6 Band-Aids!!

Everyone hurry up and invest in J&J. I’m going to make the stock go up single handedly with my Band-Aid consumption.

2 toes, and two on the big ones on EACH arch.

Other than this new development the orthodics are fantastic!! I hope they continue to be. I had to go buy new shoes too. OH DARN!! You know I just HATED to have to do that. The Physical Therepist that they sent me to for the shin splints said that now my shoes overcorrected and a cushioned shoe would be better. Well if I MUST buy new sneakers…

NEW ‘NEAKERS!! EEEEeeeeeEEEEE!

The 8+ miles on Sunday went very well. My knees started to hurt a bit during the last mile but I was strong all the way. No super slow back hurting leg aching last 3 miles like before. I’m sure my back and legs are getting stronger but also my knees didn’t start hurting. When they did hurt it was more like when I get a new pair of shoes and I’m adjusting. I hope that is the case.

Well whether because I’m getting used to these long runs or because of the shoes I ran the 8 and change in 1.5 hours. That is a whole lot better than the 9 in two hours I had done before!!

It really was nice to have a long run that didn’t hurt.

Oh yeah...Stopping still hurts. Nothing to be done for that I guess.

100 Things

It seems to be a tradition that people for their 100th post do one of these sort of lists, and who am I to mess with tradition. So here are 100 things about me…How many did you already know? (I didn't know some of them...I guess you do learn something knew every day.)

1) The only things that make me scream like a little girl are Roaches. And in FL we grow them BIG.

2) Halloween is my favorite holiday.

3) I will not eat the meat of an animal off of it’s skeleton It’s a thing with me.

4) My favorite Muppet Show skit is the one with the birds on a wire singing Abba’s “Take a Chance On Me”

5) I come from a long proud line of smart asses.

6) I lettered in Track in High School.

7) I did not pass Physics II with Calculus the first time I took it in College….Now I teach that class. Funny that!

8) My favorite color is Red.

9) I am the keeper of the 3 cutest kitties ever!! (but then I might be biased)

10) I have a brown belt in Shotokan Karate.

11) One of my favorite songs is the HEY! Song….if I hear it most likely someone scored a touch down, hit a home run or scored a goal in hockey.

12) I am a patent researcher by day.

13) I took my toys apart as a kid...I usually got them back together.

14) My dolls got taken off the shelf in my room once a year….to dust the shelf.

15) I love animals!

16) I live in my jeans and sneakers.

17) There is nothing I love more than buying new sneakers.

18) I can play the trumpet

19) And the piano.

20) I was a band geek.

21) I buy outfits that are on the mannequin or the model in the catalog….someone paid a lot of money for a fashion designer to figure out that outfit so that it is fashionable and matches and I don’t want to bother to do it….I would rather do Calculus…..no really.

22) I draw stick figures….that’s my extent of artistic design ability.

23) I can make anything if you design it.

24) I like Rock (Hard, Classic, Alternative, Metal)

25) And Classical Music.

26) For the most part I do not care for Country Music, POP or Rap.

27) I dated two guys named John with the same birthday.

28) I love living in FL…I live where other people vacation.

29) I don’t even know how to do snow…seen it once!

30) I raised bunny rabbits as a kid.

31) My pet peeve is girls who use their boobs to get their way…you know what I mean.

32) I can tune up my truck and do the brakes my self.

33) I have a baby brother…who is bigger than me.

34) When my mom brought him home from the hospital I asked if we could give him back.

35) I remember almost everything…and I hate it.

36) I always print with big and small capital letters.

37) I love birthdays…everybody’s birthday.

38) My favorite Christmas carol is “O Holy Night!” (I like lots of others too)

39) I like our National Anthem.

40) I think it’s the best part of going to a sporting event.

41) I can sing Amazing Grace to the tune of both “Gilligan’s Island” and “House of the Rising Sun.”

42) I don’t like Orange or Yellow.

43) I’m finding 100 things difficult and I’m not half way yet.

44) I’m a techno geek .

45) I play D&D.

