It's Still Hot!!

Okay, sadly - this time it wasn't just that I wasn't posting often enough. I really didn't run from the 4th until the 15th. Last week was busy, and then I spent the weekend up in Dallas with my college roommate Jennifer.

Okay, so this Monday, Brant and I finally got back out for a run. I ran 3 miles and walked one for a cool down. So that's a whopping 6 miles on my shoes. It was really hot - it is just hard to run in this weather.

Wednesday I bought a new watch. My old one's battery had died, and since it was a really cheap watch ($5 from Walmart) I decided that it would probably be about as much for a new watch as for a new battery. Of course, when I started thinking about replacing my watch I ended up wanting one that was a lot more than a battery would have been. I wanted to get a watch with interval timers on it and one that would store lap and split times. So I got a Timex Ironman, but I did buy it at Walmart, since it was almost $20 cheaper than it was anywhere else. So, instead of just replacing my old battery or watch, I got a watch about 6 times more expensive. But I think the features will be worth it!

Then that night we went out again and I had a really good run - though it started out pretty horribly. When I started my legs were screaming at me - apparently the week off and then not stretching out enough wasn't good for them. They were super sore and pretty much every step felt like I was stretching them more than I should have been.

I ran for a mile to see if warming up would help - but when it didn't I pulled over to stretch. It had taken me 10:27 to do that first mile. I was not impressed. So I stretched a bit and then started out again at 13:00. At 18:04 I was turning around to head back. I felt better - my pace was at least closer to where I wanted it.

After I turned around I was behind another jogger. She seemed to be going a bit slower than I was, so I went ahead and passed her. However, I could hear her behind me - I never really pulled that far ahead. So I pushed myself to at least keep my lead, but after about half a mile or so, she pushed forward ahead of me - but wasn't really running a lot faster than I was - so I kept up my pace to stay behind her. Then, with less than half a mile left, I pushed to see if I could pass her one last time - and she started full out sprinting! I tried to keep up, but ended up pulling back about 20 feet from my finish to end my three miles at a more normal pace. I ended up finishing at 32:51 - So for those last two miles I was back under ten minute miles. So I was pretty happy. Exhausted, but happy.

New Shoes

Well, after the marathon, Brant and I decided to get new shoes. Also, my orthopedist told me it would be a good idea. We went into Luke's Locker, where Brant just got another pair of the same shoes. I showed them my old shoes and they remarked "Wow, you put a lot of miles on these...And your wear pattern is a little funny - have you been having knee problems?"

So now I am in a new shoe, that is supposed to have more stability/motion control so that I will theoretically run better. That plus my physical therapy will hopefully get rid of this knee issue once and for all.

But this time, I actually want to keep track of what kind of miles I'm putting on my shoes - because they say after about 300-500 you should get new ones. So far, I've only done one run in the shoes. The run went pretty well - I think the shoes feel nice and cushiony - and I didn't get any of the heel pain that I was starting to get in my old shoes.

On Monday night, Mindy and I decided it was time to tackle 4 miles. It has been really hard to get back into training - it is so hot and humid, running for any amount of time seems to suck out all our energy. Not to mention sweat. So we had been trying to get our three miles back down to 30 minutes, but haven't really been getting anywhere. We seem to stay right at about 32 minutes or so.

The training schedule that we are going to try this time starts us off with a ten mile run for our first long run, (we don't officially start until September 18) so we decided we needed to start upping our mileage - with the thought that the time will come down as soon as the heat and humidity does. So we set off on our 4 miles. Thankfully - it worked pretty much the way I expected it to - we ran the 4 miles with no real issues. We were both tired and I was a teeny bit light headed at the end - but basically, when we told our bodies we were going to run 4 miles, they listened. So that was nice and encouraging for the future.

I'm glad that we don't officially start until later in September, because hopefully by then the weather will be a little better. I don't know for sure though, since this is my first summer here. I will remain hopeful until proven otherwise. :)

I have also convinced my friend from Tucson, Kathryn, to run the Goofy Challenge with us. So, in preparation, Kathryn will run her first half marathon this October at the Nike race in San Fransisco, which she is doing with her mom and sister. She'll get her first marathon in Disney - the day after her second half. It's good to know that all my friends are crazy. :)

Right now we're getting her geared up (fuel belt, what gels she likes, mp3 player, shoes, etc) and she's doing her training on her own. We're going to try to match paces in training so that we can all run together in the race.

