Change of plans

I wish I was posting this from my Las Vegas hotel room at the MGM Grand, hours before the beginning of the race...but I'm not. In spite of all my hard work (and that of many others whose help was invaluable), I was unable to raise enough money to participate in the Team Challenge Half Marathon this weekend. I found this out right before Thanksgiving, but just didn't have the heart to talk/post about it until now. I was initially pretty upset, and still very saddened that I will not be running with my national teammates and fellow IBD sufferers tomorrow morning, but I have come to terms with it.

Once I had the chance to digest this news, I realized that I have already come so far, and even though I did not meet my financial goal, or make it to the race in Vegas, I have already accomplished so much more than I thought was possible. To date, I have raised $1902 for CCFA, and have run in three races, including two 5Ks, and one 10K which I completed on Thanksgiving morning. I have a lot to be thankful for, not the least of which are the family and friends who have helped me get this far, whether it be financial or moral support that you have given me. I could not have done this without you all, and I am more overwhelmed and grateful than I can express with words.

I initially felt as though I were letting all of you down, and myself as well, by not making it to Las Vegas. However, I have the chance to make good on my promise to run a half marathon for CCFA...I have decided instead to run in a half marathon in February, right here in my hometown. I also plan to continue to fundraise, and I believe my fundraising website will still be up til January. Please continue to support me as I raise money for CCFA, and also please continue to offer encouragement and advice, as I have another ten weeks of training ahead now...

Tape doesn't really fix everything...

Training is going fairly, not getting up to where I was as quickly as I'd like, but overall I've been doing well. Ran five miles a few minutes ago, wanted to do more, but decided not to push it too much, since I have reduced, but not eliminated, my knee pain. Taped my feet until they almost didn't fit into my shoes, it's helping, but I can't get the tape to stay on for more than a few miles. I can feel it loosening, and that's about the same time my knee starts hurting. I'm going to look into some inserts this week, as well as some new shoes, if my wallet can handle it.

I tell you what though, I am really enjoying being able to run again. There's this feeling that comes over me, I feel so empowered, like I can accomplish anything. All the doubts about the race, about fundraising, even non-marathon related issues I've had this week, they all seem so much smaller, so insignificant when I'm running. I love that feeling, and it lasts for awhile even after the run is over, until life settles in again. I am so thankful to have my health back, what a precious, precious thing it is, and I will never, ever take it for granted.

Come to think of it, that's why I'm doing this whole thing anyway...Because there are so many people out there with IBD, people that haven't been as lucky as me. They struggle every day with their health, and I know personally that it's mentally and physically exhausting. If by running and raising money for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, I can help fund research for medicine and a cure that can help all these people, many of whom I know personally, then I can't give up now. Even though I'm having some struggles of my own, trying to keep up with training and fundraising, it's nothing compared to what some people have to go through on a daily basis. So basically right now I'm feeling inspired, energized and excited.

On another note, I decided that I'm going to dedicate every mile of the 13.1 mile race to someone that I know. It may be someone that has helped me financially, morally, just inspired me, or all of the above. I have a few people in mind already, and I'll post the final list, with someone corresponding to each mile I run, sometime closer to race day...which is in 4 weeks!!!

Tape fixes everything!

I've done two runs since the last time I posted an entry to the blog. I started my training up this week, with two strength workouts, and my first run on Tuesday morning. I decided to try for an easy four miles, since it was my first run in a month...unfortunately my body did not think four miles was easy. I did fine with endurance, which was my only concern until now. Somewhere in the second mile my right knee started hurting, and by the middle of the third mile I couldn't run anymore because of the pain. I had to walk the last one and a half miles home. I wasn't about to let that get me down though. I enlisted the help of a very kind, knowledgeable and helpful co-worker and physical therapist. Lucas spent his lunch hour watching me run on the treadmill, correcting my form and taping my feet. I was encouraged by the information I received, and decided to test it all out today with a short run.
I decided not to pre-determine the distance and to just let my body tell me when I should stop. I taped my feet, and hit the road. Unfortunately, my knee pain returned after the first mile...and I was a mile away from home. I remembered some of the things Lucas had told me to work on to improve my form, and managed to make it back home without walking and without making the knee pain worse. When I took my shoes off, I saw that my tape job was sub-par and had come loose, which I hope is the reason I had knee pain so early on in the run. I am a little discouraged at this point; it does seem like everything that could go wrong right now is happening. But I knew this race would not be easy, and there is no way I'm giving up. I will be at that starting line on December 6th, nothing will stop me. It would just be nice to catch a break for once, have something go well.
I have five weeks left to prepare, and I'll be hitting the road again Tuesday morning, hopefully with a better tape job this time. Wish me luck!