46) I own too many books…and yet I buy more…what is wrong with me?!?!

47) I own my own home and I love it!!

48) I was born in Florida.

49) I fell out of a tree when I was 6 and broke my arm.

50) I still climb trees.

51) I am the only brown eyed grandchild on my Mother’s side.

52) I apparently have a high pain tolerance.

53) I’m noisy.

54) I watch cartoons on Saturday Morning…when I can.

55) I am perpetually 4 years old.

56) I like to run…most of the time.

57) Today my favorite song is Hard to Concentrate by the Red Hot Chili Peppers….I’m sure it will change tomorrow.

58) I’m a ½” taller than my father.

59) I don’t like peppers.

60) I make a really good salsa (it has tequila in it…just a little bit)

61) Other than the salsa I don’t cook with more than 3 ingredients or 2 – 3 steps.

62) I could swim like a fish by the time I was 2.

63) I can ride a bike with no hands.

64) I can still do a cartwheel. (Mostly)

65) I was a girl scout when I was little

66) I snuck the boys who lived across the street into the house when my Mother wasn’t home to…*GASP!!* ….order pizza and drink milk and ruin our dinners after playing basketball in the rain. Shhhhh don’t tell….

67) I don’t like coffee

68) One of my favorite web sites is Lifehacker.com

69) I got a birthday cake shaped like a ghost with eyes that were lit so they glowed when I was a kid. It was my favorite birthday cake

70) I love real Christmas trees.

71) I’m a Buccaneers fan

72) I’m a USF Bulls fan

73) I’m a Devil Rays fan

74) I’m a Lightning fan

75) I’m a Storm fan

76) Ok I’m stalling

77) I take part in a medieval reenactment group

78) I believe that grace begets grace

79) I have several really good friends…In this way I am extremely Blessed.

80) I have a huge fish tank

81) I had turtles…they live a long time

82) I think graveyards for the most part are a waste of good real estate

83) And a source of torture when parents drag kids to look at the head stones of dead relatives

84) The Road Runner is my favorite

85) Spiderman is my favorite

86) I am beginning to believe that there are not 100 interesting things about me…I don’t think it bothers me

87) I have always owned a stick shift…even my 1985 Trans Am was a 5 – speed

88) I love long sleeved T-shirts under short sleeved t-shirts when the weather is cold. (yes in FL that is all cold is)

89) I haven’t started to lie about my age. I’m now 34

90) I think I might at 40….or not. I don’t think I care.

91) I rode my bike to the beach every day after school for years.

92) I have never gone to a High School Reunion

93) I might go to the next one…maybe

94) Red Velvet cake is my favorite…with the cream cheese frosting of course.

95) Aspertame gives me wicked headaches.

96) I couldn’t throw out my childhood stuffed animals so I donated them to a fire station so they could all go off to noble little lives helping children who were scared and had lost everything.

97) Every room in my house is a different color

98) I still know the name of every teacher I had in school K – 12.

99) I think this list was almost harder than my Masters Degree

100) I’m done

(yes I might have cheated….deal with it. They were things about me)

Crappy Morning!!

I went to the gym to run this morning. I had been giving my shin a break with the orthodics on their way and the anti-inflamitories working. Also some family stuff on Monday night made for a couple of not great days with lots of phone calls. So with things settled down a little I went to run at the gym early this morning. Ok…I’m tired….all the time. Maybe tonight I can get to bed early, not likely but I’ll try, 1and that may help and Sunday should be an easy day for me so maybe I will be less tired next week but this last couple weeks I have been very tired.

So I get up and check my e-mail and there is an e-mail from a student of mine. Trying to pull crap!! First thing in the morning!! He needs special accommodations on an exam. I gave his test to the testing center. He had to work and didn’t take the test before the test center closed. Then somehow this is my fault….go figure! So now he gets the test late. I am not opposed to someone needing the accommodations provided by the testing center. However….if you don’t know when the center is open…this is not my problem. If you ask me when it will be there and then when you don’t go when it’s there…this is not my problem. Add to this that my sympathy factor drops by an order of magnitude when you FELL ASLEEP during my review for the exam.

