Motivational Monday #105: Dean the Machine

I have a different sort of Motivational Monday today. It was a slow week for MM submissions, but a HUGE week for one person, so I'm making this a "special edition" of MM... ;)

One of the things I've been very fortunate to witness since starting my blog is the transformation of some of my readers. I get a lot of email from people who are getting started on a health journey, but I really love to get follow-up emails months or even years later--after they've accomplished some awesome milestones. It's exciting (and super motivating) to see their progress!

It's one thing to see someone's before and after photos, but it's quite different (and so exciting) to see their continual progress as it's happening.

One of these stories is Dean's. I know I've bragged about him several times here, but he just hit some major milestones which are totally worth sharing. I normally just share one photo with each submission, but I'd love to recap Dean's progression here with all of his Motivational Monday stories. If you've been reading Motivational Monday since the beginning, you may remember Dean from his first submission, when he ran his first 5K in April 2013...

He had recently lost 34 pounds, and completed his first 5K in 33:27. Just a couple of weeks later, he ran the Glass City 5K, shaving 25 seconds off of his previous time.

Just six weeks after that, Dean ran his first 10K race. He'd set a goal to reach a weight of 225 and run a 10K, and he did it!

Ten weeks after that 10K, Dean had a 10-mile run on his training schedule. He had such a great run that he decided just to add another 5K on there, and run a spontaneous half-marathon in his training! He had lost 60 pounds at this point:

In seeing Dean's progress, and how hard he was working on the weight loss and running, I was so inspired by him that I asked him to join a Ragnar Relay team that I was putting together, and he did. When I learned that he was going to be running the Detroit Free Press Half-Marathon in October for his first "official" half, I asked if he'd like to meet for dinner the day before the race. Jerry and I drove to Detroit to meet up with Dean and his wife, Mandy.

The following day, he ran the Detroit Free Press International Half, and I was thrilled to be there to see him running it after watching his progress on Motivational Mondays!

Just a couple of months later, in December 2013, Dean reached a huge weight loss milestone--100 pounds down!

Around this time, Dean mentioned to me that he decided to shoot for a sub-2:00 half-marathon, and he wanted to know my thoughts as a running coach. He had just finished a half in about 2:15, so I told him that I didn't want to be discouraging, but I thought he should aim for more like 2:10. He thought about it, and then told me that he was going to shoot for sub-2:00 anyway--which would require shaving 15 minutes off of his time in just 4 months!

And you know what? Come April, at his goal race, he ran 1:57! I was shocked, but very excited for him. That was a huge improvement! Next, he told me that he was going to sign up for his first marathon to take place that fall... and that he was going to aim for sub-4:00. Again, I didn't want to discourage him, but I never recommend having a time goal for one's first marathon--it's challenging enough just to finish, let alone worrying about pace. But Dean is honestly the most determined person I've ever met...

And in October 2014, Dean ran his first full marathon in 3:52:43!

That day, I learned that when Dean says he's going to do something... he does it. He could tell me that he'll be the first person to run a sub-2:00 MARATHON one day, and I would bet my life savings that he would.

Since then, Dean has been working hard to reach his goal weight, which has been just a few pounds away for several months now. His goal weight is 173 pounds, which was his wrestling weight in high school. Well, last week, Dean hit it! He weighed in a 173, for a total of 144 pounds lost.

As if that wasn't awesome enough, he celebrated his three-year "runniversary" yesterday by running the same 5K that he ran for his first race. And this time? HE WON THE RACE. Not just his age group... but he was literally the first person to cross the finish line!

He even ate cookies afterward, which you know I totally approve of ;)

Dean has truly transformed right in front of our computer screens, which has been so fun to watch. I feel blessed to have met him, because Dean is, without a doubt, one of the nicest people I've ever met. He has worked harder than I can even imagine, and has more determination than Joey when he chases after Estelle!

(Dean blogs at The Tatted Runner, if you'd like to follow his progress... although I'm not sure if there is any room for improvement from here!)

