Swimmin Runnin Duff

So yesterday I had a pretty awesome swim. Did a 500, then did some drills, then another 500. Found out there is an AWESOME Biathlon going on here April 5th. It happens to be a 500 swim at the pool I swim at...and then a 5K right next door at the park I run at. HOW PERFECT! ALso the swim is in the pool...which will be a nice way to start getting oriented into the multisport races. I'm not ready for open water yet....NO WAY JOSE! Anyway...my only question is WHAT DO I WEAR? I know...typical girl question. I know I will be swimming in a swimsuit...OBVIOUSLY...but then what do I do for the run?! SO confused....any help would be great. If you cant tell I'm pretty excited about this. Once that is over...I'm going to start biking a ton. I feel like I need to integrate the two sports separately...esp with my schedule. But after that race, I will jump head first into biking. Then after the marathon in May, I will be in full gear for triathlons this summer. That is the plan STAN!


Also I have a 15 mile run this weekend. My longest distance yet...and I'm scurrrrrred! haha. I am going to just take it slow and enjoy it. I have so much steam to burn off from the past couple weeks of school that I'm almost looking forward to it. I can't wait for my weeklong break...bc I'm about to break down. Anesthesia.....will be totally forgotten during that week. I will be in a week long anesthetic coma...but for now I must forge ahead. Still have some classes, tests, practicals, and finals yet to go! Say some prayers!

PEACE :)

SCARY

So when I first started running long distance I figured one of the benefits would be that my body parts would get smaller....NOT BIGGER!!!!!!! LOOK at this! WTF? I'm seriously freaking out here. Will this go away if i stop running? Will it all turn to fat? Will it eventually start slimming out? Could it possibly get BIGGER???? Will biking do this to my butt? I already know what swimming does to my shoulders...IM SCARED! I was hoping all this would make me a lil skinny thing....not a freakin BEAST!!!!!! HELLLLLLLLLP! Even my dog looks scared..like mom..wtf is that thing hanging off your leg!??

Critz 10K for preservation

Let me start by saying...I am so lucky to live in Savannah, GA. I don't take advantage of it, and don't get downtown enough due to my schedule, but today's run made me realize how lucky I am. For that reasons..I'm going to show pictures of the areas we ran in today.

This was a smaller race...and the 2nd annual. The race began at Forsyth Park....@ the mansion. BREATHTAKING. HEres a pic of where it started :We all lined the street and the horn went off. I actually started out a little too fast (realized later).




















Next we ran around Forsyth Park. Again, pictures don't do this place justice...but here is a picture of it.














Then we ran past a bunch of old beautiful houses and trees filled with spanish moss, Daffin Park, and back to forysth.









It was a tough run for me. I wore WAYY too much clothing. IT was supposed to rain...so I had a long sleeved reebok shirt on, sweatshirt, and sweatpants. It ended up getting up to 70 degrees. I was pretty overheated...and also started out a lil fast. My goal was to run it in 59 minutes...and I finished in 58:30. I was pretty pleased! Heres a pic of me after the race:) Anywho...good times. Swimming was fun yesterday. The pool was set up for long course...didn't realize that until I got to the end and was like NO WAY was that 25 m! haha. SOmetimes its hard to put pool lengths in perspective. I prob ended up swimming about 1000m..but basically just getting my shoulder used to stroking again. Working ont he bilateral breathing too...didn't seem too akward. I've worked on it in the past..but basically am starting back over again since its been so long since I swam. Thats about it...oh and got the bike tire fixed too! Goin for a spin later :) Have a great weekend...and come visit Savannah ya'll. Promise..you wont be disappointed.

ALLLLLLLLLLLmost Friday :)

Somehow I managed to survive yet another week of my life. Don't ask me how I did it..haha.


I'm going to be running a 10k on Saturday. Hopefully the weather holds up. It will be my first 10 k ever.....maybe I'll do my first 5k after that. Funny how I started at the half marathon distance eh? haha.


Going swimming tomorrow.....teaching my friend how to swim that wants to do tri's with me this summer. Aughta be interesting...she said she doesn't put her head under the water. It's a good thing I coached and taught swimming for 8 years. One catch....I haven't really swam since I got 6 screws drilled in my shoulder about a year and a half ago. This should be really interesting to watch....a rusty one armed fish teach someone whos scared to put their head under water. You want some free entertainment...head over to the Chatham County Aquatics Center. Which brings me to my next point....found out we have this HUGE amazing aquatics center here in town and if you are a student its $3 to go! WHY DIDNT I KNOW OF THIS BEFORE?!? CHeck out the pics!!


