700!

Last night I reached another milestone.



July 30th, 2008 700.05 Miles Year To Date.

I decided to not run today to rest my hip that doesn't seem to want to play along.

I would think that I have more than 100 miles left on my current shoes. They have 189 miles on them. They are usually replaced around the 330 mile mark.

I was wondering today if my agoraphobic behavior (combined with my poor stretching habits)have lead to my sore hip.

I'll explain...

And it's just a theory, so please weigh in.

I have run all of my runs except two (Watermelon 5K and while I stayed at the Pop Century Resort at Disney World) a total of 10.1 miles. During the month of July, I ran just over 116 miles, 106 on the treadmill.

Is it possible that the treadmill is causing me to run with little narrower then I might run on the road? Causing the hip pain?

What do you think?

I would like to try to get at least one run this weekend outside - GASP! Can you believe it?

Things are Looking Up

Just as I predicted, things have settled down this week. Which makes me really happy!



I was irritated with myself that I was not able to follow the plan to a "T", but I really feel like I am on track!

Saturday evening I ran eight miles on the treadmill. Most of the day was spent at a birthday party. Parties do seem to take up a good portion of the day. I had planned on running in the morning on the Tavares Trail, the alarm went off and I thought I could sleep another hour if I ran on the treadmill. I changed the alarm went back to sleep and an hour later I woke up again. It was then I remembered that Darrell was awake until the wee hours. He has not been sleeping well and the last thing he needed was the banging of the treadmill. I decided I would run in the evening.

You know what happens when you start adjusting the times on your longer runs, your run for the next day is automatically adjusted for you. When you finish eight miles at 9:45 PM, it's probably not a good idea to run a longer run at 7:00 AM.

Sunday, I got started on my quest for 16 miles mid-afternoon. We had a friend over and everyone went out on the four-wheelers. I took the opportunity to get some miles in. I got to 8.75 miles and crew rolled back in the house. I didn't want to be rude, so I stopped.

We went to dinner, made a Target run and for the second night in a row I ran at 8:30 PM - I ran another 7.25 miles - reaching 16 for the day. Not optimal - I would rather get all the miles in at once, but isn't the object here to get it done and get to Chicago healthy and prepared?

My legs have been sore since Sunday. I had three miles on the plan yesterday, but I was sore (and we needed groceries) I took a bye for the day. I had eight miles on the plan today. I got started and attempted to run through the soreness, but after four miles, I was done. Sore, sore, sore.

Tomorrow is another day and I'll try to get my mid-week-mid-distance run in again.

It's all good!

Remember Last Year?

Remember last year when there was a worldwide mojo deficit?

Mojo in Florida? Nope!

Ohio? No Way Jose!

Across the Atlantic? Negative!

I certainly don't want to jinx anyone, but I am not feeling the same malaise I felt about this time last summer. I'm not having trouble with my running...



Well, finding the time to get it done. That's been an issue.

I've lost some sight on the light at the end of the tunnel, but I do feel like it's getting closer.

And don't get me wrong, I love my job. And overall it's really not stressful. Sure, it has it's moments, but what job doesn't? Last week and now this week, not only has there not been time to get my lunch run in, but at the end of the day, I feel so mentally drained, I can't run. And I've been staying up really late too.

That is so unlike me.

It just occurred to me that maybe the lack of my lunch time runs are contributing to the mental drain I'm feeling.

I have been able to get two abbreviated runs in this week. Not nearly what I need, but it's better than nothing.

Next week, I am going to schedule my runs - code name lunch - on my calendar so that I can get them done.

With 11 1/2 weeks until Chicago, I still feel like I am track, but I also realize that every run counts!

Enough with the pissing and moaning! The next post will hopefully be about how amazing my running has been.

All the Cool Kids are Doing It

There has been a lot of buzz about one hundred push ups
Marcy's playing. So is Nik and a little birdie told me that Marathon Chris is getting rolling on the challenge today. Combined with a lot of people who I follow on twitter have mentioned it... I took it as a sign.

So, today is the day. Today I began my quest toward 100 push ups.

