheer everyone on from home while waiting on my hubby. So many strong runners and it was fun talking to other people who were there spectating as well. While waiting I got a text from my hubby and immediately felt panicked. He asked where I was, I told him. Thankfully he only needed blister pads and a change of socks. We were fully prepared for the rain and I had an entire change of clothes and shoes ready for him should he need it.

He looked so strong coming into mile 15. It only took about a minute for him to fix his feet up, steal a kiss and be on his way. Then the waiting for me began again. 11 more miles of running for him meant a couple hours or so of pacing at the finish line for me. When I got to the finish line there were some local friends who had ran that I wanted to see finish so I waited around for that before running inside for another cup of coffee (haha). The finish line of this race was small (as was the race itself) but there was quite a bit of action.

My phone was buzzing with with calls and texts from home asking for results of this one or that one and how'd my hubby do, etc. I don't know if it was that, the anticipation or the extra cup of coffee I had but I was a nervous wreck. I kept looking at my watching, the finish line clock and pacing, trying to add up the time to see when specifically I should expect my husband. I knew what he was wearing but it seemed like every person that rounded the corner and headed down the hill to the finish was dressed exactly the same.

Finally, I saw what I knew was my husband and couldn't stand it anymore. I jogged the little uphill towards him in my rainboots, backpack strapped to me and camera flinging across my chest to get a good picture. Snapped one and realized my camera battery had died. Oops. Thankfully my phone had enough charge for me to get a few.

I can't tell you how proud I am. He's a marathoner. He's in the club!

It's such a different part of racing being on the spectating end especially as a runner myself. I now know what he has gone through when he's been awaiting my arrival at a finish line. I won't say it's as hard as running a marathon (or any other distance) but it is quite exhausting.

Congrats, babe! I'm so so proud of you. Hang your medal and wear that marathon shirt with pride. You earned it!!!




Tuesday, December 3, 2013

November recap

I feel like I need to recap the month of November for the sole purpose of telling myself that it's going to be ok. We had a rough November. Sure, I ran and PR'd my marathon but then things got nuts.

I took a complete week of total rest post marathon. I suggest everyone do this the week post marathon. Best thing I did for not only myself but my family. Was I a crazy person? Did I want to run? Truthfully - nope! I enjoyed extra family time and my body was thankful for the break.

The week after my marathon we lost my father in law unexpectedly. You can imagine what that week was like. I did manage two short, easy runs for my sanity. But as you can imagine things got busy so that was all I squeezed out.

Thanksgiving week started out well and I managed to hit up BodyPump on Monday (skipping my easy run in hopes to make up the miles on my other cross train day). I ran Tuesday and Wednesday, both easy/lower miles. Then I got sick. Not just a little sick apparently. Thanksgiving day I was fine but skipped my run to volunteer at a race and prep food, then hang with friends/family for the day. I had every intention of getting my Friday run/cross train or something in BUT I couldn't lift my body out of the bed. So, I coaxed my kids into leaving me be a while by giving them a Black Friday find I scored. Gotta love cheap entertainment and a few hours peace!

Saturday morning there was no way I was doing much. Off to the dr's I went where I learned I had a sinus infection, bronchitis and laryngitis. So fun to go big and get it all done at once, right!? I've been taking my daily doses of cough meds, mucinex and antibiotics; feeling lots better.

I ran a total of 10.75 miles last week. Daily Mile said, "Fantastic training!" Wrong, DM, wrong.
I ended November with a total of 72 miles logged with 26.46 of those being my marathon. You can say November was NOT my best month of the year as far as mileage logged BUT I'm not going to beat myself up over life happening. Instead I'm going to let November be a success based solely on my 23 minute marathon PR. :)

So, what's on tap for December?
Good question. So far, my only December goal is to run and keep going to BodyPump. I'm repeating a week in training but taking things slow, which hasn't been hard (first run was today) and pace is suffering still because my lungs are still achy. I know it will take time to fully recover and get back to where I was. I'm being patient and moving forward with a positive attitude.