WOW, I did 7 miles!

I cannot believe I completed 7 miles today! The first mile we did together was very difficult for me, so these 7 are a miracle!.

I finished in 1:41, much to my surprised. I figured it would take me about 2 hrs or so to get done. I did 1:2 intervals the first half, and then 1.5:1.5 intervals the second half. It felt so good to run! These 7 were easier than the 6 from last week. I guess Christa is right, I started with intervals right away and got into a rhythm which made it easier to do.

I'm hoping for race next I'll be able to do the 1.5:1.5 intervals the whole way. This is exciting!

oh, and Christa and I were called "runners" by another runner out on the trail today. We are runners!

btw, Christa sorry I left you! I promise not to leave you next week, you are my running partner.

TGIF

Well, all my good intentions to XT on Wednesday went out of the window. I was in bed by 9:30, I just couldn't keep my eyes open.

I did, however, got 1 hr of walking yesterday. My neighbor and I walked and talked the whole time. My knees were feeling a bit funny, so I didn't attempt to run. She walks very fast, so I had to keep up with her.

So this week went well, I did intervals on Monday, walked Tuesday, and again Thursday. Looking forward to 7 miles tomorrow. Never thought I'd say that. This is going to be one busy weekend, I have to go grocery shopping sometime tomorrow, and then get the house ready for the twins' birthday party on Sunday.
My babies are almost ONE! Yikes. Not to mention my not-so-little baby girl is on her way to 6!

Beware of Endorphins

Somewhere, I read about the "happy hormones" released when you exercise. BEWARE. They may make you do crazy things.

Like jumping on the back of your husband's motorcyle and go for a ride. That was me on Saturday. I just had the urge to ride with him. Mind you, he has had his bikes for about a year now and I've never gotten on them.

As if that wasn't enough, I proceeded to tell him I want him to build one for me! (he "built" his bikes, bought old ones at the scrapyard, welded them together, painted ,etc)
His are choppers so they are comfy for riding, and now I want one too. Yes folks, endorphin high can be hazardous to your mental health. LOL

I took the kids out for a walk yesterday after work. I didn't get to run, but it was so nice to stroll around the neighborhood with the kids. Candace walked the whole 35 minutes and never complained. She is such a trooper! She even "stretched" with me. wondering if she'll follow in my footsteps and run a marathon one day...

So I got 35 minutes of walking, which was better than the alternative of sitting home and doing nothing. XT tonight, going to pull my pilates tapes out.

Memories...

I read that muscles have "memory", they remember what you've put them thru and I guess that's the whole reason we steadly increase the mileage up to 26 miles.

My muscles, however, have short term memory loss.

And here is why. I finished all 6 miles on Saturday, walked half and did intervals the other half (thanks Christa, I couldn't have done it without you). So I thought Monday would be a piece of cake.

WRONG. The first 10 minutes were very hard, I was ready to quit. I kept on telling myself it would get easier, about 20 minutes into it, the pain began to fade. Whatever happened to them remembering?

I was about to quit at 30 min when I ran into my next door neighbor. Since I had company, I ended up doing 45 minutes of intervals (1:2) and then 15 minutes of walking! woohoo! amazing what you'll do if you have someone to keep you company.

I didn't ice my knees and they are a bit sore today. Nothing major, not like last time. Will make sure to ice tonight so I'll be ready for Saturday.

Murphy's Law

Well, wouldn't you know it? Just when I was beating myself up because I had not trained much, something happened that prevented me from training at all.

One of the twins, Braden, became ill Tuesday afternoon. I got a call from daycare around 5 (I am across the street from them and usually leave the office @ 5:30) . They said he had a fever and was just not acting like himself.

I picked him up and he was burning up. Poor baby. He is usually very active, and he was hardly moving. I started to freak out, called the after hr. clinic, called my husband. Long story short, got home around 8 PM with a very cranky baby. His fever kept going up all night, as soon as the medicine wore off. 103 fever on a baby scares me to death, so I hardly slept. The dr. at the after hr clinic gave me antibiotics, but for the past 3 days, his fever has stayed high.

So I had to take him back to the dr. today. They checked his blood to see if it's viral or bacterial infection. It's a virus, so needless to say, the antibiotics are not going to work. bah. The poor thing, when his fever goes up, he starts calling for me "mama, mama". Breaks my heart.

So I've spent the past 3 days with a sick baby, and a very healthy one. Cade has been acting up, I guess since he gets to have the spotlight all to himself while Braden is sick. So I've been quiet busy, and "rusting".

