Trail run

I did a trail run with John this evening while Emma & Roman rode their bikes along side us. Actually, they rode along side John while I lagged behind. It's more of a horse riding trail by the state park near my house, but it's pretty nice to run. I thought the trail would be like 5 miles (it felt like it), but in the end it was only 3.2. Ugh. I hate short runs that feel like they go on forever. I did ok. My leg was annoying me, but I had my knee taped up and I finally got my IT band strap, so I had that on too. John said he could tell by the way I was running that something was going on with my leg...Great. I know my running has FELT weird, but I thought I looked normal...LOL...hope my leg is good tomorrow. Right now my knee is bugging me, but not overly so, which is a good sign for me.
Now that the kids are back in school tomorrow and the evenings are getting cooler, I hope to get a better schedule so that my running is more productive. My friend, Michelle, who will be doing Ragnar with me was nice enough to switch runner places with me during the race, so that I'm not all stressed out about running a hard leg @ over 7 miles. I feel bad that now she has to do it, but for the record...I didn't ask her to! LOL! She's awesome. She's been running up to 14 miles on Saturdays, so I'm definitely jealous! :/ But switching with her took 2 miles off my total run, with my hardest run being 5 miles @ a moderate level. Takes a little bit of stress off of me, but I'm dying to get back to running normally. I'm dying at 2 miles and that is very annoying!

Better...

It feels like it's been forever since I've run, but I have been trying to let my leg heal up a bit before going out there again, since the last few times have been disappointing. I set out this morning for a short run, after taping my knee, and it was actually a pretty decent one......decent for hardly running at all the past few weeks. I did have a slight pain in my thigh & a small twinge in my knee, but I kept my pace super slow and was able to go 3.27 miles. I think it took me a long time, but hey- beggers can't be choosers! LOL! I feel accomplished and happy :)

Mission: unaccomplished

Hubby taped up my leg & knee last night in hopes that I will be able to go for a good run this morning. No change. Bummer! My next move is to order a strap specifically for the IT Band since for some ridiculous reason, the sports store carries every strap EXCEPT for the IT band. Strange.



I ran/walked only 2 miles this morning...but I'm LOVING that the weather is cooling down in the morning. Normally, if I'm not out the door by 5:40am, it's so dang hot outside that I'm miserable, but when my alarm rang @ 5:10, it was still nearly pitch black out. When I left the house, there was an awesome cool breeze. I'm getting excited for this time of year: kids back in school next week, Fall stuff already out in the stores and much cooler weather. So excited! Now if I can get my leg to cooperate, I will be so happy! ;)

Crossing my fingers!

ok, ok...I think I said I was NOT going to run for another week....ummmm.....well, I lied. I am very hopeful of what tomorrow morning will bring me. I got some KT tape that I will have my hubby wrap my upper leg with tonight and I bought a knee wrap to help support my left knee.....and I'm going for a run in the morning. :D
I am going to keep it short, slow & sweet and see what happens. Ragnar is less than 2 months away and I need to do this! Please send good vibes my way & I will let you all know the outcome ;)

I hate this :(

I get that life constantly throws curve balls our way and we just have to find ways to get around them, but this is one of the most frustrating things I've ever dealt with! I tried to go for a short run this morning, although the little voice inside my head was telling me that my knee/leg was not feeling that great. Screw that voice, right?! Sure. I gimped my way around the first corner down my street, already winded because they way I was running certainly wasn't doing me any favors, my lungs on fire, my left leg (what I like to call my "peg" leg) was killing me and I could feel the ankle on my right leg feeling awkward because I'm compensating that leg instead of putting all pressure on my bad leg...Yikes. It was a hot mess. After I turned the 2nd corner, I realized it was not going to end well. Either my left leg was going to eventually give out and I'd end up face first on the gravel, or I was going to injury my right leg too. So I did the walk of shame home. I'm so frustrated. Ragnar is only 2 months away. I have a 5K in 2 weeks.....WTF? Like I told my friend the other day, had I been running simply for the joy of doing it, I might be handling this better & differently, but I have a big run coming up that has other people counting on me....I don't want to walk the damn thing! Let me rephrase that: I REFUSE to walk the damn thing! I don't know how long this will take to feel better and that uncertainty is what has me freaked out. Ugh!! I hate this!! I want to cry! I've read that sometimes IT Band injuries can take a couple of months to get better and that doesn't help me. I need it to get better in a week! This is not good. :(

I'm still alive...

