Back on course

Yesterday I got up with the pain still taking over my lower inner left leg. I went to meet the TNT group with the intention of running only a little bit of the 6 mile half marathon run. My plans changed when me and my new running buddy, Terri, started on our way.

I'm happy to say that we did the run/walk just as the rest of the group did. After about 2 miles, my legs both completely stopped hurting. She is amazing to run with, we sometimes would run over our 4 minute mark and end up running for about 5 minutes. Not only was she motivating, but she is fantastic about diverting attention from the run, and pain, and the heat to other things such as: What are you thankful for? What makes you smile? What do you see? It was great.

Not only did it feel fantastic to run again, but the view from where we ran was gorgeous. I almost wish I could have done the full marathon run just so I could see more of the city. I could see the all the way from the Rio Grande to the Sandias. On Sunday mornings it almost looks like the city is holding its breath is it waits for the sun to peak over the mountains and come through the clouds. Everything seems fresh and alive. I love it.

Speaking of fresh, if you like blueberries make your way to CostCo. They have some of the sweetest, plumpest and best tasting blueberries I've ever had. MMmmm I put them in my cereal today. Delicious!

During the run we started talking about the problem with celebrities these days (among other topics). This one got to me because these young adults (Lindsay and Paris) are role models for girls whether they like it or not. If they don't have any consequences for the stupid things they're doing, how will teenagers know that drunk driving and using drugs is NOT ok??? They won't. They'll see that they can get away with it at least one time with nothing happening to them. I feel very passionate about this and I kinda wish there was a way I could do something about it. There has to be something done about the fact that there are people driving around right now who've been convicted of DUI's at least 20 times (or read it here from the ABQ Journal). Come on!!! That's just ridiculous.

....I think that's the most I can do for that rant for now.

**Keep August 15, between 6-9pm open...there is a tentative fundraiser at Coaches Sports Grill!!!

today's horoscope for ME

The mere fact that I write horoscopes makes me not believe them, but I still like to read them and get entertained with something when it actually pertains to my life. Take this one from this week's Alibi:

Aquarius: Consider writing an entertaining advertisement about yourself in order to attract the resources you'd like to play with. Or think about buying the domain name "showerblessingson[yournamehere].com," then setting up a website where the world can send you business offers, marriage proposals, free gifts and invitations to travel. The point is, Aquarius, that the upcoming weeks will be a perfect time to get very aggressive and highly specific about asking for what you need. rev up the fun-loving parts of your imagination.

How fun! More yoga in an hour...wwweeeeee!!!!

yoga 101

Things to know about yoga:
1. Bring your own mat
2. It's going to hurt
3. It's going to hurt a lot
4. There will be muscles used and stretched that you didn't know about
5. You will sweat without moving a single foot
6. Your legs will shake
7. Old women (they could be your grandma) will also take the class, which will shut your inner whining up for a whole 30 seconds.
8. It's still hurting.
9. It will feel good
10. You will be relaxed
11. The best part of the entire class is the very, very, very end.


I like blueberries.

Mmm Mmmm Puddin'

Kudos to my mom for buying some very tasty Chocolate/Vanilla swirl pudding packs by JELLO. I'm not one to be a fan of sweets, but that little pack hit the spot just now.

Thought I should mention the 1/2 mile I ran today. Woohoo! I walked about 1 3/4 miles this morning and threw in the little jog. It felt weird. It felt like I was trying to hard to not let it hurt when I ran, so instead it was throwing off my stride. I need to work on making it feel natural again. I suppose a half mile is better than nothing. Maybe I'll get up to a mile by the end of this week.

....and sometime this week maybe I'll actually get my butt to a yoga class like I've been talking about. I need, desperately, to stretch more. I also want to start cross training. Lots of things I want to do. I just need to do them!!!!

It's raining outside. I wish I could open a window so I could hear and smell it.

Strong six miles!!!!!

Yesterday I woke up early and drove out to Santa Ana Casino for our 7 am run. I got there feeling a little 'ify' about running, since i haven't ran for two weeks and every time before that my lower legs have felt awful. I wanna show you the route:
*Just for the record, it took me a half hour to figure out how to take this picture from a word document and turn it into a JPG. The geek in me is starting to shine through! Sorry it's still so small though - that's the biggest I could get it!!!*

Ok, so what you're looking at is the route we had for Sunday. I wasn't feeling confident enough to actually run, so I decided to walk. Luckily I found someone to walk with; her name is Terri and for six miles we got to know each other. We pushed each other to go further. Since we are both doing the half marathon we could turn around at the first water stop (the first green star - four miles out) which would make it a a round trip of 8 miles. Since I haven't done anything for the past couple weeks I wasn't sure how my legs would feel doing 8 miles, so we decided to walk an extra two miles (completely up hill - the second star on the map) and catch a ride back with the water stop people.

