Week 1 of Speedy-ish Stuff

So, I need to back up a little to give you the full story of last week's "speedy-ish stuff." The Saturday before, I spent over 3 hours blissfully planting 150 plants and flowers and spreading mulch. So, the week started with my hamstrings being totally effed.

My plan was to do the following:

Well crap, you probably can't read that.

This is what it says: 

M: Nada

T: am: 5x400s 6 miles total

T: pm: Shred DVD

W: Nada

Th: am: 8:45, 8:30, 8:15 Tempo 3 miles w/up and c/down

Th: pm: Shred DVD

F: 4 mi easy

Sa: 10 miles last 5 at 9:00 pace

Su: 11.2 Easy

So, yeah, I did two run workouts: The first one I did 5x400s and that went pretty well. I feel like in the past, I've always been able to nail my interval workouts, BUT, that my one weakness there is that I generally milk my recoveries. So, I wanted to focus on HONEST recoveries and I mostly did that, but they progressively got slower and slower. Ha. It's the first week. I am happy that I just made myself more aware of my recoveries.

The other workout was a 3 mile tempo run. I had hoped to do what I mentioned above: 8:45, 8:30, 8:15. But, I ended up doing mostly 8:35ish for the whole thing. And by Thursday, my right hamstring was quite sore. So, I skipped the DVD workout on Thursday evening.

Friday morning my right hamstring had moved from being sore to being EFFED. I ran 3 miles and called it quits and iced and foam rolled on Friday night.

The rest of the weekend, I nursed my hamstring... I ran 6 miles easyish on Saturday and about 8 on Sunday. I am happy to report, that by Sunday, my hamstring was all better and back it's normal non-flexible, non-cranky self.

All-in-all, I was happy with the week. I got in some good speed work (even if it wasn't exactly the paces I wanted, and I smartly scaled back when my hamstring started to holler at me). 

Onward and upward!

Limping Trainwreck

WARNING: GROSS PICTURES IN THIS BLOG POST.

You ever have one of those days/weeks/months where it seems like the universe is just dumping its shit all over you?

That's me this week. It started Saturday evening when while cutting grape tomatoes with a new (read: SHARP AS FUCK) knife and I almost cut the tip of my finger off. 

Public Service Announcement: When your girlfriend has almost cut the tip of her finger off, the most appropriate response is probably not: "Fuck! that's a lot of blood!!"

Then last night, I was steaming some cauliflower, and so, even though I'm 35 and have the money to buy a pot with a matching lid, I'm still rocking a hand me down pot that lost it's lid about 25 years ago. Because, I'm classy, I usually just put a plate over it when I'm steaming something.. Well, I started to pick the plate up, (with a potholder, I'm not an idiot) and the steam burnt the shit out of my thumb. (ok, so, maybe I'm a little bit of an idiot).

ok, so, of course the picture doesn't look all that bad.

But, it's red, swollen, and there's a little white blister

forming to the left of the knuckle.

Also. ew. Hands/fingers gross me out.

And that little fucker hurt like a bitch all night. Still hurts a little, but unfortunately, that pain has been replaced by the fuck-up I had this morning.

So, this morning, I'm walking my dog and there is an empty lot next to my building with some rough and janky concrete. Well, somehow I tripped over a piece of janky concrete and fell really hard straight down on both of my kneecaps. Now, as you know, I fall a lot. This is not a big deal. But, I could barely get up. My left knee was extremely fucked. Finally, fueled by ego and the fear that someone would see me face down on the concrete, I managed to pop back up and try to limp/scurry away. I managed to limp-walk my dog for about a half hour, before the god awful pain just got the best of me. 

 Again, the picture doesn't really do it justice.

Asshole cameraphone.

And never mind the blood, the flesh wounds are no big deal.

What is a big deal is the the right side of my left kneecap is swollen.

And the pain. OMG the pain! I am usually pretty good with dealing with pain. But this is pretty fucking terrible. It hurts when I walk, it hurts when try to bend it, it hurts when I try to straighten it. THE BONE HURTS. When I got to work, I have to go down a flight of stairs to get out of the garage, up a mini flight to get in the building, and then up another flight of stairs to get to my office. I had tears in my eyes from the pain. 

Hopefully, the "bad things happen in 3s" thing is true and I'm now done with all my physical accidents. I feel like I should just stay in bed with pillows all around me. I cannot be trusted with my own safety.

I hope your week is going better...

BQ Training Week 14

OMG. 14 weeks in the books. ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS LEFT!

Now is the time for me to chill the eff out. I'm all freaked out that I only hit a 70 mile week ONCE during this training cycle and I'm just generally afraid that I didn't do enough. Shouldn't I be MORE beat up? Shouldn't I want to lay in bed and sleep all day? WHY DO I FEEL LIKE I COULD KEEP GOING ON LIKE THIS FOR 6 MORE WEEKS? ACK!!!!!

Relax, yo.

Anyway, this week was rather exciting because I had a beer mile race on Friday and then The KoB had his goal race on Sunday. SPOILER ALERT: I suck and The KoB truly is a beast. Separate posts on both of those events to come.

Intervals: 3x 800, 600, 400, 200 @ 7:00 pace.
Marathon Pace: 8-10 miles with 2x15 minutes at Marathon Pace
Long: My choice of 14-20 miles.

The interval workout felt totally manageable for once. They were challenging enough that I needed a good amount of focus, but easy enough to make me feel really awesome for a few hours afterwards. Also, since the KoB was tapering, he ran the entire workout with me. Boom.

My marathon pace run went well because my BFF Melissa stepped in and did them with me. I was excited to talk about shopping* and general girly stuff. Yay. But at the end of that run, I started to feel an extreme tightness in my right butt cheek. Fun.

