So I ran today...

Finally. It took a lot to get me out there too. I woke up this morning with a NASTY head cold. And it was 19.4 degrees. With the wind, weather.com said it felt like 11. Yep, it sure did. So I bundled up and hit the road this morning. It was honestly one of those runs where I felt like I had forgotten how to run. Everything felt just a little off. I did just over 5 miles at a snail's pace. Overall, it was pretty uneventful. I got home and was thinking, well, my hip doesn't feel great, but it doesn't hurt. Then came the sneeze. Not a big sneeze, just a regular sneeze. And when it happened, it sent a sharp spear of pain into my L hip. Cue Bobby Bowden's voice: DADGUMMIT.

The good news is that after my run debacle, I got another positive phone call and scheduled another interview.

Enough is enough

OK. I have not run for 5 days. FIVE. No cross training, nada. A wee little bit of pilates and upper body weights, but otherwise this week has been pure gluttony. Seriously. My husband and I went out for dinner tonight for bread, steaks, potatoes. Last night was tacos. Amazingly enough, I lost a pound or two. It just isn't right. But it is great. And I have no regrets. This week as I watch my fitness fade just a bit, I am glad to have the mental break.

It appears my spring schedule will probably change, but it depends on job offers. I had a promising week.

The only thing for certain right now: I will run tomorrow. The hip is a little sore when lying down or streching to the side, but I have also noticed that I am ready to race my kids to everything. Yep, I need to get some zip back, even if only a race to the mailbox.

No tropics here

It is 18 degrees here right now. That just isn't right. My R knee, which is arthritic from a childhood injury is currently SCREAMING at me. Of course all the 2.5" heels I have been wearing lately aren't helping, but please - this dry, cold weather is wreaking havoc on my knee. The hip is improving I think. I am on day 3 of no running, but I am doing some good core work incorporating the hips. I am starting to be able to locate the tenderness more easily, so I will work on that area. Kel posted some good exercises that are targeting my area and I intend to try them. Check it out.

As far as aerobic fitness goes, I am not too worried about it. I have steadily built non-stop for 2 years and feel entitled to a few days rest. Not to mention that it is so very hard to get motivated with this extremely cold, dark weather, but I am trying to look forward overall. I just keep thinking of the elite marathoners who sometimes take a full month off to rest. It is called "downtime." If they can do it, so can I, right?! :)

I have also been very preoccupied with the job search. It is a very small market here for what I am looking for, but fortunately I have some nice people going to bat for me so I have had a couple "interviews." Of course some are just courtesy interviews (courtesy to the person who sent me resume on to them), but even those have lead to getting my name in the door at other places. LOL. And, I did have a good one today that was with a solid firm looking to build. AND I have another tomorrow. Send me some eloquent, intelligent and flat out kick ass vibes if you can.

Happy running and congrats to all of you in a place where it gets over 32 degrees this week. :)

Potential Injury Brewing

I have to report that I am in some pain. My hips hurt - particularly my L one. It feels fine while running, but post run I feel like a little old lady. SO, I took yesterday off and am taking today off as well. Now I am just trying to figure out why. I have been really running light mileage lately and have been running ridiculously slow paces. My best guess is that I need new shoes. Unfortunately, I can no longer find "my shoe." I was in the Mizuno Alchemy 6s and they are pretty much impossible to find in my size. And of course the 7s are nothing like the 6s. They are clunky and they do not have nearly the same support the 6s had, which I need. I tried out 2 new pairs and both were bombs (and probably contributed to my hip issues). So, I broke down and ordered a pair of 7s. They are the closest thing I can find.

Man, this stinks.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We decided not to race this morning as we got an inch of snow last night and the roads were pure ice this morning. So we did a leisurely run on the trail. It was beautiful running through the snow covered trees.

Now it is time to roast the turkey, turn on the packer game and be thankful.

To race or not to race?

I have been planning to race on Thanksgiving. However, I think I am going to bail on it. It is supposed to be very cold and windy tomorrow and I am just not in very good shape right now. Sounds like a recipe for a very mediocre race. BUT, I always love the race environment and I'll get to catch up with a lot of people I haven't seen a while. I guess I will probably decide in the morning.

Have a great Thanksgiving, all.

Weekly Recap

This week was a bit of an improvement over last week. BUT, I am definitely still in recovery mode. Every time I start feeling like a slacker, I have to keep reminding myself how important it is to take a recovery month. My body and mind will fully appreciate it in a few weeks when I am pushing hard again.

M - 3.7 recovery (9:44)- I cut this one short b/c the top of my L foot was sore and both hip flexors were mysteriously sore.

