Slapdash Thoughts

Market to Market 86-Mile Relay

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:33:00 +0000

On Saturday, October 11th, I ran an 86-mile relay from Omaha's Downtown "Old Market," to Lincoln's Downtown "Haymarket Square," which lies across the street from the Nebraska Cornhuskers football stadium. It was the first year for this race, and it was awesome!

The race started at 7:00 am, and there were 150 different teams running. Each team had 6, 7, or 8 runners. There were 8 members on my team, 6 boys and 2 girls, and we each had to run in order from Runner 1 to Runner 8, doing three legs each. Also, each leg we ran was a different length; mine were 3.23 miles, 4.63 miles, and 4.10 miles, totaling 12 miles. Each person on the team had pretty much the same mileage, overall. It wouldn't have been so hard, but try running as fast as you can for 3.23 miles, and then running again about an hour or so later, and just as hard as before, and then doing it again! It was tough!

Our team finished first, with an overall time of 8 hours 40 minutes. That is a 6:03 average pace. Again, we started at 7:00 am, and finished at 3:40 pm. I can't believe we did it! We were extremely exhausted, but it was so, so much fun. And because we won overall, we get a free entry into next year's race.

I am putting a link on here for you all to see, courtesy of one of the guys on my team. He's a great photographer. He captured some great moments. See for yourself.

Race

They will be having this relay every year, and I have ABSOLUTELY no complaints. This was the most organized race I’ve ever been a part of, seriously, and this was only the first year! Volunteers to the MAX. There were volunteers along the course to make sure you didn’t turn down the wrong road. Everyone should make it to this event some year. It’s great.

Lastly, I was able to get the time for my splits, but the first leg is not accurate. I forgot to start my garmin, so I ran 0.22 miles before I remembered to turn it on. So what I do have is this:

Stage 3 – 3.01 miles (I actually ran 3.23 miles) in 19:46, 6:35 pace, mostly neighborhood/asphalt
Stage 11 – 4.76 miles in 31:55, 6:43 pace, went from loose gravel, to dirt, to limestone trail, to sidewalk, and finally to asphalt
Stage 19 – 4.19 miles in 27:35, 6:35 pace, limestone trail

If you check out these stages on the website I listed, you’ll see that the first two legs were listed as moderate/hard. They WERE. They were extremely hilly, and they were both straight into the wind, which was blowing a good 20 miles an hour. The day started out windy and about 50 degrees, and at 2:30 pm or so, when I ran my last leg, it was still windy and had reached 75 degrees.

This was a great event, and the post-race shindig, as they called it, was excellent, as well. I would recommend this race to anyone who loves to give something their complete and total all. It was a long day (woke up at 4:00 am and went to bed at 12:30 am), but it was worth it. Definitely a great time.

Eggciting!!!

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:54:00 +0000

How exciting! I looked outside today and all three birds were back (they come and go and I always wonder if they will be back). They were hanging out, meandering about, looking like they were just shooting the shit.

They left just a few minutes ago, so I stole the chance to look out in their little bowl. Of note: they are forever backing their butts up into the corner of the wall, behind the bowl, and I could not figure out, for the life of me, what they were doing--until today. Seems as though we do have an egg!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon...

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:22:00 +0000

Well, I've seen them coming and going, but no real activity to speak of. I know at one point I saw them casually playing around with one another, all three? of them...it seems as though the female actually has managed to keep the two male suitors at hand, and it appears as they are willing to stick around and share the responsibility. I guess the kid will grow up knowing "my two dads," rather than just the one. Well, anyway, here is a photo of two of the three lovers hanging out on a lazy Sunday afternoon...

Birds Mating

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:24:00 +0000

I looked out there today, and there were three birds out on the balcony. Two males, and the female from yesterday. I think they are vying for her attention. I took some photos of them doing their mating ritual, I guess is what they're doing. I tried to get one of the male when he was on top of the female. I read up on that, and it appears as though the male does that to ejaculate into the female "cloacal," which is open at just the right time for mating. It only takes a minute for the semen to be inserted, according to what I read.

Bird Love

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:06:00 +0000

So about a month ago, we noticed a couple of pigeons seemed to be nesting out on our balcony. They went through several weeks of taking turns sitting on the egg while the other one left for food, keeping watch over the egg to make sure no one harmed it, etc. Then one day the little egg hatched a little birdling.

We were able to watch the birdling grow up, staying in the nest at all times while its parents were out gathering food, flying around, and who knows what else.

I knew one day the little birdling would leave the nest. It got huge! After about 30 days I looked out the window and the little bird was gone! I thought he might come back to rest that night, but we never saw him again. That was about 5 days ago.

We have new visitors. I have decided to keep track of their progress, daily, by taking photos of them during the day. Today I noticed two birds out there kind of nesting, so I took a photo of them, shown below. I think the grey bird is the female, and the other one is the male. The female is considerably smaller. I also took a photo of the nest after they left--they must have just gone out for a date or something. :)

I will continue to show the progress every day until the little birdling has flown the coop!

Market to Market Relay

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:37:00 +0000

I got some great news late last night.

There is a new relay this year (October 11) in Omaha--86 miles from Omaha to Lincoln. It's already sold out! They only allowed 150 teams to compete. Teams are allowed from 6 to 8 people per team. If the members on your team have qualifying 5k times (under 19:00), your team can be registered as elite.

Last night I got a text message from a girl who is the captain of one of the elite teams (there are only about 6 elite teams). One of her members is not able to compete, so she asked if I would like to be on their team. The girl who asked me is a 3-time Olympic Trials qualifier, and although I know her and visited her once this summer for my ITBS injury (she's a Physical Therapist), I've never run with her.

This is going to be awesome!

Me in Green.

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Omaha Marathon - For Mom

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:44:00 +0000

This was a day in memory.

A year ago today my mom passed away. I know how proud she was last year (September 23, 2007) when I won--it gave her something to focus on for the remaining 5 days of her life. I knew that she would be proud if I ran the race again, but I didn’t officially decide to run it until Saturday, September 27th, at 1:00 pm. HA!

Phillip and I went to the expo to pick up his race packet for the half, and I decided to go ahead and give the marathon a shot. This coming off of no training, except for a few 17 milers over the last 2 months.

We had perfect weather this morning: clear and no wind; race start was about 56 degrees out, race end was near 75 or so. Exactly the same as last year.

