Shuffle time...

It’s almost time to shuffle...but before the shuffle I have a heel update. I got the awesome cortisone shot on Tuesday after work – one week ago. It was pretty painful. After the shot they surprised me with a wonderful little foot whirlpool bath followed by ultra sound. It was pretty tender for a few days but on Sunday morning I woke up with NO pain. I got out of bed and stepped and nothing. It was amazing!! Tonight I go back for more therapy on my heel. Yay! Hopefully in another week or so my orthotics should be ready, too!

This coming weekend – Saturday that is – I am going to try to run, most likely easy, at the Santa Shuffle! This is a 5K that Team Z has on the calendar and there is a team brunch after. It should all be fun. Worst case scenario – if the running hurts, I will walk. Besides, I have some fun, new head-boppers to wear! Priscilla, a Z'er, is my inspiration! And if we were not doing the brunch after I would bring Riley. She needs to go to another Z event! I swear she is twice as big as she was at the Doggie Run.

Speaking of Riley, we have had her for 1 month and 20 days now. She has grown a LOT, but...her baby teeth are still there. I know they will soon be leaving us... But regardless of the really annoying teeth, she is really a cutie and we still love having her. One of the cats is somewhat playing with her, too. >^..^< So funny. The other cat – meh. So not going to happen!

I cannot believe that tomorrow is December 1! I have not put up a tree – and will likely save that till the weekend before the actual day, just for Riley’s sake. Or is that for mine? I did put a few general decorations up though. I might do some things this weekend, if there is time...but it will probably have to wait to the weekend after because this weekend is slammed with stuff.

Anyway, the Monday after Christmas marks my official start of marathon training! I’m so excited to be doing the Shamrock down in Virginia Beach. I did the half there last year and so I at least know half the course! One thing I do know about the entire course...is that it is flat! Except for that one little spot... Since I'm signed up for the 'Whale Challenge' I'm pretty sure the marathon training will get me ready for the 8K the day before! And I hopefully will be doing some training with Carol, who inspired me by doing hte Dolphin Challenge (8K and Half) last year, and it will be fun to have company on some of the long runs! And Jeff is venturing into the scene and will be doing the half. Great fun!

Now it is almost time for my heel therapy!

Happy and Healthy Training!

On November 20, 2011...

...I'll be toeing the line at Ironman Arizona along with a bunch of my friends from Team Z! Who needs Cozumel anyway? (Read Es's Thursday 13 and you'll know what I mean...)

So, I must get this heel fixed, pronto! And speaking of my heel, today I go back to the podiatrist for the highly anticipated (ha-ha) cortisone shot! Yesterday, in addition to signing up for IM AZ I signed up for the Santa Shuffle, a 5K race the team is doing on December 4. Jeff is doing it as well. I'm thinking positively here! And I'm also getting those custom orthotics, hopefully they'll be ready in another couple weeks! *fingers crossed*

Since, according to my newest countdown timer, the aforementioned IM AZ is only 361 days away, I'd better get back on my bike/trainer and get back into the water. I will ease back into run training next month...

Here's to Happy and Very Healthy Training!!

Oh heel...

Well, yesterday was two weeks since I saw the podiatrist. And yesterday after work I went back to see him again. I've been icing and stretching pretty consistently since my first visit. And to my surprise, I have made a small amount of progress. That is, the inside/side of my right heel does not seem to hurt any longer. But the bottom of it - ouch. It still really hurts. I had mentioned to him that when it had been taped it felt pretty good. So last night they made impressions of both of my feet for custom orthotics! I guess I'm excited - it seems every one I know that runs has them. And some people seem surprised that I don't have them. Lucky me - I never needed them before. Before now that is.