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Nathan's birthday

I had intended to write a blog post yesterday, but we went over to my parents' house for dinner, and ended up staying a lot later than I thought!

Yesterday morning, I went to the rec center to use the elliptical. I wanted to get in the equivalent of an 11-mile run, so my plan was to do 110 minutes. I got there right when they opened at 9:00, and I saw a bunch of people on the outdoor track, along with tents. I asked what was going on, and it was a track meet! I would have loved to watch it (I've never seen a track meet before), but I was wearing my indoor workout clothes, and I would have frozen to death.

Anyway, I got on the elliptical, and right away, I started wondering how I was going to manage to do it for nearly two hours. The first time I used it, the kids were playing racquetball across from me, which was a nice distraction (when I wasn't breaking up their arguments). Yesterday, though, it was SO boring.

I started to think, "Well, I'll just do an hour" and then "How about 45 minutes?" and ultimately, I ended up doing 30 minutes before calling it quits. There was a machine next to me that looks like the ellipical, but there is a bike seat (so it's like a recumbent bike, but with elliptical pedals). Anyway, I thought maybe if I got on that, I could finish out the 110 minutes I'd intended. After about five minutes on that, I was really uncomfortable. I felt really restless, and I kept trying to shift positions but it didn't help. So, I only did 10 minutes on that, bringing the total workout time to 40 minutes.

I think for my next long run, I'm going to do the deep water running again. That was really comfortable, I enjoyed it, and the time went by quickly (for the most part). I can do the elliptical, but probably only for 30 minutes at a time. Since the weather is getting nicer, though, I can start using my bike outside!

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Jerry and I went to Lowe's in the afternoon to get some stuff for the house (door knobs for the bedroom doors, drawer pulls for the kids' dressers, some trim that needed replacing, etc. Then we spent all afternoon working on that stuff. I love doing "handyman" projects like that--something as simple as a new door knob makes a big difference.

For dinner, my mom invited us over for Nathan's birthday. Nathan turned 31 a few days ago, so she made ribs and pasta, and invited some family over to celebrate. Kendall, Nathan's girlfriend, had a cake made that was really perfect for Nathan! He loves to fish, so she requested a walleye cake. It turned out really good:

It was vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, so how could I resist?! I had been planning for it all day, though, so I made sure to eat a light breakfast and lunch. The cake was delicious! I was tempted to bring a piece home for later, but I knew it wouldn't have even lasted through the night, so I didn't ;)

My aunts and uncles were talking about how long they've been married, and I think it's awesome that they've been married so long! My parents have been married for 44 years, my Aunt Mickey and Uncle Al have been married 54 years, and my Aunt Pat and Uncle Tom have been married for 40 years. It's not very often you hear of people being married that long.

Anyway, we played a game of Thirty-One and then headed home. I was super exhausted for some reason, and was in bed by 10:30.

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Don't forget that tomorrow is Motivational Monday! If you have a photo and accomplishment you'd like to share, you can check out how to do so here.

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Ortho appointment

I woke up just before 6:00 this morning, and I really wanted to sleep in longer--there was no reason for me to get up that early, but I just couldn't fall back asleep. So I laid in bed and checked my email on my phone. I got an email from my health record account to confirm the appointment I just made for the orthopedist, and when I opened it, I saw that it said the appointment was for Friday, April 10, at 8:30 AM. I KNOW that the receptionist told me Monday! I had written it down, along with the directions and suite number and all that.

I spent a couple of minutes trying to decide what to do, and then I figured I'd better go, just in case my appointment was actually this morning (it was too early to call to confirm). I jumped in the shower and got ready very quickly. Thankfully, Jerry was off work today and was able to be here with the kids!

I drove to the medical center, and sure enough--my appointment was TODAY. Thank goodness I'd seen the email this morning! There was no waiting at all, which was nice. I got checked in and everything, and then before I even saw the doctor, they had me walk to radiology for x-rays. I had to change into paper shorts, which were way too big, and walk down the hall in them. I felt a little ridiculous ;)

After my x-rays, I went back to the doctor's office, and he came in to go over the x-rays and figure out what's going on with my leg. (I love that x-rays are digital now! The images were uploaded into the computer before I even walked back down the hall from radiology.)

