Category Archives: Random Tuesday Thoughts

Random Thoughts about a Swelled Head, a Shrinking Waist and a Princess Problem

Posted on by Run DMT
7

Marathon TrainingIn the past few weeks, Run DMT has been spotlighted on several websites and it’s giving me a big head.

Marathon Training Schedule compiled a list of top running blogs and Run DMT is #64.  Then, RN Central.com  shared 50 Inspiring Blogs for Your Post-Pregnancy Weight Loss and Run DMT is #5 on the list.  How exciting is that?!

I’m flattered to be considered an “inspiration” to others for post-partum weight-loss and I hope yours is going better than mine because I’m sill struggling to lose the last of my baby weight 19 months later. What’s that old pregnancy rule of thumb for weight-loss? Nine months up, nineteen months down?  That sounds about right.

Five unflattering pounds are still sticking around from my pre-pregnancy weight but I don’t put a whole heck of a lot of value on the scale since most of my old clothes are fitting me.

So the numbers on the scale are not dropping but I am definitely toning and shrinking inches, thanks to our Love My Abs Challenge.  If you haven’t been following along, you should go over there RIGHT NOW and check it out!  Each week, I’ve been sharing photos and a brief recap of my progress.

Tomorrow, we’re moving onto to Week 4 and 200 reps, but it’s not too late to join in the fun.  Even if you fell off the wagon, you can simply start over at 100 reps at Week 1. It’s not about how many reps or how long, but more about making a commitment to a better you.

Speaking of wagons, I will be catching a carriage ride over to Orlando this weekend for the Disney’s Princess Half Marathon.  I don’t feel prepared at all for this race, but it has nothing to do with training.  I still haven’t figure out what to wear!

Should I be Belle or Tiana? 

Both princesses are equally smart, brave, fearless, beautiful and good role models for my girls (next to their mom, of course).  But…
If I dress as Belle, I’ll wear a yellow running skirt, matching yellow top, a tiara and carry a red rose.

If I dress as a Tiana, I’ll wear a green top, green shorts and a magnolia rhinestone hair clip in my hair.  I wanted to find a green tutu to wear over my shorts, but I haven’t had any luck yet. 

As any stylish, runner (a.k.a stunner ) will tell you, tiaras and tutus are a must for any Disney Princess race.  I think what I wear will be a game time decision, but I would love to hear your vote: Belle or Tiana?

The girls have the Gasparilla Jr. Race on Saturday. Next year, Liam will be old enough to run the Gasparilla Jr with Emmalynn, but this is Allana’s last year to run it as she’s getting too old for it now.  The thought of it makes me all melancholy, but she’s moving on to bigger distances with her mom.

And who knows maybe she’ll run a Princess race with me someday.  Then she can be Belle and I’ll be Tiana!  There. Problem solved.  Hopefully, by then I would have found a green tutu or made one or bought one of these shnazzy sparkly skirts.  A runner mom can dream, can’t she?  Like a wise mouse once told me, “If you dream it, you can do it.”

And now for my running stats!

I suffered from a stomach bug for two days after the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon, but I think the forced rest helped me run under 30 minutes for the first time in nearly a year.

2/15

3.1 miles

Time 29:35

Ave Pace 9:33

Max Pace 7:31

 

2/16

4 miles

Time 41:09

Ave Pace 10:17

Max Pace 7:59

 

2/18

6 miles

Time 1:13:27

Ave Pace 11:51

Max Pace 8:56

 

2/21

3.1 miles

Time 30:21

Ave Pace 9:48

Max Pace 7:06

 *Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy

Random Thoughts about Getting Physical and Rocking ‘n Rolling

Posted on by Run DMT
2

In the last two days, I’ve been inside three doctors’ offices.  First, I had a 6 month follow-up for Little Lion Man’s hip dysplasia.  According to the nurse practitioner, “Everything looks great”.  His hips are developing normally (excellently) and now our visits will occur once a year.   Honestly, as fast as little man has been running and climbing these days, I knew everything with his hips would be fine and I didn’t have any worries.

Then, today I had my annual physical.  My cholesterol is high again (240), but I think that might be related to my soft foods diet as I have been eating a lot of eggs.  Also, my vitamin D was low, which is so weird to me living in sunny Florida and all.

