Five oh-five oh five: A summary.

That was my official Nike chip time! 5:05:05 I beat my PF Chang's time by 6 minutes!

I apologize for my selfish lack of updates (yet again). Recovery has been physical and mental.

This race was, in a nutshell, the hardest thing I have ever done (physically) in my entire life. Hands down. Now, does it compare to chemo or radiation or nausea from chemo or anything else that a cancer patient goes through? Not even close.

Art, I'm sorry, I didn't see your comment until tonight!

It was a race day full of lessons learned, tears (happy and sad), survivors, celebration, fog, Tiffany & Co. necklaces, family, friends, and HILLS....woe is me, the hills...... And damn, it....was....tough.

However, I finished, I'm not injured (the ego might be a little bit bruised) and I'm still reeling from the emotions of the trip.

We had such a great trip, though- the race seemed almost like a secondary part- "Oh yeah! I'm running a marathon tomorrow!". We ate seafood, took cable car rides, went shopping (hellooooo, four-story Niketown!), ate more seafood, ran 26.2 miles, took ice baths, drank in an Irish Pub....it's all good.

I'm alive (and still training- Las Vegas Rock N' Roll Marathon is in 5 weeks! What was I thinking??)

Here are a few teaser pics until I provide my race report!

The calm before the storm

First off, we received some news about one of our honored teammates, Gabbi. She's a smart and vivacious 13-year old who was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was just two years old. Needless to say, she kicked that cancer to the curb and went on to excel in school, including competing in scholastic competitions in Washington DC!

Well, last week, her neck was in some serious pain so they took her to the doctor and she ended up having to go to Phoenix for more specialized care. Turns out she had a compression fracture in one of her cervical vertebrae (ouch!) and was given a neck brace to wear for two weeks. Doctors think that this might have been caused by osteoporosis, which is a nasty side effect of her prior chemotherapy. Of course, she had to have a bunch of blood panels done to make sure the cancer hadn't returned, and they were all clear (thank God). But the stress of going through that? AGAIN?

Now hold the phone.

Seriously? This little baby fought the battle of her life before she was three years old, and now, ten years later, she is still battling because of this cancer? Now how is THAT fair?

Just another thing to let us know that these diseases wreak havoc and they aren't done yet. They're still out there, threatening and taking lives. I'm not okay with that, not at all.

Gabbi was on all of our minds as we warmed up for our run in the dark at 5 am. Having missed last week's 16 miler, I was very anxious to make it up this week. I'd been gearing myself up mentally for it and was rearin' and ready to go.

16 miles was a really big mistake.

Without getting into all of the nitty gritty, I'm nursing a sore IT band (same thing that dropped me on my 18 miler last season ). Again, THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. I keep running (no pun intended, ha ha) over in my head what happened, what I did wrong. I bought a new pair of shoes the week before but I didn't wear them since they were a re-design of the old pair and I didn't want to "test" them on a long run, so did dead shoes do this to me (again?). Did I have poor form and weak abs? Had I been overcompensating on the right side because I was favoring the left (where my biopsy was done?).

I came back, shed a few tears into a cool washcloth, then I put on my big girl panties and sucked it up. I really let pride get in the way this time, and this 16 miler was a very humbling way of bringing me back to earth, let me tell you. I should have just followed the schedule and let the 16 miler be history, but instead I insisted on doing it and have now put myself out of even considering 18 miles next week. BAD IDEA.

So, here's the bottom line. It happened, there's nothing I can do to take it back. All I can do now is take care of myself, and focus on the 20-miler and race day. That's it. I refuse to ruminate and think about "coulda shoulda woulda".....It is interesting, though- three of the mentors all got injured on the 16 miler. We're dropping like flies. These next few weeks are going to be recover and nurse-it weeks.

We got news this morning that Gabbi is doing better, although a neck brace isn't easy to deal with when you're in middle school. She is such a strong young woman that has been through so much, and if I could have just a FRACTION of her courage and strength, I know I'd be ok. In fact, I KNOW I'll be ok.

Results are in!

The dermatologist called and said that my demon freckle was benign, no further treatment needed! Yay!


I've been off my feet for the last 5 days like a good girl. Not enjoying it, but under the guise that I will do this right the first time rather than push myself and end up getting injured (or infected!).

I went to practice on Saturday morning to cheer on my team and I'm glad I did, since the heat snuck up fast, and my teammates looked.....tired. I handed out the washcloths that had been sitting in ice water to the weary runners- they really did triumph that morning, and I know people with blood cancers appreciated their efforts. I know I did.


