BitterSweet

Today was a bittersweet day for me.. first I will start with the bitter...



Last night I got about 4-4 1/2 hrs of sleep. That wasnt the plan but my husband decided the dog needed to have a haircut and bath so we stayed up until midnight doing that then he decided that we needed to put away the 4 loads of laundry on our bed since I didnt do it earlier in the day so that kept us up until just about 1:00 Am. I was definently not happy with him. Anyways the plan was to get up at 5:50 AM to have about 1 hr to get ready, eat, stretch real good and get on the treadmill and warm up before I had to be there at 7:00. About half way into my sched my darling husband said I better get my girls up and get there hair done so they could go to the church activity this morning. I was like are you serious.. So this threw me off my sched big time.. By the time I got their hair done I barely had time to inhale my breakfast as I was stretching at the same time. Forget my warmup!!! And I was off about 10 to 7. Geeze if I would have only known..............







I was like the 5th ot 6th person there and had to sit around for 1 1/2 hrs by myself just watching people... I wish I would have stayed home to stretch and warm up some.. I tried stretching some while I was there, and there were some who was running around the school building for warm up which i should have done but I didnt really want to do it by myself and I heard someone say that if they go warm up before they loose all their energy. So I just paced back and forth the whole time.... I really did not feel prepared for this run. I was just to tired and not mentally where I was hoping to be.. But some good news the weather was holding off for us and it was just overcast with a slight breeze. No rain so this was an awnsered prayer. I didnt have my camera with me for not wanting to carry it with me on the run so I didnt get any pre race picts other then the ones my hubby took just as he got there just as we were lining up to get ready to go.











I was right up front with only a couple people in front of me. The gun went off and we were on our way about 10 yrds into it my ipod went flying off my shorts and landed on the ground so I had to stop and go back and pick it up and try to dodge the runners trying to run around me... HOW EMBARASSING!!!!! Then i got myself hooked back up and I was back in the crowd. I had already wasted precious seconds... Oh was I so glad this was only a 5k. As soon as I got running I was already out of breath and felt exhausted. I then began to get scared and I kept saying I am never going to make it I am going to have to walk some of this. Should I just stop now and turn back..It kinda kept going through my head as I was breathing really hard.. I just couldnt mentally get to where I needed to be.. So I just said to myself slow down a little try and regulate your breathing and DONT STOP running.





Finally after the first mile I started feeling a little better as far as my breathing was going but I just could not pick my speed up. I just had to keep the same pace the whole way for fear if I tried and push it I wouldnt be able to keep running. and I hated not knowing the route because I wanted to be able to speed up a little the last little bit but I had no idea where the finish line even was. Well I was able to run the whole way. My knees did really well. I was worried a little before the race because my left knee was still aching some and I could still feel some of the pain in my right IT band, but as soon as I started running I didnt feel them at all so I think the resting yesterday really helped.





Ireally dont think I could have done more then a 5k today. When i finally saw the clock and finish line I tried to pick it up a little but i dont think it was soon enough to help much. I was trying to remember my time I did the 5k earlier in the week to compare and I thought my time had been 24 min 45 sec and when i saw the clock I thought oh crap Im mot going to make that time hurry run!!! I am not positive what time I got officially. They have not posted it yet on the site but steve took a picture as I crossed the finish line and the clock said 24 mins 47 secs but as I look at the pict it looks as though I am past the finish line a bit at that sec. So i am guessing I might be around 24:45 Come to find out that was actually 1 min faster then my run on weds. So that made me feel better. Although I think if I wouldnt have been so tired and mentally where I should have been I think I would have done even better. I wish I could know what my time would have been had i been just where I wanted to be. Owell!!








Now the sweetness......... They gave finishing medals to the first 250 finishers and then gave trophys to the first 3 in all the categorys. I knew I wasnt going to get anything more then my medal so I was really debating wether or not to stay around for the after party awards ceremony. But I thought since this was all new to me why not!! The fastest female was a 14 yr old. and Most of the fastest males were all teenagers as well. There was even this cute little 10 yr old that took third place in fastest female...





