Peachy Keen

Okay, so I am a bad blogger. But I promise I have a lot to say in this post!

Last weekend was somewhat eventful. After my 6ish mile bridge run downtown, I had a little calf pain on the left side, so I decided this was a good opportunity to get some new shoes: Nike Air Pegasus. I had always been under the impression that they only came in the trail model, but these are actually pretty sweet road shoes...

Also, I did a brick workout last Sunday - 750m of swimming followed by 40 minutes of biking (while watching Wimbledon - so happy Nadal won yesterday!). It was a pretty good workout that I would have liked to have followed with a run, but the rain and possibly my legs weren't going to allow that. But it was good to feel the transition from using my swimming muscles to my biking muscles. Overall, a very good workout for a Sunday afternoon!

Monday was boot camp, a nice strenuous workout followed by yoga, both of which were good for the craziness that was my work week. But I know nobody wants to hear about that. So I'll skip to the good stuff:

The Peachtree Road Race.

It was definitely the experience I was told it would be. And experience is definitely the word. The spectators were amazing - not just the folks working the water stops, but people with signs, posters, tshirts (including my mother and sister!), costumes, handing out watermelon, Flavor Ice, donuts, beer... and the really inspiring part was running up Cardiac Hill (which no matter how they bill it is nothing compared to the Hart Bridge from the Gate River Run) past the Shepherd Spinal Center and seeing everyone in their wheelchairs lining the road and cheering us on. They are the real heroes and incredibly inspiring. They had tons of sprinklers set up, and by the end of the race I was soaking wet! They even had an Episcopal priest sprinkling holy water! I made sure to cross myself just in case - I hadn't gotten to Cardiac Hill yet, I wasn't sure I'd make it! My time wasn't my best, but the experience was amazing! (Check out some aerial views here from the AJC. My official pictures are here.)

The weekend in Atlanta was great, too - I got to eat at some of my favorite places (Varsity and Henry's) and hang out with some of my favorite people - My mom, my sister, my stepdad, my brother, and my in-laws. Not to mention my very first trip to IKEA! (Words truly cannot describe its awesomeness...) And even though they lost, I still got to see my Braves play. (I promise that as soon as someone - anyone! - sends me some pictures, I will post them!)

So, that's my first post today. Now let me get some work done and I'll put up something that isn't in past tense!

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

That's about the fifth title I have come up with for this post. I initially started out with "Forgiving The Distance", an apology for badmouthing the 15k distance for so long, but I think it has once again betrayed me. So, to the Gods of Running Karma, I have to sacrifice my ankle.

It started out a pretty great race - I felt awesome as the Disney Women Run The World 15k started out. I hated running the off- and on-ramps due to hip issues, but they were short and I plowed through them. I was never horribly tired, and per my trusty Timex I finished in 2:00:51, about a good 7:01 faster than the Gate River Run! (My official time of 2:03:10 includes a bathroom stop). Afterwards, I felt pretty good, well enough to fight my way through the Epcot crowds to ride Soarin' (which, due to said crowds, we only end up riding about once a year.) Then, we headed to the hotel to check out, and off to Magic Kingdom.

That's where the distance decided it wanted revenge.

I will admit I am the world's worst about stretching. I know my calves get tight and I do very little to prevent or treat that. (Save for my amazing massage therapist and my Marathon Stick!) Well, this time, I am mega-tight in the lower calf area. I walked towards T'n'T (Ticketing and Transportation, for you non-Disney addicts out there) and I felt some soreness in the ankle and kind of going down into my foot around the side.


I have plantar fasciitis to beat the band, but it more manifests itself in my mid-foot, right down the middle (most people have heel pain - I can't decide if they're luckier or not). This was kind of on the side, so I didn't really think it was related. After trekking it around the MK, I ended up at First Aid getting Tylenol, ice, and an Ace bandage. I put the ice on my ankle, but it didn't seem that it was helping there. So, I put it further down on my foot. That hit the spot. Throughout the rest of the day I noticed that the more weight I put on it, the worse it got. This morning I decide to hit Google and I think this is it: Peroneal Tendon...sprain? Maybe? (Another site with this info here.)

So I am going to start my Marathon training two weeks late, while I take a nice (gag) two weeks off to R.I.C.E. the heck out of this thing, get an ankle brace, hit the anti-inflammatories, STAY OFF MY ANKLE, and, if it comes to that, pay a visit to the sports medicine doc. (Yippee! Not.)

