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1/2 Marathon (Run-Walk) Training Log
October 13, 2003
I'm back at last
Check out the Disney page that I just created! I'm going to be good now, I swear, and update all the time. I have time to slack more and keep the page up to date because I'm just about done with the wedding plans so I can focus on this stuff again.
October 3, 2003
Broken Treadmill
I got the treadmill and despite weighing 4 million pounds it seemed great -- until we tried to take it out of the box and found a bunch of tiny little parts all over the bottom of the box. It's broken!!!! Can you even believe it? Now we have to have the freight folks come and pick it up for us. (After we somehow tape the box back together.) Dick's will give our money back and then we have to re-order. I don't think I"m going to reorder this particular treadmill. I have a complete lack of confidence in it now. I might just join a gym instead.
September 29, 2003
Busy busy busy
Yay! I went out walking on Saturday with Team in Training and did 8 miles and felt great during and afterwards. I am so happy to be getting back into the swing of things!
This weekend was kind of crazy. I went to visit my sister and get her caught up on the wedding plans and I also showed her & her girls the dress. They approved (whew!) We also went over the wording for the invitations, so I think that they will be ordered soon -- like this week probably.
My friend Sarah's Mom died on Friday, so part of the weekend was spent filling my friends in on that news and making plans to get up to see her for the funeral. She was really a cool lady and had spent a long time battling her disease so it's sad to see her go but good that she's no longer going through that ordeal. I'll be at the funeral all day tomorrow so you won't find my posting. (Not that I ever post anything these days anyway!)
Brian's mom had a big going away brunch yesterday because she left for Florida today. I don't think that it has sunk in for any of us that she's really moving that far away -- forever. Brian was really sad about it especially when she said she wasn't coming home for the holidays. We may have to talk her out of that.
We also discovered a big hideous spider (well maybe not hideous, but big and scary) living outside in our front bushes. You have to click here to see it's picture. I can't bring myself to post it's ugly face on this page for all time. Our house seems to be some sort of tarantula breeding ground and we've got horrible monster spiders all over the place. I thought I was safe because we normally only saw them outside or in the basement but on Saturday night one of them was on the floor in the upstairs office and poor Brian had to chase it around the upstairs trying to corner it and kill it. He's worth marrying just for his spider killing prowess.
I think that's it for now. I'm going to go to the QVC website to see if I can get one of those magical bug repelling devices that they used to sell.
| Here we are finishing at Virginia Beach! |
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| Look how happy we both are! |
September 22, 2003
I am still so busy I can't stand it.
But the good news is that I bought a treadmill! I ordered it today from Dick's and it should arrive in 2 weeks or so --- at which point I will have no excuse at all for being a big slacker. It's a ProForm 785SS Treadmill Features a 20"x55" Treadbelt and I plan to be a really good walker and maybe even plan for a 5K in the fall. I really can't wait to get it.
Wedding plans are stalled completely while I suffer through this busy patch at work. The good news is that Brian did officially book the honeymoon so I will be on a killer vacation in 187 days.
September 16, 2003
Being busy stinks
I have no time to update this page -- and nothing good to report. The meeting with the reception guy at Kimberton was great. I'll tell you all about it soon but let's just say that he's great and I think we made a really good decision. Next up: photography selection.
I've read a bunch of new books -- reviews to follow. Dan Brown is the author, all his books are page turners, but some are more annoying than others. Check out Angels & Demons and The DaVinci Code.
Did I mention that I picked up my dress!!! I did and thank-god it fit me! Whew! What a relief!
The PDR is this weekend but it's not looking good for me to participate. My toe is mostly OK but I'm not sure it would appreciate going for 13 miles. I'll have to talk to Aggie and find out if she's going -- if she is, she's probably not going to run so maybe we could do it together like snails.
We're expecting a hurricane in the next few days. that should be exciting! I think it probably won't be as bad as previously hyped by the weather men but still.. it might be good for a day off from work.
