Reina Runs

Final Diagnosis..

2005-10-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

Patellar Tendinitis. Ugh. Worse than the sprain. Since it hurts for day to day activities (such as you know, walking) the orthopedic guy told me 3-6 months before I can do much of anything. It's such a bummer. Such a let down. I'm so disappointed. Not to mention that I have at least 4 weeks of physical therapy (at 3 appts a week) to look forward to. And missing my race. I'm so far beyond disappointed, it borders on inconsolable. Once I go talk to the physical trainer, I'll talk to Team in Training about switching seasons. Hopefully I'll be better in time to commute my funds raised to the Summer season (which is the last season I can transfer it to). Some related info can be found..

I'm heartbroken.

But, in much better news, Tre's last treatment is coming up. We're gonna go party. YAY TRE!

I know, I know

2005-10-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since my last post. It's a running blog, and I'm not running. My knee is still sprained. Actually, it hurts to walk, so I can't do pretty much anything. I need to go back in and have it looked at again. Anyway, I *have* been a little Team in Training active. I spent the entire weekend out at the new Firewheel Town Center, volunteering and slinging burgers and sodas for the cause! I met some cool people, I raised some money (and hopefully earned a little for my fundraiser too!), and I talked to some police officers about their job. That was actually really, really cool, because police work (and most public service type stuff in general) has always really appealed to me. (I did almost enlist in the Army last year too) Anyway, other than that, I've missed alot of training. I'm trying not to think about it, because worrying isn't gonna do anything, but it's hard not to. Especially this weekend when everyone was discussing their goals. Not to mention that since I've been not running, the weather has been pretty consistently awesome. *Sigh*

But! I did do one other good thing. I was waiting for the thank you certificate to arrive, but I just can't wait anymore. Ready? I cut my hair off and donated it to Locks of Love. Thirteen inches of hair to be precise. How much hair is that? Glad you asked.

Forgive the emo-ness of the second picture, I was trying to look Myspace-ish So there's always that. I'm looking towards the positives. Not the negatives. Speaking of positive, I'm 20% of the way to my fundraising goal! That's so awesome guys! I appreciate all of it! Thank you infinitely. On behalf of me, and Tre, and all the Leukemia Society, it's so amazing the generosity that people have.

Dr's Appt.. :(

2005-09-29T19:37:00.000-05:00

Wouldn't you know it? I jack my knee up and then the weather gets great! Boo hiss. Anyway, for those reading and curious, I'm out for a bit, I've apparantly sprained my MCL. Runners know what that means. For the uninitiated, there's a couple of ligaments in your knee, the MCL is the Medial Collateral Ligament. It's on the inside part of your knee. So, I'm out for a bit. Hopefully not too long, they said it seems to be a fairly mild sprain (Blinding pain excluded) so just take it easy, don't do anything that hurts, etc. Hopefully it gets better soon. I'm gonna ice, anti-inflammatory myself to death here. But if I don't take care of it now, it can get much, much worse. If you wanna know anything about knees, The Knee Guru seems to be a pretty excellent way to start. Here's hoping that I heal already. I've missed 7 mi so far...

Recommended Distance: 2 mi
Completed Distance: 0 mi.
Time:
Weather:

Not Running (Again)

2005-09-26T20:26:00.000-05:00

Nope, today I can't even walk. I've already scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic knee specialist to figure out what exactly it is I've jacked up. Instead, I'm spending some time working on fundraising, getting life in order, and letter writing. My knee is apparantly hurt much worse than I originally thought on Saturday. But hopefully it's nothing too serious.

Recommended Distance: 2mi
Completed Distance: 0 mi.
Time:
Weather: 95 degrees, 44.2% humidity

Long Run 3

2005-09-24T10:07:00.000-05:00

Whew! A brief respite from the heat and humidity as of late. After missing training on Tuesday and Thursday this week, I was a bit nervous about this morning's run. When I woke up still feeling like I'd been smashed in the face with a brick I was more worried, and almost called it a day, but knew that if I did, I would regret it later and beat myself up. Instead, I got up to run. First I stole James' Nano. Omg, I need one. It was great, I could be distracted by music, and still hear my watch! It's on my to do list now. Other than that, the strong winds off the lake were a bit rough, and they never seemed to make it to my back either. I'm not sure how that works. The best part of today was finding some other people who were running my pace! It was awesome, it seemed to just fly by and when I was unsure if I could continue, they were right there with me to make sure I did. And vice versa. The whole team aspect is nice sometimes. Overall, I think this weekend was really a good run for me, it brought back some of my confidence. Even if I'm not going fast, I'm still going. I can still finish, and I can still raise money for a fantastic cause. It's not a cure, but it's a start.