Saturday, I planned on running 20 miles as a last ditch confidence booster. I met up with a posse of The KoB, Steve, and Melissa and about 2 minutes in, my butt started hurting AGAIN. WTF?

It just felt stiff and tight and because of the tightness, my gait was all wonky and that made my pelvic/groan/hip region hurt. Awesome. It didn't keep me from running, but it did keep me from running fast-ish. so, I bailed after 13 miles. FAIL.

I'm convinced that it's the latest model of Vomeros that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I wore other shoes on Friday, Sunday, and today and while I didn't run more than 6 miles any of those times, I never had any hint of pain in my ass region. WHAT THE FUCK, NIKE? I don't understand why every new model of shoes has to CHANGE? Ugh. I went to 3 stores on Saturday searching for a pair of the old model in my size and have looked online and found nothing. My plan is not wear the new shoes again till after the race and I guess I'll just wear my old pair for the marathon. It's not ideal, because those shoes are worn the fuck out. But, at least my ass won't hurt for 26.2 miles.

Time to taper, bitches.

* To be fair, The KoB and I also talk about shopping while we run. Corvette shopping doesn't really count, though.

Eff.

Just when my knee was starting to feel and look better from Saturday's fall... I fell TWICE on last night's run. The first time, I ended up falling on my side in the grass, so the only thing bruised was my ego. But the second time I fell on both kneecaps AGAIN.

This is going to look fantastic this weekend when

 I have to wear dresses in 80 degree weather.

BQ Training Week 10

(I still owe you guys a race report from the Bitches Relay. Expect that in a day or two).

It's getting better, y'all!

I mean, it's not rainbows and unicorns, but it's at least bearable. (It doesn't hurt that I only had to run 12 miles this week by myself. Yay for The KoB and Steve!). I also got a nice pep rally email from Coach, and it's good to know that a general hatred of running happens occasionally, and it seems to happen quite a bit when you're in the thick of training. So, misery loves company and all that; it was good to hear that it happens to others.

Also, a good tip that I picked up from Coach's email was... MUSIC. I'm going to have to do my long run solo this weekend, so I'm going to clear off all the old songs on my ipod and upload some new tunes. Hopefully that will help.

Week 10 was a step-back week in intensity. So, I basically just ran a bunch of miles, with some Marathon Pace miles in the middle of runs just for shits and giggles.

Workouts:
Marathon Pace: I had a mid-week long run of 13 miles with 4.5 miles of marathon pace. The KoB and I did this run on Wednesday night. We ran about 8.5 miles at an easy pace and then got started on the marathon pace miles. The first mile, I thought there was no effing way I was going to be able to run 4.5 miles at that pace. But, by the second mile, I was fine. And by the end of the run, the workout (for lack of a better word) didn't seem all that taxing.

Long Run: 20 miles with miles 9-13 at Marathon Pace: After asking a bunch of people to join me for part of that run and getting no takers, The KoB once again stepped in and volunteered to run it with me. I feel bad that he has to run all these slow-to-him miles, but he assures me that he doesn't mind. So... I took him up on the offer and DAMN thank goodness I did. The first 9 miles felt good. The Marathon Pace miles felt pretty good and easy, I never felt like I was struggling to keep up with the pace. The problem hit when I took a gel at mile 15. I don't know if it's mental now, or a combination of mental and physical, but my stomach just doesn't like the gel. Another issue, is that the route that I picked, has a bunch of uphill miles at the end.

  I can't REALLY complain, most of the miles are flat.

But, I'm still going to complain.

Hills at miles 18-20?

RUDE. 

I was struggling on the uphills and trying to convince The KoB to continue on without me.But he kept telling me that I'd come that far, that I could do it. And so I kept trucking. And then, with about a mile left to go, I fell.

And normally when I fall, I just pop up and keep going. This time, I was so tired and sore and hurt that I couldn't even get up. AND THEN I started crying. Like... ugly crying. I don't really think many tears were falling, but it was that ugly heaving and sobbing and ridiculous crying.

Imagine this. But on the ground.

The KoB tried to help me up and I just kind of wallowed around on the ground for a bit. Finally, I got up and I hobbled while crying and occasionally taking breaks to cry the rest of the way home. It wasn't pretty. But, thankfully, my right knee, which took the brunt of the fall, just seems to be bruised and scraped up pretty bad.

I got home and The KoB and I had a bit of a laugh about the whole thing. He's now experienced just about everything from me in a run: I've puked, gone into a porta potty to poop and ended up puking, too, I've fallen, I've gotten bitchy at him and NOW: I've cried. WHO WANTS TO SIGN UP TO BE MY RUNNING PARTNER?

I'm feeling a bit weak about being so dependent on him to get through my workouts and miles. But, at the end of the day, it's helping me get the miles done, so, I'm not going to worry about it. Plus, he's pacing me at the marathon in December, so... I don't think it's too much of a crutch.

Week 3 Review

Happy Holidays!

Whoa. 3 weeks down. Unbelievable.

So this week something interesting happened... I woke up at my parents house on Saturday morning and started to get ready for a run through the neighborhood with my mom. I got dressed and put my running shoes on and the first step I took with my left foot after putting my shoes on, I felt a pain. A severe, scary pain. It started at the top of my left butt cheek (almost lower back territory) and then the sharp pain radiated down the entire length of my left leg.

Uhhhh.. WTF?

It wouldn't happen with every step, but it did happen occasionally... Enough to make me consider bailing on the run entirely, but I figured I might as well TRY and see what happens. So we ran 3 miles and only had to stop once, when I felt the pain again. By mid-morning the pain was gone.

On Sunday, I decided it would be smart to skip the intervals and just run nice and easy. And... it worked. No issues! Yay!