You have messed with the wrong instructor. I now have a log starting with Monday when he showed up for class but slept through the review. My log will go to the Student Disability Services office for his file. And from now on he will have a scheduled test time and a time limit on his exam. If he is not there….not my problem.

I have a friend who says that sometimes with him NICE is mistaken for WEAK. I know what he means.

Tread lightly.

I Have the Answer!!

Distance: 11.3 miles   Time: 2h:24min   fair 7:00 am
Temperature: 83 °F    Humidity: 72%      Pressure: ??:?? inches

I have the secret….People who run marathons are crazy. At some point here I may become part of their collective and be assimilated. If that happens and I deny ever having posted this than you all should feel privileged to have read it while you could.

There is a whole new world of hurt out there beyond 10 miles. No really…new rubbing spots…you can’t know to put the glide stuff on to protect ahead of time if they have never rubbed before and now they rubbed for over 11 miles. I got cold….on the run….I started getting cold!! I am soaked with sweat till my hair, IN A BRAID, down my back is fully wet like I just got out of the shower and I was COLD. And then there is the usual knees, feet, muscles, shoulders, back sort of hurts that are always on longer runs. (The new orthodics should help the knees too) Ok…all of this is just part of running or at least part of running farther than ever before. And it hurt. And some of it should get better. At some point I hope that 10-ish miles won’t but I don’t think that at this time I could ever imagine 26.2 not hurting like this along the way and I am sure it will be worse.

That being said….I finished the 11.3 and then I did the most painful thing ever….

I STOPPED RUNNING!!!

This is why marathoners run that far. After they pass 10 miles it hurts more to stop than to keep going!!! REALLY!! It was amazing!! I could not have started again but I could not believe I had stopped. It hurt more to stop and walk. That is it….I now have the answer for all of you who said….HOW CAN YOU RUN THAT FAR?!?! Well once you run the 10 miles you might as well keep going!!

Running in a whole new world!!

Post - Doctor Update

Ok so the doctor said I have...TA DAH!! Shin Splints. Shocking I know. She thinks it is because, when she had me walk barefoot, she found that I am ....

wait for it...

A FLAT FOOTED, PIDGEN TOED, OVER PRONATOR!!!

Told ya!

She said I over pronate more on my right foot so even though I seem run straight with motion control shoes I probably didn't stand a chance. :) So she prescribed orthodics to be made to put in my running shoes...nice soft ones she said, an anti-inflammatory that I should take 2 times a day, and physical therapy to give me some stretches and exercises. She did take x-rays and there are no stress fractures at this time. That is good news. So I go back to her in 4 weeks having done all of these things and we will see if they are better. If not she wants to do a bone density scan but she thinks this is all I need.

The Good News is I don’t have to stop running!! YEA!!

So I went this afternoon and had molds of my feets taken for the orthodics and set up an appointment for next Friday to see the PT person. I’ve never been such a problem before with so many follow up things!! I go to the doctor….they give me a prescription….I fill it…the green snot goes away. Really this is more than I’ve had to bother with. I am glad that it is all fixable and will stop hurting very soon.

The orthodics should be ready in a couple days. So I’ll most likely go next Friday and try them on (in) my shoes and they will fix any little things and I’ll be on my way.

Tomorrow I run 11 - 12 miles then I race out of town for the weekend. So I will tell you now that I will post on Monday!!

Have a good weekend!!

Going to the Doctor...

Distance: 4.0 miles   Time: ~48 min   fair 6:30 pm
Temperature: 80 °F    Humidity: 71%      Pressure: 29:91 inches (holding)

Well another run done this week, just one more tonight. Then Thursday night off and the long run on Friday before I go out of town for the weekend. It’s 11 –12 miles this time. ACK!! Well, every step, right?