So, we did it. We walked the six miles, we didn't die and my legs didn't fall off. AND, the most exciting part (well there were four exciting parts) were:
1) We weren't actually THAT far behind everyone. I'd say that just by walking we were only a minute or two behind the runners. Not too shabby.
2)I met an awesome new friend, and I hope we can motivate each other.
3) We got our own form of a Tiffany's necklace when we got to the top of the hill - a delicious brownie!!!
4)I felt better yesterday than I have since before I switched my shoes for the first time!!!

After yesterday I'm feeing confident in continuing with my training. I'm still going to take it easy - no need to jump back into running, I think I'll walk a mile and try running a mile tomorrow, maybe. We'll see.

In other news, my fundraising has kind of hit a wall. Next month I'm having a Ben and Jerry's ice cream fundraiser, so I hope that'll get me a little more towards my goal. I'm also going to have a Lemonade stand at a garage sale in about two weeks. Who doesn't love lemonade on a hot Saturday afternoon?! I'd like to have a bake sale, but I think the fact that I can't actually "bake" may be a problem.

Well...this has been a pretty lengthy blog, so I'll write more tomorrow after I see how my run goes.

Thanks for reading!!!!

Time till the run: 2 months and 28 days...I can make it!!!

The best stuff on earth

I've decided the only way to decide if a Mexican restaurant is good is whether or not you can order "Christmas," finish the entire meal and still crave more chile even though your nose is running and your lips and tongue feel as though they need a dose of SPF to cool them off.

*A word to anyone reading this who is NOT familiar with spicy food: Do not, I reapeat, DO NOT gulp down a glass of water and think that the fiery sensation will go away. Find some milk, sour cream, or any other dairy product to wash it down.*

I had lunch today at La Esquina here in the Galleria where I work...it was ridiculously tasty. The enchiladas (because that's what I get anytime I eat Mexican food) came out flat instead of rolled, but they were delicious. They weren't greasy, as a lot of enchiladas are, and came out perfect.

Which brings me to my next topic: Perfect sopaipillas. With a sopaipilla you should be able to tear off the top with dough left on both sides, making it convenient to pour honey in, or stuff it with leftover fixings from your meal. I like stuffing it and then putting honey on the little top that I tore off. MMMMmmmmm....sopaipilla.

Of course, this all hast to be washed down with a margarita. *Tip: get it 'on the rocks' for more alcohol consumption.*

.....I don't know why I went on this crazy food kick. I think it's because I really want it to be green chile roasting season. We're out of green chile at our house and it makes me sad.

Tonight: Strengthen my sore, poor calf and get my butt to Yoga.

annoying

My legs hurting is starting to get annoying. If it sometimes hurts to walk, how's it going to feel to run? And if I start running, is that just stupid since I still kinda hurt to walk? Not just that, but I can barely pinpoint where it hurts now. It seems to be moving around. Now it's actually hurting where my shins are. So. It's been hurting with my soleus, my achilles, and now my shins? Ugh. One of the coaches with TNT suggested that I go "run" in the pool. Now I just need to get myself to the pool.

I just wanna run again!!!!!!!

The Way I See It

I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks' coffee. Personally, I'm a fan of the company, and their mixed coffee drinks - but they burn their coffee beans, and who wants to pay for burnt coffee? Anyway, my newest favorite drink these days is a shot of espresso, a shot of sugar-free vanilla syrup and the rest of the 8 oz. cup filled with cold milk. It's good and give me the buzz/energy I need.

I needed a pick-me-up so I walked over to Starbucks and used what was left of a graduation gift card. On each of the cups they have little quotes from people. Random people, famous people, and everyday people. This was on my cup:

The Way I See It #263
Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.
-- Dean Karnazes

Runner and author of Ultramarathon Man

Perfect.

zero miles this week.

Due to my lower legs still hurting, I've calmed down on the running this week. In fact, I cut it out all together. If it hurts just to walk around, then I'm not going to chance it and make it worse by running on them till I get the OK from my trainer and/or a PT. In the mean time I really should've been doing something else physical like swimming, yoga, biking, or something. Shame on me for not doing that this week. I suppose I could start up something today - I really should be cross training anyway.

In other news. I wanted to talk about blinkers. Yup. Blinkers.

I think people in Albuquerque don't really understand what blinkers, or turn signals (indicators in the UK) are meant for. This article knows what I'm talking about. I get so frustrated driving every day and having cars get annoyed with me and throwing one of their fingers out the window because I went over to the next lane without them "knowing." OR, it's also frustrating when someone has their blinker on and you're giving them ample room to come into your lane, but they don't budge.

People can be so hostile when they drive...it's a little ridiculous. I'm speaking about myself here too. There are just certain unspoken laws that people should follow. For example, if you're in the right hand lane and it looks like you may be the first or second car stopped at a light and you're NOT planning on turning right - get into the middle or left lane! It's not fair to those who actually have to turn right, but can't because they're stuck behind a car going straight.

