SECRET CITY SUCCESS!!!!

I DID IT!!!!  I **FINISHED** Secret City!!!  In 2 hours and 20 minutes-ish.  I can hardly believe I finished.  Much less that I finished well under the 3-hour limit.  From Mile 1 my knees hurt like Crazy.  Oh heavens, they hurt.  I couldn't bend them.  Not even enough to pick them up to take my next stride.  It was incredibly painful, but I was bound to keep on.  I would want to stop and walk, but I kept telling myself that the only way to make the pain go away was to Finish!  I had to constantly fight myself to keep running. 

Even though my right foot didn't feel good last night or this morning, it didn't bother me at all until Mile 8.  Then at Mile 8 it was like all at once my foot went to pot.  The good thing about my foot hurting is that it took my mind off my knee pain. 

I struggled for most of the run, little by little.  There was a soldier running with his pack that I tried to keep up with from the start.  I did for the most part give or take.  The last mile of the race, I stop to walk for a few seconds.  A girl behind me came running up beside of me, grabbed my elbow and said, "you're not walking now.  I've been following you and every time I want to stop and walk I look up and see you still running and it keeps me going.  Now let's go."  Ahhhh.  God sent me a little angel.  Her name was Jesse.  We chatted for the remainder of the run and she was such a sweet girl.  Her birthday is tomorrow, the day before mine.  She also does Ultra Runs (like, 40+ mile runs).  She said she can run long distances but she's just not fast.  She ran a race yesterday in fact.  Incredibly sweet girl that came along just at the right time. 

Here's some photos!

The girls.  Love them.  We're missing Sharon in this picture. :(

Getting ready to start!

More of the starting line.

This is me at about 7 miles in.  I may look like I was having fun.... but don't read too much into that :)  I was in Pain!

And off I go again

This is Jesse and I coming into the Finish!  Woohoo!

Jesse and I almost done!

And Jesse and I finishing!  

My running sisters Sienna and Dana!  And Evie!

Annnnd my Birthday Cake made by my Fabulous Aunt!  I cannot explain how delicious this cake was.  It was a S'more cake and was absolutely heavenly.  Thanks Auntie!

I had a blast seeing my old running girls.  They're all such wonderful people!  I'm so glad I did all of this, and so glad it's all over.  I did it!!!!  Thank you all for your love and support and prayers!  Never forget that anything is possible and when the goin' get's tough, the tough get goin'.  Huuuggs!

Itttt's SHOWTIME!!!

Can you believe it's finally here?!  Secret City is TOMORROW!!!  I'm all cozied up in my hotel room relaxing before dinner tonight.  I Cannot Believe that tomorrow is the day.  Tomorrow is the day that I put on my running shoes and give this thing a go after 3+ months of training. 

Last night, I visited with Mimi and my wonderful family.  Today, I spent the afternoon with pseudo-sister and her munchkin and my SuperFantastic momma.  We picked up our race packets and I got my shirt and race chip.

Ain't they purrrty?  The race chip will tell the time-keeping gnomes exactly how long it took me to cross the finish line.  If all goes well, I'm aiming to finish in two hours and thirty minutes, or there about.  Depending on how my feet hold up tomorrow, it could be better and it might be worse.  My feet are still pretty tender and sore, BUT, at least I'm walking on them which is a huge improvement from last week. 

I'm excited!  Dinner with the girls tonight will be a lot of fun.  Tomorrow will be a whirlwind, but I promise to report back in a closing post complete with lots of pictures.  Pray for me!  YaaaYYY!  *Can't*Believe*It's*Here!*

Part-Aaay!

You know what's good for a little pre-race distraction?  A *PaRtY!*  So that's what I did tonight.  Partied 'til the cows came home.  Had you seen us, or heard us rather, at the dinner table you'd have thought there wasn't a sober one among us.  My cousin dialed in to the party and E told him we'd invite him next year.  She's such a riot.  We *Laughed* and *Giggled* and *Reminisced* and *Laughed* *Laughed* *Laughed.*  It took a whole group to blow out the one candle on E's birthday cake.  As her late spouse said on his death bed, as E reminded us tonight, "We had a good time."  These are the days I live for.

