Run.

I buy all the state of the line equipment, the latest greatest shoes, a dri-fit shirt in every color, spandex pants that make me feel fast and don't give me chub rub.  I download running apps to log and track every step I take.  I have a fancy headband, a handy shuffle, an awesome gym bag.  I have a  fanny pack, inhaler hider, totally hip, SpiBelt, I drink and eat chia seeds like they are magic pellets. 

But my closet is still not getting any fitter. 

Nothing can make me harder, better, faster, stronger except me.  My body, my heart, and my mind.

Wednesday and Thursday morning I went running.  It was hard, I was slow, but I ran. 

Wednesday morning RBK and I went to Bayshore to do the usual 4 miler followed by breakfast.  It was the first time I ran since the half marathon and it had been 2 weeks before that since my horrible scrub run.  Yeah, I ran in my scrubs.  WTF?!  Anyways, I was a little anxious to see how my ankles would feel during the run.  I wore my Sauconys to help avoid any extra stress on my tendons.  It felt really good.  I tried not to focus on them, instead just recognizing that they were "uncomfortable" then focusing on my breathing.  It was a beautiful day along the water and there was just enough breeze to keep us cool.  I was pretty proud of myself, I must say.  Oh, and a big high five to Dr. Wheeze.  I didn't even think about using my inhaler. 

After the run and our Daily Eats breakfast, I came home and promptly soaked my feet and ankles in a cooler full of ice water.  It seemed to relieve the uncomfortable feeling quickly.  It felt good and according to Patchouli, it tasted pretty good too.  Silly dog.

Thursday morning after work we headed to a different park to change up the routine.  It is a nice park with a 1.25 mile loop.  We didn't have much time, so we did 2 laps and called it a day.  2.5>0  It was fun checking out the park during the run, going out on bridges and playing on the playground equipment.  We will definitely be going there again.

Cool fishing deck.

I love playgrounds!

Climbing the wall.

Starting Over.

It's ok, I'm still here.  Sorry I haven't been posting.  This is a "running" blog, not an "I can't stop eating long enough to get my running shorts on" blog.  I guess I am not handling the bad ankles very well. 

Do it, do it now.

That's all going to change at 7:30 tomorrow morning.  RBK and I are going running after work 3 days this week.  Man, I really need her motivation to get me started back up.  The half marathon in Minnesota is coming up quickly, less than 5 weeks.  In the past 4 weeks, I've only run the Iron Girl half marathon.  No me gusta.  I've refreshed my running schedule and I am putting my game face on.

No more.

We are going on Bayshore in the morning, but I am going to suggest a couple other places to run for Thursday and Friday morning.  I am looking for some hills to get us ready for Minnesota.  I guess I just need to run the Iron Girl course a few more times.

So look for more blog posts this week.  And if I am not posting, I am not running, so yell at me and help me keep my butt going and my fridge closed.

I need more of this.

This weekend is the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg.  I am volunteering Friday, Saturday, and Sunday-race day.  I've never seen a triathlon so I have no idea if it is something I would be interested in doing. 

This Saturday is the March of Dimes walk on Bayshore in Tampa.  You can support the March of Dimes by visiting my page here.

...all images, except the picture of me, are from google...

Vader Vapor.

My mom is so proud of me.  My coworkers are pretty proud of me too.  And I'm proud of myself too.

I went to the asthma doctor yesterday!  I know.  I'm awesome.

I have a confession.  I have been being a noncompliant asthmatic respiratory therapist runner.  Epic fail.

My new doctor is great.  He was recommended to my by my noncompliant asthmatic respiratory therapist coworker. 

I told him I'm a runner (and I felt kinda awesome referring to myself that way, and guilty because I haven't run in a while), and that I felt my asthma was holding me back.  We came up with a very aggressive game plan to manage my asthma and allergies and he hooked me up with a terrific "sack o nerd".  I've got inhalers, nasal sprays, and eye drops to nip this thing in the bud. 

More good news, my ankles are getting better.  They start to hurt about halfway through my night at work, so I'm still kind of nervous about running on them. 

