Desire vs. Reason

I wrote down this quote awhile back and recently came across it. I don't know who said it or where i found it, but I feel like it sums up my marathon pretty well:
A Marathon is about the triumph of desire over reason.

My urge to finish the marathon wiped out any sense of 'oh, maybe i should stop before i cause permanent damage to my body'. And i've been reminded by so many people since my marathon that what i went through in order to finish was a great accomplishment. I guess that's true. Sometimes though, i find myself thinking it was also very stupid of me to keep going despite my injuries.

Stupid crutches....they just keep getting in my way and interfering with my normal life. I want to throw them away. Lucky runners......i see people outside running, walking, enjoying the outdoors and it makes me incredibly jealous. even sad. Thank goodness for the painkillers....they've been good to me.

But I'm getting stir crazy. I'm restless. The gym misses me. The softball field misses me. My running shoes miss me. It's summer, and i'm on crutches. I wake up on Saturday mornings, wishing i were out on the trail with fellow runners, sweating through the heat. I used to wish i could sleep in on those mornings, and now i have the strongest desire to wake up at 5:30 am and go run. Those extra hours of sleep are SO not worth it. I miss the satisfaction from finishing a long run. I miss the feeling of 'only 12...10...8... miles left to go'. I even miss the feeling of utter exhaustion and not wanting to go another step.

2 weeks of recovery down.....? weeks to go.

here's a few of my pics from the marathon

nothing too exciting. just a photo op with john bingham at the expo, pre-race photo with teammates, 6:24 clock shot (the moment i thought my leg would snap), and some glamour shots from the ambulance & hospital.

you stay classy, San Diego.

a tale of running, tears, and ambulances

PART ONE
In the beginning.....i woke up at 3:30 am, feeling great, excited, and optimistic that the marathon was going to go great. We hopped on the shuttle at 4:00 and headed to the start area. It was amazing to just be among the sea of runners, the anticipation was thrilling and i couldn't wait for the gun to go off. My leg was feeling good and my pockets were stocked with the essentials: gum, Gu, Sport Beans, Biofreeze and salt packets. i slathered on some Biofreeze, ate two packets of salt, took some extra strength Tylenol and got into Corral 12 with Katie and Rob, aiming for a 4:30 finish.

The scene was electric, 20,000 runners all pumped up and cheering as the gun went off and we edged towards the start line. I thought back to the past 5 months of training, all the miles i've logged, all the donations i'd been given, all the sacrifices i'd made in preparation for this moment, and all i could do was smile. The first couple of miles flew by, as we were running about a 9:40 pace and dodging in and out of the crowd of runners. It was so fun to see the bands that were performing and i felt great despite a slight limp. My right knee was twinging a bit, but it was nothing that was going to stop me or slow me down.

We ran through Balboa Park and past the zoo, the downhill wasn't as easy on my leg as i hoped, so i was glad when we got to downtown and the road flattened out. Took some Sport Beans and saw my coach, Koach Karl, which was a big boost of extra energy. It was awesome running past the Padres stadium, through the Gaslamp Quarter, and along the Harbor. We had ironed our names onto our jerseys in bright green, and the spectators noticed, shouting out "Go Rob!" "GO KATIE(s)!!" Just hearing our names called out was a major motivator to keep up the pace. And with 19 miles left, I was feeling great. This is so much fun! I love marathons!!! 7 miles done, 71:07.

And then, the 3 mile long uphill started. my knee started hurting more, but i knew that i wanted to stay on pace with Rob & Katie, to help motivate me up the hill. I tried, i really really tried. But at about 8.5, i could not take the pain. And there was a medical tent about 100 yards ahead, so i jogged to it and sat down as a nice man came over and diagnosed me with 'pretty bad tendonitis and bursitis'. He massaged my knee. Ow, ow, ow!! This hurts so bad! Make the pain stop. He gave me some ice and helped me stretch my muscles out, then i got up to continue on the next 17 miles. I decided at that moment that i probably shouldn't have stopped. It hurt so bad to start jogging again. I couldn't. So i walked. I limped. I cried. I can do this, i can keep going. If people can fight cancer, i can keep jogging through some leg pain.

I was frustrated. I was angry. And i was in severe pain. I was getting very down, when i saw my teammate Courtney and yelled at her. She came over and saw my sad condition and all i could do was cry. She stopped to walk with me and get my spirits back up. It helped so much to have someone familiar there with me, someone to talk to. We walked for about a mile and then started jogging.

