THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

So far nothing.  I'm totally exhausted.  Got home from work at midnight, and within 30 minutes Vanessa was coughing and crying and our long night began.  I squeezed a few hours of sleep in sometime before 6 when I had to get the boys up and get them out the door for school. This morning Vanessa is tethered to a nebulizer and I am cursing that my poor girl just can't even get a few months break from these breathing issues.  I have to work tonight, so the plan is 6 miles easy on the treadmill after work.  If I can get motivated I will do some core work and strength drills before work but so far I am sitting on the couch staring at the tv with Vanessa and my motivation is non-existent.  We look like little blonde twins with messy bedheads and matching dark circles under our eyes.

Update:  2 sets of strength drills before work--it was good to get the blood flowing.  After work went to building 1 and cranked the treadmill up to 8:34 pace, ran for 45 minutes

7:32 average pace.  Goal was 2x3 at fast tempo(6:52ish pace) with .5 brisk recovery.  It was over 70 degrees today and windy--I am not used to the heat.  Night 2 of up-all-night with Vanessa is under my belt.  I got home at 1am from work and run and was up until 2am with her, and then up at again at 6:20am to get the boys off to school.  I did take a nap today, though.  Anyways, I went out way too fast for the first set of 3, and payed dearly in the second set, which started uphill into the wind.  I spent the whole first mile of the second set contemplating abandoning the workout, using my exhausting week as an excuse, but then I thought of MichelleL's recent blog and decided I would at least put forth the effort, even if the result was sub-optimal.  The last mile I even found a little gumption to run in the low 6's and get it back under 7 minutes.  Not my best workout, but I am glad I hung on and did it anyway.

2 mile warm up 8:57, 8:34

3 mile tempo 6:51, 6:29, 6:44 (6:41 average too fast)

.5 recovery in 4:10(8:20 pace)

3 mile tempo 7:20, 7:16, 6:56 (7:10 average...ugly)

1 mile cooldown 8:11

If you put all the splits for the tempo miles together I averaged 6:56, so I'll take that as close enought to hitting my target and call it good.

8:34 average pace.  Nice morning run with the tribe!  Afterwards I drove to the Easter Sun Run 10k and cheered for a tribe member and my sister-in-law.  They did really good.  The guy who won it ran it in 29 something.  Wow!  That is amazing, especially considering that course is not particularly fast with all the corners it turns.  The girl won in 35 something.  Wow!  7 days to the marathon.  Deep breath.  Now I really need to just rest.

Happy Easter!  Mine has been wonderful!  We went to a great sunrise service and then breakfast, gave the kids easter baskets at home, then went to Grandma's for cabbage rolls, and for dinner are heading to firehouse 11 for spaghetti with the tribe--my marathon send-off.  6 days.  I am excited and a little nervous.  This taper week may very nearly kill me.  I want that 3:15 so bad I can taste it.  Oh how I hope the wind is not blowing.  I have a plan  B though for a windy day--if I can't make the time, I am going for place.  After looking at winning times over the past years I have a shot at top 3 and some money, so I am going for it regardless of time.  Maybe I am fooling myself but I feel good about my training.  So, I just need everything else to fall in place.

Ran for about 36 minutes easy--Garmin was dead so just checked the time coming in and going out and did mapmyrun.  This makes 7:39 pace.  Whoops.  Really I was trying to take it easy.  The tribe spaghetti dinner was pretty crazy last night.  Everyone had signed a good luck card for me and they gave me a goody bag with gu, motrin, and other miscellaneous runner items and a pair of nice black sleeves.  I'm quite touched and a little embarassed.    Seems like too much fuss over me.  Wow!  They are too nice!  5 days.

8:17 average pace.  Dress rehearsal day!  2 mile warm-up, 3 at marathon effort, 1.5 cooldown.  I had to majorly adjust expectations since today was officially NIGHTMARE marathon conditions.  According to weather.com, the conditions for my run were 82 degrees, with a 36mph south wind gusting at 43mph.  I have nothing good to say about running straight into a 36mph headwind.  I ran on the rolling dirt hills by my house.  warm up 8:56, 8:56  then start my tempo straight into the headwind 8:10(GEEEEEZ), turn out into 3/4 tail, 1/4 side(7:26), then uphill side wind, then down, then up(7:32).  cool down 8:27, 8:39 pace for .51.

