Every Mile Earned

For the last three weeks I have been running about 6 days a week. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, this is new to me. My mileage hasn't increased that much, maybe 5-7 miles a week but the quality of my runs has increased 100%!  I feel better, stronger, more fluid, less swelling and less stiffness.  Working with a coach is the most exciting thing to come along in my running since I hit a sub 30 5k.  He's helped me to define goals and visualize myself achieving them. Normally I just hope to hit some goal with poor training and minimal running. I had a good week of running, which I was surprised because of my race last weekend.  My weight workout on Tuesday was rough but the rest of the week was about what I expected.  I was also battling some sort of stomach bug. My energy was low and early in the week, when I'd eat, I'd get extremely dizzy. I'm glad it only stuck around a couple days.  I was very pleased with my workout on Wednesday...

Yesterday I ran the Vestal XX race in Vestal, NY.  It is a very hilly 12.4 mile course through rural neighborhoods.  I've run part of this course a few years ago but clearly not the hard hills because I was not expecting those hills.   This race is about the runners. It's not about the bling. I didn't get the normal medal or t-shirt. I got a sticker.    It not about the crowds. There were none. Spread out here and there were some spectators but very few. It's about the runners and our ability to overcome our minds, our tired bodies and the hills. Oh those hills!  Finishers Sticker I had lots of support going into this run.  I vocalized my nervousness about this race last week and someone in my running group hash tagged me #hillsforbreakfast (which is sort of our mantra for the Runner's World Half Marathon) and #embracethesuck.  I added the last one from a blog posting of one of our members. His...

My 1st week of marathon training has started.  I'm not actually running a marathon in the fall. I'm running Runner's World Half Marathon and Festival, which is 4 races over three days for a total of 26.2 miles. A few weeks ago I was so frustrated, with about 5 different marathon plans sitting in front of me. I knew a cookie cutter plan wasn't for me. I knew from previous experience, I wouldn't follow one the way I should. I decided I was going to create my own plan.  I was still lost though because there are so many running workout you can add to a plan; track runs, hills, repeats, long runs, race pace, fartleks, cross training. I was feeling the pressure of putting together a plan that I would actually follow too.  I love to have a schedule but I'm not good on the follow through. I think I can skip a day and make it up later. I slacked off on my half marathon training and even though I had a race I enjoyed, I didn't race that run at all.  I had about 2 m...

This year I knew I wanted to my running to benefit someone else besides just me.  I looked at a few popular charities that I see a lot of runners support.  They are all very good charities and need to be supported but they didn't speak to my heart. I wanted it to be something I could be passionate about.  Then it hit me. DUH! PKD.  Polycystic kidney disease. The following information is from National Kidney Foundation (I've abbreviated some the page here) What is polycystic kidney disease? Polycystic kidney disease (also called PKD) causes numerous cysts to grow in the kidneys. These cysts are filled with fluid. If too many cysts grow or if they get too big, the kidneys can become damaged. PKD cysts can slowly replace much of the kidneys, reducing kidney function and leading to kidney failure. How common is PKD? In the United States about 600,000 people have PKD. It is the fourth leading cause of kidney failure. It is found in all races and occurs equall...

Today I ran my 1st 10k, that's 6.2 miles.  I have now run all the standard race distances. I was a little nervous going into today's race because I didn't get any miles in this week. Not one.  It wasn't intentional, I just kept putting off going for a run, the downfall of not having a set training schedule, which is about to take a serious turn for the better on Monday. More on that later.  So I went in with very fresh legs but also legs that hadn't moved all week.  I did do my strength training this week, which I really believe helped me. I had a horrible nights sleep last night. I had a bad dream about the race, where it was a comedy of errors, that left me in tears at the end of the race that took me over 1.5 hours to run in my dream.  At one point, I lost my running shoes and was running in someone's muck boots.  My husband said he wish he'd known that was why I was whimpering in my sleep, he would have grabbed my Vibrams and given them back to me. Th...