I took Thursday and Friday off, and you know what? I felt much better when I woke up on Thursday and knew I didn't need to go out and run 4 miles before I did anything else. Just that little bit of knowledge made me feel better, which is a big sign that I did indeed need an extra day off. And you know what else? I'm gonna do it again if I feel I need to. I'm sure I'm gonna feel better once this weather changes a bit again, who know Chicago was so frickin humid in the summer? Not just once in a while, but pretty much all the time!!!!! There I go again. Calm down, soon it will be over and I'll be bitchin about the cold, such is life.

I ran on Saturday, and boy did that suck. I felt okay, but some lady stopped me to ask me directions at around mile 5.75 and that pretty much did me in. I forgot to start my watch back up, which messed with my head since I was not enjoying the run anyway, so I just did a little more and called it a day, oh well.

So, today was what was probably freaking me out the entire week . . . . . 17 miles! I did it! Holly ran with me for the first 10 and then I finished up by myself for the last 7. It went pretty good, considering it was 17 miles. Here's a first, walking after you run all that way, it was a bit difficult to do, I have not experienced that in the past, I thought maybe I was going to fall down. So I did a little shuffle thing until my walking muscles discovered they were needed again and then walked it out, it should be interesting after the marathon.

All right people, that's it for now. I hope everyone else had good runs today as well. Later

I need a little break

Okay, I've decided I need tomorrow and Friday off. I just have't been feeling motivated to run and I feel like it's a chore right now, and that was one of my goals with doing this whole marathon thing, that I wouldn't hate running when it was over. My legs are tired and sore everyday since the 1/2, I don't want to run, I feel like I can't keep up, everything. I think school starting for my boys and myself this week is just adding to the stress of it all. I want to have this be a good experience, not a stressful one and I've found myself thinking this week that I just need to get through the next 9 weeks before the marathon and then I'll get back to normal. I need to take this one day at a time, but as I look out over all I have to do in the next couple months, I freak out a little, so one day at a time!

I'm tired of this eating thing too, always watching what I eat so that I can perform better, who do I think I am? I'm not going to win anything here people. So, sometimes I'm gonna have a beer and some ice cream, look out I'm living kinda dangerously now!

Alright, I'm done bitchin for now.

girlfriends

There's 9 more miles in the bank! I was supposed to do 11, but my girls were only doing 9, so I just did what they did. Now I have all week to be freaked out about doing 17 next Sunday, yea!

The run this morning went fine, they set the pace today and we averaged a 9:50 for 9 miles, which is a bit fast for me, I like to be around 10:30 for my long runs, but this will soon be a mid week mileage for me, so I figured whatever, although to tell the truth I had a hard time keeping up today, I don't know what my problem was, mental probably.

I took an ice bath when I got home. Hopefully that will help with some of the soreness I've been experiencing lately. I didn't do one last week after my 1/2 and I know I could have used that. I feel like such an old lady when ever I get up from where ever I'm sitting. It takes like 5 or 6 steps to get to feeling like I can walk again.

I'll tell you what, girls talk about everything when they run. I know most men think we talk about everything all the time, but when you are running with umpteen miles to go, you get into some pretty interesting conversations. I'm glad I have these relationships. As a matter of fact I remember praying about this not too long ago, just that God would bring in new friendships to my life. I've known these girls for years, but again, when you run together then you really get to know them. So now we have conversations that are just between us and the deer :)

Later everyone! Have great runs!

Fantasy Football!

This is not running related, but I signed up for my Fantasy Football team yesturday! I'm so excited, I LOVE football! I've actually rescheduled some of my Sunday runs when we have church in the morning, so I can veg on the couch all afternoon to watch FOOTBALL! Anyone else do the fantasy football thing? I AM SUCH A GEEK! There I said it before anyone else, because I know you were thinking it. Thats okay though, I'm comfortable with my geekness!

Man, am I tired! My legs felt like crap the whole time out there today. It was humid, humid, humid! I walked back in the house and my husband asked me if it was raining, because I was so wet, yuck. My calf still hurts, although I know the off day yesturday helped a little.

I ran 6.70 miles in 1:08:06, pokey time. Oh well, I think the speed this week along with the speedy 1/2 marathon I ran last Sunday has everything to do with my sore calf muscle, so it's time to slow it down and let it heal.