It hurt. But i jogged anyway, and we limped along, searching for Koach Karl who was supposed to be around the 12 mile mark. I knew i couldn't stay with Courtney, i didn't want to slow her down, and my shin was starting to hurt along with my knee. and my hip. my whole right leg was quitting on me. I finally saw Coach and immediately broke down. I told Courtney to go ahead, and he sat me on the ground as he rubbed my shin. The pain was almost unbearable. excruciating. But i knew i wanted to finish the marathon no matter what, so he helped me to my feet and we passed the half-marathon point and i sat down again as he taped my shin and gave me some more Tylenol. The tape helped ease my shin pain, so I told him i was okay to keep walking and he told me to stay optimistic and he'd be around mile 22. After a short while, i had to rip the tape off my shin, because it gave me a new pain from the lack of circulation. Just pick one pain or the other and keep going. Even though my leg hurt, i knew i had to make it the last 12 miles, so i kept walking and fighting back my tears. It was lonesome and frustrating being out there by myself, discouraged and dejected.

This is not fun. This was supposed to be one of the best days of my life. But it's not. I'm in pain. I want to quit. But the crowd kept yelling "Good Job Katie, keep it up!" and then thankfully, i found a nice girl named Amanda from North Carolina at mile 16 and we got to talking. If it weren't for her, those last 10 miles would've been the longest 3.5 hours of my life. She helped me realize that it didn't matter if it took me 4 hours or 7 hours to finish, but i was going to complete a marathon.

After i got over my frustration, i just focused on walking to the finish. I saw coach again at mile 22 and told him i was feeling alright. 4 more miles, just keep it up. keep walking, you're doing great katie. I was starting to look past my sorry situation and enjoy it more and instead of tears of pain, i shed some tears of joy when i realized that i was almost done. Amanda and i had decided to jog the last little bit of the race once we saw the finish line. So i mustered up all the remaining energy that i had and forced myself to limp-jog to the finish. ow. Ow. ow. OW. ow...this was a bad idea to jog..ow. OW. Ow....i'm almost there! I forced a smile for the camera.

6 hours, 17 minutes. Nearly two hours past my goal. And then i cried. Not because i'd finished a marathon, but because i had never been in so much pain before. So i limped to get my medal, limped to get my picture taken, limped to get my gear bag and limped to check in at the TNT tent. And with each step, there was a *pop* in my shin area. It was gross, and with each step, i was expecting my leg to snap in two.

PART TWO
I hobbled my way to the Medical tent and told them i was in severe pain and thought i had a stress fracture. They had me lay down on the cot, and the doctor came over to poke around on my leg.
"We're going to have to get you to the hospital for xrays, if you keep walking on this, your bone can potentially break through the skin at the fracture point."

My chapter director and Koach Karl were notified and they came over to reassure me that i'd be okay. I made friends with the two paramedics and they splinted my leg, hoisted me onto a stretcher, into the ambulance, and whisked me away to UCSD Medical Center. I had no way to contact my family, my mentor, my teammates, my boyfriend, or my friend Kaddie who'd drove down from L.A. to see me. They had no clue what was happening or where i was. For all Kaddie knew, i had taken a cab to Tijuana. This was SO not the way i had planned to leave the marathon. I had planned on meeting up with Kaddie and taking the shuttle back to the hotel and hang out in San Diego with her. I had NOT planned on being driven away in an ambulance. So i spent the next 3 hours sitting in a wheelchair with my leg in a splint, having my leg poked around on, and taking some very painful xrays.

The Diagnosis: no visable breaks or fractures, but there's still a possibility it's fractured and not showing up on the xrays. So stay off of it for several weeks. No kidding...really? I could've told you that. I can't even put pressure on it without screaming in pain. Apparently some of my muscle fibers had torn away from the bone. Sweet. That's just great. I don't care what you call it. It hurts.

So here i am now, on crutches, hobbling around with tendonitis, bursitis, severe muscle strain and a possible stress fracture. Not exactly what i had envisioned i'd be like after my first marathon. But i finished. I ran/walked 26.2 miles. And walked (crutched) away with an undoubtedly unique story and a large medical bill.

