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...

Let the Marathon Training Begin

Saturday marked the official beginning of Fall Marathon/Half-Marathon/Tulsa Run/5K training. I feel so honored to have been chosen to be a fellow run leader with Bobby Michaels for a Beginning Marathon training group. Our group name is 26Dot2 Marathuners! We have an awesome group of runners. I personally am a little nervous about being a run leader, because I myself have not completed a marathon, yet. However, I love to cheer for and encourage people that are out there making the attempt and having fun pounding the pavement. So I hope I can take the role of cheerleader and encourager. I also love being paired with Bobby has he has inspired me so much to this point.

After everyone said their name, I asked everyone to say their name again with their favorite color. I can do pretty well at remember attributes about people and can usually learn names by association. I think I have about 1/2 of the group committed to memory, but hope to get the other 1/2 by next week. We all headed out to do a 5 mile loop. I was a little worried about being able to do all 5 miles, but I got them done. It wasn't too awful of a time considering I haven't been running longer than 3 for a month.

After the run, I went and supported my dad's entry at a car show in Sapulpa. Here are some pictures of him with his car that he has put a lot of blood and sweat in to.
For those of you that are really into cars too, here is what it looked like as you approached. In my family, we (primarily my brother and I) refer to this car as the sleigh...



The weather Saturday was great, and it was nice to veg out outside and not have to do a whole lot.

I decided on Thursday once I got the all clear to run from the doctor to sign up for the Estim8ur. I signed up for the 4 mile run. I have to admit that I looked up Bobby's guessed time and added 4 minutes and a little, knowing that Bobby is pretty consistent and I would be slower because we were running 5 miles on Saturday. It was a nice morning for a run. It was great that the Estim8ur started at 7 to beat some of the sun/heat/humidity. The air was a little thick but I relaxed pretty quicklky knowing that i had guessed a relatively slow time (14min/mil). As I climbed up the rocks from part of the trail portion of the route, Roman was nice enough to cheer me to the finish. He provided some humor by commenting that I wanted to look good at the finish, I joked and told him that I didn't look good when I started. He then had a quick reply of "well then you'll have improvement". It made me laugh and gave me the push to run all the way up the hill and around the pavillion. As I turned the corner, I saw the race clock it read 57:10. At first I was a little bummed, I had guessed 56:20. Then I hear Brian make an announcment that the top 10 were all within a minute of their time. I realized that I had indeed guessed within a minute of when I finished. At the end of the day I would up placing 9th female in the 4 mile run. I was so excited. I'm never top 10 in any running event. I still just run events for fun, but it was a nice self-esteem boost to do so well in this event.

Thanks Brian, Ken, Kathy, and the rest of the TATURS for the Estim8ur!!

Branchin' Out

I have to be honest...all the talk of other people out on bike rides made me feel a little envious. So I got my bike out of the closet and took it to the bike shop to get a once over. Once I got my bike back I decided that days I don't have to drive to Bixby I am going to bike to work. I did this for the first time Thursday morning. It was so much fun. I had gotten an email from the Kansas City Sports Commission about the Tulsa Tough bike weekend about a week and a half earlier. How sad is it I learned about a Tulsa event because I did a run in Kansas City? Anyway...

So I browsed the Tulsa Tough website (www.tulsatough.com) and found that they had a "recreational" 8 mile ride on city streets. I thought that seemed completely doable and thought it would be fun to do something outside of running. So I made the decision I would do the Tulsa Townie Ride. I pitched the idea to some of my Runners World friends who had talked about their previous bike rides. Some were excited and some were hesitant, but I was going to do it regardless.

Sometimes I believe things happen for a reason. I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday to discuss a lot of things going on with me (nothing major). Well turns out that the doc went to listen to me (which I'm used to with my asthma), and found a heart murmur. He did an EKG and it had some abnormalities to it as well, so he decided to send me for an echocardiogram. He said I was to lay off the running until after he got the results and I saw him again. So Thursday I biked to Runners World and helped with The Big Loser competition and then biked home. Friday evening I ran the Kidney Klassic. I was really pulling for a PR...so much so that Bobby got persuaded to run with me to try to push the pass a little...I just couldn't do it. Sorry again Bobby....I finished the 5K in 37:10. I guess I should be glad I finished and didnt' have any big thing go on with my heart. I had my echo done earlier that day and the tech didn't seem too concerned about what she saw.

Saturday was a fun day. I got up and met with the running group and biked about 8 1/2 miles. Then enjoyed a yummy breakfast at IHOP with the eating club. Although I may need to start boycotting the eating club because I need to be healthy and I just give in to temptation too easily. Then Boca and I walked to the Expo building and watched the AKC Dog Agility trials for a bit. Then I went to the grocery store while Boca rested, and then Boca had a play date with Kiwi Michaels (Bobby and Susan's dog). Then we went to my parents house where Boca played with the cats and I helped relocate my grandmother from the hospital to a new long term care facility.

This morning came along and I was so proud of myself because I got up and headed down to sign myself up for the Tulsa Townie whether anyone else wanted to do it or not. Roman actually texted me on my way there asking if I was going to do it. I told him I was and asked if he wanted me to sign him up...he actually did (which I couldn't cuz he has to sign his own release). But thought cool...Then I of course let Ken and Dana know what was going on hoping they would join. And they did. It was a little warm out (the bike ride was at 1). Once all of us unloaded our bikes (or the one we borrowed) we were off to get Ken, Dana and Roman registered. We got to do an extra 3-4 miles to get the packets take the loot back to the car and head back for the start.

The ride itself was indeed just that a ride. There wasn't any racing going on. It was very leisurely and relaxed. I really enjoyed it. There were about 3-4 good hills. Which wouldn't have been bad, but I swear at the middle of every hill I had some kid under the age of 10 feel the need to stop right in front of me and push their bike up the hill...so I got to do some creative weaving and pedaling. I think the laid back atmosphere was just good for me. I really enjoyed having company along the way. It was about the 3 mile mark that Dana actually told me Ed had come out to bike as well. The 5 of us hung together at the finish. The best part of this whole event in my opinion is not the shirt (although I really like it) or the medal (which they had enough of) but the popsicles!!!

I would highly recommend this event to everyone and anyone...

I posted a few pictures here, but others on my facebook.

Short "life" Update

Well this week was pretty uneventful in terms of running and everything. It was the first full week without students at TU, so I was able to find my desk and make my "to do" list. My running week was pretty uneventful as well. I did a very short run on Tuesday since I brought Boca out with me and it was quite warm so we did 2.68 miles. Thursday was alright, I pushed myself to do more than I have been during the week 4:25 miles. I was pumped for Saturday and got up expecting to go out and do 5 miles, but the air was not in my favor. About a mile and a half out my asthma was giving me fits, I was not only wheezing as I exhaled, but also while I inhaled. So I did 3 miles....rested about 40 minutes and then went out and did another 1.25 miles. I have not been doing very well at turning over the new eating healthy week, but mentally I am getting there...