Work is incredibly busy. Incredibly. I don't have time to do anything fun while I'm at the office. I hate it when work is actually lke work.
September 11, 2003
4 months from today...
I will be done the Disney marathon and will have my very own Mickey Medal! (Knock on wood!)
I'm going to put up a new Disney training page this weekend, I think. And I really am going to start training. I was able to goof off for a 1/2 but no way for the whole marathon. My mindset must change and quickly!
September 8, 2003
It's not broken
So my toe is not broken, it hardly even hurts anymore but it may be the ugliest thing I've ever seen. It's purple and the ugly bruise extends halfway down the length of my foot in a big ugly purple streak. It's not swollen or painful though, so I'm not too worried. I think the ice and keeping it elevated all day on Friday made a world of difference.
I didn't do anything ouside this weekend because of the toe, but hopefully by the end of the week I can be back to normal. I might try to do a walk downtown next Sunday for Ovarian Cancer. It seems like the thing to do since Sarah's mom's so sick these days (from ovarian cancer).
That's all for now --- I think I'm going to book the reception place today. That's exciting!
September 5, 2003
Free Ice Cream Sundae Inventory
They were nice enough to give out free ice cream sundaes by the pool at our hotel in Virginia Beach. We were expecting something small and lame but this is what we got:
- 1 bowl (heaping) of vanilla ice cream
And our choice of the any or all of the following:
- pretzel rods (small)
- goldfish crackers
- graham cracker cookies shaped like butterflies
- animal crackers
- swedish fish (small size, red only)
- twizzlers (red, full size)
- jelly belly jellybeans
- regular jelly beans
- skittles
- gummy bears
- sour patch kids
- sour gummy worms
- chicklets
- malted milk balls
- raisonettes
- chocolate covered almonds
- trail mix
- m&m
- Reece's peices
- chocolate chips
- smashed oreo crumbs
- nuts -- mashed up walnuts I think
- mashed up peanuts
- peaches
- strawberries
- maraschino cherries
- pineapple sauce
- chocolate sauce
- whipped cream
- rainbow jimmies
Pretty nice spread!
September 5, 2003
Virginia Beach Hotel Room Inventory
(keep in mind that Aggie was worried we'd be crammed in)
- 8 recessed round lights with dimmer switch
- 3 large floursecent lighting grids
- 1 dresser (3 drawers)
- 1 mirror in living space
- 1 large vanity mirror -- length of 2 sinks
- 3 floor lamps with swinging arms
- 4 table lamps (mauve)
- 1 large coffee table
- 1 small coffee table
- 3 night tables
- 1 alarm clock (with bad volume)
- 2 couches - 3 seats wide - which pull out into Queen sized beds
- 2 king sized beds
- 1 bible
- 2 writing desks
- 1 TV
- 1 refrigerator (small) with decorator cabinet
- 2 cushy chairs with ottomans
- 1 small dinner table
- 6 green vinyl chairs
- 1 lighted tree
- 2 toilets (one in it's own special room)
- 1 shower
- 2 sinks
- 1 vase with flowers
- 1 cafeteria style trash can
- 2 smaller trashcans
September 5, 2003
I think I broke my toe!!! I smashed it on the side of the tub this morning and it kills!
I'm icing and elevating it and trying to stay off of my feet. I'll keep you posted. Cross your fingers that it's just sore and not really broken.
TOE UPDATE: Well, I've tried to be a good girl all day today and I've kept it elevated and put ice on it every few hours. So far, so good. It hurts still, but a lot less than before. I don't think it's broken. Whew!
| My cool new medal |
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| My cool new shirt |
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September 2, 2003
I ran (sort of), I rocked (kind of), I finished (this part I did!)!!
Well, the 1/2 marathon came and went and while I was completely unprepared, I still managed to do OK. I finished with a chip time of 3:05 which isn't spectacular but it is about a 14 minute mile which is OK by me for this situation.