When they got to the 30-34 yr old category they said first place goes to Raigon Hoyt. I sat there for a sec and thought did I just hear them right... No way. But when no one went up I was like holy crap its me...... I couldn't believe it.... I dont know how many there were in my age category and maybe there wasnt many and that is why but I still am pretty proud of myself. I couldnt believe it. My family had left by then so I just couldnt wait to get home and show them the trophy.. I still cant wait to go in and find out how many women in my age category raced. but all in all I was pretty surprised... It ended up being a great race after all...





And not to long afterward just as we were getting to Austins game it opened up and dumped. Lightning, thunder, wind, hard rain.. I was so thankful not to have had to run in that or I know I would have pooped out... We even had a tornado warning come across the radio......










I can now say I have officially done a certified 5K race.. I never would have thought I would be doing this and I cant wait to do more. I'm hoping to do a half marathon come august so we will see...

What a bittersweet day!!!!!

Praying For Sunshine

So I heard on the radio this morning that tomorrow is supposed to be windy and thunderstorms and lightning for most of the day... aaaaggghhhhhh!!!! I so dont want to go run in a thunder storm with wind.. Dang.....Getting a decent time is going to be hard enough but then doing it in a storm... Just shoot me now..... They said they race would happen come rain or shine so looks like it will be a wet one... blahhhhh.. Ok so I am a little nervouse. Not bad. I think I was more nervous for my friends a few weeks ago when they were running a marathon lol... Owell it will be an experience. I will keep trying to do my sunshine dance and hopefully it will work... I wish I knew what to expect..

The race starts at 8:30 and i am supposed to get my kids to a primary activity at 10:00 then a baseball game at 12:00 and a birthday party at 2:00. what a crazy schedule..i know they are having some kind of after race party where they hand out the awards and medals so i guess I have got to go to that. I so wish I had someone going through this with me for my first time. Some kind of buddy support. Owell Guess I will learn.

Knees are kinda stiff and sore this morning Im hoping I can get it all worked out today. I am not sure what is the best thing to do other then stretch them out maybe put some heat on them, and hope for the best tomorrow.

Well stay tuned and i will report how tomorrow goes...

Thanks to all who is following my crazy running blog..

1 more day

Today my leg was a little bit better. I tried to stretch really good today and I could still feel the pain of the IT band. I got alot later start today then I wanted to so didnt get the distance I wanted but did ok with the time I had. I was able to run most of the time today.
I tried doing some interval work and at first I tried doing the running hard for 3 min then running easier for 1 min before starting again but by the 2nd lap I was finding it difficult to go the whole 3 min with only 1 min cool down so I had to increase the cool down to 2 min and the hard run for 2 min. By the 4th or fifth time I was able to increase it slightly. I only stopped to walk a couple mins today to give the knee a rest so other then the .75 of the first mile I walked for warm up I only walked .2 the rest of the time so total time walking was still under a mile so that was good.
By the time I was on my last block or so the knee started getting sore and I know it has to do with my sore IT band. I am getting nervous about what if it is still hurting on sat for the race and what if it hurts my knee.. Do I still run through it where its only a 5k or what? I think I would since this is my first race and i have no idea what i am doing and I already paid my registration fee.. I plan to rest tomorrow and do nothing but stretches hoping that it will loosen up and relax. I had an appt to go see P.T today but had to cancel because of other appnts so Im a little worried cuz I was hoping to go in there and have him work on it and make it loosen up but guess I will have to do it on my own. any suggestions on what to do or try?
Guess I am just anxious. My knee has been doing so good up until now and I started getting the pain along side of my knee that I hadnt had for a while so it just makes me a little nervous. I dont want to cause any more damage. Owell I will just hope for the best.. Todays run was so much better though. I could actually breath and it was alot cooler. Its amazing what the air, humidity and temps can do out here in just a day.

Total Miles 5.92 in 59 mins

Getting nervous

Well I have really been slacking over the weekend. I didnt get my long run in on saturday nor did I go out on monday with it being the holiday so I am way behind on my training. I did however get out yesterday for a quick little run. I thought i would go time myself again doing a 5k to see if I could improve my time any and see where I thought i could be for Saturdays race. I didnt get out until about 11:20 and it was so humid yesterday I thought I was going to die.. There was a storm coming in and the air was just thick. I warmed up with walking about .6 of a mile then started running. I felt like i couldnt breath because the air was so thick. I was tired after just starting. It was the hardest 3.1 miles I'v ever done. At times I really didnt think I would make the whole way running, but i just kept pushing.. I dont think I really tried to speed up much except for the last 100 ft or so I was to worried I would poop out it was just so hot.. I could feel the heat radiating from my face and my breathing was really hard. I did however manage to improve my time slightly. I did the 3.1 miles in 25 mins and 45 secs. So a little better. When I finished I was pretty gasping for breath and light headed. I chugged some powerade to try and help cool me down a bit. I think if this is how the weather is going to be like through the summer here I will have to convert to running on the treadmill at home or getting out really early in the mornings...

