20 Miles and Counting!

"See, here's the thing..."
I ran 20 miles today!!! Yes, you read correctly...I actually ran 20 miles this morning. Of course, I am now having great difficulty walking...and sitting...and laying down...and just moving in general, but I ran 20 miles!


Now that you know that I ran 20 miles, I'm sure you want to know exactly what happened, right? Well, here's the scoop. It all strated on Thursday night when I began "carbo-loading." Keith happened to fix spaghetti, so that's what I ate. We had mexican food on Friday night...lots of rice and tortillas, and then spaghetti again on Saturday night at mom's house. Then I ate oatmeal, a banana, and a little bit of peanut butter for breakfast this morning. I also did GU at miles 4, 8, and 12, and a granola bar at mile 16. Now, normally, I wouldn't eat that many carbs. My body doesn't like them...it rebels and makes me gain tons of weight. But, I was able to continue to run even past my normal breaking point, so this was a bonus...regardless of how much weight I gained in doing so. So, the lesson I learned here is that I must eat my carbs - PERIOD!


Enough about food. Food is boring in the world of running. But what I see and think about while I run, that's not so boring. When I run, I normally run through my neighborhood. It's a pretty big neighborhood...actually it's about 3 or 4 different neighborhoods that have all run together...so I can get a lot of miles in if I run up and down each street, plus the side streets. Sometimes I get the side streets in twice - once on each street that they connect. Plus, I run around the school in the neighborhood a few times, and the track around the park.

You would think that looking at houses for up to 4 hours at a time, would be boring, but it isn't. There are some houses that I really like and look forward to seeing. There are new "for sale" signs that spring up every time I run. Sometimes I imagine what the inside of the house might look like and what it would be like to live there. Then there are the boats - the VIP and the Four Winns. I wonder who the VIP is and if the four Winns are the people in the "Winn Family." I run by the church whose pastor's name is "Tiny" and wonder exactly what "Tiny" might look like. I run by the back side of the storage building and wonder when the city is going to clean the graffiti off of the wall. I run by the honeysuckle and remember the times that we would pull the stem off of the honeysuckle in the flower bed at our house and lick off the sweet nectar as a kid. I run by the paririe dogs, the rabbits, and the owls (although they only join me on my early morning runs) in the empty field by the park. I run around the park and can see Sonic to my left and think about how good a Route 44 mango tea or diet cherry coke would taste at that moment. I also run by the Tubbs House, which is a historical marker. I love that house. I've always loved that house - even when I was little I wanted to live in that house.


Sometimes, however, I talk. I talk to myself a lot. I talk about the trip that we'll be taking in a few weeks to San Francisco so that I can actually run the marathon. I talk about my kids, my husband, my family. I talk about my life - what it is - where it's going. Today I talked a lot about why I can't be satisfied. I asked the question, "Why isn't _____ good enough?" several times during the course of my run today. I talk about how much farther I have to run before I can stop for a short walk break. I talk myself into going just a few more feet. Today I talked myself into running a whole loop around the park just so I could eat my granola bar and drink the cold water that Keith had left for me. Then I cheered out loud when I reached 18 miles - I'm glad the only other people on the road with me where those in their cars who couldn't hear me!


I also talk to God. I pary that he gives me the strength the finish...espcially at mile 13 when my mind is starting to doubt my ability to finish. I pray for my kids, my husband, my family. I pray for my friends...espcially those who are struggling right now. I pray for the people that I am actually running this marathon for. Then there are the times when I don't pray. I just shut up and listen to what God has to tell me. It's literally my Sunday morning church service.


Just because I am busy thinking, and talking...alot...doesn't mean that I don't struggle. I struggle a lot when I run. I know that part of the problem is the fact that I'm alone. The whole entire time! I hope that the presence of my online teammates, my family, and the cheer of the crowd will help to pull me through. Of course, the tuxedo clad firemen at the finish line might help too! :-)


Ok, so I finished my longest run of the season today...that in and of itself is a huge accomplishment. However, I also reached my fundraising goal this weekend! WOOHOO! I almost feel that raising the required amount of money is a bigger accomplishment than the actual running. This is because the running is all me - I know I can make myself do just about anything if I put my mind to it. But I can't make anyone else donate money. This concerned me for a long time. Things just fell into place this weekend - for the whole Team in Training experience.


So what's left for me with Team in Training? Well, I have a 15 mile run next Sunday and an 8 mile run the next Sunday. I also have to continue with my early morning training runs. And of course, the actual marathon.


Ty and Ry Update:
Ty continues to enjoy middle school. She is truly becoming much more independent - not that she wasn't before, but I was always really involved in what she was doing because she was at school with me. But now I am absolutely clueless. If it wasn't for the fact that I can check her grades and lunch account online, I would be totally uninformed. For Ty, that's ok - she's really smart and I trust her completely (she has nothing lower than a 98 right now).