Brian and I started out the race together and I probably stayed with him for the first 3 miles or so. After that, he was already starting to notice trouble with his hip and he wanted to slow down, while I was feeling pretty good and wanted to speed up. We split, and I walked faster between mile marker 3 and 4 and then picked it up more after mile 4 and started to run a tiny bit. I wanted to make up for the slow start and have my watch reflect a 15 minute mile or better. By the 5 mile mark I was there and I decided to run a little bit more and then after a water stop I heard music from a band and decided to run until I couldn't hear it any more. The result was that I probably ran 3/4 of the 5th mile of the race. By this point, I had made up plenty of time, was satisfied with my pace and didn't want to hurt myself by running more, so I settled into a steady walk and didn't run again until the last .1 of the course.
Over all the race was great! It started at 7am, and it was pretty humid and hot at the beginning. Luckily, by the time we hit mile 8 on the bridge into town and then turned onto Atlantic Avenue & eventually the boardwalk, we had good cloud cover and a steady cool breeze that made the 2nd half of the race a lot more pleasant than the front half.
The music and the cheerleaders were fun and there was pretty good fan/spectator support along most of the course. The final stretch along the boardwalk was awesome -- I'm slow and pathetic and I still felt like a million bucks going down that last mile or so. People were all along the boardwalk and cheering from their hotel balconies. It was neat.
However, once across the finish line, it was a disaster area. It was really hard to figure out where to get your medal and where to have them remove your chip. I also never figured out where to get snacks so my sister had to send me back down onto the beach with directions.
We stayed at the Quality Inn on the Oceanfront, which was at mile 13 of the course. That was awesome because it was pretty close to the shuttle to the starting line, close enough to the concerts to hear them from the beach outside the hotel but not right smack dab in the middle of all the ruckus. We had a great spot outside the hotel to watch the end of the race and we got to cheer on an 83 year old man who was the last to cross the finish line. Amazing!
We also got a particularly interesting room at that hotel and free ice cream sundaes which were amazing in their own ways. I will provide more details on that soon....stay tuned!
August 26, 2003
Oh my God! I can't believe that I haven't put anything up here since August 12th! I must have lost what few readers I had by now.
Let me catch you up: I have done virtually no training for Virginia Beach. The race is on Sunday and I am dead. Brian and I walked about 7 miles on Sunday, which was nice, but we were slow. I'm sure we can cross the line well under the four hour limit but we're going to be pathetic and slow. We are going to the race though -- Brian's not 100% sure he's going to do it but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Once we get home from Virginia the training for Disney really begins. I'm going to get back in the habit of walking several times a week and things will be good. I need to stay in shape so I fit into the wedding dress and so I can really be in good shape for January. I really need to change my attitude and quick!
I've mostly been obsessed with the wedding plans. It's disgusting how much time it's taking up. There's almost nothing else going on in my life. It's really sad. But if you want to read all about it, there's an update on the wedding page.
August 12, 2003
Phildelphia Distance Run
Finally, something related to running or walking! I signed up for the Distance Run yesterday so that means I have 2 half marathons looming and I haven't done one lick of excercise in weeks.
I'm going to buy the treadmill (Vision Fitness T9200 or Vision Fitness T9250) soon so I'll be ready for the new training program. TNT practices start on Aug 23 so I'll definately be picking up the pace around then.
I also think I'm going to sign up for the Rothman 8K in November (same day as the Philadelphia Marathon). Aggie is doing it and a girl in my office is too (maybe). It seems like that race can serve the same function as the Run with Aimee thing did for San Diego: it will give me some running/speed training goals that should help my marathon performance and might have the added bonus of trimming off a few more pounds. I don't want to lose a lot more weight but 5 or 10 pounds would be awesome.
August 11, 2003
Vote on a wedding dress
Go to the wedding planning page and look at the four dresses I tried on yesterday. Then click on the link to send me an e-mail and vote on which one you like the best.
Brian, don't look!
