Sunday Mud day and Race Report

“An adventure may be worn as a muddy spot or it may be worn as a proud insignia. It is the woman wearing it who makes it the one thing or the other.”
Norma Shearer

 Oh how I wish I had pictures, but alas when you attend a mud run, you must either pack a waterproof camera or not take photos....I wasn't forward thinking enough for the camera. Boo! My husband and I did the Merrill Down & Dirty Mud Run 5K this report will double as my race report entry for the "Not your average adventure" virtual race.

Pre-Race: 

Skinny Vanilla Latte and banana for breakfast

Arrived at 7:30, checked my things and wandered around the Merrill Expo (woo hoo for free Buffs)

8:30 lined up in corrals only to find out there was 14 staggered starts all 4 minutes apart. Yeah, we were in wave 11, too long to stand around if you ask me.

Funnest costumes I saw were: a guy dressed as the golden gate bridge and 5 guys dress as Waldos from Where's Waldo.

Race:

Gun went off and my husband turned up the juice right out of the gate. There were definitely some people who needed to be in wave 14, or maybe we should have been in wave 10. Dunno. Our pace slowed considerately and as our lungs reminded us both we are battling colds. Cold air plus running equals raw throats.

We climbed a wall, then made our way up and down some hills (my down hill effort was pretty intense and impressive, my hubby will vouch), climbed a rope wall (smashed my pinky), got stung by wasps (not on the course map by the way), scaled 3 hurdles (acrued 3 new bruises), army crawled through a mud pit (knees are totally scraped up), sloshed through Folsom Lake, scaled a slippery wall and finally made our way through another mud pit. At the end of each mud pit there was a bit of hill so we both slid out of the mud pits with enthusiam. It was so fun. We crossed, drenched in mud holding hands, cheesy I know, but I loved every second.

Post Race:

Hoses Showers (took forever to rinse a suitable amount of mud off), hauled oursleves to the truck where we changed and realized we didn't even come close to washing all the mud off. You know those people who take mud bathes? Yeah, I don't get it, it takes forever to clean and mud goes places it should never go!

Why I should win the awesome tote bag this was "not your average adventure?"

• It was my husband's first 5K and he came along just for me. 
• He pointed out shortly before the lake entry that he was pretty sure he was going to set a PR (always a jokester).
• I sustained a life threatening wasp sting and lived to tell the tale
• I had the best of intentions of scraping Happy Birthday P in the mud on my arms and legs, but had not camera. It's the thought that counts, right?
• It's Halloween and running with my husband was the best treat.
• It was my first run since my marathon and after finishing the 5K my husband said with true sincerity, "Wow, this was less than 1/8 of what you did in SF." He was kinda impressed

 Thankful Three

1. For Togo's sandwiches and soup
2. For see's candy
3. For my little pirate and bunny

 

Thoughtful Thursday: Believe

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don't have a lot to say tonight. I was responsible for providing dynamic training to a group of highly creative and skilled management officials. My program was doubted, "where is the work health and wellness tie in?" they asked.
 

I nailed it. Enough said.

Thankful Three

1. For surviving my C-section 1 year ago today and getting the most precious gift out of it. Happy Birthday Bug!
2. For having confidence in my program delivery
3. For red wine and chocolate

Tuesday Tidbit: Runbbatical

Runbbatical, super fun to say! What is it? Well it is the idea that runner's generally tend to lay off heavy training in the winter, pick up some weights and cross train. It's the off season right? Ok, not for everyone (grumble, grumble darn Boston runners). Anyway, Teamarcia at Running Off at the Mouth is starting her Runbbatical on November 1st and I am such a follower in my non-work life that I am going to ride the wave of fun blogland ideas. She's invited anyone to play so stop on over and see what she is going to be up to for the next couple of months. It is for anyone finishing up official training or not officially training this winter. I don't know that I am ever officially training for anything, I have a pretty erratic running schedule. I do know that I am working the the CORE, injury rehabilitation and prevention. So what am I going to do Nov-Dec?

