Diary of a Fat Girl "Running" Tri-ing/Cycling

Vancouver re-cap coming soon!

2008-05-17T16:31:00.002-05:00

I promise! It's coming! Quick version:

Vancouver is gorgeous.
The marathon was the hardest I've ever done.
The course sucked.
The spectator support sucked.
BUT... I had my fastest time ever.
And the TNT folks are AWESOME! :)

Because Cori asked for it

2008-04-07T21:26:00.003-05:00

Here's the most recent full body photo of me. This was taken right before I left for my birthday party last weekend. I still have a long way to go with the weight loss, but I'm pretty friggin' happy with the results so far. I must admit that I love being able to go into a regular store & have clothes there that actually fit me. I don't think I've ever been able to do that before.

(And in you're interested, you can see more self-portraits from my "365 days" project here on flickr.)

Slacker

2008-04-07T18:34:00.003-05:00

I'm a blogging slacker. I keep thinking about blogging, but then life gets in the way & I just never seem to have time. So today I'm making time. Now, let's see... what's been going on?

First off, I had a birthday last week. On Tuesday, April 1 I turned 37 years old. I keep seeing that number & I can't believe it's true. I certainly don't feel 37, which I guess is what matters, right? As of this birthday, I have also lost 60 pounds. I wish I could've lost more, but I'm still happy with this. I've hit a little plateau again, but hopefully I can get back on track again & start to lose even more. My brother is getting married in 5 months & I'll be seeing family for the first time in over a year & I want to be able to wow them. I need to make sure I don't slack off on my training after the marathon. Working out is key.

Speaking of my marathon training, I've still been plagued by little injuries here & there & it's driving me crazy. I haven't had a good feeling about this season & this upcoming marathon for a while now. I just can't shake it. I hope I'm wrong, but as of today, I'm pretty convinced I'm right. It just seems that the second something good happens, something bad happens to "balance it out".

This past Saturday was our big 21 mile practice. My back had been a little sore for a few days before, but I was hoping it wouldn't be a problem during the run. For the most part, it wasn't. I was a little stiff in the beginning, but once I got going, I felt great. I was making good time & wasn't having any problems for the first 13 miles, then I hit the wall. For the next 4 miles, I slowed down significantly. My toes kept cramping up, my left hip & leg were bothering me, & I was exhausted. I went from doing 13 minute miles to about 16 minute miles & all the other runners had passed me. I was the last person left on the course. I felt defeated & just wanted to quit & go home. Just after mile 17 my coach found me & ran with me for a while. She talked to me & got me going a little faster, then left to get back to the finish line. Mile 18 was the Memorial Park water stop & Carmen did a great job of making me laugh by doing a silly little dance, then she told me all I had left was "a loop in the park" (ie: only 3 miles left). Hearing that made me think that maybe I could actually do this. I grabbed some food & gatorade, handed my fuel belt over to Adrienne (the weather was absolutely perfect & I knew I wouldn't need the belt), & decided that I was going to finish strong. I took a deep breath & made myself run stronger. After about a 1/2 mile, I got my second wind. I was running as if it were the first 2 miles instead of the last. When I got to the finish line & saw all the TNT staff & my 2 girlfriends there cheering me on, I kicked it up another notch & bolted past that finish line. I was exhausted & out of breath, but I felt great at the same time. I'd just finished 21 miles in under 5 hours. 6 month ago, that same distance took me more than 6 hours.

The rest of the day, I was tired, but my body felt pretty good. Then Sunday happened. I woke up with screaming quads & a very sore middle back. I took it easy the whole day, but the pain in my back just got worse & worse. Today it was so bad I had to call in sick. It's a different back pain than I've had before. Mostly because it's in my middle back (it's always been my lower back before) but I also I have no problem bending over. It's straightening up all the way & taking any deep breaths that cause me great pain. I'm not sure if it's the actual spine/discs I'm having a problem with, or if it's just the muscles. I'm hoping it's just the muscles. After all, I was pumping my arms pretty hard for almost 5 hours. Hopefully I'll be fine in a day or 2. *crosses fingers* The marathon is in 26 days & I really don't want to have to switch to the half.

Next weekend is the big 2 day walk for breast cancer. Some TNT teammates & friends are walking in honor of our TNT coach, Emily. Emily was supposed to walk with them, but she just can't do it now. She just got out of the hospital yesterday after having a procedure to clear a clogged stent & she's recovering nicely but she's still in a lot of pain. She'll be at the different cheer stations this weekend & I'm sure she'll at least walk part of the way, but there's no way she can go the full 2 days & 39.3 miles. She's a strong lady, but lately I can see her strength is waning. I'm still in denial over everything with her & anything that forces me to see the truth is not welcome. Deep down I know the inevitable will happen, but for now, I can't think about it. I just can't bare it.

I really hate cancer.

Look at that! I finally updated my blog!

2008-03-12T09:57:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know. I've been seriously slacking in the blogging department. I apologize to my 2 readers (if you're even still out there).

Let's see... what's been going on?

Not long after the Houston half marathon, my back went out on me (the product of attempting to save my car from a 5 gallon Gatorade spill in the back seat), but I think I'm finally over that. I fixed it by stopping running so much & getting back into the pool at least twice a week. My spine just can't handle all that constant jarring from running 4-5 times a week, so now I only run twice a week with the TNT group. Every Tuesday we have our track/speed practice, then every Saturday we do our long runs. The rest of my workout days are in the pool.

Until last weekend, the farthest I'd run was 9 miles. I felt pretty good after that 9, so the next week I was going to attempt to do 12. (The rest of the group was doing 16.) I wasn't sure if I was going to make it, but the weather was SO perfect (temps in the 40's & not a cloud in the sky) that it completely jazzed me. I ended up doing 14 miles & I felt fantastic! What's even better is that it was the fastest I'd ever run (& that includes the Houston Half marathon)! I ran the entire time with a pace of just a smidge over 13 minutes per mile. I've never been able to sustain that pace for so long. I was ecstatic! Even better than that, I had virtually NO pain the rest of the day or even the next day. (See? Ice baths after runs really DO work!) I had so much energy all weekend. It was fabulous! My co-worker attributes it all to my continued weight loss. After stalling in that dept for about 2-3 months, I've been able to lose another 15 lbs so far, for a total loss of 55 lbs. I'm hoping to be down at least 60 lbs. by my birthday in 3 weeks. *crosses fingers*

Fundraising is going ok. Because I did Nike last season, I can't really ask people to donate again so I have to rely on big events instead. My friend Carissa & I, along w/ another friend, Eliza hosted a bachelor & bachelorette auction at the end of January & raised just over $6400 in one night. Not bad. We lost at least $2000 at the door because the people we had at the door collecting donations left after only an hour. Oh well. Live & learn, right? We're having another auction on April 17 which should be even better. We worked out all the kinks with that first auction, we have the venue for a much longer period of time, & we have extra help, so we think we shouldn't have a problem raising the $8000 we all need to get to our fundraising minimums.

In some sad news, it looks like things are getting worse for my TNT coach, Emily. Her cancer is spreading. I saw her at practice last weekend & she just doesn't look like herself. She's lost weight, she's pale, she looks SO tired & you can tell she's in pain when she moves. I don't even want to think about what might be to come. Yes, I'm in complete denial. Every time I have a little pain & feel like complaining, I make myself think of Emily & what she's going through. It's a big wake-up call.

Cancer sucks.

But it just motivates me even more to continue with what I'm doing. Running is my way of giving cancer the finger.

Bangs, bruises, & personal records: Race Day

2008-01-18T02:50:00.000-06:00

As I said, I was SUPER nervous about the Houston Half Marathon. I even had a horrible nightmare about it, in which I was 90 minutes late to the start, forgot my shoes, bloks, water, etc. & couldn't remember how to run. It was like I was being held in place by an invisible rope. I was so upset in the dream that I actually woke myself up because I was crying!

The night before the race I laid everything out to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything.

When I woke up race day morning, my back was feeling almost 100% & my knee wasn't bothering me at all.

The weather was clear, cold (about 42º) & slightly windy. I got dressed, gathered all my stuff & headed over to the GRB. Once there, I made a pit stop to the porta-potties, checked my bag, looked for friends (unsuccessfully), then headed to the starting line. There I ran into Adrienne, Carmen, Pam, Angela (who's 5 mos. pregnant!), & Sandi. We huddled together for warmth waiting for the gun to go off. We were in the black corral, which meant we didn't get to start until 7:10 am (vs 7:00 am for the more elite runners). When the gun finally went off, I took off at a fairly decent pace, leaving the girls behind me.

The gloves I had on didn't last a 1/4 mile before my hands were too hot & my long sleeved shirt barely lasted 2 miles before I had to take it off. The first 2 miles we were all packed together like sardines. It was driving me crazy having to weave in & out of people & I almost got tripped several times. Eventually, maybe around mile 4, the crowd thinned out enough to where I felt comfortable ust running & I wasn't worried about getting tripped.

The first 4 or 5 miles seemed to fly by. I was running faster & stronger than ever & I was amazed at how great I felt. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep my pace up, but I sure as hell was gonna try. It helped knowing that as soon as I hit Montrose, I would be seeing my friends on the sidelines cheering for me. And sure enough, as soon as I got to the first intersection on Montrose (right around mile 7), I saw my friends Tracy & Jeff. They were shocked to see me so quickly & weren't prepared. They hadn't even had a chance to unfurl their poster. I ran over to them quickly & gave them a big hug & thanked them for coming out. It really jazzed me to see them. :)

Just after mile 8, I saw my friend Don & his wife, Melissa, then a little further down was the TNT tent with all the TNT folks. I saw Coach Bill first, then our honored patient, John Purtee, who gave me a big high five as I ran past him. Then I saw our other honored patient, Jonathan Nitsch, who ran with me for a few moments. I gave him a big hug & wiped my sweaty face in his t-shirt (something I always do after practice because he finishes so much faster than I do & is always changed into clean dry clothes by the time I finish... silly, I know). He laughed & wished me luck. After that I saw Coach Jill, who also ran with me for a little bit. After that I was alone again.

I kept looking for my dad, who had said he was going to try to come out, but I couldn't find him any where. By the time I got to the turn-around point at Montrose & Richmond, I figured he must not have been able to make it. As I headed back up Montrose, I finally saw him standing all alone on the little concrete median in the middle of the road. He was looking all around, trying to find me. I yelled for him & crossed over to where he was. He finally saw me & his face lit up. He gave me a big hug & apologized for missing me earlier. He told me how great I looked & how incredibly proud he was of me for everything I was doing. He tried to run beside me for a while, but his back was too sore, so I stopped. He told me how much he loved me, I gave him a huge hug & a kiss on the cheek, thanked him for coming out to cheer me on, told him I loved him, & continued on my way. He told me again how much he loved me & as I left him, I began to cry. It meant SO much to me that he came out there all on his own to cheer for me. A huge burst of energy came over me & I felt lighter than air. Seeing him was the highlight of my race. :)

Not long after seeing my dad I came upon the TNT group once more, this time seeing John Purtee's mom, Cyndi (who did Nike with me & crossed the finish line with me). She gave me a huge hug & told me I was looking great. Then I saw my good friend, Carissa & her niece, Erycka with their sign & pom-poms. Carissa ran w/ me (in jeans & high heeled boots!) asking me if I needed anything, making sure I was doing ok, that I wasn't in any pain. Again I was just so happy to see someone I loved. :) I said I was fine & didn't need a thing, thanked her for everything, & continued on my way.

By this time I was a little over 9 miles into the race & starting to feel tired, but I pushed on. Just after mile 10, I came across Tracy & Jeff again, only this time they were joined by our friends Jennifer & Christine. They all had signs & noise makers & were screaming for me. I laughed so hard when I saw them & hammed it up for their cameras.
Again I got another burst of energy, just when I needed it most (I was REALLY getting tired). I knew I'd be able to finish & finish strong. After that, it was onto Allen Parkway & the home stretch. There was a decent crowd along Allen Parkway, including the "frat guys" passing out beer. LOL! My favorite part of that section was the huge banner on the Sabine overpass that said "1.5 miles to the finish!" HALLELUJAH!! After that, it was right into downtown Houston. The first few blocks were lonely (no spectators) but I could hear the crowd from the GRB & I could hear the music & the announcer. I was almost there! I made the final turn & could see the finish line in the distance. There was a huge crowd, which of course jazzed me again & made me feel strong. I picked up the pace. When I hit mile marker 13, I "sprinted" towards the finish. My right calf started to seize up on me, but I ignored it & pushed through. I heard the announcer call my name, I threw my arms up in the air, let out a happy scream, & crossed the finish line.

My original goal for this race was to finish in under 3 hours, but with my injuries, I went into it just hoping to finish in 3:15. My final official time:

2:56:14!!!

HOLY SHIT! I finished in under 3 hours!! Not only that, but I broke my last 1/2 marathon record by 31 minutes!! I was ECSTATIC!!! I still can't believe I did it. I have never run harder or stronger in my life. And the thing is, I actually RAN all 13 miles. The only times I stopped running was at 3 water stops when I took my Clif bloks (too hard to run, eat the bloks, & wash 'em down w/ water). I definitely ran slower on a few miles, but the point is, I still RAN. I never in my wildest dreams would've thought I could do that. I can't wait to see what I can do in Vancouver in May!

Here are my final splits:

Mile 1 - 13:09 (couldn't believe this, especially since I was pretty much packed like a sardine in that huge crowd of runners)
Mile 2 - 12:53 (Wow! Seriously? How is this possible with all these people crowding around me?)
Mile 3 - 12:54 (OK! I'm liking this!)
Mile 4 - 13:18 (first walk to take bloks)
Mile 5 - 13:02 (I've never been able to keep this pace up for this long. Usually it's 3 miles, max)
Mile 6 - 12:58 (Wow! I'm totally amazing myself!)
Mile 7 - 13:56 (2nd walk/blok break & 1st hug break with my friends)
Mile 8 - 13:15 (See? I told you my friends gave me a burst of energy)
Mile 9 - 13:43 (stopped w/ my dad)
Mile 10 - 14:05 (getting tired, 3rd walk/blok break, also stopped w/ TNT gang)
Mile 11 - 13:48 (still tired, but jazzed)
Mile 12 - 14:08 (more tired, but determined to pick things up in the last mile & finish strong)
Mile 13 - 13:33 (there we go!)
Mile 13.1 - 1:26 (Done! WOO-HOO!!!)

And there you have it. My best race to date. :)

By Tuesday my quads were SCREAMING & I was walking fairly odd, but today there's only a slight pain left in my muscles & I can walk just fine. I haven't worked out since the race, but I plan to get back into it this Saturday. I'm still in training so I really can't afford to miss many workouts. I've already bought myself a new swim suit so I can be back in the pool next week. I'm curious to see how much I can improve by the time Vancouver rolls around. :)

Bangs, bruises, & personal records

2008-01-18T02:24:00.000-06:00

Wow. Has it really been a month since I posted? My apologies to the 1 (maybe 2) readers I have out there.

Well, after 4 weeks, you can hardly tell I hurt my knee. For quite a while there, I was basically one big bruise. I guess gravity kept pulling the bruising further down my leg until it went from the base of my knee to the top of my ankle. Here's a not so great photo of it. It got much darker a few days after this was taken:
I didn't run for about a week & a half after I fell. When I finally started up again, my knee felt... "off". It was stiff & sore for maybe the first 1/4 - 1/2 mile, then it wouldn't really bother me. However, once I stopped running, it felt like it was just floating around & sort of... out of place? I'm not sure how to describe it. It just didn't feel right. Despite that, I was still determined to get in at least some workouts so I'd be a little more prepared for the Half Marathon. The farthest I ended up running was 8 miles & that was the week before the race. I was SUPER nervous. To make matters worse, 2 days before the race my back started to go out on me. I spent 1/2 of Friday & all of Saturday laying down, icing my back & taking LOTS of ibuprofen. I was so upset I wanted to cry. Between my knee & my back, I knew my dream of a sub-3 hour race was out the window. Little did I know what would happen that Sunday.

To be continued...

2007-12-16T23:40:00.000-06:00

I didn't realize it had been so long since I've written here.

Things had been going very well. I was running more & getting steadily stronger, consistently averaging 13 mins. per mile & was feeling great. Wednesday night we had a little Fall season holiday reunion. About a dozen of us met after work & ran through River Oaks to look at all the Christmas lights. I was a bit worried I'd end up alone because I'm so slow, but I was actually able to keep up with a few of the folks. We had a great short run, then drove to the top of the parking garage we trained in all season long for a little party. A big cold front had come through that afternoon so it really made it feel like the holidays. We had hot chocolate, wine, plenty of snacks & lots of good conversation & laughs. It was just what I needed.

Then Thursday happened.

I'd had a long day at work & was extremely tired by the time I got home. I really didn't want to run, but I convinced myself that I needed to, no matter how tired I was.

Big mistake.

About a mile & a half into my run, as I was crossing the street, I came upon a bump in the road. Only thing is I couldn't really see that bump because it was so friggin' dark outside. My right heel caught the bump in mid-stride. It was like it was all happening in slow motion. I tried to get my other leg out to try to keep running & steady myself, but it was no use. I was going down & I was going down HARD. I stuck out my arms to try to break the fall but it just scraped up my arm instead. My right knee smashed into the road & the rest of my body followed. I was sprawled out in the middle of the road with a car coming. I didn't know if they saw me, so I quickly jumped up & moved to the sidewalk. I could feel my knee & ankle begining to swell almost immediately. Of course I didn't have my phone with me so I had to walk (well... hobble) over a mile home. The knee popped with every step & if I tried to bend it even a little bit, it was excruciating. By the time I got home, my knee was already twice its normal size. The pain was terrible. I sat on the couch for a good 4 hours icing & elevating it.
By the time I went to bed, it felt better & I thought maybe the damage wasn't as bad as originally suspected. Then, around 2:00 am I woke up to change positions. I guess I'd forgotten about my knee & as I tried to move in my bed, I bent my knee. I screamed in agony. OMG it hurt SO f'ing much. I actually began to whimper & cry because it hurt so much. I got up, hobbled to the kitchen, took 4 more Ibuprofen, wrapped another ice pack around my knee & hobbled back to bed. I ended up calling in sick that morning because I just couldn't walk very well at all & figured it would be best for me to stay off the leg for a day & just ice it.

Thankfully today it is all much better. The swelling has gone down significantly & I can now bend & move my leg without wincing in pain. I have a lovely bruise forming around the entire knee, going down to my shin, & I still can't bend it all the way, but I don't think I did any serious damage. I'm pretty sure it's just really badly bruised. Thank goodness! Still, I won't be able to run for what I'm guessing will be at least the rest of this week & that is driving me crazy. The Houston 1/2 Marathon is only 3 weeks away & I need to be back out there training. If I can't work out, I think I'll go crazy. I keep thinking back to what it was like last year after my back injury & I vowed I'd never be in that position again. Then I go & do something like this. Hopefully I'll be a fast healer & be back out there in a few days. *crosses fingers*

Trying not to let the holidays get to me

2007-11-28T22:18:00.000-06:00

It's a good thing I did the Turkey Trot last week because I didn't run again until this past Monday. The weather was terrible all weekend (freezing cold & thunder/lightning storms). Thankfully now the weather has been GORGEOUS (cold, yet sunny) & perfect for running. I ran 3.2 miles in my neighborhood Monday & 4 miles tonight & to my delight I averaged about 13 mins/mile both nights. I really hope I can keep that up all the way through to the Houston Half Marathon. (I can't believe it's only about 5 weeks away. Eeeeeek!)

The new season of TNT begins this weekend with the big kick-off party Saturday morning. Not only have I signed up to do the Vancouver Marathon with TNT, but I will also be mentoring again. I haven't officially mentored in over a year so it should be good to get back into it. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. So far I only have 3 mentees. I have a feeling this will be a very small group. We'll see if they get any more to sign up this weekend. *crosses fingers*

I really need to get back on track. Those few weeks I had off from running took its toll. It's been a lot harder to get myself motivated again, especially with the holidays here. But I can't let myself go back to what I was. I've worked too hard & I've already thrown away all my old "fat clothes". Having this new season start should be just what I need to get my ass back out there on a regular basis & back to eating the good foods.

Here's hoping!

Turkey Trot

2007-11-24T00:22:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving & as tradition in this city, I joined a few thousand runners & did the Turkey Trot in the Uptown Galleria area. The weather was awful! The temps had dropped overnight & it was in the low 40's with HUGE gusting winds, making it feel like it was about 30 degrees. My hands & arms were practically numb.

I was supposed to do this race with my best friend, Kelly, but she developed a nasty upper respiratory infection so I went alone. I ran into my TNT teammates, Sandi & Tim, said a quick hello, then went to look for a few other friends (which I never found). While huddled in the starting line, trying to keep warm, I ran into my friends, Adrienne & Julie. They were as miserable as I was & regretting not staying in our warm beds. They were running the 10K but Adrienne decided right there at the starting line to run the 5K with me. It was nice to have someone to talk to during the race. We were freezing our butts off so I ended up running faster than usual just to try to get my body temp up & to finish as fast as I could. My first mile was 12:48! I couldn't believe it! The 2nd mile was about the same. Woo! The last mile was the worst because we were in a headwind. Sweet JEEBUS was that ever c-c-c-cold! Brrrrrrr! When we saw the finish line, we kicked it into high gear. As we crossed the finish line, I looked at my watch & couldn't believe my eyes... I finished in 37:56! WOO-HOOO!!! PR baby!! My last 5k was something like 46 minutes.

