A run before sunrise

My day started pretty early this morning. I woke up before 6:00, and couldn't fall back asleep. I was too impatient to wait for sunrise to head outside for my run, so I decided to run in the dark. I don't know why I'm so scared to run in the dark; I used to do it all the time the first year that I started running. I don't have a headlamp, so I just put on my reflective vest. It was 43 degrees this morning, so I wore long sleeves and my running tights.

It was pitch black outside, and street lights are scarce. There aren't ANY street lights along my favorite route, so I had to alter my route a bit. I had six miles at an easy pace on the schedule. As soon as I started running, I got halfway down my street and then decided to turn around and go get my pepper spray. I felt much more comfortable when I had that with me, but it was still scary!

I kept picturing all of the roadkill on the side of the road, and hoped I wasn't stepping on any of it. My pace was much slower than I thought, probably because I was being so careful with my footing. I decided that I really don't like running in the dark!

When I got home, I got ready to take a shower, and Paolo followed me into the bathroom, like usual. He likes to wait for me to get out of the shower, because then he goes inside to drink the water off the floor of the shower. I have no idea why he does this--I give him fresh water every day! Today, though, I decided to try something different. I put him in the bathtub, and turned on the cold water to just a very tiny stream. Paolo was thrilled.

I figured he would take a drink and then jump out. When I got out of the shower, he was still in there. I got dressed, and blew my hair dry. He was still there, lapping at the water. He finally got out, after about 35 minutes.

I finished packing for the weekend, and got everything loaded into the car. I picked the boys up from my parents' house (they spent the night there), and then we were off. The trip to my sister's house is a little over six hours. I was worried about doing the trip on my own (well, alone with the kids). It ended up feeling like a very long drive, but we made it. The boys were SO well-behaved. I am truly shocked at how good they were.

We stopped for lunch at Subway (I wanted my now-daily bagel, but there aren't ANY options along the Ohio/Indiana turnpike), but other than that we were in the car the whole time, and I was so achy when we finally got to Jeanie's. My butt hurt from sitting so long. I don't even want to think about what the drive home will be like, after having run 26.2 miles!

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Never going back

When I told my kids that we'd be leaving Friday instead of Thursday, they were extremely disappointed... so I ended up changing my mind again. We'll leave for my sister's house in Rockford tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about making the drive (I've always gone with Jerry), but I'm sure everything will be fine.

Right now, I'm just worried I'm going to forget to pack something for the race! I (finally) am 100% decided on what I'm going to wear for the race. I made my shirt today...

At first I thought it might be a little too nerdy, but I got an overwhelmingly good response to it on Instagram, so I decided to go ahead and wear it proudly :)  I'll be wearing that with my black and pink capris, so if you are running or spectating in Chicago on Sunday and you see me, please say hello!

Jerry was off work today, which was nice, because we got to spend the day together before I leave tomorrow. Today was a rest day, so after the kids left for school, Jerry and I headed out to run some errands. The check engine light was on in the car, so we had to go get that scanned--turns out it was nothing. Then I spotted a place to get my hair cut (I don't have a "regular" salon, and I just go to any place that takes walk-ins--I know, I'm super high maintenance!). I didn't get any cut from the length, but I had her put shorter layers in it so that my ponytail won't slap my neck so hard when I run.

We went to the mall, so that I could get my free Victoria's Secret panties. I think Jerry was more excited to go to VS than I was, haha. While we were there, he saw a cute nightie and kind of insisted that I get it. I didn't complain! We stopped at Michaels, so I could get the iron-on stuff for my shirt. I ended up getting printable iron-on transfers, so that I could just print my photo and iron it onto the shirt. It was actually really easy to do. And I had the letters at home, so I just used those. I like the phrase "never going back"; I actually thought of getting a tattoo that says "never go back" (I'm not going to, but I thought of it!).

Finally, we went to Panera for lunch. I've been obsessed with bagels for the past couple of weeks. I've literally eaten a bagel for lunch every single day for about 12 days now. Usually, I get cinnamon raisin or pumpkin bagels and top them with Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter. Today, I got a salt bagel with chive and onion cream cheese. The salt bagel was SO good!

Speaking of carb loading, today was my Wednesday Weigh-in ;)  I was hoping to at least maintain last week's weight of 136.5, but my body must love bagels, because I lost another 2 pounds this week!

