184

One nice thing about running is all you really need is a good pair of shoes. This is the shoe I'm using... sometimes. I've got two pair I'm trying to decide which pair is better for me. I like these. The problem with running is that there is also some cool gear out there that can be tempting. Here's my temptation...

Okay, lets get back to reality. So far, I'm right on track for where I would like to be as far as mileage goes. Monday I only got two miles, so on Tuesday I got in my extra mile. I've been doing better about waking up in the morning to get my workouts in. I even got up at 5:30 am to get my biking in. My knee is feeling good, though my legs are feeling a little fatigued today. My pace isn't really improving much. But I really do believe as it gets cooler things will naturally speed up a little bit. I've got about a month left of building up my base, and then the miles will start increasing.

Monday (running)

Distance: 2 miles

Time: 24.00

Pace: 12 min/mile

Tuesday (biking)

Distance: 12 miles

Time: didn't keep track

Pace: no idea

Tuesday (running)

Distance: 1 mile

Time: didn't keep track

Pace: no idea

Wednesday (running)

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 37:26

Pace: 12:30 min/mile

189 days left

It looks like I'm not going to get much mileage this week at all. Only three miles. I've been giving my knee a break... sort of.

Wednesday I did a class at the gym called "kick it". It really should be called "punch it" because that's mostly what we did. My upper body is a little sore from it. I think it was good way to work on my cardio without causing too much stress to my knee.

Friday (today) I played tennis. I love it. There's a little league of ladies (mostly 60+) that play on Friday mornings. I played with them today and it was great. I'm sure tennis isn't the best on knees, but I haven't noticed anymore pain in it... so I'm going to get back on schedule. We played for three hours... in blazing heat. I literally could have wrung out my clothes afterwards. I didn't... that's gross. Why am I even talking about this?!?

As far as getting in lots of miles, this week wasn't the best. But, I did get in four solid workouts. I'll take what I can get.

Sadie

192

After extensive google research, I'm think I've got patellar tendonitis. I love how easy self-diagnosis has become with the internet. It saves a lot of money, and you get to learn how to say cool things... that really only mean... "sore knee".

So, my knee has been hurting me the past few days. Nothing major, just some pain that I've never had before. It looks like the best things to do are:

-rest
-take Motrin
-ice my knee
-and stretch

My favorite advice found on mayoclinic.com, "don't try and work through the pain, it will only make it worse". That's exactly what I had planned on doing. But now, I get to take a break, eat some ice cream, and watch a few Office episodes when I should be training.

Okay, not really. I'll just be doing some lower impact type activities for the next few days and see how it goes. I'll see how the elliptical feels, and if that's a no go, try swimming.

I did workout today, before I diagnosed my "sore knee". Here's the stats:

Distance: 11 miles
Time: 57 minutes
Pace: 11:57 mph

The first two miles we were just riding around waiting for light... then we hit it pretty hard. Think we'll be investing in some bike lights.

193

It was Big Boy's first day of kindergarten today. I didn't get up and run at six, I guess I was too nervous to go. So, after we rode our bikes over to the school, I made him hug and kiss me goodbye in front of his potential friends, and I watched him go sit in his spot with obvious excitement I came home. And I was lost. I didn't know what to do next. I wasted time doing this and that... and then around ten I decided I should get my run done for the day.

Here's the stats:
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 35:28 minutes
Pace: 11:49 min/mile
Temp: 89, feels like 99 (according to weather.com)
Humidity: 69%

I will not run at ten in the morning ever again. I was happy that I ran the whole way. I almost threw up once. And I got honked at once to0. The end.

195

These pictures are for my little brother who requested sweaty post-run pictures. They are ugly, I know that. But it's proof I'm not just writing a blog, but actually doing this stuff. The dates on there are wrong, my camera died and I forgot to change my dates. The sweat is real. Real. Texas. Sweat.

Wednesday I didn't get a run in because I was sick... and it's been hard to get back up and go again. I think I'm finally feeling better, but because of late night meetings and insomnia (thank you dayquil) I didn't get up and run Friday either. Here's what I did get in over the past four days...

Thursday (on the bike)

Distance: 9 miles

Time: 50 minutes

Saturday

Distance: 3.2

Time: 45 minutes

Pace: 14:06 min/mile

We walked a lot on the run today. Some days I just don't feel it. I'm sure as I get into better shape I'll feel it more and more... but today wasn't one of them.

So, I didn't get my nine miles this week. But I got six... which is better than none. So, I'll take what I can get.

200 days to go

Soooo tired... I am still getting used to waking up at 6 am in Texas again. It probably didn't help that Baby Girl decided 3 am was a great time to wake up hungry. My legs are also tired after my run this morning. My ideal is to run early in the morning to take advantage of the "cooler" temps. It was still probably 85 degrees out. I'm a much better runner when I have someone to run with, so I conned one of my friends to wake up and run with me. She's great, and I'm sure it nearly killed her to run as slow as I needed to run. However, I'm happy to report that it went pretty well.

Here's the stats:
Distance: 2.8 miles
Time: 31.32
Pace: 11:15 min/mile

Not incredible, but it's getting better.

201

Kudos to whoever guesses the original author and name of the above painting... anyone?

I love Sundays. It's my day to rest. I decided last minute last night that I was so close to reaching my goal of nine miles a week, that I should just go in and get another .75 miles in... so I did.

Here's the Stats:

Distance: .75 miles
Time: 7:27 minutes
Pace: 9:56 min/mile

That pace isn't all that impressive considering I didn't go much distance. But I think I could have kept that pace up for another lap. So I might be able to do a 10 minute mile. As a kid, that would have been a laugh... but right here, right now... I'm happy about it.

