Week Three

Ok for those of you who I haven't told this my goal in the marathon is to beat Oprah's time. Many of you may remember that in 1994 for her 40th birthday she did the Marine Marathon in 4 hrs 29 minutes and 20 seconds so I would like to beat that time.

Week three is done and in the running logs. It was a pretty good week although the first of it was really hot. My running buddy, Cherri and I signed up for the Bluegrass 10000 this week. From everything we have been told this is a really fun race that starts in downtown and goes out Richmond Rd(a really beautiful part of Lexington with wonderful old homes and big shade trees). Last year I think there was over 3.000 people who participated.

On Monday when I went to start my run my running watch, a Garmin, history was full so I had to delete some information before I could even begin but then I went out and had a pretty good 5 miles. About mile 2 1/2 I had a real funny sensation, wondering if I was experiencing a runners high. I also experimented on this run with taking some powerade in one of my bottles to drink. It worked out pretty well so on 5 miles or longer I am taking one bottle of powerade and one of water.

Tuesday afternoon I went and checked in at the Optifast clinic. I try to go about once a month as a way to keep me honest. I was down a pound from my last visit and my body fat % was 14.1%. I started at over 54% bodyfat so I am really proud of that reduction. Also a pretty neat moment was when the blood pressure cuff was to big for my arm and they couldn't take my blood pressure. David and Chandler wanted to go to the gym that night for a workout so I went with them and did my 4 miles on the track. 7 1/2 laps equals a mile and 4 miles or 30 laps is about the max I want to go around and around and around. It did feel nice though that it was air conditioned but I don't want to do many of those as the marathon isn't going to be air conditioned. While I was going around and around I was remembering when I first started running on the track. At first I would only run on the sections where I couldn't be seen by anybody, I was embarrassed for anyone to see that fat body flopping around. Eventually I did get to where I would run where other's could see me but I always did a run/walk. I had a real mental problem that I couldn't run one full lap on the track. Tuesday night not only did I run where other's could see me but I did one full mile on the track, not one lap but 7 1/2 laps. Remembering how I used to think I couldn't do one full lap it really makes me happy to know I can now do a whole mile.

Wednesday night you may have seen my posting on facebook, note to self scout a new route before running it. I had 6 miles on the schedule and I don't have a good 6 mile route laid out so I got on gmaps and laid out a route, up through town, through the college and on some different roads in the neighborhood than I usually run. I thought I knew what the roads were like, boy did I forget some hills. It was a good run and I need to do some hills because there is a pretty good hill on the marathon course but man were my legs sore and tired when I got done and it was HOT. I literally wrung water out of my pony tail when I was done.

Because my legs were sore I had thought I would take Thursday off but it turned cooler here and I hated to waste a cool night so I got out and did 4 miles in the neighborhood. I ended up really enjoying it and setting a good time.


Friday was a rest day so I had a date with my two favorite fellas and we went and saw Toy Story 3. Nice clean family movie, we all really enjoyed it.

Saturday it was up early, 4:30 am to meet Cherri at 6 at John's Run and Walk shop for a Saturday run. 12 miles on the schedule for this morning. Cherri did a little over 7 with me before she turned around and headed back and I finished up the rest by myself. It's good to run with her because she is better at pacing than I am. I get started and get to going and before I know it I am going way faster than I should so she really helps keep me on a decent pace. (She jokes that she is going to tie a rope around my waist so she can pull me back to her when I get to going to fast). I rewarded myself every mile with two peanut m&m's, for energy and to help mark the miles. I was really worried about doing another 12 miler but I did fine. We ran in a really pretty neighborhood with lots of big shade trees and by starting at 6am we missed the heat of the day so we were both pretty proud of ourselves. She hadn't done that long of a run in awhile and I finished up my 31 miles for the week. I told her we are now ready to rock out the 10,000. My leg is feeling really good. I have been getting up every morning and doing 10-12 minutes on my stationary bike and doing the stretches the Dr gave me and I had no pain at all this morning, yahoo!!!!

See you next week.

Week Two

Set your goals high because what a person accomplishes is in proportion to what they attempt. Mitchell Naufell

The end of week 2. I started off the week filled with self doubt. Could I do the miles and training, what was I thinking, I can't do 26 miles, were just some of the thoughts going through my head even as I was doing my run Monday night. Monday and Tuesday night runs were WARM, maybe even hot. I ran Monday at Toyota while David and Chandler worked out in the gym. I ran the 5k route and it was a good run. On Tuesday I waited till later, to see if it would cool off, got in 5 miles. I didn't try and set a great time, just trying to get in the miles. After Wednesday nights run I was really filled with doubt. I was tired and did not want to go run but made myself do it. For some reason my legs were really sore, felt like they were made of concrete and every step took effort. So I didn't push it, did my run/walk pace and got in 6.23 miles. Thursday nights run was great. I met Rick and Cherri at the horse park and we did 4 miles. They hadn't done as many miles as I have been doing so after about 2 miles I speeded up a bit and finished a little ahead of them. The horse park is probably my favorite place to run, peaceful, some shade, the horses, creeks and ponds, it's just a great place to run. Friday is a rest day and Chandler and I took David to Furlongs(a local cajun restaurant) for Father's Day. We set on the patio and had some great food while we enjoyed the evening and each other's company.

