It is finished!

We did it, we conquered Hurricane Point and finished our Big Sur Marathon.

It was the most perfect marathon imaginable. Almost makes me not want to do another one, because I know nothing will ever be that good... almost...

I plan on writing a much more detailed account of our big day with pictures and all. But, right now I don't have a hookup for my camera or a scanner to scan the pictures I took with my disposable during the marathon. So, just a quick post to announce to the world that we had an amazing time!

I knew it was going to be the best weekend ever when I realized that my race number that was assigned to me was the last 4 digits of my home phone number!

Love to you all!

One Week Out

In a week I will be about 1/2 way through the Big Sur Marathon, probably just coming downhill from Hurricane Point (a 2 mile climb of 600 feet). I do believe all marathons are special and teach you something about yourself, but this one, I expect, will be a loss for words experience.

Why? Scenery, location, physical challenge, friends and children.

The scenery is a given, if you have ever driven down Route 1 near Carmel you know what I mean. Only God himself could have dreamed up such spectacular sights. The edge of the US drops into the ocean with force and precision and in turn produces a beautifully assaulting visual.

The general location, northern California, is incredibly special to me. I spent a year there fighting with God, myself, image, expectations, and morality. My brief experience there shaped my mind and heart in ways that I am just beginning to tap into. Following the marathon Bill and I will be spending a day in San Francisco wandering through my past, and then I will spend a day in the city alone, after Bill leaves for Florida. The city used to be my solo playground, where I felt strong and independent. May of 2001 someone stole that from me, and I have not played in the city alone since. Words cannot express how excited I am to return to her, alone and stronger than ever.

The physical challenge of the marathon might seem obvious, we will be running for roughly 5 hours. However, the small summits throughout the course will be challenging mini-goals within the larger goal of crossing the finish line. Now that my body is prepared, I am preparing my mind for those hills. Honestly, I can say that I am hungry for them, absurd as it sounds, after all the talk of how hard it is going to be I just want to scream "BRING IT!". Can't wait.

If I write too much about friends, I believe I will wet down the keyboard. So, I will try to sum it up by saying this: Over the course of 5 days I will finally visit one of my dearest friends since she left Florida for California nearly a year ago, see a Florida angel by the name of Lauren, run a marathon with my priceless friend Megan and a beautiful soul Laura, reconnect with a few cousins who helped me survive my California experience, all of which will be witnessed by my soul mate Bill and heavily cheered by Megan's mother Jean.

Then, there is the children. Specifically those at Tumaini, but children across the globe that are fighting harder then children were supposed to fight. This marathon, while it will be powerful on so many levels, is really just about them. I am ridiculously priveleged, and while I wish I could simply pass that along, I realize that they have things that I will never know or have. Children, if you ever get a chance to read this, know that your beautiful lives leave others speechless and many of us will spend our lives trying to make this world smaller and more connected just for you.

The taper is upon me

Tapering is an interesting time for marathon runners, well me at least. Everything seems to slow down around you. For me it is much more of a mental slow down than physical. Race day becomes inevitable, and the reflections begin. Knowing that the toughest part of the training has been logged, you've beaten up your body as much as you could, and now that body deserves some respect.

Last week Thursday was my last over 10 miles mid week run, I did 12. It was a pretty hot day and by the time evening came I regretted putting off the run. I knew I should have ran in the cool of the morning. That particular morning I had to wake at 4am for a shift at the gym where I work. It was a short shift, but so was my sleeping time... come 5:30pm I was looking for any excuse to back out of the run. I didn't back out, but did decide to wear my MP3 player, something I haven't done in over a year. I'm one of the purists I guess who like to hear my feet hitting the ground, the sound of my breath, and focus on my surroundings. But, I needed a little outside motivation that day, so I brought Bono, Eddie Vedder, Live, and some other energetic musicians with me.

The result - it was one of the best runs of my life. As stupid as it sounds I felt like I was in a music video. I charged up hills and ran with intensity. It felt great. It was one of those moments where you fall in love with running all over again, and apologize repeatedly for threatening to leave him after the race. Then you make a promise that even when times get tough, maybe you'll slow the relationship down a bit, but never give up on it...

