Peak Week!

I can't believe Peak Week is here! Compared to last time, this marathon training has flown by. I'm definitely feeling a little overwhelmed this week--trying to fit in all the miles, work full time, hang out with my three kids, yada, yada, yada. But, I keep thinking "Just make it through Saturday's run and it's taper time!" I'm curious to read my blog posts from Peak Week during my Baltimore training to see what I was thinking/feeling back then. Right now, running just seems like another cog in the crazy wheel of life. Yeah, I got up at 5 a.m. yesterday to squeeze in my miles before work, and, yeah, my father's coming over this afternoon to babysit the runlets so I can get my ten miler done. But it's kinda no big deal. Weird.

I'm striving for at least twenty miles before Saturday and have a twenty-two mile run Saturday morning. Then bring on the taper, baby!

Hellooo? Can you see me??

Lately I've begun to wonder if I unknowingly take on the superpower of invisibility when I run. What else would explain the downright refusal of pedestrians to make way for me on the sidewalk? They must not be able to see me. Otherwise, at least one person in a group of three walking abreast on the sidewalk would surely step ahead or behind his cohorts instead of forcing me a) into the road or b) onto the edge of the adjacent hill. Right?

That happened twice last night during my run. Each time it was at least three people and each time not one single person made a move to share the sidewalk with me. Should I blame it on the fact that they were college students? Maybe that's what they're going to school for--basic manners.

I try to run in the road as much as I can but rush hour, busy roads, and, again, college students (this time behind the wheel) scare me onto the sidewalks from 6-7 p.m.

Thankfully I survived. Tomorrow I'm taking my neighbor out for 16 miles. She's never run more than 13.1, so it should be fun!

Ice, Ice, Baby

Darn this blasted rain!! It forced another TM run this week. And this time I wasn't running with my Red Bull wings, if you know what I mean. I was scheduled for 5 miles but just.couldn't.do.it. I started tuning in to all these imaginary (hopefully) aches and pains, and I just couldn't finish the mileage. I'm ashamed to say I petered out at 3.5 and promptly jumped in an ice bath. I used to take ice baths religiously after long runs and fairly frequently during the week, but I haven't done one since the marathon in October. Let me tell you, I forgot how painful those first few minutes are! Not too dissimilar to childbirth, I suppose. After all, I found myself using the same deep breathing techniques to handle the pain. All I can say is thank god for the numbness that eventually sets in.

I'm supposed to run 5 again tonight. The sun, beautiful sun, is shining. Woot! Why am I suddenly craving Red Bull??

The Secret of the TM...

After Saturday's traumatic experience, I couldn't bear to do today's run outside, even if it was just drizzling, so once again I ended up on the treadmill. Now, anyone who has even glanced at this blog knows how much I detest the treadmill. It's a hatred for the ages. But, and this is a HUGE but, today's run was great. Really. All nine miles of it. Yup, you read right: nine miles! Oh yeah! Who's awesome???

I had fun; I felt energized; and, I even added an extra 0.1 to the end just for the heck of it. (Well, I really did that to bring my training log back up to whole numbers, but we don't need to delve into that freakishness.) My secret?

Red Bull.

I chugged one right before my run, and apparently it's the elixir of the gods. Unfortunately, I may be awake until 3 a.m., but a good nine miler is worth a little insomnia.

April Showers Bring Soggy Runners

I think I might have PTSD. I ran my 20 miles yesterday. In the rain. In the pouring rain. In the pouring rain with driving wind. In the pouring rain with driving wind and cars whizzing by spraying buckets of extra water at me. And there were puddles. Lots and lots of puddles. But I ran all 20 of them. And my foot feels pretty good. Looks like I might be doing that Cleveland marathon after all.

Whatever...his shirt actually has dry spots. Wuss.

Dreadmill, My Dreadmill

What with it being Spring Break and all, I took advantage of the week off and decided to sleep in a little. (Those 5:15 wake-ups are pretty harsh, let's be honest.) That meant moving my runs from outside predawn to inside whenever. Not bad, as long as you don't hate the treadmill with the power of a thousand suns like I do.

On my first attempt, I tried to listen to a This American Life podcast. I usually like those on my slower, easy runs. However, I think it actually made time move backwards on the treadmill. Next, I tried to zone out with the ladies of The View. That might have worked, but did they have to keep saying "sex" and "orgasm" every three seconds??? I'm no prude, but my children like to watch me run on the human hamster wheel (yeah, weird, I know) and I don't need to be answering "Mommy, what's an orgasm?" from my four-year-old while I'm working out my treadmill issues. Finally, I resorted to the ol' standby playlist of cheesy club music and classic 80's. It passed the time, barely.

All in all, I logged 15 miles this week and am trying to decide how far to take tomorrow's run. Do I dare go for 20?

Running Amongst the Blossoms

Picture perfect Cherry Blossoms!

Well, I guess the heel is a officially rehabbed because I survived the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler today without incident. Woohoo!! And I can now say I've run Cherry Blossom--that's a bragging right around these parts--which is good because I don't think I'll do it again. Don't get me wrong, the trees were beautiful, they really were, and D.C. showed off all its wonderful D.C.-ness (monuments, White Houses, and whatnot), but I didn't dig running with that many other people. I don't know the official count, but I heard there were about 14,000 runners. That's a lot of bodies in motion! Seriously, I feel like I spent the entire course weaving in and out of folks. Not to mention that they ran out of shirts and goodie bags at the expo. What's that all about?!? Granted, that's partially my fault for showing up fifteen minutes before they shut the thing down, but still, they knew how many people were registered, right? Did someone forget to carry the one when completing the purchase order? No big deal though, the shirt, as they say, is in the mail. And the weather was AMAZING. (Okay, it was little too warm for my liking, but I'm trying to keep it positive, ya know? It was certainly better than the freezing rain I heard someone talking about at last year's race.)

A sea of runners. I'm in there somehwere. Where's Waldo???

I ran with my friend and we finished in 1:26--a pace of 8:37/mile. My Garmin actually calculated an even 8:30/mile, but I'm not going to quibble over a few seconds when my running has been significantly limited in the past month. Like those who feel "lucky just to be nominated", I felt lucky just to be able to race today. And my favorite part of the race? The guy holding a giant stuffed Puss in Boots (ala Shrek) and screaming "RUN! Puss wants you to RUN!!" It's the little things.

Hi! I like runners!

The happy finisher.

Back in the game...I think

Things have been looking up on the running front. I've been hesitant to write about it and draw the attention of the mischievous sprites keen on toying with us vulnerable humans, but I think I'm over the hump. The podiatrist took a bunch of x-rays and did several poking and twisting tests to diagnose my injury and he seemed to agree it's plantar fasciitis. Since the pain was localized in my heel, rather than my arch, he said it wasn't a severe case. He taped it, asked if I wanted cortisone (I said no because I'm afraid of needles--he was cool with that), and told me I could continue running as long as the pain doesn't intensify. I ran 12.5 miles last Saturday without incident and I've survived a 5 miler and a 6 miler so far this week. My heel hurts enough at times that I need to take some vitamin I, but it's nothing like the pain I felt before, and I'm no longer watching the clock waiting for my next dose.

I have a 10-mile race this weekend; then I plan on getting back to marathon training 100%. With any luck, I'll be able to catch up on the missed distance and actually manage to run all 26.2 miles on May 19.