Just say goodbye to my running & softball careers for the next six weeks. But i'll be back as soon as i'm 125% healed.

Rock 'n' Roll San Diego, Here I go....

It's almost here!!!! In about 9 hours, i will start running the most exciting and scariest race of my life. I'm feeling very optimistic about it, even though my leg is still being a bother. But i'm going to look past that and enjoy the entire experience. The people, the music, the challenge, the extreme excitement of running my first marathon.

Tonight we had the TNT pasta party and it was SO inspiring to see over six thousand participants, coaches, and honored patients. And it reminded me of just what I am running 26.2 miles for. I know that no matter how much pain i may be going through tomorrow, that is nothing is comparison to what cancer patients and their families go through. So i'm running this for all of them. But mostly in honor of Brita. And in loving memory of Aunt Dana and Grandma Strahm.

i've been reading through all the encouraging letters and emails i've recieved throughout my training and they make me want to go out there and run, run, run.

This isn't going to be easy. I know that. But this isn't going to so hard that i can't finish it. It's going to be the most amazing experience of my life. so far.

my 3:30 am wake-up time is getting closer, so i head to bed with this as my inspiration:
'I can do all things through Him who strengthens me' Phillipians 4:13

No Looking Back

i'm off to San Diego today, and i'm taking this bum leg with me. will it suck it up and work like a champion? or will it be a wimp and refuse to work?

i have no idea.

and that's what scares me the most.

less than 48 hours until the marathon and the update on my leg is not much better than my last blog. it still hurts. still throbs. still makes me frustrated and nervous. on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being awesome....it's about a 6.5 right now. and that's where it's been the past few days.

but, oh well. here i go. i'm gonna give it all i've got and run, run, kitkat.

Waterworks

SERIOUSLY?!?! I CANNOT believe this is happening to me. I guess I should've seen it coming....i've been unusually 'healthy' all through training. I kept thinking it was slightly odd that I wasn't the one who was injured.

When my teammates were broken down, i felt great.
Despite a few minor shin pains, i felt great.
over 4 months of training, i felt great.
18 miles, 20 miles, 22 miles, i felt great.

But now, less than 1 week until the big marathon, i do NOT feel great. I feel awful.

Honestly, i don't know what happened. I was doing a nice 6 mile run last Tuesday, and BAM!!! Mile 4, my right leg was screaming at me to stop. So i walked, and then i jogged. I walked, I jogged. And finally I made it back home, limping.

Ok, fine. This is kind of normal. My shins sometimes hurt a little bit when i'm done running.

Ok, fine. Ice. Stretch.

Ok, fine. This will go away eventually.

Ok, not fine. This is killing me.

So i listened to orders from Josh to bench myself for my softball game the next day, and to lay off of running for 'awhile'.

But Saturday was our last group training run, and i wasn't about to miss that, and it was only 8 miles. That shouldn't be a problem. Plus, my leg was feeling better with 4 days of no running. So me and my archnemesis 'The Shin' started jogging.

About 10 steps into the run, i knew i should've been on the elliptical machine instead.

OW, step, OW, step, OW........i managed to eek out some kind of limp-tastic stride and made it to the water stop/turnaround at mile 4. Thankfully, Josh was there and helped me to swallow my pride and quit at 4 miles. He drove me back to my car, i talked to koach karl, and went home for a pretty wimpy ice bath.

Helping my brother and sis-in-law move that afternoon probably wasn't the best idea, but i did it anyway. Yesterday, i iced. And stretched. And iced. And stretched. And went to the pool to catch some rays and do a little swimming. Because, that can't be bad for my leg, right?

Wrong, it still hurt. My knee, my shin, my ankle. The pain just travels throughout my entire lower right leg.

I don't know what to do. I have instructions from Koach to not run until the big day. Hang out on the elliptical, bike, swim, yoga. But don't run.

So, if you know me, you know how hard this is for me to do. i'm stubborn. i want to run. i NEED to run. my marathon is SIX days away!!!

But, i'm going to do everything i can to be ready next Sunday. I'm scared. SCARED TO DEATH. Scared that i won't be able to run. Scared that i'll think i'm ready to run 26.2 miles, only to be overwhelmed by pain after only a mile.

I try not to worry about that now. I'll stay off my feet as much as i can. I'll keep icing. I'll keep stretching. I'll keep praying that i can just make it 26.2 miles.