I'm really amazed at how much I've progressed these last 6 months. Even Adrienne commented during the race how strong my running has become. I can't wait to see how much more I can improve in the future. Bring on that half marathon! :)

Quickie

2007-11-17T11:52:00.000-06:00

Before today, I'd only run 3 times since the marathon. I'd hurt my left big toe the day after the marathon (accidentally kicked the back of a guys shoe & ripped the nail off the toe) & it was 2 weeks before I could wear any shoes other than flip flops. By the time I did my first post-marathon run, 2-1/2 weeks had gone by. I was pretty surprised that I was still able to keep up a good pace. All 3 runs (each btwn 3-4 miles) averaged about 14:30 mins/mile. Today was my first "long run".

I'd planned on doing 8 with the TNT group (down Allen Parkway) but at that last minute a friend asked if I could cover for her at a water stop, which I did. After I was done helping out with the group, I did 6 miles in the park. I don't know why, but today I was able to do my fastest 6 miles ever! I finished in 1:20:53 for an average pace of 13:28 mins/mile. WOO-HOOO!!!! If I can keep this up & maybe even get a bit faster, I might be able to do a sub-3 hr. half marathon. (My official half marathon PR is 3:27.)

I'm gonna go for it! :)

Better late than never

2007-11-14T23:27:00.000-06:00

Sorry for taking so long to write this up, but it's a doozy...

RACE DAY:

The time limit for the marathon was 6.5 hours. However, if you were with TNT & knew ahead of time that you wouldn't be able to finish in that time, you were given the option of doing an early start. This way, you'd have an extra 90 minutes (for a totoal of 8 hours) to finish the race. I, of course, was doing the early start.

I'd set my alarm for 3:30 am but it turns out I didn't need it. I hardly slept at all & finally got out of bed around 3:20 & started to get myself ready. I'd laid all my stuff for the race out on the ironing board before bed so everything I needed was right at my fingertips. I got dressed, lubed my feet up, put on my shoes, grabbed a bottle of water, a granola bar, & a protein bar & headed downstairs to the lobby to meet the rest of the early starters at 4:45. I was so nervous I could barely eat but I knew if I didn't, I'd be sorry, so I ate 1/2 the protein bar & 1 of the granola bars. We posed for a few pictures, then headed to the starting line around 5:00 am.
The starting line was just around the corner from out hotel, so we didn't have to walk far. It was about 55º & a tad breezy. Quite a difference from the 100+ temps I'd been running in all summer long! We dropped our gear bags off at the buses down the street & I made a quick pit stop at the porta potties. Then we walked over to the official starting line, right in front of Tiffany's in Union Square. I was surprised by how many people were starting early. I'd say there was at least 1000 of us.
It was pitch black out & there wasn't that big of a crowd of people there to cheer us on, but there was definitely excitement in the air. A few minutes before 5:30, we began to hear the faint song of a choir singing. There were no microphones on anywhere so it took a minute to realize that it was the Star Spangled Banner. Soon all the women in the corral joined in & by those final notes, I had goose bumps on my arms & a lump in my throat. Then a woman standing on a platform began to speak. Again, she had no microphone so she had to shout, but the crowd became quiet as a mouse so we could all hear her. She thanked us all for coming & for working so hard to raise money for such a wonderful cause. Then she told us to all close our eyes & take a minute to think of the reason we were there... for the people we know/knew who have been touched by this disease, the people who are fighting cancer, the people who lost that fight, & for those who have won. The crowd was completely silent except for the sniffles from the tears of many of the runners (myself included). After our moment of silence, she asked us to look at those around us, to look at their faces, to give them a hug, thank them for running & wish them good luck. This caused more tears, but also lots of laughter. Then came the moment we all had been waiting for...

10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!

GO!!!!

And we were off. Down the streets of San Francisco we went, with police on motorcycles leading the way.

Starting line

I started out with my friend, Carmen & her pals from Louisiana. We couldn't go very fast because of the crowd so we were just walking, talking, & laughing. The only people on the streets to cheer for us were the police & it was so dark we could barely see the sights as we ran past them. I almost missed the TransAmerica building!

After about 15 minutes the crowd had spread out a bit & I began to feel restless. I wanted to stay with Carmen, but I wanted to go faster, too. I had a goal to meet with this race & I knew if I kept that pace I'd never make it. Eventually I had to bid her adieu & took off. I thought I'd been going very slow because I never saw any mile markers. Suddenly I saw one that said "mile 2". I looked at my watch & I'd been out there for 31 minutes. That meant 15:30/mile pace, & I hadn't even really been pushing it. I was SO happy!

By this time we were running along the Embarcadero & there was a big choir from a local church singing hymns for us. There wasn't another sole around except for the runners & that choir. It was so beautiful I got chills. A little further down we came upon Fisherman's Wharf. Again, there wasn't a sole around but I could hear the barks of all the sea lions that reside along the pier. It gave me such a big smile. I yelled to the runners around me "Listen! The sea lions are cheering for us!" They all laughed.

Every once in a while, maybe a few blocks apart, there was 1 or 2 residents on the corner cheering. I made a point to thank them all as I ran by. It meant a lot that they would get out of their nice warm beds so early on a Sunday morning to cheer for us. After the Wharf, it was on through the marina up to the Presideo. It was then I saw the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was just barely rising & the bridge was still lit up. It was gorgeous! I'd forgotten what a beautiful sight it is. I stopped several times to take photos.

Mile 5

(2 second exposure photo of Golden Gate Bridge just before mile 6)

At mile 6 I was at the base of the bridge & at the start of what was the steepest & worst hill on the course... going from an elevation of 25' to 290' in about 3/4 of a mile. I made that sharp turn to start up that hill & was almost stopped in my tracks by what I saw... the San Fransisco skyline perfectly silhouetted against the most gorgeous fire orange, red, & golden sky. The city was still asleep. I told the girl in front of me who was struggling up that hill to take a look. She stopped & took it all in. I think it gave her the strength to get the rest of the way up that hill. I know it gave me a burst of energy. I charged up that hill like it was nothing but a small bump on the course. When I reached the top I couldn't believe it. That's what everyone was so worried about??? That tiny hill?? That was nothing! I didn't even stop at the Oxygen Bar at the top of the hill. I just kept on going.

By this point I was right in the Presideo with all the military housing. There were actually people out there cheering us on, which was a welcome surprise. Just before mile 8 we were all passed by the pace cars for the elites, & soon were passed by the elites. I was in awe of these women as they glided past me. It all seemed so effortless for them. Here I was, out on the course for the past 2 hours & I was being passed by women who had only been running for about 40 minutes! But there weren't as many as I thought & they were all spread pretty far apart, which for some reason made me feel better.

Mile 9 was a tough one. Again it was up a very steep hill, but again, I tackled it like I never thought I could. At the beginning of the hill was a big group of TNT staffers, all dressed as prisoners holding signs like "You can't escape mile 9!" There were also posters of all the honored patients from all over the country. It was quite moving, especially when I saw the poster for my group, with the photo of my friend, Carrie's son. Then I saw Coach Chris & Coach Holly, which was a welcomed sight. They quickly asked me how I was doing, told me I was doing great, then went back down the hill to check on the other runners. A minute later I saw my coach, Dan. He saw me, gave me a huge smile & said "Erin! How the hell are ya?" I smiled, laughed, then yelled "LIEUTENANT DAN!!" He ran up to me & told me how great I looked. I told him I felt great, that I was doing so much better than I thought I would, & that I was having a great time, despite the hills. He ran me up the hill, saying he thought this one was worse than 6, to which I agreed. When we were almost to the top, he told me is wasn't that bad once I looked behind me & saw where I was. I looked & saw that hill, with all the houses along the side & the most beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. It was breathtaking. As Dan turned around to go back down the hill to greet the other runners I gave him another smile, thanked him for everything, & went on my way.

Soon after I ran into the last of our coaches, John around the mile 10 marker. Again I laughed & smiled & told him how great this all was. He asked if I needed any gu's, gels, etc. but I said "nope, everything I need I have in my bra!" He looked stunned. I explained to him that one of the perks of being a big gal like myself is that you have the ability to stuff SO much stuff into your bra. I said "I have 2 ziplocks full of Clif Bloks, a ziplock with baby wipes, & a granola bar in there!" He busted out laughing so hard, said "alrighty then!" & let me go about my merry way. It was at this point where it began to go downhill again & I was able to pick up speed. The streets wound around & around until I came to a big bend in the road. As I rounded that bend, I stopped in my tracks. I was dumbfounded by what I saw. I actually said "HOLY SHIT!" There it was... the Pacific Ocean in all its glory. The sun was up & made the beach glisten like gold as the waves crashed against the shore & there was a soft mist in the distance. I pulled over to the side of the road & grabbed my camera. No way was I going to miss this Kodak moment.
This photo doesn't even begin to do it justice. I swear you could almost hear angels singing, it was so beautiful. It gave me yet another burst of energy.

Mile 10

As I wound down the hill & headed towards the beach, I could see the finish line area & smell all the food they had cooking there. That was not fair! I was SO hungry! But I still had 16 miles to go. We hung a left & kept on going, heading towards Golden Gate Park. Just before mile 12, the half marathoners split off from the full marathoners. Those lucky ladies were almost done. One of the high school girls at the cheer station yelled to me "Way to go! You're almost done!" I yelled back at her "YOU ARE SUCH A LIAR!!!! I am nowhere NEAR done!!! I still have 14 f'ing miles to go!!!" I think I scared her. LOL! She apologized & said that's what she was told to yell. I didn't care. I told her to stop telling people that because it will just piss them off. She didn't seem to get it. I think you have to be a runner to understand.

Running through GG Park was quite pretty. It was lots & lots of trees, which meant lots & lots of shade. A plus in my book. It also had bagpipers in kilts! It was awesome! I of course had to take a picture:
It seemed to take forever to get through GG Park. We went up one side of the street & down the other. It was a bit frustrating seeing all those runners ahead of me coming back down the road. I wanted to be where they were! Where was that damn turn-around anyway? I finally reached the turn-around & headed back down the road. That's when I saw Carmen again as she headed up the road. I hadn't seen her in about 12 miles. She looked tired, but she looked strong, too. There were lots of people cheering up & down the road, which was so nice. It really does help to have people call out your name & simply say "Go Erin!!! You can do it!!!"

Just after mile 15, we finally met up again with the 1/2 marathoners. Suddenly I was in a throng of runners. It was awesome! I got a huge burst of energy & began to run faster. I ran into my friend & teammate Pam there & we had a quick hug before she ran off (she's MUCH faster than I am). Then there was the Nike tunnel. It was a huge long tent set up in the path, down a hill that was blasting Melissa Ethridge & flashing all these inspirational photos on the sides. It was so cool. Again it gave me a quick burst of energy & felt like I was flying right through it.

Just after mile 16, we split off from the half marathoners again just as we hit the Great Highway, along the coastline. There was a HUUUUGE crowd of people there cheering. They were yelling SO loud, calling out my name (putting my name on the front of my jersey was the BEST idea). I actually got goose bumps! I kicked it up a notch & ran faster as I rounded the bend. Once again I saw that gorgeous ocean view. When I hit the mile 16 marker, I looked at my watch. I realized at that point that even if I walked the whole rest of the way & did 25 minute miles, I'd still finish under my goal, so I decided to walk for the first time in I can't tell you how many miles & took in that view. I had planned on walking that whole mile, but it hurt my back so I began to trot.

The further I went down the Great Highway, the fewer spectators there were. There wasn't a bit of shade & the sun was pretty high in the sky. The marching band around mile 18 perked me up a bit, but not too much. I was getting tired. I was so tired that I didn't even realize that my TNT director & all the staff were right next to me cheering for me as I entered in the Lake Merced part of the run until I had passed them. LOL!

(Side note: the day before the marathon I found out there was a time cut-off at mile 18.6, which is where the Lake Merced portion began. If you didn't reach that point by 12:00 noon, you were turned around & told to go to the finish line. I'd missed a time cut-off in San Diego the year before & there was no way in hell I was going to miss one in this race. I was SO nervous that I wouldn't make it there by 12:00. When I finally made it there I looked at my watch. It was only 10:00!!! I'd beaten the time cut-off by 2 hours!! WOO-HOO!!!)

The beginning of the Lake Merced portion of the course was gorgeous. The lake was like glass, there were tons of trees & shade, & it was all very quiet & serene. I thought "oh wow, this won't be that bad."

WRONG!!!

Lake Merced was the worst part of the whole race. We dubbed it Lake "Cursed". After about mile 20, the serenity ended & were were on the side of a major boulevard. The city had blocked off the right lane for us, but the rest of the road was backed up forever with cars & trucks. The exhaust was awful. Then we heard a gunshot! I thought there was a sniper but it turns out there's a skeet shooting place on the lake. Fun.

The further we went around the lake, the hotter & less breezy it got, & the more the roads went up & down & up & down & up & down. I hadn't been taking in enough fluids & it was really catching up to me. I was SO glad to see the one & only water stop around the lake. I grabbed 2 glasses & chugged one & poured the other over my head. I wanted to be out of there & back on the Great Highway. Even when we got to "the Chocolate Mile", where they were handing out Ghiradelli chocolates, I didn't want any. Me? Not want chocolate? Anyone who knows me knows that means a lot for me to turn down free chocolate! I forced myself to take a bite because I figured it would maybe at least give me a quick sugar rush, but my mouth was so dry it wouldn't dissolve in my mouth, so I just threw it away.

Mile 23 was all uphill & I just didn't have the energy to run any more so I walked. I felt terrible. I was tired, I was hot, I was in horrible pain. I wanted so badly to just quit, but I knew the Great Highway & the final road to that Tiffany necklace was only a mile away, & I knew I'd never forgive myself if I quit, so I trudged on despite the incredible pain in my right knee & hip & despite feeling lonely & isoloated. It was around this point when a woman running past me put her hand on my shoulder & told me "Dave would be so proud of you". With a lump in my throat, I thanked her. Then she was gone.

As I neared the top of the hill I heard 2 women behind me thanking each other for staying with the other during the whole race & how much it meant to have each other there, pushing each other, not letting the other quit. I started to get a lump in my throat & I was really wishing I had someone I knew with me. Other than the brief run-ins with my coaches & a few teammates, I'd been running alone pretty much the whole time. Suddenly I heard someone behind me call my name. I turned around & saw that the 2 women I'd overheard thanking each other were none other than my teammates Beth & Marissa! As soon as I saw them I burst into tears. We gave each other huge hugs & laughed. We all agreed that mile 23 was our lowest point in the race. We rounded the bend & saw the most beautiful sight ever... the Great Highway & better yet... the downward hill! Beth said "as soon as we start to go down, we're going to run!" I said I'd run too, but that I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with them. And down we ran, laughing all the way. It wasn't long before they were ahead of me. I said I'd see them at the finish line. I was alone again but my mood had changed significantly. I was going to do it. I was going to finish!!

(around mile 24)

The further I got down the Great Highway, the more people I saw. At mile 24 I saw my coach, Dan again & he ran with me for a short time. He told me I was doing so great & that he was proud of me. I told him I had a great time & thanked him for everything he'd done for me this whole season. (He was such an awesome coach!)

Not long after I saw Dan, I saw Adrienne. She ended up doing the 1/2 marathon with our coach, Emily who has bone cancer & had finished the race about 2 hours earlier. She ran & talked with me until mile 25, where we stopped to pose for the race photographer. After that, Adrienne took off to find Carmen & I made my way to the finish line.

Adrienne & me - mile 25 (photo courtesy of Brightroom Photography)

Not long after Adrienne left me, I heard someone behind me yell my name. It was Cyndi Purtee! Her son, Johnathan is one of our honored patients & this was her very first marathon. I was SO happy to see her! I'd been thinking of her so much during the race, wondering how she was doing. I gave her a BIG hug. She said I was her "Dread Pirate Roberts". (She's called me that for the last part of the training season.) She said "I've been trying to catch up to you for 25 miles! Every time I'd see you I'd say 'how is she so far ahead? It's inconceivable!!' But I finally did it! I caught up to you!" We agreed we were going to run our hearts out that last mile & cross the finish line together.

The crowd was enormous & kept calling out our names. We smiled & laughed & picked up speed. I could see the finish line, I could hear the announcer calling the runners in, & I could see the line of gorgeous men in tuxedos. I could see the Tiffany boxes!! This was it. I was almost done! I was REALLY almost done!! I heard the announcer call my name, I raised my arms in the air & I screamed with glee as I crossed the finish line! I did it!! I really did it!!

I got my beautiful blue Tiffany box & after 7 hours, 10 minutes, & 25 seconds... I finally stopped. Every part of my body began to scream in pain, but I didn't care. I was done. I had completed the Nike Women's Marathon.

When I turned around, I saw Cyndi & I grabbed her. We hugged & hugged & hugged. I told her how proud I was of her & how proud her son will be of her when he hears how great she did. She thanked me for being her inspiration. She told me that every single week she followed me, trying harder & harder to keep up with me. She said she saw my determination & was inspired. She knew that if I could do this, so could she. I hugged her again & told her again how proud I was of her & how it was an honor to cross the finish line with her. I couldn't have imagined a better ending to our race. :)

Me & Cyndi about to finish (photo courtesy of Brightroom Photography)

Nike Women's Marathon FINISHER!

Here are my splits. Average pace was just over 16 mins/mile. I still can't believe I did it.
1 & 2 - 31:20
3 - 15:54
4 - 13:15 (wow! Don't know what happened here, other than a short downhill section in complete darkness.)
5 - 14:23
6 - 15:59 (at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge so of course I had to stop to take photos!)
7 - 16:05 (the end of the steepest & supposedly hardest hill on the course. Whatever!)
8 - 12:56 (What goes up, must come down. YAY downhill!!)
9 - 15:57 (another very steep hill & I still took it in under 16 minutes, thanks to the help of my coach, Dan who ran up the hill with me.)
10 - 14:46 (again, what goes up, must come down. This includes me stopping to take photos of the ocean.)
11 - 15:06
12 - 15:40
13 - 15:49
14 - 17:08 (this is the 1st time I started to get really tired & cranky)
15 - 15:51
16 - 14:57
17 - 17:38 (this is where I decided to slow down)
18 - 17:05
19 - 18:41
20 - 19:25
21 - 19:37
22 - 17:37
23 - 20:21 (worst part of the race... the lake seemed never-ending & this was mostly uphill. Lake Merced="Lake Cursed")
24 - 16:33 (Yay for downhill! Plus, I could see the ocean again and better yet, the finish line!)
25 - 18:51 (Adrienne & I stopped to pose for photos)
26.2 - 20:01 (I forgot to hit my watch at 26, but it was about 16 minutes)

Nike Re-cap - Part I

2007-10-29T22:26:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's already been a week since I got back from San Francisco. It sort of feels like it was yesterday (only I can walk normally today). It truly was one of the best weekends. Not only did I have a great time with my friends, but I had a great time during the marathon. The course, while tough, was the most beautiful I've ever seen. I don't know how many times I was literally stopped in my tracks because of the scenery. I'd do it all again this weekend if I could. Here's a rundown of the weekend:

We got to San Francisco late Friday morning, hopped on a bus to our hotel, checked in, then went to the Expo. Our hotel was in the absolute perfect spot in Union Square... only a 1/2 block from the Expo & the starting line, which meant only a 1/2 block from Tiffany & Co. :) I was a little disappointed in the expo because it was only Nike stuff, no other vendors of any kind. I couldn't even buy the super cute socks I normally do at marathon expos. Oh well. I got some super cool official Marathon gear at Niketown, which was across the street from the expo.

One of the coolest things about this race is that the folks at Nike printed out the names of all 23,000 participants & put them in the window of the huge Niketown store in Union Square. There was a line of participants all trying to find their names. Thankfully mine was at a decent height:

After a full afternoon of shopping, my friend Carissa & I rested for a bit, then got cleaned up & ready for a night out on the town. We went to dinner at the restaurant my Uncle Mark used to own, The Washington Square Bar & Grill. It was such a nostalgia kick for me. I hadn't been there in about 20 years & it looked exactly the same. The food was great, as were the cocktails. It was the perfect start to our night of fun. Afterwards we were picked up by Carissa's friend (a local) & spent the rest of the night hanging out at a great Irish pub with their friends. It was good, good fun & ended in a stretch limo ride back to the hotel.

Saturday was a bit of a recovery day for Carissa & I (Carissa more than me) so we really didn't do much of anything. We had a huge late breakfast with our new friend & teammate, Carrie (Carrie's 4 y/o son, Peyton has Leukemia) then did a little more shopping at Niketown. Afterwards we went back to our hotel room to finish decorating our race singlets.
Originally Carissa & I were going to skip the TNT pasta party & have dinner with some friends, but since it was Carrie's first marathon & since her son is one of our honored patients, we decided to escort her to her very first TNT pasta party. I'm so glad we did. It was amazing. We walked into the Moscone Center & were greeted by hundreds & hundreds of TNT staff, coaches, & mentors, all dressed up, blowing whistles, screaming, cheering, laughing. And just when I thought it was ending, I turned to go down the stairs & was greeted by 100's more TNT-ers. I'd never seen so many TNT people together in one place before. It was even more amazing when I got into the huge hall where the dinner was held. There were tables as far as the eye could see. Turns out it was the largest TNT pasta party in the history of TNT... over 8000 people! (5300 runners, plus their family & friends) I couldn't get over it.
The food was so-so, but the speakers were great. We had John "The Penguin" Bingham, Joan Benoit Samuelson (the first Women's Olympic Marathon Gold medalist in 1984 & one of the greatest American marathoners in history), & a woman named Kim (I hate that I can't remember her last name) who is a Lymphoma survivor. The Penguin was hilarious as always. Joan was inspirational & made us all feel extra proud to be a woman. Kim brought tears to my eyes & made me even more determined to finish what I started.

After the pasta party it was back to the hotel for a few last minute words of encouragement from our coaches before heading to bed. I knew I wouldn't sleep very well. I was too nervous & too excited. I couldn't wait to run.

To be continued...

I FINISHED!!!!!

