Preparing for the official training to begin!

Well, Sunday will be day one of my official training schedule for the Cleveland Marathon. After watching the weather report last night for the next several days, I am thankful that my treadmill was delivered yesterday and that my elliptical is being delivered in the next hour. I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of my training for the marathon on said equipment. I made the mistake of running outside every single day (except one) last year while I was training for the Cleveland 1/2 Marathon. Of course running outside in the winter involved ice and in turn landed me with an injury that had me down for the count for two weeks (one of those weeks being on crutches). I ran 4 miles on the treadmill yesterday and it felt great. Thankfully there is a TV mounted on the wall in the basement or I may have been incredibly bored. Given the choice, I prefer to run outside but I will do what I need to do to stay healthy and injury free and if that means working out inside then so be it.

As I have mentioned before, I will be running the marathon in honor of my dear friend, Deb. The weekend of the marathon it will be ten years since she had a brain tumor removed. We are forming a team to raise money and awareness for brain tumor treatment and research in her name. Once I have the information about our team, I will post it on my blog so that others who are interested may join the team or make a donation!

I am continually amazed at the love I have found for running again! As of December 24, 2009, I have lost 40 pounds!

The first picture is from December 26, 2008 at a mini high school reunion with my friend, and fellow runner, Robert. I was 194 pounds in that picture. The second picture is from December 24, 2009 at my house on Christmas Eve with my dear friend, and running buddy, Deb. I was 154 pounds in that picture!

Who needs a stairclimber?

I ended up with a cold after last week's 5K. I didn't run at all until Thursday. I ran 4 1/2 miles on my friend Deb's treadmill. Last weekend Deb and I were looking ahead for races we could run in the coming months while we train for the Cleveland Marathon. We came across a tower climb. Upon further review, we learned that the tower climb involves running up 37 flights (646 steps) at the Galleria Mall in Cleveland. I decided to run my steps (15) at home today for my work out. I certainly need training for "Tackle the Tower". I was sweating buckets after 35 minutes on my steps and I can guarantee I was nowhere near running 646 steps.

This workout got me thinking, there are so many ways to workout using things around the house. This workout also made me realize that I seriousoly need to purchase a treadmill and maybe an elliptical too! So, what kind of winter workouts do you do?

A jingling good time at the Reindeer Run 5K

Headed out to run a local 5k this morning with Brenda and Deb. When we all met at my house the temperature was around 30 degrees. Off we headed to Lakewood Park. Upon arriving, we were given jingle bells to put on our shoes, afterall it was a reindeer run. Among the many bell wearers, there was Elf, Mrs. Claus, and a few reindeer running the event with us. They all looked great and were certainly there for a good time!

As mentioned in my previous post, my goals were two-fold, placing in my age group and breaking 24:30. I ended up with 5th in my age group, but I ran another PR. Chip time: 24:08.45. I was passed by number 4 in my age group with less than .1 miles left. I did however outsprint a guy that had been running with us the whole way so that did boost my ego a little bit. Not sure what it did for his though...sorry buddy.

I also had a new playlist for today's race. The songs that motivated me today during the race and while cooling down included the following list.

~Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
~One Shining Moment by David Barrett
~Where I'm From by Jason Michael Carroll
~My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson
~The Best by Tina Turner
~I Run for Life by Melissa Etheridge
~You're the Inspiration by Chicago
~Toes by Zac Brown Band



I have to say this has been the best play list I have run to so far.

You inspire me...you're simply the best...keep running!


Brenda, Deb and I pre-race (taken by Kaelynn age 7)


















Post-race (taken by nice fellow runners)

Turkey Dash 5K

What a better way to start Thanksgiving than to run a 5k. So it was up bright and early to get ready for the race. My goal for this race was two-fold. I wanted to run a 24:30 and place in my age group. Neither one of these goals would come true for me on Thursday. However, even though I didn't run a 24:30, I did run a 24:34 which is 12 seconds faster than my previous 5k PR! I believe I was in the top ten for my age group. I was passed near the end of the race by at least two other women in my age group. The best part of the race was doing it with friends and having my kids cheering me on at the finish. There is nothing more motivating at the end of a race than hearing your 7 and 4 year old say "go mommy go". So even though I didn't meet my goals, the race was awesome and very rewarding. In fact, my 7 year old asked me if she could run it with me next year. We will see how that goes. I am signed up to run another 5k this Saturday. The Reindeer Run in Lakewood, Ohio. My goals for this 5k will remain the same as the goals I had for the Turkey Dash 5k.

