Streaking!!

I am now 15 days into a planned running streak of at least 30 days. It is great fun, really. RunningAhead, where I track my miles, has a little widget on the tracking page that displays in a very large font the number of days in the current streak. I really like not having to wonder if today is going to be a running day or not. Even with the craziness of this week's schedule, getting in mini runs has been pretty easy.

My secret hope is that I am able to continue this streak at least through my training for the Monumental Marathon on November 7, 2009. So far, it keeps me loose, seems to really help my running times (except in the ridiculous heat) and maintains my motivation.

Maisy approves of this message.

My new running gear

Bondi Bands FTW!

Derek's early project pictures

OMG!

I found this old picture today. Ethan had his first haircut at 6 months old. In hindsight, I think I should have done it earlier...

Meet my new baby girl!!

Maisy!!!!!

Can it be true?!?

I have had a tremendous amount of sadness and frustration over my increasingly slow running times. In the summer of 2006 I noticed that my times were getting slower and slower. While training for the Chicago half in August 2006 I gave blood and I don't know that I ever fully recovered my speed and energy. After that I had the issues with vertigo, then Ethan came along and my running became more and more spotty. I have worked very hard to get my mileage back up to 2006 levels, but my energy and speed are both still in the toilet.

I went to the doctor and the bloodwork came back normal. This would be a good thing in most circumstances, but I KNOW something is wrong with me. I went from a 10:30 or 11:00 mile to a 15:00 or even 16:00 mile with no obvious problem. I started reading and researching again.

It turns out that runners, especially distance runners are prone to a special kind of anemia. While hemoglobin levels (part of what my doctor tested) may look normal, ferretin (which dr. didn't test for) can be low. For runners, even readings in the low end of normal are unacceptable because they represent the amount of stored iron in the blood which prevents fatigue and boosts endurance. I could have written many of the personal accounts of this that I have read. After my blood draw last week I started supplementing iron, adding in a vitamin c pill to help absorption, and sadly, I also quit coffee cold turkey. Apparently coffee blocks iron absorption.

Early this morning I got up and very nearly went back to bed. I was frustrated and sad over my inconclusive bloodwork and it just felt pointless. I had the first strong run that I have had in a very long time. I was still not back to my 2006 levels, of course, but this was a 3.5 mile run and I got back to the house 15 minutes earlier than usual. I can't believe this may actually be working! My first marathon may not have to be over 6 hours!

Looking back, it all makes sense. Times tapered off as I was doing endurance training in the summer. Endurance training and hot weather are both bad for ferretin levels. Giving blood pushed it over the edge. I stopped worrying about it for a while because I was distracted by the vertigo situation, but when Ethan was born and I was ready to start running again, I began rinking coffee regularly again so I just couldn't recover.

I can't wait to see where this leads!

Wet your whistle

The water crisis of 2 weeks ago was averted for this last long run. Instead of leaving from the house and going out and back, I hopped in the car and parked at my "out" point, did a water and potty stop at my house and finished my run at the car. This worked MUCH better than when I had to get the fill up from early morning car wash guy. I was a wee bit tired and twingey, but I attribute that to being off over Labor Day weekend.

This weekend is my first 14 miler ever. I am a little nervous, but confident that it will be fine. To date, the farthest I have ever run is 13.1 miles. I am making sure to plan ahead - smart food and naptime so I don't just gobble up any progress that I make. Running would go much more smoothly if I shed 15-20 lbs. Woe is me, right?

Feelin' Hot

The heat has not been breaking here lately. I tried to go out last night but even after dark it was hovering around 90 degrees. This morning it was still a very muggy 75 when I ran. I keep repeating to myself that it is good endurance training and will make the cooler weather bring seemingly miraculous running.

In the meantime I have to remember to call some people about stashing water bottles... Maybe I will even do a destination (read stash the car with a cooler) run. I am feeling adventurous. It is a sweaty kind of adventurous but adventurous nonetheless.

My weekend off

We're heading out in a couple hours to see the in-laws in North Carolina. A 10-12 hour car ride with a 17 month old is always fun. My main entertainment tool is the "Box O' Surprises" which is actually an old wipes container that I fill with various toys. He pulls them out and throws them on the floor, I pick them up and put them back in the box, then he throws them out again. It keeps him entertained. Oddly enough, one of his favorite "toys" in the box is a rock that we picked up in July when we vacationed in Michigan.

I never run when I am out of town. I usually bring my gear and then feel bad about not running, but this time I am sparing myself the guilt and fully planning to not run. It is all in the training plan. I started in early with the 12 milers so that I can comfortably skip a long run, come back with a 12 miler and then do my very first ever 14 miler the following week.

I can't believe I am still actually excited about this!

Lesson learned

I have never before experienced a water crisis while running. It was so stupid humid on my long run yesterday that I finished all of my water after about 7 miles. I was a little sad about it but didn't worry too much.

Before long, I noticed that I had stopped sweating. Distance runners are familiar with the way salt crystallizes on the face in small amounts. Well by this point I felt like a crusty human salt lick. Before long, I started getting chills and feeling fuzzy-headed, so I started to look harder for water sources. The school on my route did not have outdoor water fountains or a hose hookup like I had expected. Finally, like a mirage in the distance, I saw car washing guy. He kindly filled up my empty bottle with his hose and sent me on my merry way. Thanks for being up at 6:30AM, CarDude!

I still ended up cutting my route short by a half mile, so I only went 11.9 miles. I blame the humidity completely and insist that my dinner the night before had nothing to do with my poor performance. Honey roasted cashews and peanut butter M&Ms are great body fuel, right?

