Run Mercy Run

I came across a cool article in this month’s Runners World.

See Spot Run.

There are not only dog-walkers in the world, but dog-runners. People who are paid to take your dog out for a run.

Hmmm. I could do that!

Some of you may know that I run with Mercy. It’s quite a sight to see, I would imagine. You picture her kind in a foo-foo purse walking down Main as opposed to running full speed.

She can’t help it. She has two speeds: Fast and Faster.

I don’t seem to have a photo of her and I running together (I promise to get some soon), but here is one of her and Keith running.

I take Mercy with me on my Easy runs, not because she couldn’t keep up on a tempo run, but rather because I need to concentrate on those! Easy runs are relaxed, and not really for time, and it’s not a big deal to have to make a potty stop a few times for Mercy. I can stop at the fountain in town and she can get a drink, or we can cruise over to the creek and get a little wet.

Mercy doesn’t get a run in everyday, but if the weather permits, she and I and Sweet Pea will get out for a walk. A happy dog is a tired dog.

The vet says that she is ideal body weight.

I say she’s a machine.

A setback

The May 25th half-marathon is a no-go for me. I hope to be there to cheer on my girlfriends (would you believe I know 3 women who are running the half and two that are running the full marathon?).

I am a little bummed. I was VERY bummed last week about it, especially since I had just started training WITH people. There is something incredible about running with one of your gal pals- not only is it motivation, but you talk the whole time and it’s so much better than your regular heart to hearts over those thousand calorie decadent chocolate cake, etc, because you BURN a thousand calories instead!

Endorphins make me happy. So does burning calories.

Why am I out? I hurt my back two weeks ago. I haven’t been able to pinpoint a certain movement that did it, but rather a combination of running hills, lifting weights a little too zealously, and getting the car seat (with child) in and out of the back seat of my 2 door car.

I was very humbled, as I have never really had back problems and sort of wondered how much someone’s back could hurt. Well, it can hurt A LOT! I could hardly pick up Sweet Pea and placing her in her crib was an operation for sure- I would sit her down in her crib, then hold on to her arms and lower her to a laying down position.

I am feeling much better now, about 85%, and finished my first post-back run yesterday morning (yeah can you believe it? I woke up early, woke the baby, fed her, went to the gym, and came back in time to make my husband breakfast before he went to work!). I don’t doubt that I could get my mileage back up and I know that I could run the whole 13.1 miles on race day……….

But you see, I have a little bit of a competitive bone in my body. A big one actually. And I decided that I couldn’t safely train hard enough to break the 2 hour mark at this point. Two years ago, before I was a mama, I would have pushed myself and to heck with the consequences of possible injuries. But I am a mama now, and being injured and taking care of a baby is not something I would like to do again.

So, it’s 1:59 in the half or bust for me, so May 25th is out.

The half marathon will be delayed until the fall, since longer events are not usually run in the dead of the summer due to the heat. I shed my tears and then my husband and I came up with a plan to break that 2 hour mark. I have 6 more months to get there

It’s all good.

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”- Proverbs 16:9

Happy Trails

It’s no wonder that California produces incredible runners with trails like this everywhere.

We went out to San Diego to visit Keith’s family and we had the opportunity to go running together a few times while “West Coast” Grandma & Grandpa tended to Sweet Pea. Keith took me (and Mercy) to the Sweetwater Reservoir Hiking Trail that he used to run on during college. The views were breathtaking and the hills were heartbreaking!!!

While on vacation I did my first tempo run ( a faster-paced workout also known as a lactate-threshold, LT, or threshold run) since giving birth and I am gaining confidence in my ability to actually do well in the half-marathon May 25th.

Strength training has been my downfall, as I have not consistently been hitting the weight room. Hopefully I will figure out a way to make that part of my weekly routine, now that my mother is back from Florida and might be able to watch the baby.

White carbs and sugar: the new drug

Why are carbs and sugar so addicting? My word, once you have one bite, you just MUST. GET. MORE. It’s just so hard to say no when you have the goods in your house.

