Shoes

So, I went to La Foot in Berkeley for the shoe lift. This time the person helping me definitely knew what he was doing. He actually looked at my shoes - it turns out that per their testing system, the type of shoe I have is not very good, which explains a lot of the problems I've been having. Unfortunately, it is way too late in the game to change shoes now. Since I am already signed up to run another half marathon in January, I am going to get a new pair of shoes right after the Nike race. Which is in 2 weeks!!!

Thursday - buddy run again

So, normally Thursday would be track. But since our marathon is in 10 days (EECK!), we aren't supposed to go to the track workouts anymore. So Lisa & I met up again at Lake Merritt this morning at 6am. It was really dark and chilly, but happily, it was not raining. We did the run at a 11 minute/mile pace, same as we did on Tuesday apparently. At least we are consistent. She is actually running a half marathon this Sunday down in San Jose, which means she is doing two half marathons in two weeks back to back. Talk about over-achieving!

During my lunch hour I did an hour long Pilates class. It was pretty good though now my upper back is all sore again.

This evening I am planning on going to La Foot in Berkeley to get a "shoe lift" for my left shoe, and some arch supports as well.

Tuesday-ditto

Did my usual Lake Merritt buddy run this morning. The sun isn't rising while we run anymore, it is rising on my drive back home. The total darkness when I am waking up is making it very difficult to drag my tired body out of bed. But only 2 more weeks of this (sort of - I am actually planning on continuing to train with the team until December 9 when the last marathoners are done with training).

karate

Did karate this evening for 2 hours. We did a lot of work with the sai (hand-held small swords) so my arms are exhausted. A student led the stretches and beginning exercises and he had just gotten into yoga so we did a lot of yoga sequences to begin which was cool.

I have been doing karate on and off since February of 1999. For some reason, since my mother passed away I am having a very hard time focusing during class and find myself often having to hold back tears. That combined with my current running focus led me to tell my instructor this evening that I am going to take a sabbatical from karate until at least January. Hopefully I will be able to return then with a slightly clearer head (and less injuries).

Sunday=shopping

So, I didn't run today since I did the 10 miles yesterday. But what we did do is find the Sports Basement in Walnut Creek and go shopping. I have some 20% off everything coupons from participating in Team in Training that I wanted to use. Sports Basement is awesome - I had never been before. They are like a Marshalls or TJ Maxx for sports/camping stuff! They had clothing, gear, my Hammer electrolytes, bike stuff, camping stuff, weights, shoes, etc! We must have spent over an hour in there.

I ended up getting a fuel belt - basically a belt to wear around the waist which holds 4 8-ounce bottles. I am planning on using that instead of the water bottle that I was using since that one you carry in your hand and I think its what caused my shoulder to get aggravated. I still need to get a new sports bra & new running pants before the race which is problematic since we aren't supposed to use anything in the race we haven't trained in. So I am running out of time!

Another 10 miles!

So, let me say that I went into today's run planning on running 12 miles. In fact, that is the amount of miles I told my family & co-workers that I would run. That didn't happen. I only did 10. (Lesson here - don't tell people how many miles you are going to run before you run them!)

Today's run was at the San Leandro Marina. We had run here once before. That time before was my really bad run where I was barely able to do 2 miles, had horrible stitches in my side, and was just miserable. So, not the best memories of this place. Also, the last time we were here, it was very very hot and the sun was blazing. Not so today.

Today it was chilly. (I suppose it's all relative, right? So to be fair it was in the 50's). We had staggered starts based on how fast we run - I went with the 11-13 minute/mile crew. I didn't see Lisa or anyone that I really knew that I could run with. Setting out, there was a group of runners who were aiming for a 12 minute/mile pace. They were right in front of me so I just kept up with them. By the first water stop (2 mile mark), they were starting to split up, but there was one runner who was also by herself near me. So I introduced myself and we ran together. She is on the summer training team and is also training for the Nike Half (6 months of training for a half marathon - I would be hospitalized!). So we ran together out to the 5 mile point, then turned around and ran back. By the time we hit 5 mile, it was definitely warming up which was good. It was also very sunny which wasn't so good. I've found that I much prefer to run on grey slightly cooler days (and I tend to do better as well).

By the time we hit the first water stop again (2 miles left!), my left foot was decidedly cranky and I was really getting tired. But somehow I persevered. To add the 2 miles to make it a 12 mile run, you had to go past the starting point and do two 1 mile laps around a large circle area. By the time I hit the starting point, the right hip flexor muscle was cranky (yay to the right side for speaking up finally!), my left foot was very very unhappy with life, and I really didn't want to push myself too far since this was our last long run before Nike. So I stopped at the 10 mile mark. Timewise it took us 2 hours and 10 minutes to finish (13 minute/mile) which is definitely slower than I had ever hoped, but I am not doing this for speed, I am doing this just to finish.

The great thing about it is that I *ran* the whole 10 miles. When I did the Nike Preview run, I walked a lot of it (up the hills, parts of Golden Gate park, etc). Today, I didn't walk at all except to grab water/gatorade at the water stops! So that is pretty exciting. Frankly, I think if I had been walking a bit more, I could have covered the last 2 miles, which means that I feel really good about finishing Nike.

I did manage to speak to Mama Lisa about the pain on the outside of my left foot which has been there since I did the Nike Preview run in September. I showed her where it was red and swollen and she said "Oh, you hurt your ankle!". Figures. I explained my left side issues and she thinks that my left hip is lower than my right hip. She said she could even see a height difference while I was standing there. So I am supposed to get a "shoe lift" for my left shoe.

After the run, we had the Nike send-off party there at the marina park. Honorees for our team came to speak to us about how great we are all doing - the honorees are people/families of people who have Leukemia/Lymphoma who are being honored by our particular team. Some of the stories were very heart-wrenching. Two of our honorees are "angels" meaning that they passed away - Cole who was 2 years old, and Brenda who was a mother and a member of the Team for the last Nike event. Cole's mother spoke to us about how much it meant to her that we were all doing this to raise money so that other people's children wouldn't die of Leukemia. Also, this year's Nike event is happening on what would have been Cole's fifth birthday. Everyone was in tears, and I couldn't help thinking about my mom as well. I wish she could be at the finish line cheering me on, but I think she will be there in spirit.

Thursday - I ran to catch my flight ...

So, never being one to learn from my lessons, I again tried to run this morning. However, I gave up only about 100 feet from the condo I was staying in since it was even colder than Tuesday. Due to time constraints around check-out and the close-up of the conference I wasn't able to workout at all after that failed attempt. I did have to run through the Denver airport in heels to catch my flight - we hadn't really expected the horrendous traffic through Denver at 2pm on a Thursday afternoon. But I don't think that counts. I had some delusions that I might go running or something when I got back to California. But after getting my luggage, escaping the Oakland airport, & taking a taxi home, it became clear that it just wasn't meant to be.



Saturday is going to be another big run (10-12 miles) so I did some stretching and will just take it easy in preparation.