2007-10-23T10:30:00.000-05:00

I did it! I finished the Nike Women's Marathon!!!! And I SHATTERED my goal time of 7:30 & finished in 7:10:25!!!!! I could have easily finished in under 7 hours but I decided to slow down & soak it all in as much as I could.

I'm uploading photos & will type up a full, huge weekend/race re-cap later, but for now, I'll leave you with this...

I know it's VERY shaky, but you try holding a camera steady when you're running to the finish line after running for over 7 hours. LOL! If you listen closely, you can hear the crowd yelling my name & the announcer calling me in. Every time I watch it, my eyes well up with tears. I still can't believe I did it. What an absolutely FANTASTIC day & a FANTASTIC weekend. I'd do it over & over & over again.

Almost there!!!

2007-10-13T16:17:00.000-05:00

Apologies to my 1 or 2 readers for not posting in a while. I swear I thought I had posted, but I must've dreamed it. So, where do I begin?

Last week's long run was pitiful. I had some "stomach issues" & that really slowed me down, but I trudged on through & finished the 14 miles in so-so time. It was very frustrating, especially considering how great my other training has been. My sprints are the fastest ever, averaging about a 13:00/mile pace. I am tickled pink about that!

Today's long run... my LAST ONE before the marathon... was FANTASTIC! The weather couldn't have been more perfect. I was in heaven! It's amazing what a 20º difference in temperature can do for your pace. I did 13 miles in 3:11. If this had been an official 1/2 marathon, it would've been a PR! (My current 1/2 marathon PR is 3:27) I started out walking the 1st 2.8 miles but I ran the whole rest of the way. I only stopped to walk twice! I couldn't believe how great I felt! I never got winded & my body felt awesome! It was definitely my best run ever & made me SO much more excited about the marathon next week.

Speaking of the marathon, Thursday night I picked up my race packet from the TNT group. They had a happy hour at a local pub, Kobain & all our stuff came in a blue Tiffany's bag w/ Tiffany perfume & a catalog of the most GORGEOUS Tiffany jewelry. OMG, I want! I want! I want! I was giddy with excitement. I can't wait to see what the race necklace looks like. More importantly, I can't wait to WEAR the race necklace. I don't know if I'll ever take it off!

I want the marathon to be here already. We leave at the butt-crack of dawn Friday morning & arrive in San Fran around 10:15 am. We'll quickly check into our hotel (the super swanky Sir Francis Drake) then walk over to the expo. I'm almost as excited about the expo as I am the race! After that, we'll do a short 3 mile run in the city, then we're free until the pasta party Saturday night.

I don't know how I'm going to sleep on Saturday. What sucks is that since I'm doing the early start, that means I'll have to get up at 3:30 am!! But it'll be worth it just to have that extra 90 minutes to run. The only thing I'm bummed about is that apparently we will have a motorcycle escort & we will not be permitted to go any faster that 15:00 mins/mile. My original plan was to keep up a 14:00/14:30 pace for as long as possible so when I slow down later in the race, I'll still hopefully be able to finish in 7:30. But maybe if I'm forced to go at that 15 min. pace it'll help me save some energy which will help me sustain that pace for a longer period of time. I figure if I can keep that pace for at least 16 miles, I'll be able to make my goal.

I still can't believe it's almost here. I keep thinking back to where I was a year or so ago & it amazes me how far I've come. I'm stronger than I think I've ever been in my life & I'm also becoming the thinnest I've ever been. To date I've lost 35 lbs. My original goal was to lose 40 lbs by race day, but I'll take the 35. I figure I've gained SO much muscle that it's basically the equivalent to losing 40 lbs.

I'm going to take a week off after the marathon, then I'll be back running. Next race up after Nike is the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in January. With any luck I'll be at least another 20 lbs lighter by then. :)

Hello. How are you doing today?

2007-09-30T21:36:00.001-05:00

Me? I am hanging in there. It's been a rough few weeks.

My paternal grandmother had been very ill & eventually died on the 18th. While expected, it was still very sad to lose such a wonderful lady. I had the worst travel experience getting to Erie, PA for the funeral that weekend. It involved 3 plane rides (including 2 small puddle-jumper jets) which were late & a 100 mile drive through rush hour traffic & construction. And that was just one way! I didn't have to worry about the fact that I wasn't able to get in my long run that weekend because I ran enough miles through all the airports (carrying 2 suitcases to boot). Would it kill them to put the same airline in one single terminal??? JEEBUS!!

Still, it was a bit hard getting back into my work-out routine after being gone for so long with the family stuff. I'm doing surprisingly today well considering I ran 21 miles yesterday. It was a long, miserable, hot run, but I finished. It was a lot slower than I wanted, but then again, I included all the time I stopped to chat & eat at all the water stops, which I will NOT do on race day. So if you take that time out, I think it ends up being not so terrible (but still not quite as I'd have preferred).

I had a minor problem with my right calf, a pain in my right knee (from all the hills) & then a bad pain in the ball of my right foot during the run, but all that is fine today. When I got home I took a long ice bath, popped a bunch of ibuprofin, & wrapped my knee with a big ice pack. I was fully expecting to be walking like a 98 year old woman this morning, but other than a little pain/tightness in my quads & hips, I feel great. Hopefully I'll feel the same after the marathon in 3 weeks. *crosses fingers*

Next weekend the mileage goes down to 14. That should be a piece of cake! I can't believe race day is almost here!

I need your help!!!

2007-09-26T07:09:00.000-05:00

It's almost time for the Nike Women's Marathon, which also means my deadline for raising the money needed for this race is also coming up. I'm still about $1000 short of the fundraising minimum, which is due this Monday, October 1. So please, if you'd like to help me out & help save lives at the same time, click here to go to my fundraising website & make a donation. Simply click on "Donate now!" & follow the easy instructions. Your donation is TAX DEDUCTIBLE!! Plus, you'll help save countless lives. Isn't that worth skipping a few cups of coffee or a few drinks at the pub?

Thanks for your help!! :)

PS

2007-09-15T18:53:00.000-05:00

I saw the CUTEST thing at Memorial Park this morning. As I started my run at 5:00 am, when I got to the tennis courts, I saw a big tent set up across the street by the track with a banner that said (forgive me if I forgot the right names) "Dave & Mindy Wedding Day Run". There was a bunch of people setting up what looked like a mini wedding reception under the tent. Then I saw the groom... he was wearing running shorts & a t-shirt that looked like a tuxedo. SO CUTE!

I was bummed I didn't get to see the bride. I had visions of a woman in a white running outfit w/ a little veil.

Congrats you guys, whoever you are! :)

Slowly getting back into it

2007-09-15T18:27:00.000-05:00

As usual, I got my post-vacation cold & have spent the last week pretty much constantly blowing my nose. It's made for some "fun" workouts. I skipped a few because I felt way too crappy & was having too much trouble breathing just standing still, let alone running. On the days I did work out, I felt as if I hadn't worked out in months. I was SO sluggish & my whole body ached afterwards.

Ugh.

Needless to say I was REALLY dreading today's 18 mile long run. My left calf had been bothering me all week (hill training Wednesday... which sucked... didn't help matters) so I figured it was going to be a problem today. I was wrong. It was my right calf that was bothering me.

WTF???

Despite the calf problem, I actually did pretty well. I was able to keep up my pace for 16 miles before I started to peter out. I really seem to have a big problem with the sun. Once it was out there & the clouds had gone away, I felt my energy drain away. Add in the calf pain & I pretty much just walked the last 2 miles back to the park. Thankfully it really wasn't too hot today or I'm sure I would've petered out much earlier. I guess I have Hurricane Humberto to thank for the cooler/less humid weather. Thanks Humberto!

The fact that I was able to keep my pace for 16 miles was really encouraging to me. I still have a month before the marathon so I feel I'll be able to improve even more. Hopefully I'll be able to keep a steady pace for the majority of the race. I really REALLY want to be able to finish within 7.5 hours. If I can do that, I will be ecstatic!!

Of course, my stupid calves have to heal first or else I fear the marathon will be a total disaster. But I have faith. Don't ask me why. I just have a good feeling about this race.

Oh! At breakfast after practice today, we were talking about our next big adventure... the Texas Independence Relay! Right now I've only volunteered to be the driver, but who knows, if I keep up with my training & lose even more weight, maybe I'll be fast enough to actually run.

30

2007-09-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

As of today I have officially lost 30 pounds. WOO-HOOOO!!!! :D

Stop the screaming!

2007-09-09T10:03:00.000-05:00

Apparently dancing for 3+ hours on your tippy-toes for 3 straight nights isn't that great for your calves, as I found out yesterday during my 12 mile long run. I was doing great for about the first 7 or 8 miles. I ran with Carmen & we were keeping up a pretty good pace. I was feeling good! When we got to downtown, we were testing ourselves by running some sections hard, getting our heart rates up there, then walking, repeating it over again each block as we ran through the streets of downtown Houston. (Btw... I LOVE running through downtown Houston at sunrise. It's SO peaceful.) However, by the time we were on our way back to the park & made it to the water stop at Waugh & Memorial, my left calf was SCREAMING. When I got back from vacation, that same calf was sore & tight, but I figured it would be fine by the long run.

I was wrong.

It was tightening up more & more with each step. I kept stopping to stretch, but it just seemed to make it worse. We pretty much did the "mall walk" for the last 2 miles, which was hard, because when I just walk, my back starts to hurt. I had to figure out which was the lesser of the 2 evils. The back pain was easier to deal with, so I kept walking.

When I got home & tried to get out of my car, I screamed out in pain. It was the world's worst charlie-horse in my calf EVER. I couldn't get the spasm to stop. I got inside & tried to massage the pain away but it didn't work. I took an ice bath, followed by a nice warm shower, which seemed to help, then I tried to roll it out with my stick. OW! OW! OW!!! The only thing that really helped was about 4 Ibuprofin & a 2 hour nap with my leg up. It's still pretty sore today, but at least now I can walk without a limp. Hopefully it'll be better by Tuesday. We have hill training that day & that can be a killer if I still have bad calves. Hopefully that won't be a problem. *crosses fingers*

Post-vacation blues

2007-09-04T23:10:00.001-05:00

Back from vacation. Turns out this past week was a great workout...

Go camping in the middle of nowhere WA state.
Get a campsite the furthest from anything you need.
Laugh so hard your stomach muscles ache, then laugh some more.
Hike 2 miles up & down hills & valleys to the concert venue.
Dance non-stop for 3+ hours on your tippy-toes.
Hike 2 miles up & down hills & valleys back to campsite.
Repeat for 2 more days.

Good golly did I have fun. And I have the screaming calves to prove it. :) I want to go back.

The good, the bad, & the ugly

2007-08-25T19:04:00.000-05:00

Big ups & downs in training this week. Actually, it started last week w/ the long run, which started out great, but ended really crappy. This heat is really getting to me during these long runs. Last week I didn't start until almost 5:30 am & that really cost me. We only did 10.5 miles, which was through River Oaks which meant lots of shade, but those last 2 miles were in the blazing sun & it was SO f'ing hot I had no energy left to go very fast at all. I pretty much strolled back to the park.

Oddly enough, Tuesday's practice with temps equally as hot went really well. This was the week to do 1/2 mile sprints at the track & again, I'm pretty steady w/ times. The only "problem" was that it was VERY windy, but only on 1/2 the track. Of course, that 1/2 was a headwind. However, that wind was also a Godsend because it felt FABULOUS. We did 6 ea. 1/2 mile sprints. Here's how I did:

1 - 7:14:27
2 - 6:59:36
3 - 6:57:65
4 - 7:07:23
5 - 7:01:79
6 - 7:01:82

Total time: 42:22:12
Avg. pace per mile: 14:07

I have no doubt if I didn't have that headwind that at least 5, if not all 6 sprints would have been under 7 mins.

As for my pool workouts, they're getting better & better each day. I've really picked up my speed walking in the pool & I'm getting definite muscles in my upper arms from working w/ the noodles. It's great!

Then there was today's long run. In a word... it SUCKED. The route was to the GRB downtown & back, w/ a pitstop from Waugh to I-10, then 2 miles worth of hills & parking garage runs, with a total mileage of 17 miles. This time I was sure to start right around 5:00 am & those first 10 or so miles were great. I felt strong, I was keeping up a great pace, & I didn't feel too hot.

Then the sun came out in full force.

By the time I was about 12 miles into the run, I was feeling extremely dizzy & nauseous. I couldn't walk a straight line & my mind was very fuzzy. I stopped for a good 15-20 minutes at the water stop to rest & cool off. It was there I decided to skip the I-10 portion of the route. I knew if I did those 2 miles, which were in direct sunlight, I would probably pass out, so instead my coach, Valarie, my teammate, Jonathan & I starting sloooowwwwwly walking back to the park. I was feeling better, so I decided to do the parking garage on the way in.

BIG mistake. The dizziness & nausea came right back. I had to sit down on the curb & was doubled over from the nausea. Thankfully the water was SUPER ice cold so I kept pouring it all over my body. After about 5-10 minutes, I felt better so I walked back to the park. I felt like shit. I still feel like shit.

I hate summer.

Confirmed

2007-08-22T21:24:00.000-05:00

This message is generated as confirmation of your recent registration on Active.com. You have been successfully registered for the following:

Registration:	2008 Chevron Houston Marathon, Aramco Houston Half Marathon & EP5K
Purchase Date:	08/22/07
Category:	Aramco Houston Half Marathon - 13.1 Miles
Event Date:	01/13/08
Name:	Erin Nies

If you've ever wondered...

2007-08-19T13:37:00.001-05:00

... what 2-1/2 months of running in the rain & mud does to your shoes, it looks like this:
Which is why I now have these:
Yay for tax free weekends!!!

Sweet!

2007-08-18T13:19:00.000-05:00

I learned something today after my long run (which was crap-tastic, btw)... apparently chocolate milk is the perfect recovery drink! We decided to test the theory today & 4 of us chugged down a nice cool glass with our breakfast.

Ya know what? It works! I feel great! Better than I ever have after a long run. Who knew?

Color me happy!

OH! Another thing that made me happy... Luke's Locker on West Gray is offering EVERYTHING in their store tax free this weekend, no matter how much it costs! I went right over after breakfast & bought myself a new pair of running shoes & a ton of Clif Shot-bloks. Awesome! :)

It's Official...

2007-08-17T21:35:00.000-05:00

Congratulations!

You are now registered for The Nike Women's Marathon, a race to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Sunday, October 21, 2007
Race Start: 7:00AM
Union Square, San Francisco, CA

RACE PACKET PICK-UP:

Race packet pick-up will be at the Expotique in Union Square (Geary between Powell & Stockton Streets). Parking is available in local garages. Please plan your travel to allow for time to pick up your race packet and experience our interactive Expotique. Please note, there will not be an official packet pickup race morning.

EXPOTIQUE HOURS
Friday, October 19th
11AM - 7PM

Saturday, October 20th
9AM - 5PM

**You will receive a confirmation postcard in the mail one month prior to the race. You will need to bring that confirmation postcard to pick up your race packet.

Surprising myself

2007-08-15T20:05:00.000-05:00

I'm really surprising myself these days with how much I'm improving each week, even despite the scorching heat. I would've thought the heat would slow me down a lot, especially during the Tuesday night trainings when the temps are at their hottest, but so far that hasn't been the case at all. My 1/2 mile sprints have remained identical for the past few weeks (avg. pace of 14:11/mile) & my parking garage runs have been faster each time. Yesterday was the best yet!

Temperature: 98º
Heat Index: 107º

6 reps:
(1 trip up & down garage = 0.6 miles)

1 - 6:27
2 - 6:23
3 - 6:23
4 - 6:33
5 - 6:29
6 - 6:21

Total mileage: 3.6 miles
Total time: 38:39
Average pace per mile: 10:44

That's more than a minute faster per mile than the last time, 2 weeks earlier.

The only thing that is NOT getting better is my rash. It continues to get worse & worse. I've tried various creams & balms, but nothing is making it better. Oddly enough, the problem is really only on my right leg. I'll appear on my left leg immediately after a run, but it goes away once I cool down. The right leg, however, is a never-ending rash. It doesn't itch... it hurts! It feels like a combo of sunburn & "road rash". I think I'm going to have to see a dermatologist. At least now I know that this sort of rash has a name. Hopefully a doctor will have a cure. Otherwise I'll never be able to show off my legs again!

Surviving the heat

2007-08-13T22:09:00.000-05:00

Is it Autumn yet?

This heat is getting pretty rediculous. Every day I find myself wishing all that rain would come back so it would wash away all this God-forsaken heat! I thought last Saturday's 10.5 mile run through Tanglewood was a hot one. That was down-right freezing compared to this past Saturday! We did 16.5 miles (including hills) & I honestly thought I was going to have a heat stroke. I started just after 5:00 am & by the time I finished 4+ hours later, the heat index was already at 106º. If it weren't for my coach putting giant coolers full of ice water out every 2-3 miles, I'm sure I would have had a heat stroke. I must've poured at least a dozen glasses of ice water over my head & down my shirt. Plus, about every 5 minutes or so I'd pour more water from my fuel belt over my head. It was miserable!

When I was on my way back to the park after completing the parking garage, I heard whistles & yells. I looked across the street & saw my old coaches on the deck at Biba's diner waving me over to them. I ran over to say hello & they told me I needed to quit running & join them because it was too hot. As hot as I was, I couldn't allow myself to quit. I had to finish. They kept trying to convince me to stay, but I stood my ground.

You see... this past Saturday was a special anniversary for me. Exactly 1 year ago that day (August 11, 2006), I bent over to pick something up off the floor, & suddenly couldn't stand up. That was the day 3 discs in my lower spine decided to rupture & thus began weeks of barely being able to walk, followed by months of terrible pain & physical therapy. I lived on my living room couch because it was too painful to sleep in my bed, I could only move my feet a few inches with each step because to walk a full stride was excruciating & I was taking prescription drugs to help with nerve damage.

Fast forward to this past Saturday & I was determined to prove to myself that I was finally strong enough to do every damn thing my coaches & Mother Nature could throw at me. And prove it I did. And I am even more determined than ever to get even stronger. I will not let this injury define me.

16 miles...

2007-08-11T16:58:00.000-05:00

... with hills

106º heat index.

*passes out*

Words of Advice

2007-08-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

1. When you buy a new sports bra & are about to wear it for the 1st time during a long run, DO NOT forget to put a good coat of Body Glide on around your chest & back. I, unfortunately, forgot to do this Saturday & ended up with my back sliced up from the bra rubbing against my skin. I didn't even know that had happened until I got in the shower & the hot water hit my back. YEEEE-OOOWWWW!! Lesson learned.

2. If you happen to live in an area that has received a year's worth of rain in about 2 months, I have two words for you: Bug spray! Embrace it. It is your friend.

3. When deciding which marathon to run, it might be a good idea to look ahead at your training season & see if it happens to fall during a time of year when merely stepping outdoors basically feels like you're stepping onto the surface of the sun.

4. If, after reading #3, you still decide to go ahead with your decision to run an "Autumn" marathon, & you're attempting to do 1/2 mile sprints in the hottest months of the year with temperatures with heat indexes of 110º or higher & 90+% humidity, it's a good idea to take your fuel belt bottles the day before your run, fill them with water & Gatorade, & stick them in the freezer. That way, when you run & the water begins to melt, it's EXTREMELY refreshing to pour the SUPER ice cold water over your head, shoulders, arms & legs. And of course, what tastes better when you run than ice cold Gatorade?

Last, but most certainly NOT least...

5. If you're at a public health club/gym & are using the steam room/pool area & feel your nose begin to run, DO NOT (& I cannot stress this enough) under ANY circumstance begin to blow your nose INTO YOUR BARE HANDS over & over again for a good 10 minutes, while also PICKING said nose, then walk to the drinking fountain & take a drink while placing your booger filled hands on the nozzle. And PLEASE don't continue to blow your nose INTO YOUR BARE HANDS again & then place your booger filled hands on every railing & door knob in the pool area & steam room. Go downstairs to the locker room & get a friggin' tissue & blow your nose like a NORMAL human being! (Yes, I really did witness such an atrocity at the gym yesterday. I'd have strangled the woman who did it, but you know... boogers. *shudders* Did I mention that at one point, she rubbed her booger filled hand all over her bare belly? *pukes*)

In case you missed it...

2007-08-05T22:42:00.000-05:00

... The Houston Chronicle ran an article on my friend, TNT teammate, & cancer survivor, Jonathan Nitsch. That kid is a true inspiration. I'm proud to call him my friend. :)

It's baaa-aaaack!

2007-07-31T21:26:00.001-05:00

The rash that is. No surprise given the fact that I ran in BILLION degree temperatures tonight. (OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but dammit... it was f'ing HOT!)

I must give a major shout out to my coach, Valerie & thank her for bringing that ice cold water cooler to the parking garage tonight. I swear I wanted to kiss her when I saw it! Just the 1.5 mile run to the parking garage was excruciating. I'd already done 2 rounds up & down the parking garage before she got there w/ the water & I thought I was going to pass out. I grabbed a big cup-ful of ice water, took a big swig, then dumped the rest all over my head. Good GAWD did that ever feel GREAT! After almost every round I'd pour a little more over my head & arms to cool myself down. I wouldn't be surprised if I was steaming after each pour. (One of these days I might just bring a thermometer with me to see how high my temperature gets on days like this. It was awful.) By the time I was done w/ the parking garage, the water was gone. I unscrewed the top & saw it was 1/2 full of ice so I grabbed a big cupful & made my way back to the park. I took a handful of ice & rubbed it all over my arms, face, & neck. Then I took a bunch & stuffed it down my sports bra. WOO! That felt good!!! It helped keep me cool the rest of the way back to the park.

