Birthdays

I am still reeling in the fact that I've registered for a FULL marathon. I don't think it's really going to hit me until after my half this summer. I'm so nervous, but it's really given me the motivation I need right now to hit the streets. Tuesday was my birthday, so I worked from home and went on a casual run through the neighborhood.

 I went (quickly) window shopping down 19th street, then hit the trail down Heights. The weather was perfectly cool with a slight wind. I brought my phone along to take a few pictures with. I know lots of people do this and I like the idea, but where do you carry your phone? My tiny ipod shuffle is just the perfect size to clip on my shirt, but my phone is a little bulky for a run.

I know you can't see it very well, but that's what I love about this picture. This is one of my favorite houses on Heights Blvd. Views like this really make the run so scenic and really make me love living here.

For my birthday I got some great running gifts from Hubby. He said this was going to be "Year of the Running" so he is doing everything he can to help me succeed. I won't tell you what I got yet, but all will be revealed in due time. :)

Happy Running! (Oh, and you can now watch my training progress over on the side bar. So far, I'm loving dailymile.com!)

OMG!

OMG! I just found out our group got in to the Nike Women's Marathon!!!

I will be running my FIRST FULL MARATION on October 17, 2010!!! 26.2 Miles!

Sprints and hills here I come.

(I think I'll go faint now. WHAT was I thinking!?)

Busy Bee

This is a supremely busy social week for me. Monday was practically my only night this week without any plans, so I took my time and had a great 6 mile run through the neighborhood to Target and back. The weather was cool and just short of raining and my calves didn't cramp at all. I felt so good 2 miles in that I decided to turn it into a tempo run. 2 mile warmup, 3 mile 10k pace, 1 mile cool down. Just for good measure, I RICE'd afterwards. I had to take yesterday off for reasons beyond my control, but I really wanted to run.

Tonight, I'm squeezing in a 4 mile jog around Allen Parkway before the baseball game. Go Astros! I'm so proud of my boys. They may have started dead last, but they have really picked it up the last 5 games and I'm excited to see them play tonight. The rest of the week I'll be squeezing runs in as well, but I guess this is the life I've chose. If I have to give up something, it'll be my social calender, not my running schedule.

Next Tuesday is my birthday. I usually have a whole week of activities planned to celebrate but for some reason this year I just haven't. It just doesn't feel like it's time for another birthday. I figured since I've been kinda "blah" about work lately that I'll take at least half the day off and do some me things (haircut, massage, etc). But I'm thinking, I originally scheduled myself to have the day off from running, but now I'm wondering if a nice run in the morning might be just what I need. Would you run on your birthday or would you take the day off from activity?

Oh, and I'm so excited! We'll find out if we are selected for the Nike Women's Marathon by Friday!

BON #22

Tuesday was a great night for a run. The weather was a perfect 75 degrees and there was a slight headwind. I met up my two running buddies at BON and we set off on a 3 mile run around Rice. We were all pretty pumped up and full of energy since they had signed up for their first half marathon that morning. They asked me all sorts of questions about how to train and how the run will go while we chugged around the university. The first 3 miles went by so easily, we decided to keep going to the next corner and back once we'd finished the lap. I think my tiredness set in by the time we made it to the corner, but we still had to make it back to BON. I sucked it up and plowed through to the finish.

Total Distance: 5.6 miles
Total Time: 1:00:40*

*Not bad for a liesurely run.

Cramps?

After last Wednesday's horrible attempt at a run, I've taken a small (although unplanned) break to see if that helps my cramping-calves problem any. I was busy with work and dive meetings on Thursday, and actually meant to attempt something on Friday, but my laziness won over. Saturday I woke up with a kink in my neck where it hurt to even turn my head, so I figured a run wasn't a good idea (even though it might have made my hangover feel a little better). I chose to do yard work on Sunday as my exercise. I think Hubby and I spent a good 4 hours on our backyard, but it looks amazing now. Check out my new garden:

There's a little bit of everything in there and I'm so proud of it. We did hot peppers and tomatos last year that turned out well, so we've upsized a lil.