When the doctor came in, he said something like, "It's been a few years--how are you?" And I was really confused what he meant by that. It wasn't until I left later on that I realized that I saw him in 2012 when I had a knee injury! I should have gone to see him in February, instead of that podiatrist who told me to quit running, but this doctor's office is a long drive away and I honestly didn't think I had a stress fracture at the time.

Anyway, I told him the whole timeline of events with my ankle/lower leg. He looked at the x-rays and said that the x-rays looked normal. There was a teeny tiny shadow which he said was probably where the stress fracture was (the one that was diagnosed in February), but it was healed and he couldn't see anything new.

However, he said that stress fractures usually don't show up on an x-ray, so he also ordered a bone scan (which I'll have to get next week). From my symptoms, and where he could localize the pain, he said it sounds like it's a stress fracture. The good news is that it's on my fibula, which isn't a weight-bearing bone, so I won't need a boot or anything like that. He said that low-impact exercise is okay, as long as it doesn't bother my leg.

To get to the root of the problem, and avoid this happening again, he ordered a gait analysis. I'll have to go to a clinic and run on a treadmill, where they'll film me and analyze my stride and all that to see if there is anything out of whack. This should be good information to have for the future!

I asked about my shoes, because I was curious if he thought that they could be causing the problem, and he said the Altras are fine--there is no reason that those should be causing the stress fractures. If anything, they should make stress fractures less likely, because they cause a mid-foot strike. The only other thing would be overtraining, but when I described my training, he said that my training is not an issue, either. So hopefully the gait analysis will reveal some insight.

And as for the big question: Can I run Indy?

He asked if I would be okay with doing only low-impact exercise from now until Indy, and I said sure. So then he said that he thinks I should be okay to run Indy, as long as I do it at a very easy pace and not have any expectations of a time goal (I didn't anyway, so that's fine). So my plan is to do the elliptical, the bike, and deep water running 4-6 days a week to maintain fitness. I did a 10-miler last weekend, so I am confident I can handle a (slow) half-marathon in the shape I'm in now (if not for my leg issue). He basically said that if I were to try and run through the pain right now, it would likely get much worse; but if I can do only low-impact exercise for a few weeks, I should be able to handle the Indy half.

After the doctor gets the results of the bone scan and gait analysis, we can figure out a plan as far as preventing this from happening again. But I left the office today feeling a hundred times better than I did yesterday! I'm actually looking forward to doing the elliptical and bike for cross training.

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It's National Siblings Day! When I was a kid, I wish I'd known how much I was going to enjoy having siblings when I was older. We fought so much when we were little, but now we have so much fun together. I wish that we all lived in the same state, but thankfully we can all get together a couple times a year. I love my siblings!

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It's back :(

This morning, it was thunder storming, so I had to do my run on the treadmill. I had five miles to run and a dentist appointment later in the morning, so I wanted to get the run done before I had to go to the dentist. I was feeling pretty good this morning, and knew I'd be happy to get my run done early.

I turned Criminal Minds on Netflix, set the treadmill at 6.2 mph, and started running. About 20 steps in, I felt a sharp twinge shoot through my lower leg, right where my stress fracture had been. For the first week or two after I started running again, I'd gotten little twinges here and there, but from everything I've read, that is normal. So today, even though it was sharper than before, I didn't think too much of it. After about 10 steps, it went away, and I felt normal for the rest of the run.

I was feeling so good that I even increased my speed incrementally throughout the last mile, ending at 7.0 mph. For some reason, whenever I run on the treadmill, I feel it as more of a "workout" than when I run outside. Outside, it feels more like "training", where on the treadmill, it feels like "exercise"--even though it's the same thing, essentially. Both feel good for different reasons. Anyway, I felt sweaty and good when I was done!

