Marathon Finisher

I am really a marathon finisher. It still seems pretty surreal. The entire adventure to Greece was quite overwhelming and emotional for me. I am so thankful I went. I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I have a hard time with travel anxiety, and of course then there was anxiety about running/completing my first marathon. I was so fortunate to have Bobby around since we had done all of our long training runs together. It was great to have so many friends around in Greece as well.
Marathon morning started very early. There were several of us who decided to take the "Power Walker" start. This meant that start time was 7 AM. Doesn't seem so bad right? Well in order to take the 7 AM start you had to be at the finish line by 5:30 to get on the bus to the start in Marathonas. Since the public transportation system in Athens didn't start until 5 AM we scheduled for taxis to meet us at 4:30 to make sure we had plenty of time. My marathon morning started at about 3:30 AM with the onset of a pretty nasty migraine (I think just stress induced). The bus ride up to the start was a little touch and go as migraines often make me very nauseous.

Once we arrived at Marathonas there was an awesome Olympic torch, some music playing, and of course some damp conditions. There was a chance of rain after all.




At 6:45 AM there was a nice clap of thunder and some lightning off in the distance and then yup...it rained. And rained. And rained. Those of us that took the "Power Walker" start got to run in the rain for about the first 3 hours of the run. Fortunately the outside temperature was about 20 degrees Celsius, so it wasn't too cold of a rain. I started the run using the Galloway 1/1 method. I had Bobby and Chrissy hanging with me so we were laughing at the rain and just taking it all in. At mile 9, Chrissy had to stop for a potty break and Bobby needed to fill up his water bottle. I figured they would both catch back up with me quickly. I didn't see Chrissy again until about the 24 kilometer marking and Bobby reappeared around the 34 kilometer mark. It was an extremely hilly course. I have preferred to use the term "mountainous" to hilly to describe the elevation changes along the route. The finish of the course however made the whole experience worth it. Getting to run into the original Olympic stadium with the Olympic rings and the great stands and the crowd...it was awe inspiring. It was so great to experience everything with Bobby and Chrissy. Our finish time was 6:31:08, but it wasn't about the time...it was about the finish, and the experience of a lifetime.


The day following the marathon, we took an awesome day cruise. It was awesome just to rest, relax, and enjoy the day.


What's next?

Well, I am signed up to do the Disney Marathon on January 10th, 2010. I am looking forward to it. I may attempt the Route 66 run (full or half). Then I think i will venture to Scotland in May for another overseas adventure.

Long Run Trainings are Over...

I can not believe that I completed the last long run of my marathon training for this session today. A whole whopping 22 miles. It was fairly decent going until around mile 18, then I let the mental game win. We had a good plan when the day started. We began at 5:30 despite the fact that the other groups weren't starting until 6:45...we had much further to go than anyone else. So we broke up our 22 miles into a 6 mile out and back, the 8 mile loop that all groups were doing, and an 8 mile kinda out and back and kinda loop. I felt great during the first 6 miles. We had some of our dear friends Jason, Lisa, Ronit, and Tom come out and join us bright and early to get their miles in as well. We made it back to Veteran's park just in time to say hello to the 26Dot2 Marathuners (our group) and head out for our 8 mile jaunt with everyone. The 8 miles didn't go too badly either. We maintained a decent pace for our first 14 miles and stayed in good spirits. When we went to head out for our last 8 mile loop/out-and-back I let the mental game get the best of me. I started to focus on how far I had left to go and could not snap my head out of it. We spent the first 2 miles of the last 8 trying to decide exactly which route would be the most tolerable and enjoyable, so it went fair. When mile 18 showed up, all I could focus on was the fact that I couldn't breathe, and my hip hurt. The last 4 miles were completed at a steady walk, but most importantly at the end of the day all 22 miles were completed.

I hope that 2 weeks from tomorrow, I will be able to update my blog to state that I am a marathon finisher. I am starting to get geared up for the trip and the whole adventure. I am also starting to feel the nerves already, gotta make sure to keep everything balanced and in check. I am fairly certain that TZ snapped some pretty good "thank goodness this is over" pictures, so if he posts them, I will swipe them and add 1 or 2 to the blog entry.

Wish me luck!! What a lifetime adventure story this will be forever and ever....

