Oh, I just have to post about my success yesterday! :) I completed my longest-ever jalk of 18 miles in four hours & twenty-two minutes (that's a pace of 14.5-minute mile). That included a 15-minute stop at Kim's house for a quick potty, snack, and chat break. So, I guess if I didn't count the chatting time, I was actually done in 4 hours & twelve minutes (which would be a pace of 14-minute mile). The best part was that I felt like I could have done more if I had needed to, so the training is paying off. The next two weeks will be easy, then the 18th is the big one--20 miles. After this weekend, I really feel like I've got it!
I've also got my plane ticket, thanks to Jeremy & Carol Napier. If someone wants to know why I go to church, there are so many reasons, but there are two biggest ones that come to mind: to show God how much I love him and to fellowship & get support from my church family. Without them, I'd be completely lost, and possibly hitchhiking to FL for the race... :)
Off to eat some dinner. Until next time....
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Eek! Seven Weeks Left!
Did I mention that I stink at this? I just keep thinking, "I'll blog later..." and later turns in to weeks later. Sorry for my continued "slackerness"...
Okay, now I need to get caught up on a few weeks of training. Let's start with two weeks ago. I did my training like I was supposed to during the week, and then I had a 16-mile one on the 13th. I spent the night at Kim's house so I could get an earlier start. Unfortunately, the weather was my foe and beat the tar out of me! We had a cold front push through as I was trying desperately to get through my longest jalk yet, so it was a battle in the rain, with a massive headwind for half of the time, and intermittent warm/cold air. I remember about halfway through my jaunt yelling, "Oh, come on! Give me a break here, God!!" as I was struggling against a really hard wind. My time was terrible (15.1-minute mile--my worst yet), but I got through it before my "drop dead" time. The worst part was the injury I incurred during my training. Knowing that the weather was going to be cold, I chose to buy some pants to help me keep warm. What I didn't bargain for was the gathered waistband rubbing the hide off of my back & around my belly button. It hurt so much! It's been almost a week and half since, and my back is still a little tender. Needless to say, I'm not EVER wearing those pants during a run again!
So, after feeling almost defeated, I started training last week and trying to figure out how to do better. I did my Tuesday 4-mile run on the treadmill, but I didn't get to do my interval training on Wednesday due to Praise Team practice at church that got me home too late (9:30pm) to run. Then, when I started running on Thursday, I started getting pain in the bottom of my foot. I got through about 2 miles and had to call it quits because I didn't want to risk damaging my foot. I'm pretty sure I'm developing the beginnings of "plantar fascitis", but I know how to keep it at bay (rolling tennis, baseballs, or golf balls under my foot to get it to release). I'm just praying it will stay controlled until January 10th!
I enjoyed a "short" long run (only 10 miles--still can't believe I'm saying "only" before a two-digit number!), which was a nice break, and I had a few surprises along the way. My brother called and chatted with me (I hadn't talked to him in over a month, so I figured it'd be okay to slow down a few minutes for him), and that put a smile on my face. Then, I was a little over half-way done with my run when I saw a little girl sitting on a bench. I thought to myself, "What is that kid doing there & where are her parents? It's not exactly a scenic spot for pictures." As I got closer, I realized it was my own personal cheering section, Carol, Kaylee, Kim, & baby James! :) They had signs that said, "Go Mandy! Don't stop!" I really needed that. I wish I could pack them up and bring them with me to cheer me on race day, but I'll just have to rally the FL friends to come out. I know my mom will be there, but I'd still like to see more than one familiar face in the crowd... :)
This week, I'm off work for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I'm able to do my running during the day and not at dinner time (almost makes me wish I was a stay-at-home mommy). I did my 4 miles on the treadmill yesterday, and I felt really good afterward. My foot is still a little sore this morning, but I haven't done my "ball treatment" yet. I only have a 30 minute interval training today (yippee!), so I think I can squeeze it into my schedule between baking pumpkin pies & doing some arts & crafts with James, who's home with me today for some Mommy-son bonding time. I haven't told him I'm running at Disney World yet, and once he figures it out, I'm toast. It's his favorite place, too, and I know he won't be happy I'm going there without him. The good news is that when I come home from the race, I'm bringing Nana & Pepaw with me for his birthday on the 13th. Hopefully that will help smooth things over.
Oh, and one more thing, my parents are footing the bill for the hotel room the night before the race. I get to stay (are you ready for this?) at the Wilderness Lodge! My mom told me first that the only thing she could get me was a tent at Fort Wilderness. I said, "Ooh, really?", while I was thinking, "Are you kidding?" Then, she let me off the hook. My sister-in-law works for the Mouse, so she's hooking us up with a deal on the room. Mom said even if something happens and I can't run, we're still going there to spend the night. Way to be supportive, Nana! :)
Until next time...