Apparently, a vitamin D deficiency is a typical diagnosis as people age, especially for someone with darker skin or someone who consumes a vegetarian diet.  I don’t eat enough fish or beef liver, but I’m sure it’s a combination of everything.  I have been prescribed a vitamin D supplement once a week but I prefer ten minutes in the sun as a prescription.

I also had a follow-up with my oral surgeon today for my wisdom teeth extraction.  When I mentioned to him that I am still have some pain, he said that’s to be expected for up to SIX WEEKS!   Oi vey.  At least I’m healing well and he seemed pleased about that, but I still need to stay on soft foods for a little while longer.   Ugh.  I really miss almonds and tortilla chips with salsa.

Speaking of my soft foods diet, I lost another 3 pounds for a total of 7.5 pounds.  I’m happy about the weight loss, because my clothes are fitting a bit better, but I’m not too thrilled about the way I’m losing weight.  Oh well.  At least I’m only 10 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight.

On a related note about my weight, my general practitioner said, “You don’t look like you weigh 135 pounds.” Um…thanks?  I’m all muscle, baby. Yeah, I hide my weight well since most of it is tucked away in my juiceful butt.

This Sunday is the St. Pete Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon and I feel pretty good about it.  Even though I haven’t really trained as much as I had hoped, I think I’ll do all right, especially since I threw in some resistance training last week.  Yes, every once in a while, I run with a stroller to remind myself how much I hate running with a stroller.

Last Sunday, I ran 10 miles and it felt good.

10 miles

Time 1:47:55

Ave Pace 10:48

Max Pace 8:07

 

Here are the rest of my runs:

2/2/12

4 miles

Time 41:04

Ave Pace 10:16

Max Pace 7:36

 

2/3/12 (stroller run)

3.1 miles

Time 34:07

Ave Pace 10:58

Max Pace 8:26

 

2/07/12

3.1 miles

Time 31:37

Ave Pace 10:12

Max Pace 8:05

 
And in case you haven’t heard…for the month of February, I’ve committed to showing my abs some love with my #lovemyabs challenge.  Every Wednesday, I’m hosting a linky party.  So, stop by tomorrow to link up and see everyone’s progress.  I’ve already noticed a difference, but I’ll fill y’all in tomorrow.

 *Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy

Random Thoughts for the Last Day of the Janathon and a New Challenge

Posted on by Run DMT
4

PhotobucketLast week, I moaned and complained about my forced soft food diet.  I mostly complained about all the boring foods I’ve been eating and not losing weight.  Well surprise, surprise!  I lost 3.5 pounds.  Who would have guessed?!

For the last day of the Janathon, I had to get blood work for my annual physical, which meant I would have to refrain from exercise beforehand or in other words, running before the blood draw.

This morning when I woke up, my jaw hurt, so I was kind of glad that I couldn’t run.  However, it also meant that I couldn’t take any ibuprofen to relieve the pain, because I also had to refrain from eating or drinking anything before the blood draw.

I had mentioned to my friend, Kelly that I wouldn’t be able to run before the blood work and I asked if I could tag along to her Zumba class. She’s always raving about her Zumba class and how much fun it is, so I thought I would give it try.

Besides, I couldn’t let the last day of Janathon slip by without doing something.  Stupid jaw and blood draw.

Although I kept tripping over myself with every salsa and samba move, the class was a lot of fun and I loved the music.  Between the pelvic thrusts and the hip gyrating, Zumba gave me an opportunity to work some a different muscle group and incorporate some core training, too

But I felt like I needed more core work, so I did 50 push-ups and 100 crunches when I got home.

Speaking of core training, my running tweeps from Twitter and I are starting an ab challenge tomorrow, Wednesday February 1 called #lovemyabs.  The goal is to do 100 ab exercise every day in February while increasing each week by 20. Trust me.  It’s totally doable!

If you’re game, stop by tomorrow for the details and the official linky party kick-off.  In the meantime, commit to the challenge by adding the #lovemyabs button to your blog and link back to Run DMT.

Don’t you just love the bloggy button I made for the abs challenge?  Isn’t it so cute?

