Week 12: Drained

I've reached a point where I am just exhausted! There doesn't seem to be enough time during the week to do everything I need to do once I throw in running. It's been tough!

This past week didn't go as planned for running, either. Due to Hurricane Irene, I ran on Saturday morning in Glastonbury instead of my usual Sunday morning in West Hartford. The Saturday run starts an hour earlier than the Sunday run does, plus it's a half hour drive from my house, so I had to get up extra early! Combined with the sleep deprivation I already had, getting out of bed was quite the challenge.

The long run this week was 16 miles, and was the most challenging run yet. The distance itself was fine -- I'd ran nearly 15.5 the week before -- but I was run down to start, and had some emotional challenges along the way.

We're really getting into the toughest part of our training now, and it's very easy to suffer from an injury. Of the 7 of us who started off with the intent to run the 16 miles, only 3 of us actually succeeded.

My friend and teammate Angie suffered an ankle injury only about a mile in, and had to stop. The first portion of our run was an out and back, so I found her on my way back to the start. This run was really important to her, so I felt terrible.

Another teammate got about 3 miles in, then realized the injury she'd been nursing for a week wasn't ready for a long run yet. She had to stop and get a ride back to the start with Angie.

During the second portion of our run, I found another teammate walking slowly -- she'd hit an emotional wall and had to stop soon thereafter.

Another teammate almost made it, but started feeling too much pain around mile 12 and had to stop.

As I watched my team dwindle, I started to wonder if I was going to make it. I wasn't in much pain thanks to my new shoes, but I was really feeling tired from lack of sleep. My Gu packs were barely keeping me going. The hills in Glastonbury were far more challenging than the ones I was used to running, making the run even tougher to get through. And as a final blow, right as I finished my water at the final water stop, Irene decided to greet us with a torrential downpour, with only two miles to go.

I'd run in rain plenty of times, but this was by far the worst I'd ever ran in. My shoes were full of water, with rain covering my glasses and dripping into my eyes. I was drenched from head to toe. I tried to take it easy, but I just lost it emotionally after a couple of minutes, and had the dumb idea of trying to sprint. I took off in frustration, speeding up from an 11:30 minute/mile pace to a 7:30 minute/mile pace, faster than I'd ever run before. I sped past one of my teammates as if she was standing still. I ran until my shin started hurting -- unfortunately sprinting was far too much impact for my healing shin to handle.

I got through the rest of my run by repeating my mantra -- "light on my feet" -- over and over again. The shin eventually settled down enough for me to finish the run. My first words at the finish: "That sucked!"

My shin is still recovering, unfortunately. I was doing so well! Thankfully this week backs off on the mileage a bit, giving me some time to recover. I won't be doing any more sprinting in the near future!

Week 11: Running alone, and Nike!

So it's official: I am running 26.2 miles at the Nike Women's Marathon (NWM) on October 16th! I sent in my paperwork and registration late last week. My Nike confirmation came via e-mail this morning, so it's really happening!

I'm very excited, though also a bit scared. When I signed up for Team In Training, I chose the NWM and a full marathon fully expecting that I would probably "drop down" to run a half marathon in Hartford. I was just aiming high. I've been doing pretty well with training but I almost feel this pressure on myself now that it's in writing.

I'm also far from my fundraising goal, which I'd really like to strive for! I can accept donations through September 30th. If you've been thinking about donating and just haven't gotten around to it, now is a great time to make a difference! The latest breakthrough in curing Leukemia was partially funded by LLS, and even better, the gene therapy they're investigating may also help to cure other forms of cancer, too!

Training-wise, the last couple of weeks have been rough on my body. I've started dealing with a lot of soreness in my hips and knees. I'm also still trying to fully heal the shin splint in my left leg. With the shin splint, it's been weeks of feeling better, followed by a flare.

This weekend, I had another challenge: running 15 miles completely alone in rural Pennsylvania. This is only the second time I've missed a group run with the team, and the first where I didn't have a running buddy to help keep me motivated. I was especially nervous about possibly running on the roads, because while there's less traffic, they're used to looking out for tractors, not runners! Cell phone service is also spotty, so there was the risk of not being able to call anyone should I have an emergency.

I chose to skip my 3 mile run on Saturday and run my long run then, so I only had one day of running to worry about while I was away. When my mother-in-law found information on the Pine Creek Rail Trail, a lot of my worries were put to rest. The start of the trail was only a 20-minute drive from the house, and worth it to stay off the roads. I wasn't sure what to expect regarding the trail itself, but it was wonderful! It was all level gravel, very wide and well-kept, with mile markers and even facilities along the way. There was cell service at the start of the trail (and possibly further in, I didn't check), so I knew I could call to get picked up if I needed to cut my run short for any reason.

The start of my run was lonely; I spent the first 2 miles bored out of my mind and started to wonder if I could make it on my own. But then I got to cross some roads, came across some walkers along the trail, said hello to some grazing cows, and started feeling energized. The gravel trail kept me shin-pain free for the entire run. I ended up running 15.35 miles in just under 3 hours, which considering how easy I was trying to take it to protect my shin, is pretty good!

