I did it! And I'm still walk'n!

Man, what a rush! I just ran 20 miles! I never thought I'd be able to truthfully say those 5 words! Not only did I finish but I ran the entire 20 miles....and finished in 3:44....an 11:14 mile average. HOLY SHIT!!!!!!! It felt awesome until the last mile and then my legs didn't want to work anymore...but I kept shuffling right along....I kept chanting to my self...."keep on going almost there....keep on going almost there"....and "give me a shove dad give me a shove....give me a shove dad give me a shove".....over and over again until the end was in sight. The last 2 pictures were taken at the 1/2 way mark.

For any skeptics out there who still doubt this devine intervention I'm always talk'n about....I've got another story. Got to the park this morning and had actually forgotten during the 1 hour drive about the whole it's my Dad's birthday thing. We were all lining up in the street to start the run and I said to my friend Traci...."oh my gosh, I almost forgot....know what today is?" and she says smiling "yeah I read it in your blog". NOT 2 MINUTES later there were 2 women standing directly in front of us and one turns around and says...."Hey every1 it's my friend here's birthday...she's 30 years old today" and everyone started singing happy birthday.... OMG!!!!!!! I'm not making this up....Traci and Kristina saw/witnessed the whole thing!

So Happy Birthday Dad!....and thanks for the shove(s). LOL!

feel'n great

Ran 6 straight through this morning. Felt really good. Weather was perfect. I'm ready for 20 baby bring it on!

I'm editing this post to add that I just realized today's date....this Saturday is my dad's birthday. He would have been 59 years old on Sept 29th. How ironic that his birthday is on the same day I'm doing my 20 miler.....coinkidink??!!.....NOPE! = )

I cheated....kind of

Woke up this morning to pouring rain and didn't feel like getting soaked. I also didn't feel like running on the treadmill so I ended up doing an hour on the elliptical. I say I cheated by not getting in my 5 miles of running....but I was far sweatier after an hour of that than I ever am when running....it sure didn't feel like i was cheating! I can see my progress in my fitness level even in the elliptical. Before starting this training I would occasionally get on it and always did the same 30 minute program. It's an interval program that spikes in intensity 4 times. This machine has a thingy on it that lights up one of 5 different levels of intensity....the goal is to keep the center one or "target" lit...if 1 of the 2 before it are lit then your not working hard enough....it 1 of the last 2 are lit then you are working too hard. When doing this program before starting this training I could never get up to the center 1 because it was too hard...I was trying to make that my goal but never achieved it...but TODAY....man, I'm a lean mean elliptical butt kicking machine!! LOL! I had it lit at and above the target range the entire time! WOOHOOO!

On another note....I've decided that I'm going to have to make peace with the treadmill before winter hits. Because there are 2 things that are for certain about me....1) I hate winter even more than I hate the treadmill! & 2) If I fall off the training wagon after the marathon and end up losing all the progress I've made in my running abilities by next spring....I can guarantee that I will never work up the courage to start all over again....it has been way too hard to get where I am to fall off and have to start over in the spring. It just won't happen. So I can't let that happen....I have to keep up with this through winter and I will NOT be out running in below freezing weather. SO....I have to make peace with the treadmill! Not sure how to do this. The last time I was on the treadmill...last week or 2....I spent the entire hour 1) trying to count (and recount) the zits on the back of the neck of the guy in front of me....2) trying to count how many times my left foot hit the track in .1 miles.... .2 miles.... .3 miles...etc 3) tried counting how many times the chick beside me said the word "like" to her friend on her other side....it's just mind numbingly boring...I've tried watching movies on my ipod but I have a difficult time seeing the screen because it's so tiny and even more difficult time concentrating on the story line....same thing with the downloaded audio books...I can't seem to concentrate when I'm in a gym on the treadmill. That's why I like the elliptical because I can read a book while on it....I can't do that while running on a treadmill. I have to figure out a way to some how get over this extreme loathing of the treadmill.

Freeing myself of the burden of improving my time!

