MIA.

In South Georgia, on a house hunting expedition, as we prepare for our cross country move. We spent eleven days there, and they were jam packed days in which we got little sleep, trudged from house to house for four days in a row, suffered a lot from the three hour time difference and, thankfully, found a house that we absolutely love! Yes! We did it! We found a house!

The home is in great shape but needs some TLC as it was a bank owned property, but here is the view from our backyard! When we get the front yard cleaned up I’ll post a photo of it.

Here is a photo of our girls as we walked along the St Mary’s Historical area downtown.

We are back in So Cal now for seven weeks and then we will begin the next part of our life. It starts with a cross country drive, car loaded down, kids strapped in their seats! Now, that will be one to write about!

So I had a scary run experience while there. I felt fine starting off at 5 AM, one 17 oz bottle of water, one of Gatorade, some bagel in my stomach, a power bar in my pack. My goal: 8 miles.

I felt the humidity as soon as I stepped outside but I was committed to staying hydrated by drinking those two bottles during the run. I started drinking immediately.

About two miles in I met a guy that has run marathons in 42 states. He belongs to the 50 marathons in 50 states club. I have not looked into it yet, as I had no internet access at the condo where we stayed, but as soon as I do I will post some info. It sounds like fun.

Anyway, my stomach began to rumble about 3 miles into the run. I knew I wouldn’t make it the 8. Even the guy who lived in South Carolina said it was hot, so I knew it must be, and I have always had a sensitivity to the heat so I have to be careful when it gets really hot. Yet he had only one bottle of water, I had two bottles of liquid, and I felt prepared.

At mile 6 I told him I couldn’t go any further. I didn’t feel sick, just tired and hot and I really had to go to the bathroom.

And go I did. I won’t go into any gory details, but if you run distances you know what I’m talking about.

I was so hot I stripped down between trips to the toilet and put some water on my head. I ate a bowl of oatmeal, though I felt like puking, and I guzzled large amounts of liquids to replenish myself.

But I couldn’t stop going to the bathroom. Finally I took a cold shower, tried to eat some pretzels, which I could barely swallow, and laid down again.

We had to go house hunting and I didn’t want to miss the three houses that were first, and that were also located near our condo, so I made it down to the car but I told my husband I might not make it much further. He suggested I stay home but I didn’t want to miss it. I felt very tired, and had a hard time keeping my eyes open. Eventually, I came around some. By nighttime I felt fine.

The next day, while walking down the stairs of our new house, I pulled a muscle in my leg.

Let’s just say that the heat and humidity obviously got to me. I was not only overly hot but then I became dehydrated, and the dehydration caused the sickness to get worse and then the muscle pull the next day.

I think of myself as a smart runner. I had already run in that area a few times, so this wasn’t my first run in the humidity, and I didn’t even feel that sick while running; I just had to go to the bathroom.

It scared me so much that I took tentative runs the rest of the time. The muscle pull got better a few days later. I did a three miler and then a four miler before we left. They went fine.

I think part of the problem was that I didn’t hydrate myself as much as i should have the day before I ran. Once we get there I think I will have to make a really conscious effort of drinking tons of liquid the night before a long run in the humidity. I did go for the run at the early morning time I always do, but it was still hot, hot, hot.

Despite that run, and that scare, the rest of the runs were great. I missed having my weights and my exercise ball and particularly my kettlebell! I did my situps and crunches and push ups but they just didn’t feel the same! I’m glad to be back home with all of my tools. The condo didn’t have a great yoga place either. My new house: Perfect! I can do it right in the living room overlooking the marsh. I can’t wait!

I hope everyone has been healthy and having fun and having good runs. I have some weight to make up. I lost about four pounds, and I’m sure that part of that was how sick I got. I need to get that weight back on, so chocolate, here I come! Today I did a nine miler, and it was great. It was cool here, with some mist over the ocean. It’s going to be hard to leave this weather behind, the coolness of the early mornings, but I can’t wait to get to where we are going, either!