Before I left their office last night the assistant taped my foot again. And of course, my foot feels better. Again. The doctor made one other suggestion - a cortisone shot. Right in my heel. Yikes! I did not want to do it last night though as I had a very important date at 12:01AM this morning. Yes, I met two of my friends (Marlene and Chris) at the theater at about 10:00PM last night for the 12:01AM premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1! I loved it and can't wait for Part 2. But apparently I have to wait till July. Hmm... Anyway, I did not want or need anything distracting me from the show!

But back to my foot... I am happy that part of it is feeling better. I'm hoping that the cortisone shot next week will speed things up and that I'll be able to run a 5K on December 4 with Team Z - the Santa Shuffle! Now, I've definitely decided against the Blue & Gray Half Marathon on December 12. But I just might consider the 5K - like last year. I will see how the shuffle goes first...

This weekend I'm off to Philadelphia with my younger son to visit Temple University, my son's second choice. We may visit his first choice in January... First though we are possibly visiting Elite Cycles in town, then meeting and staying with my cousin who lives close by and having Philly Cheesesteaks! My older son gets a weekend with Riley!

Speaking of Riley...she is now three months old. And while we thought she was all Lab, the more we look at her the more it seems her ears want to stand up! There was a possibility that the 'father' was a German Shepard...and since her mom is a Chocolate Lab that could make her a German Chocolate Retriever! I'll have to get a good picture of her and her ears soon!

A new venture...?

Now you can find me here!

This is new and as I really get started - likely next week - I'll probably start blogging more about it.

So...yesterday was one week after having seen the runner podiatrist. I must say, I left the tape on for just over 3 days. My foot felt so much better with the tape on. However, aside from one day, I've done a really good job of icing the bad spots 3x a day and stretching it 2x a day. My fot was a bit sore yesterday - but I did spend a lot of time on my feet, at home, going through various boxes and cleaning. Thursday next week (November 18) I go back for a follow-up. I am keeping my fingers crossed! I have decided I probably will not do the turkey trot - unless by a couple days before it is feeling really good. But...there is a 5K that my team is doing on December 4 - followed by a team brunch/holiday party. I think I would be better off waiting another week and a half after Thanksgiving to do the 5k. Then I can hopefully have been training a bit qand do it for time so I can get my baseline for my upcoming marathon training.

Happy and Healthy Training!

“Race” Report: The Dash Doggie Run

NOTE: The Dash 5K and 1 Mile Doggie Run Benefitted the Washington Animal Rescue League!

Team Z recently added a 5K and fun doggie run to the 2010 fall/winter team calendar. The doggie run was to be a whole mile long, and even though Riley and I don’t go for walks more than quarter mile I signed us up!

Fast Forward to race morning! Luckily it was even time for the clocks to “fall back” on Saturday night. However, Riley was still up and at em quite early! I think she was excited about her first race!! I fed her on schedule, hoping she would take care of any ‘pre-race’ business in our yard, before we left the house. We were in the car by 6:35 for an 8:00 start! Of course, packet pick-up/check-in started at 7:30. And I wanted to stop by Starbucks for a much needed soy latte. Then we were really off!

Riley sat/lay in Jeff’s lap for the ride. She does pretty well in a lap, as opposed to the cat crate.

>^..^<

We made really good time and only made one wrong turn – and THAT was at a traffic circle. Fortunately the Garmin got us back on course. Oh, then I missed the turn to the park, too, but I fixed that on my own. We saw signs for the The Dash 5K and knew we were in the right place. We parked and quickly found Ed, Zoe, and the rest of Team Z that was there. Ed was awesome – he even provided coffee and bagels! Oh, and there was DIET COKE (Carol and Priscilla)!

I thought Riley might have to do some ‘business’ once we got out of the car on to the grass, but she was too busy checking out all the people and dogs! She met Zoe, and cool spaniel named Booker, and a lot of other dogs – like George and Nala! And a lot of people, too! I got us checked in and picked up a poo bag, just in case. Riley also got a really cute bandana. I picked out one that had cats on it.

