The Biggest Loser and my first marathon.

I just don't know where to begin

2010-05-09T18:06:00.001-07:00

Where do I begin? How do I start? I have so much to talk about but I need to find the words that will convey how I'm feeling right now (I need Linda, my very good friend in Texas to help out here because she can weave a story that grabs you and doesn't let go).

I'm elated I finished, I'm disappointed I "hit the wall" so hard and yet amazed (truly amazed) that I actually finished considering I wanted to quit and probably should've quit at mile 18.

I guess I should start with the fact that I knew, without a doubt, that I would finish and had the capacity to finish in under 4:30 hours. That was my mindset going into the run because I had run 20 miles just 3 weeks before with a 10:17 pace. Here is whole post. Blog Post on the 20 mile run. The last paragraph read, "In any case, I think I'll be able to finish my marathon in 4 1/2 hours and not the 5 hours that I thought it would take me. I now realize the fears I had of coming in last if I ran a sanctioned race were unfounded. But heh who knew." That 20 miler was one of my best runs I'd had run since I began my training.

I had no doubt I was going to finish and also had very good reason to believe I would finish it under 4:30 hours. 4:30 hours is important because this is the time I would need to qualify for Boston. Not to say I was thinking of running Boston, but it was a good target to shoot for, at least I thought so. So imagine my surprise when I started to fade at mile 10 and by mile 18 was totally convinced I couldn't take another step, let alone run another 8 miles.

The first time I hit a wall was my first try at running 13 miles. Here is what I mean about "hitting the wall" Wikipedia - Hitting the wall but I ran without carb loading the night before, without any energy beans, with almost plain water. That was a huge SEE (significant emotional event) for me and since then have never even attempted a longer run without carb loading the night before (Friday night spaghetti is now a norm in the FOX household), Gatorade and sports beans to replace the electrolytes. And it worked for I never came close to hitting the wall again, that is until yesterday. So why did I run out of glycogen yesterday and run out as early as 10 miles? I can only speculate but it had a lot to do with not respecting the how far 26 miles is and how much running 4:30 hours takes out of a body.

Up to week 17 of the 18 week training program I was developing a formula that would get me, not only through the runs, but with increasingly better times, indicating I was getting stronger . This formula was figuring out which Friday night high-carb meal fueled me the best, which sports drink tasted better than the rest, which sports beans didn't get caught in my throat, which running shoes were the best suited for my foot, which sports bra didn't rub me raw. But the most important part was, which running strategy worked the best.

In the early stages of my training, I did a fast walk, for about 10 seconds, every mile as I was drinking. This worked until I realized I was getting stronger and was running so much better that I didn't need to walk and drink every mile but every 2^nd mile. On my 20 mile run I walked every 2^nd mile for the first 10 miles then every mile on the way back. Obviously this was a good formula because that run was awesome (except for the shoe issue).

But I didn't do that yesterday, I ran the first 8 miles without stopping. Why you ask? Well the week before I had 8 miles to run and it was very very windy. If you've been reading my blog you'll know how much I hate running in the wind, so Harry suggested I only run one way with the wind behind me and I thought that was an excellent idea. My best time for 8 miles up until then was 1:21 and I finished that 8 mile run in 1:16 without the walk breaks. I don't know how much the wind actually contributed to that awesome run but probably a lot.

So yesterday, based on the 8 mile run, I mistakenly made the decision to run the first 13 miles without stopping. When I got to mile 8, I started to realize my error and abandoned the idea of running non-stop for 13 miles and took a walk break. By mile 10 I knew I was in trouble. I got to mile 13 in 2 hours and 15 minutes and realized I would never make the 4:30 time so took about 5 minutes to visit with my daughter, son-in-law and grandbaby. My daughter had a banner, "Run NANA Run," and pompoms to cheer me on, all pretty cool. I'm very glad I did take the time to visit with them.

Once I headed back I began to fade even faster and by mile 18 told Harry I wasn't going to be able to finish. I have never, not once, ever said I couldn't finish a run, and some of the runs over the last 18 weeks have been pretty dang hard. I developed a cramp in the back of leg, another first, and felt the light headedness so I knew I was glycogen depleted. I know for a fact I should have quit but …

I had my daughter, her family and a couple of friends waiting for me at the finish line, I had two friends waiting at mile 20 to run the last 6 miles with me. I had my blog to update when I got back. I couldn't disappoint you all, I just couldn't so I keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Stella met me a mile 20 and then Kim a short ways later. They had me play a game of we'll run to that tree then walk, then we'll run to that signpost and walk. We did that for 5 miles and they got me to the finish line where I had flowers, a tape to break through, balloons and Amber. Once my grandbaby, Amber, saw me she came running down the path with her arms up, I used all the energy I had to pick her up and we both crossed the finish line together.

I'm done and have a story to tell

2010-05-08T18:05:00.001-07:00

Well I'm done and have a lot to blog about but I'm hurting right now so will try and relate the whole episode tomorrow. I didn't run in the time I wanted, and that's ok, but there's more to this story that I really need to tell. But like I said, I'm not up to it right now, I need to sleep.

I'm off

2010-05-08T07:53:00.001-07:00

I still have about an hour but I'm starting to get ready to make sure I don't forget anything. Running is supposed to be simple but running 26.2 miles needs preparation; energy bean, Gatorade, Kleenex, heart rate monitor, and, oh ya, my husband to carry all of it. Haha

I had oatmeal with Chia Seeds for breakfast and may make a chia seed fresco before I go. I'm as ready as I could be. I know I'll make it but I hope to do it under 4:30 hours, which would qualify me for Boston. Not that I'm considering running Boston but it's a good target, don't you think?

I can take invisible but I won't accept irrelevant

2010-05-06T17:57:00.001-07:00

I haven't been updating my blog as much as I wanted to this week because there has not been a lot to say. I only had 2 miles to run yesterday so it was pretty anticlimactic and I thought who wants to hear that I ran 2 miles yesterday, 20 miles sounds so much sexier. LOL But I do want to jot down some thoughts about the journey over the last 18 weeks.

I know exactly why I did this. Very clearly it hit me when I was watching the Biggest Loser last December. There were four people left and they were required to run a marathon as their final challenge and I remember thinking, "If they can run 26.2 miles so can I." It never crossed my mind that they were all younger than me, that didn't matter, I was fitter, or so I thought. So it's very clear what got me started but what kept me going is not quite so clear.

What was it that got me up each Saturday to run those long long miles. What got me out each Tuesday to run 3, 4, 5 miles or each Wednesday to run 8, 9, 10 miles or each Thursday to run 6, 7, 8 miles. That I'm not so sure of.

I do know one thing was all of you, all the people who were reading my blog and encouraging me to keep going. I may not have responded to each and every one of you but I read each and every word and I can't tell you how good those words felt.

I also know I have a problem with how "older" people are perceived. When I turned 40 I started to become invisible and by 50 I was totally invisible (I always thought I should go in the bank robbing business because I was invisible) but when I started to become irrelevant I got mad. How dare you treat me as if I'm irrelevant, you little whipper snapper. I can take invisible but I can't, no I won't take, irrelevant. Isn't running your first marathon at 61 a great way to say, "Heh I'm not irrelevant."

It's hard to believe I have less than 48 hours to the start of my run. I'm as prepared as I ever will be and still amazed that I not only made this far but that my running has gone so well, that my times are really not bad (for someone my age!! LOL).

I am eating lots of and lots of carbs today but trying to keep the calories in line with what Hal says and tomorrow more of the same, however, I need to drink more tomorrow. Where is that bottle of bourbon anyway?

I will post just before I walk out the door on Saturday. Wish me luck and see you all Saturday.

OMG I only 2 miles to run today

2010-05-05T16:00:00.001-07:00

"The last three days are critical to the final taper. Usually, I rest two days and do some light jogging on the third. In this schedule for Novice runners, I advise that you do 2 easy miles today, then rest Thursday and Friday. Carbo-loading begins in earnest today. Pasta, rice, potatoes, cereals, fruits. Don't make radical changes in your regular diet, but now is not the time for filet mignon. Cut back slightly on your intake of calories, since you will be burning fewer calories in this final tapering week." That's what Hal has to say about today.

Starting to get nervous about the run on Saturday but I think that's good. I've been nervous every time I had to up my miles and those runs were usually ones so I probably should be a tad nervous. I had oatmeal with chia seeds for breakfast and was going to have a whole wheat bagel but thought about the comment Hal made about cutting back calories so decided to wait and have it for lunch. The last thing I want to do is put on weight just before the run.

The wind will just not stop

2010-05-04T08:43:00.001-07:00

Another day on the treadmill because we had a wind advisory out yesterday. On top of Rattlesnake mountain (a large hill close by the Tri-Cities) the wind was clocked at 102MPH, that's scary. I'm so sick of wind and if it doesn't quit by Saturday, I'll have to reschedule my run.

I am mostly over my stomach flu but still get rumblings every once in a while. I am the secretary for the Board of Directors for a local hiking club called the InterMountain Alpine Club (http://www.imacnw.org), and had a board meeting last night. I wasn't sure I should have gone because of my stomach but I was OK.

I love this club and am really looking forward to hiking again. I put off hiking and snowshoeing when I got into the part of my training program that Hal Higdon calls "heavy training" and am very much looking forward to resuming them both, well at least hiking for there is very little snowshoeing left LOL. I have signed up for a hike on May 15^th, the weekend after my run, and see that it a category 3, our ratings only go to 4 so it should be a challenge. Hiking is quite different from running and I need to get my hiking legs back but that shouldn't be too hard.

I just read Higdon's comment for yesterday, "Three miles at your normal pace. And mind what you eat this week, as I write in Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide: "Begin carbo-loading seven days in advance. Forget what you read years ago about depletion and three days of a low-carbohydrate diet before switching to a diet high in carbohydrates. (The theory was that the depleted muscles--'starved' for carbohydrates--would then be able to suck up even more carbos than normal and thus provide the marathoner with even more energy on race day.) Stick with a high-carbohydrate diet throughout the week. You don't need to eat spaghetti all seven days: Focusing on fruits, vegetables, and grains will keep you above 60 percent carbos even if you have lean meat as a main course. If you haven't eliminated between-meal junk snacks, do it now." I did my 3 miles in 28:30, a time I'm having a hard time beating.

Yesterday I cooked a whole pot full of whole wheat macaroni. I know most people think you need cheese on the mac but I don't like all that saturated fat so I put on sour cream (low fat) and salsa. OMG it is so good. I also made a pot of Quinoa (pronounced Keen, wa), a rice substitute. I'm going to convince my husband to make chicken fried Quinoa for supper tonight. Of course, I will have whole wheat spaghetti with ground turkey on Friday night because so far every time I've had that meal I've had a good run the next day.

I need everyone to send vibes to the universe and ask for a calm calm day on Saturday. No wind, OK no wind. I can control everything else but I can't control the wind.

A good run today

2010-05-01T21:38:00.001-07:00

Because I'm tapering I only had 8 miles to run today but needed to treat this mileage with as much respect as I do longer runs. This meant I needed to carb load the night before (this has become very important to me), I needed to bring Gatorade (I don't drink water on my runs anymore), and I needed to have some energy beans because the run would take over an hour. I did all this and as I was driving over the Columbia River, I saw white caps on the water. Ah gee - wind AGAIN. My husband suggested I only run one way with the wind at my back. What a great idea but the route I take has turns and twists so you can't avoid a headwind altogether but I would be avoiding it the best I could.

My best time over 8 miles so far had been 1 hour and 21 minutes, about a 10:17 pace, and I really wanted to push and hit a 10 minute mile today. I started running into the wind right off the bat but at mile 2 my time was 18:40, a 9:20 pace, so doing OK and I figured I would have the wind at my back for the rest of the way. Well I did for a while but most of the time it was a cross wind. I hit mile 6 at 58 minutes (9:40), mile 7 at 1 hour 6 minutes and mile 8 at 1 hour 16 so a 9:30 average. YA!!!

It was a really good run today.

Tomorrow is a rest day, then Monday 3 miles, Tuesday 4 miles and Thursday 2 miles. Two days rest and then 26.2 on Saturday.

Almost there

2010-04-30T09:01:00.001-07:00

I'm into my last two weeks and the focus is rest but keep the quality of your runs just lessen the quantity. I had a 3 mile run last night, I truly don't remember the last time I ran 3 miles. I need to go back to my calendar, which I will put into a spreadsheet someday, and check the last 3 mile run. Egads no wonder I don't remember, it was March 2^nd and I did it in 28:30 but with stops at each mile. Last night's run was 28:15 with no stops at all. The last mile I did with a 9:00 pace. I'm a believer in this training program.

Here is what Higdon says about today, " Go only three miles. A continued drop in distance. Here's another reason why to taper from Owen Anderson, Ph.D., editor of Running Research News: "Scientific evidence suggests that temporary training reductions bolster leg muscle power, reduce lactic acid production, and carve precious minutes off race times. In contrast, hard workouts just before a race can produce nagging injuries and deplete leg muscles of their key fuel for running--glycogen."

Funny but, once again, when I got to the gym - it was windy AGAIN - I had to struggle to get on the treadmill even though I knew it was going to be a short run. I obviously need to get outside for my runs.

Today is a rest day and I see that Harry already has the ground turkey out for the high carb whole wheat spaghetti tonight. Even though I only have 8 miles tomorrow, I still need to respect the distance for it will take about 1 1/2 hours to complete. My fastest time over 8 miles is 1 hour 21 minutes and I plan on breaking that time on Saturday.

Having to dig deeper and deeper

2010-04-28T20:38:00.001-07:00

My runs are getting harder, well it's not the runs that are getting harder as per se, but finding the motivation to start them. Once I do start they go OK but on both Tuesday and Wednesday I've had to talk myself into stepping on the treadmill and not just bagging it and go home. Maybe it's because the last two days have been 'mill runs and I was not outside, that could be a part of it.

I decided to run on the 'mill on Tuesday because it was a short run - all my runs are shorter this week - and I wanted to give my knees and hips a little break. Then today the wind was blowing so hard there were white caps on the Columbia River and you all know how much I like to run into the wind. I tried to plan the run so I only had the wind in my back but that wouldn't work out because I could only run one way and then have to walk back. Haha too lazy to do that.

So I ran 6 miles on the treadmill and it was an OK run but, geesh Louise, I was a soaking mess when I finished.

I only have 3 miles tomorrow then a day off and 8 miles on Saturday. I can't remember the last time I ran only 3 miles.

Only two weeks to go

2010-04-27T18:07:00.001-07:00

Hal Higdon tip for today is, "Four easy miles for today's run. In Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide, I discuss the psychological implications of doing less: 'You may not know what to do with the extra time. And you don't want to give up your long Sunday run with friends, even in the last weekend before the marathon. Then there's the problem of diet. If you cut down on the number of miles you run, you'll also need to cut the number of calories you eat if you don't want to gain weight. And while many marathoners might believe that rest could benefit their performance in this marathon, they're afraid of the effect of two or three weeks' rest on their overall conditioning.' Trust me: The rest will do you good!"

So I ran 4 miles today and did it in 38:30 about a 9:40 minute mile, a very good time. But oh my gosh it was soooooo hard to get started. I don't know why this happens sometimes but it does and I have to dig real deep to get over the little voice telling me, "It's OK Jane, you can skip this run, it won't hurt." You know it probably wouldn't but I know for a fact the next run will be even harder. It's the "Costco Affect." If you want to know what I mean by the "Costco Affect," read my April 1^st post.

I've asked three ladies to help me run the last few miles of my marathon; one I see at the gym occasionally and on the running paths, one I connect daily with on FaceBook but one lady I had not seen for months so I wasn't sure if she even remembered I had asked her. Well I saw her today and she on board. I totally expected at least one to have a conflicting schedule and not be able to make it but they all will be there.

Thank you very much ladies, you have no idea how much I appreciate it.

A lot going on lately

2010-04-26T12:53:00.001-07:00

There has been a lot going on lately and one of the most exciting is that I've had my "project" featured in our local newspaper. Here's the article. http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/04/26/990884/loser-reality-show-motivates-pasco.html. I was hoping to get a plug for my blog in the article, and the reporter said she would put it in, but I think she just forgot. Oh well, the whole idea of an article in the paper is pretty neat.

The other thing I wanted to write about today, and to me overshadows the article, is this post I got from a lady who follows my blog on http://www.vibrantnation.com/. " 1 hour and 6 minutes is about the time it took me to run/walk what I thought was 5 km/3.10 miles. A little bit slow. I actually went 7.2 km/4.47 miles. Yes, it's still slow, but I did it! I didn't add the 5 minutes I stopped to stretch or the stop I made to pick up the $5.00 bill I found on the side of the road. Starting my training again has already paid off in more ways than one. Part of my run is on a stretch of highway. No, not dangerous. I noticed one of those big billboards for a shoe store that said in bold letters 'Run for Fun'. Good slogan.

Is it O.K. if I keep you posted on your blog? I don't always respond to it but I do look for it and read it every time I come here.

Thanks again for having inspired me to restart my training for a 5 km coming up this June. Now to look it up on the net and register."

I checked with this lady and she has indeed registered for the 5KM. I mean, tell me how cool is this?

