Lucky Run Wrap Up & Team Mermaid, Sacramento

Half marathon #2 is in the bag. This was the first time I ran the Lucky Run in Davis. It was a beautiful day for an event (I could have done without the wind) and everyone I came across was in great spirits. I've never had a bad experience with race day volunteers but the folks at this event was among I the best ever! They help motivate and everyone of them had a smile on their face.

This was a challenging race for me. My right hamstring with bothering me before I even started and I had forgotten my watch at home. This meant I didn't have a timer to run my usual 30 second walk/run intervals. So instead I ran till I was tired and walked till I felt recovered. This was great, at first. I was running longer than I usually do but I wore out my feet and legs too early in the race. By the time I got to mile nine my feet where so tired they hurt. I actually walked the last 5K. On the up side, hard races make me value the finisher medal a little more. I earned that sucker.

I started training with my new team this week. Team Mermaid has come to Sacramento and I couldn't be happier! It feels great to be apart of a team again. We did a short run and lower body work on Wednesday and today (Friday) we did a strength workout focusing on upper body. It was challenging but I felt like a rockstar when I got home.

Tomorrow I plan on taking my bike on the the American River bike trail for the first time. I'll go for 30 minutes out then 30 minutes back before spending the day with my honey. I have my third half marathon on Sunday, the Shamrock'n half. I'm excited for this one. I ran it last year and it was a lot of fun (even though I was in new shoes and my feet didn't have a good time). Wish me luck!

I'm in a funk

Yesterday's workout:

Lol, that didn't happen... Rest day


I'm writing this at 8 in the morning sitting on a pillow on the floor with a baby playing by my feet, a dog cuddling next to me, three kids on the other side of the carpet playing with blocks. Another kid is at the table eating and my other dog is standing under the table just I case a muffin crum falls her way. It's a typical morning.

As I'm sitting here it's hard not to notice the crazy amount of dog hair that's all over everything. And that reminds me of what a mess the hallway floor is, and the kitchen floor, and the bathroom floor, and the mounds of laundry that still need to be folded, and the mounds that have yet to be washed. I used to be on top of this stuff. My house was sparkling. My "messy" was other people's "tidy". I had a system and it worked for me. Every room was clean, the laundry was under control and I did it all on my own. Things are very different now.

The kids have gotten older and my husband and I decided they need some extra responsibilities and to contribute to the household. We started giving them each chores and making them responsible for their own laundry. Now my house is a complete disaster and nothing is ever clean. I need to get back to my routine but I can't seem to force myself to do what I know needs to be done. What's wrong with me? I'm not happy the way things are and I know how to fix it. So what's my issue? Why can't I just buckle down and do it? Please tell me that I'm not the only person going through this.

I guess I should put this away and clean something... But I really don't want to.

Mermaid Half Wrap-up

Yesterday's workout:
Treadmill: Warm up and alternating speeds
1.5 mi, 21 min
Stationary bike:
7 mi, 25:26

We turned my race weekend into a week long vacation. The day before my race we spent in Disneyland. I was worried that all that walking around would hurt my race but I don't think it did. We hadn't been to Disneyland since Sami was 5 and Nevyn was 2 so this trip was much different. We were joined by Jeremy's brother and two family friends. We had a ton of fun. In the shop outside Star Tours Nevyn found and fell in love with an Ewok backpack he named Alex and hat he name Zack. I don't remember the last time he loved a toy as much as he loves that backpack. He wore everywhere.

After leaving the park we drove down to San Diego, checked into the motel and had some diner then I soaked my foot in a cold tub in preparation for the race. I was nervous about the weather. California has had a very cold winter and all over the state we have been reaching record lows. Even in sunny San Diego. The day before, in Disneyland, we got caught in a hail storm... Thankfully the race gods were watching out for us ( or maybe it was the mermaids). The sun was shinning throughout the race and even though we had to run against the wind at some points, it was a beautiful day!

I had a few issues on the course but overall I feel really good about my run. I had some tummy troubles in the very beginning but thankfully this course was blessed with lots of port-a-potties. Yes, I said blessed. My first three miles were really rough but around mile three those good running feelings hit and it was smooth sailing. Until around nine a half miles. I drank too much water and felt a little sick. I made another pit stop and ate a z-bar. That helped a little but I was tired and had slowed down so it was nearly impossible to get back to the pace I had held through most of the course.