Despite my near heat stroke, the run actually went extremely well. We did a 1.5 mile warm up run to the parking garage, then did 6 runs up & down the parking garage (3.6 miles), then 1.5 mile cool-down run back to the park. Here are my stats:

Temperature: 94º
Heat index: 105º
Humidity: 50%

1.5 mile warm-up - 20:35 - avg. pace/mi. - 13:43
3.6 miles in parking garage - 42:50 - avg. pace/mi. - 11:53 (Holy CRAP! I must really pick up speed on those downhills!)
1.5 mile cool-down - 23:39 - avg. pace/mi. - 15:46 (I started out walking back VERY slow because I was SO overheated, but started running again after about 1/2 mile)

Total: 6.6 miles - 1:27:04 - avg. pace/mi. - 13:11

I like it!! I can only imagine how much I'd kick ass if it were about 30º cooler!

Despite my fast times today, it really was practically unbearable in regards to the heat. As I said in the beginning of this post, the heat rash is back on my legs & worse than before. My clothes were once again dripping wet with sweat & if it weren't for the ice water available to dump over my head, I'm sure I would've eventually passed out. Times like that I start to ask myself why in the world I am out there doing such a crazy thing. I know it's for cancer research but some times I want to say "SCREW IT" & just want to stop. However, every time I start to feel that way I'll come across a stranger who will give me a boost he or she never knew I needed. Tonight it was the business man in a full suit walking to his car in the parking garage with his co-worker. As I rounded the corner onto his level, he said "now THIS girl I've been watching from my office at the top of the parking garage! She's amazing & she deserves a round of applause!" Then he & his co-worker proceeded to clap & cheer for me as I ran past them. It gave me a much needed push & made me feel good. :)

Last week it was the grey haired old man running towards me along Allen Parkway. I was SO hot & feeling SO tired & really just wanted to stop, go home, & crawl into bed. But as soon as I came upon him he said with a big grin on his face, "Lookin' good girl! You're doing a GREAT job! I like your style!" It made me smile & giggle & gave me an extra burst of energy. Funny how a few simple words from a stranger can make such a difference in your attitude, eh?

Reason #42 why I hate the heat

2007-07-28T12:49:00.000-05:00

Because I'm allergic to it! And now I have photographic proof! Here are my legs today after running 12 miles in icky, hot, SUPER humid weather:

Sexy, no?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

It's on my chest, too. Hopefully some Benadryl cream will help clear it up. *crosses fingers*

Other than the rash, today's run wasn't too terribly bad. It only rained for a little while (about 45 minutes into the run) but it wasn't a huge downpour. It was more of a soft, gentle rain & the cold drops felt quite nice on my super hot skin & head. I was able to keep up a pretty good pace throughout the whole run. I forgot to restart my stopwatch after one of the water stops, so I don't know what my final time was, but I do know that my pace for the last 2 miles was 14:00/mile, so that made me very happy.

Now it's time to take a nice LONG nap. This is my favorite part of the Saturday long run. :)

Back on track

2007-07-24T20:24:00.001-05:00

or "What a difference 50% makes!"

Tonight's run was, in a word: FANTASTIC!

I am still in disbelief at how great this run was. I went into it sort of dreading it because it was going to be one of the toughest speed workouts we've done so far. Here's the workout:

Memorial Park

1/2 mile warm-up from the picnic table by the pool to the track near the tennis center.
5 ea. 1/2 mile sprints on the track.
2.5 mile cool down back to the picnic table (long way in)

Temperature: 88 degrees
Humidity: 42% (Can you believe that??? Three days ago the humidity was 93%. Tonight was HEAVEN!!)

I took my time getting to the track. Last time I'd gone out too fast & petered out way too quickly during the sprints. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. I strolled in at just under 9 minutes, then immediately started my sprints as soon as I stepped on the track. Here are my times:

#1 - 7:05:70 (All right! Very nice!)
#2 - 7:06:50 (Very good! Less than a second slower.)
#3 - 7:09:41 (Uh-oh. That should be better.)
#4 - 7:05:65 (Now that's more like it! Wait... it's actually FASTER than the 1st one. Sweet!)
#5 - 7:04:50 (AW YEAH!! Way to go! I never would've imagined my last sprint would've been the fastest!)

Total mileage: 2.5 miles
Total time: 35:29:76
Avg. pace per mile: 14:11 (Very nice indeed! Fastest 1/2 mile sprints yet! I was VERY pleased!)

I only rested for about a minute before I started the 2.5 mile cool down run. I felt fantastic. My muscles were loose, my breathing was steady, & my energy was high. I started out at what I felt was a much slower pace than my sprints. I kept the pace the entire time, never slowing down except to quickly remove a pebble from my shoe. By the time I was almost done, I thought it felt like I was going a bit faster. I still felt fantastic, my breathing was still slow & steady, & my energy was still sky high. I kept telling myself how great it would be if I could finish in 38 minutes, which would be a pace of about 15:00 per mile. I felt confident I could do it, but I refused to look at my watch until I was done, lest I be disappointed. Imagine my shock when I saw my final time:

34:41

I almost fell over from the shock! That calculates to a pace per mile of 13:52! AFTER doing sprints!! Color me ecstatic!

Now if only I can repeat this kind of run on Saturday when we do 12 miles. Hey, it could happen. :)

Have I ever mentioned my complete & utter hatred of humidity?

2007-07-21T16:53:00.001-05:00

I had a totally CRAPPY run today. The worst! The humidity was unbearable for me (93% at the start, with a "real feel" temp of 90 degrees, according to accuweather.com, which increased as the day went on). I have never sweated so much in my life. By the time I was done, my clothes were dripping wet. My shorts were stuck to my legs. NOT a comfortable feeling at all, especially when you're trying to run.

Our route was the same as last week (down to Sabine & back, stopping along the way to do hills & the parking garage), only we went out of the park long, making the total run 11 miles. I was doing ok for the 1st half of the run, but by the time I got back to the water stop @ Memorial & Waugh, my energy was quickly dwindling. I was SO overheated. I had my fuel belt & kept pouring the cold water over my head & neck during the entire run, trying to try to cool myself down, but it just wasn't working. I was also drinking a lot but I just couldn't seem to stay hydrated enough. I toughed it out & made it to the parking garage & did 2 runs there, which wasn't that bad at all, but once I got back on Memorial & was almost back to the park, I started feeling very light-headed & dizzy. When I got to the entrance to the park at Memorial & Crestwood, I felt like I was going to pass out so I completely stopped running. I thought I was going to just burp, but it turned out I needed to puke instead (just a teeny bit, but still... ew). I stopped my stopwatch & very sloooowwwwly walked the 1/2 mile back to the picnic table. As soon as I got there, I grabbed a pack of peanut butter crackers & wolfed them down, followed by a sweet & salty granola bar. I was STARVING! Having the food in me made me feel a little better.

I drove straight home & immediately took a LONG ice bath. I fell asleep right there in the tub & woke up freezing my ass off. I ate a big bowl of cereal & then tried to nap but I was too tired (don't you hate that?) so I ended up just laying there on the couch for 2 hours. By then I was feeling somewhat human again.

I don't know what the hell I'm going to do if/when the sun ever decideds to shine during my long runs. If I'm already getting this overheated on cloudy days w/ no sun, what's going to happen to me when the sun is beating down on me? I'm a bit worried, especially since all my runs from now on will be in double digits. I have to figure out some way to keep myself cooler. Any suggestions?

Go ahead... make my day! :)

2007-07-18T22:33:00.000-05:00

Today during work I went downstairs to the clinic to donate a pint of blood. MDA had sent out a mass email to all employees saying they were at a critical shortage of whole blood & they were asking us to donate. My blood type is O- which is universal donor, so I thought I'd do my good deed for the day & donate a pint.

I filled out all the paperwork, answered the ever expanding questionnaire, had my blood pressure checked, my temperature taken, & got the little pin prick on my finger so they could test my iron levels. Then the nurse asked me "how much do you weigh?"

"Ummm... I really don't know."

"Well there's the scale, please weigh yourself."

Now, I've never been excited to step on a scale before in my life, but today I was. I gladly hopped on that scale, looked down & saw my weight was most definitely less than the last time I weighed myself. Sweet! I told her the # & then she said some of the most wonderful words I've ever heard... "OK then, and minus 5 lbs equals *** lbs."

"Excuse me? Minus 5?"

"Yes. The scale is off by 5 lbs. so we have to subtract an additional 5 lbs from what it reads."

SWEET!!!!

So, dear friends, as of today I have officially lost...

16 pounds!!!

I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but it's a lot to me! That's in just about 2 months. Imagine where I'll be in 3 months on race day! If I can keep up that rate of weight loss, I could be a whole 40 pounds lighter by race day! This inspires me even more to keep up with the working out & eating right. I don't think I've ever been this determined. I like it!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! When I got back to my office, I told my co-worker about the weightloss & she said she'd noticed I'd been losing weight. She said it's very noticeable in my face & even more IN MY HIPS & STOMACH!! I can't tell you how happy that made me! Just the other day I was thinking that I hadn't lost anything in that area. I only noticed my face & upper body looked slimmer. I swore my hips & belly looked bigger. But she swears that my hip/stomach area is the most noticeable difference. Talk about making my day! :)

*side note* I wasn't able to donate blood because my iron levels were too low. I wasn't technically anemic, just below the levels allowable for blood donation (minimum reading is 12.5 & I was at 12). So they said to come back in a few days & try again. I never should've had that Diet Coke right before I left for the clinic. D'oh!

Happy

2007-07-17T22:01:00.000-05:00

Today was good day. I got the paperwork about my corporate sponsorship from MD Anderson. All that's left is for them to cut the check, which I will hopefully get in the next week or so. I can't tell you how relieved I am. Recommitment is coming up in 3 weeks & having half of the money I need is a HUGE weight off my shoulders.

Pratice tonight went really well. I got my wish & there was no sun. In fact, it was still raining a little when I started my run. Since it poured down rain earlier, we skipped the hills at Shepherd (too slippery/muddy) & just did the parking garage. I made good time getting to the garage & while I was definitely slower doing the garage, I still kicked butt. I did it 4 times & not once did I stop to walk. In fact, I swear it was almost easier by the time I was on my 3rd round. I really got into a good groove. As soon as I got to the bottom of the garage on the 4th round, I never stopped to rest. I just kept on running right back to the park. My pace on the way back was a flat 14:00 min/mile. I was ecstatic! Now if only my long runs could be so good! I've got 3 months to go before the marathon, so there's still time for improvement in that area.

Last but not least... tonight at practice TWO people told me they can tell I've lost weight. WOO-HOO! I was looking in the mirror last night & thought my face looked thinner, but sometimes it's hard to tell when you see your face every day, ya know? So for 2 different people to come up to me & tell me they can tell I've lost weight (without any prompting from me btw) totally made my day. I need to buy a scale so I can see for myself how much I've lost. That's on my to do list for this weekend.

I think I'm finally getting into that "workout groove". I no longer look for ways to get out of a workout & I've noticed that on the days I don't work out, I don't feel as good. And if I don't work out for 2 days, I notice my back bothers me, but as soon as I work out, it feels lots better. Looks like I'm finally doing something right. :)

Love/Hate

2007-07-16T23:22:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been working out a lot in the pool & I'm developing a love/hate thing with it. The part I love about it is that I don't sweat & after I'm done, I'm actually quite cold for the rest of the evening (a nice change from feeling like I'm having a heat stroke after a run). The part I don't like is that I actually kinda feel like I'm not really working out, even though I know I am. Take today, for example...

I walked 50 laps (backwards, forwards, & side-to-side) as fast as I could in that friggin' pool & then did about 15 minutes of "noodle resistance" work. (I take 2 of those foam noodle things & use them to work out my arms by pressing them down into the water in front & in back of me, then hook them on my legs & do the same in various positions to strengthen my legs & knees. It's all great stuff to strengthen your core cuz you really have to use those tummy muscles with every single move.) Today's workout lasted a little over an hour, but I didn't really feel any different. I didn't feel tired or sore or anything after I was done. In fact, I felt more energized, which I guess is a good thing, but I'm not used to that. I'm used to being SO friggin' tired after every workout that all I want to do is take a nap.

At least I have proof that, even though I don't feel like I'm doing anything, whatever it is I'm doing is working because the muscles in my legs are finally starting to become visible! Maybe soon I'll get my nice legs back.

I'm kinda dreading tomorrow's workout. It's "hill day" again. We get to do a 4 mile total run & do several hills at Shepherd & several rounds at the parking garage. Here's hoping the sun decides to be a no-show around 6:30 pm. *crosses fingers*

Ups, downs, & lots of hills

2007-07-14T11:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Life's been a bit crazy these days. Training is going ok. Still having a lot of ups & downs. My short runs have been great, averaging a pace of about 14:20 per mile, which makes me VERY happy. However, my last 2 long runs sucked. Last week was 10 miles. I made the mistake of not eating anything before the run (I wasn't feeling too good & the idea of eating anything made me want to puke). By the time I got to the park I was starving. Thankfully one of the mentors had some bananas so I grabbed a quick piece (barely 1/2 a banana) right before I started. I was doing pretty good for the 1st 8 miles, keeping up my power walk, going at a good, constant pace (about 15:00-15:15 per mile) Then I hit the wall. The sun started to come out & I felt the energy completely drain from my body. I strolled almost all of the last 2 miles. Once I got back to the park, I forced myself to race walk again. I felt so nauseous when I finished. I didn't feel human again until after I had a big breakfast.

Today was supposed to be 8 miles, but we also did LOTS of hills, so the total mileage ended up being a little more than 9. Thankfully there was no sun today, but good GAWD was it ever humid. The only breeze came from the cars driving by. Ugh! I felt like I was running in quicksand the entire time. I just couldn't seem to find my stride. My time was HORRIBLE! My pace was about 17 minutes per mile. *pukes* That is unacceptable!! I did better the week before when I was going on a practically empty stomach. I'm so mad at myself. Next week HAS to be better.

I worry that I won't be able to improve enough to do the full marathon. I don't want to go all the way to San Francisco & NOT do all 26.2 miles, but right now I worry that even with an early start, I won't make the time cut-off. I really need to step it up in my training & lose more weight. So far I've lost about 10 lbs. & about an inch from my waist & from my chest (I haven't measured any other parts). But it's just not good enough.

I hate it when I get down like this. But maybe it'll be the kick in the pants I need. We'll see.

Rich foods, running, & the Police

2007-06-26T22:21:00.000-05:00

*Note to self*

Don't go to The Melting Pot & gorge yourself on yummy, uber rich foods & fancy Cosmopolitans the night before you're going to do sprints.

Oy.

It's all my friend, Lori's fault for having a birthday & wanting to celebrate it by having a special "Girl's Night". I'll have to admit, it was good times. But this morning & pretty much all of today, my tummy wasn't very pleased. I was hoping I'd feel better by track practice, but no such luck. But I sucked it up & did the 1/2 mile sprints with the rest of the gang, and you know what? I actually did really good! In fact, I'd run almost as fast as I'd done 2 weeks previously when we did 1/4 mile sprints. I was only about 5 seconds slower. I was really surprised! Imagine how good I could've done if I didn't feel like total crap. This is encouraging. :)

The real test will be this Saturday because Friday night is the Police concert so I already know I'm going to go into that long run (8 miles this week) on VERY little sleep. But there's absolutely no way I'm gonna miss the Police. It's the Police! Nuff said! :)

Background info

2007-06-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

I realized with that last post I mentioned Meredith & Emily having cancer & Kelly's dad dying & you (the whole 2 of you that read this) probably have no idea what I'm talking about. Here's the background info on that.

Meredith: She is the sister of one of my best friends (& former roomate), Evan. A little over 3 weeks ago, she was diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Oddly enough, that diagnosis was wonderful news, as they originally thought she had liver cancer (the 1st tumor they found was on her liver), which would have been an absolute death sentence for her. However, since it's "only Lymphoma", she has about a 65% chance. We're very optimistic. It helps that she is one hell of a fighter. She just started chemo @ MD Anderson about a week or so ago. I am running the Nike Women's Marathon in her honor.

Kelly's dad: Kelly has been my best friend since we were 14 (over 20 years!). I spent pretty much all of my free time from the age of 15-18 & any time I was home from college w/ her at her dad's house, where she lived. Well, the same day Meredith was diagnosed w/ Lymphoma, Kelly's dad was diagnosed with end-stage lung cancer. By the time it was discovered, it was too late. The doctors gave him 2 weeks to 6 months to live. He lasted 3 weeks. :(

Emily: My Team in Training coach & the team's second Mom. A little while back she'd been having hip pains. It kept getting worse so she went to the dr. for an MRI. They found lesions on the bone. Eventually, after many tests, the final diagnosis was bone cancer. Quite a kick in the pants, especially since she had already survived breast cancer at least 15 years ago. Even though she's going thru chemo & needs crutches to walk, she still shows up every single Saturday to coach the team. She is quite possibly the toughest lady I know. She's still signed up for the Nike Women's Marathon & is supposed to train with us, but until she's healthy & can run again, each & every one of us on the team are running for her.

Speaking of Nike... if you would like to help me out with my fundraising for this event, please visit my TNT website & make a donation. THANK YOU!!!!

Keeping it up

2007-06-21T19:58:00.001-05:00

I'm almost afraid to say this, but things are still looking good. These last few runs I've done have been really consistant. I seem to have my pace per mile down to about 15:10 to 15:15 which is a big improvement from when I started a few months ago. Before I could barely keep it under 16 mins/mile. If I continue to get stronger & lose more weight (I think I've dropped about 8-10 lbs now), I'm hoping I can get my time down to about 14:30. That would be fantastic for me.

As much as I absolutely DESPISE the heat, it seems to kinda be working for me. Maybe all that heat is keeping my muscles looser. Who knows? It could be a whole different story when it's late August/early September & I'm running double-digit miles in 100º temps. But at least I'm pretty much guaranteed temps that are at least 20 degrees cooler in San Francisco on race day.

Speaking of San Fran... I must say that I'm really glad Coach Dan is making us do so many hills. That's the one thing that was lacking in my previous training periods & it really hurt me (particularly in San Diego last year). Dan has us doing the hills at Shepherd &/or multiple runs of the 5 story parking garage in all of our long runs, plus every other Tuesday night we do a 3 mile run plus at least 3 runs of the parking garage. (I'm sure the # of times we do the garage will increase as the season progresses. We started out @ 1 & are up to 3 now.) I'm actually surprising myself at how well I'm taking the hills. Since I can't really run down them (too much jarring on the ole spine) I'm really tackling them going up, giving it all I've got. I may be slow going up them now, but I have no doubt I'll get faster. I already have a little bit so far. I still have 4 months left to get even better.

I'm kinda surprising myself at how optimistic I've been about this training season. Maybe I'm just taking it more seriously this time around, what with Meredith & Emily having cancer now. Sadly, my best friend's dad lost his 3 week battle with cancer & died this past Saturday. I thought of him on that last pass on the parking garage run on Tuesday night when I came *this close* to stopping. I said to myself "NO! You can't stop! Think of Kelly & all she's going through now that her dad is gone. Do it for them!!" It really helped. I've got to keep going. It's all I can do.

*side note*

I thought it was kind of ironic that at the very moment Kelly's dad died of cancer, I was at Biba's having breakfast with cancer survivor & fellow marathoner, Jonathan. I guess in a way it all comes full circle, eh?

Aaawwww YEAH!!!

2007-06-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

I swear, tonight was the hottest night yet. It poured rain right before I left for the park & by the time I got there, the rain had ended & there was steam... actual STEAM coming off the road. OY!! However, maybe all this friggin' heat is actually good for me because tonight at track practice I KICKED ASS! We did 1/4 mile sprints & my total pace per mile was 13:39!! Sweet!! I couldn't believe I was able to keep up the same pace every single 1/4 mile. Only one was slower & it was only by about 4 seconds. The rest were all almost identical (only 10th of seconds off). I feel GREAT!!! :)

Now that's more like it!

2007-06-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

Today's long run: 6 miles.

I only checked my watch once the entire time I was out there & that was at the 1/2 way point. At that moment, I'd been out there for just a hair over 45 minutes. I couldn't believe it! I figured there was no way I could keep that pace up for the rest of the way but dammit, I was gonna try. I refused to look at my watch the entire rest of the way back to the park. When I got to that last 1/4 mile, I kept chanting to myself "You can do it! Just PLEASE be no more than 1:36:00. PLEASE be no more than 1:36:00!! You can do it! You can do it! Only a few steps more to go!" I didn't look at anyone on the trail. I just stared at the ground in front of me, concentrated on my breathing & my form, tried to ignore the river of sweat running down my entire body (good GAWD it's hot out there!!) & just kept on going. When I finally got to the finish I looked at my watch.

1:31:06

I couldn't believe it! I threw my arms up in the air & said "YES!!!" I'm sure people looked at me funny but I didn't care. After a week of terrible runs, I finally made progress. It felt great! And my body feels great. My back was only sore in the beginning, but that's always how it goes. Once I'm about a mile or 2 in, I'm loosened up & the pain goes away. Let's hope I can keep it up. :)

Highs, lows & a need for anger management

2007-06-07T20:45:00.001-05:00

Again, I apologize for not posting in so long. I'm not even sure how many people still read this thing. I'm thinking it's only a couple. So for those brave few of you that still check this here blog, here's a little post for you.

Training has been going ok so far. I've had some highs & lows. The lows are mostly just me being disappointed in myself for not doing better. I'm so competative with myself & when I don't do as well as I think I should, I tend to beat myself up over it. I keep trying to tell myself "remember... 10 months ago you couldn't even walk!" But to that I usually just say "yeah... TEN friggin' months! You should be better by now!"

I know. I'm bad.