I didn’t even know what to expect. It wasn’t supposed to matter—this race was for my mom, and the goal was to finish and do it in her memory. When I started the race at 7:00 am this morning, I did not feel prepared at all. I was in the bathroom when the gun went off, mainly because the race director does NOT place enough POJ’s out for this race. It’s ridiculous. Anyway, I finished up, ran out, and jumped in the crowd. By this time I was behind the 4:15 pacer!!! There were so many people around I thought I would never make it through the first mile in a decent time. As it was I missed the first mile marker. I was only wearing my Timex, so I don’t have the first mile split. I do have the 2nd mile, though.

Miles 1 & 2 - 15:17

So do with that what you will. At this time I was just running along, thinking about what in the hell I thought I was doing just running a marathon on a whim. But I kept going, and tried to each mile a 7:53 mile. It wasn’t really working out that way.

Mile 3 – 7:23

I missed the fourth mile split, also, but I have the 5th mile.

Miles 4 & 5 - 14:53

After mile 5 I have all my splits, so I’ll list them here. You can see that my splits are all over the place—this is due to me trying to force myself to slow down.

Mile 6 – 7:25
Mile 7 – 7:34
Mile 8 – 7:48 (fairly long, massive hill)
Mile 9 – 7:27
Mile 10 – 7:40
Mile 11 – 7:43
Mile 12 – 7:51 (another long, steeper hill)
Mile 13 – 7:36
Mile 14 – 7:46
Mile 15 – 7:26
Mile 16 – 7:42
Mile 17 – 7:38
Mile 18 – 7:34
Mile 19 – 7:29
Mile 20 – 7:38
Mile 21 – 6:56 (I think this mile was short, and the next was long)
Mile 22 – 8:00
Mile 23 – 7:25
Mile 24 – 7:18
Mile 25 – 7:21
Mile 26 – 7:24
Mile .2 – 1:32

I never really had any trouble, just that the only Gu was at mile 18—but that wasn’t the problem. I knew it would be that way because that’s the way it was last year. The problem is they only had Raspberry. YUK. Last year they had a variety, and I got Chocolate Mocha. YUM. Anyway, that’s the only sort of fuel I had, besides water sips at 3 different tables throughout the race.

The entire race I had no idea of my time, place, or anything. I didn’t really care. I wasn’t ever passed, and at mile 24 or so I passed another woman who sounded like she was having an asthma attack.

When I got to the finish line my clock time was 3:18:58. I knew it would be a little different than that because of the chip. It was. After what seemed endless amounts of time, they posted results on the side of a trailer—

3:17:46 (last year was 3:22:40)
7:33 average pace
4/152 women
37/429 finishers
1/27 age group (30-35)

I’m neither disappointed nor upset with any of this. I totally didn’t expect anything going into this race because, well, I didn’t train. Here are some photos of Phillip and I after the race.

naDDy

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 22:23:00 +0000

The naDDy is a running route that one member of the Omaha running community runs every day, nearly. The name of the route is something he originated, and the reason speaks for itself: the route sucks balls.

I ran with my new running friend, and the way the course is laid out you can do any variety of different runs on these roads, and they are all TOUGH if (and I know they are) they are anything like the one we ran today. Crap people. This was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY worse than Boston will ever even think about being. I made it through though, and the way we went today, it ended up being only 17 miles, not 18, which was fine with me. 17 miles isn't a sneeze out there, and you'll be able to notice that from my paces, seriously.

Okay, for those of you who know me pretty well, you know my pace tends to ride up when I run outside. Here are my splits:

Mile 1 - 8:12
Mile 2 - 7:58
Mile 3 - 8:05
Mile 4 - 7:52
Mile 5 - 7:30
Mile 6 - 7:39
Mile 7 - 7:44
Mile 8 - 7:42
Mile 9 - 7:53
Mile 10 - 7:49
Mile 11 - 8:08
Mile 12 - 7:45
Mile 13 - 7:47
Mile 14 - 7:42
Mile 15 - 7:59
Mile 16 - 7:52
Mile 17 - 8:01
Mile .01 - :03 (5:00)

Total - 17.01 miles, 2:13:48, 7:52 average pace

Now, I like to think I'm a fast(ish) runner. That was freaking ridiculously hard. I would challenge any of you, if you come to Omaha, to run out there, if you dare.

And finally, the course itself--

Wabash

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:02:00 +0000

So two days ago, Sunday, August 24th, Phillip and I drove out to a mostly shaded, 63-mile limestone biking/running/xc skiing/horse riding?/walking trail that runs from Iowa into Missouri. I had heard that it was great to run on, very soft and forgiving, easy on the legs. And one of the team members runs there every Sunday morning for his long runs because of the shade factor. I couldn't wait. I had planned on running for 2 hours.

Let me just point out that last week my mileage was pretty good, considering I'm still building--

Sunday - ran 10.1 miles (I'm starting with Sunday because that was the first day of traveling to Dallas)
Monday - elliptical for an hour, ran 4 miles
Tuesday - rest day (class from 8:00 am to 9:30 pm straight)
Wednesday - ran 12.66 miles
Thursday - ran 10.1 miles
Friday - ran 11.36 miles
Saturday - rest day (travel back to Omaha)
Sunday - had planned on 15? maybe? I had no clue.

Anyway, I know I'm just getting around to this, but I guess it's better late than never. That trail was fantastic!!! I'm going to post an elevation map and my mile splits here in a second.

My plan going out was to run out for an hour, turn around, and run back in for an hour. No real goal at all. No pace goal, no mileage goal, nothing. I just know that I can typically run a little over 15 miles in 2 hours. So you can imagine my surprise when I returned.

200 feet isn't a big deal, but I think the layout is pretty cool.

Miles were as so:
1 - 7:47
2 - 7:39
3 - 7:39
4 - 7:39
5 - 7:39
6 - 7:37
7 - 7:23
8 - 7:11
9 - 7:20
10 - 7:19
11 - 7:08
12 - 7:03
13 - 6:56
14 - 6:56
15 - 7:06
16 - 7:05
.01 - :02 (7:32)

Total - 16.01 miles, 1:57:39, 7:21 average pace

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?

Schlep Bag

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:36:00 +0000

Almost forgot!! I took a sewing class last Wednesday, and learned how to sew a bag! It was a first for me--never have sewn before, ever!

