Injury Won't Keep Me Down

So, it's been a rough go the past few weeks. This isn't exactly how I thought 2015 was going to end. But here I am, facing my worst running injury square in the eyes, knowing that any time goal and redemption I had for the Phoenix half marathon are toast. My fingers are crossed that I will at least get to walk the half marathon. I'm crazy enough to do that, if the doctor says I can. I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned there. If he says absolutely not, I'll be deferring the race and I'll try again in 2017.

I've shed a lot of tears over this. It's a silly thing to cry over, I know, but nonetheless it's devastating for me. I won't hide that. I think what's frustrating is that I really tried to listen to my body this year. Which brings me to this. This year did not start how I wanted it to, with an injury just as infuriating, and it isn't ending how I imagined, but the middle... what a ride.

This is the first year I've raced. Really raced. And while I'm questioning whether or not that's something I should be doing, I really enjoyed myself. I worked really hard to get where I am. I'm not anywhere close to where I want to be. My all time "desired" goal is a sub 2 hr half marathon. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever realize it, but the dream is still there and I believe that one day, it'll be possible.

In the meantime I've now raced two half marathons, a 15k, two 10k's, an 8k and a 5k this year. Not one of them were easy, but every one of them, absolutely worth all the work and frustration and sweat and pain and tears.

While this injury is knocking me down right now, it will never be able to keep me down. When the bad day passes and I reflect back on the past few months leading up to the stress fracture, I accomplished so much! I have made some wonderful new friendships, lasting friendships, with people whom I genuinely love to pieces. I no longer desire to run alone every time. I LOVE running with friends and look forward to the opportunity to at least ride a bike next to them soon (maybe I can get a new bike outta this mess?) until I can run by their side again. I ran my furthest distance ever! Who just goes out to run 16 miles for the heck of it? Not many people I know, but I wanted to do it. I wanted to show myself, I could. And I did. And it was awful and glorious all at the same time! I've had lots of other great wins this year!

Then in Nov as I began training for the Phoenix half marathon, I told myself that I would really listen to my body this time. If it said stop, I would stop. I would rest. I would make sure I line up uninjured and healthy. While I won't necessarily be lining up in this state, I wouldn't change one single thing I did leading up to diagnosis. After running and PRing my Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving (on what I now know was a stress fracture) I rested the whole week leading up to the Hot Chocolate 15k.

A few days into this voluntary rest period, I started questioning the pain I still had. I went to urgent care to discuss it with them and see what they said. After a quick exam, I was told medial tibial stress syndrome and was told I'd be okay to race, just ice and ibuprofen. So I taped up my shin for medial tibial stress, and lined up for Hot Chocolate. At the end of that race my shin was hurting. Very badly. Despite the tape, and despite compression socks. Despite the week of ice and ibuprofen. I think right then, I knew. Something wasn't right. I finished the race, crushed a 9:29/avg min pace, and smiled for every dang picture taken. I had an absolute blast.

A few hours later, while at church, it was starting to sink in. I was in a lot of pain. Not shin splint pain. Real, excruciating pain. I took ibuprofen, I iced, I rested. I did not run one single step. The next week, after the intensity of the pain coming and going, and lots of conversation with my best running friend Brecka, I made a phone call to a sports doctor and took the first available appt. The rest is history (or I guess, my present?)

So while it's not an ideal ending, I did listen to my body. It told me not to run. And I didn't when I realized that something was truly not right. And even though my last two races were run on a stress fracture, I ran the HECK out of them! If I can do that on a fracture, imagine what my body will be capable of when it's recovered and healthy!

I've had a few really hard days in 2015 when it comes to running. I imagine I will have a few more as the months of recovery stretch on, but I know when I'm recovered and healthy again, I will come back stronger, braver, kinder, unstoppable and fierce! I don't know what exactly my goals will look like for 2016 yet with this set back, but I'm trying to listen quietly to what I'm impressed will help me grow.

Thank you to everyone who has followed and shared in my journey this year. Thank you for all the love, encouragement, motivation and support I've received. 2016 is going to be a great year. I'm sure of it!