I stayed relaxed and just tried to maintain marathon EFFORT, but not necessarily target pace.  I felt like a freaking leaf blowing all over the place and I was HOT.   It's okay, this let me practice my contingency plan for the marathon come Saturday.  If the wind is there to kill us, then I am going to go out conservative and relaxed and let the jackrabbits go kill themselves in the wind, then once we hit the turnaround and they have worn themselves out I will move in for the kill. Grrrr

It's official, I have a cold.  I felt a little soreness in my throat yesterday and tried to be in denial but here it is.  My options today were get up at 5am to run 4 miles, or sleep in until it was time to get the kids to school.  I opted to sleep in.  Maybe I will run a few after work tonight to keep from getting too stale.  Maybe I will not.  Yesterday's windy run was discouraging.  Weather forecast shows a 17mph south wind for Saturday, but overnight Friday night is 9mph so I am hoping that at 7am for the first half of the marathon it won't be quiet 17mph yet.  I hope.  I hope.  Excuse me while I go blow my nose, pound the Emergen-C, and look for my mojo.

Update:  midnight after work, 4 miles on the treadmill.  ran at 8:34 pace except for several brief accelerations to 7:25, then 6:40, then 6;00 pace to stretch the legs a little.  

Alright here I am--48 hours before showtime.  No run today!  All that stands between me and the big M is a dinky little two miler tomorrow sometime.  I still have a cold, but it is not a bad one.  Nothing but positive thoughts from here out!  I'm just going to get out there and have a good time, and run like I'm free!  I'm going to break this race up mentally the same way I did last time--into 5 sections--4x5-mile sections followed by a 10k.  

Update:  In an attempt to calm my nerves I have gone back and carefully reviewed my training.  I noticed that while my long runs and MP runs were very strong throughout, my speedwork has not been spectacular.  This tells me that I have to be very very careful not to run too close to my threshold.  In other words, if I want my 3:15 then it is IMPERATIVE that I run fairly even splits and do not go out too fast.  If I go out too fast then my second half has big disaster potential.  So I am thinking I should go out ultra conservative, maybe 7:30/miles for the first 5 mile chunk, move to target 7:25 pace for the next 15 miles, and then hammer down in the last 10k.  No trying to put minutes in the bank!  If I shave off time it needs to be in the last 10k while I buckle down.  Regardless, if I don't have the steam to hammer it in the last 10k, I should at least have the steam to maintain and get a 3:15--if I play it safe in the first half.

My cold got worse and worse at work last night.  I can't breathe through my nose, my throat is on fire, and I am hacking up green snot.  I don't have a fever, though.  So, this is just a virus.  I took half a dose of nyquil and 400mg of motrin at bedtime, then washed it down with a cup of chamomile tea, rendering me unconscious for almost 6 hours.  Now me and Vanessa are on the couch again and my plan is to spend most of my day on this couch hydrating. I believe this is the peak so I should be feeling a ton better tomorrow(I hope).  When David gets home from work we will be heading up to Abilene to stay the night and the kids are going to Grandma's.  Maybe I will have moved enough by then to pack.  This is just a hiccup.  I keep telling myself that I am strong and healthy and I will have this kicked by tomorrow.  If I rest all day and eat and drink well I shouldn't be in any kind of weakened state either. Right?

Man I am happy!  Really really happy! As bad as I felt last night I just didn't know how this was going to go.  I didn't make the time that I trained for, but last night I was questioning if I would even start or finish.  I had finally come to the conclusion that I was going to go out very conservative--slower then planned, and then pick it up at the halfway point if I felt okay.  I don't know if the slow start hurt me or saved me!  Either way it worked out and I have $500 in my pocket that I didn't have before and I finally got to break the tape!

Pre-race:  As we drove to the hotel I was miserable--hacking, congested, sore throat.  Ugh.  Didn't take any cold medicine because I knew it would stay in my system too long and make me groggy.  I did take 2 motrin to ease the sore throat, drank a cup of chamomile tea, and crawled into bed. at 9:30.  Nighttime:  Bad.  We would have been better off sleeping in the car.  The bed sagged in the middle, the pillows were really flat, I couldn't breathe through my nose, and our neighbor upstairs sure did a lot of walking around.  We tossed and turned all night, and gave up at 3:30 am.  We turned on the television and watched the news and brewed some coffee.  At 5:30 we left for the starting line.  We were there by 6am.  I choked down a few cups of water, a banana, and half a bagle.  I could breathe better through my nose when upright, so I was a little hopeful.  10 minutes before the race, last year's winner asked if I wanted to warm up with her and we jogged around a little and then got on the line.  Just as the sun came up, the gun went off.  I pulled my sunglasses over my eyes, and we were off.

