6 miles and counting...

Sorry I'm again behind in my blogging. I will do better. This past Friday I went to see a sports medicine chiropractor (I still love you Dr. Weigand! but he's my spine guy). Dr. Sherman came to practice a week ago Saturday and gave a talk on injury prevention and he treats mostly marathoners and triathletes with a few golfers thrown in. How cool am I that I'm going to see a doctor that only treats athletes!!!! The prognosis is in, I have tendonitis in my knees, which is pretty common. Basically my tendons in the knee area are inflamed and irritated. My kneecaps also naturally extend further than normal so it rubs against the bone already (I think that's what Dr. Sherman said, I'll have to ask again when I see him on Friday). My numb toes are definitely due to my shoes not being wide enough and Roadrunner Sports does not carry shoes nor can they order shoes wide enough for me. Most women would wear men's shoes but the length isn't short enough for me. I wear a 6/12 E in women's 7E for running and the smallest men's' come in are 7s which is the equivalent of a 8 1/2 in women's. I found some New Balance shoes online but I need to find out return policies, etc. I need either neutral or stability but not motion control due to my orthotics. Who knew buying running shoes could be so complicated?!? Dr. Sherman suggested Brooks so I'll search for those.

This past Saturday I ran, well mostly walked 6 miles. I had to train much earlier than the rest of the team due to a fundraising event (I worked concession stands for Peoria Sports Complex - they donate 9% of the profits back to LLS, and that percentage gets split among the volunteers who work that day) so I met up with one of my teammates who is also working the concession stand. However she's a walker and since there is safety in numbers, I stuck with her pace which is to walk 4 minutes and jog very slowly for 3. It was much slower than I am used to going but I will say that it was also much easier on my knees. Finally with about two miles left I left her behind (there were plenty of other people by this point) and proceeded to my 2.20 minute jog/walk. I'm trying to move to a 2.5 minute jog and a 1.5 minute walk but I was struggling big time this last Saturday but I finished and did all of my 6 miles and then proceeded to be on my feet for the next 10 hours for the next three days working concession stands. Boy am I tired!!

I will say this has been a very positive experience and it feels good to be giving back to a very worthwhile cause and organization that helps thousands of people. Thank you to all of those who have visited my pages and have donated. Please spread the word to all your friends and family! Please click here to donate.

Oh cursed numbness.

Yet another milestone this week. Week five and I ran/walked five miles today! Boy did I feel my laziness from the week before with only training the one day. I was so short of breath so quickly I thought I was going to have to walk 4 minutes and jog 2. Fortunately we have a new runner on our team, Christian. He's running the full marathon but his current pace is run/walk for a 1.5 minutes so he was willing to run/walk my two minutes which he considered a push for him. And during the times that I wanted to walk more than two, he pushed me. I tell you...it truly makes a difference to have someone push you on those runs. The only negative is that I'm not such a morning person and I'm so used to running by myself and Christian liked to talk and talk and talk and talk! I don't know how he was able to talk so much and keep up his pace! But it really was great to have company along the way. And it really made the five miles go faster!

I saw my podiatrist and he thinks that my shoes are not wide enough for me and he also adjusted my orthotics. When I ran on Saturday, my knees definitely felt better but my toes still got numb. And remember that Nike + adapter I was sooo excited about...it's a piece of $%^*! At least the one I have. I ran five miles and my adapter said I ran 2.5! 2.5 was week 2 what the heck! So I'm taking it back and hoping that I just got a bad one. So I went back to Roadrunner sport where I bought both my running shoes and adapter and of course they don't have any shoes in my width in stock, nor does the running shoe I have come in wider width. Instead I'm going to have to change brands which are not nearly as attractive as the ones I currently have, but I am willing to sacrifice vanity for better comfort (I think I must be getting older and maybe wiser). The store manager also mentioned that when most people complain about numbness it's because of the the rubbing on the top of the foot not necessarily the width (huh?!?) but she's a marathoner and she manages a running store and I'm willing to try anything so she told me about skip lacing (I think this goes back to Heidi's original theory that my shoes are tied too tight). So I will try this tonight when I get home and hope that works. I also exchanged my adapter so hopefully this one will calculate the mileage closely. Please click here to donate

I'm so over this!