Half Marathon Week 2

It's that time! Monday check in with the past week of training. To start off, I've noticed some tugging and pain in my IT band on the left leg. I'm praying like crazy I'm able to avoid being sidelined by it. If anyone has some sure fire ways of healing it (besides foam rolling it) I'm all ears! I also have shin splints in my right leg, but I believe as I swim more and stretch those muscles, it'll work itself out. I will ice and roll as needed and wear Procompression socks also. Back muscle recovery is coming along. The massage therapist said she was able to feel individual muscles this time instead of one big brick, so that's good progress. I will continue to work on loosening those muscles at home with the theracane I'm borrowing, my Original Worm and utilizing my tens unit between those appointments. I'm anxious to start lifting weights because of the pain I had experienced which finally drove me to the chiropractor in the first place, but I know it's time. I'll admit, I'm also dealing with the "I don't wanna look like a wimp lifting such light weights at the gym" social stigma. I'm vain, just like the next person, but I need to start somewhere and light is where to start.

Monday was swim day!! I actually really look forward to this workout, but it was really cold that day (wind and rain) and getting myself out the door to the gym took some serious effort. I finally made it down there, and of course loved it! The workout this time was 20 sets of swim down, rest 15 sec, kick back, rest 20 sec. I felt pretty strong but noticed that, as with running, when I start to get tired my form slips. Something I really need to clean up for a more streamlined workout. My treat when I'm done? The steam room and the jacuzzi!! My Garmin doesn't track swimming inside of a gym (no satellite pick up) and also doesn't track lap pace very well anyway, but I am able to use it to track time and splits. It took me a little bit to get into that groove and how I wanted to record each split. Once I figured it out (it took three individual workouts, haha) it was perfect! I'm able to go into Garmin Connect and adjust it to a swim workout and leave a note for myself.

Next up, track Tuesday with Brecka! It was our first ladder workout ever. I was both excited to do something different, but also anxious at the speeds we needed to hold. Then there's time conversion. I'm not strong in math at all, so figuring out the time we needed to run a 600 meter and 1200 meter in was a struggle. My rough estimate got us pretty close, so just some minor adjustments need to be made for the future. The workout went as follows 400 @ 2:00, 600 @ 3:02, 800 @ 4:05, 1200 @ 6:13 and then back down again. There was a 400 meter recovery between each split (one lap around the track). I ran most of them, but walked the ones sandwiching the 1200. I was spent. The first part of the workout I was fighting to stay down in the required split time, the back end of the workout I was struggling to stay up. I managed to nail each speed, but what a struggle!! We included the warm up and cool down, something we're  going to be pretty strict about. We don't have another workout like this one in the plan, but it was good to get that experience. It's something I could do just to shake things up when I'm not really training!

Flowers after a rough day!

Emergency hair cut! At 9:00 pm!

Wednesday. Oh Wednesday. I had a chiropractic and massage therapy appt scheduled for Friday, and then we were headed out of town, so I knew I wasn't going to be available for the second cross training day. I decided earlier in the week that I'd do it Wednesday. And then. Life. Work was awful. I'm an aide in the special education program and work mostly in autism. This year I have some "unofficial" kids I help, so I'm really busy! Anyway, I spent the whole morning almost begging the kids to do their work! When I got home, my three sweet children decided to show me just how hard parenting these ages can be! It was NOT a win for the Owens family. By the time I was done dealing with each situation it was nearly 10:00 pm!! Some will say "No Excuses!" But I say, some days, it's okay to throw in the towel and say enough is enough! I ate a chocolate candy bar and sat in a bath of Epsom salts and my sweet husband rubbed out my back and legs! It was more appreciated than he may ever know!

Thursday is tempo day!! I actually kind of like tempo Thursday, and this time I got to run with Brecka, which I won't get to do very often for this run! We were both signed up to run the Girls Run Fast virtual 10k, so we used this run to help knock that out! Our warm up mile was probably a little too slow, but regardless the tempo miles (supposed to be 9:15) were spot on (slightly faster, but that's okay)! Thank goodness for a cool down mile, I was sucking air by the end of that and was grateful for the slower pace!! Phew! I can't wait to get my medal for this race! It's cute!

Friday, of course, unplanned rest day. The chiropractor is always tough (though my adjustment was kinda sub par this time) and massage therapy is NOT the same as a massage at Massage Envy! Holy hurt! I know long term it's going to really help a lot, but it definitely takes my breath away!