My number one priority in this whole PR attempt isn't to actually PR, it's to train smart and not get injured. Most people that I know who have had injuries from running, got them from speedwork. Which is why I'm taking an unbelieveably long amount of time to train for a Half Marathon. This way I can hopefully ease my body into this whole running faster thing.

In other news from the week... My long run was spectacular! It flew by and I loved it!

Full Disclosure: I was originally going to take Sunday off instead of Wednesday, but I woke up with a bit of a hangover on Wednesday morning and rearranged my schedule.

 I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Mine was awesome! Lots of good family time and food and... I got to introduce my family to my new boyfriend...

Meet Jimmy. I was originally set up with his cousin, Bulleit Rye.

But, once you add some ginger ale, I can't tell a damn difference between the two.



Flying. Err.. Crashing.

I have very distinct memories of being a kid, hearing a key in the front door and scrambling to the door along with my brothers to greet my dad when he got home from work.

"Daddy, daddy!!! Look what I did today!"

or...

"Daddy, daddy!! Jason (aka mean older brother) burnt the hair off one of my barbies and then shot at it execution style with a BB gun!!"

Either of those things could have been said on any given day. But, another common one, was...

"Daddy, daddy!!! Look at this huge gash on my knee, leg, face, (insert body part here)!!!"

And to that, he'd always reply with the same cheesy line... "What were you trying to do??? FLY???"

You see, I've never been graceful. NEVER. If you've ever spent any amount of time with me... you know that I'm prone to falling. And if you're with me and I'm drinking or running... well... then it's only a matter of time before you witness me falling. Apparently, I'm always trying to fly... or as I like to think of it.. my feet can't keep up with the rest of my body (sounds better than just being a clumbsy dumbass).

So far this week on my runs, I'm 2-2 in regards to injuries.

Monday morning: I meet running buddy S- for a nice early morning run. I start out really slow, cause my feet hurt like a bitch (a common problem after long runs for awhile now.. methinks my laces are too tight?), but once we meet up and I get warmed up, I find a gait that suits my feet and causes little discomfort. Great, right? Until a downhill... where I find myself striking my left foot down differently (to accomodate the foot pain better) and feel a muscle in left groin get pulled. At first I think... OH SHIT. That hurt, but it will go away immediately. And when it doesn't and it hurts worse, I think OH SHIT, I've legitimately pulled a muscle and then I realize... SHIT, I should probably stop, cause this hurts really bad and that can't be good. So.... we stopped... and S- showed me how to stretch my groin out (which, I would have never thought of. Sooooo not a stretcher) and I attempted to run, but it hurt. And it hurt to walk. But, I did find that when I ran slowly... very very slowly and tried to keep my gait normal, it didn't hurt too bad. Epic injury avoided (Thank god).

Tuesday morning: Still trying to baby my groin, I make running buddy C- maintain an easy pace. So, we decide to tack on some extra. Along the way.. I fell. HARD. Seriously, I trip, my whole body is in the air for about 1/2 second and then I fall completely on my right knee and hands. I get up and see a dude standing outside of Noshville who witnessed the entire thing. Awesome. C-, tallies up the number of times she's witnessed me falling... we're up to 4 now.

We got back to her car and I had blood streamed down my leg to my shoe. Gross. When I got home, I noticed I had scraped a huge chunk out of my knee and there was still a piece of skin hanging on for dear life. Wanna see? (If not... don't scroll down.... it's gross).

Ewww.... the irony is that C- was JUST commenting on Saturday morning how jacked up my knees are. And I responded... "what do you mean??? they've actually just healed up from the last fall." Jinxxy McJinxerson. Ugh.

First run in 2010: FAIL

My 2010 was celebrated much like you'd expect Amy's 2010 to celebrated: with alcohol. A lot. And two hours into the new year, I was right where you'd expect me to be: puking in a toilet. A new year? Indeed. A new Amy? Not so much.

It's okay. I had a helluva time celebrating the last two days of 2009 and the first 5 days of 2010 having fun with friends in North Carolina. Drinking was first and foremost on the agenda and I nailed those tasks like the ole pro that I am.

I went on the trip with the expectation that I would run some while I was there... And I did. Once. On New Years Eve. I covered 11 miles and immediately started drinking afterwards. Fitting for 2009, don't you think?

And then I never ran again. Hangovers and general laziness got the best of me and I just decided to screw it and not worry about it. Yet, despite the drinking and bad food choices I made while I was gone, I ended up back in Nashville 2 pounds lighter than I was when I left. (A wee bit dehydrated, methinks. or severely dehydrated, probably).

Tuesday night I went to bed around 4 am. I woke up at 9, threw my shit into a suitcase and was dropped off at the airport. I was picked up at the Nashville airport at 1 pm and went straight to work.

When I got a text from a friend about a night run at 5:30, I jumped at the chance. I had missed running and was eager to get my first 2010 run under my belt. It was rough though, I'm not going to lie. Between the cold weather, my extreme tiredness, my 6 day hangover still lingering, and my lack of hydration, I wasn't enjoying the run. And then about a mile in... this happened:

I fell flat on my face on the sidewalk banging my right knee hard in the process and worst of all: tearing my $50 Underarmour leggings.

I'm going out on a limb here and say that this can't be some sort of sign or anything, because I literally fall like once a month on runs. But, it wasn't exactly the awesome first run I had been envisioning.

Pimpin Aint Easy

As usual, I think I got a little bit too excited when my leg started to feel better. I guess I took that little glimmer of hope that I was recovering and ran with it. Literally. And I guess I ran too much. True, I can hobble out a few miles here and there, but when I went out for my run yesterday, the pain was definitely worse then it had been over the previous few days.


This morning, I warmed up nicely on the elliptical and then hopped over to the treadmill to see how it would go. I walked it out a little bit and then started running slowly.