Saturday I went and finally got me some good shoes.. They felt pretty good on yesterdays run. I also got a couple knee bands and a IT band strap. Yesterday I thought I would forget the brace and just use the straps. Surprisingly my knees did really well. So hopefully from here on out i will just use the bands. I also finally got some body glide. Hopefully this will help with the toes and the ouchy underarm rashes. Also got a few packages of these gummy vitamin energy things to try on my long runs. They are called cliff shot bloks electrolyte chews. They are supposed to help with the energy without having any caffein. We will see if it works.

I went to physical therapy last night and did my stuff for the knees and we tried doing some hmm cant remember what they are called its the machine where you use both legs in a sitting position and push the weight up to a straight leg position not the leg press but the other one. Anyways it was the first time using that machine and today my it band running along the side of my right leg is so sore and feels bruised. I must have done something to it.. So today i didnt go out running. I think i will try heating it and stretch it out and see if i can loosen it up a bit then try running tomorrow. I'm not sure how much I should be running these next 2 days with the race being on Sat but i figured if I do some light small running like keep it around the 5 mile distant I should be ok.. I still have no clue to what I am doing come Sat. I have emailed the race people twice and no one will respond to me. I know where we are supposed to meet and I think we pick up a t shirt but thats all i know. So I am a little anxious and wish there was someone I knew that was doing this with me. There is also a 10k race in a week on the 7th I thought about doing but I dont know if its good to do another race so soon and how to do my running for that week . I also got wind that there is a marothon here in August that I am thinking of doing a half in so I will hopefully find out more details on that this weekend. Wow busy busy.. Anyways if anyone has advice please feel free to drop me a line. I could use all the help I can get...

I need sleep

I think my body is just to worn out!! I went to bed about 1:30 again this morning and was up at 7:00. My kids dont get the whole sleeping in on a no school day stuff. Today's run was hard.. The wind was blowing a bit and I had to stop a couple times because my hat blew off and my ipod wasnt working right and it all just threw the groove off. Knees were a little sore today after last nights physical therapy but after the 2nd mile it started getting better until the last mile then they started hurting a little. Nothing to bad though.. I tried throwing in some speed intervals here and there but wasnt consistent. Just here and there. But i did increase my time a couple mins today which was a little surprising. I am hoping I feel better tomorrow for the long run. This week didnt go exactly as I planned. I think my body just needs some good sleep!!!!!

Total 6.4 Miles (R)4.90 (W) 1.50 in 66 min +1

Didn't Have It

Well Monday night I didnt get to bed until after 1 AM so yesterday I was just to tired to do anything for excercising. and lastnight not much a change, I went to bed about midnight and once again was wiped out this morning and everything was still wet from the rain through the night and it was gray and cold looking outside so I did not plan to do any running again today. But when I walked the kids down to the bus stop the weather started improving, the sun came out and it really wasn't that cold so i thought ok guess I'll go running so I hurried and threw some exercise clothes on and took logan to school and came back and stretched for 15 min and headed out.

I was a little worried because I had not eaten enough to really go exercising and I had not drank anything other then a few swigs before I left so I really didnt have the strength or energy to go running but I was gonna give it my best effort anyways.. I warmed up for the first mile speed walking then I decided I was going to run a 5k and time myself and see just how fast I could do it to give me an idea as to how I might do on the 31st. so I started out running my first mile at an easy slow pace wich ended up taking 9 mins then in the second mile i tried doing little intervals of running faster for 3 mins then going back to a light easy run but after 2-3 times of doing this I was finding myself getting tired quickly and it didnt really improve my time because it took 9 min again to complete the second mile so i just stayed at an even pace up until the last block then i stepped it up and ran harder to the finish. I ended up doing the 5k in 27 minutes. I dont know if that is a good time or average or below average but thats how I did... My knee felt great I was able to run the whole time.. However after that run I was pretty tired so I walked a bit and had a hard time trying to convince myself to start running again. I was ready to go home I just did not have the energy. I just didnt have it today!!!

