Friday, October 29, 2010

Face the Facts….

1) Its hot

2) It’s humid

3) I can’t just walk out my front door and run anymore.

I am not a happy camper. This weather has been redonkulous. I cannot believe YOU people (you know who you are) run in this, and WORSE, all summer long!  Seriously, it is October and I am dying! How do you do it? It was high 80’s yesterday and humid when I set out for 5 miles. And I mean humid like you walk outside and immediately start to just melt.  I drained my water bottle before I hit my 2 mile mark. That was bad since I was doing a 2.5 mile out and back.

I decided to check out the road outside of my neighborhood. There is a loop that connects to the main road and it is a little over 6 miles from my house all the way around. I decided to run 2.5 out and back and check out part of the loop.  I thought it would be an ideal place to run. NOT. Cars fly by! There are curves that are blind to the driver so I couldn’t run on the shoulder, which was seriously only about 3 inches wide. I had to run in the grass on the curvy parts so that cars wouldn’t plow me over and turn me in to roadkill. And to top it off the cars that did pass me looked at me like I was an alien or had horns or something. And it was so isolated, even with the occasional car or truck zooming by I felt like if someone stopped or even hit me I would lie in the ditch for hours before anyone would find me. At least The Hubs new I was out running. I had strict instructions to text him when I left and when I got back. The culture around here is just so different from what I am used to .

This was posted on my FB page from RED (miss her!),  a native North Carolinian:

Be safe and let someone know when you get home safe! There are some CRAZY Rednecks out there. Watch out for Monster Trucks, crotch-rockets ridden by men in camo with neon belts, and beat-up clunkers with no mufflers, or soup-ed up Hot Rods and muscle-cars with deranged maniac drivers suffering from PTSD.

I’m not sure if I will be doing that again any time soon.

And lastly, I took two and a half weeks off after Portland. I have been trying to look at my plan and figure out how to best continue my training for Vegas. I pretty much just took my last 6 weeks of Portland training and decided to repeat it…

Oct 26-28 2010 001

The problem is that I have to do 18 miles tomorrow (which my friend Breaking Pace said she would ride her bike alongside me!!). I’m not sure if I am up to 18 miles. My body is so fatigued. So I am trying to figure out what to do, how to continue my training. Anyone have any suggestions?  For my long runs I was thinking I could just increase doing 14, 16, 18 taper. Or 15, 18, 20 taper….with no step backs. I have no idea but I need to figure it out!

P.S. I don’t want to offend any of my North Carolina bloggy readers! I just live in the country and this is so different from the city streets I used to run in Tacoma. I’m sure I will find a sense of normalcy soon!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Hot as a Mug!

What in the world??????

Our house is pretty much unpacked and put together. We have a couple of boxes to sort through but for the most part it is completely livable. I have been pretty cranky the last couple of days and this morning when I saw The Mom run by again I decided I had to run. No more Resting or Recovering or whatever it is I have been telling myself I have been doing. I have Vegas Rock n Roll looming over head like an ominous black cloud. I can’t just wing a full marathon, a half? Maybe. Not a full. No way.

So I sat down and revamped my plan for the next six weeks and discovered that today I should do 9 miles. Great. And this weekend is 18. Oh boy.  I will be looking at the local running clubs site later to see what they have going on this weekend. Hopefully they have a long run going on….

I set out for 9 miles and as soon as I stepped out the door I knew it would be rough. It was humid and hot! It is end of October for crying out loud! I’m talking 90 degrees and air so thick I could cut it. Too much time in the Pacific North West  has spoiled me and I am not used to this kind of weather. I hit about 3 miles and my Nathan handheld was empty so I headed back to the house. I refilled and headed back out for another 4 miles. With 2.5 miles to go I was empty again. Dry. Dry a bone. It was miserable. I had to take a number of walk breaks. Mostly due to thirst and the heat and a tiny bit because I was tired.  Tomorrow I have 5 miles on the plan and I HOPE it is not so hot and humid.

Well, I have to say my running scenery is not nearly as beautiful or entertaining as it used to be. I miss my T-Town routes something terrible. I miss my running partners too. But I am trying to make the most of my situation and keep a positive attitude and an open mind. I am sure there are some great places to run around here. It just isn’t out my front door anymore…

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Swimming…

..in a sea of boxes.

