Each Day Is a Gift

My legs felt tired on Sunday.  I spoke with my son who advised me to not run at all this week (may be couple of miles on Thu. or Fri.) and to get 9 hrs sleep daily to let the legs recover.

Well, I did not listen.  The gorgeous weather and the brand new Boston race shirt was calling me to go for a "test run".  From the get go the legs were dead.  2.5 mile into the run my right calf and left quad started to hurt.   I had experienced those pain the last two weeks of running and would seem to get better as the run progress.  Not today... It was a painful death march home.  I should have listened to my son.   I will take the rest of the week off and hope my leg muscles recover in time.

I did NOT do any running or exercise today!  My body felt like a freight train had run over it this morning.   I took my blood sugar after Teena called.  I didn't want her to panic.  I was only able to do 3 of the things on my list; none was strenuous, y'all can rest assured.  

I'm gonna take my blood sugar first thing in the morning and hopefully it is normal.  I do have a question.  Has anyone lost weight during taper? 

I just got a call from my son's friend's mother telling me that her child was diagnosed with Pertussis and Steven was exposed.  Wonderful...I get to call the health department tomorrow to find out what I need to do.  

Couldn't sleep having nightmares about Boston.  Called the health department and left message... hadn't heard back yet.  Snow/rain/cold was my excuse for NOT clearing the tree branches from pruning we did.  Living on an acre with 25 fruit trees and a jungle of poplars is a real pain.  

Got on the treadmill and did workout #10 with variable speed and incline.  Max speed was 7, max incline was 10.  Kept pace steady on the three "hills".  Legs felt tight around mile 2.5 but loosen up afterward.

5.25 mile.   AP: 10:00.  Around the World Core 25 reps.  AM Yoga

Had a fabulous lunch.  It was a burst of sunshine in the midst of a stormy day.  THANKS Teena!

Today was almost an identical day as last Thursday minus going to see Wicked.  Went to the temple.  Shopped for last minute Boston stuff:  cheap air mattress, snacks, gum and lots of Costco frozen food for Steven (he operates the micro-wave oven like a French chef).  Got the house ready, started the laundry.  Went to a wedding.  I'm so pooped.  I need to go to bed early.  Too much to do...too little time!

Just HAD to run a little to make sure I still remember how.  I got all warmed up and didn't realize I was running at marathon pace.  Promised myself not to go too far.  4.25 miles in 37 min.   Oh, I gained one pound, I'm so excited, must be the cake and ice-cream at the wedding last night.

Going to pack now!  So much to do...so little time.  I hope I can sleep on the plane.  Last year I did not sleep a wink for 3 days.  I dozed off on the bus ride to Hopkinton 'cause our bus was caught in traffic.  I hope to have more time at the Athlete Village this year to soak in the pre-race vibes and energy from all these other awesome athletes.  I am running this race for three very special girls.  It's gonna be GREAT!

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERY BODY FOR YOUR WELL WISHES, LOVE & SUPPORT!!!  YOU ARE MY VERY BESTEST RUNNING FRIENDS!!!!

Getting to Boston

Late Friday night, Hubby and I went to pick up Da Coach (TomSlick) in Sandy for our red-eye flight to Boston.  I could tell Coach was trying to sit still and quiet so I could sleep.  Bless his heart, none of us could sleep sitting upright.  We got to NYC at 6:00 am Saturday and sat at the JFK airport for another 3 hours.

We finally made it to Boston Logan airport where Jeff, my son, flying in from Chicago was waiting at the luggage claim.  It took us an hour to get to our hotel, the Radisson where my brother-in-law, Gary, from Hong Kong was waiting.   The best way to get in and around Boston is riding the T.  For $15, you can get a 7-days-unlimited-ride "Charlie Pass". 

After checking in the hotel and a quick lunch we went to the expo at the Convention Center to pick up packets, gather some freebies, did the marathondvd personal message, etc.  It is a mega expo, runner's mecca, skinny people convention all in one!!!!  I saw lotsa Kara Goucha look-alike.

While leaving the expo I got a call from my oldest son, Eric. We chatted about Boston and all the hoopla when he finally said: “BTW, I’d like you to meet the newest member of the family!” What???!!! I just became grandma for the 4th time??!!! His baby girl was born at 6:54 am weighing less than 6 lbs and 17” long on the new mother’s own birthday, 3 weeks early, but healthy. What a wonderful news!!!

At 5pm we met up with MarcE, Canyon (Marcie N.) and Rhett to go to Fenway Park for the Sox game. I learned all about the Green Monster and America’s favorite pass-time from Canyon. I confess that I do not care for the Fenway food-fair. My carb-load dinner of a cup clam chowder, a pretzel, a roast beef panini sandwitch and a bottle water cost $22. I was getting cold so after seeing a home-run (the most important thing to see) at the end of the 6th inning; we went back to the hotel.   The Red Sox beat the Oreoles 6 to 4.

Gary was carb-loading in earnest (I should say: he FORCED himself to eat). Every time Gary ate, hubby would question why I wasn’t eating. I must not be doing the carb-loading right. The two of them brought back some Chinese take-out and forced me to eat. Aaagh!