1-4: 7:09, 7:33, 7:25, 7:31  Lezlee takes off.  I am holding back--I am going to stay conservative and run the first half holding back and see how this is going to go.  Right at around mile 4 I catch up to Lezlee again and we run about the next 8 miles together and chat.  She is really nice!

5-12: 7:35, 7:31, 7:36, 7:36, 7:38, 7:30, 7:42, 7:31 Lezlee has a hamstring injury that is starting to bother her and she starts to slow down.  I decide to open up a little bit and pull ahead.  I hit the turn around feeling decent in 1:39 something so I try to pick it up. 

13-20: 7:25, 7:33, 7:44, 7:29, 7:21, 7:21, 7:14, 7:20 I run miles 13 and 14 alone but can hear a loud group of men coming up behind me.  I decide when they get to me I am going to latch on and hang for the ride.  They catch me at 14.  Most of them are going for sub 3:20--sounds good to me!  I chat with Greg who is drying to BQ, and Hawk from iceland.  As we reach mile 20 fatigue is setting in and nobody is talking much.  One guy announces that the second half of the marathon has begun.  So true!  I wonder how far behind me the other women are.

21-22: 7:21, 7:29  Our group splinters.  Greg and one other guy pull ahead, two guys fall back.  Me and Hawk from iceland stay together.  We are not talking much anymore but I am glad to not be running alone.  I feel the sense of impending crash.  At mile 22 I suck down a gu, hoping it saves me.

23-24: 7:45, 7:59  Nosing up against the wall and fading now.  This was the worst part.  My legs hurt, my mental stamina is suffering, the air is thick and I feel like I am swimming instead of running.  Me and Hawk share the water bottle he is carrying--such a nice guy! As we turn down the home straightaway the radio station guy asks me how to pronounce my last name, tells me I am the lead lady, and wishes me luck.

25-26: 7:44, 7:43  Maybe the gu is kicking in but mentally I begin to feel better.  I can win this, and that is what I am thinking about right now.  I try to rally and push my stiff legs as fast as they will go.  I can win this.  I can win this.  Somewhere in  mile 26 Hawk fades back, but he yells at me "you go girl!".  The radio station guy is driving in a truck next to me.

.2  I forgot to stop my watch and the Garmin is measuring a little long anyway.  All I know is I see the finish banner.  I try to do some kind of pathetic sprint and then I am running through red tape and it is over!  I threw my arms up and whooped.  They cut my chip off, put a medal around my neck,put the blanket on my shoulders, and I walk over to my husband.  He hugs me and my legs seize up a little bit so I lean on him but after a few minutes I can walk again.

Aftermath: Got interviewed by the local radio station and a couple local papers.  So crazy!  After a while I am hacking up a lung but I only coughed once during the race.  I got $500 and two medals and an Eisenhower head statue thing and a sweet shirt.  2nd and 3rd were 9 and 10 minutes behind me.  The second place woman this was her first marathon and she had to do all her training on a treadmill! wow!  Our friend Amy finally BQed with five minutes to spare!  It was a good day!  I am ready to take some cold medicine and collapse now!

Pretty sore!  I'm still doing the post-marathon hobble, groaning when I have to get up after sitting down, and going backwards down stairs.  I think soreness really does peak the second day after--so I should be feeling good tomorrow.  I started my vacation week yesterday with lots of housecleaning and a barbecue with friends--great fun!  Their two youngest boys and our two youngest boys got completely covered in mud in the creek and our friend Tyson hosed them off before they could come in the house and run to the tub and they were running around and shrieking in the cold water--it was pretty hilarious.  My husband video taped it and they got to re-live the moment watching themselves on video.  Good times!

9:18 average pace.  I am still stiff and sore but decided to dust my legs off and warm them up a bit so I could get some good stretching in.  50 crunches, some planks, and some tea stands afterward.  It actually felt good to get things moving.

Yesterday I went to the running store and 30 minutes later walked out with a pair of racing flats--adidas adizero mana-- I am going to start some experimenting, maybe in a 5k in a few weeks, although I doubt I will have recovered much in the way of speed by then.

