hanging in there

It seriously has not been 2 weeks since I've run (although my last post was that long ago...). I'm hanging in there, slowly but surely. Ok...maybe it's been ALMOST 2 weeks, but who cares, right? Tis the season to be lazy. And lazy I have been! Today was such a beautiful day that I couldn't stand sitting on my couch eating holiday cookies for one more second. I picked up where I left off on my training schedule and muddled through 3.5 miles, half uphill...which is not an easy task since I've probably put on 12 pounds in the last week alone. Actually, I don't feel too bad, since I think my body needed the rest (so I'm telling myself). For those of you not on Facebook, on my last run 12 days ago, I got bit by my neighbor's dog. I'm not kidding. I was running at about 5pm and it was getting a little dark. I had about a half mile to go to finish my run and I saw my neighbor on the sidewalk walking his dog so I got into the street and ran on by. The rest kinda happened in slow motion....I turned my head to look at the dog at the same time I saw him kinda do a little leap off the sidewalk right toward my ass. Now I KNOW my ass isn't big enough to resemble a ham-hock...God, at least I hope not! and the stupid dog is a golden retriever, not a Kujo-type dog or something exciting like that. How embarrassing! I said "Holy shit- your dog just bit me!" and the neighbor kid had no idea! Duh! I ran home & saw that I had a good size bloody bite on my thigh, near my butt-cheek! WTH?
Anyways, I have taken a little run break for my boo-boo to heal and now I'm out there again. I'm dreading this half marathon now. I feel like 13.1 miles is a long damn run and get so bored! Hubby is telling me that it's completely different running in a marathon setting rather than doing a lone run around the neighborhood. I hope so!!!

Always something

I have been super excited and consistent on my weekly runs and it feels awesome! I'm on the last week of my 5K training and I will be moving on to my 10K.. It's been hard to get out there to run when it's cold outside, or I've worked, or my kids are on the way home from school...or the holidays are here and I've eaten 12 pounds of holiday goodies in a single day. Ugh. I feel gross just thinking about it!
On the up side, my knee has been holding up ok. When I started my run yesterday, my left ankle was killing me and I knew the run would not be great....it kinda felt like a little bit of everything was hurting, sore or heavy. It certainly wasn't a great run, but I hung in there and did the entire thing without walking. When I got to my finishing spot and walked, I was in agony. I think I have a weird muscle thing in my calf that's wrapped around into my ankle. There's always something....which is where I start to get annoyed and frustrated. I kept my run super slow, then came home & iced and rolled. Feels ok today so I'm hoping for no aches or pain tomorrow :)

On my way to a Half....

This past weekend was the LV Rock & Roll Half/Full Marathon. John, Matt, Michelle & Amy all did the Half and kicked butt, so that has me totally motivated. I figured by my training calender, I should (and I say that loosely) be ready for a Half by around April. Problem is, there's no good half marathons coming up during that time frame. So......I had the bright idea that we should do the Half in Seattle in June. I've been wanting to go there for a long time now anyways, so John & I registered to do it! We will take the kids with us and stay for a few days to hang out after the marathon is over. I'm excited! I'm hoping Michelle & Matt will be able to come too...that would be so much fun!
I'm pretty much sticking to the training program I have mapped out. I'm still on my 5K training, but I should be done with that next week and I will start the 10K. I already have a Half program mapped out, but I won't start that until February. I really don't want to do too much too soon. I only did 2.5 miles today at a slow, easy pace & I can feel my left knee tweaking :( I will ice and roll and hope for the best. I'm due to do 3 miles tomorrow, so I will make sure I take it really slow. I'm really trying to avoid any injuries which is the point of this tedious and boring training program, so if I have to stay at low miles for weeks on end, I guess that's what I'll do (ugh...I hope not!).
Anyways....now that I have something in my horizon to train for, I'm motivated and determined!!
Thanks for reading my boring & unimportant updates...you guys keep me motivated!!! xoxo

Slow going

So I'm back to my running (jogging, whatever) again. I have high hopes of doing Ragnar in Napa in 2011 and I'm really not wanting to be the same sucky weak link that I was this past Ragnar. I've been back to the training for almost 3 weeks now, but taking it very slow and easy. I've mapped out a 5K training program for myself for 5 weeks, starting with just 1.5 miles 3 times a week, then adding on a half mile the next week, etc. So far, so good. I'm hoping this time around since I'm giving myself so much time to regroup and focus, I can avoid all the leg/knee pains that previously had me bothered. Once I'm done with this 5K training, I will start on a 10K training, and add on from there. The foam roller has been my good friend and I plan on continuing to use it for as long as I can tolerate it :) I find that now that I don't have a big "something" looming in front of my face, I have been taking my little afternoon strolls as a time for myself before the kids get home from school and I'm starting to like it again (I mean, not LIKE, but not HATE either). Every single run I've done for the last 3 weeks I have done without walking one single step of it and I'm going to take that small grain of victory ;) I know this sounds really lame to my fellow runner chicks, but when I did my tiny 2.5 miles today, I actually broke my 10:30 minute mile time!! Yay! Yes, lame....but again, small steps & accomplishments. I averaged UNDER 10:00 per mile, which I have never done (ever). I'm almost (but not quite) embarrassed to say that I'm proud of that, since for the average runner, that is still really slow (I know!), but in MY book, it's a job well done :)