Yesterday I bought new running shoes, as the ones I was wearing needed to be replaced from all the running. I found out that my aches and pains could have been due to my shoes, so I'm hopeful the new shoes will help me feel strong again! These ones should take me all the way through to marathon day. I had some issues with the fit on my run today, but I'm trying out some lacing adjustments to help. If it doesn't, I'll just have to swap them out for a different pair at Fleet Feet until I find ones that are perfect!

I've been running nothing but easy-paced runs lately to try to minimize the stress on my joints. I'm very hopeful that I'll be feeling well enough with these new shoes to start some speed and hill training soon. I'm going to need some hill training for San Francisco, that's for sure!

Week 10: Fundraisers, mud and 14 miles, oh my!

First of all, I want to send a huge thank you to everyone who came out to Tastes N' Toasts last Wednesday! The weather was perfect, the music was great, and we raised $374 to help cure blood cancers! If you couldn't make it but wished you could have, consider making a donation through the "donate now" link to the right!

This past week has been crazy! I ended up skipping all of my training runs last week to try to rest and heal. I attempted my run on Wednesday and felt shin pain nearly immediately. I knew that if I had any chance at making it through the weekend, I had to listen to my body, so I stopped. I'm glad I did!

On Saturday, I completed the 3.2 mile Warrior Dash in Windham, NY. It's a challenging course involving extreme terrain and lots of obstacles (with plenty of mud)! The first 1.5 miles or so went straight up an advanced ski slope, and I have to say, that was by far the hardest part! The sun was beating down on us at that point, and I had no choice but to walk much of it.

I was really scared of the obstacles before the start. I'd wanted to do more strength training, but once I got into all this marathon training I just didn't have time! But when I got to the obstacles, I was pretty impressed with how well I was able to tackle them. The toughest part was being concerned about possible injury. I knew that if I injured myself, the chances of me completing the marathon would be slim! Thankfully, I managed to keep myself from falling or slipping in the mud for the entire race, and left with just a few scrapes and bruises. I also finished in under an hour, so I'm happy with myself! The official photos should be released soon; I'm hoping that at least one of them came out well so I can share. I ran with my friend Mike, who was in costume as Mr. T. Overall, it was an amazing experience!

After an epic Warrior day, I was concerned about completing my 14-mile training run yesterday. The ski slope course had been tough on my shins and I got to bed late. My dinner Saturday night was a giant Turkey leg and a beer -- not exactly full of carbs -- and I feared being slightly dehydrated. Dragging myself out of bed was hell, especially because it was rainy outside. I just wanted to sleep!

Somehow, my body managed to hold itself together for the entire 14 miles. It wasn't particularly fun -- the rain gradually fell harder throughout the morning, and by mile 10, my body woke up and realized that I'd been punishing it for two days straight. Toward the end, the entire lower half of my body just ached! I stayed strong though, and pushed myself to the end.

After forcing myself to a gentle yoga class today, I think I'm recovering well, though I just realized I'm supposed to run 5 miles tomorrow morning -- I thought it was only 3! The mid-week runs are really starting to scale up. I hope I can keep up!

Thanks so much to my week 10 sponsors:
Rebecca Meddick
Theresa Santa

After Wednesday's fundraising check goes through, the total will be $1945.52! With your help, we could be over $2000 soon!

Week 9: Aches and Pains

This past week was a tapered-back week in terms of miles, and I was definitely thankful for that! Sunday's long run was "only" 7 miles.

I ended up taking off on Tuesday because of my achy knees. I just wanted to play it safe. I was able to complete all the rest of my training runs for the week without any problems. I assumed Sunday would be a piece of cake, especially since I had a 6-mile mid-week run, but I was most definitely wrong!

We start off our group runs each week going down a long hill. About a half mile in, I had a sudden, sharp pain in my right hip, forcing me to stop immediately and walk. Just as I feared having to stop on the side of the road and have one of my teammates tell the coach I needed help, it disappeared and I was able to keep running.

A few minutes later, I almost wished I'd had an excuse to stop, because we got caught in a torrential downpour. I basically felt like I was running fully clothed in the shower! I was thankful for the rain -- before that moment it was so humid I could barely breathe -- but it was definitely the hardest rain I've ever run in, and was dripping in my eyes despite the coverage from my glasses.

As I attempted to see the road through the rain, I started feeling pain in my left shin, again. Every time I think I'm over the shin splint, it comes back! Thankfully I'd brought my brace along, leaving it with the coach just in case. I grabbed it at the first water stop and wore it for the rest of my run.

The rest of the run was mostly uneventful, but it didn't feel very good. I was definitely glad that the mileage was short, because I'm not sure if I could have made it through anything longer.

Unfortunately the hip pain returned on Monday. Between that and the shin pain, I skipped today's run to be safe. I've done some research on my hip and am pretty sure it's Piriformis Syndrome, which is basically inflammation of a muscle that can cause pressure on the sciatic nerve. The pain's in the right spot, feels very much like sciatic nerve pain, and reacts well to the suggested stretches. It's been better today, so I'm probably going to try my 3-mile run tomorrow given that it's short and see how I feel. If I feel any pain tomorrow, I'll cut it short, skip Thursday's longer run and opt for more rest.

