A new year…well, now that we’re a month into it…and I’m going to try to blog about running again.  You can find me on http://runhappy.sweat365.com.

But I remember now…

How amazing it feels to get out and run at dawn’s first light.

The tautness of my muscles during the beginning of my pre-run stretch.

The smell of the dirt beneath my shoes and the water in the creek.

The crunch of decaying leaves scattered on the ground.

The sound of nature waking up under the canopy of trees.

The rays of the sun streaming through the branches and landing on the root-crossed trail.

The desire to beat the “I can’t go any farther” attitude one stride at a time.

The thrill of running right past the two “wimp-out” trail exits.

The gratification of arriving at the finish.

I’ve taken a plunge away from wordpress and into Konamoxt.   I’ve imported all of my old posts from this blog and onto my new one which is located HERE.  I’ll copy all of my posts to this blog for a while, but the other is great because it keeps a training log as well as being connected to tons of fitness/running blogs.

I’m taking a brief hiatus from running and pretty much all other physical activity due to a back injury.  Hopefully I’ll recover soon and be back out on the trails!  I must say, I’m going STIR CRAZY!  What do you do when you can’t run?  Any suggestions?  I do some weight lifting but (incredible as it is to comprehend) I don’t have a gym membership.

Continue reading…

I recently ( with Regina’s help ) finished my first marathon.  No one told me they were hazardous to your health!   As my body slowly recovers,  I wonder when do you start running again?  How much and how often do you train for maintainence?  Anyone know of a downhill Saturday marathon coming up this fall?

Been a long time since i’ve posted here.  I’m running the 10k on Saturday with Regina and I’m pretty excited about it.  Last night I headed over to UCSD and ran a 5k on the track there.  I made it through decently well and even had enough energy to sprint towards the finish line and raise my hands over my head in victory as I crossed.  I’m pretty sure if anybody was watching they must have thought I was delusional. 

3.25 miles last night.  Cool beans!

Yesterday I ran my first marathon.

Wow.  An incredible experience. 

The weather couldn’t have been better.  It was cool in the morning as we arrived for our 6:30 start, and although it warmed up, it never got too hot.  The announcer said that they estimated 5,000 people downtown for the event, so needless to say, it was crowded!  We ended up parking about a mile away from the start, and as we hit more traffic than expected, RAN that mile.  Consider it a warm-up I guess!

As we got closer to the start line, we lost sight of each other, and I just about panicked!  There was no way we would be able to find each other again in the crowd!  Luckily we were directed away from the main crowd of spectators in order to get to the starting line faster, so we were able to find each other in the smaller crowd. 

You could feel the excitement in the air and after the starting gun went off, I was so eager to get started that I basically jumped up and down in place for the 3 minutes it took for us to finally get moving! 

For the first half, we were staying pretty close to the 4:15 – 4:30 finish pace, and we felt extremely confident!

The first aid station at lucky mile 13 was our first stop.  I had a blister the size of my big toenail on the side of my big toe.  After a dollop of Vaseline and a couple of band-aids, we were off again.  At the half, 13.1 miles, we had run for 2:19:14.  I thought it was amazing how fast that time went.  Little did I know that the next 13.1 was going to take longer (and FEEL even longer!) than that!  Nordictwin (my running buddy, my rock, the one who conned encouraged me to do this) started getting a calf cramp around mile 14.  He stopped to the side and stretched it out and we were off again. 

From mile 14 until mile 17 we were running at “my” lake.  Now I see why it helps to run your course.  I got to the lake and hit my “zone”.  Unfortunately, Nordictwin’s calf was giving him some major problems about that time.  As we crossed the 25K mark (at 3:01:33) I was feeling pretty good.  We’d done a bit of walking, but not too terribly much.  We were diligently gulping PowerAde and water at every stop, sometimes grabbing a pretzel or two as well.  Many of the stops had orange quarters which really tasted great.

After mile 17, things slowed down quite a bit.  We stopped to stretch, and tried to spend a little time massaging the cramped up calf, but nothing seemed to help.  Committed to finishing, off we went to hobble across the finish line.  We pushed ourselves to run those last 9 blocks and ended up actually jogging across the finish line…instead of hobbling! 

