Caution: Injured runner. May Bite!

I was hoping i wouldn't have to write this, but I guess I can join the ranks of all the running blogs i read now and officially say I am injured.  I had this small hope that resting it for almost two weeks (minus one 15.5 mile run:) was going to be enough.  I had decided that I would rest all of last week and try it this week with some nice slow mileage.  Maybe do a long run of 6 or 8, but no speed work and no hills.  I laced up last night with my new, hopefully broken in shoes and headed out.  I got about 3 tenths of a mile away before I had horrible pain.  I stupidly went home and took off my compression socks, thinking it was just that and headed back out.  It wasn't.  So here is the sign I have been looking for. I am officially down for the count.

I tried taping my leg last night, but I guess I suck because the tape would never stay, not even after i scrubbed my leg with soap and water prior to laying down the tape.  It did look pretty for a second or two.

I also dug out El Blanco.  He hasn't been getting much love lately, but now that i have a live in baby sitter, I can go for bike rides!  I can even go for bike rides with my hubby!  I am also going to look into a trainer.  It has been suggested to me via fellow runners that this would be the best option versus road riding.  I was a little concerned anyway last night, because it was dark by 7:30 and that time will continue to creep up. I really don't love riding a bike in the dark. I am a pretty big wuss period when it comes to bikes and tend to overall take it pretty slow.  On a trainer, I could work on speed and resistance without worrying about falling off or being hit by a car.  That is a double bonus (and more money, bleh).  I will do whatever it takes to get this rehabbed and back on the road in a timely but correct fashion.  I have an appointment with my GP on friday and made an appointment with a Ortho Dr. just in case.  I figured it would take a while to get in, so I am down for the Ortho in a few weeks.  I am hoping that i am over reacting and that this is just shin splints and not a stress fracture, but last night really scared me and made me feel like I needed a professional opinion along with possibly x-rays or whatever needed to rule out a stress fracture.  I will keep you posted! 

I am really trying not to freak out.  I am trying NOT to think about all the fitness I am loosing and have lost.  I am trying to come up with alternatives just in case.  I am trying NOT to drive my husband insane with my whining and moaning.  It's hard to stay positive.  I just want to get back on the road and not look at other runners with hatred because they are doing the very thing I want to be doing.   

This sums it up. 

This too.

PS.  In the time it took to write this blog, my Ortho Dr. just called back and they had a cancellation.  YIPEEE!  At least I may have some sort of answer by tomorrow evening.

Agility play date and Festival Time

I've kind of been dreading this weekend in a way.  So much going on in one weekend.  I really didn't want to miss anything but I was unsure how we were going to get it all in and be happy doing everything.  I am pleased to say that after day one of the weekend, we have hit everything we wanted to and are well rested and ready for day two!

We are so lucky to live in a small town that loves doing cute festivals.  We have Oztoberfest, weirdly enough in September, where we celebrate all things Oz.  We have the Oz museum here in Wamego, to those not familiar with this area, and it is the largest collection of Oz memorabilia in the world.  Go Here to read about it.  It is a truly unique museum, and is worth the price of the ticket to see it once if you are ever in the area.  I grew up watching the show once a year on TV, so the movie has a special meaning to it for me.  I fear that the younger generation, who has netflix and instant gratification on youtube,  probably won't understand that specialness of the Wizard of Oz.  Use to, when the original munchkins were alive, they would travel to Wamego for the festival, and it would be a multiple day event with vendors and Oz fanatics from all over.  Now, due to there being no living munchkins from the movie, it is a much smaller, but just as fun of an event.   Lots of Oz themed characters running around and Oz themed vendors and games.  Little red loved bouncing in the bouncy house the most.  We bought the all day pass for him and we got our money's worth.  We would go shop and go back to bounce, go eat, go back to bounce, go look at the car show, go back and bounce.  The only trouble was they had one of those inflatable obstacle courses, and he of course wanted to do that instead of the boring bouncy castle.  He probably could have made it through, but i felt like he was a tad bit young for some of the climbing portions.

There were very few vendors this year, but there was this guy making steel creations, and we got a super cool power cat to hang up.  He lives down the road and makes custom metal creations of all kinds. I think I will have to come up with a design for a metal hanger.  His prices were very reasonable and i think he would be fun to work with.  No beers in the beer garden this year but, that is okay.  I am still battling daily headaches and I don't need beer helping with those.  Plus, i had an agility play date yet to go to.

