TexasLindsey

Ran 5 miles with Ashley and Tim at 6:30pm.  WEather= 50 degrees, dark.  Average pace=9:07/m.   

 My plantar fasciitis is still bugging me in my left foot even after all this time off.  I must have really torn it.   Can't figure out if I should just stop running and let it completely heal.   I'm really out of shape anyways, what is another month.  9:00 pace felt like 8:00.  I don't know what to do.

 Still, it was fun running with my friends again.  They have been training hard!  Tim ran 100 miles last week.  Ashley ran 60.   I got to hear about everything I've missed out on this last month... all the running group gossip.  One girl we run with has a stress fracture of her SPINE!@   OMG!   She's having to go to physical therapy for 1 hour each day.   One girl from the running store was fired.  Interesting...

NYC Marathon registration just opened...  wooo hoo!   I'm signing up!   

9.6 miles with my running group at 6:30am.  Weather=45F.  Average pace=8:15/m.

Great run today!  Ashley called me last night and convinced me to go.  I've been really struggling with motivation lately.  Getting hurt and ditching my 3:25 marathon plans that I'd been training for since July was a big blow... Then I had a hectic Christmas season and I've been dealing with the decision of whether or not to return to work (after much, much consideration we decided that I'll stay home with the boys another year).  So when my alarm went off this morning, I almost opted to sleep in instead.   

I'm glad I got up.  I thought it'd be smart if I ran with the 9:00 pace group... but I'm not smart.  That's why I got hurt in the first place.  But at least I didn't run with my normal group who were going 7:45ish... actually, I couldn't have even if I wanted to.  I ended up running with a couple guys named Clint and Ramon and we were pretty consistently 8:10-8:20 the whole way.  They are pretty funny so it was really entertaining.  Ramon just found out that his fiancé is pregnant with their first child.  Clint and I were the first people he told!  Pretty cool!  

I would say that the effort felt like 7:45 pace did to me in October.  I could still talk but it wasn't easy... however, I didn't think I was going to die so it was still good.   It seems I'm 30-45 seconds off what I used to be... which is actually a hell of a lot better than I thought I'd be.  I'm really surprised I did almost 10 miles at this speed considering I haven't run more than 6 miles since November.  

Best part was that I didn't have any issues or pain.  Woo Hoo!  It's so nice to run without pain!  Afterwards, of course, I feel like I ran about 15 miles instead of 10.  My chest is really tight and I bet my legs will be sore tomorrow.  

I'm feeling much more motivated to keep this up.  I love running with my group on Saturdays!  

Oh, and I signed up for NYC Marathon last night!   

 On a side note, I'd like to thank all my friends on this blog who have been so encouraging to me these last several weeks while I've been in a funk!   I love this blog!!! 

4pm - 1 mile around the neighborhood pushing both boys in the double running stroller and racing 5 neighborhood children on their bikes and motorized scooters.  It was fun and challenging.  I also walked backwards up a hill pulling a bike and a toddler taxi because my 4 year old started crying about the hill being hard.  It was a good workout!  

Then Ashley and Tim came by around 6pm and we went for a run together.  A cold front was blowing in so it was gusting up to 20-25 mph.  50F and dark.  

Good run!  We went a hilly route.  I am in horrible shape.  I kept up for the most part but I did have to stop a couple times to catch my breath after long hills.  

 mile 1- 8:16

mile 2- 8:14

mile 3- 8:33

mile 4- 8:27

mile 5- 8:28

mile 6- 8:01

mile 7- 8:02

 Interesting that the final two miles were the fastest.  When we had 1.5 miles to go, it was pretty much all uphill.  I told Ash I was going to just put in my iPod earphones and concentrate because I was really tired.  I'm pretty impressed with myself that I was able to speed up like that.  

Since I got injured, I have gotten out of the habit of going to bed early and waking up early.  Before I was going to bed by 9pm and getting up at 4:15am and meeting Tim and Ashley at 4:45am.  Then my boys would wake up around 7am.  It seemed like the days were so LOOOONG waiting for my husband to get home from work!  Nowadays, we've all been staying up later and the boys and I sleep until like 8:30 or 9am.  The days seem to go by faster.    I like this part of it, but I'm realizing how much harder it is to run in the evenings than it is to run in the mornings.  I have to stay motivated all day long to run.   

 Tim has really been running a lot lately  The last three weeks he did 100, 92, and 75 mile weeks.  He did a 20 miler on Saturday at 7:28 average pace and then a 20 miler on Sunday at 7:15.  Ashley's been doing 60 mile weeks.  They are running the Galveston Mardi Gras marathon on Feb 2nd.  I am so jealous!  The original idea for this marathon was conceived at my house when they came over for dinner one night.  We were all going to do it together.  It was going to be a couples weekend of fun partying after we ran.   Now I can't which really pisses me off.  Errr... well, I might be able to if I ran a 9:00 pace.... but let's just face it, I'm not disciplined enough and I'd just go out faster than I'm capable of sustaining and I'd re-injure myself.   

5.5 miles at 2pm by myself around the neighborhood.  Weather=50ish, sunny.  Average pace=9:30/m. 

5 miles at 7pm.  45F, dark.  Average pace=8:35/m.