August 6, 2003
Worst Training Journal Ever
I'm a disgrace! I haven't done one bit of training in ages. I am going to be the slowest snail ever in Virginia Beach!
Exciting news: The course map for the Disney Marathon came out today. They changed it a little bit from prior years -- I'll have to find out if it's a good change or a bad change.
Tomorrow is the TNT kickoff meeting so I should be much better about working out starting soon.
July 31, 2003
Times are changing
UGH! I've been totally busy for the last week getting Mom ready to move. I have done nothing but lug out trash, pack boxes and drive back and forth between her apartment and my house. Pure torture! The good news is that it's over!
Better news: the Team In Training kickoff party is on August 7th and that means that I'm finally going to get back on track with my training. I have been such a horrible slug recently I can't even stand it. I'm waiting for my list of mentees and then I can get things moving. I want to be really good at this mentor thing. Fun and motivating but not a pain in the neck. That's a fine line I think.
I hope to be better with the journal. I updated the wedding page and the books too.
July 25, 2003
Slow progress, but progress, over at the Acadia page. I've also added some books to the book page and a tiny blurb on the wedding page. Nothing to report as far as running/walking/training goes. I'm such a total slacker.
July 22, 2003
I went to my first TNT information meeting last night as a TNT representative. It was at a Finish Line store at Plymouth Meeting Mall and there was a decent turnout. The presentation was very similar to the one that convinced me to sign up for both of my marathons but the setting was less than ideal. The store employees seemed shocked that we were there and they were somewhat reluctant to even turn down the music so people could present their information and show the TNT video. I'd say there were about 15 people there, mostly women, and that about 90% of them signed up.
There were 4 women interested in the walking program and I'm pretty sure that three of them took the plunge. The fourth disappeared early on in the Q&A session so I'm not sure what her decision was.
It was really exciting to see people getting interested and trying to decide if they should pursue this. I told them how TNT has changed me in the last year and how great the experience was. I can't wait until I get to meet the people that I will be mentoring and start the training. I really miss the structure of the program.
I'm going to tell the staff to please hook me up with people who want to do the Disney marathon since I'm going to that event and can participate in the whole thing with them. I hope that works out -- but it probably will. That's a fun marathon and the fundraising is a bit less than for Bermuda.
I'm still working on the Acadia report -- you can see it on the navigation bar to the left and it says In-Progress. When I'm done writing I'll give it a more permanant tilte.
July 21, 2003
Catching Up
I spent the weekend at my Mom's apartment trying to organize what was left of my own stuff and throw out the junk and generally help get things organized for the move on the 28th. I'm not sure that I made enough progress. I'll be there a lot this week, so not much else will be going on in my life.
I realized that the 1/2 marathon in Virginia Beach is sneaking up on me and that I'm pretty well unprepared. I'm going to have to start doing some real training soon (like after the move) so I won't be a mess down there. Brian is getting excited for it and he's been doing good work. He went on a 10 mile walk this Sunday while I was at Mom's. He's already starting to think about changing to the full marathon at Disney in January but I told him he should get through Va. Beach first.
Did you happen to watch Mark Burnett's new show "The Restaurant" on NBC last night? It was awesome! You woudln't believe the whirlwind of activity to get this place up and running in 5 weeks. Believe me, they barely made it. Like they were still grouting the tile floors 3 hours before the first customers arrived. Be sure to watch it next week at 10 on Sunday.
And the Tour de France! Wow! I can't wait to see who wins! What an awesome race.
We also went to see Terminator 3 on Friday night. If you like Terminator movies you'll like it. It's silly but entertaining and the girl Terminator is super evil. Also Brian pointed out that John Connor looks a lot like Brian Boucher and I think I have to agree with him.
I'm going to a Team In Training information meeting tonight for my first dose of mentor duty. I brought the medals from the marathons and I hope a lot of people sign up. I'm excited to get back into the swing of things with TNT. It's clear that I need the structure to keep me in shape plus the two winter events are the Bermuda marathon and the Disney marathon so I have excellent connections to both of those events.