Also getting my bike fixed this weekend. Somehow I got a flat....noooooooo idea. Could be that im stupid and don't know how to work the presta valves. Either way...the nice folks at the bike shop will hook me up and I'll be on wheels again :O) Other than that....took care of a patient that fell through a glass curio cabinet. Completely slit her wrist in half..when the surgeon took the stitches out (that the stupid ER docs put in) they pulled out a glas s piece larger than a quarter....eeeek! I eagerly watched as the surgeon diligently repaired 5 tendons and ligaments and numerous nerves in this poor girls hand. Lesson....be careful! Glad when I tripped over that chain fence that there wasn't a glass curio cabinet sitting there!!! :) Happy Weekend ya'll!

In Love

I have finally had a running breakthrough. After a week or two of sucky runs...I have finally taken the running Gods head on! HEres the deal people. When I first started running everything came easy to me. Everytime I ran I got faster, went further, etc you know the drill. Ever since I ran the half marathon I have not been able to get back to where I was pre-race. Each run felt hard....VERY hard. One thing I have learned in life is that you aren't in love until it takes WORK! This was premarital advice given to me by this nice Christian couple about 3 months before I got married. She said " The real love starts when it takes work to love that person." I always keep this in mind with my marriage on hard days, but now I'm applying it to other things.

When I first started running, we were in the "honeymoon" stage. I LUSTED running. It made me feel good, it wasn't hard, and I kept getting better. It was physical attraction....we held hands a lot and it gave me butterflies. It wasn't until I hit the brick wall and worked through some extremely hard runs and disappointment until I can now finally say.....I LOVE RUNNING! Well..its more a love/hate relationship, but you know what I'm getting at. Everyone says running never gets easy. They are right. ANd you aren't truly an athlete, and truly passionate about a sport until it takes a ton of work to pull yourself off the couch and work through those mind grueling runs. Me & running.....are pretty serious now. We worked through the BS...and we are ready to be committed to each other. With that said......


I ran 12 miles on Friday...it was alright (This was before the breakthrough). 2 Miles yesterday..just because I was bored. But yesterday I recalibrated my ipod to make it more accurate. I realized that when I ran the half marathon it said i went 14.2 miles...which is pretty off. I recalibrated it to be SLOW...so that I'm actually running a little faster than it says I am. This way I accidentally do a little more mileage...and I will be pleasantly surprised with my race paces. SO I thought todays run would be SUPER slow...since I had been having really slow runs lately...and on top of that...recalibrated my nike plus to be even slower. But here she is :


I finally managed to go back to my old running...of getting faster and faster as the run went on. I almost ended up with about the same avg pace time as I had been before.....eventhough my sensor is calibrated to be slower. So that is good news. Also it was like 80 degrees out...so it was a hot run..but I felt great.


I'm in love....

too bad this all came AFTER valentines day. Maybe I coulda gotten two boxes of chocolates ?

soooo much to do...soooooo little time

Clearly now you can all see how bad my runs have sucked this week. This is what I'm talking about. No negative splits, slow paces, and feeling crappy while doing it. Hopefully I have been sucking up to the running Gods and this turns around before tomorrows 12 miler!



OK things I want to get done today:
Take my 2 tests..eeek
Stop at the post office to pick up a package
Go to Target to pick up a few things
Clean the house (kitchen & spare bedroom)
Spend time with Bentley
Drink a lil
Run 5 miles

Things I want to accomplish tomorrow:
12 mile run
studying

Or maybe I'll do tomorrows things today?! I dunno! I don't want to drink BEFORE my long run..I rather do it after. SO maybe is hould get it out of the way today? But I worry I'll be runnin in the dark...eeeek! I'm a mess...I apologize
Ok.....now that I got that out of the way. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!! :) :)

Carpe Diem

Sieze the day....

So I was thinking. After I finish my first marathon (If i finish my first marathon..)...haha. I was thinking about getting a "carpe diem" tattoo on my foot. Sieze the day....thats pretty much me in a nutshell. I have woken up days and said to myself and others "You have once chance to live this day.....one chance to live February 13th, 2008, How are YOU going to live it?" My husband yelled at me and told me not to think that way...but it's true. You got one shot to live this day...so if it starts bad...are you going to let that affect the way you live the rest of your day? You still have a shot at making the last half good! Life is too short...I've seen too many people die young. I lost one of my good friends to cancer last year (he was 22) and he made the MOST out of the last few months of his life. www.jeffsballparktour.com check it out. We never know when we are going to go....so make everyday count. Live it the way you want to. Run an fing marathon. Sieze the day.

I figure that tattoo would be a symbolism of putting my mind towards something and achieving it. I could look back on it after I'm 200 lbs after having a baby and think "wow...I trained for a marathon when I was putting in 17 hr days in grad school...I can get my butt back in shape!" Also it can be reflective on any future accomplishments, races, etc I achieve. It's not limited to running, but I want it to remind me of running. Give me your thoughts! haha.