• I am only going to run 3 days per week. Tuesday's, Thursday's and one day Saturday or Sunday. No more than 5 miles during the week, no more than 10 miles on the weekend (except 11/14 below).
• CORE work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I want flat abs people and Turkey day is not gonna stop me!
• November 1st I am trying Krav Maga. Krav Ma-what?! Krav Maga is the self defense system used by the Israeli Defense Forces, so excited! It is a one-week trial. I'll let you all know how it goes.
• November 7th I am doing a 50K bike ride
• November 14th I am doing a casual 1/2 marathon. It is the first in my town so gotta show some love and a good friend is using this as her first half, gotta be supportive. (my one exception to the 10 mile rule, unless another strikes my fancy. I reserve the right to change my mind for an awesome run)
• November 25th 5K Run for Hunger (meets the under 5 mile and Thursday criteria)
• Uh, December?? yeah not there yet
• I do need to incorporate swimming/biking in there somewhere. I am hoping 2 days a week, but we'll see how the schedule pans out. My TRI club is going to start spinning soon where they bring bike trainers and hang out in a team members garage & sweat for an hour. I know, sounds awesome right?! I just don't know if I can hang, their pretty hard core. Spinervals, yikes!

Thankful Three

1. For P's awesome virtual race, see my sidebar for details
2. For my DVR, it is 3:00 am and I am supposed to be working, Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl in the background really makes the time fly
3. For my sweet kids, really sweet and fun to play with tonight (last night I guess it's 3:00 am!)

Monday Motivation: Birthday Tribute

“It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason that it is more difficult to be witty every day than to say pretty things from time to time.”

~Honore de Balzac

Today's Monday Motivation is dedicated to my amazingly witty husband who still manages to say pretty things to me every day, Happy Birthday!

Top 10 Reasons I love my husband  

1. Because he is a better father than I could have ever dreamt
2. He loves me enough to bring me sliced apples, marcona almonds and a gatorade when I'm soaking in a cold recovery bath
3. He's the best chef
4. He's teaching me to be silly, no easy feet feat
5. He puts my daughter in dresses and pretends (with the biggest smile) not to like it
6. He took me to one of his favorite fishing spots because he wanted me to see how beautiful it is
7. He stood in the pouring rain at mile 16 to cheer me on and ran with me at mile 25.5 at the Nike Women's Marthon 2010
8. He cuddles me until I fall asleep at night even when he's not tired
9. He taught my son to love Star Wars through intense light saber fights with paper towel rolls
10. He asked my father's permission before proposing to me. Honor and tradition are on my top 10 Values list

The list could go on forever, but I know I am making everyone in blogland jealous, so I'll leave it at 10.

Happy Birthday again to the most amazing man I'll ever know.

Thankful Three 

1. For The Melting Pot--Woo Hoo Fondue!
2. For the 2011 Calendar, hubby is finally taking a boys only Montana fishing trip (he's so nice, he has not wanted to leave me alone too long with our little ones)
3. For physical therapy, I am destined to get ahead of sports injuries

Friday Five... ahem, 26.2. My blog, My rules.

I Run To Be...

1. I Run To Be proud of myself
2. I Run To Be successful in my own right
3. I Run To Be a size 10
4. I Run To Be able to wear shorts confidently
5. I Run To Be sexy
6. I Run To Be dazzling for my husband
7. I Run To Be healthy
8. I Run To Be an example
9. I Run To Be fit
10. I Run To Be free to eat whatever I want (in moderation)
11. I Run To Be different from my family and friends
12. I Run To Be a leader
13. I Run To Be absent minded
14. I Run To Be able to think things through
15. I Run To Be free from my daily obligations
16. I Run To Be amazing
17. I Run To Be unnoticed
18. I Run To Be somebody
19. I Run To Be cool
20. I Run To Be a nerd
21. I Run To Be empowered
22. I Run To Be apart of nature
23. I Run To Be strong
24. I Run To Be able to cry in private
25. I Run To Be able to talk incessantly with my friends
26. I Run To Be sweaty

.2 I Run To Be ME

Thankful Three

1. For fried chicken
2. For power outages at work
3. For registering my husband for a mud run (with me!)

The Turn Around: Race Report-Marathon PR

“I'm glad I did it, partly because it was worth it, but mostly because I shall never have to do it again”

 ~Mark Twain

Before I start I should tell you what the plan was:

• Pre-Injury to finish shooting for a PR close to 5:30 running most of the run
• Post-Injury to finish before the 6:30 cut off so that I could still get my necklace
• Walk all aid stations
• Wall all hills

What actually happened:

• I found that my knee didn't bother me so I raised my expecations
• I walked all the water/fuel stations as planned
• I walked a lot of the hills, but ran a good portion of each hill because it felt good
• I pressured myself mentally to stay between the 5:15 pacer and 5:30 pacer
• I finished with a 49:32 difference in PR--Freaking Fantastic Right!