Running into the wind - again

2010-04-25T10:04:00.001-07:00

I had 12 miles to run yesterday and it seemed I was heading into the wind both ways. The first 6 miles were actually pretty good, probably because there were times when the wind was at my back but once I got to mile marker 4 the wind turned around and I was heading right into it. I was still running pretty good at this point so it didn't bother me too much, then once I reached the 1/2 way point and headed back the wind was at my back again so the run was still in the "pretty good" stage. About mile 8 the wind started blowing in my face and I mean really blowing. There was one point when it knocked me off my stride and I almost stumbled. I knew the next 4 miles were going to be hard miles.

I also didn't have my water at each mile because Harry hurt his back and was not able to ride his bike alongside me. He was to meet me various spots along the way in his car but I'm spoilt and like to have my water at each and every mile. L Then on top of this I didn't have any regular Gatorade, only the calorie free stuff and I need the calories to keep me fueled. So the last four miles were horrible.

I ran in my new Izunos but took the insole out of the left, which helped, and now I'm thinking of wearing my old Brooks for my left foot and the new Izuno on my right foot. I wonder how many people would notice I had two different shoes on? LOL

Friday afternoon, I had in interview with a Tri-City Herald reporter for an article they are going to run about my "project" and found out the lady who was doing the interview has horses and goes backpacking on horseback. Ever since I was little girl, I've had a dream of owning a horse but abandoned the dream when I reached 60 because I knew it was just not going to happen. That didn't mean I abandoned the dream of backpacking into the woods on horseback though. She said if she goes backpacking this year she would keep me in mind. OMG that would be AWESOME!!

A lady who reads my blog knows what she is talking about

2010-04-23T13:49:00.001-07:00

Shorter runs can knock the stuffing out of you if you're not prepared for them. This advice was given to me by a lady who reads my blog and I should have listened to her.

I only had 4 miles last night, PHFF!! No problem. Well it was. I didn't eat properly and only drank water during the run because I'm trying, once again, to reduce my calories to lose some weight in the next few weeks. I wanted to see if I could break the 40 minute mark and clock a better than 10 minute mile. That didn't happen and, as a matter of fact, the run took me 41:30. Big sad face.

I have the day off today and 12 miles tomorrow. I will have whole wheat pasta tonight, my standby before long runs, and will prepare for it just like any other time I have a long run ahead of me. I'm thinking of changing the route for my marathon, well not really changing it, but reversing it so I start at the park and end at the park, a much nicer place to cool down with my family who will be cheering me on at the end of my run.

I have an interview with a lady from our local newspaper this afternoon about my marathon. We'll have to see how that turns out.

I tried to take my shoes back

2010-04-22T08:13:00.001-07:00

I bought some new running shoes last week and, maybe foolishly, the first time I used them was on my 20 mile run. I don't believe running shoes need a "breaking in" period, as a matter of fact I don't think any well fitting shoes need a breaking in period. I believe breaking in shoes just means my feet are going to hurt and that is not what I expect from expensive over $100 running shoes.

But these new Izuno shoes did hurt my feet and I almost limped that last two miles of my Sunday run. I did give them another chance on Tuesday when I had 5 miles to run and they still hurt. I went back to my old Brooks yesterday for the 8 mile run and had no problems at all so I decided I needed to take the Izuno's back. I bought them at a specially store so I thought they would give me some sort of credit towards a different pair but they didn't so now I'm faced with using the new shoes that hurt my feet or using the old Brooks that have almost 400 miles on them because I'm not buying another pair.

I ran in the wind yesterday and added two minutes to my usual 8 mile run. The first 4 miles I completed in 40 minutes so I was hoping to maintain that pace and get the run done in 80 minutes but the wind was in my face the whole way back - there were times when I thought I was running in place it was so bad. I it is still windy today and, since in only have 4 miles today, I'll do it on the treadmill. I also think I will try my new shoes with a few adjustments to see if I can salvage anything from them.

I don't think I've recovered yet

2010-04-20T18:18:00.001-07:00

The first time I ran 7 miles I was wiped for an entire day. I can't explain how it felt exactly but was a little like the first stages of the flu or coming down with some kind of bug. Since that run, each time I've upped my mileage I've had to endure the same symptoms but they became less and less severe. I was quite pleased that after my 20 mile run on Sunday because, although I knew I should've taken it easy, I felt good enough to go out for a few hours. I think that may have been a mistake because I don't think I've recovered yet.

Here is what my on-line trainer says for yesterday. "With the 20-miler now history, the taper begins. The entire purpose of training over the next three weeks is to allow you to rest your body after the previous 15 weeks of progressively tougher training. This means gradually reducing the training load, thus the term 'taper.' My taper philosophy is that you cut mileage to 75% in Week 16, 50% in Week 17 and 25% (not including the marathon itself) in Week 18. The numbers don't work out exactly--going from 40 to 29 to 21 to 9--but they're close. Rest today." And I tried to rest as much as possible but I still had to get up at 5:30 to work, I still had a grandbaby to look after so I didn't run but rest? Not that easy is it?

Here is the comment for today. "Five miles easy. While total miles for the week drop, some workouts remain about the same. That is true today. You've begun your taper, but the decline is shallow for these first few days. Maintain your usual pace for this distance. During the taper, quality (meaning how fast you run) should remain about the same. Quantity (or how far you run) is the element that declines."

I completed the 5 miles in 50 minutes with relative ease but think I should've gone slower. Tomorrow I will for sure if I feel the same as I do now.

I was thinking that maybe I'm putting this 61 year old body through too much but interestingly Hal Higdon's Tip of the Week talks about this very issue, "Research suggests that runners often catch a cold or the flu the final week before the marathon, or the week after the marathon. That's because in building to a mileage peak, they often overdo it and temporarily suppress their immune systems. Marathoners thus are more vulnerable to any viruses they might encounter. To avoid colds, try to avoid people who have them. And get plenty of rest."

Ok Hal I think I got it - rest. Maybe I should go to bed right now!!!

I actually did the whole run

2010-04-19T10:16:00.001-07:00

I was going to update my blog yesterday but I had a fashion show about an hour after my run and I just didn't have the time. I know it was crazy to schedule a CABI show right after running 20 miles but a few of the ladies I hike with were going to be there and, since I haven't been hiking due to my running, I haven't connected with any of them for a long time so I made the effort and I'm glad I did. These ladies are wonderful people and I'm proud to be their friend.

The other reason I wasn't able to update my blog was I ran on Sunday and Sunday night I have to work for a couple of hours to get ready for Monday morning. Oh well so much for excuses.

Anyway the run was one of the best runs I've had to date but ended up been the hardest on my feet at the end. Funny how that works.

I succumbed and bought a new pair of running shoes (IZuno) because I just wasn't sure if the pair I was wearing (Brooks) had worn out or not. You can't really tell by looking at them but after 300-500 miles you should be thinking about replacing them and my Brooks had 370 miles on them. I decided I would wear the iZumos for my long runs, and continue to use the Brooks for my shorter runs.

My strategy Sunday was to start out a little slower and run at a slower pace for the first 10 miles to conserve energy so I could finish the last 10 miles without dragging. I'm not good at pacing like that but it's crucial for finishing a marathon. So I started my run on Sunday, at what I thought was a reasonable pace, not too slow but at the same time, not wearing myself out. At mile 2, I was feeling pretty good, as I usually do, and asked Harry the time. He said it was 18:40, a 9:20 pace. I told him he must be wrong but so far Harry hasn't messed up the times but I still checked my RunMeter on my iPhone and it concurred. What the heck was I doing running a 9:20 minute pace, faster than I run on the treadmill. Well I better slow down.

At mile 6 I was running past a marina and smelt the kind of smells you only find at a marina, which is usually kind of yucky but on Sunday it was truly awesome. Then one of the new tunes (the Rosebuds) I had just downloaded to my iPod came on, people were out on the river and in the parks because it was a beautiful day and then and there I knew what a runner's high was all about. Oh my gosh I was feeling great.

My time at mile 6 was 58 minutes so I was slowing down but still running under a 10 minute mile. I was thinking these new shoes were pretty good and obviously the carb loading I had done the days before was working. I kept thinking I could probably finish this run with a time very close to 10 minutes a mile.

At mile 10 I stopped for a minute or so and did some upside down stretches to pull my back, which starts to get pretty tight on long runs, and just general stretching. It felt wonderful and from now on I will always stretch at the 1/2 way mark on long runs. When I was done stretching I headed back feeling pretty good but noticed my toes on the left foot were starting to burn.

At mile 11 a lady came up from behind and started to run with me. It was Sara, the personal trainer from the gym who is going to run the last 4 miles of my marathon with me. We chatted for a while then she took off - what a beautiful runner.

By mile 14 toes on both feet were starting to burn so I stopped and took one of my shoes off to check to see if my sock was bunching up and causing my toes to burn. Unfortunately, I found nothing "afoot" haha so put my shoe back on and kept running. By the time I got to mile 18 Harry insisted he was going to go get the truck but I said no I was going to finish. And finish I did.

I wonder what my time would've been if hadn't had the issues with my toes.

In any case, I think I'll be able to finish my marathon in 4 1/2 hours and not the 5 hours that I thought it would take me. I now realize the fears I had of coming in last if I ran a sanctioned race were unfounded. But heh who knew.

The day before

2010-04-17T09:56:00.001-07:00

I've been lamenting about the few pounds that I've put on and normally I wouldn't be too worried about it because I know I can drop them easily enough after I finish the marathon, but I'm worried that the extra weight is "weighing" me down and making my running harder. I was not a runner before I started this "project," although I did run occasionally, maybe 2 - 3 miles at a time. I remember running with my daughter when she was still living with us and since then I've run a few times on a treadmill at the gym but haven't done any running for over 3 years.

The reason I didn't run was because it hurt too much and figured I just didn't have the body for it. So when I decided to undertake running a marathon, and I actually ran 5 miles in under 50 minutes and it felt good, I was totally amazed. On December 31^st I wrote in my blog, "I ran 3 miles today and damn it felt good. I am so bewildered by this. I have never been a runner, as a matter of fact running has typically hurt." On that particular day I ran those 3 miles in 33 minutes. My fastest time for a 3 mile run now is 28:30. I believe the reason I am running faster and further is because my weight is now at the lowest it's been my whole adult life. I totally believe this. So that is why this extra weight is "weighing" me down.

But the problem is now do I drop the weight and still maintain the calories I need. I know I've talked about this ad nauseam but I haven't figured it out and I continue to gain weight and my runs are getting harder, even the shorter 5 miles run are getting harder. So this is an issue I have to deal with.

After the 20 mile run tomorrow I will try to drop the few pounds but for today, the day before my final hurdle, I'm going to keep the carbs coming and not worry about it.

One last hurdle

2010-04-15T17:23:00.001-07:00

The three toughest weeks of training are almost behind me but I have one last hurdle to straddle, Sunday's 20 miler. I have done week 13 that culminated with an 18 mile run and a total of 37 miles for the week. And I have completed week 14, 33 miles. So far in week 15, I have completed 20 miles so I know I will do it and I just have to quit thinking about it.

I usually run on Saturday, unless some things come up, like the wind, and I have to adjust but this week I am purposely moving my run to Sunday so I can have two days rest. As a matter of fact that is what I did on week 13, without even realizing what I was doing. I was supposed to run on Saturday but the wind was so bad I postponed it to Sunday.

I will have a high carb meal on Friday night, just as if I were running on Saturday but only do some light cross training then another high carb meal Saturday night. My husband and I have started using Quinoa (pronounce Keen-wa) as a pasta substitute, the most complete vegetable protein available to us, even better than soy. So one of the high carb meals will be a chicken fried Quinoa, it is so good.

It was a beautiful day today so I abandoned all thoughts of running on the treadmill at the gym. I've been thinking I probably should be using the 'mill for speed and to save my knees but I just couldn't bring myself to run indoors when the sun was shining and the Columbia River was glistening.

My runs have not been good ones lately and I think it is because I've put on a few pounds lately. I read somewhere that you don't want to gain, even a few pounds, before a race because it will slow you down. I also think I may need a new pair of running shoes. The word is to change your shoes every 300 to 500 miles and I have now run about 370 miles in this pair but they still look ok so I'm not going to replace them yet but may before May 8^th.

I'm going to be a chatty Cathy this week

2010-04-14T09:02:00.001-07:00

This is going to be a very hard week for me and when I get stressed the best thing for me to do is talk, so you all get to be the recipients of my blather. I ran 5 miles last night at Columbia Park, then walked to the my gym, the Tri-City Court Club to stretch. It was a good run and the weather was perfect. I tried my GPS app on my iPhone again and it did work OK, at least the GPS worked. I am going to upgrade the OS on my iPhone to 4.0 (at least my son-in-law will) and I'm hoping this app works better. The new OS will allow multitasking so I should be able to use the phone for an iPod and GPS, which it has not been able to do up to now. We'll see if it works out or not.

Interestingly, I actually forgot my Bluetooth headphones last night so I had no music. That was a first. I read somewhere that you shouldn't run with a headset and listen to all the birds singing, yadda yadda yadda, well I didn't have my headset last night and all I heard was cars whizzing by on the highway. I love running to music and when I get tired some of the tunes I have on my iPod can almost put wings on my feet. There is one song, Tusk by Fleetwood Mac, that has the exact beat to my running gait and I love running to it. On particularly hard runs, I've played it over and over and never tire listening to it.

I have 10 miles to run today and hopefully will have the time to run it this morning. I have found the morning is a much better time for me to run and will certainly be running my marathon in the morning. Well I will start my marathon in the morning and hopefully have it finished before bedtime. LOL

The Infamous Week 15

2010-04-13T07:51:00.001-07:00

Here is what Hal Higdon says about this week, " This is the infamous Week 15, the peak week of your training with 40 miles total for the week and a 20-miler on the weekend. (Check below and you'll see that I suggest moving your long run to Sunday rather than Saturday for this one climactic week.) Rather than fear this 20-miler, you should greet it with near the same enthusiasm you will greet the marathon one month from now. But, for the time being, take it easy."

Well I can't say I'm greeting my 20 mile run with enthusiasm but I'm not fearing it either. If I can run 18 miles I sure as heck can run 20 and if I can run 20 then I should be able to run 26.2. Right?

Anyway today is 5 miles and I'm going to try and run it outside, weather permitting. I think the treadmill is easier on my knees and hips but 5 miles on the 'mill is a long time and I get so darn sweaty I'm a dripping mess when I get off. This is so gross. I've been on a treadmill, elliptical machine, you name it when the person beside me is sweating all over the place it so grosses me out and I don't want to be one of them. Although I do make sure I have a towel, it's still yucky.

And then when I go to stretch, I'm still really hot and well … I just don't like it.

Harry, my trainer

2010-04-11T14:42:00.001-07:00

I did 14 miles yesterday and it was windy again so a hard run but I had good time and averaged a 10:17 minute mile. I think I have the formula for carb loading the night before because I have had whole wheat spaghetti a few times now and each of the runs the next day have been pretty good. I also have been taking Iskiate (pronounced iss-kee-ah-tay), which is Chia seeds, lemon juice and sugar. Iskiate is the "running food" of the ancient Aztecs and the Tarahumara Indians of Copper Canyon. Chia seeds (yes the Chia Pet version) have exceptional hydrophilic properties (absorbing 9 to 14 times their weight in water) and therefore prolong hydration. Iskiate provides increased energy and greater endurance through metabolically timed release of nutrients. Get the energy with no crash. Chia seeds have a lot of fiber so be really careful of taking too much Iskiate before a long run if you haven't tried them before or make sure you know where the next porta potty is.

Here is what Hal Higdon says about yesterday's 14 mile run, " Run 14 miles. Did you believe when you started this program there would come a day when we would tell you to go that distance, and you'd think, "Oh, an easy day." It all depends on your point of view. You're now looking down on 14, rather than up at it. Next Saturday's run will not be easy. That's a promise." Gee thanks Hal, as if I wasn't fretting about it already.

I have the hardest week of the entire training program ahead of me (40 miles) and I know I just have to take one day at a time to get through it but yet the 20 mile run on Saturday is looming. I also know once I'm done with the 20 miler the following two weeks are much easier tapering down to May 8^th, my race day. Just one more week, just one more week.

I'm not sure where I will run the 20 miles next Saturday but it will certainly be part of the 26.2 mile route I have mapped out for May 8^th. I'm thinking of starting at Clover island and just going 10 miles then turning around but there is about quarter mile where the Sacagawea Trail meets the Riverfront Trail that I'm not sure of the mileage. Oh well, I'll let my trainer (Harry) worry about that.

Harry (my husband) has been terrific through this whole experience, riding his bike beside me on almost every one of my long runs to give me water, which is a really big deal when you run for 3 or more hours. I have carried my own water once or twice and I really don't like it. I know I will have to invest in one of the water bottle fanny packs they have for runners but that means you still have to carry the water and water is heavy.

Harry also has been terrific planning my runs, this is why I'm not going to worry about where to run next Saturday because I know Harry will do it for me. The other thing Harry is doing is timing me. For some reason I forget to take my time at the beginning of my runs and always forget to check it at the end but Harry remembers each and every time. Harry also cooks my whole wheat spaghetti meal the night before my Saturday runs.

