Super Woman Blue

I painted my nails Super Woman Blue today, also called Surf City Blue.  For some reason it gave me a little mental boost and every time I look at them I smile.  I'm imagining they are radioactive and leeching super powers into my body through my fingernails.  haha.  I am a dork.

I've researched and queried the heck out of the 18 trying to figure out what went wrong and I've come to a few conclusions.  My number one guess for the primary problem is that I just plain wasn't well nourished or hydrated.  I think I hit a big, fat crash as a result.  Can someone tell me why I always seem to learn best by the crash and burn method?  Would a little common sense be a good idea, maybe?  Shaking my head at myself.  Hopefully I've got that under better control for this week.

I'm also nursing a sore left leg, which has been a bit worrisome.  Hopefully it will get some of those radioactive fingernail polish thingys in time for the run.

Tomorrow morning we hit the 20 and I'm feeling the excitement of it being my last official long run before the marathon.  I intend to run 22 in  two weeks, but that will be a split so it feels different.  I've been treating this run like a dress rehearsal ~ trying to do everything possible to have a successful last run.  We shall see how it goes.

Moving On

Julie and I ran 7.4 today ~ our short long run.  After three days of eating much more than I should of all the wrong things, it felt great to get out there.  I think it was a very successful run for both of us ~ we felt pretty good, had a good talk, finished strong.  After last week's miserable 18 it was nice to feel good about it again. 

I've come to the conclusion that my left leg is probably going to be at various stages of sore from now until the marathon.  It's just tight.  When I'm up and moving around a bit it feels almost fine and when I'm on ibuprofen it's 100%, but when I've been sitting awhile and stand up, I creak along for a bit.  My goal is to get through the next 6 weeks without an injury.  Sore muscles, okay.  Injury, no thanks. 

Planning has begun for the 20.  We're going to run it on New Years Eve morning.  20 miles on the last day of 2009.  If you'd told me I would do that at this time last year, I would never have believed you in a million years.  I'm working hard on my research and planning to improve this run.  I can only go up from that awful 18, so I have lots of room of for improvement.  I'm going to switch up my hydration and nutrition on the run, working on some mental help, and going to work hard this week to give myself every possible advantage in terms of taking care of myself.  I'll spell out the  plan another day, still tweaking as I plan. 

I've also started reviewing the marathon course more closely, beginning to mentally move through it and plan for how I'll feel and strategize how to succeed.  It's getting closer!

Eighteen Really Stunk

Geez Louise, eighteen really sucked.  There's honestly no other way to say it.  Well, actually, there are a few other ways that would adequately express how miserable that was, but I'll stick with sucked. 

I have never been that sore and miserable in my life.  I would rather give birth.  Or possibly chop off my thumb. 

In hindsight, I think I've hit the dreaded "Wall" right about 13 miles the last two long runs.  The difference between the two was that during the 16 mile run I only had a little bit of run left.  During the 18 mile run this week, I had a whole lot more.  It was worse this week.  I went from feeling pretty tired and sore to feeling like there was no way I could take another step.  Not one more.  There was nothing in me that even cared that I couldn't take another step.  I had no idea why I was doing this and only wanted to get home.  I think I scared Julie a little bit, for good reason.  I scared myself, too.  She told me later she considered suggesting a short cut home, but decided "no, we have to finish."  I'm so glad you made that decision, Julie.   

If Julie hadn't been with me, I would have plopped my rear down on the corner of Riddell Road and Monmouth Cut Off and cried.  Then I would have called George, said "Come get me" and dropped out of the marathon.  I'd have run the half.  Honestly.  But Julie has been a gift to me and she didn't let that happen.  She helped me keep on going when I didn't think I could and because of her I finished the 18. 

I was pretty deep in despair about the whole thing last night.  I attempted my first ice bath because I was hurting so badly, but I just couldn't do it.  My shower felt good, though, and thanks to Rachel the pharmacist I took 4 ibuprofen (I never take more than 2) and started to feel a bit better.  I woke up so thirsty in the night and got up to eat peanut butter in the wee morning hours because my stomach was growling madly, but this morning I was much less sore than I expected to be.  I took another round of 3 ibuprofen this morning and I've felt pretty decent all day.   

I'm not ready to think about the next long run yet, but I know there will be a 20.  I couldn't have said that yesterday. 

We had a couple of humorous moments on our run yesterday.  Once we were running along the highway toward Monmouth when a weird, metallic sound sort of "clinked" behind us.  For a split second I thought something metal had fallen from a tree and hit something metal on the ground.  Both Julie and I turned around to look over our shoulders at the same moment, and both of us jumped and screamed.  I think we scared the poor kid on the bicycle who was trying to pass us and had rung his bike bell at us.  lol 

A few miles later, out on Riddell Road, I sort of yelled, "Oh gosh!  Look!  It's a bald eagle!"  I got all excited and was feeling like this was about to be a beautiful moment when we got a little closer and I realized the bald eagle on the fence post was made of wood.  Not such a beautiful moment. 

I'm going to work on recovering a bit and then I'll start to think about the next one.  I'm going to be very, very glad to have this thing over with.

Twas the Night Before Eighteen and All Through the House...

Tomorrow is the big 18.  I must say, the longer the runs, the more I question my own sanity.  Why on earth am I going out to run 18 miles on a rainy, cold Saturday afternoon in December?  That wasn't a rhetorical question.  I really need to know the answer! 