So the packet pick up wrapped around Union Square. It was a neat, but not the best Expo ever. I know Niketown was across the street for shopping, but I needed more money spending options inside.

They had this great map at the Expo, looks so manageable, right?!

Niketown is right off of Union Square and was the scene of the start line on Sunday. They pasted a huge sticker with names of all the registered participants on it. Supercool!

Went inside Niketown and got to see a wall-o-shorts. I am so glad it is fall and I was not too tempted. The huge lines were also a deterrent.

The Scene at the start line. Crazy amounts of estrogen. I couldn't look at anyone without getting teary. All kinds of people running for reasons that seemed so much deeper than mine (at the time).

My Buddy V was awesome enough to sign up late and help get me out there. She logged a DNF, but toughed out a good 16 miles.

The first little climb. Not so bad, great view of the Golden Gate in the distance.

The view from Crissy Field, even better view of the GG.

I wish I had more pictures from the Golden Gate climbs to mile 13. This was pre-real rain. Forecast said there was 30% chance of light showers so sprinkles from mile 4-14 were no big deal. At the top of mile 7ish there were rest rooms before a decent downhill. I had a no wait potty break, had a Powergel and enjoyed the easy downhill. There were orange slices around miles 8-9 and you could smell the citrus from all the oranges and peels on the street. I packed enough fuel not to bank on the orange slice aid station, but was super glad they hadn't run out. I texted my husband and was looking forward to seeing him at mile 11, I even saved my walk break for when I saw him. Suddenly it's mile 12 and I still hadn't seen my hubby. This was a really bad thing. I let myself get my hopes up and all that meant was crashing. I tried to smile through it and decided a half way point photo to stick in my race report was just the way to start feeling better. *Time is not adjusted for the roughly 24 minute relaxed start delay. I did get to see my husband at mile 14.5 where he so nicely stretched my quads, said I looked good and after the race told me that the group of girls behind me at that point said the following, "I want calves like hers." Yup, they were talking about me!

At mile 16 I took another line free potty break. It is amazing how much the field thins at the half marathon turn off. Kinda lonely, but not. At mile 16 all I could think about was how easy of a time I was having and that I could totally do it again and the next 10 miles were going to be cake. LOL yeah, you go a little crazy when you run 26.2 because it is never easy. Here I am at mile 19 with the zoo to my left and the beautiful ocean to my right. You can't tell, but it is raining. Actually it rained pretty much non-stop from mile 16 to 26.2 and was really pouring down 16-19 and 25-26.2. Knowing that it was going to be cold I went to a store, that shall not be named, and bought a Fruit of the Loom white sweat shirt for under $6.00, knit gloves for $1.50 and a leopard print ear warmer for $4.00. I intended to ditch the ear warmers and sweat shirt at mile 2 a designated charitable clothing donation station. Yeah, um, WAY to cold for that! So I ended up running is a soaking wet cotton sweat shirt because there came a point where if I took off the soaking wet sweat shirt I would just get colder. This is particularly ironic given I just posted about my snooty clothing selections HERE.

I called my husband at mile 23 because I needed some motivation. I was running near a couple groups of people who then started talking to each other about the people in their lives suffering or who have recently died of cancer. I got choked up, then couldn't catch my breath. There were other challenging times during the race. The start was at mile 17 when I started to cramp. I wanted to walk, but kept going. I had to be so uber cliche, not really my thing, but I though about my 17 year old cousin battling a rare form of cancer. She went from high school athlete to being unable to walk inside of 6 months. Then I thought how ironic that I was having this challenge at mile 17 since she is 17. Mile 17 was cousin J's mile. I really had lost of calf cramps from mile 19 to 20 and again from 23 basically to the end. My husband met me at mile 25.5, took the wet sweat shirt and fanny pack so I could get a good finish line photo and ran a 1/4 mile with me. At the end of that 1/4 mile I got a good slap in the ass for good measure. Thanks honey.

Check out my race photos HERE, the video is not of me which is lame, but the photos are good. I also love the NIKE graph options. See how I faired, GRAPH style.

I think I am ready for another run, too soon to be thinking? I feel somewhat accomplished, but not like a found the answer to world peace. I feel confident, so confident in fact I am already thinking about what is next, should I relish in this longer? I feel like the outside world doesn't understand the length of time runner's should be allowed to brag about accomplishments. They always respond with how crazy of an idea it is, not, "Holy smokes, you are amazing!"