I know Dr. Oz and Google are not the best primary care physicians, but orthogate is a great website that explains a little about the peroneal tendon and problems that occur. 

I really want to start running this week.  I've been doing strength training since I haven't been running, but like I told Dr. Wheeze, "I'm a runner."




Congrats to all the awesome runners at the Boston Marathon yesterday!!  You guys rock, hard. 

Spa Week.

Did you guys know it is Spa Week and many spas have discounts on massages and other spa treatments?  You should check SpaWeek to find what deals are near you.

I am waiting on my RBK to get here so we can go get our Spa Week massages.  I really need it after this week.  She wanted to go Monday or Tuesday but I was so sore I couldn't possibly have someone touch me.

I don't know if was the difficult course, my shoes, or the combination of both that caused me to hurt so bad.  I love my Vibrams so I'm going to blame the course.  When you think of running a race in Florida, the last thing you think of is hill training.  I wish I would have paid more attention to those bridges on the course map.  My bad. 

After 5 days of ice, foam rolling, a foot massage from Smooth, TEDS compression socks, and enough NSAIDs to give myself an ulcer, I can finally walk without my "swagger".  Some parts of my feet are still hurting, but I feel so much better.  I was thinking terrible thoughts, stress fracture, bone bruise, no more running.  Yuck. 

I had no idea that was a real quote.  I thought I made it up.

Only 6 weeks til the Stillwater Half in Stillwater, Minnesota.  I will be working on hill training for this race.  I hear Minnesota is not all that flat.



What is the website where you can look up past race times?

Iron Girl. Rubber Ankles?

The good:    I learned some good lessons yesterday.

The bad:      Three evil inclines.

The ugly:      My ankle.

I knew that since I hadn't run in two weeks, Sunday morning would be a tough mental game for me.  RBK came over Saturday night so she wouldn't have to drive so far the morning of the race.  We ate our Iron Girl granola bar we got in our race packets before we went to bed. 
We woke up at 4:00 Sunday morning and got ready for race day.  Smooth went with us to be our photog and spend some time on the beach while we were running.  He is A for Awesome!  I had a bagel thin with PB and banana and a cup of coffee.  I had a sore throat Saturday so I took some Halls with me and we were out the door at 4:50.  Ask I was driving, I saw this cute little tree frog on the hood of the truck.  He was having a hard time sticking.  Luckily there was a stop sign so I could shoosh him off, I think he was our mascot for the day.

We parked at Coachman Park and waited for the trolley to the start line.  If we were coming from out of town I could see how that would be nice, but since we are kind of locals now, we would have been better off parking closer to the beach.  We had to wait a while for the trolley to come and it would have been safer to drive ourselves.  Our trolley driver kept slamming on the brakes to tell other runners to catch a trolley somewhere else.  That was considerate of her, but she had forgotten to close the trolley door. 

When we arrived at Pier 60 we took some pictures and waited in line for the bathroom.  Oh, then they told us there were honey buckets by the starting line.  We drank our 5hr energy.  First time we did it before a race.

Excited to start.

Jumping for joy.

After we peed, we headed into the starting corral.  They didn't have separate corrals but they did have pacers.  We got as close to the 2:30 guy as we could.  We didn't have to wait long for the race to start.  RBK wanted us to stay together, but something told me this was going to be a tough race.  Her goal was 2:20, mine was a PR hopefully close to 2:30. 

Starting line.



Beautiful line up.

 The start went well, not a huge pile up.  It didn't take long into mile 1 to loosen up.  RBK told me on the way to the start, 'I think this is the same way the 5 miler I ran started, if so, there is a big incline in the beginning.'  I think that is good that they put the hill at the beginning.  Ha.  I'm hilarious.  I did really good up the first hill and felt like I had a good pace.  My first 6 splits were:
11:14
10:44
11:13
11:39
11:20
11:28

I used my inhaler a couple times in the beginning.  I couldn't believe they had the roads open while we were running.  They just had road cones to separate the lanes.  Truck exhaust is the last thing this asthmatic needs when running up hills.  I felt like I was getting a blister on my right foot, but other than that I felt ok, the course just seemed really hard.  I hunted the 2:30 pacer guy down like he was prey.  I got in front of him for a couple of miles.  I had great tunes and was trying to focus on my form.  Something was feeling off.  I didn't expect such a hilly course in Clearwater.  The course was really beautiful.  When we weren't running over the evil bridges surrounded by the water, we were running through a pretty residential area.  This one house had a fence covered in honeysuckle and it smelled really good.