With a serious limp.

On one hand, it hurt. On the other hand, how cool must I be looking to the other cats in the gym? I mean, pimp walking is awesome, but pimp running? Pimp tight, playa.


Please allow Urban Dictionary to define for you:

PIMP WALK
A slightly controlled stagger on either the left or right leg that causes one to limp in such a way that others will notice him. In short, a “pimp walk” is what most “ballers” do as they walk down the street, or enter a room; it lets the surrounding audience (who ever they may be) know that they are the shit.


Let's face it. I am a baller. And I am the shit. Recognize. I don't only pimp walk, I pimp RUN, bitches.


I plan to perfect my pimp run and will cross the St. Jude finish line like so:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7nWvYapqeA

(I tried to embed the video here, but the damn thing isnt working for me. But click the link. You won't regret it.)

Recovering

See that circled spot on my leg? That's the point of injury. If you pay attention to the sidebar of the blog, you know that there's a place where you can check out our mileage or workouts for the past few days. And if you pay extra close attention, you know that my mileage has been missing for the past couple of weeks. Yeah yeah, sometimes I'm lazy and don't actually get my workouts entered into RunningAhead, but this time, that's not the case. I've actually been sidelined by a pulled groin/upper thigh injury.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a horrible long run. It was only 12 miles...pretty short in the grand scheme of things...but it seemed so. freakin. long. And hard. And hot. And miserable. And by the end of it, painful. By the end of the run, I could barely walk due to shooting pains in above circled area. So I went home, iced it and pretty much stayed off of it for the remainder of the day.

It's been a couple of weeks now and I am just now feeling like I can run without a lot of pain. I've squeezed out a few 2 and 3 milers and today I got in 4 slow miles. I can pretty much run fine as long as I make it through the first quarter mile of painful limp running. By that time, I'm warmed up nicely and can go with little to no pain. And another plus is that I'm not experiencing any pain after the workout. In my book, that's a sign that I'm good to go and good to get back on track with the marathon training.

Here is my dilemma. I'm not sure of the best way to get back into the routine without pushing it too much and going backwards with the healing process. This is week 8 of the training schedule and I think I can get through the week's runs with no problem...4 and 7 mile runs. It's the 15 miler that's on the calendar for this weekend that I'm worried about. Is it dumb to strive for all 15 after 2 weeks off? My last long run was 12 and then I missed a 9 and a 14 miler. Should I go for the 9? The 14? And if I don't do the full 15, when is the best time to return to the exact training plan? Questions. Questions.

I'm leaning toward running 12 or 13 miles and just assessing the situation at that time. I'm not too worried about my time off, but I cant really afford any more!

Happy Shins

I've been plagued by shin splints off and on for the past year. If you've ever had them, then you know just how much they suck. They are sneaky little bastards, they really are. One day you feel just fine and dandy and the next day you can hardly take a step without splitting pains in your shins. The following is historical account of my shin splints:

Day 1- Ouch. My shins are really aching. I wonder what's up. Do I have shin splints?
Day 2- Ouch. My shins still really hurt, but its a dull sort of ache...maybe I can just run through it. Yep, I'm just going to run through it. I'm tough. I can take it.
Day 3- Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. The dull pain is no longer dull. Now the pain feels like little knives stabbing my shins every time my foot hits the ground.
Day 4- Ouch. It hurts to walk. This sucks. I guess I'll have to take a few days off from running.
Day 5-Break
Day 6- Break
Day 7- Break
Day 8- Hmmm...My shins are still aching, but only just a little. I think I can run through it. I'm tough. I can take it.
Repeat.

And basically that's it. Throughout this vicious cycle, I also tried all the other stuff like icing, ibuprofen, stretching, strength training exercises for the calves and shin areas, and rest periods for much longer than 3 days. But alas, nothing seemed to work.

Finally, I decided that it was time to up the exercises. I also got new shoes and I've been trying my best to stay off the concrete and asphalt if at all possible. And guess what? I think that maybe, just maybe, all of that is starting to pay off!! I experienced some pain during a 5k on Saturday morning, but an easy run after the race, a second race on Sunday (race reports to come) and this morning's run went great! No pain at all! It was awesome. I just hope it continues.

Last week, I made an appointment for this morning with my doctor to have some x-rays made. I wanted to be sure I didn't have hairline fractures in my shins...and I don't. So that is super good news and I'm pumped!

Something else I'm looking into are calf compression sleeves. Has anyone used these? Do they work? I'm going to take every step possible to prevent because hard-core April training mode is just around the corner!

Race Report: Scenic City Half Marathon

I am considering this my first REAL trail race. Since the only other trail race I've ever ran was essentially a wade, because the trails were so incredibly flooded. That wet race, did give me a glimpse into trail running though. And I remember thinking about how incredibly mentally exhausting that race was, but I didn't really think about it too much going into preparations for this race.

Big mistake.

You see... I kept thinking about the distance... Ohhh, I thought, 13 miles is nothing. I can do 13 miles in my sleep. I just assumed that I'd run slower and more cautiously because of the trails. No big deal, right? I even toyed with the idea of signing up for the full marathon! But, in the end decided just to do the half... less recovery time. So, that's why even though I had to get up at 3am to drive down to Chattanooga on the morning of the race, I still stayed up till 10:30 or so to watch my gamecocks lose to LSU in the SEC baseball tourney. (Don't even get me started on our bullpen. Arg!) And once the game ended I was so riled up and was still blasting off texts to friends that I didn't fall asleep till even later.

Ehhh... I thought... 13.1 miles?? That's nothing. I don't need a full nights sleep.

I got up at 3am, got ready and decided that I might get hungry on the 2 hour drive down, so I made a peanut butter and honey sandwich to take with me and headed out the door at 4.