I'm going to do the 6 miles tomorrow, and I'll attempt to do some sort of interval. We'll see how it goes.
I was bummed out I didn't get to do much this week. It is out of my hands though, I can't control when my kids will get sick anymore than I can control the weather. This week is over, and I just need to look ahead and complete my training in all the weeks to come.

See you tomorrow!

I've been BAD!

Well, here I am. Mandy, thanks for the book recommendations.

Didn't make it to the Rez on Saturday. No, it wasn't the weather (although I heard it was cancelled bc of the storm). I woke up LATE! I set the alarm and apparently turned it off, instead of hitting the snooze. I don't recall doing it, but I opened my eyes at 7 AM. For those of you who don't know, I live in Hazlehurst, and it takes 1 hr to get to the Rez.

Anyhoodles, I fed the kids, and sat around watching the rain. Then tackled the mountain of dirty laundry, and around 6, headed to Outback to take my husband out for his birthday.
No walking/running that day.

Sunday, more laundry. Took husband out for birthday celebration numero dos, this time with all the kids in tow. Came home in a "Mexican food coma" and took a very short nap (less than 1 hr). No training.

See the pattern?

Yesterday, I was off from work. Time for some serious house cleaning. Have I mentioned I hate housework? Well, with the traveling in the past months, my house hadn't been thoroughly cleaned in a while. So I did that yesterday. Non stop from 9:30 to 3:30. Non-stop, I kid you not. I was exhausted by the time I got thru.
I went to the track and could only manage to walk 25 min. My knees hurt, but I think it was from moving stuff around while cleaning. I'm planning on getting out there tonight and trying to at least do 40 min.

So I've been bad. I really have no right to complain about how hard this is, considering I haven't been sticking to the training as I should. So I won't.

I will, however, rant about body issues. ok, I'm not one to obsess about weight. As long as my clothes fit, I don't care what the scale says. Since I got married, I have gained a few pounds, my body has changed thru pregnancies, but all in all, I've managed to go back to my pre-pregnancy clothes both times.

So I figured, once I started this training, I would drop some pounds, and clothes should fit better, right? WRONG.
I cannot get into pants that fit just a month ago (when I went to Orlando). The scale says I still weigh the same as I did then, but I cannot get into them.
I'm beyond frustrated, I thought it was my eating so since going to Orlando, I've been more conscious of what I eat, etc. NOTHING. No change.

So instead of shopping for smaller sizes, I'm shopping for bigger ones! So that's that. Another salad for lunch. I'm morphing into a rabbit, in the hopes that if my eating habits are the problem, I'll see some numbers change on the scale.

Feeling like a runner!

Finally was able to log into Blogger. Had to download Mozilla.

Anyway, no XT on Wed. Was nicely reminded by my husband that I should be doing something. I know, I know. Will try to do better next week.

I got messed up yesterday, and did only 31 minutes. For some reason I thought it was Tuesday. Go figure. I walked 5 min, and did the rest at 1:1 intervals. I actually felt pretty good afterwards, not too tired, just fine. The last 5 minutes of my shower, I let the cold water run (cannot handle the thought of sitting in cold water) and it worked. No soreness today. Thanks Mark for sharing that tip.

I felt like a runner for the first time ever in my life! The fact I was able to do the 1:1 intervals to the end without feeling I was going to die did wonders for my spirit. I just hope I can do at least half of the run tomorrow in intervals.

Is everyone's months flying by, or is it just me? It's almost May!!!

I have to plan a little party for the twins 1st birthday, then we have Mother's day, our anniversary is also in May, and then it'll be JUNE!

We are getting eerily close to October, people! Yes, I know there are 6 months between now and the Marathon but the past months (since MM started) passed by. Can you believe we are doing 5 miles on Sat? I can still remember being out of breath that day in Belhaven.

Keep on wogging! We are going to make it!

One Step at the time...

I've been watching my sons attempt to take their first steps. They'll stand up while holding on to something, and once their little legs are strong enough, they let go, and try to take a step. It usually doesn't last very long before they fall. But they get right back up, and try again. Eventually they'll have it mastered and they'll be walking.

I guess I'm in that stage with my marathon training. I need to keep on trying, no matter if I fall, no matter if I feel I'm walking/running too slow. How will I ever make it to the finish line if I expect to go from zero to 26.2 miles without going thru it step by step?