When I hopped off the treadmill, I realized something was wrong. I had a sharp pain in my lower left leg (same spot where my stress fracture was). I started walking around the living room and maneuvering my foot to see what was going on, and discovered that it feels identical to when it was fractured. It doesn't hurt to walk, but it hurts to jump or bounce on that leg, and it hurts when I press on it. So, I'm pretty sure the stress fracture is back (either it's the same fracture, or a new one close to the same spot).

I could feel panic rising in my chest. I felt like I was going to explode with frustration. I didn't run for SEVEN WEEKS. I went six weeks without any issues once I returned to running. I'm three weeks out from a race that I've been looking forward to SO much. I'm on a marathon relay team in two weeks. I have to start marathon training a couple of months.

I immediately called to make an appointment with a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon. I was told I could get in April 27, which made me want to cry. When I told her that I had a confirmed stress fracture recently, she said she'd see if she could get me in sooner. After some calling back and forth, she was able to squeeze me in on Monday morning! I have to drive pretty far--an hour and fifteen minutes--but I told her I'd make myself available whenever/wherever she could get me in.

Until then, I'm obviously not going to run. I was supposed to do 11 miles tomorrow. I'm not going to get ahead of myself by saying that I won't be running for 8-ish weeks, but if this is, in fact, a stress fracture, that's very likely. Right now, I'm just going to pray that it's tendinitis or something. Regardless, I'm hoping that this doctor will be much more understanding than the podiatrist I went to (who, by the way, sent me a bill in the mail for $120 for "treatment of stress fracture"... what the hell? His "treatment" was to tell me not to run. I called to dispute the charge, but apparently, it's legit. His advice to stop running was considered "treatment".)

Anyway, I spent the afternoon feeling sorry for myself, but I'm really glad that I'm able to get in to see the ortho doctor on Monday. At least I'll have some answers then, and I can come up with a new plan. I will be super bummed if I can't run Indy, but I'm not going to worry about that until after I talk to the doctor.

Jerry's off all weekend, so tomorrow, we're going to take the kids to the Henry Ford Museum. Noah's been asking to go for several weeks now, and he got all A's on his report card, so we promised to take him this week. Jerry's been working so much lately, I'm excited to spend the whole weekend with him!

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Elliptical

I had a weird night last night! Apparently, I'm doing odd things in my sleep again. Remember that time I took a selfie in the middle of the night, thinking that I had to text it to my Ragnar team? Well, last night at around 1:00, I apparently took a selfie and texted it to Jerry. I have very little recollection of doing it (I was completely sober, I promise! haha). 

I have no idea what that's all about, but I'd better start putting my phone in my Kitchen Safe at night so that I don't do anything too embarrassing ;)

It rained all day long today. I had a three mile run on the schedule, but was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do. I like running in the rain once I'm out there, but it's really hard to get motivated to get out the door. I thought about going to the indoor track, but that didn't sound appealing, either. I definitely didn't want to do the treadmill. 

The schedule says, "3 miles OR cross train", so I decided that today, I'd do cross training. I asked the kids if they wanted to go the rec center, and they said they wanted to play racquetball. If they'd wanted to swim, I would have done a deep water run; but the racquetball courts are right next to the cardio room, so I figured I'd hop on a bike for 30 minutes and listen to a podcast.

When we got there, I saw that there were elliptical machines right outside the racquetball courts--the perfect position for me to watch the kids play while I exercised. I hadn't used an elliptical machine since college, but nobody was around, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. 

The second I stood on the pedals and started moving, I thought, "Wow! This is awesome!" It felt like such a natural movement (probably because it's so similar to running). I tried to get a picture of my view, but it turned out blurry:

Still, you can see how perfect the set-up was for bringing my kids with me. They were basically in a "cage", so they couldn't go anywhere ;) And I was right there to mediate their fights, which happened about every two minutes, give or take. 

I had no idea what settings to use on the machine. It asked me about my stride length, what level I wanted, what program I wanted to do, etc. I just winged it, and hoped I'd get a decent workout. I did it for 30 minutes, and I was definitely sweaty when I was done. I didn't push myself as hard as I could have, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if I had. I kept my heart rate at around 75% of my max. 

