Here is what is going on....

Well, I finished the marathon. I am quite confident that EVERYONE knows this by now. I am still a little sore on the right leg but I am not worried about it any longer. It is just annoying. I think I just need to be good to it and it will heal. It must be another muscle issue.

I set a second goal and have already completed it. I want to read a book and finish it. I had started Angela's Ashes and DaVinci Code but never got around to finish either. And to be honest, I am not pulled into it to really want to start those again and finish. So, I heard from a couple of my close on line friends that the book Twilight by Stephanie Meyer was really good. I like the thought of vampires so this intrigued me. I had never read any of Anne Rice's books and have no recollection of ever reading a book on vampires before. So, since this was a well received book by many I decided to head to the library and check it out. Well, the waiting list for this book would have me waiting for it until January! So, I bought it online from Amazon and received it in two days. I read it in 2.5 days. I started it Friday night and finished it Sunday afternoon. I was not a book worm and was able to live my life and was able to give my family attention on Saturday. But this book kept my attention and was such an easy and enjoyable read I breezed through it.

I find myself thinking about the characters as if they were real and wonder what they were doing now. It is so silly. But I really enjoyed this book and would suggest it to others. I have even bought the other three that are after this one. I just have to wait for Amazon to mail them to me. I will never ship anything with them under the "Super Saver Free Shipping" again. I purchased the books on October 19th Sunday and was given a shipping date of October 24. Because I was so darn excited to get the books I though the shipping date was the delivery date. Boy was I ticked off when I realized the opposite. In fact, the delivery date was scheduled for November 3rd!!!! I couldn't wait that long. However, I just received a confirmation that they were mailed out today and I should be getting them next Monday. That is much better. And I can't stress to you all enough that I loved this book so much I am going through Edward and Bella withdrawal! So the sooner the better.

I have been pretty down in the dumps lately. I think it has to do with the euphoria of the race and training and now there is nothing. So I really need to pick another goal to contend with. I think I function better knowing that I "must" do stuff for my own good. So, besides reading the next three books in the Twilight series, I need to come up with something good. Nothing too far out there, as if running a marathon wasn't "out there". I am thinking of learning German. I would love to be able to learn another language but I need to be able to utilize it after I learn it. I need to be able to test it successfully to be sure that I have indeed achieved my goal. So, I am not sure if that is something I can really put in as a goal. So, I am on the fence right now.

And finally, I am going to start working out again. I know that my mood has slipped and this has happened before when I stop exercising. I feel so much better about myself when I work out. So, who knows.... I may just run another marathon in my life time. I am sure my Uncle Clark would be laughing right now. He told me from the beginning that once you run ONE marathon, you are hooked and will run another one. I told him he was nuts. I told all of you that running a marathon is nuts....Sooooo..... why on Earth would I consider it again? Because I KNOW I can do it and I want to do better. I want to run it without an injury. I want to run it with the heat factor. I want to run more of it and walk less of it. :) So, as of today, I WILL run a half marathon somewhere and maybe next year I will run the Chicago Marathon again. We have to keep an eye on what is going on in 8 months from now and decide if it is feasible. Well, technically we will have to decide in 3 months since that is when they open up registration. YIKES! I better get to the gym!

I did it!

Greg and I woke up at 5:50 and were on the train at 6:15AM to the race. It was still dark out and it was great that we got to watch the sun rise together on the train. My leg was still sore but I figured that if I could give birth twice, I can at least try to run. The pain in my right leg starts around the inside ball joint in my ankle and runs half way up my calf and a little bit across the top of my foot. We actually got there on time and were so excited with all of the action happening around us. We checked in our bags and headed to the port-o-potty's. We stood in a long line to finally get into a disgusting toilet. I guess 40,000 runners using 100 port-o-potty's with a nervous stomach can make for a disgusting toilet experience.