No. Fun.

Well all of our stuff arrived on Friday and I spent the entire day unpacking boxes.  Saturday was dedicated to the kitchen and LB’s room. Our room has some work to be done but it is livable. The living room has boxes laying around, the office is almost to par and the guest room…well lets just say I hope we don’t have guest for a while. The movers somehow lost our box spring so our bed is sitting on the floor until we make our way our to buy a new one. Also the frame for the guest bed is broken too. A few other things are missing, which is NEVER good. The Hubs is quite upset, as he should be. Moving is no fun. Period.

So, needless to say running has landed on the back burner. I have been getting a good workout though. I lifted ridiculous boxes to the Hubs in the attic today and yesterday we did a back yard cross train smoke session. We did four sets each of squats, push-ups and sit-ups. I was SO sore! Today I broke away from the box madness to meet up my friend Breaking Pace for a nice 6.83 mile bike ride! It was great to catch up with an old friend, even though I tried to be fancy and ride beside her at one point on a narrow path and ended up yelling, “I’m crashing!” All was good and I caught myself before I hit the ground. Other than that we had a great ride and plan to do it again soon. You will be hearing much more about her I am sure, but if you want to check out her blog click HERE.

It is awesome to build my network of running/biking buddies. It is so much easier to stay motivated when you have friends to keep you company! Now, hopefully starting tomorrow I will get back on track! Wish me luck!

And for good measure, here is the gas station nearest our house:

WA to NC Oct 2010 Part 3 005

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

I may be in trouble…

…but according to an article I came across on Active.com I may not be. I am not panicking. Yet. My running has been derailed in the last week and a half.  With my weekly mileage being hardly more than nothing I know I need to hit the road and be ready for Vegas or chance having a repeat of Portland minus the rain. At least I had the rain and the cross country move to blame at Portland. What will be my excuse in Vegas?

Oh that’s right, I wont need an excuse! I’m going to do great!

So back to the article:  4 Ways to Learn From Your Marathon Experience | Active.com 

It has some great advice and of course some of it is a little too late.

The First 24-48 Hours Matter: If you can do nothing else, crush your recovery right away to get things headed in the right direction.  Um, pretty sure driving 3000 miles the day after a marathon is not crushing my recovery.  Oops.

Stay Loose: Running right away is a no-no, but so too is becoming a wallflower. Plan on being active by walking or doing some light cycling. Follow each of these sessions with some light stretching and/or self-massage to maximize their impact. Ok, so got the not running right away thing, but the wallflower? Yeah, been that for a week and a half now.

Now, for the good news…

Run When Ready: Ideally you won’t run for about two weeks; any form of cross training is OK, but early running could hurt more than help you. Starting in week three you can begin incorporating light running. By week four you’ll be back on track and ready to go. Got it, light running after this week! I want to log a few more miles tomorrow and this weekend but nothing too crazy. So  I am taking this as a license to relax (in the not freak out about not running sense, not the become a fixture in front of the TV relax) until next week when I will have to focus again and lock into marathon mode for 6 weeks. THEN I can relax, for real!

There is some good info in the article so click the link above if you want to read more of what they say.

This morning I was in the kitchen (not sure why since we have none of our house hold goods. We are living out of our suitcases until our stuff arrives) when the Hubs ran in and told me to come out to the porch. I was cranky because I hadn’t had my coffee yet, and wouldn’t get it at all today: no coffee pot and no Starbucks anywhere near, we live in the sticks…Anyway, I came outside and expected to see a fox or a rabbit or Lazy Dog chasing a raccoon. But NO.  No, what did I see? A girl running! Running pushing a jogging stroller! The Hubs called me out to watch a girl run by. She ran out of sight and about five minutes later she ran back by. We live on a cul-de-sack so she had run down and back, twice. I watched her. I sized her up. She was skinny. She certainly had serious runner legs. She had a serious stroller. She was sweaty. I stared as she ran by somewhat envious, of what I am not exactly sure, maybe her tan. “She had a real summer. With sun.” That is what I said out loud to the Hubs. “You should go introduce yourself.” he told me. I felt shy. “She’s running. The last thing she wants is to stop and talk to me.” I was intimidated.