OOOoo! Speaking of the UK (I mentioned it earlier!), my grandma comes home today from her two week stint in Great Britain! I've been ridiculously jealous of her the entire time, of course! BUT, I do believe she's bringing me back a Galaxy chocolate bar!!!! MMmmmm I'm not a huge fan of chocolate - but I LOVE those!!! I'm also kinda hoping she'll bring a scone back. That would be FANTASTIC. Boy do I miss England!

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far to Team in Training - I really appreciate it and I know everyone who is benefiting and how has benefited, thanks you. My mom, dad and I went to an Honored Hero party the other night for Team in Training and we heard from survivors and those going through treatments. At the end of the night a man got up and was holding a baby. The baby looked like he was about 3-6 months old and he was as happy as could be. The dad said that the baby's name was Ryan and that his twin brother couldn't make it to the dinner. Then he said that Ryan was 15 months old and has had Leukemia since he was 9 months old. This baby was TINY, but so happy. It broke my heart....

Babies shouldn't have to go through cancer. Nobody should.

Six on Sunday

***SOUTHWEST AIRLINES RAFFLE*****
Team in Training is raffling off two (2) round-trip airline tickets from Southwest Airlines on July 15, 2007.

Tickets are $5 each, or 5 for $20 - and ALL the money goes straight towards my fundraising goal/Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

I'll have them with me till July 12, so let me know if you want one/some and I can meet you, or run it over to you!

I ran six miles on Sunday. Well. I can't lie. I ran 5.5 miles - my legs started acting up again. I'm now getting help from my trainer, new shoes (again - that I actually think are already making a difference), and some stretches and exercises to work on. I didn't run this morning, a wise move I think. There's absolutely no point in injuring this thing any further than it is.

Tonight I'm going to an Honored Heroes party that TNT is throwing. It's going to be at JC's NYPD (look for an Eats Etc. on it in the August issue of ABQ the Mag!! My mom and dad are both going to - I'm excited for it. I think we're going to meet more people that we're running for aka survivors and those still going through treatments. I'll fill those of you still reading in on what happens tomorrow.

7.6.7

Why isn't 7-6-7 just as popular or "lucky" as 7-7-7?? Hmm..

Anyway, I stopped by to get my daily fix and there was a semi-truck with four (or five) little Smart Cars just chilling inside. If you test drive one of these little guys today through Sunday, you can get a free Satellite $10 gift card. I suggest you do the test drive and give me the gift card. Think about it!

I think it's funny that these are coming over here to the U.S. I thought they were even funnier when I saw them in Europe. Seeing these teeny-tiny little cars with huge guys driving them is hilarious! I can only imagine seeing one zipping around 'Burque in the next couple months. Silly Smart Cars!!!

Bring me a Mini Cooper anyday!

In running news... I did another three miles today. My body felt stronger running it today. Almost gone is the heavy breathing, and once I hit the three mile mark, I feel as though I could go on. What's still lingering around is the pain in my lower legs. Ice and Ibruprofen are helping... I'm super sleepy now. The 'energy' I get from running is only lasting about a half hour after the run. I guess I need to take everything in stride. First comes being able to breathe while doing a long run, then comes the energy.

I'm seriously considering starting Yoga. I've been talking about it for awhile, so now I just need to actually do it.

More later....

More energy with three

I ran from my house to Academy today - three miles - and I definitely wasn't as out of breath and as tired as I have been before. WOO HOO!!! It's an exciting feeling. My calf/shins are still sore when I run, but they're recovering faster and not hurting as much. So far so good.

I had a little extra time this morning, so I went to get my caffeine fix at Satellite Coffee. I'm obsessed with their "London Fog" drink. It's delicious. It's supposed to be made with Earl Grey tea, steamed milk and a shot of vanilla. But I'm not a fan of Earl Grey, so I get it with English Breakfast and sugar-free vanilla (trying to save a few calories). It's delicious. I love it!

Anyway, I was at Satellite this morning and as I was waiting for my drink, a woman was reading Albuquerque the Magazine. There was a huge sense of satisfaction while watching her flip through it.

Gotta go...

Let Freedom Ring

Happy Fourth of July!!! And to all you non-Americans reading, today is our Independence Day - aka "a day off of work"!!!!

I was considering going running this morning, but who am I kidding? I wanted to sleep in! I went yesterday though, felt good. Two miles. I'm still wondering how I'm gonna get up to running 13 miles. Crazy!! Crazy for sure!!

My Aunt Holly told the other day that I've already been running 5ks. How cool is that?! I thought a 5k and 10k were a lot longer. Who knew! It's kinda exciting knowing I've been running a 5k a couple times a week. This Sunday I'll be attempting a 10k. Sweet!!

As for today...Bring on the fireworks!!!!

Burn, Baby, Burn

...there's a lot I'd like to write about, but for now - just for the sake of not leaving my loyal readers hanging - all I have to say is that I'm sunburnt. Really. Really. Bad. I can't even get a sports bra on because it hurts too much. Therefor, my running is on hold until I can make my red back turn a nice shade of brown. Or at least pink.

Sunburns are no fun. More to come later.