At the finish I was greeted by the biggest finish line crowed I had ever had. Jeremy and the kids where there as well as his brother, Daniel, our friends, Jimmy and Brittany, and one of my best friends from high school, Carolina and her daughter. That was really special. I wanted to finish in three hours but considering the tough start and feeling sick near the end I'm happy with my time. 3:15:17

My family and I stayed in SD for a few more days while the rest of our group headed back north. We explored SD and visited with Carolina who I hadn't seen since she moved there years ago. We visited the USS Midway (AWESOME!) went to Sea World, Balboa Park, Little Italy and downtown.

Our next stop on our So Cal tour was Indio ( east of Palm Springs) to visit Jimmy's grandmother. We have known her and Jimmy for close to 20 years and she has adopted us as part of her family. (Backstory: Jimmy was my friend in high school and Jeremy's friend from swim Team. we both met him separately around the same time. He introduced us to each other about sixteen years ago.) Our visit was very short but very nice. The kids really like her and Nevyn even gave her a hug, without prompting, when we left. If you know Nevyn than you understand how impressive that is.

My aunt got us reservations at a hotel in San Luis Obispo for our last couple of night in So Cal and on the way there we stopped by Disneyland for one more day of Disney magic. We went on a lot more rides, met a few more characters, including Sami's favorite-Belle. We made to SLO very late that night and feel asleep as soon as we hit those wonderful beds. Jeremy spent the next day doing homework so the kids and I went for a walk. A block away from the hotel there is a lake so we went exploring. It was sunny, warm and gorgeous. After lunch the kids played in the hotel pool. I think they really miss being in the water. Both of them are excited for swim team to start again.

Later in the day we drove 15 minutes to Pismo Beach. I loved it there! We walked down the beach to the pier and watched the surfers. I really loved the SLO part of the trip. The hills are green, the sky is blue and the air is clear. Everywhere you look you see hills and trees and you're only minutes from a beach. In my dreams I live there.

The drive back home was uneventful. The kids slept and Jeremy and I enjoyed the scenic drive. As we got closer to the valley and Sacramento the sky was less blue and the along the skyline we could see the brown smog cloud that looms over the city we call home. It's no wonder our first two mornings home we felt sick.

Looking back over the week, I can safely say that this was one of the best family vacations we have ever taken and we are planning on going back to SLO soon.

5 days till race 1 of 13

Workout:

Super Bowl 10K

Time: 1:25:50

Yesterday I ran the Super Bowl 10K as a way to force myself to get 6 miles in over the weekend. It took me longer than I really wanted but I have to remind myself that I've had a lot of set backs over the last two weeks. Let me fill you in on my recent hurdles.

1) Eye woes - Last summer I was scratched in the eye by one of my daycare kids. It took forever to heal and the doc warned me that if my eyes get too dry, the scratch could reopen, especially first thing in the morning. A couple of Thursdays ago, in the afternoon, my eyes where too dry (I guess) I blinked and the scratch reopened. The next day I saw my doctor and he confirmed that it was the same scratch. I was doomed to wear an eye patch tapped to my eye for the next few days.

2) Skin issues - The tape the doctor used to secure the eye patch to my face was plastic medical tape. I forgot that I have a latex allergy. Can you see where this going? When I took the patch off my skin was red, itchy and there were even a few sore where the tape had been. I even had a sty on each eye. 

3) Monster hand - I had, what I thought, was just a small clogged pore on my left hand. I get these ever now and then from the buckets of lotion I use on my dragon skin. I popped it and though that was the end of that. The next day I bumped into something while I was walking down the hall and it hurt my hand more than it should have. I looked at it and was shocked to see it was flaming red and hot to the touch. It was infected. I tried cleaning it out as much as I could but it continued to get more and more painful and at one point my had was about three times the size it should have been. I had to take my wedding ring off it was so swollen (the injury was near my thumb). I went into the doctor and was put on two antibiotics. The constant throbbing in my hand was torture.    

So I missed a lot of workouts and I knew I couldn't flake on my last weekend before my half. The 10K was a lot harder than I thought it would be. That makes me nervous for the half on Saturday. Send me good thoughts for race day. I think I'm going to need them.  