While I was watching the boys, I was thinking about how much I used to love racquetball, too. I played in high school (we actually had a racquetball elective for a quarter), and I was pretty good at it! I've only tried it once since then, but I always forget about it. It's a really good workout as well, so I'll have to keep that in mind for cross training, too. Or just an active date night with Jerry.

The boys were drenched in sweat when they were done playing racquetball, so we'd all gotten some good exercise. We stopped at Kroger on the way home so I could buy some vegetables. I made a goal for April to get in a serving of vegetables with each meal. I usually eat a ton of fruit, but not many vegetables, so I'm going to try to reverse that. I like vegetables, I just find them so inconvenient to prepare... so I'm going to try to cook batches that I can just heat up later (I really dislike raw veggies). Hopefully that will help!

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Motivational Monday #104

Happy Motivational Monday, Friends! Hopefully everyone had a great Easter. I couldn't believe how fast Easter snuck up on us this year. On Saturday, I still hadn't bought anything for the kids as far as Easter baskets go, so after my run with Stephanie, I went to the store and got the goods. The kids didn't have interest in coloring eggs this year (they're getting so grown up!) so instead, Jerry and I set up a clue hunt for them to find their baskets. They were SO excited about Easter morning--even more so than they were for Christmas!

The kids loved their baskets, of course. Later, we took Joey across the street to the marsh again. We've been going almost every day, because it's really great exercise for him, and the kids have a blast throwing rocks. They throw rocks for Joey to chase, which you would think he'd get sick of really quickly, but he never stops running after them. I brought a tennis ball, but he was much more interested in chasing rocks than the tennis ball--silly dog.

I'm proud of myself for a couple of things this week: 1) my 10-miler on Saturday; and 2) the lack of Easter candy consumed this season. It's no secret that I love sweets, and Easter candy is just so yummy! My favorites are Cadbury Creme Eggs, Cadbury Mini Eggs, and Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. This season, I only had ONE Creme Egg, and ONE Reese's Egg. I didn't do quite as well with the Mini Eggs--I think I bought two bags of them--but I shared with the family, so it wasn't too bad. And that was over the entire six weeks or so that Easter candy was in the stores.

I am proud of my 10-miler because I hadn't run that far since December, and then after my stress fracture, I felt like I might never run again (because I'm dramatic like that). So, hitting 10-miles again felt really good!

Anyway, here are some Motivational Monday stories to start off your week!

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Tiffany is celebrating her amazing weight loss transformation--she's lost 104 pounds! After losing the weight, she decided to have a tummy tuck, and she is thrilled with her results. She's gone from 242 pounds to 138 pounds in 4 years; and from a size 22 to a size 6. She's also going to be running her first 5K in June!

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Sarah just PR'ed her 5K time! She wrote about hitting a sub-40:00 5K at the Runner's World Half & Festival (which was a hilarious story, by the way!) and she decided she wanted to beat that goal. After listening to Dean's story on the Half Size Me podcast, she decided to aim high--sub-36:00. She's lost 40 pounds through running, and she was thrilled to see her hard work pay off when she beat her goal--finishing in 35:55! (Sarah's blog)

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Rhonda just ran the Hip Hop Half-Marathon in Portland on Saturday! She dressed for the occasion, wearing a tutu that she made her self--which she was quite proud of, because she admits she's not a crafty person. Her friend Donna (with the bunny ears) walked the 5K, and they had a blast!

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Jamie hit a huge milestone at Weight Watchers this week... she reached 100+ pounds lost! She lost 2.6 this week, bringing her total to 101 pounds down. (Jamie's blog)

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Don't forget to check out more stories on the Motivational Monday Facebook post! I hope you all have a great week :)

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Double digits (again)

Ten miles, run and done!

The only bonus to taking seven weeks off of running due to an injury is that each milestone afterward feels exciting again. I remember my very first 10-miler... I was training for Indy in 2011, and I parked at Renee's house. I talked to her husband for a minute before heading out, and told him how nervous I was about my first double digit run.