But SERIOUSLY?!?! why now? This is not what i want to be worrying about. I should be worrying about what i'm going to pack. I should be worrying about what flavor of Gu i'm going to carry with me. I should be looking forward to my vacation from work.

But i'm not. I'm frustrated. I'm sad. I'm in pain. I'm struggling to stay optimistic. I'm trying to be strong. But last night, it was too much for me.

and i cried.

i cried for my body. i cried for those who are expecting me to run great. i cried because my boyfriend is 2,000 miles away. i cried because i'm frustrated with work. i cried because i can't find God's humor in this whole situation. and i cried because i want to run.

Just keep running....just keep running....

The big two-two loomed ahead of me on saturday morning. will my legs survive? will i crumble in pain? can i really run 22 miles?

i made sure to set two alarms for 5:15, because i could think of nothing worse than oversleeping and having to run 22 miles all by my lonesome. i made it to the Team meeting location and we headed off on our last long run before the marathon, 11 miles out and 11 miles back. we started out on concrete sidewalk, which made me concerned for the well-being of my precious legs, but soon we were on the trail and i was happy. my legs were happy. i was enjoying being out there with my teammates, all of us working towards conquering this final training hurdle. and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to spend 3+ hours running around Overland Park & Leawood.

i settled into a comfortable pace with rob, katie & gina. it definitely helps to have someone keep pace with you. i have a slight tendency to pick up my pace when i'm feeling good, so i had to keep in mind that i still had 20, 18, 16....miles left. the first half of the run felt relatively great. the shins were hurting a tad, but nothing unbearable. i slathered on some Biofreeze somewhere around miles 6 & 9. that helped a lot, and i reminded myself to be sure I carry some packets in San Diego. After what seemed like we pretty much ran to Oklahoma, we turned around for the second half.

Except, wait, that was only 10.5 miles. Koach Karl said it wasn't exactly 11, but i was hoping he overestimated instead of underestimated. More Biofreeze, more Gu, and for the first time in all my long runs, I had to make a pitstop. Fortunately, there was a bathroom by the ballfields and i avoided having to use a dreaded port-a-potty. I got separated from my group, so i just picked up my pace a bit, turned up my ipod and...

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive
It's the eye of the tiger..............nothing like a little Rocky motivation to keep me going and catch me back up to my teammates.

Except for some very long uphills, the rest of the run went pretty well. My legs felt good, and then....new socks = big blister on big toe at mile 18. oh wait, i was wrong. new socks = 2 blisters on big toe at mile 18. well, better now than during my marathon, i suppose. Now, normally when i know that i only have two miles left, i feel happy, but not on this run. The very daunting and large hill just before our finish was AWFUL. just AWFUL. Several teammates were there cheering us on, which really helped, but then we got to the top. Looked at our mileage and it read 20.85........what?!? Koach definitely undercalculated the mileage, so we spent the next mile+ running around the parking lot, looking like disoriented vagrants.

But I made it!!! 22 miles. done. My muscles had never ached so much before. I just wanted to lay down. And then I just wanted to walk around. Lay down. Walk. Nothing eased their pain, so i got in my car and drove home to a much deserved ice bath. For all those who are afraid of ice baths, i'm telling you, once you get past the initial shock, they are wonderful. absolutely wonderful. in a weird, calming way.
22 miles.....3:42. I'm feeling very confident about my 4:30 marathon goal.

And.....I SURPASSED MY FUNDRAISING GOAL!!!!! Thank everyone SO much for their generosity. My family, friends, co-workers, strangers who just think I'm cool......without you all, this wouldn't be possible.

Bad blogger

ahhhh, i'm a bad blogger. nearly two weeks, no blogging from me. whoopsie.

but i'm gonna try to keep this blog short. 22 miles tomorrow. need rest. i need to give these legs as much rest as i can. ever since my 8 mile run last saturday, the right shin has just been aggravating me. and it probably wasn't too smart of me to run on some sidewalks on tuesday. i really had no choice though, unless i wanted to play chicken with a car. and i have too much good stuff going on right now to do that. but those stupid sidewalks .... i might as well beat my shins with iron pipes. so, i tried to correct this problem by running on the grass instead. and here's another gripe. people, people. Puh-lease keep your lawns mowed. do you know how much harder my legs have to work to trudge through your lawn forest? my legs were 110% exhausted after that. so, i took thursday off from running with the hope that my legs will be good and ready for the 22 miles tomorrow. oh, i can't even think what i'm going to feel like after that. i'm a little scared for the whole adventure.