9:17 average pace.  Don't have my legs back yet.  I totally enjoyed plodding along on my soft dirt roads, though.  Did a little core work and some push-ups afterward and stretched.  Me and Vanessa and my mother did lots of walking at the zoo earlier today.  Unfortunately a bird in the aviary dropped a huge bomb on my mother's hair--she was NOT amused.  Out of all the exotic and exciting animals we saw today, Vanessa's favorite was....drumroll...goats!  I could've showed her all the goats she ever wanted in walking distance from home....

a.m. Me and Vanessa are at Kim's watching Lexi.  Did 4.5 at 8:30 pace on the treadmill.  I think I'm starting to get my legs back.  Planning on more this p.m.  Job interview at 2!

p.m.  4 at 7:57 average pace in my new nike avants.  I am in love with those shoes!  They are light yet have just enough cushion to protect my feet!  Oh they feel great!   I got the job!  I will be working home health, mostly setting my own hours, starting in two weeks.  Monday I put my two weeks notice in to EMS, but I am going to stay on part time because I am just not quite ready to give up my beloved ambulance.  I have worked on one for 8 years and I am afraid to stop cold turkey.

8:18 average pace.  Felt pretty good, but I am really bloated and a little nauseous, I am thinking it is from the food I ate today at lunch with my friend Sarah.  I turned in my two weeks notice today to the director and almost cried.  He told me I could still work part time and could come back full time if I ever decided to and I always had a home there.  Sniff. :(  It will be a good thing for my family for sure but this job and the people I have worked with are like family, we have been through a lot together.  Looks like the next few weeks will be emotional and my last day is April 29th.  Then I will have to hand over my Lieutenant bars and the keys.  April 29th is also my daughters 3rd birthday so we will have a celebration also!  My how life changes!

8:42 average pace with the tribe.  They are gearing up for the OKC marathon next weekend.  I hope they meet their goals!  Went and ate breakfast with Wendy afterwards.  We did a lot of talking and it was good to bond with another woman who is trying to be a better Christian/mother/friend.  We even got emotional and sniffled a little bit. She is an awesome person and I am so excited that she is my friend!  It was really a breath of fresh air.

5 am: 6.21 at 7:55 average pace. Back to the grind again. Legs are no longer sore but I'm not sure about having decent 5k speed this weekend. I will try some strides tomorrow to wake up the fast twitchers. Planning on a few with Vanessa in the stroller later. Thinking about all you Boston runners today! Best wishes!

8 am:  4.07 at 8:22 pace with Vanessa after getting the boys off to school.  We of course did the obligatory Sonic tater tot stop.

7:53 average pace.  It was a gorgeous morning so I decided to touch base with 5k pace a little bit.  7.14 miles first 8:28, 7:55, 7:54, 8:00, 8:04, 7:55, 7:37, .14 at 8:05 pace than popped into the sienna ranch addition and did about a mile loop with random accelerations of 5k pace, usually from mailbox to mailbox, with jogging to full recovery between.  33 seconds at 6:14 pace, 28 @ 6:06, 24 @ 6:07, 22 @ 5:53, 39 @ 6:03, 40 @  5:20, 20 @ 5:47.  then cooled down 1.45 7:59, .46 at 7:33 pace.  Not much stretching afterward because I was in a hurry--had to shower me and bathe Vanessa, take Jesse to the doctor, pick up Lexi while Kim went to her job interview, drop Jesse off at school, take Lexi and Vanessa over to Kim's and then off to work.  It always feels like I have a full day before I ever even get to work.

8:33 AP with Vanessa in the stroller.  We ran 5 then stopped at the playground and I did a circuit of strength drills while she ate her dinosaur snack and played.  Then we played a little more, and then ran some more, passing sonic, so I dished out my $1.07 for the obligatory tator tots.  Dinosaur gummies and tater tots, the breakfast of champions.

8:31 AP stroller miles with my plucky little running partner.  Ran 5, stopped at the playground and worked on abs while she played, then ran 2 more and got our tater tots.  She sang a lot of songs for me today--totally awesome!  It is a lot easier than me gasping out songs for her mid-run!

8:18 AP.   Busy day--orientation at my new job in home health.  Although learning all the paperwork is a bit daunting, I think I am going to really like this job.  I get to work pretty much independently, work around my schedule with my family, and I will really enjoy working with my clients to get them healthier and keep them out of the hospital and out of nursing homes.  There is a lot of teaching involved with patients but I like to do that.  There are a few procedures that I do not have much experience with but they seem willing to teach so I am not too worried about those.  This job is definitely right up my alley.  Anyways busy day and not much time for a run.  Did 5 surges of practice 5k race pace during the run.  No pressure for the 5k tomorrow I am just going to break in those new racing flats and run however I feel like at the moment.  