I didn't get hungry... so... I didn't eat it. Ehhh... I thought... 13.1 miles??? That's nothing. I don't need a sandwich before I run.

I get to the race site, get out of the car and it's sprinkling. But by the time I got my bib number, kick ass Marmot race tech tee, and got my leg marked...

(which, I thought was the coolest thing, by the way... to have my calf marked with the distance I was running), it had pretty much stopped raining. After putting my hat on a couple of times and then taking it off, I finally decided to not wear it and I headed to the start line.

The guy at the start line was talking about the race... how "it's an easy trail race, for East Tennessee, that is" which everyone got a chuckle over. He also talked about the aid stations and made the comment... "there will be runners who need the aid stations." He talked about how Chattanooga has like the most mileage of trails than any other city, it was a nice distraction to have someone talking (and you could actually hear him) right up until the start of the race.

This was the most interesting start to a race I've ever experienced. We started running and with the exception of like 4 people... NOBODY bolted. I mean, everyone was running slow and easy... all around my pace of 9:30/10:00. It was kind of annoying. I wanted us to spread out more before we hit the single file trail. Once we hit the trail, we had to stop to line up... kind of annoying, but whatever. I was taking it easy and not really letting it bother me.

The race started off well, I got into my groove and passed a couple of people here and there, but generally, I laid back. The weather was perfect. Overcast and warm, with a nice breeze. I was sweating my ass off, despite the breeze, but the breezes just made me glad I was sweating.

I was just starting to daydream... thinking about how I could figure out a way to quit my job, sell my condo, and move to Chattanooga for a year... in a tent... and just spend my days running the trails. And it was right about this moment... 20 minutes in, when I was just loving life, when I faceplanted right in the middle of the trail. It happened so quick, that I barely realized it happened. I popped up and started running again, feeling my knees stinging and looking down and seeing that I had scraped them pretty bad. I persevered and thought to myself... well, at least I got my fall out of the way early.

The first aid station was at mile 3.1ish. I stopped here briefly... drank some water and splashed some water on my knees to get some of the dirt off. And off I went through the trails again.

It wasn't very long after that stop, that I fell again. Directly on my knees again. This fall definitely hurt because of the previous fall, but again, I popped up... not letting anyone in front of me and kept on trucking.

At this point, I remember thinking... "third times the charm." But I made a conscious effort to try and concentrate harder. Mentally... I was starting to struggle. The sweat was dripping into my eyes, and my contacts were getting blurry and it was making it hard to see the trail fully. I started thinking about how dumb I was not to get the sleep or nutrition I needed to be able to concentrate fully.

I tried to pay attention to how high I was picking my feet up. But, it was no use... I ended up falling again. (That makes 3 times, if you've lost count). I got mad after that fall. Mad at myself for treating this race like it was just any other half marathon. Mad that I couldn't concentrate on the trail. That my mind kept wandering and everytime it did, my foot would get caught up on a root or a rock or slip off the edge of the trail.

Finally, I got to the second aid station. This was around mile 8.6. I drank some Hammer HEED at this station knowing that I needed the boost. It was the first time I'd ever had it, and I actually really liked it. It basically had no flavor, which meant it left no icky aftertaste in my mouth like gatorade sometimes does. The guy at the station told us that there was another aid station at mile 11.1. Which, was news to me, because I thought there were only the two aid stations for the half. And I thought it was kind of dumb to have another aid station that close to the finish. Anyway, I took off and kept thinking... okay, only 30 minutes or so till the next aid station. I can do this.

And then... I fell again. 4th time. This time, I didn't fall directly on my knees, I kind of fell on my hip/flank region and rolled over. I got up and kept going. That fall hurt the least of all of them and I was ready to just finish this race. I kept looking for that final aid station, but it never came. I realized about 40 minutes after the 8.6 stop, that he was probably talking about the next aid station for the marathon. The last 20 minutes or so, I just took my time and focused as much as I could. I found the last few miles of the race the most enjoyable, because there were fewer people around and I could concentrate on the trail instead of hearing people behind me.

I finished with a time of 2:19:55. Which, honestly... I was thrilled with. I got some diet coke and then walked to my car and drove home. I knew they had a hose to wash me off. But, I felt this odd desire to keep the dirt and blood on me. It was kind of like, I wasn't ready to wash away the race just yet.

Once I got out of the park, I needed to talk to someone. I knew it was still too early to call Vandy-Montana, I ended up calling my mom. Who, after she heard I fell 4 times, said... "ohhhh... I didn't know this was a trail race." She assured me that she had some neosporin, so I ended up driving all the way to my parents house after the race.

When I hung up the phone with her, I immediately ended up laughing out loud at myself. And that quickly turned into crying because I was just so mentally exhausted.

It was tough. But, I was tougher. I don't think I've ever been challenged that hard mentally. But, despite the falls and despite the mental exhaustion... I loved it. I loved the fact that I had to use muscles that I normally dont. I loved that I was exhausted more after running 13.1 miles than I had been running 18+ miles. I was also glad that I didn't sign up for the full marathon. Maybe moving to Chattanooga isn't such a bad idea. ;)

I do have to say... Trail races are an exercise in battling your inner control freak. I mean, there comes a point when there are 5 people in front of you... walking up a hill that you'd rather run up. But, can you safely pass those 5 people? Not really, and even if you could, you'd look like a total douche bag. It's kind of annoying. You can't run your own race the entire time. And... you can't really enjoy the nature, because... you'll trip and fall.

Lucky for my ego... I've heard that there were a TON of bloody knees at the finish line of this race. And I did see my fair share of other people falling. I just doubt that they fell 4 times.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures, there were tons of photographers out on the course... which, again.. you couldn't really make contact with, because you'd trip and fall as soon as you did.