T - rest

W - 8.3 miles progression (8:07). First mile 8:35, finished at 7:04. Nice to shake the dust off a bit. My foot felt great. The new shoes I tried have got to go. Back to the drawing board.

R - rest

F - 10 miles (8:58)

Sa - 5.33 miles recovery (9:31) - HRM was acting up. It said my resting HR was 74 and .3 into the run it said I was up to 179. Crazy. It seemed to calm down though by about a mile in.

Su - nada. I was hoping to do a long run, but life didn't allow it. It is weird having cold and darkness by 5:00 pm. I'm really not ready for winter.

Total: 27 and change.

I have been slacking on the core work - especially thighs, hip flexors, glutes. I REALLY need to pick that up again this week.

Happy running all....

XC Nationals are tomorrow.

Because of this I must lament . . .

I am the not-so-proud owner of my very first rejection letter. D@mmit.

The good news is that I also received a BIG FAT MEDAL in the mail today from the Grand Rapids Marathon. Apparently I was the 3rd place female in the 30-34 age group. Sweet.

What a great day for a run

Today was the first day since the Grand Rapids Marathon that I ran a "normal" training run (as opposed to an amazingly slow recovery slog). What a great feeling. The first mile was 8:35, last was 7:32. I hit some big hills and I hit them hard. It was windy and chilly. And it was awesome. This is what it is all about.

The last week or 2 has been pretty crazy for me (as you all know b/c you have been listening to me ramble endlessly). I was in a bit of a funk over "what is next." But thanks to many of you, I now have a racing schedule for the winter and spring. I took Adeel's advice and am planning for Athens and Bayshore (NJ). So that is cool. Thanks for all of the input!! During my last marathon training season, I followed Pfitzinger's 18/70 program, modified slightly down. I cut out several short recovery runs, so I was often 4-5 miles per week short, but I did hit 70 2x. I came out of it uninjured and I really hope to crank things up this winter. My last hurrah for big fat mileage so to speak. SO, this time I am planning to follow Pfitz's more than 70 miles/18 weeks. However, I did cut one recovery day each week so I am about 10 miles short. Hopefully my body will cooperate. If not, I will revert back to the 18/70. If it does respond well, I might just add some of the recovery runs back in. But for now, this is the plan. Check it out if you are so inclined. It is an Excel spreadsheet. I am more than happy to receive feedback/critiques on it as I am my own coach with Advanced Marathoning as my playbook.

In addition, my BIG news is that I sent out my resume this week. Yep, I bit the bullet and got 7 of them out. That seems like a small number, but Madison is a very small legal community. Plus I am eyeing the bigger firms for now and I want to see what happens before I go smaller. The market isn't the greatest right now, but I am hoping I can at least get an interview. This is such a nerve-racking time. Job seeking is just front loaded with rejection, so you have to toughen up and get ready. I am trying not to get too flipped out, but getting a job was cake in law school. It it is hard to get back into the game in a new state after being out of the picture for 6 years (I have been at home with my 2 little boys). The good news is that my husband is also a lawyer so he has some contacts for me. I am so ready to go back and so very excited. But, Yikes! It is nerve-racking, so keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Living on Marathonguide

What to do next? I need to get my act together and pick a spring race. Not only do I need to start training, but I need to block off the weekend so my husband's band doesn't book a show. So, I have been scouring marathonguide.com trying to figure it out. I am running the National Breast Cancer Marathon in February as a training run and I am looking at April or May for my "main" run. I'd prefer to keep it earlier as an 80 degree day would really stink. I at least think I have it narrowed down to 3 weekends:

April 6: Athens Marathon (OH) - tiny race, but is billed as flat and fast. I don't need spectators, but I am worried about running too much of it alone. Of course I can pretend I am Ryan Hall if I get lonely out there :). MG gave it great reviews.

May 4: Eugene, OR (MG review) , Bayshore, NJ (MG Review) or Flying Pig (MG Review). Eugene looks awesome, but the furthest away and undoubtedly the most expensive. Bayshore looks fast, but NJ?!? Flying Pig isn't billed as the easiest course, but it looks like the hills are in the first half and it is supposed to be an awesome race.

May 24 and 25 - Bayshore, MI (MG Review) or Madison Marathon (MG Review)- I really don't want to do Madison, but it is my local race. Bayshore is also reasonably close. I worry about this being a bit late in the season (think: TCM repeat). But this is a good weekend if 5/4 is a bust.

So that narrows it down, aye?! ;) Anyone have any experience on any of these courses? I am looking for a fast course. This is my last season for a long time to put in heavy miles and I don't want to put those miles to the test on a really hard course.