Trying a New Strategy

Wow a lot has happened since my last blog entry. I won't try to recap it all. I will just share my new "running technique" that is really helping me to believe that finishing a marathon is truly in my cards. Bobby and I ran the Albuquerque half marathon behind several groups doing the "Galloway" method. They were running 1 minute and walking 1 minute. We played leap frog with them until about mile 9 or so, when our "run" could not keep up with their run/walk pattern. We thought, okay let's try this run/walk thing, but at that point our legs were already spent. So, I purchased a couple of the Galloway books (www.jeffgalloway.com), and felt encouraged by what I read. Then Bobby shared, that he ordered the interval timer so we didn't have to keep checking our watches to try the 1/1 method. Our first Thursday night run when he got his timer, we did 4 miles in a quicker time than I had done 4 miles in a long long time. I am not setting any speed goals, but I was amazed at how good I felt overall...didn't feel like dying or anything along the way. So we decided this would be the new approach. I of course, wanted my own timer, since I plan on taking the early start for the Greece marathon and don't want anyone else feel obligated to go early. So I got the bright pink one. Here's a photo of what my new best friend looks like:
It has really been working well for me. Bobby and I missed our regular Saturday long run, cuz we were in KS crewing for our friends running the 50 mile/100 mile Heartland run. You can read all about that adventure on Trail Zombie's or Bobby's blog. So we went out for a 10-mile weekday run, even though we were both still dragging a little from our 40 some odd hours of awakeness over the weekend. Here were our splits using the 1/1 method the entire way:

Mile 0-1: 13:38 (sometimes it's so hard to get started)
Mile 1-2: 13:13
Mile 2-3: 12:44
Mile 3-4: 13:09
Mile 4-5: 13:23
Mile 5-6: 13:06
Mile 6-7: 13:15
Mile 7-8: 13:26
Mile 8-9: 13:18
Mile 9-10: 13:51 (including walking up part of that darn turkey mountain hill back to the parking lot)
Mile 10-10.15: 2:38

I am so encouraged by the consistency of our miles while doing this technique. It will be interesting to see how it works out for me on the 22 mile run in a couple weeks.

Anyone that wants to try this out is more than welcome to hang out with me and/or Bobby!! We are both big believers...

An Adventure Awaits

Well, I decided to join the Crazy Train and head to do a double half marathon weekend for Labor Day. My training for the full marathon in Greece in November has been hilly, both figuratively and literally. So far my longest run has been 14 miles. I did well for the first 10 1/2 miles of that run then totally hit the wall with a bang. I have been dealing with some hip and ankle issues. thanks to Dr. Zoellner and his great chiropractic techniques my hip has been feeling great. Even after 14 miles. Now he is working on tweaking my ankle.

I really had no intention of running any big events until Greece, but found out some friends were going to Albuquerque and then Colorado Springs to complete two marathons back to back over Labor Day weekend. Well of course my good buddy Roman hyped it up and talked how there were 1/2 marathons at the events as well. So I thought about it and looked up the runs. Looked like fun. I haven't ever been to New Mexico or Colorado and why not?

I also spent all summer working on my degree and starting the private practice, so I figure I need a break from Oklahoma and all the madness.

I head out on Saturday...I hope that these 1/2's will be a confidence boost for the upcoming full in Greece. This will be my first time to travel just for the purpose of running. I am really looking forward to getting to see another part of the country and hanging out with my running friends.

I have been on a whirlwind of training highs and lows. I have been doing my best to keep a positive attitude and be proud of myself for continuing to get out there and put one foot in front of the other.
A couple of Saturday's ago I did 8 miles in my training for the Greece Marathon in November. I ran with Bobby, or I should say Bobby was nice enough to run with me. Bobby and I have spent a lot of time on the long training runs together. This 8 mile run was my best run in a long long long long time...I felt great...didn't take any walk breaks except for the water stops. I felt strong and in really good spirits. It was really an uplifting run...then comes this past Saturday's attempt at a 12 miler. I have been having some pain in my right hip again. Finally bucked up last week to visit Dr. Z and see if I can't get my hip right...although I think the treatments are helping...he showed me a better running technique to use my hip flexors and glutes to the maximum...I feel sore. I was told to lay off last Tuesday so I walked. On Thursday, I had a decent run. I was feeling pretty good about doing the 12 on Saturday, but at mile 5 my hip really started bothering me. A smart person would have turned around then and cut it to 10 or even had someone come pick them up, but nope...I continued to get all 12. STUPID!!! I have never experienced so much physical pain on or after a run as I did that Saturday. I did have fun hanging with Roman and Bobby. We decided to trek through the new Riverside trail between 56th and 75th.

I also got some new shoes last week, but really am not sure that I like them at all. I am having such a hard time with shoes lately...oh well...will keep on trying...

