I'm Baaack!

After two years of non-blogging: I'm Baaack!
The fact is, I haven't been running much these past two years! It took a while to get over the tendonitis, then I was just really busy at work and took absolutely no time for myself. The result was 10 extra pounds and a really cranky me!
In January of the this year, I had had enough! I was so tired of longing to run and not going out to do it because I knew I would be discouraged for not fulfilling my former "glory". Like a saving grace, an email came through at work encouraging me to join an excercise group with other teachers. I decided to give it a try and even though it was super tough (anyone ever hear of Insanity?) it worked to motivate me and get me moving again. I am so thankful for that group of ladies and gentleman. Not only did I get in shape, but I made friends in a new school.
In February, I strapped on the running shoes for my first race of 2011: a 10K in Tucker, Georgia. It was a killer race and I was not mentally feeling it because of a major stressful morning trying to make it to the race. I had a disappointing time of 1:01...but, it served its purpose, I had caught the bug again! I was back on my way! In May, I redeemed myself with a relatively blazing 27 minute 5K on major hills.
While perusing the net one evening I came across the most wonderful news: Savannah is hosting a Rock-n-Roll marathon in November! I was so excited to see two things that I adore: Savannah and a flat race course! Sign me up, I'm in!
Now I am about 80 miles into my marathon training program and loving every minute of it! I've beeen learning many things on this new journey...here are just a few:
1) For me, Asics are the shoes to wear.
Nikes used to be my shoe of choice, but of course I got injured in them, so I began to question whether we needed to part ways. I went shopping and tried on every shoe in the store (except Nikes) and when I tried on the Asics Gel Nimbus 12 it was like slipping on my wedding dress: I just knew they were "the ones". Ever since then, I have had very little leg pain and the ride has been amazing. I'm not knocking Nike, I love their shorts, but the shoes are not for me.
2) When running during the summer, run very early or very late!
Running in the morning is very refreshing, but sometimes impossible for me, as I am NOT a morning person. When I'm not feeling it in the morning, I will head out a 9:30... P.M. It is crazy-looking, but it works for me and it beats running in unbearable heat.
3) Embrace the sweat-wicking headband look.
I have one that says "I Run So I Can Eat"! So true for me, since I live to eat! It keeps the sweat from running in my eyes and since I sweat like Niagra Falls it is a necessary item in my running arsenal. Bondibands make great ones with cute sayings on them. My new favorite is "In My Dreams I'm a Kenyan"!
4) Run on hills...they make you stronger!
I completely, 100% hate hills with every fiber in my being. I run them because I have to: I live in North Georgia, everywhere is either slow inclines or steep killers. Even though I hate the inclines, the down hills are sweet relief! I actually like those a lot: this is why I have earned the nickname "Downhill Warrior"!
5) No matter how much time you take off from running, it is never too late to start again.
You'll be surprised by how quickly you'll snap back into shape!
All I know is this: I am so happy to be back in the saddle again!

Summertime!

Summertime has not been good for my relationship with exercise! I can't blame my children for this lack of exercise because my gym has a daycare. I can't blame the Georgia heat either, because I belong to a gym. So why have I not exercised? Sadly, it is because I am lazy!

It is also because I would rather be chilling with my children at the pool or traveling somewhere cool. I have had the most amazing summer of my life! Both of my children are at a very fun age, albeit an exhausting age, fun no less. No matter what we do it is an adventure in one way or another.

Our first adventure of the summer was to Savannah with my friend Brandy and her daughter Kiley. The first night on River Street my son Drew decided to run out of the restaurant and take off down the sidewalk. I ran after him and noticed a lot of people snickering at me. I was thinking, "How rude, who would laugh about a little two year old running down the sidewalk?" Then Caroline ran up behind me and yelled, "Mommy, you have toilet paper on your shoes!" I looked down and I had 3 foot long streamers of toilet paper stuck to both of my shoes! OMG! This situation would ONLY happen to me! The rest of the "vacation" was spent at the beach, visiting my family in Effingham County and spending an evening with some girlfriends from home.

My next trip was the annual high school girlfriends trip to Lake Sinclair. My friends from high school and I get together every year for drunken hilarity. Needless to say, this year was so funny that the pictures have been banned from posting! I will say that I have some very beautiful friends both on the inside and the outside. We are coming up on our 10 year reunion from high school and among the six of us we have 6 husbands, 6 children and a boob job (which I am jealous is not mine) and somehow we look better than we did when we graduated!

St. Simon's Island was the stage of our next adventure! Andy's firm had thier Regional trip to the King and Prince Resort and it was a family trip so the kids got to come along. Bless my heart, both of my children almost drown in the ocean then proceeded to cover themselves in sand/mud from the beach. Of course, this was while their daddy was in meetings, so when he got out and was ready to hang, I was ready for a mommy time-out! He took them to the beach and pool and claimed they were "perfect" for him! How does that happen? He always says they are much worse when I am around! What's up with that?!?!