Here's a couple of reasons off the top of my head in my very own Pep Talk To Self On The Eve of Eighteen:


1.  My calf muscles are now killer. 
2.  My quads are now killer.
3.  I  now have great hamstrings. (I see a pattern developing here.)
4. I think there might be muscles developing in my stomach.  Maybe.
5.  Ten pounds lost on the scale since September.
6. Eating Christmas candy with less guilt than usual.
7. New excuse for why my feet look so beat up.  Never mind that my feet have always looked beat up.  Now I have a reason.
8.  Making friends with Julie, who is strong and encouraging and determined.  So thankful for your roll in this journey, Julie!
9. No more skinny, sharp shin bones.  I used to think I was born with them.  Now I know they were just lacking muscle to fill them out.
10. Ninja outfits.  Oh yeah, baby,


I thought at least some of my reasons would be spiritual and enlightening, but there you have it ~ straight off the top. Shallow and passing.  lol  There are deeper reasons, of course, but we'll save that for another day. 

Wish me luck tomorrow. 

17 degrees

I am a mild temperatures girl.  I've lived all my life in the three west coast states where mild is the word of the day.  We've been in a cold snap all week and haven't been above freezing in what feels like forever, so today I finally gave up and ran in it anyway. 

Julie and I ran 7 miles, all bundled up like the woosey girls we probably are.  Gloves, ear wraps, cold gear, vests, jackets ~ Julie even had a scarf wrapped around her face.  I bet we looked pretty goofy out there.  Turns out it was a great day for a run, even at 17 degrees.  Took me a bit to get used to breathing that super frigid air, but after I adjusted I was good to go.  I eventually took my gloves off and unzipped my jacket, but other than that I felt perfectly dressed.  My Powerade got colder and colder as we ran, which I had forgotten would happen.  By the end it almost felt like it was a bit slushy.  If we'd been out there much longer I think it would've iced up a bit. 

Seven miles down, seriously enjoyed the run and the sunshine and the cold. 

Beaver Fun Run 2009

Beaver Fun Run 2008:  34:13 nearly killing myself.
Beaver Fun Run 2009:  31:01 running a nice easy pace.  YAY!

This was a very big day for me.  It's the one year anniversary of my first official running event and it's also the first time one of my family members has done a run with me.  My 10 year has set the bar for the rest of the family.  Pretty good day.  :)

Sixteen Candles. Nope, Sixteen Miles.

That's kind of how I start talking toward the end of a long run.  Think I better start salting. 

I just got home from my sixteen mile run with Julie and I don't think I've ever been this tired in my life.  Okay, maybe delivering babies, but that's it.  I told Julie I couldn't sit down before showering or I'd never get up, but I landed in this chair and now I'm in trouble.  Might as well write this down while I still can't feel my feet. 

Today is the most beautiful day for a long run ~ it's sunny and currently 47 degrees.  Perfect.  I met Julie at Whitworth and the plan was to run to Burgerville in the next town and back.  We were both feeling pretty confident, I think.  Nervous but excited and ready to roll.  The first few miles felt chilly, but we warmed up nicely as we headed out into the countryside.  Traffic was heavy today and about 3 miles out we passed a tree trimming crew set up with guys controlling traffic and a bucket truck.  Neither of the traffic guys paid us much notice. 

Our run to Burgerville went very well.  We felt strong and were discussing foolish things like how 26 miles is starting to seem attainable, and how it was so warm it almost felt like summer.  These were ignorant conversations, soon to be regretted. 

We ran into Burgerville at the halfway point and took a quick bathroom break, then back out onto the road.  Whoa! Seems we ran the first half with a pretty strong wind at our back as we were now running dead on into a good old headwind.  We had both choked and gagged down a Gu packet at the halfway point, so we had a little pep for a bit, but that wind really dragged us down fast.  We spent about the next 5 miles running slightly uphill and into the wind.  Everything got louder, colder, harder, slower.  Oh yes, we were having fun now. 

Before long things that never hurt were hurting.  Finally at around mile 12 or 13 we made a 90 degree turn out of the headwind and got a bit of relief from it.  The noise level dropped, the temperature felt warmer and thank the good Lord that wind wasn't in our faces.  Still, we had run through some tough stuff and were hurting more than normal at that point, so we struggled on.

With maybe 2.5 miles to go we were closing in on that tree trimming crew again.  As we ran toward the first traffic guy he yelled something like, "ARE YOU RUNNING ALL THE WAY TO TOWN???" and we hollered back at him.  After we passed by he was yelling and swearing, over and over, "HOT D*MN! LOOK AT YOU GO!"  etc.  We were fist pumping and hollering back and I'm telling you it was the first time I've ever been so happy to have someone swearing at me!  We were both so energized!  I think it lasted all of a quarter mile before we remembered how much pain we were in.  lol

We limped our last couple of miles back the cars.  This was certainly not a glory run.  In fact, the last half really kind of stunk.  I'm hobbling pretty bad right now and this is going to hurt for awhile.  It's done, though, and thankfully I don't have to think about facing the next one for awhile. We finished our sixteen in 3 hours, 16 minutes.  That includes between 4 - 6 minutes at Burgerville to use the bathrooms.  Not bad, considering.