Kelly's Final Countdown

Here we are! A little more than a week to go and my last long run finished today!!! Ran at the Jacksonville gym again today for 8 miles before I ran out of time. It just amazes me that it's not that hard any more. Sure it makes me really tired, my feet are sore, and I have absolutely no energy left in my body, but the process is not that bad. The knees seem to be fine now with the miracle straps from last week and my body seems to miss it when I don't run for a few days. Imagine that! The hardest part now is finding a way to get through the boredom after about 4 miles. Today I cranked up the music and did a lot of daydreaming. At the six mile mark I exchanged some text messages with Susan which is quite dangerous when you have coordination issues. That entertained me a bit. Then I started getting really hungry. That will teach me to skip lunch on a long run day. Of course, since it was my Tuesday run in Jacksonville, I had some nice folks to look at which also helps. Much to my disappointment, Red Shirt Guy and White Shirt Guy stood me up. OK, maybe I didn't even talk to them last week, just watched them, but they should have known anyway right?? Well, just when I was about to quit for the night at the 7.5 mile mark, I saw a flash of red out of the corner of my eye (pull up bar of course) and there was Red Shirt Guy. In a red shirt. Which of course distracted me for the last half mile as I tried to determine if he only owns red shirts........or if he read the blog.........

As for financing the sport, who would have thought it would be so expensive. I was, um, too tired to notice the speed limit change on my way home and I got to meet another nice police officer. Not even the short running shorts and tank top helped. Well, I guess I did smell kinda bad......

So here's the last week leading to the grand finale. Saturday is the "Run for the Ta-Tas" 5k for breast cancer in Wilmington. On Tuesday, I will run a couple miles for my stress management, but taking it easy. On Thursday afternoon, we get on a plane and head for Baltimore. Friday is a health expo at the Inner Harbor where we have to pick up our "stuff" (whatever that is I have no idea) and then Saturday is the big day! At this point, I know I can make it, I know I will finish, I know it won't be fast, and I'm just hoping I can walk onto the plane on Sunday to go home. Better than anything is that I get to spend some time with my sister Karen and my evil friend Susan who got me into this in the first place.

Greg, I have earned my chocolate. Now if I can just get someone to bring it to me.......

Twelve fewer miles to run...

Today, as God is my witness, was my last long run in preparation for the race. I ran the hills around my house in rural Maryland. Note the local folkloric signage!


A lovely day, and the run went well. Instead of waiting to chug Gatorade at the 6 mile mark, I started drinking it as I ran, and that worked very well. I even found I could anticipate a hill by drinking some before and it gave me enough energy to shuffle to the top like the little engine that could.

Today's half-way pitstop was the bathroom of the Little Bennet Regional Park Golf Course..as you can see, the surroundings were far superior to the usual PortaJohn...


Not much else to report. Those last miles are still so incredibly boring, and underarm chafing ("Ewwww. TMI!") continues to be an annoyance. Mostly, though, I'm happy with the race-day togs I took for a test run today... The cut of the shirt lets my tattoo show, and hopefully it will inspire me...and the one or two stragglers in the race who are behind me and get to see it...to persevere.

Next 10 days, some shorter (MUCH shorter) hill runs and fun at Zumba and BodyPump. And then the happy days of gentle pre-race carb-loading. Oh, the anticipation! See you in Charm City!

"It's a Miracle!" shouted Kelly.

Less than three weeks to go. Today I feel good about it. Tomorrow may be another story. I didn't run much last week and I can't even remember why. The days fly by and I lose track of what happened when. This week's "long run", on paper, was supposed to be 11 miles. Yeah right. Apparently the people who make the training calendar are not single moms with full time jobs, a 45 minute commute and 4 days a week of soccer! Oh yeah, I promised no whining this week. Like a true runner, I did stop at Omega Sports between soccer games and spent more money on cool running shorts, a shirt that wisks away the sweat, a fanny pack water bottle thingy, and some Glide to keep my chafing parts from chafing. I asked if they had bionic knees, the answer was no. Gotta find a new store! Then I bought YET ANOTHER iPod because I lost the one I just bought. Fabulous!

