The Stranger Thumbs Up

Days like this I love my run. The weather was perfect - sunny and slightly cool. I felt good - 5 miles seemed more like 2. And everyone around me seemed to be cheering me on.

I often bring my running clothes to work so I can head out straight for my run and not lose momentum by having to go home first. Which means several times I week, I walk from my office to my car in all of my spandex loveliness. But today, instead of the odd looks that I normally get, I heard people say things like "She's going to work out, Have a good run, How far are you going today?" So tonight with the waves, smiles and encouraging comments from my co-workers I was ready to start my 5 miles with a bit of a spring in my step.

Out on the trail, I was running along occasionally smiling at my fellow runners. As I was running through uptown Normal, a stranger I passed fashioned his face into his best "you go girl" expression, gave me a toothy grin and an enthusiastic thumbs up. It put me in such a good mood that I actually found myself grinning as I was running. I don't know if that's ever happened before. I paid it forward a couple miles later when I encountered a group of Team in Training ladies on their run.

On an unrelated note, my training has now officially reached the point where the word "only" precedes the phrase "5 miles to run tonight". That's progress I suppose.
57:04

This is why I have so many pairs of socks & underwear

I ran 9 miles today! It took me the better part of the morning but I finished the miles and I finished them feeling good. Let's take a moment and savor that accomplishment. Ahhh...nice. The run today was 2 miles further than any previous training run and 4 miles longer than last weekend. It's my longest run until...next weekend. I'll deal with that when it gets here. For now, I'm still in accomplishment savoring mode.

Due to some scheduling issues, this 9-miler was run sans Runner Wendy, my training partner. It was just me and my iPod. I was nervous about my solo trek so I arranged for a pit stop house at the home of my friend Gail. Given the anxiety-producing mid-run sickness situation I experienced on Thursday's run, I mapped out a course that stopped by Gail's house twice in case the dire need for a restroom arose again. No emergency this time, but I did discover that the stretch of Hershey Road between Ireland Grove and Washington has a surprising number of rolling hills. The photo shows my pleasure at having finished 9 miles.

After my run I drove home, presumably to rest. Then reality set in that I had chores to do. The grass in front of my house was getting so tall that soon small animals would start getting lost in it. So while I was still sweating and before my legs realized what I'd just done to them, I got out the mower and attacked my lawn. Then as I was preparing for a shower I realized that despite doing laundry just 2 weeks ago, I was in need of emptying my hamper. As you can tell, I'm not so good at doing the laundry. That's why I have so many pairs of socks and underwear. But let me tell you, training for a marathon causing laundry to pile up really fast.

So now the laundry is started, the lawn is mowed and I'm about ready to lie down for a well- earned rest. Anybody want to bring me some dinner??

No Time for Sick Days

The cool weather this week has definitely helped my running performance. A couple of swift runs along Lake Monona in Madison were aided by the cool morning air. This is the good news. The bad news is that I found myself afflicted with a cold to go along with the change in weather. Luckily, Wednesday was a planned day off so I took the opportunity to enjoy a rest day. By Thursday I was ready to hit the pavement again, or so I thought.

I had forgotten about a reception I had to attend after work on Thursday so at the last minute, I had to delay my run for about a hour. When I finally laced up my shoes, it was windy, almost dark and raining. The training schedule said 4 miles so I headed out for a there and back loop. That's when things started to go downhill.

Right as I reached the 2 mile mark, I started to feel sick. At this point all I could do was continue with my run as I was at the turn-around. Sometimes if you just keep going, the feeling will go away and that was what I was hoping for. Unfortunately that's not what happened. I will spare you the details of my sickness, but let's just say it wasn't pleasant. I remembered there was a gas station a block or so off my route so I headed there desperately hoping to make it in time. I did - sort of. After cleaning myself up in the bathroom, I headed out for my remaining 2 miles. Amazingly, I felt great on my way back.

There may be no time for sick days during marathon training but if you're willing to not give up, you can really see what you're made of. And possibly see what you had for lunch.

Running on an Isthmus is Tricky

Week 4 started out with a novel twist. Due to the fact that I was traveling for business, I had the opportunity to enjoy some new scenery during my training. I had heard that Madison was a beautiful place but the reputation of its intolerable winter weather had prevented me from visiting until now. What I discovered was that Madison, Wisconsin is a running wonderland (at least for a couple months of the year). The lakes are encircled by biking AND running lanes. The elevators there even accommodate bikes. How cool is that? But back to running. I loved my cool morning run around Lake Monona so much that I got up at 5:45 to do again the next morning. There's nothing like doing some post race stretching on a dock that is lightly bobbing in the water.

Not that there wasn't a challenge or two to running while I was in Madison. First, there was the un-Godly hour at which I had to run in order to get to the conference in time for the first workshop. It was dark when I started. Yeah - that kinda sucked. Secondly, Madison has a certain unusual geographical feature that caused a small challenge during my time up north.

Geography lesson time. Madison, Wisconsin is an isthmus. According to Merriam-Webster, an isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. While this makes for beautiful views, it also tends to exaggerate any sort of wind situation. Madison was experiencing a pretty serious wind situation during my trip. Running upright for any distance is an accomplishment in that sort of situation. So yay me.

The pleasant surprises didn't end there. When I got home from my trip, I found a hand-addressed note in my mailbox. It turned out to be a "You Go Girl" note from my friend Erin. She had sent the coolest encouragement note to keep me motivated furing my training. As training weeks go, this one is definitely turning out to be a good one!

Now You're Just Trying to Embarass Me

What a weird running week so far. It started off hot, humid and miserable and ended cool, rainy and...fast? Yeah, I was shocked too.

On Tuesday, after a couple of weeks having scheduling conflicts, my running partner Wendy and I finally got a chance to run together again. I was feeling optimistic that my 3 miles after a rest day would be a fairly simple workout to check off my training schedule. I was coming off a pretty awesome 7 mile run from the weekend before and I was ready. It didn't quite work out that way. Wendy's legs, after a week of vacation and limited running, were fresh. Mine weren't. Actually they felt like I had anvils strapped to my ankles. It was hot. I was tired and grumpy. To add insult to injury, Wendy's husband Dan showed up to run with us that day and so I had 2 witnesses to my butt-dragging, sweat-inducing, complaint-spewing run.

It's no surprise that after Tuesday, I was not looking forward to my next run. But to my utter shock, when I took to the trail the next day I felt great. My legs were pumping and my breathing was good. I didn't even feel like I needed the water stop I had pre-arranged. The next day's run was a repeat performance. I had energy. I had confidence. And could it be that I was enjoying my training? (Side note: shout-out to Kay who supplied me with some ice cold water this week. Thanks Kay-Kay!)

I'm not sure what caused the difference between Tuesday's and Thursday's runs but I have 2 theories. 1) It's my legs' way of getting revenge on me for torturing them - by embarrassing me when I run with others, or 2) all the extra protein I've taken in the last 2 weeks by ingesting swarms of soybean aphids gave me an energy surge. Who needs Gu?

And now for a happy note to end on for the day. A lovely thought entered my head on one of my pleasant runs this week. My last long run was 7 miles. That means I am already capable of running over a 1/4 of the distance of the marathon.

Tomorrow I "step back" to a long run distance of 5 miles. Normally, that would give me an feeling of confidence, but I'll be running with Wendy again. Who knows what my legs will have in store for me?

Memo to My Legs

Dear Legs,

I gave you a day off. What's the deal? Seriously. We have a long way to go together. Work with me here!

-Raegan

Week 2: Tired Legs and Airborne Pests

Week 2 is finished! The story of the week was my tired legs. I made the mistake of running the day after my long run when it should have been a rest day. Three miles never felt so long. That also happened to be the day I discovered the lovely Soybean Aphid. For anyone living in Central Illinois in the under position of a rock, these creatures are the annoying little gnat-like disturbances that seemed to appear overnight and attack anyone who dared venture outside. After Monday's run, my shirt was covered with them. Ewwww!

On my second run of the week, I ventured to the oasis of my friend Pam. She was waiting to offer me cold water. When I arrive at her doorstep stooped over and a good deal later than I should have for a mile and half, I was greeted with the fact that she measured the distance wrong and that I had actually run more like 2 miles. The upside was that she had trailmix and ice water for me and drove me the excess distance back to my car. Pam rocks!

My Friday run was uneventful, though I did have to re-route myself in the middle of the run to avoid excess amounts of aphids.

Sunday's run was great. It was a cool morning. I had planned to run in the Shoreline Classic in Decatur. The distances of the races were 5K (3.1 miles), which was 4 miles too short for my schedule and 15K (9.3 miles) which was 2 miles too long. I think you can guess which race I ran. I had my mom drop me off at the side of the road and ran 2 miles to the park, jumped in and ran the 5K and then ran 2 miles afterwards. The cool part was I ran the 5K portion of my 7 miles at a faster pace than I had run any races this summer.

So week two ended with an awesome run and me icing my left shin. Stupid shin splints! Only 16 more weeks to go.