Now where did we leave off? Oh yeah...

Wednesday we ran 3 miles on Bay Shore. I got out of work at 1pm so that was a good time, and it is cool enough to run in the middle of the day. FireGuy came over after his regular weights workout and we ran before I went off to teach for the night.

Thursday, FireGuy has a tradition of always running on Thanksgiving so that works out well. We ran in the morning. 5 miles. This run felt a bit like work but then I haven't been able to run consistently enough to do 3 days in a row in a while. My shin is starting to hurt a little bit so I decided to take Friday and Saturday off before the 16 on Sunday.

Sunday - 16 down. now an 18 and a 20 then taper off and then the marathon!! I didn't run the whole way. But I completed the distance. It got to a point where my legs just cramped up. I'm sure not running last weekend didn't help. So I would walk till the cramps left and run again. I was very careful to run twice as far as each walk. There are benches on Bay Shore and I could keep track of the ratio.

Maybe I have hit my limit and this is how it will go. Maybe not. I will try with the 18 again this weekend. I'm ok with that. Running most of the 13 two weeks ago is more than I thought I would ever run. My goal was to finish. I am still above a pace that will get me swept on the day of the Marathon and I still seem to be in line to finish under 6 hours. I have to finish in under 7 to not get swept. I will try to run as much as I can and with running this week back on track maybe the 18 won't be as bad. Or it might but I'll get it all by running. Either way I'm ok with all of this. I can now run 5 miles on a regular basis and longer once in a while and that is the fitness level I would like to maintain.

One last thing. I'm really going to do a marathon, and this is honor of Randy. The deadline is coming up quick. Anyone who wants to sponsor me and has been just waiting a little bit may want to get that sort of thing in. You can sponsor me at my Team in Training page or you can send me a check made out to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. If you need my address e-mail me at runnergirlfl@gmail.com.

Here I am….

Did you miss me? I’m fine. I took the weekend off. I didn’t mean to but it happened. I’ll probably be sorry this weekend but right now I have NO regrets! My blisters have healed, the new socks are keeping them from reforming so far. I’m scared to wear any other socks but I only have two pairs of the “Wright socks” I guess I better do some laundry to get those socks clean!! Or washing in the bathroom sink.

So Today I ran 3+ at the gym this morning. The current plan is:

Wednesday night: run with FireGuy, the 3.6 mile loop,

Thursday morning: 4.6 or so

Thursday after the run: off to Venice to be with the “Old folks at home” – Sorry Florida Joke. To se the family. My little brother and favorite sister-in-law will be down for the big T!

Friday afternoon/eve: Maybe back in time to run with FireGuy or I’ll go to the gym…or I’ll run in Venice if the schedule determines that.

Saturday: off!! Try to get hose stuff done. Like decorating for Christmas and starting on Christmas cards!!

Sunday: the long run…what ever the schedule says (~15-16 I think…EEP!)

Today’s run was fine!! With the break my shins didn’t hurt at all and the blisters are gone and the shoes felt great. FINALLY!!

Run like a turkey!!

Great American Teach-In 2006

Distance:~3        Time: ??:?? min    inside 8:30 pm
Temperature: ?? °F    Humidity: ??%      Pressure: ??.?? inches (falling)

So another pair of shoes, another short run. These were the best yet, but still made my feet cramp in a mile or so. So…I changed to my regular shoes and finished another 2 but when your feet are already in cramps it’s useless. However…there is good news…

THE NEW SOCKS WORKED!!

I didn’t wear Band-Aids at all to start and see what happened and they didn’t even start to rub and hurt! YEA!!

On Friday I go to the Physical Therapist and I am going to walk in with all the shoes….well not the first pair but the last two pairs for sure.

Yesterday I helped with the Great American Teach-In here in town. It is a day when you can volunteer to talk to kids in a school and tell them about what you do or your hobby or information you want to get out to them. I told elementary students about being a Physicist. Well the 1st and 2nd grades I told about being a Scientist. How to be a scientist, YES Girls can do this too, No you don’t have to go to an expensive fancy school. USF next door is doing important research, etc. (USF is next door…in fact the elementary school is on USF’s campus and they do a lot of work together) I brought in a little demo where you shine a light down into a soda can with a hole in the side near the bottom and you can see the light bounce inside the stream of water. It worked pretty well, I know because there were lots of Oooo's.