Now back to that 11 miles. How?? So, I figured I could save an hour if I ran at the gym rather than driving somewhere with trails. Running was the perfect plan for Sunday because I was FRUSTRATED with my laptop and the iPod and most everything that morning. I had something to burn off! The first 3 miles were great! I think I can actually say now that a 3 mile run is almost EASY!! Can't believe I'd ever say that! Then it went downhill fast. My phone was vibrating away and I decided to ignore it. After a few more calls, I figured I should check since I'd left my darling children home alone. (No worries, they are old enough.) Well, it was a crisis of grand proportion requiring 3 calls and a text in 5 minutes. NFL Sunday Ticket was not working and the Ravens game would be on in 3 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a deep breath, and another mile to run off the frustration, therefore protecting the life of my oldest son, I gave up and went home. The 11 mile run turned into 4. It was a good 4, but 4.

This week I have class for work on my Greg days so no Greg. I promised him I'd go to the Jacksonville gym while I was away and he gave me a list of weight trainy things to do and advised me to find a muscly marine to help me. Um, well, I lost the paper. Don't tell Greg. BUT, I did go to the Jacksonville gym today. It's right down the road from my afternoon school so I was there, changed, and on the treadmill by 3. It was raining so no outside running considered. My goal today was to see how long I could run without taking a walking break. The other day, when talking to a much more experienced runner, she told me that if I can run 9 miles, I can make it 13 somehow someway. There's a plan. Problem is, I haven't really "run" more than 5 miles. My 8 milers were a lot of walking - remember the failing knees? Anyway, I was going to see how far I could go without walking with the idea of not settling for less than 3 miles straight and hoping for more, but being careful of the knees. I stopped at Dick's and spent MORE money on knee strap thingys that are supposed to keep my legs attached. Well, right about mile 3, a very attractive person of the male species (known from here on as Red Shirt Guy) walked by my treadmill, jumped up onto the pull up bar and knocked out 20 in a matter of seconds while looking like he was lifing a feather. He was weight training happy go lucky and I was enjoying watching him. :) So before I knew it I was at mile 4. And guess what??? NO KNEE PAIN!! NOTHING HURT!! The $30 in knee strap thingys was a true miracle!! Woohoo! So I thought maybe a little more. Then another person, White Shirt Guy (which soon became transulcent from sweat white shirt guy-nice), got on the treadmill next to me and I was suddenly motivated to run a while longer. Around mile 5 my iPod was playing Rocky music and White Shirt Guy mysteriously started air boxing while running. ??? Strange, but hit me as quite funny at the time. I had to suck up the laughter and focus on breathing. White Shirt Guy was NOT going to outrun me. Well, ok, yeah, he was in WAY better shape so I was hallucinating at that point. The air drumming that he started soon after made me have to stop and tie my shoe so I wouldn't fall off the treadmill laughing. Before I knew it, I was at mile 6. Well then, Red Shirt Guy was bench pressing right in front of me so what's one more mile.......and Walah - 7 miles and I felt fine. No pain, just hungry and out of time. The lesson of the day is...wear the miracle knee strap thingies and find the right distractions and you can run on an on! Some Advil and some icing and I can still walk like a normal person tonight. Nice.

So same time, same place Friday Red Shirt and White Shirt Guys, please??? Better yet, see you in Baltimore in a couple weeks?????? :-)

Susan has gone the distance...inadvertently.

My training schedule called for 11 miles today and 12 next Sunday, with a week's rest before the "big day." I gave myself the option of quitting at 11, or going to 12 if I felt good (haha). I did manage to make it to mile 12 with only one interval of walking. HOWEVER, then I realized that my walking 3/4 miles south on the canal path, backtracking from the car to get to mile marker 30 to start, and then having to walk (crawl) the 3/4 miles to get back to my car had put me over the 13.1 mile race day distance. Sadly, I was too numb to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

All in all, except for the unrelenting feeling that my toes were broken, the cramps in my calves, the need to stop periodically to stretch out any and all muscles related to tight and screaming hip flexors, the puky feeling from gulping down 1.5 Gatorades at mile 6, and resisting the desire to rip the ear plugs from my ear and throw my Ipod into the stagnant canal, well, gee, it was just great. Jesus NTSOG was just lovely as well, and called me every 15 minutes or so the last hour to make sure I was still alive. At least, I think it was my husband, Jesus. I was so delusional at that point it might have been the real guy.

Here are today's photographic rendering of the run:
First, at White's Ferry at Mile 6, gulping down Gatorade and still optimistic about "only" 6 more miles to go...

Here we are, thinking that we had survived 12 miles, when in fact, it was 13.5. Please note the euphoria.


And finally, back in the car, hydrated and pretending that the protesting sciatic nerve in my right leg was not making me writhe in pain...



And, by the way, daughter Becky went for her long run of 24 miles today and came back without any feeling in her right leg... so I guess the pain and misery is normal. Oh , yay. Who invented this sport?