We drove 11 hours to small town Illinois to visit my family for July 4th. I love the way the mid-westerners do Independence Day: a big parade, carnival and fireworks. Simple but charming! I got to meet my new niece Allyson Marie. She is beautiful and sweet, just perfect! I am in love with her! Everything was going great in Illinois and we were planning on taking the kids to the St. Louis Arch and the Zoo when I was struck by a killer stomach bug! Why do these things always happen to me? I felt like I could possibly die that day, but I wanted to make it happen for the kids, so I sucked it up and packed 5 children into my car and me and my sister had our own reality show "Amy and Amanda Plus 5". We took them to McDonald's where they got kicked off the playground for not wearing socks and my nephew, Bradyn, stole everybodies' chicken nuggets! Everytime I stood up straight I had stabbing cramps in my stomach and the zoo trip was cancelled. The kids didn't even notice! I was so sick I couldn't even function for two days.

The most exciting thing about the trip was Andy rescued a sweet little kitten from a farm and brought it home to me. I fell in love immediately with that little orange furball! We started brainstorming names: Liberty but call him "Bert" for short; Honkey Cat, a tribute to Elton John; Puddy Two Shoes. We settled on Lucy Belle because we thought we had a girl, but after a trip to the vet we figured out that she was a he so we renamed him Oliver Smokin' Oakin! (Like on Hannah Montana... I have a 5 year old!) Oliver had to be fed kitty formula with a bottle and lay on a heating pad because he was a sick kitty. He is our new baby love!

I am realizing after writing this blog that I am not lazy...I am totally exhausted! I think it is going to take me going back to work in order to get some rest! Here's hoping to get back on track in August!

On the road to recovery!

I finally was able to see the Bone and Joint specialist on Wednesday and get the diagnosis for my ankle injury: posterior tibial tendonitis. The diagnosis comes with a huge aircast BOOT and a prescription for 2-3 days of physical therapy for 4-6 weeks. My dreams of running the Music City Marathon in Nashville on April 25th are over for this year. I am so disappointed and sad. I feel like I am a balloon that has been deflated...I'm a little out of whack without my stress reliever and energy booster. :(
My advice to my fellow runners is listen to your body, no pain, no gain is not always necessarily true. It was my mantra, but not anymore!

1 hour 58 minutes

Some days are better than others....this is true with life and with running, also. There have been days when I have loved running, thought it was the very best choice that I have ever made. Then, there have been days that I thought that if I had to take one more step, I might die! Today, my race was a mixture of both of these feelings, the beginning of the race was ecstasy, the second half was agony.
The morning began overcast and warm for February. We were clustered along Ronald Reagan Parkway in Snellville, Georgia. To my right I could see the hospital where my precious Baby Drew was born only 2 years ago. I would have never guessed then that I would be running along that busy highway. There were far fewer people running this race than the Thanksgiving race since this is a smaller "home-town" sort of race. When the starting gun fired I was immediately off and running and my legs felt amazing. I was trucking it, with a custom made playlist ringing in my ears...it was just me, my music and my miles. It didn't take me long to catch my pace. Around mile 1 I looked to the left and my family had come up to the road and my children and husband were waving and cheering. Baby Drew was in the middle of the road with his little hand waving at the runners. Caroline was in awe...she has decided that when she grows up, she wants to be a runner like her mommy! Imagine my pride in that statement! Everything was going great, I made it to the half-way mark in 55 minutes, 6.55 miles, a pretty impressive first half for a 2nd time racer like myself. I was on track to make my goal time of 1 hour and 50 minutes. This was the ecstasy part of the race because as soon as I made that turn around the agony began.
I am not sure what happened. I had nursed my ankle Thursday and Friday, with just a little twinge of pain every now and then. I thought it was just sore and needed iced, so I did that. I guess that was not enough and the combination of the miles ran and the pitch of the road made my ankle begin to ache. Okay, I thought, just get through this. I began imagining myself as a PacMan, gobbling each mile and trying to ignore the pain that shot through my ankle and calf with more intensity each time my foot struck the ground. I tried to reserve some energy for the last 2 miles, then I could kick it into high gear, but that was not going to be the case for me today. At mile 12, my little family came into view again. Cheering for their struggling mommy, they gave me strength to get to the end. Waiting at the end were my friends Brandy, JC and little Kiley. Brandy, my running partner, came to cheer me on! I was joined at the finish by my great friend, Cathy, and her two children. I felt so thankful for their support and belief in me. I have amazing friends and family! My time: 1:58. I wanted to beat 2 hours and I achieved that! Yay me!
I stopped running and the endorphins began to fizzle out and what I felt was pain, PAIN, PAIN!!! Limping and struggling to walk has been the name of my game all afternoon...I am very worried. Ice, ibuprofen and rest has not helped at all and I am praying that when I wake up tomorrow this will all be a bad dream!
Agony and Ecstasy: that is what running is all about.

Sidelined!