After wearing everyone out with bouncing and walking, we headed over to the playground to get some extra playing in so little red would nap while I was gone.  He and daddy did the BIG slide again that gives mommy heart palpitations.  He loves it, and as long as he makes it up, going down is no problem.  My biggest fear is the steps are very narrow and he tends to look backwards while going up them and wobbles.  I won't go up it with him because I am terrified of heights, but daddy will.  We missed getting to ride the train, but we live a block away so that can be for another day.  

While everyone was settling in for some football watching and napping, I headed out to go play agility with my baby D.  I have so missed all of my friends that I use to show with.  While I had wished more of the KC folks would have come down, most of the local peeps showed up and a good time was had by all.  While we were super rusty, it came back quickly and we did some awesome stuff on a tough course, and got some good visiting in.  I bawled my eyes out when I left. I really, really miss that aspect of my life. I know my dogs love me no matter what I do but I love the bonding and time with them doing the sport I love.  

We ended the day at our favorite local mexican restaurant.  Even after the super yummy festival foods (the chicken and waffles were AMAZING), I was craving some tasty mexican dishes.  Andrew is now tall enough that he can sit in some booths and eat without the help of a booster seat.  This kid is seriously growing so fast.  He was super good at dinner ,other than some loud talking, which is par for this age.  No  meltdowns, he ate lots of chips and cheese, and ate half of his dinner, which is a score in my book. 

Then this happened.  See that little hair thingy?  Well, after Konza, my big toe had been bothering me.  I thought it was just a blister forming and figured it needed time to do its thing.  I had noticed it had gotten increasingly sore and my toe was getting red and angry looking.  It was between my big toe and index toe (?), so super hard to look at unless I became a contortionist and inlisted a flash light and mirror.  I had my hubby look at it several time, and he thought it was a splinter or something.  I kept playing it off as a blister but it was hurting last night so bad that I gave my hubby permission to do whatever means necessary to make it not hurt anymore.  After some very technical surgery with some tweezers and finger nail clippers, he pulled this thing out.  We have no clue what it is and how it got into my toe during Konza, but there it is.  There was puss too but I spared you that picture.  My toe instantly feels better and I am looking forward to running on it this week.  

May do a slow low mileage run tonight to see where my legs are.  The pain in my left shin comes and goes but the for the more part it has been quiet.  I am ready to test it out and see what it feels like.  Have a great sunday!

Recovered? My mind is!

Still not feeling 100 %.  Still getting random headaches, but still drinking lots of fluids.  I don't feel like I am dehydrated and am taking in at least a liter of water a day if not close to 2.  Every runner I talked to has immediately mentioned electrolyte imbalance, but my blood work said I was fine in that area.  I really don't know what to make of it.  I just want to prevent whatever "it" was from happening again.  I felt so good during the race to feel so crappy afterwards.  There are several viral things going around right now, but none of them really fit the feelings I had sunday afternoon/night.  It doesn't help that my monthly friend also showed up Monday to the party.  I get pretty bad fatigue when I am visited, so that is playing into all of this too.  Plus add in to the fact that we are SUPER slow at work right now, so lots of sitting at my desk doing stupid computer work (and blogging of course, which is not stupid), which oddly enough makes me feel more tired that working on my feet for 8 hours straight.

I am starting to come out of the fog and feel a tiny bit of runner's high.  I am also getting antsy because i haven't gotten to do any exercising yet this week, not even a walk thanks to the rain we have been receiving.  I think tonight that a walk is in order or even a bike ride.  There is a big organized bike ride that I would like to do this weekend in conjuction with our town's festival called Oztoberfest.  The smallest mileage is 16 miles.  I think my BRF and I once did 20 or more, so I should be okay, right?  It starts at 7 am, so would be done in time to do other things (like the million things that are going on this weekend because there is no home game).  It is either that or at least get a longer run in, like maybe 6 miles.  I may go crazy if I have to take too much time off.  My body, as far as muscle wise, feels good.  My hip was bothering me yesterday feeling tight and sore, but I spent much time last night in pigeon pose, and today I feel great. I also have had some pain in my shin, that was already hurting pre race, and I have been using deep blue EO on it and some advil and the combo has worked wonders!  I even got everyone to head upstairs last night around 7:30 and we started our bed time ritual early, which meant the kiddo was asleep by 10 and I got almost 9 hours of sleep according to my fit bit, which should aid in recovery.  That trick doesn't always work, but little red had a blow out, so it kind of made sense to just get him in the tub early.