I am almost 4 months post-partum and really starting to make more of an effort to get back into “fighting shape.” The first month or so after Sweet Pea was born, the weight just literally melted off. It was pretty amazing, considering I was not exercising at all. Now I have about 5-8 pounds left to get back to pre-pregnancy weight, and about 15-20 to get to my wedding day weight, and about 20-25 to get to my early college weight. You know, back when it wasn’t super embarrassing if my stomach accidentally showed. Right now that is SUPER embarrassing, due to extra weight, stretch marks (battle wounds as I like to call them), and “muffin top”- what my friends and I call that little poof of flesh above your jeans we all have since having a baby.

My 5 motivating factors:

1- Our upcoming trip to California to visit Keith’s family. We leave in 3 weeks and I refuse to buy new summer clothes, so I need to fit into my old ones!

2- Sweet Pea’s baby dedication at the end of April. We will be standing in front of our entire church and I would like to feel and look my best!

3- A wedding we are attending on May 25th.

4- A half marathon I am training for, which is also on May 25th. (The race starts at 7 am so I’ll be done in plenty of time to get ready for the wedding!)

5- The biggest one. I don’t want my daughter to grow up and hear me ask “Do I look fat in this?” all the time.

Marathons of different sorts…

This is what I was looking at a year ago today before the sun rose in San Francisco:

The Nike Women’s Marathon, my first marathon, blogged here. It is so incredibly hard to believe that just a year ago, I was ahem-pounds lighter than I am now, primed and ready to run 26.2 miles. Training for and running that marathon was so awesome- I truly hope that I can do it again someday. SOON.

Now I am as primed and ready for a different kind of marathon, labor & delivery, then parenthood, though I definitely DO NOT feel physically in shape for it! At 39 weeks pregnant, with one week to go (we hope no longer!) I am huge, move awkwardly, and definitely cannot run very far at all. After my last dr.’s appointment, at which I was dilated “a fingertip” (not even 1 cm), I was determined to make my water break (which obviously didn’t work). I ran the first 4/10ths of a mile of my walk with Mercy. Let me tell you, that was the MOST difficult four tenths of a mile I have ever run in my life- my legs were just feeling so wrong, so taxed, so overworked from carrying all that extra weight. Needless to say I will not be trying that again prior to having the baby! I am a little nervous now about the hill I have to climb in regaining fitness, considering how difficult that little run felt.

I’m just desperately waiting for this baby to come… one week to go, one week to go… I keep praying that I will go early!!!

So one day as I was cruising around Flickr, looking to be inspired by some knit projects and to laugh at some dog pictures, I came across this:

Yes! It is a 1965 restored Vespa, complete with sidecar and little yorkie with doggles!!!! I want one.

Knitting has been a wee bit slow lately as I have been a little busy! I’m hoping to get some knitting time in tonight after the gym. I thought that I would be able to make all these blue thing for Project Spectrum but with only a week and a half left of blue/white/ grey, I’m afraid all I will be left with are WIPS. I haven’t eveb negun to think about April/May colors!

Physical Therapy is going well, though its a little expensive! I’ve been running a little bit and hope to continue that. Maybe someday soon if it ever decides to become spring and STAY that way I can start biking outside to give my weary bones a rest.

Finally… the MRI results!

So I finally got my MRI results on my hip injury after all the chaos at the doctor’s office a few weeks ago. I only had to wait 30 minutes this time, as opposed to 2 hours. Good deal.

And.

I

Have

a

Fractured

Pelvis.

How does one fracture their pelvis? First of all, it could only be me, because I am the only person I know who has bizarre injuries like this. Secondly, the doctor said that it just wasn’t typical for a 24 year old to have a chronic onset of a stress fracture here… So basically we think it’s related to a bike accident that happened at my old gym at the end of December.