I'm really excited to be under 135 for the marathon. Now I'm only 1.5 pounds over my goal weight. This week is going to be tough, because I'll be in Illinois all week. My sister knows that I want to stay on track, though, so I don't think it will be too hard at her house. I'll only be in the city for about 24 hours, so the damage should be minimal. But I always tend to gain weight after a very long run like that, so I won't be surprised (or upset) if the scale goes up a little next week, as long as I stay on track.

Well, I've got to get packing for my trip. I'll be writing from my sister's house, and probably from the hotel, too.

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Gu, Shot Bloks, and other fuel

I got some bad news from Andrea yesterday. She's not able to go to Chicago with me, because her husband's grandma is very ill. I'm not mad about it, of course, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. Going to a destination race alone doesn't have much appeal! At first, I was tempted to just say "Screw it!" and not go myself. But I trained for this race all summer, harder than I've ever trained for anything, and I know I'd regret not going.

So, instead of going to my sister's house on Thursday, I'm going to go on Friday. I'll stay there Friday night, and then go into the city on Saturday via train. I'll go to the expo, and dinner, and then to the hotel (Andrea switched it to my name, so at least I have a place to stay on Saturday night!). On Sunday morning, I'll run the race, hop on a train, and go back to my sister's house. Very anticlimactic.

A couple of my Ragnar SoCal teammates are also running Chicago, and when I mentioned what happened, they said I could hang out with them on Saturday. I was excited to meet them anyway, so it worked out well! I'm going to meet up with Caitlin and go to the expo, and then we'll meet Cat and her friend for dinner. The only time I think I'll feel kind of lonely is Sunday morning. I'm nervous to go to the race by myself, because I have a terrible sense of direction!

Anyway, I'm done feeling sorry for myself, and I'm starting to look at the positives of going alone--I can go to bed early, wake up early, not have to share a bathroom, take my time getting ready, etc. And I'm very excited to meet up with Caitlin and Cat!

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This morning, I had five miles at an easy pace on the schedule. Usually, I do speed work on Tuesdays, so it felt kind of strange to be doing just five easy miles. It was in the low-40's this morning, which felt great for a run! I wore some UA Cold Gear tights and a long sleeved top. I even wore a light pair of gloves, since I wasn't going to be running hard enough to keep warm.

I felt really amazing today, and my legs wanted to go fast... I could feel it. But I held back, and tried to stay between a 10:00-10:40/mi pace. I want to save all of my energy for the marathon on Sunday. It was actually pretty hard to run that slowly when my legs wanted to go faster; every time I found myself spacing out, I noticed my pace would get down to the low 9:00's, so I would slow down again. I'm taking that as a good sign that tapering is working, and I'll have lots of energy on Sunday.

I decided to do a five-mile out-and-back run. When I got to the end of the road, where I had to go either right or left, I was confused for a minute--I couldn't remember where I was going. Then I realized I'd forgotten to turn around at the 2.5 mile mark! BAHAHA, that has never happened to me before. I was so lost in my thoughts that I forgot to turn around. I hardly ever do "just" five miles anymore, so I'm used to going all the way to that road and turning.

Thankfully, I only went about 0.33 miles past where I should have turned around. So when I got home, I'd run 5.65 miles instead of 5. I kept my pace pretty close to 10:00 the whole time.

Tomorrow is my rest day; Thursday, I have 6 miles easy; Friday, 5 miles easy; and Saturday, 3 miles easy. It just seems so... easy :)  Then, of course, Sunday I have a tough 26.2!  I plan on taking at least a full week off of running after the marathon, both for my physical recovery and my mental recovery from running hundreds of miles over the last few months.

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A couple of people have asked me about the difference between Gu and Shot Bloks, and why I use both. Gu is a packet of a sugary gel, with the texture of frosting, only a little thinner (the chocolate reminds me of chocolate frosting):

The Shot Bloks are like gummy bears, only a cube-shape:

One packet of Gu offers about 100 calories and 20 grams of carbohydrates. It's roughly the equivalent of three Shot Bloks, which are 90 calories and 24 grams of carbohydrates.

Carbs are really important to eat while running long distances, because your body can only store so much. Once you run out of what's stored in your body, then you "hit the wall" and it's not fun at all. It's not mandatory to use Gu or Shot Bloks, or other brands of similar items. You can use any form of carbs--dried fruit, dates, candy, whatever sits well in your stomach and digests easily.

I personally prefer to use both Gu and Shot Bloks. I like Gu, but I can only handle two packets of it before my stomach starts getting icky. When I did the Detroit Marathon, Rik had some Shot Bloks, and since I couldn't stomach the thought of another Gu, he offered me a couple of those. They didn't bother my stomach at all!

