Sunday, November 30, 2008
9'52"...will that beat the elf?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I've got a lovely bunch of...bananas?
Apparently, I'm only allowed to get back to running when symptoms have generally resolved (usually about two weeks) and with several restrictions:
- A level and soft terrain
- Distance is limited to 50% of that tolerated preinjury
- Intensity (pace) is similarly cut by one half
- Over a three-six week period, a gradual increase in distance is allowed
- Only then can a gradual increase in pace be attempted.
What? Are you kidding me? I guess I'll be back at square one. You know, I really thought that I was doing very well to not "over-do it", as my mom would say. Honestly, it will be very hard for me to adhere to these guidelines, as you can see from my previous compliance to taking it easy during an injury. I will try my hardest, but I can't promise anything. My heart (aka stubbornness) is telling me to hell with Runner's World, what do they know? I'm sticking with my bunch of bananas...that'll get me through. Right? Right.
Monday, November 10, 2008
God loves a chunky monkey
My Nike Air Pegasus Livestrong Shoes, and my favorite running/yoga pink Livestrong shirt. The shoes also have a pedometer sensor underneath the shoe liner that sends signals to the Nike Arm Band. They were sold seperate, but well worth it. The arm band keeps track of my miles ran, time, average mile pace, and calories burned. Well worth it!
Under Armour apparrel. Helps keep your body temperature under control, dry, and lookin' good.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Egg beaters & whole grain toast
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"Please don't laugh at me..."
You may be asking yourself, why would anyone want to run a marathon? And I retort, why not? I've decided to run a marathon for many reasons. First and foremost, I want to do this for myself- I want to prove that I can do this. Not to mention proving it to everyone else! And there are other reasons as well- I want to be healthy, get in shape and lose some weight in the process.
I made this decision not entirely on my own, but through a joint decision with my sister-in-law Kristen (and yes, Kristen, it is now on the world wide web that you are also committed to running a marathon- you are welcome). When someone starts a conversation with "Please don't laugh at me when I say this," you know your in for something good, you don't know what your in for, but that something is sure to be good. When Kristen followed that statement with "I want to run a marathon," I didn't laugh at all, I immediately screamed "me too!" And not just to humor her, but because this is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time but without her it probably would have stayed on the "want to do someday" list, rather than the "going to do in 2009" list.
We have willingly both given consent to put our bodies and minds through the long and vigorous training. We are both reading literature about training, and I am currently reading a fabulously informative (and hilarious) book by the name of The Non-Runner's Guide to Running a Marathon: For Women. I highly recommend it. Now you may ask yourself, you're not a runner, and you are going to run a marathon? Yeah. Right. Well, I don't consider myself a runner per-say, but I do quite a bit of running, biking, yoga and playing soccer. And that's one of the reasons I am going to run this marathon- to get in better shape.
Which leads me back to another one of the reasons I am going to run a marathon. I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. My dad says I'm "big boned", I don't think there's such a thing. I do like the way I look (for the most part), I just want to be a thinner, healthier me. I want to emphasize healthy. I currently work in a hospital and I see the effects of obesity and bad health habits everyday. I'm kind of a short girl, I'm 5'5" and I weigh 175 (yes ladies, I'm laying it all out there- brave, I know) and according to most charts I've seen in the hospital I'm almost borderline obese. And that is scary. Recently a few of my family members (whom I consider healthy) have been hospitalized for or diagnosed with heart problems; I want to prevent that from happening to me for as long as I can, hopefully forever.
Now you know a little bit about me and why I am going to run a marathon. This blog will be updated weekly and I hope will act as an active journal, outlet and motivator. Please check in weekly, or subscribe to this blog (see right side navigation bar). This way I can document my journey, share my ups and downs with friends and family, and hopefully YOU can help keep me accountable or "on track".
And so the training begins...and by the way, my goal is to run in and finish the October, 2009 Chicago Marathon. Here I come.