Recommended Distance: 6 mi
Completed Distance: 6 mi
Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Weather: Windy

Race #1: 5K

2005-09-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

My first race! It was, okay. I feel like I'm having problems breathing. I didn't really feel prepared for the race, and kept berating myself the entire time about being so slow, so really maybe it was so slow because of a negative outlook. I'm trying to work on it. About mile one I started thinking about how I should maybe drop to a half marathon instead. About mile two I almost just gave up and started walking, and about mile three I remembered that I can push myself, I just need to do it. Push. Harder. Must shut up and just push harder.

Recommended Distance: 5 K
Completed Distance: 5 K
Time: 41 min 37 sec
Weather: Clear.

Week 3, Day 3

2005-09-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

Wow, the times just seem to be getting slower and slower don't they? Well, there's at least some silver lining, I know I ran the first mile in just under 15 minutes. About 14 minutes and 45 seconds actually. So why the big change there? That's like a two minute difference between the first and second mile. I imagine it's my muscles warming up maybe. I do some stretching before I run, but since my first mile consistently seems to be my slowest thus far, I either get bummed about that and run faster, or my muscles just aren't at their peak performance yet. Who knows. Also why are my long runs so much speedier than my daily runs? Motivation? Mis-measured course? Well, let's hope the White Rock course is right at least, I'll hit the track next week to test my times out there. (Even though my track times are usually equally discouraging, I had bad track experiences in school) Oh, and the humidity. Jeez the humidity today. I think I could taste the air. Overall though, I'm so far disappointed with myself, and discouraged. Poor fundraising + Poor Running = NO SOUP FOR ME! :) If things don't change soon, I'm afraid I won't meet my goals.

Recommended Distance: 2 mi.
Completed Distance: 2 mi.
Time: 27 min 30 sec
Weather: 77 degrees, 88.7% humidity. Clear. 885

Week 3, Day 2

2005-09-13T22:17:00.000-05:00

Wowzers, my first day of skipping training immediately followed by my worst training yet. Coincidence? Probably not. To be fair, my muscles were still really sore from Saturday night's soccer yesterday. Three games in 2.5 hours was probably pushing it a little, especially after the long run. Alas, it is a decision already past I suppose. Not to mention, I apparantly misread my training calendar, and did twice what I should have anyway. I suppose since I didn't run yesterday maybe that's alright. Mile 1 was okay, I had to stop for a couple of seconds because there was a rock in my shoe, but overall, I say my new shoes are a pretty good fit. (like a dream so far) I need to start using my new blister pads though, because the bottom of my big toes are rubbed raw, but in my new shoes I didn't notice the same kind of impact. Of course, I think soccer is a worse impact on that anyway. Damn you turf. The first mile was slow, like 13 minutes or so exactly. No big deal, I'm obviously having motivation problems or something, who knows. The second mile was horrible however. I walked most of it (my first skimping on the 5:1 ratio), because well, I just felt I couldn't run anymore. I'm not sure if it's running at night, or the heat/humidity, what I'm putting into my body, my overall wellbeing, etc etc. I'll pinpoint it. Just try and keep going. There are those who don't have a choice. Humbly yours this evening.
Recommended Distance: 1 mi
Completed Distance: 2 mi.
Time: 22 min 52 sec
Weather: 90 degrees, 52.3% humidity. Clear.