Thankful Three

1. For a husband who is sick and still spends 5+ hours in the rain for his running wife
2. For cell phones
3. For Christi at Pedestrian Runner she chose me for the Tuesday Hero award, I am so honored.

Monday Motivation: I Run To Be...

I Run To Believe.

So one of these days I am going to Be-confident all the time, Be-proud of myself all the time, Be-Me ALL THE TIME. 100% ME, without apology!

I guess this weekend was a good time to start BElieving in myself. I only have a few minutes to make this an actual, "Monday" Motivation Blog so I'll keep it short. On Saturday I had no hotel and no real belief I was actually going to make it to the starting line. I begged my husband at dinner Saturday night to take me home, I was almost in tears several times. We planned to sleep in the back of our truck near the race since I had not booked a hotel. Why didn't I book a hotel for my "A" race of the year? Because I was not confident I would actually follow through. We decided at about 8:30 that night, after a dinner in the city, to stay at a hotel 45 minutes outside the city and just drive in in the morning. When my husband suggested this I said we could just go home and drive the full 1.5 hours and skip the hotel expense. He so wisely noted that if I go home, I will not show up to the start line.

Final Finish Time 5:34:05. In case you were wondering, my only other marathon attempt and finish was San Diego Rock n Roll in 2006 and I finished in 6:23:37. You could say I am pretty proud of myself.

Thankful Three

1. For my husband, he got me to the start line and almost quite literally to the finish
2. For my new bling
3. For me

More to come in future posts: 

A full race report and 26.2 reasons I Run To Be

Thoughtful Thursday: Safety First and 10-10-10 Race Report

“The way to be safe is never to feel secure”

 ~unknown

So I haven't run in two weeks and I am "running" a marathon in 3 days. I posted a weak moment, whaa, whaa, whaa post yesterday and talked about being afraid. Well, we'll talk fear in just a moment. Let's cover the 10-10-10 race report information and lessons learned tonight.

RACE REPORT-short version, there is a bigger story here

• Today I went for my first run just to test out my knee. 
• I put on my new purple running skirt, grabbed my iPhone for the Pandora radio access and headed out the door feeling pretty cute and ready do it!
• I chose a .5 mile loop in my neighborhood and started conservatively.
• About 1 mile in I was fairly sure that I wanted to finish the 10-10-10 run put on by RunningDivaMom For this reason, I did not have a race bib on (sorry)
• I really wanted to do the run on 10-10-10 but I was still living in fear that I had completely lost the ability to run and didn't want to know for sure. Damn knee bursitis
• The first 3 miles were completely pain free, woo hoo!
• The second three were still "pain" free, but I felt some of the bursitis pressure and needed to take walk breaks.
• Despite walk breaks I was pretty happy with my 1:11:03 finish (11:30 ish minute miles) 

Lessons Learned

Tonight I did the following:

• Wore a head lamp
• Wore a bright yellow reflective vest
• Did not take my dog for fear she'd trip me and I would get injured
• Ran on the street (asphalt) to avoid as much concrete as possible
• Hand my phone for an emergency (and Pandora radio)
• Only used 1 earbud so I could hear traffic
• Ran in my own neighborhood on a .5 loop so I was close to home if my knee began to hurt

All of the above sounds pretty safe right? Well as the quote says above, "The way to be safe is to never feel secure"...well I am not sure I totally agree, living in fear would suck. I do think that we should not be complacent. Tonight I ran at 9:15 PM. Running at night is not safe for many reason, low visibility being my primary concern. Well tonight I was reminded how vulnerable I am. While running tonight I was very cognizant of my surroundings. I took note of cars driving around, listened closely to things going on around me and paid attention to my internal fear. About half way through my run I was feeling concerned that I wore a skirt running at night, I would be less of a target if I wore pants and looked like just a person, not a woman. With 3/4 of a mile to go, I decided not to do the .5 loop. While running a car that I felt had driven past me already gave me the creeps so I decided to finish the last bit of my run by doing 5 loops on the .1 loop a block from my house. Yay me for making at least one smart decision tonight. No sooner than finished 1.5 of the 5 laps I needed to do before running home did I see that car again. It looped the .1 and came back around and pulled close to me. A guy, late 20's early 30's, (my age) pulled up and said, "How you doing?" Really? How are you doing at 10:00 at night?! I backed away from the car and asked if he was looking for someone. While asking this I was pulling out my phone from my vest pocket. The guy didn't respond to my question and just eyed what I was doing. Once I dialed my husband and brought the phone to my ear it registered for him and the guy slowly drove away from me. I then proceeded to S-P-R-I-N-T home.