Marathon Training

Marathon training has officially started! In reality this doesn't mean much except that the running schedule is no longer in my head, it is on a piece of paper. This week's running has been less than stellar because of the delights of being a woman. I start the pill on Sunday for the first time in 10 years. I seriously can't wait!

So increasing my long runs back up past 10 miles has brought on several reminders and realizations:

1. Clif shot bloks are amazing things. I especially like the orange ones with a little shot of caffeine.

2. There is a LOT of litter on the road that you don't notice while driving.

3. I hate trash day and the smells that go with it.

4. Anything over 10 miles brings on random but temporary pains in body parts that I didn't know existed

5. Speedwork is useful but hard as hell to convince myself to do at 5 in the morning

This weekend's plan - 5 miles tonight, travel to Ohio and back tomorrow, then get up extra early for a 12.5 miler Sunday morning. Hooray!

The twinkle loop

If you subtract my off-key singing, it doesn't get any sweeter than this.

Back from vacation

We have now been back from vacation for a week. There were many, many rocks there so Ethan had a wonderful time. His dad and I had a lovely time as well. The weather and scenery were beautiful.

I am in a good running groove now that we are back. Last week was my first 20+ mile week in months, but it didn't feel unusual. I have my training plan, my inspiration, and my confidence back. For the first time in a while, I feel like I really can do this marathon successfully!

The new/old new shoes

The new/old shoes look way better on him than they do on me.

The dreamsicles are now just a dream

I am so sad. I had to take back my cute little orange shoes. Wednesday's run allowed me 2.5-3 pain free miles, but even after re-lacing, I was hurting less than a mile in this morning.

The good news is that I returned the new ones to the store today and he found a pair of my old style in the stockroom. I got a refund and a 450 mile reprieve. I'll probably start looking for a new favorite shoe in October or so because I don't want to be in the depths of marathon training and trying to figure out shoes.

The bad news is that now I have two identical pair of red and grey (officially passion and ice, I think) shoes. I have to work to keep them separate because if I cut the grass in my running shoes, I may never forgive myself.

New Shoes!

I am now the proud owner of a new pair of running shoes. As a bonus, my style has been updated, the colors changed, and now my feet appear to be adorned in creamsicles. I am sure that will be helpful with my blood sugar issues.

The first run in the new kicks felt good, but for the first time ever, my right arch was twingey - it felt like it was being overstretched. I am going to try one more run tomorrow in them and tighten the laces better in the middle for greater support there, but if it still feels funny I may have to return them and get another style.

I love Pearl Izumis - they have been my shoe of choice for 2 years now. They are more supportive than many others that I have tried, yet they're not heavy. I feared I was still pronating more than they could correct, but the cute little college boy said my old shoes showed a very normal wear pattern. Here's to ne next 450 miles!

Training for training

I have more than six months to train for the Disney Marathon in January, so why can I not stop thinking about it? I got a really great marathon training schedule from Jamie last week, and I am so ready to start it now.

Over the last several weeks, I have been experimenting with my blood sugar and I am pretty sure I have found the solution to my slowness and leaden-leggedness of the last couple of years. I think that the adrenaline of potentially running well again coupled with the excitement of a destination marathon gets me jittery with anticipation all over again.

So where does that leave me right now? I have been doing less than 15 miles a week for a couple months as I have been trying to figure out my screwed up physiology. The first thing I want to do is to build back up to 20-25 miles per week. I can do that within a couple weeks, assuming I can figure out how to convince myself to add back my weekend long run. Second, I need to shed about 15 lbs that I have been holding on to since before Ethan was born. I am a better runner when I am a lighter runner, but there is no way I want to train for a marathon while trying to lose weight. Finally, I need to get some new running shoes. I have been happy with my Pearl Izumis, so I'll probably be searching online. I am planning to train to get ready to start my training. Obsessive.

He isn't a baby anymore.

First came the mobility. He gave up crawling for walking. He didn't need to be carried around anymore.

Then came the food. His eating has improved so much in the last few weeks - he doesn't really need things to be mashed for him much anymore.

Probably related to the food was his sudden jump in vocabulary. He is parroting us more and more. He sings EIEIO. He says night night. He calls me Daddy with mischief in his eyes, even when I say "can you say momma?"

Next was the bottle. I wasn't going to be in a rush to wean him completely, but for travel related reasons, he went two nights without a bottle and we decided it was foolish to give it back to him when he didn't seem to care about it one way or the other anyway.

And now the big one. He no longer wants to be rocked to sleep. We will have to reformulate his night night routine. My baby is now a little boy.

He'll be asking to borrow the car next week.

The little things

All of the little races are now out of the way. Since I really started back racing in December, I have run a 4K, 2 5Ks and a 4 miler. I skipped out on my 10K last Saturday because of whatever weird funk I was in. That leaves my 10 miler in a little shy of 2 weeks plus my half mary in just over a month.

Making the move back to distance running is liberating but scary. Races make me nervous anyway. Derek has to practically drag me out of the house for each and every one. The longer distances make that even harder because I have more to psych myself out about.

I am grateful to have a supportive partner who goes with me to every race, braves the cold, the snow and the rain, and waits patiently for my slow ass to cross the finish line.

A year ago....

This time, 12 months ago, Derek and I were incredibly frustrated. The adoption agency seemed to be hemming and hawing with our paperwork. Somehow, one of our reference letters was lost and had to be sent again. We were hungry for information and couldn't seem to get it fast enough. We tried to calm ourselves by recognizing that a year from then, none of the annoying details would matter. Guess what - they don't.