I hit a wall, I'm done. I don't want to train, run or raise any more money. I'm tired and my knees are always bothering me. I'm so over this!!!! So I thought. Part of my problem this week is that I traveled to St. Louis for a business meeting and only ran once this week. So by Thursday when Sheri came by my cube to see if we were running I said I wasn't sure and instead of giving me a hard time, she said okay! Now I know that Sheri isn't my keeper but she can't let me off the hook that easily! Ok...no more blaming Sheri for my laziness. I truly was being lazy and then I received a ding on my blackberry notifying me that someone had made a donation, my largest donation to date as a matter of fact, $500!!!! Well I surely can't quit now. How disappointed in myself would I be...how could I face all my family and friends who had already donated to say that I gave up. Did Rich give up when he was going through chemotherapy....heck NO! If he had he wouldn't be in remission today. And if all the other cancer patients were able to make it through all their pain and suffering...then I can get off my butt, lace up my shoes and run. Please click here to donate.

Late entry from 03/06/10

Wow, has it really been five weeks since I embarked on this training journey. Amazing accomplishments so far, I’ve ran over 31 miles, raised $1145 dollars and it’s really just the beginning. Who knew that there was so much more to running than lacing up shoes and getting outside or on a treadmill. As I mentioned before, I’ve been having problems with my toes feeling numb during my longer runs, and a friend of mine suggested that my shoes were laced too tight even if they didn’t feel like it. She told me to scrunch my toes before tying my shoes which I tried and my toes still feel numb, one of my TNT team mates wondered if maybe I had too much room in my shoes and my feet were moving too much, someone else thought maybe I was wearing the wrong kind of socks. Well I have a follow up appointment finally with my podiatrist. It may very well have to do with my orthotics since I have not been wearing them for very long. I’ll keep you all posted. The next thing I’ve mentioned is my knees hurting me. And the same friend that mentioned the too tight of shoes suggested that I check the strides per minute that I’m running….who knew math was involved in running.

The next saga I’ve mentioned is my Nike iPod adapter. It's still not working correctly! I ran four miles on Saturday and it only notated 2. ! I will exchange it for another one, perhaps I got a bad one and if it still doesn’t calculate correctly, it may be on to a Garmin – a bit more expensive but hopefully more reliable.

Back to training…this past Saturday we ran hills for the first time. All three teams from Central, West and East valleys met at South Mountain at 7:30 in the morning. We did a warm up walk (I much prefer a warm up walk than a warm up jog), stretched in a huge circle and then we all proceeded to run. We were given fair warning to run opposite of traffic and stay as close to the edge of the road as possible. Great advice because some of the curves were blind curves and it was hard to see cars coming. I started off with two other teammates, however one’s pace was much faster she’s running 4 minutes, walking 1 and another one was a bit slower but Nicki and I stayed together for most of it. I actually really liked this joint training with the other two teams. Along the way the coaches were lined up to say only ½ a mile more or you’re almost there. It felt more organized than my normal weekend practices, but I also have to remember that on our Saturday practices, there is only one coach, and with all three times combined there were 5 coaches. The other two teams actually have two co-captains. So Nicki and I did my two minute jog and two minute walk. And I was happy to see that I was keeping up fairly nicely with the pace, and on second half, I think I could have increased it to 3 minute jog and 1 minute walk, but my numb toes and my knees were preventing me from increasing my pace. I’m afraid of burning out my knee – I have so many more weeks left! Nicky's pace is a bit slower than mine so I found myself pulling away but tried to stay in ear shot so that I knew she would be okay. Every now and again I heard her belt out line from a song...she was doing fine. I must say that I really wish there was someone else at my pace so that I can have some company on the run. It helps to motivate someone and be motivated with a partner along the run. Fortunately during the week I do have someone to run with. Sheri who used to be a runner is starting back up again and she’s been meeting me as often as possible on my scheduled running days. Not only is it great to have someone to run with, Sheri has a faster pace than I do so during the week I can work on my pace and on Saturdays I can work on my distance. According the email Coach Bobby just sent out to the team, this is exactly what I should be doing! Now I’m just waiting for him to tell me what Fartlek means! I’ll keep you all posted!

