Running Thoughts

I'm sitting here with my bagel, getting ready for a run with a friend. She'll be here at 6. Right now, it's 5:27, and dark outside. Nearly pitch black. Am I Ruth? ********** 7:47 am....back from a great little run...we left at 6 and got back at 7. I cooked breakfast for my family and guests, and am now thinking of a shower. The run was a great day-starter. There were 3 of us as dawn made it over the mountains. Beautiful.

We've been busy and happy around here. The only complaint that I have is that I haven't fit in enough runs and zero long ones.... We will have guests at our house for the next several weeks....more busy-ness, But it will challenge me in managing runs. I'd love a long one, but I'm probably going to settle for shorter ones. One great thing is that a runnin buddy asked me if I'd like to run at 6 am some mornings! YES! I'm excited about it. Mornings are cool and crisp even in summer here. LOVELOVELOVE. I just don't love to run in the mornings alone....good time for wild animals to be out. Look at this sweet shoe charm I bought myself for finishing the Freedom Half!!! And take a look at the shirt Ruthie made me!

I'm finally getting around to my blog! I received a blog award from Jae over at Found It At The Marathon ! The rules for the award are as follows: 1. Thank the person giving the award 2. Share 7 things about yourself. 3. Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs. 4. Let your nominees know about the award. The problem is...I'm not very good at following directions... So, here's what I'll do: First, Thank you, Jae, for the honor. Jae is a dream follower and a strong lady, you should check out her blog! Next, I'll be happy to share 7 things about myself: 1. I can cut out your silhouette from a piece of paper just by looking at you and cutting. 2. I have a super kid with autism. 3. I ran a home program for my son with autism...about 70 hours/week one on one for nearly 10 years. 4. I will never give up on him and I keep up the program, but with fewer hours...more relaxed 5. I fenced in college 6. I learned to swim when I was 39 years old. 7. I showed horses in m...

Yesterday was a rest day for me, and I think that was a good thing. The problem is that today will probably turn out to be a no workout day too, but for fun reasons. Hubby and I are headed out to spend the day together. I hope to at least include some form of workout into the day, but it won't be a run, especially because I want to run long tomorrow. I don't know exactly how long is long, but I'm thinking 5-8 miles. I hope to build some confidence. :) I wasn't confident when I started the Freedom Half. My 8 miles had been more like 7.5. My 10 miles was soooo hard (uphill, lots of hiking instead of running). As I drove to the start for my Freedom Half, I had to push back my lack of confidence. I don't think I pushed it back far enough...LOL! Confidence makes such a big difference. So, I'm looking for some. I'll hope for 8 miles tomorrow, knowing that it hasn't been long since the Half, so if 5 feels like the right number, then I'll fit i...

so, today is a headache day for me. i don't get these bad headaches often anymore, but today is definitely a rest day for me. But don't think I'm not thinking about fitness! Here are some exercises I found to try to stabilize my joints, especially in the hips. Exercises

I don't feel it today, so I did it anyway. Jumprope and sprints on the hill of my driveway henceforth called, "Anguish Hill." Sara suffered with me. It was a good sort of anguish, though, as we get stronger and more fit. :) I also lifted today. Yesterday, I ran 2 miles on the dreadmill....warm-up a quarter mile, then 2 quarter miles at faster pace than comfy, then sprints. Day before, lifted. Sometimes you feel it, sometimes you just do it.

I'm reading a book called, "RUN," by Matt Fitzgerald. In his book, he talks about believing. You can't do what you don't believe you can do. On the other hand, if you believe you can, then you probably can...there are still the physical limitations that come into play, but still, believing is such a big contributor to what you can do. For example, if your child came to you and said that they wanted to shoot for the olympics in a certain sport, would you want a coach for them who says, "Well, it's a long shot...." or one who says, "you absolutely have what it takes?" The latter! Why? Because belief is huge. Having someone believe in you, brings you to believing in yourself more readily, and the target is instantly drawn nearer. I have been trying to gain muscle and lose 15 pounds of fat gained in the past year. I discovered I'd lost some of it! Yippeee! But then a friend said so..."You look great! You've been worki...

This was my 3rd Half Marathon. My first was 2 summers ago when Sara and I decided to run the Nike Plus Women's Half Marathon. It was for nike plus users all over the world to run on a specific date wherever they were and then log it online through the nike plus website. It was a great experience that I'll never forget....all the pain and suffering toward the end. And FINISHING...wow! Etched in my memory. The next one was last summer, with Ruth running the "Freedom Half" (as we called it) in Texas and me in Colorado...Sarah ran it in Texas too, and Jessica all the way in China. I made us shirts. Also very memorable for me. This Freedom Half, Ruth has coached a whole group of gals to finish by walking, running, run/walking...I chose crawling. (joking, sort of) The day was g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. So, that wasn't the problem. You saw the pictures...the scenery wasn't the problem. My left hip (the one that has given me so much trouble) gave me fits and my ri...

Tomorrow is the day! It's both my 21st wedding anniversary and the day I will run the "Freedom Half." Here is my post on today's date of last year: Aaah, Freedom! Well, I've tried planning my Freedom Half. That hasn't worked. So, today I thought, "Hey! How about right now???" So, I did it. This afternoon, I shirked all responsibility and ran my Half Marathon on a whim. I will post more about it with pictures, but tonight I'm tired and tomorrow is my 20th wedding anniversary. :) So, you'll haffta wait. I will say this: I had a great run. The whole thing was really great for many reasons and my favorite miles were miles 9, 10, and 13. I can only hope tomorrow brings as much happiness as last year's Freedom Half. Here is another post about last year's freedom run... Freedom Run Highlights There I am, running along. I first took my dog-buddy with me for the first 5 miles. We took it pretty easy, walking and running. After ...