The worst is when I'm out there "running", thinking I'm doing great. Then I come home, map out the route I just ran, then look at my time & realize I was slooooooowwwwwww. Today was one of those days. I just got back from a quick run thru the neighborhood. Just a week ago I ran a similar route, thinking it wasn't very far, but when I mapped it when I got home I saw it was much further than I thought. I had the best time I've had in what seems like forever: avg. of 14:40 per mile. WALKING! I was thrilled! So today I decided to take that route & add to it. Again, I didn't map it out beforehand. I just played it by ear. I started out a little slow but quickly picked up the pace. I felt like I was doing great... keeping my pace steady & going strong. When I got home & stopped my watch, I'd been out there for 49 mins. I was excited to see just how far I'd gone. I was SO disappointed to find out it was only 3.02 miles. That means I went from 14:40 per mile to 16:16 per mile. I was LIVID! How could that be? I felt like I was going so much faster. I was in the friggin' ZONE! Hell, I did better on Saturday when I went 5 miles (15:50/mi). GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

This is me... kicking myself.

Maybe that parking garage* I ran on Tuesday did more of a number on my legs than I thought. I don't know. All I know is that I'm pissed & want a "do over". Unfortunately I'm too tired. So instead I'll take a cold bath, then shower & go to bed. Maybe I'll feel better about it tomorrow.

Yeah. Doubt it.

(* Btw... I did great w/ that parking garage. I was able to go full speed up all 6 or 7 levels twice, & of course the down part was easy. Plus, I had to run about 1.5 miles to the garage, then another 1.5 miles back to my car. It didn't take me nearly as long as I thought it would, & I even walked back to my car pretty damn slowly. Definitely need to do that at least once a week to strengthen my legs.)

Take THAT!!! :)

2007-06-03T13:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in forever. Life is crazy.

I just have to brag for a second... today is the Rock & Roll Marathon in San Diego. A kid that I have grown to love & adore over the past year... 18 year old Jonathan Nitsch... my former honored patient who for over 2 years battled Lymphoma & almost 1 year ago today was declared cancer free... just finished the Rock & Roll Marathon with a time of 4:56:51.

Take THAT cancer!!!

This is me.... BEAMING with pride. :)

6 years

2007-04-28T00:56:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I almost forgot.

How could I let myself forget? I feel like such a horrible person. Dave deserves more respect than that.

Ironically, I was at a Team in Training fundraiser when I remembered.

I miss him.

2 Steps forward...

2007-04-17T22:27:00.000-05:00

...3 steps back.

The 8 mile long run 2 Saturdays ago went surprisingly well. The run was through River Oaks (which I always love) & the weather was SUPER cold, which totally energized me. It was also fun to watch a makeshift Easter bunny (aka a guy on a bike) dropping Easter eggs throughout the neighborhood. Apparently the mass drop-off point was the Rose Garden because there were colorful eggs everywhere there! It wasn't long before I saw a group of runners come up to the area, pick up the eggs, & proceed to throw & smash them on their friends' heads, causing the colorful confetti inside to explode all over the place. It became a game of cat & mouse with them. It was fun to watch & made me forget about the fact that I was on my longest run in about 7-8 months.

About 2/3 of the way through the "run" (ok, so it's just a walk) my body wanted to run SO badly, but of course, I couldn't. So I tried to see if I could figure out a way to run without actually running. And by golly, I did it! I figured out how to do a race walk! It was much faster than my regular walk, but didn't have the jarring on my body that running does. My last 2 miles were 15 minutes each, which was a HUGE improvement. I was SO excited & felt I was really on my way to getting back on track.

Then came this past weekend. Mileage for this past Saturday was 10 miles. I was a bit nervous about it because I wasn't sure if my body could hold up that long, but I was determined to try. The route this time was to downtown, then back to the park via the trails through Eleanor Tinsley Park along Memorial. For the 1st few miles my legs felt like lead weights. I couldn't get up to my race walk... I just had no energy. Finally, about 3 miles in, the energy kicked in & I was able to sustain the race walk. My time for the 1st 4 miles wasn't as bad as I thought so I was still feeling positive. Then came the trails.

I'd never run the trails along Memorial before & actually felt like I was doing very well. I was able to keep up my race walk almost the entire time, only having to slow down to a regular walk a few times. All the mud slowed me down, but I didn't think it was that bad. I didn't look at my watch again until the last water stop (about 8 miles into the run) & I was shocked at how slow I seemed to be. I convinced myself that the coaches had lied to us about the mileage & it was really 11 or 12 miles, not 10. If that was the case, then I was doing very well. However, it wasn't the case. Actual mileage was 10.5 miles. I was SO pissed at myself! I couldn't believe how slow I was. I mean, it didn't FEEL slow. I thought I was making such good time. To find out that I wasn't was so shocking to me. I was beating myself up about it all weekend.

To make matters worse, apparently doing that race walk for such a long period of time after never having done it before wasn't exactly the best thing for my body. My IT band, calves, & lower back muscles were SCREAMING in pain the next day. I got out the foam roller & my stick & tried to roll it all out. Good GOD I was crying in pain. I've been rolling my IT band & calved every day & they're better, but still very sore. Today was the 1st day I could walk without limping so I walked about 2 miles (slowly) to keep things loose.

I'm off to Florida this weekend to visit my grandmother & I was going to try to get in about 5 or 6 miles over there, but I think it would be best for me to not push it. My official training season for Nike begins in a few short weeks & I want to make sure I don't over-do it, so for now I think I'm going to stop walking on the roads & go back to walking in the pool. A friend is also giving me one of her bikes, so that should help, too. I just have to keep reminding myself... baby steps... baby steps...

It's Official...

2007-04-04T22:52:00.000-05:00

... I'm another year older.

AND... I have signed up for the Nike Women's Marathon!

TNT had an Alumni party last night as a way to introduce us to the joys of Nike (they even gave away a Tiffany bracelet!) After talking with the director & finding out there is an early start to the race, therefore extending the time limit from 6.5 hours to 8 hours, I decided to sign up for the full. I really, really, REALLY hope I can get strong enough to be able to do it, but at least I know if I don't feel I can go all 26.2 miles, I can at least do the 1/2 (the 1st 12 miles of the course is the same, then the 1/2 turns to the right & goes straight to the finish line) & still get that Tiffany necklace. :)

Kick-off is May 12 & the first practice is May 19. However, I plan to be back at practice this weekend. I've missed the last 2 long runs (I was in Dallas 1 weekend, & last weekend was my birthday extravaganza weekend) so I'm anxious to get back to it, especially knowing the temps will be back down to the 40's/50's.

Next week I'm going to look into hiring a trainer, too. I really need to lose weight, especially now that my back has been so bad, & I know how important exercise is to getting healthier, but honestly, I need someone to be on my ass about it, telling me what to do, or else it's just way too easy for me to stay on the couch & watch tv every day. So instead of using the extra money I'm making at the new job to buy a new couch or HD TV, I'm going to put it towards a trainer.

At least that's my plan. We'll see if I actually go through with it. (LOL!)

6 miles x's 2 & a little panic

2007-03-17T23:34:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday was the first real test of my abilities since my injury. After successfully completing 3 miles a few weeks ago & recovering from a very bad upper repsiratory infection, it was time to kick things up a notch & attempt 6 miles. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous. Thankfully I had my friend Carissa to keep me company. She was nice enough to stick by my side the entire time & go at my pace. I hadn't seen her in a while, so it was nice to catch up with what's been going on in her life, plus it kept my mind off the "run". I was surprised that my back didn't bother me at all & I was able to keep a steady pace the entire time. We were supposed to do 3 sets of hills at Shepherd & Memorial, but my legs & knee weren't in good enough shape to do more than one (I wasn't going to push it). In the end, I finished those first 6 miles in 1:37. Not great, but again, after not being able to walk to the corner, let alone around the block 7 months ago, I'm not going to complain.

Today was the 2nd attempt at 6 miles. My back had been a little sore from sleeping in an odd position the other day, but I was still determined to at least try. Two of our coaches were out of town so Ginny asked me to help out w/ the walkers (or should I say walker, since there was only 1 other than myself). We started out great, but very quickly, the woman I was with (Eva) started to get bad pains in her shins & had to stop every few steps to stretch. She hadn't done any warm-up so it was no surprise she was having trouble. The 1st mile was rediculously slow. After a while, she told me to just go on without her, that she would stay in the park & take her time, so I took off.

By the time I got around the loop at the park, I had a bad twinge in the lower right side of my back (near the top of my butt cheek). I almost decided to just go back to my car & end at 3 miles, but I stopped & stretched & strolled for a bit. After a short time, the pain went away & I got back up to full speed. I made it to Shepherd (& again, I skipped the hills) & made it back to the park with no further problems. Final time was 1:41. Again, not great, but faster than I thought it would be, given the slow start & my back problem.

I really, REALLY wish I could run again. Not being able to has been the real torture of getting back into training. I can't believe how much I miss it. When I'm walking, my body craves it. Plus, I feel like I'm not getting any real cardio excercise by just walking. After 6 miles I was barely breathing hard & except for the minor pain in my ass/lower back today, my muscles didn't feel any different. It's the end of the day & I'm not even stiff or sore.

I also hate that by not being able to run, it seriously limits how fast I can go. Today I was checking out the Nike Women's Marathon website & saw that there is a 6.5 hour time limit on the race & I started to have a minor panic attack. How the hell am I supposed to be able to walk a full marathon that fast? I think I'll just have to do the 1/2. But I don't want to. And I won't like it.

I want things back the way they were. :-\

Sick sick sick!

2007-03-02T23:05:00.000-06:00

Still no work-outs. I managed to develop a very nasty upper respiratory infection this week. Monday I thought it was just allergies, but by Tuesday, I knew it was going to be worse than that. I even missed the last 2-1/2 days of work (something I absolutely hate to do in a new job, but my boss made me go home). It has NOT been fun. I had a high fever, chills, all over body aches, zero energy, non-stop coughing, & today was the 1st day I didn't cringe when I had to swallow my own saliva because it no longer felt like I was swallowing rusty razor blades. I'm still having trouble breathing but I have some super strong antibiotics & super strong cough medicine (with codeine!) helping me with that. The dr. told me if I still have trouble breathing in 3-4 days, to come back for a chest xray to make sure I didn't develop pneumonia. Here's hoping it doesn't come to that.

Long "Run" #2...

2007-02-24T19:02:00.000-06:00

... didn't happen.

My back was bothering me all day yesterday at work so I decided then that I wouldn't chance it by doing the 3 miles today. So instead I went out w/ some friends to celebrate my friend, Dawn's birthday. I may not have run 3 miles today, but I sure as hell danced enough last night to make up for it. My legs hurt more last night after all that dancing than they ever did after a long run.

I think I may make dancing one of my cross-training exercises. It'll probably be a hell of a lot more fun than riding a stationary bike or the elliptical.

3 Miles & a Wedding

2007-02-21T23:01:00.000-06:00

(Sorry I'm late in posting this.)

This past Saturday was my first "long run" in 6 months & ya know what? I didn't die! HOORAY! It was freezing cold, which was perfect for me... it kept me motivated to keep on moving. I was a bit nervous, but that didn't last long. I started out strong & ended strong. My back was a little stiff when I first started, but as I got going, it loosened up & I felt great. My only problem was that I just wasn't satisfied with my speed while walking. I wanted to run SO. DAMN. BAD!!! I can't believe how hard it was to not run. I kept thinking "Dammit! You know if you ran right now, you'd finish SO must faster!" But I also knew if I ran, I likely wouldn't be able to even walk later. Talk about frustrating!!! I never thought I'd miss being able to run so much.

I tried not to look at my watch during the "run" because I knew it would depress me. When I first started, I thought if I could just do the 3 miles in about 45 minutes, I'd be happy. After about a mile, I figured I was going too slow to accomplish that, so I told myself I'd be happy w/ 50 minutes. After about 2 miles, I figured my time would be about an hour & it was pissing me off!! So you can imagine how happy I was when I finished the 3 miles, looked at my watch & saw a time of 46:39. It's not the best I've ever done, but I figure after all the pain & shit I've been through with this back injury, that was pretty damned good. This Saturday I'll do another 3 miles & I'll be shooting for that 45 minute mark. *crosses fingers*
After practice I attended the apparel clinic at Finish Strong Sports & mingled with the new group of TNT'ers. I met a woman doing Alaska & had a fun time reliving my 1st marathon w/ her. It got her all excited. (ILANA - I told her about our experience w/ the cancer survivor at mile 25 & she got goose bumps!)

After clinic, it was time to go home, shower, & rest up for the big event later that day...

CASSIE & MANNY'S WEDDING!

It was a simply beautiful ceremony with lots of laughs (the best kind of ceremony IMO). Cassie was radiant in a gorgeous strapless, lace covered dress w/ a lavender ribbon & Manny was dashing in his tux. I didn't get weepy until the reception when I saw them dance their first dance. Seeing the way Cassie looked at Manny... *sigh*. I want that.

The reception had a fun Mardi Gras theme, complete w/ custom made Mardi Gras beads, pralines, & a New Orleans jazz trio. Our table was on the 2nd level with a black iron balcony overlooking the dance floor. It made for a great vantage point of the party & some good teasing to the crowd below with our beads (we never did get anyone to show us their boobs). After a few cocktails, I eventually made it out onto the dance floor & proceded to boogie til I thought my feet would fall off (dancing is not easy in 3" heels) & ended up making some new friends. A good time was had by all. :)

The best part of the night was just seeing how happy Cassie & Manny were. I'm so stinkin' happy for those two & I wish them a long, LONG happy, fun-filled life together. CHEERS!

Cassie & Manny at the altar.

Mr. & Mrs. Mondragon!

HRB's clean up good! Joe, Jon, & Waverly

Francesca (is that right Holden?), Holden, & Vic

Cutting the cake

Cutting the Groom's cake (Oreo cheesecake... YUM!)

Back with a vengance!

2007-02-18T00:05:00.000-06:00

Not only did I sucessfully complete my first 3 mile "run" in 6 months today, I also danced the night away in 3" heels.

The only pain I'm experiencing is in the balls of my feet. OW!!! (Seriously, why can't they make sexy high heeled shoes that are actually COMFY? Is that too much to ask?)

More to come in the morning when I'm more sober.

In the mean time...

CONGRATULATIONS CASSIE & MANNY!!!!

Starting over

2007-02-16T20:58:00.000-06:00

After scrounging around in my messy closet, I finally found my running shoes. I haven't worn them in 6 months.

6 months!

Well, tomorrow they'll get to touch the dirt path of Memorial Park once again.

That's right... I'm back in training once again.

My back has been doing much better (*knock on wood*) so I decided to start training again with the TNT group this season. First practice is at 7:00 am. I'm gonna start slow, only doing the 1/2 marathon mileage on the long runs & see how things go. My goal is to be strong enough to be able to start training for a full marathon by the time the fall season starts in May. I REALLY want to do the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco in October. Hopefully everything will go well. I'm just a bit nervous. It's going to be SO hard to no run. But if I want to continue to have feeling in my legs, I have to get used to just walking. Thankfully I can walk pretty damn fast, but it's just not the same, ya know?

I just have to keep reminding myself of the hell I went through last summer/fall & hopefully that will keep me on track.

Wish me luck!

2007 Chevron Houston Marathon Recap: Spectator Version

2007-01-14T22:37:00.000-06:00

I know I've run marathons & half marathons before, but I never knew how exhausting cheering during a marathon could be. After almost 6 hours, my feet hurt, my legs hurt, my back ached, & I screamed myself hoarse. But it was all worth it.

Carmen & I set up on the median on Montrose near Westheimer between mile 8 & 9. It didn't take long before the wheel chair participants & the elite runners were flying by. It was very cool to see the elite runners. I've never had this vantage point before, as I'm usually WAAAAAAAAAY behind them in the race.

Wheel Chair racer. He was hauling serious ass!

That's Ryan Hall. He finished the 1/2 marathon in 59:43 & broke the U.S. record. This was the only semi-clear shot I got of him. He was too damn fast!

That's Feyisa Tusse in the green singlet. He won the marathon in 2:11:39. The 2 guys in front of him came in 3rd & 4th.

Carmen & I stayed there cheering until the last TNT person came by on their way back towards the finish. We're both the slow ones in our group so we know how much it means to have someone there to cheer for you, especially after all the faster people have gone on ahead & the rest of the crowd has dissipated. We didn't want to leave anyone out there alone. Our "You are ALL Kenyan's to us!" sign was a HUGE hit. (I wish I'd taken a pic of it.) We had a cooler full of water & gatorade, a bunch of saltly snacks, & various first aid items ready & waiting for anyone that needed it.

Carmen ready to cheer.

It was great to see the faces of my friends when they saw us on the sidelines, as well as the faces of the strangers running the race who obviously needed that extra "push" to go on. The best was the look on my friend, Lori's face when she saw me & heard me screaming at the very top of my lungs "RUN, HOOKER!!!! RUN!!!!!!" (We call each other "Hooker". It's our thing.) Her husband (& my former roommate), Evan was running right behind her (in full "Rockets Rowdy" gear) humming the "Chariots of Fire" theme song the whole time. It was awesome. :)

The sign I made for Lori.

Lori "Hooker!" Johnson. The blur behind her in the ref. gear is her hubby, Evan.

Jilly Bean!

Felix & the flag at mile 8/9. He carries this flag in every single race he does.

Coach Ginny & fellow TNT'er.

After mile 8/9 we moved to Memorial near mile 23 where we met up with Adrienne. She had finished the 1/2 & was hanging out with some friends, drinking Bloody Mary's, & cheering. We got to see lots of the same faces we saw at mile 8/9 & I saw a few others I'd missed before, like Edwin & Jon. We stayed there until the last group of people came through & the police escorted everyone off the road. Some of the last people looked like they were really hurting so we cheered even louder for them. I knew that feeling all too well... in so much pain, yet so close to finishing that you don't want to give up. One of the last TNT gals came by, looking exhausted, but so happy to see us & she said "isn't anyone going to run me in?" Adrienne immediately dropped her bags & Bloody Mary w/ me & said "I will!" Sure enough, she ran her all the way to the finish line. I have no doubt that girl appreciated that more than anything.

That's what I love about this group. We don't leave anyone behind.

In all it was a great day. Definitely worth losing my voice over. :)

Carmen, Adrienne, Jill, & me near mile 23.

Felix & his flag again. 23 miles & still going strong!

Edwardo's ass.

Houston Ready

2007-01-13T20:25:00.000-06:00

Well, I've got a bunch of mini bottles of gatorade, salty snacks, signs & jingle bells (my noise-maker of choice) all ready to go for the Houston Marathon tomorrow morning. My friend & fellow TNT mentor, Carmen & I will be on Montrose near Westheimer cheering on our TNT teammates & all the other runners so look for us out there. I wish I was running the race myself, but since I can't I figure I can at least go out there & support my friends, come rain or shine (& from the looks of the weather report, it'll be raining & getting colder as the morning goes on).

My very good friend, Lori is running her first 1/2 marathon ever & she's doing it with Team in Training. I am SO proud of her. She's always been a great supporter of mine & I am thrilled to be able to support her in this adventure.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU!!!!

Run, Rob! RUN!

2006-12-11T05:41:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to my friend, Rob for finishing the White Rock Marathon in Dallas yesterday! His time was 4:15:11. He cut almost a FULL HOUR off his previous marathon time (San Antonio, 2005, 5:13:00)! WAY TO GO, ROB!!! :D

CONGRATULATIONS!

2006-11-05T16:33:00.000-06:00

To my friends Adrienne & Ginny for completing the ING New York City Marathon today!!! Looks like they ran the entire race side-by-side & finished in 6:18:45. Way to go ladies! I'm so bummed I couldn't be there to cheer you on. I bet y'all had a blast!

I'm worried about another friend, Rusty. There are no updates on him after the 15K mark. I hope he's ok. (He's the one who's inspired me to become a super walker. He's had major back surgery & can WALK a marathon in under 5 hours.)

It runs in the family

2006-10-22T13:58:00.000-05:00

Some of my friends who are running Chicago right now will also be running the New York City Marathon in 2 weeks. While looking at the race website trying to find out if I can get real time updates, I noticed a link that said "Results Archive 1970-2004" so I decided to see if I could find my brother, Brian's times. I knew he'd been a decent runner but until just now, I had no idea how good he really was:

Year	First Name	Sex/ Age	Official Time	Pace/ Mile
1986	BRIAN	M25	3:06:22	7:06
1987	BRIAN	M26	3:04:59	7:03

I will only see times like that in my dreams.

Chicago!

2006-10-22T09:55:00.000-05:00

It's a tad bit nippy in Chicago today & several of my friends are out there right now running the Chicago Marathon. I'm getting updates on several of them on my computer & it appears that 2 of my coaches are kicking ass so far:

Anne B. 01:29:50 (net) @ 15K. Pace 9:38. Predicted 04:12:34. By The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon

Ginny H. 01:31:53 (net) @ 15K. Pace 9:51. Predicted 04:18:14. By The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon

Run girls! RUN!!

*UPDATE*

My former mentee from the Houston Marathon, Julie, just made it to the 1/2 way point in Chicago. She has maintained the exact same speed the entire race. She finished Houston in 5:35:01. Today she is on pace to finish Chicago in 4:26:59. I am in awe! GO JULIE!!!

*UPDATE #2*

Julie finished in 4:50:05. I'm not sure if that's her gun time or chip time, but still, how awesome is that?

Ginny finished in 4:55:28. I have a feeling she went back to help out the other TNT runners. Not bad for a "practice run" for NY in 2 weeks, eh?

I haven't received word yet on Anne. Again, I'm sure she's out there helping the other TNT runners.

*UPDATE #3*

Not sure why I didn't get the "real time" update, but Anne finished in 4:30:44. AWESOME!!

Adrienne finished in 5:39:25. Again, AWESOME! Especially since I know she's had hardly any time to train properly this season. This, too is her "practice run" for NY in 2 weeks.

Jill's finish time isn't posted yet, so she must still be out there running her heart out.