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I've been a bit remiss in not adding a post from this Saturday's training. It was bring a friend day to practice, and I had two friends lined up but unfortunately were not able to make it. It was very cold and windy on Saturday and I didn't do the usual warm up lap with the rest of the team, instead I started early with the two other half marathoners. However I quickly realized that our paces were completely different. They were walking and I really wanted to jog. So I said bye to them and started my new my jog/walk pace. My cousin Jamie wisely told me that although pacing myself between telephone poles was a good place to start, it will be highly doubtful that there will be telephone poles marking the path during my marathon. I had already bought a Timex sports watch but hadn't taken the time to learn how to work it. Well earlier in the week, I had made sure to make the time. And learned how to set a repeating two minute alarm, which is what I use to track my pace. So I jogged for two minutes, walked for two minutes and so on.

This Saturday we went from three miles to 4 miles! 4 miles! I can't tell you the last time I ran or walked four miles in a row. Honestly I don't think I ever have! Even in my most athletic, best shape ever I never ran four miles at one time. So I was really anxious and started to think four miles...I'm freaking out about four miles when I've signed on to do 13! I better get over myself and just start moving. So I set my trusty Timex and couldn't wait for it to beep for my walking interludes. OMG...there goes my left toes again feeling numb (I really need to call my podiatrist) there goes that left knee...oooh, that hurts a bit. Good news is that I didn't feel the burning lungs like I did last Saturday. So Coach Bobby told me to that 32nd street was my two mile mark and turn around point. Well in addition to my fancy Timex marathon watch, I also bought a Nike iPOD adapter that tracks my miles, pace, calories burned etc! Was I excited to use this thing. So I'm jogging/walking/jogging/walking/walking/jogging when I reach 32nd street. I look down at my trusty Nike iPOD adapter expecting to see that I had completed two miles. Well wouldn't you know it, it said I only completed 1.25. So I thought well maybe Bobby was mistaken so I decided to continue until my iPOD say two miles. So I get to a point where I am so ready to turn around, I'm running into the cold wind, my hands are freezing, my toes are numb, now both knees are hurting and I cross paths with a teammate and I noticed she's got a Garmin watch. I asked her if she's able to track mileage on it. She said yup, I asked how far did it say she had gone? It was at 2.05 miles...guess what my Nike iPOD said....1.5something or other!!! What! I ran a .05 miles further than I needed to!!! I said well I guess I'll turn back now. I said thank you and goodbye to my teammate and started cursing my Nike iPOD thingy maginy and was very thankful for running into my teammate.

As my pace is so slow at this point (I'm averaging a 15-16 minute mile) the faster paced full marathoners who had to run 8 miles are starting to pass me up. Mike, one of the team captains started to keep pace with me for a short distance and asked how I was doing and if I was working on a pace. He thought the 2 min walk 2 min jog was a great place to start. I said I'd see him at the end because I definitely didn't want to slow him down. It's so great to run into your teammates along the way and cheer for each other. I always shout GREAT JOB, Go TNT and their name if I know it whenever I see one of my teammates along the path.

It really is amazing how warmed up you get towards the end. The last four minutes I actually jogged the whole way in. Mike was at the end of the trail and asked if that was the longest I had ran and I proudly replied YES!

So it looks like I need to re-calibrate my Nike iPOD adapter and check it against my treadmill. I tried this morning but I had to use the rest room in the middle of my twenty minute run and pausing my treadmill didn't pause the time. Next time I will focus more on the mileage and not so much on the time. If the adapter is still off, back it goes.

Thanks again for taking time to read this blog and stopping to make a donation on my TNT page. Click Here to Donate. Every dollar you donate is helping to find a cure!