I don't think I posted this before, but I am helping organize a fun walk/run 5k in my town. It's now only two weeks away. My little town used to do a 5k around Memorial Day weekend every year and then that faded away, so now we are trying to get this going on Labor Day weekend. So far there has been little support, but I know a lot of races start out this way and build from here. So, anyway I'm on my way to sit outside of my little Walgreens for a couple hours to stir up some more registrations and volunteers. This has been a fun experience for me, I really love all things running, except this morning when I hated myself running.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 11, but I'm doing 9 with my girls. I did two more miles during the week, so I'm shaving off two tomorrow, I know that's really not the point of the schedule, but I'm doing it anyway.

Happy running y'all!

I'm tired

My legs are tired. My right leg is sore in the calf region, I look like an old lady hobbiling around, not very inspiring to the people around me who know I run and don't run themselves. I'm sure they are all like no thank you, look at her she can barely walk. I have had this before, I know it just needs to rest and it will feel better. I've been going too fast with little recovery, I'll slow down, I didn't even try to be faster it just keeps happening. I don't know my own speed!

I upped my mid week milage this week and am going to cut back my long run this weekend, mostly because next week my kids go back to school and I am going to do my long runs on Tuesday's. So, I'll run about 9 on Sunday and then 17 on Tuesday. Yikes!

I've got more to say, I've just gotta go now, so I'll be back maybe later.

Painless

Just finished a nice and easy and quick (in my world) 5 miler. Met the girls at 5:30 and it was cool enough to wear a sweatshirt for the first 1/2 mile or so, which was awesome! Bring on the cool mornings. We finished in 47:17 for a 9:27 average pace, yea us! I was actually on the outside of the group, and I didn't feel like I was going to die by the end, it was great. I even thought the whole way through that my legs didn't hurt and my breathing wasn't all out of wac, it was a nice feeling. I wonder why they all can't be like that, or at least more of them. I did have a pretty good diet yesturday except for the chips with dinner, but I was aware and didn't eat too many of them. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a cup of coffee (yum), a piece of salmon and a baked potato for lunch, a plum, one piece of chocolate peanut butter bar thing, a sloppy joe, chips, and strawberries for dessert, and of course lots of water. I just wanted to jot that down to look back on. Alright, I had my yogurt when I came in, now I need to eat something else. Until next time.

Chicago Distance Classic

Hello fellow runners! I am stoked to bring you this report. I was a little nervous about running this race because all the usual doubts come up, what if I run poorly? What if I can't make the time I want? What if I feel totally discouraged at the end of this race and have to train for the next 8 weeks with it weighing me down? Well, it was all for not. I rocked (my style!). I am overall pleased with my performance. I wanted to finish in 2:15, and I finished in 2:10:34, yea me!

I went to stay the night at my sisters, she just recently moved into the city, yea me again. So, I took the train down just like a big girl and walked over to the Hilton for packet pick up. I must say I was not impressed with the expo, come to think of it I'm usually not impressed with those things. Maybe it was because I got there at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon and they were closing at 6, but they had almost no gels left and that's all I really wanted to scope out. Then after leaving there my sister came and picked me up and took me back to her place. We chilled out awhile and then took a little walk, what a beautiful day in Chicago! The whole weekend couldn't have been better if I would have written it down. We had dinner, I got some pasta and a whole lot of water and then back to her place again. I think I was sleeping by 9:45. I don't know if the rest of you are like this, but a nice added bonus to running is that I can pass out as soon as I put my head down on the pillow.

Got up around 4:30 am and showered just to get going and wake up. Had a little bagel and gatorade and then G(that's my sister's nickname, her name is Margie, but my son couldn't say it when he was little so he called her G and it stuck) drove me to the start. I think this is the latest I've ever arrived at a race, I'm kinda nuts when it comes to getting somewhere early. So I get there a little less than an hour before the race. I found gear check and ran a little to get loose and to see if I could get anything going, if you know what I mean. Made a pit stop at the porta potties and found my way to the start. I got there with about 15 minutes to go, perfect timing all around. The gun went off and we were on our way. I found the 2:15 pacers and kinda just kept them in my view for awhile, but I eventually lost them. I'm not sure if I'm the pacer group kind of a runner, I think I pace myself pretty good. I saw G at about mile 1 and waived, that was cool.

The race itself was not that eventful. I decided on a plan before to stop at pretty much every drink stand. I ran through the first one as it was only at mile 1, and I figured it would be crowded, and it was. I took some gatorade or water or both at every other one except one, and that strategy seemed to work pretty good. The first 5 or 6 miles my legs felt a little tired, but after that it went pretty good. Here's my splits:

Mile 1 10:20
Mile 2 10:19
Mile 3 10:17
Mile 4 10:23
Mile 5 10:02
Mile 6 9:59
Mile 7 9:42
Mile 8 9:53
Mile 9 10:04
Mile 10 9:40
Mile 11 9:38
Mile 12 9:55
Mile 13 9:21
Mile .01 :56

For a grand total of 2:10:34. I also walked through every stop.

