Archive for October, 2007
I have so many things to talk about, I’m not sure anyone will actually get to the end of this post. In no particular order, I will get to the Nova Marathon Challenge, my hip, the new Sarah, my half-marathon clothing, and the art of visualization.
#1 Nova Marathon Challenge. I just finished it on PBS, and I am so pumped up for Sunday. Watching these new marathoners just got me excited about my first half. And of course, just like I do when I watch triathlons on Sunday afternoons, I bawled my eyes out as runner after runner came across the finish line. One gal’s finish was exactly how I want to finish on Sunday; she wasn’t out of steam at the end—she saw the finish line and she started hoofing it, passing runners left and right. In nearly all of my runs, I’ve been determined to finish with a kick, and I’m ready to kick some on Sunday.
#2 My hip. I talked to my pal Dallas, who is a PA for an orthopedic surgeon, about my hip, and based on my symptoms, he says it sounds like tendinitis. I’m taking it easy this week along with ice and Aleve. I should be fine for Sunday, but I’ll need to really recoup for a few weeks. That said, I think I’ll have to postpone my plans for the Little Rock Marathon and find one for later in March or in April.
#3 The new Sarah. All right, this one is a doozie and might be confusing. I’ll try to keep this simple. Ever since I started running, my gal pal Ashlynne has told me about her friend Sarah, who also runs in Springfield. She’s also told Sarah about me. Sarah and I have been too lazy to get in touch with one another until now. Last Friday, Linden sent an e-mail to our training group, encouraging us on our upcoming race and sharing her recent half marathon in Germany; she included a link to her blog in the e-mail. Sarah’s running buddy Lex went to Linden’s blog, found my blog, and started reading up on me, thinking that she and Sarah and I might all get along well. Lex tells Sarah about me, and Sarah started thinking that I sounded familiar and finally puts the whole puzzle together. And after all of this, we’ve been training with OMRR all summer—she and Lex on Saturdays and me on Sundays! We finally met at our training meeting last night. I’m frickin’ excited to have some new running buddies.
#4 My half-marathon wardrobe. In my last few runs this week, I’m testing my clothing for Sunday. So far, according to the forecast, mornings this week will be similar to race day, daylight savings time notwithstanding. Yesterday, I ran in tights, long-sleeved T, and heavy fleece with a headband and gloves. The fleece was way to much. Today, I ran in thinner yoga pants, a sleeveless top, and a light fleece. Better and a possibility. I think I know what I’ll wear on top, but I’m having problems with the bottoms. The last two mornings, even with tights or yoga pants, my bum and thighs are freezing! Other runners with more experience are telling me to wear shorts, but I don’t want to be miserably cold and layering on the bottom is so much more complicated than on type.
#5 The art of visualization. I’ve been using this week’s runs to visualize part of my race. While I don’t exactly have a favorite section of the course, I want to be strong the last 5K. Today, especially, I used the last half mile to imagine the final stretch, even the last ten yards up the Bass Pro ramp.
And I finished the second draft of my thesis. Just an edit, the abstract, and my acknowledgments, and I turn in the *FINAL DRAFT* to my readers. Yikes! Graduation is just weeks away!
OK, I think that’s all. Wow, good to get all that off my chest.
October 31st, 2007
T minus eight days to the big half marathon, and I have a problem. OK…problems.
#1: What in the world do I wear?! Missouri weather was abnormally warm until last week, so until then I was still in shorts and t-shirts. It was cooler this week. On Tuesday I started off in tights, wind pants, long-sleeved T, and fleece with gloves and ear muff/headband thing; I finished that run with the tights, wind pants, and long-sleeved T. Today I went out in 50-degree weather in tights and long-sleeved T with gloves and ear muff/headband thing, and I cut my run short because I was burning up. Clearly, I’m afraid of being too cold, and so far that’s not working too well for me. It’s too soon for next Sunday’s forecast, but it’s looking like I’ll have to force myself to wear shorts. I’ll keep you posted.
#2: My pace has dropped from 12+ min/mile to sub-12 min/mile, and I’m not sure how that’s going to affect my race. Yes, I’m running faster, but I’m walking more frequently, too. I’m just nervous about that.
#3: My frickin’ left hip. I can’t think of anything I did to it this week, but it hurts when I walk and feels like it’s in constant need of popping. I had a similar issue with my right hip when I taking dance classes a year or so ago, but I have no idea how to remedy the problem.
On a more positive note, I made a Google Map of the race complete with athletic supporter rendezvous points and a spreadsheet of my estimated splits for my athletic supporters. Mom, Dad, Martha (mother-in-law), Don (father-in-law), Chris, and Jacob (my brother) are all going to follow my progress in exchange for a box of Krispy Kremes. More later…
October 26th, 2007
October is almost over, but it’s never too late to check those breasts! Breast cancer is becoming more common in women under age 40. Here’s a little video to motivate you to check on the girls.