We then ran down the fence line together and jumped the fence to get closer to the starting line. While we were there we were packed like cattle waiting to be released. We couldn't stretch because we were so packed. A girl fainted and was rushed out by her friend past me. It was so nerve wrecking. Besides the fact I was running a marathon this was the first race I ever participated in. LOL! AND, I am claustrophobic. I am so nuts. I never ran in a race EVER before. And then I was standing there looking at Greg with a bum leg and thought, WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?! Greg said don't look at her. She will be OK. We started moving forward, arm to arm with everyone toward the start line. Greg then asked me if I wanted him to run with me. I thought that was absolutely sweet since he wanted to run it in 3:55 (3hours 55minutes). I told him to run ahead and have fun that I didn't want to hold him back if I had to drop out because of my leg. He was worried about me but I told him I would either be right behind him at the finish line or I would be welcoming him at the finish line by getting a ride with the med crew at any of the water stations. We kissed and we were off.

It was amazing the amount of people that are cheering you on. It was a blur but I remember seeing people all around me. It was awesome. For the first five miles I was very concerned about my leg but the crowd helped me relax a little and keep going. I wore my name on my shirt so the crowd could cheer me on. It was a godsend. It felt good for people to yell my name out and tell me to "keep going", "looking great", "you can do it" and so on and so forth. I finally got to my old neighborhood which is the most Northern part of the race. I remember watching the first Chicago Marathon with Julian two weeks home from the hospital at the corner where we lived. Just thinking about those memories got me through mile 6 up to 8. And then mile 8 was boys town. Yes, the largest gay neighborhood had cheerleaders on bleachers doing a gun twirling routine to Raul Paul's "Work it Girl". It was awesome. I was so entertained and loved it. It pushed me into the next two miles when I was looking for Greg's supervisor who was having a party outside his house where we run past. I never did see them but I guess they were there.

So now, I was getting overly hot. My time was awesome. I was running a little faster then 5 miles an hour. If I could continue that pace I would have finished in 5 hours but it was getting hot. The race alerted the runners that they changed the alert from yellow to red. It was advised to slow down, drink lots of fluids and be safe. If they raised the warning again, they would close the race down. I decided to take a quick potty break around mile 13 (half way) and felt a burst of energy afterward. However, people were starting to walk more. A man in a wheel chair flipped his chair next to me and almost took out two people to my right and me. It was so scary. People ran to his aide and helped him and I stood there like, what do I do. When I saw a lot of men helping him up I kept running. I really hope he is OK.

The city opened up fire hydrants on the race course and neighborhoods set up sprinklers to run through. They were awesome. It started to get dangerous to run around people who were walking. I ran through the middle of the course to bypass many walkers and felt great until I hit a terrible long stretch. There were no trees, no shade, no breeze and no spectators to cheer you on, just hot sun which seemed to last forever. Then, a bank clock registered the time and the temperature. It read 92 degrees out. The pavement was hot and I was so wet, I could ring my shorts out. My shoes were so wet that I could feel water squishing between my toes. But I pushed on alternating between walking and running. I felt bad for not running more at that point but when I hit the next water station that was supposed to have the first nutrition for us (banana's) they were out. No banana's and I was pissed. I was hungry, tired, sore and hot and now I had to run over banana peals.

More people were walking and I decided to walk a little. I speed walked as much as possible but I started to feel nauseous. I wasn't sure if it was all the Gatorade in my stomach or the heat. So, I took another bathroom break and wrestled with my running shorts that were stuck to my legs due to the many water baths from sprinklers, hydrants or bottles of water poured over my head. I finally got out and felt a little better but think I just needed something other then GU and Blocks to eat.

I continued on and it was cool to run through the arches of the Chinatown and see the dragons dancing to the drums. After that I knew I was on the last stretch to the end. I struggled up to mile 25 and decided I HAD to run. I was looking for my parents with the kids and finally saw them .2 miles to the end. They didn't see me, so I yelled HEY at them. My mom jumped up to take my picture but I just wanted to finish. I waved for the picture and head up the hill of hell.





There is a small bridge that we had to run up to get to the finish line. I sprinted to the end. I couldn't believe some of the people sprinting looked like wooden puppets with their tired legs trying to run. Then there were other people who were walking or stopping as they got through the finish line. I had to break through two people to make it through the line as they walked. Oh well. I was so happy to finish.