For your reading pleasure: An 8 year old wins Dipsea! http://dean.runnersworld.com/2010/06/small-wonder.html

I haven't felt just right for the past few days. I went to the doc yesterday for hip xrays and found out that I had a low fever. I decided that i was running today whether I felt perfect or not. I ran a slow, easy 5 miles and now, I feel better, so I've determined that I must have had Running Fever, induced by lack of runs. My hip looks pretty. :) No bone fracture! YIPPEEEEEE! In fact, the doctor remarked how nice and strong my bones are and attributed it to running. :) The bad news is that I still don't know what is causing the pain in my hip. The good news is that the doc says to keep running! That's good since I was going to anyway.

Today, I will lift. Tomorrow, 5 mile run. Then, Freedom Half on Thursday, July 1. It's our 21st wedding anniversary, and what better way to celebrate? Hubby will be working anyway, and we will go out to dinner that night. Might as well burn some calories first! At least these are my tentative plans. I will talk with Sara to find out when she is running...but I won't be able to run on the weekend very easily, so I'm guessing we may be running separately. I went to the chiropractor yesterday for my hip pain. He told me to come back if it was still hurting, and of course, it was. So I went back for a free adjustment. He wants me to stretch this weekend, which I've been doing, and if it still hurts this week...xray. So far, I'm headed toward the xray. The xray tech is in town at our med center on tuesday and wednesday. I think he's thinking of a fracture. And if so, then it was fractured years ago and healed wrong, so that's bad. But maybe it will...

Guess what?? I've lost 6.5 pounds of the 15. Nearly half! Yippeeeee!!!!...and I'm gaining muscle, I do believe! On the workout front, I lifted on Tuesday...chest, shoulders, triceps, chinups (which I still can't do!) Monday I did yoga along with my 10 mile run. Yesterday, I did yoga and ran a short (2 mile) run with accelerations. And today, I ran sprints and jumped rope and then did yoga. I've had this Shiva Rea DVD for a long time, but have never tried it. I like that you can choose what you want to include in your workout and then play the entire workout that you chose. What I like about Yoga is that it is strengthening and builds flexibility. I forgot that today should be a lifting day, so I'll do that tomorrow. And the long run this weekend is 5 miles. I'm not sure what day I'll run my Freedom Half. But here are my ideas: July 3 or July 5. I'm in charge of a parade float on the 4th, so I doubt it will happen that day. But I also hav...

I found myself completing 10 miles of hard trail today with my new shoes covered in mud and grime and soaked completely through. The report is that they could have drained water better, but they did ok. My feet were still very tired, and my right foot kept feeling as though it was overpronating...maybe the trail, but strange that it was always my right foot, never the left. I felt a little like the shoes were "clumsy"...maybe that's just ME! But overall, they survived the day and brought me home. One thing they didn't do, repel mosquitoes....there were swarms of mosquitoes even though I had mosquito repellent on. At a few points, I had to be sure to breathe through my nose or I got a mouthful of mosquitoes! Yuck! I came upon several creek crossings and stepped in deep sludgy mud...whole shoe, covered. Now, that's how you break in new shoes! Beautiful day on Larsen Lakes Trail

Whoooooooooooo-hooooooooo! I'm getting these! I ordered them this morning and they arrive tomorrow. I love amazon.com! I wish they came in green like the men's, but since they don't I ordered the brown and blue!! My feet hurt so much after my 8 miles that hubby told me to order the ones I want! It was nearly a toss up between these and some great Salomons cuz I'm not crazy about the way these look. But I think they will transition from trail to road and cushion my forefoot more. I woke up this morning with the realization that I have yoga this afternoon and that I had a hike planned, so I slept in! The hike was a portion of the san juan solstice race that happens the weekend. We crossed the creek 3 times, and had such a fun time. Kaegan even reached for my hand! If you know anything about autism, you are impressed with my little mountain man. I am set to help with an aid station on Saturday morning and can't wait to cheer for my brave ultra-running frien...

I got up this morning and did a little yoga and mostly rested today. I did my push ups, though. The kids and I played at the lake with some friends...picnic, raft...fun. Lots of sun. :) Tomorrow, we plan to hike my favorite trail and take a picnic. I found this today , and I plan to take a closer look at it. My plan is to get up and do some yoga and go for a short run.

Not sure, but I think my 8 mile run was more like 7.5. I saved my long run for today because Sunday and Monday were both rainy with hail up in the hills. Sunday, I did a very challenging yoga class with our former yoga instructor who now lives in another city but came here for the weekend. So fun! Then, yesterday, Sara, Gracyn, and I combined the poses from Sunday's class with the poses our new teacher has taught us to create our own practice since our teacher isn't here for the next 2 weeks. I managed my lifting workout yesterday too! This morning, I got up at 7:20 to run my long awaited long run. It took me so long to get out the door! I was so worried (sort of afraid) about the run. The last long run by myself, I sort of "bonked." I didn't have enough nourishment before or during the run. And I drank only water, forgetting that 7 miles is a big jump from 6. So, this morning, I was trying to make sure I had enough energy in me, plus water, plus power...

I really do. June is beautiful here. But it's also rainy. Which I like. Except that I want to run 8 miles. I'll get back with ya on that......