Then my left ankle started the popping thing.  Ugh.  It is tolerable when whatever is popping out pops back in and as long as I kept running it would usually be ok.  But I could feel my form getting worse and worse.  I lost the pacer guy, I walked through the water/Gatorade stations and on the last 2 hills.  The humidity was pretty bad at this time.  I was slowly losing my umph.  They had more water stations at the end of the race which was a big help.  There was also a crazy dancing girl along Gulfview who reminded me of the SunDrop girl (I am dressing like her for Halloween, so if you see a SunDrop ringer t-shirt, keep me in mind).  I was chuckling to myself in my head.  Kudos crazy dancing girl.  I passed her 4 times.

My next splits were:

12:00

12:24

12:35
13:21
14:03
14:45<--I'm pretty sure I had to talk myself from jumping off the bridge. 
11:57
Chip Time:  2:39:56

As I'm running the last mile I know I am running pretty close to my Princess Half time.  I refocused, found some Coheed and Cambria on my iPod, and got back into it.  Finally I saw RBK and Smooth.  The finish line was kind of weird.  There were 2 blue timing pads.  I just went for the one under the blow up thing.  I was beat.  I couldn't wait to take my shoes off.  As soon as I got my medal and made it through the finish shoot the shoes came off.  Ahh.  The sand felt so good.  I met up with RBK and Smooth and we walked down to the beach.  It felt so good.  I walked in knee deep.  Smooth pulled cute shirt out of his pocket he bought for me while I was running.  It is a flower 13.1 shirt from asportygirl. I couldn't have asked for a better finish. 

RBK 2:17:26  A great PR!!!

Hi Smooth, I'm dying, but I'm smiling.

Done.

Clearwater Beach

Bling!

Turtles!!

We walked over and got our food bags.  Yogurt, banana, gross muffin, hot OJ and a nasty breakfast burrito.  Nice try, but fail.  Am I the only person who doesn't want sugar after a race?  I ate the yogurt anyways.  I really wanted a pickle.  I told Smooth I wanted a pickle while we were waiting in line for the trolley to get back to our truck.  The ride back was hot and smelly.  Runner's are gross.  On the way back to the car we passed a sign that said "Pickles Plus Deli<---."  Oh that sounds so good.  When we got to the parking lot, I realized Pickle Plus Deli is in the same lot as our truck.  Score.  I limp as fast as I can into the deli and ask if they had pickles, maybe those big jar pickles.  The girl looked at me like I had 3 heads.  It was called Pickles Plus Deli, why is that a weird request?!  She said she had some deli pickles and I asked if I could have some.  She brought be a bowl of 4 nice sized pickles and told me I didn't owe her anything.  She made my day.  They were delicious and really hit the spot.



I <3 Pickles.

 On the way home we both had to go to the bathroom, now.  Was it the granola bar, 5hr Energy, the yogurt, or the pickles?  We had both eaten the same things all day and had to go at the exact same time.  Thank goodness I have 2 bathrooms.  I whipped up some blender drinks and we headed to the pool.  While I was laying out relaxing I couldn't stop thinking about the race.

The bottom of my right foot felt uncomfortable from the beginning.  I have a blister on the bottom of my foot below my big toe on my right foot and on the tip of my second toe on my left foot.  My left ankle was popping during the race,  but was feeling ok now.  My right ankle felt a little sore, but not too bad.  Even though I used my inhaler, my lungs felt ok for the majority of the race.  I think when I felt my ankle popping I was really overcompensating with my right leg. 
It felt so great to jump in the pool.  My legs and ankles actually sighed.  I heard them.  I texted my mom that I just finished my third half marathon.  She thought I finished THIRD, like third place.  Aww.  We were exhausted but didn't want to fall asleep in the sun.  We came in and took a nap before our dinner at The Melting Pot with some coworkers.  It was my first Melting Pot experience and I can't wait to go back.  Blogger fail, I forgot my camera. 