The rest is important, both for my overall progress and for this weekend! Not only will I be running 14 miles on Sunday morning, I'll be running in the New York Warrior Dash on Saturday afternoon. Warrior Dash is a 3.2 mile race on a ski slope with crazy obstacles, including jumping over fire and crawling through mud under barbed wire. I'll be running with several friends from Connecticut and a couple from back home in Rochester, including my friend Mike, who accompanied me on my 13 mile run a couple of weeks ago. It's going to be great, but exhausting to be sure! I'm also going to have to be very careful to avoid injury. In fact, I think I may hold back on sending my marathon recommitment paperwork in until after I've made it through this weekend, just in case!

And tomorrow is my big fundraising event -- Tastes 'N' Toasts in Blue Back Square! I've been hoping for good weather over the past week, but I'm still not sure what's going to happen. The forecast has been everything from 90% chance of rain to sunny! If the rain can stay away, we should hopefully have a good turnout. Unfortunately, if there's one thing I learned from my very first fundraising event in the center, it's that nobody in West Hartford likes to visit the center of town when it looks like rain!

Thanks so much to my week 9 sponsor, Sherry Haefele! Aunt Sherry officially brought the fundraising total to over $1,500!

Tastes 'N' Toasts event next week!

Tastes 'N' Toasts - benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Wednesday, August 10th, 5 PM - 10 PM
Hosted by Umi Sushi + Tapas, 53 Isham Rd., West Hartford

Invite your friends and come to Blue Back Square on Wednesday August 10th to enjoy dinner and drinks in West Hartford Center for a great cause!

A $10 donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society gets the following discounts at participating Blue Back Square restaurants:

• Umi Sushi — 10% off on all conveyor belt sushi & tapas items, $7.95 chicken ramen, $2 Sapporo & domestic drafts
• Besito — ½ price Besito Patron Margarita and all appetizers excluding guacamole
• The Counter - Custom Built Burgers — Free 50/50 appetizer with the purchase of two burgers
• Fleming's — ½ price burgers and ½ price wine by the glass
• Moe's — Buy one get one ½ off
• Uncorked — 20% off all wine by the taste, half glass or full glass
• Rizzuto's — $5 wines, $4 beers, all call drinks $5, $5 calamari, $5 bruschetta

There will be a table at Umi to accept your donation and give you the sticker you need to get the discounts.

From 7-9 pm, Lipbone Redding (http://www.lipbone.com/) will be performing in the courtyard area directly across the street from Umi. Blue Back Square will also be giving away tickets to see Cirque du Soleil Quidam at the XL Center during the concert! It should be a great time!

Hope to see you there! Even if you can't come, please feel free to share this event with your friends!

Week 8: Half marathon down, half to go!

This week's long run was 13 miles -- that's a half marathon (if you add the 0.1 miles, which of course I did)!

It was my first time not running a long run with my Team In Training group. I had the option of connecting with Rochester's group for their run, but opted instead to run with my friend Mike. Mike hadn't run that far in quite some time, but has been heavily training for our upcoming Warrior Dash, so he was up for the challenge. I was a bit nervous for taking on the run without the group, but I loaded up my Camelbak with half Gatorade, half water, packed a Gu and my shin brace, and put one headphone piece in so I could hear my Runkeeper distance and pace prompts while still talking to Mike along the way.

We ran along the Erie Canal, which was far flatter and straighter than I'm used to. The section we ran along was over 80% gravel and dirt, which was far friendlier to my shin and joints than the usual cambered roads I typically travel on. I think I have that to thank for being able to complete the run, as I had to cut Friday's 4-mile run short due to shin pain and feared I wouldn't survive the long run because of it. I had about 30 seconds of shin pain about 75% of the way through the run, but it went away, thank goodness!

Unfortunately, Mike was a little under-hydrated and started having issues when he ran out of Gatorade with a couple of miles left. He pushed through most of it, but had to walk/run the last mile. I walked with him for some of the time, then ran on ahead and walked back to meet him once I was finished.

Overall, the run felt great! It helped that the weather was far more cooperative than the previous week: not too hot or humid and cloudy skies for most of the run. I enjoyed a post-run protein smoothie from the Pittsford Wegmans Tea Bar, something I definitely miss here in Connecticut!

The only real pain I've had while recovering from yesterday is in my left knee. It's very stiff and sore, but I'm not sensing any actual injury -- I think it's just whining a bit from all the activity. I've been taking it easy today and may skip tomorrow's run if it's not feeling better by morning. At this point, it's important not to push myself too hard so I'm not risking injury.

Thanks so much to last week's sponsors:
Peter Maurer
Jen Bergman
American Products
Kathy Porcelli (my mom!)
Ruthie
Elly Garver
Rose Gabriel

Unofficial total is $1491.52!

My date of recommitment is August 19th. That's when I officially make the decision on my fundraising goals and which marathon I'll be doing. If you're planning on making a donation but haven't done it yet, now is a great time to show your support and encourage me to go for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco!