Here we go again...

As I begin my training for my second marathon tomorrow morning with my first group training session, I am cautious and nervous. I know the path ahead of me. I know my body is capable of amazing things. Yet I am still apprehensive. I will just put one foot in front of the other until someone tells me it is time to stop. I will do this.

As a mentor for Team in Training, we share tidbits of advice with those who are at the beginning of a life changing experience. One of my fellow mentors shared these inspiratonal words with the team today. She got this from a runners world magazine. I feel they merit being shared with you folks. Enjoy.

You pretend the snooze button didn't exist.
You dragged your butt out of bed while others slept.
While others ate their pancakes, you had a feast of
Protein, glucose and electrolytes.
You double-knotted.
You left the porch light on and locked the door behind you.
You ran 5ks, 10ks, and 26.2 miles.
Some days more, some days less.
You rewarded a long run with a short run, and a
Short run with a long run.
Rain tried to slow you, sun tried to microwave you,
Snow made you feel like a warrior.
You cramped, you bonked.
You paid no mind to comfort.
On weekends, on holidays, you made excuses to keep going,
Questioned yourself, played mind games, put your heart before your knees,
Listened to your breathing, sweat sunscreen into your eyes,
Worked on your farmer's tan.
You hit the wall, you went through it.
You decided to be a man about it.
You decided to be a woman about it.
Finished what you started.
Proved what you were made of.
Just kept putting mile after mile on your internal odometer.

How much farther will you go?

Hi everyone,

Well, I see no one has posted too much in the past couple weeks...and I KNOW that you guys have plenty to talk about!!! For me, between the vacations and parties of late, keeping up the mileage has certainly been tough. But, I'll get back into it over the next 4 weeks and hopefully my half marathon in June will be ok...we'll see. The Boilermaker is only 9 or 10 weeks away too!

I was just checking out my last entry that I posted about a month ago. I mentioned a guy named Bill, who I ran with at that running group that I joined a few months ago. We ended up running together for most of that morning - chatting it up for almost 2 hours! He was the nicest guy...he actually founded the running group 30 years ago when he was 30! Unfortunately, last Thursday, as he was hiking Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park, he suddenly collapsed and died of what they think is a heart attack. I couldn't believe it! A runner...an adventurer...a yoga instructor at the Y...a basketball coach...just died in a matter of minutes from an unexplainable natural cause. I stayed at his pace chatting it up the whole time even though I probably could have gone a little faster. I'm glad that I did.

I have learned that when you take on a physical challenge - whether it be running or biking, or hiking, or whatever - the generational gap seems to fall away...it's a forum where we can all relate to each other and become friends instantly.

It's been a while

Hey everyone!

Jamie - how frustrating! Keep us updated with what the Dr. said. I hope you are feeling better and that you get to do your race - but if you actually have an injury that needs rehabilitation for a while...there are a ton of other half marathons to sign up for this summer and fall! Keep your head up!

It's been a while since I posted. I have a few updates. 1. I am not doing the Mountain Goat anymore. I've decided to take a short weekend trip to bask in the sun of Florida with Ross and the inlaws (wish me luck). My pasty white skin needs some vitamin D! I'll aslo see my Grandma, Aunt, Uncle and cousin (Rachel who was in the wedding) down there too. BUT, no Mountain Goat :(. I' m bummed (but not too bummed...I'll be on the BEACH) ...I was really looking forward to it too...since I freakin registered so early! With that said - if ANY of you know someone who wants to run it...tell them that they can use my race number and get the free t-shirt that comes with actually running the race! There's always next year!