The general rule of thumb that I follow during the marathon is to eat about 100 calories per hour--so either one Gu packet or three Shot Bloks. The Shot Bloks are nice because you don't have eat them all at once. I like to stagger them every couple of miles. The Gu is pretty messy, so I eat the whole packet at once. It's important to drink water with the Gu or Shot Bloks, so I usually aim to eat them just before a water station.

I like the Margarita-flavored Shot Bloks, because they have extra sodium--210 mg--and, well, they taste good! The Gu only has about 55-65 mg of sodium. So basically, I use both Gu and Shot Bloks for variety, and taste preference; but it's important to find what works for you. There are a ton of different products targeted for running and other exercise, but you can also experiment with natural foods, if that's your thing.

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Motivational Monday #35

There are a ton of motivating stories to share today, so I won't waste space with an intro. Congrats to everyone!

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Amanda ran her third half-marathon--the Allstate 13.1 in Atlanta! She knew it was going to be a difficult race when she saw the shirts that read, "Run head over hills in Atlanta". The hills were killer! But she still managed an 11-minute PR with a finish time of 2:37. She said her proudest moment was watching her best friend, Jenni, cross the finish line. Amanda got Jenni into running a year and a half ago, and has loved watching her grow as a runner.

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Amber completed her first 5K race--a run for chocolate! She says she has a long way to go on her journey, and she's very sore after the run, but she's proud for finishing strong (with her husband's support, as he ran with her). I love what she wrote here: "The best part of the run was as we crossed the finish line, the announcers could see the names attached to the chips on our bibs on their laptop. As we crossed the finish line they were cheering "You did it Amber! Great job! Way to go!" All the volunteers were cheering for me too. It made me cry. It helped me forget the way I felt after running in gym class."  I think a lot of us know what she means by that feeling of running in gym class!

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Crystal ran her first 5K race this weekend! Despite spraining her ankles three weeks before the race, and the elevation increase at the location, she pushed herself to finish and she had a blast! (Crystal's race report)

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Desiree inspires me, because she just doesn't give up! When she signed up for her first 5K, she just hoped she wouldn't be dead last. And it turned out that she did come in last; but she didn't let that stop her from being proud for finishing, or from signing up for another race! She ran another 5K this weekend, and again, was hoping not to be last. There were several walkers, and she passed them, which was promising; but then the walkers took a shortcut, taking about 3/4 of a mile off of their distance, and crossing the finish line before Desiree. So she finished last again (her caption of this pic had me cracking up--she said, "At least now I can say that I've actually had an opportunity to run from the po po" ;)  Desiree is proud of her finish, and has plans of training for a 10K next! (Desiree's race report)

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Hannah completed her very first 5K (a glow run)! She was never a runner, and only had two months to train, but she decided to go for it an do her best. She ran/walked, and even with a side stitch, she finished under an hour, which was her goal. She said she had so much fun that she plans to do another! 

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Ivayla ran her first half-marathon this weekend! She felt on top of the world crossing the finish line in 2:34. She did the Wineglass half-marathon--the medal is made out of a wine glass!

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Stacy ran her first 5K race this weekend! She says she's always wanted to run a race, but was very intimidated by the "hardcore runners". Her goal was to finish under 45 minutes, and she ended up crushing that time, finishing in 36:48!

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Jennifer completed her first 18-mile run yesterday! She's running her first marathon in a little over a month. And believe it or not, she was a self-proclaimed couch potato just 10 months ago!

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Joyce completed her first half-marathon on Saturday! It was raining the entire race, which made it very difficult, but she persevered. She started running in 2012 as a way to keep off the 75 pounds that she lost through healthy eating and exercise!

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Kathryn ran her second marathon on Sunday! She pulled her calf muscle and had a very difficult race, but she managed to push through and finish strong. Oh, and did I mention she did this AFTER losing 120 pounds?!