Let's DO THIS!!!

Let's do this! Hell, let's RACE for Ryan. We can post our 5.5 mile times here next week. Run hard for Ryan (or easy if you'd like), but do run for him and think of him on Saturday.

DETAILS: Most folks out there who are reading this are already familiar with the untimely death of 28-year-old running phenom Ryan Shay at the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City, on Saturday, November 3. Ryan collapsed at mile 5.5 and was pronounced dead at Lenox Hill Hospital shortly thereafter.

This news has rocked the distance running community, as Ryan had an incredibly promising career and had already set many records in his years at Notre Dame and proved himself at distances ranging from 10k to the marathon. At 28, the prospects of him representing the U.S. in future Olympics looked good.

Sure, the loss of a talented distance runner is a tough pill to swallow for the United States, which has only recently started to have a resurgence of talent at the marathon level. What is harder to swallow, though, is the thought of those that are left behind trying to make sense of the empty space that he once occupied. His wife, Alicia. His training partners, Meb, Deena, Josh, etc. his numerous friends and family.

Join us in support of them as they process their loss and dedicate your own 5.5 mile run next Saturday, November 17th in memory of Ryan. Run the exact distance, or dedicate a 5.5 mile portion of a longer run in his memory. Take the time to recognize life’s frailty, to think about those in your life that you need to tell that you love and most of all, pray for those who will feel Ryan’s absence the most. Our goal is to get as many runners on this planet as possible running this virtual memorial together. Leave a comment below if you plan to participate, so the Shay family can see the results of our efforts, and perhaps take some comfort.

Ryan’s father, Joe Shay, started a thread about Ryan over at the Let’sRun forum. I know the family will appreciate any comments you feel moved to write.

Also, a memorial fund has been set up. I know money can never take away the sense of loss, but his devastated family will be most appreciative of anything you choose to offer.

Source: http://completerunning.com/archives/2007/11/07/ryan-shay-55-mile-memorial-run-in-your-hometown-saturday-november-17/

Many blessings to you, Ryan and your family...I am honored to run for you Saturday!

Weekly Recap

Pretty sad week for me overall. I ran 6 times, but all very short and slow. I am slipping on the pilates, push ups, sit ups, upper body weights and obliques too. I am in FULL recovery mode. Hee Hee. Read: slacker. It feels great to a point, but I feel like a slow pig too. So this little stage will end soon, I'm sure.

M - NADA

T - 1.8 am on Treadmill - complete disaster as described below / 3.45 pm (8:44/148) / core

W - 5.2 easy (9:31/144) - HR high b/c it was extremely windy

R - core

F - 5.35 (9:23/141) - tried out some new shoes - undecided on what I think of them

Sa - 5.22 (9:06/143)

Su - 4.7 (9:35/141) - run on trail w/DH. Wanted to do 8-10, but we were exhausted - his band played last night and we did not get to bed until 1:30 am and 3:00 am, respectively). For those of you without kids, this means VERY LITTLE SLEEP!

Total: 25.8

So I am officially a slacker. But I danced for about 3.5 hours last night so that counts for some cardio, right? Of course it was offset by a few too many pints of Spotted Cow (yummy), but whatever....It was totally worth it! :)

Oh yeah, and just to refuel the ages old debate.... While I was out last night, some (nonrunning) friends congratulated me on my last marathon(s) and we got to talking briefly. For some reason they immediately brought up dying while running (in hindsight I am thinking they read news re Chicago). I mentioned Ryan Shay and explained how shocking and tragic it was. Response? It is not surprsing b/c marathoning is sooooo dangerous compared to "just running." I told them that marathoning is not dangerous at all provided you are educated about your approach, training, race execution, etc. Response was, no it is definitely dangerous, crazy, you ARE going to die Mindi (they were concerned, God bless them). UMMM, its not like I am smoking crack guys, this is a good thing. Response: smoking crack is ok as long as you go into it educated. OK, they are cunning smart asses. The moral of the story: Misunderstood issues fall on deaf ears when you try to explain (and no, they are not crack heads at all, but definitely closer to crack than marathoning/running as is most of the world!)

Did ya read the post in Boomers re Diabesity. No, I'm not a boomer (yet), but I always enjoy lurking on their discussions. Anyway.....Uck..... This is where I hope I am being a good mother by exercising and teaching them about health rather than being the rest of the world who thinks to make a child smile you need to hand them a cookie and a video game.

Off my soapbox. I promise....

One for Tuscaloosa . . .