Surprisingly... my knees actually look worse today. All scabby and bright red. Just in time for shorts and sundresses. Awesome.

Teaser...

Details to come...

Pain in the Groin... no, not what you're thinking...

So, after the 20 miler on Saturday, Vandy-Montana and I met up with some peeps from the Nashville Striders to run 10 miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway and then indulge in some biscuits at the Loveless Cafe.

Now, I take some funky pictures... (it's a problem, I'm working on it), but this is quite possibly one of the strangest pictures of me, ever. For one... I've got some kind of weird hunchback thing going on... and two, the look on my face is pretty frightening. I'm attributing it to the fact that they had just placed a huge ass platter of biscuits on the table in front of me and at that moment, it was suddenly... "Let's get up and walk outside away from the hot biscuits to have our picture taken!" Anyway... it was a fun run and breakfast. I enjoyed meeting other runners who are just as obsessed with running as I am (and with food and booze, too! a common theme with runners, it seems...).

Anyway, on the drive home, I noticed some pain in my right inner thigh everytime I hit the brake. It wasn't anything crazy. Just a light, tender feeling in my inner thigh (I know, that sounds kind of good, right? But, it wasn't a good light, tender feeling... unfortunately). I pretty much forgot about it after the drive, though.

Monday I ran a little 5 mile recovery run and then Tuesday, I had big plans... The plan was to get up extra early (I was out the door at 5:30) and get in a good 10-12 miler before taking a rest day on Wednesday. Things started off fine, I was feeling good... but around mile 2, I felt like I had a catch in my right thigh. I figured it would just work itself out eventually... but by mile 4, it was more pronounced and was concentrated in the upper middle part of my thigh. I slowed down a bit, I tried changing my gait, and stretching my quad (where I thought the pain was coming from)... but nothing really helped.

Finally, when I hit 6 miles, I had to stop and walk. But, walking didn't really stop the pain, so I ended up half walking/half jogging/hobbling the mile back to my place, giving the commuters on Music Row quite the chuckle, I'm sure. The pain was concentrated in the upper part of my thigh, so I kept assuming it was just a sore quad. I iced it a little at work, left my high heels in the closet for a couple of days, and figured a rest day was the only other thing I needed.

This morning, I started my run and of course, the pain was on my mind, and while I definitely felt it during the entire run... it wasn't all that painful. No wincing... no need to stop. But, I did decide something... it's not my quad. It's actually my inner thigh... my groin, if you will. Which, is kind of weird... I thought hockey players were the only people who got groin injuries.

Despite being wayyy sleepy, wayyy hungover, wayyy wet and damp outside, and despite the groin injury, I had a great run this morning! I felt like I could run forever. (And... I kinda did... I was a little late for work this morning... heh heh oops).

The pain in my groin isn't constant and it isn't severe, so I really don't think it's anything to get all worked up about. I'll just ice it some over the next few days and I think the tenderness will go away. By the way... do you have any idea how awkward and uncomfortable it is to ice your groin and inner thigh? I'm pretty sure by some people's standards... I'm now in an intimate relationship with a bag of frozen peas*.

*There are about a trillion jokes I could insert here about past boyfriends, current singledom, etc... but, I'll spare you the trite comment. It's the least I can do after so many posts about poop and now groins.

No room for the weak...

My parents raised my brothers and me in a very spartan-like atmosphere. We were raised to be tough and that acknowledging pain was a sign of weakness. And come on... who wants to be weak, right? My mom, who has no medical training, had no problems at all taking our illnesses into her own hands and diagnosing them herself.

I recall many a morning when I wasn't feeling too well and my mom would feel my forehead with the back of her hand, frown, and then feel her own forehead and declare... "Nope, you don't have a fever, in fact I'm warmer than you are. Off to school you go." We didn't own a thermometer. Because... well... we just didn't get fevers. Fevers only attacked the weak and sickly kids.

Stitches? Bah! Stitches are for wimps and wussies. It'll heal on its own. Scars are stories.

Sprained ankle??? Nahhh.. you just tweaked it.

Step on a rusty nail?? Puhlease. Like tetanus ever killed anyone.**

So, when as a teenager, I started having crampy, achy, stingy, needle-like pinching feelings in my legs at night... I was told by my mom that they were just "growing pains" and that I'd grow out of them. This was the most brilliant thing my mom could have ever told me. I endured that leg pain with pride, envisioning my legs getting longer and longer every night. I had dreams of Procrustes stretching me and making me supermodel tall.

But, when it became apparent that they weren't in fact "growing pains," my mom simply changed her diagnosis to hormonal. You see, once I hit puberty, my mom and her diagnoses hit the proverbial jackpot. From the moment I became a “woman” any and every medical issue I had was met with the response… “oh, honey, it’s just that time of the month. “ Even when it wasn’t. I swear when I broke a toe, she tried to push it off as not a broken toe, but as a symptom of my monthly visitor.

So, I just dealt with the night leg issues. It didn't really affect my life on a grand scale or anything... at most, it was keeping me up 5-7 nights a month.

And then... a couple of years ago, I started seeing commercials on television referring to the symptoms I had... my "growing pains" and then my "time of the month pains" as Restless Leg Syndrome. I couldn't believe it. You mean, I actually had a health issue that is real and has an actual name? NO. WAY.

Luckily, as I've gotten older, I've had to deal with it less and less... particularly, I've noticed, since I started running a couple of years ago. I rarely... maybe 5-7 times a YEAR have those crazy restless leg nights nowadays.

But, I did wake up in the middle of the night last night with it. It was actually pretty strange last night. Normally, it starts as I'm lying in bed trying to go to sleep... but, last night, I woke up around 2am with it. I tried to go back to sleep and ignore it, but eventually I had to get up and stumble around in my bedroom for a little while, trying to stretch and get some relief (even though... none of that stuff ever seems to help).