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Laura has been a runner for 15 years, but has always struggled with her weight. Two and a half years ago, she decided to take control of that and she joined Weight Watchers. She lost 46 pounds! For the past year, she's been doing short triathlons; but this weekend, she completed her first Olympic distance tri! I had no idea how far that was, but it's an impressive 1500 meter swim (nearly a mile), 40K bike ride (nearly 25 miles), and a 10K run (6.2 miles). She finished in 3:20!  She had to work through a fear of open water swimming, but she did finished, and she's proud! (Laura's blog)

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I love this picture of Mary and her husband at the finish line after Mary ran her first marathon! Despite tendonitis for the last 10 miles of the race, she managed to complete the Portland Marathon yesterday in 6:43. She had amazing support from her family and friends, and is super proud to have pushed through the pain to finish the race! (Mary's blog)

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Rhonda has been training all summer to run her first full marathon--at age 57. And at the Portland Marathon yesterday, she finished in 5:45! She took up running a few years ago after losing a whopping 80 pounds!

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Shannon has done five 5K's over the past year--she deliberately chose the fun, untimed ones. After taking the summer off due to injury, she signed up on a whim for a 5K race. With an injured foot and a stroller, she walked much slower than ever before, but she is very proud of herself for getting out there and doing it, regardless! She said she doesn't "run for cookies", but she does "waddle for beer" ;)

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In yesterday's post, I mentioned I was stalking a friend online who was running his first marathon--well, that would be Thomas! (I plan on introducing my whole Ragnar SoCal team soon, but Thomas is our Runner #3). Anyway, Thomas had an ambitious goal of 3:45 for his first marathon, and he crushed that goal at the Portland Marathon yesterday... finishing in 3:36:42!! By the way, Thomas wasn't always a runner; he got into running to help lose weight, and he lost 50 pounds! Now he's running 3:36 marathons ;)  (Thomas' blog)

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Amanda ran her first mud/obstacle run this weekend! She was terrified going into it, but succeeded without any injuries (except the typical bruises and scrapes). She was very proud of herself for doing this race at 280 pounds. Her husband stuck with her, and they finished together!

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Pamela not only reached the 70-lbs lost milestone this week, she also managed a huge PR on her 5K! After her last, she said she was going to "leave that 48:35 in the dust"; and she finished this race in 38:16! She said it's surreal that she went from a 20:07 mile pace on her first day of training to a 12:20 pace at her race. She plans to go for a 10K soon!

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Don't forget to check out the Motivational Monday Facebook post for more stories!

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Last long run before Chicago!

Another very rainy day. It wasn't a total downpour, though, so I decided that I was going to run outside today. Sunday is my long run day, but since I'm tapering, my long run was only eight miles today! I thought it was funny that I was relieved to see only eight miles on the schedule--in August 2010, I ran my very first eight-miler, and it had taken me three attempts to finally finish it. Eight miles seemed nearly impossible back then! And day, I was like, "Pshh... I could run eight miles in my sleep!" (Well, not really, but relative to my training over the past few months...)

I headed out at around 8:00, and the rain was steady, but not bad at all. As soon as I started running, I couldn't remember if I was supposed to run at long run pace (9:38/mi) or easy pace (10:00-10:40/mi). Since I'm tapering, I guessed it was probably easy pace, but I decided to try to run somewhere in the middle, between 9:38-10:00.

About three miles in, my left foot was soaked. Since I run against traffic, my left foot gets more of the slant of the road, which meant more rain water. It made me start to think about what I would do if I was running a marathon and my feet were that soaked so early on. I honestly don't think I could finish like that. I ran a 20-miler in the rain once, but I changed socks mid-run, and that helped a lot.

I turned around at mile four and headed home. I couldn't believe how many dead frogs and snakes I saw! I have no idea how they die (they weren't in the road, but on the shoulder). They didn't look like they were run over by cars or anything. The snakes are the little baby ones, about the length of my forearm. And the frogs were anywhere from the size of the tip of my thumb to the size of my hand. Anyway, I just thought it was weird.

Made it home, soaking wet, and immediately took my socks and shoes off.

I always treat myself on my long run days, and even though I "only" ran eight today, I still felt I deserved to splurge a little! I went to Monica's, a local bakery, and my eye was immediately drawn to peanut butter brownies. The problem is, they were HUGE. I've gotten a brownie there before, and it ended up being 23 PointsPlus. Since these had peanut butter, I would estimate them to be more like 25 PP. Since I only earned 12 on my run, I could hardly justify spending so many on the brownie ;)

I ended up getting a chocolate chunk cookie for 14 PointsPlus.

It was fantastic! Much better than the one I got a Panera last Sunday. The one from Panera was decent, but I wouldn't get one there again.

I was in a ridiculously good mood today, for some reason. All morning, I was checking the live tracker of a friend who was running his first marathon (to be posted about on Motivational Monday tomorrow). In the afternoon, since it was still raining, I cranked up some music and deep cleaned the house. Jerry was off today, after working five days in a row (after being in San Diego for five days). I feel like I haven't seen him in forever! So it was nice to be able to spend some time with him.