204, 203, 202 days to go

204 (again?)
The treadmill and I still don't like each other. It's nice to be in the AC, but other than that we don't get along. My legs were also still fatigued from my workout the night before, so I ended up taking an easy day. Read: mostly walked.

Stats:
Distance: 2.5
Time: 36:45
Pace: 14:42 min/mile

203
I guess you could call it cross training. Swimming lessons, grocery shopping, two dentist appointments (no cavities), one doctor's appointment, dinner, date night. Sometimes I feel like everyday life is training. Thankfully I only had to take the two boys with me. Scott stayed home with Baby Girl so she could get naps. Thanks, Babe.

202
Lost ten pounds in sweat and nearly drowned. Planning on wearing a beach towel as a sweat band next week. Starting to understand why EVERYONE runs with a Camelbak.

Stats:
Distance: 2.22
Time: 25:54
Pace: 11:46 min/mile

Happy that as my distances get longer, the temps in Texas should decrease. "Should" being the key word.

204 days to go

After a two hour flight, a two hour layover, a two hour flight, and a two hour drive with three small children starting at 4:30 am... It took me a while to get back into the swing of things. In fact, I fell asleep any time I sat down yesterday. Last night I finally felt like myself and decided to get in a run.

204 Stats:

Distance: 2.5 miles

Time: 27:56

Pace: 11:09 minute/mile

I've got some makeup running to get in if I'm going to reach my goal of nine miles this week. I'll probably have to do it at the gym on the treadmill. Not my favorite way to run, but they have TVs for each treadmill so I can watch some HGTV. :)

207 days to go

Today I ran on my (different) sister-in-law's treadmill... I only made it a mile before I had to quit. It wasn't because I was tired, it was because I was bored. VERY bored. I am just not cut out for treadmill running. It seems to take an eternity to run only a mile, and I wasn't willing to put myself through two more. I guess I'll have to do an extra running workout this week so I can get my nine miles in.

As a side note, I called Scott (my husband) and told him my new resolve to run nine miles a week. He congratulated me and then I made the mistake of asking him how many miles he's done... the answer... 23. It just reminds me I've got to slowly build up my mileage.

Here's the stats...

Distance: 1 mile

Time: 12: 53 minutes

Pace: 12:53 minute/mile

I also decided not to weigh in this week. I forgot until after I ate breakfast and I don't have a scale... so next week.

Day 18 and 19

I didn't get a workout in on Friday. It was a busy day. We had a lot of fun to get in before we take off for home. We rode horses, went swimming, visited Grandpa, and I went to my 10 year class reunion. It was a busy day.

I did get in a run tonight. My new quota for myself is to get in 9 miles a week. I know, high expectations, huh. :) I'm just being realistic. I think it's the right amount to ease back into this running thing. I want to avoid injury, and I think the tortoise approach is probably my best bet.

I had horrible sciatica during my pregnancy and soon after delivery, it went away. I thought I was done with it, but I've been having some pain and muscle weakness this week, mostly when I first wake up. I'm hoping that it will subside once I'm back in my own bed.

Here's the stats:

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 35:24 minutes

Pace: 11:48 minute/mile

We walked for about 1/3 mile... made the mistake of running right after dinner. I'm pretty happy with that pace considering.

Day 17

This is similar to what I've been looking at out my parents' window. Fire is so beautiful at night! Makes me miss my fire fighting days.

I got a nice relaxing swim for my workout tonight. It's nice to get in the water, feel 50 pounds lighter, and get in a good workout.

We only got in about 500 yards before thunder started to sound and we got kicked out of the pool. I thought they were a little too eager to kick us out (lighting risk) but tonight as I look out our big window and see multiple fires started by lighting strikes, I'm okay with it.

So, not the best workout, but it works.

Day 16

I waited until tonight to get in my run. I wanted to give my glutes just a little bit longer to recoup. I ran with my sister-in-law again and she was much nicer to me. She is a much better runner than I am, but she is kind enough to run with me anyway.

Here's my secret to running with someone who is better shape than myself; ask them a long-answer question. I use this often, as I usually run with people who are faster than me.

Tonight's question: What is your love story? How did you end up marrying my brother?... It was great. I learned a lot, and I got to listen rather than try to speak in between wheezes. I highly recommend it.

Today's Stats:

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 33 minutes

Pace: 11 minute/mile

It felt pretty good. At about 1.5 miles my knee and hip started to hurt a little bit. I thought about walking, but I didn't want my sister-in-law to think I was a wimp, so I kept going. I'm glad I stuck it out. There's something about running what I set out to do, even when it hurts.

Day 15

Today was a day to cross train. My sister-in-law just about killed me again. We did all kinds of lower body exercises. Just to give you an idea of how much I will be hurting tomorrow, I did 120 lunges among other things. I just hope I can get out of bed in the morning.

I may or may not be running in the morning.

Day 14

Ouch. This mornings workout really hurt. I ran with my sister-in-law and she killed me. Today was the first time since I've started training that I've doubted myself. I kept thinking, you never hear a marathoner say, "It was mile three that just killed me". Which is just what happened today. I finished mile three a mile from home and considered laying on the side of the road until I could breath again. I made it home, barely.

Here's today's stats:

Distance: 4 miles (ran 3)

Time: 32:22 (for 3 miles)

Pace: 10:44

until goal weight: 11 lbs

I'm feeling better (now, several hours later) about my training, I just have to remember I don't have to run 26.2 miles tomorrow. I just have to keep following the plan, be consistent, and stay motivated.