Nope, No Running Today

2005-09-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

As much as I hate, read: absolutely hate, to log in a big zero on my training blog today, it unfortunately is the way of things. First, work started bad, then got to worse, then got to unimaginably worse. Next was my Team in Training fundraising meeting, which was cool, there were some good ideas out there, I'm going to have to start hitting the streets as it were. Next, my brilliant-physicist grandfather had a stroke today. He's already been taking medicine to prevent strokes, but apparantly they were not effective enough. He's in remission from prostate cancer too, but even though he only had a couple treatments for it, he's probably still weakened by that. My finger is hurt from soccer the other night, and really, I'm just lacking motivation today. I can't find good dieting advice (I'm trying to go vegan, and eat less grain stuff and more fruit/veggie stuff), not to mention that my dieting aspirations don't fit into my current lifestyle all that great. The boyfriend bitches about having to go to the store once a week, let alone more often. My goal is to be 120 lbs by the end of September, and I'm floating around 121-123 right now. Not running isn't helping of course, but I can't figure out why I'm not losing weight to begin with. It looks like I should be, but I'm obviously doing something wrong. I'm stressed, tired, and depressed, and really, just couldn't be brought to even put the new shoes on today. Hope everyone else is doing better than I am.

Recommended Distance: 2 mi
Completed Distance: 0
Time:
Weather:

Long Run 2

2005-09-10T10:06:00.000-05:00

Woooooooh boy! I was pretty worried about the four miles, it seems awful far, and surprisingly, I handled it like a champ. I maintained my 5:1 run/walk ratio, I ran all four miles at about the same pace (mile 1 - 11:30, mile 4 - 10:45), and I am not (as of yet) passed out, dead, or otherwise incapacitated. Running is absolutely awesome sometimes, because well, I can run and feel like I'm a million feet tall. Mmm, what else. Got tested for new running shoes, did that, bought new shoes. I tried on three pairs, and when I tried this pair on, the second it was on my foot, I knew I'd found the one. Hooray new shoes! Just think, I ran over a 5K today, so next week's 5K should be a peice of cake, right? Hell yea it should. I also got to meet some really cool TNT members, chatted with my mentors a bit, and hung out with Tre and his family some. Tre is really awesome. He's an adorable little kid, and his parents are really, really nice. Talk about brave too. His last treatment will *hopefully* be in November. He just turned ten and suffers from ALL. (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia) He was nice enough to pose with me for a picture. Ignore me looking completely goofy on the side, I just ran four miles. (Not to mention, I typically look pretty goofy)

He's an awesome kid, and really, he and his family serve as a reminder of why I'm doing this in the first place.

Recommended Distance: 4 mi
Completed Distance: 4 mi.

Wk 2, Day 3

2005-09-08T23:19:00.000-05:00

Ah, back to my usual route, except shorter. Saturday is my long run, and three, count them: THREE soccer games. I almost didn't run tonight, because I feel like crap. I'm so depressed lately, I don't even think there's words to describe. But the run was kind of nice. I think I messed up setting up my new pedometer. Or I'm running even slower than I have been. Both are possible. I'd bet on the pedometer though, because well, I think I kept up a good pace tonight. I'm thinking about changing my run:walk ratio. Maybe at 5 minutes I'm just pushing a little too hard and my overall pace is slow. It's hard, because well, I feel slow, but I'm not sure if I'm running at a "slow" pace.. This weekend I'll hopefully get to stay with more of the pack (and maybe meet some people) at the team long run. We'll hope.

Recommended Distance: 1 mi
Completed Distance: roughly 1 mi
Time: 15 min, 24 sec
Weather: 84 degrees, 39.9% humidity. Clear.

Wk 2, Day 2

2005-09-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

Downtrodden... It seems like my time is just getting slower. (at this rate I'll be running the marathon for like 13 hours. I think they shut the course by then..) Of course, I may have actually run a little over 2 miles today, but not much. First, the heat and humidity. It's killing me. The humidity by itself isn't too bad, since my lungs seem to operate a little bit better with the extra lubricant, but the heat in conjunction? Man, it's bad. How in the hell can it possibly be 88 degrees at 10 PM!? Maybe Texas isn't optimal marathon location, but it's what I got! Ran about .8 (or .9) miles to the high school, ran around the track once, (.25 mi) and ran the longer way home, about a mile. Not sure how keen I was on this route, a lot of slant to the roads, and it felt like my right achilles was taking a big work out. Tomorrow's my off day, which will be filled with soccer. Well, maybe fencing, then soccer. We'll see.