I’m not sure why I am feeling so… what's the word? Juvenile? That fits. I know that runners are the best peeps ever. Accepting. Encouraging.  We are probably birds of a feather. I guess I am not ready to replace my old running buddies (not that any of you could EVER be replaced RED, Mel, AN the RB). I should grow up and just go introduce myself but what if she is WAY faster than me? What if she thinks I am overboard and crazy? Since when do I care???? See? Juvenile.

Get this, we are staying at our neighbor’s house until our stuff arrives. We have known them for about 7 years now. They were here when we lived here before. The wife is a fitness buff. Literally. She is a body builder, coach and trainer. I told the Hubs last night, “Please don’t let me get sucked in to body building! Don’t let me!” While I think being strong and having muscles is totally cool and necessary,  I want a runner’s physique. She is a trainer and into the nutrition part too. When I get a chance I want to sit down with her and hash out my nutrition and diet and work out a good weight lifting routine that is good for running and leaning up. I’m pretty excited. But I am asking  all of you, my loyal RUNNING friends, if you see a slow gradual change in me and the blog inching towards body building PLEASE stage an intervention! Although fitness modeling would be totally awesome and not the same as body building, so that could be acceptable. =)

*****END RUNNING BANTER AND BEGIN RANDOM BLOGGING

And lastly, tomorrow we are getting new carpet put in the house! I’m totally stoked!  There is so much going on these days! I am still working on getting LB back into kindergarten. They are demanding a utility bill with our address, which I totally understand but we just turned it on yesterday! How the heck can I get that soon enough? We could use our mortgage paperwork but it is with all of our other house stuff, on a truck somewhere driving across the US. Also I have to have a Dr. and a dentist. Um, sorry people. Again, just got here. It takes time to get this stuff lined up and I just want LB back in school so he doesn’t get too far behind. Thankfully I already have a couple of emergency contacts for him. That is a serious perk and a first for us when moving. Usually it takes months or years to meet people you trust.

P.S. A few of you inquired about my dad. So first of all, thanks for the thoughts and prayers. It was so great to see him! He seemed to be feeling really good! He is almost halfway through a new chemo/radiation treatment and in another 6 weeks-ish they will check out the tumor to see if it has responded to the therapy. So we pray and hope that it is shrinking so that they can surgically remove it.  Again, thanks for all your thoughts, we all appreciate it so much! Life is precious!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Made it to my new running grounds…

After roughly 3000 miles we have made it from WA to NC ,to our old, new home.

It is bitter sweet.  This was The Hubs and my first house together and LB was born here. So it is neat to be back but it is also different. When we lived here 3 and a half years ago I was not a runner. I wasn’t much really, just a mommy.  I know, not just a mommy but you know what I mean. I lost myself to my new responsibilities and made NO time for myself. I was gaining weight at warp speed and was depressed.  Now, this time around, I have new lenses in my glasses. I am seeing this town differently. I am excited about the roads that lay before me, figuratively and literally.  Running has changed me, at least changed me from the downward spiraling mommy to the now leveled out, happy and more adjusted mommy (who is more pleasant to be around…).

We have a ton to do tomorrow: meeting with a carpet guy to pick out new carpet, contractor to paint the house, get our cable/internet set up, enroll LB in his new kindergarten, buy a shower curtain and all basic grocery items and play some serious wiffle ball in our super-sized back yard. We have no idea when our household items will arrive, hopefully by Friday but it could be a whole nother week (so I know “nother” is not a word but how do you say that any way? whole other week? whole another week? what ever…). 

Thankfully I packed pretty much all my running attire so I can run. I have run twice since Portland. I went on one 2 mile run with the Hubs and Lazy Dog (he actually ran the whole way!) and then I ran about 5 miles on Saturday while on the farm. It was hot and windy. I realized just how spoiled I (and all of my wonderful PNW friends are) am with the absolutely perfect running weather up in the Pacific Northwest.  Oh well, I will adjust.

