the foot (problem) part 1

Some of you know the saga of my right foot, and some of you don't, so I thought I'd share a little about what happened and give an update.

Take it from the top, Sparky.

I ran the Route 66 half marathon the Sunday before Thanksgiving and knocked an amazing 27 minutes off my PR. Needless to say, I was flying high (on running endorphins of course) and feeling good. In fact, I would argue that I was as fit as I had been since high school and knew that I still had a lot more in me. I rested the few days following the race and set out Thursday morning for my first recovery run. A leisurely 4 mile run around my favorite loop here where I live.

As I clicked past the first couple of miles I felt good as I did a mental run down of all my working parts. Quads, good. Calves, still a bit sore, but good. Knees, stiff to start, but warmed up. Pace 9:47 and it felt EASY. (remember that I was knocking out a blistering 14 minute mile when I first started waddling running) Then, it happened, but I can't tell you exactly when or where or how. I just know that part way through my run that day the top of my right foot started to hurt. A lot. I chalked it up to race day soreness and maybe I had tied my shoe too tight.

I drove sore foot and all to Minnesota the next day to visit family and was very thankful for cruise control. I took it easy all weekend, icing and generally laying around. That Tuesday I went for what was supposed to be a 6 mile run with my mom. My foot started hurting so badly during that run we cut it way short and ran probably about 4. I could barely walk.

I iced. I elevated. I rested. I worried. I really truly thought that I had a stress fracture. My foot and toes were swollen and nothing seemed to help. I managed to get the kids and I back home and resorted to going to see my primary care doc.

My doc's personality can best be described as a wet cardboard box. Seriously. He seems nice enough, but after gazing at my x-ray, sheepishly prodding my foot with one index finger and shrugging his shoulders, he said, "I guess maybe you strained it. Don't run."

DON'T RUN?!?!?!

I was devastated. And mad. He gave me no answers (or even actual diagnosis), provided no real help and told me the worst possible solution. No running. Sadly, I didn't have much choice, or so I thought. (see that, that right there is foreshadowing. High fives to all.)


Stay tuned. Part two later this week....

random facts friday

Because I am completely devoid of original ideas this week, I will steal my favorite bloggy post theme from here and call it a day.

1. I have had 10 various operations or procedures ranging from tubes in my ears 3x to having a tiny little person cut out of me on 2 separate occassions to knee surgery and pretty much everything in between.

2.  I ALWAYS put my right shoe on first. Always.

3. If I don't have a watch on I panic a little. (related: I NEVER take my watch off)

4. I don't consider it a dog if it doesn't weight 35+ pounds. It might be a great companion, but it's not a dog, it's a fur ball.

5. I still have to use the little hand trick to multiply by 9.

6. I haven't worn a dress since I wore my wedding dress...8 years ago.

7. I am allergic to adhesive, but ONLY when I am pregnant.

8. I cannot sleep in socks for any reason.

9. I don't actually miss Facebook at all.

10. I broke my finger playing football with the boys in my neighborhood in 2nd grade. My finger is still crooked, but I made the tackle.

Happy Friday!

so proud (mostly a wordless wednesday)

Here is my baby on Monday. My FIVE YEAR OLD baby, ready for her second week of running fun. And a picture of my boy, you know, for fairness sake. :) Happy Wednesday. Hope you get to run today.

She's having so much fun. I'm so glad she is enjoying herself.

And here is my boy, just because I think he's cute. Livin' the thug life, obviously.

april goals

Short term, intermediate goals are not my strong suit. I do well with big, scary (i.e. run a half marathon/marathon) longer term goals, but the little ones are the ones I tend to slack on. So here's my effort to do better at setting, keeping and meeting short term goals.

1. Find my long lost nutritional discipline. I seem to have lost my ability to make wise food choices on a regular basis. That needs to change as I ramp up mileage. Also, my sister is getting married in May. Less of a muffin top would be a good thing. In terms of details that means way less dairy (if any at all) on my sensitive tummy and to back away from the Oreos. Oh how I love Oreos, but that's for another post on another day. Oh and I'm also experimenting with a new pre and post run fuel strategy, but I will get into that when I have been able to see how it's going to pan out.

2. Speaking of mileage. I want to set the somewhat lofty (for me) goal of running 75 miles this month. Now, for those of you who regularly run this in a week or two try to remember what it was like to be a newbie. Besides, the point of this goal is that what I REALLY need to do is to become more consistent on a day to day and a week to week training basis. I tend to go hard for a week or so and then skip most of a week then rinse and repeat. If I could find some consistency in training, everything else will fall into place. Besides, to meet my overall goal of running the FULL at the Route 66 Marathon in November, I need to be running consistently before training actually begins, not just when I get a bee in my bonnet and need to blow off steam. (Bee in my bonnet? What am I, 88 years old and from Revolutionary America?!)