I didn't get to see my family, but I know they were there, because my husband took some great pictures, here's one:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h306/CarrieK17/DSCN3223.jpg

I don't know why it's not publishing, I'll try to figure it out later. I want to post other pictures too, so I'll have to try again later. Hope everyone else had good runs today.

Okay, let me see if the picture uploader thing works tonight, I read on someone else's blog that it didn't work for them last night either. Nope, so let me just add another link I guess. My family:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h306/CarrieK17/DSCN3230.jpg

Just another link, oh well.

Return from the North Woods

We're back! My boys and I were in the North Woods from Sunday until Wednesday visiting my mother-in-law. It was nice to get into a little cooler weather, it was especially nice not to have to get up before the sun just to get my run in. I ran both Monday and Tuesday, it's slightly more hilly there than here, but it was fun running up and down hills, they're not San Fransisco hills or anything, but I live in Illinois, the only hills we have are man made pretty much.

We drove back on Wednesday, so I took that day off and ran again with my girls on Thursday morning. I was going to do 7 and then 4 on Friday and then off on Saturday, but it didn't turn out that way. It was humid and my diet hadn't been all that great while we were away and the run on Thursday morning sucked, so I stopped at 4 and switched my 7 til Friday. We did the run at 5 am (this is starting to wear on me), I can't wait for the cooler weather so I can go later in the day, especially after the kids go back to school next week. The 7 went better this morning, but I still didn't feel great. I'm kinda glad that the runs didn't go all that well, because you know how that works, a couple bad runs usually equal a good run and the Chicago Distance Classic is on Sunday!

I am going into the city tomorrow afternoon to spend the night at my sisters. She lives close to North Pier, so I thought that would be a good place to spend the night before my 6:30 start Sunday morning. I'm a little excited about this race, but not too focused on it. I hope I do well, I'm aiming for about 2:15 finish. The marathon is the main focus here, so I'm thinking of this as more of a long run with 10,000 of my closest running friends, I'm sure the stomach will be doing flips come sunday morning. I'm really looking forward to the medal, I've never gotten a medal for anything!

My husband and my boy's will be there along with my parents and my sister. Does anyone else cry at the end of a race? I looked around a bit at the end of the Soldier Field 10 miler and didn't see anyone else crying, not that that stopped me from sobbing like a little girl. It's just so emotional. Hopefully there will be a great race report right here Sunday night. Until then, happy running everyone and good luck to all who are racing this weekend!

Carrie

Another long run in the bank

14 miles! Who am I? It went pretty good, had a couple emergency potty breaks, but I was always close to home, so that wasn't a problem. I kinda figured it was going to be one of those runs, because I kinda felt it going in. Holly and I started out at 5 am. We didn't get home until almost 11 the night before because of a baby shower we went to, what baby shower lasts until 11? I wish we would have thought of driving by ourselves. Oh well.

So, we started at 5 and ran three little miles outside my neighborhood and then had to be back in here so my hubby could go to work. That's right, I ran 11 miles around and around and around my little hamster wheel. Thank god for my friends, they got me through. Holly stopped around 9 miles and then Jen was here around 5 miles, so she finished with me. I was never alone. This worked out so good. I was so glad to be finished! It took 2 1/2 hours to cover that distance, we were very consitant with our pace, even kicked it up 30 seconds in the last mile.

Here are the after effects of the run. First, blisters. I have a blister on top of a blister and then several other blisters. This of course happened because I was cocky about blisters. "Who me? I never get blisters" Yep, that was me about a week ago. When will I learn to shut my mouth? Anyway, I asked around and more people are in favor of just leaving them to heal on their own, don't pop them. I was leaning in that direction as I hate doing that kind of stuff, I'm not a popper.

The next thing is chaffing. So, after the run I stretched and took a shower. When I got in the shower I felt like I was being stung by a bee right under my boob. It hurt. It stopped hurting after a little while and so I didn't think anything of it. Then I was changing later on and saw what the problem was. I was all chaffed right under my nips! I couldn't believe it. I never thought that would happen. I geuss it was better than being chaffed right on my nips, but how weird. I will have to apply the body glide there now too, I should buy stock in that company because I'm thinking I am going to need a lot of that stuff in the next couple months.

The other thing that happened after my run was my very first ice bath. Holy crap. I kept my clothes on and put a sweatshirt on too. I just did it for 15 minutes, man was that cold. The worst is of course right when you get in, but then it's okay, still cold, but doable. I have to say that I was still sore today, really more stiff than sore, but I ran 4 miles recovery this afternoon and my legs felt great! I will do this again after my 1/2 on Sunday and then after all my long runs from here on out. I'm a believer.