I had an awesome workout today and it made me believe that both of my goals for Saturday are certainly within reach. I will be making a new playlist for the 5K on Saturday. If you have any suggestions for my playlist, please share!!

Keep running and remember "you inspire me" and "you're simply the best"

"You Inspire Me"

I was at a neighborhood OSU vs MICH party on Saturday (GO BUCKS) and I saw some neighbors I hadn't seen in awhile. We got to talking about my running and how it has been a great weight loss tool. Many questions were asked:

~How long have you been running? Since February 2009
~How much weight have you lost? Close to 40 pounds
~Are you growing your hair out? Yes, I figured new weight, new hair
~Did you run outside all last winter? Yes, I did (well, except one day when the wind was blowing a snow/hail mix in my face...I opted to use the treadmill that day)
~Do you have any new goals? Yes, I want to complete the Cleveland Marathon in May

As I was leaving the party, one of my neighbors said three simple words that made me realize there are so many physical and emotional benefits to running. Those three words were "you inspire me."

Keep on running and always remember "you inspire me."

Motivated by Music

Once again I must thank Deb for being such a great friend. I had a lot going on today during and after work. She took the time to stop by my house to pick up my workout clothes. I went to help with Market Day at Kaelynn's school and Deb picked up Kaelynn and Grant for me and took them to her house. Not only did she do that but she also helped Kaelynn with all of her homework. Not to mention her husband made dinner for my kids. And Deb made dinner for me. What great friends! During the homework, Deb allowed me access to her treadmill for a workout!

Now to the workout. I planned to run three miles on the treadmill today. However, when I got to the three mile mark my Ipod had some really good tunes playing. I was motivated by the music to run another mile!

The songs that motivated me to run four miles today were:

~My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson
~Life's A Dance by John Michael Montgomery
~I Run For Life by Melissa Etheridge

Today I am thankful for the generosity of friends, a great workout, and motivational music.

Looking forward to running the Turkey Dash 5k on Thanksgiving morning!

Mathematician...not so much!!

So today I was to run ten 200's. So I figured okay, I am going to be running 2 1/2 miles (ten 200's at interval speed work pace and ten 200's at jog speed for recovery in between). No problem until I walked out of work and it was pouring. I called Deb to see if I could run on her treadmill. I get to Deb's gear up the treadmill and the Ipod and I am off running. So as I'm running I think to myself: "okay .2 on the treadmill is 200 meters". As I'm running the intervals and the miles keep going up, I start questioning the .2 theory. I finally get to the end of the 10th speed interval and look at the mileage on the treadmill and see 4.1 miles. I finish the work out with a .4 mile cool down for a total of 4.5 miles today. At this point, I ask Deb if .2 on the treadmill is 200 meters. She is great at math so she figures out quickly that .2 is closer to 400 meters than 200 meters. Turns out I did 320 meter intervals. I am certainly no mathematician but I did have an outstanding speed workout today! Turns out I was an overachiever and didn't even know it. I'll take it but next time, I will ask Deb to calculate the distance for me before I start the workout. Thanks again for letting me borrow the treadmill Deb...you are a lifesaver!!

I WAS STRONG TODAY

Today was a scheduled tempo run. Around 11:00 this morning, I realized I had once again forgotten my Ipod. I sent my friend Deb an email asking her if she wanted to bring me my Ipod. My amazing friend Deb brought her Ipod to me so I could use it after work. She rocks!! Thanks again Deb.

When I walked outside today after work, it was starting to sprinkle. I called Deb's cell thinking I would ask her to borrow the treadmill. When the call went to voicemail, I decided I'm not going to be a whimp, I'm going to be strong today and I decided to run outside in the elements on a new route since I was running for a predetermined amount of time and not mileage. It was nice to run a different course. With the new course came hills and plenty of them. I warmed up and ran a nice pace for 12 minutes. After the first 12 minutes, I picked it up and did my tempo part of the workout for the next 12 minutes. At this point, I should have run a 12 minute cool down but I cut it short (7 minute cool down) because the sprinkles were starting to turn into a steady rain. Luckily, I finished right before it started pouring and I (as well as Deb's Ipod) stayed dry!!

When I picked Kaelynn up from school today her latch key teacher asked me these two questions :

• Why are you still running in this weather?
• Didn't you do your 1/2 marathon already?

My answer was yes I ran my 1/2 marathon but I'm training for the Cleveland Marathon now. I didn't hesitate or say I'm "considering" training, I said "I AM" training for the Cleveland Marathon to honor and support Deb's 10 year tumor free milestone.

In closing, to quote Melissa Etheridge, "I run for hope, I run to feel, I run for the truth, for all that is real, I run for your mother, your sister, your wife, I run for you and me my friend, I run for life".

