Running...

I'm going to repeat part of what I wrote in my training blog for TNT - because it says what I want to say....

I know, I know, it's been a while. I had a real tough time for the past couple of weeks, but I'm over the hump. I know I can do it and I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to finish in 2 hours. Now, if I don't make that time, I'm in for a lot of ribbing, I know. One of my friends even told me that he wanted his donation back if I didn't beat his time of 2:08. Most of you who read this probably know me pretty well. I'm pretty competitive. Okay, REALLY competitive. I know it and most of the time I'm okay with it, except when it gets me in trouble. However, assuming that my race in 2 weeks mirrors my run on Saturday, I am set. We ran 12.5 miles. I finished it in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Before this weekend, I had never run farther than just over 8 miles. And our run had several more hills than I'll have to run in our race, although we didn't run the course in its entirety. AND, I caught up to the guys that were marking the course, so I had to slow down and wait for them to finish the course in order to finish! Although I was sore after the run, I was fine. Well, I could have eaten one of the bison that we saw in Golden Gate Park, but I was mostly fine. I took off my shoes and waded into the bay so I could "ice" my legs. It was heavenly.

Now I'm into the "tapering" portion of my training. I'm not sure what that means exactly, but I haven't run since Saturday. No yoga even. My foot has been killing me. I went to the Chiro yesterday and although they beat me up pretty good, my foot still hurts. And get this...it feels best in high heels. Weird. I have been a bad girl though and I haven't used the dreaded foam roller (that reminds me of the Princess Bride!) since Saturday night. Tonight, for sure. I might try running too. Stupid feet.

On a different note, Aaron had 2 wisdom teeth pulled yesterday. Poor guy. He looks like a lopsided chipmunk because one side is more swollen than the other. I'd post a photo but he'd probably be unhappy about that.

Ouch

I tell you what, it's not easy getting older. I remember the good old days...when I could play on the playground for hours and eat anything and run and skip and ride my bike. Wouldn't it be nice to have that again? Minus the having to grow up, of course.

I've been having some issues lately with my running. I want to run. But my legs don't seem to be able to comply. Granted, donating blood was a huge do-do move. I should know better. But still, I feel like I'm running in mud. My breathing is labored and I'm tired. My legs have been getting so tight, I feel like they're going to snap if I don't stop and stretch. But a mile down the road I have to do the same thing all over again. I keep waiting for the kick, the point where I feel like it's effortless, but it's been over a week since I've felt that and that, my friend, is frustrating. I get so...arrgh! about it. Only a month til the 1/2 and I feel like I'm not even a 1/4 of the way there with my training. My coaches have been very supportive and they tell me I'm doing fine, but if you know me, you know how competitive I am. Yes, Becquel, me - competitive. LOL!

I guess I just need to stretch, keep rolling on that damn foam roller and relax. I'm going to finish that race if it kills me. I just want to do it in less than 2 hours. And that's the kicker. Oh Lord, won't you teach me patience? Or maybe, is this part of the learning process?

New direction

It's been seven months since I last posted here. I guess in a way it's kind of like my issues with keeping a journal. Good intentions don't always come through! But here I go again. I've been doing a sort of blog for my 1/2 marathon through Team in Training at this site: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/nikesf08/mlaird. It's been fun, and maybe I can keep it up by blogging here as well. I really would like to be able to follow through with this as I feel like it's something I need to do for my mental health. I'd like to be able to put thoughts and ideas out there as well as let people know what's happening in my life.

Bah, we'll see I guess!

Today I have the day off - through the weekend. My folks and my aunt are coming down to visit. They were supposed to be here today but I'm thinking they won't get here until tomorrow. At first I was a little unhappy because I felt as if I was wasting a vacation day but now I'm pretty happy. I'm going to go for a little run while it's still cool. Well, I'm going to actually do a sprint workout. Not so much a little run. Then I have errands galore to run. Aaron's birthday is tomorrow and he loves days when he gets presents. I need to finish shopping for him and get some other things out of the way.

Here's to trying to keep a blog going, posting photos and mental health. Whee!