Questions:

1. Why did I dial my husband and not the police? Well first of all he was only 1 block away and could get to me sooner than the police
2. My husband would have killed the guy, while the police, well...they may have just hassled him a bit and given he did nothing wrong, would let the creepy guy off
3. Why did I talk to the "stranger"...honestly I thought he might have been a neighbor, but it became clear very quickly that he was no friend of mine and had different intentions
4. Why didn't I run away? Well, to get to my block I would have had to pass in front of his car and I didn't want him to hit me, chase me etc...

On the phone with my hubby I asked him to come out side to meet me as I ran home. Some how my feet just flew, there was no knee pain or pressure and I was light, I was literally flying. My husband said he could here me from the end of the block because I was practically hyperventilating. He hussled me in the house in case the guy tried to follow me and so he wouldn't know where I live. 

I called the police to come patrol the neighborhood. My husband drove the neighborhood. For my own reassurance, I also drove the neighborhood looking for the Blue Toyota Hybrid with no plates, just the Toyota Town label of a new car where the license plate should be. I don't feel better yet.

I'm still shaken up and am blogging after midnight because my mind can't rest about what I should have done, could have done differently and the things that could have happened. I tried to explain to my husband that this guy must live in our neighborhood, why else would he be here? To that my husband reminded me we live close to a university and that creepy guys troll around the area looking for unsuspecting college girls. It hadn't even occurred to me that bad people go out looking for bad things to do in my "safe" neighborhood.

What kinds of safety measures do you take? What measures should I take...besides not running at 10:00 at night in a short skirt? I feel so stupid about that, ugh!

Thankful Three

1. That nothing happened to me tonight
2. For a pain free 10K
3. Lessons learned-be smart. be safe. 

The Turn Around: Self-Sabtage and 100th Post Giveaway Winner

“Self-sabotage is when we say we want something and then go about making sure it doesn't happen.”

 Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby quotes 

Yeah, all that happy go lucky crap I was dishing out earlier this week was my way of convincing myself that I haven't totally sabotaged my chances at finishing this marathon. I am not convinced. Ugh, everyday I tell myself I am going to go out for a run to test my knee, and everyday I find an excuse not to go. I am sure that my excuse tomorrow will be that I am not going to bed until midnight (Tuesday) and therefore will be too tired Wednesday morning (today). We'll see, I should be more positive. Honestly I am really afraid. Afraid of what?

1. Afraid I'll get in a couple miles on a training run and have to quit because of my knee...I know it's better to know now than on race day.
2. Afraid that I'll feel great and push it, then hurt myself again
3. Afraid I'll be fine and actually have to run the thing (I'm only half joking)
4. Afraid that my 2 1/2 weeks off (it feels like a month) will have undone all my training
5. Afraid for no other reason than 26.2 miles is scary

So why have I self-sabotaged? So I don't have to answer any of the questions I have about my ability. I read other runner blogs, I knew the self doubt would come, but I am really convincing myself that 26.2 is not the best idea. I really want to run the SF course for the sake of the awesome views, the Tiffany's necklace and overall feeling of excitement and energy that 20,000 people bring to an event. I have a plan and a partner, if we have to walk the whole gosh darn thing, then we are going to do it! I know I sound so ready right? but I am so not. Good night Bloggy Blog friends.

I almost forgot, we have a WINNER! Random.Org has chosen lucky number 13! Isn't that amazing, 13 on the 13th! So Ms. Meredith please message me at sophiakobrin at yahoo dot com with your mailing address and I'll get your goodies in the mail to you ASAP. Thanks for following!

Thankful Three

1. For wicked awesome Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches
2. For discovering Five Guys burger joint, seriously may never need In-n-Out again
3. For my husband's new truck, probably going to have to borrow it...alot

Monday Motivation: I'm a snob, are you?

“I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.”

