Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I'm back!

I'm definitely dipping too far in the technology cookie jar. Online shopping addiction, pinterest addiction, Facebook, Daily Mile.....sorry I've been neglecting my blog :-(

The only good news I have is that I'm back running :-)

Sunday, October 2, 2011

It's been a while......but I forgot my password haha!

Phew, there is a lot of fill in between the gaps here. I've been training for the NYC Marathon since August. Committed to the training program, not so much. This will be my third marathon in 13 months...who needs a "schedule". Well, apparently this girl! Here I am, just finished the Wineglass Marathons First Annual Half Marathon, in the time of 1:34:37(according to my Garmin-unofficial), which also happens to be a PR and qualifies me for the NYC Marathon of 2012, and 3 weeks out of NY 2011........and have yet to complete a long run consisting of over 14 miles. Can we say FML?  Mentally, I'm not prepared, physically I'm not prepared and now at this point in the game, my body is falling apart. Definitely struggling with some sort of achielles issue but the bigger issue is the pain that goes from the right side of my knee, across the top of my knee and straight into my crotch. Lovely area to end at, huh?  I'm going to make my decision to defer by Wednesday but at this point, it's looking like an indefinite deferement. Oh well, there's always next year, right?

Saturday, June 4, 2011

3 weeks of of foot damage and no road running....pity party for one please!

I've been neglecting my blog, but what I am suppose to write about?

About a month ago, I was out running with my husband and landed on a chunk of road, under my forefoot. At the time, I thought it wasn't a big deal but it swelled and began to hurt. First trip to my family physician. Result: Stress Fracture in my 4th metatarsal. My doctor, knowing my history, obsession and being a runner himself, told me to take it easy. That I did, until running the Komen 5K on May 15th. Although I did considerably well overall, 3rd over all female, 1st for my age group, with a time of 20:25, the ending results were not worth the high.  The running stops here =( Second trip to my family physician. 3 MORE x-rays, stress fracture still there, no more damage was present. Doctor thinks I may have nerve damage in my foot. Excellent! He refers me to a podiatrist.  Podiatrist examines my foot. We already know there is a stress fracture, but it not causing the other knife stabbing pain in my toes & in my forefoot. He examines the foot and gives me the diagnosis of this: stress fracture in 4th met, tears in my 3rd & 4th tendons from the toes, capsulitus in my 3rd toe. Not going to lie, I've had a considerable amount of running injuries and this pain was a little unbearable.....especially the tie area. I leave with a fracture caste, which I have worn MAYBE a total of three days in two weeks ha ha!  Usually at home but never in public. That damn thing is ANNOYING!  In the meantime, I've been spinning 25-30 miles daily, to keep my endurance up.  I'm ready to retire the bike for a while, for it's getting old staring at the same wall, in the same room, by my lonesome self, for 1 1/2 hours at a time.

Fast forward....As of last weekend, my frustrations began to take over and I wrapped the foot and was determined to do SOMETHING on my treadmill. First attempt was slow, not too long but it felt great & satisfying. A couple days later, I tried again, a little sore but managed to get 6 miles in!  I ran again yesterday at a 9:35 pace for 6 miles, felt great until the last mile and my foot had had enough. Run, ice, bike, ice, run, ice, bike, ice......this has become my life =(  Whatever I AM doing right, is working because each day it seems to feel better. A couple days ago, I was able to walk out of bed without excruciating pain, versus slipping right into my sneakers...which by the way, smell rotten and will be departing once this foot is healed.  Unfortunately, they are the only things that feel okay on my foot for now.

Tomorrow, after evaluating how my foot feels in the morning, I'm going to attempt to take my sorry, slow ass to the Edison track and run a few miles!  It's killing me to not be able to run, let alone meet up with my girls on  Sundays!  Pity party, table for one please!

Dear Left Foot, YOU WILL NOT WIN!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Getting closer to breaking 20 in the 5K!

My husband and I have made a tradition of running the Twin Tiers Komen 5K each year. This year we ran in celebration of my Aunt, who was diagnosed with Breast Cancer 6 months ago.  It was a nice day for a 5K, although the humidity was a bit much AND I won't even go into all of the complaints of the roads conditions.  I finished 3rd for overall female, 1st for my age group(30-39), with a time of 20:25 (unofficial, this I'm going off my Garmin). Steve came in shortly behind me at 23:15. I absolutely LOVE when he runs races with me, hopefully this will become more frequent!  

Still shy of breaking 20 minutes. My PR still holds from the Heart of Hearts 5K in February, with a time of 20:10. But, with a hairline stress fracture in my 4th metatarsal in the left foot, I'm very pleased with the results of today's race.  Time to heal up and work on speed, before heading back to Marathon training this summer....EEEeeeeeeK!


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

And one more thing!

After looking for several months, I've found an accredited CFT program that will fulfill both my Master requirements for General Education at Elmira College and Personal Training Certification! Killing two birds with one stone! It's through ISSA online. As soon as my packet gets here, I'm back to school! I've wanted to do this for some time so I'm super excited that I will be beginning soon!

