I think I CAN!

No running today but I worked the finish line/trophy table/help table this morning for a 5K/10K race with over 1700 folks.  I had no clue until this year how much work actually goes into planning and pulling off one of these things.

For any RD or race volunteers that might have stumbled upon this blog, THANK YOU!  You guys are amazing!!

OK, I've been blogging less than a week and I've already missed a training run yesterday. Apparently, arguing with dear husband over something trivial seemed like more fun. What in the world was I thinking?

Today I met my good friend and trainer Melissa for a workout. Now Melissa is about 5'2" and about as nice as a person can be. She will smile and laugh as you sweat and give your last ounce of strength to the exercise she is putting you through. I usually use her nickname the day after one of our training sessions - La Jose Bag. (That's pronounced like the Latino name Jose.) BTW, that is Deborah-eese for hose bag. It really is meant (and taken) in a friendly way.

Needless to say she did what she does very well. I'm walking on a pair of spaghetti legs and feel like I had the best workout in weeks. I'm not sure if I feel this weak after a marathon. Good job Jose!

Doesn't she look like such a nice girl?  Don't fall for it!  There is a deep evil streak there.

hetti

If I'm feeling good later this evening I'll try and make up the run I missed last night.

The weather was much cooler today and it made for a very nice run. I squeaked in 5.5 miles today but it wasn't pretty.  I'm feeling run over by a Mack truck compliments of yesterday's weight training.  Thanks Jose.

I'm going to take tomorrow off and do 22 miles on Saturday. 

OK, I'm busted.  Thank you sole sister for pointing out to me that I've not updated my blog.  It  was for good reason.  It is with great embarrasement that I share this story with you.  Before I start I will warn you that it sounds like a bunch of bologna.

I started out at 5:30 AM.  It felt great - low heat and only moderate humidity.  It was dark so I decided to circle the track on base until the sun came up.  After a mile I took off the iPod and hydrovest and started to stretch.  Nothing exciting.  I put the ipod back on and took off.  My right ear piece had begun to fuzz out....weird.  My right ear piece didn't seem to fit in my ear so I pushed it in more.  The ear piece started to buzz and wiggle on its own.  OK, now you and I are both thinking...what in the world?

Apparently, I shoved a bug (that was on my ear piece) into my ear canal.  No kidding.  It was wiggling around in there making the loudest racket.  Trying to shake my head with that ear pointing down it decided to crawl up into my ear drum....that does NOT tickle.  Being hard core I thougth I could take it finish the run and flush it out later.  It decided to repeatedly head butt my ear drum dropping me to the ground.  How can an eardrum hurt that bad?

I'm sorry sole sister, I didn't mean to tell you a fib when I said I was unable to finish my run due to an ear infection.  I was much too embarrased to admit I was taken down by a 6 legged insect that I shoved down into my own ear.  Looking back now it's still embarrasing but it is also amusing.

I'm actually bummed about not getting this run in.  I've got a schedule made and there is little to no wiggle room for dropped run.  Oh well.  Life happens and bugs are gross.

BTW, it is more embarrassing explaining to medical personnel why there is a bug stuck in your ear than to type it out here in this blog.

I had a great 6 mile run tonight.  I'm sure it had something to do with the lack of long run this past weekend.  Check out last weeks long run story and enjoy!

Tonight I had a 4 mile fun run this wonderful balmy GA evening.  The evening weather has dipped back into the mid 80s and so has the humidity. Hooray!  I really wish I had the drive to run first thing in the AM other than on Saturdays. It's so much nicer early morning.

Does anyone else have the same case of "Bed Back"?  This is where your bed has a magnetic pull on your back forcing you to remain in bed.

Day off.  Woo-hoo!

Back to training tomorrow.

Happy running friends!!!

PS. I've been bug free for 4 days.  :-)

Just an easy 5 miles.  You know, the bonus to training for distance rather than time is the amount of easy runs you do during the week.

So as I was running I was mentally composing my blog.  OK, mostly I was just keeping myself amused.  You guys ever do that?  Run and come up with blog discussions?  One of these days I'll actually have to write in this blog the things I mentally compose.  I normally don't remember what it was by the time I get back....it must not have been interesting :-)

This week's long run is an adventure race - trail running (5-6 miles), biking (12-15 miles), canoeing, swiming, and orienteering.  This will be a first for me.  I'm really hoping I don't get lost in the woods.