Yes, I realize it's been forever and no, I haven't given up running. I've had leg issues for the past little while, ever since I did that 5 mile treadmill run...and dummy me, didn't give my leg a rest so I've had all sorts of pain in every part of my left leg. Ugh! I think I've had IT Band problems all the way down into my knee but now it feels like it's deep inside my thigh muscle. I've been icing, rolling, massage, not running, etc, but it hurts like a bitch! My fear is that the longer I go without running, the harder it's going to be for me to get back into it. So in spite of my own advice, I found myself wide awake at 4:30am with nothing to do except stare at my ceiling, so I decided to go for a small run. By small, I mean SMALL. 1.7 miles. Not only did it feel like I had a wooden leg, all clumsy as hell, but everything was stiff & uncomfortable. It felt (and I'm sure LOOKED!) like my first run ever. It was ugly. Yes, it did hurt. Not burning pain, but enough for me to know it's there and enough for me to mentally repeat "I don't know if this is a good idea" over & over in my mind. Probably NOT a good idea, but i HAD to do it. I've been going crazy! So I will ice & roll & stretch & curse my stupid leg all of today and hope that tomorrow will not bring another ache or pain for me. I will consider it victory should nothing new arise. If all fairs well, I will keep my runs short & sweet for the next little while then hopefully be able to kick it up a notch before the big run. There's only 2 more months left! :/

Trail run

I've been wanting to try trail running for quite some time now...and there's one up @ Mt. Charleston that I've taken my kids hiking on before that's just beautiful. My girlfriend, John & I planned to meet up Saturday morning (yesterday) and attempt to run the trail. My mistake. I should have allowed a couple of days in between running 5 miles for the 1st time, and trying to run a hard trail. Holy crap! My leg was in agony! I did not realize that the back way up the trail was entirely uphill...for about 3 miles or so. And not GRADUALLY uphill...extremely uphill. My husband is such a frickin' stud! He ran the entire trail (with our fat, out of shape dog), ran back to find us, and ran to the end of the trail again. It was so hard! I think had my IT band/knee not been hurting so bad, I could not have run the whole uphill anyways! HARD!!!! Once we reached the peak, the single trail downhill was absolutely stunning! The ash tress were green and the weather was glorious! I loved the run down, although I don't think my knee appreciated it. I think once we did the entire trail and ran back to where our car was parked, we did about 6.5 miles. I could be wrong...but it felt like it! ;) I'm looking forward to my knee feeling better (hopefully soon) and attempting the trail again, with better results. It was so much better than my usual neighborhood runs!

OUCH!!!

Since my 5 mile run on the treadmill the other day, I have had some serious IT band issues, down into my left knee. I was good at icing for that day & stretching, but as soon as it felt better, I slacked. So I got up this morning to do my run, feeling a little twinge in my knee, but deciding it was ok enough to run through. I felt pretty good heading out, as the air was not as hot as it normally is at that time,but there was the slightest chill in the air. I ran up Cheryl's Mt. Everest ;) & around the neighborhood...my senses being assaulted by cigarette smoke as I passed someone's backyard, enjoying their 6am smoke :/ Then I almost stepped on a dead pigeon AND got a face-ful of diesel fumes as some punky kid sped around the corner in his truck. Ahhhh...LOVE running in Vegas ;)
The whole time, I could feel the stretch in my upper thigh, annoying me to no end....shooting into my knee, but I hung in there & ran through it. By mile 4, my knee was on fire & I felt like I had lead in my leg. I was moving so slow, I may as well have been walking. BUT...I finished what I started. I ran 5.17 miles, only stopping to stretch my leg & knee when the pain was too much. :) I'm in agony NOW, but I'll ice today & stretch. I'm SO excited to attempt a trail run @ Mt. Charleston tomorrow morning...nothing is going to stop me from doing that. Even if I have to hobble through it (or have my dear, sweet friend carry me) ;)
Today is the kind of day that makes me love running....through sweat, pain & tears you just get out there and do it.

I'm back!

ok, it seriously has not been since my last post that I've run....I probably ran once in between then & now ;) I felt like a huge lazy ass for not getting out there more, and until my brother asked me on FB last night if I've been running since I had not been updating my blog, I really had no desire to run. I've been annoyed that either my knee, ankle, hip or calf has been in pain...I'm a damn old lady! So anyways, I got my lazy butt to the gym today & ran 5 miles nonstop. Am I awesome or what?! LOL! That's the furthest I've ever run. I love me! Doesn't matter that my knee is in total agony now and I hobbled throughout Lowe's afterward, with no sympathy what-so-ever from my husband....but I'm high on life right now, so that's all that matters :)