4 Days and Counting

I had a pretty miserable last four miles on my last long run before the CIM.  We ran 22 miles but unfortunately I had to walk the last 3 miles because of knee pain.  It was cold out on the American River Bike Path with some parts colder than others.  It never seemed like we warmed up enough and then when we walked, we were starting over to warm up the legs. 

When I got home, I was so cold I couldn't stop shaking.  My knees were knocking together so I went upstairs and stripped and jumped into bed with all the covers on trying to warm up.  My hands never did.  I finally got up and put on a shirt, a sweatshirt, a knit cap and sweatpants.  I should have just jumped in the shower but my brain didn't seem to be working properly at that point.

I finally warmed up and got something to eat and then filled the tub up with cold water.  I got my handy half gallon ice block, made some hot tea and got my reading material together, rolled up my sweatshirt and then stepped into the cold tub.  As cold as it is in the beginning, miserable really, once you are totally in, it feels really good.  I stayed in for 20 minutes.  My legs felt so much better afterwards.

I felt like I needed to see my Physical Therapist so I e-mailed him and low and behold there was a mix up.  The receptionist had made an appointment the last time I was in for tomorrow so I had a slot ready for me.  Weird how sometimes serendipity steps in.  I went to my appointment and he did ultrasound and pressure point massage on the sore spots.  I felt better but not confident about the marathon in less than two weeks.  I managed to run about 2.5 miles the next day and 3.1 miles on Thanksgiving Day.  My left leg from calf to upper thigh continue to be sore.  Right now I am thinking I am a crazy person to run 26.2 miles on an already sore leg.  Maybe adrenaline will be just the thing to carry me through on Sunday.

CIM-Three Weeks Out

So for those of you not from the Sacramento area, the above picture is the course that I will be running on December 4th.  We start in Folsom and run 26.2 miles to the Capital in downtown Sacramento.  I will also be running very near my house.  It is maybe a mile away from Fair Oaks Blvd. and Oak Street which is around mile 5 or 6 of the race. 

Tomorrow, November 12th, we are running the last 15 miles or so of the race.  We will be starting at Fair Oaks and Sunrise Blvd.  Should be interesting as there are no sidewalks on parts of Fair Oaks.  Guess I better wear something bright so the crazy drivers on this road can see me.  I can say crazy drivers because I lived in that neighborhood for 6 years.  I once missed hitting a deer by about 10 feet on Fair Oaks between Sunrise and San Juan. 

At this point, physically, I feel like I am being held together by string and sheer will.  I have my I Phone timer working everyday at work.  It alerts me every hour and a half to get up and stretch.  I go through a regular routine of stretching calves, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors and glutes.  I had to bring my yoga mat to work so my knees wouldn't hurt.  I have a glass panel next to my door.  It's kind of embarrassing to have your boss walk by while you're in the middle of a glute stretch. 

Not many people understand why I am doing this.  The people I work with think I'm a crazy person.  My boss told me yesterday that he is happy with 29 minutes of cardio a day and that nothing could convince him that what I was doing was "fun".  I don't know if it is fun either.  Challenging, pushing me beyond my capabilities, setting and achieving a goal, it is all of those.  Truly if a 53 year old woman with a bad knee can do this, anyone can too with proper preparation and motivation.  I am motivated, very motivated.  I haven't raised the money I would like to with the fundraising.  My job situation became tenuous and I didn't want to threaten any professional contacts with a personal issue.  Still, money is needed to continue research into the cure for spinal cord paralysis and I am glad to raise whatever I can towards that end. 

Five Weeks To gO!!!

Can't believe that I have been training for the CIM for 47 weeks!!  Officially the CIM training for my group started the first Sunday in July, but mentally I have been preparing for this since January 1st.  Tomorrow my goal is to run 18 miles.  This will be the furthest I have ever run.  I'm slightly intimidated by it because two weeks ago on my 17 mile run I had to walk in the last mile or so because my left calf felt like it was ready to give out.  It felt like it wouldn't hold me up if I took another running step.

I haven't posted in awhile.  Weekends are mainly the time I write and they have been filled with running.  I did run in the Urban Cow Half Marathon the first Sunday in October.  That race was a lot of run.  They had a new course which I like a lot.  I did the run/walk method with intervals of 3 minutes running, 1 minute walking.  I was 5-6 minutes slower than my time last year but that is to be expected since I was walking some. 

