finally feeling good-ish

This morning's run was in Celebration. It was a beautiful course, but no bathroom, which meant my bladder screamed my entire run. Stupid bladder. The route started at the movie theater and wound around several bodies of water, over several boardwalks, through conservation areas, and past million dollar homes. An absolutely gorgeous run. It would have been even better if it were less hot, but whatcha gonna do in Orlando? Two loops equalled six miles.



I ran the first mile without walking, which was approximately fourteen minutes. Then, my running buddy Laura kept running while I walked with her. Yes, like my cousin, she is good at the slow and steady run that I suck at. Laura is awesome and did her four required miles without walking. She rawks! It took us 47 minutes to do the first three miles. You know I always shoot for the elusive 38 minute 5K, so I was a little disappointed in my time and decided I needed to step it up for the second loop. This meant ye olde standby run/walk ratio.

I started my second loop with a run 2 walk 1 ratio but was only able to keep that ratio for maybe a mile before I settled into a 1:1 ratio. My second three took me about 43 minutes, so I did shave four minutes off, and gave me a negative split, which is awesome! But I wish I had been a bit quicker.

Let's talk about my coach. I love my coach. I love my coaches from last year, too, but I get way more one-on-one time with this coach. He only has a total of nine people to coach whereas my other coaches have something like thirty people to coach, so it makes sense that he would have more time to devote to each of us individually. It's nice to have him running beside me, encouraging me, and offering me advice on breathing and posture and pace. It makes having to drive so much farther to train worth it because I am getting so much more out of my training this year than I did last year.

I've been pretty pain-free during my runs, which is fantastic. But in the car on the drive home this morning, my left foot seized up something fierce. I stopped at a store, and cried out in pain when I tried to stand on my left foot. I walked the pain off. I think it has to do with my shoe laces. I need to get new shoes sooner rather than later; I'm pretty sure that will help solve some of my foot pain. Tonight, twelve hours after my run, my left foot hurts again. I have it elevated and have been massaging it. It'll get better.

I'm pretty pleased with the run from this morning.

Oh! In my last mile or so, as I ran across a boardwalk, a giant owl flew across the boardwalk not two feet directly in front of my face. It was awesome! I called out to two bicyclists who were standing a few feet ahead to see the owl. They then pointed out a young two-point buck standing down in the conservation area staring up at us. And me without my camera! It was so awesome! I couldn't stop for long, though, as I was racing my clock and didn't want to break stride.

Best part of my run this morning, aside from the wildlife sightings, was at the start of my second loop. I was on a boardwalk, and it was during my two minutes of run time. There were two older ladies walking a dog on the right side, and three bicyclists approaching from the other direction on the left side. The bicyclists very kindly yielded to me, and I thanked them as I ran past the two ladies, and past the bicyclists. One of the older ladies said, "oh, there's a runner coming through."

A runner.

She called me a runner!

Because that's what I am. Funny how something so trivial can ameliorate my mood!

monday night, ankle be damned

Monday nights always start out with crazy ab exercises.



My ankles are both still hurting from Saturday's hill run. And I didn't sleep last night. So tonight's run was a bit rough for me. In fact, I just didn't have enough get up and go inside me to do as well as I would have liked to.

We kept up a pretty decent run/walk ratio of like run 8 walk 1.5 or something like that. But I just didn't have it in me tonight.

Tackling "Big Bertha"

This morning the Orange/Seminole and Osceola teams met up out in Lake county to tackle a hill we call Big Bertha. Now, last year, I always skipped the Bertha runs because I was unemployed, gas was nearing $4 a gallon, and I couldn't afford to drive that far. So this was a, um, treat? for me.

The run starts in the parking lot for the Target in Clermont. I've been to the plaza many times, and should know how to get there since we have family that lives in Clermont. But, apparently in the dark, I get lost even more easily. I somehow completely missed the Clermont exit off the Turnpike, and didn't realize it until I exited at the next exit (way far away) and found myself on Route 27 outside the Lakeridge Winery. Leave it to me to find wine when I needed to find the run! When I finally found the meeting place, I had missed group stretching, and the team was just beginning their run.




Laura and I jogged out of the parking lot and immediately encountered an enormous hill. Surely that must be Bertha. Alas, a mile later, we encountered the real Bertha, and Bertha was intimidating. How the heck did that mountain sneak into flat central Florida?!

This might be on my third trip up Bertha:


I had to do three trips up and down Bertha. I walked up. The second time up, we were instructed to walk up it backward. Let me tell you how farookin difficult that was! Holy Toledo! I had no idea something could be so daunting! Remember that bridge I ran in Panama City? Yeah, that's like a speed bump compared to Bertha.

Here's four of the six Team Osceola members who climbed Bertha this morning walking backwards up the mountain:


The guy in purple is my Coach. The girl is "Laura". I'm back there, and the other guy had the misfortune of calling me this morning because he was lost, only to discover I was lost!