The race was starting at 8:00 as mentioned and they played the Star Spangled Banner before the start. Riley tried to sing along. (She needs to work on this.) I seeded us at the back of the pack because (1) she was not the best at walking on the leash – hey, she’s not even 3 months old and still learning; and (2) we’d never walked more than about a quarter mile (if that) at a time. I figured worst case scenario I’d carry her. She only weighs 23.3 pounds (as of the day before at the vet) and I could handle that.

The gun fired and we were off! Riley walked and whimpered, but kept on going in a mostly forward motion at my urging. At times we even mixed in a little bit of running! It was awesome! It was also awesome that the first half of the out and back course was a downhill! But you know what that means – the return would be UPHILL! Riley ‘met’ a lot of dogs along the way – my favorite was a male Westie named Jackson (and his canine friend Harper the Carin) – and made it to the turn around. She did stop for a pee part way through the first half and lost some time. (I wish it was that easy for us humans!)

Time to go around the turn around sign and back up that hill! Things were going real well and she really was getting the hang of things. Then... she stopped to do more ‘business’. The kind that required cleaning up after! No problem – I had that poo bag and was able to clean up after her. Then we were back on our way! Turns out Riley wasn’t the only one to stop to doo-doo the same thing! I think on our way back up we managed to pass a few pups that passed us on the way down! As we approached the finish line the announced noted that I was there with “Young Riley”! She got all excited!!

We made it back to the Z area and Riley promptly plopped down for a short snooze while watched the 5K get started. It was time for my Diet Coke – then Riley got a homemade dog treat made by “The Dog Chef”! Team Z really cleaned up at this race! And they had the same fun hill to run up at the end, too! Thanks, Ed, for adding it to the calendar! Finally, it was time to head out...

Riley was one tired pup when we got home!

Race Report: MCM...

The 35th Marine Corps Marathon was on Sunday, October 31st. Halloween! So before the race there was packet pickup and Halloween fesitivites!

Packet Pick-Up opened at 9:00AM and my plan was to get there when it opened. Despite the throngs of people heading downtown for the crazy rally, travel by Metro was not too bad. For us. We were waiting in line to get in by 8:45AM. Packet Pick-Up was pretty cool. I'm a goober and I loved the M*A*S*H themed Brooks Running Athlete Support Hospital, or B*R*A*S*H. There wasn't a line so we both did a gait analysis and ended up with a B*R*A*S*H t-shirt and Brooks bandana.

I got the t-shirt and Jeff gave the bandana to Riley. Maybe she can wear it on Sunday to the doggie run! :) At the expo I did buy an awesome MCM 2010 fleece and some Brooks shoes and a cool aluminum water bottle. Then visited a few other booths - Flying Pig and Chica Bands in particular. I got two cute Flying Pig stickers and a pig Chica Band. I'm set for the Flying Pig now!
So after the expo we headed back home to get ready for the 'carbo loading Halloween themed party' at Carol and Tim's. Carol rocked her Abba outfit and Tim’s pimp outfit was just awesome. Marlene had some cool black wings with black lips and nails. Priscilla’s candy ransom t-shirt was pretty cute. Jeff and I had fun with our costumes. He was a CSI-ish officer while I was NCIS's Abby-twin. At least that is what we were going for!

Now on to the the 35th Marine Corps Marathon! First off, so far this week my left quad is sore. Very sore, actually, compared to my right one, which is not sore at all. It was overcompensating for my right heel, I think! Funny, my heel feels back to normal today. Well what is normal for it. Of course.

On race morning, I got to the Metro around 5:30 where I ate my English muffin with peanut butter. Got on a train and to the Pentagon without any mishaps. The walk to the Runners Village was longer than I'd have liked but...I just took it slow. I ate my banana here and started on my bottle of Gatorade. It was still pretty dark but they did have Jumbo Trons out there to help guide us where we needed to go! And even though I'd managed to get a Brooks VIP Pass I made a quick stop at a clean portapotty (very well stocked with TP by the way) before heading over to take off my warm clothes and do the bag drop. At this point it was 6:55 and I slowly started walking towards the starting area, dropping the empty Gatorade bottle along the way.