During my run this morning, I was remembering a couple of funny "turkey stories." I felt remiss not to mention it after how lame we all were (esp. me) when Tuscaloosa asked us for weird running experiences. I decided to expound on it here because it is a much better story with an image. :)

In Madison, there is a great arboretum that many runners, bikers and walkers enjoy. I have run there many times, and along with other wildlife, there is an abundance of wild turkeys. To give you an accurate visual, these are BIG birds. Many of them are a good 2.5-3 feet tall.

Now several times when I have been running there, a turkey (or several) will see me coming. The reaction from them every time has been to start freaking out and running away from me. SO I feel like I am chasing these crazy creatures as I am running along. It really is weird and pretty comical.

I went to a race a couple of weeks ago that went through said arboretum. I got there early and met a fellow runner and we were shooting the breeze. She mentioned to me how one time while she was running in the arb, it was either mating season or baby season (turkey hatching season?) and a huge turkey attacked her. She said it came up behind her, wrapped its wings around her and "bit" her in the back. LOL. Now that is CRAZY. She said she didn't know what to do because: (1) she didn't want to further piss it off; (2) she didn't know if she'd break its neck or something if she hit it: and (3) well, LOOK at the things - it is crazy and a bit scary. So she said she just stopped and yelled really loud and that did the trick. HAHA.

For your added enjoyment:

Oh yeah, and have a GREAT WEDDING Salty!!

My husband rocks the red rocks!

I don't even know what to say. My husband eluded to the fact that he was going to do something special for our anniversary this year. Our anniversary is cool b/c it falls one week before Christmas and 3 days after his birthday. So it is a little hectic, but a lot magical. Since we moved to Wisconsin 3 years ago, my Mom and Dad have been ever so charitable and have taken our boys for an overnight while we celebrated our anniversary. Usually we stay in downtown Madison, have a nice dinner, then hang out and try to find some good live music.

Not this year! John just told me we have 4 full days in Sedona to celebrate. The pic you see above is the view from our B&B living room! We are going to hike, run, and romance it up Western Style. What an amazing treat! John and I are the very best of friends and we LOVE travelling together, but our travel life has fallen victim to visiting family when we have a chance. He is one of 5 siblings, who all live in different states, and his parents live in even another. So we are used to using vacation time to catch up with family - not each other. And we do cherish it. And we cherish our mini-vacations we get with our boys. But for our 8th anniversary, we are going to hike, explore, and romance it up just the 2 of us. YAY!!! I am still gushing!!!

My treadmill and me.....

I hate my treadmill.

Now I know everyone hates the treadmill. Or at least "normal" people do. I admit that my sister prefers to run on the treadmill over running outside and honestly I just cannot understand it. She is not normal. But that is a story for another day. ;)

My problem is that my treadmill hates me too. That is what I get for buying the cheapest one I could possibly find a few years ago. I can never run as fast on the treadmill as I do outside (at the same effort anyway) and after a couple of miles, the thing always starts randomly getting faster, then slower, etc. The worst thing is once in a while it will just cut out on me and stop dead. It is a very unsettling experience. So I try to avoid it as much as I can.

BUT, I had to run on the treadmill this morning if I was going to run at all today. I made it a whole 1.8 miles.

I downloaded the new Eagles album this morning and thought it would be a great distraction while running. My treadmill is in the basement and my son has a ton of toys and art supplies to play with. His big brother is not here, so he has no one to argue with. Should be smooth sailing.

It was not.

First of all, I learned that I have a hard time operating my ipod while on the treadmill. I normally do not run with music, but it is essential for me on the treadmill. Otherwise I just look at the timer clicking oh so slowly by. So I had the ipod today and it was amazing I did not fall off the treadmill while trying to fiddle with it.

Second, the Eagles are NOT the band to listen to while on the treadmill. The new album is typical Eagles beat - WAY too slow for the treadmill. The Road to Eden came on and it was some crazy middle eastern rhythm thing going on. I could only deal with about 30 seconds of it before I had to turn it off. Again, I almost fall off the TM while fiddling with it.

Third, my son was not going to cooperate with me running on the treadmill this morning. He started flipping out over EVERYTHING until finally I turned the damn thing off.

This was not a successful run.

Did I tell you that I hate my treadmill?

Edited for an update: I forgot about karate! Yay! I had the gift of 30 minutes to run this evening while the boys perfected their punches. It was perfect weather, although a bit chilly with the wind. 3.45 miles / 8:44 pace / 148 AHR. Everything felt great.