However I forced myself to pick it back up and ran for about a mile then my knee started hurting so i felt like I really didnt want to start causing more probs with the knee after its been doing so good so I walked for a few minutes then ran the last almost half mile home. I was kinda bummed I had figured I had only went about 5-5 1/2 miles but when I got home I mapped it and it ended up being 6.40 Miles so not to bad after all. But I was pretty wiped out. Its amazing the diffrence you fell when you dont get enough sleep or have the right fuel in your body when doing something like this.. It makes all the diffrence. So all in all not to bad of a day..

I would like someone to let me know how my time on the 5k was as compared to the norm stats with runners.

Totals- 6.40 Miles in 71 min

Speed Increase

Ok so today I thought I would work on what I think is what they call intervals.. Logan had no school today so today was a treadmill workout. There was no way I would attempt to try and run pushing a 4 yr old in our stroller plus it is pretty cold outside today.. But after the workout I almost wish I would have. It is so much dang harder to do it on the treadmill versus being outside.. The one bonus to doing it on the treadmill was I was able to watch my speed for this interval training wich made it nice.. But the downfall is Its so boring and you sweat so much more and I will swear that the distance does not match up with what the treadmill says verses mapping it outside.. I'll explain..

Today I started out speed walking for the first half mile wich the treadmill said took just past 10 minutes which is wrong cuz I know I can speed walk almost a mile outside somewhere between 12-13 mins. Then after walking that .53 miles I started a real easy slow run at about 4.6 in speed. I ran at this speed for about 2 miles then I started my intervals. Wich by the way I ran the complete time other then my walking warmup and walking cool down. Yeah!!! So I increased my speed to 5.6 and ran at this speed for 3 min then went back to my nice comfortable 4.6 speed run for 1 min then back up to my 5.6 speed for another 3 then 4.6 for 1 min. I did this 4 times then on my fith interval I kicked it in and decided to go for it and I tripled my speed and did 3 mins at 6.6 speed then back to my 4.6 where I stayed for the remainder of my run. I ran another mile and a half about and speed walked the last .3 miles. The last interval was hard but doable... They say dont increase to much that your gasping for air and turning it into an anaerobic workout so I was close but just under i think I really had to try to control my breathing but think I did well. So other then speed walking a total of .8 of a mile I ran the rest and I only got in 5.21 miles in 68 min.. Now I went back to the last time I got that distance and it was back in the middle of April and it was right after I really hurt my knee and I speed walked the whole entire time. in 70-75 min.. I ran practically the whole time in a faster speed no less in 68 min and got the same distance. Something does not add up here. So I'm guessing had I been outside and mapped it my distance would have been more like somewhere in the 6-7 mile range. Does anyone else have this problem???

Anyways It was a nice change to a normal run. Hopefully this will increase my speed a little. my knee did really well again. A little soreness along the bottom but not anything to bad that I couldnt run through. By the time I was running hard it was feeling pretty good. however I think It might have just very mild swelling because its hurting a little to have ice on it and the dr. said that when it hurts like that when you ice it its because it has some fluid in it that hardens when you ice it so it stiffens and hurts a little so I must have a little swelling but not bad. All in all a good day... I think tomorrow I will do a diffrent kind of interval training where i do 3 min of cardio which will be a light easy run on the treadmill 2 min of weight training and 1 min abs. Do about 7 reps of these anc call it good. Then do a easy run on weds with speed increases. Thurs Interval doing the 321 then easy run on fri with no speed intervals then long run on sat.. Rest on Sun as always.. So for you experienced runners does this sound like a good training week or do I need to change it up some???

Next week sometime I want to go time myself doing a 5k to see what kind of time I can get since I might do this 5k race on the 31st. What is a good average speed for a 5k???

A New Record!!