Oklahoma dirt road. Perfect for running endless miles.

oklahoma road

This evening I set our for a jog around my neighborhood.  I felt like people were staring at me and wondering “who is this girl up in our neighborhood, running around like she belongs here?”  I feel strange and out of place, maybe I have a horn? Or I wreak of something other than southern… Running only our neighborhood would probably get me a couple of miles. I’ll have to check it out for sure when I get a chance. So getting my longer miles in is going to be a challenge. I will become the crazy runner lady. Great. I guess I could be called worse things.

I hope things settle in soon so I can get on with my training. I have a marathon to run people-in 7 weeks! Let the madness begin!

P.S. THANKS a KAJILLION for all your comments regarding Portland Marathon. I have recovered, kind of. Sort of….my legs are feeling strange these days but it could be all the sitting/driving in the last week or so. I have a cramp in my bootie right now…But seriously, thanks guys! I really appreciate your feedback! And to all of you who ran Portland too, it is nice to know I did not suffer alone! =0)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Portland Recap

Thank goodness it is over. 

portland marathon sign portland  marathon sign

I wanted it to be over when I got out of bed at 5:20 AM on 10/10/10.   I didn’t really sleep very well at all the night before, well for the 4 nights leading up to the marathon actually.  I was not prepared for this race. Period.

I think this race started off bad beginning with the week prior.  My taper was all wrong, I only got in one 3 mile run.  Then the stress of packing up everything and being on my feet all day Thursday and Friday was not good. I was an emotional wreck too. 

But I crawled out of bed Sunday morning and it was pouring rain. I stared out the window for a few minutes and willed it to stop. It didn’t work. I drank some chocolate milk (fueling mistake #1), half a chocolate muffin (fueling mistake #2), ate a half of a peanut butter and honey sandwich (fueling mistake #3) and took my vitamin B12 Complex, glucosamine and my multi vitamin (mistake #4).  I didn’t have my usual toast or bagel with coffee. 

Then I got dressed and we all rushed out the door to head downtown.  Once in the car I was getting my iPod situated and realized that one of my Yurbuds had fallen off my earbud headphones, which means I would only be able to have music in one ear. Ear buds don’t stay in my ear, but the Yurbuds are AWESOME (review coming soon). Just great. The Hubs was to drop me off at RED’s hotel. We made a wrong turn and by the time we made it down town the closest I could get to her hotel was 15 blocks. It was still POURING buckets. I texted her and called her and decided to head to Corral C. The Hubs snapped a quick picture and we went our separate ways.

Oct 2010 001

I have no idea what I am doing here…probably trying to stay dry or out of the rain.

 

 

 

 

 

I headed to Corral C to look for RED and wandered around. I headed toward the Honey Buckets and stood in line for about 10 minutes then decided that if I was going to start by myself I would just go to Corral B and start there. I stood under an awning for about 10 minutes with pretty much everyone else in Corral B. When the wheelchairs went and then Corral A went all of the  B-er’s made their way to the street and moved forward. I could not sense much excitement around me, more dread than anything. My shoes were already drenched, my hat dripping, my shirt was getting heavier by the minute. I was starting 26.2 miles soaking wet. A lot of people kept running in their trash bags. I threw mine aside just as I crossed the start. Some people were actually still wearing the trash bags across the finish line.  I thought this was weird since it wasn’t really the wet arms and body that bothered me, it was my wet feet.

In the first 200 yards after the start there was an awesome drum beat going on. It was much like a death march, like I imagined I would hear in if were a soldier in the civil war with my rifle and bayonets pointed out in front of me…heading toward certain death. That is where my head was 200 yards in to the marathon. Not a good sign.

I wasn’t sure where or when I would see anyone I knew. I had gotten a text from Mel-Tall Mom saying she would be between mile 4 and 12.  So I had that to look forward to! I wasn’t sure if the Hubs, LB and Lazy Dog would make it all. After all it was pouring rain and I didn’t want to be out there. Pretty sure they wouldn’t want to.

My first few miles felt good. I tried to keep my pace under control but I also had decided that I wouldn’t really look at my Garmin aside from occasionally and to check out the overall elapsed time. I spent a lot of time looking down and puddle jumping.  My right foot was soaked, I could feel the water sloshing in my shoe.  My left foot was wet but not soppy.  It is hard puddle jumping.  Around mile 3 my iPod straight up died. No sound was coming from it. Great, 23 miles of no music. I had spent hours getting the PERFECT run fast and happy songs for this marathon.