I wanted to break down and cry. I wanted to see Greg and hug him and cry but it was chaos. I got a foil wrap put on me. I then received a medal around my neck. Then I received, water, banana, bagel and apple. I went to the bag check and didn't' see Greg there. Then I walked toward the family reunite area that was way in the hell at the opposite end of the finish line and found him. By that time, it was at least 30 minutes after I finished, so the tears were gone. LOL! Greg was so worried about me. He forgot to confirm the text message to receive my progress so he thought I never made it through the race. He contacted my parents on my cell phone and my mom told him that they just saw me and I looked great. So, we called my parents and we had to walk all the way back to the finish line to see them. So many people were passing out and I still couldn't believe how many people were STILL finishing the race. We finally found my family and were so happy. The kids were bored but happy to see us again.





I am a little disappointed that I walked as much as I did at the end but honestly, it was not safe to run with that heat for that long. I am happy that I did make my two goals. One was to finish and the second was to finish before 5hours and 30 minutes. My final time was 5:24:31 (5 hours 24 minutes and 31 seconds). I am proud of myself, and am in disbelief that I accomplished this.

I have a few more war wounds that I am dealing with right now. I am so SORE! I can barely walk straight and made sure to walk with the kids this afternoon to loosen up my muscles. I have chaffing injuries on my chest. A two inch rub on my chest from where the elastic on my sports bra rubbed against the water and my chest. Also two separate marks from where the safety pins holding my number rubbed. Of course while I was running I didn't feel it until after the race. I have a blister on the top of my right second toe that is almost the size of my pinky toe (from all the water in my shoes). And last but not least, sunburn. Holy cow, I took about 15 bathes while running so any sunblock that was on was gone. My leg injury never got worse during the race but it still is nagging. If it doesn't clear up by next week, I will see my doctor.

So in the end, it was a success. I had fun, I got to do it, I fulfilled my goal and I finished. But there is no reason anyone should ever run 26.2 miles. That is just ridiculous. Each time I look at the running course I think, did I really do that. That is insane. Would I ever do this again? I don't think so. It is almost like having a baby. You remember the pain at the time and think that you will never do this again. And then, you do it and think, "Hey I survived, I could do that again." So, I won't completely rule it out but I am not planning on doing it again for a long time. I would however, do a half marathon.

And finally, I never knew you could feel so much pain the day after the race. I have been trying to move and do stuff. I took the kids the park about a mile away and to the library and back home. I an so stiff and sore I can't even begin to tell you each spot that aches. I have a feeling tomorrow will be worse.

Here are my stats from the race:

5K:	0:32:40
10K:	1:07:35
15K:	1:43:49
20K:	2:20:30
HALF:	2:28:31
25K:	3:00:57
30K:	3:39:27
35K:	4:21:04
40K:	5:06:43
FINISH:	5:24:31
Pace / mile:	12:22

The count down begins

Well, it is basically Marathon time. My last "long" run was Sunday, a whole whopping 8 miles. It was a good run and the weather couldn't have been nicer. I would LOVE for the marathon to be that temperature through the whole race. It was mid 60's and partly sunny, as opposed to partly cloudy. I am not nervous. I am anxious. I can't believe I have logged in over 400 miles since June 9th. You would think I would be thinner but I am not. I am trimmer in some areas but not in the one area I would LOVE to be trimmer in. Oh well. I worked hard and the journey has been very eventful. I have rode this roller coaster throughout the whole training and I will not give up yet. You see, I am injured. My right leg (soleus area) has been aching off and on for the past few weeks. Usually, when I run it eases and doesn't hamper my run. However, since yesterday and all day today it is throbbing. I am on the fence whether or not I will put in my 3 miles tomorrow. I am actually thinking of biking or elliptical this whole week instead to be sure my leg is strong enough to make it to race day. I will be honest, I will crawl if I have to. I will race and there is nothing stopping me. I am not giving in. I worked TOO hard to make it this far to have my leg opt out. No way! I must be severely insane to be thinking this way. Wouldn't I rather have two legs to use beyond this race? At this point, no, I would rather have one and hobble around for 4 months like before. You can't expect me to give up on over 18 weeks of training because my leg is in pain. So, I am attempting to keep off of it as much as possible these next five days. I have too or I won't be running and NO ONE will want to be near me or speak to me for the next year. I will have this chip on my shoulder and sadness in my heart if I don't complete this task. I must be insane since I am in tears worried that I won't make it to the big day. Ugh.