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to see my friend Sarah, who came in from Arizona yesterday. I'm a little nervous, because she had a fever the day before she left, and she figured it was the flu. Since I'm running the Chicago Marathon a week from today, the flu is the last thing I need to deal with! But she's my best friend, and I only see her a few times a year... I'm just hoping she's feeling better!

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday, so if you have a picture you want to share of a health/fitness accomplishment from this week, you can e-mail it to me (along with a short description) at SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com with the subject "Motivational Monday". I may include it on tomorrow's MM post!

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A 16-mile half-marathon

Today I had another six-mile run at easy pace. When I woke up, it was thunderstorming, and the rain was a downpour. I briefly thought about waiting it out, but it was supposed to rain on and off all day, so I just decided to run on the treadmill.

A few days ago, Jerry signed up for a free trial of Hulu Plus. We're thinking of canceling cable and just using the streaming from Hulu and Netflix, which would save about $100 per month! Since I was going to be running on the treadmill, I checked out Hulu for a show to watch--and I was ecstatic to find all of the seasons of The Shield. That show was one of my all-time favorites, and since it's been so long since I watched it, I don't remember much; so it will be perfect for treadmill running for at least a few months.

I wanted to try out (once again) exactly what I planned to wear for the marathon, including carrying my Gu and Shot Bloks, and even my phone. I wore the Under Armour capris I bought yesterday, and a pink tank. I put two Gu packets in the pocket of the capris, and I put another Gu and three Shot Bloks in the mesh pockets of the belt, and in the center zippered pocket, I put my phone (which was in a Ziploc baggie, so it wouldn't get ruined from sweat). Everything felt very comfortable! I hoped it would work out while I was running.

My easy run pace is 10:00-10:40, so I set the treadmill at 6.0 mph (10:00/mi) and just left it there the entire time. I was tempted to bump up the speed, just to get the run done sooner, but I really want to try to take it easy while tapering, so I'm going to try and stick to the recommended pace. Even though I didn't touch the speed the entire time, my Garmin showed negative splits... not sure how that happened!

The belt didn't bounce, ride up, or move at all the entire run. I honestly forgot I was wearing it! So I'll wear it during the race. I know I don't need my phone with me, but I'll feel better having it.

My sister, Jeanie, had a rainy day for her run, too. She ran her second half-marathon today. After her last one, which she finished in 2:28, I wrote up a training plan for her new goal time of 2:15. She's been doing really well with it, so I hoped she'd have a good race and hit her goal today.

When she signed up for the race, she didn't realize it was mostly a trail race, going through the woods (and there were some monster hills that she wasn't expecting). The course wasn't well marked at all. Shawn (her husband) was in third place overall when he got lost in the woods... along with the first and second place runners! The group of them eventually found their way back to the course but they'd added nearly three miles to the course, so they ran almost 16 miles total.

Shawn didn't quit (I probably would have been pissed, and quit on the spot!) and when he found the race course again, he happened to see Jeanie. So, he ran with her for the rest of the race, and the two of them were able to finish together. The good news is that Jeanie hit her goal time!! She finished in 2:14-something, just under her goal of 2:15. With the difficulty of the course she did today, I wouldn't be surprised to see her run 2:10 at her next road race.

Speaking of my Jeanie, I leave on Thursday to go to her house. I'm so excited! I'm driving out there with the kids on Thursday; then Andrea's plane gets into Chicago early Friday, and she's going to go to Jeanie's house from there. We'll spend the night at Jeanie's on Friday, and then Saturday, Andrea and I will head into Chicago, while my kids stay with Jeanie and Shawn. Andrea and I will go to the expo and have dinner Saturday, and the marathon is Sunday morning (a week from tomorrow--eek!). There will be lots of celebratory drinks on Sunday after the race. Then Andrea is leaving Monday morning, and I'll go back to Jeanie's, then head home on Tuesday with the kids. My kids always love hanging out with Aunt Jeanie, so they are super excited, too. It's hard to believe the marathon is a week from tomorrow!

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Gu'd evening!

I had to turn our air conditioning back on yesterday... bummer! It's been in the 80's for the past few days, which is not nice fall weather for Michigan. I'm hoping it's a little cooler in Chicago (at least by next Sunday)!