Recommended Distance: 2 mi
Completed Distance: 2 mi
Time: 27 min 12 sec
Weather: 88 degrees, 45.9% humidity. Clear.

Wk 2, Day 1

2005-09-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

Whee. I suppose since I typically run in the evening, and since I haven't run since Saturday morning, it has felt like forever since I got a run in. So, I mixed it up and headed out to the track this evening.. I don't feel horribly challenged by my current pace. Looking forward to the rest of the month, it looks like it will be probably another week or two before I really start increasing my training much at all. I think I'm also going to use this opportunity to start tooling around with my diet. I wouldn't mind losing a few pounds, so this would be as good a time (or even better) as any I think. Starting tomorrow morning I'll be also keeping a food journal, so I can track down exactly why it is that I haven't been losing weight anyway. It may later become somehow incorporated into my running training journal, it may not, we'll see I suppose. Happy thoughts!

Recommended Distance: 1 mi
Completed Distance: 1 mi.
Time: 13 min 11 sec
Weather: 82 degrees, 39.6% humidity. Clear.

Long Run 1

2005-09-03T08:24:00.000-05:00

Wow. Let me first say that morning is a beautiful time of day... Sure, I do hate waking up early (alot), but when I walked out of the car at White Rock Lake this morning, I was all: 'Wow, look at that..' It's so pretty.. Another thing: I never realised so many people run! When we were driving up (the boyfriend had to drive me, because I've misplaced my keys), there seemed to be about a hundred fit, energetic people running around. Of course, all the people with negative three percent body fat made me super self-concious, but that's okay. We're all working at different goals. The Team in Training people were nice, but I ran all by my lonesome, since I don't really know anyone there, and no one was running at about my pace. Well, I think there were people running pretty close to my pace, but they started after I did. There also weren't too many people running the 2 miles today, most of everyone was running four instead. Of course, most of everyone is running the White Rock half marathon, which is much sooner than my marathon. My shoes are pinching my feet alot, I think they've swollen more from all of the activity lately.. Almost all of my shoes actually feel tight, most of them right across the ball of my foot, and in my toes. I'll have to look into new shoes soon.. Mmm, water. All Bran Oats & Honey Bar.. Mmm...

Recommended Distance: 2 mi
Completed Distance: 2 mi.
Time: 23 min, 59 sec. (11:30, 12:29)
Weather: 75 degrees, 65% humidity. Clear.

Day Four

2005-09-01T23:16:00.000-05:00

Ho hum. Just a mild case of FOOD POISONING said the doctor. I knew it, all of this time, someone is trying to kill me! **Dramatic music interlude..** But in all seriousness: Dear Lord, please turn down the humidity. Thank you, <3<3, Reina. Humidity + Food Poisoning + Running does not feel very well. Normally my daily runs invigorate me, but tonight, tonight it was just no bueno. I felt sick, and as I ran farther, I just felt sicker. I kept going, stayed the course, though. I was driven. I kept thinking about how sick and nauseous chemotherapy makes people, but when they feel like they can't take anymore, they just keep having to. Sometimes thoughts like that make me sad, but it makes me able to push myself. I think of Stephanie, the girl on the Dallas Run Team who is in remission. Another sobering moment: Thinking about my loved ones in Lousiana. Hopefully they're all alright.

Recommended Distance: 1 mi
Completed Distance: 1.25 mi.
Time: 16 min 3 sec
Weather: 88 degrees, 52% humidity. Clear.

And on the Third Day

2005-08-31T22:26:00.000-05:00

There was rest.. Sort of. Well, like I said, today was a rest day, but even though I think I'm dying of some sort of stomach ailment, I still managed to make it to the Girl's Soccer team tonight, only to have the other team not show up! Man, we haxxed them! We played a scrimmage (5 on 4.5 - my team had like an 8 year old little boy on it) and a good time was had by all. I'll miss some of the girls on the team (because they're super nice, super bad-ass ladies) so hopefully they call me up to sub for them some next season. So, we'll add 45 minutes or so of wind sprints to my running kind of. Oh, and I drove the route I ran yesterday, it was about 1.5 miles, so I was pretty right on about it. Of course, I drove all the way out to Frisco today, and found out that it's not even 25 miles from there to my place. So I can run to Ikea eventually. That would be so boss. Anyway, since I'm dying of some stomach ailment, I will now return back to the land of the sleeping.