October 26th, 2007
All right, I could not find a decent free e-card to send to Linden for her birthday, so I searched YouTube far and wide for some funny happy birthday videos. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDY LOU!
Who doesn’t love farting cartoons?
Or farting co-workers?
I personally love the weird, orange, singing aliens…
And who can have a birthday without any love from John, Paul, George, and Ringo?
October 23rd, 2007
All right, for those of you who think my fear of primates is silly, I have been redeemed! Did you read that the Deputy Mayor of Delhi was attacked by monkeys and killed on Sunday? That’s right—attacked and killed!
I sure was glad that this article came to me. Now I know exactly what to do if I’m attacked by monkeys!Luckily, the population of wild apes in the Ozarks is pretty slim.
October 23rd, 2007
There’s a special place in my heart for runners who can run the treadmill, but there’s an even more special place in my heart for those who make the treadmill fun. If I could make treadmilling fun, like it looks in this video (Thanks, Teresa!), I would be on the treadmill train!
October 22nd, 2007
I think I’ve lost the will to run. Twice this week I opted to sleep in rather than putting on my running shoes, and this morning, I almost turned off my alarm. Here’s the conversation I had with myself:
- 4:59 AM: I wake up. “Ugh. Why does this always happen? One minute ’til the alarm goes off!”
- 5:00 AM: Alarm goes off. I hit the snooze button. “Ten more minutes. Just ten more minutes.”
- 5:07 AM: Alarm goes off. I hit the snooze button. “My back hurts. I’m not sure I can do the seven miles.”
- 5:08 AM: “You’ve ran with worse. Just take some Advil.”
- 5:09 AM: “I ate that bratwurst and four s’mores last night. I might get the trots again.”
- 5:10 AM: “Good point. Hate to do that again.”
- 5:11 AM: “But Heather lent you the Shuffle and Harry Potter. You can’t not use them.”
- 5:12 AM: “Ugh.”
- 5:13 AM: I drag myself silently kicking and screaming from bed.
Even though I wasn’t crazy about my run this morning, I’m glad I went. I finished 6.6 miles in 1:17:22 (11:39/mile—hey, another sub-12-pacer!), and I felt good the entire time. Weeks like these make me nervous that I’ll lose motivation for the full marathon next spring. I’ve had a ton of support this summer from OMRR because the half marathon is local, but the marathon I have my eye on is out of town, and I won’t have that this winter. I guess the bumper stick is true: This doesn’t get any easier; you just get faster.
October 21st, 2007
I didn’t run today; however, I did hang out with some fellow runners. The Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners have an adopted section of highway just past Sam’s Club, and we picked up trash today. You see, I work at the same church that I attend so I’m around the same group of people—all of whom are Christ-followers—all the time. I’ve been feelin’ the need to branch out.
So I’m working on expanding my circle of friends, and I might as well befriend some more runners. Today’s group was smaller than usual; our leader said they usually have 15–20 people. We only had about 7 today, and I was the only girl and the only one under the age of 40. At least I got some pizza out of the deal. Maybe I’ll make more gal pals next time!
October 20th, 2007
Well, that sucked. Next time I think it’s a good idea to run at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, would someone send me a cyber smack? My body was like, “Are you crazy, woman? We were supposed to do this eight hours ago!” I walked way more than I usually do…chalk it up to the wind and the Ozark hills, but managed to eek out an hour of running/walking. I’m used to these crappy runs, but I tracked my distance to figure out my pace: 5.25 miles for an 11:26 pace. Holy crap! Even with all that walking! And I tracked last week’s 5-miler and it was actually 5.2 miles for an 11:33 pace. And I finished Tuesday’s five-miler in 58:06 for an 11:37 pace.
To sum up, I’ve dropped my pace from 12+ minutes to sub-11 minutes. I haven’t had a 12+ minute run since 10/3. Yikes!
And my new sports bras came today. Happy boobs!
OK…off to shower and the laundry.
October 19th, 2007
I haven’t ran since Tuesday. I’ve simply been exhausted all week and have slept in instead of running like I should. Chris hasn’t been sleeping well at all this week, and, well, it’s funny how when you share a bed with someone, his sleep quality = your sleep quality. Today is my day off, and I blissfully slept until 11:59 (that’s right I can say I was up before noon). Now I’m watching Days of Our Lives (I apparently need to catch up because John Black died and I’m not sure what’s going on) and emptying my Google Reader telling myself I should get off my duff and run a five-miler. Ugh.
All right. At least let me finish my reading and start the laundry, then I’ll go. Sheesh. Get off my back.
More later…
October 19th, 2007
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