7 weeks til the Colorado Colfax Marathon

Isn't it funny that I am not worried about running 13.1 miles in the half-marathon - but I am mostly worried that continuing to train for it is just asking for injury. I have really backed off the mileage. I hope I don't regret it.

I ran only 11.73 miles last week. Here are the reasons for the low mileage: we had snow 2 days, high winds a couple more, I had insomnia for four night and felt horrible! In March my total was 75.59 miles. As I write that, I realize that really IS a lot of miles. I ran 90 miles in January... so getting down under 20 miles a week seems like "slacking" to me.

The other discouragements are: I have gained a bit of weight. When I tell people this, they assure me that as I train, I am gaining muscle and changing my body composition. It would be nice to believe that, but the fact that my jeans are now tight, and my belly is now slightly hanging over tells me that this is not muscle and it is not good. But I have to eat to train and I am doing just that! The other discouraging thing is that my times for my runs are slowing. I think this means I am going to have to get back on the treadmill once or twice a week. Instead of the wonderful runs outdoors daydreaming with the trees and the fresh air, I need to get on the dreadmill at the gym - where I can set the pace to a 9 or 10 minute mile and work on some speed.

I can't believe I am looking forward to training for the triathlon because it will be a break from the half-marathon training. It is fun to ride a bike and swim. Bike riding is my favorite sport of all time, and I am even good at it! I find swimming almost meditative.

Thanks for the encouraging comments. I really appreciate you bloggers!

March 18 - 24

I ran 15.32 miles. I just spent about 5 minutes trying to 'strike through' the word "ONLY", as in I "ONLY" ran 15.32 miles this week. Today I "ONLY" ran 7.2 miles - see the above photo - it was pouring rain and 40 degrees. And, it was the most wonderful run I have had in a long time. But after an hour, I was soaked to the skin and I was worried about my iPod and my cell phone. There were little puddles of water inside the pockets of my windbreaker! When I got inside my house, I stood in front of the washing machine and just stripped all that dripping wet stuff off me and put it directly into the washer. It really was glorious.

Earlier this week I had such terrific hip pain, I decided to do some research. What I found scared the bejesus out of me. I thought I might have a stress fracture of the neck of the femur. Oh man. So I took a few days off. On Thursday I went to the pool and was encouraged that a half mile swim was totally painless, so I decided that I do not have a fracture. As I said, my run today was great, so I am not so worried. I know I can run the half-marathon, but I don't know if I can live through the training!

I found another great quote this week. I subscribed to Runner's World magazine and they sent me a little booklet called "Get Motivated Stay Motivated." I have become quite fond of John Bingham (The Penguin). I can so relate to so much of what he says. Here is a great quote from him in the book:

"My running shoes have become giant erasers on my feet. Every footstrike rubs away some memory of a previous indiscretion with food or smoke or drink. Every successful mile releases me from the grip of the demons of failure. Every starting line is another chance to prove that my past will not determine my future.

"When I am running, in training or in a race, I imagine myself as strong and swift and elegant. When I am running, I imagine myself striding gracefully through life with courage and pride. When I am running, I forget my failures as a child or parent or friend or lover. Through running, I create myself as I have always wanted to be."

He just described me to a "T"!

3/11 - 3/17

I managed to log 22:11 miles this week. They mostly felt pretty good too. I have increased my stretching and I believe it is beginning to help me with running.

Sunday 3.10 miles
Tuesday 4 miles
Thursday 5 miles
Saturday 10 miles.

The ten miler this morning was great. I felt good. The sun was shining, and after 5 miles, I took off my jacket and wrapped it around my waist. It felt great to be out there in the sun. I repeated some affirmations to myself when I was challenged... like "I am a runner," & "I am a marathoner." I took that advice from one of the books I am reading.

I do believe I am going to be able to do this half-marathon. This morning, I tried to imagine what it will feel like to be running down Colfax Avenue - I am really looking forward to it.

March 4-10

Tee Shirt from my very first race, the Bolder Boulder, Memorial Day, 1987. Twenty years ago. I will never forget the exhilaration of running into Folsom Stadium and crossing the finish line. I felt that every single person there was cheering solely for me. I finally had finished a race! (and I had a cigarette and matches tucked away in the tiny pocket of my little pink running shorts!)

This week was another week that wasn't what I thought it would be. I only managed to log 16.42 miles.

Monday 3.10

Weds. 4 miles

Friday 3.10

Saturday 6.20

I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I am sure it is something because I am not feeling good like I was a month or so ago. Although I must say that I took a few seconds off my mile time on my 10K today. For me, it is difficult to go any faster than the snail's pace I seem to run at (between 11:21 and 11:43 per mile). The encouraging thing is that the farther the run, the better the time per mile.

I have been reading a lot about training. I also recently subscribed to Runner's World magazine. Yesterday I found something written by Michael Finkel in March's issue that I absolutely love - and relate to: "those who can't do sports, run,"And those who can't run, run far."

I cannot wait to see how this all turns out.

Feb 25 - March 3

I got new shoes yesterday! I walked into the Boulder Running Company, pointed at the shoes and said, I would like a pair of these in size 9 please. I didn't try them on or anything. I put over 400 miles on the old ones, they were the best running shoes I have ever had. These new shoes should get me trained for a half-marathon. I will probably buy a new pair just before the event so that they have good springiness.

I ran 10 miles this morning, and it felt good for the most part. I bought a book on marathon training last week (The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer) and decided to take the advice to run 4 days a week instead of five. But this week I had so much going on, and two of the days I thought I was going to run there was snow falling, so I only ran 3 days.

Monday 3.99 miles
Tuesday 3.10 miles
Saturday 10 miles

I ordered another training book last night. Debbi is using a book called "Marathoning for Mortals", it has plans for half-marathons as well as marathons, so perhaps this will be better than the other book. In any event, I can share these with my daughter - who is registered for both of the marathons with me.

Thanks for the words of encouragement from the other bloggers. I do appreciate it. I have noticed that this blog is pretty poorly written. I pride myself on my writing skills, but I generally write this just after my long run on Saturday morning, and I think my brain isn't in the best shape at this time. Oh well, thanks for bearing with me.

Feb. 18-24

Another cell phone photo of Clement Park. BUT, you will note that some of the lake is actually thawing! I ran last night after work, my least favorite time to run, because it was supposed to snow today. But alas, the sun is shining today. I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow because I need to get a long run in.

I ran only 13.44 miles this week. 4 miles on Monday, 2.08 miles on Tuesday, 3.10 miles on Thursday, and 4.25 on Friday. My times are abysmal. I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I am certain there is something wrong because instead of improving, my fitness seems to be declining.

One encouraging note... I have the Nike + iPod gadget, which gets me signed on for all of the wonderful functionality of Nikeplus.com. Part of that is a leaderboard for each age group. In women 55 to 59 years old, I am now in 9th place in terms of total mileage. It really meant a lot to me to break the top ten.

Ethiopian Friend

I have an Ethiopian friend at work. He is a runner. I mean, a REAL runner. I talked to him today about my training and he thinks I am running too frequently. That I ought to try running 3 or 4 times a week, not five. And that I ought to run 10 miles max.

Then he went on to give me a pep talk that had me feeling like I could do anything! He said that in our culture, a woman of my age who can run 13 miles is rare indeed. He said in his culture, they run... but not here. That encouraged me. So, tomorrow, I am taking a day off!