Great Run...Hard Recovery :)

Today's 18 miles was a great run for me, ran with my friends which is always good, and kept a decent pace-thanks to those good old friends! Why run alone? My right foot (the same PF problem) was noticeable and bothered me more for the last 5-6 miles but still maintained an okay pace. Unlike last Saturday's 20 miler which was extremely HARD mentally and physically painful for my foot and another favorite old friend--the left IT band. Oh the 30's, such a new world of aches, pains and injuries! I'm told that in my 40's I have even more to look forward to experiencing! Ha! I'm fine with all of it because I have so many friends in their 50's and 60's who are amazing runners and still running marathons. So, I'll count these aches and pains as "rites of passage" and reminders to STRETCH!

I'm really feeling like I'm into my training by now with two 18's and one 20 under my belt. Next week is the LR half marathon, which I don't expect to run fast, but it will be good training. After that I have just two more 20's (or a 21??) and one 18 for my ultra long training runs, with some shorter weekend long runs mixed in. (a 13 and 14 here and there.)

As for my recovery today, YUCK! I've accomplished nothing except the 18 miles and finally a shower! Unless you count laying on the couch, eating, and watching one and a half movies! My "to-do" list for tomorrow just grew another foot: house cleaning and laundry, grocery store, and a pile of school work! I'll survive. I actually have to get dressed and put make-up on for a birthday party tonight! But it will be lots of fun with our friends.

And I really need to post some pics of my weekly running groups! They have no idea how much I love meeting up to run with them on our assigned schedule of days, routes and distances. (I join a group that meets consistently on Mondays and Wednesdays and another consistent group on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I trade off meeting different groups for weekends depending on scheduled distances etc.)

Time to go accomplish SOMETHING! :) [besides 18 miles in 2:35:12 at an 8:36 pace.]

Officially in Training...

I have officially registered for Boston and been accepted so now it's on for real...Hotel reservation is taken care of and the only thing left to do is get my flight and train. I'm so excited for the "Girls Weekend" in Boston with Lisa (My aunt from Indianapolis---our third Boston together), Melanie (from Stuttgart, our second Boston together) and Raquel (from Cabot, her FIRST Boston)----so exciting!

So training is going okay, ran 13 last Saturday with patches of ice and the dam bridge which was ALL ice and I had to walk/slide across the whole thing while holding the railing, really fun, let me tell you. But I made it, logged the miles. Today I met the LR marathon group at 0:dark O'clock in the morning (6!) and ran 16 miles on rolling hills, which were great actually. It was a decent pace until about mile 12 when my plantar's started to bother me but I finished in 2:18 with an 8:40 pace.

My true goal is to somehow become injury free by April 21 and be able to run the marathon with only the normal amount of pain involved with 26.2 miles, and not excruciating pain levels of injury. (which I have experienced several times-two IT band flare ups and one painful PF marathon...)I'm told it is possible for the PF to be gone by then, time will tell...I must STRETCH!!!!!

Running with Rock

Today was a great morning for a run-cold, clear, sunny and definitely brisk! I headed out to Cabot to meet up with Raquel for a long run. We hadn't seen each other since October so it was great to run and chat it up for the entire run. Of course in classic "Kirsten" style--I was late! (I seriously need therapy on that one, I have the best of intentions....) So the group took off promptly at 7 and Rock waited until I got there. (thank you!)

We ran into Arland and Kelley and they told us which way to go for the route. We muddled through and ended up making up our own route in the middle,adding a couple of extra miles on to the original loop. It was awesome to run on all my old training roads from when I lived in Cabot, complete with several dogs running out at us! Nothing at all threatening though. In the middle we decided to add a loop knowing it would make our route longer. Raquel wanted 18 today anyway and I was fine with going a little more so it worked out great.

At the end Rock went out to finish her 18 and I called it quits at 16.5. By the time I changed my clothes across the street in the public RR, Brenda, Cindy and Lisa had finished up so I drove back over to say hi. It was good to see them and chat for a few minutes.

All in all, there is nothing like running with a great friend. We had a blast catching up on the latest, sharing training tips, laughing at ourselves and nothing at all, and just enjoying the run.

Louisville, Kentucky

What a great city with an awesome downtown! Colin and I ran here this morning while it was still dark out. The city lights and Christmas lights were so pretty and gradually it got lighter. Cold and windy especially at the start but it warmed up once we got going. It was fun to run beside the Ohio River too, nice park area there. Ran past the famous Louisville Slugger store with a huge baseball bat outside on the sidewalk as tall as the buildings. After the run we hit a Starbucks and continued the journey to Lexington (also a nice city...). Louisville would definitely be a cool place to live if we end up there.... Should be running in Pittsburgh tomorrow morning, more on that later.

priceless...

Memphis Marathon Registration Fee..........$65.00

Months and Miles of Training...............okay, free, but lots of time and energy

Energel Gel................................$30.00

Gatorade...................................$20.00

Water......................................OKAY, free again!

New Running Shoes..........................$59.00 (on sale!)
(to combat plantar fasciitus)

Dr. Visit for a PT referral................$25.00 co-pay, a half day of leave from work AND 2 and a half HOURS!

Three P/T visits for treatment and
tape for PLANTAR FASCIITUS.................$50.00

Two rolls of Tape and adhesive so I can
keep running and heal the PF...............$50.00

Finishing the half-marathon in less than my best time...........PRICELESS

LECTURE from my husband for running 10 mile "long run" one week after the marathon "because it was fun, and a good route, and I was with my friends, and I'm addicted, ect.".....................EVEN MORE PRICELESS

Yes, much to my dismay at being wrong, my husband is right. If I want to heal and be able to train for another marathon in April, I need to get smart, back off and let myself heal. So next weekend, I will BIKE. but I'm still running EASY through the week, with tape. SMILES :)

St. Jude's Memphis Marathon

The Weather:
Weather was perfect at the start line, just barely 50 degrees, maybe slightly cooler. It would warm up up to upper 60's, perfect running weather. Ideal for shorts and a tank and I started with a long sleeve shirt.