I was in a spinning class and after 50 minutes of class, the pedal felt weird. So, I figured I should sit down and not do the “Jumps” that the rest of the class was doing, slow down, and look at the bike. Before I could adequately slow down, the entire pedal arm came off of the bike. The bolt connecting it snapped like a twig. My leg kinda of jerked down, as the pedal came off and slammed on the ground.

And I’ve had weird hip pain ever since. Quite excruciating during January and early February, but getting better day by day. The doctor didn’t give me any restrictions- he said that the fracture showed to be healing and that I should be as good as new in 6-8 weeks. He hooked me up w/ some physical therapy sessions that start tomorrow to restrengthen some muscles that just have been too painful to use and he encouraged me to RUN AS MUCH AS I COULD- to let pain be my guide.

Woo HOO! I’ll be running on the treadmill tonight- maybe not 8 miles, more like  2 or 3. Gosh I miss that adrenaline rush.

Us runners…. a different breed!

Shape Up

My Shape Up Page is now up and running, along with a few other online tools to help me in my fitness quest for 2007! I plan to update that page once a month to track my progress.

Where I’ve been…

My weight has fluctuated quite a bit since graduating from high school in 2000. While in school, I was very active in sports and played one or two sports at a time all year long. Two - four hours of exercise a day was not uncommon for me as I trained for various track and field events and played travel soccer. My weight ranged from 125-130 during that time and I ate whatever I wanted (and alot of it).

That changed once I went to college. I no longer played varsity sports and adapted a sedentary college lifestyle of late night studying, eating, and little exercise. My weight went up to 140, 150, back down to 130, up to 140 and remained at 140 for quite some time. I married my sweetie in 2004 and having homecooked meals, coupled with a job that had gourmet (and fattening) lunches nearly every day, and stress eating brought me to my peak weight of 164. I was terribly unhappy with myself.

I decided to lose it all and joined my local chapter of Team in Training, an endurance training group that raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. During the training I ran farther than I ever thought possible and gained a newfound amazement and respect for the human body.

I finished the Nike Women’s Marathon with a time of 5 hours and 9 minutes in October 2006. I continued my exercise regimen beyond the race and by December 27th 2006, I was down to 144 pounds (20 lbs. from my peak weight).

Sadly, I suffered a hip injury that is yet to be diagnosed (I have an MRI today) on December 27th at my gym that has left me unable to run without extreme pain or debilitation. For the past 2 months, I have been pretty sedentary as I haven’t been able to run or bike. I gained 5-6 pounds in this time and ot having that time to exercise has taken a toll on me mentally!

Where I’m at…

So I can’t run much (or at all if I listen to my doctors). I have only run a few times since the beginning of January, each with painful consequences! Supposedly I am not to bike or do the elliptical either, leaving little cardio to do!

I joined a different gym and it is about a 2/10’s of a mile walk from my front door.

Where I’m going…

I am meeting with a trainer on Wednesday, one of the new member freebies the gym gives you, and will hopefully know more about my hip to create a training regimen that will not further aggravate my injury, yet provide adequate calorie burnage.

I am also using some online tools to track my progress. You can see these, my goals, and a monthly update on my Shape Up Page.

Freezing here by the Great Lakes…

It is FREEZING outside. I mean FREEZING! It’s so cold that they closed the schools in the area.

Remember those snow days as a kid? It was such a blast to stay home from school, build snowmen, drink hot cocoa, and play outside. I remember how we used to pack the snow on the steps to the deck and sled down them. Sadly, those simple pleasures of snow days are long gone! Although we did have that a little bit last year, during the “October Suprise Storm!“

This weekend we experienced some major snow. And of course, adventurous us ventured out during the thick of it Saturday morning.

This is what dedication looks like. Dear Hubby decided that he was going to train for a half marathon through Team in Training like I did last year (I ran the Nike Women’s Marathon- the whole thing!). So the very first team run happened to be at 7:30 in the morning this past Saturday. During extreme white-out conditions.

Us runners are a different breed, huh?

Good thing I am staying inside today- working on our painting project and my socks!