I finally looked up from the rivers running down the street and spotted the familiar Running Skirt with butterflies!!! It was Mel and Jill!!!  HOORAY!!!  They hollered and I waved!  I shouted, “When will I see you again?” “Mile 12!”

portland 

So I only had to make it a bit further and I would see them again! My first 4 miles were:

1) 9:12    2)  9:17    3)  9:46   4)  8:50

This is about normal for my pace. Not too fast. I headed out on the out and back and new that once I turned at the end I was sure to see RED. So I ran and was between the 3:50 pace group and the 4:00 pace group.  Around mile 8 the 4 hour pace group passed me as I got a drink at the water stop. I just didn’t have the fight in me to stay with them.  Plus I still had the 4:15 pace group behind me. I decided I would stay in front of them. I got to the end of the out and back and headed back the way I came from. I had my eyes peeled for RED and sure enough there she was, not 100 yards behind me. I slowed down so she could catch me and we were united at around mile 9. We stuck together for a little bit of time, until I wanted to die. RED was doing well but I was fighting a serious mental battle and the wetness of the day was starting to melt my brain, I think. I was mentally defeated at mile 10.

Mile 5-13

5)  9:09     6)  9:19    7) 9:30      8)    9:15      9) 9:48      10) 9:30      11) 9:45      12) 10:56      13) 10:08

RED went on her way just before mile 12 and I slowed. I came to a corner and all the runners took a left hand turn. I saw two angels standing right in front of me, Mel and Jill!

mile 12

 

I could not make my self turn. I went straight toward them. In the picture I was running but I think I was straightening my arms out to shake them up a bit. I could see the funny looks on the faces of the crowd around Mel and Jill so I said, “Oh, am I supposed to turn here?” Truly, I wanted to quit. Mel and Jill were awesome, they offered to let me get in the car, end it right then, to just be done, to go get a cup of coffee.  In a sick and twisted way it was like offering me a loaded gun…but I said, “No, I’ll finish. It may not be pretty but I’ll finish.” As I was about to be on my way they asked if I needed anything, “A casket.” and I was on my way. Not 25 yards after that I saw the Hubs, LB and Lazy Dog!!! What a sight for sore eyes feet!

off to the last half

I was so happy to see them AND to to have an excuse to stop again. So mile 12 was a little slow from all the socializing. =) 

 

 

I hit the half way point at about 2:03. I felt good about that time and thought  could possibly still have a respectable time, under 4:15.  But then again I didn’t really care. I wanted to finish. I wanted it to be over with. Mile 13 through 17 were pretty ho hum. I don’t remember much. It was raining and I was completely withdrawn and inside my own head.  As I headed up the hill that lead to the St. Johns Bridge I talked to a man wearing a shirt from a cross country skiing event. I asked him if it was better or worse than a marathon. It was his first marathon so he said he didn’t know yet. I moved on thinking how great it was that I wasn’t in the snow, that would have been worse. But wet was BAD too.  I got up to the bridge and it was beautiful but then I had a sick thought about how dangerous it was to have thousands of people running a marathon in the pouring rain across this bridge, jumping off crossed my mind. I know, I told you it was sick. Of course I would never jump off but I wondered how far down it was… the thought crossed my mind. I didn’t jump and no one else did. As far as I know.

I came off the bridge and was looking for Mel and Jill.  But along the way I must have lost my thoughts and once again was in my own world, seemingly all alone….Until I heard my name. I had been hearing my name all along, our names were on our bibs. This was different. Mile 18 I looked to my left and saw Mel and Jill yelling my name and it scared/startled me to death. I jumped and screamed. The guy next to me said, “I’ve never seen anyone get scared in public before!” It was kind of funny but it really just showed how much of a zone I was in. Mel took off and in a flinch she was beside me. She talked to me for the next two miles. I tried to get out of my own head and not focus on how wet my feet were. I wiggled my toes and tried to will them dry. It didn’t work.  I was so happy to have Mel beside me, even for a couple of miles.  She joked about not blending in, she was too dry. She gave me the encouragement I needed to get through and mile 20 came too quick.  She jumped out and I was worried to be on my own again.

portland mile 20 with mel

 

 