I should be training at a slower pace?

2010-04-10T08:09:00.001-07:00

I keep reading articles on how hard running a marathon is and how long you should be training and how many injures you will encounter. Geesh Louise, give me a break. I am into my 14 week and so far I am fine but if I keep reading all this stuff then I probably won't be. Sometimes a person can just have too much information. Too much.

I'm going to see Miss Saigon with my number lady, my daughter Carrie. When we go out for the evening we will usually throw in a dinner as well but I had to bail on the dinner today. I need to carb load for my 14 miles tomorrow and, although the mileage is less than some of my runs, it's still a long long way to run.

Since restaurants don't have the kind of meal I need, I've invited Carrie over here for whole wheat spaghetti and sauce made with ground turkey, basil, sundried tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms. I'm not sure how Carrie will like it but I know I love it.

Now have to decide if will imbibe in a glass of red wine Harry bought or not.

I'm not going to call it torture, I'm NOT!

2010-04-08T08:59:00.001-07:00

I'm ½ way through the toughest 3 weeks of training now and my runs are getting harder and harder, even my shorter runs. I may not be getting enough rest and I wonder if I'm eating enough but my weight is still higher than it usually is, so I think so. I read somewhere that you don't want to put on a few extra pounds just before a race because it will slow you down and I'm wondering if my extra weight is what's slowing me down. I just have 1 ½ weeks of this hard part and I'm done, of course, I have to do a 20 mile run before the hard part is over. Well, over until I put myself through the 26.2 mile torture.

No I'm not going to call it torture. I've had some runs that were really good and that felt terrific. I don't know what I did to create them but I know they're possible. My husband has said I need to journal everything I eat and how I feel and was one of the reasons I started this blog but I haven't been logging my food, just the mileage and the pace. I've talked about nutrition but I'm still not too clear on how to eat to fuel my body but not put on weight. I feel I need to cut back but then I worry I won't have enough to carry me through my longer runs and that I'll hit the wall, something I never want to do again.

I ran 9 miles yesterday and have no idea my time. It was slow and it was hard. The wind was blowing and it seemed like it was always in my face, I started where I thought I would have it at my back but that didn't seem to work out because it kept changing and would blow me one way then another way and then back in my face. There was a short time when it was truly behind me and I felt as if someone had put wings on my feet. What a cool feeling.

The wind changed directions on me

2010-04-05T21:13:00.001-07:00

When I up my mileage and run a distance I've never run before it takes me about 6-8 hours to recuperate. This is why I wanted to run Saturday morning so I would have the whole day to recuperate before the Easter egg hunt on Sunday but alas that was not meant to be. Saturday was so windy I wasn't even going to attempt to run 5 miles let alone 18. Harry and I decided to do all our Easter shopping on Saturday and get up early Sunday so I could have my run done at least by the time my family was scheduled to come over.

I got up on Sunday and it was bright and sunny and there was no wind. Wow that was a good decision. We got to the trail head at about 9:15 and I started out. Usually by the second mile I'm feeling pretty good and by mile 3 have hit a place where I believe I could go forever but I never got to that place on Sunday, I don't know why. I had downloaded an audio book to listen to while I ran, since I was going to be running for over 3 hours, so I didn't listen to my music. That could've been part of it, I just don't know.

When I got to mile 9 and turned around to head back, I noticed the wind picking up but I was running in the direction the wind usually blows along this trail so it would be at my back. Ok this run was going to get a lot easier. Well mother nature can be pretty ironic sometimes and she decided to make the wind blow in the opposite direction that day so it was blowing in my face. It was not a fun run.

Daughters and Grandbabies

2010-04-03T15:01:00.001-07:00

I've not talked a lot about one part of my life, a part that has nothing to do with running but everything to do with happiness; daughters and granddaughters.

My daughter has her Master's in Environmental Science and is a scientist at a local laboratory. Don't ask me what she does because I have no idea but I do know she is really good at it.

She has also given me one of the most precious gifts a daughter can give a mother, her childhood back. How many times have we all wished our children's younger years hadn't ended so quickly. How many times have you wished you could relive just some of those years again. Well I get to. I get to relive my daughter's childhood all over again, through her daughter, Amber. If I do nothing else with my life, this will be enough for me. I am more blessed than any person could ever hope for.

I don't believe things happen just randomly for if I had not walked all the steps I walked, done all the things I did do, made all the mistakes I made, I would not be where I am today and today is a truly wonderful place to be.

18 Miles tomorrow

2010-04-02T21:01:00.001-07:00

Today is a day off in preparation for a 3 1/2 hour run tomorrow, 18 miles. I'm not what you would call stressed but I'm feeling apprehensive. I know I can do it but I also know it will totally wipe me out and the day will be spent recovering.

I've been thinking a lot about the comment I posted yesterday that I should've been running for at least a year and doing 15-25 miles per week before I started this program. Before I started my training I wasn't running at all, let alone 15-25 miles per week, yet I'm doing fine. Maybe if I had been running more I wouldn't wipe out on the days I increase my distance, I don't know. But what I do know is that, if I had read that before I started, I would've interpreted it as, "you are not ready to start training for a marathon" and I would've probably quit right then and there. Maybe doing research and spending too much time thinking about goals is not so good. I've jumped into decisions before that were not well thought out and some of them have turned out to be the best decisions of my life.

I was a help desk manager for a large engineering firm, Bechtel, Inc., that was responsible for keeping more than 1100 computers, not only up and running, but updated to the latest hardware and software. I got in on the ground floor when the company was just getting started on a environmental restoration project here in the Tri-Cities and loved the work. I was learning new techniques and more and more about networking computers every day, things that I still use today. But eventually the start-up phase was over and we got into the hum drum of ever day Corporate America and I began to hate going to work. A new boss, who had a psychosis, put the final nail in the coffin and I quit, 5 months before I was vested. I didn't think about the financial hit, well I did but that didn't seem to matter, nor did I think about how hard it would be to replace the primo job I had just let go.

Since I wasn't in any hurry to start looking for another job, I took some seed money from one of our accounts, started to day trade and have never looked back. Financially it was not a good decision but from a personal point of view it was one of the best I've ever made.

I love working at home. I love not having a boss. I love not having employees. I love not having to use the word cognizant in everything I write. That was eleven years ago and I haven't missed it for one minute.

So now here I am 13 weeks into a training program to run a marathon and learning a lot about myself. Well actually not learning new things but more of a rediscovering who I am and what makes me tick. I've rediscovered, there is a lot about my thought processes that serve we well but there's some that don't.

Back on March 26 I talked about some realizations that I've come to. I've talked about one, know when to ease up on myself and when to push through, but the other realization is much harder to discuss because I'm not sure I know where to go with it.

I want to use what I have learned about making commitments and sticking to them to make a difference in the one area of my life that remains really frustrating to me, my job. Like I said earlier, I love working at home so I don't want to change that. I love the stock market, well more of a love hate kind of relationship but it's what I do. I just have not been able to translate my passion for this kind of work into the kind of job I know it can be.

Well I have a long way to go tomorrow and it is late. I'll return to this later, I'm sure.

Costco Pizza

2010-04-01T15:51:00.001-07:00

So much to say and so little time and my butt is sore from sitting at this darn computer. But today's post is important to me and I need to get this started. I've been writing about the STUFF I'm up against, the mind chatter, the resistance to getting out there and getting done what I need to do. I'm into the toughest part of the training schedule now and need to really focus. Writing this blog helps me do that.

I was looking back over the marathon training program I am using and came across this comment, " ideally before starting a marathon program, you should have been running about a year. You should be able to comfortably run distances between 3 and 6 miles. You should be training 3-5 days a week, averaging 15-25 miles a week." When I started this program I was a non runner, wasn't running at all, let alone 15-25 miles a week. If I would've read this before I started, I'm not sure I would've started. Wouldn't that have been a shame if I'd decided to not do this because I wasn't running enough to begin with? I'm not sure what I can learn from this but I think there's something.

On Tuesday I had 5 miles to run and had a really hard time getting it done. The mind chatter was coming fast and furious and I was trying to convince myself that I didn't really need to run today. I won't go into all the reasons I was coming up with but just believe me, the brain synapse were firing off some convincing stuff. However, I recognized what was happening and knew deep down that if I succumbed it would be really hard to get back and pull off the 10 mile run I had to do the next day. I did persist and finished the run but I liken to what I experienced to, what I call, the "Costco Affect."

Let me explain. When my husband and I go into Costco he will usually joking say, "Let's get a Costco dog or a piece of pizza" and I will usually say no and put it out of my mind. Well one day I said Ok, one piece of pizza isn't going to hurt. I mean how many times do you read in diet books, it's Ok to cheat once in a while but just make sure it's not too often. One piece of pizza wasn't going to hurt so we bought one and shared it. It was delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it still. No harm no foul. The scales didn't show a thing, I had gotten away with it.

A week later we walk into Costco and guess what happens, it isn't my husband saying, "Let's get a piece of pizza," it's me. That one darn piece of pizza had fired off enough of my synapses, had grabbed a hold of enough neurons to make we want another piece. The whole time I was in Costco I had to fight the desire. I was not able to walk into Costco for at least 6 weeks before I noticed I was not thinking about that darn piece of pizza.

That one little cheat didn't put weight on me but it did make sticking to a sensible diet much much harder. So yes, cheating does hurt. Yes, not sticking to a training schedule does hurt. Maybe not in the way you would expect but it's all cheating isn't it?

Smack dab up against my STUFF

2010-03-31T08:40:00.001-07:00

Here is what Hal Higdon says about this week's training, " Following the stepback week, get ready to rumble again. These next three weeks are the ones where you achieve the peak training toward which you've been building. You'll end Week 13 with an 18-miler and Week 15 with a 20-miler (with another stepback week between)."

I'm into the most important part of my training and, of course, I'm up against my stuff big time. By STUFF I mean all the reasons to not run, all the mind chatter that tells me to quit, all the brain synapses that have stopped me from getting what I've wanted in the past. These synapses are pretty strong and working through them is not easy. But this is where you separate the wheat from the chaff, the girls from the woman, Tarzan from Jane. We'll have to see if I'm a just a Jane or a Tarzan. (I think I should have picked a different comparison.)

Yesterday I had 5 miles to run and decided to do it outside. I got to the trail I usually run on and the wind was so bad there were whitecaps on the river. Nope, I'm not going to run in this because I don't want to make my running a chore and running with the wind in your face is torture, at least it is for me. So I got back in my car and wanted so badly to head home and just bag the run altogether.

When I run I don't put on makeup and just pull my hair back into a ponytail, in other words I look pretty bad. But that's OK because I'm there for running and, although looking good is very important to me, I put it on the back burner when I run. Now that I needed to go to gym, the fact that I was looking like I did was an issue, and all the more reason to just bag the run. I know a lot of people at the gym but it was early afternoon and not many would be there. Oh the STUFF that was going through my head.

It's ok to ease up yourself at times but it's important to understand when you can give yourself a little leeway and when you shouldn't, when you should just push through all your STUFF. I know myself well enough to know when I should push and when I can ease up and yesterday was a day I needed to push through. So that's what I did. I drove to the gym and got on the damn treadmill. Now that didn't mean I was perfectly OK with this run. Oh no! I was still resisting and still wanted to turn around and go back home. But like I said, I knew pushing through this was a very very important step for me. Very important.

I started my run at a slow 5.5 (11 minute mile) and was hoping for the rhythm to kick in early. Once I got to about 0.75 miles I was starting to feel better and jumped the pace to 6.0. I stayed at this pace until about 2 miles then picked it up a notch to 6.2. I finished the 5 miles in about 51 minutes. I did it! YA!!!

I now have 10 miles today, another 5 tomorrow and then 18 on Saturday. There is so much I want to write about, so much to say about motivation and working through all the walls that stop us from being the people we want to be but once again I have rambled on too long.

More thoughts on motivations

2010-03-30T15:53:00.001-07:00

Since my sister was visiting I took Sunday off and moved my cross training to Monday. So Monday I got to the gym with full intentions of spending an hour or so on the elliptical machine but after 30 minutes I just couldn't do anymore. It was just too HMM boring?? Well that got me to thinking about the 5 miles I had to run on the treadmill the next day and realized I would so much prefer to run it outside. An hour on the treadmill is a long time. Now isn't that just a hoot? Remember way back when and I was stressing about running outside because it was so much harder. I remember all the research I did to find out why I was having a hard time getting my butt outside and off the treadmill. I just forced myself to run outside a few times and then one day I wake and running outside has become the norm, no longer a struggle to do it but the preferred way.

Now I think the treadmill is a good alternative to days when I can't run outside, for whatever reason, or for shorter runs to make it easier on my knees. 5 miles is not a short run but not really that long either but I have decided to run it outside. Now I just have to figure out where and when. Oh decisions decisions decisions.

I've been putting a lot of thought into what is motivating me to continue with, not only this project, but running in general. I'm not losing weight, as a matter of fact I'm having a hard time keeping it off. You'd think when I ran 8 miles and supposedly used over 800 calories I could up my caloric intake but it doesn't seem to work quite that easily. I read articles about people who run just so they can eat more but that's not me, my body is not made that way. The only thing that keeps the weight off me is eating properly and in the amounts my body needs. I've not noticed too much difference in my body composition either but my husband did mention the other day that he thinks my body is changing. He didn't say how and I didn't ask. Haha.

I do have to make sure I eat enough to keep my glycogen levels up and I don't run out of gas on my longer runs but not enough to put on weight. That's been a balance I've struggled with and continue to. I've decided to not worry about my weight until after the "Big Day" with an eye on making sure I don't put on pounds because that makes running harder.

In any case, running doesn't affect my weight so that's not a motivating factor, at least not for me. That doesn't mean it can't be for the others but it's not for me.

Running isn't making a huge difference in the way my body looks so that isn't part of it.

I'm getting better at running, at least according to my times and the distances I am able to run, and that's pretty big for me. Health is more precious to me than anything; family friends, money because if I didn't have good health I couldn't enjoy anything. Needless to say keeping in good physical shape is a motivating factor but then again, I can stay healthy without running, can't I? So why go through this?

Well once again I've yakked on more than I intended to but more on this tomorrow.

I should've taken a picture

2010-03-29T08:25:00.001-07:00

My sister is visiting from Vancouver and got in late Friday. We had planned on spending all Friday together so I didn't feel too bad about taking 3 hours on Saturday morning to run the required 12 miles. But since she got in late Friday that plan had to be abolished and I was left with a decision to run 12 miles that would take me 3 hours, and a good part of the day, or just 8 miles that would take me less than 2. Marge doesn't visit often so I decided to run the shorter distance (good excuse isn't it) but thought I would try to really push it to make up for the shorter distance.

I had to resort to using the GPS app on my iPhone to gauge my distance and time because I gave my husband the day off and let him stay at home to finish his morning newspaper. I know if had asked he would have come but I thought, "This was only 8 miles and I can carry my own water and figure out my own distance." (Isn't it funny that I now call running 8 miles "only" 8 miles?).

The first 1/2 mile to about 1 1/2 miles, I struggled and any thoughts of pushing it went right out of my head. But then I hit my stride, my rhythm, whatever you call it, and my run started to feel really good. Once I got to the 4 mile marker I realized I was running a 10:13 minute mile but thought I would probably slow down the last 1/2. I didn't and finished the whole 8 miles in 1 hour and 21 minutes and a 10:11 minute mile. Wow! How cool was that?

I should take a picture of the run results, the app on my iPhone. Well actually I did try but I didn't work but I'm not lying. LOL

So anyway the last post I was talking about some realizations that I wanted to explore. One of those realizations has to do the making goals, a quantifiable goal that has definable steps you need to take to attain the goal. We have read or heard, ad nauseam, about how important it is to have a goal and to write it down, tell others about it and to commit to it. This is a lot easier said than done.

You can make a goal, define all the steps and say you have committed to it but how do you really commit to it? What happened last December that made me, first of all, say I wanted to run this marathon and, secondly, stick with it? Well first of all I had a quantifiable goal, run 26.2 miles. Next I found a training schedule that defined the number of miles and on which days I run them. Then I wrote each of the miles I needed to run on a calendar but one of the one of the smartest things I have done in a long time is start this blog.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy sharing this adventure, this journey with anyone who wants to jump on board. The other day I asked my husband why I ran 10 miles on a Monday a few weeks back and not on the weekend because, for the life of me, I couldn't remember. I went back to my blog and read I had helped build a new trail up Badger mountain with my hiking club on Saturday and was so sore on Sunday I wasn't up for running and ran my long Saturday run on Monday. I also can go back and see how I have improved, how my times are getting better, how the longer runs don't take so much out of me, etc.

Anyway back to what keeps us motivated. For me I have come to realization that a large part of my motivation is having others along to push me. Is part of it a desire to impress, to say look at me I'm a 61 year old woman who is running a marathon? Although it is hard to admit, that is part of it. Yet is that enough to keep me going each and every step? Was that enough to keep me going when I hit that proverbial wall the first time I ever ran 13 miles? That would be a stretch so there must be something a lot deeper inside me, something much more intrinsic.

