Deploy!

I went on my first run in three days, and it was awesome. Well, it would have been if I let myself. When I set out, I was going to do three miles, but when I hit the turn around point, I passed a guy who could barely control his dog and I didn't want to pass him again just yet. I ended up going out to the two mile mark and was still feeling good. Around the 3rd mile, I was still feeling pretty good, but I started to worry. I kept thinking that this is when the tightness usually sets in and when tightness comes, pain will follow shortly, but it didn't happen. Almost 1/2 a mile to my car, and I'm still waiting, and it doesn't happen. I finished 4 miles and felt pretty good the entire way, and I finished in a 10ish minute mile. It was a run in the right direction, and there's hope!

Right now, I'm incredibly hungry! I had some rice frozen meal, some chips and salsa, and cereal bar. My stomach feels so empty. What's up with that?!?

Okay, tomorrow is three miles and I might do it on the treadmill for the softer even surface. Then it'll be an easy long weekend, since I'll be camping. :)

One more day!

One more day and I will have completed my three days of no running. Phew, it's rough to not run, after one day, I get the itch. Last time I took three days off, it did wonders for my legs. This week is perfect timing too, since I leave to go camping on Friday. I won't get much running in and I will be well rested without pushing too hard before marathon training begins.

I don't want to have to back out of this, my heart is already in it and I'm ready to go!

Last night, I did Shred level 3, and man, did it suck (but in a good way). It's amazing that I think I'm in great shape, but this workout video had me panting. Seriously, I can run for hours, but these little 2 minute cardio segments killed.

That's about all I got for today...it's a boring day today. I'm going to enjoy it while I can since July 1st brings the new fiscal year and LOTS of new reports to complete for clients. BOO! It sounds impressive, but it's just mundane Excel reports.

Still Haunted...

By my IT Band that is. Last weekend, my "long" run was 3 miles. Boo! I'm so missing my morning long runs. The feeling of being so tired, sweaty, but accomplished has eluded me long enough. I'm being patient, I do have a little bit of time to be as my marathon training doesn't begin until after the 4th.

I can't wait to start training for this, but I also want to be completely healed. How disappointing it will be if I can't even get started. Luckily, the training plan I've chosen starts with low mileage, something that's realistic for now. Hopefully, I won't have to tell people I'm backing out.

This week, I ran on Tuesday and did 3 pain free miles. I didn't even have a hint of tightness. I cross trained on Wednesday, and went out for a run last night. I made it 4 miles and felt tightness in my IT band towards the end. Not really pain, but tightness. I felt if I went any further, it would start to hurt. However, I made it four miles at 10ish minute pace, which isn't bad for me, and I haven't ran over 3 miles since my last 10k. So, there is improvement.

Saturday will be another attempt at a "long" run. We'll see how that goes.

The Big Catsup

Well, it's really my post on catching up. It's been two months since my last post and I wish I would have posted my last race report from the Pittsburgh Marathon.

Long story short, the Pittsburgh Marathon was amazing. I made my goal with a finish of 2:06! It was a great day that started at 3:30 am with my alarm going off. I went out to meet a friend right outside Pittsburgh, and we caught the trolley into town since there were 3 other major events going on, driving would have been horrible. We hit the porta potties, bag check, and eventually made it to the starting line. The weather was very humid, but it finally started raining around mile 2 and it felt amazing. It rained the entire time, so I felt cool but traded off for heavy shoes. The crowd support was amazing, even with the rain, there were so many people out there cheering us on. I was so impressed. I loved Pittsburgh and I would definitely do it again.

Recovering from the race since then has been an up and down hill battle. My IT Band has been the biggest culprit and I'm nursing my second bought of ITBS since the half. I think I'm on my way back now. I've lowered my miles, stretched and foam rolled. I've done several runs now without the knee pain, and now I'm on the eve of my first "long" run in a couple weeks. I'm hoping for 8, but I'm not afraid or too proud to quit beforehand if I need to. I just want to get out there, get sweaty, and feel accomplished again.

Two weeks ago, I met up with some running friends in Maryland for Zooma, an all woman's race. I was suppose to do the half, but dropped down to the 10k because of the knee pain. It was such a great time, despite the heat and humidity. I can't really go too much into the weekend without typing another book. All and all, with the heat, humidity, and hills, I finished in 59:14. Not too impressive, but I seriously slowed down when I saw women on the side of the street with EMT crews attending to them. Scary stuff!!

Hopefully, I'll be back to post sooner than two months.