I did buy calf compression sleeves this week to help my calves with this long run looming tomorrow.  I tried one out on Thursday during our regular run.  It wasn't too constricting which was good.  When I used to play soccer, I had to wear 2 pairs of socks and sometimes it felt like they were just too tight and constricting since they also had to go over my shin guards.  They would bother me the entire 90 minute game.  I think I will probably wear both of them since I am also having trouble with my right tibial tendon which is on the inside of the Achilles tendon.  Hopefully it will give the tibial tendon some additional support. 

From now on I will be wearing my Team Reeve running shirt on every long run.  I love the words written on the back.  It says:  "For everyone who thought I couldn't do it, for everyone who thought I shouldn't do it, for everyone who said I didn't have it in me, see you at the finish line."

The Reeve Foundation is doing such great work.  They are not only doing cutting edge research on a cure for spinal cord paralysis, they also assist people with purchases of items that can make the newly paralyzed lives more comfortable.  They are a fantastic organization.

Get To VS. Have To

Kristin Armstrong has a section in her book "Mile Markers" called I GET TO.  It really had a lot to say to me.  I'm a complainer.  I don't mean to be but sometimes I complain a lot which then defines me as being negative.  I don't really think of myself that way.  I think I'm a pretty positive person.  I don't let anything keep me down for long. 

This Get To Vs. Have To has been simmering in my brain for awhile.  I say I have to go run tonight or I have to clean the house.  Turn that around and say I get to go out for a run tonight or I get to clean the house today.  One is joyful, the other is not.  I really need to practice this more  for many reasons.  I lost three close friends to cancer during the past 10 years.  Two died before they turned 40, the third before he turned 50.  All three were soccer friends that I played with, drank beer with, went to tournaments with, and shared my life with.  Their presence in my life is missed.  I will always miss them.  The fact that I get to run another day, that I get to watch  my son grow into a man, that I get to clean the cat box, all of these things are really celebrations of being alive, of being present in my own life.  This way we honor those who don't have that choice.  Think about that voice in your head and change your attitude.  Celebrate your get to's.

Kaleo 5k

Wow, it has been forever since I posted something.  I will be posting more shortly.  I just wanted to quickly talk about a 5k I am running tomorrow.  It is called the Kaleo 5k (Kaleo means "strong voice" in Hawaiian).  The race was started in 2009 to raise funds for a Sheriff's partner dog called Kaleo.  He had cancer and the need $12,000 to save him.  He survived and the following year they had the race again for another police dog named Dante who also came down with cancer.  Now it is an annual run to raise money for retired police dogs and their care after their service to  us.  What a great cause!  I met Kaleo this morning after picking up my race packet.  He is one beautiful animal.  He is a European Shepherd, maybe Belgium.  He  has a very black face and very wolflike.  He weighs about 90 pounds.  My picture doesn't do him justice.http://www.ssdk9run.com/  There is a much better picture of him and his whole story at the website.

Cross Training Part I

Last week I finally got back to my cross training.  I had laid off for a month for various reasons, everyone came to my house for Mother's Day, a 5 day vacation, my son's 21st birthday and then finally my biggest excuse is I got out of the habit.  They say it takes 21 days to make an activity a habit, it takes about 21 minutes or maybe 21 hours to break a habit.  I had a little eye opener last week when my knee reacted to my three hill runs in a row.  Scared me all the way back to the Doctor.  He told me to keep running but to get back to my cross training. 

The reality of my situation is that in order to run I have to cross train and strengthen the weak muscles that are causing my knee pain.  Strength training is something that I will have to do for as long as I want to run.  They are two activities that have to go together.  The reality is that I lifted weights anyway. I did the elliptical on the days I didn't run.  Now I do exercises that specifically help me with running.  I am working on my  glutes, hips, and VMO.  I do strength training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I also do upper body work on those days.  Triceps/biceps one day, then chest/back the next and lastly shoulders.  I am also doing core work and riding a bike instead of the elliptical for the summer.  Tomorrow I start back up with yoga.  I have a DVD that is called The Athlete's Guide to Yoga by Sage Rountree.  I can program it do the poses anyway that I want, but I do the ones that Sage designed.  I will probably post more specifics later on the strength training.