3. Crosstrain. Eww. But it needs to happen. Riding my bike and some weight and core training need to become regular occurrences in my life. Seriously. As my sister calls them, "Nancy Regan arms" just won't cut it in a tank top...or ever.

4. Stop being a wimp when it comes to the 5K. I need to get faster and learn to deal with the short term pain of a 5K. I can do it for a half marathon, but not a 5K? I make no sense. Looking to set a new PR pronto.

So there it is. What I want to do in my running life this April. Exciting, huh? Well, I am already 7 miles deep, so it's a start!! If I can start to pull the little things together, November 18 is going to be a BIG marathon-y success!

Happy Running! (or Zumba, [Erin!] or spin or swim or however you like to sweat!)

YAY RUNNING!

When I most need to run, I don't want to go. Thank goodness my husband knows me best and pushed my grumpy butt out the door this morning. Mind cleared. Mood lifted. Nothing beats a hard 5 miles, a little sunshine and time alone with the One who made me. Thank you God for allowing me to run.


I hope you have a HAPPY RUN today.

the apple tree

Yesterday was an exciting day in our household, and not just because I was able to walk upright (barely) after doing Jillian's 30 Day Shred for the first time on Sunday afternoon. No, the excitement was all about running, of course!

Addison had her very first kids running program session last night! Our local running shop has a 6 week program that prepares kids to run either a one mile fun run or (for older kids) a 5K. Really the aim of the program is to teach running fundamentals, get kids moving, and hopefully begin to develop a love for running in the kids at an early age.

When I cautiously told her about the program, praying she'd want to do it totally prepared for my princess to be offended at the mere suggestion, I was beside myself that she was super excited and immediately wanted to sign up. I tried to hide my enthusiasm and not put any pressure on her if she really didn't want to do it, but nothing melts this mommy's heart like, "I want to run like you Mommy!"

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I run. I run for myself, sure, but when those REALLY tough miles hit and the hills climb steeper and steeper, that's when I always think the most about my kids.

I run to show my kids to be strong, to be healthy, and to never quit on their dreams. We can tell a million things to our kids, but our actions always always speak louder than words. Cheesy? Of course. True? You bet.

I'm happy to say that maybe my apples indeed haven't fallen too far from my tree and we will someday be able to connect and run some of those tough miles side by side. This mommy can only hope.

Now if I could only figure out a way to effectively shrink my ever growing trunk........

Happy Running!

the numbers can be deceiving

The circumstances:
The boy has the stomach bug. Yuck. Let's just leave it at that. And when either of my kids are sick, I inevitably turn into human furniture for them to lounge upon. Thus my planned morning run did not happen. Instead I found myself alternately changing numerous diapers, scrubbing out the bathtub after a rather unfortunate attempt at bathing the boy, and then holding the aforementioned sickie as he finally fell asleep in my arms. That last one, that was wonderful. The other two, bleck.

So after a late lunch I set out to run of hopefully 5-6 miles around 2pm on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. WITHOUT WATER. Miserable Fail. I knew it was nice and sun shiny out as I had been trekking back and forth to the outside trash can to dispose of diapers. (see above) I didn't happen to notice that it was HOT and the sun was BLISTERING.

Any who...My legs and I were giddy for a run after a week of massive thunderstorms had squashed any runs during the week. (No I'm not afraid of rain, I am, however, afraid of lightening.) So I set out at a (for me) blistering pace for a first mile of 8:38. Way way too fast. I tried to reign it in for the second mile. 9:16. Better, but still too fast for what I was wanting for the day. Ideally I would have settled in from the beginning between 9:45-10:00 and cruised for an hour.

Alas, it was not to be. As I hit mile 3 I knew I was overheating. Whoops. As I looped thru a shopping district in our suburb I noticed a Jamba Juice smoothie shop. I decided to swallow my pride and ask for some water seeing as how there was little shade or relief on the return trip home which was now 2ish miles away.

Did I mention I own a FuelBelt? Um, yeah. It was at home.

The nice, but somewhat horrified (at my near spontaneously combusting sweaty appearance) looking teenager gave me a glorious cup of ice water. It was heaven and then I trudged home hopelessly positively splitting the last two miles. Mile 3: 9:57 Mile 4: 10:16

Overall the numbers look good. But that would be very deceiving without the proper explanation.
4.03 miles 38:25 average 9:32/mile

The numbers sometimes lie, but at least I won't soon forget to carry water with me any time I set out for a run in the Oklahoma sun.

Happy (water filled) Running.