Lest I be ungrateful...

Where ARE my manners?! I just got an award (my custom finishers medal... oh yeah!) and didn't thank anyone!

So here it goes:
(In my best rapper impersonation) I'd like to give thanks to God first.
This is for obvious reasons, namely, keeping me alive through all this!

Also, I couldn't have done it without Alan Jackson, Sugarland, Kenny Chesney, and other upbeat country stars to keep me distracted from what I was doing. You too, Taylor Swift!

Half a marathon later and...

...I have no idea how I'm going to run a whole one!

Don't get me wrong, I finished, and it was awesome! But not awesome enough that I could have turned around and ran another one back-to-back to finish a whole marathon!

Another serious concern I have is not just about the marathon, but the TRAINING runs that are longer than what I just ran! Between August and the end of September, there are no less than FIVE runs between 14 and 20 miles! And no medal, no flowers, no porta-potties and water stations and roads blocked off. How is that supposed to work?!

The good news is that once upon a time I thought running three miles was a lot. (It still kind of is, actually) but now I can run 3 miles pretty easily. 26 miles should be no problem, right? (okay, I'm not convinced either...)

I guess we'll just cross (or hobble over) that bridge when it gets here!

The Mile by Mile Overview
My lungs felt fine! I was not out of breath at any point!
My legs, on the other hand, started to run out of gas around mile 9 or 10. I experienced a brief surge of energy around Mile 11 (getting closer!) but it was short lived. Then I saw the finish line, and BOLTED! Praise the Lord, I finished!



Then I spotted my husband and made my way toward the water stand. There was only one problem: I could barely move!

It remains a mystery to me how someone can RUN the whole way and then have a terrible time walking afterwards. It's like, Hello Body, I'm giving you a break, here! Work with me!

That's probably been one of the most fun parts about this whole thing is understanding my body more (and sometimes less) than I ever would have.
The definite most fun part has been eating. I ate a whole frozen pizza after the race! Don't judge me; I burned about 1300 calories in 2.5 hours! Try doing that in Pilates!

13.1 TOMORROW!

(This post is for Courtney, since she reads my blog too. And she's ran half marathons before!)

The past 12 weeks of training have all led up to this: my very first HALF MARATHON is TOMORROW!

Honestly, I feel ready for it. Yes 13.1 miles (can't forget about the .1! I call it the pesky point-one because... it's pesky! You get to the end of your last full mile, and then you're not done! Annoying!) But as I was saying, 13.1 miles is far. Farther than I've ever ran. But I've ran farther than I've ever ran a lot over the past several months, and I think I can do it again!

Praise God, I have not been severly injured and made it this far in tact (for the most part). My knee is untrustworthy, but it's still there, so that should be good enough. Otherwise, I have no reason to believe I can't finish. I ran 10 miles last weekend, and it was a big, long, sloppy, sweaty mess, but I finished! I was terribly sore and walking around like an old lady, but I wasn't out of breath! That's about my expectation for tomorrow.

As good as I'm feeling, a little inspiration never hurts, and I found some while watching this: The Spirit of the Marathon!




I've developed a taste for documentaries over the years, and this one is coincidentally about the Chicago marathon, and it follows beginners, intermediates and professionals through their journey. I got all goose-bumpy and kinda teary all over again. Cleary, I need to hurry up and just run this thing! The anticipation is the hardest part. Hopefully after tomorrow I'll have a better idea of what to expect!

See you at the finish line!!

(Sorry, I had to!)

I'm not sure how to account for my blogging absence. I've been running; I've been not running. I feel guilty; I feel proud. It all blends together.

This is probably bad, but as my long runs get longer, I still do them, but I slack a little on the weekday runs. In my defense, I have been battling a bum right knee recently.

On an up note, I once again ran farther than I've EVER ran before! NINE miles! Go me!
I then proceeded to binge on pizza and ice cream the whole weekend in celebration of my 25th birthday.


And because this blog doesn't have nearly enough pictures (because spandex running gear is NOT flattering) here's me on my birthday!

I WON!!!

(This update is for Angie because she's the only person who has told me she reads my blog!)

I got my cholesterol checked again, and.... DRUM ROLLLLLL..... I WON!I reached my goal! My triglycerides are normal!

Warning: Biology lesson to commence below

To be specific, a healthy triglyceride level is below 150, a not-great but not-terrible range is between 150 and 200, and over 200 is really bad news.

In October, my triglycerides were at a scary 222, and the doctor started talking about Diabetes and all this crazy stuff, which is what motivated me to start running more seriously. Now, my triglycerides are totally in the clear - 143 to be exact!!! YEAH BABY! Take THAT, diabetes!

And if you really want to know...
My total cholesterol was good in Octber and got better: It's now 158, and needs to be below 200

Interestingly, my LDL (bad) cholesterol went up since October, but I'm still under 100, which is healthy.

My next project is to get my HDL (good) cholesterol up. It went down from 38 in October to 33 in April, and it needs to be above 40. The strange thing is that the only remedy is... exercise. Hmmm? That's exactly what I've been doing!

My doctor said HDL is mostly genetic, so my mom appologized to me when I told her :)


Biology lesson over.

Mini Update

I finally got my Team World Vision jersey in the mail today! Ahhh! I look SO cool... in a very ridiculous way, of course.

Also, the weather has been simply incredible recently. It's the kind of weather that makes you want to quit your job and worry about the consequences later. Needless to say, my runs long the lake shore have been utterly delightful. I'm so glad I have a reason to be out there. I feel like I missed so much lake time last year by taking the train home every day, and it would be tragic to repeat my mistake, so I've started running home once or twice a week, using the bus just to get me to the proper distance away from my apartment before I head out and finish the route on foot. That has been working out wonderfully, and it saves time overall.

Lastly, I'll share a quote from a fellow blogger, wife, and UD alumna, Sarah, who gave it to me for encouragement:

"The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer." - Habakkuk 3:19

In transition

What’s the difference between a regular person who exercises and an athlete? Well, regular people are like me, and athletes are… I don’t know. Better than me? Definitely skinnier than me.

I can’t be sure, but it seems like athletes exercise because they like it or something, but us regular folks do it because we have to, or at least for me, I run because as much as getting up early to run sucks, I’m sure it beats living with diabetes and/or having a heart attack.

I do have things in common with athletes though. For example, I’m rapidly accumulating a collection of running gear. Ya know, everything from hats to socks for all temperatures, in “wicking” fabric, ‘cause duh, Cotton is Rotten. I’ve also got a fancy multi-buttoned watch that I barely know how to use, iPod arm band, muscle-massaging stick …inhaler. I have to say, I look the part. I’ve lost a few pounds, too. I’ve even subscribed to Runners World… who am I?!

I think I am in a period of transition, and today was a milestone. I had my first “tempo” run. Tempo is a fun word for hard. The idea is to push yourself (a figurative term that athletes use) to run about a minute or so faster each mile than you do normally.

I did it, which would make me a regular person who exercises, BUT, the craziest thing happened today! I enjoyed it! Honest to goodness, it felt awesome, albeit in a very masochist way. I felt this dull discomfort kind of in between my lungs, but I thought about it, and I was like, “well, I’m not out of breath; I’m breathing just fine. My legs don’t hurt…” and I told myself that walking wouldn’t make me feel better, so I just kept running, and when I finished, I felt like I won! I felt… like an athlete?!

I’m learning that athleticism is not a matter of have or have-not, rather it’s a spectrum, let’s say, between heart-attack-waiting-to-happen and Olympian. After today, I am 3.5 rockin’ miles further away from where I don’t want to be!