After dinner I came home and tied ice packs to my ankles and fell asleep.  They were so sore and swollen.  Today I was supposed to go rollerblading with a friend before our sushi lunch with RBK.  I had to cancel on the blading early because I can bareley walk.  My calves are super tight.  My hammys are sore from the hills.  My ankes are still swollen and I either have a stress fracture or planter fasciitis.  I have never had either one, but I know it hurts.  I have never felt this bad after a run.  I've spent my day with BenGay, Aspercreme, Mortin, my foam roller, compression socks, and ice.  Was it the hills or my beloved VFFs?  Beside the sore calves occasionally, I haven't had any problems with my shoes.  I don't want to have any ill feelings towards my shoes, but I don't think I can keep racing in them.  Especially if I don't know the course very well. 

My next race is the Stillwater Half Marathon in Stillwater, Minnesota.  I better get to working on hill training and wearing my Sauconys.  I also want to stick with crosstraining during this training session.  But, first things first, I gotta be able to walk.

Don't forget to sign up for my Virtual March of Dimes 5k.




Sony Walkman Giveaway-RunFasterMommy

Slack Ass

Everybody quits running two weeks before their third half marathon, right? 

I am really good at coming up with reasons not to run.  I had family in town, I was out of albuterol, I worked 4 days nights in a row, I had a stomach ache, it was too hot, I was exhausted, I ate too much, my ankle hurt, I need to shave my legs, the moon isn't super.  You get it, I'm good. 

But Sunday morning at 7:00 am I have to run.  No matter how hairy my legs are or what time the tide is, I am running.  I am very excited about this race and I have been looking forward to it for a long time.  The Clearwater Iron Girl will be RBK and my second half marathon together.  It is a beautiful course around Clearwater.  

Sweet course.

I don't know where my motivatoin has gone lately.  I hope that when I am getting ready for my first out of state half marathon I will be a little more consistant with my training up until the end.  I really want to start crossing states off my list.  My next state is going to be Minnesota.  I am running the Stillwater Half Marathon at the end of May. 

Sorry this is a lame sauce post, I'll post a race recap after the race. 

What do you do to stay motivated and how do you ditch your excuses?

My Run Review

Thursday night, RBK and I braved the horrible weather and went to the Cinebistro in Hyde Park to see My Run.  Because they serve dinner in the theatre we had to arrive at 6:30 for the movie starting at 7:00.  We saw Debbie from RunTampa, who witnessed our horrible run on Sunday.  She recognized us even though we weren't bloody and limping.  They have a great running community organized, and I am excited to join them for some runs soon. 
We ordered our food and prepared to watch a movie that would make us want to get up and run home.  But, we didn't get to watch that movie.  My Run is a very motivational movie about Terry Hitchcock and his life, but watching him run and run and then say he would never do it again and he really hasn't run since was not the kind of motivation I was looking for.  It motivated me to thank my mom for being an awesome single parent, it motivated me to finish something once I start no matter how many people leave you behind.  But to run, not so much.
I was very distracted by the cameraman's love for the zoom button.  No one looks good that close up.  If you saw the movie you know what I mean.  I also couldn't get my head around why Terry and his son wore Breathe Right strips while they ran.  Is this s runner's trick I need to know about?  Any help with the breathing aspect of running would be great, but Breathe Right strips?  I have a couple, I might have to try them out. 

Can you see the BR strip on his nose?

The dinner was great, I had a mahi mahi and sweet potato fries, and the theatre was really nice.  Except the clanging of silverware right beside me in the middle of the movie, geesh.  And luckily the rain had stopped when we left the theatre. 

My in-laws are in town so I won't be blogging or probably running much this week.  I do have an 11 miler scheduled tomorrow.  Our last long run before the Iron Girl Half Marathon in Clearwater.  I'm want to find a new route for us to run for this one. 

If you are in the TB area, do you know of a good running route for long runs?

Did you see My Run?  What did you think?

Do you wear Breathe Right strips when you run?  Or sleep?  Or walk around?