Okay, now I need to get caught up on a few weeks of training. Let's start with two weeks ago. I did my training like I was supposed to during the week, and then I had a 16-mile one on the 13th. I spent the night at Kim's house so I could get an earlier start. Unfortunately, the weather was my foe and beat the tar out of me! We had a cold front push through as I was trying desperately to get through my longest jalk yet, so it was a battle in the rain, with a massive headwind for half of the time, and intermittent warm/cold air. I remember about halfway through my jaunt yelling, "Oh, come on! Give me a break here, God!!" as I was struggling against a really hard wind. My time was terrible (15.1-minute mile--my worst yet), but I got through it before my "drop dead" time. The worst part was the injury I incurred during my training. Knowing that the weather was going to be cold, I chose to buy some pants to help me keep warm. What I didn't bargain for was the gathered waistband rubbing the hide off of my back & around my belly button. It hurt so much! It's been almost a week and half since, and my back is still a little tender. Needless to say, I'm not EVER wearing those pants during a run again!
So, after feeling almost defeated, I started training last week and trying to figure out how to do better. I did my Tuesday 4-mile run on the treadmill, but I didn't get to do my interval training on Wednesday due to Praise Team practice at church that got me home too late (9:30pm) to run. Then, when I started running on Thursday, I started getting pain in the bottom of my foot. I got through about 2 miles and had to call it quits because I didn't want to risk damaging my foot. I'm pretty sure I'm developing the beginnings of "plantar fascitis", but I know how to keep it at bay (rolling tennis, baseballs, or golf balls under my foot to get it to release). I'm just praying it will stay controlled until January 10th!
I enjoyed a "short" long run (only 10 miles--still can't believe I'm saying "only" before a two-digit number!), which was a nice break, and I had a few surprises along the way. My brother called and chatted with me (I hadn't talked to him in over a month, so I figured it'd be okay to slow down a few minutes for him), and that put a smile on my face. Then, I was a little over half-way done with my run when I saw a little girl sitting on a bench. I thought to myself, "What is that kid doing there & where are her parents? It's not exactly a scenic spot for pictures." As I got closer, I realized it was my own personal cheering section, Carol, Kaylee, Kim, & baby James! :) They had signs that said, "Go Mandy! Don't stop!" I really needed that. I wish I could pack them up and bring them with me to cheer me on race day, but I'll just have to rally the FL friends to come out. I know my mom will be there, but I'd still like to see more than one familiar face in the crowd... :)
This week, I'm off work for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I'm able to do my running during the day and not at dinner time (almost makes me wish I was a stay-at-home mommy). I did my 4 miles on the treadmill yesterday, and I felt really good afterward. My foot is still a little sore this morning, but I haven't done my "ball treatment" yet. I only have a 30 minute interval training today (yippee!), so I think I can squeeze it into my schedule between baking pumpkin pies & doing some arts & crafts with James, who's home with me today for some Mommy-son bonding time. I haven't told him I'm running at Disney World yet, and once he figures it out, I'm toast. It's his favorite place, too, and I know he won't be happy I'm going there without him. The good news is that when I come home from the race, I'm bringing Nana & Pepaw with me for his birthday on the 13th. Hopefully that will help smooth things over.
Oh, and one more thing, my parents are footing the bill for the hotel room the night before the race. I get to stay (are you ready for this?) at the Wilderness Lodge! My mom told me first that the only thing she could get me was a tent at Fort Wilderness. I said, "Ooh, really?", while I was thinking, "Are you kidding?" Then, she let me off the hook. My sister-in-law works for the Mouse, so she's hooking us up with a deal on the room. Mom said even if something happens and I can't run, we're still going there to spend the night. Way to be supportive, Nana! :)
Until next time...
Saturday, November 6, 2010
"Pink & Purple" and "Pizza & Conversations"
I stink at blogging. I really need to set a specific time each week to get on here so I don't forget... :)
Last week's training was pretty good. I did my short runs & cross-trained with the Wii Fit board, then Saturday was the 12 miler jalk. However, things transpired a bit differently than I had originally planned. Shawn (the hubby) had a company picnic for Halloween up at the Memorial Park area in the morning & part of the afternoon. So, he helped set up a "haunted tent" to scare the be-jeezers out of lots of kids and some adults while I tried to keep the boys from killing each other or themselves. Let me just say, poor Nathan has his mommy's gracefulness (yeah, that would be ZERO) and banged his head after he tripped over a tree root. He recovered quickly & was all over the place. Anyway, after playing with the boys, chasing them around, and trying to keep them semi-safe, we headed home for naps. I fell asleep in the car and chose to continue my nap as soon as we got home. Fast-forward about 2 1/2 hours (it was a fantastic nap), and I still had my long run to do. We loaded up the kids in the car and headed off to the in-laws so I could run that evening. It started out nice, watching the sunset, but it got a bit on the creepy side once it was dark. Between being out by myself (because everyone was way smarter than me and were already done running), it being dark (had trouble seeing the breaks in the sidewalk & was terrified I'd hurt myself severely), and it being the night before Halloween, I was grateful to get back to the in-laws house as quick as I did (12 miles in 2 hrs, 47 min). If it is at all humanly possible, I'm not running at night outside again. Being scared of so much probably helped my time improve...