This is me and Mel at mile 20! You can barely see us…

 

 

 

I was only alone for about 20 step when I came up on The Hubs, LB and Lazy Dog again! The Hubs yelled, “RED is only about 10 feet ahead! Go get her!”  My family jogged beside me as I tried to catch RED.  I yelled, “CARRIE!” She turned and saw me and I yelled, “I’m coming!” The crowd on the side of the street got a laugh. Was that funny? I caught up with her and waved by to my family. RED and I were glad to have the last 6.2 miles together. She was having a hard time getting into a groove after making a Honey Bucket stop.   We were quite the pair. We ran along in silence, I think. Except when I begged to walk. She obliged, she just wanted to finish and finish together. Thank goodness. I was fighting for my life, I felt.

Mile 14-20

14) 10:42  15) 10:32  16) 10:54  17) 12:08    18) 10:20  18)  10:20  19) 10:34     20) 10:50

I could not get my brain to stop beating me up. I wanted to quit or at least to be done. It felt like 36 miles. It felt like I had been running forever. It felt like I was a soaked rat. Around  mile 22 I saw my family running down the stairs by the University (I think that is where it was). I yelled and waved at The Hubs and LB. Lazy Dog pulled his leash and wanted so bad to run with me. He does not do well when one of his pack is not right there with him.  RED and I kept going. We walked through the water stops and each time gave our selves a place to run again-at that light, when we get to that sign, we’ll run…

I think it was around mile 24 that there was a beer stop. They were handing out small cups of beer. RED wanted some, I was worried to try it. My stomach had been queasy the entire morning.  But on the other hand I needed something to give me a little more oomph. I had nothing. My tank was empty. I could not eat any more chomps. I didn’t even use one pack of my Chomps. I did not fuel properly during this marathon. So I decided that a tiny shot of beer might just give me some carbs and the energy to push the last 2 miles. We had a quick Cheers and downed our sweet nectar. It actually tasted pretty good.  I waited for the adverse affect. It never came.

When we came to mile 25 I was in a BAD way. I wished for death. I wished for a lightening strike, something…anything! RED kept telling me we were almost there. I knew she was right but I couldn’t do it. I was literally begging my feet to take each step. We had one final walk break at about 25.4 miles. We walked for a less than a minute and then ran on. There were so many people lining the streets. My pride prevented me from walking any more but I wanted to slip into the crowd and take my shoes and socks off. That is all I could think of, taking off my shoes and socks. I imagined taking my shoes off at the finish line and walking to the car barefoot. I even imagined taking them off right then and finishing with bare feet. I kept telling RED, “I’ve got nothing. I’ve got nothing.” I had nothing left. I had no kick. I had nothing in me to push me faster to the line. RED told me we would finish together.  I wanted to finish with her but I wanted her to have a good run too. I didn’t want to hold her back. I was like a stinking anchor she was dragging to the finish line. I was dead weight. 

Where IS it?” I said with desperation when the finish line seemed to NEVER come. She said, “It’s close.” I kept saying, “I’ve got nothing.”  Finally we made a turn and saw the arch of balloons. I looked to the side and saw Mel and Jill!  I didn’t have the energy to wave and I’m not sure if they knew I saw them.  RED grabbed my arm and said, “We are going to finish together and we are going to throw our arms up! We are going to finish our last run together!” And we did. We grabbed hands and ran to the finish….

RED looks great! She is smiling and waving…I was about to die.

We crossed the finish line and one of the aid ladies came and put her arm around me. I wanted to stop and sit down and take my shoes off. RED kept telling me to walk. It sounded like I was in a tunnel. I heard her talking but it didn’t register. The aid lady let me go in the care of RED and we stumbled, or I stumbled, to the tables of stuff laid out for the finishers. I got my blanket but I wasn’t really cold. I was wet. I needed a dryer.

We made it to the rendezvous point to find our families. My family was wet wet and hungry and braving the crowds. I was delirious. I had to use the Honey Bucket but each one I opened was not acceptable…disgusting. So I gave up trying.  I think the rain had slowed a bit by this point, to a sprinkle. I just wanted to get dry and sit down. I was in pain. I couldn’t feel my whole left leg and my feet were sloshy. My back hurt. My neck hurt. Everything hurt. This was my worst and most painful run EVER. If I never experience this type of run again then the rest of my runs will be awesome.