Day 2

2005-08-30T23:12:00.000-05:00

Ah, Day 2. Not alot to report. The run was easier (although my legs were alot less sore today than they were at the onset of yesterday's run) and well, it went well. I ran down a different route today than normal (mixing it up a bit), but it should have been between three quarters of a mile and a mile somewhere. So I ran somewhere between a mile and a half and two miles. The humidity is much lower today than it was yersterday, which was nice at least. I ran tonight after my Stitch N Bitch, where it was just Lauren and I this evening. I happened to mention that I was running for TNT for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and then she told me about how her grandmother passed away of Leukemia a few years ago. Of course, I always feel awkward when people talk about sad stuff, so I immediately doubled my talking pace and blathered incessantly about how absolutely fantastic the LLS and TNT program are. I don't mean to do things like that (and felt bad) but I think sometimes my mouth manages to speak faster than my brain can tell it to stop. I hope she wasn't offended. *sigh* I offered to make her grandmother one of my honoured heroes and run with a bracelet with her name on it. For me, it's easier to relate to a person than a disease. Since I have had health problems in the past, I find it easier to relate to others, than to talk about how awful the disease is. I get caught up in trying to think of all of the people I know that have it so horrible for various reasons, and that really motivates me to try and work to change it. I'm still unsure how others respond to that, but I'm always hyper worried about hurting someone's feelings inadvertantly. Anyway, tomorrow is an off night for the running, but I'll be playing soccer (for the last night) with my all-girls team. Let's hope we win!

Recommended Distance: 1 mi
Completed Distance: 1.5 mi-2 mi
Time: 18-20 minutes (I inadvertantly stopped my watch)
Weather: 85 degrees, 40% humidity. Clear.

Day 1

2005-08-29T21:53:00.000-05:00

2 miles. Peice of cake, right? I jog/walk two miles as it is three or four times a week in addition to the 2 games of (some weeks 3) soccer and the fencing (and the lake when I find the time). Man, notice I said jog/walk. I've been going the two mile jaunt for awhile. I take the same route through my neighborhood, 1 mile there, 1 mile back. It's not terribly interesting, a little un-flat, but there's not a ton of traffic, and it's decently lit. Not to mention that I know how far a mile away from my house is. Man, today was something else though... I've decided to go with the lowest (read: easiest) training level, because it's closer to my skill level. Levels B and C recommended a five mile jaunt today, and well, I know I'm not there, so I figured level A is for me! Coach Joe recommended the running/walking method, which is a-okay for me, I definantly can't push myself continuously. So, I used my nifty new Timex watch to set the pace. Now again to the recommended levels. He says beginners will probably feel comfortable with a 3 min run: 1 min walk ratio, with a good ratio at 7 min: 1 min. Well, I figure I've ran some before, I play 45 minute soccer games, I can hang. Let's shoot low and go for 5:1. It was.. a little harder than I anticipated. But: I stayed the course, completed my standard two miles, and learned if I try, I can very, very slowly jog for 2 miles with only a couple minutes to walk. I'm so awesome.

Recommended Distance: 1/2 mi
Completed Distance: 2 mi (Since this is my 'normal' go, I can run this until the 'training' distances catch up)
Time: 22 minutes, 53 seconds.
Weather:82 degrees, 65% humidity. Overcast.

Ohnoes! Running too!

2005-08-28T18:01:00.000-05:00

Sure sure, some people may know me from Unwound, but I didn't want my running to inundate my knitting site, so I tossed up a blog specifically for my running. So, my mission, which I've already accepted, is going to be to run the Freescale Austin marathon for Team In Training and the Leukemia Lymphoma society. I'm tracking my training and progress here, so that everyone who is interested (and hopefully donated) can see my personal mission to help. My mantra today: TrainEndureAcheieveMatter. Thanks for visiting!