This, however, is so not stopping me from registering for the inaugural Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon. But it might keep me out of 15ks for a pretty long while... How come I can do 13.1 miles without any problem but 9.3 miles just gives me fits every time?

I Don't Think We're in Jacksonville Anymore, Toto

I've been slacking. I sawwy.

The Gate River Run... was like running in a wind tunnel. Or a hurricane. Remind me not to go out for Jim Cantore's job anytime soon - how does he keep that hat on his bald little head in the wind? I could barely stand up, especially on the bridges. I couldn't even run *down* them. That really drove me crazy! But when I did run, I felt great, which is something I haven't always been able to say in a race (especially the GRR!) And after, I wasn't comatose for two straight days... I was actually out at the bar doing shots! Go me! Goes to show that training pays off (and shots make a nice reward).

I came in 0:01:10 under my previous time. I blame the wind for about 5 minutes at least, but I feel pretty fortunate not to totally sack out after.

If you want to read a real Gate River Run post (or two!), check out my husband's blog, The Starting Gun

Ready to Run

Okay, so according to my doctor, I do, in fact, have laryngitis. All the nasty gunk from my sinuses is coating my vocal cords. When my throat gets dry, I start this beautiful hacking cough that doesn't go away until some of that gunk dislodges from my vocal cords. It might take two or three good coughs or four or five minutes of coughing. So yesterday, my boss decides the hacking is enough for him and has me banished to the house. This is where I mention that I gave up TV for Lent. I've done a lot of laundry and house cleaning as I have guests this weekend, but it's been very quiet around here. So I clean up and nap and watch my favorite movie yesterday. I feel like staying home helped me (and, to be honest, work is kind of slow right now...) so I called in sick today. I had a major coughing fit this morning and took some cough syrup with some codeine in it (GREAT stuff, knocks me on my butt!) and slept until 3! I haven't slept like that since college! Anyway, my husband took the last frozen dinner, so I indulged my sick self in a Quarter Pounder w/cheese value meal (to keep the antibiotic down, naturally) and I'm listening to my laundry. I am going out tonight (I won tickets on the radio to see Pete Sampras and Todd Martin play) but that's not what I am most looking forward to this weekend...

The doc cleared me to run. SWEET! I didn't have a fabulous showing in my first Gate River Run, so I am looking to do better (even if I am sick). Not to mention this cabin fever is killing me!

Putting The "R" In R.I.C.E

I have always considered myself a chronic person, always switched on, a habit, vexing at times. I do what I want to do, even when I probably shouldn't do it. Impulsive might not even cover it, it's more like stubborn or hard headed. My dad would give me advice in college and he'd usually end it with, "But you're going to do what you want to do and not listen to me." Dad was usually right. It didn't always come back to bite me, but there are many times I wish I had backed down when instead I just kept right on going.

The same is true for my running. And while tenacity is admirable in a runner, blind stubbornness is not. Especially when it comes to sickness and injury. I preach R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) to anyone I run with who even remotely says they have an ache. I just can't take my own advice. My ankle injury last fall is a prime example - It wasn't even an ankle injury to begin with. It was a calf injury from a 5k... then I ran my first half marathon on it the next day... and two days later, I couldn't even make it through a lap at the park. Instead of taking it easy, hitting the ice pack, and trying to wait it out, I kept pushing. After my pitiful run at the park, I was trying to stretch it (here's where looking up calf stretches on the internet would have come in handy), turned it wrong, added some weight to that leg, and *WHAM* a small amount of calf pain becomes a pop in my ankle and I'm chilling out for 5 weeks.

So here I am with a sinus infection to beat the band. I skipped running today because from the throat up I'm worthless. Seeing as this is a pretty integral body part in breathing, I'm probably better off this way. Not to mention there is the possibility of making this worse, getting sicker, and missing the Gate River Run on Saturday. I can't imagine that.

So R... rest. Boring but necessary.

Later Gater

Mike has come up with a list of all of the folks we (he) knows running the Gate River Run and how we'll finish. So, without further ado:

1. Gump*
2. Brian
3. Mike
4. Bill
5. Murnin
6. Darcey
7. Megan
8. Me
9. Soupal
10. Our boss
11. Billy (who is walking it... though you might beat our boss).

We'll see how this ends up. However, I was warned by my boss that I can't be sick so that I can run. I wonder if he'd like to make a friendly donut wager on this one...

*Some names edited to protect the guilty.