I didn't do my part Monday. Parenting books I've been reading (to figure out why my sons wake up at night crying) told me it's probably separation anxiety caused by the fact I work. yeah, makes one feel really good. So I stayed home and played with the kids. (by the way, they slept all night last night, proving their theory wrong.)

I did 25 min yesterday. I ran for 1 min, walked for 1 min. It was HARD, I'm so glad the course in Chicago is flat because the hills around my house were killing me (think Belhaven, there are 2 just around my house). But I made it, got a good workout and then took a COLD shower. Brrr! But I'm not as sore as one would expect.

So next time I feel I'm not going fast enough, I need to look at my kids and watch them learn to walk. They don't give up. They keep on trying, helping each other out. No matter how many times they fall, they will eventually succeed.

And so will we. Keep on running!

The man behind this marathoner

I am dedicating this blog entry to my husband (even though he seldoms gets online or reads this blog). I could not possibly dream of attempting this feat if it wasn't for him.

I met Claude in the fall of '98 at the gym where we both worked out. Our first date was October 19, and we have been inseparable ever since. We got married on May 20, 2000, and we have been blessed with 3 beautiful kids. Never in a million years we had ever dreamed our lives would turn out this way.

You could say we are the perfect example of opposites attracting. But once you get passed the obvious differences (race, culture, religion) we actually agree on the things that are most important to us, our kids, and our families.

I'm so blessed to have met him and that he chose me to share his life with. I could not do this marathon without him. As much as my independent self would like to deny it, I couldn't raise these kids without him. He is a wonderful father and the kids adore him. He is the best partner, friend, supporter I could have ever dreamed of.

Mind you, we disagree (and who doesn't) and we have a typical marriage (where I complain bc the dishwasher hasn't been loaded, and the dirty clothes didn't quite make it to the hamper); but when I've need his support, he has always been there, without judgement, just ready to catch me if I fall.

I'm sure many of us have a someone behind us, supporting us, and believing in us. whether it's a spouse, a friend, family, whomever, isn't it great to have someone who believes you can do this, even when you are doubtful?

ok, now on to more trivial stuff. Saturday was great. No more knee pain! I'm really excited about the 10K in Raymond, specially after Mark mentioned the Civil War reenactment. Before I got pregnant with the twins, I read a book about the Civil War "Battle Cry of Freedom" by James McPherson and I find anything related to the civil war most intriguing.

no XT for me yesterday, I had to pick my sister up at the airport in New Orleans. She was coming back from visiting our family in Panama. I'm hoping I can get all 50 minutes today.

I wish I could do the race from the sun but husband has a birthday on Sunday, and we are going out to dinner Saturday as his birthday present. Last year, I was in the hospital on his birthday, dealing with preterm labor. those stubborn boys were trying to be born way too early!

Back in the game!

Hi everyone, made it back from Cincinnati last night. What a trip!

We left Monday for a class. I dropped my kids off at daycare/school on my way to the airport. I got to the security checkpoint and gave the officer my license. He looked at me with a serious look on his face, and proceeds to tell me my license is expired. I thought he was joking, but no, it was no joke. My license has been expired since January 22, my birthday!!! I had no picture ID with me, I didn't think to bring my passport with me. So he let me thru but they searched me and my carryon inside out.

Made it to Cincinnati without knowing Monday was the opening game for the Cincinnati Reds. So the city was packed with fans. The class we were attending was really informative. It was 85 degrees the day we arrived, and we had light snow flurries yesterday when we got the airport. We had jackets but were not prepared for the cold! BRRR.

I did 50 min on the treadmill on Monday at the hotel. My knee was feeling funny Tuesday, so I iced it, and rested the rest of the week. No more pain, so I guess I'm back in the game!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.

Cincinnati Bound

Magda, it was great to meet you yesterday. I look forward to getting to know you better.

hey Kim! I hope you are feeling better. CFC is so rare, many people have never heard of it. We didn't learn about until Lillian was born. Even then, she was misdiagnosed and it took lots of drs, geneticists, and hours of research to find out it was CFC.

Chuck, I read the Prophet ages ago, but every now and then, I'll pick it up and reread some of the poems. It's a great book.

My knee is still aching. I'm going to use heat and ice to see if it works. Taking my running shoes and crocs to Cinci; no heels for me for a while. Hopefully it'll be better when I get back. Otherwise, I'll have to see a dr. I hope it doesn't get that far.

Keep on marathoners, see you Sat!