Believe to Achieve

and much to my wondering eyes did appear....Santa Claus in May with His Eight Reindeer!!  Even a little ol' lady said "Merry Christmas" to me on her way in to the PG rec center as I was leaving.  Oh yes of all things today  SNOW and HIGH WINDS!!!   Snow in huge flakes accumulating on my car.  I refused to brush it off.  I had had enough of car scraping!!!  The poor trees!!! Many were losing branches due to the heaviness of the four inches of snow along with the array of green leaves.  Huge branches just hanging on to telephone wire and others just broke off.  Despite my mood easily being swayed by the weather, I managed to get a decent work out done on the mill.  Wanted three miles at my new MP (LOL) on the TM sandwiched between two warmup and two cooldown miles.  This is Melanie's plan to get my butt in shape for SGM and a possible sub-3.  Time will tell.  I am thinking more of a 3:03-3:05.  I am thinking this is my last attempt so I will give it my all.  Seriously Melanie and I vow to normalcy after this fall.  I hadn't put in any workouts like Melanie so now is the time to get cracking and see if I can do some similar ones and reap the same benefits.  I ran the three at .5% grade, paces 6:53, 6:49, 6:40.  No music so this felt like I could do several more if I had some music.  I get really bored just looking at the junk that plays on TV or at my TM that shakes.  My hamstrings were really tight but now they are not.  I will take it up by two miles every week to a max of 16 per Mel's plan for me.   Got to think about my double 20 miler coming up Wed and Thurs at a nice and easy pace.  So not liking the idea of a 50 mile trail run with several miles in DEEP snow!!  Hopefull the weather is nice.  The snow is gonna be there regardless.  No time to melt now.  Met a guy at the gym that had to back out of the 50 miler due to a IT band problem.  He runs with Carl Metlzer (sp.?) the "not human" human.  He has the course record at Squaw Peak I believe.  Man, I better start preparing to prepare for this.  I need compression socks I was told today to not feel the ice/snow cutting at my legs.  This is gonna be good!!!

Same bike ride as last week with an extension up the the BIG UPHILL to AF Canyon mouth.  14.9 miles at 4:35 pace.  No garmin, just my timing watch and the course tool.  Nicer this way so I don't focus on speed and just enjoy myself.  Pace still decent I guess for a day after SW.  Love biking as miles just fly by.  Helps my legs learn turnover while my heart rests  : D!!! 1:08:13 total time biking.  I think I will eliminate the double 20 milers and save up energy for the big day instead.  I think I am ready and could run the 50 tomorrow if need be.  I just got to rest rest rest and think think think.  Like how much do I like snow running without snow shoes?  Oh and the joys of sloshing in the mud!!!  And am I supposed to take off my shoes when I come across the numerous creeks along the way?  I am so not prepared as I ought to be but hey this is nature and the trail, this is a no techno deal here!!  

Yup 5 measly miles @ 8:39 pace.  Just before mile two my chest went into spasms and I had a time breathing through the pain.  I ate lots of salad with some raw broccoli and this is not good for me.  The pain radiates from the front of my chest to my back right where your heart/esophagus is.  Not a heart attack.  Just esophogeal spasms as then I began burping and burping but it also felt like my vertebrae were not aligned right and that they were pushing down on some nerves through my chest.  I had a lot of exposure to chemicals the last 24 hours and have been quite nauseated from them.  Chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, craziness you name it that's me. I had to get a woman to help me on my run this morning.  She was just leaving a friend's house after her run.  I had her try to massage the point in my middle back that was spasming.  She wanted to drive me home and her friend wished her EMT husband was home.  I told her this has happened before and about my fibro-like symptoms.  She told me her husband worked for a rheumotologists and knew that fibromyalgia worked like that so at least she was understanding.  Any way journeyed onward for the rest of my light run.  The pain waxing and waning and since I knew I wouldn't die I persevered.  Goal is to run easy all week.  Work four nights before the big 50 so I need to rest up.  This run will have 5 to 7 miles of snow running!!  The director just wrote us and will let us know more details after he runs it this weekend.  The most miles of snow they had was 4 years ago (10). The average is 1-2 miles and the least was only 10 steps!!!!  This is getting more interesting by the moment.  I plan to take the blind approach.   What I don't know won't hurt me.  I do this in the nursery as well when I am admitting babies.  I'd rather just have them send them down as they are born or called when there is an emergency then stare at the labor/delivery computer screen with lots of names of mothers and how close they are to delivery.    I am basically going to run that way.  Run Free or Die!!!!  : D

Ran up Suncrest 6 miles.  Splits: 8:56, 9:29, 10:09, 9:42, 9:02, 8:54.  ROCKY MOMENT!!  We were running and talking UPHILL.  Wowsers.  We turned around and the headwind was pretty steady about 15 to 20 mph.  Hey how come we didn't even notice this wind before.  It went away after 3 miles so I guess it was just the back side.  Saw other runners.  We were the fastest.  We always push ourselves.  We were both sore achy feeling crappy and we still pushed ourselves.  Our hearts were strong but our bodies were not willing.  We tried to pick it up on the way down but my spine and foot were ailing and Kim is getting a cold and her ankle was hurt last night playing soccer.   We were just nuts.  Glad we could wear shorts and not wish we had more clothing.  Finally.  Splits down-7:39, 7:37, 7:24, 6:35 (we just wanted to catch a guy that passed us when Kim stopped in the bushes),  6:48, 7:05.  AP for 12 @ 8:17.  Man are all my joints aching.  I continued to have the same chest trouble all day yesterday and into the night.  I am off to get adjusted today and see if that helps.  According to reflexology my pain in my foot correlates right with my spine and my adrenal gland and brain.  I am a big believer in reflexology.  Have a great day everyone!!

8 miles with Kim mostly on the canal trail.  Ran up by way of 2600 north.  We were chatting and huffing the whole way.  Picked it up on the way back.  AP 8:09.  Very warm and sunny.  I felt hot and it probably was only 65 degrees!!  just not used to this after all the cold weather all winter.  I was so wanting to jump into the canal water!!  or at least soak my shirt in it.  

5 post night shift miles in the breezy sunshine.  Progressive pace.  AP nice and easy @ 8:44.  Husband sprayed tile sealer in our new basement bathroom---  probably the most toxic smell I have ever smelled besides men's cologne and old lady perfume which equals it.  It has definitely got to be extremely hazardous to anyone's health.  All windows are open and fans going and plugs are in my nose.  Time to get that adrenal dysfunction checked ASAP.  I am now getting blotchy brown patches on the backs of my legs.  Kim pointed them out on our run.  It is a sign of adrenal insufficiency along with heightened aversion to smells.  Running is my detox.  My saving grace.