A Good Streak

I have had fun while running this week. It's been a long time since I can say that. Lately, running has been another stress in my life because it hasn't been going as well and easily as I think it should. I have been able to find my smile and jovial self this week. I am feeling a little relieved because I am almost finished with the data collection for phase 1 of my dissertation. I actually had 2 nights this week that I slept more than 4 hours. It made a huge difference on my Thursday night run. I missed Bobby's Bunch on Monday because I am trying to help out with the Mud Run, and we had a meeting. Tuesdays run was eh...coulda been worse. When Thursday came i was dreading it a little bit, afraid I would feel down on myself again, but I actually ran a straight 2 miles without walking. First time I've done that in about 3 months (pathetic for me, but...so happy to do it). I made the decision to do the Reckless Redneck. It was only 1 mile and all downhill. I just wanted to do a run that I knew I could run the entire thing. There was an option to have costumes, I decided no way was I wearing a costume. Little did I know that most everyone would dress up. There are some hysterical pictures floating around out there in web world of some of the best dressed. I thought I would add a few pictures to this blog courtesy of Susan and Meg.

Here I am with my friend Susan just looking around and laughing at all the costumes and my dear running friends dressed up all crazy.
Meg made me laugh so hard, so here is my impersonation of being a pregnant redneck (nope not pregnant just pounds to lose.) I was also very proud of my loud yellow shirt with my loud orange "Dogs Rule" headband.
I really did give it may all on the run (except the really steep part of Elwood didn't want to wind up on my butt rolling down the hill). Placed 2nd in my age group with a time of 10:53.

Some of my dear running friends do have a tendency to take the concept of costume contests a bit too far....However my dear friend Ken should have worn thigh highs to hide his redneck tan on his legs from the bike/run shorts.

Saturday was my first double digit training day. I was scheduled to do 10 miles. I was feeling a bit anxious about it, but that turned out not to be a problem. My alarm did not go off, and Boca woke me up and I glanced at the clock and it read 5:40. Of course we meet at 5:45 at Veteran's park. So I booked it, fortunately the dogs were forgiving and pottied quickly and I was out the door. I made it to Veteran's park by 5:50 and was there before everyone took off running. I think i spent the first 5-6 miles trying to calm down and settle into a groove. I actually ran the majority of the first 6 miles. Somewhere along those 6 miles, my Garmin was turned off..for almost 1/2 mile exactly...so I asked Bobby for time updates. We did the first 5 miles in 1:11, which includes all stops, potty break at McDonald's and helping a runner who wound up off course. I am so pumped about that time. The last 4 miles once we left Veterans park, were a little rougher. I pushed myself pretty well to about mile 7.5-8. From 8 til 10 it was rough going but I went. Last night I had allotted 3 hours for me to do the 10 miles given the amount of walking I've done lately, but according to Bobby's watch...we did 10 in 2:27 (with the clock running at all stops). Overall was a great day!!

My legs are feeling fatigued and my right hip is a bit sore. Gonna go visit Dr. Z and see what's up with the hit.

I need to send a positive shout-out to TZ because I asked him on Thursday how he does it all the time and he said to me "When running I think..."I might feel like I'm gonna die but I'm not gonna die" I have been stealing this phrase for the past 2 runs...Like the title of my blog, running is 80% mental...sometimes it is a good thing to push yourself a little out of your comfort zone.

Ughhh...for lack of a catchier title

My life is like a roller coaster with your feet dangling and many many loops. and although I love roller coasters I want this ride to stop. I am in the process of collecting data for my dissertation. I am truly hoping that my running friends will be able to help me out with the last phase of data collection. Anyone that has any interest in what it is exactly that I do...please let me know. I need 40 people (who have been or are currently enrolled in one post-secondary course) to watch 12 video clips of the people I have seen for my study and complete a questionnaire following each video clip. Anyway...I have made 7 trips back and forth to KS thus far with one more scheduled for next Friday to collect data. It has really taken its toll on my just emotionally and physically draining me. So I think my sucky running lately is part of that whole stress...

I also have a 2nd dog. Boca at first wasn't sure about having an adopted brother, but we have both adapted pretty quickly to have the new housemate. Boca likes having a playmate in the evenings when I am just too wiped to play as long as he would like. So I think it is going okay, but I feel bad with all of the traveling I have done since Balto's arrival. He is another Pomeranian who is 3 1/2, although Boca is absolutely "Top Dog" around the house and has made sure that Balto knows that.

Having too much time alone in the car allows a lot of time for self-reflection. I wish I could share all of the positive reflections on myself and my life that I have had, but unfortunately I have done like the majority and thought of all the "wrong turns" and things I wish I could change. *Sigh* I hope I snap out of this soon and it is just resulting from my high level of anxiety and fatigue...I also need to be okay with having a bad day without guilt...

Running...well I keep getting the miles done....however, I am really slacking in ability and endurance. I started back with my personal trainer once a week...Who knows I feel like a floundering fish trying many different things and having nothing be successful in improving my running abilities. The Greece marathon is in 16 weeks.....I am losing my faith that I can get it done....But I will keep plugging along....