I am still super excited about race pictures, as in check the results page for the race every hour on the hour excited.  They had SO many photogs all around on the course and the course itself had such beautiful scenery.  Oh well, I need to learn patience:)

I also am intrigued with all of the posts today on this product called EnduroPacks.  All the bloggers I follow are talking about it today.  While I am not sure our budget could handle yet another monthly fee coming out of it, I have to figure out how to avoid any more issues like sunday.  I am going to try and work in some sort of electrolytes during the run and now am pondering post run recovery fuel other than just water.  I already take vitamins but it would be nice to have a one two punch for my training in the form of before, after and way after recovery.  

Do you do any post recovery?  Have any tips you would like to share because I am all ears.

Long run hangover gone bad

Last night was interesting.  Well, all of yesterday was interesting.  My last blog post left off at me going back to bed.  Things went from bad to worse as the day progressed.  Okay to back up and refresh your memory, I felt bad after I finished the race.  This is nothing new to me really, I usually feel sick to my stomach after a hard race.  After hospital hill, I was very sickly feeling for hours, but after rest and finally food, it went away.  This just wasn't going away.  I figured by the time I got home from doing a little girl time with my BRF that I would feel better.  I had had some fro yo and lots of water and finally a roast beef sandwich from panera and some chips.  The splitting head ache just wasn't letting up.  It felt different than my normal migraines and throwing up wasn't helping.  I was also super hot, like I was running a fever and my cheeks were very flush but I had a normal temperature.   After fighting it for hours and throwing up any time I tried to eat or drink, I decided it was serious enough to go to the hospital.  I figured I just needed fluids, even though I had probably drank at least 2 liters of water post race.  Dr. Google was scaring me with the what ifs and I was tired of feeling like my head was going to explode, no matter what I took medicine wise.  I had tried advil, tylenol and allegy meds, that were also for sinus pressure.  I have a very high pain tolerance, but this was wearing me down.  I had tried to nap with my little red, and he wasn't feeling it and quite honestly, any time i laid down the pounding in my head just got worse.  It got super bad when my very loving hubby was cooking a big celebration dinner.  That is when I really starting the up chucking in earnest.  I also started feeling very faint and dizzy.  Nothing was helping, not even my favorite peppermint EO.  So, I did what everyone does, I called my mom and asked if I should go to the ER and she agreed that it was a good call.  It was a sunday night so i figured it would be quick.  We have a small hospital in our town so drive time was minimal.

I have to admit, I was kind of shocked at how rude the staff was.  The ER was empty and I was made to feel like I was inconveniencing them greatly.  They kept telling me that I had stomach flu, which I knew I didn't have.  Other than the nurse that checked us in and gave andrew some colors and coloring book, they were very condescending.  The doctor was in the apartment, whatever that meant, so they had to go get him up for my "headache".  I kept telling them that i had run a 25 K earlier and they kept referring to it as a marathon.  That drives me nuts!!!  I did not run a marathon, I ran 15.5 miles which is way less.  Anyway, it wasn't until I started using some big words that they started treating me with respect.  It shouldn't be that way people!  Everyone should be respected in the ER.  I didn't come in just for a head ache.  I can deal with migraines at home. This was different and I wanted at least to know what it wasn't.  Blood work all came back normal except my white blood cell count.  They gave me a pain shot and some anti-nausea meds and sent me home.  At least they were nice to me the last hour or so I was there.  The doctor was very interested in what I do for a living and asked me lots of questions. I enjoyed our conversation once he started treating me differently.  I am not a drug seeker and I am not a wuss so if I go to the ER, I am serious that something is wrong.  Can't wait for the wonderful bill that will be coming soon, I am sure.

All in all, I am really glad I went.  I needed to know that I had not caused an imbalance or was dehydrated.  While I still feel out of it today from lack of sleep and still a little icky with my tummy, I am not throwing up and was able to get some work done at work and eat a small breakfast and lunch.  I get more rest at work anyway because there is no house work and no dogs begging for my attention.  I am going to take it easy this week, some biking after a day or so of rest and some walking and maybe some running this weekend.  I have to figure out what caused this and have reached out to my fellow runners to see if anyone has had this happen.  I fueled three times during my run (which i have done before) and drank close to 20 oz of water on course (drinking after and between my chomps).  I had water and carbs right after my run was over and finally protein when I could stomach it.  I don't really know what i could have done differently.  I am researching long run hangovers because that is kind of what it felt like, the worst hang over ever.  I did my normal pre race fueling but maybe I need to step it up a little more for a longer distances?  I also did a modified carb load of pasta friday and saturday nights.  That is about the extent of carb loading i can handle right now.  I really don't want a repeat of this scenario ever again, especially as I transition to marathon training.  This race did give me the confidence boost I need to know I can do a full and that mentally I can push through.  Overall stats from yesterday:

137 out of 186 overall
63/98 female
9/17 in my age group.

