The Strangest Running Injury to Date...

I took Tuesday off as a rest day. I was super sore after Monday’s race. I am sure it had everything to do with not warming up properly then not stretching or cooling down properly afterwards followed by an hour car ride. Needless to say my calves are just today not-so-sore. My feet have been pretty sore too. That is a first for me. If you remember my Ode To My Feet I mentioned that they never get sore (I completely jinxed myself with that post). I think it is time for new shoes. My husband was quick to remind me that with the miles I put in I would need new shoes about every 2 months. I think it is more like every 10 weeks or so IF I run 30 mile weeks (which I do not consistently do). But nonetheless I do believe it is time for new shoes.

BUT the strangest running injury to date has nothing to do with calves or feet. It is a mole. That is right. A mole. I told you it was strange. Tuesday evening I was getting ready for a bed when I felt something irritated on my back. Thankfully The Hubs is home so he checked it out for me. It was a mole, or it used to be a mole. Ick. My bra had literally rubbed it nearly away! Ugh. I can’t handle that. It was just icky. So Wednesday morning I promptly made a Dr. apt to get it checked out. I spend too much time in the sun to not worry about a creepy mole.

I went to my Dr. appointment Wednesday afternoon and had to fill out a questionnaire mostly about feelings of depression or wanting to hurt myself, loss of interest in things I used to love (military health care here people…they have to check). All was good until I got to the question asking, “Have you fallen in the last three months?” Are you kidding me? Do I HAVE to answer this? Really do I need to be any more humiliated? Fine. YES. The nurse had a good time with that when I explained how I ate pavement just about 2.5 weeks ago.

Anyway, back to the moley. The Dr. examined it. Then mentioned a mark across my back that looked like something had been rubbing it. I mentioned it could have been my sports bra, he said No. Could it have been my heart rate monitor? No. Whatever, I am 99.99% sure it was my bra, this Dr. doesn’t quite understand 13.1 miles in rain with no Body Glide. I forgive him, I know what caused it. The mole is going to be ok but I am having a different one taken off today. Gross. TMI? I kind of wish they would take the irritated one off too but he said it looked fine, I have no idea how it LOOKED FINE, it was practically rubbed off. But that is my story of the strangest running injury ever.

So this week I have to get new running shoes and a new sports bra. Shopping!

Today I am Grateful for:
Removing a mole.
My legs and that they are feeling rested and back to normal.
My new retainer.
Lunch and leftover Pesto Pasta and Chicken!

a chance to win a super cute piece of Jewelry from Lift Your Soul! Check out Mel's giveaway by clicking HERE!

Run Happy!

Super Jock n Jill Half Marathon

You know how sometimes you do a race and you tell yourself that you would love to do it again next year? Well that was the Super Jock n Jill half for me. It has been on my sidebar as an upcoming race I want to do…But I never registered, until the morning of that is. What a deal! I got there and they had run out of shirts so they lowered the registration cost to $25! Cheapest race EVER! Plus my dresser is overflowing with shirts; I don’t need any more for a while.

I got registered at around 8:15 AM and the start time was 9 AM. So I wandered around a bit with The Hubs, my Little Buddy, and Lazy Dog. The Hubs tried to get me to warm up a bit but I opted out of that. I told him I would use my first mile as a warm up. Dumb choice. It was kind of chilly and wet and I just wanted to stand under the tree and stay dry.

The time came to head to the start, I got a quick pre race picture snapped and headed to my spot. I forgot that they did this last year too, but it is a gun start, meaning that there is no chip start, only chip finish. So everyone’s time begins when they fire the gun and if it takes you 30 seconds to start then that 30 seconds is in your total time. They had nice little pace signs where people were asked to line up according to their pace. I took my spot right in between the 8 and 9 minute signs. They were yelling out times as we crossed the start: it only took me 30 seconds.
We were off!! It was a bit crowed but not too bad. I enjoyed the start and seeing all the people running! About a mile and a quarter into the race I saw a familiar Jeep, with a familiar boy, husband and dog hanging out the window! YEAH!! My family! I love it!!! They cheered me on as I waved and yelled hi! We were mixed in with the people who were also running the 4.2 mile race so it was hard to tell who was running which race until they veered off to the right at about the two mile mark. Not many veered. I was hoping that everyone in front of me would make that turn leaving ME to be the leader! But that did not happen and I carried on.