On the flip side, still cruddy. Managing to get my miles in...but it ain't easy. Carpe Diem ya'll :)

Feelin bleh

So I've had some of the crappiest workouts ever in the past two days. I've been feeling under the weather for about 3 weeks now, but I finally broke down and started taking antibiotics. Also I decided to take nose spray and I think it's totally messing me up. I know nose sprays have a tendency to make your heart race, and whenever I go out for a run I feel like my heart rate jumps through the sky. I can't seem to catch my breath, and it's nothing like the awesome 9 miler I did on Friday. Please...I need some encouragement...bad!haha

Also heres how I spend my Valentines Day Weekend :)

WIth the bike




My Bentley



















And my boy :)















p.s. Notice how my calf muscles are the same size as my thighs now??? Thanks a lot running!!! I hate you!!

9 on the 8th???

Ok so I attempted Nancy's Virtual Race today on the 8th (you know me..I get all crazy and do things early). Well my ipod had a brain fart half way through and I lost the first half of the race. GOOOOOOOOOD TIming Ipod!!! How the heck am I supposed to prove I ran a VIRTUAL race without my data????? Don't tempt me...because you know if you doubt me I will do it again tomorrow with my ipod to prove it! haha Grrrrr...but here is the second half of my race!


RACE REPORT!!!
Well it was a lovely day for a race. Mid 70's, sunny, cool breeze. Picking up the packets was easy. The Tshirt was a little hard to put on since it was 2-D...but I made it work. I made it to the starting line just in time and thought "these are my kind of races....start at 3 pm!!"

The gun shot and off I went. Beautiful scenery along the gorgeous marshes of Savannah, Georgia. It seemed like shortly after I began running the crowd support and runners dwindled away. The only thing I could think to myself was "I must be winning this race!!" After mile 4...the ipod had a brain fart, froze, and lost everything. I panicked....ate my GU...looked around. I couldn't see anyone creeping up on me, so I knew I had time to restart the ipod. When I was finishing up mile 7, a low tree came out of nowhere and hit me in the head. I thought I ducked enough...but decided from now on I'm going to wear my new bike helmet to these virtual races. They are dangerous!! I felt great during the race and kept thinking about the person who posted on my blog about not getting bored while running..but actually enjoying it. And that is exactly what I did. I was getting rid of all the horribleness of this week (it was downright UGLY)...and feeling great about myself. Something about finishing this race without even being out of breath was the best feeling ever. Chip time was 1 hr 15 minutes. Still waiting for the cool medal..maybe Nancy will give those out to us too!!

Also I got injured yesterday...in what I like to call "Fencing". No I don't mean the cool martial art...I'm talking about tripping over a chain fence. Like the one pictured here. My friend Nikki and I decided to go to the gas station between classes and get a double sugar free redbull. I can't even lie and say I was running, or trying to hurdle it or anything...I simply didn't lift my leg high enough and slammed into the chain with my shin and almost did a flip over the thing. OUCH!!! Needless to say....its swollen and bruised now!



I'm so glad to be done with this race (aka long run) for a few reasons. I proved that my legs still work after last weeks half marathon. It was the first time they felt GOOD running again. ALso this leaves all weekend for me to bond with my new best friend...aka "Benson" or "Flame". I wanted this to be out of the way so I could ride bikes all weekend!! YESSSSSS!!! SO pumped!

Good luck to all of you on your virtual race...too bad I already won :) haha (in my version)

Decision time

I know you all have been sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what I'm going to do with all these decisions (prob not..haha..but ill pretend). HERE IT IS! Thanks to all your great advice!

NO WAY to hilton head half marathon this weekend

Half marathon in Atlanta March 30 is still on!!!

Drumroll please.........


I'm going to attempt my first full marathon May 18th in Cleveland, OH. If all goes well anyway....if not...it will be another half.



I want to get the marathon out of the way and check it off my list. I don't think it's going to be something I fall in love with and want to do all the time. Quite frankly...5 hrs of running sounds pretty boring. I got bored during my half marathon (prob from staring at shoes). I think triathlons are eventually going to be my passion. But this is definitely something I want to conquer.

This summer will be full of sprint triathlons I hope. There are 3 beach bum tri's in Hilton Head..I'm "bummed" though because the bike ride is on the sand. I mean sounds fun..but not when you are all giddy to tryout the triathlon bikes. There are some normal sprint tris here too.


One more announcement...We are going to stay in Georgia for at least another year. There was talk of moving back when my clinical rotations start in September (to Ohio)...but due to weather and intense training goals :).....we are gonna stay down south for at least one more...(maybe forever).