Still no runners high yet but I am mentally ready to run again even if my body is not:)  Will post official pics when they get them up.  Can't wait to see them!

Konquer the Konza

Sorry if this takes a while. I have pretty much been in bed since I got home with a splitting, sinus pressure head ache. I really feel like dog poo.  I have drank water, taken drugs, prayed and eaten but I just can't stop feeling horrible.  If this is how it feels after a big race, this will be my last LOL.  Let's start at the beginning shall we?

Up at 5 am to fuel.  Pre race felt great, got the em, business done I needed to do in a timely manner. Got picked up and parked with 30 minutes left pre race.

Had to get a pre race selfie.  We were both battling injuries, so we were both a wee bit nervous.  

She was super speedy.  This is the last we saw of her all day LOL!  Another Wamego runner, miss Mel G.  

We watched the sun come up.  The weather was perfect for the race.  We are VERY lucky as it was 90 and horribly humidity yesterday. 

The course is very beautiful.  That is probably the only reason why it was doable, and didn't make me feel like I was dying till afterwards.  

The course was a mix of dirt, gravel, grass and pure Kansas beautiful.  We had a new friend join us during the race.  Her name was Jenny and in my silliness I made up names for us.  She was Jenny from the block, Robin was rocking robin and I was Michelle my bell.  We walked when we felt like we needed to conserve energy, ran downhills and flats, and all finished a little over 3 hours.  

This was us after our first trip up the stairs.  We look way too happy for it to be the second time LOL. 

 

Here is a fun video that Robin's  hubby made after our second trip up the steps and at the finish.  Jenny from the block is in this one.  

This was at the end.  I for whatever reason was so emotional that I scooped up andrew and ran across the finish with him in my arms.  I can't wait to see the pictures because from behind, andrew looks pretty funny.  

He always steals my water. He also at half my banana.  

My favorite finish pic.  I so need to loose some weight:)  Poor tall jenny from the block had to squat to fit in our pics!

After the race, carbs were needed.  Vanilla fro yo with reese's peanut butter cups and hot fudge.  Yes please!  A shopping reward also was needed.  Got a new pair of nice compression pants from Target.  I so love their work out clothes.  

Okay overall thoughts.  Great race just not my scene.  I don't think I am meant to be a trail runner.  Something about the speed I can get on the pavement just makes me feel so much better.  No runner's high after this one, just relief it was over and feeling sick ever since.  No post race beer tonight for sure, just bed and rest.  After I am done typing this, I am heading back to bed.  I have tried advil, tylenol and sinus medicine for the pressure.  Nothing is working.  I felt like I ran a smart race and for being injured, I am proud of my time.  I walked enough that I was able to get some good mile times on the flats.  I think I will go back to volunteering next year:)  I loved the experience, loved meeting new friends and running FINALLY with my BRF.  If I hadn't have felt so sick, I probably would have enjoyed my post race celebration more.  Great race, can't wait for the pictures.  They were all over the course taking them so I know they got some good ones.  Back to bed for me, good early night!

T minus 2 days till Konquer the Konza!

The butterflies in my tummy have formed a mosh pit and are head banging to some Slayer!  I haven't really had a race where I wasn't 100% at the start line, so I am hoping that this is the reason for my nervousness.  I haven't really tested my legs with any hills since this all started and I am hoping my leg can survive the hills and the stairs.

This was last year cheering runners on.  This year I am the runner being cheered.  I hope that Bunny rings that cow bell loud and proud for me as I die hike up those stairs.

Hi stairs.  I will see you twice in a few days.  Be nice to me.

Hard to believe this was almost exactly a year ago.  Wow, how much has he grown!  

I am so glad I found my runner's ID (so they can id my body when Konza takes it toll on me) and my pink compression socks under the bed this morning.  Wonder what else my little munchkin has hid under the bed from me?

