Today was my last long run before the Walt Disney World Goofy Races (Half Sat & Full Marathon on Sun). I put in 9.5, 12, & 16 miles over the last 3 days (48.5 miles for the week). I have to say that my legs were screaming about mile 8 today. My energy was gone. I need to rest for a day. Ahhh…..tapering is ahead of me now. Schweet!

My husband and I saw an acquaintance yesterday that is also a marathoner. He suggested that I take a 10 min. “ICE BATH” after I ran my 16 miles. *sigh* Didn’t that sound like a wonderful idea? NOT! However, my husband thought it was a good idea. So…when I got home today, he had filled up our bathtub about 1/3 way up with ice cold water & ice cubes. HOLY GUACAMOLE! Talk about cold! Funny thing is, after about 1 minute, my legs didn’t feel cold. My toes felt like they were popsicles, but the rest of me was fine. Maybe there is something to the ice bath thing?

I have run 871.78 miles in 2008 thus far. My goal was to reach 1000. I took off 1.5 months from running. That made the difference. However, I feel good about the miles. I am shooting for 1000 next year. I can do that.

So…my WDW races are two weeks away. By this time in two weeks, I will have run both of my races. Hopefully, I will feel elated and incredibly proud of myself. My family will be cheering me on the sidelines. After that, we will have 5 more days of vacation in WDW. What an awesome way to ring in my 40th birthday year!

2009 Races I plan on doing:
January: WDW Half, Full Marathon, 3M Half
February: AT&T Full Marathon
March: Capitol 10K
April: Zooma Half Marathon
October: IBM Uptown Classic, Austin Run America Half Marathon
December: Decker Half Marathon

I thought of this today regarding training for my 2008-2009 races. I designed it on Zazzle and plan on ordering one once my Goofy races are over.
Here is the link

My 12 yr. old son and I went for a 10 miler this morning. As his bottom killed him after the last 10 miler, I decided to loan him my bike shorts. They seemed to help him a bit.

My hips are still sore from the cortizone shots. However, I am starting to feel better again. My Disney races are 3 weeks from tomorrow. I am starting to get REALLY NERVOUS. Not to say that I haven’t run a half or full marathon before….it is just all those people. It is the fact that my family is making a vacation out of my races. They are going to be on the sidelines cheering me on. I don’t want to disappoint them or myself. I want these races to be AWESOME!

My other goal this year was to make 1,000 miles run. Sadly, as of 12/19/08, I have only done 812.47 miles. I will be able to get in another 60-70 miles (hopefully) by the end of December. If I hadn’t taken off the entire month of May, I would have made my goal. Of course, there is always 2009!

I bought another pair of New Balance shoes (gotta love www.joesnewbalanceoutlet.com) as a back up pair. I have put almost 350 miles on the shoes I am wearing now. That is in 2 MONTHS!!! Holy guacamole! You would think that I would be a slim, size 2 by now with all this running. Nope. I am 165 and a size 8/10. Oh well…..at least I feel great and am confident in my appearance. I am hoping that with all this exercise and eating right (well, 90% of the time), I will live a long life. I don’t want to die in my early 50’s like my Mom & Grandma did. They were both morbidly obese. I don’t ever want to be like that. I want to be able to hold my Great-Grandchildren one day. So…

….I will keep on running!

My right hip has been bugging me since last Friday. As my left hip has Trochanteric Bursitis, I figured that I had it in the right as well. So…I made an appointment on Monday to see my Orthopedic Surgeon. Thankfully, they got me in yesterday.

I was surprised that my doctor didn’t take a x-ray of my right hip. After her assistant heard my explanation and gave me a quick exam, the doctor came in with a cortizone shot for me. If you have never had a cortizone shot, THEY HURT! You get a local shot to deaden the area first. However, that doesn’t really take all the pain away. The doctor has to put the cortizone deep down (I believe she said that she was on top of my hip bone when I jumped and screamed “Owie!”).

I ran 5 miles yesterday. The doctor said it was okay to work in the cortizone. Honestly, it felt like someone was slugging me in the hip with each step. I ran 6 miles today. The pain wasn’t as intense, but it still hurt.