*FINAL UPDATE*

Jill finished in 6:13:41. YAY JILLY-BEAN!!!

I'm so proud of these girls! :)

Progress

2006-10-14T00:16:00.000-05:00

After my trip, my back was pretty bad but now (I almost hate to say it because I may jinx it) my back is feeling a lot better. I'm back in the pool doing my walking (despite how INCREDIBLY boring it is), I'm back on the nerve drug (I'd stopped taking it for about 10 days because of the side effects) & I've gone back to the chiro. I can't afford to see her 3 x's a week any more, so for now it'll just be a once a week maintanence thing. Hopefully I won't have another relapse & I'll continue to get better & better. *crosses fingers*

Several of my friends with the TNT gang are headed to Chicago next week for the marathon & I'm totally bummed that I can't be there with them. 2 weeks after that, a few are headed to NYC for the marathon there, as well. Again... bummed. I can't even go to cheer them on. This blows.

I need to make sure I don't do anything else to mess things up even more than they already are. I want to be able to start training again by the beginning of the year. Next year's marathon goal is the Nike Women's Marathon in San Franciso next October. I want that Tiffany necklace, dammit!!! But more than anything else, I just want to feel good about myself again.

Bad Dreams

2006-10-08T19:08:00.000-05:00

I keep having dreams that I'm in a marathon & I'm running like the wind, with no pains of any kind & no shortness of breath.

Then I wake up.

That's just cruel.

Long time no see

2006-09-25T23:27:00.000-05:00

Last night I got back from a 4 day vacation in Charlottesville, VA. It was great fun. My friends are awesome & I laughed so. damn. much with them. I met some new friends & also got to see old friends I hadn't seen in years. I even saw Sissy Spacek at a local greasy spoon & talked to her husband. How random is that? The whole weekend was much needed.

The one down side was my back. It bothered me the entire trip (I blame the super tiny & EXTREMELY uncomfortable plane that was trapped in for 3 hours on my way to DC). I tried not to let it ruin my time & for the most part, I was successful, but there were a few times when the pain got pretty bad & made for not so fun times (like when I was at the Dave Matthews Band concerts Friday & Saturday night & couldn't dance my ass off like I normally would & actually had to sit down several times because the pain was too much). But other than that & a minor car accident Sunday morning before heading home, the trip was awesome. My friends & I are hoping to make this an annual trip.

Unfortunately all the traveling did a number on me & by the time I got home, the pain in my back was much worse (my whole right side is constantly throbbing & sitting & walking hurt. I ended up staying home from work today because the pain was just too much. I rested the entire day & constantly put ice packs on it to help with the pain. It's still pretty painful right now, but I guess I just have to grin & bare it.

I'm ready for this pain to be over & done for good!!

Same ole, same ole

2006-09-17T21:28:00.000-05:00

Nothing really new to report. I'm still plucking along. I had a minor set back the other day when I slipped & jerked my back. Thankfully ice, rest & a visit to the chiro did the trick for the most part. I've been having pain in my right side consistantly now for at least a week, some days worse than others. Just when I think I'm almost all better, something happens to prove me wrong. It's very frustrating. I just want to be back to being able to do what I used to. Plus, I really want to start working out again. As soon as I get the ok from the dr. I think I'm going to start working with a personal trainer. I need to get a lot stronger & lose some weight & I don't see me doing this alone. Since I've been back to work I've been eating better & lost a little bit of the weight that I had gained back when I was totally out of commission, but I really need to be working out in order to do any real good. And let me tell you, that pool walking is SOOOOOOO boring. It was fine at first but now.... *snore*. I can't stand it. I miss being out there with my friends. I feel like I'm missing out on so much & I don't really fit in any more since I can't do the things they can do.

*sigh*

Is it any wonder why I'm feeling so depressed these days?

9/11 (+1)

2006-09-12T17:51:00.000-05:00

I know I'm a day late with this post, but oh well.

September 11, 2001:

I was working the early shift at my old job & my boss & I were the only ones in the office when he received a phone call. I remember him yelling "HOLY SHIT!!! ARE YOU SHITTING ME??" & then he yelled out to me "Terrorists just flew 2 planes into the World Trade Center!!" We ran into the kitchen where we had a small tv w/ rabbit ears & we turned it on to whatever channel had the least snow in the picture. We couldn't believe our eyes. They replayed the footage of the 2nd plane flying into tower 2 & I was speechless. I immediately thought of my brother, Mike who worked in Manhattan. I knew some times if he was running late, he'd take the subway to the World Trade Center & change trains there in order to get to work on time. I was hoping & praying that he wasn't running late that day. I tried to call him, but of course all the lines were down. I called my parents & they'd already tried to call him, with the same results. When the towers fell I burst into tears. I was panicked the whole rest of the day until I finally heard from my mom that afternoon that Mike was ok.

I spent the rest majority of the work day & the whole rest of the night glued to the tv. I couldn't not watch. And I couldn't stop crying. I cried for days & days & even today, every time I see those towers fall, I still cry. I will never be able to wrap my head around the supposed reason why people could do such an incredibly horrible thing. I don't want to understand.

New York City has always held a special place in my heart. Below is a journal entry I made a few years ago about my last visit before the attacks:

When I was a kid living in New Jersey, every once in a while, my family would make the trek into New York City. I remember going to see the Statue of Liberty & my parents making us all walk up the steps to the top. I remember going to the observation deck of the Empire State Building & also into the World Trade Center Twin Towers to look out onto the city. However, during all the times I've visited New York City as an adult, I'd never really done any of the the touristy things while there. This year, however, was going to be different.

It was my 1st trip back to NY since being there for the funeral of my BIL a few months back & I was determined to make this trip a fun one. After spending a few days in Long Island visiting my sister & her son, I took the train into the city to visit my brother, Mike. Normally we'd end up going to the Tckts booth in the World Trade Center to see if we could score some decent tickets to a Broadway show. However, we decided this time it would be fun to be "tourists" for once, so Mike bought us tickets for the 2 hour circle line Harbor Lights Evening Cruise around Manhattan. It was a drizzly rainy day in NYC & this was supposed to be a sunset cruise around the city. By the time we got to the peir, the rain had stopped & were on our way to see the city in all its glory. As we pulled out of the dock we passed the Twin Towers. I quickly took a photo of them & then handed my camera to Mike to take photo of me with the towers directly behind me.

Even though it was a bit too cloudy for a sunset, the city was still so beautiful. As it got dark out, all the lights of the city became alive & it took my breath away. We listened to the tour guide over the PA system talk about the history of the city, the buildings, the bridges, & the people of New York. After the 1st hour of the tour, the boat turned around at the Statue of Liberty & headed back to the peir. Since there was nothing new for the guide to say, they simply pumped jazz music through the PA as Mike & I stood on the very back of the boat, looking out at the Statue of Liberty & that beautiful city. As we neared closer to the end of our tour, we came face to face w/ the Twin Towers again. By then, the clouds were slowly dissapating & the moon was rising directly over the towers. With the jazz music playing in the background, the lights of the city, and that beautiful moon, I felt like I was in the middle of Woody Allen film. Despite being a little wet, it was perfect. We disembarked from the boat & walked around the city a little before stopping at this wonderful Italian restaurant for dinner. Mike & I talked & laughed & had a wonderful time. I was so happy. After all the years Mike & I fought as kids, I loved that we could now enjoy each other's company so much & have days like this. It was my favorite trip to NYC so far. I couldn't wait to come back. I'd taken at least a dozen photos on that circle line tour alone, but the only 2 that came out were the ones of the World Trade Center Twin Towers.

3 weeks after those photos were taken, the Twin Towers were gone & thousands of people lost their lives in the attacks of September 11, 2001. I stood in the tiny kitchen by my office & watched in disbelief as terrorists flew 2 airplanes into the buildings & I watched them fall like a house of cards.

How could this be? I was just there.

I cried for days & days & I mourned the losses this country endured.

But I also considered myself blessed. I got to see those buildings one last time, up close & personal. I got to experience New York City... all of it... the people, the life, the magic that is that city... in all its glory. I will never forget that wonderful day in August of 2001.

Ever since then, those 2 photos have hung on my wall as a constant reminder of how fragile life is.

(Unfortunately I lost the disc that had the original photos on it so these are photos of the photos on my wall.)

Feeling Blue

2006-09-02T16:15:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday & this morning I went to help out the Fall TNT group by manning a few water stops. It was the first time I'd been back with the group since July 22. While it was so great to hang out with the gang again, it's just not the same as being out there with them. It made me very depressed.

I miss running. I miss it A LOT.

I sat there & watched all those people out there running & it just made my heart sink. With the start of marathon season, the city was packed with runners & I wanted SO badly to be out there with them. If you'd told me 2 years ago that I'd be feeling this way about running, I'd have said you were a f'ing loon. But here I am.

I HATE that I'm in this situation & I HATE knowing that the longer I'm away from it all, the harder it's going to be to get back into it. I made so much progress over the last year & now it's all gone to shit. I'm losing muscle tone & gaining weight & I'm angry a lot more than I used to be. I guess I never realized how much running helped calm & center me. It was a great outlet for my anger & frustrations & now that I don't have that any more, the feelings are intensifying.

The good news is that I'm getting better every single day. But for me it's not enough. My doctor keeps telling me "baby steps, Erin. Baby steps."

Fuck baby steps! I want to run dammit!!!! >:(

How I broke my back 2-3 times in 21 years

2006-08-28T22:13:00.000-05:00

This is mainly for Jill, since I started the story the other day at breakfast & never got around to finishing it, but who knows, the rest of y'all may get a kick out of it. Here is how I broke my back:

First time: I was 14 & it was 4th of July weekend. My parents were in Hawaii on vacation & I was staying at a friend's house (2 sisters, 1 & 3 years older than me). We were sneaking out in the middle of the night to go to a party at the oldest sister's boyfriend's house (her parents didn't approve of the boyfriend). Sneaking out involved climbing out a 2nd story window, then onto the roof below, then climbing down the tree next to the roof. I missed the tree & fell 2 stories, landing on my back. Hurt like a motherfucker! I remember the wind being completely knocked out of me & according to my friends, I was moaning very loudly (ya think?). I told them I thought I may have broken my back, but they said if I had, I'd be either dead or paralyzed. (Sounded right at the time) My friends carried me to the car, drove to the party (most painful car ride of my life!), loaded me up on aspirin & left me in a bed while they went downstairs & played quarters. I was in a shitload of pain (it hurt to breathe) & I cried. We got back to my friend's house around 5:00 am & I remember the only way I could sleep was on the floor with my legs up on the bed, & even then it was excruciating.

But still I figured I couldn't possibly have broken my back. So I went about my regular daily routine (which included carrying my rabbit's large cage down a flight of stares to clean it outside, then fill it up with new wood shavings & carry it back upstairs). But the pain never really subsided so after about 2 days, I told my brother Pete (who was home from college for the summer) that I had slipped & fallen a few days before & thought I may have really hurt my back. We called my parents in Hawaii to tell them & they said to make an appt. at the ortho for the day after they got home, which was about a week after the fall. My dad had hurt his foot in Hawaii & needed to see the ortho as well so we went together. After the x-rays, the dr. calling my dad into my exam room & told us that I had crushed 3 of my lower vertebrae & had compressed the discs. I still remember looking at the xrays & seeing all these tiny cracks all over the place. He said it was a miracle that I hadn't done any additional permanent damage in waiting so long to see a doctor. I spent the rest of the summer in a brace, laying flat on my back (I was only allowed to sit or stand for 15 minutes a day), then had 3-4 months of physical therapy. Good times. ;-)

To this day my parents don't know how I really broke it. I told them I was running thru the kitchen, slipped on a wet spot, feet went up from under me & BAM! Flat on my back. That lie came back to bite me in the ass later that winter. I was almost completely healed & running around like normal. Phone rang. I ran to answer it. I was wearing socks. Unfortunately my mom had been spray waxing the furniture that day & some of the wax had dripped onto the linoleum floor in the kitchen. I'm sure you can guess what happened next. Yup. I slipped, jacked up my back again & was back in PT for another month. Karma, baby. Of course it gave my original story more credibility. :)

2nd time: About 7 or 8 years ago, I was picking my dog, Moe up at my mom's. He was SO excited to see me that he jumped up on me & knocked me on my ass onto the hard terra-cotta tile floor (think Dino & Fred Flintstone & that's about you get). That was enough to snap the tip of my tail bone right off. Again... good times. The bone fragment is still in there.

Those are the 2 "official" breaks. I say "official" because they are actually documented by a doctor visit & xrays. However, I suspect that I actually broke it 3 times... the first time being when I was 12:

I was being a total brat & was roller skating at top speeds in the house (against my mom's wishes) & when I went from the carpeted hallway onto the tile floor of the kitchen, my feet completely went out from under me & I landed on my back. HARD. My mom thought I was faking (remember, she was pissed at me for disobeying her in the 1st place & I'd been a brat all day) & refused to help me up. I laid there all thru dinner, not able to get up, in terrible pain, my mom still thinking I was faking. After dinner she realized I wasn't faking & helped me to the couch. Again, we figured if I broke my back, I'd be paralyzed or dead, so she never took me to the dr. I missed about a week of school & remember going back to gym class & doing somersaults & hearing my back crackling. It was painful, but I never figured until years later that maybe, just maybe, I broke my back during that fall.

Is it any wonder why I'm having so many problems today?

Inside out

2006-08-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

Thursday I FINALLY had my meeting with the Orthopedist to look at the MRI I had 2-1/2 weeks prior. My regular ortho was on paternity leave so I saw his "back-up". Let me tell you, by the time I left that place, I was ready to kick someone in the balls.

My appt. was for 2:30 but I got there a little early (my friend had a dental appt at 2:00 & I dropped her off there first & then went to the ortho). The receptionist called me into the exam room at 2:45 & said the dr. would be with me in just a few minutes.

45 minutes later, not a single sole had come into that little room. For all they knew, I could've had a heart attack or seizure & died. I was pissed.

Meanwhile, my friend who was having her wisdom teeth taken out across town was done & was waiting for me to pick her up. I finally walked out of the exam room, went up to the receptionist & said "Exuse me! But just how much longer am I expected to wait?" She apologized & said the dr. would be with me in just a few minutes.

"That's what you said 45 minutes ago!"

15 minutes later, the dr. FINALLY showed up. He says hello & then says "so I see you're having some back problems. Do you think you might want to have an MRI?"

I give him a stare of disbelief & angrily say "I already HAD one. That's why I'm here!"

"Oh! Well, that makes sense."

So he hops on the computer & pulls up my MRI & starts looking at it, rotating the image of my spine (which looked pretty damn cool, by the way) left & right, up & down, & just said "hmmmm... mmmm-hmmmm... oooo.... Whoa! Well that's not good."

It's about this time that I was ready to kick him in the balls.

He finally began to explain to me what he was seeing. The 1st image was a full length view of my spine, from head to tail bone. You could very clearly the 3 disks that had blown out. This image I found on google shows normal disks & a herniated disk (I hope that link works). My MRI looked a lot like the one on the right, except add 2 more herniated disks on top of the one seen in that pic & my disks go out much further into the white are (spinal canal) where all the nerves are & all those nerves are being pinched like crazy. The worst disk is the bottom one. He also showed me a cross-section view (kinda like I'd been sliced in 1/2 with a meat slicer) that showed each individual vertebrae & you could plainly see the blown out disk material completely pressing on all the nerves. It did not look pretty.

The dr. told me to keep up w/ my physical therapy & gave me 2 new prescriptions: Mobic & Neurontin. Mobic is an anti-inflammatory & Neurontin is to help with the nerve pain. Apparently it was originally put on the market as an anti-seizure medicine, but was found to help people with nerve pain. Unfortunately it makes me you very sleepy so I kinda have to develop a tolerance for it. We'll see how it goes.

In the mean time, I'm feeling better today than yesterday (I had one of those 2 steps forward, 3 steps back kinda days) & can sit for longer periods of time. OH! And I can walk & turn my head at the same time. YIPPEE!!! However I can't walk very fast & do that at the same time. But ya know... baby steps.

Baby steps

2006-08-23T20:09:00.000-05:00

Slowly but surely, I'm getting better. I'm still in pain & I'm sure I will be for a while, but it's not as bad as it was.

My first day back to work was Monday & let me tell you... it was a BITCH! The work was easy & no biggie, but man oh MAN was I in a whole world of pain. By the time I was leaving to go home I could barely walk. I cringed with each teeny tiny step. Thank GOODNESS I had a chiro appointment that night. By the time I was done, I may have still been super sore, but I could walk a lot better.

I had another chiro appt. today & while I had those electrode massagers on my back I actually fell dead asleep! Now I know why they put that paper down on the table. It's to catch the drool of idiots like me. LOL! The dr. said she can tell I'm getting stronger by the way my back feels when she gives me my adjustments. Today I can actually walk normal sized steps (as opposed to the 90 year-old shuffle I've been doing for the past 2 weeks). WAH-HOOO!!! However, I must make absolutely certain that when I do, that I do not, under ANY circumstances move my head in any way, shape, or form. Otherwise... YEEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWW!!!!

Hopefully by next week I'll be able to turn my head. That would be SWEET! :)

In other news, Right now I'm attempting to make risotto for the first time in my life. Wish me luck!

I can

2006-08-18T11:35:00.000-05:00

My friend, Carissa emailed me a link to this video today. If anyone ever needs inspiration to keep going, this is the perfect video. It makes me that much more determined to get healthy again so I can get back out there racing with Team in Training.

Fare warning, the video will probably make you cry. Or maybe I'm just extra emotional these days.

*EDIT*

I did a little online research & found out that the father & son in the video are Dick & Rick Hoyt. Here is their story. It had me bawling again. Check out the rest of their website. What an amazing family.

Pool - Day 1

2006-08-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

Today I went to the gym & did 20 minutes of pool walking. The 1st 2 laps hurt a lot, but then my legs & back seemed to loosen up so the rest felt quite easy. I actually felt like I could go longer, but I remembered what my doctor told me... "baby steps!" I'm glad I didn't do any more because right now I am SUPER sore. What's weird is that it's not my back that's sore, but my hips & outer thighs. It kinda feels like my hips are out of their sockets. Hopefully the chiro can fix that tomorrow when I go back to see her.

After this "workout" I've decided to obey doctor's orders & not go to work at all this week. I'm still checking my emails about once a day, but that's all I'm going to do. It's just not worth it to risk undoing any of the good that's been done (& will be done) this week by sitting at a desk all day. I can actually sit for longer periods now, but I notice that my hips & upper buttock area are more sore when I get up & it makes it difficult to walk. And that's with sitting on a super soft couch. I haven't attempted actual chairs yet. Hopefully by Monday it won't be that bad.

This still all suck big fat hairy sweaty unwashed donkey balls, but I'm trying to not let it get me down.

Who'd have thought that I would actually miss working out? Crazy, ain't it?

Rehab: Day 1

2006-08-14T18:19:00.000-05:00

Today was my first appointment with the chriropracter. She was very nice & understanding & explained everything to me in detail as she went along. After a bad experience with a chiropracter about 15 years ago, I'd been scared of going back to one, but she made me feel very comfortable.

The first thing she did, after getting a very detailed history, was test me for mobility, which of course, I don't have a lot of. Then I got about 20 minutes of electric massage which felt fabulous. (I could've gone the whole day with those electrodes hooked up to my back.) Afterwards she gave my upper spine an adjustment & stretched my lower spine as best she could without causing pain. She then showed me some stretches to do every day for the next 6 weeks.

I was also instructed to not work for at least a week. Ummmm... yeah. That's probably not going to work out very well. I told her I'd stay home for the next 3 days & if I feel better by Thursday, I'll go to work. I have a feeling I'll only end up working that one day. Unfortunately for the injury I have, sitting at a desk all day is NOT a good thing & will make it harder for me to heal. I just need to make sure that I stand up & walk around at least every 15 minutes or else the pressure on my spine will take its toll.

Oh yeah... one more rule: no more running. "Running is your enemy."

I knew she was going to say that, but still, to actually hear it was not fun. Unfortunately she's right. Running is my enemy as far as my spine is concerned. If I want to be able to continue to move, I need to stop. However, she didn't say anything about walking. In fact, part of my rehab will include walking. Although for now it will be limited to walking in a pool. I was told to walk backwards & side to side in a pool 3 times a week for about 15-20 minutes each time, then work myself up to 6 times a week & an houreach time.

Right now I just wish I could walk to the corner & back in less than 20 minutes & take steps longer than a few inches.

Back injuries suck.

MRI results:

2006-08-12T11:55:00.000-05:00

There is mild superior endplate deformity at L2 and L3 vertebra without evidence of retropulsion or associated soft tissue paraspinal masses. The alignment is well maintained. There is evidence of disc desiccation at multiple levels particularly at L2-3 and L3-4 and to a lesser extent to L4-5.

L2-3: there is broad-based disc bulging with a small left paracentral disc protrusion causing mild ventral indentation to the thecal sac and compressing the thecal sac and associated facet joint hypertrophy as well as ligaentum flavum causing mild central canal stenosis. This small disc protrusion is compressing the exiting nerve root at left L3 on the lateral recess.

L3-4: there is a small central herniated disc causing impingement of the ventral thecal sac. The exiting nerve roots ar patent. There is mild facet joint hypertrophy bilaterally.

L4-5: there is a small central herniated disc with an annular tear causing indentation to the thecal sac and no obvious compression to the exiting nerve roots.

So yeah... not horrible, but definitely not good either. L2 & L3 are the vertebra that I broke when I was 14 so now that's all coming back to literally bite me in the ass. It looks like eventually I will need surgery to cut away the parts of the discs that are protruding & pressing on the nerves but for now, I'm going to try the chiropracter first, along with anti-inflammatories & exercise/stretching. Thanks to my mom, I have a full bottle of Vicodin for the pain. I'm getting around better today & I can actually take a deep breath without screaming out in pain, so that's something. However, when I walk, I can't lift my left leg up very much because of the pain. Also, part of the left leg & toes are numb, all thanks to the discs pushing on the sciatic nerve.

