2 Miles!!!!

What's the big deal about 2 miles.....I remember in the recent past that I though it trivial to run just 4 miles but when coming off an injury it is like starting over again. So I tested things out yesterday to see how my legs are responding to the stretching. Good news is that I made it two miles before I started feeling my IT band tightening up again. I was not in pain and feel pretty good this morning but I did not want to push my luck and injure it again. I feel that in this period of my training it is better to err on the side of caution as I cannot afford to be out of the game for another injury. My plan for this coming week is to stretch twice a day everyday and run every other day. Distances will be quite short, compared to what I am used to running but feel that I lost a lot of ground while I was out of commission and do not want to jump right back into it. Think this setback has been more mentally draining on me than physical. I have never had anything slow down my running to this point and am fighting the realization that I cannot just bounce back like I used to. Quite the eye-opener for me as to the necessity of proper warm-up routines as well as stretching......which used to be like flossing to me in that it was always recommended but somehow I was just fine without. Keep checking back and I promise that I will continue my updates Scooter

Injury Report

I have not been writing recently due to an injury (or combination if injuries) that I incurred following the 16 mile run on 8-11-07. I felt great all throughout the run and made it in a respectable time but when I woke up the following day I had a lot of pain in my left leg on the inside of my knee. I just wrote it off and figured it would get better and until then I would just hobble around. Felt a little better after my massage on Monday with Holly. She worked on it a little and said that she could feel some swelling on the tendons and that it was inflamed. Made an appointment with my sports doctor on Friday to get it checked out and hoped to be running the next week. By the time Friday rolled around, I was noticing tenderness in my right leg IT band and brought that up to him as well. He listened to my symptoms and poked at it a little before quickly diagnosing it as Pes Anserinus Syndrome. For those of you that are not doctors I will quote from the medical text that he gave me to read :
“The pes anserinus is the tendon insertion of three muscles of the thigh into the upper leg (tibia), just below the knee to the inner side of the front of the leg. Where the tendon attaches to bone, there is a bursa sack between the bone and tendon. The bursa functions like a water balloon to reduce friction and wear of the tendon against the bone. With this syndrome there is inflammation and pain of the bursa, tendon, or both.”
The paper he gave me to read is a couple of pages long so for the sake of time I will not continue with the exact quote. The doctor did think that since the IT band problem is in the opposite leg that I aggravated it by running on uneven surfaces (side of the road) where the curb and pavement meet. Sounds logical to me!
Treatment is simple with stretching daily (he gave me a few stretches to help), Advil 3 times a day and resting as not to continue aggravating it. He told me that I should not start running again until it felt better. Unfortunately it has been a while since I have been running and it was only a couple of days ago that I could walk without much pain.
I decided that it was time to start running short distances again after 2 weeks of recovery and “test the waters” to make sure that it was feeling better and not cause further aggravation. Did an extensive stretching routine after warming up and felt pretty good when I first started out. Well I made it about ¾ of a mile when I started feeling my IT band tightening up again to the point that I noticed that I had adjusted my stride to compensate. I stopped running and walked the ¾ of a mile back to the truck; a very disappointing start.
I have started going to the gym in addition to the stretching and can use the elliptical machine without any discomfort. The plan is (as of today) to try running again this Thursday…..wish me luck!

Stacie's Honored Hero

This update on the marathon training is unfortunately one I wish I didn’t have to write. But it is very likely the most inspiring and motivating part of my training.

I found out this weekend that my good friend (and I like to say “mentor”) Celeste’s husband Jeff was just diagnosed with Lymphoma a little over 6 weeks ago. Until now I was strangely able to say that, unlike a large majority of the population, my life had not been touched directly by either Leukemia or Lymphoma. I was one of the few members of the Team In Training program that did not have a personal connection to the dreadful cancers that we are running to hopefully cure.

I let Jeff and Celeste know that they are my new inspiration and official “honored heroes.” In one of Jeff’s first blogs he mentions the treatment that he is going through. He is traveling to Bethesda, from New Orleans, every 21 days for treatment. He is participating in a clinical trial between two long-standing protocols called R-CHOP and DA-EPOCH-R. Jeff’s blog is much more adept at explaining the trial itself, and I listed the web address below so that you can check it out too.

Jeff’s courage and strength to participate in a clinical trial seems to emphasize the importance of the fundraising that Scooter and I are doing. 75 cents of every dollar we raise goes directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for research and patient financial support. And if Jeff is strong enough to sign up for a clinical trial offering two very different approaches at treatment, without know which one he would ultimately be assigned, I think I can find the strength to voluntarily run 26.2 miles.

So this one is officially for Jeff, my Honored Hero!
Jeff is one of the funniest and nicest people that I have ever met, and even reading his “cancer blog” seems strangely uplifting and motivating. You should all check it out at:
http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=jeffreyanding

Still Running

I am still running, and running and running. I have to admit that I am not having the time of my life, but I am not hating it either. During the week we are now meeting as early as 4:45 AM to get in 7 miles before work.