Post race we gobbled down cheeseburgers, bananas, orange quarters and lots of water.  We hobbled the mile back to the car, ready to hit the ice bath and the full hour massages we had scheduled!

Next year we’ll be faster.

(yep.  you read that right.  next year.)  

April 19, 1995

If not for the events that happened between 9:01 AM and 9:03 AM, there would be no such thing as the Oklahoma City National Memorial Marathon.  I’d have probably run the Redbud Classic (which took place last week), or some other marathon.

An insignificant change in my life compared to the events of that day which changed and destroyed other lives forever.

I sit here today, one mile from the site and remember with sadness, the loss of 168 lives.  Today, there are not many people in Oklahoma City who won’t think back and remember exactly where they were when they heard what happened.  For some of us, exactly where we were when we heard the blast.  We remember what it felt like to look up at that building, gaping open with a wide wound.  There are no words to explain it.

On April 29th we will run with joy.

 “This is what the Memorial Marathon is about: realizing the preciousness of time, valuing one another, taking life as it comes and making something magic from it. Celebrating Life.”

I know, I know…I’ve been a slacker when it comes to updating my blog recently.  In the past several weeks I’ve spent very few days at home.  A trip to Reno/Tahoe area to visit my sister, which included a lovely run at the Kirkwood ski resort as well as some good “working out” time spent on the treadmill and elliptical (I love those things!).  It’s always fun to run in new places, see some new scenery and die from the lack of oxygen in the air!  Who knew that running at 7,800 feet would be so hard!  Okay, well I knew it would be harder, but man, I was sore for DAYS after a little 6 mile run!

After that trip, I headed out to Washington DC to see the cherry blossom trees in full bloom.  The trees weren’t the only thing blooming, my new relationship was as well!    Besides the miles and miles of walking to see the sights, Chris took me on a run along some of the trails there in DC. 

Next stop was central Texas, and my friend Mark came along with me on a 4 mile run in the dark (it was 6 AM), cold (40 degrees) and wet (it was drizzling). 

So although I haven’t been getting in my daily training runs, and even fewer long training runs, I’m still feeling fairly good about the upcoming marathon which takes place in 18 days.  Eeek.  Only 18 days?!? 

Luckily my new shoes (Saucony ProGrid Hurricane 9) are broken in and feeling quite fine and I’m not having any problems with the top of my left foot anymore. 

18 days and counting down!

Fellow runners; someone needs our help!  Connie left this message on my “Worth. Less.” post with the following question:

“Dear runners,

I get severe stomach cramps after my long runs. Today I ran in my first half marathon (it was GREAT!!!!); however, my stomach has cramped off and on ever since. I drink lots of water…I just do not know what causes this. I am training for the marathon, and I just hope that my stomach will not start hurting before I actually finish the race. Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

Many thanks!”

 My question for Connie is this: what are you drinking during your run, how much, and how often?  Also, are you “eating” Gu or any other type of performance food?  Hopefully with some more info we can answer the question better.  Do any of y’all experience anything like this?

The 25K went well, but I think I may have laced my left shoe too tightly.  The result: extensor tendonitis?  Maybe?  I’m keeping ice on my foot all day, so we’ll see if that helps.

Yesterday after work, I changed into my running clothes and laced up my shoes…or tried to lace up my shoes.  With a not-so-dull pain on the top of my foot, I knew I wouldn’t be running far.  First though, I stopped at The Runner to see what they thought.  All prepared to buy some new shoes, they sent me away with nothing!  Instead he told me to try and run (I did 2 miles) to see if that would help.  He also said to ice it and take some ibuprofen, so that I did (and am doing). 

No run today, no run tomorrow and I’ll try a short run on Thursday.  Maybe the tongue of my shoe is too thin?  Seems like it might be much thinner than when I bought them. 

I’ve got about 250 miles on these, so maybe it’s time to start breaking in a new pair?  I think I may stop and buy some this afternoon…I mean…if I’m not running, I’ve got nothing better to do right?