Today was the best day..... I had my own little victory!!!! wooo hoo I'm so excited. Today I went on my long run that I have been wanting to do.. My knee was a little sore due to the new stretches I have been doing for my IT band that has been causing all the problems with my knee. I wasnt sure I would be able to go to far but thought I would try anyways. For the first couple miles it was a little sore but nothing bad so I ran through it. I walked the first mile for a warm up then began to run. Just taking it easy and a good steady light pace. Around Mile 4 I had no pain at all for about a mile or so then a little achy but not too bad. So every time it started to hurt a little I stopped and speed walked for a few mins .54 miles here then .43 there and every time I started back running after giving it a few minutes of speed walking I would have no pain at all. I couldnt believe how much a diffrence doing those stretches helped my knee.


It did so great so I just kept running after I thought I had gone somewhere between 8-9 miles I thought I better head home and not push it where this was my first long run and not to over do my knee even though I was feeling great and could have probably kept going at least another mile or 2. But I decided to stop. My knee had no pain, no swelling. I stretched really good afterwards. I was so excited at how well I did. I was on cloud nine... The thing that hurt the worst were my under arms by my armpits. They ended up rubbing against my tank and got nasty red raw rashes. They hurt so bad. I looked like a retard trying to run with my elbows up at a 90 degree so they wouldnt rub. But the pain was bad so I didnt care but it was to hard to run like that very long...Sorry for the gross pictures of my armpits. But atleast I will remember them this way... I better get some baby oil on them or something until i find some body glide all the runners say to get..The pictures dont show their justice. They are redder then this. Didnt have good lighting.










I wanted to hurry and go map my run just to see how far I went.... get this........ drum roll please................... 10.25 miles in 1 hr and 53 min. Wow I am so proud of my self. At around mile 6 1/2 i checked my time to see what i thought i could run a 10k in and with the walking I had done I figured I could do it in 60 mins but that was with walking and running slow. If I pushed a little harder I could probably do better then that. A couple times one being the last half mile I tried running faster and harder. The first time around the ninth mile I could only do it for about 2 min before I got a little tired and winded but after a few min I tried it again on the last quarter to half mile even with a good wind against me I kept it up all the way to my house. It was great...


I think I could have done a half marathon today the way I was feeling. I might have not done well on speed but I think I could have done the distance. Once I start working on my speed now and doing intervals "hoping that i understand enough to do them right", hopefully I will start getting a little faster.

The best part of it all was my kids went with me today.. They rode their bikes. after mile 2 my son went back home but my oldest Allie who is 11 and my 6 yr old Jessica stayed with me the whole time. I couldnt believe my 6 yr old who just learned to ride her bike without training wheels a couple months ago rode 10.25 miles. wow I was so shocked.. I didnt want to take her because of that reason but she was a trooper. I'm so proud of them...


And now 7 hrs later I am still feeling great. no pain in my legs or knees. I feel them a little but still feel great. A little soreness in my feet. They ache like I walked around disneyland all day. And I have made my 3 toes go black again. I may end up loosing one after all. They are more black then they show in the picts. And my arms still hurting, but other then that I feel great. And to top it all off I fit back into my old shorts from last summer that was too tight. So I know I am finally starting to loose some inches with all this running... Yeah!!!!! The running today threw my diet way off. I had a late breakfast and decided to try and wait 2 hrs after eating to see if that changed anything with my running however with having to eat every 2-3 hrs with this diet I should have been eating again when I left so I threw my sched off a bit and we ordered pizza tonight so I had to have some. But hey after that run today I deserved it..... All in all a perfect day for me......... Wish I could have been in a real race or marathon.... Yhere is a 5k coming up in 2 weeks I'm thinking of doing...... We will see but I think I am more then ready I just worry about with it only being 3 .1 miles I worry about getting a good time in exspecially if my knee starts hurting and I have to speed walk for a little bit. Guess we will see how it does over the next week or so.