They also had visitors who teach the Computer Classes at the Library, a LADY firefighter (I know her….SHE ROCKS!!) and those were just the people I know. They were talking about people with animals, people teaching them how to eat right, people explaining exercise science…. maybe I want to sit in on that one.

Overall it was a lot of fun!! I’m really glad I got to do it.

As a side note, while looking for information on the Great American Teach - In to explain it to someone I came across this page trying to encourage people to go teach this to the kids. Hmmmm.... interesting what you find on the internet. Thanks, but I'll stick to Physics

HALF WAY!!!

Distance: 13 miles    Time: 2H:59M        7:30 am
Temperature: 57 °F    Humidity: 70%      Pressure: 30:05 inches (rising)

13 miles yesterday!! It took me as long to run 13 as it took Lance to run the whole marathon!! Oh well I guess if I had ridden a bike all over Europe for days on end faster than any one else year after year I could do my first marathon in under 3 hours too.

So…I’m halfway. The Blisters are maybe getting a little better. I still got blisters but they seem to be taking longer to generate and smaller when they do. There was an attempt at 6 miles on Friday but when my blisters were ugly fast that was abandoned at about 2 miles. I was not happy but over the weekend they dried up more and I made the much longer run. This is the most frustrating part because I don’t know how I will ever do 26.2 when I can’t do 3 some days…then I turn around and do 13?!?!

The shin splints are a dull shadow of what they used to be. This is great, and my knees don’t hurt at all. Now if I could just the feet to behave?!?! Next try is the 2 layer socks…I have to find a store that has them. The running store I go to didn’t.

I am supposed to also run on softer ground. Wow this is much harder said than done. First…my feet hurt worse on the rougher terrain of grass….not that rough I KNOW! Also I seem so clumsy on grass…Does anyone know how to get used to this?

GirlGoyle -
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/bittorrent/beginners-guide-to-bittorrent-212309.php
e-mail me and I'll give you more info and links...runnergirlfl@gmail.com

Internet Down Again!

Distance: 5.6 miles   Time: ??? min       9:00 pm
Temperature: 66 °F    Humidity: 70%      Pressure: 29:83 inches (holding)

These 5.6 mile runs are getting easier. Using the mole skin on my feet they didn’t start to make blisters till the last mile. (Yes new blisters anyway) But it was nice to run almost all the way with no pain. The shin is good the knees are good. All good!!

Ok…so RoadRunner is down again at my home!! I don’t know why. It isn’t my system, it isn’t my network, it’s them. I don’t like THEM. Not even a little bit. I’m trying not to Hate people….but they are a corporate entity…hmmm…ok I HATE THEM!! So all week I have been trying to read e-mail online from random places. Grrrrr

I can not even download the TV shoes I watch!! What will I do if I get behind in my favorite shows? I normally don’t watch much TV, but this season there are some new ones. I watch:

Heroes – Shocking I know that I would like a Science Fiction type show about Heroes that ends up almost being a live action comic book as implied by the show…Save the chearleader…Save the World!!

Friday Night Lights – This is another new show this season and again shocking that I like a show about sports. Specifically football! So far this show seems pretty cool.

ER – This has been a staple for years. There have been complete seasons of television where this was the only thing I watched. (well...and sports)

Rescue Me – It’s a show about firemen…guess who got me to watch this?!?! Anyway it’s on over the summer when the “regular” season shows are in re-runs so it is easy to have time for one show in the summer.

Two and a Half Men – This is really the only comedy I catch semi-regularly now that there is no friends. It’s cute.

That’s about it. I like to have a heart attack once a week watching the Buccaneers almost win/lose during football season, and I’ll watch what I catch during Baseball season till the Fall Classic…oh and the little league World Series…I LOVE the little league World Series!! Saturday Morning Cartoons get turned on if I am not out of town on the weekend but they are mostly on in the background till I leave the house to do something fun!!

I was told I would like Jerhico…I’ll have to check into that.

That’s 3 hours a week with a little more during football season and a little less in the summer. That’s not too bad.

No I don’t have cable…I do not see the need when I am never home. If I miss it I down load it.