I finally broke down. I have an appointment tomorrow with a sports medicine doctor about the shin splints too. They are at the University and see many of the athletes so I’m hoping they understand the “I’m not stopping” theory. Of course as soon as I made the appointment my shin started to feel much better and didn’t hurt at all during last night’s run. Not even at the beginning. Of course it might have been that the Vitamin I that I took a half hour before worked, but I have tried that before and it hadn’t worked that well yet. I’m sure Friday’s run will not help but at least I can get to the doc before that. We will see. It figures that it is feeling good yesterday and today.

Running with no pain…when I need to tell the Doctor about it!!

Every Single one of Them

Distance: 4.6 miles   Time: ??? min   fair 9:30 pm
Temperature: 78 °F    Humidity: 54%      Pressure: 30:00 inches (rising)

These 4-5 miles are getting easier and easier. Whoda Thunk? FireGuy and I were just saying the other day that after the marathon a continuing plan of 5 mile regular runs during the week with “long” 10 miles on the weekends nice idea. I think that may be do-able. 10 miles is still too long for me to be comfortable right now but it will get easier as the 15 and 20 mile marks come and go.

When I started this I wasn’t sure I would run the whole thing. The TNT group has you split into full and half marathon groups and then further into walkers and runners. We were told at the beginning that running didn’t have to mean every step just more running that walking. I figured that I would start training to run as if I would run the whole thing and when I couldn’t I would walk. I’m doing better than I thought. We will see after the long run this Friday Morning, but I might just run this whole silly distance. :)

A friend of mine who went into the Army as an officer at the end of the summer was one of the first to sponsor me. His e-mail came with the comment that I better run every F*ing step of the marathon. I said I would do my best. It was nice when he was in town for the first time last week to tell him that I was up to every step of 9 miles. He replied “Every F*ing Step”! :) Boys are funny. I know he’s a smart ass but then that seems to be a trend with my friends. I hope I can tell ArmyO that I ran every step after January 7th.

Running Every F*ing Step

Runner Girl the Mighty

I have started a readers guide to this blog. the link is to the right marked

"Runner Girl The Mighty (What in the world am I talking about?!?!)"

Now maybe you can figure out what all this fighter/Mideval stuff is.

I hope to have pictures soon....

Anyway, I hope it helps. You cannot comment there but here is fine that is just up for continual reference.

I also started a "My Favorites:" list below spot the tiger. Feel free to read some of the back posts that I seem to have put more effort into. ;)

Just slowly updating stuff as I get to it.

Thanks for Reading!!

Friday Morning Run

So Friday Morning was 5 miles. It went very well. My shin ached the entire way so I think I’m going to have to break down and get that looked at. Any advice on how to find a doctor that specializes in runners. I don’t want to be told…you should stop running.

FireGuy and I are both going to a Halloween party and so we were trying to do costumes together. So this weekend I’m sewing a Darth Vader and Princess Leia costumes. Both Magnetbabe and Lisabetta have requested pictures so I will post some I promise.

Sorry the update is short but I’m out of town next weekend so I have to get this sewing done!!

It's gonna be a long day

The weather is fantastic!! Highs in the 80’s, lows in the 60’s. Running is something that can now be done with out gills!!

Stretching more and then stretching even more before you run seems to help a whole lot!! My shins still hurt, however no more than they did when 3 miles was a really long run. I’m trying the little exercises that one of the guys taught me after the team training the other day maybe they will help soon.

Last night was 3.6 miles. FireGuy and I ran a loop that he had mapped out a long time ago, and we moved along at a good clip. We then went to meet friends for dinner, and were running late from the run. Good thing they are very understanding of all of this Marathon Craziness.

Tonight after work is teaching and I think I have my evaluation tonight. GACK! I hate that. My boss, who really is great, comes in and sits in my class. BLECH!! I mean he is a good guy…still makes me icky that he’s in the class. I can teach to a bunch of people I know don’t know but when it’s someone who knows!!! I’m a mess. Isn’t that silly. Anyway he has only done this one other time to me in the 3 years I have been at the Community College and I think he is supposed to do it once a year. So…maybe I should be happy I dodged it this long. Then off to the gym to run, FireGuy has to study.