There are also a few new updates to the Book Shelf and a brief new entry on the wedding page.
| Bass Head Harbor Light |
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July 17, 2003
I'm going to start writing this today and put the story on it's own page. I'm still busy playing catch-up at the office so I'm not sure how much I'll get done today but I'm going to try to do the whole thing. (HA!)
Click the link under the date or here to go to the trip report page.
July 15, 2003
Photo Experiment
Instead of posting all my pictures here I'm going to see if you can link to my CVS site and see them in that photo album. I'll warn you that there are over 100 pictures at the CVS site. I haven't had time to cull the best of the bunch from that group (and this is trimmed from the nearly 300 pictures we actually took up there!)
When you click on the link it will start a slideshow of the Acadia pictures. They're in order of each day of the trip and believe me, it's much more beautiful in person than it is on film!
If you don't want to try the experiment I'll probably post a handful more pictures when I write my little trip recap. I'm not sure when I'll get to that though!
July 14, 2003
What a fabulous trip!
Wow! If you like the outdoors even a little bit you MUST get yourself to Acadia NP. It's just fabulous! The scenery is great, the hiking is challenging and fun (with great vistas as a payoff for hard work) they have awesome carriage trials for riding your bike, and they have great places to shop and eat. It's just awesome. It was worth the 12 hour drive to get there. I'll post more soon but I don't have time now -- they piled up the work for me while I was gone. Stay tuned!
| Brian & Thunderhole |
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| Me at the Summit of Day Mountain |
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| We rode our bikes up to the top |
July 3, 2003
Vacation at last!
I haven't had much to post since I've been trying to lay off my knee to let the ITBS thing fade. I didn't want to aggravate it since we're going to Acadia NP for vacation and hope to do lots of hiking on the trip. That wouldn't be fun with a sore knee.
We're leaving tomorrow and will be in Maine until July 12. There's no internet access there so I won't have an updates until the 13th or 14th.
Hopefully we'll get in some good hikes, some bike rides, some sea kyaking and other good vacation fun. We might even make some headway in selecting a wedding date/size! We'll have plenty of time to discuss it on the 12 hour car trip!
Don't forget that the Tour de France starts this weekend!
June 27, 2003
Lazy & Worried
I haven't been walking or running at all this week for a couple of reasons. First is because we've been having a nasty heatwave and I prefer to be in the AC than out walking. Second is that I've been using most of my spare time to read Harry Potter.
I've also been reading about this illio-tibial band thing and I have to admit that it has me worried. People say it takes FOREVER to get rid of it! I think resting and being lazy is actually a good thing for now becuase I am leaving for Maine next Friday and I don't want any chance of it being achy and painful on that trip where I plan to do a lot of hiking. We're hoping to get out on a trail this weekend so keep your fingers crossed that it won't bother me.
June 24, 2003
Who needs a plan!
I know I said that I was going to be following the plan to get ready to run a half marathon in the fall but my body is telling me that that's a really bad idea.
I've complained on and off in this journal about knee pain since the Broad Street Run. I'm convinced that I have ITBS from that weekend where I asburdly upped my running miles for no real reason. Anyway, at this stage of the game I can hardly run a mile without my knee screaming at me.
The Urban Challenge proved it -- by CP3 I was hurting and that had to be less than a mile covered. I can walk fine and for distance with no trouble so I think I just need to rest it for a bit, then do some stretching/strength training to get it stronger before starting a slow, simple running plan. I don't think I'm going to concentrate on running until I get a treadmill and then I'll see what happens.
I'm not giving up entirely on the idea of transforming into a runner but I'm not pushing the timeline either. I don't want to really be hurt -- at least not any worse than I am now and I don't want to give up on the walking/running obsession and I think overdoing it is going to make me quit altogether. So slow and steady is my current plan.