Here are the pictures:

Cooper Institute

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:27:00 +0000

So I'm sitting here in my hotel room in Dallas--what I'm waiting for, I'm not sure. I really don't know what to expect from the next few days. I am here for a Personal Training class at the famous Cooper Institute, which features four days of in-class training, CPR certification, and a final exam on Friday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. I won't be flying out, though, until Saturday because there were no other options on dumb Southwest. I had to wait until then to get a decent flight at a decent time for a decent price. I MISS PHILLIP!!

I left early this morning and arrived here at 10:30 am, after which I immediately found my rental car, drove said rental car to the hotel, then went to the grocery store to purchase food for the next few days. It's nice; since I have a suite at the Residence Inn, I can buy food and have room to store it in the full-size refrigerator here. Normally I have nowhere to store my ice cream. ;)

Anyway, I am really anxious about the next few days. I have no idea what to expect. I don't know if I am cut out for this, seriously. I feel so out of my element, though this is probably the one topic with which I'm most familiar. I don't know; I guess I'm just not confident enough. Typical.

More to come on this later. I don't know when I'll be able to post, much less run, as the days are from 8:00 to 5:00, and that's quite a long four days of continuous learning.

Crazy the way the mind works.

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:32:00 +0000

Quick post here before the Women's Olympic marathon--

I did a double today.

Elliptical - 12.42 miles, 66 minutes, 5:18 average pace

Then, weirdly, I wanted to run outside...I'm becoming hooked, and I'm getting a nice tan since I run so late in the afternoon. It has been around 80 the last few days I've run out there.

Anyway...I tried, very hard dammit, to keep it slower today.

Splits:
Mile 1 - 7:45
Mile 2 - 7:43
Mile 3 - 7:36
Mile 4 - 7:36
Mile 5 - 7:35
Mile 6 - 7:35
Mile 7 - 7:35
Mile 8 - 7:27
Mile 9 - 7:30
Mile .21 - 1:34 (7:32)

9.21 miles, 1:10:02, 7:36 pace

Now, off to the races!

Progressively...

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:23:00 +0000

Off work today, so I got out for an early run with Phillip. I decided that I should try running with him, mostly so that I could motivate him for his scheduled 60 minute run. I should have stayed with him, but after about half a mile (or less) I just couldn't do it. I just cannot force myself to run a 9:30 pace. I get impatient.

Anyway, so off I went, running my own race. Went along, not even paying attention to my garmin, just running by feel. I was planning on 8 miles, but after mile 4 I was feeling so good I decided to make it 10. After 5 miles I turned around and made my way back to the house, but noticed at mile 10 that I had run pretty progressively, so decided to do a slower 11th mile. Looked at my data and uh...

Mile 1 - 8:30
Mile 2 - 7:47
Mile 3 - 7:32
Mile 4 - 7:33
Mile 5 - 7:25
Mile 6 - 7:23
Mile 7 - 7:22
Mile 8 - 7:13
Mile 9 - 7:06
Mile 10 - 7:01
Mile 11 - 7:24
Mile .16 - 1:09 (7:12)

Total - 11.16 miles, 1:23:31, 7:29 average pace

Fast times at Northern Natural.

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:31:00 +0000

I decided to run again today (fourth day in a row), even after telling Phillip upon leaving the house this morning that I was taking the day off. HA! Yeah, right. Anyway, it was special being the fourth day because I haven't run more than 2 days in a row since I was hurt.

And freaking crap! Seriously, this is getting out of hand. I'm NOT running outside anymore. My theory is this: every time I get out on the road, track, sidewalk, street, etc. my body must think I'm running a race. I decided to try running outside today because, at the time, it was only 72 degrees and cloudy. It's humid, but it's alright. Not bad out.

Mile 1 - 7:37
Mile 2 - 7:33
Mile 3 - 7:21
Mile 4 - 7:02
Mile 5 - 7:11
Mile 0.11 - 0:44 (6:40)

Total outside -- 5.11 miles, 37:28, 7:20 average pace

After 5 miles, I gave up and went inside to run on the treadmill.

Total inside -- 3.14 miles, 25:00, 7:53 pace

I really need someone to run with if I'm going to run outside.

Why I Don't Run Outside Every Day...

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:45:00 +0000

Today's run was normal -- on the treadmill. I ran 12.14 miles in 1:35:00, a 7:53 pace.

Yesterday, though, I went to the gym and did the elliptical for 1:06:00, and that's all I was going to do.

12.44 miles, 1:06:00, 5:18 average pace

Then, as I was heading home, I saw a girl outside our apartments running...I got the urge to run--but not just run, to do it outside. Seriously. This is the reason I stick to indoors, where I can KEEP THE PACE DOWN. I ran on the same trail I ran on Friday from work, only this time I started on the trail by our apartments, ran 4 miles out, then 4 miles back. The last .09 was when I noticed the sprinklers down the road at our apartments were going and I decided to run through them.

Mile 1 - 7:31
Mile 2 - 7:22
Mile 3 - 7:17
Mile 4 - 7:21
Mile 5 - 7:18
Mile 6 - 7:16
Mile 7 - 7:09
Mile 8 - 7:04
Mile .09 - 0:36

Total - 8.09 miles, 58:59, 7:17 average pace

No more running outside unless I can keep my pace down. Bad Tonya.

Out on the trail...

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:16:00 +0000

I did something very spontaneous today for my run. I went out with a co-worker on the trail that runs from my office to, conveniently, our apartment complex. The distance is only around 3 miles out and 3 back, but the girl I was running with is only able to run about 4 miles at this point.

*She's working on it, though! Only 6 months ago she could barely run a mile, and just last month she decided she wanted to run a 5k. She said she was awarded 2nd in her age group, and I'm so glad for her!

Anyway, so we got about a mile and a half out and she became over-heated and had to stop and catch her breath (it was around 80, probably about 50% humidity). I kept going to 2 miles and turned around and ran back. She was at the office already, waiting on me, and she said she was sorry and that she would definitely be up for it again. I don't know if she was overheated from the sun or from running my pace. Either way, at least she wasn't discouraged!

Outbound - 2 miles, 15:46, 7:53 average pace
Inbound (me by myself) - 2.02 miles, 14:07, 7:00 average pace (I have no idea how that happened)
Total - 4.02 miles, 29:53, 7:27 average pace

I then went inside and ran 4.43 miles on the treadmill at a 7:53 pace, for 35:00.