Long way to go today...

Stupid Internet

Well I have run twice since I have been able to get online. In fact as I sit and write this in Word the cable modem has puked yet again and I might not even get this up. So assuming you do actually see this post….

Wednesday’s run was done on Thursday and went just fine. I met FireGuy at his place and we ran at his end of town. 3 miles.

Today was the long run. It was the scheduled 9 miles. So this time I did it knowing that was how far I ran. I hope they don’t tell me this week that I really ran 12 miles. I feel better than I did the first time at this distance but it was still hard. My knees and foot didn’t hurt. Also the coach was riding a bike to be able to go between all of us. He rode slowly behind me for a little while trying to figure out why I have shin splints. He suggested that I try making sure my feet don’t slap especially my right one. Sure enough when I run concentrating on rolling off of my heels the pain was much less in my shins. It was well over half way before he suggested this so it was kinda hard to remember to keep doing it and to do it since I was tired, but when the pain came back a little I would remember. I’m sure it will be easier to remember if I practice during the shorter runs this week.

Another guy in the group suggested some little stretches and exercises for the shins. I really appreciate all the suggestions. I will try all the suggestions and have no idea which ones are working and which aren’t but at this point I don’t care. As long as something, anything, helps.

Well that’s it for now folks. Monday is Leif Erickson (Columbus) day and I’m off from the day job. I just have to teach in the evening. So I scheduled the cable guy to come between 8 am and 11 am. Then maybe I can post when I should.

I hate Road Runner sometimes.

How to make me useless...

Distance: 4.0 miles   Time: ~52 min   fair 9:30 pm
Temperature: 82 °F    Humidity: 56%      Pressure: 30:10 inches (rising)

4 miles…YEA!! My foot was stiff after but the stretching it before I run seems to be helping sooooo much.

I’m feeling very behind this week. (too much video gaming this weekend) FireGuy suggested we play one of the PS2 games I have. A two player dungeon type game. He is proving to be a great video game adventure partner. (Not everyone seems to do this well together)

I don't own the latest Tomb Raider, my other favorite type of game, because I will lose my mind playing it till it is done. (It's one player so I would be just lost to the world)

All that aside, video games have always proven to be an inexpensive distraction. I think this is a good idea with the holidays on the way. I'll have more money for Christmas presents if I stay home and play video games. (esp. when I buy them online used or wholesale...amazon rocks)

Maybe after running a marathon I will look a little more like Lara Croft....with out the fake lips and all. :)

I need to get to bed earlier….

A week later!!

I strained something in my right foot on that long run last weekend. SOoooo….I was good. It was very hard but I did it. I stayed down all week. I don’t just mean I didn’t run. I mean I stayed put most of the week.

Finally…yesterday I ran. I went for a little over 3 miles. My foot was tight again at about 2 and I didn’t quite make three when it started to hurt. So I walked the rest of the way. That helped it didn’t hurt to walk but it was tight and a little sore the rest of the day. Today it is a little twingy but still better than earlier in the week so I think it’s getting better slowly.

Today is a rest day on the schedule and I will take advantage of it. I will stay put on the couch to get work done (I hate stay put!!) Then 4 miles easy tomorrow, I should be able to do that…right?!?! (I hope)

Just Run suggested being the stretching queen!! I have been trying that and it has already seemed to help. I feel better when I can’t run and the day after I started taking a few min here and there to stretch a little my foot started making a larger improvement. Wow, were my legs tight when I hadn’t run in a few days!!

My mother is worried about my foot and all of this training.

Mom: “I hope all of this marathon stuff isn’t killing you”

Me: “at least I have a spleen”

So all of those of you worried I promise I will not go so far as to play 2 - 3 quarters of NFL football with a ruptured spleen!!

Good luck to Chris Simms for a speedy recovery.

Bucs are off this week so you don’t have to hear me call them stupid, and a new QB for the season will be determined this week I think.

Gotta stretch and then hurry to stay put!!