This week, I did my two short runs, but I didn't do my cross-training/interval training. I put the kids to bed after church, laid my head down on the couch to watch something on TV, and the next thing I knew, the hubby was asking me if I wanted to sleep in our comfy bed instead of the couch. The biggest news is that I got new running shoes on Wednesday. They are the exact same style (Brooks Adrenaline), but they're a girl-y pink & purple instead of my previous cool light blue. These babies are the ones that will carry me through 26.2 miles of Disney World! I'm using my old shoes for my short runs & saving the "pink & purple power" shoes for my long runs. I told my dad that new shoes make me run faster, and he just laughed! :)
On a side note, I got to talk to Matt today. His daughter Sarai turns 3 (not 4) on Monday, and she requested "pizza & conversation" for her party at my Uncle Larry & Aunt Barbara's house (Matt's still trying to figure out where she got that expression). So, while they were celebrating, I called so I could talk to the family and pretend to be there. I got to talk with Matt for a good amount of time, and it still amazes me how well he's doing. I think I'd still be a total basket case if I was on my own to raise 4 kids, and he seems like he's taking things in stride. I am so excited that I get to help his family with this run, and it really makes the healing process for me better & the miles from home (1,000 of them) not seem so long. I'm just praying that more donations come in--so far, I don't think I've even raised $300 yet! God's awesome, and He's going to provide for Matt in an incredible way. I'm just honored that He's using me to help!
Until next time...
Last week's training was pretty good. I did my short runs & cross-trained with the Wii Fit board, then Saturday was the 12 miler jalk. However, things transpired a bit differently than I had originally planned. Shawn (the hubby) had a company picnic for Halloween up at the Memorial Park area in the morning & part of the afternoon. So, he helped set up a "haunted tent" to scare the be-jeezers out of lots of kids and some adults while I tried to keep the boys from killing each other or themselves. Let me just say, poor Nathan has his mommy's gracefulness (yeah, that would be ZERO) and banged his head after he tripped over a tree root. He recovered quickly & was all over the place. Anyway, after playing with the boys, chasing them around, and trying to keep them semi-safe, we headed home for naps. I fell asleep in the car and chose to continue my nap as soon as we got home. Fast-forward about 2 1/2 hours (it was a fantastic nap), and I still had my long run to do. We loaded up the kids in the car and headed off to the in-laws so I could run that evening. It started out nice, watching the sunset, but it got a bit on the creepy side once it was dark. Between being out by myself (because everyone was way smarter than me and were already done running), it being dark (had trouble seeing the breaks in the sidewalk & was terrified I'd hurt myself severely), and it being the night before Halloween, I was grateful to get back to the in-laws house as quick as I did (12 miles in 2 hrs, 47 min). If it is at all humanly possible, I'm not running at night outside again. Being scared of so much probably helped my time improve...
This week, I did my two short runs, but I didn't do my cross-training/interval training. I put the kids to bed after church, laid my head down on the couch to watch something on TV, and the next thing I knew, the hubby was asking me if I wanted to sleep in our comfy bed instead of the couch. The biggest news is that I got new running shoes on Wednesday. They are the exact same style (Brooks Adrenaline), but they're a girl-y pink & purple instead of my previous cool light blue. These babies are the ones that will carry me through 26.2 miles of Disney World! I'm using my old shoes for my short runs & saving the "pink & purple power" shoes for my long runs. I told my dad that new shoes make me run faster, and he just laughed! :)
On a side note, I got to talk to Matt today. His daughter Sarai turns 3 (not 4) on Monday, and she requested "pizza & conversation" for her party at my Uncle Larry & Aunt Barbara's house (Matt's still trying to figure out where she got that expression). So, while they were celebrating, I called so I could talk to the family and pretend to be there. I got to talk with Matt for a good amount of time, and it still amazes me how well he's doing. I think I'd still be a total basket case if I was on my own to raise 4 kids, and he seems like he's taking things in stride. I am so excited that I get to help his family with this run, and it really makes the healing process for me better & the miles from home (1,000 of them) not seem so long. I'm just praying that more donations come in--so far, I don't think I've even raised $300 yet! God's awesome, and He's going to provide for Matt in an incredible way. I'm just honored that He's using me to help!
Until next time...
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