My phone has been giving me troubles.  I am not the most tech smart person in the world. I know just enough to be dangerous.  My answer to something not working is usually just buy the newest verison.  I have several very tech savy kids working for me.  Youth is the key to some of these crazy tech issues I think.  Today my phone wouldn't do anything, like it was bogged down.  I had been getting messages about too much data and such, but I had no clue what that meant.  I do take a TON of pictures, but I had no clue how to get them off of my phone.  In the older days of my other Iphone, I would just plug my phone in to the computer and walla, like magic it would download them to our Mac.  Now when I try doing that, I get all kinds of error messages.  I am so clueless.  Apparently, through much sleuthing by me and one of my tech savy students, I have more stuff to back up than I have space on my iCloud.  I decided to go ahead and buy more storage so my phone can back up on a regular basis.  I just plugged it in and it says it has four more hours of backing up yet to do.  Whoops.  At least i have peace of mind that my pics of my munchkin and dogs will be safe shortly:)

I was good and didn't run yesterday if you are wondering.  I did walk 2 miles and my leg started feeling a little off.  We cut it short since it is so close to the big date.  I am liking not being in pain and am ready to be pain free for a much longer time.  Not walking tonight although may do some walking tomorrow at the Blues Fest in Paxico.  Other than that, my future involves lots of pasta and some much needed down time when daddy gets back from Tennessee.  

All is quiet

I had pain session number two yesterday and i have to say my leg feels SO much better.  The pain master, AKA doug worked on just the front of my injured leg for over 30 minutes.  I also had a new knot in my right quad that got the forearm treatment.  Can i just say a huge OUCH right now?  He informed me that when he said take it easy, he meant don't run or run very low mileage.  Guess my idea of take it easy was run 12 miles slow and on a flat surface, not run low mileage.  Whoops.  SO I have had one 3 mile run this week pushing the stroller, a three mile walk and a four mile walk (that ended in ice cream).  I may or may not run another 3 mile easy today.  My leg feels wonderful and I would like to keep it that way, but because the cats are playing auburn tonight in town, I have been advised to take off early and so I am.  A three miler minus a jogging stroller sounds like heaven.

I had forgotten how quickly it gets dark once summer is over.  The other night we went out at 7 and it was dark by 7:30.  We needed more visibility, so we used the reflective stickers that grammy sent us for our stroller.  That lasted about two nights and now the stickers have been picked off and played with and no longer stick.  Oh well, I will start wearing my vest again to keep visibility up.  I love his new fake smile.  They take a ton of pictures at school, so he has learned to cheese.  I am contemplating cutting those top curls off.  I can't believe I said that but it's getting a bit unruly and I think it is time.  Now to find a free weekend to attempt another hair cut.  

T-minus 3.5 days till Conquer the Konza!  Debating on picking up my packet today and potentially fighting traffic or just getting the heck out of dodge and picking it up tomorrow.  I do need to go to that side of town but I really would like to get home and possibly run.  Decisions, decisions.  

Tragedy and Loss

Everything can change in a blink of the eye.  Sunday night, we got that call that one of my husband's first cousins had had a freak motorcycle wreck and had died.  He was an organ donor, so they were in the process of harvesting what organs they could.  I still don't know all of the details, but I am heartsick for my in law family.  I had just met cousin Jon at the last family reunion last year.  I just remember him being so happy to see my hubby and sitting and listening to him talk out about life.  He seemed like such a nice guy and I could tell him and my hubby had been good friends until my hubby moved to KS. My hubby isn't the most communicative, much like most men, but I can tell this is really hitting him hard.  Today is the graveside service and my hubby and brother in law headed out around 7 pm last night to drive all night to get there in time.    My running this week may take a back seat.  That is how life works and I am good with that. I know I have put in the time and effort for this race, so one week of low miles isn't going to hurt me.  Heck the race is on sunday, so I am tapering anyway.  Even if I can get a few stroller miles in, that will work.

On top of this tragedy, my mom had to put her 15 year old dog to sleep monday morning.  If you have ever owned a dog, you know the pain of having to do this, and how it the toughest decision you will make as a dog owner.  It is so hard to know what the right thing to do is for a living breathing animal.  Mischief was 16 and her body was failing her. While she wasn't in any pain that we could tell, her body keep betraying her more and more and it was time.  I am so proud of my mom for taking her and going through the process and for giving her an awesome life all of these years.  I am also very glad that the vet she got to see was very thoughtful and very understanding of the struggle to make such a hard  decision that mom had been facing.  Some people are just born to be vets/doctors and work with people and animals and this one sounds like she was.  Mischief and Miller are pretty close to the same age so I am going to be doing lots of hugging and loving on him tonight for sure.

Whatever you do, pray, think good thoughts, or mediate, could you do that for the Coleman family tonight, and for my mom as well?  I can't even imagine what my aunt mary is going through right now.  To loose a son that you have brought up and loved so much just shakes me to the core.  As a new mom, I can't even imagine what I would do if I lost my little red.  I know my mom is also hurting at the loss of her companion, and my heart goes out to everyone grieving.