Now, I return to my project today, which is finishing my final planning of my world wind running trip. I don't think I've blogged about it yet, so here it goes. After Big Sur, we are spending a couple days pampering ourselves in this elaborate house in Carmel and then spending a couple days where I left my heart, San Francisco. Wednesday morning after the marathon, Bill is flying back to Florida, and I fly the red eye that night to Greensboro, NC. From there I will take either a train, bus or automobile closer to Bristol (either Asheville or Boone) where my friend Beth will pick me up. Then Saturday AM I'll travel to Black Mountain, NC (just east of Asheville) where I'm participating in a 24-hour relay. I did this race last year, called Run for Africa, and I swore I would not miss out on it this year. I'll be running four 5 mile laps over the course of 24 hours and will be surrounded by really great people. Our team is 10 in number, and come from a few different states. It will be worth it, but my legs will need some TLC come May 4th.

Over the bridge!

This Saturday, Megan and I reached the top of our training, the 21 miler! The best part is... we felt great! We traveled over to my parents in Satellite Beach, to celebrate Megan's upcoming birthday with a little sand and sun. We ran our 21 miler on Saturday morning, 1/2 on the beachside 1/2 on the mainland. We crossed two bridges, the Pineda and Eau Gallie (pictured at right) Causeways, trying to put a couple hills into our flat coastal run.

We decided to stop more frequently to hydrate and take gels, drinking more Gatorade than usual at each stop because of the heat. We think the extra fluids really helped us feel GREAT throughout the run. What an encouraging 3 1/2 hours! No injuries to report and we both are in marathon shape!

Now, we begin what is called the Taper portion of the training. This weekend we go back down to 16 miles for our long run and then the week before the marathon we go down to 10 miles for the long run. This is a critical part of marathon training, giving your body time to rest and have a chance to heal itself of any injuries that might be waiting in the wings. So the most intense part of training has come to a close as we are within 3 weeks of the BIG DAY!

It is very exciting, especially for Megan, who has gotten to say "this is the farthest I've ever run in my life", and feel good at the end.

Georgia on my mind

Easter weekend, the weekend of March 21st, we were in Northern Georgia with friends. The idea was to have a mini vacation and squeeze in some good mountain training runs. Well, we got some hard runs in alright. Friday we did a 5.7 mile run which was about 1/2 up 1/2 down, it was challenging but didn't get the best of us. I finished feeling strong and in shape!

On Saturday however, was a different story. Our 10 mile run was extremely challenging, the first hour was up a mountain. When we got to the top the views were amazing. The downhill was nice, but overall one of the toughest runs I've done. During that first hour I definitely felt defeated, it was tough!

The picture you see above is a view from the top of Springer Mountain. I went with Bill, Tucker (my running pup), and some good friends Beth, Aaron, their little boy Leon, and a friend Kailey (Beth, Tucker and Leon are pictured on the right). It was just a 2 mile hike but it was one of the highlights of the trip. We were able to hike to the start of the Appalachian Trail (AT), which I have been fascinated with since reading a Walk in the Woods. My plan is to start the AT at Springer Mountain in March of '09 and hike to the NC/TN border. All in all the trail is over 2,000 miles and runs from Georgia to Maine, but my plan is to do about 6-8 weeks on it rather than the 6 months it would take for a thru-hike.

Now we are back at home and I am dealing with another injury. Came up suddenly on last Saturday's run. I think I have figured out what it is, and without going into the details I believe it is subluxated cuboid syndrome (if you are really interested see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuboid_Syndrome). Of course this comes from my overpronation problem, that has caused almost all of my running injuries. But, as always I am determined not to let my physical "deformities" get the best of me, and to find a work around to get me back out there. After some research I've rigged up a small pad to place under my cuboid bone in my foot which is said to help, so hopefully it does, otherwise I'll bring in a professional.

I'll keep you posted!
Happy Running!

Thanks to God!

Couple of things, both of which I thank God for...