This morning I had a six mile run at an easy pace on the schedule. I ran an out-and-back, and didn't even glance at my watch once while I was running. I just wanted to go slowly and try to enjoy the run. It was already 72 degrees, though, so it wasn't very enjoyable! But it did start to rain (just a light drizzle), which was nice.

I've been trying to figure out exactly how to carry my Gu and Shot Bloks during the marathon. For the last two marathons, I wore my hydration belt, but I really don't like wearing that (it hurts my back after a while). The Chicago Marathon has water stations just about every mile for the last 10 miles of the race, so I don't feel the need to carry any fluid. The SPI Belt is not even an option for me--that thing bounces like crazy. I bought that other belt from TJ Maxx recently, which works great if I'm just carrying my phone and a Gu or two (more than that, and it bounces a little).

So this morning, before my run, I put on a pair of running capris that have a tiny zippered pocket in back. I stuffed two Gu's and three Shot Bloks in there. Then I put on the new belt, with my phone and a Gu in the pocket. It ended up working really well! None of it bounced, and I thought I'd found a good solution.

But the capris were HOT. They weren't my beloved Under Armour Heat Gear capris; I recently bought a few other brands to try, in order to save some money on running clothes. I realized that the UA gear is well worth the extra money! I love the fabric of the Heat Gear clothes, and they really wick sweat better than any other brand. So, I was back to square one.

Anyway, I finished my run with a 10:00/mi average pace. It felt good to take it easy compared to yesterday.

This evening, after dinner, I took the boys out for ice cream at Cold Stone, but first we stopped at Dunham's to see if I could find some capris that worked for me. The UA Heat Gear capris that I had at home didn't have any pockets; I was hoping to find a pair with a pocket or two. And I was in luck!

They had these pink ones, and the same ones in a neon yellow color. I liked the yellow more, but I didn't have a shirt at home that would go with them, so I just got the pink. There is a tiny zippered pocket in the back. Just for shits and giggles, I decided to see if I could stuff FOUR Gu's in the pocket...

...and it worked! It wasn't even that hard to fit them all in. The pocket is very stretchy.

It looks a little goofy when I'm wearing them, because it sticks out in the back (from the Gu being stuffed in there), but I don't care. I jumped up and down over and over, and there was no bouncing. So, if I don't mind not carrying my phone, I won't have to wear any sort of belt during the race. If I really want to carry my phone, I can just wear the belt I got from TJ Maxx recently along with these capris. I'm going to try it all out this weekend on my runs, and see how it goes.

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To add on to yesterday's story about the lotto ticket...

Today, Eli was reading his book after school, and he set aside the scratch off ticket that he was using as a bookmark. Jerry was sitting next to him, and picked up the ticket, mindlessly looking at it. Then he said to me, "Man, I SUCK at scratching off lotto tickets!" When I asked him why, he said that the one he was holding was a $5 winner. BAHAHA, that's $105 that would have been thrown in the trash if it weren't for Noah's discovery yesterday. Don't ever buy Jerry lotto tickets for a gift! ;)

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Where's fall?! A humid run.

I had a very rough night last night, which resulted in pretty much zero sleep. When I put the kids to bed at 9:00, Eli told me that he had "growing pains" in his calf. I didn't think much of it at all, and I told him that resting it overnight would make it better.

At 1:45 in the morning, Eli came into my room, limping pretty badly and complaining that his calf hurt SO bad. It was just one calf, not both, so I didn't think it was from normal play/running around. I told him he could sleep in my bed. Once he laid down, I remembered reading that calf pain in one leg, particularly pain that starts as a dull ache and continues to get worse, could be a blood clot--very serious.

Once I got that thought in my head, I just couldn't stop thinking of it. I called my parents to see if one of them could come stay with Noah (Jerry was at work) so that I could take Eli to the ER to get his leg checked out. Overreacting? Probably. But I was worried! So my parents came over (my mom was going to come with Eli and me, and my dad was going to stay with Noah). I had gotten Eli (and myself) dressed and ready to go. Once my parents came in, we talked about it, and asked Eli a bunch of questions about his leg pain, and he seemed to be walking better. He didn't have any other signs of a blood clot (redness, swelling, warmness, etc.). So I ultimately decided not to take him in.

I felt bad that I called my poor parents over for nothing, but they didn't seem to mind. I let Eli sleep in my bed, and he fell right to sleep. But he was breathing really heavily, and I couldn't get back to sleep for anything! I was tossing and turning until around 4:30, when I finally fell asleep, only to get up at 6:00. Needless to say, I was SO tempted to skip my run this morning!

