20 miles. check!

"I'm gonna tell you what you're going to do. You're going to run 20 miles and get tired."

Saturday was a beautiful day to run. I did just that. I ran for a little over 4 hours and put in 20 miles in that time. I still can't believe that I ran that long. It definitely didn't feel like it at the time, but boy am I still recovering! I ran with Anja, who moved to Knoxville not too long ago, but came back in town for this run. We have a similar pace and we definitely kept each other entertained. I think around mile 17 I started getting loopy, as all the blood was rushing to my legs and out of my brain. At one point I had to stop running because I couldn't run, laugh, and not pee in my pants. So I figured the easiest and least embarrassing of the three to stop was running. During the run Anja told me that she has now embraced the ice bath. I take ice baths after every long run to help recovery and I swear by them. It sounds painful, but it helps so much! Her thing was to get a couple of bags of ice, chips, and chocolate milk and enjoy them all at the same time. After our run we were talking to our mentor Jim and he started talking about strawberry milk. I have never had strawberry milk and at the time it didn't sound too appetizing. On my way home from the run I stopped at Publix to get my 40lbs of ice and in the process picked up sour cream and onion potato chips and strawberry milk. I got home ate some breakfast and prepared my ice bath, complete with a plate of sour cream and onion potato chips and strawberry milk. It sounds completely disgusting now, but at the time it was delicious. Just what I needed after a 20 mile run!

Unfortunately my run didn't go as well as I had hoped. I went to the doctor last week with a sore foot and he diagnosed it as tendonitis. He assured me that running on it will not harm it and I am free to do my 20 miles. So I did. Although it hurt in the beginning, it was bearable. At some point around mile 8 it really started bothering me and I tried to keep trudging through. It always hurt worse when I stopped to walk and then tried to run again. I didn't think much of it because as long as the doc said I could run, I was running. I had to do that 20 miles to prepare me mentally more than anything. As I got ready for bed that night I looked down at my throbbing foot and realized why it had been so stiff and achy all night - it was HUGE! I also had some bruising around my ankle and my entire foot was swollen. It didn't look like just tendonitis anymore. I go to therapy on Friday, so I am sure they will either assure me that that is normal to have swelling and bruising, or they will figure out what is really wrong with it. It has really gotten me down because I really just want to run and it scares me to not run. I am so close now that I don't want to show up on the starting line thinking that I can't do it. Rest is definitely what I will be doing this week and hopefully next week I will be back full steam ahead.

say it out loud.

Last night we had a meeting about racing strategies. The great thing about Team In Training is that they provide us with the speakers who have been there, done that and provide us with very useful information. For example, I learned that I need to take a huge trash bag to wear at the starting line of the race and to pack little ones for my feetsies just in case it rains, or has rained, I can cover my shoes to stay dry. Not only does this trash bag keep you warm and dry, it's disposable! I can throw it to the side of the road when I don't need it anymore and someone will come by and pick up it. I won't have to worry about what to do with my extra clothes I have on, I can just rip open my trash bag and become the Incredible Hulk. I am so thankful for all of the tips I got last night and I am hoping that once race day approaches, I will remember these and pack all necessary items.

Another thing I realized last night is that this race is a lot sooner than I keep thinking. Someone said, "You guys will be doing this in  three weeks." Billie and I looked at each other with complete and utter fright. I haven't heard anyone say it out loud and it completely made my heart stop. Later on in the evening, one of the speakers said, you guys have this weekend and then just two more long runs until the race. Billie and I again looked at each other and she said, "People need to stop saying that." Agreed. I am so excited, yet so nervous that not everything is going to go as planned and it's going to be a disaster. Thankfully I am an optimist the majority of the time and can only imagine this is going to be one of the best days of my life. I am doing this in 25 days. There is no turning back now and after this weekend's 20 mile run, I will be as prepared as I ever will be. So in the next few weeks, I am really going to have to wrap my head around that it's no longer 4 months away and that on October 19 I will be running 26.2 miles. And I not only will be running 26.2 miles, I am running it for all of those people who have been affected by cancer. There will be a cure.

gearing up for 20 miles.