Mile 21-26.2 (Garmin read 26.42)

21)    11:22     22) 11:05      23)  11:28      24) 11:38       25) 11:07     26) 11:08    .42) 4.28

Total time: 4:32.53/10:18 pace

I was done. I was alive. I was in pain. My feet were destroyed….

soggy feet

We walked to the car and I new I probably wouldn’t see my friends again…for a while. We discussed meeting up with RED and her Hubs for dinner but I was tired. I wanted to collapse on my stiff, uncomfortable bed and prepare for our move across the country.  I was sad to not see Mel and Jill but my memory of them during this race brings a smile to my face. I think it is much easier to look back and remember saying bye to Mel at mile 20 …I hate goodbyes. It is too hard…but really it is not so much Goodbye as it is “See you later”. Mel and Jill saved me on Sunday. They were awesome supporters and I am pretty sure I would have not made it without them.  I wish I could have seen Stacie and Tressa, Harmony and Jessica too and all the other bloggy runners.  But I needed to get out of there, get dry and lay down and eat some food. 

Now, 7.5 weeks until marathon #3.  I’m not sure how I feel about that right now….

Quick update.

After three long days of driving we have made it to Oklahoma. We are a bit over half way to our final destination. I am working on my Portland Recap but wanted to give you a quick update in the mean time. I will say driving for 13 hours the day after a marathon is not a good idea. Nor is 9 hours the day after that and 9 after that. Needless to say I am giving my legs a much needed stretch for a few days!

Off for an easy 3 or 4 miles of dirt road, sunny running!

I'll get my Portland recap up ASAP!


Monday, October 11, 2010

I Finished!!

....barely.

Yesterday goes in the books as one of the top two most miserable-weathered run in the history of EVER. I'll give a full race recap when I get a chance but for now I am iPhoning a quickie update. We are about to begin our adventure from Portland to North Carolina. Today we are attempting 13.5 hours. So the recap may come Wed when I make it to my families house in Ok.

So yesterdays finish time: 4:32.47. I'd say that was pretty close to my 4:30 goal. It was ROUGH and without Carrie, Mel, Jill, The Hubs, LB, and Lazy Dog I most certainly would have earned a DNF.




Saturday, October 9, 2010

Portland or Bust!

Tomorrow is finally nearly here!

I have my pile all set out and ready.
Now hopefully I will be ready.
The events of the week have caught up to me.
I'm exhausted.

BUT....I am ready!



If any of you care to track me you can do so on the Portland Marathon site.
Just plug in my bib number!

Good luck to everyone running tomorrow!

Off to bed!!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Just wondering….

…how bad is it that I have only run 3 miles this week? 

I had good intentions.

I wanted to hit all my taper runs.

Really.

But things are just too crazy.  I’m sitting on our couch surrounded by taped up boxes; no TV (which means no Office or Grey’s tonight-OH the HORROR!), no toys for LB, no dishes (ok so no cooking or dishes to clean-there is a perk), no coffee pot for the morning-OK now SERIOUSLY THIS just STINKS. I have not had a chance to sit down hardly, let alone run.  So tell me, you wise runners out there…am I going to die on Sunday?  I totally screwed up my taper. I broke every singe Rule of Tapering out there and did not follow RLAM’s 10 Tips of Tapering.  I wanted to, but the desire I am sure does not exactly translate to, well…performance.

So give me your words of wisdom oh wise ones.  What should I do tomorrow and Saturday? I skipped a 4 miler yesterday and a 3 miler today.  Maybe I could get in three tomorrow, nice an easy and then one super nice and easy Sat AM.  What do you think?

Off to curl up with LB and the Hubs (well when he gets home from watching the Giants play baseball) on our mattress with two pillows and two blankets. It is all I could manage to set aside so the packers wouldn’t box it up.

And on a side note: FREAKING OUT!!!!!  Portland in like 66 hours or something!!!  WHAT IN THE WORLD?!  My throat is scratchy! I can’t find my vitamins! My head hurts!  I am having pre marathon jitters and phantom illnesses!  I think my stomach hurts too? 

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Amanda is:

…going to run my 3 miler at 8 P.M.