This morning, they were still hurting (again, a rare thing... usually I wake up fine). And I thought that a run might loosen them up a bit.

I had originally wanted to get in a hill workout, even with the achy legs, but when I stepped outside and noticed that it was snowing! And sticking! That was all the excuse I needed to skip out on a hill workout. (I mean… how devastating would it be to tweak an ankle??). But my legs grew more and more achy… less stingy and more achy as the run progressed. I finished at the 5 mile mark and my legs are still bothering me. I’m thinking that it’s possibly not Restless Legs… it’s Fatigued Legs and I’m glad tomorrow is a rest day (it’s been about 8 days since my last rest day).

Maybe I should call my mom and see what her diagnosis is…


** So... when I did step on a rusty nail, my mom did take me in for a tetanus shot... although... frankly, I'm surprised she didn't try to see how tough my immune system was. I mean... weeding out the weak only makes our family stronger, right?

And in the end...

I will not be running the Marine Corps Marathon.

If you read this blog on any kind of consistent basis, you know that I’ve been training for the MCM, which is in approximately 2 weeks. You also know that my training has been sub-par due to injury caused by over-training. When a runner is plagued by shin splints and IT Band pain that just won’t go away, it’s a sign of pushing too hard, too fast.

Now I’m not a super-experienced hardcore runner, but I wouldn't classify myself as a beginner either. I’ve got one marathon under my belt, dozens of shorter-distance races and about 9 years of running experience. I own 7 or 8 books that only “serious runners” would buy and look forward to my copy of Runner’s World each month. I browse Cool Running, Running Times and the Memphis Runner’s websites everytime I get a chance and I read all of your fantastic running blogs just about everyday. So you see, I consider myself fairly well-read on the subject of running. That’s why it makes absolutely no sense that I am injured enough to have to drop out of my upcoming marathon. Shouldn’t my super-educated running brain know when to hold back and when to persevere and push through the pain? Apparently not. Cause here I am. Out of the race with injuries that I haven’t dealt with since I was a beginning runner back in high school.

I’m not sure why or how it all began, but it’s been a vicious cycle…run too much too soon, suffer the consequences and become forced to take a few days off, try to play catch up, run too much too soon, suffer the consequences and become forced to take a few days off, try to play catch up….

Yes, it is frustrating, and yes, I want to ignore the pain and do whatever it takes to finish that race. However, that would be really really dumb and I don’t want to waste all that I’ve worked toward, thus far, by doing something dumb. I want to run a good marathon-one that I’m prepared for and one that I’m healthy enough to complete without risking blowing out my knee for a year.

That’s why I’m going to postpone my marathon.

So many wonderful people have sponsored me by generously donating money to The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. I promised those people that I’d run a marathon and I will. I will run a marathon. It won’t be the Marine Corps Marathon, but I promise you that I will run 26.2 miles as soon as I possibly can, in honor of Meme.

I’ve taken a good amount of time off to properly recover (fingers crossed) and have slowly been getting back into my routine. I’m making myself take it slow until I can gauge exactly where I am in my training schedule. Once I determine where I stand, I’ll pick the appropriate marathon and do my best to stay healthy and injury-free until I’ve got marathon #2 under my belt. Since I already made my plans for travel and meeting up with old friends in DC, I’m still going on my trip. I’m looking forward to cheering on my fellow teammates on the MMRF Marathon Team. But that means that my vacation time is gone and so I’ll have to run a local marathon. Here are my options:

St. Jude Marathon in Memphis-12/6/08

MS Blues Marathon in Jackson, MS-1/3/09
Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans-2/1/09
Little Rock Marathon in Arkansas-3/15/09

Knoxville Marathon-3/29/09

Anyone got any input on these races? I'm leaning toward doing the half in Memphis and the full in Jackson. I think that 10 weeks will give me enough time to get back on track.

Keeping it Real

I like to think of myself as a positive person. It's something that I have to work at and be mindful of, but for me, it works.

Positive thoughts + positive speech + positive actions = Happy and productive April

Now obviously (unless you're the Dalai Lama or something) it's near impossible to be emit these positive vibes out into the world 100% of the time, but hey-I can at least try. That's why I've really been struggling lately with blogging on a consistent basis. I know that this is a running blog and injury is something that often comes with the sport, but I've been battling some injuries for quite some time now. They are relatively minor (shin splints, IT band), but are still causing me enough pain that my training has taken a serious blow.

Anyway, when I look back over my posts from the last few months, I see that a good number of them address my injuries. To me this isn't positive. It's whiny, complaining, woe as me kind of material and I just don't like it. So that's why I refused to blog unless I had some nice, uplifting stuff to talk about.

And well folks, that just ain't happenin. I have been able to run short distances-3-5 miles without any major hurting (even though my knee feels achy for days afterward), but anything over 6 miles, downright sucks. It hurts-bad.

My instinct is to tell myself to toughen up and run through the pain because really, mentally, I'm all there. But when it doesn't subside and I can't even walk for the next two days, I realize that um, maybe that wasn't the brightest idea.

So, I told Amy about my anti-negative blogging plan and she (as she usually does), straightened me out.

Amy: Nooooo dude, you gotta keep it real!! You have to blog about that stuff because all runners deal with it at some point or another. We have to blog about the ups AND downs of running.

me: But I wanna be hardcore! How can I have a blog called 26point2ers when I can't even run more than 6 miles with out wimping out!?!

Amy: Yes, you can. You just can't right now because you're injured. You have to let it heal completely and build your mileage back up before you attempt long runs.