The longest training run is OVER!

I am so relieved and proud of myself. I finished my 20 mile run on Saturday. It took me just under 4 hours to do and I didn't push myself too hard during it. I had been dreading, loathing and beside myself with fear and stress just thinking about that long run. Most of my issues with it was because my 18 mile run was so horrible. I figured that since my 18 mile was so hard that this would be near impossible. But it really wasn't. I found myself reading blogs and running articles that all said the same thing. The said, go slow, don't be afraid to walk through water stations and be proud of yourself and the training you have done so far. I took their wisdom to heart and I think it made a lot of difference. I also made sure not to run faster then I normally would run since that is what caused a lot of my grief during the 18 miler. I was even able to use the extra energy that I had at the end of my run to sprint home about half a mile. During the 18 mile run, I don't think I could have given any more at the end. As soon as I walked through the door I stretched and jumped into an icy cold tub. My legs and ankles loved me for this. My feet had not hurt during the run which I still think is amazing in itself since that is the one thing that has been constant for the past two months. I made sure to eat my Cliff Bloks and GU during my run. I also appreciate that a few local running organizations offered cups of Gatorade Endurance around my 6 mile mark, 9 mile mark, 11 mile mark and 14 mile mark. I stopped at two of them to rehydrate but I carry my own of G2 which isn't as heavy on the syrup and sugar. I really do not like Gatorade and found that I really run well and stay hydrated with G2. It isn't made to be used during high activity but I figured that it seems to work well with me and I will stick with it. Especially on race day. I will bring my G2 but I will use the Gatorade that they offer along the route during race day. I am looking forward to the race and that is a big difference from a week ago.

I am sure that many of my family and friends think I am utterly insane for even doing this. I think I am. But heck, how frustrating is it to set a goal (especially at New Years Eve) and never achieve it. I wanted to prove to myself that I can do whatever I set my mind to. Achieving a goal isn't easy and this was by far no where near easy. I am very appreciative of my husband for helping me keep my eyes on my goal. He would watch the kids for me on Saturdays so I could do my long runs. Sure, the majority of the time they were all sleeping but I couldn't leave my kids alone to run sleeping or not. He almost always asked me "how was your run" and seemed to encourage me, even when I uttered, "it sucked". Having two kids, working evenings and a husband that works during the day was difficult to train but I did it. I could NOT have done it without help and a strong will to achieve this dream. Many people have told me that they would never be able to this, but I by no means am a runner. I never loved running. There were many things telling me that I should stop and that I was too busy or that this was too hard to do. But, I have learned to respect the run and the journey. I have learned a lot about myself and what I enjoy about running at this point. I love being able to free my mind and think about life. I think about all the good things in life and reflect on my past. I have found a happy medium between what I have always wanted to be and who I am. I am not sure if many people are able to see where they have been and who they are now. The journey is where you learn about yourself. You learn about your shortcomings and your achievements and how they relate to the bigger picture. So far, this training has shown me that I am still able to set my mind to something and do it. "Blah, Blah..." people may think but really this wasn't about anyone but myself and I am happy with my journey and myself, no matter how difficult it has been.

I wanted to lose weight, however, my weight has not fluctuated much, but you can see a difference in my build since May. I am disappointed slightly that my "number" weight hasn't dropped, but I FEEL better about myself. I still have areas that I wish would minimize or tighten up but all in good time. If I can run and train for a marathon, I can learn to exercise regularly and eat better. After the marathon, I may still run. In fact, I wouldn't mind running a half marathon but I will not do another marathon. I will probably still run about 5 miles a few times a week but I will not go running 10+ for the pure zest of it.

