Road to Recovery and Disney!!

We may have done a TON of this over the past couple of days:

But, we are on the mend. I did get it Friday afternoon/evening. Thankfully the vomiting didn't start until after John got home. You know that feeling that you KNOW you are going to be throwing up your lunch later as you actually eat it? Yeah.. I had that. Good news is, it seems John's mask worked and he hasn't gotten it. The bathrooms and kitchen are disinfected and I have washed more sheets and towels than I care to admit. 

We have also unloaded our piggy banks...

In an effort to teach the girls about saving money, I told Addison that we would empty her piggy bank and she could pick out and buy whatever she wanted to with her money. She was all for it! 

Look at that concentration!! 

In the events of sickness, I missed a 5 mile run and my 10 mile run. Which, I know in the scheme of training, it isn't that big of a deal, but, mentally, I really wanted that 10 mile run. Now my question is, Do I run 5 tomorrow? And maybe 3 Thursday if I can fit it in our Disney schedule?

And I know everyone has been waiting for the outfit reveal....

I am still a little undecided on the tall socks.. I like them, but I didn't get a chance to run in them, so I am not sure how they will do. I have a sparkly silver sweaty band--it reminds me of Cinderella! 

If you see me on the course.. Say Hello! Or ya know, drag me across the finish line. 

Training this week..

This weeks training has really stepped it up for me. Sunday was my "first" long distance run of 7 miles. I really needed to do around 8 or 9, but was afraid of injuring myself. I was excited and nervous to find out what I was capable of physically and mentally. The first 2 1/2 miles were pure torture. The thoughts of "why was I doing this to myself?" and "How did I expect to run 13.1 miles in a few weeks, if this was so dang hard?" were creeping in. And then? Around mile 3.. my body started to cool itself off. And I started to get those endorphins pumping and I was feeling good. Now, don't get me wrong, I did stop and walk some, normally just long enough to get a drink of water and catch my breath a little bit. That 7.17 miles? It took me an hour and a half. It equals out to about a 12:30 pace. Which, for those of you who aren't runners.. that's not very fast. John kind of made fun of it and I told him to go run 7 miles. I iced and stretched because I knew I would be sore and contemplated how easy or hard it would be for me to walk the next day. 

Monday? I felt great. My hamstrings were a little sore, but not bad, more along of the lines of I had just used them a little extra. I went to the Chiro so he could adjust my hips and my knee( MOM DON'T COMMENT ON THAT!)  that made me feel wonderful! John and I discussed how many miles I should do on Tuesday and he said 7. He told me that running 3 miles wasn't going to help me at all. I needed to step up my running game. Go big or go home. 

I don't get this inspirational talks from Philly too often and it was much appreciated. Normally, I get the same amount of enthusiasm from him no matter if I ran 7 miles, cooked a delicious dinner or washed his dirty underwear. "That's great, Dear." is about all I get on an everyday basis. 

So, I got up Tuesday and was going to run 7 miles.. only, the muscles around my knee were a little tender from getting adjusted. I decided to put off my run until the afternoon and see how I felt. The soreness went away by mid morning. I hopped on that treadmill and started to run and.. my legs felt like lead pipes. Like I  had lead instead of muscle and fat under my skin. 

So, I told myself to run 5, and get it over with. I pushed myself speed wise to try to loosen up the muscles but they wouldn't budge. 

They were destined to feel like sacks of sand. I entered in my stats into DailyMile when I got home and holy smokes... my 5.02 miles in 1 hour averaged me an 11:57 pace. 

WHAT? How did that happen? How was my lead-leg run a faster pace than my 7 mile run? 

Yesterday was another off day.. my plan is to run no less than 5 miles every time I run, which is about every other day, and then have my long runs on the weekends. 

Today was another 5 on the board. In case you didn't know, it snowed AGAIN here in the South and schools were delayed. I parked my car and when I opened my door I noticed that my running boards were iced over and I didn't want to bust on them so I just hopped down onto the ground. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the ground was iced over and well and the second my feet hit, they came out from under mean and I completely busted in the parking lot. I sat there stunned.. I didn't even know I was falling and then my bootay was crazy cold from the ice. I sat there and contemplated crying in the parking lot, but then thought better of it since I had fallen and I didn't want anyone to make fun of me. My pride was hurt worse than my tailbone. But my tailbone is pretty dang sore now. 

