Believe to Achieve

Insomnia again.  Slept 9 hours Saturday night.  But restless sleep all last night.  Sorness almost gone.  General Conference was so nice to hear.  We sat on our couches with our kids and relaxed all day in our PJs yesterday. 

Only one regret (besides the whole year of plaguing injuries and forced runs)-- FUEL.  Seriously ONE gu (15th mile ) the entire race and 5 pieces of chomps(9th mile), luckily 1/4 of a banana at mile 19 along with aspirating on 1/4 of a protein bar handed out by friendly volunteers :D.  The problem with not taking in nutrition is that if you don't FORCE yourself to take it (if you actually had some that is ; D), when the wall hits, you don't think straight to even know what is hitting you except the fact that you can no longer move like you were.  So 3:04:18 became 3:07:18 rather quickly.  But I PRed and it was miserable year and I suppose I will be back once I am healthy.  :D.  The first 23 miles were really quite wonderful, some niggles (hamstrings were bugging since mile one- but I tuned them out) but nothing like last years ridiculousness.  I felt strong up Veyo and awesome coming down at mile 15.  Splits pending the drying out of my watch.  I think mile 21 was a 6:27!!! 

burning nerve pain is keeping me from being myself.  really wish i was cured magically.  neuropathic pain sucks!!    burning from my side of my face, down my shoulder and neck to my butt and down my leg.   so done with the chronic pain.  i walk on eggshells because i don't know what is setting it off.   lab work pending.  love fall running but taking a full week off so no excercise for me.   the same burning pain that was in my leg just before the race is full force intense now-- A MIRACLE I tell ya that God helped me run the race I so badly did NOT want to run.    I persevered with some help from above.   

another lazy day.  tried out tart cherry concentrate to try to get my circadian rhythm back on track.  It is very high in antioxidants and naturally high in melatonin.   no working out.  right leg has been healing-- the pain was magically gone for the marathon but back in a vengeance.  nothing that a little time off won't cure and I plan on just that.  work tomorrow. 

back to work after 8 days off.  wow, that was nice.  busy day however and LOTS of burning pain-- mainly from perfumes and essential oils.  Midday I could hardly move my right leg.  By the time I left the reaction was gone.  I am so done with burning pain!!  I would never wish this pain on someone but sometimes I think if I could let someone feel what I am feeling they would understand why it is driving me insane!!!  It seems unfair to not get answers or relief but then hey I am not burned over 80 percent of my body and I can move and I just ran a marathon PR.  I can overcome right????   BIKED to work 1.1 miles and back.  Biked over 10 miles yesterday. LEGS FEEL GREAT biking.  Not sore (just burning pain). 

back to the precisions.  not sure how i even ran the marathon in the nike pegasus.  they don't even feel good on my feet now.  but i was blister free so i can't complain.  but i wonder if the heel lift and cushiness made my hamstrings the target at that race.  Heels cause your hamstrings to shorten.  Just had to run today. I think six days off was enough-- today was six 24 hour periods of not running ; D.  Absolutely no foot pain!!  Alleluyah!!  finally!! THAT marathon knocked my feet back in place!!  I could sense fatigue in my hamstrings the entire run but nowhere else.  But it felt more like tightness I guess and nerve like to my lower back.  No niggles anywhere else and honestly the hamstrings just feel tight not painful at all.  Need a really good sports massage to stretch them out.  AP 8:25 for 8 miles.  Took my garmin off auto lap for the mile.  VERY liberating to NOT see mile splits!!  AHHHH!!!  Felt better and better the longer I went so I just did my usual eight.  Weather great.  Fall in the air.  Wore shorts, long sleeves.  Hmmmm....this is going to be a long winter waiting for next spring running!!  I guess I will fill it with aerobic base building running easy pace miles and a couple of small races around the holidays. 

Wowsers-- I guess yesterday's run took more out of me than I thought.  This was like a recovery run from my easy run yesterday!!  Felt worse today-- hamstrings and tired legs.  Weird.  So ran a lot slower.  I think the first mile was 10:00 minutes!!  miles are not shown now so just average pace (I peaked at my watch around where abouts a mile would be and the ap said 10).  I do this so i don't focus on going faster each mile by hearing my watch go off and showing the split.  Ran up into cedar hills and down behind loan peak high school.  Was actually entertained with what looked like the final runners in a Halloween 5k--- costumes and numbers on.   Fun.    Leaves all around.  Just jogged it.  No pushing it at all.  Now I feel good-- post BYU football game and all and some ibuprofen.  First time taken since just after the race on Saturday.  That did the trick.   AP for 8 miles = 8:55.