Well I have once again made this post a lot longer than I intended but will come back to these realizations again, for there is much more I have to say about them

I have been struggling with something lately

2010-03-26T22:48:00.001-07:00

I have always been a gym rat but for about the last 1 1/2 years I wasn't getting much out my workouts because I wasn't putting much into them. I was only going through the motions but I wasn't getting the highs I so much loved and so much needed. I worked out with a personal trainer a couple of years ago and saw some truly awesome gains - I was up to 40 men's pushups and working on doing a chin-up. I loved the workouts but they were only once a week and quite expensive so I quit the personal trainer and started doing Bikram Yoga.

Yoga is not my bag, although I love stretching, I don't get much from it. I stuck with Yoga (4 times a week for 1 1/2 hours each session) for about 8 months and finally decided to go back to my regular weight training and aerobics at the gym. I didn't start up with the PT again since the $350/mo. was more than I was willing to put out so that left me up to my own resources. Now this should've been OK because I have worked out all my life without a PT so I could again. Right? Wrong ! For some reason I never got back the rhythm I had previously, the rhythm of the gym and working out. So for 1 1/2 years I floundered thinking I was "working out" when I was just going through the motions and not getting anywhere.

Then last December I was sitting on the sofa watching the finale of the Biggest Loser and this 49 year old woman who had never seen the inside of gym until 4 months before the finale, was running a marathon. How could this be? Is a marathon that easy to do? Could I do it? I may be a few years older, actually 12 years older, but my second home is the gym so hell ya I can do it. It was then and there I decided to run this marathon.

Well not only have it come to the realization that a marathon is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be but I've come to a few more realizations as well. It is these realizations that I would like to now explore.

But its late and I have 12 miles to run tomorrow. So I will wait until later to take this further for this discussion will probably take more than one or two posts.

This was a hard one - no not "that" kind of hard

2010-03-26T19:21:00.001-07:00

My run yesterday was difficult and I clocked a 52 minutes, which is about a 10:30 minute mile. The run was on the treadmill and I was shooting for at least a 10:00 minute mile and thinking maybe I could squeeze in a 9:30 like I did Tuesday.

I don't know why it was hard but some days my runs are better than others. I ran at 1:00 in the afternoon and that could have been part of it because I do run better in the morning. Maybe it was because I really pushed on the 8 mile run the day before. Maybe I didn't eat properly. Maybe it was just one of those days.

I need to ease up on myself

2010-03-25T08:40:00.001-07:00

This morning I was laying in bed at 5:30 waiting for the alarm to go off and I started thinking about what Hal Higdon said about weight training. Hal Higdon is a Contributing Editor for Runner's World and author of 34 books, including the best-selling Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. He ran eight times in the Olympic Trials and won four world masters championships. He is also my age, or maybe even older.

Higdon says you should be weight training to improve speed but keep it light. A trainer at my gym says weight training needs to be part of your training because it can make running more comfortable. I used to think "comfortable running" was an oxymoron but now I know that running can be comfortable, with the right training. But I haven't been weight training. I did for about 3 weeks then I just seemed to forget about it. So this morning there I was laying in bed worrying that I was not weight training enough. At gee Jane you just ran 8 miles yesterday in 83 minutes (a 10:22 minute mile) - outside and you are giving yourself a hard time because you haven't been weight training. I need to ease up a little. But, on the same token, I need to do a little more weight training too.

And I need to stretch more as well. I love stretching and after my run yesterday I came home and sat down at this computer and started to work. I work at home so my job is always just a few steps away and it can overtake my life if I'm not careful. Around supper time I realized I had not stretched and by that time it was too late, you need to stretch when your muscles are warm. I've decided that I am going to stretch as soon as I finish running no matter where I am and not wait until I get home.

I've run 28 miles this week and have another 5 tonight.

By the way my foot is starting to hurt and I will probably have to deal with it in the next few days.

4 miles at 9:30 minute pace

2010-03-24T09:39:00.001-07:00

I had a really good run last night and averaged 9:30 minutes/mile. I've been able to maintain a 9:30 minute mile over 3 miles before but this is the first time over 4 miles. Of course, it was on the treadmill and outside would be slower but comparing run to run, I am improving.

I don't know why the first 1/2 mile is so hard but it is, however, once I get past the first 1/2 mile and I hit my stride, I start to feel so much better and even enjoy it. That was scenario last night. I started out at a 6.0, a 10 minute mile until I hit 1/2 mile then bumped it up to 6.4, a 9:30 minute mile. Once I got to the 2 mile mark I bumped it up again to 6.7, a 9:00 minute mile. I was able to keep this pace for about 3/4 of a mile then decreased it back to 6.4 so averaged 6.4 over the whole run.

I have run 16 on Saturday and 4 last night so 20 miles so far. I have 8 today and then another 5 tomorrow so should clock 32 this week.

That's serious training LOL

2010-03-23T09:13:00.001-07:00

Here is a quote from Hal Higdon's marathon training Guide, the program I have been using, " This is our fourth stepback week featuring reduced mileage. It is also the end of our fourth three-week cycle, featuring two "hard" weeks followed by one "easy" one. Next week, with the mileage continuing to climb, we will shift to two-week cycles to make certain not to push you too far too fast. The weekend past featured the longest run so far in the program: 16 miles. That's a bit of distance. That's serious training. That's why this day of complete rest will come in handy." Yesterday was my day of rest and rest I did.

Here is what Higdon says about today, "Four miles at your normal pace followed by strength training--and don't forget to stretch. 'There is little doubt that some form of resistance training is beneficial to all runners,' says exercise physiologist and Olympic champion Peter Snell, Ph.D. 'Weight training is not likely to produce further increases in maximum oxygen uptake in runners, but may improve muscle endurance.' Nevertheless, with the mileage now up there in the stratosphere, consider cutting back somewhat on your strength training. Less weight, fewer repetitions will allow you to conserve energy and also reduce the risk of an overuse injury."

Well my strength training has been less than stellar but now I need to cut it back so, oh well. I do still stretch, 'cause I love to stretch.

Geesh I probably should have been reading these little write-ups each day. They are totally cool.

I’m still standing

2010-03-21T11:13:00.001-07:00

Saturday March 20^th - I'm not a huge fan of Elton John but this song tells it all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77TapxGn-dQ

I'm back and I'm still standing. I finished the whole 16 miles in 2 hours and 53 minutes so that is 173 minutes divided by 16 = 10.81 which is 10 minutes and 48 seconds per mile. This is excellent and if I can maintain this pace over the whole 26.2 miles I will be delighted.

Harry made me a protein shake when I got home, to replenish the muscles that took a beating and it really hit the spot. Thank you Harry for being such a good sport. Harry biked beside me the whole time and gave me Gatorade every mile and ,of course, the protein shake was very much appreciated, especially the peanut butter he put in it. You are a good man.

Sunday March 21^st - I didn't finish the post yesterday so here I am back again. I went to bed at 9:00 last night, read for 1/2 hour, turned out the light at 9:30 and got up at 8:30 this morning. My goodness I must have really needed that sleep.

Today is cross training so Harry and I are going for a bike ride to, hopefully, finish off marking my marathon route. This route keeps changing and it will probably change again before May 8^th.

I run on both sides of the mighty Columbia River and was thinking of finishing the marathon on the north side but the last two longer runs (this weekend and last weekend) I did on the south side. The south side has mile markers, which has become very important to me to determine how far I've gone. I started out using an iPhone app called RunMeter but I've had a lot of issues with it and decided to order a heart rate monitor with a GPS. The monitor was delivered last week but the one I ordered didn't have a GPS, that one was $100 more and I'm not willing to spend $200 on a GPS heart rate monitor. This all means the only way I know how far I have gone is with the mile markers.

I am going to give RunMeter another try on our bike ride today because this would be the absolute best way to make sure I do the whole 26.2 miles.

I'm off again

2010-03-20T08:48:00.001-07:00

I have another 16 miles today. You'd think I would be getting used to these longer runs by now but I'm not, they still stress me and I just want to get them over with. I'm sure everyone is wondering why the hell I'm doing this and I guess there's no easy answer other than I made a commitment and I won't stop now.

I want to see if I can train my body to do this and so far I've been able to. I only have 6 weeks left!

Oh I had those Chia seeds for breakfast. I'll have to see how they work.

Short run on the 'mill

2010-03-19T17:57:00.001-07:00

I had 5 miles to run yesterday, and since I have decided to do my shorter runs on the treadmill, that is exactly what I did, ran 5 miles on the treadmill. It was not a hard run but not as easy as the last 5 miles I did. I think I have put on a little weight, at least my jeans are telling me I have, and that could be why I've not had a good run this week. Well my 8 mile run the day before was not bad but geesh 8 miles is long way and that distance will always hurt.

I am reading the book "Born to Run" about a tribe in Mexico they call the Running People. They run almost barefoot and can go for extremely long distances with virtually no injury so the author is on a mission to find out what they do differently from the average runner who has about 1 injury every year. One of the things they drink before and while they run is Iskiate, made from Chia seeds. Ya the same seeds used for Chia pets.

I went to the health food store and bought some Chia seeds and made this Iskiate to see how (actually to see IF) it works. Trouble is I took it at 5:00 Friday night and it's supposed to give you energy and who needs energy at that time of night. Maybe I'll do my 16 miles tonight and get it over with.

Anyway I have had a glass of Chianti tonight as well so I better sign off before I say something I shouldn't say. Who knows what will pop out of my mouth, fingers, brain.

This is getting hard

2010-03-18T09:31:00.001-07:00

I wrote to a very good friend today, Linda (heh Linda) about how hard my training is getting. Wondering about how I will stay motivated. My sister asked me a couple of days ago what is it about the training that keeps me motivated and I had to admit I wasn't entirely sure. I know the fact that I will have family and, hopefully, some friends at the finish line keeps me going but there has to be more to it than just that. There is , of course, proving to myself I can do it.

I went back to school at 30 years old, at what I thought was a very old age. I had two small children and 1/2 way through my degree I got divorced so had to finish the last two years as a single mom going to university full-time. I vividly remember my father saying, "Well I guess you'll have to quit university and get a job" and my response was total bewilderment. Why? I was going to finish this degree no matter what. It seemed completely strange to me that I would quit just because I was a poor single mom with no money.

It did help that I was living in Alberta at the time and that Alberta is one of the richest provinces in Canada and was very willing to help out people like me. So the province of Alberta pretty well paid for my last two years. I had a few student loans to pay off once I graduated but not many. But the important point is that I did get that degree, even though I was a poor single mom. And the funny part was how much I enjoyed those years. I had a ball at university in spite of my situation.

There certainly is a difference here because once I finish this marathon, I will not be enhancing my financial situation at all. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure what I will be enhancing, if anything. Anyway that is a thought for another day.

I ran 8 miles last night and it was hard. I came home with sore feet and they are still sore and I have another 5 miles tonight, though tonight I will be on the treadmill and that is always an easier run.

Needless to say the next 6 weeks (I run my marathon on May 8^th) will be hard but, so far, I have no desire to quit.

I would like to add that writing this blog is helping me a great deal. Putting down all my thoughts, working out the whys, figuring out the hows, wondering about the expectations is very supportive to my mission. I don't know how many read it but, if you do, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart because when you do you are sending me energy and the support I so much need right now.

Why is it I have to learn lessons more than once!

2010-03-17T09:29:00.001-07:00

I have decided to run my shorter distances on the treadmill to give my knees a break, which is a little different from the reasons I used the treadmill a couple of month ago. Way back when, I was stressing about running outside because it was so much harder and stayed with the comfort of the gym and the treadmill. Well I've gotten over that stress, I'm glad to say, but now I realize the treadmill is a lot easier on my knees and hips so I use it for the shorter runs.

Therefore, the 4 miles I needed to run yesterday was going to be on the 'mill. Somehow my brain thought I don't really need to eat properly for this run, its only 4 miles on the treadmill, so I didn't eat enough carbs throughout the day, didn't eat anything before the run and I paid for it. I had a terrible run, just terrible. I did finish the 4 miles in 40:38 but it was hard.

I have 8 miles to run today and have already had a bowl of porridge. I will have what I call nana's mac and cheese for lunch. This is whole wheat macaroni, a little cheddar cheese, smart balance butter and cottage cheese. OMG it is so good.

So Amazed

2010-03-16T10:15:00.001-07:00

Last night my daughter asked me if I would continue to run after I finished the marathon. I've had this question posed to me before and my answer is the same, I'll continue to run but never do a marathon again. Then I went on to say how amazed I am at how my body has responded to this training program, at how much stronger and faster I have become. I have lifted weights almost my entire life and, although I know lifting is necessary in any fitness regime, I have never had quantifiable feedback from weight training. And due to this lack of feedback, motivating myself to lift was much harder because I couldn't see the benefits.

Well I do see the benefits of this training program now, I see how much faster I am, how much easier it is to run, tangible feedback that I can quantify and am blown away by it all.

Heh maybe it's the program that is making me stronger and nothing more. Maybe I just need a defined program for weight training just like my running schedule.

Why do I get so stressed?

2010-03-15T08:58:00.001-07:00

I had 15 miles to run this weekend and decided to do it on Sunday because Saturday was windy. That left all day Saturday to stress and fret and stress and fret. Why do I do that? I remember fretting about the first 7 mile run I had to do yet I survived didn't I? Ok I had the stuffing knocked out of me but I survived. Then a couple of weekends ago I was really stressing about the 13 mile run, the run where I hit the proverbial wall, yet I survived that too. But the memories of what I have gone through is why I get so stressed, not that I made it through them all, but the pain of those runs. It also seems like each one of the these longer runs has its own little piece of wisdom tucked away, just waiting for me to find it.

The piece of wisdom the 13 mile run had tucked away was replenishing my calories. I ran for over 2 hours and had nothing but Gatorade and at mile 11, I ran out of fuel (glycogen), became lightheaded and didn't think I would be able to finish. I have never pushed myself to these limits before so I didn't know what was happening until I researched it. With this little piece of wisdom, I made sure I had plenty of goodies to eat along the way.

The run was actually pretty good and at mile 8 I was even singing along with my iPod but at mile 10, I started to feel my feet and knew I was winding down. I brought along a few different glycogen replacements in the form of electrolyte gel (really just goo) and a few gummy type candies. The goo is the most horrible stuff I have ever put in my mouth. The one I bought was java and chocolate, (I thought it would taste pretty good because I love chocolate coffee) but it was this thick jelly that stuck to the inside of mouth and tasted nasty. I threw them away. The candies were a different story though, one was kind of gooey but OK and the other one was like peach tasting gummy bear that I quite liked. So another piece of wisdom tucked away in my arsenal, no electrolyte gel.

Harry timed my run at 2 hours and 33 minutes, which is a 10:12 minute mile and I know I didn't run that fast so we either got the time wrong or the distance and I think it was the distance. Along the Sacagawea trail there are mile markers but the trail will make dips into the park that I didn't take and I think those little jogs added some mileage, mileage that I didn't run. I am going to take my bike on the same trail I ran to see just how far I it was and will report back, although I have a 16 mile run next Saturday and I should have my GPS heart rate monitor my then, so maybe I won't have to do the bike ride.

I like to add up the miles I run each week and I thought I had ran 38 miles last week but I ran the long run last weekend on Monday and included that mileage into the weekly mileage so I actually ran 10 Monday, 8 Wednesday, 5 Thursday for a total of 23 miles. This week will be 15 Sunday, 4 Tuesday, 8 Wednesday and 5 on Thursday so, if all goes according to plan, a 32 mile week.

Too windy

2010-03-13T20:02:00.001-08:00

When I got up and looked outside this morning it was quite windy, sunny but windy. I find it really hard to run in the wind and since today was a mileage I have never done before, as a matter of fact it is a 38% jump in mileage from the longest run I have done, I made the decision to run tomorrow. Actually I made that decision on Friday but I thought I would try to run if it wasn't too bad.

I was not off the hook today though I still had to do some cross training. I didn't want to go to the gym so I took our dog Ruby for a walk, a real fast walk, then I stretched for about 20 minutes. Yes I actually stretched here at home.

Once I was finished my cross training and stretching, Harry and I left to do some the standard Saturday chores but we also mapped out a 15 mile route in preparation for another windy day tomorrow, in which case I will only run one way, with the wind. Ok 15 miles is a long long way. For those who read this blog and live in the Tri-Cities that is from Leslie Groves park to the Cable bridge.

I will post again when I get done, if I get done.

Stretching it

2010-03-12T09:14:00.001-08:00

There is something that is very important in anyone's training no matter if it is training for a marathon, training for a body building contest or just trying to get a more youthful body, stretching. I love to stretch so maybe that's why I haven't talked about too much so far - it's not a challenge for me to spend 20-30 minutes stretching. However, I have noticed a phenomena that I am working around. I don't like to stretch at home.

So why is this an issue? Well I have started to do a lot more running outside and I will usually do that running on the Sacagawea trail along the Columbia River, then just drive home. Sometimes I totally forget to stretch, which is really odd for me, and sometimes I just can't seem to do the kind of stretching I know my body needs after a long run. It may have something to do with the fact that I don't have my music when I stretch at home like I do at the gym. I don't know.