We increased our mileage two weeks ago to 16 miles. The run was actually pretty enjoyable until mile 13. We had a long stretch without water and aid, and the temperature increased to about 90 degrees with the sun beating down. Needless to say that the remaining 3 miles were awful, and I really struggled to finish in a good mood. Okay, maybe I didn’t finish in a good mood, but I only hated the world for about 10 minutes.

Shortly after the run we found out that the coaches had decided to start the “back down.” Back down is when we decrease our mileage before the race and slowly start to increase again. So last Saturday we only had to run 12 miles. I know, I never thought that I would be saying “only” 12 miles, but it felt like a nice break.

Scooter had to take the week off. After the 16 mile run, which he finished without any pain, he burst a fluid sack in his knee and is unable to run on it for a while. But Natalie and I ran the leisurely 12 miles and headed to Barton Springs.

For those of you who are not familiar with Barton Springs, it is a natural spring here in Austin, that stays at a constant 68 degrees all year long. It was a nice change from the weekly ice bath. It stung quite bad when we first jumped in, but treading water for 10 minutes in the icy water felt nice, and was a lot less hassle than buying 20lbs of ice, and emptying the bags into a bathtub you know you are about to get into.

Scooter and I bought our third pair of shoes for the season, hopefully this will be the last pair, and I have started breaking them in. My shin splint is getting better slowly, but Scooter is still not yet running.

I sent out my emails for donation because they have started to slow significantly and we still have over $2000 each to raise. We have a fundraiser and washer tournament planned for September 9th that will hopefully get us a little closer.

13.2 Half Way There

Well, it has been a while since I have updated the blog, and we have definitely put in some mileage since last time.

We are currently up to 13.2 miles. That is right ladies and gentleman, we have passed the half way point and I have to admit it wasn’t to bad. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me back up a week or two and fill you in on what we have been doing.

Because I am writing the blog I can really only speak for myself and let you know how I think Scooter is doing. However, from the amount of time we spend talking about running I think I have a pretty good handle on his situation as well.

2 weekends ago, we woke up late, and in a panic!!
We were supposed to start our group training and 10.5 miles at 6:15 and it was 6:20 when we rolled over. I was irrational and distraught, because I did not know how I could possibly run that long without support from the team and WATER/AID STATIONS. Scooter was convinced we could make our own up ad we would be fine. (he is definitely self motivated, unlike me). Luckily enough Beth called from the starting point wondering where we were. I explained the alarm problem and we came up with a solution. She would leave the maps under her windshield and we could head to the starting point and do the run as well.

We got there about 45 minutes after they started and were shocked to find that every single one of the volunteer aid stations had heard we were close behind and waited for us!! We ended up coming in just before the last walkers, not to bad for a late start.

The week after that was kind of uneventful. I went to an abs class at Jack and Adam’s bike shop on Monday. I was definitely tired when I left, but kind of disappointed about the work out, because I did not feel it in my abs at all.. UNTIL NEXT DAY! I definitely ate my words, it hurt so bad to even drive to work. But hey, a marathon is run from your core. You can have the strongest legs in the world, but if you don’t have a solid core you wont make it. But 3 weeks later I think I am still recovering.

We sent our 1st and 2nd batch of checks in (although we have yet to see them actually post). And we sent our first batch of thank you cards (only 2 have come back to us).

The week later we were in New Orleans for the long run. We were supposed to run 12 miles. It ended up being about 11. But it was by far the worst 2 hours of my life, and I say that with no exaggeration. Scooter mapped a run that looked beautiful (on a map) it was in Slidell, LA on the water, through upper class neighborhoods and golf courses. Well the run was AWFUL. It was flat and boring, and sweltering hot. The traffic was bad and there was nothing to look at. At about mile 10, I really thought I was done. I had not given up yet in our training, but I knew this would be it. Before passing out I stopped to walk and Scooter was smart enough to find a water spigot at an apartment building, where we re-hydrated and were able to make it back, to the much needed ice bath.

The week after was a slow one. We were kind of beat up (and down) from our run on Saturday, we may have taken more than one day off to recover. Scooter headed to Houston, where he was forced to take another couple days off, due to weather and lack of sleep.

Saturday came and it was the “half marathon” We ran the Motive Bison course which is a half marathon run here in, North Austin, Riata area to be exact. Lots of hills, okay maybe only 4 but they were awful hills. We climbed 250 feet in less than 2 miles.
I also had my first real experience with the runner’s goo. I found 2 flavors I actually kind of enjoy, “double latte” and “vanilla bean.” But at mile 10 I realized that the goo can go right through you if you are not careful, or not used to it. Something about the mile 10 and I, we just do not get along well. We made it in finally, and I made it to my car and home just in time. I didn’t have time for an ice bath, so needless to say I am definitely feeling tight.

This week has started slow again, the morning runs are actually getting harder and harder, not easier. We are meeting at 5AM now, in order to get done in time. The August schedule came out today and it looks like we are increasing mileage again. We will be running 6 and 7 miles in the morning, which will probably mean a 4:30 start time.

Oh and most importantly, we have reached our recommitment point. We have to look at our donations and “recommit” which basically means deciding whether or not we should quit now, or try and raise the remaining money. We still have quite a ways to go, but there is no stopping now. We have come too far, hundreds of miles to be honest!