~Coco Chanel

So I am kind of a snob. I wasn't always a snob, but somehow I have developed a little snootiness. For example, I was in the woods, hiking along a river that my husband was scouting for a good fly fishing spot. We passed a couple people and I looked down at myself and noticed I was wearing a pair of Adidas jogging pants. Yeah, if I passed myself on this trail I would have guessed that I was out on my first hike. Totally not wearing the right gear. I know life is not all about gear, but are you a snob? Do you consider it to be snobby about appropriate gear for whatever sport strikes your fancy? Maybe snobby isn't the right term, but I figure if I am being judgmental, someone else is judging me...right? My husband doesn't even notice these things.

So while I am more of a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl, I do need to dress appropriately for work. With my wonderful weight loss, that I am totally thankful for, I have not really been fitting in my current wardrobe. So today on my Federal Holiday day off I decided to head into San Francisco and go shopping. Yikes, I kinda over did it, but I am excited about my new outfits. Like Coco Chanel says, you never know when I might have a date with destiny. I am going to do my best to look pretty, but it is tough for me to do in the fashion world. I can totally look the part in the woods despite my Adidas pants fly fishing faux paux, but looking fashionable in a professional environment, not quite my forte´. Wearing the right sneakers for a trailrun vs. road run, check. The right heels with the right dress? Yeah, I usually need to phone a friend.

Are you a snob? Fashionista?

Thanful Three

1. For a day in San Francisco, I can't wait to see Union Square transformed into the Nike Women's marathon race expo
2. For a great shopping buddy, seriously was a ton of fun
3. For an understanding husband. When I told him how much I spent, he said, "Better not lose any more weight, you need to wear those things for a while" LOL lose anymore weight, I am terrified it might come back!

Friday Five: Head in the Clouds

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray. ~Lord Byron 

Still in a super-fantastic mood! I love that things have turned around and nothing has changed but my attitude. Sometimes that is all it takes, smile instead of frown, turn sour subjects sweet and know that life is what we make of it.

1. I have today off, yippee!
2. I went to a Free Master's swim group and got video taped. I learned to swim strokes when I was about 11 and at the time is was this funny S thing under water. Did you know that is antiquated? Yeah, I didn't either. I was told that we are supposed to have our arms become human paddles. I corrected this and got some good critique I can build on this winter.
3. I am not committing to anything quite yet, but in my quest to strengthen my core, I also want to factor in some weight loss/tummy toning for purely vain reasons. My legs look freak'n awesome and are certainly a size 10, however, my tummy isn't budging and thus I continue to wear size 12's and have baggy pants around the tush and legs. Should I get my pants tailored? Um, nope! I am going with lose the tummy, what do you think?
4. Physical therapy went really well this week. I sold my Honda Pilot on Wednesday and was forced to ride my bike to work on Thursday. I hate that I am slow on the uptake. I have been talking about riding my bike to work all summer and never did. Now I realize how much speedier my rehabilitation might have been (still working on it) if I had rode my bike to work for cardio and exercise for my right knee bursitis. Hind sight is 20/20
5. Ok ladies and gentleman be jealous. I am going to the McCloud River, pretty much a flyfishing mecca in Northern California. We have a babysitter, I have 3 books and my husband has his fishing rods. Gonna be a nice time to relax and enjoy seriously one of the most beautiful places in the United States.

I'll catch you bloggy bloggers Sunday, have a great weekend and don't forget to enter my first giveaway HERE

Thankful Three

1. A great swim work out this morning, I am coming to appreciate form more and more
2. Family support so I can spend time alone with my husband
3. Luna Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein bars, soooo good

The Turn Around: 100th Post and my First Giveaway

Wednesday Hump Day sounds funny, but like an out and back run it marks the turn around to the work week. I am so excited that I have a 3 day work week. I was off Monday for my son's birthday and have Friday off for a weekend with Super Hubby, ALONE! Did I mention Monday the 11th is a Holiday for me at work too? I thinking a trip to the Napa Valley to pick up the wine futures I ordered back in the spring time is a perfect way to spend that day.

I am super happy, so what has changed? Well, I still haven't run since Sept 24th and with my marathon only 10 days away, I'm kinda worried. As a way to temper my anxiety I printed the course map, penned in all the water aid stations, fuel aid stations and bench mark times for the 6:30 cut off. I posted them for miles 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25. While I have been encouraged not to run it, I haven't been told I can't walk it so right now my goal is still to finish. Thinking about 14 minute miles makes the endeavor seem doable.

