i'm very excited about the words of encouragement that i've been receiving from others, and the advice i've been given to help me deal with and lessen the pain of my shin splints. i ran in the Gobbler Grind 5K this morning with co-worker jamie and we made it our goal to run it in 30:00. I'll humbly say that jamie hasn't been running to the extent that i have so i did not run the first 1.5 mile like it was a race, but we were just out for a leisurely run amongst the thousands of runners. at the halfway point, jamie gave me the go-ahead to run on without her, so i ran the last 1.5 mile in just under 12:30. Finishing time was 29:40. Post-finish i felt great and even could have kept on running, or at least that's what i tell myself given the fact that i didn't actually have to run further. The shin twins did great, just a dull pain during the beginning of the race. Actually, i don't even know that i'd call it pain...they just let me know that they were still trying to control my running life.
this past week's total: 12 miles....2 mile track time...16:45 (which i, for some reason, decided to run on the coldest night of the week)
195 days until San Diego. that's less than 200. eeek!

Words of Wisdom for today's blog: If the benefits of exercise could be put into a pill, it would be the most prescribed medication of all time........And lately i've discovered that a day without my medicine is a day not preferred by me. The feeling after completing a run is one of breathlessness and thoughts of 'what have i gotten myself into?' But with that comes accomplishment, wellbeing, and ultimate satisfaction and these far outweigh any negative feelings. Even though some days it takes every last ounce of energy i have to lace up my shoes and stride away, I always feel better than if i'd let my body win the argument against my mind. My shins are without a doubt the loudest yelling body parts of mine. They scream at me every single day, every time i run up stairs, every time i take the first step in my run. But do i listen to them? no. I pound them on the pavement and tell them to shut up. "Just deal with it a little while longer, guys and get over it already." And they succumb to my orders and the pain subsides and i keep on running. Saturday was one of the best running days i've had thus far in my training, even though the wind gusts were enough to knock over a small child. I spent most of my run down in a valley, running on the Prairie Village streets covered by a tree canopy so the wind was not too noticeable. But the best part of it all was getting caught in the rain, which always gives me a unique kind of exhilaration to help carry me through my run.
This past week's mileage: 11 miles.....2mile track split: 16:50
Time til San Diego......201 days, 21 hours, 47 minutes

the mind wanders....when i'm running, it's just me, myself and my music. i've realized that running 26 miles without my ipod is going to be a challenge for me. even running 13 miles sans music will be a struggle. i should probably work on weaning myself away from the tunes, but it's just not as much fun running without the beats. many times, they're what keep me moving as i struggle up a hill or am running out of energy at the end of a run. here's what's on my 'RunninOn' playlist this month:
At the Stars- better than ezra
Leaving Town- dexter freebish
do you remember- earth wind & fire
josie- outfield
hold me now- polyphonic spree
jesus walks- kanye west
sugar magnolia- grateful dead
sweet marie- the anniversary
not the same- ben folds
daylight- better than ezra
all these things that i've done- the killers
my doorbell- white stripes
hollow- better than ezra
take your mama out- scissor sisters
jesusland- ben folds
well, i decided to hit the track this past week, which i haven't done since high school. Running in circles brought back a lot of memories and since i haven't been measuring my runs by distance, i wasn't quite sure what to expect. I ran 8 laps in 17:32, which i was pretty happy with and i gave myself a new goal to get my 2-mile time down to 13:00. just for the fun of it. so, figuring i run a little slower than an 8:45 mile when i run on the streets, i ran about 9 miles this week. could be more, could be less. shin pain is hovering around a 4.8, up a little bit from last week. i guess i'll be bringing back my long lost friends, mr. icy hot and ms. advil.