This isn't something that's going to go away any time soon, so it looks like I'm going to have to drop out of Disney Marathon, and any other races for that matter. For now I need to concentrate on getting stronger & as pain free as possible. I'm not going to write off marathons for good, though. My friend Rusty had back surgery & can no longer run. However, that didn't stop him from walking. He can now WALK a marathon in under 5 hours. He is my new inspiration.

I may be down right now, but don't count me out.

From Bad to Worse

2006-08-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

My back is really REALLY bad. So bad that right now I am laying on my back w/ my laptop on my tummy. I can barely walk & when I do, the pain shoots down my whole left side, all the way down to my toes & back up again. It's excruciating. It wasn't this bad until last night. Before then I'd been able to go to work. Of course, I had to sit in my chair backwards (straddling the back of the chair) because that was the only way I could sit without much pain. But this morning when I woke up after a horrible night's sleep, I could barely move. Thank God for Vicodin!

I had an MRI Tuesday but my dr. can't see me until the 24th to go over the results. Can you believe that? And the techs won't give me the films until after 15 working days ("we have to give the referring dr. time to go over the results"). So the sister of a good friend is getting them for me today. She works for a chiropracter & the MRI people said they can only give the films to another doctor. My friend is coming by in a bit w/ the release forms for me to sign, then she'll fax them to the imaging center to get them to release the results to her sister's boss who will let me know the results. My mom, who had the same back problems & had surgery last summer, is pretty sure that I blew a disc. She's going to come over later to help me. I wish she was here now. And I REALLY wish this pain would go away. :(

No better

2006-08-04T20:11:00.000-05:00

So far I'm not much better than I was. The back is still hurting a lot. Going from sitting to standing is VERY painful. I feel like a 90 year old woman. I'm scheduled to have an MRI on Tuesday morning & I'm nervous.

I can't help but think about my brother-in-law. Almost exactly 9 years ago he had been having back problems. He finally went to the doctor & that same day he was in surgery having a tumor removed from his spine. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Not much later, after more tests, they found 20+ tumors throughout his body. At the time, he was only 2 years older than I am right now. He should have died a few months later, but thanks to radiation & some VERY experimental drugs, he was able to live for an additional 3-1/2 years.

He's the reason I joined Team in Training in the first place & starting all this running. I'm sure that's not what's going on with me, but it's still there in the back of my mind. I can't not think about it. I won't be able to completely relax until I know for sure what's going on in there.

Waiting is gonna SUCK!

AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

2006-07-30T12:22:00.000-05:00

My back is out. AGAIN!!!

I've spent the whole weekend pretty much flat on my back or in a fetal position.

F'ing sciatic nerve.

At least there's still 5-1/2 months before my next marathon, but still. UGH!!!!

Knee update

2006-07-23T09:16:00.000-05:00

When I woke up this morning & started to get out of bed I braced myself for the pain I was sure I was going to feel once my feet hit the floor & I tried to stand. To my surprise, there was no pain. Stiffness? Yes. But pain? No.

HOORAY!!

Then I took my dog for his morning walk. My knee popped with every step. Again, there was no pain, but a definite, audible "pop".

My dog & I are quite a pair. Moe blew his knee out 6 months ago & he never completely healed after his surgery (his hair still hasn't grown back all the way!) so he walks with a slight limp & here I am walking beside him with my knee popping like a little girl w/ chewing gum. Yup. Quite a pair indeed.

In the immortal words of Roseanne Roseannadanna...

2006-07-22T19:08:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day back running after a 2 week break & it was not easy. As usual, the humidity was awful & the wind refused to make an appearance but I trudged on. I started out walking for the first 30 minutes w/ my friend Carissa, then she kicked in to power walking mode & I kicked in to my usual slow jog & it was only a matter of minutes before Carissa was WAY far ahead of me. It's kinda depressing to me that my run is slower than other people's walk. I had a tough time running at the beginning, only able to sustain it for about 2 or 3 minutes at a time, but after a while, I was back up to about 5 or 6 minutes with 2-3 minute walk breaks in between. It's strange how it will be so hard in the beginning but then seems so easy. I guess my muscles just need a little longer to warm up these days.

As I made my way through the Heights & started back to the park I was feeling pretty good. Then I got to the waterstop at Waugh/Memorial. Almost as soon as I stopped I felt a SUPER sharp pain behind my knee-cap which then shot down the outer side of my calf to my ankle. It was a white hot constant pain & freaked me out. I have NO idea what I did. I hadn't been feeling any pain in my knee at all until just that second. I tried to stretch out my leg/knee but it hurt too much. I ended up hitching a ride back to the park w/ my coach Ginny. The pain subsided in the car, but my knee still didn't feel "right". When I bent it, it felt super stiff & swollen deep inside, like there was a pocket of fluid in there.

When I got home I took a long ice bath, then when I got out I put an ice pack on it for about 20 minutes. The knee is very stiff & pops when I straighten my leg. I'm thinking that's not a good sign. I plan to keep off it & ice it all weekend & hope that it will be better by next week. I really hope I didn't do any serious damage to it.

It just goes to show you, it's always something.

Boring

2006-07-20T21:14:00.000-05:00

There hasn't been a lot to report training-wise this past week. I didn't do a long run this weekend because I was out of town floating on the Comal River with some friends. It was good times. (I actually got a bit of a different work-out from all the paddling I did. I woke up Sunday morning with sore shoulders & back muscles.) We ended up driving home after dinner Saturday night so there was no running at Town Lake in Austin for me. Instead I spent the night & most of the following day hanging out w/ 2 good friends. Then I headed out to my parents' house to see my brother & nephew who were in town to take my dad deep sea fishing for his birthday. It was super great to see them. I wish I saw them more often.

Work life has been SUPER crazy busy & I've had to work late & come in early a lot. By the end of the day it is WAY too hot & I've been too tired to run outside, so I've been doing yoga & pilates the last few days in the comfort of my nice air conditioned living room. It's better than doing nothing but I really need to get some running in.

Ugh.

I cannot properly express to you how much I HATE the heat. I don't do well in it at all. It makes me tired. It makes me grumpy. It gives me hives. It pisses me off.

I.

Hate.

It.

This weekend's long run is supposed to be 10 miles. It's gonna suck. Blech.

GASP!

2006-07-12T17:44:00.000-05:00

Today's high temperature: 94º

Real feel: 105º

& that's most likely in the shade. In the direct sunlight it feels about a BILLION degrees.

Yup. It's time to start going back to the air-conditioned gym.

I hate summer in Houston.

It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

2006-07-11T22:09:00.000-05:00

Oy! The humidity!!!

Mother Nature continues to be a bitch by insisting on making it rain practically every single day. Saturday was no different. I woke up at 5:00 am to find that it had apparently been pouring right up until the time I woke up. When I stepped outside the air was as thick as pea soup. Oy. I REALLY didn't want to run in that humidity but I sucked it up & made my way to the park. The mileage for the day was supposed to be 10 miles, but since my last long run was 6 miles, I decided to do only 8. I went out of the park short, down Memorial to Waugh, to Allen Parkway to Sabine & back.

Like last week's long run, I walked the first 30 minutes, but unlike last week I walked it pretty close to my regular pace. After 30 minutes I started to run. I started out pretty good... running about 5 minutes & walking 1 or 2. I wasn't paying too much attention to my watch. I just wanted to see what my body could do & I stopped when my body felt like it needed to stop & started up again when it felt like I could run again. After a while, the humidity was really taking its toll & my running time dropped to 3 & 4 minute incriments, but I still kept it up as long as I could.

When I finally made it almost back to the park, I decided to see if I could run the rest of the way in without stopping, & I'll be damned if I didn't do it! I ran for a full 8-1/2 minutes. I know that may not sound like much of a victory to anyone else, but for me it's huge. I'm really surprised at how much I'm able to run now, especially since I most definitely don't have your typical runner's body. I notice that my legs are definitely more muscular. I still have a loooong way to go to get my body even close to what I want it to be, but things like this encourage me.

There will be no long run for me this Saturday because I am going out of town with some friends for a belated birthday celebration for my friend, Lori. We're going tubing down the Guadelupe, then we're off to Austin for the rest of the weekend. I may bring my running shoes with me just in case though, because 2 of my friends that I'll be with are both training for their 2nd marathon so who knows, they may feel the urge to run a few miles (that is if they aren't too hung over). Truth be told, I really wouldn't mind running at Town Lake. We'll see.

Oh yeah! I got an email today from the Houston Running Bloggers. Turns out I came in 2nd in their HRB Runner of the Month voting. Pretty cool, eh? What sucks is that I didn't get the email about the voting until the last minute & I never had time to vote. Who knows, maybe if I'd voted for myself I would've won. But truth be told, I would've felt weird nominating myself so it probably wouldn't have made a difference. But it still feels nice to know I got nominated. :)

4th of July Re-cap

2006-07-05T23:13:00.000-05:00

Fireworks at Hermann Park (taken by yours truly)

Yesterday I, along with several of my TNT buddies, did the Run Wild 5K race in Uptown. After my run this past Saturday I was feeling pretty confident about this little race & was hoping I'd be able to PR. Alas, it was not meant to be.

The day started out EXTREMELY humid & there wasn't a single breeze to be found. It was cloudy so it wasn't too hot, but the humidity was so high that it just sucked the life right out of me. It also didn't help that I wasn't properly hydrated. From the very start I had problems with cramping on the side of my right calf. After a while I think I just blocked the pain out of my mind. It was quite disheartening when I wasn't even a full mile into the race & I saw runners coming back about to finish the race. Stupid fast people! But again, what matters is that I was out there & that I finished the race. My final time was 48:45.

Eh.

One thing I was happy about was the fact that I was able to maintain a run/walk ratio of 5:1! I'm really amazed at how my legs can hold out that long. I guess I'm in better shape than I thought (at least in my legs). I think the mileage for this Saturday is 10 miles. I'm going to see how far I can keep that ratio up during that run.

After race several of us "tailgated" in the Uptown parking lot, drinking Bloody Mary's (I, however, didn't have any) then we all went to the Spanish Flower for a late breakfast (I'll admit that I had 1 margarita). As soon as I left the restaurant to go home it started to pour down rain. The rain continued off & on thru the rest of the day so I lazed around on my couch, napped & watched movies on cable. At 9 pm I walked over to Hermann Park to watch the Houston Symphony play & see the fireworks. In all, it wasn't a bad day. :)

Hope y'all had a happy 4th!

Rain check

2006-07-03T23:38:00.000-05:00

Well, we never did get around to doing Ass Day today. It was a rainy day today & I had the day off but I know the girls all had to work. I never did hear from any of them so when I got the call from some other friends, I went to the movies with them instead. (We saw the new X-Men movie. Quite good. Go see it. I normally don't care for facial hair, but Hugh Jackman is a yummy exception. And of course there's Patrick Stewart - aka Capt. Picard - as their leader. I do love that sexy bald head!) It's just as well. I have a feeling AD would've kicked my ass & I really want to be feeling good for the 5K tomorrow. Maybe I'll do my own AD on Wednesday. We'll see.

Thursday we normally do a loop or 2 at the park, but it's my dad's 70th birthday this Thursday so I'm driving out to Spring to have dinner with the 'rents & help dad celebrate. I may leave work an hour early that day & do a loop at Rice instead (weather permitting). It wouldn't be too hard since it's only a block away from the office. Again, we will see.

Time for bed.

Happy 4th of July!

A few steps forward

2006-07-03T00:59:00.000-05:00

Friday night was my 1st test... a night out with my girls. It was supposed to be just dinner, then home & in bed by 10:00 so we'd all be fresh & ready to run early Saturday morning. Of course, with us, it never works out how we planned. But I was a good girl. I had one drink at dinner & when we went to a bar afterwards, I only had water. When the girls decided to go to another bar around 11:00, even though we were having a great time, I bid them adeux & went home & was in bed a little before midnight. Not great, but SO much better than it would've been had I stayed out w/ the girls.

I was up at the park a little before 6:00 am to meet up with the TNT'ers at the picnic table. My tummy wasn't feeling that great (note to self: no Mexican food the night before long runs) so I started out reeeeaaaaaalllllllyyyy slow. It was basically a stroll instead of a run. About 10 minutes into it, I almost decided to turn back & go home, but I knew I really needed to run, so I stuck with it. I finally started to perk up once I got to Starbuck's on Memorial so I started to run (which for me is really a slow jog). To my surprise, it felt really good to run. In fact, it felt better to run than it did to walk, so instead of doing my usual intervals of walking 5 mins. & running 1, I did the exact opposite. I couldn't believe that I was able to do that at all. I kept waiting for the time when I just couldn't do it any more, but it never happened. I was amazed!

When I got to my turn-around point, I was feeling pretty damn good. When I was almost back to the park, I heard someone yell "GO ERIN!!!" & turned to see Jon Walk & several other Houston Running Bloggers headed my way. Jon ran beside me & talked to me for a short bit. It was a nice surprise to see the HRB'ers & a great way to end my run. When I got back to the picnic table & looked at my watch, it had taken me 43 minutes to do the 2nd half of my run... 22 minutes faster than the 1st half & it was the exact same distance! Imagine how fast I would've been if I hadn't done that super slow stroll for the 1st 30 minutes. It was very encouraging. I wasn't even that sore afterwards. The only soreness/stiffness I felt was after breakfast because I'd been sitting for about 30-45 minutes. Once I got up & started moving around again, I felt great.

Today was a day of rest but tomorrow will be what the girls have deemed "Ass Day". Every Monday we plan to do hills, squats, & lunges at Spotts Park in an effort to strengthen our legs & hopefully decrease the size & increase the perkiness of our asses. Here's hoping I survive my 1st Ass Day so I can do the Run Wild 5K the next morning. *crosses fingers*

Slowly but surely

2006-06-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

After 2 weeks off, I was back at the park tonight for a short 3 mile run. Time: 47 minutes. Ugh.

I started out pretty good but about 1/2 way around the loop, I started feeling dizzy & the energy was sucked right out of me. I'd been sick with a stomach virus thing for the 1st half of this week & I'm still not 100%, but I was still hoping I'd be able to do better. I guess what matters is that I was out there, right? It's all so frustrating. I just can't seem to get back on track. It's been one thing after another.

I'm still beating myself up about the marathon. I can't seem to accept the fact that I didn't really finish. I look at my medal hanging on my wall & I feel like I didn't earn it. I keep saying to myself that I could have done more... that I should've just ignored my body & pushed myself harder to beat the cutoffs & to finish. It doesn't seem to matter in my mind that 6 days before the race I was curled up in a fetal position barely able to move because my back was hurting so much. I should be proud of the fact that I was able to go 3 miles, let alone 18 miles, but I'm not.

I'm not in a good place right now. I've been getting more & more depressed about my weight & it's nobody's fault except my own. After the marathon I basically "fell of the wagon" so to speak in regards to my diet & I've been eating like crap & drinking too much. Other aspecs of my life have been going to shit lately & I've been going back to my old habits with food. However, I got rid of all my junk food this weekend & bought nothing but healthy foods. I even skipped over the display of super yummy ice cream that was ON SALE!!!

I need to get SUPER serious about exercising & eating right. Thankfully I have a good support system when it comes to the exercise part... my girls... Adrienne, Carmen & Carissa. They are becoming work-out fiends & I'm gonna do my best to keep up with them. However, they are also my bad influences when it comes to the diet part... especially the drinking, but I'm just going to have to hold strong. I have to. I want to be in the best shape of my life for the Disney marathon in January & that's not going to happen unless I get serious now.

Here's hoping I can keep it up.

Quickie

2006-06-26T07:01:00.000-05:00

A little quickie update:

I've been bad & haven't worked out in about 10 days, but at the same time, I think my body has needed the rest. I started out too fast after I got back from San Diego, although my 1st run after SD was awesome. I went running w/ 2 TNT teammates after work & we ended up doing 3 miles of 2:1's. Now, I am normally a person who does intervals of 5 minutes walking & 1 minute running & I usually average btwn 15:30-16:00 per mile. But this day my intervals were 2 mins. of running, 1 min. of walking. I just wanted to see if I could do it & if I could keep it up for a whole 3 miles, & I did! And it averaged out to a 13:30 mile!! I was SO excited!! The next day I was a little sore, so I did 2:1's the opposite (2-walk, 1-run). It was obviously slower, but still pretty good. However, by Saturday my back was bothering me again & my toe was hurting pretty bad (I'd accidentally smashed it the week before & it was still bruised & swollen). I've been doing my stretches & exercises for my back & they've helped a little, but I still get twinges of pain. I'm going to try to do a few miles later this week, but I think I may have to lay off the running for a little while & really work on doing exercises to strengthen my core. We'll see what happens.

Gotta get ready for work. BAH!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

2006-06-18T10:48:00.000-05:00

A big CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Ilana for completing her 1st marathon!!!! Ilana completed the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska (the same marathon I did last year) with a time of 7:03:06. I am SO stinkin' proud of her. I hope she came away from her 1st Team in Training experience with the same sense of pride & accomplishment as I did. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to finish. The fact that you did it at all is AMAZING!!!

A big CONGRATULATIONS to my 2 mentees, Joanne & Jill for also completing the race. They trained together side by side for almost 5 months & they crossed the finish line together with a time of 7:22:11 & 7:22:12. I love that they finished together. It's always great to finish with a friend.

I can't wait to hear all about their adventures. I really can't explain how proud I am of all of my girls. I feel like a mom that just watched her babies learn to fly & leave the nest.

2006-06-14T20:58:00.000-05:00

GOOD LUCK IN ALASKA ILANA!!!!

I wish I could be there to watch you cross the finish line. I am SOOO proud of you!!! You are going to do GREAT!! Watch out for the moose around mile 21. :)

GO TEAM!!!!!

It was all worthwhile

2006-06-13T20:39:00.000-05:00

As upset as I was with myself for getting hurt & not really finishing the marathon, the following made it all worthwhile:

That's my mentee, Carmen about to cross the finish line of her very first marathon after running for almost 7-1/2 hours. If I hadn't been hurt & diverted to a shorter route, I never would've been there to see her cross the finish line. I couldn't have been more proud of anyone. She was truly a delight to train with & thanks to this whole wild, wacky, roller-coaster ride, I got a fantastic friend out of the deal.

Bad-ass Carmen post-marathon

Carmen surprised me the other day by forwarding the following email to me. She'd sent it to the director of Team in Training:

I would like to take this opportunity and commend you for having a GREAT group of people working with you. The coaches and mentors of Memorial are an unbelievable bunch. They helped me get that finish line in so many ways. I know that without them I would not have been able to cross that finish line on Sunday.

Walking with Emily those few miles helped when I was in pain. Seeing Bill at mile 10 and telling me that I looked great pushed me to run when I was getting lazy. Anne, Carissa and Ginny literally got me to the finish line. Even though I was in serious pain Ginny got me to run across the finish, it is a moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life. The feeling that I got when I saw Erin and Adrienne cheering me on is unexplainable, it still brings me to tears. These are moments that have forever changed me, I have become a better person, physically and emotionally.

All of them have made a real impact on my life. I truly love these people, and it's a love that only another person that has gone through this wonderful journey understands. What makes this even more precious is that they do this out of the kindness of their hearts. They do this season after season, year after year knowing that they don't get anything in return, but what they got this time is my eternal gratitude. Everyone has inspired me. They have inspired me to become a mentor and hopefully pass off the feeling of pure joy to at least one other person.

I know signing onto join Team in Training was the best decision that I have made and can not wait to share this experience with others.

Thank You Very Much!!!

GO TEAM!!

Carmen

That bitch made me cry! You see... this is why I continue to do this. It's one thing to do something for myself, but when you see things like this, it gives you a whole different sense of accomplishment. It's been amazing seeing her progression from start to literal finish & to see that joy in her face. It feels good to know that I had a part in that. :)

Rock & Roll Baby! (part 1)

2006-06-11T23:14:00.000-05:00

Coach Ginny, Carmen, me, Carissa, & Adrienne at the TNT victory party.

Click here to see the rest of my photos from San Diego.

So I'm back from San Diego where I ran the Rock & Roll Marathon. The trip was fantastic. Definitely one of the most fun trips I've had in a long time. If only the marathon itself went as well as everything else. This is going to be a long, drawn out post so don't say I didn't warn you.

We got to San Diego bright & early Friday morning & it was an absolutely GORGEOUS day. Carmen & I walked the block from our hotel room to the convention center to the marathon expo to pick up our bibs & goodies. Carmen & I were super excited to find out that we weren't in the very last corral. They'd added a 23rd one! WOO-HOO!!! To celebrate, we spent WAAAAYYYY too much money on merchandise at the expo. There was SO much great stuff. We got to meet John "the Penguin" Bingham at his booth & he signed our race numbers ("Waddle on!") & took pics with us. He's a huge TNT supporter & was super nice. After our chat w/ the Penguin, we waited in line to meet the artist who designed the official marathon poster & got personalized signed prints of the poster from. He was very nice, too. In all, we spent about 4 hours at the expo. Afterwards we met a lot of the team & went to dinner, followed by Ben & Jerry's ice cream (yeah, I know... dessert of champions, right?) then an early bedtime.

Saturday Carmen & I went back to the expo w/ Adrienne & Carissa for a while & of course ended up buying more stuff (it was too good to pass up!). Afterwards we went back to the hotel, changed into our bathing suits & spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the pool with our coaches. Again it was a gorgeous day & we were loving every minute of that California sunshine & cool breezes. For a while there we contemplated skipping the marathon to hang out at the pool instead.

