Training for a Belt Buckle

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  I hope you have a good one.

I was able to talk to my daughter in Italy for a few minutes this morning.  It will be so nice when they are back in the United States so we won't have the time difference between us.

My son arrived at 3 this morning and was awake when I got home from church. We had fun visiting this afternoon - playing games and talking.

My right leg started hurting last night while I was in the store and it is still bothering me tonight when walking.  I am going to try some rest/massage/alternate workouts and see if it gets better - if not I have to consider if it is worth trying Ogden.

I'm considering having to DNS for the Ogden Marathon on Saturday.  A pain in my right leg while walking on Saturday was still there on a short walk on Sunday.  However, as time goes on - I think I have isolated it as not belonging to the hamstring but up in the old Gluteus Maximum area.

I have scheduled a deep tissue massage with my favorite massage therapist for tonight (thanks, Leslie!).  I am also resting for a day or two. 

After talking with my sister, I am also trying to find a chiropractor here in Sandy and get in to one in the next day or two.   I have a feeling this injury might be a result of my faceplant on Friday evening.  It was pretty jarring to my entire body and I got up and ran an additional 3.5 miles after the fall.  Then, 13 hours later I ran the same trail (and then some again) and wrenched my right ankle after a mile and might have been favoring that side of my body.

I'd curl up in a fetal position and suck my thumb - but that would probably put more stress on the injured area.

/**********************/

I did not get drawn in the St. George Lottery.  That puts pressure on me to run the Grand Slam if I want to do St. George this fall.  Waaaaaaah!

I took the puppy for a short walk this morning and did not feel the pull in my leg. I think that means it is healing.  I do feel my piriformis today and a pain I have had in front of the right hip - but I am hoping that is also a sign that they are healing.

Just received an email that the 'Across the Years' race over New Year's in Phoenix is not going to be held this year.  I was actually considering it - so can now take that potential race off my calendar.

Chiropractor again after work.

Biggest Loser finale tonight!

I received this in an email and think it is fantastic!

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience,
Raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?'

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.

If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.

If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'

He continued,

'And that's the way it is with stress management.

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,

As the burden becomes increasingly heavy,

We won't be able to carry on. '

'As with the glass of water,

You have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.

When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.'

'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.

Don't carry it home.

You can pick it up tomorrow.

Whatever burdens you're carrying now,

Let them down for a moment if you can.'

So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.

Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon,
And some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet,
Just in case you have to eat them.

** Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be
"Recalled" by their maker.

* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again,
It was probably worth it.

* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.

* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time,
Because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

* Nobody cares if you can't dance well.
Just get up and dance.

* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

* The second mouse gets the cheese.

* When everything's coming your way,
You're in the wrong lane.

* Birthdays are good for you.
The more you have, the longer you live.

* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Ok - here is the update.  I have thought and stressed and prayed and depressed about it and I am not going to run the Ogden Marathon on Saturday.  My chiropractors says he thinks I could run it without serious injury - my gut says it would be a mistake.

Smooth - I know you want to run - but one thing that no one has mentioned in all the discussions with you (at least that I can remember) is age.  I hate to point it out - but we are not spring chickens and recovery can be even harder as you get older.  The body is just not as elastic.  Look at what Teena and Michelle are dealing with and they are just babies in comparison.  Take the day off - join me at the Women of Steel Triathlon in American Fork and help me cheer my sister in on her very first triathlon.  

My plans are to take it easy recovering and still do the Grand Slam - with Utah Valley being a very long training run and lots of recovery time before Park City and maybe not even racing (just running) Top of Utah and St. George so that I can do my 50 miler.

That being said - I am also not going to use the blog as much.  I will still get on to visit, but I am going to work on creating my own PHP/MySQL tracker as a learning tool and just put mileage on the blog - maybe once every week or two.  I really think that while my running has improved since I joined the blog - my quality of life has gone downhill. I no longer feel like I can walk and count miles.  I feel pressured to improve.  That is  not me.  My entire goal is to be better each year than the year before, be happy and be fit all around - not just running.  I want to get back to that.  I had several great years of marathoning with no injuries until I started getting pressure (and giving in to pressure) to focus almost entirely on running.  I am hoping to post two or three interesting training runs/walks/workouts on my Adventures in Running blog and would love to have anyone check that out at any time.

So - how am I doing.  Depressed.  Physically, the pain is very low today, so tonight I took the puppy to Wheeler Farm and we did two easy miles walking 200 steps, running 100 steps, stopping to smell pee markers (not me :-) ).  I will be stretching and icing later tonight and am looking to get some resistance bands to start some specific exercises I have found that I can do at home when I don't feel like hitting the gym.

I spent 4 hours at the temple and came home feeling much more peaceful.  This weekend is going to be hard - but I will survive and I will be back and I will have a much better summer than if I push myself and find myself injured.

Now - off to watch the season finale of CSI!

for Marion

Various miles running around the Women of Steel Triathlon course taking pictures of my sister the triathlete and cheering on participants.

3.1 miles walking/running with my sister during the run portion of the triathlon.