I participated in my first adventure race today. All I can say is WOW! The race consisted of running approx 3 miles, canoeing 1.5 miles and biking approx 15 miles. In between there were a few obstacles that needed to be accomplished continuing in the race. I was a little intimidated upon starting because we had to sign our lives away in 3 waiver forms and provide insurance info.

Our team had a rough start. One team mate has bike troubles so we actually started the race 5 minutes AFTER it started. The good side to this....we never had to try and pass folks on a single track trail. The running trail wasn't technical so we finished that and quickly moved to the canoe section.

I've come to the conclusion that we really aren't very good at canoeing. We zigged and zagged up and down the river. Sigh. The breeze felt good and the scenery was nice so I can't complain too much about how much we sucked at this. My team mates had such up beat outlook that this might have been my favorite part of the race.

We made it back to the transition area and started out on our bike ride. Parts of the trail were technical and I did surprisingly better than I thought. I also bit the ground harder than I thought possible. I've now got a bruise and some battle marks on my shoulder to show for this race. I feel like such a macho woman. :-)

Out of 32 teams there were 8 DNF. I don't know if I've ever been a race where there was a 25% drop out before. I think that was due to the weather conditions of mid-90's for both temp and humidity. We came in dead last but at least we finished. Along the way, we did see some carnage. One person had a really bad spill on their bike and the paramedics were already on the scene when we arrived. A few people were just sitting on the side of the trail waiting for help or to be picked up. There was not much to do but offer them some water.

Being last we did get a very loud cheer from the other teams as we crossed the finish line. Two of the other teams were from our running group. The ladies took first and the other group took 5th. One of the gents from our group won the bike raffle and took home a Gary Fisher mountain bike. Surprisingly before we made it back from the race he and his fiancé had already decided to donate it to a local charity so they can sell/auction it off for some $. I am constantly amazed by the amount of generosity and selflessness I see in other people.

Tonight I hit the treadmill on base for 5 miles. Man, what a treat. It's still hot and muggy down here in GA so a run in a AC building with a TV on in front of me was like a workout in Disney World.

I'm not a sports fan but I did get to catch the Eagles/Cowboys game last night while ...what an exciting game. Five miles were done quicker than I could imagine.

One thought that keeps bugging me is my long run this weekend. How far? Do I go with what is on my training schedule or do I do the mileage I missed due to a bug 2 weekends ago. Well, the good news is that I still have a few more days to decide.

Happy running friends!

Today my gym partner Jose Bag had to bail on meeting me at the gym.  So I got a chance to do something I normally don't....run in the sunshine on a weekday.  Ok, that does sound weird but during the week  I run at night under the stars.  Sure it's hotter and more humid than in the morning but it's the whole I don't get up before the crack of dawn unless it's a long run day syndrome.  Needless to say, it's a totally different experience.

While running I did however come up with some ideas for my training.  Starting with my long run this weekend.  I've been on the fence as to whether or not I should make up the 22-23 miles I missed 2 weeks ago or just jump ahead and do the 25 miles this weekend.  OK, the safe/smart thing to do would be to run the 22 miles.  Being hard headed and needing to prove something to myself I've actually decided to do a marathon even if that means doing the 25 and a cool down walk of 1.2 miles.  It'll be my personal race.  I'll come in first and in my mind for a brief moment at the end of my race, I will be a Kenyan.  The made up imaginary people at the finishline (by my car) will be cheering wildly as I finish.  BTW, in case you didn't know this, folks with adult ADHD have great imaginations - we almost never get bored on long runs.

I'm about 4 weeks out from my next ultra (50K in Nashville) and 11 weeks out from the JFK 50 miler.  I've been missing one key ingredient in my workout....hills.  Gosh, how in the world could I forget to put those back into my routine?  (Probably becuase I hate them) There are a couple of good size hills close by that I'm going to start hitting on a weekly basis.

OK, that is the report for today.  Run strong and happy friends!!

Got my stuff together for another great long run  tomorrow. 

I hope you have a great long run too my friends!

I'm  about to share something that is so obvious that you can feel free to post "well, duh" responses in the comments. 

My awful run starts the night before.  Rather than eating a good pre-race (or just pre-long run) meal I eat a huge hunk of red meat.  I'm sure there might have been a bite or two of veggies but for the most part just meat.  I wake up the next morning.  Both kids catch me as I get ready and turn on the whine about they either want to go with me or they don't want me to go.  I run as quickly as I can out the door....no breakfast.  Do you see where this is going?