First, for now, I am pain free! Which is amazing after re-reading my frustrated last post. I don't really have much of an explanation, so I'll just count it as a true blessing!

Second, refers to the picture in this post. On Saturday the 8th, Megan and I had planned on running our 16 miler in O'Leno State Park, reportedly they had a well marked trail system where we could do our long run. Well, upon arriving we studied the map and were a bit confused on the reported trail distances but we ventured into the woods with my 16oz gatorade bottle and 4 gels. Over 3 hours later we made it back to the car as the sun was setting and dark was falling on the park. We got a little lost on the trail, which caused about 15 minutes of panic, because the woods were getting dark and we both have terrible night vision (and of course we weren't wearing our glasses). After about 7 minutes of personal panic, to which I tried to hide from my friend, I prayed for safety and peace.

We also ran 18.5 last Saturday, the 15th. We traveled down to Clermont and ran up the only "mountain" in Florida, Sugarloaf Mountain. To show you how desperate we are to find elevation, we drove 2 hours for a 300 ft. climb. But, not to fear, we found lots of other hills on our route, and were completely exhausted at the end of our 3 hour run!

This weekend we head up to the REAL eastern mountains of Georgia. We are renting a cabin outside Blue Ridge, GA, near the NC border. Elevation here we come, quads get ready!

My Unsung Hero

It is challenging being a "marathoner" and long distance runner sometimes, but the toughest job falls on my faithful husband. Every race he can he gets up at the crack of dawn with me to come out and cheer me on. He listens to all of my complaining about all of my aches and pains. He doesn't say a word when I vow that 'this race' (whatever race it is at the time) will be my last, only to hear me talk about the new race I've signed up for. All the hours I train, the miles I put on the car traveling to fun new training sites, and the money I spend on race entries, shoes, and electrolyte replacement drinks/foods, get nothing but support and understanding from Bill. And, all of that carb-loading he must endure with me, oh wait, I think he really enjoys that part! All of this without ANY glory. Bill is without a doubt my best friend and biggest supporter. I am 100% confident that I would not be doing any of this if it wasn't for his consistent love.

Running Update:
It's been awhile since I've "blogged", I must have been enjoying my birthday celebrationS (yes I was spoiled this year!) and focused on home improvement projects. As the birthday season has wrapped up and the home is starting to get sorted out... I'm back online.

Running is going pretty well. A couple weeks ago I ran the Gainesville 1/2 Marathon, and PR'd (running lingo for - I set a new Personal Record), so that was exciting. My folks came up and we had a great visit. I kind of took the week off of running before the race hoping to give my tendinitis issues time to chill, with the exception of 1 leisurely 3 miler, so I hope that explains why I was ridiculously sore the few days following the race. I never really get sore anymore, unless I do something out of the ordinary, so it felt kind of foreign. This past weekend Megan and I ran 14+ miles of trails and I felt really good. But, then this week hit. I ran Monday and experienced pretty extreme calf pain, which I attribute to my bum knee that I've been favoring. I also had some pretty sharp pains in my quad which followed up the groin. Last night the pain was so bad I could barely walk... so that was pretty discouraging.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty frustrated. The miles that I'm doing are really normal for me, my training has pretty much been by the book, but my body is barking at me for sure. I think this third marathon will be my last long distance road race for awhile, I hate to admit it but I think my legs need a break from concrete. I go to a PT today who is also a massage therapist, so hopefully he can work out some kinks.

Having said all this, I still am REALLY excited to be doing the Big Sur Marathon! I am constantly thinking of the kids in Kenya, 8 of whom ran the Kilimanjaro Marathon this past week (20 had to stay home because of visa problems, so frustrating), their training and terrain is way more challenging than anything I'll ever face, so it keeps me going. Just to give you an idea, their 20 mile training run consisted of over 2,300 ft change in elevation, and a normal run for them is at 6,000 ft! All of which is dirt and rock. Yeah, puts things in perspective for me!

Bye for now! Your support and donations keep brining tears to my eyes, thank you for joining me on this journey!!