 
Happy Birthday E!

Two days to go.....!

Do You Believe?

Yes, I Do Believe in Santa Clause.  But CAN you Believe that Secret City is Just *3* *Days* Away?!  Ohhh meee goodness.  I thought it would Never get here!  And now I feel like I'm not ready for it :(  It's like Christmas Eve when you don't have all your shopping done.  It's near, Very near, and I need more time. 

As my brother says, "What do you do when it's Fourth and Long?  You drop back and punt the hell out of it."  I'm punting.  I hope it lands inside the one-yard line!  I found my "Tennessee Running Chicks" t-shirt tonight.  They're bright yellow shirts that the girls that I'm running with and I wore at the 200-mile relay race we did in Indiana.  It made me smile.  I've packed it in my suitcase just as a reminder of why I'm doing this, along with the Nike 26.2 necklace around my neck. 

Even though I physically feel pretty bad about this race, I'm pretty excited.  I get to meet pseudo-sister's precious little girl for the first time!  I'm going to challenge myself once more and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, or the rain, whichever the good Lord decides to grace us with.

We're almost to Secret City!  I start my journey tomorrow, stopping at the farm tomorrow night and then on to Knoxville Friday night and to Oak Ridge on Saturday for Secret City on Sunday!  Ahhhh!  It's soooo close!  Here's a nervous "WaaaHoooo!!" for you!  Or as my father said today, "Wooo."  WaaHooo Wooo!

Broken Peroneus

Five days to go and my feet still hurt to walk :)  I will get through it!  Office-Landlord Doug came over today because he heard about my feet woes.  He looked at my feet and said.... "you'rrrre not gonna be able to run Sunday."  I scoffed and told him to "GeT OuTtA Here!"  O.K., not really, but I did scoff.  Told him I was GoNNA get my t-shirt! 

Office-Landlord says, "You realize that the bruising means there is blood from damaged capillaries floating around in there?" He then explained to me that right below a lot of my bruising is the Peroneus joint/ligament (?) that runs along side the bottom of my foot and up around my ankle to my mid-calf.  ....EXaCtly, where I hurt so bad.  So at least I have an unqualified self-diagnosis!  My Peroneus is injured!  Knowledge is power.  ...I have no idea what I will do with this knowledge other than run around telling people that my Peroneus is broken.  It's gonna be So Fun! 

Don't Stop... Belieeev'n!

I find it frustrating and repulsive that I'm barely walking a week before Secret City.  BUT, I refuse to stop *Belieeev'n!*  My legs from my toes to mid-calf feel like they are on FIIRE.  This weekend, I had the luxury of icing my feet 2-3 times a day.  Today, not so much.  Couldn't this morning - had to rush off to work.  Though I did stop to consider wrapping my ice packs around my feet on my long drive to work.  But I realized that if I did that, I wouldn't have cold ice packs to use tonight.  So I deferred my ice packs until tonight. 

I don't have a freezer at the office, so no ice during the day either.  My feet of fire were sooo glad to finally hit the couch this evening.  I haven't been able to ice or rest my feet as much as I would like (though I totally had my legs sprawled out on top of my desk today the few minutes I was sitting down). 

Today, I wore my necklace from the one full-marathon I ran in college.  Instead of medals, the finishers got a Tiffany's silver necklace that says "The Nike 26.2 FINISHER."  They had little men dressed in coat tails passing them out at the finish line off of silver platters.  True story.  I put it on to remind myself that sometimes the seemingly unachievable is absolutely achievable.  I plan to wear it all week as a reminder. 

And on to the next day.....