One last note.  I am going in again tomorrow for another round of extreme pain massage on my leg.  The pain only bothers me during the day in my normal goings about.  It doesn't bother me when I run and it feels like a bad bruise.  I am hoping one more round of work will help.  I try to keep ice on it when I sit at work and or keep my compression socks on as much as I can and I run in them now all the time.   I am going to stay on top of this and may even take a rest week next week instead of plugging along on my normal schedule for the next half.

Sunday runday funday

Here is a little confusion.  So i technically ran my half marathon today, but I didn't because I ran it last weekend.  I know, right?  I actually ran 12 miles today, but i am switching those two runs:)  I am pretty sure no one doing the virtual would care anyway.  I should have just emailed them and let them know I am preparing for a 25 K, and have to run my 13.1 the week before I was technically suppose to.  My actual 12 miler today was okay.  Well, I take that back, MUCH better than the last long run.  Still not great, but I will take it.  I am hoping that i am just tired from this latest training cycle, which doesn't end after this race, because i have two more halfs this fall.  My leg doesn't really hurt at all when i run, but when i am done, OUCH.  I am going back to my massage guru this week and will go from there.  I am running no doubt this coming weekend in the race, but may have to re evaluate future plans. I want this GONE.  If it means eating a race, I guess that is what it means.

On to the long run.  We had 12 on the books and 12 we did.  It was amazing weather again, much like last weekend.  Nice and crisp when we started out, with the sun coming out and warming us, but not too much heat, and no humidity.  I ran in compression socks and shorts again, and my arm warmers with my hydration vest.  I was tempted to run in my jacket, but i am glad I didn't because I was shedding my arm warmers pretty quickly.

I was trying to take some sort of artsy cool shadow picture of the three of us, but it just turned out creepy looking.  We ran on linear trail, but started at a park at the end of one of the trail heads, so we ran around the park and then headed out.  We crossed two bridges, one of which had a floor made of grating.  Stella said not only no, but HELL to the no.  She went under the bridge instead into a field of grass and who knows what, and is now covered in about 1 million little seed sticker thingies.  On the bright side,  at least they weren't cockle burrs. 

I posted another pic on FB  of our run selfie, but I love this one too.  She is licking the top of my water bottle.  I am so going to miss her next week on Konza:(  At least I have my BRF with me.  We will limp, crawl, run to the finish no matter what.  I am so excited to finally race with my BRF.

After running, I was really craving a mocha with whipped cream. I ended up with a 12 oz minty mocha with whipped cream (i normally try not to do whipped cream to save some calories LOL) AND a smoothie.  This one had bananas and strawberries, and who knows what else, and it was perfect.  

We also had to get more carbs and stop at the doughnut place.  I was good and only had one even though they all looked amazing, and miss stella even got some doughnut holes.  

She is just so dang cute.  Can't stop taking pictures of her.  Between her, Deuce, and my kiddo, I have an addiction.  

After all of those carbs, we had to go shopping at the local running store, especially since i had a free babysitter at home.  They had moved all the summer mizuno stuff to the 60% off rack.  I have been coveting this shirt for quite some time.  Purple and mizuno are a huge win in my book.  I love their clothes and only run in their breath thermal clothes in the winter.  When I saw they still had my size in this super cute purple shirt, it was the sign I was waiting for.  Normally $42 and on sale, with tax I got it for $18.  SCORE!

I also got this yesterday.  My mom got it for me for my birthday. It is up and the medals are hung and I am so excited to finally have a medal hanger versus having them hung on my bedroom mirror.  Looks like I am going to need a second one already after the year I have had in running.  She also sent me her extra fitbit that she had gotten for free.  I didn't get my 10 K in the first day because i couldn't get it charged before my run, so I walked with my BRF.  I also had to walk last night because I took yesterday as a rest day for my injury.  Today in four miles, I got my 10 K steps and am now currently on 31 thousand steps.  May go for another walk tonight to stretch out the legs too. My new fitbit friends, all of whom work out, but do not run, are going to hate me.  

Since I am talking about yesterday, might as well talk about our day trip.  Took the day off from running to go to Topeka and get coffee and food and let cayce my brother in law andrew play at the discovery center.  I didn't take my phone into the discovery center since I have tons of pics of andrew playing there, but I did snap this shot from the windows of my favorite coffee shop in the whole world.  Hello capital building.  What an awesome view!  We had so much fun and I can't wait to go again.  I discover something new in that place every time we go.  