Completing that 10-miler made me feel so proud! And then once I started doing half-marathons fairly regularly, a 10-miler became no big deal. And that was especially the case once I did longer runs while marathon training.

Being side-lined from an injury is almost like wiping my entire slate clean of everything--no PR's, no expectations, nothing. So each long run now feels like a new longest distance to me, and I get excited when I see a sub-10:00 pace again (last year, a 10:00-ish pace was so discouraging, because I had gotten used to seeing 8:00's). 

So, today I had 10 miles on the schedule. I knew it was going to take some mental prep work to get out there and do it, so when I saw my friend Stephanie post on Facebook that she'd be doing a 20-miler this morning, I asked if she'd want come company for half of it. We made plans to meet at 7:30 this morning at a high school, and from there, we'd do an out-and-back 10-miler. Her friend Ann was supposed to join us, but she had to cancel at the last minute.

I got my clothes ready last night, so that I could just wake up, get dressed, and head out. But, I was actually kind of nervous about this run! I didn't sleep much last night because of the nerves, which I know is stupid, but I couldn't help it. I was up a little before 5:00, and had some toast and tea before I left to meet Steph.

She was waiting when I got there, and said she'd already run four miles! I was impressed. It was really cold and windy this morning (a "feels like" temp of 16, and it definitely did feel that cold). Stephanie warned me her pace was going to be around 12:00/mile, which of course I didn't mind. 

We had a headwind all the way out, which was really cold. I was wishing I'd worn something over my ears, and possibly a long-sleeved shirt under my jacket (I'd picked short sleeves). Once we got to the halfway point and turned around, though, it was so much nicer! The sun was in front of us, which warmed my (then numb) body, and the tailwind felt like no wind at all. 

It was nice to get to chat with Steph, because I hadn't seen her in a while. I felt like I was talking too much, but she told me that it's hard for her to run and talk, so she's usually quiet anyway. When we got within a mile of the cars, I kept wanting to get excited about being almost done--but she still had six miles to go after I was done, so I kept my mouth shut ;)

We made it back to the cars, and I was so relieved to be done! Getting my 10-miler done before 9:30 in the morning felt great. My calves didn't give me any problems at all, thankfully. I haven't run with Joey since Tuesday, so I suspect that running with him is what was causing the calf soreness. I've also been using The Stick to roll out my calves (and along my shins) which really helped.

Anyway, it was a great run! And Stephanie actually was a little faster than predicted, holding a sub-11:00 mile average. She can now start tapering for the Glass City Marathon.

I felt guilty when I got home, because Joey looked so offended that I went for a run without him. After showering and eating lunch and all that, I decided to take him to the marsh across the street and let him play off-leash for a little while. He absolutely LOVES it over there! It had warmed up a little (mid-40's), and the ice was melted (last time we went, the marsh was frozen over). He ran down to the water and started tromping through the marsh--he was totally soaked and full of mud, but he had a ball. He chased after birds, and leapt through the phragmites. I think he forgave me for not taking him on a run today ;)

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Running Strong book review

Runner's World sent me a couple of running books to review recently, and the timing could not have been better. This one is called "Running Strong: The Sports Doctor's Complete Guide to Staying Healthy and Injury-Free for Life" by Dr. Jordan Metzl. Considering I just took seven weeks off of running due to a stress fracture, I was willing to read and try just about anything to prevent injury!

The book is really nice--and by that, I mean that the texture of the paper and the colors are good quality and nice to read. It's organized into different color-coded sections:

The first section talks about how all the different parts of your body work together when running, which explains why it gets injured when something is off. Then there is a huge section about different pains you may feel and can help diagnose an injury. The next section is made up of all the strength, stretching, and foam-rolling exercises you can do to help heal or prevent injury. In the back, there is quite a bit of random tidbits of advice, explaining the differences in men and women and why we may be more prone to injury. And finally, there is an appendix with training plans, from the 5K through the marathon distance.