Sorry I have not updated in quite awhile. The other weekend my dad and I drove out to San Antonio to deliver a piece of equipment and it got me way off schedule. Running and traveling is one of the hardest things to do. Although I want to go out for a run, you have no idea what is in store for you once you get out on the road. I am now back on  track and ready for my 20 mile run on Saturday!!

Last week I started having foot pain in my left foot. On Wednesday I could barely walk and was so scared it was going to end up being a stress fracture. I talked to my trainer at the gym and she said she thought it was just very tight muscles and ordered me to stay off of it, stretch, stretch, stretch, and take ibuprofen. The only thing that has seemed to help is ibuprofen, although I am continuing my stretching. I did get out there and run on Saturday because that is the one thing I look forward to all week. I love being out there with the girls and I just enjoy those long runs period. I only 10 miles (while everyone else did 14) and it killed me. My foot hurt so bad and continued to all day. I finally went to the doctor today because I needed to make sure I could run the 20 miles without any consequences. I am all free to run 20 miles and to run the marathon! I have never been so excited about running in my life! He said it was just a freak bit of tendonitis and ordered me to rehab and told me to continue what I am doing. What a relief! It seems that every time something is going to be taken away from you, you want it more than ever before! That's how I felt about the possibility of not being able to run on Saturday (not running the marathon is not an option). So I am gearing up for the longest run of my life on Saturday! Wish me luck and hope for the best!! I will be sure to report how it goes because this is going to be a big mental test as well as the physical. I am so ready for it!

Thank you to everyone for your support! I can't believe I have less than a month to go before the race. I am so excited about it because I have made awesome friends that I get to experience this with, as well as my dad who will be joining me for moral support! The countdown begins... 27 days.

great weekend events.

Saturday I ran my longest distance ever! 16 whole miles! I was on top of the world the rest of the day. They say that exercise releases endorphins and now I really believe it. I don't think I have been in that good of a mood in quite some time. Nothing was going to stop me. It made me really fall in love with running even more and makes me want to take on more adventure sports. I have really been considering looking into cycling and mountain biking, but want to get through this marathon first. Which I am also already trying to find my next marathon, but think I am going to just do a half marathon next go around so I can get more into other sports.

After my wonderful 16 mile run, I had to stop by the grocery store to get some ice for my ice bath that I take after every long run. It helps with recovery and is just delightful after a long run! I had the intention of only picking up a few things for dinner this week and grabbed a cart (not a good move) and got going. I went over to get some strawberries and saw the wonderful shortcakes sitting right next to them. Mmmm strawberry shortcake. It sounded so wonderful and said, hey it can't hurt and plus I've heard it's a fairly decent snack (fairly decent are the key words here). So I head over to get some soy milk and see the chocolate milk is calling my name. I want so badly to grab a gallon, but opted for just the small single serving container. In my defense, chocolate milk is actually a really good recovery drink for endurance athletes. My mouth was watering at this point. I somehow (yeah somehow *cough*) end up in the frozen foods section... mmmm pizza... mmm ICE CREAM! I end up walking out of the grocery store with a cart full and lots of fruit (good for me), chocolate milk (good for recovery), strawberry shortcake (could be worse, right?), pizza (not the best choice), and ice cream (it's Edy's slow churned with half the fat, that makes it good right?). I just burned over 1700 calories, I can pretty much eat all this right? Well I am certainly trying. My lesson this week is don't stop at the grocery store after a long run!

On Sunday I walked downtown to watch the Cycling Pro Championships. It was one of the most exciting things I have watched. The end came down to a two man sprint to the finish and Hamilton won by two thousandths of a second. They go so fast that you can barely even concentrate on the riders. George Hincapie, a native of Greenville and Beijing Olympian was racing, so it was quite exciting to be able to say I watched him race, even though I don't know if I actually saw him or not! Part of the excitement for me was watching the lead cars and support cars fly by... oh how I wished I was driving one of them. Here are a couple of photos and as you can tell they were going so fast my little ol' camera couldn't even catch them!