593

just added up all of my miles from this year and last year and i have ran 593 miles in 2009-2010. just thought you might want to know J. :)

First Run in 3 Weeks

this is my first run since the marathon. i was a little worried about my left foot. it did start hurting around the first half mile but then got better. it was about 30 degrees when i started, i looked at one forecast that said it would be 19 degrees when i finished, another said it would still be around 30 degrees. i couldn't decide what i was going to wear. i decided to only wear my tights with shorts, no running pants. i also wore a compression shirt, long-sleeved shirt, a jacket, and, for the first time, a pair of gloves. i also wore a thicker sock hat and a pair of my new shoes. i think i would have been more comfortable if i had worn my running pants, my legs were a little cold. my shoes felt really good.

my legs felt great, however, my lungs did not feel so good. it was a little hard to breathe. i was never breathing hard but i just felt like i couldn't get enough oxygen. my legs felt like they could have ran twice as fast as i was running, my lungs and lower back just wouldn't let them. the last mile i hit a stride that was really comfortable, too bad it was pretty slow. i am hoping i will get a little faster when i get my body back on track a little. this was the second fastest 3 miles i have ran this year at a 9:16 pace.

thought of the day: "It is necessary to try to surpass oneself always; this occupation ought to last as long as life," Queen Christina. that is my goal now that i have ran a marathon, now i have to run another in much better time.

Shoes

my new shoes came in the mail today, can't wait to try them out, foot is much better, lookout jeff and todd, here i come !

Foot

my foot is feeling much better, still a little painful at times though. not like i would be running in the weather we've had lately.

i did hunt the last 3 days. yesterday we did something pretty stupid. it was 8 degrees in the morning and we decided to go to ky lake and hunt. we were in a small boat and had to cross the tn river channel. i was really worried the boat was going to turn over. when we would hit a big wave, the water would splash over the boat and freeze on us pretty quickly. my pants were frozen in the in the sitting position when we got to the blind. then i realized i left my heavy jacket in the truck and we couldn't get the heater to work. we did shoot 5 ducks. when we had to get back across the channel, i was a little worried again. not something i want to try again anytime soon. this morning i went turkey hunting. when i got out of the truck the temperature was 1 degree. listened to lots of turkeys all morning but none came close enough for a shot. i took off this coming friday, that is the last day of the fall turkey season, i hope it is a little warmer than this morning.

hopefully i will be running again next weekend. i have a 10k on jan. 1st. i really need to get some new shoes soon.

thought of the day: 8 degrees with wind and water is really cold. 1 degree is cold. i like the cold but not quite this cold. i am ready for it to warm up a bit.

Quick Update

Foot still hurting, much better, about 80%. Thought I might have a stress fracture (though I wouldn't admit that to my wife), but now I don't think so. It's weird but I really want to be running, I have a lot more races to prepare for. I think I might try to run 2 marathons next year! We'll see.

I Did It!

i did it. i finished a marathon. i did not finish as fast as i had hoped, but the main goal was completed. i really felt great for the first part of the marathon. i was staying right at 11 min per mile, a pace that i thought if i kept i could finish pretty strong. if you have been reading my blog you know i was worried about my shoe situation. at mile 10 my right foot just under my ankle started hurting. i thought i could run through it. at mile 13 the half marathoners split off and the pain in my foot was getting much worse, but i was still able to run near my goal pace. at mile 15 the pain either went away or i got used to it. but i was feeling pretty good. between miles 17-19 my left foot started hurting in the same spot. it got bad enough i finally started having to walk longer at the drink stops than it took me to drink, maybe 30-45 seconds.

on that note, at the race the only drinks they were handing out were water and lime powerade. i don't like water and needed the energy from the powerade anyway. i do like powerade, but not lime, however i decided i had to drink it. i did not use as many gels/chomps as i usually do during a race. for the entire race i took 1/2 of a gel and 6 chomps. i would normally take that much in 2 hours of running. i started sucking on the chews at an 55min into the race (pretty normal, you are supposed to take 4 every 45-60min). i only had 6 chews because i had tried 2 a few weeks ago during a run. so i took 3 in a row. at mile 9 i picked up a gel from one of the stations and i could only force 1/2 of it down at mile 10. around mile 15 i started the next 3 chews. after that i didn't take anything else, other than powerade. and the cups of powerade we not very full so i occasionally had to get 2 or 3 cups.

off that tangent, at mile 22 i started walking more than running. my foot was absolutely killing me. about mile 24 i tried as hard as i could to at least jog. about 10 steps in i looked up and there was a guy walking and passing me and leaving me in his dust. i decided as bad as it hurt i should just try to walk as fast as i could. i was a little embarrassed passing all of the people on the side of the road, they all encouraged me to keep going and told me i was doing great and didn't have much further to go. i thought to myself that i was not doing great, and that the people telling me i was almost done did not know how far a few miles is when your foot is killing you. i thought about quitting a few times, but thought of all the people who told me i shouldn't be running, or that i couldn't do it. once i even thought about stopping for just a minute, but i kept the thought "relentless forward progress" in my head and i never stopped. i finally got to the spot where the race goes into the baseball stadium and knew my uncle would be there watching for me, so i started jogging again, luckily the path went around the field in the dirt and that was much more forgiving than the pavement. i finished strong, at least for the last 100 yards.

after running this marathon, i feel like i was pretty well prepared to run a marathon. i feel like, with the right shoes i could run one at my goal pace without much trouble. at mile 18 i was still running close to a 11:30min/mile pace. and after walking almost all of the last 4 miles, i finished at just over 13min/mile. i can't wait to run another! my total time was 5:42.58, by my gps i actually ran about 26.5 miles.

my left foot was swollen and hurt very bad yesterday. i could barely put any weight on it. i had to use the inside of the foot to bear weight and limp on the foot. today the foot was a little more swollen, but i could bear a little more weight on it. i wrapped in it ice for about 2 hours today and that made it feel much better. then i put a heating pad on it and now i have it wrapped with an ace bandage. occasionally, i can take a normal step, so it is getting much better. more ice and heat tonight and i think it will be near normal tomorrow. my upper legs have been a little sore as well, but really not any worse than when i ran my 18 mile training run.

so i did two personal bests on saturday. my marathon time was a personal best for a marathon :), and i ran 22 miles, the longest run of my life. i don't really count the full marathon distance as running since after mile 22 i started walking mostly.

quote of the day: "The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense," Arnold Bennett.

Less than 36 hours

it is less than 36 hours until the marathon. i have not been able to run this week due to weather and work. i have worked 35 hours in the last 3 days. til midnight on tuesday, 7:30pm on wednesday, and about 6:15 tonight. i am leaving for memphis tomorrow morning, maybe emily will let me sleep in a little. i will try to run a mile or 2 tomorrow afternoon to stretch the legs out a little. i have had butterflies all week, i just have to remember that i will own this race, from my perspective. i think owning the race for me will be finishing, under 5 hours i will be ecstatic. i will try to keep everyone posted as best as i can. i am not sure that i will be able to function for two to three days after the race, i will try my best.

thought of the day:"There ain't nothing from the outside can lick any of us," Margaret Mitchell. not even a marathon! i own this race, it is mine. i have prepared and i am prepared. race, come getcha some!