I guess you have to know when to sit one out! The Teck Family has been attacked by the Killer Bug (aka: stomach virus). Drew had it, I got it from him, Andy got it from me and now Caroline has been hit. So much for training! I guess this is a good time to rest and regroup, who knows maybe I'll be faster when I get out there again, all this resting might be good for my muscles! We'll see!

Breakthroughs

I read about a phenomenon known as breakthroughs this weekend and I realized that I had one of these this week without really knowing what to call it. On Wednesday, we had an 8 mile run after work. To be honest, I was dreading it. I had hit a point where I was getting a little burnt out. Brandy was excited about the run, even though she had gone to the ER with a cut on her finger from the paper cutter at school (yikes!). I trudged out to Bay Creek thinking it was going to be a routine work out that we would hammer out and get on home, 8 miles in about 80 minutes, our normal 10 minute mile pace. This turned out to completely untrue. On Wednesday we both had a breakthrough and all of the hard work that we have been putting in and the strength that we have accumulated paid off and we elevated to 9 minute mile pace! It was amazing, like running with God! I was on an adrenaline high all night and I wanted to call every person that I knew and tell them that I could now sustain 9 minute per mile pace for 8 miles! I refrained from doing so because, honestly, there aren't THAT many people out there that would really care. So many people are so much faster than me! For me, though, it was a huge accomplishment!
Today we embarked on uncharted territory, now things are getting really serious. We went for our first run that is longer than a 1/2 marathon: 14 miles. I could barely sleep last night, anticipating the distance and the pain that it was going to bring. To be honest, it wasn't that bad. Again, accumulated strength I guess. Oh and we just had to pick the hilliest terrain around here! Hills Kill! I HATE them! Everytime I see one I get angry, which is probably the only way that I get up them. We are now into these huge long runs: 16 miles next week and it just gets bigger from there. Wish me luck!
I am excited for the short runs this week, I'm ready to run with God again!

Things I have learned.

I have only been a runner since July 2008 and I am not what you would call "elite". I started this sport because it fit my schedule, my budget and it intrigued me...it was something that everybody COULD do, but that so many people would NOT do. Everyone has their reasons for disliking running, heck, I don't like it every now and then. However, just like with every great love, I keep going back.
I have learned a few things over these months that I would like to share: mistakes that I have made that I have learned from and will not make again!
1) Ibuprofen is essential.
Knees do not like runs over 8 miles. Your heart loves them, knees just want to kill you. Ibuprofen is your friend, just as much as rest, ice, compression and elevation.
2) Always check the Weather Channel when planning your running attire.
This lesson was learned when I ventured out on a Sunday morning at 7:00. Saturday was warm and balmy. Without checking the weather, I dressed for warm and balmy: shorts, tank top and thin technical tee. Had I checked the weather I would have known that a cold front was moving through at the very time that I was running and Hurricane Katrina-like winds would hit me about 1 mile from my house. I finished the run a different person: a Popsicle and believer in meteorology! When I checked the weather when I got home I found out there were 29 mph wind gusts and a wind chill of 34. No wonder everyone passing by me on the road was shaking their heads! They were probably thinking, "What an idiot!".
3) Find a good running partner.
To me a good running partner is as essential as water. Your partner is your motivator, the person that you know is waiting for you at 8:30 a.m. ready to run 11 miles with you in the cold. My running partner, Brandy, is not only a great athlete, but an awesome friend and someone who I enjoy being around. We spend a lot of time together and we know so much about each other: she can tell when my ankle hurts and when I didn't eat enough, I can tell when she is just not "feelin'" it. We motivate each other when it sucks and celebrate when we have a great run. That is the most important part of being running partners
4) Choose a training program and stick to it like religion.
Training is tough but rewarding. For me, training was not about losing weight, but about dealing with stress and improving my fitness level. Any by-products would just be an added bonus. A good training program gets you mentally prepared to run. When you know you have 6 miles to run, you get out mentally prepared to run those miles. Sometimes you wouldn't even think of running one step more than those set miles and I think that is okay. Running is 90% mental and 10% physical. Yes, you must have proper training in order to run long distances, but if your head is not in the game, you aren't going to get very far.
5) Eat, Eat, EAT!!!
Sometimes I forget to eat right. I get really busy and snack on a piece of chocolate or a cookie. I pay high prices for this when I go out and try to run any distance longer than a mile. I experienced true runners "bonking" one weekend when I didn't eat properly on a Friday night and attempted to run 9 miles without eating breakfast. What a dummy! I got through 2 miles and felt as though someone had beat me with a 2x4. Cold sweats, cramping, breathlessness...it was horrible! That day I vowed to do a better job with eating and always do a major carbo-load the day before a long run. My recommendation for breakfast before a run: oatmeal with honey and white tea sweetened with honey. It is like gasoline is to a car. I can run for an hour after that breakfast with no need for an extra food. Just find what works best for you and stick with it!
To all of my friends out there who have begun their journey of running: I am so happy for you and proud of the steps you are taking. I don't claim to know much, but I do know a few things and I hope they help you to not make the mistakes that I have made along the way. What you are doing for your yourself is amazing.
Until next time...
Get your run on!