Total overall - 8.45 miles, 64:53, 7:40 average pace

In all, a very nice run today. I also did an hour on the arc trainer after work.

Better than ever!

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:03:00 +0000

Running is going so much better. I'm coming back, I think. Since I wrote the last blog, I have run and cross trained six out of ten days. The remaining four days consisted of three days of cross training, and one day of rest. Those six days of running were even better because three of them were at my regular easy pace, one was at recovery, and two were progressive, going way beyond my easy pace. I mean, WAY beyond. Especially today.

Today's run went something like this:

5 min @ 8:34
5 min @ 8:20
5 min @ 8:06
5 min @ 7:54
5 min @ 7:42
5 min @ 7:30
5 min @ 7:19
5 min @ 7:09
5 min @ 6:59
5 min @ 6:49
5 min @ 6:40
5 min @ 6:31
5 min @ 6:23 (Olympic Trials qualifying pace)
6 min 15 sec @ 6:15
3 min 45 sec @ 6:23 (Again, if I could run this pace for 26.2, I would be the happiest person alive. Ever.)
5 min @ 6:31
5 min @ 6:40
5 min @ 6:49
5 min @ 6:59
5 min @ 7:09
5 min @ 7:19
5 min @ 7:30
5 min @ 7:42
5 min @ 7:54
5 min @ 8:06

Total: 17.35 miles, 2:05:00, 7:17 average pace

This run today gives me a total of 43 miles this week, definitely different from the last few weeks. The last time I ran this many miles in one week was the week after Mother's Day...when all this crap started. I mean, look at my last 2 months of running, starting May 19, by week--

19.2
19.2
9.2
1.3
10.6
11.3
5.6
28.6
28.1
36.7
and this week, 43.1

Pretty terrible, considering I was running at least 50 miles a week every single week for 3 years. :(

Anyway, hopefully that's all behind me now. I'm going to take it easy, do whatever I want, until I officially decide I want to race something. I don't know when that will be, but I just want to enjoy running again before I commit to something.

Team Nebraska Brooks

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:17:00 +0000

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I'm now a part of Team Nebraska Brooks' website. For those of you who have been reading this blog from the start, back in January 2008, at the Chiller Challenge, I was asked to become a part of Team Nebraska Brooks. I accepted, and have been a member for the past 7 months. I haven't really been that active within the club, but they have provided support for a couple of races I have done over the past several months. Anyway, there is a new website up for our team, TeamNebraskaBrooks. Check me out, midway down the page.

I heard from my friend Dave this morning. He's doing well, already back at home recovering! THAT'S a strong man--just two days ago he was in surgery!

I also wanted to let you guys know that yesterday, when I said I was going to run, man did I ever! I ran at lunch, like usual, and after I started out with 15 minutes on the arc trainer, I ran the following:
1/2 mile @ 8:34 pace
1/2 mile @ 8:27
1/2 mile @ 8:20
1/2 mile @ 8:13
1/2 mile @ 8:06
1/2 mile @ 8:00
1/2 mile @ 7:54
1/2 mile @ 7:48
1/2 mile @ 7:42
1/2 mile @ 7:36
1/2 mile @ 7:30
1/2 mile @ 7:24
1/2 mile @ 7:19
1/2 mile @ 7:14
1/2 mile @ 7:09
1/2 mile @ 7:04
.39 mile @ 6:59

Total - 8.39 miles, 65:00, 7:44 average pace

I have to tell you, it ROCKED! But, How in the world, Who in the world, was forcing me to run that 6:59 pace in the Boston Marathon? I mean, seriously, that is not just a little jaunt in the park. However, there was a guy I knew that came into the fitness center just as I was finishing up, and I had no problem speaking to him. So I know my lungs are okay. I was running at that speed with no problem. I just don't remember being able to run that fast for 26.2 miles.

I finished up my day, after work, by doing the arc trainer for an hour.

Needless to say, after my Jaunt at lunch yesterday, plus an hour of arc trainer after work, plus the past 7 consecutive days of 2 hour+ workouts, including 7 days of arc trainer, 4 of those days including running, 3 of which were 8+ miles, and one which was 11+ miles, I'd say today consists of nada for me. Going to lunch with a coworker, but I will resume the workout that is my life tomorrow.

If any of you (if anyone reads this) would like to see my run/arc/elliptical/bike schedule, you can view it over on the left-hand side of the page under the title "Addiction." That box shown there with my workout totals in it should lead you directly to a calendar.

News and more...

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:46:00 +0000

Okay, so I know it has been quite some time since I logged anything. There are a few reasons for that, as I will divulge into further in a moment. Right now I want to say that I've got my mind on my dear friend Dave, who is currently recovering from Degenerative Disk surgery in Chicago. I also want to point out that yesterday was my mother's birthday, and she would have been only 50.

So, on to other things.

On Mother's Day, Phillip and I went to his mother's house in Austin. I was still recovering (slightly) from the Boston Marathon, but there was a 5k that his little (9-year-old) sister wanted us to run with her. We knew she wouldn't be able to run the entire thing, so we weren't really concerned about a time.

We arrived in Austin on Friday, ran the 5k Saturday morning, and then made our way out to to a trail near his mom's house for some real running. The race was at 8:00 that morning and the sky was overcast, so by the time we made it to the trail it was just after 10:00 and it was already nearing 90 degrees. And HUMID.

Anyway, I ran 8 miles that day, and it was all I could do to get back in the car. Despite running the 8 at my normal pace, I was worn out from the heat (I don't know how people run in Austin, blech).

Needless to say, the next day (Sunday) I opted for the World Tennis Center that is mere blocks from my mother-in-law's house. Awesome. It was nice to run in air-conditioning--I ran another 8.

Here's the kicker, and I do mean kicker. We got ready to leave the next morning (Monday), and as I was approaching the railing to go downstairs, I stubbed my left pinky toe. Arrggghhh. It felt like I had broken it. Seriously. It turned black almost immediately, and the next few days the bruise seeped down into my foot. Ha! I wasn't about to let that keep me from running, however. The next day (Tuesday) at work I taped my pinky toe to the next toe and decided that would do it. It hurt for a little while, but wasn't really that bad. I thought it would be a simple little thing.