Total Miles 10.25 in 1 hr 53 min (R) 6.67 (W) 3.58 +1

Not as long as I thought

I couldnt log into my blog last night for some reason the blog website was having technical difficultys. It was a beautiful day Yesterday. Warmer then I thought because of the cloud cover. I was wishing I would of had a tank on instead of long sleeves. There was alot of humidity in the air. I guess it does that here before and after storms. I was making pretty good time yesterday so i thought toward the end i would change my route a little and what I thought was adding a bit more distance but after coming home and mapping it out it ended up not being that much longer.. I would have gone a little farther if i would have had the time but had to go get logan from school. So I ended up doing 7.51 in 86 min.
I met with the Physical Therapist for the first time last night and I guess alot of my knee problems has to do with my IT Band. He said I had really tight hamstrings and that i had 10% more to go to be able to straighten my knee totally straight from a sitting position. So not to bad but not good enough for a runner. So he gave me some stretches to be doing to get my hams to loosen up a bit. hopefully we will have my knee back into running shape pretty soon. Today because of all the rain i did my recumbant bike for 30 min and did about 8.35 miles on a harder intensity hoping it would help build up my muscles and then ran on the treadmill for 15 mins and did about 1.3 miles or maybe it was 1.03.. Cant remember.. I just remember it being so much harder and hotter to run on my treadmill then it is doing it outside. The time goes so much faster when your outside. Plus you dont get so hot... And i dont know if it was just me but on the treadmill it seemed to take longer to get a mile in then when i am outside. hmmmm
Anyways today was awesome. I woke up and weighed myself thinking i would be a pound or two higher because i had a brawt last night instead of my turkey or chicken and the fact that it was at 8:00 at night. But to my surprise I was down 3 pounds to what I weighed in at yesterday. WOOOOHOOOOO Now if I can just keep it up over the weekend. I finally broke my 3 pound cycle!!! I lost 6 pounds total this week from what I was on monday morning...YEAH And that was even with having some yummy double chocolate oreo icecream almost everyday. Finally!!!!!!!!
totals 7.51 Miles in 86 mins (R)5.32 (W)2.19 no change for thurs
Friday (B)8.35 (W)1.? 45 mins and -3 woo hoo

Exciting News

I am so excited...Today i thought I was going in for some physical therapy on my knee but I guess I was following up with a diffrent doctor. I went to see a surgeon the first time and now i followed up with just a reg. M.D. in the Orthopedic dept. and he told me that I could still run and that there was no reason I couldnt do the same activity I was doing before other then if it hurt to do it not to do it until I work back up to it gradually and that there has been no literature out there that suggest running damages your knee. So as long as I dont do to much of it and work back up to it he doesnt see why I couldnt continue to run. He gave me a new brace to try so we will see how it works. I have to go to physical therapy to try and stimulate and build back up the muscle on my knee or leg that has gone kaput due to injuriung the knee but then i should be able to get back to where I can do it with little pain.. so yeah this is alot better news then thinking I would never be able to run although I was doing it anyways... LOL I know I'm bad... So now I have something to look forward to... I tried to search for a marathon in my area but they all seem to have been in may and cant find one for a little later so guess i will have to wait until next ear. But anyways I was real excited to hear that.. Its funny how several diffrent doctors can vary so much on their opinion on stuff like that.. I dont know who is right but as long as one tells me I can I am going for it.....

Today was a hard runnig day for me. I totally fell off the diet wagon this weekend and ate horribly so that was probably why I felt so yucky and didnt have much energy today. Plus I had to do a potty break inbetween the run and just didnt feel motivated enough to go back out in the little time I had left so I slacked today.. But all in all still not to bad.. I did develope 3 blood blisters under 3 of my toes. One of them was so sore I thought I wouldnt be able to run for a while. I started to look infected. Steve suggested I stick a needle under the nail to pop the blister and help relieve the pressure. I thought no way but eventually I did and it is getting better. Still pretty bruised and I almost lost the nail but I think i will live. So strange never went through anything like this before.. Any runners got any advise on how to help protect the toes???

total miles 5.93 (R) 4.02 (W) 1.91 69 min
+2

Running in the rain

This was me today.... I wasnt even going to go today I woke up and saw it raining and said guess I wont be running today but i put on my excercise clothes anyways thinking I would just ride my recumbant bike today so I was behind sched. today. After I dropped logan off I came home and finished breakfast and by then it was just barely misting so I decided to hurry and go.. I knew I wasn't going to get my 8 miles in I wanted to but I thought something was better then nothing. I took a new route today and I wasnt really impressed with it. There was a long stretch that didnt have sidewalk or any designated area along the side of the road for bicyclers, or walkers and its a little narrow road which has a fair amount of traffic on it so it was a little nerve racking. Because of not getting going in the morning i didnt get hardly any water in so no energy going and it just threw me off. It was hard getting through the morning.. I think I will try for the 8 miles on sat.. Anyways to get back to the running in the rain..... About 1 mile into the run it started coming down and i didnt really want to turn around and go back so I just kept going and I got pretty wet. had rain running down my face I had to squint my eyes.. Kinda crazy but after a mile and a half it finally stopped and I was able to finish my run and dry out a little.