Happy Running!

I started off with a 1,000 meter swim. Not bad, as I did it first and was glad that I did because the pool was open with only one other swimmer. The swim was a good one and I realized something funny during it: While I love swimming, I loathe biking, but only at the gym. I have a feeling if I were working out outside, swimming would be tough in the ocean or lakes because I’d be concerned about whatever was below the surface and biking would be great because I’d actually be going somewhere!

Swim: 1000 meters/40 laps; approx. 29 minutes. I stopped a few times to listen for the paging system, in case my youngest needed to leave childcare! I want to do this entire swim next week without stopping, and I’d like a better way to time myself. I know that I did the first 250 meters in about 5 1/2 minutes without stopping; after that, it’s a guess.

The transition was easy: I shed my suit, put on my running clothes and headed upstairs. I did a five mile bike ride. The other day when riding I stood up after and had a really sharp pain in my calf muscle. I made sure that night and the next day after my run that I stretched the hell out of it. It felt better today; no sharp pain. I took it easy on the levels though just in case. I have to do a 11 mile run on Saturday and don’t want any odd pains to stand in my way!

Bike Ride: 5 miles (like 5.2 or something) in 15 minutes.

I then stepped onto the treadmill, glad to see my legs held me up. This is only the second time I have biked and then run after. I’m sure when I get going a little farther on the bike, the run after will be more tough.

I did 2 miles and averaged just 9:30 min miles. I really wanted it to be closer to 9, and I did get down to 8:40 min miles a few times, but not enough.

The entire workout took about 65 minutes. I got done feeling great but really, really hungry! I had started off this morning with a cup of coffee, a hard boiled egg and a banana before the workout. I have a feeling if I go much longer than the sixty-five minutes I’m going to need to eat something during, or take one of my gel packs that I use on long runs.

I realized something about the bike: I need to practice. I don’t enjoy biking. I love to swim and run, so I want to do these two, and I don’t want to increase the bike because I don’t enjoy it. I think if I were outside, again, I would, but inside I just don’t.

So, with shower and all I was at the gym for about an hour and a half. The girls, of course, did fine in daycare, though I was feeling a bit guilty by the amount of time it took. And I know that when I get to doing some longer bikes and runs it will take even longer. However, I think I will cap myself at a certain point before this triathlon. I have to check and see again how long the distances are, but I think the run is only four miles, which isn’t too bad.

Completing all three of those today really made me feel great! I am feeling a bit more confident, like the triathlon won’t be unattainable, especially if I start small.

A question for all of my tri friends; How far are you going in training before a race? Do you try out the entire length first? Or, like a marathon, only go to a certain point in training and push it a bit farther on race day?

And it WAS!

I got to open it early and test it out this morning. It is the forerunner 205, Garmin model and it is awesome. I saw how fast I was going, how far i was going and for how long I was running.

I did only 3.4 miles this morning with a pace of 9;45. I’m happy with that.

The watch would have been GREAT for my long training runs. You can program it to tell you when to turn around, when you go below a certain pace. You can match your old routes. You can have it show you where to go to get back on track if you are following a certain path and get off of that path.

I can’t wait to test this out with a long run! I’ll wear it for my marathon, maybe-just worried I might see the pace, get nervous and go faster than I need to go.

But once this marathon is over and I begin training for San Diego I’m going to use it on all of my long runs. I no longer have to map out a run! I can just put on the GPS and GO GO GO

Dang my husband rocks!!

Last night I thought well, I can do 13 miles no problem. At 13 I will think I’m almost at 17, which was my longest run several times before the 20. At 17 I’ll think only 3 more to 20 and at twenty I’ll think only six to go, which is less than an hour . When I get that close, if I get tired, I always think about how great it will be to walk in my front door and see my two kids and my husband waiting for me. On Sunday I’ll think about how great it will be to cross that finish line and find them there, cheering me on.

Can’t believe it is so close!