Post note to Kelly's Post

I think it's a mile 8 thing. It took me two tries to finish 8 miles. Conclusion: Running 8 miles is STOOOPID.

Kelly thinks running is STUPID!

Though I have not planned for my classes tomorrow, I have decided to blog instead because I have some things to say. The first and most important one being that RUNNING IS STUPID!! I had the best of intentions today. I did some research during the week and found Greenfield Lake Park with a lake that looked nice and scenic for a long run. The trail around the lake is 4 miles so two laps would be lovely. The kids could go ride bikes while I ran. It was a beautiful day. Then real life kicked in. First my electonics curse continued. I can't find my iPod. So I thought I could put my running tunes on my phone, but alas I can't figure out how to make my laptop recognize that my phone exists. Which is how I lost my contacts off my phone - another story. So I had to steal my child's iPod. Not the same. Then my children had no interest in spending time at the park with me so I went by myself, which turned out to be a good thing. I'd had a rather emotional afternoon for various reasons and need to run some of it off. So I drove to the park, sat in my car and tried to find some motivation. I did this thing I saw on Oprah one day that I do when I need some extra support. Birdwalk....There was a psychic on Oprah that said you can communicate with people through music, that when you need a message you should ask for it through the next song on the radio. The day after I saw that show, my mom passed away. I came home from the hospital, flopped on my bed, and knocked the clock radio over. Freebird started to play..."I'm as a free as a bird now..." It became a thing for me then. end of birdwalk...... So anyway, I said give me a song and Keith Urban came on. Now I love Keith Urban, but this particular song had a direct connection to my bumpy afternoon. (There is at least one person on a ship 7 time zones away who gets the reference.) So I sat in my car and cried for a few minutes and then made myself run.

The first two miles, my mind was definitely winning over body. I just kept thinking running is stupid and it was stupid for me to think that I'd get my body ready for this half marathon in time. As I explained to Raf on the phone later, running is complete disrespect to those who invented the wheel you know. I wanted to go back to the couch. The next two miles were better. My body was tired enough that I was starting to lose focus on the things in my mind. At mile 4, I had a run in with a stupid little chihuahua. He ran up to me all happy and nice. Then when I went to pet him, he growled at me like a doberman. Stupid dog. On mile 5 I passed some nice looking guys, and thought about turning around to run the other way and follow them, but that would be a bit obvious so I decided not to. Then my stupid knee decided that it didn't want to be a joint anymore, it wanted to be more like a rock. Then many things became stupid. I'll run to that stupid tree, walk to the stupid fence, run to the stupid armory with the stupid camo trucks,..... You get the point. I stopped to take this picture at the Fragrance Garden because I wondered if sweaty runner is what they had in mind. Yeah, I'm not looking very happy there. The guys that passed me on mile whatever became stupid too because they were moving much faster than me and didn't look sweaty. The stupid people on the bikes were smiling which annoyed me. My knee worked off and on so I ran when it would move and walked when it wouldn't. Guess that's what happens when you don't take your glucosamine!!! Stupid too. At mile 6, I stuck the stupid iPod in the waistband of my pants and it soon fell out through the leg of my shorts which led to a graceful attempt to remove it while running. Yeah, stupid. At mile 7, Journey started on the iPod which was NOT stupid and I could run again. That's when it was proven that your body can do more when the music is right. So 8 miles finally happened and I was done. Good thing because the sun was setting and I wasn't sure I knew where my car was.

Now for the less bitter segment. :) While I failed to appreciate the humor when Raf texted me at mile 7.5 to see if he should call 911, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he had also been texting my kids to make sure they had icepacks ready for me. Kyle had even made his lunch already! Since my stupid icemaker is broken, sorry, I am sitting with a bag of frozen peas on my knee. Guess what's for dinner tomorrow???? thanks raf

I promise to have a better attitude and better music for the next run. Promise. I'm also signing up for a local 5K - Chase the Ta-Tas. Kinda funny. All the women start first and then the men start a few minutes later, hence the chase part. Might be the one time running slow pays off!! I will run to support breast cancer and to honor the strength of those who have beat it with much more character than I had running today. This one is for Deidre's mom, who has been wonderful to me for years and deserves a break already!!!!

Until next time.....

Susan takes a week off

Thankfully the doctor cautioned me to take a break from long distance running this weekend to give the Cipro a chance to do it's job, as well as to recover from the unfortunate flu-like symptoms that followed the flu shot, as well as a week of generalized burning the candle at both ends and sleep deprivation in general. No problemo, doctor-sir. See you next time...