What happened to me on Saturday is why you check and double check what week you just looked at on your plan. I thought I was supposed to do 10 miles. I was a week ahead and really should've only done 9!!! It's only one extra mile, but that extra mile was TOUGH!!! I was in Tucson visiting my parents and did not sleep hardly at all that night. I had a great reason to skip it, and almost did, but knew I needed to get out there. I geared up and left an hour later than planned.

This went uphill forever!!! One of the only sidewalks.

I forgot there are virtually NO SIDEWALKS where I live in Tucson and had to run in the dirt and rocks on the shoulder of the road, BARELY OFF the road! So scary! I kept a keen eye on the traffic ahead of me and took advantage of any breaks where I could run on the street instead. One of the streets was ALL UP HILL! I knew it would be, but I underestimated how it would feel. I was struggling so hard! I knew my pace would slow right away and I was okay with it, but I wasn't prepared for how this would feel. By mile 3 I was walking! I don't see it as a weakness at all. My poor body needed the break. It wasn't much elevation gain truthfully, but it was more than I was used to.

Dirt path to help the mental game!

Honey packets and Cocogo for the win!

I made a quick pit stop at the grocery store and then another at a convenience store down the road. Now I was running on familiar territory from old cross country and track years at this point. I found a dirt path that we used to run down all the time, so I decided to off road it a little bit. I remember it being longer, but it was nice for the mental game that was happening. I came out, fueled up with honey packets and Cocogo, and dug deep to finish up. Those last 4 miles were something else. I started to bring my pace back down, but couldn't keep it. It's okay though. This is where ending at the scheduled 9 miles would've been nice, haha! That 10th was sooo hard, I was running back up a hill to finish, and well, it wasn't pretty.

I'm still very happy with this training program and am looking forward to week three. My goal this week, to attempt to PR my turkey trot on Thursday, and to quite drinking soda and reevaluate how I'm eating to get back on track. Also, I HAVE to get in that second cross training workout! It will happen this week!

How do you recover after a hard week of training?

Half Marathon Training Starts!!

So, I'm going to try something a little different this training cycle while preparing for the Phoenix Half Marathon. I'm going to try and blog about it! This is only my third year running again, and still my first year racing. I've done two half marathons and a few 5k's, a 12k and a 10k. So I'm still learning about what works for me and what doesn't. For my first half marathon I used the Runkeeper app and a training plan it had. It was A LOT of miles and I wound up grounded for three weeks with horrible IT band pain the month before the race. I still made it to the starting line, but I was still injured.

I had been looking into using a different training plan, but didn't know which one. There are so many out there, each promising to get you right where you wanna be. Then one night my best running friend, Brecka, messaged me and said she was pretty sure she's going to use the Run Less Run Faster program to train, and asked what I was going to use.

Now this is a plan I had looked at, but haven't heard much about. I figured, if I use it, we could train together and maybe it would help keep me on track to have a friend to run with and an accountability partner for completing cross training workouts. So I bought the app for my phone, ordered the book from Amazon, set a finish time, and got excited at the prospect of not having to run as much using this program.

Current read. We affectionately call it the "Running Bible" or the "RB".

I haven't quite finished reading the book, I'm almost done, but I LOVE the way training is set up! 3 running days and 2 cross training days. The running days include a track workout, a tempo workout, and a long run, all paces are worked out for you based on your time from a finished race and desired finish time. The cross training for each week has already been planned as well, all you have to decide is which of the two workouts you want to do. There's a lot of information in the book. If you plan to use the program I suggest buying it. Here at Amazon it's cheaper than in the bookstore.

I'm choosing to not disclose my finish time, simply because everyone has some kind of opinion of how fast someone should be able to run. If you follow the same plan, you may be able to figure that out of course.

I have chosen to use the swim as one of my cross training workouts and will alternate between the bike and rowing for the other one. I will also be adding in some strength training to help build muscle and for overall strength and health, even though the plan doesn't necessarily recommend that.

I've just finished week one. I'm starting off injured, which of course isn't ideal, but I know if I listen closely to my body, I should be okay. Monday and Friday will be cross training days, Tuesday track, Thursday tempo and Saturday long run with Wednesday and Sunday as rest days.