I found this book to be an interesting read, but a FANTASTIC resource to have sitting on the shelf. If I feel an ache or pain, I can just look it up and read advice for healing it or preventing it from happening again. It's basically all the running injury stuff I've Googled here and there, but put in one nice, neat little package.

This happens every time I have a long run

My biggest takeaway from this book is that I need to strength train--a minimum of once per week, but preferably twice. And the book has a fantastic strength program called the "IronStrength Workout for Runners". The IronStrength Workout is a full body workout with running specific movements. It targets specific muscles, but works the entire body as a whole. It utilizes body weight and a set of dumbbells, but that's it. (Which is good, because I don't want to have to buy a bunch of equipment).

The only thing about the book that I didn't care for was that Dr. Metzl suggested (in several situations) using arch supports. I'm really on-board with Altra's ideas of running with your feet in a natural position, so the idea of arch supports doesn't make much sense to me. But other than that, I found the book to be super helpful, and I will definitely reference it a LOT as needed.

I'm going to start doing the IronStrength Workout, too. I'll write it into my schedule on Wednesdays, starting after Indy. (I know I should probably start now, but when I do strength training, I am so sore for so long that it makes running really difficult. I'd rather wait until next month, when I don't have any other races planned.)

I was going back and forth with whether I should try to aim for a certain time in Indy, and I decided to just run it for fun and take pictures. My sister said she'll run with me, and we're going to go at an easy pace and just enjoy the scenery. It's kind of interesting--she's the one who talked me into signing up to walk that race in the first place, back in 2008. I walked it again in 2009. In 2010, I walked it with her, because I was in decent enough shape to walk quickly. And in 2011, I ran it while she walked. She said she was inspired to try to run it in 2012 (which didn't happen, but she eventually did start running in late 2012). So, to be able to run it with her would be like coming full circle. This will be her first time running it, even though she's done the race five times.

Tomorrow morning, I'm getting together with my friend Stephanie and one of her friends to run 10 miles. Stephanie has to run 20(!), her friend Anne has to run 14, and I "only" have 10 on the schedule ;) Running with company is always so much more fun than running solo! This 10-miler is the final run in the 500 Festival Virtual Training Series.  Darn it! I was just going to write about the training series, but I just realized that the 10-miler is NEXT weekend. I could have sworn it was tomorrow.  Oh, well, I'm still going to run 10 with Steph!

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Run Woodstock

Yesterday, after my run, I calves were sore enough that I decided to try foam rolling (something that I know people swear by, but I just can't get into it). After doing that for a minute, I remembered that I had gotten "The Stick" when I was at the Heartbreak Hill Half, which would be much easier to use, so I decided to try that instead.

The muscles on the sides of my shins and my entire calves were sore, so I pushed as hard as I could stand with The Stick to roll it out. It was really painful, and actually brought tears to my eyes, but I was willing to try anything. And surprisingly, it worked! When I woke up this morning, my shins and calves felt pretty much back to normal.

A few people suggested it was probably from running with Joey, and they may be correct. That was actually when the soreness started. I'd been wearing the same three pairs of shoes for several months, so I knew it couldn't be my shoes (and I track my mileage in each pair, so I'm not wearing shoes that are overused).

I've noticed that my right shoulder has been sore almost constantly, too, and that's probably from holding the leash when I run with Joey. So, anyways, I hope that my body gets used to it and I don't feel sore from it anymore. But I'm going to continue to use The Stick, because I was really impressed with how well it worked on my legs!

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Nathan, my younger brother, made a huge decision a couple of days ago... he just registered for an ULTRAmarathon! If you're not aware of the crazy that is an ultramarathon, that would be a race distance over 26.2 miles. He ran his first marathon in October, and this September, he'll be running a 50K race! (A 50K is about 31.07 miles). And it's a trail run, which is much more difficult than a road race.