Speaking of music. My Bluetooth headset quit working so I bought a new set. It is one with earbuds instead of the earmuffs the last one had. It also has a microphone so if I have it hooked up to my iPhone I would be able to answer the phone over the headset, the previous Bluetooth headsets didn't have microphones. Oh and the sound is awesome, I love it.

I also have abandoned my GPS app on the iPhone, as I previously posted, and have ordered a Garmin GPS heart rate monitor. I was talking to a fellow on the weekend who doesn't run by his pace but by his heart rate. I like the idea so I'm going to try it. I used to have heart rate monitor but I lost the strap and haven't replaced it but this new one has a GPS so it will tell me how far I have run then I can upload all the data to my computer and compare my runs. I also like the idea of the much lighter iPod as opposed to the heavier iPhone.

I ran 5 miles in 50:38 seconds last night so a 10 minute mile. It was an awesome run. When I started I was talking to a fellow in the treadmill beside me and when I looked down I was already 1.5 miles into the run and it felt like I could go forever. When I finished talking I upped the pace and it was a terrific run. The first time I ran 5 miles it took me 60 minutes. This is so cool.

I have run 23 miles this week. Tomorrow is a 15 miler and I am going to run it real slow. It's supposed to be windy but nicer on Sunday so I may run on Sunday instead, although when I up the mileage like this I like to get it over with.

Things I've learned while running - Part Deux

2010-03-10T17:01:00.001-08:00

I've already written about the things I have learned while running but I would like to revisit this subject because:
1. I have learned some news things,
2. some of the things I learned have changed, and
3. some of the things I have learned needed fine tuning.

One of the things I learned early into my training, but getting fine tuned, is what running gear works the best. No more bras, just sport bras. I learned that lesson again Monday when I had to stuff Kleenex down my bra to keep it from rubbing against my rib cage. Stuffing Kleenex down your bra when you are sixteen and off to a sock hop (remember sock hops?) is a lot different from stuffing Kleenex down your bra while running because your bra is rubbing your skin off. And you're now 61.

Another clothing must is long sleeved wicking t-shirts that fit loosely. The tight ones are OK for the gym but not for running outside, for running outside I need them to fit loosely and I like long sleeves to keep the sun off my arms. Oh and wicking t-shirts are the only ones to wear - that goes without saying.

One of the things I learned but have had to redo is my GPS. I have struggled with a GPS app on my iPhone and I just can't get it to work easily. I can get it to work, but not easily, and when you are running you really don't want to be fooling around with technology. So the change I have made, or will be making, is a GPS heart monitor worn on my wrist. This change has an added benefit of not having to carry my heavy iPhone and I can go back to the ultra light iPod. Ultra light is very important while running.

One of the things I have learned that is brand new is the benefit of eating while I'm running. Up to now, I've never done any kind of long distance endurance training that required replenishing my glycogen levels. I have gone on some pretty arduous hikes and snowshoeing trips but I never " hit a wall," like I did the first time I ran 13 miles. When I ran out of gas on that run, I became lightheaded and wasn't sure I was going to finish, all due to my body running out glycogen. I now know I have to refuel my body as I run. The first attempt at this was on my last 10 mile run where I ate some energy jelly beans at mile 5 and at mile 6, I actually felt them kick in. It was awesome.

There are some things that have not changed like having awesome music to listen to. I have a very good friend who lives in Bastrop, TX and she runs/walks 4.5 miles almost every day but early in the morning. She has described listening to the cows, the birds, the wildlife as she runs and would never use music.. To Linda (heh Linda), her music is the sounds of the outdoors, which is pretty cool! I like to run to Rod Stewart's "Higher and higher." What a terrific tune.

Another piece of my puzzle that has not changed is the value of Gatorade over water, drinking every mile and having someone along to carry my water, which means I don't have to use that irritating fanny pack.

I ran 8 miles today and did in 1 hour and 24 minutes which works out to a 10:30 minute.

I also said, if everything went according to plan, I would run 33 miles this week. I forgot about the 5 mile run I have tomorrow so that mileage is actually 38 miles. Yikes.

So far this week I have clocked 18 miles.

Flourish Over 50

2010-03-10T07:28:00.001-08:00

My blog has recently being featured on a really cool website for woman over 50 called www.flourishover50.com. The lady who owns this site is Susan Tolles, a lady who has some pretty interesting and relevant articles for woman my age. I would encourage anyone who reads this blog to check out her website and would like to thank Susan for getting my blog out to many more readers than I ever thought was possible.

10 miles still doesn't feel pretty good, Ok but not pretty good

2010-03-08T21:05:00.001-08:00

I had 10 miles to run today and since I didn't run yesterday I figured I should have a pretty good run. I ate a lot of carbs throughout the day but made sure I quit eating at least a couple of hours before the run. That is a lesson I don't need to learn over again. I bought three packages of energy jelly beans from REI on the weekend hoping this would help me through the glycogen depletion that causes a runner to hit the wall. One package, with caffeine, was to be eaten before the run, the second package was only carbs and vitamins and was to be eaten at the 5 mile mark. Another package was for recovery, after the run.

I wasn't going to have Harry along with me this time because he needed to stay home and look after our grandbaby, that meant I needed to carry my own Gatorade. I really don't like to do this because I need to use a fanny pack that irritatingly bounces all over the place.

As I was driving to the Sacagaewa Trail (the trail I run), I ate my first package of energy jelly beans. There were really good, however, a lot heavier than a regular jelly bean. It took me about a mile before I was running comfortably but then noticed my ponytail was leading the way. How the heck was that happening? I had a wind at my back and it was blowing hard enough to compensate for my forward speed and still blow my hair in my face. Wow I really like running with a wind at my back. The only problem was I needed to get back running into it.

I very nicely put that out of mind and just enjoyed the first 5 miles. I was thinking maybe I should really push it hard through the first half to make up for the torture on the way back. But then I thought I could easily run out of steam and hit that dreaded wall again. Didn't want to do that. I completed the first 5 miles at an easy 10:30 minute mile.

Then I turned around and oh my gosh, the wind hit me in the face. I remembered to take the second package of jelly beans, although I wasn't able to finish them. I run on a 10 foot dyke beside the Columbia River and thought if I ran beside the dike and not on it I could get out of the wind. The trail beside the dike was quite rocky and after about a mile I realized it was easier to run into the wind than on rocks.

At about 6 miles, a mile after I ate my second package of energy jelly beans, I felt them kick in and I really did have a little surge of energy. I am definitely giving a thumbs up to energy jelly beans and won't leave home without them.

I completed the run with a 11:08 minute mile and had a little left over. My legs and feet were hurting but I felt OK. I was going to say pretty good but these longer runs still do a number on me and I'm not ready to say I was feeling pretty good. I'll stick with OK for now.

I have a cross training day tomorrow, 8 miles on Wednesday and 15 on Saturday.

So far this week I have run 10 miles and, if all goes according to plan, I should run 33 miles.

Trailblazing

2010-03-07T11:54:00.001-08:00

I went trailblazing yesterday and I am so sore today I can't run. What was I thinking?

A couple of months ago I signed on to help build a new hiking trail up a local hill, Badger Mountain, although it's really only a hill and nothing near a mountain, it is steep. My training schedule was to run 15 miles this weekend but, after last weekend's long and very arduous run, I decided I would only do 10 miles. Of course, part of the reason to scale back was this work I had committed to on Saturday.

I had never done anything like this before but I learned quickly enough it would be a day of breaking sod and throwing it down the hill, all on a steep grade. I also learned very quickly it was hard hard work. I have done tons of yard work before, and know it can be hard on the body. but I also knew I could pace myself to not work too hard in order to still be able to run today. Well I didn't pace myself properly so I'm very sore today and there is no way I'm going to even think of running. By the way the work group I was in started out at 20 and by the end of the day there were 5 of us left. All the rest bailed.

I like to think I am getting in pretty good shape but I still have to remember my old body has been around for 61 years and my recovery time is going to be slower than it was before. This is becoming very obvious to me today.

So here I am faced with another setback and how am I going to incorporate this huge mistake into my training and still be ready to run this marathon on May 8^th. My daughter said this morning that my running is flexible, and it is, but I really do want to get this done and not drag it out any further than I have to. In other words I want to keep my training on track. The first half of my training was fun but it is starting to be a lot like work now.

I have decided to run tomorrow then not run the shorter day on Tuesday and back to my schedule on Wednesday. Of course, this raises a whole new set of issues because I have my grandbaby tomorrow and if I go out to run for 2 hours Harry has to stay home to look after her and then he cannot be with me to give me water every mile. Oh well, I'll work around that one on my own.

I was reading some of my earlier posts and I said way back when I started that I would be keeping track of my mileage and I haven't being doing that so here is my mileage for this week - 0

One of my worst runs yet

2010-03-04T20:02:00.001-08:00

I had an amazing run on Tuesday and to make up for it my run on Wednesday was one of the worst I've had so far. I ran 7 miles on the same route I used the first time I ran 7 miles, the time I had the stuffing knocked out of me, so maybe the memories of the first run lingered. Or maybe I pushed myself too hard on Tuesday or maybe I didn't eat properly or maybe there was no reason at all but just one of those days.

Even though I was running outside, I decided to go to our gym and take off from there because the park I like to run in is quite close. Driving to the gym, I realized I was very tired and even thought of parking my car and sleeping for a while before I ran. Then I thought, "You are running for over an hour and you are going to sleep just before, that would be pretty dumb." I'm wondering if maybe it wouldn't have been so dumb.

I'm getting more comfortable with the longer runs now so I hope the run on Wednesday doesn't get me all stressed about the 10 miles I have on Sunday. Ya I said Sunday and not Saturday because I signed up to help build a new trail up a local hill, a very steep hill, on Saturday. This will include hours upon hours of hauling rocks up this very steep hill. What the heck am I thinking anyway. I committed to this months ago not realizing just how hard training for a marathon would be.

Anyway I ran 4 miles tonight in 40 minutes and it was quite a comfortable run. I was out of gas by the end but that's good and what I should be doing on my shorter runs. 4 miles is now considered a shorter run, Wow. Who'd ever thunk I'd be saying that?

My best time yet

2010-03-03T06:33:00.001-08:00

I decided to push it last night and started my run on the treadmill at 6.2, almost a 9:30 minute mile. I had trouble the first 1/2 mile, like I always do, but then I got into the groove and started cooking. I actually upped the pace to a 6.4 for mile 2 but lowered it back to 6.2 for mile 3. My average time was 28:30 so almost a 9:30 minute mile overall and 1:30 off my best time. I knew it was going to be a good run and it was.

Today I have 7 miles but I am going to try something different today. Last night at the gym I was talking to a friend, and fellow runner (Hi Stella), and she suggested I take an Oatmeal cookie with me and eat it at various stages along the way so I don't run out of fuel. This is very good advice because an oatmeal cookie will give me a quick boost from the sugar and a little bit longer lasting boost from the oatmeal. 7 miles should take me about 77 minutes - maybe less - and a good run to practice eating while I run. This should be interesting. I may have to take my husband along just to make sure I don't choke to death.

2 days off

2010-03-02T11:31:00.001-08:00

I've had two days off now and I'm not sure if I remember how to run. Just kidding. I haven't taken two days off for a long time but since one of those days off was a cross training day my schedule remains intact. I am going to run 3 miles tonight and have decided to try a 6.2, which is almost a 9:30 minute mile. I have made this decision for a couple of reasons; one to see if I can and two for the aerobic benefits.

It was funny but after my run on Saturday I was wondering how I would continue, the wall I hit was a big wall. But by Sunday I was ready and willing to get back in the saddle again so I'm thinking my run tonight should be a good one.

I've hit the proverbial wall

2010-02-28T09:56:00.001-08:00

I don' t know where to begin. I am up against my "stuff" and not sure how to proceed from here. I hit a wall yesterday, a wall I have never experienced before. I have never forced my body to the point where I was almost light-headed and now I am wondering where do I go from here?

I was stressed about the run because, well, it was a long way and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it. I did some research on nutrition for endurance running and found I needed to carb load but with the right kind of carbs, whole wheat and low Glycemic Index so I ate a whole lot of carbs Friday, whole wheat mac and cheese, whole wheat spaghetti, French toast, in preparation for the run. The morning of the run I ate two muffins made with Red River cereal, bran and dried apricots and drank lots of Gatorade.

I got the where I had decided to start my run about 10:00 and after about a 2 minute warm up I started to run. I hit the first part of "Why the heck am I doing this" the first 1/2 mile, something I am getting quite used to by now, but once I reached the 1 mile marker was feeling pretty darn good. For the first 2 hours, or about 11 miles, I felt good and was thinking if I could maintain this the whole 13 miles I would be very happy. I was walking at each mile marker and drinking Gatorade and maintaining a little bit better than an 11/minute mile, about 10:43. Feeling good.

Then at 11 miles, about 2 hours into the run, and I hit what is known as the "wall." I hit it face first and it was made of bricks. Running into a wall is not fun, however, I still had 2 miles to go and part of it was a long slow incline. How was I going to get this done? I got about 1/2 way up the incline and decided to walk the rest of the way. At this point there was a negligible difference between running and walking so I thought about crawling but that would have looked pretty silly and I wasn't sure I would ever be able to get back up so decided against it.

I got to the top of this incline and started to "run" again. I put run in quotations marks because what I was doing was not really running although I was putting one foot in front of the other - this was good wasn't it? I did finally make it to where I started and my GPS said 13 miles. YA!!!! My time was 11:18 average so not too bad.

I felt OK and when I got home Harry made me a protein shake - one of the tidbits I learned about nutrition for long distance running is you need to replenish you muscles with protein after long runs. I spent about 1/2 hour stretching and still feeling Ok, I showered and we left to do some Saturday running (the kind that doesn't involve running shoes). This was a mistake. I started to crash and I started to feel just like I did after the first time I ran 7 miles, like I had the flu. We came home and I hit the couch and didn't move.

I have often wondered why the heck I do this but then I realized when I first started, a 7 mile run put me on my back and now 7 miles is relatively easy for me. I must be doing something right. I used to tell myself I was too old to run, it would be too hard on my body, too hard on my knees but my body is responding to the pushing it past what I thought were its limits, my knees don't hurt and I wonder just how far I can go.

I have a cross training day today but have decided to take the day off and start running next Tuesday. I am supposed to do 15 miles next Saturday and need to make some decisions as to how I am going to proceed from here.

I have a lot more thoughts but for now that is all.

Oh by the way we saw a bald eagle perched on a tree. This was a good sign.

The upside of running 13 miles tomorrow

2010-02-26T13:34:00.001-08:00

The upside of running 13 miles tomorrow is that I get to eat a whole lot of carbs today. French toast for breakfast, whole wheat mac and cheese for lunch and whole wheat spaghetti for supper.

Ok I'm stressed about this run. Am I up for it? Will I finish it? I will find out what I am made of tomorrow.

I'm getting stressed

2010-02-25T21:15:00.001-08:00

I ran 4 miles tonight in 40 minutes but let me tell you my tank was empty. I have a little light on the dashboard of my truck that tells when I'm low on gas. My light was on tonight.

I am wondering how the run on Saturday will go. 13 miles is a long way and running for 2 1/2 hours is a long time but I have to do it if I want to make it the whole 26 miles in May. The other thing is Harry's not sure he will be able to ride his bike 13 miles. He had a really hard time last Sunday riding 10 miles so if he fades what will I do? Ok I'm getting stressed about it but it is late and I need to go to bed. I will look into this more tomorrow.

Don't forget your Gatorade

2010-02-24T20:35:00.001-08:00

I did 3 miles on the 'mill yesterday and used all the gas I had in my tank, my hips, knees and feet were fine however. This was quite different from the long 9 mile run when I had plenty of gas (in my tank that is) but my lower 1/2 gave out. I did the run in 30 minutes, a good time, but it didn't feel anywhere near as good as the first time I ran 3 miles in 30 minutes. I wonder why that is?

Today was a 6 mile run and decided I would do in the morning because I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon and didn't want to run with my mouth frozen. I loaded up my iPhone for my tunes and the GPS app I use, RunMeter, my head phones, gloves, light jacket, running shoes, and headed for the Sacajawea Heritage Trail along the Columbia River. When I got there I realized I had forgotten my Gatorade, so I had no hydration. I could have gone back home to get it but decided against it. It was not a good run and I blame it all on the Gatorade or the lack thereof.

I have 4 miles tomorrow, then Friday is day of rest. I have decided to make a big lasagna on Friday night for my carb-loading before the dreaded 1/2 marathon on Saturday. When I did 9 miles I had a big spaghetti feed Friday night and then again for breakfast and I had plenty of energy for the whole run so I am going to fuel myself the same way for the 13 mile run.

Since the 9 mile run took me 1 hour and 40 minutes I suspect the extra 4 miles will add at least another 45 minutes to my time so I will run it in about 2 1/2 hours. Gee that sounds like a long time to be running.