We Did It!! (Over a Month Ago)

Okay, I don't even know if anyone's even checking this anymore - it's been so long since I updated this - but here is the short version. I've been working on a long version - but it's taking too long. :)

Alaska was absolutely beautiful. It was strange having the sun pretty much never set (technically I think it sets, but it never really gets dark at all) but I think I wouldn't mind summers up there at all. Winters....they might be a bit dark for my taste. But it really was so beautiful I could probably learn to deal with it.

The whole marathon experience was great. The pasta party through the victory party - everything was well organized and definitely helped remind us all why we were there - not only to run the marathon (or half marathon) but to help those with blood cancers. It was a really amazing experience.

Okay, so now you're asking - what about the race!?!? The race started off wonderfully. It was in the upper 50s with a light rain. It was really perfect running weather - not cold, but not hot. Mindy and I started out exactly how we wanted to - not too fast, not too cold. Brant and Manuel pretty much took off, but that was okay with us. As a girl behind us joked "Don't these people know they're running a marathon??" We were definitely there and on pace to get through the whole thing.

And the rain was there right with us. The course was really pretty - the first bit along roads (where people honked and waved at us) and then we went through a military base on some trails - they were wide and well groomed, but a bit muddy from the rain. Some other people on our team called this the "Ho Chi Min Trail" and the "Trail of Tears" but it was Brant's favorite part of the course. I thought it was okay - but mostly I was just concentrating on keeping my legs moving, one foot in front of the other. I didn't pay a lot of attention to much else, though I tried to at least appreciate the scenery.

During the last hour and a half or so - that Mindy and I were on the trail - the wind picked up and it got really freezing cold. We kept shaking our hands to keep feeling in them. And then my shoe came untied. My muscles were already really tight, but as soon as I stopped to tie my shoe they all tightened even more - I could barely bend forward more than a few inches. I finally got down to my shoe and retied it, but the damage was done. When we tried to run again my muscles protested.

We stopped and stretched before trying to run again, but we were both really cold and really tired by this point. And we were only a few miles from the end of the course. We had been on a really good pace - good enough for a 5 hour marathon. Since our goal was less than 6 hours, we were pretty thrilled. And we noticed that even if we took an hour to run the last three miles - we would still finish in 5 and a half hours. So we walked. We reached insult hill - which was not as bad as we had expected, and at the top, Coach Bill told us it was only another half mile - and that it was all flat. So we ran that in. Even though we kind of felt like dying. It put us in at 5:25.

Brant and Manuel finished at 4:33 - but somehow missed our finish. Over an hour later, when the last of our teammates finished - we finally found each other. It was a great day - all of the West Houston team finished their half or full marathons.

Right after the marathon I said that I would never run another marathon. Within a week, I had already started to forget just how far it really was, and we are already signed up for our next challenge in January. We have completely lost our minds - we are going to complete the Goofy Challenge in DisneyWorld. We will run a half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday.

It's strange, because even just after finishing, there were parts of the run I couldn't really remember. And even though I was there - I barely feel like I ran a marathon. The whole experience was so surreal. I had to block so much out of my mind just to keep running that it almost seems like it wasn't really happening. I would check my watch, but pretended like they were just numbers. They told us when to take our interval breaks. Nothing more. They did not represent the number of hours that we had been running - or the number of hours that we still had left to go. I saw the mile markers go by - but they were just numbers on signs, and I knew we had to go by 26 of them - but they did not represent miles - they were just numbers.

Maybe, with the next marathon, I will be able to pay more attention to it. But I kind of doubt it. Otherwise, how would I keep running?

After the marathon Brant and I went on a whale watching trip and then up to Denali national park. We saw a lot of amazing wildlife. I totally recommend Alaska to everyone. :)

But now, we're back to training for another race. :)