Looks like my next adventure is the NYC ING...

Here we go again....I qualified for the NYC ING in the Corning Red Baron 1/2 Marathon. Never did I have any intention of doing it, but having the option was a nice idea. Last month, I finished the Boston Marathon and had no plans of running any other races this year.  Maybe it was the post-marathon blues or the fact that my friends, whom I adore, were all moving onto other marathons. Either way, I looked at it as a mid life crisis-as I have been very emotional lately ha ha!  But, I did check the NYC website and was confused about the registration dates for guaranteed entrants. So, I e-mailed the race director and immediately got an automated response stating "they would get back to me as soon as they could". I didn't expect to hear from them...


In recovery mode, I peeked into other marathons for this upcoming fall. Chicago, Philadelphia and NYC (only because I was intrigued by its hype). My friend Amy Balash, had confirmed that Chicago was closed. In the meantime, my husband and I were discussing our plans for the fall.  Are we going to attempt baby #3 or am I going to sign up for another marathon. Neither of which he was too thrilled about.  After all, without his help watching our two girls(which cuts into his "man time"), I'm not sure how I would be able to train for my long runs. Later yesterday afternoon, I just happened to be checking my e-mail and noticed an e-mail from the NYC ING Marathon association.  Assuming that it was just to answer my questions I had previously sent them. Much to my dismay, it was an e-mail stating they were awaiting my registration for the 2011 Marathon. My heart sank into my ass, literally. Is this really happening? Do I really want to run another marathon?  I'm not really fond of the mileage so I thought I'd ask my husband to help make my decision.  His response to #3 was "NO MORE BABIES"......so, I run!


After registering, I asked if he would go with me. His answer "NO".  My mother can not go either, for it is my Dad's birthday the day before. So, here I am, registered for the NYC Marathon on November 6th, the day after my Father's birthday and no one to go with ha ha!  Luckily, I have a couple good friends that will be running it also.  They've both offered me a ride & possible place to stay =)  I'm not giving up on reproducing, regardless of what the man of the house has to say about it. Whatever happens between now and August(when I will begin training), is all in the hands of God! What is meant to be, will be okay with me!  


P.S. I spoke with a psychic in January and she said that I would sign up for the NYC Marathon, but I wouldn't be running it because I would be pregnant with a baby BOY!  Let's see if she is accurate or not!


                                  Marathon registration status: Accepted
                                               Entry number: 793500



I'M IN. TO FINISH

Congratulations!


You're in and have unlocked the official 2011 ING New York City Marathon I'm In to Finish Badge.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Time for new challenges!!!

Still in recovery mode from Boston, and so many new goals are going through my head.  My parents had a first hand experience of why I love obsess over running.  I'm not crazy after all, am I? ha ha!  So, my father asked what if I could hold under a 7mm pace, marathon distance....well, if it were that easy.  Although marathons are not the most appealing distance I crave, I "may" do another in the future.  It makes me very happy that they are FINALLY understanding and more supportive of my running.  With three brothers who are naturally good at everything, I couldn't help to feel a little left out.  Time to find my inner Kenyan!  Here are a few things that I'd like to work on and achieve before the end of the year:

1. Sub 19 min. for the 5K-Sub 1:30 for 1/2 marathon
2. Do track workouts, more speed workouts
3. Work on faster turn over-more efficient running
4. incorporate more biking in my running schedule
5. Try barefoot running!
6. Defeat my sweet tooth =)  
7. Get these Lady Warriors on the streets!!!!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Boston Experience!

Where to begin.....
A little background information before getting into the beast itself.  If you haven't been following my blogs, I had 15 weeks of unbelievably, great training runs. Once I began tapering, the problems began...along with some mistakes (i.e. wearing heels) made.  A couple deep tissue massages later, along with no running and we were Boston bound!  


We stayed at the Renaissance Waterfront Hotel in the bay area.  It was located about 1.7 miles out of downtown Boston.  For two straight days, my entire family was stressed about creating a plan to A. get me to the bus pick-up on time, B. figure out how they were going to get to Boylston Street, C. where should they stand, D. how were we going to meet up after the race, and E. how we were going to get back to our cars to head home.  I couldn't focus on any of those issues because I was fighting my own pre-race demons.  Eventually, all plans had worked out with the help of hotel staff and other helpful runners, which went like this:
A. I hopped on a shuttle($5.00) from the hotel at 6:15 a.m., which took me to the bus pick-up on Tremont St. in the Commons. Buses went to Boston to Hopkinton (1 hour drive), to Athlete's Village.
B. My family jumped on the T and got off on Arlington St. because Copley & Boylston St. stops were closed.
C. They found a wonderful spot on Boylston St, where they stood for nearly 3 hours waiting for me.
D. Luckily, I spotted them right after crossing the finish line. But, the plan was to meet at the park on the left, right past the Baggage buses.
E. We all jumped back on the T, back to the hotel, in the cars and headed home.