Back in the saddle again...

So much has happened since my last post...I have not been updating my blog, because I have not trained since the beginning of October. Unfortunately, I got sick with the flu at that time, and then had a colitis flare-up. I nearly dropped out of the race, but the support of family, friends, and my trainers has inspired me to stick with it. I am recovering well, and should be back in training next week.
I officially committed to the race this week, turned in all of my paperwork for travel, etc. At this point, I cannot turn back (really, they have my credit card number now). I'm eager to get back to running...I'm also stepping up my fundraising game, as this seems to be the area I am struggling most in. With less than one month til the fundraising deadline, I have met only about 10% of my goal. I have some plans in the works to help bring this number up, but please help me by forwarding my blog and fundraising links to everyone you know. Over one million Americans are affected by IBD, so you never know who may be sympathetic and in a position to help.
Less than six weeks until Race Day!!

Another 5K...

Yes, it's been a couple weeks since my last post. Not much has changed...I'm still dealing with ankle issues, trying to figure out what works best for it. I tried taking it easy for a couple weeks, but it seems that my ankle actually looks and feels better when I'm running. This week, I've run twice, with plans to do the long run this evening...I did run a 5K this weekend, always love those...this one was tougher than the last one, lots of hills, and my time wasn't what I hoped it would be. I'll post the official time once the official race results have been tallied, but it's about 30:30. It was still fun, and it really helped to inspire me to keep going. I've been a little down about training since my ankle started acting up...but this race helped me to remember why I'm doing this, that it's all worth it, and my ankle has been doing a lot better recently, so...I'm back in the game!
In other news, found out that someone in the same area is training for the same 1/2 marathon in Vegas! I'm excited to meet one of my national teammates in person, hopefully in the next couple weeks.
My training is definitely on track at this point, I'm excited about that part of it. Seems the difficult part for me will be the fundraising. I'm not excited about my progress to this point...it's mostly my fault, I've only posted the website address and handed out a few flyers. I'm going to try to do some catch-up this weekend, with some emails and letters, hopefully I can pull it together. Wish me luck!

The ugly truth...

So...I haven't been posting this past week...because I haven't been training! I was trying to keep it on the DL, but my left ankle is injured/irritated. I didn't twist it or anything, but it's been swollen and tender for a couple of weeks. Last week I tried to ignore it and continue running, but my ankle didn't seem too happy about that. So this week, I took it easy, no running, light gym workout, lots of stretching. Yesterday was the first big test, I was at a wedding, in heels, dancing all night, and my ankle was only minimally swollen the next day, actually looked better than it had all week. So I went running tonight, only 4 miles, below my training goal for this week, but I didn't want to overdo it. I iced my ankle when I'd finished, it looks pretty good right now and it's not bothering me too much. We'll see how it does at work tomorrow. One good thing about working in physical therapy is that I have plenty of people to bounce ideas off of and get advice where my ankle is concerned. Here's hoping I can resume the full training this week, starting with a short(er) run on Tuesday.

Labor Day weekend, Gator football and more...

It's been a quiet week of training...two 4-mile runs this week, no big deal, getting 'em done. This morning the air was decidedly cooler than usual, and I'm not super-excited about that. I'm probably the only person in the universe who prefers to run in extreme heat and humidity, but I do. Once it gets too cool, I'll have to revert to the treadmill, which I HATE! I'm going to put that off as long as possible, but I've always had trouble with my inner ears, as well as my breathing, when it gets cold out. By the way, what is up with the weather anyway...last time I checked, it was the beginning of September! I'm hoping for at least another 6-8 weeks of nice, hot weather, fingers crossed.

Leaving town tomorrow morning to spend a long weekend visiting family down in South Florida. I'm still going to do the long run on Sunday, and get this...my cross training will be the hours of shopping I plan to do! Can you think of any better cross training than walking miles in the mall carrying heavy packages? I certainly can't...

On a final note, it's Gator football opening weekend, and I'm disappointed that I won't be in town for the festivities. But don't worry, I'll be celebrating with the family on Saturday night, and my heart will be in Gainesville.

5K

So...at the last minute I found out about this 5K happening in my area; found out last night, ran it this morning. Just wanted to get some experience with this sort of thing, so I won't be as "green" going to Vegas in December. I ran the race in 28:24, which comes out to just over 9 minutes a mile. I guess I'm not made for short distances...I do think I could do better, and I want to try again soon. In any case, I had a great time, and I'm really glad I jumped in at the last minute, thanks to a lot of encouragement from my friend Reina...who kicked butt with a time of 22:05, and 2nd place! After she finished, she ran back to find me and cheer me on!