Since the map thing made me feel so much better, I had time to think about how much I love fall. I love hearty seasonal foods, snuggley blankets, Halloween, weather changes and the birthdays of the three most important people in my life: Super Hubby, Duder and The Bug. I want other people to feel as super-fantastic as I do so I decided in honor of my 100th post, I would put together my first giveaway. Below are some of my current favorites:

2-cutesy Halloween buckets
1-pair of tall socks with skulls
3-Powerbar gels (Chocolate w/caffeine)
6-Luna Bars (all different flavors)
2-Cliff Shot Blocks (cranrazz flavor)

Here's how to enter (separate comment for each please).

1.  Mandatory~ Become a follower of my blog or let me know if you already are.

2.  Mandatory~ What is your preferred choice of fuel?

3.  Follow me on Twitter HERE.  I'm tortuga_runner.

4.  Post about this giveaway on your blog, Facebook or Twitter. Leave a comment for each.

BONUS ENTRIES ~Share your favorite thing about Fall or Halloween in a separate comment

Winner will be chosen using random.org.  Entries will be accepted until midnight on Tuesday October 12th and the winner will be announced Wednesday October 13th.

Thankful Three

1. For feeling super-fantastic today
2. For one of the books I am reading: Little Bee~so far it's a great read
3. For friends, dinner tonight was awesome!

Sunday Summary: Confessions

“Faith is confirmed by the heart, confessed by the tongue, and acted upon by the body”

~Anonymous

Forgive me body for I have slacked off, it has been 9 days since my last run. You read that right folks, 9 days. I was so hopeful for my Friday physical therapy appt. I was sure I was going to get the green light to run, but alas I am still on restriction. I did not post Friday, but if I did it would've looked a little something like this:

Friday Five: Death by Mini Mart

1. 4 out of 6 hostess mini powdered donuts
2. 1 of 2 hostess chocolate cupcakes, you know, the ones with the white swirlies on top
3. 1/2 an individual bag of cheetos
4. chocolate milk
5. watermelon flavor laffy taffy

Yeah, and this was breakfast. I know, I am terrible with my coping, I should weigh a bazillion pounds. Fortunately I do not have a lot to cope with so, I have the freedom to binge on junk food when life gets me down.



Back to the physical therapy appt. I reminded my doctor that I was supposed to be running a 1/2 marathon today. He said that it probably wasn't the best idea. He said I could walk it if I wanted to. WALK? Um, yeah, walking 13.1 miles sounded like torture so I urged that maybe I could trot, maybe jog a little. Reluctantly, he said yes as long as I only ran to fatigue in the knee/bursitis area and not to the point of pain. I was pretty worn out after therapy Friday so I thought I'd test out running on Saturday.


Saturday I ran in short bursts for 38 minutes. LOL actually, I coach my son's 3-4 year olds' basketball team. Coaches incidentally are also the referee's. So lots of running forward and back peddling back. No knee problems. I was still feeling mopey when I got home so I mowed and edged the lawn. It was quite therapeutic as I could see fairly instantly a positive end result. Same with cleaning out my car in preparation for possibly selling it. I even hit the grocery for all the ingredients I would need for my beef, mushroom and barely soup. So in between the lawn and the grocery I thought I would test out this whole run to fatigue thing....um, yeah. I made it to the end of the block. Seriously?! If I thought I wasn't going to run today, I was damn sure of it after my little trot to the end of the block. Good thing was my soup cam out great so we invited friends over for a great dinner, great wine and we even ended the day with some pumpkin pie. Sounds great right? Yeah, great...stay POSITIVE!


Lucky #13
I need to stay positive I have 13 days to the marathon. I have faith. I have confessed (again) about slacking off with my running/core. Now my body needs to act. I will attempt to complete my weekly mileage this week using the run-walk restriction and see how it goes. It I am able to do that, then I'll try and do 10-12 this weekend. I'll run the plan by my physical therapist tomorrow. Nike Women's Marathon is a lottery gig and there is not guarantee that if I am unable to run it this year, that I'll even get in next year. Just thinking about it makes me want to grab an "It's It' from the freeze (chocolate covered, oatmeal cookie, ice cream sandwich). Ok, bad coping effort, but it is my effort.

How do you cope when you can't do what you love doing?

Thanful Three

1. For the fun goodie bags my son and I put together for his birthday party tomorrow
2. For Book 2, of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire
3. For more cousins. My husband's cousin gave birth to a healthy baby boy today!