Ain't All Bad

Ice Ice Baby is the theme of the week.  I am Not giving up!  This week will be a lot of ice, rest and a *little* exercise here and there - maybe a little ride on the bike at the gym.  My original training schedule had me doing 6 miles this past weekend.  That.didn't.happen.  It also had me doing two 4-mile runs this week.  That's not gonna happen either.  When life throws you curves, you adjust.  You don't quit.  Albeit, any hope of performing really well at Secret City is out the window.  However, I do plan on performing.  It just might not be so purrrty.

Today, my evening went like this:

That's three ice packs, two bag of pees and one glass of wine.  See, it ain't all bad!

Ohhhh Bumfuzzle!

NurseMother says I have "stress sprains."  Today, my left foot also turned that yellow.going.to.bruise color and felt almost as bad as my right foot, but not quite.  Its most worse in the mornings.  During my runs in the past few weeks, my shins, calves and feet would hurt but I just thought it was normal aches and pains from running.  Who knew there were such things as "stress sprains?"  Or perhaps in a worst-case scenario they are even stress fractures.  Regardless of what they are or how they came about, I'm praying that they will go away or at least subside just enough to get me through Secret City.  I know they will.  I have asked the good Lord to get me through this and He will. 

I'm just so bumfuzzled about all this.  I had no idea you could get such things, much less that what I was doing would cause such.  This week will be interesting.  LOTS of ice on the schedule.

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

Ohhhhh *Boy*.....  My right foot you see.....  the one I couldn't walk on this morning..... is black and blue and swollen on both sides. 

I have No idea what this will mean for the next week.  :(  I have NO idea what happened.  NurseMother says I must have sprained it somehow.  I have 8 days to go.  Pray I get through this!

I Haven't Forgotten You!

I haven't posted in DaYsss.  But I didn't forget you.  I even took some pictures for you.  I was traveling for work and just didn't take the time to post. 

You'll have to pardon my finger.  I was running, ya know.

Tuesday, I took a run through downtown Nashville.  It was pretty nice.  The weather was great, much warmer than I expected actually.  I ran through downtown, across the bridge over the Cumberland River, around the Titan's Stadium, and back.  I had some uphills on the way back and could certainly tell that I haven't been training on any hills.  Whew.  (I walked some of the hills, but don't tell.) 

Then yesterday, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill doing "speed work."  I pushed myself pretty hard but was really glad to just be running 3 miles.  I felt O.K. while running last night, though my shins and calves were hurting a bit.  However, I woke up this morning to excruciating pain on the inside of my right foot just below my ankle bone.  I have NO *Idea* what has happened.  I seriously can barely walk this morning.  Though I finally figured out that if I walk on the outside of my right foot, it's not as painful.  I'm at a complete loss on this one.  I have no idea what the problem is or what caused it.  I just pray pray pray that it goes away SOON, like today!  I feel like a lame horse that can't put it's foot down.  It's really awful. 

So here's to hopefully a quick foot recovery! 

How Many More?

Iiiiiiii didn't run today.  My right quad is crazy sore.  I'm not sure what's up.  It feels like I strained it a bit.  But I can't imagine how, other than by playing soccer with my nephew.  But I don't recall it hurting ever until Sunday morning; and then I could hardly walk. 

I thought in theory that I might run today.  But work required lateness today and I was super hungry.  So I did not push it.  But I will run tomorrow.  I actually have to travel for work tomorrow and Wednesday but I'm planning ahead and planning when I will run.  Hopefully, it will actually work out just as planned and I will actually do it!

I had a most wonderful weekend, which I am still reeling off of.  Here's a little snapshot of my weekend:

My Last Long Run 'Til the Big Day!

Today I did my last long run until Secret City!  I ran 10-miles today and it went pretty well, I am *Pleased* to report.  It was/is a *BeaUtiful* day.  I waited 'til mid-morning to go run.  My brother's munchkins are in town so I waited 'til they went down for a nap..... for two reasons; 1) to procrastinate and 2) to let it warm up a little bit. 