Saturday night was the 5k at the Toyota Fitness Center. I love the people there. They have been such a huge part of my weight loss. Brandi, was my trainer while I was losing, she has since moved on to another job. Meghan, Neil, Shawn, Carol, all of them, they are all great. I have been really looking forward to this 5k. Running with so many people that I have trained with for a year now was fun. When it was first announced I had set myself a goal to do well, possibly even win my age group, but since my leg has been sore and I hadn't been able to do the speed work that I wanted to do I was just planning on finishing. It was warm at race time but I started off well and maintained a good pace, my leg didn't bother me hardly at all, finished in 28.28, not as good as my Girls on the Run time but pretty good and I thought I might be in top 3 of my age group. After the race they had fun races for kids 12 and under. Chandler participated in those. They first divided the kids into age groups and ran them off with a staggered start. Chandler won his age group easily. Then they had all the kids run at the same time for "fastest kids" and Chandler won again but this time he had a kid nipping right at his heels the whole way. He got cookies from McDonald's as his prize. Then they announced the winners of the 5k. I got 1st Female Masters and 1st in my age group. Since I knew alot of these people I know there were some good runners there so I was really shocked but proud of myself. After dinner at Cracker Barrel and posting my news on facebook I headed to bed, 7 miles on the schedule for Sunday morning.

I had thought I would be doing my 7 by myself but Cherri said she thought she was up for 7 so we met at 6 at the horse park and had a great run to end the week. We decided while we were running that we are going to do the Bluegrass 10,000, a 6k in Lexington on July 3rd. We have had several people in the running group tell us that this is a great run that goes thru downtown Lexington and thru the historic Richmond Road area.

Thus ended week 2, 29.9 miles, and after doing so well last night in the 5k I am feeling excited about the marathon. I have checked a book out of the library about running a marathon and feel like I am getting some good information and help so here I go into week 3, 31 miles on the training plan this week.

Week One

The first week of training is over. It was a pretty good week. I had to fit my runs in around Chandler's tournament games. I got in all but one of the runs, total mileage, 29 miles.

I went to see Dr Allison on Wednesday about the pain in my leg. Even though it seemed better I am going to be running alot of miles and I didn't want to take a chance of hurting my leg. She diagnosed, Piriformis Syndrome. The piriformis muscle is deep in your butt and when inflamed it irritates the sciatica nerve and that was the pain I was having in my leg. She said it was fine to keep running, just listen to my body and I need to add some cross training and stretching. So that was good news.

My long run this week was 12 miles and I was really nervous about it. The longest run I have done since the half marathon was 9 miles. I wanted to run with the Striders at Todds Rd but no one else was doing 12 miles. Since I didn't have anyone who wanted to do 12 with me I decided if I was going to be running by myself I would stay and run in Gtown. Woke up and after a few minutes of moving around I thought I heard rain, sure enough, rain. I debated what to do. I know I don't melt and I could go ahead and run, it wasn't thundering or lightening. I decided to wait and few minutes and see what it did. About 6:15 the rain slowed down to a drizzle so I put on my pink hat, to keep the rain off of my glasses, and off I went. It drizzled on my for a few minutes and then the rain stopped till about mile 4 when it came a pretty good shower but didn't last long and I ran the rest of the way rain free. I felt pretty good till about mile 8 and I began to slow down and hurt a little but I was doing my run/walk so I kept going and managed to finish. My pace was a little slower than I wanted but overall a good run and I am proud of myself for getting out in the rain and doing it and finishing.

Today we went to Raven Run and did some hiking and had a picnic lunch, a really good day as a family. This week there is 31 miles on the schedule and a 5k on Saturday night. Chandler's ball season is over so it should be easier to get the runs in this week.

Later

C

And Away We Go - June 11, 2010

In January 2009 I started the Optifast program. My Dr had said that most people would lose about 50 pds in the 16 week initial program. I thought to myself, 16 weeks, 4 months, not that long in the general scheme of life I can stick with anything that long and if I could lose 50 pds that would put me back at the weight I have been most of my adult life and I would be happy. 11 months later, in December 2009, I reached my goal and had lost 122 pds. But I was scared, could I keep it off??? I have lost weight before, never this much but I have always gained it back and Ireally don't want to do that this time. At about this time a friend of mine, Dr. C, emailed me that there was going to be a half marathon race in Lexington in March and maybe we should think about doing it. Before I knew it we had committed to each other to do it together and put our money down. I decided to do it for two reasons, 1) to be able to say I had done it, my only goal was to finish and earn the finishers medal and 2) Ithought that training thru the winter would help me keep the weight off.

Well it worked, in March, we completed the race(although we didn't get to run together, long story for another post) but we finished and I was keeping the weight off and had even lost about another 20 pds just watching what I eat and running. SUCCESS!!

THEN my trainer started suggesting I do a full marathon. Her logic, I was already training and if I didn't do it now I would be like the people who finish school and say they will go back and get their MBA and then never do, so after alot of thought and soul searching I put my money down and signed up for a marathon. While we were training for the half we joined up with John's Striders in Lexington and without their help and support I don't know if I would have gotten out on those cold Saturdays and do the long runs so I emailed Ernie and said I need a training plan for a marathon and this is the first week of his plan. Tomorrow morning is my first long run, 12 miles. At this time I don't have anyone who wants to do 12 with me so I am going to run here in Gtown by myself in the morning and I am more than just a little nervous.

I have wished several times that I had kept a diary of my weight loss journey and my half marathon training so this time I am going to do it. This will be about my journey towards completing 26.2 miles with some remembrances back to my Optifast and half marathon journeys.

C