Kelly Returns to the Blog

Obviously going back to work got the best of me for the past couple weeks. A whole new schedule and the start of soccer season for the kids makes training for a half-marathon an even bigger challenge. Though I haven't been blogging, I have been training and running. Still going to the gym and training with Greg a couple times a week and running when I can. I'm now lifting 30 pounds more on upper body workouts than my first week weight training! I've also figured out that I can run during soccer practices which makes me a fabulous multitasker. I can't remember much of anything beyond that for the past couple weeks..... Yesterday's long run was the longest distance and the longest continuous time running so far for me - 8 miles!! Going into it, I was thinking I have a month to go and there is NO WAY that I would be ready. Then I found my way to the Gold's in Gaithersburg, MD and told myself to suck it up. My visit to MD this time was full of mixed emotions for many reasons, and I needed to win this mind over body battle. The first 4 miles are actually not so bad anymore. In that much time, nothing is hurting and I haven't lost focus yet, the exertion still feels therapeutic. From there on, it's not so pretty, but it gets done! I've learned to play lots of mind games with myself - finish this mile and then walk 2 minutes, run through two more songs, one more infomercial on the tv, etc. Oh yeah, and try to resist the urge to pick up the cell phone and order things from the infomercial. See your mind and body are so tired that the amazing weed whacker looks like a must have after 20 minutes! While I was hurting and icing from the knees down last night, and whining every time I had to go up or down steps, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. As the miles get higher, the joints get fussier. More advil, more ice, more glucosamine and more Rocky songs into the iPod mix. :)

So while this week's training is full of lots of milestones, I think my personal reflection is more about life than running. Yesterday when I ran my 8 miles, I thought a lot about it also being the 9th anniversary of my mom's death. There were so many things that she wanted to do that she didn't get to. She lived through some rough times, health problems and managed to still care about people, usually too much for her own good. Everything that reminds me of my mom reminds me that I am not guaranteed any amount of time and I need to make the best of it. For those who have lived through the past couple years (and more) with me, you can reflect with me. As much as it's hard to admit, I spent much of the past 5 years + in my own withdrawn world. I not only didn't run, I barely moved from the couch or recliner. I put everyone else first, I worried what everyone would think, I let everyone else's needs control life, I hated to be selfish, I thought looking out for me was not being a good person. I don't know what clicked in my head, but over the past year I have come to see that taking care of me makes the people around me more happy also. The changes I've made physically and psychologically are priceless. I can admit that after three years of better living through chemistry, I am now free of anti-anxiety medication and feeling better than ever. For all of you that pushed me, listened to me and gave me new challenges, like this dern running thing, I am forever grateful.

Next weekend - 10 miles!!!!! ouch

Susan: A Great Weekend!

Lot's of positive vibes this weekend, starting with a PR at the Kentlands 5K, and finishing a 10-mile training run strong (albeit in pain), punctuated by a dim-sum lunch with a buff Kelly (thanks to Evil Greg, her personal trainer) and our fellow ESOL Avenger Galit. Good times!


Perfect weather and a scenic, shady course for the Kentlands 5k. I was just so "thrilled" to find out that by registering for it, I was automatically enrolled in all Maryland Senior Olympic qualifying events this year. I had a nice conversation before the start, back at the end of the pack, with a 76 year old woman and a 62 year old woman. The 76 year old said she started to run 30 years ago when she was 47. She agreed that starting later rather than younger probably saved her knees and joints. She ran strong and, of course, they both beat me. ;-) On the other hand, they both only run 5Ks, and I like to think that my round and well-nourished frame is better suited for the endurance of long-distance runs. Haha. Rationalization is one of my strong points.

Onward to Sunday's weekly long run, and back to the C & O canal for 10 miles. I inspired (nagged) Jesus to go to "If the Show Fits" for a new pair of running shoes yesterday, and he met me at the 5 miles points at White's Ferry for the 5 miles back. Nothing remarkable about today's run. I got a new set of aches in my ankles that were painful for the last 2 miles. In fact, I ran the last 3 miles with pebbles in my shoe and the ankle aches so out-pained the pebbles that I never bothered to stop and shake them out. Also I was afraid to stop. Here are the required photos: Jesus getting ready for his maiden run at White's Ferry, and me holding on to the sign back at Edwards Ferry after 10 miles so I don't fall down in a groaning moaning heap.



See you next week, and happy to see Kelly. Only 3 training weekends to go for "moi." I'll do an 11 miles and a 12 miler and then a week off before that real fun begins.