So let me see--the day after that (Wednesday) may have been the greatest mistake i've made so far this year. I ran at work over lunch, my typical 8 miles. When I got home that night Phillip decided he wanted to try running a tempo at my pace, and he wanted me to pace him. Okay, no big deal. It would be a mere 5 miles. That went fine.

Well, it did until we got back to the house and realized that his dad and stepmom had locked the door, and we didn't have a key. You see, we started running from their house, as there is a lake only a mile away. The lake itself is 3 miles around, so it's pretty easy to get 5 miles in if you want to make it a scenic run. Occasionally, we would do just that. Phillip knocked on the neighbors' door to see if they might have a spare key. Nope. He asked to use their phone to call his dad. His dad and stepmom were actually at the same lake taking a walk, only they had driven over.

Great, so on top of the 13 miles I had already run for the day, I went ahead and ran 2 miles more, FAST, over to the lake and back to get the key. I think I ran something like a 6:46 average pace for the 2 miles. It was something ridiculous like that, way too fast for having been back from Boston for only 2 weeks. Again, may or may not have been my stupidest mistake thus far in 2008.

The next day (Thursday) I ran a normal 8 miles at lunch, and the day after (Friday) I took the day off. I was pretty sore from DOMS. Then something happened. Saturday, as I was running my normal 8 miles, I noticed a twinge in my left knee. My first thought was that I had been overcompensating in other parts of my leg and foot for my stupid toe. I may or may not have been right, but I kept running. Sunday I ran again, and the same thing happened. Soooooooo I didn't run the next day, Monday. I decided to let it rest and try it again on Tuesday.

Tuesday, May 19th, ran outside with Phillip, to change it up. It didn't hurt at all. Only got 2 miles in after work, but I also did the arc trainer at lunch that day. Little did I know how much that arc trainer would become my friend...

However, Wednesday, May 20th, I tried running at lunch again. 8 miles, pain after 5 miles. Thursday, May 22nd, 8 miles and still the same pain after 5 miles. Friday, no run, only the elliptical machine for an hour after work.

Phillip and I moved into a new apartment Memorial Day weekend, May 24th through May 26th. I took those days completely off. Thought it would help my knee and do it wonders with three freaking days off! Yeah. Right.

Tuesday, May 27th, ran 2 miles and it was back. The pain was intense. So I did the elliptical for an hour. Well, I thought to myself, I was crosstraining for so long and I stopped. Maybe this will get me back into the swing of doing it again. HA! Little did I know...

Wednesday, May 28th, I took the day off from activities, and Thursday I flew to Amarillo to help my dad move to Midland. That's an entirely different topic. His brother offered him a job working as a partner in his company in Midland, and my dad accepted. After 25 years of being at Coors!!! I couldn't believe it, but it was a great change for him. He needed it after my mom passing away. He needed something positive to take him away from a job that he didn't really like, but spent way too much time doing simply because he didn't want to go home to an empty house. I think he's doing well now. He's happy in Midland, working with my uncle, travelling all the time, having plenty of free time, and I think he's getting ready to build a house there. I hope he's enjoying life despite the huge void that is there for all of us. :(

Anyway, when I flew to Amarillo I worked late into the night (11:00 pm) on Thursday helping my dad, and didn't get to run...not that I needed to or wanted to. I had severe knee pain. Friday I decided to test it out. Ran my 8 miles, sure, but it was painful again after the 5th mile. Saturday I had a noon flight back to Omaha, and when I arrived, Phillip and I went on a 9 mile bike ride. Not much, but at least it was something. Knee still hurt.

Sunday I decided to try running again. This was June 1st. I decided if I was to run that day and the pain was still there, the next day I would make an appointment with a Physical Therapist and figure out if the diagnosis was, in fact, ITBS, which is what I suspected. I ran 8 miles that Sunday, and called the PT the next morning.

Haha, even though the pain was there, I still ran 8 miles that day.

The PT said she could see me that evening, so I went by and found out the inevitable: it was ITBS. She gave me the typical strengthening exercises and basically said I could do anything at all, so long as it didn't hurt. Once the activity started to hurt, I was to stop doing it and try something else. Okay, that's fine. I would have no problem with that.

We have those machines I was talking about, the Cybex Arc Trainers, at my office. I normally use only the treadmill, balking at the people who use those Trainers. Um, yeah, not anymore. I have consistently used that Arc Trainer for weeks now, 7 weeks, to be exact, and I have never felt stronger. I have seen my hips and thighs go from being puny little runner's legs (which is GREAT, don't get me wrong--I don't mind what I had before) to these things of steel. I can't believe how strong my lower body is now. I will not say I have never been this way, as I did the elliptical machine for an hour every day for 3 years before I would run for an hour. I guess I just forgot.

I'll give you an example of how my legs have strengthened. The first week of June I did only the Arc Trainer every day, both at lunch for an hour and after work for an hour. I did that the next week, as well. The week after that, after Father's Day, I tried running. I ran Monday, June 16th, to see how my leg would feel. I ran 5.5 miles with minimal pain. I tried running Thursday, May 19th, only 5 miles. Still a little pain. Not gone, so not normal. Keep going with the crosstraining. Only a couple of runs and the pain is still there.

The next week, still doing 2 hours of crosstraining per day, I decided to try running again Thursday, June 26th. Just 5.75 miles, but nearly no pain. Decided to try again the next day, Friday, June 27th. A little pain. Not ready yet. Back to crosstraining.

More running, 5.5 miles, on July 3rd. I don't know why I thought that anything would change just because it was a holiday, haha. Still some pain there. More crosstraining. Tried running again Monday, June 7th. Same, but was able to run more miles without pain. Ran 6 miles that day. Two days later I ran 6 miles again, and two days after that 6 miles again. Two days after that was really cool--I ran 9.5 miles.

Monday, the day after the 9.5 miler, I decided I would try to see an ART therapist. ART therapy is something I have heard a lot about, but was squeemish about trying. Now I know why. I tried it two different days, a Monday and a Wednesday, and the guy wanted me to come back for two more days. It didn't really help, and I don't want someone artificially popping my back. No thanks.

The ART therapist told me to try running that first day he saw me. I ran 8 miles, but they felt as they had been for a while--probably about 90%. I ran on Thursday as well, and I ran 8 miles that day. Then Saturday I ran freaking 11.5 miles. I couldn't believe it. I just whipped it right out. That's the furthest I have run in 2 months.