This was about the time I decided to take a look at the trusty Coach Garmin. UGH. I forgot to change my laps to miles from quarters. So every quarter mile my watch would tell me just how fast I ran that .25 of a mile. So much for mile splits, I began pacing myself by the quarter mile. This actually ended up being kind of fun and will be useful for training.

Slowest quarter: #34 (8.5 miles) 2 min 49 seconds.
Fasted quarter: #2 (.25 miles) 2 min 2 seconds

So I tried to keep my quarters between 2:15 and 2:45 to make for 9:45 min/mile at the slowest.
When I hit mile 4 I kind of grumbled to myself. IF I had only done the 4.2 miles I would be almost done by now. But I carried on. This course is kind of funny because the middle of it is a serous pretzel. Miles 6-10 are all twisted in together. It is quite a site! People are coming and going on both sides of you! You just follow the signs and the people! Around mile 5.75 I am sad to say I saw the winning male blow by. And I kid you not he was flying! He won with a 5 min pace at 1:05.52. It was amazing! And the winning female ran a 6 min pace at 1:17.27.

Around mile 8 my iPod died. I can’t say I am surprised, I did wash it in the washing machine after all. It died and I didn’t have the energy to mess with it. I just ran and had to listen to all the chatting around me. So and so’s diet, and such and such said blah blah blah and can you believe ABC did XYZ to you know who!? Who cares!!! Shut up and run! I like to talk when I run too, but I didn’t have AN the RB with me this time. Then there was the lady with ANGRY GARMIN GRIMLINS! Her watch would not stop beeping and yelling at her. I sped up to get away from her, she sped up because her watch was yelling at her…I slowed down to get away from the horrible clatter. I don’t know how she could stand it! I would have thrown myself in the river! She went on and got far enough ahead and I sped back up a bit. But around mile 10 I started to get passed. A lot. I guess I was tired. But people were passing me, people in my age group (which was huge by the way! 30-39! That is a big age group!). It was annoying and I decided I needed to work on my endurance. However you do that.

At about 12.75 miles I saw my boys again. I waved wildly and was feeling pretty good! The finish was oh so close! My dog chased me down and tried to finish the race with me but he was caught by the hubs. Probably not a good idea to finish a race with my 110 pound German shepherd, off leash. Some people frown on that.

I was able to finish strong, despite red shirt girl trying to run me into a pole. I slowed to miss the pole then passed her. They even called my name as I crossed the line. The poor guy who was cutting timing chips asked he could cut mine off, I said “Sure, right here” and made the gesture of a knife cutting my throat. The kid didn’t get it but the crowd did. They laughed and so did I. He cut the chip off my shoe and looked at me like I was crazy. Eh, maybe so. But I think I was thirsty and oxygen deprived.

During this race I saw the oldest man ever running. I wanted to just slow down and jog with him and find out his story. He was wearing one red sock and one blue sock and American flag shorts and matching shirt. It was awesome. I saw a mom pushing her nearly grown son with cerebral palsy in a running stroller. I will never ever complain about pushing my 36 pound 4 year old again. It brought tears to my eyes to see the joy in this boy’s face as he got to do the race. It made me think of the story I read about the father who did an entire Iron Man with his son. Check out the story here! You won’t be sorry! Isn’t it amazing what people will do? I find that during these races I really get to evaluate my life and where I am and what I take for granted and what I want to do. I want to do something great. I want to inspire people like this mother inspires me, like the old man running and loving every minute of it, like the old man wearing his Pikes Peak Summit run shirt, like the 8 year old who ran the entire half, like the veteran who is an amputee and ran the half with his cool leg thing, like all the people out there who are working against all odds to prove that it can be done.