Monday's swim workout was actually quite easy. It involved 20 lengths of the pool only kicking with 30sec rest in between. I was a swimmer in a past life, so it really wasn't difficult and made me want to do more, but I'm going to trust the process and follow the plan as closely as I can. In the book it talks about how swimming can loosen the ankles of a runner and help with lower leg power. I also wear short flippers (Finnis Zoomers) which I've read help force your feet to kick the right way. I always wind up with minor shin splints when I start swimming again, I'm hoping that it's just all of the muscles loosening up and the issue will be a short lived one. I also lifted a small circuit of lighter weights for legs that day. I have a hamstring injury (likely tight muscles) and am trying to help strengthen my legs overall. I really miss lifting and am happy to be back in the gym again.

Tuesday was my first track workout and the first workout I was able to do with Brecka! She'd never done speed work like this before so I was pretty excited for her and for our chance to run together!! The workout called for 12 times 400 lengths at 2:00 each and a 90 sec recovery interval. My legs were pretty sore from the previous day's weight lifting, but I managed to nail each one of them at 1:59. We are also doing the required warm up and cool down, which I've never done before, but we're both pretty serious about not getting more, or re, injured!

Wednesday was a rest day, and thank goodness for that! I'm already tired!!

Thursday had me a little worried. The first two miles were to be spent warming up and working your way to your tempo pace. I had not run at any of those paces in a really long time and was anxious at the prospect of having to do so now. What if I bombed it?!! After a quick pep text from Brecka I finally made my way out there to tackle it. Not even a mile in, my Garmin died. That can't be a good sign right? I walked myself home and charged it up just enough to finish the workout. To my surprise, I completely nailed every pace and held the tempos 100% steady! That is a good feeling!
 

Friday was meant to be a cross training day, and I was looking forward to it, but I was having some serious pain in my lower back. I had inadvertently bruised some muscles while trying to roll out my upper back where there's another injury (super tight lats and traps). I decided to rest so I would be ready for the long run on Saturday. It was a good choice. I'll get the second cross training workout this week.

Saturday's run was pretty much perfect! It was amazing weather, a little cold, but not so bad it was uncomfortable, sunny (eventually, we started in the dark) and gorgeous! Brecka and I nailed paces, though a little scattered, and came in under the recommended pace time by 5 sec. Not something we should necessarily do, but GPS is a little wonky on the canal, so we'll make do.

Overall this week's training was pretty much perfect! I loved every minute of it. The sore muscles (not the painful ones), the nerves, the success, the friend! It was great. Some things I still need to work on... adding in upper body lifting. I'm recovering from too tight muscles in my left traps and lats and have been given permission from the chiropractor to start lifting light weights, but to be careful. I will hopefully have another appt this weekend to help work out the knots. I also need to start eating way better. I am not currently eating to perform, and that is not okay. The demands of training means I've got to fuel right. I'm learning, and I'll get there.

If you're still here reading, congrats! That was a lot to go through, haha! Thanks for sticking around and following my journey thus far! I am excited for this training cycle and where I could be in the next 16 weeks! Maybe a PR!

  

Also, are you wondering about the wraps I'm wearing with the positive mantras on them?  Let me tell you about them quickly.  I'll do a separate post about them in further detail, later.  The company is called Momentum Jewelry and the wraps I'm wearing are Motivate Wraps.  I've recently become an ambassador for them, and I couldn't be more excited!!  Right now if you sign up at their website to receive their newsletter (don't worry, they won't spam you), you will receive a 20% coupon code to order from them!!  Sounds like a good deal to me!!  I LOVE my wraps and recently made a huge order.  I've already got in mind the next ones I want for my next order!!  Head over now and get signed up!!

Startline Racing Race Recap

I ran my Startline Racing half marathon today. If you remember, I won an entry to any race put on by them about 25 weeks ago while attending a Run Eat Tweet AZ event in the summer. I sat on that for a long time trying to decide what to do and finally settled on the Going the Distance full Marathon slated for April 4th. Then in Jan I lost three weeks of training and decided to down grade to the half marathon.

Packet Pick Up.  You get the medal right away!

Race discount!  Thanks Startline Racing and Run Eat Tweet AZ!

 

I knew going into this race I wasn't really physically ready to run it. Training wise I was, but with the pain in my hip/lower back and even pain in my shin, I knew I would struggle a little. Also with the Arizona heat already making an appearance, but I was determined to do this race.

At the Start.  What am I getting myself into!