 *Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy

Random Thoughts about Soft Foods and Going Soft

Posted on by Run DMT
5

Yesterday I had my follow up with my dental surgeon for my wisdom teeth extraction.  Everything looks good. My body is just taking its sweet ass time to heal itself.  *sigh*  I’m still experiencing pain particularly in the bottom left side of my jaw, but the 800 mg ibuprofen helps control the pain.

He also said he wants me to continue on a soft foods diet for 2-3 more weeks until my next follow-up visit.  Have I mentioned how shitty a soft foods diet is?  If someone has any suggestions besides potatoes, toast, pasta, oatmeal, soups, yogurt or applesauce, I am all ears.  I feel like I’m carb loading without the luxury of being able to burn the carbs.  Speaking of carb loading, my doctor said I could drink beer which is good because wine was burning my steenky holes.

And if someone tells me one more time about all the weight they lost on a soft foods diet, I may just throw my yogurt at them.  I haven’t lost a pound because my body just doesn’t work like that.  It’s like my body feels a famine has hit and shifted into survival mode to begin storing fat.

I haven’t started running yet, but my surgeon said I could start whenever I feel ready.  I figure I would just judge the pain each morning.  If one day I wake up and feel nothing, then I’ll run.  That just hasn’t happened yet.

On good days when the pain is minimal, I try to do house work.  However, I think I’ve tried to do too much too soon because the next day, my jaw hurts like a mother.  Then, I waste the day doing nothing but lying around until the pain subsides.  It really sucks.

I really hope I feel better enough to run an easy 3 miles soon because Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon is only 2 weeks away.  YIKES!  Someone please tell me that I can do this.  I’m sure it’s all
in my head, but I feel like I’ve lost my strength.  I feel so weak, which I am sure is a result of the pain and this stupid soft food diet. I guess you really are what you eat.   I would love to be able to run an easy 10 miles with my friends, Faith and Chrissy this Sunday.  We’ll see.

The worst part is I brought it upon myself, like a sadist.  I should have done it 20 years ago when I was younger and my body would have healed faster and my parents would have paid for it and my mom would have played nursemaid and done all my laundry for me.  But I was too busy having fun living life.  Now I have a real life with a family and children depending on me and I can’t do squat except sit around eating fattening soft foods all day.

But there is an upside to all of this!  I’m being forced to rest which probably a good thing given the problems I had with my heel and my self-diagnosed plantar fasciitis.  Either all the ibuprofen in my system has helped with the issues in my foot or not being able to run.  Either way, I haven’t felt any pain in my foot for weeks.  When I wake up in the morning, I can walk flat instead of using the sides of my feet.  It’s all very strange.

Speaking of plantar fasciitis, Suncoast Running is hosting an injury prevention clinic this Thursday at 6:30.  I’m planning to attend even though I seem to have healed my heel, but I’d still like to go to learn how to avoid the issue in the future.  Hopefully, I’ll learn some good tips.

Mmmmmm…tips.  Great.  Now, I’m hungry for beef tips.

Picture of Beef Tips and Artichokes with Merlot and Black Pepper Gravy Recipe

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked.*

Stacy


Random Thoughts about Pain and Steenky Holes

Posted on by Run DMT
5

Last Thursday, I had four wisdom teeth extracted. The days leading up to the procedure, I was a basket case, but everyone assured me I would only experience some pain and discomfort for a few days and then I would be fine.  I figured I would be up and running (literally) by mid-week.

Nope.  Five days later, I’m in excruciating pain.  I can control the pain with the help of 600-800 mg ibuprofen, but if I forget to take any pain reliever, then I’m suffering all over again.  It’s awful.

Since the pain was so bad, I assumed I had dry sockets and begged the surgeon to squeeze me in for a quick examination.  No dry sockets, but I’m just taking a really long time to heal which has something to do with my… eh hem…age and deep, long roots that touched my jaw bone which required about 1 mm of my jaw bone to be removed.

I was told after the surgery to refrain from any exercise until my follow-up on the 23rd, but according the surgeon after today’s visit, I may need to wait even longer due to my slow healing process.  Fantastic.

This means I may have to wait even longer to resume my half marathon training.  I had hoped to be able to pick up at 10 miles this Saturday, but I won’t know until the 23rd and even then, I may not be able to jump back into running.  With the Rock ‘ Roll marathon only few weeks away, this is not good.

Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking.

Plus, I’m on this soft food diet. Have I mentioned how much I love food, I mean real food?

Being laid up for a few days, I’ve spent a lot of time watching TV and surfing through Pinterest.  Playing around on Pinterest staring at food I can’t eat was torture.  But at least I have some fabulous menus planned when I can real food again and some wonderful play date ideas when I’m ready to get out and play again and some outstanding organizational skills to start implementing when I’m feeling better.

Yeah, I’ll get right on that.

I feel a bit like Ren of Ren & Stimpy because all I have left are stinky steenky holes.

I wish I had photos to share of my gnarly, bloody wisdom teeth to at least make this post a bit more interesting.

But I got nothing.  No photos.  No running, just Pinterest to make me feel even more inadequate amuse me and make me hungry.  Fan-f*cking-tastic.

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy

Random Thoughts about Mii and Janathon Days 8, 9 and 10

Posted on by Run DMT
6

PhotobucketBasically, the Janathon is a commitment to run or do something every day in January and so far the second week of the Janathon is going better than the first.

Although Day 8 (Sunday) was a bust because I didn’t do much of anything except “recover” from my long and horrible head cold I caught. I had hoped to do some Wii Fit and yoga, but my bed won that battle.

Speaking of the Wii Fit, I was not happy what the Wii Fit trainer did to my Mii!

Just look at the junk in my trunk!  Obviously, my Mii needs to stop throwing back the beers is in desperate need of some Pilates!  Apparently, the Wii has no appreciation for juiceful butts.

Actually, the Wii Fit does not account for muscle.  At least that’s what I’m telling convincing myself and it’s nothing a few hula hoops sessions can’t fix.  My Mii is still smiling, though.  So it can’t be all that bad.

Thankfully, the weather has been more like a typical Florida winter and I’m loving it because it gets me outside running instead of staring at my big-bottomed Mii.

For Day 9 of the Janathon, I ran 3.1 miles.  I was a second faster than last Monday.  Hey, one second is one second and I’ll take it!

Janathon Day 9

3.1 miles

Time 32:11

Ave Pace 10:24

Max Pace 7:58

Today was my sprint day.  Yay.  I’m not sure if the sarcasm in my tone is evident, but I really hate sprint work.  No, really sprints suck and they hurt, but it’s a necessary work-out to get faster.  So, I suck it up and do sprints and for the most part, I feel really good afterwards.

Today I started with a 1 mile warm-up followed by a 6×400 attempt with a 1 mile cool down.  For someone who hates sprints, I think I did all right.

Janathon Day 10

1.7 miles

Time 11:46

Ave Pace 10:05

Max Pace 8:36

 

Lap 1 – 0.25

Time 1:55

Ave Pace 7:42

Max Pace 6:02

 

Lap 2 – 0.25

Time 1:59

Ave Pace 7:58

Max Pace 6:10

 

Lap 3 – 0.25

Time 2:02

Ave Pace 8:10

Max Pace 6:50

 

Lap 4 – 0.25

Time

Ave Pace

Max Pace

 

Lap 5 – 0.25

Time 1:59

Ave Pace 8:04

Max Pace 6:22

 

Lap 6 – 0.25

Time 2:06

Ave Pace 8:20

Max Pace 6:41

 

1 mile

Time 10:09

Max Pace 8:06

Now, I just to add some hills to my training.  Yay.

I forgot to mention that I am having four wisdom teeth extracted on Thursday morning (yay) which means I’ll miss a few training days and Janathon days while I heal.  Here’s hoping the soft food diet I will be forced to endure will help thin Mii down.

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy

Random Thoughts about Joining the Janathon

Posted on by Run DMT
5

Janathoon 2012 Participant LogoIt’s been over a week since I last ran.  I caught a really nasty cold a few days before Christmas and then my Achilles started bothering me again.  Even though I wasn’t running, I wore my running shoes to help my heel.

Christmas Eve, I spent a lot of time on my feet cleaning the house barefoot and I think it only aggravated my Achilles more, which I find so ironic.  With all the talk about barefoot running, you would think it would help the situation.  I seem to experience the opposite whenever I spend my days barefoot.  It only makes my Achilles feel worse.