I’m so ready to run again. I mean, really run, not three miles here, four miles there. I need a good six, ten, fourteen miler. Or a 26.2. Guess that will come soon enough!

Yesterday I started to feel a little down.  I was tired and frustrated and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was wrong.

This morning my husband woke up early to hit the gym, and I realized exactly what it was: I’m missing my long runs.

I recall in the past when I’ve gotten a small injury and had to take a few days or weeks off of running to heal. Those weeks were really rough on me emotionally. i need running to keep everything level: to erase the stress and get my good vibes going.

I haven’t given up running of course, but i have adjusted my schedule drastically. In fact, this past week I ran ten miles less than I have been running each week. that’s a huge difference! so even though I am still running, my runs are much shorter, and this week I’ll only do three instead of four.

In addition, yesterday I ran over my big toe with the chair. It immediately began to swell and I immediately began to cry. My biggest fear; I had broken it and would not be able to run the race.

luckily, that didn’t happen. It is still sore this morning but not as bad as it was, and not as swollen either. I’ll continue to ice it and rest this week. I had planned to be on my feet as little as possible anyway, but now ‘ll really take care to baby that toe.

And then I’ll do the 26, and I can’t wait! I can’t wait to get out there and run, run, run.

It’s amazing what our bodies get used to. When I began running I couldn’ t do more than three miles, I couldn’t run back to back and the idea of going 26.2 was mind blowing.

Now I run two six milers each week, and then one day I do six and the next do 4. My mileage has increased and I’m missing going more than 8 miles! I want to do 13! I want to do 15!

Ah, but 26.2 scares the crap out of me!

6 days and counting . . .

And it is going to be here soon! one week and one day! Next Sunday I will be finished. ALl of this training, early morning runs, three pairs of running shoes in the last 5 months . . . all done. I can’t believe it!

I’m excited but afraid. I’m worried about the weather the most. I can’t run int he heat, under the sun. that’s why I do such early morning runs now. But, I know it is only one day, four and a half hours, and I can do it.

I was thinking about it like this today: I typically run two, six mile runs a week. The marathon is just four, six mile runs, plus two additional miles.

On race day, I will think about it like this.

First six miles, just three to go.

Second six miles, halfway there.

Third six miles, just get through it.

Last six miles, just an hour left.

then I’ll have about twenty minutes, but by that time I’ll be so stoked that it is almost over that nothing will stop me!
I can’t believe I’m so close now.

My stomach has butterflies just thinking about it!!

On the back we wrote go mommy! 26.2, and then, For my mom: strokes stink!

I can’t wait! i have to download some tunes onto my ipod before race day. My husband got me a fifteen dollar card for songs knowing that i wanted them for the race, how cool is that? I’m going to have to start thinking about what I want to listen to during that run.

today I swam for half an hour. it was good to be back in the pool; it has been a few weeks since I’ve gotten to swim.

Tomorrow is a six miler. Then only 8 on Saturday! Yikes! Then just one week and one day until the marathon. i can’t believe it is almost here! wow, how time flies when you are having fun running . . .

We headed out to the ocean and stared at the waves as we drove. After a bit, my oldest daughter said, “Wow, you’re going to run this far?”

I told her yes, this would be what mommy did while she was sleeping on Saturday morning.

“This is a really long way,” she told me, shaking her head, her eyes wide.

I laughed and told her yes, this would be twenty miles, the furthest I had ever gone.

And then she said what ever running mother wants to hear. “When I get big, I’m going to run this far too!”

I missed going longer than 12. I almost did 13 instead, just because it felt like I was cheating somehow!

but the great thing is that I got home in time for my kids to wake up. Usually they have waken, eaten and are ready to go do something. Today we all had breakfast together.

I can’t believe I have just two weeks to go! It seems so long ago that I started this. I looked through my training book last night and smiled at some of the notes that I took.

What a great journey!

I’ll be happy to get back to doing my 15 milers. I like the 13s too. But I’ll be really happy when, in two weeks, I’m standing at that starting line ready to go!