That was last week. I ran 8 miles on Monday, and today I plan to run another here in a few minutes. Keep in mind that every day, whether I am running or not, I have been doing the Arc Trainer. If I run, I do an hour of running and an hour of the Arc Trainer. If I don't run I do 2 hours of the Arc Trainer. I am still the same weight as I always have been, and I feel like I'm still in the same shape. I have been running all my mileage at or just below (or just above!!) my normal pace.

Hopefully this means I'm coming back from this. Hopefully. I have a life and career changing event coming up in the next month, but I'm going to save that for another blog entry.

Thanks for reading. :)

Siblings.

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0000

I can't believe I forgot about the drama that occurred over the Boston trip! It's so ridiculous, but what can you expect from my narcissistic, immature, 25 year old sister.

So, it started out with my dad, sister, and brother arriving late (10:00ish) Saturday night to our hotel in Westborough. I knew, KNEW, my brother and sister would NOT be going with us to the Olympic Trials the next morning, as it would be about 8:00 am, or so, when we would leave. I thought to myself, "Well, that's fine. They should be ready to go by 1:00 pm when we get back to the hotel. Surely."

Nooooot so much.

My sister was not ready when we returned, at 1:00 pm. She wasn't even out of bed, from what my brother says...ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS.

So, we get to the hotel, ready to go to lunch and hang out in Boston for a while. I'm guessing my dad went into their hotel room, saw that she wasn't ready, and got mad at her. She, in turn, yelled at he and my brother, who, for some reason went OUT of the room, which she then took as an opportunity to lock them out. Of the hotel room.

Well, after about 30 minutes I realized that my dad wasn't calling me to go anywhere. I called him, dreading knowing what he would say about leaving--like that it would be another 30 minutes or so. Yeah. He said he was in the lobby, waiting on her to reopen the door so they could go back in.

WHAT THE FUCK!

He ended up having to ask the front desk what they could do about it, and they said nothing, honestly. Turns out they had to get someone from another hotel to bring over a tool that they use to get into hotel rooms in case they are jammed or something. 20 minutes later they show up, but, right before that time guess who decides to come out?

That's right. Little fucking brat.

Phillip and I had decided to leave and get lunch. We weren't going to wait on her ass. And my dad and brother just sat there, waiting in the lobby. When we got back to the hotel, they were still waiting. She kept them waiting down there for 2 hours!!!!!!!

So Phillip and I say we're going up to our room, to just relax and hang out for the rest of the day. It was already after 3:00 pm, and I wanted to relax before the next morning. I did NOT want to deal with her.

We went to get on the elevator, and lo and behold who gets off when it reaches the first floor? That's right, little miss immature herself. So I just ignore her, trying to get onto the elevator. Keep in mind I had not seen her yet at this point, not since Christmas, actually. She steps off the elevator, reaches out her arms and says, "Gimme a hug."

Hahaha.

Not likely. I said, "I'm not giving you a hug," and got on the elevator. Bitch thinks I'm going to let her ruin my weekend. She made the weekend all about her, even though they were there for a marathon that I was running in.

And of course my dad took her side.

Apparently, they went out and paraded through the city and had a grand old time. When they got back, my dad had the AUDACITY to come into our room and ask me to apologize to her. I told him no, that I would not apologize for something she did. He said that she wouldn't go to the marathon if I didn't apologize. You think I care?

She didn't go to the marathon, and she spent the next day, all day, in the hotel room.

New England is where I wanna be...

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:25:00 +0000

In my excitement over Boston, I forgot to mention in my last blog posting about the trip Phillip and I made the day AFTER the marathon. Our flight left Rhode Island at 5:30 pm, so we decided to make the most of the day. We left the hotel around noon, drove to Foxborough (maybe a 30 minute drive, maximum?), picked up some Subway, and made our way down the street to the one and only place I thought I would never see:

The NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS stadium!!!

Too bad Wayne couldn't be there. ;)

Marathon #2 - Boston

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:36:00 +0000

There’s no short version of this. Too bad.

On September 23rd, 2007, I ran my first marathon, the Omaha Marathon, and qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:22:40. I only needed a 3:40:00 for my age group, so that was completely taken care of.

Well here we are, just shy of 7 months later, and I can now consider myself part of the official finishers of the Boston Marathon. Medal and all.

Phillip and I flew into Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday, April 19th. We checked out our rental car and drove to the hotel. Once we got all checked in there and unloaded our bags, we decided to go for one last run. Phillip changed his clothes, got his garmin, and headed out the door for his 4 miles. I opted for the treadmill to run my last 5 miles before the marathon. Later that afternoon, after we had showered and eaten, Phillip and I drove over to Hopkinton to view the race course. It was a beautiful day!! We got to see the entire set up for the marathon, and even got to walk right over the start line. Phillip got pictures of me, both at the start line and standing by the flame.

That night, I did not sleep at all. I woke up every couple of hours, and one of the times I woke up I could not get my bearings. I didn’t know where I was, or where the bathroom was, and I had to really concentrate on what was going on. I finally figured out where I was, went to the bathroom and got back into bed, only to wake up again a couple of hours later thinking I would be running the marathon that morning! Arggh!

The next day Phillip, my dad, and I drove down to Boston to watch the Olympic Trials. We didn’t get there until 8:30 am, so they had already begun. No problem, though, we just wanted to get a glimpse of them and eventually see who won. Almost immediately, I received a text message from Roots, to whom I had sent my phone number prior to the trip. He told me where they (he, Flounder, and SisterGoldenHair) were standing, watching the trials, and Phillip, my dad, and I made our way over to find them. It was awesome finally meeting up with them! We got pictures, all of us, and luckily, my dad was there so we could all get in the picture.

Everyone asked me what my strategy was for the next day—uhh…I don’t know? Yeah, I had no idea. I just knew I wanted to be at the halfway point by no sooner than 1:32. Yep, so that’s it. That’s my strategy. And I wouldn’t be wearing the garmin. So, I was going to rely only on feel. And my Timex for my splits.

After the trials my dad, Phillip, and I went to the expo for my bib # and other goodies. I picked up my shirt and bib #, a poster, and bought a Boston Marathon Adidas jacket, Adidas wind pants, and Adidas shorts. Haha, I really overdid it on the merchandise apparel. But dammit, I earned it! BUT—then I thought about how unhappy I would feel if, after I bought all those products, I didn’t finish…I was extremely worried about the race, at that point.