Here's the problem. I've got no skillz. Like none. I can't do a single proper form push-up. So I'll be turning this six week program into a twelve week challenge. The first run through the program will be the girl push ups. Which sucks, because I hate having to scale it back to something do-able that is lesser quality and called "girl push ups". Once I reach the end of the six weeks, I'm going to start over and do the program again doing "real" push ups.

Week One, Day One, Phase One is in the bag. Keep me accountable people!

For you folks joining me in Chicago in twelve weeks, look out! I'll be a push up machine!

This Week in Running

I was thinking, for some reason, that summer would be low key and low on the stress meter. That has not been the case. I feel like since I returned from vacation, I have been trying to catch my breath.

Last week was particularly busy for work and it left little time for getting a run in. And then, at the end of the day I was so drained, I just couldn't do it.

This was stressing me out more, because the 14 miles I had scheduled for last Sunday didn't happen. It was one of those days that I just couldn't get it together.

Monday, I was getting back on track and I ran the three miles on my schedule.

Tuesday, nothing.

Wednesday, nothing.

Thursday after work I was forced with a tough decision. I really needed to go grocery shopping, but I also needed to run. Grocery shopping could wait one more day. I ran the seven miles I should have run on Tuesday.

Friday I finally made it to the grocery store.

I had big plans for Saturday. I was going to get up early and run my short long run of seven miles. My sleeping schedule has been sort of out of whack. I stayed up way to late on Friday night so getting up early enough to run before I had to take my daughter to a birthday party just didn't happen. I ended up running in the early evening on the treadmill.

It's been so incredibly hot that it's really better to be running in the A/C.

That meant that an early morning Sunday run was out too.

This was supposed to be my step back week with ten miles. But because I missed 14 miles last week, I decided to run 14 instead of 10.

I was starting to feel like the wheels were falling off my training plan. But after a successful running weekend, I feel like I am right where I need to be.

I need to work harder to get my shorter runs during the week knocked out. I see a light at the end of the tunnel for things to get back to normal at work - which is good and will give me some more energy to get my runs done!

Watermelon 5K :: Race Report

It never takes me more than a week to get a race report posted, but the busy-ness continues. I thought summer was supposed to be laid back... I can definitely say that is a myth!

I wasn't planning on running the Watermelon 5K this year. With gas prices climbing, I thought it would be a silly idea to drive 60 miles round-trip to run 3.1 miles. I'm just far enough north of Orlando that it's almost not even worth it.

Then I got an email from my friend Kelly. I ran this race with Kelly two years ago and we also run the 2007 Winter Park Road Race.

Kelly and I used to work together. In the course of some re-structuring the company did in the spring of 2007, Kelly was promoted and I reported to her. Last July, when the company went into phase two of the re-structure plan, Kelly had the task of laying me off. Let's just say that made our friendship awkward.

I was never mad at Kelly - it came down to business and I wasn't exactly surprisedabout the decision my former company made. But I couldn't figure out how to connect with her.

To make things even more interesting, my old employer is a client of my current company, and my role involves working closely with my old company.

Maybe about six weeks or so ago I was planning dinner with my friend Casey I invited my friend Colleen and she asked if it would be okay if she invited Kelly. Of course I said yes. I thought it would be fun for all of us to get together.

Dinner was fun and we laughed, and joked, it was really like old times and it was just very nice. I don't know if that was the turning point or not, but not too much later - maybe two weeks, When I got that email from Kelly asking if I wanted to run the Watermelon 5K. To have a chance to run with an old friend, I said yes without hesitation.

Kelly and I met up in Apopka and rode to Winter Park together. we got there early enough so parking wasn't an issue. We ran into my friend Cheryl and the time flew by before the start of the race.

These races are really interesting. Apparently there were 3,000 + people there with skill levels that spanned the spectrum. We were lined up near the nine minute pace - although I wanted to be closer, because I knew that there would be slower people in front, it never fails...