What do you watch?

Hamburger Feet!

Distance: 12+ miles     Time: infinity       fair 9:00 am
Temperature: 71°F    Humidity: 57     Pressure: 30:25 inches (rising) 

Shoes: I started the long run on Sunday with the second pair of new shoes. They did ok with my legs but my feet started to cramp so I ran back to the truck and put on the old ones…(Brought them with this time) Cramps went away. So I am tempted to buy the same shoes I have but the PT guy didn’t like them because they over correct. Well if that’s what works?!?! So I will wait to talk to him.

Feet: I have hamburger feet!! Socks don’t help! I tried blister pads by Band-Aid. The blisters are sneaky. They don’t form under the pad….they from AROUND the pad. Today I bought mole skin padding that you can cut to the size you need. I think I will just make them big enough to wrap around my whole foot. They just need a chance at healing. There are blisters over blisters that have blisters under them. (Yes, it’s gross)

Running: The good news is that other than the shins are acting up a little after this large milage and the blisters for the most part I am now running mostly pain free. The shins don't hurt alot durring the run and my knees don't hurt at all so my legs and back and shoulders are in much better shape after these long runs.

Forever v Infinity: Well the infinity’s have it. I told FireGuy that he did get one vote for forever even if I do think Bre might be biased towards a fireguy no matter what…(He did think your line was great) He responded with the very adult reply of “Nuh-Uh Forever!” Eh what can ya do….(except reply “Uh-huh Infinity!” of course)

The 12+ this weekend went ok…not great. I felt worse because of the blisters and with out knowing it I must have run a little different so my left leg is over used in the wrong way and the muscles are sore in a funny way. In that way that makes pushing the clutch make me not happy. It will be ok in 24 hours it’s just sore.

So that is your friendly Monday morning update.

Infinity : Beyond Forever…

Distance: 5.6 miles     Time: ~70 min       fair 9:30 pm
Temperature: 73 °F    Humidity: 94%      Pressure: 29:98 inches (rising) 

Last night I wore my previous sneakers with the orthodics and everything was fine. In fact it went really well. 5.6 miles with NO pain. Near the end my knees were telling me they were tired, but there was no pain when I stopped either. Well unless you count the blisters on the arches of my feet but I just need more Band-Aids I guess.

It was very humid last night, and the run felt like it took for ever even though we made pretty good time. Much better than previous times. FireGuy said “We used to be done by 10 why are we finishing so late?” I replied “Maybe because we were running half as far?” He said “That would be it” I never would have thought that I would be running 5 – 6 miles at a time and just laughing and joking the whole way. Last night’s run even contained a long battle of Nu-uh, Uh-huh, Nu-uh Forever, Uh-huh Infinity.

So here is the great question of the ages….

Which is bigger Forever or Infinity?

I think it’s Infinity because Infinity is beyond Forever since it includes both the entire space and time continuums. Forever is only the expanse of time.

FireGuy says Forever is bigger because it’s “to Infinity and Beyond!!” (In his best Buzz Lightyear voice, of course)

So What do y’all think? Forever or Infinity?

Sneaker Disaster!!

ACK!! Something is wrong with the new sneakers!! I have never had this happen before. I bought the new shoes, and put the orthodics in them, and wore them all the time for a couple days. Like I always do with new shoes. Then yesterday FireGuy and I went for a run. The shoes were like lead weights!! We weren’t a quarter mile down the road and my thigh muscles were already burning!! I felt like such a wimp but I knew something was NOT RIGHT!! So I did the first part of the loop that is a little more than a mile and went back to the truck to wait for FireGuy to finish the run. By the time I got back to the truck my calves and the muscles in my feet were hurting as well!! So today I am back in the last pair that I had and the new ones are going back!! I have had to get used to new shoes before but I have never had a problem like that. I ran in the orthodics on the long run the other day so they aren’t the cause. If they AND these shoes are the problem then it’s the shoes that have to be fixed.

Other than that Halloween was too much fun. We grabbed lunch after the run, had to stop to buy a video game, had to test out the new game (of course) and then to my house to carve pumpkins and hand out candy to kids!! I’ll post pumpkin pictures tomorrow. They were really cool!