The run went really well for the most part.  I was not concerned about how fast I was running whatsoever.  I didn't look at my watch for the entire run past 2.5 miles.  I tried to run better than a "i-might-as-well-be-walking" pace and I think I did for most of it.  With three miles to go I felt like I was at that "i-might-as-well-be-walking" pace.  It took me one hour and forty-eight minutes to finish the run.  Which is really slow, but who cares.  I didn't have to walk at all unlike last week.

My knees hurt quite a bit at the end but I pressed on and took some ibuprofen after my run.  All was well with just two weeks to go. 

I had plenty of time to just think during my run.  And so I did.  I thought about everything from Christmas presents to cows.  I'm looking forward to Christmas and already picking out some presents.  I thought about my cows and how much I do love them.  My friend Rachael, who runs her family's dairy, inspires me every day to be the cow loving girl I was born to be.  There's nothing better than good farmgirls.

I'm excited for the next two weeks.  Super excited to see my Secret City girls!!!

I can't concentrate much on this blog as I am being given vocal and dance performances by my niece and nephew.  It's incredibly precious.  Hate you're missing it!

Lame!

Ahhhh!!  I was totally lame today!  It didn't even rain!  It was beautiful.  I knew I should have stopped working and ran while it was light out.  But I wouldn't.  I kept working.  Then it got dusk.  Then I thought, maybe I'll run on the treadmill.  Then mom called and said she made a big dinner.  And then I came home and had a Mich Ultra.  Tisk Tisk.  I really am sad at myself.  I should have ran.  Soooo should have ran!

Tomorrow is another day.  I shall star anew.  Only *Two*Weeks* to go!

Treadmill Schmedmill

Today it rained.  So I retreated to the dumb treadmill.  And I did not kick its black belt tail.  I could only suffer through 4.5 miles today.  And some of that I walked.  But when I walked, I did walk on a Super D-Duper incline.  Daddy says its supposed to rain tomorrow too.  I don't particularly mind the rain, it's just that I don't like to run in it.  But I don't like to run on treadmills either.  But I Have to run tomorrow since I didn't run Monday or Tuesday. 

But little people are coming to see me tomorrow!  Wooo Hooo!  And I can finally get rid of my halloween candy by pawning it off on the little people whom my brother has to spend 3 hours in the car with :)

18 Days To Go

I can do this.  I can do this! Eighteen days left.  And I only have about 10 more runs to go!  But honestly, I'm having a hard time getting "pumped up" about the big day or the remaining of my training for that fact.  I can do this!!!!  I Will do this. 

After taking *3* days off (shamefully), I ran 5-miles today.  It took me 48 and a half minutes.  It was pretty hard.  But I suppose I should have expected that after taking 3 days off.  During my run I tried to think about the ways God has blessed me this week.  My small group asks this every week.  It seems like it should be a pretty easy answer.  After all, I am incredibly blessed with a great family, great friends, great job, great church, a great life in all.  But when you get to the specifics of how God blesses you from day to day, it makes you think harder instead of just stating generalities.  It definitely kept my mind of the difficulties of today's run and on positive things.

Back to it tomorrow.  There's a hard few days of running ahead of me for slacking the first of the week.

Ohhh Sheesh

I've been lazy.  Horribly, lazy.  Well, today I blame my bosses.  Sunday and Monday.... not so much.  Sunday was my recovery day.  Monday, I was Just lazy.  I had a duty to the trick-or-treaters!  Of which I had a Grand Total of 1, uno, eins, one.  So I ate 9 Reece Cups myself.  The price of peanut butter is going up ya know.  I needed to get my nutty intake somehow. 

Shush.  I needed them.  I did!!

Not.  And so today, I was going to run For Sure.  But I got stuck at the office until 7:30 and had a 40-minute drive home.  I know.  I totally should have ran regardless.  I didn't.  Uuuughhhh.  (I'm flailing my arms out to my side right now in that i.know.i.should.have.but.didn't.and.am.really.sorry sort of way.)

I'm only hurting myself.  I know, I know.  And I'm in for it.  Grrrrrr.