Not running for a week combined with bad eating habits made me feel weak and sluggish, so I decided to break my week long break with a three mile run this morning.  I also wanted to test out my newly refurbished Garmin.  With my foot still giving me some trouble, I was a bit slow-moving to get out the door.

Weather.com forecasted a 50% chance of rain by 8:00, but an orange-pink sky appeared to say otherwise.  Then about halfway into my run, the wind picked up and the sky began to turn dark gray.  The storm rolled in right on time which soaked me and my new-to-me Garmin.  Great.  Let the Garmin corroding began!    

3.24 miles

Time 35:08

Ave Pace 10:51

Max Pace 7:37

The  Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon is only five weeks away and after this morning’s pathetic run, I’m not feeling very confident about my performance in that race.  It may be time for an intervention.

Suncoast Running is offering a boot camp training program plan designed specifically for the short turn-around time for this race and I plan to find out more about it at the informational meeting tomorrow evening.

Obviously, priority number one is to get back into a regular running routine.  I’m hoping the Janathon will help with that.

I joined the Janathon for my second year.   Basically, all participants commit to running or some work-out every day and log it online at Free Running.  Lord knows, I need the accountability aspect of the Janathon to help me stay focused and motivated.  Although this year, I doubt I’ll win any prizes as I’m having my wisdom teeth extracted on January 13 and I’ll be down for a few days after the surgery.  Nice, huh?  Yep, I already have an excuse in place for slacking off.

As for getting back into a regular running routine, I plan to run 4 miles tomorrow with some intervals later in the week, followed by 6-7miles on Saturday.  I just need to get moving again.

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy

Random Thoughts about Revving It Up

Posted on by Run DMT
1

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor.Opens in a new windowThe other day, I sent my Garmin Forerunner 305 to be refurbished or replaced.  Seeing how the face fell off to unveil its completely corroded innards, I believe it’s beyond repair.  Once it’s returned to me, I’m looking forward to knowing how far and how fast I’m running again.

Since I’ve become so attached to my Garmin over the years, I’m pretty lost without it. Maybe it’s the holiday hullabaloo, but I can’t seem to remember when I last ran.  Normally, I just look at my stats when they’ve downloaded to my computer and it’s all there.  But with no Garmin, I have to remember to track my runs on Map My Run, but I never remember to do that and my absentmindedness leaves me with absent runs.

Part of the problem is also waking up and determining if it’s a run day based upon the pain in my feet due to my plantar fasciitis.  Some days, I can walk and other days I can’t stand up with falling over.  The last two mornings were definitely “I can walk” days which immediately became “I am going to run” days.

I remember I ran last Thursday because I ran 3 miles for Julia with the Suncoast Striders and my friends, Jackie and Faith.  It was Julia’s birthday and she would have turned five.  Faith and I wanted to be there for Jackie and remember sweet Angel Julia.

My flaky brain and pathetic feet just need to get with the running program again because Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon is only two months away.  That’s 8 weeks to improve my half
marathon performance.  Eight weeks to rev it up to Rock ‘n Roll!

Yesterday, I ran an easy 3 miles.  Today, I decided to take on some speedwork to help improve my overall time.  Boy, did my body balk that idea!  I ran one easy warm-up mile and then attempted four ¼ mile sprints.  After the first ¼ mile, my hamstrings started to hurt and then I got stitch in my side.  My body was not onboard with the whole revving it up idea.

But it could also be the baker’s dozen I’m carrying in my backside that’s weighing me down and holding me back, because there has been a lot of baking and a lot of tasting going on here.  So much so, that my backside is starting to look like a Snickerdoodle.

However, the sprints got easier after the first one.  Easier is the wrong word choice because the sprints were certainly not easy by any means.  I mean, I think I took the first ¼ mile sprint a little too hard and I didn’t push quite as hard on the second, third and fourth sprints.  I pushed myself, but not to the point where I got a cramp in my side.  (If only I had my Garmin to know exactly how fast I ran!)  After all the sprints, I finished my speedwork with a mile cool down.

Overall, the speedwork felt good.  My legs hurt, but in a good way.  And thankfully, I can walk.  Hopefully, tomorrow morning will be an “I can walk” day too so I can run 6 miles with Tracey of Suncoast Running.  And hopefully, the rest of the week will be filled with more “I can walk” days so I can run and rev it up some more.  Now if only I can remember when I do.