Let me pause here for a minute and talk quickly about the race directors of Startline. I reached out to them to let them know about my sweet buddy Jaylee. Boy do I love bragging about her and sharing her story. She's such a special girl and inspires me so much. They gave me an extra medal to send to her! Can you believe that! Jeff sent me an email saying to find him at the race and he'd hook me up. He happened to be at the food station at the end refilling waters when I saw him, let him know who I was and he said, oh yeah! We've got one all ready for you! I believe he was genuinely happy to do it, and that made my whole day!

Yes I run with a Lego representation of my sweet buddy Jaylee!

Back to the race. I came prepared to run with fuel (Sunrype fruit strips) that works better for me and an electrolyte (Cocogo) that hasn't failed me yet that is so easy on my stomach. I was nervous my intestinal tract would react the same way as Phoenix, but it didn't and that was the best thing that could happen. I figured I'd keep the Cocogo flowing through my bottle and make stops at the water stations to get my water. That worked like a charm. Isn't it great when plans work out! I think I was still a bit dehydrated, but through no fault of Startline Racing. I felt as though they were prepared for the heat with water/Gatorade stops every couple of miles. They even refilled my water bottle for me! Thank you!

Flat Runner!

I of course went in with the strategy to start slow and work up my speed, but of course I went out way too fast. I had no problem slowing it down though! Ha! I slowed down a little every single mile, the opposite of my plan, but eh, it was alright, I figured I'd do it. The course is run along a trail system of a wash or canal. While it was filled with desert plants that are blooming and pretty right now, they're an allergists nightmare. By mile 8 asthma hit, and I had to make deliberate efforts to continue to breathe as deeply as I could and out all the way. The feeling passed and I was able to continue, though I had a few more bouts of that. The other problem I had was hip/sciatic pain. It didn't hurt right away, but by mile 5 I could feel it, and it was just hurting more as I went. I expected it, but had hoped I would be able to ignore it better than I did.

I was struggling through this race also. There is an almost 7 mile stretch of straightaway running, and then you turn around and run back 4 of those miles. I had heard this, but figured since most of my routes are repeats and I get bored on them, but can zone them out well, I figured this wouldn't be a problem. I was mistaken. I THINK that if I wasn't experiencing the pain, I may have handled it better, but it is what it is.

The route.  Don't be fooled by the blue, there is no water in there.

 At mile 8 when I started having a hard time breathing and running I texted my husband, almost in tears, that I was struggling. A few minutes later he texted me back with this! That pushed me over the edge and I cried for a minute. But of course it made it harder to breathe so I quickly composed myself and pressed on.

Man I'm lucky I have him!

I finally reached the turn around somewhere around mile 9 and was having a hard time with my get up and go. And then this sweet gal came up behind me and said, come on, you got this! Pace with me. And so I ran with her. We chatted a little, we swapped names, quickly talked about our goal for the race and then we ran side by side for I think almost a mile. She was convinced I could still get a PR, I was quite certain that was gone. She cheered me on in my suffering and was my voice of confidence when I didn't have one at that point, and then I had to walk. My hip was aching and my breathing was getting hard again. But I didn't let her out of my sight. I kept pushing.

I figured I wasn't grabbing a PR but I could try to get as close to my original time if I really tried hard. I picked up the pace. If this girl thought I could do it, then maybe I could. With 2 miles left I caught up to her and she flashed me the biggest smile and shouted something like "go get it!" I was delirious, so I'm not quite sure. I thanked her, as meaningfully as I could gasping for air and took off. It was still a run/walk, but at as quick a pace as I could muster. I passed the last water stop and I heard her shout again and it just made me smile! I passed another girl who I had had the privilege of chatting with the first couple miles of the race and gave her a thumbs up and good job and joked that I was dying and not a quiet runner (I was vocally suffering ;)). She laughed and told me I was a great runner, and that just helped push me a little more.

Official Results from Startline Racing website.

Now I come to my most favorite part ever. My sweet children have been homeschooling themselves on Harry Potter lately and each of them had a stick (wands) in their hands when I turned the corner to cross the finish line. They were shouting and laughing, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. Turns out they were shouting "expecto patronum" to help me go faster! Hahaha, bunch of little weirdos! 

My great boys the night before the race.

My sweet daughter the night before the race.