Anyway, Bertha was conquered and we only have to do her one more time this season. Brutal, beastly Bertha.

Back to the waterfront

Vacation is over. And I'm glad. It's so much easier to train when you have people keeping you accountable. You know, not that my cousin and CIL didn't try to keep me accountable while I was up there for eight or nine days, but training with my team is different.



It began with the torturous crunches that get easier and easier the more I do them. Imagine that! Then, Coach wanted us to do a fifteen minute run. My coach ran with me and another girl (let's give her a name... Laura) the entire time. He kept me at a slower pace, and we ran seventeen minutes without stopping and without walking, which added up to 1.23 miles. Then, we took a bit of a breather as we walked over to another part of the park.

Coach had drawn two lines on the pavement, approximately 150 meters (?) apart. He had us do fartleks. This was my first time doing fartleks, and I'm not sure I'll ever be a fan, but I understand the value of them. Laura, Coach, and I would run a slow pace from line to line, then turn for a faster pace back, and slow again, and fast again, and slow. Then, Coach let us walk for a minute or two before starting the second set. Walk some more, and a final set of fartleks.

They were so hard. I was okay for the first two sets, but that third set, OMG, I thought I'd die. Thank goodness Coach and Laura were there to offer me encouragement, or I promise I would have quit. It was hard.

I am so proud of myself and of Laura. We totally rocked our training tonight. The other team mates that were there tonight are much more in the "runner" category than I am. Must not compare myself to others.

I left training feeling very positive. Oh, and I talked to Coach before training began (I got there half an hour early and planned to get in 2 miles to make up for being short on miles last week, but Coach was also there, and so we talked) about my leg issues of last week. I'm thrilled to tell you that my left leg had no issues tonight. Yay!

I'm still not sure I really want to do the full marathon, but I have a month before I have to recommit and make that decision. If Coach keeps riding my ass like he's doing, I'll really have no excuses to not do the full marathon.

in need of a positive run

After two incredibly crappy runs, I desperately needed a good run. Tonight was the bridge run. I was very apprehensive, given recent left leg/right ankle issues. I bandaged my right ankle and crossed my fingers. It was a very good run, and I am mostly pleased overall.

I walked the uphills and ran the downhills. My average pace wasn't spectacular, but since my left leg really didn't complain at all, and my bandaged right ankle didn't force me to stop, I'm pretty pleased.



I felt great throughout, and great at the end. That is a spectacular feat in and of itself.

Now for the complaint. I ran with a local running group (I'm out of town, and thus not with my people). These people are amazing runners, as was demonstrated by how many times they each lapped me. But, I work very hard at not comparing myself to others. For every single person that passed me by, I offered positive reinforcement; I am nothing if not a great cheerleader during runs. Almost none of them offered me positive reinforcement in return.

Kids, I give what I require in return. So when I'm huffing and puffing and loudly proclaiming things like, "WAY TO GO! KEEP IT UP! GO GIRL! YOU'RE AWESOME! GREAT JOB!" it's not just because I want to encourage you. I require positive reinforcement. Running is ridiculously difficult. It seems to me, if you're doing something hard and you see someone else working hard too, you should occasionally cheer them on. When I run at home, without fail, when I am passed by other runners, they always cheer me on. Even when I'm not training with my team. These people here were wholly unsupportive as I ran. And that sucked.

But, regardless of the almost complete lack of positive reinforcement (after the third time of me cheering some on, they did reciprocate), I think I had a great run. Not my best run, but pretty fucking great.


It doesn't look steep, but I promise it is!


nearing the top


thumbs up for a great run!


the other side

I did one full lap, then went almost to the end of the bridge (I knew if I got off the bridge, I'd quit prematurely), then went back to the top and back down, for a lap and a half. I then did repeats until I hit my goal of one hour, which worked out to four miles.

in which I give up and call for help

I'm on vacation. I have to train. Saturday night, I participated in a midnight 5K race. It was awful. I seem to have/be developing an injury in my left leg. During my race, my left leg started screaming 6 minutes into it, and screamed the rest of the race. It sucked.

With much apprehension, I strapped on my shoes this morning and hit the road. It's a mile up the road to a nice shopping plaza. I planned to go there, run around the plaza, and come home. I was shooting for three miles, which should have taken me about 45 minutes.



This morning, I felt pretty okay for the first mile. But boy, once my leg started screaming after that first mile, it screamed loud and long. And so I walked. Slowly. Very slowly. And limped. And... called my husband to have him get out of bed and come retrieve me.

Crappy ass run.

We came back to the condo we're staying at on the beach and changed into swimwear. We then walked that mile back up to the same intersection I had run to, only on sand. It worked my leg muscles differently than walking on hard surfaces does. And, my left leg continues to hurt. Only now my right ankle, my weaker ankle, the one I had issues with all last year, started hollering too.

My fucking body is betraying me, and it's only September.