That does it for this weeks long run and such. The ridiculous heat is gone, it's warm today, but not like that. It would be nice to have a couple early evening runs or afternoons. I'm heading up north tomorrow with my boys. I hope to get a couple runs in while we are there, but I don't have my heart set on it. I will get at least 4, but if I could get a 7 also, then I could take next Saturday off before the race on Sunday. Run strong everyone!

Carrie

Here comes the rain!

Ah, I've never been so happy to see a big storm on the horizon. I knew behind all that rain and thunder and lightning was much cooler temps. Yesturday I was off, and I felt like I needed it, actually most of my off days feel like I need them. This morning I was scheduled to run 7 outside with Rachel and Jennifer. Well, it was storming still when I got up this morning, so we cancelled the run and because my husband was supposed to work outside today, he didn't have to work. So, I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill again, yuck. I got it out of the way though and felt much better because of it, otherwise I would have bothered me all day. Anyway, about 10 minutes after I started on the treadmill the rain eased up and the lightning went away, so if I had just waited a little I could have gone outside, oh well, how was I supposed to know? You say I could have watched the weather? Oh yes, that would have been a good idea, if anyone knows of a weather person who gets the weather right, let me know, because all the weather people said that it was going to storm all morning, but what do they know? They only have all the latest equipment and gadgets to rely on. Okay, that's enough bitterness from me.

My husband just got his letter from the job he was going for saying he didn't get the job. I feel so bad for him, I know he wanted that job, it would have been a lot easier and more vacation time and all. They still have his name and number, and there are supposedly more jobs coming up in the future, so maybe he could still get one of those jobs. Oh, the sadness.

Gotta go take the kids to the dentist. This is the first medical thing of many to come in the next couple weeks before school starts. See ya

Alright, I need to catch up a little. Sunday was our long run, of only 9 miles this week as it was my cut back week, yeah! I really like this program because of the build two weeks and take a break the next week, I think I like that more than build for three and rest for one, for some reason that makes it easier on my little brain. Anyway, we went to the trail about 20 minutes away, it's a three mile loop, with some little hills. I suggested it because there's always a lot of people there, well unless you get there at 5:45 on a sunday morning! I felt a little bad, but it wasn't long until the place was crawling with people. It was a great run! I love it when I have a little pep in my legs left at the end of a long run, and I should considering I run like a snail. Now I build up this week.

I had to rearrange my runs this week as I am taking my boys up to Wisconsin to see their Grandma this weekend. So, I am ran 4 yesturday on the treadmill in the air conditioning, because lets face it, I'm not really into melting on my street and I was exhusted Monday morning after hosting a fish fry Sunday night at my house, so getting up early and running after being on my feet ALL day Sunday was not going to happen. So, I slept in and gathered up my boys and brought them to the nursery at the community center and ran on the treadmill, the big bummer with this plan is that 1. I couldn't use my garmin and 2. I couldn't see Oprah from my treadmill because they changed around the machines since the last time I was there, I'm gonna have to do something about that when winter comes.

This morning I ran 7 around my hampster wheel in the OVEN! I ran with Holly, Rachel was a no show and Jenny backed out because she only had 5 hours of sleep (baby). You can tell which miles I ran with Holly and which I was by myself for, kind of a big difference in time. I am such a slacker by myself, maybe it was the heat, but I know that's not it, it's just my pathetic self.

I am taking tomorrow off and running 7 Thursday, 14 (holy crap) on Friday morning and 4 on Saturday morning or afternoon. Then I'm taking Sunday off, since I will be driving that day. I think then I will take my off day and my cross training day while we are there and then catch up again next week by mixing it up again. I hope my body holds up. I had a little twang in my hip today, more than in a while, hopefully tomorrow will be enough to help it feel better. I stretched it out pretty good after the run and then just strecthed a little while ago again. It does feel better.

That pretty much gets me caught up as far as running. It's funny how some weeks you're able to post whenever and then others I have to schedule my time just to get here to post. I'm not doing the cross training thing really right now. I'm trying to give myself some guilt free time until the kids go to school in three weeks until I can schedule some actual gym time. I hope it doesn't hurt me to have made that decision.

My class is also over. It wasn't a hard summer with that like I thought it might be, so that's good. I should be getting my grade soon, but I'm pretty sure I got an A, I had a pretty easy teacher.

Well, until next time, run strong and look forward to Thursday when the heat will leave and go mess up someone else's run for a while.