Back on track

Thank you to: Kristi Parry, Linda Armstrong, Leslie Rollins, Kim Grant, fellow runner Erin McGrath, fellow runner Kelly Strauch, The Elzinga Family, and Grandpa & Myk Barkel! Your support is greatly appreciated! Thanks to these fabulous people I have now reached my half way point! Wooo hoo! Let's keep it going here! Less than 8 weeks to go.

Last weekend included the following:

1) Working a great Rascall Flatts concert where I earned nearly $140 for BPE!

2) A really great 17 mile run, with my running mate Lauren. We set off at about 10:30 to make water drops. We are now at the point where we need to have water three times throughout the run, meaning that we need to hide some water or gatorade behind trees for us when we reach our quarter and three-quarter locations. We were very excited about the extra beverage, and were also going to do an extra packet of running pseudo-food at our three-quarter point. We made the drops and drove back to the middle, our start point. The run went rather great except when we realized our first water drop took us out 0.6 miles further than we needed to be. This resulted in being 1.2 miles farther than was planned upon the return to mid-way. We made the decision to for-go the three-quarter water drop, as that would have either a) resulted in running at least 18 miles or b) resulted in over a mile cool down. So unfortunately after all that hard work, we still had to go pick up our water drops and pseudo-foods, some unused. :(

3) A post run stop at McDonald's for M&M McFlurries. :) We decided this was just like the chocolate milk coach Rick suggests, containing both frozen milk and chocolate.

4) A great dinner out at Jalapeno's Mexican Restaurant with Travis. Going out to eat just the two of us is something we haven't done in a very long time. It was great.

5) A full on winter snow storm, complete with sleet, snow, and freezing rain. Oh, it's almost March.

Since the weekend I have been entirely exhausted. Apparently that is one of the side effects of running a bazillion miles, and working 3 jobs. :) I went to spinning Monday, and yesterday I set out on weekday mileage, something that made me nervous, given my recent knee troubles (and ridiculous sleepiness). I was prepped and ready to go with new running shoes (same kind I already have) - the fabulous Adidas Supernova Sequence. Little did I know when I originally purchased these - they are the official running shoe of the Boston Marathon!

It went great! I felt awesome, my knee never hurt, and despite the biting winds, I feel re-inspired to keep running! I am so glad I went. However, I am still planning to run every other day to give my knee a little well deserved rest. I think I may be officially back on track!

And I need to share this non-running related news: My hometown of Holland, MI has been ranked one of the happiest places to live, earning the name Happy Town. The awesome candy store I worked for, The Holland Peanut Store, is featured in the beginning of this video, with "Uncle Bill" carrying some candy! I love this! :)

A new hip at 35? Most likely.

So as I was going about my week, Travis reminded me of a great point, "you know the guy who ran the first marathon died right after?" Wow, I think perhaps I did know that, but now it's so much clearer.Yesterday during a thought provoking run (which started out as 7 miles and ended at 4), I offically decided that running marathons is not good for you.

Last week I took some days off from running and I was also very religious about icing my knee and popping the ibuprofen every 6 hours or so. I was feeling pretty good going into my long run Saturday and I had this striking man as my partner:

So we set off, him on bike, me on foot. The first 15 miles were great with long winded stories and encouragement from my handsome mate. The Clif Shot Blocks worked wonders again, and having gatorade at my ready from my beverage carrying companion was also very helpful. Just before mile 15 my knee started hurting again a bit, but I powered through for one mile to complete my goal. Here I am after 16 miles:

This is generally how I look 4 days/week.

So after 16 miles, we came home, ate lunch, napped for about 45 minutes and then I went to work at the Sprint Center (to raise $$ for my fund), oh the things I do for BPE! Sunday I was very sore, but by Monday I was adament that I was going to accomplish my weekday mileage. I set off for 7 miles, but ended with pretty significant knee pain at four. After consultation with Coach Rick, I am off from running for another couple days, with the instruction to "shuffle" upon returning. Perhaps I will shoot some video of this "shuffle" for your enjoyment next week.

Anyway, back to my point. I have come to the conclusion that running this frequently cannot be good for any part of your body, even if you are being awesomely active. I am fairly confident that if I continue semi-competitive (against myself mostly) running for a period of 10 or more years, I will cause significant bodily damage, most likely resulting in hip replacement surgery by the age of 35.

In other news, the Olympics are now in progress! I love the Olympics. I cry pretty much every time I turn them on. The stories are so inspiring and the medal ceremonies always get me. I am in awe of the athlete's drive and committment to their sport. This story is particularly touching to me. Congratulations to Canada on breaking the streak, and to Alexandre Bilodeau and his family.

And finally, thank you to Dave Ornee for his awesome donation (and enouragement)!

10 weeks and counting...

To my two, perhaps five (at most) blog readers, I apoligize for my much delayed post. I know you were getting delerious in your anticipation. Also, I have decided to stop the letters posts. I was hoping to eventually spell something amazing, although a quick run down of my letters last week made me realize I was significantly lacking in the vowel department, and those are hard to come by without sounding ridiculous (hence the reach in the O... post last week).

Moving on... this week's 15 miler was less than stellar, although I am happy to say it is complete. It all began with a pretty significant amount of snow fall on Friday (sadly, not resulting in a snow day):

But Saturday morning I was ready to go in my new complete ninja outfit (don't worry, I had several more layers on for the actual run):

When we arrived at our running destination, the trails looked like this:

This was the good part of the trails (and actually taken after the run, when the snow had melted significantly). There were portions of the trail covered in 3 inches of snow, and portions where the only tracks we saw were our friends the geese. By about mile 3 the outside of my right knee was really hurting me, but I was trying my best to power through with positive thoughts and long, distracting stories with Lauren. I doubted myself several times, but Lauren kept me going, through excruciating pain. Until mile 5 or so, at which I almost fell to the ground in pain. After a short walk, I decided I had to do this and was determined to catch up with Lauren (who was now far ahead of me). I powered through the first half, and the second half was better, despite a few killer pains. Anyway, I'm really minimizing the pain here because the details are boring, however, I am now confident that if I made it through 15 miles of that pain, and these trails (resulting in cold, wet, icyness from the knees down) I know I can finish the marathon! And I would like to say a huge thank you to Lauren, as I would have quit three miles in if it wasn't for her.

I think I may have iliotibial band syndrome, a minor running injury which can be treated with stretches, icing, ibuprofen, and rest. I am planning to do some cross training instead of running during the week, and hopefully I will be back on course for 16 miles on Saturday (without Lauren I might add!).

I would like to add that I tried a new running pseudo-food this week: Clif Shot Blocks. They are my favorite thus far, and actually tasted delicious and seemed to keep me running in my hour of need. They also come in fabulous flavors, like Cran-Razz (which I have yet to try, I had Strawberry).

Here there are several awesome running foods, drinks, and pseduo-foods included. I also enjoy Jelly Belly sport beans (in Breast Cancer Supporting variety - just for you mom!). My post long run food is always trail mix and gatorade. In the future (mid-run) I will be trying the Clif Shot gel pictured here. I would like to note that the Clif Shot Blocks and the Clif Shot Gel, are both conveniently gluten free! :)

Oh, and here is a picture of my most recent purchase of capri tights (thanks to several Dicks gift cards for my b-day) with a super-secret pocket made for running pseduo-food:

Finally, a wonderful thank you to the following fabulous supporters:

Ms. Ketti

Cindy Spitz

Tom Baker

Only $204 from 50% of funds raised!