Signed Up for my Second Half!!

I signed up for the Langley Half Marathon yesterday!! Did it before the price went up by $10.  It's July 11th, 2 weeks after the Rock 'n' Roll, so completing it will qualify me for the Half Fanatics!!  I am thinking positive!! Not sure if anyone else is going to run it with me yet, but oh well!! It will be a nice weekend on Whidbey Island & the course is fully along the water.  Fort Casey is just over 30 minutes away, so we will probably take a couple days off & take our trailer & stay there, we try to go every year anyway.  Then Tony can drop me off on race morning! Will have a couple extra sleeping spaces if someone else does come up.

Still debating on whether to do the half or full for the Seattle Marathon.  Will wait to see how I do with these two and how my hip holds up.  Went to TNT practice Saturday and went almost the full 2 hours scheduled.  Walked much of it, but it actually felt better to run.  My doctor said I could "maybe" run a mile on Sat & I went 6 total...OOPS!  Well, I didn't feel bad after, but I did take the next 2 days easy to be safe.  Went for my first weekday run today.  Was scheduled for 50 mins, but stopped at 45.  Was a tough run & was starting to feel lopsided in the hips & didn't want to overstress.  Will see how tomorrow goes.  Want to be able to do my long run Saturday when I'm in Anacortes, can't wait to run the park loop along the water! 

Time Out from Training - Darn Hip!

So, I aggravated my hip pain with my run on Sunday.  It was worse Monday morning so I decided to go to the doctor.  My medical coverage is not that great and if I want to go to physical therapy I have to get a written prescription from my doctor.  But I have a super high deductible to satisfy before they pay.  BOO!!

Anyway, I do really like my doctor.  He is a runner, so understands my wanting to get back ASAP.  I didn't strain the muscle, but rather have an inflamed bursa of the hip joint.  Not fun.  My options were rest for several weeks and not run at all & de-condition...um, no...NOT an option.  The Rock & Roll Seattle is in less than 8 weeks!  

Or I could get a cortizone injection. It will take about 3 weeks for full effect, but can start running again in a few days.  Ok, will give that a try.  YEOUCH!! Not a fun injection, but it has given some relief already after one day.  He said I could walk a BLOCK on Thurs & a half mile on Friday.  Then maybe jog a mile on Sat.  Well, better than nothing.  Though as I got back to work after the appointment and walk from the parking area to my office, I realized I had measured it as a QUARTER MILE before.  More than just a block!! So I got permission to park closer for the rest of the week.  But I had to go to Target tonight, a bit of walking there!

It will be hard to not push too hard the next week or so, but I will have to hold back so that I will be healthy & ready for the big race June 26th...and more after that!! I still have thoughts of doing the FULL Seattle Marathon in November...we'll see!!

Unplanned Rest Week

Not sure exactly what I did, but somehow I strained a muscle in my hip.  It happened Sunday afternoon, only about 5 minutes into my run.  I don't think I did anything different or stepped wrong.  Though I did start my run in the field and I usually end there.  Tried to keep going for about 10 mins, but finally gave up and hobbled home.  Going to maybe try tomorrow (Thursday) if it feels ok in the morning.  Fingers crossed...I miss running!!

Mud & Chocolate Run

What a cool race!!! Course was through the beautiful Redmond Watershed, winding on the trails through the woods.  Very  nice!! Could have used iPod, but wanted to enjoy nature.  Jenn took off & she finished about 5 mins ahead of me, I think.  Jessica caught up to me after a bit, she had trouble with her watch at start & we finished the lap together.  She continued on for two more laps to complete the half marathon - YAY Jessica!!  I had about 300 yards to the finish line & I looked down at my watch then, it read 59:35.  Oh darn!! No way could I reach the finish in 25 seconds! But I had thought it would take me about 1:10 to finish, so finishing at 1:01 was great!

Pre-Race: Jessica, Jammie, Brianna, Me, Jenn

Brianna & Jammie came shortly after & we celebrated with Cheerleader Cat, who came to meet us at the finish! We took our chocolate medals & headed to "Chocomania", lots of truffles & bits & bites of various chocolate goodies. We weren't able to stay around until Jessica finished, but she did great too!  Fun times!!

Post-Race: Brianna, Jammie, Jenn, Cat & Me with our chocolate medals!