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy

Random Thoughts About Cooling My Heels and Starting Over

Posted on by Run DMT
3

StacyOn the Sunday after the Space Coast Marathon, I could barely walk.  My whole body hurt.  I was in a ridiculous amount of much pain from my heels all the way up to my left bicep.  I’m still not entirely sure why left bicep hurt so badly.  I assume every time I felt a pain during the race, I tightened my left arm and clenched my fist, but I’m not really sure.  All I know is my arm felt like I did 1000 bicep curls and it hurt!

Sunday after the race, I took a hospital strength ibuprofen (800 mg) and once we were on the road back home, I fell asleep in the car.  When we arrived at home, I tossed a water bottle in the freezer to help heal my heels and legs.  Between rolling a frozen water bottle under and the ibuprofen, I hoped to reduce some of the swelling and repair some of the damage.

On Monday, I still could barely move.  I popped another hospital strength ibuprofen to help relieve some of the pain and rolled the frozen water bottle under my foot several times throughout the day.  The stairs hurt the worst and since my left arm was still sore, I couldn’t lift Little Lion Man.

On Tuesday, there was still some soreness throughout my body, but now it felt like the results from a really good work-out.  You know the kind where it hurts, but it’s a good hurt.  My legs were still pretty sore, but the stairs were more manageable and lifting Little Lion Man was less of a chore.

By Wednesday, there was little pain left and I was amazed at how quickly my body healed.  At the mid- point in the week, it felt like only a week of recovery was necessary.  Judging from the way I could barely move on Sunday, I thought it would take at least a couple of weeks for my body to heal.  I suppose, since this is my third marathon, there must be some muscle memory somewhere inside this post-pregnancy body.

Thursday and Friday showed no signs that I nearly crawled over a marathon finish line almost a week ago.  I even mentioned on Facebook to my running friends that I felt like I could run on Saturday, but I opted to take one more day of recovery.

Sunday was my first day back to running, exactly one week after the marathon.  I ran about 3 miles, but since my Garmin has moved onto to greener pastures, I have no idea about my pace.  About halfway into the run, my Achilles started to bother me, so I stopped to stretch and continued running.

After a marathon Christmas cookie baking day on Sunday and standing on my feet all day drinking lots of champagne and wine, I decided to rest on Monday.  Thank goodness I did!  We had our family photo session Monday evening and I chose to wear high heels.  Man, that was a big mistake!  During the photo session, I didn’t realize how badly I had unraveled my heel healing.

This morning (Tuesday), I ran another 3 miles.  Again, I have no Garmin and no idea about my pace, but it wasn’t until after the 3 miles that my heel Achilles started to bother me.  After my run, I stretched and then spent the rest of day in my running shoes just to fix the damage caused by my heels the evening before.

So, basically at this point, I’m starting all over again with short easy runs.  In a couple months, I have the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon and I really want to improve my half marathon time at that race.  To prepare for the race, I started reviewing Hal Higdon’s Half Marathon Intermediate and Advanced plans as well as Cool Running’s Half Marathon Intermediate and Advance plans.  Both Cool Running and Hal Higdon incorporate hills and sprints (fartleks) into their advanced plans.  Instinctively I knew I needed to add hills and speedwork to improve my finish time, but I also don’t want to push myself too hard too quickly.

For the rest of this week, I think I’ll just do some easy runs up to 5-6 miles and see how my heel holds up, which means lots of stretching based upon everything I’ve read about plantar fasciitis (when I wake up, before a run, during a run, after a run, etc.).  Then, depending how the easy runs go this week, I’ll start adding some sprint work next week.  But then, Allan and I are attending an office holiday party this Saturday evening and I really want to wear high heels again, which means I could undo all my heel healing again.  The price I’ll pay to look hot! UGH! 

As for my Garmin, I learned I could send it back to Garmin to be repaired for a small fee or they would send me a refurbished one in its place.  Sweet!  Hopefully, my Garmin can be returned before Christmas so Santa can surprise me with it in my stocking! *Fingers crossed!*

 Speaking if surprises…Don’t miss out on this one! 