Just a chatty Cathy lately

2010-02-22T11:55:00.001-08:00

Ok I'm being a chatty Cathy lately heh? This training program is turning out to be one of my better decisions and what I need in my life right now, I just didn't know it when I started. I had lost most of my motivation at the gym, my workouts were less than inspiring, and I wasn't sure what I needed to do to get it back on track. A couple of years ago I hired a personal trainer and gained a huge benefit from the weekly sessions but personal trainers are expensive, although if you have the funds, worth every penny. I needed the structure the personal trainer sessions were giving me but something much cheaper. The funny thing was I didn't know all this when I decided to run a marathon. My subconscious knew it but my conscious brain didn't. It is now very very clear to me but back when I made this decision it was not.

When I finish this marathon, I will continue to run because it is wonderful exercise but not 5 days a week. I would love to hire a personal trainer again to maintain the structure but that will probably not happen. Maybe just a workout buddy. Any takers?

It is amazing what you can work out in your head as you're running, as you're trying to think of anything but what your body is feeling. My husband and I going through a stressful situation right now but I'm feeling OK because all my stress dissipates when I workout. It always has and hopefully always will. I don't need any Prozac, Valium because working out has always provided the dopamine I need to handle life's ups and downs. I may rant and rave about injustices but I come out of them relatively unscathed, mostly due to the fix I get with exercise.

I wanted to mention, as well, that the GPS app I have on my iPhone, the app that wasn't working the way I thought I was supposed to work, is now working just fine. Funny thing though it is not working any differently but I now understand how to use it.

So much to talk about

2010-02-21T21:39:00.001-08:00

Last week was a scheduling mess and I only ran 14 miles. I was supposed to run 26, opps! Well I am back on track and will redo last week's milage next week and run 26 miles.

As I was running on Saturday I realized that I am learning a lot about running. I have learned how to deal with issues with my knee. I have learned that drinking Gatorade instead of water makes a world of difference. I have learned drinking at each and every mile helps a great deal, as does walking while I drink. I have learned how to have Gatorade at each mile marker and not carry it - bring my husband along. I have learned dressing for running is different from dressing for snowshoeing or hiking. I have learned shoes are very important and I need a wide toe bucket. I have learned running outside is a whole lot harder than running on a treadmill. But most of all I have learned that 26 miles is a long long long way.

My run Saturday was along the same route I ran the first time I did 7 miles and I must admit it was much easier this time. The first time when I was coming up to the 7 mile marker I was thinking, "You are an idiot for doing this but how in the world are you going to get out of it now." This time I was thinking about those thoughts but this time knew I was going to go the full distance some day.

Harry was not available on Saturday so I carried my own Gatorade and it was OK. It was all gone by the end of the run so any mileage further than 7 miles I will have to have "outside" help.

Harry and I loaded up our bikes today with plans to scope out a route for my marathon. I wanted to ride the whole 26 miles but Harry didn't think he could go much further than 6 or 7 miles, although he rode his bike with me on my 9 mile run last Saturday. He said that was different because he was able to stop a lot waiting for me. We settled on riding about 13 miles.

When we got to the trail head I realized I did not bring my coat! I did not bring my gloves! I did not bring earmuffs! Geesh. Harry asked if I wanted to go home and get them but it was 11:30 already and we had other things to do today. I said I would be OK but get real Jane, even though the sun was out this is still February. I ended up putting some Kleenex in my ears that helped a little, put my hands inside the little hoodie I was wearing and hoped I could ride fast enough to warm the rest of me. I didn't.

We will scope out another route next Sunday and I will most certainly me much more prepared.

Harry was going to ride the whole 26 miles with me when I ran my marathon to provide moral support and to give me water at each mile marker but he's not sure he will be able to make it. The ride today, which turned out to be about 11 miles, did him in and he was really hurting. He said he better get into shape by May and if he does that will be a huge added bonus for this project.

I have more to talk about but I don't want to make this post a novel so I will post again tomorrow, which is a day off.

When life gets in the way

2010-02-19T17:47:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I was supposed to run 4 miles then today was supposed to be a day off and tomorrow I was going to run the dreaded 13 miles, a half a marathon. Some train with the purpose of running a half marathon - I was going to say "only" a half marathon but let me tell you 13 miles is a long long way to run and there is nothing "only" about it - so once I have this under by belt I know I'll have attained something to be very proud of.

My longer runs take preparation and I have to work my way up to them. (I wonder if others have to prepare like I do but I suspect a few do). The day before I need to eat lots of carbs, drink lots of water (or Gatorade) and rest. So when life got in the way yesterday and I was not able to run, I was faced with running today then doing my 13 miles tomorrow and that would not work. My thought process went something like this. I could do the 13 mile run on Sunday and either take Saturday off or do my cross training Saturday but neither of those scenarios would work either. If I took Saturday off I still needed to do my cross training at some point and, since I had already taken 2 days rest this week, and my schedule doesn't allow 3 days, that was not an option. I could do cross training on Saturday but I need a day of rest before a long run. What to do?

I have decided to run a shorter distance tomorrow, something like 6 or 7 miles then restart last week's schedule on Monday. This means I may have to push back my marathon date again, which is still not a problem because I am shooting for early May and it shouldn't be too hot to run. However, I am pushing it and I can't shove it back too much more because I will have to address the issue of running in heat.

So I ran 4 miles today on the 'mill and ran a 10 minute mile. Well actually it was 4 miles in 40:25. It didn't feel as good as the 3 mile in 30 minutes but felt OK.

Maybe it's different this time

2010-02-18T10:26:00.001-08:00

I mentioned in my last post that I have been putting on a few pounds and I thought maybe this time it truly was the "muscle weighs more than fat" excuse. You hear this a lot so there must be someone out there who does put on weight due to more muscle mass, although I never have. My weight depends on my calorie intake almost 100%. I know this doesn't make sense, I have even read articles of people who run so they can eat more, but that is how my body works and always has.

Yet I still allowed myself the thought maybe "This time it's different" so I tried on a pair of jeans I bought 6 months ago, the smallest jeans I have in my closet, just to see. Well it's not different this time, I could hardly do them up. Great big sigh!!!

There probably is a breakeven point where my weight gain was due to an increase in muscle mass but I don't think I will ever get to that point in my lifetime. There probably is also a point where the amount of calories I use will "outweigh" the calories I take in but I'm certainly not there yet.

This just goes to show how much our brains can fool us. I know exactly why I have being putting on weight. It goes something like this "I can eat more because of all the calories I use running and snowshoeing." I have upped my calorie output but I obviously have upped my calorie input even more.

An interesting question

2010-02-17T20:53:00.001-08:00

When I was snowshoeing on Monday, the fellow who organizes most of our trips asked me an interesting question. He said, "When you finish your marathon , are you going to continue to run"? Funny that George brought this up because I had posed this question to myself just a few days before he asked.

The answer is - I just don't know. I have never been a runner, actually, up to now, I have not liked running so I wonder if I will continue to run. I have to tell you I really like the idea that I can get on a treadmill and pop off 3 miles with hardly any effort and, now that I am doing 3 miles with a 10 minute mile, I am liking it all the more. It feels good to know I am getting stronger and that I am building up my aerobic output but I have to consider the wear and tear running can impose on a body.

I know for a fact I will not run 5 days a week and I will not do long runs. Well maybe the occasional 6 or 7 mile but certainly nothing over 10 miles. But then, I just may decide to do another marathon and then my training schedule would require me to but that a discussion for another day.

I am now doing 2 days, of what I consider, are longer runs, Wednesday and Saturday. These are good days for me because I don't have my grandbaby on Wednesday or Saturday and I can run outside and not worry about it getting dark. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had Amber today but still had a 6 mile run to complete before the werewolfs came out. My husband came to the rescue and stayed with Amber while I ran so no need to outrun the werewolfs.

It was not an easy run today. I probably wasn't properly hydrated or fueled. I have been putting on a few pounds so I'm trying to watch what I eat and most likely didn't eat enough to fuel the burners for the hour run. I was still able to maintain between a 10.5 -11.0 minute mile though.

Taking a day off

2010-02-16T09:55:00.001-08:00

I went snowshoeing yesterday and think I will take the day off today. I am supposed to run 3 miles today, 6 tomorrow and 4 Thursday. Friday is my day of rest before the long 13 mile run on Saturday but I'm thinking I will not do the 3 miles today and then start up again on Wednesday with the 6 mile run.

9 mile break through

2010-02-13T18:41:00.001-08:00

I way I look at it, if I can run 9 miles I can probably handle 26.2 miles, so the run today was a pretty big deal for me.

I read I should be hydrating each mile and since they don't advise running and drinking (unless you want to choke and anyone who knows me knows that has a very high probability of happening) so I decided to walk a little at each mile marker and take at least a few gulps of water. This is all fine and dandy but how does a person do this without carrying the darn water with you. My solution was to have my spouse ride his bike alongside me and carry my Gatorade. Fortunately I have a spouse who was willing do this for me. Thanks Harry.

Harry loaded his bike on my truck and we took off for the Columbia River about 10:30 this morning. There is a very nice paved trail along the river that has some of the nicest views in the town but it also has some very nice Canada geese and Canada geese poop a lot. This means you have to be careful to not step in it and slip. Now slipping and falling is one thing but slipping and falling in goose poop is whole different kind of fall.

I was looking forward to using the new "This American Life" iPhone app I downloaded and listening to all sorts of stories. I started the app and started my warmup walk. When it was time to start running I attempted to start my GPS app RunMeter but I had to close down the TAL app before I could start the RunMeter. This is sort of like the first computer I bought back in 1983 when I needed to close down my spreadsheet if I wanted to use my word processor. I know RunMeter will keep running if I started it first but then I would have to be running as I started the TAL app. Well nothing I could do about it so that is exactly what I did, I started RunMeter, started running and then started the TAL app. I wanted to check that everything was working OK so about 1/2 into the run I checked RunMeter and to my dismay my distance was 0 and the time was 42 minutes. It is becoming quite obvious the iPhone doesn't multitask well.

It all turned out fine because someone had very nicely painted mile markers on the trail, in readiness for the Tri-City Marathon later this year, so I knew when to walk and rehydrate and Harry used his stopwatch for my pace and time.

I finished the 9 miles in about 1 hour and 40 minutes which is an 11 minute mile, a time I am tickled about. I also never got to the point where I felt out of breath, as a matter of fact, I felt like I could have gone a lot further. The bad news was though my feet, knees and hips began hurting about mile 7 1/2.

It is beginning to look like from a cardio point of view I will be fine but now I need my lower body to hold up its end.

I ran 20 miles this week.

A 10 minute mile YA!

2010-02-12T09:50:00.001-08:00

When I got on the treadmill last night there was a young lady on the treadmill beside me. When she cranked her 'mill up to 6.0 - a 10 minute mile, I made a snap decision to do the same. Now I'm not a competitive person but I thought why not try and keep up. So I left the incline at 0, cranked my 'mill up to 6.0 and took off. I decided I would see how I felt and if it hurt too much I would just slow down. To my total and utter amazement I didn't need to slow down. I finished the 3 miles in 30 minutes, my fastest time so far.

Ok I know I said I was not going to run for time and just run to see if I could finish a marathon but I'm finding it's hard not to follow your time because it is a way to gauge if you are getting stronger or not and I must be. Of course, I left my incline at 0 and I could never keep up that pace over a longer distance but it felt so good to attain that level.

By the way the young lady beside me quit at about 0.5 mile. LOL

There's that oxymoron again

2010-02-11T12:16:00.001-08:00

I ran 5 miles yesterday and it was a "comfortable run." I have always thought "comfortable run" was an oxymoron but I must admit my run yesterday was just that, comfortable. The 1/2 a mile of downhill may have contributed to the comfortableness but I also ran uphill too.

I did it in 55 minutes so an 11 minute mile and I felt I could've gone further. Let's hope I feel the same way on Saturday when I run 9 miles, the furthest I have even run in my life.

Some members from IMAC (my hiking club) are going snowshoeing on Monday and I have decided to go with them, the 4^th time out this year. Once again, though I will need to work my training schedule around this trip.

Since Sunday is a cross training day and Monday a rest day I will just switch these two. The problem is I then have 3 days of training at an accelerated rate right after snowshoeing. Oh well, nothing I can do about it.

Here's my schedule for the next week and half. I have 3 miles tomorrow, 9 miles on Saturday for a total of 20 miles this week. Then next week it will be 3 on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday and GULP! 13 Saturday for a total of 26 miles. The following week is 34 - this is what I mean by an accelerated rate.

My Bad

2010-02-09T21:14:00.001-08:00

I have not written in my blog for days now and I should be updating it almost daily. Not a lot going on of late because on Saturday, after I came home from snowshoeing with a bug, I decided to not run until I was totally better. Well I pretty well had the bug under control on Sunday but then thought I would just do a little elliptical on Monday then get back to my schedule today, which is what I did.

My run tonight was on the treadmill and I was able to maintain a better than 10:30 minute mile but it wasn't an easy run. I really thought it would be because I had not run since Thursday so why wasn't it? This was perplexing to me. Life's little mysteries.

I have 5 miles tomorrow and the 9 mile run on Saturday. Anyone want to join me? No it didn't think so 'cause this is just plain Jane crazy.

I am looking forward to using the app RunMeter on my run tomorrow because I totally love this app and the support I am getting from the developers is Gold Metal. There may be other apps out there but support for new technologies is one of the most important reasons for using - what do you call this? It's not software. It's not hardware. It's not really new technology. Hmmm what do you call apps for cells phones collectively?

Running on empty

2010-02-07T10:50:00.001-08:00

I went snowshoeing yesterday and when I got home I felt like I had just ran more than a marathon without any training. In other words, I felt terrible.

I have been snowshoeing three times this year and the first two times were totally wonderful days and came home feeling on top of the world so I don't know why yesterday was so hard on me. It could be that I am coming down with something or the fact I only slept about 2 hours the night before, or that my throat is sore, I just don't know. It's unfortunate because I really enjoyed the day, had no trouble keeping up or had any indication I would feel so rotten when I got home. It's ironic though, yesterday's snowshoeing trip was the same trail I went on my first snowshoeing adventure, the one I call the trip from hell where I didn't have the right clothes or shoes, got very wet and cold and was generally miserable.

In any case, I had decided to only run 5 miles today because of snowshoeing yesterday but the way I feel today I think I need to give my body a rest and will not run at all (just watch the SuperBowl with Harry). I think it is important to recognize when you need to take time off and just rest these weary bones.

I will start my training again on Tuesday as if I had run today so that will 3 miles, then 5 on Wednesday and 3 again on Thursday. I still plan on the 9 mile run next Saturday.

Getting Faster

2010-02-05T18:09:00.001-08:00

I have had some personal issues that I have had to deal with and it is interesting to note how my running has been affected by them, or should I say now my running has NOT been affected by them. Even though I have had some bad news I have continued to keep to my schedule.

Last night was a 3 mile run and, because I had to run after Amber went home, I did it on the treadmill. I finished the 3 miles in 31 miles, better than a 10 1/2 minute mile and the fastest time so far. When I was in my 20's I ran a mile in about 8-8 1/2 minutes but that was only 1 mile and, well like I said, I was in my 20's so had a different body. I think this training regime is really working.

I am going snowshoeing tomorrow and our trip leader has promised a challenging climb so I will be worn out when I get back but I have only a 5 mile run on Sunday so I should be OK.

Dear Diary

2010-02-04T07:38:00.001-08:00

I was talking to a friend last night (Hi Rita) and I mentioned how much I enjoy my blog because it is my journal through this journey of training for a marathon but that many times I have gone beyond talking about running and it feels more like a Dear Diary than a blog on running. However, I will resist starting the posts with a Dear Diary.

Yesterday I ran 4 miles outside with my RunMeter and didn't receive any phone calls that have the potential to mess up the readings. I started 1/2 way down a hill so the first 1/2 mile was pretty fast, or at least I thought it was, but RunMeter said I ran it with a 11:56 mile pace, quite slow. However the 2^nd 1/2 mile I ran with a 9:56 minute pace, quite fast. It all evened out and I finished the whole run in just a few seconds over 44 minutes, a good time.

My Wednesday runs are now starting to get longer. Next week I run 5 miles on Wednesday, then 6 the following week and 7 the week after that. Yikes!! The longer mid week runs on Wednesday are well timed because I don't have my grandbaby on Wednesday so I can run outside in the afternoon. Otherwise I would be faced with longer and longer runs on the treadmill at the gym or running in the dark, which would not be cool.

I have to admit I am starting to enjoy the runs outside more than the treadmill, now isn't that interesting considering the mental battle I have gone through trying to decide to run outside or not.

My mileage will start to tick up next week and then more and more until I am running 30 or more miles each week. It's hard to think about running that many miles but when you consider a marathon is almost that much in one day you know you have to do it.

Debating with myself

2010-02-03T06:12:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I ran 3 miles on the treadmill with a 1% incline in a little over 32 minutes. It was a fast run (or should I say fast for me) but I never got to the place where I felt I could go forever, it's really cool when I get to that point.

Now I am debating how to handle this weekend. I have a 9 mile run scheduled but I am going snowshoeing on Saturday, and the trip leader said it would be a strenuous climb. I'm thinking a strenuous workout on Saturday then a 9 mile run on Sunday is not a good idea. A day of rest before a long run is crucial and, since I have never run 9 miles in my entire life, I'm thinking I should reschedule this run for the following Saturday.