I won't ruin the fun for those of you who have not gone to Boston yet.  But, I will provide some helpful tips!  Take the "T". It is much cheaper than taking a cab, if you are not located directly in Boston. Have a plan of where to meet up with your family after the race. There are thousands of people, which makes it nearly impossible to find anyone!  


Onto the Expo, located at the Hynes Convention Center.  Extremely organized, but how could it not be with that many people?! Picked up the packet and went shopping!  I'm not going to lie, I've been to better expo's. It was nice, had great stuff, but the Rock N Roll Series definitely tops it!


The night before the race, we went to dinner at Legal Test Kitchen, which happened to be conveniently located right next to our hotel.  Pan Seared Shrimp in pasta, crab quesadillas, and fried pickles. I couldn't resist the fried pickles, they were the best I'd ever had!  


Race morning, let the fun begin!  Arrived in Hopkinton-Athlete's Village around 8:15 a.m. It was 40 degrees and the wind was brutal. Thousands of runners were laying all over the place, covered up, laying on pool rafts.  I contacted another friend, Tracey Hayes, who was also running.  We met up, eat a few bagels, bananas, scooped a few free Power Bars, water, chatted, went to the potty a couple times and then off to Wave 8!  I was one foot in my wave before it took off.  So much for stretching!


I tried to take the first few miles easy but my adrenaline was slowly taking over.  By mile 5, my stride had set in but my legs still didn't feel that comfortable-and I ditched the running sleeves.  My original plan was to run negative splits, like I usually do. After 13 miles of rolling hills, I knew I had to stick with a pace that could get me to the end.  By mile 13, my legs were starting to hurt-I hit GU number 1.  Thanks to a wonderful running buddy, Amy Balash, I put my name on my shirt for crowd support =)  I did not listen to music the entire time, because the crowds were yelling "GO KELLI" every step of the way. It was so awesome and really kept me going!  Wellesley Girls....you can hear them from a half mile away. My suggestion is run to the left ha ha!



 Mile 17, I'm starting to feel a little comfortable again.  The road is going up and down, up and down, and all I see if thousands of runners ahead up me. I can honestly say, the uphills felt great compared to the downhill.  My quads were getting exhausted.  There are so many uphill & downhill drops in that course, that no one talks about; I know because I've studied it like a state exam LOL!  Mile 19 is where I began to really feel fatigued.  The sun was beaming down, it was hot, my legs were tired, my form was a wreck and I was just trying to hold it together.  I began to stop completely at every single drink station to keep myself hydrated. Mile 21, Heart Break Hill.  You see "thump, thump, thump", written on the road in chalk.  Not that the hill itself was steep, but it was long, and at mile 21, the last thing you want to do is pedal your way up a hill.  Not as bad as I had anticipated though-GU number 2.  Once you get to the top, its quite a drop downhill, and that's what kills your legs.  Once I had passed mile 22, my goal was to just hold on to an 8mm pace or under until the finish.  The last few miles weren't that bad, aside from the dry heaving that I began to experience, the heat, and the tears that bellowed down my face. It was such a glorious moment to run past that mile 26 marker, take a left onto Boylston Street and see the finish ahead.  It seemed like an eternity to get to the finish line, but nothing beats the feeling of crossing that finish line!  
Check my Garmin....HUGE PR!  Official finishing time for 26.52 miles = 3:32:53!!!  I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to experience the phenomenon of Boston.  IT truly is an amazing time! Thank you to everyone who encouraged and support me!


Picked up my medal, post race goodies, baggage and headed home.  That, I do not recommend!  6 hours of sitting after running a marathon, is painful! What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger!
The Finish!!!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

What was I thinking?

I am notorious for taking full advantage of a good run. This particular run was with Greg Grund and Jim Chely, which run considerably faster than my average pace. My pace 8:00, their pace 7:30 and below.  I knew I could handle it but should NOT have done it two weeks out of Boston.  My legs may are in pain....a lot of pain; and I'm kicking myself in the butt for doing this run.  Hoping for a miracle within the next eleven days!!!!!

Here's is the garmin correspondence from the run:


Summary
Overall
Time:02:09:46
Distance:17.00 mi
Elevation Gain:539 ft
Calories:1,612 C
Timing
Time:02:09:46
Moving Time:02:09:35
Elapsed Time:02:14:28
Avg Pace:07:37 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:07:37 min/mi
Best Pace:05:12 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain:539 ft
Elevation Loss:529 ft
Min Elevation:849 ft
Max Elevation:1,091 ft
Laps 17
Split
Time
Distance
Avg Pace
Summary02:09:4617.0007:37
100:08:091.0008:09
200:08:201.0008:20
300:08:291.0008:29
400:07:431.0007:43
500:07:081.0007:08
600:07:051.0007:05
700:07:161.0007:16
800:07:291.0007:29
900:07:321.0007:32
1000:07:551.0007:55
1100:07:291.0007:29
1200:07:351.0007:35
1300:07:341.0007:34
1400:07:231.0007:24
1500:07:321.0007:32
1600:07:271.0007:27
1700:07:311.0007:31