Ran 6.........well.........technically..........oh, never mind!....I'm so damn caught up in listing every single walk break that I take....and every single pee break that I take.....like I'm some how cheating by resting my legs every now and then & sitting down on the job because I have to use the restroom....for PETE'S SAKE!!!! In reviewing my past blog entries I realized how obsessed I've become with this. SO NO MORE!!!! I read an article in a running magazine that emphasized that even the best of the best take walking breaks and it improves their time....but you don't hear these world class athletes saying "yeah, I ran the marathon in 2 hours 43 minutes.....BUT....I had to take a couple walk breaks.....oh, and I had to pee at mile 10"......for cry'n out loud!!! I went out today without my gps watch because I'm tired....so so tired....of staring at my wrist every 60 seconds to see what my pace is. I keep saying that I don't care what my time is and yet I'm obsessed with keeping track of it! So I've made the executive decision to keep the gps at home for the weekday runs and only bring it along on my long runs. And I feel liberated because of it......I'M FREE!!!! And quite frankly I think my window of opportunity for improving my time has been closed for a few weeks now. In my mind this last month of training is about increasing the mileage and not increasing speed.

So today's 6 miles felt ok...legs felt pretty heavy...I'm still very sore from Sundays 16 miler...I could definitely tell the difference this week without the ice bath....last week after the ice bath I had minimal soreness....but this week I didn't do the ice-bath & I'm very sore. The humidity was a little suffocating...but I did it.

This Saturday the TNT group is hosting a 20 mile "mock marathon" somewhere near Ann Arbor....I think.......I'm actually looking forward to it...This 20 miler is the peak of our training and then the training tapers off for the next 3 weeks. That's probably why I'm looking forward to it....it marks the turning point of our training! Hallelujah!!! I'm still enjoying this sport and I'm enjoying seeing the progress I've made in the last 4 1/2 months....I enjoy working towards a goal...I'm a very goal oriented person....it's what keeps me going....BUT.....I really need a break. I'm tired. So very tired. After Sunday's long run I felt Awful....just couldn't get off the couch. I layed there all day thinking....WHY am I doing this to myself?! With that said...I have no doubt that I'll be doing this to myself again next year and probably repeating those exact same words.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Focus on your potential instead of your limitations."

started out good.....but fizzled

Ran 16 today. Ran the 1st 10 straight through and felt awesome. Had a 10:58 average pace going up until then. I didn't want to stop because I feeling so good but I had to refill my water bottle...the parking lot where the drinking fountain is was completely blocked off with a temporary fence because they had some boat race thing going on. So I had to walk all the way around to find an opening to get to the bathrooms where the drinking fountain is. I decided to skip the bathroom at that point because I really didn't have to go and my pace was already suffering because of the search...so I started back up again and withing 1.5 miles my stomach started rumbling....not good....so I stopped to use the restroom and ended up in there for about 10 minutes....now my pace is REALLY suffering!....I'm investing in a super stock supply of Imodium today!....then I get out of there and the last 4 miles were a struggle because of the horrible stitches that I had in my sides...they would NOT go away. I kept trying to walk and bend over pushing on the stitch...I tried to deep breath (all the remedies I've heard over the last several months)....nothing worked...so I'd walk until the pain was bearable again and then run until it became unbearable again....I did that for the last 4 miles. Ended up walking a lot of it. In the end my average pace ended up being 12:04. I was very disappointed...the 1st 10 went so well....I was on a role! Damn it! The good news is...I can run 10 miles straight now...the bad news is I doubt I'll hit my original goal of finishing in under 5 hours. I keep peetering out in the end. But that's OK...as long as I'm not the last 1 over the finish line I'm good!

yuck

Had every intention of running 5 today but by the time I got out there it was already 80 degrees. I only made it 4.37 miles and actually walked 3/4 of a mile of it. Did not feel good. Felt very weak and I just had no energy. Tomorrow will probably be just as ugly because I won't be able to get out there until late. O-well. I think it's safe to say that I will never be training for a summer marathon. Or a hot climate marathon. I may be nuts but I'm not THAT nuts. Some of us running friends are thinking about the Chicago marathon for next year. We'll see.

Maybe dodge park isn't so bad after all

Ran at Dodge Park again...because quite frankly it's much more convenient and close. There are so many senior citizens walking the path that I can't believe anyone would chop me up right there. LOL! I forced myself to not keep looking over my shoulder but it didn't help that I was listening to a James Patterson murder mystery that I had down loaded on my ipod.

Anyway, ran 8 miles in 1:33. Thats an 11:37 min mile average. Took a 3 minute break to walk and use the rest room half way through. My pace has slowed quite a bit in the last few weeks and I'm sure it's because of the number of miles we're putting in now. The next 2 weeks will be rough but then the training intensity slows drastically for the last 3 weeks before the marathon to help our bodies recover and prepare itself for the big day. I'm REALLY looking forward to the last 3 weeks...and so is my body! My feet could use the reprieve.