June 23, 2003
Urban Challenge update
I've posted the race report for the Urban Challenge on it's own page. The pictures aren't there yet because we haven't gotten them from the UC people but the checkpoint clues are there and our race report.
It's so much fun!
June 21, 2003
Urban Challenge 2003
Oh wow! This is the most fun thing! We got medals and could have won if not for supid George Clymer!!!!
Stay tuned for details...I need to run home now and see if my Harry Potter book has arrived.
I hate George Clymer. A lot.
June 18, 2003
Good News and Bad News
The good news is that I did go to Valley Forge to do start the training program. The bad news is that it didn't go so well. Here's why
- I brought the wrong t-shirt so I was stuck with a long sleeved shirt. It was relatively cool outside but running in June in long sleeves is not fun.
- I adjusted the watch to a 3 minute countdown and began again. I got into a pretty good rhythm with this: after the beep I'd toggle to the stopwatch and figure out when my 2 walking minutes would be up. Then I'd toggle back to the timer and reset it and then go back to the stopwatch. Then at around 2 minutes I'd switch back and restart the countdown. Anyway, this was fine but would drive me insane on a longer run.
- I have a knee problem that flares up when I run. I think it's ITBS, as I've said before. I have to really figure out how to do the proper stretches to make this go away. I never have this problem when I run on the Betzwood train (because it's totally flat) so I think I'm going to have to switch to that location -- or maybe the Perkiomen which is also flat. It first arrived during the Broad Street Run and I think it was partly distance and partly uneven surface. In San Diego it kicked in after about 3 or 4 miles. Again, there was an uneven surface. At VF I started to feel it in the 5th running set and I stopped midway through the 6th running set. It wasn't excruciating pain or anything, but I don't want to mess myself up especially not this close to the Urban Challenge.
So, I'm not sure what to do from here. I guess the good thing is that this is just a fun thing. I'm not training for time or anything, I just want a harder workout and I'd like to lose some more weight. Running is the simple answer for that. But it's not worth it if I'm going to get hurt. So I think I'm going to try to work more with the stretches, ease into the running and not get mad if I can only do 6 sets instead of 7 during the workout, and just go with the flow.
I forgot to check Sportbrain last night so I don't have a completely accurate distance but I think I covered a smidge over 4 miles. It took about 50 minutes.
June 17, 2003
I skipped my first day of the running plan -- but I had a slightly OK excuse. I went to the library and got some books about weddings. I also made a new page for the wedding plans. I didn't completely blow off the running project because I did some research on illio-tibial band syndrome while I was there.
Today I brought my running clothes with me to the office and if it's not raining at the end of the day I'm going to go to Valley Forge and try to do the first day of the plan. That's 35 minutes consisting of 7 sets of 3 minutes running 2 walking. Cross your fingers that I really go!
| My engagement ring. |
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| I can't believe I have one of these! |
June 16, 2003
I'm getting married!
Can you believe it! I hardly can! Brian & I got engaged over the weekend. On Saturday to be exact. At dinner at the Mainland Inn. He gave me the prettiest, most sparkly engagement ring and I just love it. I'm going to attach a picture of what it looks like -- the traditional ring.
No plans yet on when the wedding will be, or how big or how formal, but it's official that we're doing it and that we can start to plan! Yay!
| The Baltimore Marathon |
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| He's so cute! |
June 13, 2003
Friday the 13th - spooky!
I have nothing to report. I'm still resting and being a total slug. This weekend I hope to do a pilates tape and go for a hike with Brian. He needs to get new boots and try to break them in a little before we go to Bar Harbor. Hopefully the weather will hold up for a good walk/hike.
I'm thinking of doing the Baltimore 1/2 Marathon because I love their mascot so much! Isn't he cute? Plus, Aggie tells me they have UTZ potato chips and pretzels on the course. How can you not love that?
This green background is tricky. I couldn't match the background of my little crab picture to this site! Rats!
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