The first half mile was shoulder-to shoulder. The route starts through a mid-century neighborhood with brick streets and cars parked randomly on the sides of the street. It was a bottle-neck and it took at lot of, luck skill and effort to bob and weave through the crowds. We ran past the tennis courts and a park, made a few more turns and we were in another neighborhood at the one mile mark.

I though it was funny that the cups for the water stop were Disneyland cups. Not Disney World mind you, but paper cups for a theme park 3,000 miles away. We moved through the neighborhood and up the hill next to the Winter Park High School 9th Grade Center. We turned in front and then down the other side of the 9th Grade center where we looped back. I saw Cheryl on my return. She was about 45 seconds behind me. I had an eye out for Kelly but I never saw her.

As I made the turn in front of the 9th Grade Center, I knew I was getting close, I would guess that there was 1/2 or 3/4 mile left. I heard a fire truck behind me. Kelly told me later that she was stopped so the fire truck could continue down the street.

I finished in a respectable 27:52 which considering the crowd and the heat, isn't too bad at all.

After the race we had some watermelon, which was amazing! We hung out for a little bit and I ran into the Running Geezer. He asked if I saw Shirley. I didn't even know that she was planning on being there. Kelly said that she thought she had seen Shirley. I had forgotten that the first time I met Shirley (2007 Winter Park Road Race) that Kelly was also there and had met her also. Running Geezer mentioned that it was only her second 5K ever, and Kelly thought that maybe we weren't talking about the same person. She realized that we were indeed talking about the amazing marathoner / triathlete who has not run many shorter races. I wish I had seen her too.

It was a lot of fun to get out there and run. I'm so glad I decided to run!

Where in the World is Maddy?

It seems like vacation was a long time ago. Three weeks in this day and age is an eternity. Vacation was great! It was relaxing, and I feel recharged after a week at the beach.


My kids with their boogie boards

We headed to Ormond-by-the-Sea on Saturday morning after I went out for six miles. I was starting to feel scratchy throat and I was afraid I was getting sick. When I woke up Sunday morning, I knew I was sick, but determined to get my run in, I headed out for 10 miles. I got about a mile and half and I knew I would not make it to 10. I turned back and walked a lot of the way back. I let myself recover and didn't run again until that Thursday.

I figured that I would rather have a cold while I was at the beach than if I was working. By Wednesday afternoon, I was back to feeling like myself again.


At Ocean Walk in Daytona Beach
If you look closely in my right hand, you can see my Kleenex

We returned home the following Saturday and I had just enough time to get the house settled and the laundry done and then Wednesday, I was headed to San Diego for my monthly trip to the office.

My training schedule could not have worked out any better. My long runs were six and eight. I usually run to the Star of India and the USS Midway on Thursdays. It's just over six miles, so I ran it. Fridays I have been running to Harbor Island and down to Island Prime restaurant and back. It's about seven and a quarter miles. I headed past the Harbor Island Sheraton to extend my route and got just over eight miles for the day.

The weird thing about it is, because it was the first time I have ever changed days for my long runs, I felt like I skipped them. I keep reminding myself that I did run them.

My right hamstring has been complaining a little bit lately. Not that it's injured, but it has been making it's presence known. I have been using my foam roller, some ibuprofen, Icy Hot and some rest. I opted out of my hill training this week because of a lack of time, my attempt to stay healthy and the 5K on Friday morning (race report soon!).

I had six miles scheduled yesterday, but after a late night of watching fireworks, I knew that I wouldn't be getting up early to run outside on Saturday morning. I ran on the treadmill instead. I had 13 miles scheduled today. The plan was to get up and head to the Tavares trail for my run today. Last night my dinner did not agree with me. I had a terrible stomach ache. I was up until midnight. My plans changed.

I woke up at 8:45 AM and it was just too late to run outside. I decided to run 13 miles on the treadmill. I felt really good during my run. Things are progressing quite well for Chicago!

So now that I'm all caught up (well, as close as I can be...) I promise not to go so long without an update.

Rumors

Just a quick post to let you all know the rumors that I have fallen off the face of the earth are greatly exaggerated.

Expect a detailed post soon - Maybe even tonight.