After the pool we started to decorate our race day singlets in our room. We'd bought awesome iron-on letters & phrases, & Carissa bought us all "bling" to put on them as well. We had the hottest looking singlets of any TNT'er! It was awesome.

I headed back over to the convention center early for the TNT pasta party so I could pick up our custom-made t-shirts at one of the booths in the expo. On my way I got a call from Adrienne saying my friend Kim (one of my very best friends who happens to live in SD) was in our room & was going to meet me at the convention center. I hadn't seen her in 3 years & was SOOOO excited when I saw her sashaying down the sidewalk to meet me. It meant so much to me to see her again, especially on this occasion. She hung out with me as we waited for the shirts to be done, then she came to the pasta party with me. I was really glad she got a chance to meet everyone, hear all the stories from the speakers & see just how many people are touched by TNT (we had 6800 runners in this marathon & they raised over $12 million for the LLS).

After the pasta party, it was back to the hotel to help all of our mentees & other teammates decorate their shirts, then it was time for bed.

We had to be up at 3:30 am Sunday to get ready & meet the team in the lobby by 4:15 for breakfast. The busses started to come at 4:45 to take us to the starting area. We got there just after 5:00 am & immediately got in line for the port-a-potties. Poor Carmen stepped in a crack in the park & twisted her ankle a bit, but I was able to calm her down. Thankfully it wasn't serious. She was so nervous that she ended up puking.

Before long, we heard the Marine Corp Band start to play, which was really cool. Then it was time to get to the starting line. Since we're such slow-pokes, Carissa, Carmen & I were waaaaaaay in the very back. We were so far back that we couldn't even see the starting line! I was starting to get super nervous. Finally the gun went off. It took us just over 12 minutes to get to the actual starting line. There were over 20,000 runners & they were as far as the eye could see. It was really quite amazing. We didn't start to run until about 1/2 mile into the race. I felt great in the very beginning. This would prove to be my downfall later.

I felt so great that I stupidly decided that I should run more. It was great for the 1st few miles, especially since it was a lot of downhills. I'd gone as fast as a 13:30 mile (I usually walk/run 15:30 miles) but suddenly, around mile 4, I felt my lower back start to tighten up. By the time I got to about mile 7, I had slowed down significantly. The pain kept getting worse with every step. At mile 8, we entered the freeway, which was all a steep uphill climb on a road that was slanted at about 35-40 degrees. It was agony. To get from mile 9 to mile 10 took me 21 minutes. It was there that I had my panic attack. I was trying not to cry & ended up hyperventilating. I couldn't get any air in at all & it scared the crap out of me. I was terrified that I'd pass out from not being able to breathe & that I'd be taken off the course. I eventually recognized that it was a panic attack & I was somehow able to calm myself down. Suddenly I could breathe again. I reached the top of the massive 2 mile hill & felt a HUGE relief when I started to run down. I went from a 21 minute mile to a 16 minute mile because I was able to "run" (more like shuffle) down the hill.

Even though I was able to speed up at that point, I knew from my watch that I was WAY behind the pace needed to meet the 1st time cut-off. It was killing me to know that I wouldn't be able to make it all 26.2 miles & I started to cry. I felt horrible & really just wanted to quit. Then I saw a man on the side of the road holding a sign that said "Thank you from a 9 year Leukemia patient!!" He cheered me on, told me I was looking good, thanked me for what I was doing & gave me a high five as I passed him. I cried again, but this time it was because I felt so stupid & horrible for wanting to quit. I was in pain, but I knew it would only last a few more hours. This man endured years of painful & debilitating cancer treatments. The least I could do is finish the race.

Not long after this point, I ran into coach Bill. He could tell I wasn't doing too well & told me that it wasn't much longer until the 1/2 way point. He kept telling me I could quit at 13.1, but I kept telling him I wanted to take the diversion. He walked & talked with me for the next few miles & really helped keep the pain off my mind. When we got to the 13.1 "finish" he said "this is your last chance. You can quit here or you can go to the left & keep on going." I said I was going to keep on going. We saw Coach Anne & Ginny & they joined Bill & I & took me through the diversion all the way to the merge with the pack at mile 22. They all hugged me good-bye, said they were proud of me, & watched as I joined the throng of runners again.

It felt great to be with such a huge crowd of runners again. It gave me a real boost & made me momentarily forget the pain I was in. Unfortunately, I quickly remembered the pain. Every step was worse & worse & I had to keep stopping to stretch my back. By this time the pain was going in sharp waves from my lower back all the way to my toes & back again. Since I no longer had to worry about time cut-offs, I stopped as often as I needed & those last 4 miles took me almost 2 hours to complete. I must've looked absolutely horrible because runners kept stopping to see if I needed any help. One guy even offered me all his Gu's. I thanked him & assured him I was ok (a lie). Just after mile 24 I couldn't take the pain any longer & I stopped at the medical tent for some pain medicine. I was so weak that I couldn't even open the pill packet & had to have the medic do it for me. I took my pills & went on my way. I had to finish.

When I hit mile marker 25 I couldn't walk any more. I forced myself to "run". I ended up running the rest of the way. When I saw the Marine Corp base around mile 26, I knew I was almost home free. I turned into the base & saw hundreds of people along the sides cheering & I kept on running. With about .4 miles to go, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone running next to me. I couldn't understand why this person was so close to me or why he wouldn't pass me. I finally turned to see who it was & I saw a very cute muscular guy in stylin' running gear & shades smiling at me. For a second I didn't realize who it was. Then it finally registered... it was my friend Jay. I hadn't seen him in over 3 years & the last time I saw him, he was about 100 lbs. heavier. I knew he was running this marathon but figured I'd never actually run into him (especially since he was in corral 1). I let out a little squeal, hugged him, & asked how he did. He said he'd had problems with the heat & humidity (SD was experiencing unusually high temperatures that day) & didn't do too well. I asked him what his time was & he said 3:35. I just laughed & flipped him off. LOL!! We said good-bye & I started to run again, this time a bit faster thanks to Jay. It really helped SO much seeing someone I knew as I was finishing.

Next thing I knew, I was turning into the final straight-away & I saw the finish line. The crowd was cheering & for that last few moments, I felt no pain. As I neared the finish line, I heard the announcer say "Well alright Erin!!! Look at you! You got it girl!" I smiled & laughed and crossed the finish line. I looked up & saw the time of 5:49.

Five hours & 45 minutes to go only 18 miles. I was so disappointed in myself, yet SO happy to be done.

To be continued.... but until then, click here to see my official race photos.

Getting closer

2006-05-31T21:20:00.000-05:00

When I woke up this morning, my back was feeling much better. I only had some small pains in my right hip & sciatic area... very managable. All during work today I kept getting up from my desk to stretch the way the PT showed me & it made a difference. I had my 2nd session with the PT this afternoon & it went really well. She showed me some simple exercises to do in the next few days leading up to the marathon... nothing too strenuous, but stuff that will help strengthen my core & hopefully get me in a better mind-set for the race. Basically I won't see a real difference for a few weeks, but the fact that I'm starting now may help me use the right muscles a bit more on Sunday. Here's hoping she's right.

I'm almost ready to go. I have my airline tickets, race singlet, all my other travel stuff for San Diego. Tomorrow I'm working a 1/2 day, then I'm going to get my hair cut (I can't wait!!!), then I'm going to pick up some more Cliff Bloks & Body Glide, then I'll go home, color my hair (yes, it will be purple again), pack, & hopefully get a decent night's sleep (although I'm not really counting on that last part). Then I meet everyone at the airport around 6 am Friday morning (whose bright idea was it to pick a 7:30 flight?).

EEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!!!!

PT - Day One

2006-05-30T22:25:00.000-05:00

I met with the physical therapist this afternoon & things went pretty well, right up til the end. After the stretches & exercises, she hooked some electrodes up to my lower back, had me lay down on a bed & let the electrodes massage my back. It felt great while I was laying there, but as soon as it was done & the PT helped me sit up, I had a huge searing pain in my back. I actually screamed out in pain. (that scared her but good!) I went right home & got back in that fetal position, took some more drugs & crashed. It's still sore now, but better than when I left the PT.

I have another session tomorrow, & another on Thursday. Hopefully the PT will help get me in good enough shape to do the marathon.

The thought of missing this race, after spending so much time & effort on the training, not to mention the fundraising, is absolutely heartbreaking to me. I can't even think about it or else I just start to cry (& I've already had a completel break down over it all when I talked to my mom about it tonight).

I have to do this race. I just have to!!

2 steps forward, 3 steps back

2006-05-28T13:17:00.000-05:00

I was all excited yesterday because my back was feeling TONS beeter. I could move without pain & I could even bend over! All I had was a little stiffness & only a teeeny bit of soreness when I'd get up from sitting. I figured by next week I'd be good to go for the marathon. I went to practice in the morning but only helped out at the water station (no running!) then went home to get ready to fly to South Padre for the long weekend w/ some friends. Everything was fine until I got to my friend's house. I felt a small twinge in my back again, only this time it was on the right side. It wasn't too bad at first, then I picked up my small duffle bag & started to carry it to the car. I quickly dropped the bag because the pain in my back was excruciating. I hoped it would calm down, but after the drive to the airport, waiting for our delayed flight, then the hour long plane ride, the pain just got worse & worse.

We got to our hotel & decided to go to the beach, figuring maybe just relaxin in the water would make me feel better, but unfortunately to get to the water, we had to walk through a huge section of SUPER soft sand. Every step hurt more & more. When we finally got to the water, it felt better in the cool ocean, but the walk back to the hotel thru that soft sand again, just made it so much worse. We went out to eat & I took some muscle relaxers & a double dose of anti-inflamatories. By the time we got back to our room, around 9:30, I was ready to pass out. Unfortunately, the bed was very hard & VERY uncomfortable. I kept waking up in more pain & just wanted to cry. When my friends woke up I told them how bad it was & started crying. Adrienne changed my flight & drove me to the airport so I could go home & rest. I felt bad for ruining part of her weekend, but she was super nice about it. Her mom even came to pick me up at the airport, drove me to Adrienne's so I could get my car, then followed me home so she could bring in my luggage & save me from lifting anything. How nice was that?

So now I'm home & I'm about to medicate myself heavily & pass out on my couch for the next 2 days. I've already decided that even if I'm still in pain by next weekend, I'll still go to CA & at least cheer everyone on. Although the eternal optimist in me is still hoping I'll be well enough by Sunday to run. We shall see.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Back update

2006-05-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

I went to the doctor yesterday morning & had a bunch of X-rays. I have few discs that are compressed a bit, but not too bad. However, with all the extra running I've been doing to prep for the marathon, it's caused enough swelling to push the discs on my sciatic nerve, which is causing both pain & numbness down my left leg all the way to my toes.

Thankfully my super hot (& unfortunately married) doctor is a marathoner so he knew there was no way I was going to miss this race. He prescribed me some strong anti-inflamatory drugs & muscle relaxers, as well as physical therapy. He told me to double up on the dosage of the AI drugs for the next day or 2, then do the regular dosage all next week. Then I'm to double-up again the day before & day after the marathon. He said with that & the PT, I should be able to "push through" the marathon fairly well. He did say that I will be in pain afterwards though. (DUH!!!!)

So basically the plan is to not run again until the marathon & just take my meds & do the PT (I'm shooting for 3 PT sessions before I leave for CA) & cross my fingers that I manage to cross that finish line next weekend.

Wish me luck!!!

Update

2006-05-23T09:56:00.000-05:00

My back is much worse today. It's so bad I had to stay home from work. This is not good. I am FREAKING OUT!!!

Quick Update

2006-05-22T22:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'm just going crazy with everything getting so close. The marathon is less than 2 weeks away & I'm starting to freak out about it. One good thing that I thankfully don't have to worry about any longer is my fundraising. On Friday I turned in the last bits of cash & checks to get me exactly to my fundraising minimum. HOORAY! It was down to the wire, but I made it. *WHEW!* Tomorrow I go in to the office to pick up my airline tickets, hotel info, party tickets, & race day singlet. (I only wish the office wasn't so damn far away.)

Two weekends ago was our big 21 mile practice run at Terry Hershey Park. I had a few problems with the location (no lighting, 16 miles between bathrooms, & not enough water stops) but I made it. The 1st 9 or 10 miles were pretty good, but when that sun came out, with nary a cloud in sight, & those temperatures kept rising, with little shade to keep me cool, I slowed down significantly. I got overheated pretty fast, my legs felt like lead, & the balls of my feet felt like they were on fire. However, despite my very slow 2nd half & stopping at water stops from anywhere from 5-1o minutes, I still managed to finish in a decent time. I've been really worried about the time cut-off in San Diego at mile 19.2 because I have to get there in 5 hrs. 45 mins. But I despite my problems, & my super slow-mo 2nd 1/2, I was able to complete the 21 miles in about 6 hrs. 18 mins, which means that if the weather in San Diego is as "cool" as it says it's gonna be (as of today, race day forcast calls for a high of 75) then I should have no problem making the cut-off. *crosses fingers*

Of course, that can only happen if I am healthy & right now I am not. You see, I knew I never should've jinxed myself when I talked to my mother yesterday. I told her how great I felt after the 21 miler (minus some muscle stiffness Sunday & the HUGE blister on the ball of my right foot) & that barring any injury, I should be good to go for a 7:30/7:45 marathon.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Of course after all my bragging, I ended up throwing my back out this morning in the shower. I'd bent over to wash my feet & I felt a twinge in my sciatic area. As the morning went on, the twinge got worse & worse. I can't bend over at all, it hurts to sit in most positions, & I can only turn my body to the left without it hurting. *sigh*

I also have had a problem with the top of my left foot, right where it's connected to my leg. I'd tied my left shoe way too tight for the 21-miler & wasn't able to fix it right until about 6 miles into the run. By then, the damage had been done. It was red for a day or 2, & now feels like I have a huge bruise under the tendons, but there's no bruising & no swelling. It just hurts if I flex my foot too much & I'll get a super painful cramp. FUN!

Hopefully this all won't last long & I'll be well enough to do the 12 miles on Saturday. I REALLY don't want to miss my last practice.

Why did this have to happen NOW?!?!?!

Ugh!!!

2006-05-11T20:46:00.000-05:00

I am majorly stressing right now. The marathon is only 3 weeks away & I do not feel ready at all. Thanks to some wicked thunder storms, our long runs have been rained out for the last 2 weeks, & things have been so completely crazy & stressful at work that by the time I get home from work, all I want to do is pass out. So basically it's been about 2-1/2 weeks since I've worked out. I did go to all the Tuesday night practices but this past Tuesday was awful because my back started spasming (apparently I pulled some muscles in my back on Sunday as I spent 3 hours hunched over washing cars for my fundraisers). It also woke me up at 1:15 this morning cuz it was spasming again so I got almost no sleep last night. And don't even get me started on the crap that I've eaten this week. Ugh!!!

Our big 21-mile practice is Saturday & I honestly don't know how I'm going to get through it.

And then there's my fundraising. I found out the other day that the fundraising deadline is this Monday. I thought I had another 2 weeks! I still need about $1400 & unless our crawfish boil on Saturday brings in several thousands dollars, I am SCREWED! (we're splitting the money btwn about 6 of us) I most certainly don't have that kind of money hanging around in my bank account. Ugh!!!

Nothing seems to be going right these days. In addition to this stuff, my honored patient, Jonathan developed pneumonia again this week. Also, about 2 weeks ago, the only son of a friend of mine was brutally murdered (his body wasn't found until days later). I went to his funeral on Saturday & it was the most moving service I've ever seen. I haven't been able to get him or that weekend out of mind.

The world is a crazy, messed up place & I don't know how we manage to get through life with any semblance of sanity.

Ugh!!! Something needs to go right & soon.

In loving memory...

2006-04-27T07:21:00.000-05:00

Dave

Today marks a very sad day in my life & the life of my family. Five years ago today my brother-in-law, Dave died at the age of 40. For over 3 years he struggled to beat Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Unfortunately, the cancer was just too aggressive & he couldn't fight it any more. 5 years seems like such a long time, yet at the same time, it feels just like yesterday.

Below is a journal entry I made 2 years ago. It still makes me cry every time I read it.

April 27, 2004
Three years ago today was the saddest & most surreal day of my life. I woke up at my usual time to get ready for work... walked downstairs into the kitchen & started to fix myself a bowl of cereal. A minute later my dad walked into the kitchen & said "David is dead. He died about an hour ago." Then he walked out of the kitchen & back to his bedroom. No hug, no "everything is going to be ok", no nothing. I stood there by the kitchen counter... bowl full of cereal... jug of milk in my hand... & I couldn't move. I thought to myself, "Did he really just say what I think he said?" I could hardly believe my ears. It was so surreal. But it was true... after 3 long years of fighting cancer, Dave was dead at the age of 40. He died in the arms of his wife, in his own bedroom, overlooking the bay where he sailed so often, watching the sun rise.
David J. Mulford was my brother-in-law. But he was so much more than that. He was my brother... period. He was the most perfect addition to our family. I met him when he was 23 & I was 12. Other than my brother Dan, Dave was the only person in my family to never treat me like a kid... even when I was one. He genuinely wanted to know about my life, the way I felt about things, what made me happy. He taught me how to sail & how to appreciate the wonderful little things life had to offer. He always believed in me. Even though he was a grown up, he was always still a kid a heart. He never forgot how to have fun, and whenever possible, he included me in it all. He also helped bridge the gap between me & my sister. Some of my favorite simple memories involve Dave...
Christmas time w/ a house full of family & the 2 of us lying on the inflatable mattress upstairs w/ a big bowl of popcorn, watching the Godfather 1 & 2 (NEVER the 3rd one!) back to back.
The look on Dave's face when my mom would bake.
Playing video games with him for hours.
Fun & silly phone calls on my birthday (actually, the last time I talked to him was on my 30th birthday, just a few weeks before he died).
The summer after I graduated high school spent in Long Island learning how to sail... & many summers after that spent out on the water w/ him & my sister.
God... so many memories. They're all flooding back.
I still remember the day we all found out he had cancer. He'd gone to the doctor because of persistent back ache. X-rays showed it was a tumor that was wrapped around his spine. He was in surgery that very same day. It was mind boggling how fast it all went. Suddenly he was in for so many more tests, MRI's, & who knows what other types of scans. They found over 20 tumors throughout his body, in all his lymph nodes & stomach. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma & his prognosis was not very good. He underwent immediate radiation therapy, which helped reduce several tumors in size. He was also able to get in on the very beginnings of new drug therapy. It helped give him 3 more years of life. 3 more years with my sister... 3 more years with our family & his family. In that time, my sister gave birth to their 1 & only child, Christopher. He got to see Christopher born, take his 1st steps, speak his 1st words, & take his 1st trip on the boat.
I remember the last time I saw Dave. It was the fall of 2000. He could still walk, he still had all of his hair, he could still eat without getting sick, & still had his wonderful sense of humor. It was also the day he started his 1st round of chemotherapy (his last resort in his eyes). From that day on... things never got any better. Things just got worse. I never saw him when he lost all the weight, when he lost all his hair, when he could no longer walk, & no longer keep any food down, when he was hooked up to so many different machines & monitors. Sometimes I think of that as a blessing... other times as a curse. It was almost like if I didn't see it, then it couldn't really happen. He would forever be that happy, healthy man in my mind. Even though I knew he was going to die soon, that nothing could be done... to actually hear those words "David is dead" came as such a surprise.
I'd never had anyone close to me die before, so I'd never been to a funeral before. When I saw Dave in the casket at his memorial service, I hardly recognized him. He was so thin & frail, yet looked like he was simply sleeping. He looked like he did whenever he napped on the couch... wearing his favorite jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt, & baseball hat, & wearing his glasses. Next to him was Redford's favorite fetch ball, & Christopher's favorite book that he read to him every night. I found myself wanting Dave to wake up & tell me it was all just a dream. That's when it finally sunk in. He was really gone. That's when I finally lost it... when I finally broke down & really, REALLY cried.
Sometimes this all feels like it was so long ago... yet like it was yesterday at the same time. Sometimes I even forget that he's gone. I'll see something or hear about something & think, "Dave would get such a kick out of this. I should call him or send him an e-mail", or I'll walk into his house & expect to hear him coming down stairs to greet me w/ one of his trademark hugs. It's cruel how your mind can do a thing like that to you. I wonder if it will ever get any easier?
Tonight I'm going to go home & look through old pictures & drink a toast to Dave. He brought such love, laughter & joy to my life & to the life of everyone that knew him. Something like that should be celebrated.

Dave was my reason for joining Team in Training. When I ran the Alaska marathon last year, he was right there with me, right on my back, in the form of a laminated photograph, as well as in my heart. He will be there with me again as I run the Rock & Roll Marathon in San Diego in 5 weeks. He will always be there with me. His memory keeps me running. He is why I am raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So if you could, please help me & go to my fundraising website & make a donation. Thanks.

Bigger surprise!

2006-04-26T17:38:00.000-05:00

I love it when I see that I have new e-mail & in the subject line it says "Donation Confirmation". A smile comes across my face & I get so excited as I open the e-mail... wondering who it is from & how much the donation may be.

Today I received one of those e-mails.

As I read the name of the donator, at first I thought it was just some random person. My friends forward my fundraising e-mails to their friends, so it's not uncommon for me to get a donation from some random stranger here & there. However, a second or 2 later, I realized it was actually from the mother of a good friend. I've only met this woman about 4 or 5 times in the 4 years I've known this particular friend, so I was touched that she would make a donation. As I quickly read the amount of the donation, I thought "Awwww... How sweet! She gave me $100."

Then I looked at the amount again.

It was $1000!!!

My bottom jaw practically hit the floor & I almost fell out of my chair. I thought for sure I was missing a decimal point somewhere, but nope. That was really the amount! I was blown. away. Never in a million years would I thought that a single person would give me such a large donation. I am continually amazed by the compassion & generocity of people. It gives me hope.