Holy Twenty Miles, Batman!

once again, i woke up 45 minutes later than i'd planned (thanks, T) and had to hurry up eat a powerbar and hurry up drive to heritage park. 15 minutes late, according to worldly time. but right on time, according to KatieTime. i've gotten so used to running on our usual trail, i was unsure what to expect at this new location. i was pretty much just running until my Forerunner said 20.0

It went something like this:

started out with two 2-mile laps around the lake, pit stop for some Gu. what? no espresso love? i settled for vanilla bean. hmm...pretty tasty. one 3.5-mile out-and-back, two more laps around the lake, this is so peaceful, Gu, one 4.5 out-and-back, eww that leg was hilly. i did NOT like that one at all. let's not do that one again.

one more lap around the lake. i am DYING here. these legs are just about used up. ok, one more 2 mile loop around the lake. i can do it. c'mon legs. chug-a-chug---a--chug--a.....

if it weren't for my ipod and, as crazy as it sounds, the thought of taking a post-run ice bath to ease my pains, i would've walked the last mile. but i ran it all! 20 miles, oh my goodness!

20.3 miles. with an avg. pace of 9:40, i finished in 3:15. not too shabby.

but i ran these poor legs of mine until they were dead, dead, dead tired. i was pretty sure that once i got in my car, i wouldn't be getting out of it. still, i had to stop and pick up some essential big bags of ice. lots of ice.

thankfully, i had my big brother handy to carry the ice to the bathroom, where i proceeded to take THE MOST PAINFUL ice bath ever. i'm pretty sure my feet were borderline dead. five minutes, and i was outta that tub.

ok, now i can see why people think ice baths are crazy. although, i'm still going to keep on making them a post-long run treatment, because they are beneficial. As sore as a human's legs should be after running 20 miles, mine aren't too bad*.
*side note: aside from me hobbling around the house on sunday and still having a dull throbbing pain in my right shin, i'm okay. let's just hope it goes away.

This week: 6 miles, 3 miles, 8 miles. A 17 mile week? Piece of cake.

Oy, Eighteen.

yeah, so about that......i think it drained my blogging energy. i really couldn't think of much else to tell about other than- yeah, i ran 18 miles. So, I've finally gotten around to posting a new blog. My shins and hip were being very stubborn the first 3 miles, but I gave them a pep talk and told them that they still had 15 miles to go, so they might as well stop complaining. The rest of the run felt great, and i was just on a mission to finish as soon as possible so I could drive home for Easter. Post-run, I stopped at the grocery store and bought $7 worth of ice and I got some weird looks from the early morning elderly shoppers. They were probably thinking, That girl must be having a party. And, on Easter weekend? What is this world coming to? If only they knew that i was going home to sit in all that ice and actually enjoy it. It was great to go home and spend time with my family and hear their words of encouragement and awe for my training, but really it's them that should be applauded for helping me get to where I am today. so thanks, guys. And another BIG THANKS to everyone who has donated. I can't express how much it means to me to have your support and I'm floored by your generosity. Although, there are still some of you who haven't donated....you know who you are. I'll be hunting you down.

I finally got my pictures back from St. Louis, and let me just say that it doesn't work too great to take pictures while running. I did manage to get a few decent ones though.

Hook, Line & Sinker

I am hooked. Hooked on the half-marathon. Hooked on all that surrounds race day. I ran my first official half-marathon on Sunday in St. Louis, and i couldn't have been more scared/excited about the whole thing. I was just a little concerned since my right hip developed a mysterious bruise last week and has been having a reoccuring pain that kept flaring up. My hips seem to be a little off-kilter. Plus, walking around downtown STL probably wasn't the best idea, but we got a little disoriented on our way to packet pick-up. Still, i knew that a little hip pain wasn't going to keep me from running. No way, Jose.