In all this was a good run, not my best and not my worst. The official results have me at 2:05.10 but my Garmin had me at 2.04:13. Either way, I am happy with it. I am pretty sore today. More sore after this half than I have been in a long time. So today was a rest day and I am starting back up tomorrow. I have a half marathon to train for!!! :) And will Iever get a sub 2? We will see!

Now here is the Garmin link to the race!
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Super Jock n Jill Half Marathon

Shared via AddThis


Today I am grateful:
for a wonderful weekend with the fam
for the sunshine
for my Garmin

Today's Half Marathon!

What better way begin training for a half than to run a half?

Last night at around 8:30 I made the decision to do the Super Jock n Jill race (I had been on the fence about this one for quite some time). I was still undecided as to whether I would do the 4.2 mile run or the half marathon. I decided I would decide when I got there for the day of race registration. Not many races offer the race day registration. So I woke up this morning feeling good and lI actually felt ike running the half. I got dressed and ate my toast and apple and updated my facebook status to say something about running a half marathon today (locked into it now for sure!). We hit the road at 7 AM, the whole fam and my friend Jess. As we drove the rain seemed to come down harder and my idea of a half marathon was quickly changing to thoughts about the 4.2 mile run. I could be done in 35 min! That was starting to sound pretty good!

When we got to the race start I headed to the registration table. I had my check ready and was happy to find that they had run out of race shirts so I could actually do the 4.2 mile race (which I had changed my mind and decided to do) for $20 OR the half for $25!!! WHAT?!? A half marathon for 25 BUCKS? I am SO in! Ugh, changed my mind for the last time, wrote out my $25 check and pinned on my bib. Done. Half Marathon it will be.

Here is me ready to start. It was about 58 degrees with a slight rain, not a deluge thank goodness!!

Here is me, Jess, and my little buddy after the race. I didn't have the energy to lift him up.

There were no action shots taken but here is another one of me after the race. Still smiling, that is a good sign. Although the smile looks a little forced. :)

You will have check back for a full race report later!

Today I am grateful for:

a good run for $25!

spending time with my family and actually having The Hubs there to cheer me on!

spending the rest of the day lazy and relaxing!

Pizza for dinner!!!!!!

Run Happy!

DEATH to EAR BUDS!

**** UPDATE****
I DID IT!
30 MILES FOR THE WEEK: DONE AND DONE!


I am so thrilled that I did it!

Can I just say, I LOATHE, I HATE, I DESPISE my ear buds? I spent 78% of my energy during today's run on putting my ear buds back in my ears, adjusting them, and messing around with them. One of the things I love about winter running is my awesome ear warmers because they hold my headphones in my ears. I don't know for sure but maybe I have unusually small ear canals? Or unusually sweaty ears? Am I the only one with this ridiculous problem? Does anyone have ear phones that they absolutely love? I am willing to try anything, even the 80's style boom box on my shoulder would be better than what I went through today! My ear buds are so bad they are dead to me.

Today I am grateful:
for a fun picnic on the Sound with my little family!
for a napping little boy so I can blog!
that I accomplished my 30 Mile Challenge!
THAT MY JOB SEARCH IS OVER!!! YIPEE!

Run Happy Everyone! And THANK YOU FOR ALL THE MOTIVATION THIS WEEK!
You are all the BEST!

30 Mile Challenge: Will I make it?

Final day of the 30 mile challenge!

I have 5.25 miles to go!



Today I am grateful:
for some great family time!
breakfast in bed!

that my iPod has been revived after I washed it in the washer!

Ah...Sweet Running Rest Day.

So today was a much needed Running Rest Day. The hubs got in late last night and by the time we got in bed it was around 2 A.M. Then it was up at 6:30 to get the day going. I hit up the YMCA for my usual Thursday morning water aerobics class then it was off to yoga. I was worried about the yoga today, and it did hurt at times. My palm is still quite sore and swollen but being hurt is not an option anymore…

Tomorrow is a new day…I still have 8.25 miles to reach my 30 mile goal this week!

