Kelly's Updates

It's been a while since I posted an update and some were suspecting that I had stopped training. I am still going - just took a mental break for a while spending time with visitors. Many thanks to those visitors who have been supportive and not complained at all when I left them (or dragged them with me) to go to the gym. I did discover though that a half marathon is equal to running from Castle Hayne on 40 to my house. YIKES! The furthest back I can remember is last Thursday. Deidre and I went to the gym to run together. She has better stamina than me so it was a good motivation to keep my butt moving. Two weeks before my time for 3 miles was 45 minutes. On Thursday my 3 miler was cut down to 40 minutes, mostly by actually jogging and not walking most of the way. Friday the kids and Raf waited patiently for Deidre and I to go to the gym again so we could all go to the beach. It was upper body workout day with Greg. Then I thought about running for the first 30 seconds on the treadmill and quickly decided NAH!!! Instead I went for working on the leg muscles and walked 45 minutes with the incline cranked up between 8 and 10. Later at the beach, I foolishly challenged Zach to race me to the pier. Well, he took off and left me in the dust (sand I guess) instantly, then mocked me by running backwards in front of me. He's lucky I couldn't catch him! Anyway, at least I jogged to the pier and back to the group without dying. Later I learned the lesson of running in bare feet and spent some time with ice on my poor, arthritic toe. Saturday and Sunday were rest days with just walking around the aquarium and downtown Wilmington. Today it is 100 degrees here, but I ran anyway. Shew! It sure was tough running in the air conditioning while watching the hot people outside through the window! :) Greg stood me up - guess he forgot we changed the time. We will have words on Weds!! So today's task was to see if I could cut some time off the 3 miler. BINGO!! Today's 3 miler time was 38:40. Today's run felt great, mostly because I actually RAN most of it instead of walking. I ran a non-stop mile (yeah I know, I signed up for 13.1) for the first time which did more for the psychological part of this training than anything. My calves and shins are fighting me as much anymore. I see progress, I feel progress, I just might make it........