The History:
This was my 11th marathon, my third St. Jude's Marathon, and I have also run the half in Memphis. I walked to the start with Colin, who was not running but planning to meet me along the course. I said to him "The first time I ran this marathon it was in '03 and it was my first marathon after Ken passed so I was really sad to run it and be here by myself. And I thought, well maybe someday I'll get to be here with someone. And today is a someday." It was awesome to see Colin about 4times throughout the race, he gave me words of encourgement, and body glide and caught my gloves.

The Start:
I should have quit drinking ealier because at the start I ended up in line for the portables with 13 people ahead of me and 17 minutes to the start! Finally they started moving a little quicker and I was watching my watch deciding to get out of line at 7:55 if it wasn't my turn yet. Whew! Got in at 7:54, then bolted my way through crowds of people to corral #3, the bathroom lines were at the opposite end! I ended up having a couple of minutes to spare before we started and they held each corral so I didn't cross the start officially until 3 minutes after.

The Run:
Of course I went out too fast, but I really was holding back and felt like I was running slower than my actual pace turned out to be. The first mile clicked off at 8:00 minutes. It was sunny, gorgeous, a beautiful day and you just wanted to run. My plantar fasciitus was hurting slightly but it wasn't too bad and I thought it would stop around 2 or 3 miles. I was moving right along, slowing myself down some and was with the 3:35 pace group for a few miles, lost them at a water stop around mile 5 and couldn't catch back up. My foot was still hurting and I realized I needed to pay attention to my body and run my own race rather than try to force myself to try to stay with a pace group that I wasn't really able to hold.

Around mile 10 the 3:40 pace group caught up to me which was fine because that was my ultimate goal for a finishing time. Unfortunately, I could tell that there was a strong possibility they would pass me too. They did. :) It was a nice three miles together.

My foot was still hurting and getting worse but around mile 14 the pain just leveled off and stayed the same for the rest of the race. The 3:45 group came and went. The 3:50 group came and went. By then I had already realized my situation and my goal went to FINISH THE THING and try to get in under 4 hours. Sometimes we just recognize our limitations. Besides I kept looking at all of my split times and knew I was giving everything I had and not holding my pace. :)

Life Perspective:
All along the course there were signs for JAKE. Run for Jake. His family and friends and team were everywhere. One year I ran the race and Jake was on the course, a sweet little two or three year old in a stroller, bundled up in the cold weather that year. This year there was a sign for the Jake Owen Raborn foundation and a sign that said Run in Memory of Jake. How do you not tear up when you see that? The year Jake was on the course was my first IT band injury marathon and I was in pain. I turned the corner and saw Jake and remembered there are a lot of worse things in life then running with a piddly injury. So this was another of those moments. I checked out the website when I got home and learned that this family lost their precious son in Oct. 06 at age 4. They are incredible to still to be out at the race to help other families still fighting pediatric cancer.



The Finish:
I finished@!!!! Yay Rah!!!! Finished in 3:53:52. The course by the way, had tons of traffic, exhaust to breathe in, and people telling you to run on the inside of the cones. I much prefer the middle of the road where the cars were, Come on!! I wish they had closed off the lanes completely, oh well. Running on slanted pavement is my least favorite. The traffic control was excellent though, the police officers did a great job directing and wathing out for the runners in our one lane. The slightly rolling hills were nice, just enough to make the race not flat. It actually felt good to have a change in terrain. On the way home, I was stretching my foot and talking about my next marathon, Boston. I'm qualified from Chicago 06 and hopefully will be there with two awesome friends, Lisa (my aunt) and Raquel. We shall see...

Plantar Fasciitus

I have one more day until the marathon and I think I have everything packed and ready to go. There is a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I'm forgetting something...probably just pre-race anxiety and don't I know all about that! :)

Temps are predicted to be a high of 68 and a low of 54 with cloudy skies, an improvement from the rain that was in the forecast last week. Perfect running weather I think, planning to wear shorts. Now, do I pin my number on my tank top or on my shorts....the age old question.

Yes, I have plantar fasciitus in my right heel. It entered my life on November 16 when I had excruciating pain getting out of bed and then had to limp when I first started running. Since then, I've taken extra rest days, shortened my last two long runs to short ones and even biked one day. I've been stretching and got in for some physical therapy on Tuesday.

There is a fabulous physical therapist in Little Rock who helped me with IT band problems over the summer. He did some therapy on my foot and then taped me up. Surprisingly that has helped more than I expected. Pain was far less on my last run before the marathon, Wednesday, and it actually went away by mile 2. Tomorrow I go back to the PT for a final taping before race day.

I'm as ready as I can be, kind of worried about pace and finish time, not sure what to aim for exactly. Also slightly worried about my foot of course. Will it hurt? Will it be fine and then become excruciating at some point during the 26 miles? A lot can happen in the animal known as marathon, it's such a long distance that everything just hangs in an unknown balance. Will it be smooth sailing that ends up in a storm? Will it be a rocky start with a successful summit? Will it be IDEAL where everything feels effortless? Will it be a gut-wrenching soul-searching painful experience culminating in tears of relief to cross the finish line? I think I have experienced all of those in past marathons!

Bottom line is I love to run and I love the marathon. Saturday will be another day in my memory and another day to be thankful that I'm able to run at all. A good friend reminded me of a great verse for the marathon in Isaiah 40:31, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." Another favorite marathon verse for me is Phil. 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheth me." He is the source of the ability, and the strength, and the joy in running.