We left the expo around mid-evening, just in time to go pick up some food, head back to the hotel, shower and eat before we finally settled into bed.

The weirdest thing about this marathon, compared to my other marathon, is that the night before this one I actually slept more than 3 hours. Phillip and I went to bed around 10:00 pm, and I think I immediately fell asleep. Hard to imagine, considering how freaking nervous I have been for months and months…our alarms (one on the phone, one on the actual alarm clock, and a wake-up call) were set for 5:00 am. I planned to get up, brush my teeth, drink my normal 32 oz. of water that I drink every morning, and wait until 6:30 am to roll around. At 6:15 am, Phillip went downstairs and started the rental car. I could hardly muster a word I was such a complete bundle of nerves. I was literally shaking.

Because we stayed in Westborough, just 30 minutes from the starting line, we had an easy time driving over that morning. We took a back road, and there were no cars anywhere in sight. We had to get to Hopkinton by 7:30 am because at that time all roads into Hopkinton would be closed. The time was only 7:00 am when we arrived in Hopkinton, and we had to drive around to look for parking. We had planned to park close to the corrals and as soon as my corral was released, I would just go and jump right in. Around 7:30 am, we finally found a place to park in the parking lot of a church just a few hundred feet from the corrals. There were port-a-johns in the parking lot, so that would be completely convenient. My bib number was 9170, so my corral was 9. Where we had parked was right on the other side of a building from it!

And it’s a good thing they were that close because we sat there for 2 hours, and I think I visited those port-a-johns at least 3 or 4 times.

Had I been in the “Athlete Village” I would have been released at 9:20 am, so around 9:15 am me, Phillip, my dad, and my brother walked over to the corrals. I got into the corral and stood there, waiting on it to fill up. It was full within a minute.

John Kerry was there—I think he was involved with the race somehow, I forget—and I actually saw him walk by! He walked right by me, as though it was Phillip walking by me. That’s how close he was. It was pretty interesting because I think that is the closest I have ever been to someone famous. Anyway, back to the story. There were all these athletes around me that had qualified in the same time I had, and they were all older than me, it seemed like. There was a woman and a man directly behind me to my left, and they were talking about how much fun the race was going to be. I asked them what their goal was. “To finish, and to have fun.” I said, “Hmm, maybe I should hang with you guys…” The woman said, “Yes! You should. You earned it.” I asked them how many times they had run the Boston Marathon and they both said this would be their first time. They asked me, I told them it was my second marathon and first Boston, and they said I was lucky, that it usually takes at least a couple of attempts for someone to qualify.

And then it was announced that the race was about to start. The gun was fired and we started moving forward…S L O W L Y…I kept talking to those two people, and after some time we got to the clock. It had been 10 minutes exactly. So, the gun time would be 10 minutes slower than my actual race time. No big deal, easy enough to figure out. I started my watch for the first lap and I was off.

I had been telling myself repeatedly that I needed to start off on a slow foot, not push through the first mile. It was supposedly all down hill, and from looking at the racecourse the day before, I knew it. So, I decided to take it E A S Y.

I took it easy, all right. It’s not like it was hard, though. There were so many people. Ridiculous amounts of people. I have never raced under those kinds of conditions, and it is definitely a lot harder to make your way through when there are people EVERYWHERE. When I looked up at the mile marker, which came very fast, actually, I hit my lap button. Whoa!!

Mile 1 – 7:53 (sound familiar?)

Interesting. I actually paced myself correctly down the hill. I knew I needed to speed it up a little, though, or I wouldn’t be able to make it up later. I just kept running through the mass of people, trying not to bob and weave and lose too much energy. I ended up doing pretty well because, once the second mile came up and I pushed the lap button again, I noticed I was getting just a little faster. Good. No problem making up the time from then on.

Mile 2 – 7:22

From that point on, it got really hot. At race start it was foggy and overcast, probably right around 50 degrees. But once the gun went off, the sun came out, and during the entire flat(ter) portion of the race (mile 3 through probably mile 15) it was HOT. I actually have pretty bad sunburn on the entire right side of my body. I saw so many people drinking water at mile 3, some already taking Gu and Powergel. Not a good sign. I just kept running, wondering if the race would end up turning into a Chicago Marathon type situation. I hoped not.

Mile 3 – 7:13

Okay, time to step it up and get busy, I decided. People weren’t clearing out, that’s for sure, but I needed to get around some of them or I would never get anywhere. For the next 10 miles, all I did was concentrate on maneuvering around the slow people, dodging water stations and people throwing cups, and feeling my way through the race, making sure to keep a steady, easy pace, one that wasn’t going to kill me in the end. I made it my goal to keep track of my splits, too, because I knew that would get me through the race. It did in the Omaha Marathon. I also thought about all of my family and friends watching the 5k splits, and I wondered what everyone was thinking as I crossed each of those mats.

Mile 4 – 6:53
Mile 5 – 7:09

About this time, I started noticing the difference in my quads. They were like, “what the F was all that down hill about?”

Mile 6 – 7:05
Mile 7 – 6:55
Mile 8 – 6:57
Mile 9 – 6:58
Mile 10 – 7:05

Around the 10th mile, I started feeling like I was losing energy? Maybe? So I decided it might be time to take the Gu I had in my shorts. I took it out, ripped it open, and swallowed it down, just in time to see a water station. I grabbed a cup, drank a few drops down, and kept on going. Maybe it made a difference, maybe it didn’t. I don’t know.

Mile 11 – 7:01
Mile 12 – 6:57
Mile 13 – 7:00

At some point during those miles, I noticed a girl running around the same pace as I was, trying to just get out of everyone’s way and keep running. She had “English” on her back. Phillip told me later that he saw her in my corral before the race. I asked her what she was trying for. She said between a 3:15 and a 3:20. I told her I was trying for around the same, and she said, “Do you want to see my splits?” They were written on her arm in marker. I told her no, that I was doing ok. We came upon a water station at that point, and we got split up. I never saw her again.

All along the way, and I know this is probably repetitive for you people reading who have already run Boston, there were so many people playing music, playing the drums and the guitar, handing out water, icees, orange slices, bananas, soda?, candy, anything with sugar. It was so bizarre. I never even thought about that kind of thing happening. I didn’t get anything, just kept running.

Mile 14 – 7:10
Mile 15 – 7:06
Mile 16 – 7:04

I slapped as many kid’s hands as I could—it kept me going. Really. It was such a nice feeling to know that these kids were spending their morning out there cheering runners on, and for no reason other than that, they were just excited to be there. I also heard, “Go team Nebraska!!!” more times than I can count. Speaking of which, it was about the time the hills started, mile 17, that I noticed people walking, all kinds of runners. Guys who looked like they were in GREAT shape. They just couldn’t do it. I ran past them, and at this point, the passing began. I passed literally THOUSANDS of people in the next 9.2 miles. Between mile 16 and 17 people were also handing out Powergel in all flavors, and at this point, I picked up a couple, making a mental note to take the next one at mile 20. I don’t know why; it just seemed like a good idea. I put one in my shorts and carried one in my hand.

Mile 17 – 7:23
Mile 18 – 7:17
Mile 19 – 7:08
Mile 20 – 7:12

At Mile 20, I took the Powergel I had in my hand. Again, don’t know if it helped, but whatever. I don’t train with those things so I don’t know what it feels like to know if they boost your energy or not. It was also at this point when I really started looking around. There were literally 2 women near. It remained that way for the rest of the race. There were just women sprinkled (if you could even call it that) through the remaining few runners I was passing. I passed so many people. I passed people walking, passing out, laying on the ground, stopping to stretch, everything. I just kept on running.

Mile 21 – 7:24
Mile 22 – 6:59
Mile 23 – 7:12
Mile 24 – 7:02
Mile 25 – 7:13 (I know that Heartbreak Hill is supposed to be the hardest, but the hill at this mile is CLEARLY difficult after you’ve been running first down hill and then back up. I thought this hill was the hardest; the other ones were like running in Omaha)

I turned the corner onto Boylston Street, the last stretch before the finish. I saw the finish line, the balloons and big sign saying, “FINISH,” and it was like hearing music. I could feel the energy building. I ran as fast as I could, which probably wasn’t very fast, and tried to reach that finish line. I knew I could make it. I heard my name—looked to the right—it was Phillip, my dad, and my brother!!! Another boost of energy. I felt like I was high. I could see all these people on both sides of the street in stands, thousands of them, yelling, screaming, forcing us to the finish. It was AWESOME.

In the end, I only noticed two people pass by me. They must have been holding out for the fast finish. I was doing just fine. I felt wonderful just to be there! It was everything they said it would be.

Mile 26 and .2 – 8:38

I made my way through the finish line, held my hands up, and after crossing the line, slowed down to a stop. I was finished. My legs were crying, especially my quads. I walked, slowly, to the water station ahead and grabbed a water bottle from the nearest person. Walked some more and let them place a heat sheet around me. I’ve never had that before, and I remembered what someone told me way before going to this race—“let them treat you like you deserve to be treated. Let them do all they can for you. That’s why they’re there.” Walked some more and noticed the chips were being taken off. I bent over as much as I could and untied my shoe. Then I had to stand there!! (it hurt so bad) and let the woman take my chip off my shoe and retie it. Then she placed my medal around my head…

Eventually I found the “J” and there were Phillip, my dad, and my brother!! I just fell into Phillip’s arms I was so exhausted. My legs were going nowhere, so we sat on the sidewalk. That felt soooo good. (I should have done that right after I finished. I think it would have been a better idea.)

After I got my bearings and could stand up, we started walking the two blocks to the car. Along the way I told Phillip I should probably call Will, my team president. He was in Boston for the trials, and I knew he was at the marathon, but I didn’t know if he knew anything about times or anything.

We were about halfway to the car when—aaaaccckkk! Who do we run into? Will! He gave me a huge hug and said he was so proud of me, saying that he wanted a picture. We got one, talked a while longer, and then kept going.

So, I’m sure that by this time you all want this thing to end. Soon, I promise.

That night I just showered and sat around the hotel room and relaxed, wearing my Boston Marathon Adidas pants (guess they were worth it after all).

Skip forward to the plane ride home—we sat next to a guy on the plane who, long story short, works for a company called Elite Racing. Apparently, the company is based out of the UK and recruits elite athletes for the Rock N’ Roll Marathons, and they are right now working on getting their own standards made. The guy asked how I did in the marathon, and Phillip told him all about my race and my racing past, and the guy asked him for my email address. He gave us his email address and asked us to keep in touch, saying that he wanted us to keep him informed on my future races so that if their standards equal mine, we could get something going. I’ll let Phillip explain further on that, if anyone cares. But holy crap!! Phillip said he feels like my manager, haha.

Official time:
3:07:24
101st AG (18 – 34)
2017/21963 OA
124/8935 OA Woman

This is also a 15:16 PR, and based on my half time of 1:33:18, while it is a positive split, it is only by 44 seconds. I can’t even believe it. At Boston. The entire second half is hills?!

As for now, I feel very sore, but not as bad as yesterday. I’m sure it will be a few days before I start running again, and even then it will be really easy paces. Who knows what is in the future—according to Will, it’s going to be Twin Cities, and that’s great. All I know is, I could use a flat race.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot—I guess all of my treadmill training, training sans hills, and training wearing Nikes is doing me absolutely NO good.

Under the gun...and counting.

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:30:00 +0000

Two days...that's all.

I have two days to force my mind to come up with some sort of plan of action, some reasonable quality effort to put towards this race.

THE BOSTON MARATHON

What could be better, right?

Haha, should be grand, but yet, I have these reservations.

It's because of my legs and feet. The legs are not 100%, they just aren't, let's face it. And my feet--don't get me started there. I feel like my feet are punishing me for trying to do too much over the past 6 months.

But listen, I needed to run all those months after my mom died. I could NOT have made it through without doing so. And I received tons of PR's from those months of running...but now when I want to run the biggest race of my life, my legs and feet are suffering.

I have received so much in the way of luck in the past couple of days. I have had two people at work tell me that I'll go under 3:00, and that's without them even knowing what I've done thus far! They have no idea what I run every day, they have no idea what I've done in races, and they are still that confident I will run sub-3:00 in this marathon?

If they can be so positive, why can't I?

Too long...

noreply@blogger.com (tonya) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:16:00 +0000

I can't believe it's been nearly 3 years since I last posted here. I think what I may do is move all my race reports over to this blog, start blogging here, and forget freaking MySpace, Facebook, everything. That crap is overrated anyway.