Today I am grateful:
That the hubs is home, safe and sound with a new outlook on life!
For certain circumstances that I believe will work out for the better, WAY better!
For all the awesomeness surrounding me every day! It rarely gets better than this!

Run Happy!

What Kind of Runner am I?

Today I met up with AN the RB for an easy run. Well easy for me. She decided to do 9.5 and I elected to meet up with her to do the last 3.75 with her. She came hauling down the hill to our meeting spot with her arms flailing, like she was flagging for help. It was funny. But not as funny as the woman who was dancing and jogging at the same time. Oh trust me, it is possible. She even stopped to do the leg out to the side, slowwwwwllly toe-drag it back to center, spin, wave arms, shrug shoulders, cock head to the side, spin, repeat…I kid you not. I could NOT make this stuff up! She was oblivious to anyone around her. She was lip singing like no other! It was amazing! I kind of envy people who have not a care in the world. We were snickering about her for a good quarter mile, and then we met her again on our return to the ending spot. She had not slowed a beat and was still dance-jogging.

So I have crossed paths with the Beauty Runner and the Dance Jogger...wonder what kind of runner I am?

I decided to take my dog with me since it was going to be an easy jog. He is quite lazy and doesn’t get out much to run. As usual by the third mile he was dragging behind. Poor guy. When we got back to the car he even had a bloody paw pad. I am such a bad doggy mom!

But at least I saw to it he had a pillow to rest on!

I am even closer to my 30 mile challenge goal! I will definitely make it.

I am grateful:
That the hubs will be home in about an hour!
That I had a nice run.
That I got to have a long talk with an old friend!! I love catching up! It has been too long Annie Baby!
For a clean house.

Run Happy!

Run in the Mist...

not to be confused with We Run in the Sun. Hello September. I have been expecting you.

Today I hit the road with AN the RB (thank God!) for an easy 4 miles. (I am over half way to meeting my 30 mile challenge!) I dropped my little buddy off at preschool and headed to the YMCA for the amazing route AN the RB has ran a few times, easy and all downhill. Ahem…how can it be all downhill if it is a loop starting and stopping at the same place you ask? Well, I don’t think it is possible. It was not all downhill (sorry to ruin the route for you AN the RB but it had some hillage sista). Either way, I need the hill work and it was nothing compared to yesterdays run up 36th street. It was a good route and we will definitely be hitting it up again!

Some highlights from the run:

-The blackberry bush that got it’s thorns tangled in my hair and almost ripped my head off.
-The very strange old man on a reclining tricycle, on the sidewalk, wearing the craziest helmet and creepiest smile I have ever seen.
-AN the RB trying to convince me to run the Super Jock n Jill Half Marathon on Monday (probably will…) because her “boy friend” will only run if I do (what in the world? No pressure now!!!!)
-The discussion about my legs looking out of proportion (and tree stumpish) with my upper body and how boob implants could even that out. Or I should just not lift weights so much with my legs. Tough choice here…
-The three women who looked as if they were beauty jogging: makeup, fresh faces, great hair, no sweat, and doing what we used to refer as the Air Force Shuffle (i.e. not really running at all). We could have SO taken them.
-My mini mental breakdown when I had to walk for about 20 seconds to take off my sweat shirt (who am I kidding, I was tired).
-The awesome running weather, light mist and around 59 degrees! The best running weather EVER!

And now, 10 things you use your palm for and probably never even realized (if you wonder why my palm hurts click HERE):

-washing your hair
-crushing garlic
-DRIVING
-washing your face with face scrub
-shaving your legs
-getting out of a swimming pool
-holding your child’s hand
-lifting weights
-closing the drinky thing on a water bottle
-PUTTING HAIR IN A PONY TAIL!

My palm is still bruised and hurts pretty bad but the wound is healing slowly. I hope to maybe hit up yoga on Thursday! I’ll keep you posted on that one.

Today I am grateful for:
-A good 4 mile run with AN the RB.
-Less leg pain than was anticipated after yesterday's run.
-The hubs should hopefully be home tomorrow night!!
-My new Wok that will make for some yummy meals!

Ok every one, run happy!!!!