He registered for the Freak 50K at Run Woodstock in Hell, Michigan. I love that it's in Hell--so fitting for his first ultra! I told him I'd do the Hippie Half. I just can't imagine training for an ultra in August--he's nuts! But I'd be happy to cheer him on. The Hippie Half is also a trail run, which is totally new to me, so it should be interesting to say the least ;)

The Run Woodstock weekend of races looks really fun. They have something for everyone--a 5K, 5-Mile, 10K, Half-marathon, full marathon, 50K, 50-Mile, 100K, and 100-Mile. The 5-miler even has a "natural" option, which means to run it nude! Hahaha, you couldn't pay me enough money to do that. The races take place over the whole weekend, so a lot of people bring tents and camp out. It sounds like a lot of fun!

Speaking of Nathan, we're working on a little project that I'm excited to share. I met him for lunch today to talk about it, and hopefully I'll get a post up by Monday about it. I've mentioned before that he has PTSD after serving the Army in Iraq; and now he's ready to share about that in the hopes of helping others who may be going through it, or have a loved one who is.

Just the fact that we got together for lunch today makes me so happy! A couple of years ago, that would have NEVER happened. He was very closed off, and we weren't close (despite the fact that I would have loved to be); but running has changed him so much, and we have a great relationship now.

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Eli just gave me his report card, and I thought it was hilarious when I looked at it. I guess he thought I wouldn't notice his Reading grade wasn't as uniform as the others? ;)

I texted the photo to his teacher, who thought it was hilarious as well. The actual grade was a B-, but he apparently thought he deserved an A. When I asked him about it, he was honest... he said that it was a B-, but his teacher made a mistake and it should have been an A. (My mom said he handwriting should have been an A, because that A he wrote looks pretty darn good! haha)

The kids are off school tomorrow and ALL of next week for spring break!

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April Fool's Day

I've always hated April Fool's Day! I fall for all of the stupid online pranks. Today, for example, there were several companies making "announcements", and then once I read the comments, I realized they were fake. But I always fall for it!

My sister has always loved April Fool's Day, and she encouraged my kids (from the time they could WALK) to play pranks on Jerry and me. She gave them ideas, and we had to pretend to fall for the pranks. The kids thought it was a blast ;)

I will never forget April Fool's Day in 2010...

When I went to pick up Eli from preschool, he was very upset. He told me that he got in trouble at school, but he "didn't do anything wrong". So when I asked his teacher, she told me what had happened.

Eli in March 2010... so sweet!

The kids (four year olds) were all in line in the cafeteria to get their lunches, when suddenly Eli collapsed to the ground. He was on his back, totally still. His teacher asked him if he was okay, and there was no response. She asked again, and still no response. She was really starting to panic at this point, and she went over to check on him. She got down next to him, trying to figure out what was wrong, when Eli opened his eyes and said, "April Fools!"

His teacher didn't find it funny at all (and who could blame her?), but Eli was really upset that his "joke" wasn't funny. (I was having a hard time even believing that a four-year old could come up with a trick like that! haha). I actually felt really bad for him, because he didn't understand why it was wrong; he just played a trick on April Fool's Day, and that was all he knew. But anyway, every April first, I think of that story! ;)

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Today, I had three miles on the schedule. My legs are so sore! It's my calves and my shins--they don't feel injured, but just that normal soreness when you haven't exercised in a long time. Except I have. So I have no idea why they are so sore!

I took Joey with me, but he was really wound up today, and it was hard to run with him. We didn't go to the park, but ran near my house instead, which made it more difficult. I had to make him heel while we ran on a highly trafficked road. Then, he kept darting after squirrels and birds. My lower legs were so sore that I just was not in the mood to deal with it, so after a half-mile, I turned around and we ran home, where I dropped him off. All I wanted was to run a slow, easy pace, and to zone out.

After I dropped him off, my mind was much more relaxed. My body was still really feeling beat up, though. I ran slowly, and tried to focus on having good form. I finished my three miles, but it was really difficult. Yesterday's run was much easier, even though my pace was a lot faster!

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I'm going to keep this super short, because I'm really not feeling good tonight. Anyone play any fun tricks for April Fool's Day? Or get fooled by someone else? ;)

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