Race day, I woke up before my alarm even went off at 4:45 am, well rested, wide awake and ready to run. Shoveled a Power Bar in my mouth, downed a Powerade and Crystal & I headed to the start line with some fellow TNT runners. After a last minute dash to the restroom (thank goodness for the indoor restrooms at the Hyatt; I avoided using a port-a-pottie all weekend), I found Crystal amidst the throng of runners right as the gun went off. As mentioned before, my goal was 2:15, so we started with the 4:30 marathon pace group. i think Crystal thought we were in the 3:30 pace group, because she led us through the stampede of runners at lightning speed. I was just so super excited I didn't even notice we were cruising along at an 8 min pace until we reached the first water stop, and I decided that it would probably be in my best interest to slow down for the sake of my hip/shins/heart/every other body part.

I sent Crystal on ahead as I slowed down to a 9 minute pace, much more comfortable for my hip. It was slightly painful for the first 3 miles, and then it just kinda disappeared as the pack headed into the Budweiser brewery around mile 4.
After that point, I felt pretty great and just settled into an 8:45 pace for a couple miles. I carried a disposable camera with me, so I was just out to enjoy the scenery and aim towards my 2:15 finish goal. Feeling good, I had the 4:00 marathon pace group in my sights and set my goal to pass them and stay in front of them the rest of the 7 miles. The remainder of the race felt great, despite a minor twinge in my left ankle and lack of foresight on my behalf to carry some Gu. thankfully, i was gifted some unknown type of gel at mile 10. From then on, it was pretty much all downhill from there, as i pushed myself on towards the finish with the Gateway Arch shining brightly in the Sunday morning sun ahead of me.

I sprinted across the finish line with a stellar first half-marathon time of 1:55, good enough for 1435th place out of about 6,500 half-marathoners, and an avg. 8:48 pace. Yippeee! you know what that means.....new sexy sandals for me. And since I ran a sub 2 hour, I think i'll buy myself a cool new pair of running shorts. Some with little mesh pockets, so I won't have any excuse in the future not to carry my own Gu.
Things I learned from my first official long distance race:
1. Always remember to pick up safety pins at the Expo....or just bring a bunch with me.
2. Make sure I have my own Gu with me.
3. Best t-shirt of the day award goes to this guy: How's my running? Call 1-800-LIMP.
4. I need to get myself a KitKat cheer squad.
5. above all, it's more about having fun than running fast.

16 miles. WOOT.

the 16 mile run on saturday was probably the best i've felt on a long distance run in quite awhile. the shins were behaving awesome, pace was pretty awesome, weather was super awesome...all in all, it was awesome. i thoroughly enjoyed being out on the trail for nearly two and a half hours. The only downer is that aside from me and my mentor, everyone else on my team is injured. I ended up running the last 11 miles by myself, but i enjoyed that and was able to run my own pace (about a 9:00 avg) and just enjoy the April morning.

Now, what looms ahead of me this Sunday is the Spirit of St. Louis half-marathon. Actually, it's not really looming...I at least know that i can run a half-marathon with no problem, but I am a little bit worried about how running 13 miles on concrete is going to make my shins feel. Those silly legs can be so tempermental and moody. So far, i've been really fortunate to not have any major problems with them. *knock on wood*. We'll see how it goes...I'm super excited for my first half-marathon race, okay scratch the term 'race', my first half-marathon run, especially since my former cross country co-hort and friend Crystal is going to run it with me. And i've set myself a finish goal of 2:15. If i beat that, i get to by myself a new pair of strappy sandals i've been stalking. oh, the motivating factors of a twentysomething female...

California Runnin'

yes, i know. my blogging has been a little lax this past week, but for very good reason. I was sunning and running in Californ-i-a. I flew out Thursday night to visit my friend Kaddie in Malibu and woke up Friday morning to 73 degrees and sunny weather, so I headed to Zuma Beach for my weekly long run. Thankfully, this week it was only an 8 miler. There's a 5 mile long boardwalk that I spent some time on, but most of my run was surfside in the sand, which I LOVE, for the sake of my shins, plus the extra workout it gives my legs. Beach running is just so much fun to me. The run felt really great, and I finished in 71 minutes, great pace considering the sand running.

I took a break from running on Saturday and Sunday, since shopping in Santa Monica, touring Hollywood and walking around Disneyland all day gave my legs plenty to complain about. That's right, I finally got to go to Disneyland. I felt like a 7 year old trapped in a 23 year old body.
But Monday, I was back out to the beach, this time I headed a little south to Will Rogers State Beach, near Santa Monica. I had to soak in all the California running i could get before I headed back to Kansas. I spent most of the run on the concrete path, and surprisingly my shins did not hurt at all. I think they were just happy to be in Cali.