You go girl

Just a little shout out to Paula Radcliffe for her win at NYCM yesterday. It was awesome to see her take home the victory just 9 months after having her first baby. Speaking for moms everywhere, Congratulations Paula!

It was fun watching the race highlights last night. I thought Wami was going to bust out a big Ethiopian kick at the end and take Paula, but it never happened. Paula was the one with the kick and it was exciting to watch. Unlike Ryan Hall the day before, she was digging deep at the finish. She did not appear to leave a single second out on the field. It was also exciting to see Wami running so hard just weeks after winning Berlin. Absolutely amazing.

Very much UNLIKE Paula Radcliffe and Gete Wami, I slogged out a very slow 8 miler yesterday. I ran with John on the trail (think soft and flat). It was a perfect day for a run. Overall I felt pretty good but the top of my L foot was sore again. I must have had my laces too tight at Grand Rapids and bruised my foot. It has been hard for me to not run everyday, but I know it is so important to rest. Soon enough I will be back in the swing of things and training my behind off. I am thinking about racing next weekend (4.5 miles) but I think I will make it a game day decision.

I have been watching the Grand Rapids website for race pics. They had a bunch of photographers out there who posted pics on Flickr that you could download for free. While that is very cool, there were none of me. Now I am a complete nerd (as you will see below) and I like to have pics from my key races. So I googled Grand Rapids Marathon photos and found out there was also an "official" photographer there who snapped lots of pictures. Check them out!

Now, to expound on my "nerdiness" . . . I was cleaning my office this weekend and found a bunch of pictures, cards and my training schedule from my very first marathon. It was so cool to look through it all. I decided to make a scrapbook from it and also included the bib numbers from my first races (yes, I am a complete geek and I save them all). When I finished it yesterday, it was so much fun to look through. My very first race was a 5 miler and I came in just a hair under a 9 minute mile pace. I recall working so hard and thinking I was going to die at the finish b/c I was running at my limit. Wow, I have come a long way. I was looking at the pictures from my first marathon and while I was not overweight, boy did I look "soft" compared to now. It is funny to see how much has changed and it is so awesome to look back to my first racing attempts. Like most runners, I am always looking for race results (read: PRs) to validate my progress and success. But of course, races are total crap shoots and success is dependant on not only on training, but also the day, the course, and the conditions. It was refreshing to look at my running in a different way for once. I enjoyed looking at each bib number and remembering the race and the day. Each one has its own special place in my heart. So while looking at all of this, I got a glimpse at myself and my life and how much all of it has changed for the better thanks to my running.

Sometimes I am thankful for being such a nerd. Now is one of those times.

Jubilation and Tragedy Combine

Wow. Seriously. Wow.

I had the special treat of watching the US Men's Olympic Marathon Trials this morning. The boys were watching the end of Spiderman 3, so it was just me, my coffee and some insanely talented runners for 2 hours nine minutes and one second. It was pure bliss.

Ryan Hall was amazing. It is tough to describe how awesome it was watching him finish. He was yelling, waving and living in his amazing moment. It was painful to watch Dan Browne falter and stop to stretch after his calves started seizing. It was a heartbreaker to see Meb falter once again. And it was invigorating to watch Brian Sell come back from the second pack late in the race to handily take 3rd place. He had the passion, the drive, and the ability to take it to the next level. Oh yeah, and Khalid. Awesome.

These men work so hard. Even if I was a talented runner (which I am not), I don't think I ever could have been so disciplined and driven to achieve as they have. I have deep respect for all of them.

With that said, as much as I loved watching Hall come in and set the US Olympic Trails record, it was amazing to me that he never looked like he had to dig deep. Or get past that pain barrier. He looked like he was out on a tempo run. I cannot WAIT to see what this guy has to offer down the road. Truly an inspiration.

And now - tragedy. I just read that Ryan Shay passed away during the race. What an unbelievable turn from the joy that just was the Men's Olympic Trials .... My prayers are to his new wife and his family.

Ouch

My foot hurts. My calves hurt. My R hip feels a little iffy. Grand Rapids DEFINITELY sucker punched me harder than Twin Cities. All in all it is fine. After all, I am recovering right now. But it is still annoying nonetheless.

I went for a run today - a very sloooooow run - and it was nice. The weather was perfect and it was nice to get out there. I love the period of time after a marathon wherein I am not married to a schedule. But I feel oh so slothish at the same time.

I am focusing this week on finding new goals and looking ahead. I have a slight case of post-race blues. And I am very edgy. I am going to start popping my resume out the door in December and I really just want to do it NOW. Patience has never been my forte and I am ready for a new chapter. But alas, life isn't ready for me yet. One day at a time.