So, while I wasn't running this weekend, a teammate snapped a picture of me a few weeks ago in Sabino Canyon! Thanks, Susan!

I'm going to try out my foot at cross training class tomorrow. We'll see how it holds up!

A slight hiccup (aka a pipe wrench in the works)

So, if you haven't met me in person, there's something you should know- I'm really pale. Like, SUPER pale. I don't tan; I never have unless I get a sunburn and it peels and then it turns into a tan.

So, living in Arizona for eight years has done some damage, and I knew it, so I finally put on my big girl panties and went to the dermatologist. Better safe than sorry, better to catch something early, yadda yadda yadda....and wouldn't you know, there was a naughty little mole on the pinkie toe of my left foot. Seriously? My PINKIE TOE??

Long story short, the Dr. ended up lopping it off right then and there, followed by a "No physical activity or exercise for one week". My response? "Does that include running?" I mean...I WAS planning on running 16 miles on Saturday.....not anymore..... ::le sigh::

Seriously if I knew she was going to take it off immediately, I would have waited to go to the Dr. I thought they'd reschedule, but who knew that they could numb you up and slice off a dime-sized chunk of skin in under 5 minutes? Not me!

Anyway, I'm being a total drama queen. Everything's fine, I'm just a little sore (and grumpy since I can't run). I just feel like such a chump and that I'm letting my team and honored teammates down since I'm "Out of Order" right now.

I'm going to use this time to turn inward and really focus on myself and my mission (and the Team/LLS's mission). It's so easy to get caught up in the race aspect of it and lose sight of why we're all really doing this. Today is my friend Cathy's three-year anniversary of being in remission. She's a lymphoma survivor who ran PF Chang's with me in January (and who kicked my butt in every single practice- she's a power house!!). I'll be wearing her name on my jersey to celebrate her as well has honor those who we've lost, like Granddad and Uncle Ralph.

"And even the rain, when it falls, is coming home"

A month's worth of updates

Wow, a new entry! :)

Training has been going well!

Five weeks ago, I started an eight week program of track workouts with our local running shop, Fleet Feet which is designed to make your body more efficient when it comes to running....and ultimately make you faster (I won't lie, this is my main goal- to get faster [without injury]).

We meet at a track, do a 1 mile easy jog, half a mile of drills (jumps, bounding, butt kickers- literally), and another half mile of sprinting the straightaways and jogging the curves).....whew! And that's just the WARM UP! Then we get into our timed practices. 6-8 of 200 m runs, with a specific time goal (based off of our mile time trial the first week- I did it in 7:55! I didn't think I could run that fast). The objective of the timed goal is to get our bodies into this very specific "zone" of using the oxygen as efficiently as possible and pushing our limits so that we can gain endurance.

Well....a few weeks go by and while track practice was going great, my Saturday runs were.....well, they were sucking. I was fighting my pace and all over the place mentally. On a hill run I forgot to take nutrition for an hour and 45 mins....(normally I take it every 45 mins...) and didn't realize it until I felt so horrible and was basically delerious that Coach Rick found me and literally had to talk me in "See that tree? Once we get there we're going to run for a little bit, ok?". I was so grateful for him and his help, and he is such an awesome coach and selfless man......but I hope I never have to have him coach me like that again. Other runs were just slow and dumpy....I felt really out of my groove, and I became unsettled, impatient, discouraged, and sort of mad....

So two weeks ago I couldn't make it to track practice and felt super guilty and lame (the sessions are on Thursdays, by the way).....but come Saturday morning's run, I felt transformed. We did 14 miles and I felt like I was flying.....my last few miles were averaging 9:20-9:30 (I walk a minute in between miles, so my overall pace is a bit slower)....I couldn't believe it, I was simply floored. Holy crap. Track practice WORKS.

Yesterday's run, enter stage left, calf pain. What the heck? Where did THIS come from? It's not cramping, it just flat out hurts. So I'm working with a foam roller and a stick to work out some of this pain. It made for an uncomfortable 11.4 miles yesterday....well, the humidity didn't help either....I averaged 10:45/mile which includes my water bottle refill times, etc, so I'm pretty happy....

I bought some compression calf sleeves on Friday in hopes of decreasing my recovery time from the longer runs, and boy am I glad I did.....they really made a difference and I'm seriously considering running in them next weekend for our (dun dun dunnnnnnn) 16 miler.