The Turkey Dash 5K

I have registered for the Turkey Dash 5K that takes place on Thanksgiving morning. The race benefits the Karen P. Nakon Breast Cancer Foundation (www.nakonfoundation.com). I have decided to follow the Advanced 5k running program put out by Hal Higdon. The goal I am working toward is breaking my PR 5k (24:46) and possibly placing in my age group. I haven't won a medal (aside from my finisher's medals at the 1/2 Marathons this year) since high school. I figure it's worth a shot. After all, I "jogged" the Skeleton 5k last weekend and placed 5th in my age group. Of course I am most excited about getting to see friends come together for a common goal on Thanksgiving morning. Many people in my life have been affected by breast cancer and I always like to help out in anyway I can to raise money and awareness.

With all that said, I need to get back on track. I haven't run since Thursday. My Thursday run was a tempo run. It was not a good run at all. I can't blame it on lack of Ipod since I remembered it. I can't blame it on the weather as it was beautiful out. I guess I can just chalk it up to a bad day or to the fact that I had a pretty bad headache by 8:00 Thursday night. Yesterday was a scheduled day off and I was grateful for that. Today I was supposed to run 5 miles but the headache was still lingering this morning and it was raining steadily. I thought about the quote by Peter Maher: "Running is a big question mark that is there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?" For the first time in a very long time I chose to be a wimp today. Sometimes choosing to be a wimp makes the most sense when you aren't feeling up to par. I certainly don't want to be miserable and sick and miss an entire week of training.

Here's hoping I can get back on track tomorrow.

Good luck to everyone who is going to be running a Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving!!

Silence is definitely not golden when running

So I forgot to pack my Ipod for my run today. I realized this at approximately 7:15 AM. Of course I spent the entire day stressing over how I could run without it. So I basically thought about my Ipod (or lack of) for 8 plus hours.

Keep in mind I only ran three miles today and these are all the thoughts that went through my head:

• The words to eye of the tiger
• Wondering if I was going to be hit by all of those falling acorns
• Am I done yet
• Running without an ipod sucks
• There's no way I can run 26.2 miles without music
• I wonder how my cousin did in the Marine Corps Marathon yesterday
• The words to eye of the tiger (yes this is a ditto, thank you for the inspiration Rocky Balboa and everyone else who has continued to support and encourage my running.)
• Wonder what so and so is doing
• How can I put this into my blog
• Wow, I didn't know I could have so many thoughts in under thirty minutes

I survived my run without my Ipod, but trust me I will NOT be running without it again anytime soon!!

Goals

Hello and welcome to my newly created blog! I have decided to document my training for my newest goal for 2010 which is to run the Cleveland Marathon 0n May 16, 2010. Blogging will keep me honest and on task.

This is from my fundraising page for the Cleveland 1/2 Marathon in May 2009. This is the reason I started running again and continue to run each and every day.

My life was truly blessed to have known Stephanie Lufkin. She was the sweetest little girl with an amazing smile that could light up any room. Hearing her say good morning at Glenview (my children's daycare) always made my day. Stephanie passed away unexpectedly on May 8, 2008 due to complications of ITP. On May 17, 2009, I will be running in the Cleveland 1/2 Marathon for Stephanie, for her family, and for ITP.

I am grateful to Stephanie and her family each and every day for helping me find my love for running again.

I have accomplished many goals since the 1/2 Marathon.

My statistics since May 2009:

Cleveland 1/2 Marathon (May 17, 2009): 2:07.53
Webswat 5k (June 14, 2009): 26:37
Cardinal Twilight 5k (June 27, 2009): 27:02
Smiles for Sophie 5k (July 4, 2009): 26:26
OROC 5k (August 29, 2009): 25:09
Race for the Cure 5k (September 12, 2009): 24:46.1
Peace Race 10k (October 4, 2009): 52:35
Columbus 1/2 Marathon (October 18, 2009): 1:54.14

Running has been great stress relief and a great way to drop A LOT of weight!!

This blog will document my training for the 2010 Cleveland Marathon which I will be running in honor of my friend, Deb. On May 15, 2010 it will be 10 years since she had a brain tumor removed. We are running to raise money and awareness in her name. Deb is truly amazing. She ran the Columbus 1/2 Marathon this past Sunday as well! I am so proud of her and am truly honored to run for her and her health!!

Tomorrow (one week post 1/2 marathon) I am running the Skeleton 5k with my neighbor Brenda. My goal for tomorrow is to have an enjoyable Sunday run with a great friend. No time goals for me tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy my blog and comments are always welcome.