Fearthest Run Yet!

Today I ran 9.28 miles on my Team in Training run! Wow!! I was hoping to get to 10 miles, but it would have went over my scheduled 120 minutes by at least 15 mins.   But it was still great to accomplish!!

Doing the Mud & Chocolate Run tomorrow in Redmond.  4.5 miles with chocolate at the end & chocolate medals!! Now THAT'S a good race!!!  Doing the race with Jenn, Brianna & I think Jammie.  Jessica is doing the Half Marathon!

Training Update

I haven't posted for a couple weeks, so I thought I would do a quick update.  My training is going well.  The Team in Training Saturday practices are getting a little longer each week.  Last week was supposed to be 100 minutes, but they decided to change to miles.  So I ran for 8 miles!! My longest distance yet!! And it just took a little over the 100 minutes, it was 110 total!!  And I ran all the way across the Narrows Bridge and back to Vassault Park! It is TWO MILES from the top of the trail at Jackson Street to the top of the ramp on the West side of the bridge.  It was very windy, had to take my hat off, but very cool!!

Tomorrow we are back at Vassault, but we never know our route until we get there.  I hope we do 5 Mile Drive this week, I've been wanting to do that.  This week we run 120 minutes..2 HOURS!! The Half Marathon will take me about 3 hours, so getting closer!

Sunday, Jenn, Brianna, Jessica and I are doing the Mud & Chocolate run at the Redmond Watershed.  Jenn, B & I are doing the 4.5 mile run, I think Jessica is doing the half marathon.  This is a trail run, the mud part, followed by a chocolate party with chocolate medals!  Should be a fun time!!  Will be tired Sunday, but fun times!!  

Got new shoes this week, I pretty much wore out my old ones already, but they are still good for alternate shoes on shorter weekday runs, and trail runs.  I pound the pavement too hard, so not a lot of cush left.  Hopefully these ones will last through to the Rock & Roll in June!! Good shoes cost too much to buy every 3 months!! But they do protect the body, so a needed item.  Got a good deal at Running Warehouse, they have lots of great prices and I got a discount as a TNT member.  So saved about $40 over the local store, YAY!  But it is important to be fitted, so I needed to know what shoes work for me.

Wish me luck in further training!

TNT Run to Narrows Bridge

I had an awesome run with Team in Training this morning.  We met at Vassault Park & have usually headed down to Pt Defiance & 5 Mile Drive.  The Vassault Hill is killer coming back, but our coaches tell us the Tacoma TNT team does the best in the marathons because we deal with hills every week :)  

Today he headed the opposite direction, up Narrows Drive, then down Jackson St, over Hwy 16 & the trail that leads to the new Narrows Bridge.  I was scheduled for 50 minutes, but my turn around point (25 mins) was about a quarter mile from the start of the bridge.  I started to turn around, then decided I couldn't pass up the chance to run on the Bridge!! So I headed back & made it onto the Narrows Bridge! I thought it was pretty cool!! 

http://www.dailymile.com/people/stacymk/entries/1234715

The full marathoners had 90 mins run this morning, so they kept going.  I decided to turn around at that point since I was going to be at 60 mins by then.  But I did it!  Had a hard time at about 45 mins when heading up a long hill.  Thought I was going to have to walk the whole way back, another 1.5 miles.  But pushed through & did it.  Finished strong & ended up running my furthest distance so far, 5.14 miles in 64 minutes! Felt great & I even did a 20 mile bike ride yesterday!! Knees are a bit sore tonight, but tomorrow is just a 30 min recovery run.

Jessica, one of our coaches, also talked today about the importance of taking walk breaks during marathons, both half and full.  I had been pushing to 9 mins running before I walk for 1 minute, but she said just people with a couple marathons under their belt should do that.  I should cut back to 5-6 mins, 7 at most, run, and 1 min walk.  I went for 7 this run, but found 5-6 was better in second half.  The point is to not run to exhaustion, but give yourself the small recoveries so you have some in the tank to push at the end.  Studies have shown a person can cut 13+ mins off a half marathon time by doing the walk/run intervals!! Pretty amazing!! I was always intimidated by the thought of a whole marathon, but maybe.... My mentor Jessica went 31 miles today & my friend Megan went 28+ today too (45K for her friends 45th birthday!!)!! AMAZING!!!