Have a great rest of the weekend or what is left of it!  I can't wait till next sunday when i FINALLY Conquer the Konza!

Injury update and a pace run

Even though I have been told to run normally, I think I am going to listen to my body and take a rest day tonight and knock my hill repeats back to just a 3 or 4 mile easy run. I am still very sore and my leg did hurt a bit last night while doing my pace run.  I kept my pace under 9:20 (thank you fall like weather) and didn't feel like i was going to croak at the end or even during the run.  I so love fall weather!  Yes, I am going to keep repeating that over and over till I am back to lamenting snow and ice in winter running!

Stella even seemed to enjoy pacing with me, as she has been dragging on pace runs and any speed work for that matter. I had even left her home the last few speed work sessions, just in case her dragging was the fact that she wasn't handling the heat very well.   She was back to her normal happy running self out in front of me versus slinking behind me so the heat must have been bothering her.    We tried out our new stunt puppy glo leash, but it didn't get dark enough to really see how well it worked.  I do think I bought last year's version off of amazon versus this year's version so it may not be as cool as the new version.  The reason why I think this is the leash part does not have the glo strips on it as seen on the website of the newer version.  Serves me right for buying something haste because the price was right.  Someone asked me the other day how i determine when it is too hot for her.  Anytime the thermometer says above 90 or the heat index is in the 90s, she is a no go.  Even on a short non speed work out runs.  It just isn't fair to her even if she really wants to go.

I am still concerned about my leg and have been instructed to come back in to my massage guy if it is not better by this weekend.  I have a 12 mile run that I am planning on doing on a flat route this weekend, and would like to try this run for the last long run of my taper.  I also want to be very smart and proactive about this injury.  I have been icing and wearing compression socks as much as possible.  I haven't been as good about taking advil as i should be.  I am hoping that this lingering soreness is not me being stupid by continuing to run, but just an after effect of the hard work that Doug put into getting all of the knots out of my leg.  We runners tend to be kind of silly when it comes to injuries and sometimes its hard not to think it isn't bad, especially when it comes and goes and doesn't hurt when you do regular things like walk or work.

Enough whining.  On to fun things.  Like this:

Look at that weekend weather report!  I am SO stoked!  I am ready to get out my fall running gear.  Say hello to the running tights legs!  

Also, I read this article this week and it made so much sense.  Four Reasons For a Long Run Gone Wrong  I need to start color coding my runs to see if I can figure out trends.  As a scientist, I love looking at data and interpreting it.  

Well, good luck for the rest of the week with your running.  I am off to go try and get my toddler to go to bed earlier tonight.  He was up till past 11 last night so hoping tonight is an earlier night!

Uh oh. It happened

Well, that title could imply a lot.  Maybe I should clarify.  I noticed my clothes had been fitting a little, shall we say, um, tighter lately.  I at first played it off that my core was getting super buff thus poking out a bit.  Then I started doing a 30 day plank challenge, and my core couldn't even handle a 45 second plank on week 2.  Hmmm.....Then I saw the pictures that my hubby took of me this weekend for my virtual half.  Yep, very clearly a pooch has developed, and not a cute one.  More like a spare tire roll from hell.  I am a food rewarder. I always have been and it is a horrible habit that is hard to break.  I like to reward hard work outs and long runs and any other big or small achievements with bad greasy food and ice cream .  I know it has been bad lately, because I always justify it with the statement of "well, look at how many calories I burned today, i can totally consume that".  Bring on the cooler weather and the pumpkin beer and thick hearty stews and breads and wow.  I have always packed on a few pounds going into winter, but this gain I am seeing is bad so early or at all period.  Now I know some of it is muscle but the muscle parts of me that fit into jeans still fit comfortably:)   I need to cut down and cut out certain things.  I need to stop food rewarding.  We need to start cooking more at home and less eating out.  It is a battle I have fought for years and have conquered from time to time, just have to get serious again and stop justifying the "I run therefore I eat" mentality.

In other news, we are firmly in the monkey see, monkey do period with andrew.  Case in point:

We have 6 dogs in our household right now.  Six dogs = lots of poop.  I try to keep it picked up daily.  Andrew watches me and now has been helping me by running around and yelling POO at the top of his lungs every time he finds poop.  Yesterday, before I could start, he picked up the scoop and the bag (already full from the day before) and started walking around the yard attempting to pick up poop.  Unfortunately for me, he hasn't mastered the art of using the scoop (its one that has a claw that opens) so I can't pawn this mighty fun task on my son.  