Most supportive husband the night before the race.

The boys' wands the night before the race.

I grabbed something to eat, went and sat with my family for a bit to stretch and rest and then got up to find these two gals who helped me so much on the course. I could not find them anywhere! I roamed through 3 times, but seemed to have missed them. I hope to follow their lead one day and am able to offer that kind of support to someone on the course one day who needs it. I am continually amazed at how wonderful complete strangers are to one another. It blesses my life each and every time I run into one of these givers.

Man it was HOT!! So glad that's done!

 

So, again, it wasn't quite the race I'd have liked to have, BUT it was still a good time. Each time I run, I learn new lessons. So today, I'll log away my lessons and remember them for next time. Would I do another Startline Racing event? Yeah, probably, just probably not on this course . Time to recover a little and get ready for my next race, the Run3rd 5k next week!

When Running Becomes a Struggle

What do you do when you find yourself in a funk?  I have been running consistently for over a year now and have loved to sometimes hate every minute of it.  But now I'm finding myself kind of just slumping around the roads.  It's been kind of frustrating.  Some of it I know is the small amount of pain I still have in my IT bands.  Most of the time they don't hurt, but every once in a while (longer runs, faster runs) I feel the tightness.  I'm babying them.  I'm preparing for two more races coming up.  One being the Going the Distance half marathon on April 4th being put on by Startline Racing (use code RET to get 10% off their races--excluding their 3rd party races), and the other one is the Run3rd 5K on April 11th (use code RUNEATTWEET to get 10% off and to be entered into a giveaway for a Sean Astin autographed DVD of Lord of the Rings happening April 1st).  I have to say, after these two races, I think I need to just have a little fun with my running.  I think I've realized I'm putting too much pressure on myself.

I didn't think I'd find myself in this place.  I've always been pretty realistic about my goals, and I still don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong.  I've just realized I'm loosing some of the fun of just running and enjoying it.  My eating has been off and I haven't been strength training since Nov and I also know that's taking a toll.  I've mentioned on Instagram that I've changed gyms and have decided to start swimming again (maybe a sprint triathlon in the future?).  I was a very good swimmer as a teen/young adult, so I'd like to gain some of that back.  I'm also trying to work out a plan to find good days to get back into the gym to lift as well as using the things I have here at home to rebuild my strength (tires, battleropes, core work, HIIT training).  My neighbors are used to watching me do weird things like taking selfies and garmin pics after running, I may as well go back to pushing around my big tire so they have more to talk about!  Hubz and I are also looking into starting the 21 day fix.  Everyone I follow on Instagram who's used it has loved it.  It's worth a try to get myself back on track eating right, and it'd be nice to have my husband join me.

We have a lot on our plate right now at home and it's stressing me out.  I'm really hoping that in a couple of weeks things start to calm back down as we start getting answers to some looming decisions.  In the meantime, I will be doing my best to keep myself on track, enjoy each day, and remember what the most important things are in this life. My husband, my children, Jaylee and my health.

Also, if you live in Arizona and need something to do on March 28th Run Eat Tweet AZ has a Nuun sponsored meetup going down that morning!  There will be different run distances available for the runners who need more mileage or the runners who'd like to start with something simpler.  The longer runs start at 7:00am and the shorter runs start at 8:00am.  There will be tons of giveaways, guest speakers and then head out for BREAKFAST after!  We are after all, a social run group right!  Hope to see you there!

Who or What Inspires You?

Where do you get your inspiration from? I read this article and it really resonated with me, so let me introduce you to someone who inspired me. I have this super awesome friend. Her name is Michelle. One day I noticed she was posting a workout here or there with her husband on Facebook. She'd post a picture of her husband and herself at the gym, she was posting what she was eating and doing on My Fitness Pal. I'm not sure what prompted her to start sharing things, but I'm glad she did. She was diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis and she wasn't letting that get her down. She was working. Hard. And I thought, if this amazing girl can do it, then I can too. I haven't looked back since. She was such an inspiration to me. She would start up a live run with runtastic and I'd be able to click in and cheer for her! I loved it! Every time she'd run I'd think, I totally gotta get out there and do it too. 