All in all not the greatest day but it was better then nothing.

total miles 5.68 in 71 min. (R) 3.74 (W) 1.94

Got My Groove On

Today was another great day!! I was surprised at how well I did. My knee held up so good today. I didnt even start getting sore until about the 6th mile but just some soreness no sharp pains or anything. I think with all the drugs Im on for my knee the celebrex and the glucosamine its making a huge diffrence.. Could I do as good without the meds??? I doubt it but hey do it while I can hu?? i think the walking in between my runs really help as well.. I dont know if anyone else has this prob but the first mile I speed walk and I swear my legs start to tighten and my shins start to hurt and I cant wait until I hit the mile marker so I can start running. It seams that as soon as I start running the pain goes away and everything loosens up.. Isn't that weird??



Today I saw a bunny along the way it was so cute and not at all afraid of me. we have a couple baby bunnys camping out in our flower garden in the yard. I also saw about 10 squirrles which is the norm around here. We are infested with the creatures in NJ. However we have a breed of squirrles out here that are black in color and they are kinda rare you dont see as many of them as you do the gray ones and i saw 2 today. We had one die in our yard last week. I think its leg was broken. Anyways it was fun to see all the little animals along the way. I increased my route a little today and was doing great on time. Tomorrow I am going to try and increase my distance just a little more if i can fit it in.. I just cant believe how well my knees felt today. I thought around mile 4 or 5 I would start to get the pain like usual but I didnt.. And now it's a little achy and i'm sure it has innflamation but still feels pretty dang good. I wonder how bad it would feel without the celebrex?

Anyways I really had my groove on today...



Total miles 7.72 in 89 minutes (R)4.26 (W)3.46 -1

Cruizin

Today was a great day. Got started a little later but not to bad. I was really gonna try to stick to the walk a mile run a mile and did it for the most part but i ended up running mile 2 and 3 and walking most of 4 instead. My knee was feeling good so i thought why not.. Come mile 5 it really started hurting again about 1/4 of the way into the mile and I kept saying oh come on I gotta finish this mile I can do it.. of course I should have stopped and walked but I didnt. But I walked mile 6 and the beginning of 7 then I ran the rest of the way and my knee felt great. It was really weird but by the time I hit mile 7 I was beggining to feel warmed up and like the blood was flowing and felt pretty good like I could have kept going however I was out of time and had to go pick up Logan from school. And I knew that if I would have my knee probably would have went kaput...My knee was a little sore afterwords and a bit swollen but ended up relaxing and felt good the rest of the day with very little pain. I can run up and down the stairs pain free... Yeah!!!!! I was quite surprised after going that far again.. It did much better this time around on my route then the last time I did the 7 mile course.. I think the walking almost half of it really helped.. I was making really good time. I was alot farther today with the same distance then I was yesterday. I felt like I was cruizin.. All in all a great day..

Total (R) 4.18, (W) 3.12 7.30 Miles in 84 minutes Almost a half mile more in the same amount of time as yesterday..
Weight- No change.. Of course it would help if i wasnt indulging in the chocolate oreo icecream we bought over the weekend.. Sooooo yummy

Great Day

It was such a nice day today...I tried to stick with the speed walking 1 mile then running a mile and so forth.. Sometimes I cant quite go the whole mile of running because of my knee but then I make up for it somewhere else when I dont walk the whole mile. Most of the time today my knee did great just toward the end did it start to bother me. The last mile I couldnt run much but all in all I think it did pretty good. I think my knee brace causes more tension in my leg in other areas like my hip flexor and shin for some reason i feel it tense up as soon as i put the brace on and start walking but i know it helps with the knee pain. Maybe I will have to look into a new diffrent brace. I almost feel better with the leg and shin once I start running. I still ended up doing about half and half. I know its against all reccomendations but as long as it continues to do ok I dont see to much harm.

Of course being the weekend I didnt stick to diet to well and of course gained another pound but hopefully I'll loose it this week.