I have the next three days logging 10+ miles each scheduled up ahead of me. Come on hip, get better! The Walt Disney World Goofy races is in THREE WEEKS!!! (*feeling faint from my advancing calendar*)

My Spark fitness/nutrition tracker isn’t really happy with me though. I worked off over 8100 calories through running this week. I know I didn’t eat enough. I tried…I really did. I am eating around 1700-1900 calories a day. That sounds like a huge amount. However, I did have a few Slim Fast Optima shakes this week and I could tell that I wasn’t getting enough calories to fuel my runs. Something to learn.. I did run 20.38 miles today though. I averaged just over 10 minutes a mile. I consider that good as my right hip joint started to really ache 2 days ago. I am pretty sure that I now have Trochanteric Bursitis in both hips (or as the Internet says: “Middle Aged women joint problems”. Looks like I will need to call our doctor and beg for a cortizone shot in the other hip now. I am so proud of myself. When I was training for my first (and only so far) marathon, I had only run up to 16 miles during training. This time around, I have run two 20 milers. WOOHOOO BABY!!! I am now off for a shower, some lunch, and a much needed nap. Oh yeah…then playing games with my husband & son and watching Dark Knight later tonight. Run Strong! The Walt Disney World Goofy Races are a month away! First 20 Miler Time: 3:32:22 Today’s 20 Miler Time: 3:30:46 (and that was for 20.38 miles!!! Woohooo!!!)

Race time for Decker Half Marathon (13.1 miles): 2:07:39

My mother-in-law asked me on Friday: “Are you running the Decker Half?” I told her yes, and she said: “Well, I heard that it is the toughest race of the year as it is full of hills.” Hmm….that made me a bit nervous.

I ran 10 miles at 5:30 am on Saturday morning. Saturday was my husband’s 38th birthday, and we had quite a bit planned. We went antique shopping (Wimberly, TX) and had a huge barbecue dinner at my husband’s favorite restaurant (Salt Lick in Driftwood, TX). We ran lots of errands and got a Christmas tree before finally getting home at 7pm. I really should have taken a nap, but I didn’t want to ruin my husband’s birthday. We always have such a fun day on his birthday. Lots to do!

I was excited about the race, although apprehensive about the hills. The weather was crisp, but clear. I had a close-to-tears moment at the starting line. I don’t know why, but I was just glad to be around all these amazing runners and proving something. I felt like a true, honest to goodness RUNNER. It was wonderful! We started promptly at 8am, just as the sun was shining fully. The hills started to really kick in on mile 3. Wow….the hills. The rumors were true. This race was TOUGH.

As I was finishing the insane vertical hill on Mile 5, I felt that the race officials should have provided suction cups along with a race t-shirt. Believe me, the hill was so steep that I almost needed one. Unlike Mile 10, it wasn’t very long. Mile 10 was one of those hills where your thighs scream for a rest. It just kept going, and going, and going. Up, Up, and Away. I had to pull out an energy bar towards the top. My legs were screaming for more “umpf”.

All in all, it was a good race. I had to do some speed walking on Mile 8 (hill), and Mile 11 (will the hills ever end?). If I hadn’t walked that bit, I know that I would have done better with my time. However, I am usually a 10 min./mile runner, so I was just under that for the entire half marathon. Not bad.

One more thing about the race, I kept passing/being passed by a boy about 12 or 13 years old. He was running the entire half marathon by himself. I was amazed! The last time I passed him was on Mile 8. I ran along side him and said: “You go, guy! You are doing fantastic!” He looked at me and said: “Thanks, but I am starting to really get tired.” I hear ya, kid. I really do. I hope he had a huge crowd cheering him at the end. He deserved every applause. Way to go, kiddo!

I have a 20 miler scheduled for this Saturday. My second one this training season. I have NEVER run as many miles in training as I am this time around. I am so proud of myself for sticking with it. I have only missed 2 runs since August. That isn’t bad.

I did get a compliment from my husband yesterday. I had FINALLY gotten into a pair of size 8 jeans and was telling my husband that I was glad about it. He looked at me and said: “Babe, I can tell. You are looking good. I can really tell you are working out.” Ahhhh….gotta love hearing that from my husband of almost 19 years. Nothing like feeling sexy and hearing it from the man you love.

My Walt Disney World Goofy Races (half Sat./full marathon Sun.) are in 5 weeks now. Those are my next big races. Then on to the 3M Half and the AT&T marathon. I was also thinking of running another half in March. We will see….so many races, so little energy and money for new running shoes. LOL

Train Shan, and concentrate. YOU CAN DO THIS!