Ry...what can I say about Ry? He makes me laugh each and every day. He is also totally engrossed with the movie "The Sandlot." He thinks he is Benny! His 7th birthday was two weeks ago and his birthday party was last weekend - a Sandlot party at the baseball fields. The slide show will give you just a glimpse of who he is.

18 Miles and Counting

"See, here's the thing..."
I had to do an 18 miler today. Am I tired now? Exhausted is more like it....I am also unable to move at anything above turtle pace. And to top it off, I'm starving. I keep eating but it's like I have a bottomless pit. Of course, when you run off more than your daily caloric intake, I guess that's what you're supposed to feel like.

So now that you know what I feel like after the run, I'm sure you're dying to know what the run was like. Well, I started a little after 7:00 am. The sun wasn't fully up yet so it was nice and cool. That's my favorite time to run...around 7:00 am. It's not too hot yet, but it's a little warmer than 5:30 am, and I can actually see what's ahead of me!

From the beginning of my run until about mile 3, my legs were really tight. But by about mile 3, they were lose and read to run. I took my usual 1 minute walk break every mile and a half. I was pretty good until about mile 10. So I took a half mile walk break. But by mile 13, I had hit a wall. I had run out of things to think about about, run out of things to talk to God about, the sun was starting to get pretty hot, I was getting hungry, and I still had about an hour left to run. I'm still not even sure how I made it the last 5 miles, except that I kept picking new targets to run to, and then praying that I would make it at least that far. :-)

So waht's my running nutrition plan? This morning I had a Luna bar (chai tea flavor this morning but I prefer the oatmeal raisin...need to get some more) before I left. I have been eating a banana too, but I was out. Then I had vanilla flavored GU at miles 6 and 13. In addition, I ate 3 strawberry flavored Clif Shot Blocks, two of which I ate at mile 17 just to keep my mind on something besides the pain! I also went through four 8 oz bottles that are attached to my fuel belt, and another full bottle of water that Keith strategically placed in our "hiding spot" at the park. I think finding a cold bottle of water in the park is the highlight of my runs!

So now what? Well, I still have several long training runs left. Fortunately, only one of them is longer than the 18 miles that I ran today. I'll run 20 in a few weeks, and then start tapering down until marathon day. I'm not looking forward to the 20 miler, but I know that I can do it. It's really just the monotony and loneliness that gets to me. I'm hoping that meeting my virtual team, and running with them will help to ease this on marathon day.

I'm also looking forward to running next Saturday. I'll be running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. It's only a 5K (a little over 3 miles) so I think that I can pull it off. :-) The race last year was the first true running race that I ever trained for and competed in...now I'm about to run a marathon! Keith and the kids will also be there. They are going to do the 1 mile family walk while I run. I'm excited that they will be there at the end this time since they weren't last year. It will also give us all a little taste of what we're in for in San Francisco.

Anyway, I'm off to finish watching "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives"...I told you I was hungry!

Happy Birthday, Ryley!

Today is Ryley's 7th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Ry!

Ready to Run

"See, here's the thing..."
I would be completely happy if I could run this marathon tomorrow. I can tell that my body is beginning to fatigue, and don't know how much longer that I can do this. I know that I have to do it for at least 6 more weeks. This is fine...I'm no quitter. And, I will be very proud of myself when I cross the finish line. I'll be even more proud when I reach my fundraising goal though. I still have about $1500 left to earn. I have various things going on that should help me to reach this goal, but I'm still a little skeptical. You know, I thought that the fundraising would be the easy part...but in reality, it has proven to be the hardest aspect of the Team in Training program.

So how is the training going otherwise? Well, I typically complete a long run on Sundays...whatever the scheduled mileage is. Then I usually run about 5 miles on 3 other days of the week before school. I ran 16 miles a week ago. I was supposed to do a 12 mile long run on Sunday, but the rain but a stop to that really quickly. Besides, if I can 16 miles, I'm pretty sure that I can do 12 miles. :-) This Sunday's long run is 18 miles...I'll let you know how that goes.

Ty and Ry update:
Ty has started middle school and all that goes with that. This includes band - she's playing the french horn - talking on the phone, and being a typical preteen. She also started piano lessons and diving again. She enjoys both and was really excited to start these back up.
Ry started first grade at my mom's elementary school and really enjoys it. He has several baseball friends there that he hangs out with, as well as a little girlfriend - she's the daughter of one of the other teacher's on my mom's hallway. He also is playing football this year, and is the quarterback...go figure. However, he comes home and wants to play baseball. When Keith asked him why he was playing baseball instead of football, his answer was, "because I like it." Good answer. Perhaps we should all take a lesson from a six year old...do things because you like them. :-)