The training program I am using schedules a 5 mile run the week following the 7 mile and then the following week it jumps to 9 miles but my schedule is out of kilter because I took a week off for my knee. That's why I'm thinking a 5 mile run on Sunday would be the way to go and then reschedule the 9 mile the following week.

This will put my training schedule behind by two weeks but that doesn't matter since I don't have my marathon date set in stone. I just have to be careful to not run it too late in the year though because it can get pretty darn hot here.

Any day you learn something is a good day

2010-02-02T08:07:00.001-08:00

My last blog update was lamenting about the new iPhone app, RunMeter, the app I use for gauging my pace, time and distance on longer runs. I guess the developers of the app have been reading my blog and they left a comment with an email address for support. I emailed them right away and within 30 minutes I had response back. I think I have it all worked out now and would like to say how impressed I am with Abvio for this kind of support.

I also would like to thank my son-in-law for getting my iPhone back up and running (no pun intended) because it died on me yesterday.

My training schedule was for an hour of cross-training on Sunday but I only did 1/2 an hour on the elliptical - my bad.

I am starting to solicit people to run the last 6 miles of the marathon with me. I had originally thought I would try to have someone run the last 13 miles but trying to coordinate 13 people would be a nightmare and, since I have read the last 6 miles are the toughest, I have decided to pare it down to the last 6.

I have already asked my daughter to run the last mile with me so that one is taken. (heh hon did you remember me asking LOL). The next person I asked was a lady I have known for years and has run every day of her life since she was 16, she is now in her 40's. Kim was very excited when I asked and even suggested a route for my marathon. She works in the tourism industry and knows all the best places in town.

One cross-training day I will use my bike and RunMeter to map out the full mileage using Kim's suggestion, although it will not be this weekend because my cross-training this weekend is snowshoeing.

I have 3 miles scheduled for today and will probably do it on the 'mill because it still gets dark early and I don't like running outside in the dark. OK that's lame but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Running and technology don't always mix

2010-01-30T18:38:00.001-08:00

I had 7 miles to run today and, since the last time I did 7 miles I got the stuffing knocked out me, I was fretting a little about this one. The day was overcast and threatening rain but I wanted to "get it over" so I could get on with my weekend. Funny thing is that I didn't even think about doing this run on the treadmill. Seven miles on a treadmill would be torturous.

Harry dropped me off at Chiawana Park and was going to meet me at the Blue Bridge with Gatorade at, what we figured was, the 1/2 way mark. I walked for about 1/2 mile to warm up, started RunMeter on my iPhone and began running. I had set Runmeter up to give me time, pace and distance updates every 1/2 mile, which is pretty cool. One of the best aspects of the treadmill is your time, pace and distance are readily available to you all the time whereas running outside you are basically guessing so when you get these updates every 1/2 mile it's really nice.

For the first 2 miles RunMeter worked beautifully then Harry called to see how far I had gone and when I checked RunMeter I had magically run 23 miles and my time was 44 minute. Gee I was running really fast.

Once I got to the 1/2 way mark and met Harry, I reset the app hoping I could get a good reading on the way back. After about 1/2 mile the app said I ran 2 miles in 3 seconds so it was still not working. I finally did get it to work and finished the run back at Chiawana but had no idea as to the total pace, time or distance. Well I had pretty good idea but I wanted it confirmed with this damn app.

Harry said I had been running for about 90 minutes then I subtracted 5 minutes for warm-up and about 2-3 minutes at the 1/2 way mark so I ran about 80 minutes which was very close to the time I had on my first 7 miles.

The first 2 miles when the app was working I was running about a 10.5 minute mile which is way too fast and not possible for me to maintain over long distances. I need to start out slower.

I ran a total of 17 miles this week.

Mind Games, only Mind Games

2010-01-29T09:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I committed to run outside then sissied out (love that word sissied out) and went to the gym. I would like to know how I convinced myself to run on the treadmill and not outside, even after I committed to run outside? Here's some ideas.

When I got to the gym it was about 2:00 so, needless to say, there was hardly anyone there and I didn't like it. Since I work at home and have very little interaction with adults (my 20 month-old-grandbaby doesn't talk much yet), the gym is my social outlet and probably why I love it there. So theory #1 is that I'm craving social interaction and I get that interaction at the gym, even if I run with my headset on there are others around when I'm running. When I run outside it is just like working at home, I do it alone.

Before I get to theory #2, I want to let you know I packed up everything, drove home, donned my outside running gear and took off - OUTSIDE. It was hard, so much harder than the treadmill. My new iPhone app, RunMeter, said I clocked an 11 minute mile (3 miles in 33:00 minutes), which is about as fast as I ever run. So theory #2 for why I don't like running outside is that I tend to go too fast.

My new RunMeter app for the iPhone will tell me my pace and distance every 1 mile or so (I can set it up to tell me my pace and mileage by distance or time) but I didn't have that turned on, although I certainly will turn it on for my 7 mile run outside on Saturday.

So far this week I have run 10 miles and after the Saturday run, it will be 17 miles.

Anything is possible? Ya right!

2010-01-28T07:33:00.001-08:00

I just ran across this quote on one of my trading websites and I had to share it with you all, "I've learned that finishing a marathon isn't just an athletic achievement. It's a state of mind; a state of mind that says anything is possible." Well OK finishing a marathon will be an achievement but saying anything is possible is probably just a little over the top. Ya I know you need to think positive and all that but don't get me started on that OK. I have been trading for 11 years now and still don't have the success I want so, although I do believe the marathon is doable, trading success will probably never be. I have no illusions when I finish the marathon my trading will magically become successful.

Anyway my run yesterday was hard. I don't know why. Maybe because I ran the day before and really pushed it, or I didn't eat properly, I just don't know. I ran on the treadmill (I know I sissy out again) and was only able to use a 0.5% incline not the 1% I did the day before. My average time was a slow 5.3 well over the 11 minute mile I have been running at lately. I don't have my grandbaby today so I am going to really really try and get myself outside. It is still raining and miserable but I need to look past that and just run.

OK I have just made a commitment to anyone who reads this that today I will run outside. Why is this such an issue with me anyway?

Full-Steam ahead

2010-01-27T09:26:00.001-08:00

I ran 3 miles last night with the best time yet. The best time since I have started training was 3 miles in 33 minutes, an 11 minute mile, but last night I did it in 32.5 minutes and with a 1% incline. My previous 33 minute run was at a 0% incline.

It is amazing what kind of runs I have after a day off and eating properly. I probably should start logging what I eat on the days I have good runs (subway wouldn't be on the list for sure) because, although I know a day off helps a lot, I'm not sure what kind of food throughout the day helps.

I buy blueberries from Costco and will go through the entire container in about 3 days and these are big containers. I make what I call "nana's mac and cheese" for my grandbaby; whole wheat macaroni, REAL cheese and smart balance butter. She loves it and so do I and we can eat a lot of it, although we need to be careful of the saturated fat in the cheese. I had both these yesterday as well as a big bowl of porridge with walnuts in the morning.

I ran across a website yesterday, http://www.thekauaimarathon.com/, and started thinking this would be pretty neat. The marathon is in September so it would leave me plenty of time to prepare but I have always said, "This is my marathon and I'll do it as slow as I want" and registering for a sanctioned marathon would put a lot of pressure on me. I did see there was only one woman in my age category who ran this race last year and she did it with at 13.5 minute mile. It was a momentary blip and have decided I will do my own marathon in late April or May and then take it from there.

I guess the idea of having family and friends cheering me on at the end of the race is extremely important to me and that would not happen if I ran in Kauai.

I have a 4 mile run today and hope I will be able to do it outside and try out my new iPhone app, Runmeter. I have tried Runmeter on my snowshoeing trips but we were stopping and starting and I didn't have a good handle on how to use it. If I get to run outside today I will use it for sure.

Printers can be aerobic

2010-01-26T08:49:00.001-08:00

I was going to go to the gym yesterday to do some weight training and stretching but my printer died and, since I needed to get a new up and running, I figured my time would be better spent on some office chores. It turned out that I certainly didn't need any aerobic training yesterday because my heart rate got sky-high trying to install this dang thing.

I have installed many printers in my lifetime but this one took me over 2 hours and went to bed without it working properly. It worked but not the way a printer should. I decided I would call tech support in the morning or just pack the darn thing up and get a new one.

Well I finally got it working this morning and came to realize because I already "know how" to install a printer I didn't do a few steps I needed to do (I installed the wrong driver). I uninstalled everything and reinstalled it and it is working like a charm. In the process I even learned a few things and have all my computers printing now, whereas before I only had two computers printing.

See you don't need a gym to get an aerobic workout just install a printer incorrectly.

Geesh another oxymoron - good run

2010-01-24T20:06:00.001-08:00

Snowshoeing is hard work. It takes a lot of exertion and can be exhausting. So my thinking was that, since I snowshoed yesterday, I had probably used up most of my energy reserves and today's run would be a write-off. To my surprise it wasn't. To my surprise it was a - good run.

I only had a 5 mile run scheduled and, once again I did the old lament, "do I run outside or sissy out and run on the treadmill." I am sad to say the treadmill won but I did use a 1% incline so I simulated outside a little.

My first mile was a slow 5.2 pace (11.5 minute mile) but then I upped the speed to 5.4 for mile 2 and to 5.6 for mile 3 expecting to cut it back once I got to mile 4.

Mile 4 came up and I was feeling pretty good so, not only did I not slow down, I actually upped my pace to 5.8. Then at mile 4.5 I upped it again to 6.0 for the last 1/2 mile. It was a good run but I was so done at mile 5 and couldn't have run another step.

Tomorrow is a day off but I may do some weight training, which I didn't do today. Of course, I will stretch as well.

I ran 3 miles on Tuesay, Wednesday and Thursday and 5 today for a total of 14 miles this week. I need to up the weekly mileage.

Next week is 3 miles Tuesday, 4 Wednesday, 3 Thursday then 7 on Saturday. I have never run more than 7 miles and I don't want to start fretting about it yet but I am. 9 miles is scheduled for February 6^th.

Doing nothing and Wine

2010-01-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

I have been negligent updating my blog but I do have a good excuse, actually two good excuses. First of all I didn't do anything on Friday, nadda, no gym, no running, nothing. It was a day off and, since this is supposed to be a blog about my running I thought maybe I should just shut up for a day or so. Ok that's the first reason and the second is two glasses of Gewurztraminer.

We had pasta on Friday night and, of course, you need white wine with pasta and I just happen to really like Gewurztraminer. I fell asleep on the couch.

Today I was supposed to run 5 miles but I decided to go snowshoeing and run tomorrow. That was an excellent decision because it was another glorious day. There were 14 of us, some cross country skiing and the rest on snowshoes. We climbed for about 2 miles and ended up in one of the most rustic cabins you could ever imagine. It was built in the early '60s, had no indoor plumbing (of course), a wood burning stove and about as barebones as the Little House on the Prairie.

Some of the group was going to stay there overnight but not me. Nope, if I snowshoe or hike I will be either staying in my own bed or a 4 star hotel. Well OK I do sometimes camp in a tent but surely not in the middle of winter.

Since tomorrow is a 5 miler I better get to bed.

Running on Budweiser

2010-01-21T12:48:00.001-08:00

I googled, "nutrition for running a marathon" yesterday and the first thing I saw was an ad for Budweiser. HMMM, I wonder. No maybe not but I do need to start thinking about how I eat.

I have been very hungry lately and don't know if it is my brain playing tricks on me and telling me, "heh you can eat anything you want because you are running" or if I just plain need more calories. My weight is not going up but its hanging around the top end of the range I maintain, which I guess is a good way to monitor my calories. I just feel full though and not like I do when my weight is at the lower end of my range.

The carbs I eat are always the good ones, like fruit, vegetables, and whole grain so there is no need for a change there. And since I dropped kicked all the bad carbs like white bread, rice, and potatoes years ago, I don't need to make many changes there either. I probably need to change when I eat carbs though and make an effort to eat more carbs the night before my long runs. I love spaghetti so it may become a Friday night treat for us because my long runs are usually Saturday.

The run last night was harder than the one on Tuesday, as I suspected it would be, and I suspect it will be harder again tonight. Funny how that works, isn't it?

So far this week I have run 6 miles.

The ultimate oxymoron - good run

2010-01-20T08:30:00.001-08:00

Ya the ultimate oxymoron is using the words good and run in the same sentence because running is hard. Well I had a good run last night. It was on the 'mill but I used a 1% incline, which is supposed to simulate running outside much better than running flat, and it felt really good. I kept upping the speed and knew eventually I would wear myself out but also needed to time it so I didn't wear out before I hit my 3 miles. I'm not sure what my final speed averaged out to be because I hit the reset on the treadmill (by mistake) and turned everything off before I finished, although I did do the whole 3 miles.

Seems if I take a little time off and just do the elliptical machine I can run much better. I will put this away in my list of things I have learned while running and may take a little time off before I actually run the 26.2 miles. Geesh that sounds so far.

Anyway I am looking forward to seeing how good my run is tonight.

A few of the ladies I hike and camp with are going snowshoeing on Saturday so I think I will switch days and do my cross training on Saturday, which will be snowshoeing and then run on Sunday. Going to be a full weekend.

So far this week I have run a whole 3 miles.

I downloaded a new app for my iPhone

2010-01-19T09:40:00.001-08:00

When I run outside I never know how far I go so I needed something that would track where I start and how far I go. I asked my son-in-law if the current GPS app on the iPhone would do this and he said no and that I would have to download a new app. I ran across one called Runmeter that seemed to have everything I wanted and then some. It will track the miles I run, calculate my average time, the elevation of my runs and also save my runs to compare them to one another. The "then some" is a link to Twitter. Now this may sound like a great big "oh Hum" but I can set up the app to automatically send my running data to my Twitter account as I run so, if I were in a race, my friends and family could track how I was doing. Then if they tweet my Twitter account, this app will use voice recognition and give me the message over my headphones. Now that is pretty cool heh?

Anyway I tried the app snowshoeing yesterday and I obviously need to learn a little more about it because it didn't work quite the way I wanted. We actually hiked 6 miles but my app said 3.5 miles. I think I turned it off when I put my phone to sleep to save juice, I don't really know so I need to fool around with it a little more. I any case, I love playing around with gadgets like this and if I run into trouble I know my son-in-law will be able to help me out.

BTW Runmeter said I used 2050 calories for just the 3.5 miles it tracked and I had it set up for hiking not snowshoeing, which is much harder. Funny though when I use lots of calories like this my weight is usually up the next day so I obviously compensate for it. haha

Snowshoeing yesterday was nothing short of glorious. It was warm enough to stay warm, but cold enough so the snow wasn't melting. The sun was shining and … well a glorious day.

I am getting back to my training tonight and will do 3 miles today, tomorrow and then Thursday. 5 miles on Saturday and next week back to the 3 miles each day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday then do a 7 mile the following Saturday. My main focus is to get back the gains I made earlier but to also not reinjure my knee.

I also have noticed I have lost a little of the motivation I had but I think that will come back once I get back running.

Not doing too much

2010-01-16T17:38:00.001-08:00

I didn't go to the gym on Thursday and then again on Friday, need to rest my knee you see - ya right you lazy oaf!

Well I decided to get off the couch today and did an hour on the elliptical then some strength training exercises. The personal trainer I saw on Tuesday gave me a few exercises I should be doing to strengthen my legs, which will make my running, as she put it, more comfortable. Comfortable running, now that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

This may have been good advice because, even though I didn't push it, my thighs and butt are sore already. I guess I should have been doing leg strengthen exercises along.

I used to do a lot of strength training along with my cardio workouts but I have been very unmotivated at the gym for over a year now and was only doing a 1/2 hour on the elliptical and stretching. However, since I have committed to running this marathon my old motivation for working out has returned. It feels good because I missed that old friend.

I will do more elliptical work tomorrow and then go snow shoeing on Monday. Snowshoeing will not put pressure on my knee, it is 100% endurance. I want to try running again on Tuesday but not sure how to get back at it. My main focus will be to not re-injure my knee so think I will go back to week 3 which is 3 miles Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then 5 miles on Saturday. I'm not sure what I will do for the next week because if I followed the training schedule that would mean I do a 9 mile run the following Saturday. Ok I'm doing whatever I can to avoid that 9 miler aren't I?

I intended to go the gym but my hair dresser called

2010-01-15T09:58:00.001-08:00

I intended to go the gym yesterday but my hair dresser called. She had an appointment cancellation and wanted to know if I was able to fill it in. I have a hard time getting in to see my hair dresser because our schedules don't match and have been trying to make adjustments to my schedule to get my hair colored for a few days. And now really, how can any woman say no I can't make this hair appointment because I need to go to the gym? So I have my hair colored and now need to make up for the lapse in self restraint. Haha

No I don't consider going to the hair dresser instead of to the gym a lapse in self-restraint as a matter of fact I think it was an excellent decision because my knee is feeling so much better today. I will probably do something on the elliptical on Saturday and then I am going snowshoeing on Monday so taking yesterday off was perfectly OK.