On the way to the start I did go to the Brooks VIP Bathrooms. The heat felt nice, the cramped quarters, not so much. But the Brooks imprinted toilet paper was pretty funny! "Run Happy" I slowly continued on my way to the start area and now ate my Lemon Sublime Gu and started in on the water. Still walking I came upon more portapotties with no line. I opted to stop as at least now it was light out. Again, very clean and well stocked! So...I got into my corral and continued to sip on the water. And of course, I needed to take yet another potty break. I walked back towards the potties and found some with no lines. Again - clean and well stocked. I think some of the triathlon races could learn something from this (Eagleman)...

Back to my corral where I waited and the festitivites were starting. I missed the F-18 flyover. I'm not sure WHY I did not look up. I did hear them though! However I did see the Helicopters. CH-somethings. Maybe 53? (I had to Google it.) Very cool.

I really love the Patriotic nature of this event - just like the Army 10 Miler. It makes me proud and happy to be here, in America. Often makes me wish I never left the Air Force Reserves. Better yet, that I was career Air Force. Oh well...

Anyway, I finally got to start! I had a pace plan around my arm. Had I not had bronchitis and missed a key long run and other training runs (two weeks worth!), nor had a sore heel, I think this would have been totally doable, as my training had gone fantastically. Until I got sick. There is always the next one! Anyway, pretty much the first half went almost exactly how my pace plan was written. The article Carol sent me on pacing that particular race really helped! Of course, not long after my foot started hurting. I stopped at the halfway point to use another well stocked and clean portapotty. I continued on my way and dropped the pace a bit. I decided I did not want to worry about a finish time anyway because I was happy to be out there. I think I managed to run till mile 15 or 16 without really walking. I did start taking walk breaks, but funny, things (except my heel) felt better when I was running.

Well it was finally time to cross over that darned bridge! I saw Seb there!! On into Crystal City I saw Holly and Janet and Rich. A little further along was Marlene and Carol on the other side of the street - I hit them on the way back. In the final stretch I saw Priscilla and Tracey then a little further along Es and some others (sorry everyone else, but Es and her IM Switzerland shirt stood out!!). Finally I went up the hill to the finish and there I saw Jeff, Lisa and her son Tyler. I got my lovely space blanket then my medal. Now...this part was brutal. After getting the medal we were herded towards the Finisher's Festival. This in itself is just great. But we were moving so slowly I was feeling sick. I really needed to move! I was going from hot to cold and back. On and off went the space blanket. Finally things opened up and I headed towards the "W" section to 'link up' with Jeff, Lisa, and Tyler. I stopped at another clean and well stocked portapotty once finally in the link up area. Then I sat on a curb and waited for them. I waited about 5-10 mintues when Lisa and Tyler appeared. Turns out they had been waiting for me at the UPS trucks thinking I would stop there for my bag. Um, I had arranged with JEFF to meet at the "W" so...I was in the right spot.

So I did see a few other Z peeps both on the course and cheering. I was only wearing a Z cap - no other Z stuff. And cat ears of course for my costume. Seeing ALL the Z peeps out there was awesome, as always!

Here I am in the last mile. Thanks, Tracey!

So my finish time was 5:15:15! Isn't that a pretty cool time? I think it is kind of fun!! Not sure why I didn't take a picture of the medal...

On a positive note, I'm seeing my primary care doctor today and I have an appointment with a runner podiatrist on Thursday afternoon. Hopefully my foot will be truly happy again very soon. And like Brooks says, I can Run Happy. Maybe in time so that I can still run the Virginia Run Turkey Trot and Blue & Gray Half Marathon this year! But more importantly, to get in shape for all the fun stuff getting lined up for 2011!

Happy and Healthy Training!