I'm grateful for the days when my awesome friend started posting what she was doing on social media. It helped inspire me to start moving and doing the same things. I'm even more grateful that she is the one I ran into at the finish line of our first half marathon at the Phoenix marathon. We didn't run it together....but we ran it together. It was not lost on me that she was the one friend I was able to hug on that line. She was my first inspiration. The one who was strong enough to start sharing her journey. The one who decided if her husband could do it, so could she. The one who showed me, that if she could do it, so could I.

So I will continue to post my runs, my workouts, the goofy games that cycle through on instagram. It's a way for me to stay motivated, to connect to others doing the same things as me, to be accountable to myself. I'll do it, because I like to remind myself, that I'm capable of doing great things, hard things, fun things. I love the "likes" and comments that sometimes helps propel me to my next workout. I do my best to interact with others in the same ways. Because in the end, even though we're all on our own journey, we're really all in this together.

Thank you Michelle for sharing that part of yourself with us! I think you're amazing! And I'm so glad I get to call you friend.

Pictures borrowed with permission from Michelle. Wishing like crazy we had gotten one together, but we'll always remember 😊.

I Ran My First Ever Half Marathon

So, I ran a HALF MARATHON!!  My first one ever. My first big major race (I always forget I did a mud run a handful of years ago, and I did do the 12K's of Christmas under someone else's bib, but it was a smaller scale race.)  I trained for 16 months in preparation for it.  I wanted to be able to do it, but I just wasn't sure I'd actually be able to get my body to run 13 miles!  I started small and just kinda ran a little and lifted a little and occasionally went to the track for my "speed work". 

Then I got the bright idea to download a training schedule from Runkeeper and follow that.  I started with the sub 10K to get used to the slowly climbing mileage and quicker paces.  I "nailed" about half of the workouts and completely bombed the others, but it was working.  I was getting stronger. Faster.  I was pretty good about lifting weights and walking with friends and swimming as "cross training" in the beginning.  The day came, and I ran on my own, the turkey trot loop that our neighborhood uses, and didn't come close to my goal time, but hey, I was able to run it, faster than before.  Success!  Then I moved onto half marathon training in Nov.  It started out great.  I ran the ACTUAL neighborhood turkey trot in Nov, relatively sick with bronchitis, and basically rocked it, and then just continued on with training.  I did the 12k's as a training run, and really did a bang up job there too.  Then life happened.

I stopped making time to stretch, I stopped going to the gym, I didn't cross train anymore.  December is nutzo month and I was squeezing runs in between other activities and meetings that were happening all month!  And then injury struck.  Intense pain in my legs.  So bad that walking became a problem.  I ran the Phoenix Half Marathon course just as the month of December was wrapping up and felt pretty confident, finished out the month with a mileage goal and by following the training plan as laid out by Runkeeper, and then couldn't walk anymore.  I threw in the towel and took 3 weeks off, went to the ER and no one could tell me what was wrong.  After talking with a friend we thought together...probably IT band pain.  Well by that point, I knew my goal of a sub 2 hour half marathon was gone.  I just couldn't get back those missed three weeks, and there was still just enough pain, that I couldn't speed up without adding to the pain.  And then I got sick with upper respiratory illness...again!

Anyway, flash forward to February and I re-picked up training and set a new goal.  9:30 overall pace, which would get me about a 2:05 finish time.  It was still a bit lofty, but something that I thought would be a good base, but I wanted to at least land sub 2:15.

Race day February 28th came.  I got up, ate a little breakfast (not much, it makes me kinda sick, but just enough to have some fuel in my body, got dressed in the clothes I had laid out three hours before, grabbed a banana, and headed out the door with my husband who was dropping me off at the buses.  I got to hang out with a pretty awesome couple of peeps laughing and joking, and shivering in the wind while waiting in lines for biffies (does that make us biffie buddies now) and for the start of the race to happen.

6:15, it was time to line up for the race, we ran to the start (for selfies of course) before heading to our spots based on time pacers and waited for the countdown.  I was alone.  That was okay, I trained alone, so I knew I could run the race alone.  I had "practiced" the course a handful of times.  I knew, sorta, what I was getting into.  I stood staring at the start line, misty eyed, thinking about what I was about to do!  I was out there at 6:30 in the morning about to run the streets of Mesa with thousands of others who had put in at least as much work as me, if not more!  We started and I felt great!  I was going to stick with the 2:10 pacer, but I felt so great, I forged ahead.  I was going 9:30!!  Success, my Goal B was going to happen!!