I asked Eli if he wanted to stay home from school, but his leg was feeling better (apparently it WAS just growing pains!), and he wanted to go. So they went to school, and I headed out for my last double-digit training run for the Chicago Marathon--10 miles at 8:58/mi. I brought my handheld water bottle with me, along with three Shot Bloks to have at miles 4, 6, and 8.

I really wanted to stick as closely to 8:58 per mile as I could without going over. My first mile was too fast, per usual, but after that, I tried to come as close as possible. It was a tough run today! After two miles, I was SO hot, and pouring sweat. It was a really tough run today! I kept focusing on the shorter goals--at mile four, eat a Shot Blok; mile five, I could turn around (out-and-back route); mile six, another Shot Blok; etc.

During the eighth mile, my legs started to feel REALLY tired. It was hard to keep pace, and my legs got heavy. I ate a Shot Blok at mile eight, hoping it would give me a little boost, but the farther I ran, the more tired I became. I think it was a combination of the lack of sleep and the humidity (94% this morning, ugh). But, I stuck it out and finished, meeting my goal pace for all ten miles!

When I looked at my stats on the computer, it was no wonder the run felt so tough--my average heart rate was 163. That's pretty high for me! Usually it's 145-150. I definitely think the humidity had something to do with it.

I'm so glad that I'm running the marathon without a goal in mind. During today's run, I was thinking about how miserable it would feel to try to run this pace the entire marathon! I think physically, it's a possibility that I could do it (considering I've been training as if I'm going to); but it would take everything I have (mentally) to get through it.


I got to try the Pink Ribbon bagel from Panera! This time, I called at 7:30 in the morning and asked them to hold a couple of bagels for me (Jerry wanted one, too). They were in the shape of ribbons, which was a cute idea (although pretty hard to slice).

I toasted it and put fat free cream cheese on it, and it was really good! Not my favorite bagel, but I would definitely get it again. Jerry really liked it, too. It's 10 PointsPlus, which is pretty steep, but it kept me full for a long time.

The next nine days are going to be nice--I don't have any "substance" runs--just easy paced runs and less miles than I'm used to. I know a lot of runners hate tapering, but I could definitely use a break. It's been a tough training schedule! I'm not complaining, though--I feel more prepared for this marathon than I was for the previous two, and I feel like I'm in better shape than ever.

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Funny story: Jerry's sister gave him some scratch-off lotto tickets for his birthday a couple of weeks ago. Jerry scratched them off, saw he didn't win, and set them aside. Noah was looking for a bookmark, so I gave him one of the lotto tickets and he thought it was really cool to use for a bookmark. Naturally, Eli wanted one, too. So the boys have been using them in their books, bringing them to school and back every day.

Today, Noah came home from school, and it was time for him to read. He took out his book, and was looking at the lotto ticket for a minute. He said, "Daddy, did you know you won $100?" Jerry said, "No, Bud, I didn't win." And Noah said, "Yeah, you did. My friend was looking at this ticket at school and noticed that the numbers matched. You won $100." So Jerry grabbed the ticket to show Noah that he'd lost, but then he noticed that he did, in fact, win $100! I told Noah that he should charge a "finder's fee" of at least $25 ;)  Jerry's going to split the money with the boys. I just thought it was so funny that our nine-year old knows a winning ticket better than Jerry!

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A great weigh-in!

I was very happy when I got on the scale this morning for my Wednesday Weigh-in, and saw that staying on track all week had definitely paid off....

Down 4.5 from last week--I'll take that! My next weigh-in will be the day before I leave for Illinois. I would have loved to be back down to goal for the marathon, but considering I had such a big loss this week, I'll be happy even if I just maintain next week.

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When I scheduled a dentist appointment for this morning, I purposely chose a Wednesday because it's my rest day and I knew I wouldn't have to run. I was really excited when I woke up this morning, because I had plans of just staying in my pajamas all morning, sipping tea, maybe reading some of my book. Then I remembered I had a dentist appointment at 9:00--so much for a relaxing morning off! ;)

When I got my teeth cleaned a few weeks ago, they told me that one of my bottom molars is getting a crack in it from the way my teeth bite together. The alignment of my teeth shifted a little when my jaw was reconstructed, and even though everything felt fine to me, there was an issue with the way my molars came together. When my hygienist said that there was a "crack", it scared me to death. That sounds extremely painful and I was just picturing my tooth falling apart. But the dentist told me it was just a filling, and I would be fine.