I got 13 miles of spectacular running in during my vacation, now I just have to get out of the post-vacation funk and get ready for this saturday's 16 miles, and the St. Louis Half Marathon next weekend. Springtime in Katieland is just full of excitement!

I should've known I was getting myself into trouble....

Standing on my precious feet for 3+ hours in a smoky bar is not the ideal way to spend the night before a long run. Not to mention, somebody sprayed pepper spray in the bar and I nearly coughed up a lung trying to escape. But hey, it was St. Patrick's Day and I was enjoying my position as designated driver for my friend Jessi. With 14 miles looming ahead of me on Saturday morning, I knew I had to be responsible, limit myself to two beers early in the evening and get to bed at a semi-decent time. So we left the bars midway through the second half of the KU game and got home in time to see Bradley send the Jayhawks packing their bags. Fantastic!

Note to self: in the future, do not plan to be up by 5:15 unless you go to bed before 11:00. Well, somehow my alarm didn't go off and I woke up at 6:30. Great, i'm half an hour late for the start with the team and I still need to eat a Powerbar and let it settle. Luckily, those Powerbars seem to understand my body by now and I didn't have any trouble with an upset stomach. I arrived at the park around 7:00 and thankfully there were two alumni there to tell me which running route to take. So, I headed off into the unknown by my lonesome....just me and my ipod to keep me company. It was nice to at least encounter fellow team members along the way. I did enjoy running at my own pace, so the 14 miles weren't bad at all. I think my ipod thought differently, 14 miles?!?! are you kidding me? no way, i'm too tired for that, and the battery died at mile 9. After that, I just figured I might as well get this run over with and picked up the pace. Miles 9-11 clocked in at a 8:45 pace. Probably a bad idea. Stopped at mile 11 for some more GU and my legs were very reluctant to move. Just 3 more miles.

They finally got back to rhythm and I finished my first half marathon in 2:05, with no hoopla or fanfare or anybody else within sight. I just ran a HALF MARATHON!!! That felt incredibly great, and i finished my 14.15 miles in 2 hours 15 minutes. Anticipating how angry and confused my legs would be the rest of the weekend following my longest run ever, I stopped at the QT and picked up 3 bags of ice. I'm sure I looked a little weird, considering it was trying to snow outside. But that was probably the best ice bath I've ever had. 14 minutes immersed in icy water with a mug of hot cocoa and some Van Morrison playing in the background, I was actually sad when the ice was all melted and I had to get out.

A roundhouse kick to start my day

I'm heading out of town tonight and can't run with the team tomorrow, so in order to stick with the scheduled weekly mileage I had to get my 8 miles in sometime today. And what better way to do that than to head to the gym at 5:30 am and spend some quality time with Mr. Treadmill? Ok, that's a dumb question because realistically there are LOTS of better ways, but this is how i decided to do it. Let me just say that 8 miles on a treadmill is bad enough, not to mention running at a time when I should still be sleeping. And to make matters worse, my entertainment options were the morning news or Walker, Texas Ranger. Morning news is good the first time you see it. But really, who needs to watch 3 broadcasts of the local news? not me. So that leaves me with Walker, Texas Ranger. 80 minutes of Chuck Norris' roundhouse kicks might be exciting to some people, but it was 80 minutes too many for me. Thankfully, i had my ipod and some berry flavored GU to help me make it through. And now, my body is a calorie burning furnace for the rest of the day.

On a very exciting note....I've reached my recommitment (halfway) goal in fundraising 20 days before the recommitment date. And a very Big Thanks to everyone who has donated! Keep them coming:

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Puddle hopping and GU popping

Saturday's 6 a.m. 12 miler went much better than I'd anticipated. I've always enjoyed running in the rain, so that just made me all the more excited as I drove to the park in the light drizzle. And I don't know what the starting temp was but I was getting warm after the first 2 mile out-and-back so when we came back to rehydrate I put my gloves in the car and switched to a lighterweight jacket. I had my first experience with GU at mile 5. Wasn't quite sure what to expect from the packet of oozy energy gel. I'm not gonna lie, the Espresso Love was rather tasty, I think I've found a new favorite running treat. The rain gradually came down harder and colder as the miles added up and even though I was angry at myself for not wearing gloves, the run felt really great. Popped another GU at mile 9, and by the time 12 miles were up, I didn't really want to stop. That's a good sign, considering I had just run 46% of a marathon. Way to go, ME!
Total mileage this past week.....19.5 miles
Fundraising total......$1723.10 or something like that

And the winner is.....the little runner girl!