I'm about $300 short on the fundraising front, and I'm really excited to be so close!!!

Let's hope I can chill out and just train injury free these next few weeks.

More hills and even less sleep

So this morning was a 10-miler in Sabino Canyon. Warning: whining ahead.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I only got about 2 and a half hours of sleep last night. My alarm went off and I hit snooze, then shot out of bed, realizing that I was late already. I had considered sleeping in and making up the run later, but I figured it would be good practice for race day eve. One never really gets the amount of sleep they should the night before they run a marathon, so I thought that this would be good practice. Wrong.

I started off strong, but just ended up totally petering out and finishing the miles for the sake of just being done. I switched to a timed interval, running 7 minutes and walking 1, which helped me fight off complete and utter exhaustion. A few more wrenches in the works were a different hydration belt out for a test drive and a dropped metronome.

Since the heat has increased and my need for liquid intake has increased exponentially, I've realized that two 10 ounce bottles are not enough, even with refill stations along the way. Jennifer lent me her belt with 4 bottles (8 oz each) so I could take it into the canyon and experiment with it. Did.not.like. I'm so glad I tried it before I dropped $50 on it....so now it's back to the drawing board....

You know how I've been running with a metronome to stay on pace? Well, it clipped to my old belt perfectly and stayed put. Not so much with this new belt. About 10 steps into my run, it came flying off, turned off, and reset itself. :( ::Whine::

When I finished my run, my coaches said they'd noticed that I was struggling a bit today. I agreed. It happens. Coach Rick told me last season: "Bad days are flukes; good days never are". I'm subscribing to that today. I'm glad I went out and practiced with the team and that I got some good hill training in, but I'm even more glad I came home to take a nap right after.

Double digits and double vision

No news means good news, right??

RIGHT??

So you'll forgive my lack of updates? Pretty please?

I think today I'll go for an entry that is vignette style, as my friend Stuart used to say.

• I can't believe how fast we broke into the double digits. Holy crap. I remember when ten miles was MONUMENTAL (notice the word mental in there) and it still is, but it came through our schedule like a steam locomotive, and there's no sign of stopping!
• July 4th's run was, in a word, sweaty. The night before, we were treated to a spectacular show of thunder and lightning, accompanied by some torrential downpours. So not only was there actual WATER in the Rillito River, there was some nasty humidity to go with it.
• What goes well with murky water and humidity? BUGS, of course! About 3 miles into our 10 mile run, I looked down and noticed that my arms and legs were covered in tiny bugs that had tempted fate and landed on my sweaty limbs. Fatal mistake (for them). They got in my teeth and eyes, too. Fun times. After I was done, I looked down into my shirt and bra and there were plenty of bugs there too. Everyone looked the same coming in- drenched in sweat, and covered in bugs. None of us really seemed to mind, though- we wore the bugs proudly. :)
• I couldn't be happier with how my training is going at the moment. While I'm still not on pace to qualify for Boston (that's fine with me), I am really proud of how consistent I'm pacing, no matter how I feel or hurt, whether it's mile 2 or 12, I'm still within 20 seconds of my previous mile! And I feel GREAT! ::knocks on wood:: Let's hope this sticks around, okay?
• I'm just under $500 shy of my fundraising goal, which is amazing. I cannot thank you all enough for your support. I am truly honored to be running for such an important cause, and that you hold this cause as close to your hearts as I do. Thank you.
• Last week's run was a 12-miler. Coach Daz ran with me miles 5-12, and I was thankful for that. Normally I don't mind running alone- I actually almost prefer it. I get into my zone and just go. It's pretty cool. However, this day, the heat and sun really got to me. I was wearing my purple training jersey and it was just plain too hot. I actually ran out of water (that was my fault, folks) and was pretty uncomfortable. I got a huge cheer from the rest of the team when I finished, though, and boy was I glad to be done.....I get home and download my run, expecting my mile paces to have tanked in the last quarter of the run. Nope. 10:30's. The whole time (except when I refilled my hydration belt). Woah. Talk about muscle memory!
• Tonight is the first night of an 8-week track workout program put on by Fleet Feet. It's not so much speed work as it is working on endurance and stamina. It's a laps and drills- running straightaways and jogging curves, etc. I'll talk about it more once I know what's going on!
• I got hooked up with a Pearl Izumi T-shirt that says "Legs, the alternate energy source" :) Dig it!

That's all I've got for now, I've got to get to practice.

Happy running!