OK, enough of this meaningless drivel for you all to absorb. I do appreciate you following along so far. I am going to focus some of my attention on what my next goal will be. I have thought learning another language or getting back into art. I do miss and love drawing. Heck, maybe I should start smaller and pick ONE book and finish it to the end. That can't be too difficult, could it?

Training sucks

Well, I truly hit a wall mentally during my 18 mile run. I was so lucky to run along with Greg as my parents were in town to watch the kids. We ran for 3 hours and 33 minutes for 18.25 miles. Around mile 13, I hit a mental wall and it was horrible. I felt overwhelmed, however, my body felt fine running. The only thing that bothered me up to that point was my right foot on the ball of my foot. It hurt but not bad, but mentally I was done running. I started to get upset with myself and found myself gasping for air. My chest was tight as I was fighting back tears and why? I still have no idea. I think I was beating myself up in my head. I don't think the body is designed to run over 3 hours straight. We had stopped long enough to pee in a port-o-potty and ran all the way until I couldn't breathe. We then walked for about .10 of a mile and got some water and I ran the rest of the way, unless I grabbed a drink from a drinking fountain along the rest of the four miles. It was horrible. I hated it. I tried to stay positive but it was so hard and it was too much for me. I have been trying to keep my nutrition up by making dishes recommended by chef's and nutritionists that run marathons. I am really going to need to find someone to help me mentally along the way. I read other blogs where people run with others who help them along the way. I have been training and running by myself for myself. I have been lucky to have Greg run with me three times so far but that is coming to an end as the race nears. A friend of ours that ran the marathon a couple of years ago was shocked to hear that I was running by myself because it is so mentally challenging. She said she could not have ran the marathon if it wasn't for her friends that trained and ran all the way with her. When I asked Greg what his goal was for this race and he uttered out a time to finish in. I told him that what I wanted to do is finish. At this rate, I will be running it, walking it, crawling it, crying it and crossing the line in hopefully 6 hours, as that is the allotted time to finish it.

I am going to run to Fleet Feet soon to pick up some more chews and drink for tomorrows 14 mile long run. Next Saturday will be my 20 miler. God give me strength. I need it....

A week in review

So things have been going well lately. I hit the wall and it sucked. I have since started to watch my protein and carb intake which is starting to help me out mentally and physically. I ran 4 miles on Tuesday and felt great and ran it in 38 minutes. That is much faster then my normal pace. On Wednesday I ran 9 miles in 1 hour and 35 minutes and felt much better the last half of the run then in the beginning. I felt tired and felt a pain in my right leg/foot area. But around 5 miles I felt much better with an occasional twinge but a lot of energy. I have been spending time on a running forum called Runnersworld.com . They have a ton of information and blogs for me to read and relate to. The weather has just changed overnight also. It is now in the 60's and feels great except that today it was storming this morning which meant I didn't get to run my 5 miles. I am going to try to go either tomorrow or just miss it all together. I have stuck to my training schedule and this will be my first real miss out on exercise. But I am also looking at it as reserving my energy for my Saturday run which will be 18 miles. It will be a tough day but I am trying to stay positive about it. Slow and steady wins the race right? Well, I just want slow and steady to finish the race under 5 hours. LOL!

It is also an important next two weeks. Besides the 18 miles on Saturday it is Julian's birthday next Wednesday. I can't believe Julian will be 4 years old. It is crazy how fast the time has flown by. And training for this marathon has been a long task but now it feels like it just flew by. The way things felt to drag out in the beginning and speed up toward the end feels just like both of my pregnancies. You feel pregnant forever and then wham the big day slaps you in the face. I have completed 273 miles since June 10th. That is very amazing for me to see. I am starting to feel very proud of my accomplishment so far. I hope that all continues to go well and I can finish the training and race. The race is in 37 days and counting!!!! WOW!

Week in review

I ran my 16 miles in Hokah at my parents house. It was good. I enjoyed my finish with Uncle Joe running along side me and my other Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents cheering me on. It took me 3 hours to run. That sucks. But I did use the chews which were good and I really didn't care for the liquid powder stuff. It made me think of the colonoscopy drink solution. ICK!

As for today..... I hate running. I just hate this. It is no fun. It is a real drag and I hate it.