Anyways, it's Tuesday again and time for another run at BON. Today, three of my buddies signed up with me for the Nike Women's Marathon (half for them, full for me), so I'm all pepped to get back out there and run again. I feel like it's been more than a week!

Here's to great runs and lots of fruits and veggies from the garden!

Cramps

I hate when I don't feel comfortable running. Last week, my calves were cramping so bad that I went for a massage. After that, I ran great - everything felt great. I thought maybe I was out of the woods, but NO. Tuesday I went out to BON for my leisurely 3 mile run around Rice. My calves cramped again. But, I thought, plenty of water and rest and The Stick would work them out and I'd feel better.

Yesterday, I was supposed to run hills. It's my first week of training and I really want to stick to it as closely as I can this time around. I set off to find some hills in my neighborhood (which, btw, there aren't any) and my calves started seizing up so bad it was hard to walk. I'd jog a little to the point where I couldn't take the pain anymore and then I'd walk. All in all, I made it about 3 miles, but my calves are really worrying me. What do I do?

I know potassium is supposed to help with muscle recovery and cramping, so I'm doing what I can to up the intake of that. I actually got a smoothie with a banana in it for my afternoon snack today. Gasp! Did you hear me? I got a smoothie with BANANA. I think I'm loosing my mind. It's bad when I want my legs to heal so bad that I'll go as far as eating a revolting banana. I'm  not sure who I am anymore. I'm almost ashamed of myself for it, but if it works, I don't really care if I have to eat these disgusting, slimy, abhorent bananas.

Still Relishing in the Glory

This past weekend was the 4 Four the Park run at Memorial. 4 miles on a relatively flat course that I practically run on all the time. Parking was supposed to be difficult, so my 2 friends and I arrived almost 2 hours before the race began. We had plenty time for potty breaks, stretching, and even warming up. I've never been one for warming up before a race, but I wanted to PR. My body felt great - especially after the wonderful sports massage I had on Wednesday to relieve the tension in my calves. My stomach was nervous, but I had set my goal high - I wanted an average 8:55 pace. C-Wow promised to push me at the begining instead of letting me hold back as usual if I pushed her at the end when I still had the energy left. She was aiming for a 9:00 min/mile pace, so we were well paired.

The gun went off exactly at 8:30am and we were off. After dodging the slow people that decided to stand in front of us, we settled into a 9 min pace weaving our way through the River Oaks neighborhood. Mile 1 was a success: 9:06. After that, my shoe came untied. I really need to start remembering to double knot my shoes before a race. Anyway, I tied them as quickly as possible and jumped back in with the herd. I sprinted to catch up with C-Wow, then had to recover my breath before the solo uphill trek. We didn't slow down for the hill and I think it took it's toll on my running partner, but she stayed with me until almost mile 3 before she fell back. I had absolute faith in her and waved her goodbye as I kept my "under 9" pace. The last stretch was pretty miserable without her. My stomach was hungry and there weren't very many people around. I kept my eyes on a couple in front of me and let them pace me to the finish. I wanted to collapse. But as I rounded the corner and the finish line came into sight, I saw my nice friend from Finish Strong cheering everyone on. He said "you can do it. Keep your back straight and pick up your knees." It was exactly what I needed - whether he recognized me or not. I didn't think I had a sprint left in me, but I gave it my all. I crossed the finish line knowing that I had crushed my 8:55 goal and it was exhilarating!

I grabbed a water bottle and turned around just to see C-Wow coming across the finish. She had stayed strong in the end and met her goal as well. All 3 of us PR'ed this race and we were all so excited. We hung around for over an hour at the afterparty listening to the band, eating all the great food, enjoying margaritas and of course partaking in the 5-min massages. It was a good day.

1st Half: 17:43!
2nd Half: 17:20
Overall Time: 35:04
Average Pace: 8:46!!!