I start the long run on base.  Within 5 miles I can't find my zone and I'm out of sorts.  I gel. By eight miles I'm struggling to keep going.  I've got no strength and I'm losing my confidence.  By mile 10 I've got no confidence and I'm going only on determination...I gel again.  By mile 13 I'm passing by my car, I've lost all confidence, I feel like poop, and  now I'm belittling myself.  I call it a day.  As I sit in my car trying to figure out what caused everything to go so bad it dawns on me that no matter how much gel I ingest it won't pay the food deficit my  body was in. OK, here is where we can all say...well duh!

I'm so disappointed in myself for not planning properly that I can't even begin to type it out. Today was a HUGE wash.

The thought had crossed my mind to go ahead play hookey at work and do my long run (from Sat) today.  I planned ahead starting yesterday afternoon eating properly as well as dinner last night and a decent breakfast this morning.  I dropped off the kids at school and I took off running.

As I'm running, I've noticed my confidence is still shot. No where in my being did I believe I could finish this run.  I've seemed to have lost my mojo.  I only ran 8 miles today.

I've received an email yesterday from my Elvis bobble head race partner (who also is my Galloway running coach) who told me to stop playing and get serious with my training.  I'm sure he meant that as encouragement but that has been rattling around in my head all morning.

I'll probably spend the next couple of days brow beating myself and try again to meet the mark on Saturday next week.  I'm going to attack it a bit differently.  I'm going to run with the local running group so that I can have positive vibes and good company as I run.

I went to the gym this AM to work out with Melissa A.K.A. Jose Bag.  Once again she lived up to her reputation.  We did upper body.  This is an area that is lacking.  The weights seemed low but the after burn (several hours later) is still kicking.  I'll have to work on that next week as well.

Tonight I did:

HILLS, HILLS, HILLS, HILLS......

Often and I can't explain it I find myself loving it when I run.  I love to run.  I love this stuff.  I might of had to remind myself of this while running hills tonight.  All in all, I had a quick (and hard) 4 miles tonight.  OK, it probably wasn't quick speedwise but the workout seemed to fly by.  I think I found my mojo once again.

I met bright and early with a few friends this morning for a quick (not) fun long run.  Some folks arrived late and joined us while others left early.  In the end, a very kind 65 year old man and I did 21 miles together.  After we parted was my iPod brought be the rest of the way. 

I made a playlist for a marathon last year and decided to use it the last 4 miles.  How is it that a good song can make you forget how tired you are for 3-4 minutes at a time?

Anyway, I finished what I set out to do - 25 miles.  That really boosted my confidence level up.  I felt good upon finishing up like I still had a few miles left in me if I needed to go further.

OK, I'm going to make a request out there to blog land.  I've been listening to the same songs for a year or more. Some of these tunes have been on my iPod for over 3 years.  I need some new tunes.  I'm looking for suggestions.  What songs work for you as running songs?  What song has pulled you out of a funk (even if only for the length of the song)?  Anything goes, country, hard rock, pop rock, christian rock, jazz, classic rock, or a good dance mix.  Please throw your suggestions this way.

Today's winners (songs that really got me moving after mile 21): Great Balls of Fire - J Lewis; Surfin' USA- Beach boys;  Material Girl - Madonna;  My Humps - Black eyed peas; and Save a horse ride a cowboy - Big and Rich.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can provide.

I'm trying to start doing 2 long runs back to back.  But before I jump into it head first I thought I'd start with a training run the day after a long run and just bump the second day up a mile or two each week until it reaches 10 miles.  Actually, I don't think I'm that patient.  I've got a 10 miler scheduled on Sat.  Perhaps I'll just jump in with both feet and follow it up with another quick 10 on Sun.  Perhpas I'll bounce it off my more experienced running partner.  Elvis, if you are reading this please give me your 2 cents take on it.

Anyway, today is the first time I've run after a long run.  It felt awful at first.  My right hamstring was tight and I was convinced I wasn't going to make it a quarter mile.  So I decided to try 10 min and call it quits if needed.  Whew, it wasn't needed.  I only did 3.5 miles tonight but I'm feeling good about it.

Happy running friends!

Hills, Hills, Hills again!  I found some larger hills within 5 miles from my house and I ran up and down (and repeat).  I've got a lot to work on in this area.  I'm glad I still have time to strengthen my legs with hills before the 50 mile race.