2. I found this awesome running club in Rochester. Rachel Ruppel's uncle, Dave, told me about it and actually ran with me too (I know, small world). This year is their 30th year in existance! Every Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 and 7 respectively (for the past 30 years), a group of folks have gone running. A day has never been missed despite weather, holidays, or motivation. I went for the first time last Saturday. It was so early but it was nice to have completed my weekend's exercise by 8:30 am. We ran a trail system for about 7 miles around Perinton just south east of where we live. The town is actually known for it's well kept and used suburban trail system. It took an hour to get to the top of the trail, and once we were up there, there was this amazing view of Rochester all the way to Lake Ontario! The sun was just coming up and the frost was melting off the grass...it was awesome. Then it took about a half hour to get back down...but people say it is about a 7 - 8 mile run! Then I went this past Saturday for the second time - and the weather was terrible. I don't know what I was thinking...but I had such a good time with the people and felt SOOO good running with a group that I looked forward to it all week. Despite the horizontal snow and freezing temps...I got myself out there and ran about 8 miles with these two dudes who have kids older than me. This one guy, Bill and I, chatted it up the whole way. He's 60 and is hiking Denali for 3 weeks in May! Even though the conditions were horrible, add a good conversation with a couple new people and 8 miles at 6:30 in the morning didn't seem so bad.

I'm off to the Grand Canyon for my 4 day hike this Monday! I'm sure I'll take a bunch of pictures and hopefully I'm ready for the physical aspect of descending 5000 feet in elevation the first day. I know my cardio system can handle it...but the ol' knees might have to get replaced! LOL. Looking forward to seeing you all when I get back! Let's hope for nicer weather :)

~ Caroline

Just Running Out.

After my awesome 10mile up in CNY I was on my own. At a conference up in Salem, Mass I attempted a run. Thinking I needed to do at least 8, but prefereably 10, I set out from my hotel. After only 40 mins my "good knee" gave up. Not sure what happened except shooting pain up my leg, even into my back. Not the kind of pain you can push through. I tried stopping and stretching to no avail. I was pretty tough about the whole thing, esp when the guy walking his dog saw me sitting on a bench crying...that was def. a high point. The first 3 days I could only wear sneakers (not even my orthodic clogs) but luckily I was at a conference just sitting, so I iced religiously every hour, advil every 4. By day4 it was much better. Did Yoga on day 5 which made it a little sore, attempted running until Day 6 but only made it a couple minutes in before the same pain came back. No insurance until yesterday, will go to the dr today. The race is in 8 days so as you might imagine I'm super bummed.
Sorry to bi!ch but that's all I got right now...

Running out of energy...

So it appears I am the only one blogging, but oh well. Where else am I supposed to share my research?

I did my first Mountain Goat training run of the year last Saturday. It felt good, I felt like I pushed myself a little harder, though my time didn't reflect that at all. It was about the same distance I've been running (7 ish miles), with similar terrain...it turns out that no matter where you are in Syracuse, there's no escaping the hills! However, much to my surprise, I was exhausted- I mean, couldn't keep my eyes open, couldn't accomplish ANYTHING for the rest of the day, not to mention still feeling lethargic all day Sunday. This troubles me, especially when I continually have a to-do list that I just can't seem to reach the end of. So, I did some research (by way of Runners World and Running Times) and found this article that is full of helpful tips! I think number 24 was my problem on Saturday...I didn't eat for 2-3 hours after the run, which was really stupid. But all the tips seem to have their merit!

Happy (energized) running!

Free treadmill

So, Mike's aunt told me that she has a treadmill she's trying to unload- I think it works, she just said her doctor told her not to use it. Let me know if you're interested!

Back in the game...

Ok, so I'm not running 25 miles a week or anything (and I probably won't) but I'm at least trying to run a little more regularly. For this week I'm at 10 miles (a 6 and a 4), and I'm aiming to do 6 more. I guess feeling like crap at the Shamrock run got me to take it a little more seriously. Although, I'll admit, even though I wanted to give up from mile 1, I felt great for the rest of the day!

My 6 and 4 this week felt ok...not stupendous, but what can ya expect? I'm definitely not going for any speed records, but I figure if I keep up with training, I'll get to a respectable pace eventually. I'm trying to incorporate hills more. It seems like the only way to improve your hill running is to run more hills...ugh. Any recommendations for hill runs? Yesterday I did a mile loop in my neighborhood that has a decent hill (takes 2-2.5 minutes to run up) four times. I just tried to go faster and faster up the hill. Thrilling, huh?

Besides for that, the knees are hanging in there...no knee replacement surgery yet!