Ashley called me up at 5:30 and convinced me to go with her and Tim.  It was a really fun run.  I went ahead and scheduled runs with them for the rest of the week... that's my new strategy to get back on track.   We'll see if it works.  

6 miles at 5:45pm at Trinity River park.  Weather=50ish, got dark mid-run.  Average pace=8:25/m (8:09, 8:26, 8:19, 8:48, 8:22, 8:27)

 Ran with Ashley and Wendy at the park.  Plan was to do 8 miles on an out and back.  I started having stomach issues which is weird because I never, ever have this problem.  I had to turn around at 3 and run back by myself.  I thought I'd slow down after I left them but it was black dark and the park was scary.  I've been watching too many crime dramas...  

10 miles with my running group at 6:30am.  Weather=38F, 12mph wind, dark then sunny.  Average pace=8:19/m.

mile 1- 8:18

mile 2- 8:20

mile 3- 8:34

mile 4- 8:39

mile 5- 8:21

mile 6- 8:18

mile 7- 7:56

mile 8- 8:04

mile 9- 8:12

mile 10- 8:11

I started off with the fastest group and we did the first two miles at 8:15ish pace.  I thought I was going to die.  I didn't feel so good.  I've been having some kind of stomach bug these last 3 days.  At the 2 mile water stop I told them I was going to hang back today.  They were all going to be speeding up after that and most of them were doing 20 miles today.   I was kinda disappointed that two guys, Ross and Chris, said they would slow down with me.  I said I was also only going 10 miles and they both said they wanted to do the same.  I was worried that I would be locked into a pace even if I started feeling bad and wanted to slow down.  

We said we'd do 8:30ish but we got faster.  I was feeling pretty awful until mile 6.  I was running on sheer will power.  I was going much faster than I felt comfortable going.   This was partly the stomach sickness and partly the fact that I'm out of shape.  I didn't tell them I was dying though.  At the mile 5 turn around I told them I was going to put in both ear buds and concentrate.  

I sped up in mile 6 and the guys kept up.  I just couldn't wait to get to the mile 6 water stop so I could take a break so I just kept getting faster.  Before I knew it, something clicked and I had a second wind.  I felt great!  It was like I woke up finally.  

In mile 8 Ross looked at me and motioned to his watch.  I looked down and saw average pace 7:57!  I was kinda surprised.   I told him it was my techno music getting me in a trance.  He laughed.  After that though, the momentum was kinda ruined.  

Ross continued running sub-8:00's but Chris and I ran the final two miles at 8:15ish.  It was a sufferfest for me.  Those final two miles felt like the end of a half marathon.  

My stomach issues have only gotten worse ever since.  I wonder what the deal is.  I would say food poisoning but I have been cooking all my own meals ... and I don't eat meat.   The rest of my family is ok.   I guess just some bug.  

8 miles at 1pm.  Weather=60ish, 12mph wind gusting to 20mph, cloudy.  Average pace=9:28/m.

 My four year old went to my sister's house today.  I took my 2 year old with me to the Trinity Trails and pushed him in the running stroller.  He is so good!  He just sits in the seat and enjoys the ride.  My four year old has always been harder in the stroller.  He gets bored and wants to get out after awhile.   LOL

I was only going to do 6 but I was feeling good, Ryan was acting great and it was a great day so I went out 4 miles before I turned around to head back to the car.

After I turned around I realized why it was such an easy run the first four miles... the wind was at my back the whole time.  Once I started going back to the car, I had to push the stroller against the wind all the way back.  Actually, it only sucked for the first mile until I got used to it.   I maintained a constant pace even against the wind.  Good workout!  Legs felt great!  My plantar fasciitis only bugs me after I stop running.  

Ran with Ashley and Wendy at Trinity River at 11:00am.  Weather=50, sunny, perfect!  Some wind on the way out but easy sailing all the way home.  

Average pace on way out was 8:15/m for 5 miles.  Average pace on way back was 8:00/m for 5 miles.  Ended up with 8:08/m for all 10.  

I talked to the girls for the first 4 miles but the effort started feeling difficult so I told them I just had to put both iPod earbuds in and concentrate.  

 I'm just not running that often right now.  I guess I have a lot of other things on my mind. My husband has been given the opportunity to take a job in Italy.  Job is in Novara, Italy which is in the northern region about 30 minutes outside of Milan.  We have to decide whether we want to go or not.  

It's a big decision.  It'd be a no-brainer that we'd for sure go if we didn't have young kids.  As it is now though, my parents and my husband's parents would freak out if we moved their grandchildren overseas for several years.  We wouldn't be able to come for visits very often.  

We have about a month or so to make up our minds.  If we go, we have about 9 months before we leave.  We would have to sell just about everything we own.  It is a tremendous hassle getting there and finding a house, furniture and setting up our lives there... with two pre-schoolers and with none of us speaking italian.  The company hires a service which is supposed to help us find a place and do everything we need to do for re-location though.   We're leaning toward doing it because we feel like we'd regret it if we didn't.... but the unknown is just so scary.  

It seems they have some running groups there.  They have marathons and other races too.  The weather seems nice too.  It ranges between 30F and 80F year round.  

On the plus side, if anyone ever wants to run a marathon in Italy with me.... you'd have a place to stay for free!