Anyway, I ran my 5 miles, hamstrings are still a little sore, I guess from the increased distance. I ran 5.17 miles in 60 minutes.. which averages an 11:36 pace. Watch out, Ryan Hall! That's almost an entire minute off my average time! 

I kind of want to run tomorrow, but need to do my long run on Saturday... is that a smart or stupid idea?

Things I've learned this week:

-My body is a LOT more ready than I realized for this race

-I should've stepped up my distances a long time ago, because the first 2 1/2 miles of any run are pure torture. No wonder I haven't been wanting to run when I have only been doing 3 miles!

-My body is not getting as hot anymore as quickly. Which makes for shorter walking water breaks

-My appetite has greatly increased with my mileage.. I was hoping to burn some fat, but the scale keeps creeping up. Not cool, scale, not cool. 

Anyway.. Should I run tomorrow or not? 

A Training Pity Party

I have been more than my fair share of sluggish lately. I am not sure if I am just not recovered all the lack of sleep from Blissdom, but I haven't had the energy to run. Or really get out of my pajamas, if I am being completely honest. 

This month really isn't the month to be slacking. I am seriously undertrained for this half marathon, and I need to get my miles in. I realize, that I extremely obsessive about things that don't matter, such as an imaginary knee pain that I think I am making up. I have googled it and webMD'ed and nothing comes up for knee pain that is below the knee cap, but only peaks it's ugly head when I am running. And not every time that I run. I am icing and taking Ibuprofen and that seems to help. Why can't I be happy? I swear, I set myself up for failure with my neuroses. 

I had a good long talk with myself today about this. I think that, in my head, running should come easy. There shouldn't be any pain and it should slightly resemble running in a field of rainbows. But it doesn't. It's sweaty. And not easy.  Running 6 miles SHOULD hurt. Think about all of those football players that we idolize. How many ice baths do they take on a daily basis? How many times do they stretch? How many times do they workout? We never see it. How many times do they play with broken ribs or hands or concussions? We never know about it. They play through the pain. We just see greatness between the goal posts and don't know what it has taken to get there.

I am never going to win races. I will always be a middle of the pack runner. But I set myself up for failure by beating myself up because someone else runs 12 miles a day, every day, or takes crazy awesome photographs, or seems to have a clean house and perfectly dressed and well behaved children.

 Some things are easier for some people. But most things you have to work for and work really hard. Take getting pregnant. For some, all they have to do is look at their hubby across the room, others have to take medications, inject themselves with needles, and have appts with scientists to get their babies. Doesn't make one mommy better than the other. 

I struggled today. I didn't want to get on that treadmill today. Wrangling my kids to get dressed, brush their teeth and get in the car, was almost too much. But I knew I would kick myself later for not going. So I went. And I hated just about every minute. I pushed through pain, thirst, and mental abuse to pound out those 4 miles. And I did it one minute under my goal time of 50 minutes. Yes, 50 minutes for 4 miles isn't fast at all. But it was a lot better than sitting on the couch eating my feelings while watching the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Reunion. Even when I got half way, I still wanted to just be done. It wasn't until mile 3, that I started to feel good about what I was doing. I was almost there! I contribute my treadmill victory to Eminem and Rebecca-- her texts were the best. "Look, I think that's a shark behind you!!" Before every race, I get a text from Becca that says, "Run like someone's chasing you." 

Training for my Princess Half has been mentally draining for me. I honestly think it's because I am deathly afraid of failure. But I know what it feels like to cross that finish line, and it's one of the greatest accomplishments I've ever done. 

I'm going to try to enjoy these next 24 days before my Fairy Godmother sends up those fireworks for me to start my race. Because above it all, I'm doing something not a lot of people can or ever will do- even if I am undertrained for it. Even running 1 mile isn't something a lot of people can do and I need to stop comparing myself to amazing runners and just be happy with what I can do. 

Now.. can you name this tune? It's incredibly cheesy, but I totally needed it today.

"Have faith in your dreams and someday 

Your rainbow will come smiling thru 

No matter how your heart is grieving

If you keep on believing

The dream that you wish will come true"