I recently started cycling again.  I haven't gotten on my bike in at least two years.  I have a mountain bike that has never been on a mountain.  It's heavy but you do get a pretty good workout on it.  I actually started Wednesday.  I probably biked around 7 miles in about a half hour.  It's funny when you haven't been on a bike and you get on it and take off it sends you back to the first time you rode your bike as a kid.  You remember the freedom that came with having a bike.  The wind in your face. The ability to go far away if you wanted.  Be a daredevil and ride it really fast. 

I spent a lot of time on a bike in my 20's.  My ex-husband was into biking so I was too.  We lived in Santa Barbara and it was such a beautiful place to bike in.  We rode all over the hills above the city.  I got to be very good at climbing hills.  One summer we parked our car at Lake Cachuma which was on the other side of the Santa Ynez Mountains.  I was supposed to ride over them, but the road is a highway and very steep with a lot of curves and traffic.  I would have needed more time to train and truthfully I was scared to death to attempt it.  So we parked at the lake and rode our bikes to Pismo Beach which was about 75 miles away.  We got there late in the day, showered, walked to dinner and next morning rode back.  A week later I pulled the ligaments on both sides of my left ankle while playing soccer.  I was running to goal with the ball in front of me and stepped into hole.  I ended up in a cast for a couple of weeks and then had an ankle that was never the same.  I do ankle circles sometimes after running and hear lots of clicking.    I was grateful that my soccer injury came after the bike ride.  I would have been so pissed that all my training that summer had been for nothing. 

I have enjoyed being on the bike again even if it is only 7 miles and around my neighborhood.  I miss my regular training route in Santa Barbara.  It had a beautiful ocean view, down a twisty hill and then up a killer hill that puts Sierra College to shame.  Oh well, I can still see it in my mind while I bike around my new route.
Hopefully I will notice in a couple of weeks some improvement in my quad strength. 

Running Book Geek

As proud as I am to say that I am a Runner, I used to be proud to say I read books, lots and lots of books.  Over the years with a child and 90 minute commutes and jobs that consumed my time, reading took a back seat to all of that.  I have read a little in that time, mainly 2 or 3 books in a month and then nothing for 6 months or a year.

Recently I have read so many books on running that it officially makes me a running book geek and I can put that right next to my running podcast geekdom.  The reason for the book reading on running is the current state of my physical health.  I'm not ill or anything just dealing with a chronic problem with my IT Band which really is the symptom of my problem with patellafemoral syndrome or chondromalacia syndrome.

I took a break from the technical books to read a book called Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong.  She is the ex-wife of a guy named Lance.  She lives in Austin Texas.  The book has 26.2 chapters with running topics like endurance, passion, and clarity.  I have really enjoyed the book because some of it really hits home.  I will never be the runner she is but I can understand her affection for the women she runs with whom she calls her sweat sisters.  I run with a mixed group of people, men and women, who make it fun to run and add another dimension to my life. 

 I want to quote a passage from her book, but it is really a quote within a quote.  She quotes a trail runner friend of hers who came down ALS. This was written while climbing  Machu Picchu.

  "I am a seeker.  I am a wanderer. I am who I am.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.
   Life is a series of great paradoxes.  To find ourselves, we get lost.  To gain, we lose.  To know the light, we plunge into the dark.  To succeed, we fail.  Opposites seem forever linked.  Without one, we cannot define the other.
   Blessings to all who share these mountains, who share journeys---both guide and traveler.  Blessings to all of those who seek, knowing they may never find.  May you breathe in every moment and with it know that you are truly loved."   ...Dano Keitz

In Kristin's book I finally found the words to why I started this journey to run a marathon.  I was truly inspired by the people in my group who ran the CIM last year, both the veterans and the first timers; although that wasn't quite enough for me.  The greatest inspiration to run this marathon is still my brother Brett.  I can't cure him of his paralysis, but I can stand for something when I run.  Here is what Kristin wrote "Running for someone else makes me less willing to give up and more able to understand the pain and the fatigue, knowing that someone else is drawing power from my effort.  I look at it as an opportunity to carry a portion of someone else's burden, to cover some ground on that person's behalf, to try to lighten the load by shouldering some of it on my own back.  That's endurance.  That's what moves me to move."

She wrote what I felt but could not find the words for.  I highly recommend this book.  There are hidden jewels within it that as a runner you will recognize and feel not so alone.