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Showing posts from September, 2009

Memory Lane

The other night, I was talking to my hubby about my running. Mostly I was asking him if it drives him nuts. He admitted that it has been hard because training for my marathon was so time consuming (during his busiest time of year at work), but he said it is worth it if I really love it. And I do! I never, ever, ever, ever would have thought I would run, would WANT to run, would LOVE TO RUN! But I do. This conversation reminded me of something I thought about while running my marathon. You have some time to think when you are running 26.2 miles, and one thing that really struck me was how far I have come in the past year. Before September of last year, my longest race was a 4-miler and my longest run was 5.5 miles. Here is a little timeline of the year's highlights: September 2008 - The birth of my second child November 2008 - 4-mile race (I ran the same race in 2007; beat my time by 32 seconds) March 2009 - Foot surgery May 2009 - My first 10K June 2009 - My first 10-mile race Aug

Thank You

I have just a minute before my girls wake from their naps, but I have been thinking about my marathon (of course) and the keys to my success as a first timer. I could have spent hours researching marathons and how to train for them, but I never would have found the priceless, real-world advice and experiences I received from all of you, my friends in the blogging and running communities. I just want to say thank you! I know I would not have made it to the finish without your experiences, knowledge and inspiration pushing me along!! (Don't mind the little person or boxes of Halloween decorations in the background!) In other news, I won Run DMT's giveaway for a shirt from Running Chics . I chose a cute long sleeve thermal shirt, and finally had a chance to wear it now that it finally feels like fall. I just wanted to share a picture of the shirt and tell you it is awesome! It's especially nice because I really feel like a Running Chic these days!

Race Report: Top of Utah Marathon

Speaking of lists... I made a list of things I want to remember to include in my race report, but that list is upstairs and my legs are currently not friends with the stairs. I am going to try to remember everything on the list, but I figure anything I forget will just make a good post topic later. So yes, this is my race report. I finished my first marathon on Saturday. And the first item to note is that I did indeed finish. That was my goal. To finish. My second goal was to finish under the 5 hour mark. I made my second goal as well. My third goal was to finish feeling good enough that I want to do another one. Let's just say I am narrowing down the list of spring marathons. Now for the details. I spent the night in a hotel about an hour from the race start; that took an hour off my drive, so it was worth it. (It was the closest one I could get by the time I decided to make a reservation.) After waking up about 10 times, I got out of bed two minutes before my 3:45 am alarm was se

Lists

I love running 10 miles. On the treadmill or outside, it has become on of my favorite distances. I feel tired when I am done, but a good tired. Not an I-want-to-die tired. And I am not sore after 10 miles. As we all learned a few weeks ago, I can't say the same after 20 miles. So yes, I ran my scheduled 10 miles last night. And it was great. I made sure they were easy miles (which is easy to do on the treadmill and also one its few benefits); and I am also happy to report a pain-free leg. So now the countdown really begins. (My tummy did a flop just typing that.) My marathon is Saturday, THIS Saturday. Saturday, September 19th. I spent the morning printing out driving directions and re-reading the race info. I have started lists of things to pack (for the entire family since we're staying at a hotel the night before so I don't have to drive over 2 hours the morning of), things to remember (wrap sore toe, Glide above boobs, etc.) and things to do (charge Garmin, iPod pl

Reassurance

WOW! Thanks for the your reassuring comments about running my marathon after missing some of my runs. I just might end up going into this thing a little over-confident thanks to all of you (ha-ha, wouldn't that be nice). But really, thanks!! I feel a lot better about things; and my leg is doing much better. It's not 100 percent yet, but it is getting there. I am running every other day to give it time to recover without stressing myself out because I am missing too many runs. The true test will be my last pre-marathon "long" run this weekend, 10 miles. I wanted to include something about 9/11 since it has been on my mind all day, but I just couldn't come up with the right words to express my thoughts. So instead I will send you over to Beth who had the perfect thing to say today.

9 Days and Counting

Sorry I have been MIA. My blog neglect has been partly due to lack of running because of my mysterious leg pain and also due to the time I spent over the past week planning my baby's first birthday party. The party is over, and without that distraction my nerves are on overdrive! I don't think I would be quite this nervous about my marathon NEXT SATURDAY (the 19th) if I had been able to continue with my training plan. My leg is finally getting back to normal, but I am going to head to the doctor tomorrow if it acts up during tonight's run. Because of my leg, I missed my long run this past weekend. Please, someone in bloggyland tell me I will be OK next week in spite of my missed runs?!?

Never Again

I ran 20 miles on the treadmill last night, and I have no plans to ever do it again. It was hard, really hard! Actually, the first 10 weren't bad. They went pretty quickly as I switched back and forth from The Office to The Breakup on TV. One hour in, I was getting hungry, so I ran downstairs and ate a banana. That was my first mistake. By the half marathon mark, I had heartburn like you wouldn't believe. Running was painful. I walked when it was too much to stand. And took a quick break for some Tums. The heartburn NEVER went away. Then I got sleepy at mile 15. The only thing that kept me going was that I had grabbed a movie (17 Again) from Redbox and set up my laptop next to the treadmill. Unfortunately, the movie ended just after I hit that 15 mile mark. I watched late night talk shows the rest of the time, but they weren't enough to distract me from the massive blister that had formed on my little toe (mistake #2 - forgetting to Glide my toes). At mile 18, I met the wal

20 Miles or Bust!!

I figure if I put it on here, I might feel more pressure to make it happen. Tonight I am finally going to get my 20 mile run DONE! It was planned for Sunday night, but it wasn't going to happen after an ER visit for my baby and lots of much needed cuddle time (for both baby and Mommy) when we finally got home! Then yesterday I was tired from a late and long night and fought a headache all day, so I debated the run all afternoon. When the girls went to bed late, my decision was finally made. I really didn't want to finish running around midnight. So tonight it is!