May the wind stay at my back and may angels give me wings to fly.

I started avidly running in April of 2007, 8 weeks after my little boy was born. I was only running about 15 miles a week just to lose baby weight but a friend of mine was thinking of running the Honolulu Marathon. I made the bold move of doing it with her with the simple goal of just to finish. I finished my first marathon in 2008 with a time of 5:13. In 2009 I started running more miles, up to 40 a week when my schedule would allow that much. I signed up for my second Honolulu marathon and finished with a time of 4:48. That was with only 6 weeks of training, two of them being taper weeks. I finished with tears of joy and one other thing, the strong desire to run every runner's dream...BOSTON! I have some real good days and some real bad days but I hope someone finds inspiration in my spirit and strength. If you dig deep enough you will find the strength to do whatever your heart desires. "Don't follow your dreams...CHASE THEM!"

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Rough road

It's been awhile since my last post and much has happened and "not" happened. School is back in session and keeping me busy as usual as it must. Afterall, knowledge is power. In relation to running though, I'm afraid a BQ will not be in my sights this December unless I pull off some crazy training between now and then which is unlikely due to having plantar fasciitis in my right heel. It was bothering me for some time but I did not know that's what it was until a few weeks ago. So running has tapered but i'm slowly getting back into it this week and so far so good. My month of August and September were tough with some added stress at school. That has been eliminated though and worked out for the best. I had 2 weeks of crazy studying to catch up on other classes, so again, training was halted. For me, my education has to come before running and my family comes before all else.

Now that I am back into the swing of things though I feel so much better and after the past 2 days of running, although short mileage, still has my hopes up for maybe at least a sub 4 marathon this year. If not sub 4 I feel confident that I can do 4:30. I had some great training and cross-training over the summer and I have continued to strength train with weights at the gym and I feel my legs getting stronger each week. At the beginning of my weight training I was pressing 135 on the leg press and I am up to 195 now. That hopefully will increase to 215 in a couple weeks. When I have to take time off from running to allow my PF to subside, I cycle. I'm hoping that after a long run this weekend that I will still be pain free the morning after the run. I ice my heel 3-4 times a day for 30-60 minutes at a time. Basically, any chance I get. I also bought inserts for my running shoes and normal walking sneakers. So far so good. There is still discomfort at times but no limping and it never hurts while running (thank goodness).

The trick for me now is to get the time on feet and get some nice long runs in for endurance and get my cardio conditioning built back up. I'm hoping I can do this within the next 8 weeks. I have a lot to focus on these days, family, moving mid-January, starting to study for MCAT's, college, and soon volunteering my time at hospitals to increase my chances of med school acceptance. A lot on my plate and one heck of a balancing act. However, I know with the support of everyone in my life and most of all, God's help, I can do all these things and excel. I have the two most important reasons in my life to succeed in all that I do, my children.

Until next time, keep the feet kicking high and love life on the road/trail, whatever your fancy!