Did I mention my knee is getting better? YA!!!

Trying to figure out how to handle this injury

2010-01-14T06:51:00.001-08:00

I have to let my inflamed tendon rest yet I still have to keep my cardio fitness level up so when I start training again I don't have to start from square one. How do I do that?

Does the elliptical machine keep the stress off my knee but give me the kind of workout I need? Yes to the first part but questionable on the second.

Ok then how about riding a bike? Will it keep the stress off my knee but give me a good cardio workout? Yes to the first part and yes to the second if I go fast enough. The only problem here is the weather is not conducive to riding outside and I will not ride a bike at the gym, way too boring.

Well then, how about the slider type machines at the gym. Same story as the elliptical machine, it will keep the stress off my knee but not give me the same kind of workout as running.

Great big sigh!

The compromise I have come up with is a longer workout on the elliptical or slider machines with lots of stretching and adding the weight bearing exercises I have been given.

My knee is feeling better but all the research I have done tells me it will take a while. Needless to say I will not be doing the 9 mile run on Saturday.

Funny how my brain works

2010-01-13T08:03:00.001-08:00

I had decided to run last night but take it easy then my sister called and told me about a lady who is the same age as her, around 55, and also runs marathons. She runs slowly, like me, so I was pretty interested in what she had to say. She told my sister when she runs her marathons she takes an Advil at mile 6, 16 and again at the end. This made sense to me because I take a Tylenol when I hike, as do most of the ladies I hike with. Somehow I translated this to I could take an Ibuprofen and run with a 1% incline and a little harder than I had decided to. Well that was mistake, as a matter of fact running at all was a mistake. My knee was really hurting after the run.

I met with the personal trainer and she said I need to let the knee heal and not do anything that will inflame it again. I can still do things to keep up my cardio but nothing that will put pressure on the tendon. I went from no running to 15 miles in a week so she thinks I just jumped into running a little too fast and I need to let my body catch up.

I need to learn to heal first

2010-01-12T13:46:00.001-08:00

I decided on Sunday morning that I would not do any running or physical exercise for the whole day and probably Monday as well, in order to give my knee time to heal. I have been psyched about the gym lately so this was a let-down. I actually thought it was pretty cool to be let down that I couldn't go to the gym because most people dread it. My husband was very happy about it though because I have been dragging him to the gym with me lately and he got a reprieve.

On Monday my knee was still hurting so took ibuprofen and used warm compresses all day. My husband said he was going to the gym after work so I decided to go and just do the elliptical because that doesn't bother my knee at all. I used to do 30 minutes on the elliptical and it would wear me out but last night I popped off 30 minutes with no problem at all. I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor so I don't know what effort level I was at but it seemed pretty easy. I feel I'm getting stronger and don't want to backslide by taking time off yet I still think I may have to slow down my training schedule.

I talked to lady who works at the gym last night and she said she had committed to running 1/2 a marathon this year. Well this got me to thinking here I am at least 30 years older, had never been a runner and was planning on doing a full marathon by April. Am I kidding myself? I hope not.

Anyway I have an appointment at 7:00 tonight with a personal trainer, a lady who was ranked 33^rd in the world of tri-athletes so she should be able to give me some good advice. I also have a call into a fellow who was my personal trainer 3 years ago, a man who is older than me, has run marathons and is currently an avid runner.

My knee feels fine today so I may do a slow 3 mile on the 'mill tonight before my appointment with this trainer - heck you can't get much easier than that can you?

Things I learned while running

2010-01-09T19:01:00.001-08:00

When I started my trading career I was overwhelmed with all the different trading systems available to me. How do I evaluate them all? How do I chose the one that is best for me? Well, of course, you start with the ones that have the best profit/loss ratios, then the ones that trade the markets you are familiar with and finally the ones that you think fit your style of trading. I found, over the years, this was the easy part.

What happened was no matter what system I would look at, evaluate, try out for the 2 week free trial, they never seemed to live up to what the system developers proclaimed would be your profit/loss. The profits were typically - no always - a lot less. Why was this? Did I not understand the system, did the developers lie, just what happened? Turns out things can be a lot different in reality than on paper.

This is what I am finding out with my training schedule. The schedule I picked seemed doable on paper, hard and challenging but doable. When I searched for a training schedule online I didn’t have any kind of expectation because I'd never run a marathon before, heck I wasn’t even what you could call a runner and had not run for exercise for about 10 years. So when my google search for "marathon training' came back with one that had a training schedule for beginners (maybe I should have looked for one for a 61 year old beginner), I didn't look any further. I mean why would I because I really didn’t know what I was looking for anyway other than the person who put it together needed to be someone who seemed to know what they were talking about and had a week by week schedule for running.

Last Saturday I had a dose of reality when I ran for 7 miles outside, in the cold, in the wind and had, what I call a Mike Tyson day because when I was finished I felt like I had just had a round in the ring with Mike Tyson. And today I had another lesson, another dose of reality.

I only had 5 miles to run today and decided early on I would do it on the treadmill but with a 1% incline. I had a muffin for breakfast and, although these muffins are pretty healthy, it wasn’t enough to carry me through running 5 miles so I asked Harry to take me to Subway. I ordered a 6 inch chicken breast on wheat sandwich and finished the whole thing. I was feeling pretty good when I got to the gym, warmed up for about 5 minutes, did some stretching for my tendons and started to run. Around mile 2.5 I started to feel my stomach and I knew I was in for a loonnnggg next 2.5 miles. About 3 miles into the run I lowered the incline back to 0 and decreased the speed. At mile 4 I started to walk and at mile 4.5 I stopped. This is the first time I have stopped before the end of a run. I didn’t even have enough energy left to stretch. I just found Harry and told him to take me home.

Geesh two Saturdays in a row now.

OH by the way, the snowshoeing trip was cancelled today due to freezing rain. Snowshoeing is fun but not in freezing rain. I wish I had gone.

2010-01-07T20:48:00.001-08:00

My knee was hurting a lot this morning so I decided to be a big sissy and go see the doctor. This marathon may be important to me but keeping myself healthy is much more important and needed to know what was going on before I continued to run. Turns out I have an inflamed tendon and I just need ibuprofen and ice and I can continue to run until it hurts. But really I won't run if it hurts.

With that behind me I ran 3 miles tonight at 11:00 minute mile but with no incline figuring the incline may have added to my inflammation. It was a good run and my knee felt fine, although I did take an Naproxen just before I left for the gym. I will ice it tonight just to be sure but it is not hurting.

I was talking to a lady at the gym tonight, a lady who runs a lot and really fast, and she thinks my training schedule may be little too aggressive. My husband thinks so too but, heh who listens to husbands. LOL

I will allow myself to slow down if I don’t think I can keep this pace but so far I am doing OK. I have another long run, 9 miles, looming in a couple of weeks but it is far enough in the future that I haven't started to fret about it - yet.

I just learned a few of my camping buddies are going on the snowshoeing trip this weekend so I am getting excited about it. It will be a test of endurance but shouldn't be a problem with my tendinitis.

2010-01-06T16:47:00.001-08:00

My knee started to hurt this morning. Why now? Could it have been because I increased the incline on the treadmill last night or is it just the running catching up with me? I don't know. I put on my brace and wore it for most of the day.

When I got to the gym to do my 4 mile run outside I was wondering how my knee would hold up but there was no question I was going to run. Once I start to use excuses to not run it is so easy to buy into those excuses. The trick, though, is knowing when it is just an excuse or valid reason to not run. I needed to run today and see how the knee felt afterwards.

I ran the same route as I did on Saturday and it was cold and windy again today but I only had 4 miles to run, not 7 and I figured I should be able to get it done easily as long as the knee held up. Of course, the first mile was hard but they always are. The second and third mile were still ok, I could feel my knee but it was not hurting. The last mile was hard but the knee still felt Ok, not great but OK. Once I was done though and started to walk back to the gym, it started to really hurt.

My knee has been hurting all evening now and if not better tomorrow I will know this is a valid reason for not running and not just an excuse. I will not run tomorrow if my knee is hurting.

This is very disheartening and very disappointing. I am far from giving up, because this is very important to me, but I will not hurt myself in the process.

I also have decided to switch my running and cross training around on the weekend and go snowshoeing on Saturday and run on Sunday, if I can.

2010-01-05T20:28:00.001-08:00

For some reason I was hungry all day today and don't know why and I decided to just go with it and not resist it - heh I'm doing a 3 mile run tonight and that takes about 350 calories right? I better be careful about that kind of thought process or I will gain all this weight back again and that would be horrible.

As I wrote before, today was a 3 mile run on the treadmill but with the added bonus of a 1% incline. I started my training running on the treadmill at a 5.2MPH and, although I now run at probably 5.4 or 5.5, I suspected the added incline would force me back to 5.2 but I started out at 5.4 just to see hard it would be. I never had to decrease my speed and, as a matter of fact, I increased it to 5.6 then 5.8 and finished the last 1/2 mile back at 5.4. I guess I am getting stronger.

Cool!!

2010-01-03T18:59:00.001-08:00

Today was a cross training day so I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. I think I was supposed to do an hour but after yesterday I cut myself some slack.

I have tomorrow off then on Tuesday is a 3 miler. I look after my grandbaby throughout the day so I will not be able to start my run until 4:30 or 5:00 at which time it will be dark and I will not run outside when it is dark AND cold so it will be a 'mill run. I did some research on why it is so much harder outside than on the treadmill and one idea I picked up was to increase the incline on the 'mill to 1% so that is what I intend to do on Tuesday.

Wednesday is 4 mile run and, since my grandbaby goes to other granma on Wednesday, I will run outside.

Thursday is back to the 'mill at 1% incline and then Saturday is another 5 miler outside.

After next week the training starts to get intense, at least intense for me and I will take one day at a time. I am actually looking forward to seeing if my stamina increases and if I can get a 7 mile run under my belt with no trouble. I better or I will never make it 26.2 miles.

So much harder than I anticipated

2010-01-02T19:39:00.001-08:00

My training schedule said I was to run 7 miles today. I have been "fretting" about this run for a while because I need to take my running outside to get off the treadmill and had made my mind up today would be the day if the weather was 1/2 way decent. It was the first thing on my mind when I woke this morning and when I looked outside it looked kinda warm and most of the snow had melted so I decided today would be the day. Well did I get a dose of reality! It was much harder than I anticipated, much harder.

I parked my car at the gym and walked to the starting point (about 1/2 mile) so I could get warmed up. The first mile was hard but it usually is. I must admit it was pretty easy running from that point to the 1/2 way mark. It was starting to get windy and the wind was at my back, which, of course, makes running a lot easier.

At the 1/2 way point my time was 38 minutes so I was running about an 11 minute mile, faster than I expected but I still had 3.5 miles to go and 3.5 miles running into the wind. I remember thinking, "At least I can't quit now because I have to get back even if I have to crawl."

I started back running into the wind and it was hard from the very first step. It never got easier. I walked a few times and did make it back in 1 hour 17 minutes, which is exactly an 11 minute mile.

I then walked back to the gym, stretched for about 30 minutes and drove home. That was when the hurting started.

I took a shower and thought I needed a nap so slept for about 30 minutes and when I got up my knees, my thighs, my butt felt like I had been beaten up - not that I know what it feels like to be beaten up but what I thought it would feel like.

I knew this would be hard but I never expected it to be this hard. I may have to slow down my training and start running the 3 milers outside until they start to feel as good as they do on the 'mill. I'm not sure what I need to do.

Total miles for the week is 17 miles.

2010-01-01T14:33:00.001-08:00

Today is a day of rest but I just took a look at the schedule I need to follow to get this marathon done. Yikes. No I mean Y-I-K-E-S. What the heck have I signed up for anyway?

2009-12-31T16:02:00.001-08:00

I ran 3 miles today and damn it felt good. I am so bewildered by this. I have never been a runner, as a matter of fact running has typically hurt so, first of all, why I decided to do this is way beyond me but now that I have, why it is actually feeling good has got me totally baffled.

Total for the week is now 10 miles.

I did this run in a little over 33 minutes so it was an 11 minute mile.

2009-12-30T19:03:00.001-08:00

My training schedule said to run 3 miles today but at a faster pace. For some reason, as I was running I had this thought that the schedule said I was to run 4 miles so that is what I did - run 4 miles.

It was actually a pretty easy run

That is 7 miles so far this week. The 7 mile run is looming - running it on Saturday.

Logging my weekly mileage

2009-12-29T15:05:00.000-08:00

I did 3 miles on the treadmill today and it felt good. I am going to start logging the miles I run each week, so with the run today, that is a whole 3 miles this week.

Second Week of training and it is still cold

2009-12-28T20:56:00.001-08:00

Today was a day off but I did map out 3 miles and a 7 mile run in my car. My training schedule requires I run 3 miles tomorrow (Tuesday), Wednesday and again Thursday. Then Friday is day off and I run 7 miles on Saturday - I have never run 7 miles before.

I am hoping we get some warmer weather so I can actually run outside and use the route I have mapped but if it's cold I will run on the treadmill. Is this a cop out? I hope not.

2009-12-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

I ran 3 miles today but on the treadmill. I feel like running on the treadmill is a cop out because it is so much harder outside but it is so cold outside and running is hard enough let alone in the cold. Am I starting to lose the motivation already? Gee I sure hope not. This is important to me and important that I finish.

I am starting to feel my knees. They are not hurting but I know they are there. This could be the fact that my brother told me I should be careful and now I am starting to think about them. I don’t know but I did buy a knee brace just to be sure.

Sunday is a cross training day, an hour on the elliptical, and I am looking forward to it. Then Monday is a day off and Tuesday thru Thursday I run 3 miles. Saturday is 7 miles, the longest I have ever run at one time. I hope it is nice outside so I can do it outside and get a feel for running this distance outside.

2009-12-24T09:15:00.000-08:00

I have 3 miles to run today and have decided to do it outside. Why is this a big deal? Because I have run outside a few times in the last few weeks and it is really hard, much harder than running on a treadmill. Why is that anyway? I have yet to figure that out.

I decided to run on a local running trail called the Heritage Trail along the Columbia River and, since it doesn't have markers on the section I was running, I didn't know how far to go but figured if I ran 30 - 35 minutes that would be real close to 3 miles.

I didn't warm up properly and the first mile was a hurting mile but I knew I needed to keep going and left myself a mental note - please warm up before running, especially when running outside. I ran until what I thought was almost 1/2 way and checked the time on the heart monitor stopwatch I wear. It said 12:55 which was almost 13 minutes so I decided to run a little further to get to the 15 minute mark. In about 2-3 minutes, and at the point I had originally decided I would turn around, I checked again and the stop watch said 12:57. What the heck was going on? I then realized I was looking at the actual time of day and not the elapsed time. My elapsed time was 26:35 minutes. Yikes and I still needed to get back.

Well I did get back, and don't know far I ran, but it was at least 3 miles.

I need to start running outside more but it's cold and dreary here.

2009-12-23T20:17:00.001-08:00

Now that I had decided to run a marathon, I needed to address the shoes that would take me the distance. The shoes I currently had worked for hiking and on the elliptical machine but would they work for running 26.2 miles? I didn't have a lot of faith they would hold up or, better yet, they would hold me up.

My husband insisted we visit the local running store and I bought a pair of Brooks with the assurance I could bring them back if they didn’t work out, which I, 100% believed, they would not. The salesperson told me I could bring them back for an exchange if ran for only 1/2 hour and I ran on a treadmill. I knew 1/2 hour was not enough so I thought if I was real careful and didn’t wear them walking into the gym, I could try them for 6 miles.

The next day I got to the gym, put the shoes on and started out on my first ever 6 mile run. The first mile was breeze and I was having no problems with the shoes. YA!! Mile 2 was also pretty easy but getting a little harder. Mile 3 I started having a problem with my bangs dripping sweat into my eyes but no problem with the shoes. Mile 4, I was getting sweaty and looking pretty bad but, to tell you the truth, I didn’t care how bad I looked but still l no problems with the shoes. Mile 5 - the final mile - the treadmill just stopped and I almost ended up on my butt (I spend a lot of time on my butt heh). I had programmed the machine for 60 minutes and once 60 minutes was up the machine just stopped. I started the machine again and finished the last mile.

When I got off and my legs felt like rubber but my feet were doing OK. So I guess I have my shoes.

2009-12-23T09:29:00.001-08:00

I believe there are people who have the "bodies" for running and those that don't. I was one of those people who didn't. But then how could you explain those four contestants on the "Biggest Loser"? They didn’t have what I called a runners body and they all finished a marathon. Maybe there was something to just plain Jane motivation and with enough training anyone could finish a marathon.

One day at the gym I decided to try running for only 5 minutes and see how it felt. To my total amazement, it felt great and I ran for 15 minutes instead. I got off the treadmill actually bewildered at how good it felt. How could this be?

A couple of days later I tried running outside, in the cold, in the dark and started to realize running outside was a lot different from running on a treadmill in warm gym. But I completed 2 miles with relatively little problem.

The next time at the gym I tried to run for 30 minutes to see if, first of all I could do it, and secondly how it felt. The run was hard but I did it. It was after this run I decided I would run a marathon.