I asked if he could do it without numbing me, because I hate that feeling of being numb for hours afterward. I've have several fillings without being numbed, but he said it was a little deeper than a typical filling; I still wanted to try it. He said if it was too painful, I could just wave my hand and he'd stop. The anticipation was SO nerve racking! My hand was shaking, and I was ready to wave it, but it wasn't bad at all. After having a broken jaw and a couple of jaw surgeries, I don't know why I was so nervous about a filling! I just hope I never have to have a root canal or a crown or something--that is terrifying to me.

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Are any of my readers running the Detroit Free Press half or full marathon on the 20th? I would have loved to do the half this year, but since it's a week out from the Chicago Marathon, I decided to be a spectator in Detroit. I'm going to make signs and bring cowbells, and all that good stuff. I've never gone to a race just to be a cheerleader, but I think it will be so fun! Let me know if you'll be there, and maybe I'll see you :)  I even started working on my signs today...

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I ran the Detroit Free Presss Marathon with Rik! It seems like just yesterday. I remember thinking what a fun atmosphere it was, and how great it would be to go just be a spectator instead of a runner. Maybe next year I'll be a volunteer--that's something else I'd like to do at a race.

Tomorrow is my very last double-digit training run for the marathon :)

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Bagels!

Happy October! October is my very favorite month--especially living in Michigan. The leaves change colors to gorgeous shades of red, orange, and yellow, and the air has a great crispness to it that's hard to describe. I love everything about fall: jeans and hoodies, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, pumpkin- and apple-flavored everything, going for walks and hearing the crunch of leaves, drinking hot tea outside, making all different kinds of soups and chilis... Nothing puts me in a good mood like this time of year!

Anyway, Jerry is home now. I didn't mention that he was gone (for safety reasons--not a good idea to announce that my husband will be gone for several days), but he went to visit John in San Diego. The whole thing came about in August when John and I were planning the Ragnar SoCal for April. Jerry was really bummed that he won't be able to go, due to work, and I would feel bad going without him. So John and I planned a surprise trip for Jerry for his birthday! He went to San Diego on Thursday, stayed at John's house for four nights, and came home yesterday.

Joe (a friend of John's), John, and Jerry

They did a Boot Camp Challenge race on Saturday morning. He had a BLAST the entire time he was there. I'm so glad that he got to go, because he's never taken a trip by himself like this. I go on little trips here and there (for races, usually), but he doesn't really get away. He said he felt guilty going without me, but I am really happy that he got to get away for a few days, and that he had so much fun. I missed him like crazy while he was gone, though, and I was excited to pick him up from the airport yesterday!

So, back to the norm today. This morning, I had my very last interval run on the schedule for marathon training! On the schedule was 6 x 1 mile at 8:48 pace with 400m jogs. Basically, that means I was supposed to run 1 mile at 8:48 pace, and then jog 1/4 mile to recover... and repeat for a total of 6 times.

As soon as the kids left for school, I headed out. It was really foggy this morning. I did an out-and-back route, turning around at the 3.75 mile mark. I was really determined to hit all of my goal splits. I felt really good, except for the fourth interval, when I got a sharp stitch in my side. I just ran through it, and when I started the fifth interval, it went away.

I'm amazed at how fast the run goes by when I do intervals! While I'm running, I'm only focused on reaching the end of that interval, rather than the end of the run. Before I knew it, I'd reached 7.5 miles and I was back home. I surpassed my goal on all of them!

I only have one more hard workout, and then it's all easy runs until the marathon. Tomorrow is a rest day, and then Thursday is my most dreaded run of the week--10 miles at 8:58/mi pace. After Thursday, though, I should really start to feel like I'm tapering, because my runs will be shorter and at easy pace.

I don't know what started it, but I have been kind of obsessed with bagels lately. Today, while I was running, I kept telling myself that if I hit all of my splits, then I would get a Pink Ribbon bagel from Panera (only available in October). I've never tried them, but have heard they are amazing. So I was very happy to hit my goal paces! On the way to Panera, however, I called to make sure they had them. They told me they sold out by 9:00 this morning :(

I still really wanted a bagel, though, so I got a jalapeno cheddar one from Kroger. It was good, but I don't think I'd get it again. I'm going to try and go to Panera first thing on Thursday to get a Pink Ribbon bagel, and then I'll eat that after my 10-miler.

Tomorrow is my weigh-in, and I'm actually looking forward to it. I've stayed 100% on plan all week!

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