Set the alarm for 5:50 so I could get myself up and run since there will be no time after work tonight due to a much anticipated concert. (WOOT!) Not that 5:50 is anything new to me, because that's when I've been getting up on Saturdays to go run with the group. But it's so much harder to actually get up when nobody is expecting you to be there. Hence, the heated argument my mind had with my body as I lay in bed. My mind is very conniving and tricky when it comes to situations like this, telling me to enjoy the comfort and warmth of my bed and just make today a rest day. And my mind had me convinced for about 20 minutes that it was right. Of course I deserve to sleep some more, I've been working out really hard for the past 10 days, I need a rest day. But then, that little runner girl inside of me started complaining about how angry she would be on saturday for the 12 mile run if I didn't run today. It's a good thing the little runner girl is stronger than my mind, I really enjoyed my 25:30, 3 mile run as the sun came up and the birds began to sing. The only problem is that running 7.5 miles on concrete this week is slightly making my shins upset. But they're just going to have to learn how to deal cause I'm not too keen on treadmill runs when it's springtime in Kansas. This saturday morning run starts at 6:00 am, so let's hope my mind is still sleeping when the alarm goes off at 5:00....

I'm on the brink of being crazy

Saturday morning went something like this....
PowerBar....check. Coat of Vaseline on my face....check. Brush the snow off my car.....check. Awesome, not only is there a blanket of snow on the ground, but it's a 'balmy' four degrees and below zero windchill. I don't even know the exact windchill because anything below zero is pretty much the same...awful. And by awful, i mean intense torture and pain. I was right earlier in the week when I said I'd be an icicle. There were times when I thought my thighs were going to freeze mid-stride and leave me stranded along the road until the warm spring weather would thaw me out. But we kept Gatorade refueling, Vaseline reapplying, and kept on running. It was all worth it in the end, as our 10 mile run was complete and the feeling of achieving another mileage milestone replaced the lack of feeling in my extremeties. And as if I weren't already frozen to the bone, I headed home to take an ice bath. Sad, but true, I'm kinda starting to enjoy the ice baths....especially when soaking in a tub of ice water is actually warmer than the run outside.

I'll be an icicle

I've been finding that one of the more difficult parts of this training is obeying the scheduled mileage. I'm not used to limiting myself to 2 or 3 mile runs during the week, so it takes some effort for me to make myself cool down when I feel like i've just warmed up. But I have found pure enjoyment in hopping on the treadmill to see just how fast I can run the shorter distances. Last night's 3 mile run felt great at 24:15, but I'd like to get that down to 22:30. And in a not-so-hot weather report this morning, I found out that saturday morning temps will be around TWO degrees. that should make for an absolutely spectacular 10 miles! The past two saturdays have been cold, even snowy, but overall pleasant for running. Like I told Josh, I'm really not too thrilled about running when the wind chill is less than my age. Not cool, mother nature, not cool.

crank it up!

Finally.....Saturday was my first Team in Training group run, and the fact that i had to wake up at 6am didn't faze me at all. But when I looked at the temperature and saw TWENTY FIVE DEGREES!!?!?!, I thought what am i doing? My question was answered though, when I arrived at the park and took off on the 6 mile run amongst the throng of fellow TNT runners. Six miles felt great and i was certain i could keep on going, until i stopped running and my knees felt like an elephant was standing on them. Not quite sure what that was all about, but I headed to our fitness seminar to hear our coach say, "ice bath, ice bath, ice bath." You've GOT to be kidding me, it's like negative fifty degrees outside and you want me to sit in a trough of ice?!? Well, I can't neglect my coach's words, so after another hour standing in the chilling wind doing some fundraising, I headed home, shivering, to face the ice bath. Made myself a hot cup of cocoa and began filling the tub with cold water. Still an ice bath rookie, i decided not to use ice, and thank goodness because the frigid water alone was enough torture, and it took me 3 minutes just to lower myself in. Even so, I'm looking forward to our 8 mile run this saturday, but the menacing ice bath afterwards is going to take some definite courage.

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