I am clearly not the type who can recover from a marathon and run a 5k well two weeks later.  That is my excuse and I am sticking to it.  Big underperformance.  First mile in 6:23, came through the two mile mark in 12:59, then rolled over and died.  I am  hoping that this is more like my 10k speed in two weeks at the river run.  Perhaps I will have my mojo back by then.  I am still glad I went--it was free entry since I was second last year and I got second again.  It is a really awesome all women's 5k and the atmosphere is very cool!  My sister-in-law Sasha got first in her age group and a pr so she was happy!  The racing flats seemed to be okay, my feet don't hurt, but they sure didn't make me any faster, at least not today.  I will try them again at the 10k in a few weeks!  The course is pancake flat and is a good PR course so I would really like to be sub-41.  I would love even more to be sub-40 but if I can't even break 20 today in a 5k then that ain't going to happen!  I am  thinking about going and running some more miles in a little bit since it is naptime.  updated: 5.57 mile shakout run at 8:15 AP.

5 am.  7:43 average pace.  Started slow at a 9 minute mile and felt terrible and tired, and my calves were really tight, but after 3 miles suddenly snapped out of it and ran the rest of the way in the low 7's.  Now I feel pretty good.  This week is going to be a nightmare with my last week at my old job, more orientation at my new job, and all the shuttling with the kids plus my husband is working mandatory overtime.  It will be hard to get much running in.

7:40 AP.  Ugly, ugly attempt at speedwork today.  I want to become friends with 6:00 pace and perhaps build a relationship, and I want to try out these racing flats more, and the kids didn't have school today so despite a little wind we all headed to the track.  I strapped on the go-fasters and warmed up a mile, then started.  I was going for a dirty dozen--12x400 in 90 seconds with 200 meter recovery.  First one was slow because my hair fell out and I had to put it back in a ponytail while I was running.

91, 90, 90, 91(calves are already burning), 91, 92(oh my calves, 200 meters is not enough to recover anymore), 93(walked part of the 200 recovery after this to shake my calves out), 89.  Vanessa needed a pody break, bless her heart.  It helped to take a break! 88, 89, 90, had to stop and yell at a kid so extra break here, 86.  Then I jogged about 2.5 to cool down with some veering to chase kids.  The wind on the back stretch made this harder then it had to be I think, and I definitely need to strengthen my calves to adjust to running in these kinds of shoes.   Next the high school football coach and a player showed up and he asked me to video tape the kid doing some sprints while he drilled him on his technique.  That was pretty fun.  The coach was wearing 5 fingers shoes and the kid was wearing  Nike frees.  Interesting.  After watching that the kids wanted me to time them doing sprints so we did that for a while.  Nick ran 100 meters in 17 seconds in socks--wow that is 4:32 pace for a 10-year-old! 

I may do some treadmill miles after work just to enjoy running some uninterrupted miles.

update: did 4 on the treadmilll after work at 8:34 pace

8:52 AP.  Vanessa-stroller-lots of wind-park-strength drills-stroller-sonic-tater tots-home-shower-work

Today my baby turns 3(but no party 'til Saturday).  Today is also my last day as a Lieutenant paramedic for Sedgwick County EMS.  Beginnings and endings. It is a bittersweet kind of day.  I may try to run after work. 

Update: towards the end of my shift, with all the paperwork caught up and the west side quiet, my partner drove me 1/4 mile to a middle school track.  I got my jumpsuit ready, changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and knocked out 20 laps in the dark while my partner listened to the radio with the promise to light it up if we got a call.  We didn't get get a call while I was running.  Then we drove to post and time was up and we logged off.  So that was it.  I got to my car and surprised myself by bursting into tears.  Now I am emotional and up late blogging and drinking chamomile tea.  It's cool that I got to run myself into the next chapter of life.  SCEMS is family to me.  I first stepped onto one of their ambulances 9 years ago as a student.  Wow.  Since then I've been married, birthed a child, adopted children, and done a lot of growing up(well not too much).  Time goes so, so fast.  Okay enough of being dramatic on my blog, I'm just going to sit here and think about the thousands upon thousands of memories I have and be thankful that I had the experiences I had.  I've seen a lot, all over the spectrum from horror to miraculous.  Alright I'm done for real now.  good night!