     

Thank you Facebook peeps!

Workout:

3 mi/treadmill 1% incline

Today was a long day. Things got a little stressful at work and by the time the workday was over I was exhausted. I knew I really needed to get today's run in but I was in a motivational melt down. I knew I would get the support I needed if I reached out to my Facebook family so I posted the following on my FB page:

"I'm fighting the urge to flake out on my training run tonight. I'm going to chill while my diner digests then go to the gym. Why am I sharing? Because I need encouragement, lol"

The support I got was amazing!

"Go to the gym!!!" - my hubby

"Go to the gym. Nobody ever regretted a workout they completed. You got to do the work if you want to reach your goal!!" - my neighbor

"Go Anna and workout for me too! There....,did that help?!?" - my cousin

"Go Anna-you will feel so much better afterwards plus you can't let me down cuz you are my inspiration....how's that?" - my aunt

"Get off your bum! I did my walk this morning and tomorrow I'm adding an evening bike ride to my routine." - close friend since grade school

"Go, you will feel better after. I know I did!" - friend

"Just do it" - close friend since high school

"I hope you went already, Tina did." - friend

I'm feeling great riding the post run high and I have all of you to thank. So, thank you! My legs were a little (lot) sore from yesterday's bodypump class but my legs felt pretty good during the run.

Tomorrows plan? REST DAY! And I need it. :)

back to bodypump

Workout

Bodypump class/60 min

Last night was my first bodypump class since the end of October and I was embarrassingly weak... After the first track my legs where quivering, haha. My workout buddy, Tracy, was giving me "the look" when she saw that most I would lift was 15 lbs. I'll add a little more next Tuesday. My plan is to go to the Friday class too and keep going twice a week  and hopefully build back to where I was before I started slacking off. 

Life here in Sacramento has been miserable! I understand that we are still living in above 0 degree conditions and there are other places that are not as lucky but I'm not a fan of cold weather so waking up in the twenties makes it very difficult for me to get my ass out of bed. For a while I was trying to get up early and do my training in the morning before work like I did in the summer and fall but I refuse to run outside when it's colder than 40 degrees. I just can handle it. The dark doesn't help either. If it was sunny I would probably suck it up and run. Maybe. Bottom line, I'm so tired of being cold!

if only i could take Sadie with me

It's going to be another cold but sunny day today but because of my long work day I wont be able to use that sun for training. So I will be at the gym again tonight running in the treadmill, blah. 

  

New running expense: massage

Workout: Training run

2 mi on the treadmill

I've been dealing with foot pain for a long time now and have read study reports and articles on so many foot problems I can't keep them straight anymore (I guess I wouldn't last long as a researcher). A common treatment seems to be massage. But it wasn't until I listened to recent pop stuff pod cast on massage (one of the podcasts from howstuffworks.com) that I was interested enough to make an appointment.

I've had massages in the past and while I enjoy them it's not something I would splurge on. My husband on the other hand gets massages pretty regularly and sees the benefit of them in his back and arms. Maybe that's partly because the Swedish massage is enough to do him some good while I know it would take a deep tissue session to help me and it just doesn't seem worth the discomfort. But with all that said, thanks to Holly Frey at howstuffworks.com, I made an appointment and explained that I was looking for someone who could do a "sport-ish kind of massage for running injures". (I wasn't going to actually to ask deep tissue even though I knew that's what I probably needed.)

I went the Mellow Me Out Day Spa yesterday for my massage. My therapist, Dale, and I talked about what I wanted and my current foot and leg issues. It turns out about 40% of his clients are runners and when's I asked him questions he seemed to know his stuff. He warned me that it was going to be a little uncomfortable, as I expected, but he wanted me to know that my pain level should not get more than an eight, otherwise it could cause me injury. Basically, if in my head I'm thinking I want to kick him then things are good, if I say it out loud, that's a sign he needs to back off.

Yeah, it was an eight but later that night I noticed that I was walking normally, with full range of motion in my foot. It's been months since my foot has felt so good. Before I left the day spa I scheduled my next appointment for two weeks out. This is going to get a little pricey but if it'll allow me to run with less pain and discomfort than it's worth it.