Thats all folks! Have a great week!

Crazy & Crazier

I am sick.....foreal. I have caught the fever!!!!!!!!! Would it be totally stupid to run another half marathon this weekend after finishing my first ever last weekend? I'm not really sore...just a little soreness in my quads...thats it. My hip is not bothering me. My knees are not bothering me. (Stomach still havin issues..haha) I need expert running advice stat!!


And one other topic to be advised on. I am throwing around the idea of training for a full marathon in May. Problem is my schedule. Could I train for a full marathon by just running 5 miles (3-4 times) during the week and building my weekend run up 23 miles? Most training plans have you running 8-12 mile runs during the week and my schedule just does NOT allow to run more than an hour or so per day. Please give me your thoughts...and advice. I'm a baby in running land!!

Here are some final pics from race weekend!! Everyone have a greattt week!
P.S.Is that not the ugliest medal ever?? A huge seashell in the middle...starfish woulda been cooler :)

RACE REPORT ...Tybee Island Half Marathon

I.....AM......A.......WINNER!!!!!!

I can officially call myself a "runner"..I think? I finished my first half marathon. Considering 5 weeks ago I set out to run a half marathon in MAY....with the goal of finishing in in 2:30..I should be very proud of finishing my first half marathon 5 weeks later with a time of 2:10 (clock time 2:13)


So heres the recap...and this is how I remember my race

The Lonely part:
Travis dropped me off...and I was standing in a field....alone...and cold. I had no clue what I was doing....didn't know where the starting line was. It seemed like everyone else had someone they were with...and I was just out there...shivering and shaking....alone. I was sooooooo scared. Someone actually commented after seeing me...and said "wow..theres people shivering out here". But then some friends walked up...and I was kosher from there on out.

Beginning: Mile 1
This was the most exciting part of the race. Big crowd...lots of excitement.I had tears in my eyes....it was just Awesome!!

Middle: Miles 2-10
This part was just nice and steady. I met up with some girls I knew and we ran the first 8 miles together. This may have slowed me down...but I was soo happy to have someone there with me during my first race. I wish I would have paid more attn to my surroundings...and less attn to the shoes the people had on in front of me.People would point out funny things that I was missing since I was just staring at the shoes in front of me. Got to see Travis and a classmate at mile 7. Ran up and jumped on him...(Secretly hoping he would piggy back me the next 6 miles). It was good to see a familiar face. At mile 8...the girls wanted to walk...SO I forged ahead.

Hard Part: Miles 10-13
I was not prepared for the last three miles. Since my training "long runs" had consisted of 2....8 miles and 10 miles....I did not have the experience to be able to feel strong on this bit of unchartered territory. I seriously had to have some mental talks with myself to get me through it. Also I sped up too quickly. I kept thinking the end was near...and I think speeding up kinda hurt me.

End: .1
This was the best part. I saw the chute and just took off sprinting. I passed about 4 or 5 people...and just felt like I was flying. However I'm sure it did not look that way.

I felt soooo great to be done!! Here are some pics!

Things I learned:

*Don't look at the shoes in front of you.....there is much better scenary when running on an ISLAND!

*Brunswick Stew is NOT a good post race food....still having stomach issues

*Standing alone in a field of runners can be very scary

*Don't speed up too quickly.....

*Sprinting past people in the last 100m is mean..and FUN!

*.....when I saw the finish line.....I knew this was not the finish.....but just the beginning.......

Hilton Head Half Marathon next weekend???? We shall see......haha

P.S. I ran the second half faster than the first....I progressively got faster as the race went on...even in those 3 miles I felt like I was dying

GAME FACE!

So today I had my first cardio physiology test..............


THen I went and picked up my race packet for tomorrows half marathon!!!!!!!! How exciting!! My bib number is 1625...sounds lucky right? I am about to find out what it's like to train for a half marathon in 5 weeks...call me stupid...(It's ok..I call myself that sometimes). I also bought some new clothes...cute purple brooks shirt and brooks pants at the race expo!

Sorry I've been so MIA..life has been crazy. 12 hour days..studying all night. Training. Rinse, Repeat. But I couldn't be happier. I'm so glad I started running and training and I'm even more excited to start swimming & cycling! Which brings me to my next point...I'm just going to flash a picture. Isn't she beautifullllll??? Detailed explanation to come!! All I can say is that no one has ever reached out to me in this way and it inspires me sooooooo much to get out there and start training and kickin some cycling butt!


Think of me tomorrow..first timer! You all have inspired me so much! Your quotes are in my head constantly. Any last advice would be grrreeatt!! :)
God Bless!