Total miles-6.83 (R) 3.78, (W)3.05 in 84 min

+1 lbs

Wogging???

Maybe I should change my name to wogging??? I havn't done anything for a week now. Mainly because I havn't got more then 4-5 hrs of sleep every night for over a week so i have just been plumly to tired, no stamina or energy. And the weather has been kinda gloomy and cold and wet this whole week so it gave me even more excuse not to go. Well at least I am sure my knee's benefitted from the nice rest. SO my husband came home last night and I was able to get a pretty good sleep in and I decided to go out this morning and see what I could do.. It was gloomy and cold still. There was a good little breeze going on so my hands were pretty cold at first but once i got a mile into it I warmed right up and had to shed the jacket. It turned out to be just about perfect. Cold enough to keep you from feeling any heat and kept me from sweating.

I decided to try and walk a mile then run a mile and see how my knee's handled it. After the first mile of walking I still kinda had a pulled muscle in my back quad that I couldnt get stretched out that was kinda bugging me and I started getting a shin splint so i stopped and stretched a little more then decided to run. After the first couple min my legs warmed up really good and the shin stopped hurting as well as the quad. I stopped after that mile and went back to speed walking. my knee handled it great. I could feel it a little at the end of the mile but I think it did well. I started to run again after speed walking the 3rd mile and about 2/3 the way into it the knee started hurting a little so I decided to not push it so I stopped and went back to speed walking. Walked another 1-1/2 miles decided to see if I could run again and was surprised to find I could without hardly any pain so I did about another almost a full mile before I started to feel the nagging again and finished the route speed walking. I was going to go further but had to do a potty stop so decided to end it there. All in all I think I did pretty well and my knee did ok. Of course I went against Doctors and therapist advice but i fugured as long as I dont over do it and push myself to much I think I will be ok. I think it's just unrealistic to say I never will run again because I know I will. I just dont do well following orders exspecially when I feel like as long as I dont over do it and I feel good and try and speed walk at least half of the way who knows maybe I can work back into being able to run and maybe not. Maybe I will just have to deal with doing kinda both. Right now I can deal with doing both. We will see what tonight brings and see if my knee's still feel good. So maybe I will change this to a wogging blog LOL What do you think?????

Total miles 5.45 (R) 2.48 (W)2.97

weight +1 I think.. Cant remember what I was when i last posted.

Check this out.. And I thought I was being so clever and making up a new word on my own....

Wogging... A New Exercise
It's Easier Than Jogging and Burns More Fat Than Walking

How would you lose more weight than you would by just walking and by doing something that's easier than jogging? If so maybe "wogging" is the excercise for you.Well what is wogging and how fo you do it? As the name suggests, wogging is moving at a pace that is more than a walk and less than a jog, There are even two different ways to wog. So you can chosse the one that's right for you. The first way to wog is the "steady wog". Simply wwalk at a quick pace swinging your hips as you go. You are not bouncing as you would at a jogging pace. In fact, you should concentrate on landing the heel of one foot while the other is till in the air. One of your feet are always on the pavement so that there is no jarring to the body. It is similair to race walking, but not quite as fast. Have you ever seen racewalkers? You will notice how they sway thier hips, the majority of thier movement is concentrated in the lower body. Swaying the hips both helps and allows for increased speed. Feel free to swing your arms as you wog along but exaggerated arm omvements are not necessary. . The second way to wog is in a "intermittent" fashion. That is, you are constanlty changing the pace at which you move along. You can stroll for awhile, pick up speed, stroll again, then go very slowing. The added benefit of the changing pace is that it fools your body into thinking more effort is needed. Eventually the body sets it's fat burning level at the highest pace. You may be going all different levels of speed but your body is revved to the highest it level it might need. There are many benefits to wogging. Everyone knows that walking is great excercise casue it's fun and easy .. but if you are just strolling the recommendation is that you keep at it for an hour. Lots of folks like to jog becasue it burns more calories but that's known to be tough on the joints and for some it's even painful.Whichever form of "wogging" you chose, you will get the best of both worlds. Wogging allows you go at your own pace..again and again. You'll burn alot more calories, without the wear and tear of jogging. Nexttime you lace up those sneakers why not give "wogging" a try. ?