His curls are also trying to return after his hair cut.  I am so excited to see that they might be permanent.  What is cuter than red hair on a child?  Curly red hair on a child!!!!  

I did go to my massage guru yesterday to get some confirmation on what is going on with my leg.  He did agree with Dr. google and says it is shin splints on my left leg.  Because of the way I run, (toes out) forcing my leg into a different position due to the camber of the trails is causing muscles I don't normally use to become over used and angry.  He agreed with my plan of action to not do any more runs out there till the race.  I am wearing my compression socks during runs and also during the day at work.  

Yes, they are that sexy.  Too bad I have to hide them under jeans since I have to have long pants on.   I am also trying to ice when I am not chasing andrew and or a dog around and taking advil.  Not sure what I am going to do about my run schedule.  Waiting on my coach for advice.  I took the day off yesterday since I was planning to anyway after my virtual half I did sunday.  I had planned on doing speed work today, but I am SUPER sore from the work he did and don't think I can muster speed work or hills.  Will probably do an easy run tonight just to see where I am at.   I have two 3 mile runs planned this week since I am officially tapering down for the race September 21st.  I also have hills and speed work in a pace run that may be knocked down to straight miles.  Will just have to see how this plays out. I  want to be smart about this and try and nip it in the bud now.  While i have really enjoyed trail running, I am thinking it isn't for me.  I may be a total pavement runner after all. 

Off to finish up an experiment.  Have a happy Tuesday! 

Recovery run and a virtual Half marathon

I love fall weather. Fall weather means I have so much more latitude on when I can run versus only at the butt crack of morning and the end of the night. Yesterday, after all the fun we had during the day, Deuce and I took off for a little three mile recovery run.  Those are the best for deuce, slow and short.

We just had to walk through the park at the end and get some pictures with all of the pretty flowers.  I miss having one on one time with him and I really enjoyed our run together.  

The wild sunflowers are beautiful so we had to take a picture with them too.  

All in all, it was a great run.  I let him do some running off lead and he was perfect.  Can't wait to incorporate him more in my fall runs.  

Today I did this.  I signed up for a virtual half marathon to benefit cattle dog rescue.  I LOVE the medals, even if I don't have mine yet.  I was suppose to do it next weekend but with my taper starting, I had to do it today.  Shhh...don't tell them I did it earlier than I was suppose to:)

Miss stella and i started out with my BRF and low and behold, two or so miles in we found a full field of sunflowers.  Will have to keep visiting it this week because most of the sunflowers are not open yet.  It will be BEAUTIFUL when it is.  I tell you what, I am going to be honest here.  I don't think either me nor my BRF were feeling this long run. Yes, it was 51 when we started and i am grateful for that but for whatever reason, even though I fueled like normal, I felt like poop at mile 8 and it just got worse from there.  

She cheats on me.  She likes to run with my BRF sometimes, especially if she is in the lead.  Stella got COVERED in burrs and stickers today also.  Fun times.  We did two loops of our 6.5 mile trail and I think that was part of the reason why I had a bad attitude. I don't do well with loops.  I also didn't do my usual pre-run pasta dinner or lunch, opting for grilled burgers last night so there is that as well.  

Oh well, it's done and over and i am going to put it out of my mind.  This is my post race photo I will post to the FB group.  We couldn't get everyone to look at the camera at the same time LOL.  Afterwards I battled that typical sickness I have after a long race.  I have no clue how I am ever going to run more than 13 miles.  I drank lots of water and went to the park with my boys.  I think it helped for me to be up and moving.  I also ran in my compression socks today.  I think I am battling shin splints in my left leg for sure, so I had read that this sometimes helps, and I didn't have any pain the entire run, so I think it did.  I will ice and take advil tonight just in case AND see Doug at body first this week fo sho.  

After I devoured a chicken fried steak at a late lunch (hello 1300 calorie deficit), I took the fur kids to the pooch plunge.  It was fun and even deuce got in on the swimming. I could only handle two dogs at a time so came back and grabbed harley after these two were done.  For whatever reason, my water dog wanted nothing to do with the water and everything to do with grumbling at any dog that came near.  He was a super grouch and we only stayed for a few minutes after several displays of his grumpiness.  I took him to sonic to let him have a mini milkshake even though he was a grump.  I guess old age is starting to set in with my harley man.  

Hope you had a great Sunday!  We are taking advantage of the cooler temps and grilling out tonight.  Have a great week!