And then mile 2 happened.  I didn't feel real great, but still, I was cruising, so no major thoughts about it.  Then mile 4.  I needed to go to the bathroom, I knew I did, I almost stopped, and then I saw the lines and figured, nah, I'll just run through the growing discomfort happening in my gut.  Then I saw two of my sisters in law and a couple nieces and a nephew!  What the heck were they doing out there!  They didn't see me at first, I saw them, and then pointed at them, because I thought for sure my eyes were playing tricks on me.  I ran over and high fived them, because that's all I could give them for something so cool they did for me.  And although I still didn't feel very good, I forged on in my quest to become a 2:05 half marathoner.  Then a little after that I heard my name shouted to the left of me.  I glanced over and there was my MOTHER IN LAW AND FATHER IN LAW!!!  What was happening?!  She hadn't been feeling very well for a couple weeks, why was she out there!  Oh man it made my day.  She held up her phone, so of course I smiled huge and waved.  I couldn't believe it.  Just a few feet after that I met up with my friend who ran with me a couple minutes cheering me and handed me a pancake!!  I was laughing and crying!  How do you run laughing and crying?

By mile 6 I was suffering and absolutely couldn't put off a biffie stop any longer.  There was a small line, but I got in pretty quick.  Not much relief.  I charged ahead attempting to regain my speed.  I glanced down at my watch, feeling my body not moving nearly as quickly and realized, I may not ever see 9:30 again, but I'd be damned if I didn't try.  I was working. Hard.  Then my name again somewhere close to mile7 or 8...at this point I can't remember.  My mother in law...AGAIN!!  It was a sight for sore eyes.  I didn't feel good.  I was quickly derailing, and I needed a face I knew.  She was there. And I needed her to be.  Mile 9.  I was sick.  There was no denying it.  I was so sick.  I had grabbed a goo before then hoping it would help boost me up to the end.  But to no avail, I was failing fast.  Mile 10 and 11 became a run/walk/run/walk/run/walk....  it was terrible.  I felt like I was in the way of the other runners.  I tried to stay on the sidewalk out of the way.  My paces were so slow.  I was so upset, but I really couldn't do it.  Some of it was mental, but most of it was very legitimately illness and misery.  Then somewhere in mile 10 or so, another sister in law with her two tinys!  My niece and nephew didn't see me even though she was pointing.  My time was shot, but even if it wasn't, I wasn't going to let them go without a sweaty hug from Auntie Sarah!  Little nephew told me as I was walking away "We came to find you!"  I love him!

Mile 11ish is where my apartment is.  I won't lie.  I turned the corner and expected to see my children and husband, but they weren't there.  I looked longingly at my parking lot thinking, I should just go home.  I do not feel good.  I can't do this anymore.  A friend who had ran into me along the course shouted my name and snapped me out of that trance.  I glanced in her direction and then there were my babies.  There was my husband.  They had just walked down the street a little.  I started crying.  They were there. And I was sick. And I couldn't go on.  But then, I could.  I could finish.  It would be ugly, but I knew I could finish.  The look on my husband's face.  I'm sure the running stuff annoys him, but there was pride on his face in that moment.  He was proud of me and what I was doing.  And then I knew, he probably orchestrated my inlaws being on the course to some degree and I flooded with gratitude at that moment for the people in my life.  I ran.  And I walked, and I made up a tiny bit of time.  And as I was coming down the straightaway into the chute, there were my sisters in law who were around mile 4, at the end. Yelling my name, recording and waving, and I knew, I had it.  I hit my Goal C. 2:14!!

It was painful, and awful, and horrendous and glorious, and wonderful and exciting and the most fun I've ever had in my whole life.  I had conquered something I wasn't ever sure I would be able to.  It wasn't how I wanted it to go, but what in life works out perfectly?  Almost nothing.  I'll hit goal A one day.  In the meantime...I'm a first time HALF MARATHONER!  I finished what I set out to do.  I gained a better respect for the runners like me who put in the hours, blood, sweat and tears to hit goals and test their limits.  I am a runner.  I have a family who loves me and supports me, who cheered for me and who lifted me up when I was in the darkest depths of misery in those painful 2 hours worth of moments.  It's my first race story, and it's a great one! I can't wait to do it again.