Oh wait, this isn’t Facebook. My bad.

What a day. My to do list is dwindling, thank goodness, and one thing that I have to do today is run 3 miles. I’m running out of time…I hate that my runs this week are stressing me out. I have been non stop ALL day until right now. I literally just walked in the door.  I know that I need to run, I need to burn off about 14 TONS of frustration.  Moving sucks.  Wrapping up my life stinks. Saying goodbye is no fun…nothing about this is easy. I don’t know what to think about: That bag of who-knows-what by the couch, the mess that is my son’s room, all the food that the movers wont touch, or the pile of stuff in my driveway OR oh yeah….Portland.

I have momentary, fleeting daydreamy thoughts about Portland.  About how I am looking forward to just being out there on the course lost in my own head running. Fleeting thoughts about how by the end of the marathon my only worry will be making it from point A to point B. I am ready for that. I am ready for all this other stuff to be behind me. I’m NOT ready to leave my friends behind, I’m just ready to have the weight of the world off my shoulders.  This has been a long time coming and I am simply tired.

Ok, enough woe-is-me…I need to go run.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Goals for Portland

Six days until 26.2 and I am drowning in a MESS.

My house is ripped to pieces. I have Goodwill piles, dump piles, to friends with baby boys piles, to put in the car piles, where the heck did this come from? piles and the movers will not move this piles….On one hand I am completely overwhelmed with stuff. On the other hand my marathon bag is packed and placed neatly in the HEY MOVERS!! DO NOT TOUCH THIS STUFF corner.  So all I have to do is get through the next two days of sorting and organizing  (and a million other things to wrap up) and then two days of packing then head to Portland.  Ahhhh…..Portland.

I’m pretty pumped.  I keep thinking about my plan. My goals are pretty much the same for almost every race:

1. Have fun

2. Do my best.

3. Finish with a smile.

But I also have a few other goals I like to throw in for big races, like marathons and half marathons. So for Sunday my goals (along with the the previous three that are always my plan) are:

1. Finish under 4:30---- 10:18/mile pace

2. If I feel good finish under 4:09 (in other words PR)---9:30/mile pace

3.  Finish under 4:00---9:09/mile pace

I am back to packing and finishing up stuff…..

Sunday, October 3, 2010

It’s time….

Time to figure out my marathon outfit…

I am thinking since I have been running in my Nike tempo shorts I will go with those, or my capri tights, depending on the weather. I wore my tights for the April marathon and had no issues. My legs don’t generally get hot, its my torso and arms that begin to feel suffocated. So depending on the weather I will choose my shirt.

This coming week is going to be crazy with some sporadic blogging since the movers are coming Thursday and Friday. Our internet and whatnot will be shut off Friday…sad day. I need to catch up on my DVR before it is all gone.

Saying good bye is hard. I’m not good at it. We had a fun going away party Friday night and most (but not quite all….) of my friends made it out to say goodbye. We stayed up WAY too late. I’m still trying to recover from that…

I got to meet up with Mel for my last long run of this cycle, 8 miles. As always we had a great run and I tried not to think of the good bye that was coming. But really she will be in Portland and will hopefully be able to jump in and run with me for a bit. So it wasn’t good bye just yet….

IMG00159-20101003-0849

I can’t even wrap my brain around leaving here just yet. I know it is happening but I just can’t imagine what will happen with my running, my racing and with ME outside of here. I have grown so much in the time I have lived here. It is kind of like that kid moving off to college: The unknown of life out there…..I am sure I will continue to run but HERE in T-town is where it started. This is where the people are who have supported me and pushed me and loved me and motivated me and been with me from the beginning. My friends here have watched me go through ups and downs, ups again and downs again. And each time they have been there to help me up, to walk along side me, to run with me or tell me to run. I will never forget the time Jessica came over and said, “Go. You need to run.” And she stayed with LB so I could run, so I could be me for 6 miles. So to you, you all know who you are…thank you for being my rock, my support, my motivators and my friends. Thank you for loving me as much as I love each and every one of you….

But still, this is not goodbye. I am sure there will be another blubbering post. And most of you I will see before I go to Portland and some I will see in Portland….

And just because you all should know, in September I ran 111.9 miles!

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