And she's right. I hate it when she's right. Well, actually, I just hate it when I'm wrong (which rarely happens).

Now let's address the bottom line. I have a marathon in 6 weeks. I haven't run more than 13 miles at a time. We all know that it's just not gonna happen. It would be super dumb to try and run a marathon that I haven't been able to fully prepare for. It makes me just sick, but I really think that's the reality. Excuse me while I throw a temper tantrum....I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

But I've paid for the race, bought my plane ticket, planned to stay with friends and have been working so hard to raise $2,500 for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. So I'm going. Yes, I am. I am going and I am going to start that race (Marine Corps Marathon). I might have to run the half, but I will be there.

Bittersweet

The good news:

I got some new shoes! Check it:Mizuno Wave Inspire 4s. Say word, son! Now I've got 2 brand new pair of running kicks, which is awesome because now I can alternate. From what I've read, this is a good thing because it minimizes injury due to the fact that the shoes fit you differently. You aren't striking the ground at exactly the same angle, every step you take. Sounds good to me. The best thing about these shoes is that they cost exactly $1.80!!

I use a Cashback Discover Card and you can either get cash back (duh) or you can take it in gift cards from companies that partner with Discover. Most of these companies actually up the amount of your Discover cash. Foot Locker is one of these partners and they offer $25 for every $20 in Discover Bucks. A great way to get new shoes, isn't it? So I requested my cards:

I got them pretty quickly and went straight to footlocker.com to do a little shopping. With my gift cards and a promotional discount code that I found online, my total came to under two bucks. Very sweet.

Now for The Bad News: I ordered these shoes on 6/16/2008. I was placed on the backorder list 4 times and finally got them yesterday. Let's figure out how many days that is...That's 65 days, folks. I guess I wasn't a priority cause I got them so cheap. Here is what I have to say to Foot Locker:

I think you get the picture. Gonna try out the shoes tonight...hopefully they'll get a better review!

And one...two...three...squeeze that booty tight!

I'm kind of a sucker for fitness videos.

It all started with this:

Get in Shape Girl! It wasn't actually a video, but rather a cassette tape and kit, complete with a baton, some sort of hula hoop looking thing and ribbons. I'm pretty sure I had some sweet leg warmers also so that I could look like the cool girls on the front of the box. I was so excited when I found this tape in my old bedroom a few months ago. I was so excited that I may or may not have put the tape in a cassette player. I also may or may not have marched in place, touched my toes and circled my baton (or hairbrush) in the air. Aaaand I may or may not have recruited my brother and sister to dance and get-in-shape right along with me. No shame.

Anyway, from that point on I was hooked. Get in Shape Girl was followed with Kathy Smith's PowerStep...and then 8 Minute Abs, Buns of Steel, Billy Blanks Tae Bo, Tai Chi, MTV's The Grind, Cindy Crawford's Shape Your Body and tons more that I know I'm forgetting. I actually did the tapes, too. I have friends who say their fitness DVDs and equipment mostly just collect dust, but I really enjoyed them. I didn't do them all regularly, but I did rotate them when I needed a change.

Isn't it fun taking a walk down memory lane?

Now that I've had to build my collection back up with DVDs, I've stuck mostly with yoga and pilates. I did get Billy Blanks in a DVD version and ok, ok...I confess that I also own a certain Carmen Electra DVD as well.

I posted, last week, that my shin splints seem to have healed up nicely and that I was back on track. And I was...for one whole day. Yesterday I started my Tuesday morning run and instantly felt pain on the outside of my left knee. My first reaction was to run right through it. Like I was in disbelief and I just didn't want to accept it. Well, that didn't last long-only about a mile so I headed for home. I'm pretty sure it's my IT band. Bah.

So last night, I decided to pull out one of my trusty DVDs because they always make me feel better. Here is what I choose:

And boy, was it the right choice. The lower body workout was perfect and I swear that I'm going to do it at least 3 times a week from now until the marathon. It was great for stretching out all those pesky (injured) areas that hurt when I run lately. Plus I'm hoping that the muscles get stronger and decrease my chances of getting hurt anymore. It's a two DVD set so I did the ab workout for good measure. Have you ever tried Gaiam's DVDs? You should because they are awesome.

Crossing my fingers and knocking on wood

I think that maybe, just maybe, my shin splints are going away. It looks like whatever I've been doing is helping. Could be the new shoes, the treadmill running, the stretching and strengthening, the break or a combination of them all...I'm not sure and I really don't care. I'm just itching to get back out there. I'm actually looking forward to my long run this weekend...and I rarely look forward to long runs. Sure I love them when they're over, but the thought of getting up at 5:30 or 6:00 am on a Saturday morning to run 2 or 3 hours isn't always my favorite thing. Oh, the sacrifices we make as runners!

I felt so much better during the end of last week, but I still decided to cross-train rather than run over the weekend...just to be on the safe side. But last night, I ran a few, quick miles and felt even better than I had last week. So please, please, please cross your fingers with me that shin splints are in my past. I really don't have any more time for these annoying injuries!

So I've been looking at the Marine Corps Marathon's website in search of an elevation map, but all I can find is just a regular course map. It says that the elevation map is "coming soon," but I'm a little nervous about that. The Country Music Marathon had what runners described as "gentle, rolling hills" and some thought it was tougher than that. But you know, I never even really noticed the hills. I guess it's because my running routes prepared me enough, especially since I only did hill sprints or workouts a handful of times. This time around, though, my regular running routes are pretty flat. And I can definitely feel it when I'm faced with an incline. So I'm not sure I should wait around for the MCM folks to post the elevation map...I'm thinking I ought to put some hill training on the schedule.

The weather has been great and I'm going to hit the streets (gently, of course) tonight for a 5-6 mile run. Hopefully the rain will hold off!