World's Greatest!

I know I haven't blogged much since Monday...nothing really has happened, just been training as usual; had a couple 3.5 mile runs this week that went fairly. The only exciting thing that happened was at the end of my run on Thursday...I was almost through, had changed the route a little so that the end of the run was uphill, instead of the way I was usually running it with the downhill portion at the end. I was started to "run out of gas" when the next song on my iPod began to play...it was "The World's Greatest" by R. Kelly. This song is special to me, it has to do with Camp Oasis, and it's impossible to explain to someone who hasn't experienced camp. But for anyone who has, you'll understand why I got this surge of adrenaline and finished the run on a high note!
Today was my rest day, and tomorrow is supposed to be my easy cross training day...However, I talked to my friend this evening, who happens to be running in a 5K tomorrow, what a coincidence! So I've decided to join her; this is my first race ever! It shouldn't be too tough, only 3.1 miles, but my biggest fear is that I'll finish last...she promises that I won't, so we'll see...I'll let you know how it goes!

Back to the grind...

Just arrived back from my weekend cruise this morning. It was so much fun, and I'm exhausted, not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Here's how the training went while I was on the boat...I did not train on Friday before I left for vacation, as previously stated, because of time and energy constraints. Friday night on the cruise was decidedly tame compared to the other nights, so when I woke up on Saturday I decided to go ahead and do the long run that morning. I usually do the long run on Sunday mornings, but didn't know what kind of shape I'd be in this particular Sunday, since I knew what the plans were for Saturday evening...So, I was feeling pretty good Saturday morning and decided to hit the treadmill at the gym on the boat for the 5 miles. Let me just say that it was so much fun running on a treadmill while the boat is rocking back and forth underneath it. I'm not being sarcastic; it was great! Once you get used to the motion, it's fun...plus the treadmill was facing the floor to ceiling windows looking out over the ocean, so I had a beautiful view. Could have run all day with that kind of view.
Turns out it was a good decision to run Saturday instead of Sunday, since I was not up with the sun on Sunday morning, due to the previous night's festivities. However, Sunday afternoon we were at the beach, and I found myself swimming for 30+ minutes, so I guess I can count that as my cross training...well, that and the countless times I had to climb 9 flights of stairs on this cruise, since the elevators were slow and always full.
So, now I'm back in town, sadly...and running on 2 hours of sleep...but the plan is to nap a little and then hit the gym for some easy strength training...and doing my first run of the week tomorrow, 3.5 miles again.

Vacay!!

At this very moment, I'm packing to leave for a weekend cruise to the Bahamas with some fabulous women...It's Norisse's bachelorette party, and I could not be more excited...or exhausted. I have been up most of the night trying to get "stuff" done prior to my departure, and today is the first day I'm going to skip training. Today was supposed to be an easy cross training day, and I thought I'd have enough time to squeeze it in this morning before leaving, but unfortunately even staying up all night did not allow me enough time. I'd like to postpone my departure for a few minutes in order to fit it in, but I'm sure the ship will not wait for me...I'm going to attempt my usual long run on Sunday while on the cruise, we'll see how that goes...Be back on schedule Monday!

Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water...

After Sunday's successful long run, I was actually feeling really good about my progress, thinking I might actually be able to pull this whole thing off...and then my run this morning changed all that. I added a 1/2 mile to my weekday runs, to make it 3.5, which I didn't think would be a big deal...but this morning was rough! I'm sure it had something to do with my lack of sleep the past several nights. I've been busy trying to get a lot done to prepare to leave town this weekend, and haven't been home much to eat or sleep...I guess it finally caught up with me. This was definitely the most difficult run so far, but it's taught me a lesson on the importance of eating right and getting enough sleep while training. Unfortunately I don't see my schedule changing much this week since, in preparation for my departure this weekend, my to-do list seems to be getting longer instead of shorter...so we'll see how the Thursday run goes. Excited about maybe cross training/rock climbing tomorrow...it's been a couple weeks.

The long run...

Even though the official start day for training isn't until Monday, I've been training for the last couple weeks, since I feel like I'm a little below the curve, having never done this sort of thing before. So...tonight was my second long run, 4 miles. I didn't expect it to be easy, since I didn't sleep a whole lot last night, and hadn't eaten well the last couple days. But, the miles flew by, I ran a good pace, and only walked about a tenth of a mile. Today is the first day I actually believe I can do this without really sucking at it...
Also, it started raining when I was about halfway into the run, and one of my neighbors, who happens to be a good-looking guy, stopped to ask if I needed a ride. Too bad I had to turn him down. I guess you have to make sacrifices to train...