Photobucket

 

Random Thoughts about Some Challenges, My Heeling Process and a Footnote

Posted on by Run DMT
6

For the month of October, I committed to the Unprocessed Challenge and by doing so, I swore off processed foods.  Basically, participants had to refrain from eating foods they couldn’t reproduce, bake or cook themselves, such as foods that can only be produced in a factory.   Thankfully, store-bought beer and wine were acceptable.

Seriously?  In October?  What was I thinking?  I freaking love candy corn and other Halloween candy.  I think I ate even more of it because I knew I couldn’t on account of the challenge.  It was tough and I think I lasted (at most) two weeks.  And then I devoured some Tyson hot wings.

For November, I’m participating in the 30 Day Giving Challenge for the third year.  I love this challenge, but I’m not going to lie.  It’s hard, even when I plan out all my gifts for the month, because schedules change, kids gets sick and sometimes things just don’t always go according to plan.  I’ve done well though and I’ve given 15 gifts and then some in 15 days so far.

Speaking of gifts, my t-shirt giveaway didn’t attract as many people as other giveaways have in the past.  I tweeted, Facebooked, linked up at giveaway blog hops but still only 4 people entered the contest, including my SIL, Kirsten and my friend, Chrissy, who won as a result to all her entries.  Obviously, she had the best chance, which is what you hope for when hosting a giveaway.

Has anyone else noticed a drop in giveaway participants?

I had this whole 12 Days of Christmas giveaway plan in the works, but after this giveaway, I’m rethinking the idea.  It’s a lot of work and if it doesn’t generate a response, I’ll be disappointed.  Oh well.  But I’ve got other fun bloggie Christmas plans in the works, like a blogger ornament exchange and a virtual cookie recipe swap!  Stay tuned for more details!

This Sunday, as part of my giving challenge, I’m volunteering at the Women’s Half Marathon water stations with Suncoast Running.  I’m so excited to give back to a sport that has given me so much.  I’m looking forward to cheering and encouraging all the runners while handing them a cup of cold water with a smile.  It will mean the world to each participant, whether it’s their first half marathon or the fiftieth.

Do you remember that almost 21 miler I did a couple of weeks ago with little to no pain?  I even survived walking around Universal Studios the next day (minus a hamstring pull from 25 pound toddler squats all day).  Then, I didn’t run for two days to rest.  I ran about 3 miles on Tuesday and then on Wednesday, I ran almost 10 miles.  And that’s when it all went downhill.

I had some serious heel pain, like my heel was being stabbed with a knife.  I’ve never had this pain before, but I knew it wasn’t good.  I researched about heel pain and learned that I have heel spurs possibly as a result from increasing miles too quickly or running in old shoes (shoes without support). I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter because I’ve been pretty careful to not push myself too far too quickly.

As for healing my heel, everything I’ve read recommends taking a week off from running.  But, my marathon is in 12 days.  12 DAYS!  And I can’t run or even taper!

So now, I need new shoes.  But new shoes need to be broken in before I attempt to run 26.2 miles in them.  Plus, I don’t have any extra cash at the moment and I was really hoping Santa would bring me some new running shoes.  My friends over at Suncoast Running told me that they will have some great Black Friday specials. But I’m still nervous about running a marathon in new shoes.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be a week since I last ran and it still hurts to walk or put any pressure on my right heel.  I tried some light hiking when we went camping over the holiday weekend and the pain would gradually increase.  I’ve read that I can do alternate work-outs like cycling or very low impact aerobics, but I don’t think my heel could handle any impact.  Plus, I’m still scared to get back on my bike.  So resting and yoga is the plan for a few more days until I get some new shoes.  It seems my running plans have become a footnote and I’m not liking it all.

Oh and there’s this other nagging other issue I keep forgetting to do.  I haven’t booked a hotel room for the race yet.  I know. I know.  What am I waiting for?  I was waiting until I registered, which was delayed until I knew I could come close to a marathon distance again post-baby number 3.  Well, I’m officially registered (as of October 22) for the Space Coast Marathon and now I can’t find an available room.  But it doesn’t matter really because it appears that I will have to buy shoes instead of a securing a hotel room.  Looks like I’ll be sleeping in my car the night before the marathon. Yay.

As you can see, lots of challenges lie ahead this month.

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy