June 29th

Today, I ran from my apartment to my mom in the nursing home! It's the first time I've ran outside in quite a while. It was really great to have the wind in my face. Unfortunately there's a lot of hills along the way. Actually, that's probably really good but it made it much harder! The distance there is about 1.23 miles and I ran there in ~18 min and ~20 min back (2.46 miles total). Obviously, it's more uphill on the way back. Also, I bought a Nathan Trek hydration pack to carry a bottle of water and my phone and keys. However, literally 30 steps out the door and the buckle broke! I was already set to run so I just tied it and made it work. I'll just have to exchange it tomorrow but I really liked having water all along the way, even if it wasn't really too hot outside at 7pm today.

Tomorrow is the back sale so I've got to get the last minute details ready for that! And I have a big midterm on Wednesday that I haven't started studying for yet. Hopefully luck will be on my side, yet again. I've got to be using up my all my luck for this trimester!!!

Thanks for reading!!

June 27th

Sorry, it's been a long time since I've updated. We've been in midterms at school and I haven't been feeling well. But I'm finally back to normal! So I had a few minutes and decided to do a short run. So I did 1 mile in 13:46 with 3 min/2 min of 5.0/3.5 mph. Since I missed quite a few runs, I'm going to build back up a little at a time. I have a lot of stuff going on with my mom and grandma's health as well as the responsibilities of being my mom's legal guardian. Regardless, I'm back in the game and should be getting back into my routine. However, my fundraising isn't going so hot right now. I was on a streak for a bit and now the donations have halted. I have a bake sale coming up on Tuesday. Hopefully I'll make quite a bit from that. I have to have $1,300 by July 24!! If you read this, think about contributing even $5 or $10 if you can! It all adds up and really keeps me motivated to keep running!!

Oh yeah, I'm on Facebook now too! Please add me so I can keep up updated on my efforts there too!

June 15th

It seems that every run just gets harder and harder but I always do more and push myself farther! So, this evening I ran 3 miles in 40:49! I had intended on 4 miles tonight but once I hit 2 miles, my body felt like it weighed a lot more than usual. Here's the breakdown:

5 min - 5.0 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
5 min - 5.0 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
5 min - 5.0 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
5 min - 5.0 mph (~2 miles here)
2 min - 3.5 mph
2 min - 4.9 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
2 min - 4.8 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
2 min - 4.7 mph
2:39 - 3.5 mph

In total that is 14:39 walking and 26 min running! Woo hoo! Even though I didn't reach the distance I had planned on, I think I had a pretty darn good workout! Now time for a shower (since I'm already soaked as usual) and a little epsom salt bath then ice maybe. I'd love to hear some recovery strategies from my readers. What do you do and in what order directly after you run?? Leave a comment!

P.S. My new socks are incredible! I should have gotten them a long time ago, or rather at least when I started. I've currently been wearing Drymax Light Mesh running with no-show tab. They get 10 out of 10 stars!

June 14th

Well, it appears that I took the whole weekend off. I didn't intend to but other things like schoolwork kept me a little preoccupied. Regardless, I was planning on doing 3 miles today and catching up tomorrow with the long run of 4 miles. However, once I got on the treadmill, my weekend of unhealthy food choices caught up to me. I chose to only go 2 miles (on the schedule for last Thursday). And it took me 29:58. Obviously not a big accomplishment but at least I got a workout in today. I have a big "Psychology of the Athlete" paper due soon and not having any sports experience is posing a problem. I'll be back into the swing of things tomorrow and I'll catch up like I always do. I never seem to do the correct workout on the right day, except for Wednesdays at Queeny Park. Anyway, that's it for now. Off to try to solve my non-sporty dilemma.

June 10th - Major Haircut!

As you can see, I got a haircut!! I donated 8 inches of my hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. I had tried to prepare myself for it, but it was hard!! But I'm so glad I did it!

So the real reason for the blog: trip #2 to Queeny Park! Lee and I adventured into this crazy hilly trail again. We managed to make one minor wrong turn, but it didn't really change much. We went about 2.6 miles which felt like 4 miles. It was crazy. Lee says I did much better than last week which was great to hear! Maybe it's due to the 5 pounds I lost from cutting off my hair! Anyway, I felt pretty good through most of it until the last hill that just seems to ascend forever! It really took it out of me and I struggled to get back to the car. But it was a great workout; I was drenched as usual.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment! What do you think of my running or anything?

June 9th

I just ran 2 miles in 28:39!

Here's the breakdown:

10 min - 4.3 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
10 min - 4.3 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
4:39 - 4.3 mph

It went pretty well overall. I was watching a movie while running which kept me occupied. I'm dripping sweat though. I'm going to have to start bringing a towel because this is just ridiculous. I guess most people get used to sweat when they are in athletics in their youth. Well, I skipped over all that. Anyway, that's about it for today's training. Nothing too surprising. (Although the new ache I discovered today was along my plantar fascia. Nothing drastic but I can tell I need to start stretching it. Also, I used my other black athletic socks and they are cotton. I ordered 3 pairs of real running socks from Sock Geek but they aren't here yet. No blisters today but I felt like if had gone any farther, I would have been in trouble.)

Adios amigos!

June 7th

Wow...I'm hurtin'. I just got back from going 3 miles on the treadmill. Overall, I think the time I was on the treadmill went well, but once I stopped, whoa did the pain start! And I've officially learned that I need "running" socks and not cotton ones. Looks like my feet sweat this time with all the exertion and I've got blisters developing on my arches on each foot. Strange place for blisters, but that's where I've got 'em. Anyway, so here's the breakdown of tonight's run:

5 min - 4.5 mph @ 0.5 incline
2 min - 3.5 mph
5 min - 4.4 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
5 min - 4.3 mph 14:28 = 1 mile
2 min - 3.5 mph
5 min - 4.3 mph @ 0 incline
2 min - 3.5 mph
5 min - 4.3 mph 29:14 = 2 miles
2 min - 3.5 mph
5 min - 4.3 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
1:57 - 4.3 mph 43:57 = 3 miles

It really just went great (minus the blisters)! No side pains or real problems with breathing. Even the first 20 minutes didn't totally suck.

Today, I also went downtown to a Cardinal's game 2 hours before it started. I managed to collect $91 towards my fundraising goal! It was a lot of fun (as fun as asking for donations can really be) so I'm going to try to head down there more often and for some weekday games too.

That's all for today's post. (My awesome Oklahoma friends were here over the weekend, so I skipped a training session, but I'll have it all made up and back on schedule soon. That is, until I go out of town again this weekend and miss group training.) But I think it's fairly obvious how much I've progressed for just a month ago! This is awesome!

June 3rd

Today, I went for a run with my pal, Lee, at Queeny Park. It's known for it's hills so Coach Rick suggested we all try to run it sometimes since San Francisco is very hilly. Lee and I went for the 2.56 mile loop. Hills were an understatement. I thought I was on more of a hiking trail than a running path! There were some steep inclines. But I managed to do pretty well, I think. The first 20 minutes of every run is always the absolute hardest. But once we got to more flat areas, I was able to jog for quite a bit. I started out with a jog 5 min walk 2 min pace and built up to about 8 min and walked up hills. I jogged probably most of the 2nd half of the whole trip. It was crazy and I was grateful to have a buddy keeping me motivated.

And thanks to all the folks who have made donations this week! I can't believe how much I've received and I'm so thankful! It's finally looking like I might actually reach my fundraising goal! I also got my bake sale at school set up for June 30th. A lot of my friends will be making the baked goods to sell. That's going to be a lot of fun!

June 1st

Here's to another 2 miles! And to new pains that I seem to discover every time I run!

The breakdown:

8 min - 4.5 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
8 min - 4.3 mph
2 min - 3.5 mph
9:08 - 4.0 mph

So that's a grand total of 4 min walking and 25:08 jogging. Not too shabby... but I also put the incline on 0.5 this time which is wondering if that is where my new ankle pain came from. Around 16 minutes in, I started getting kinda sharp pain just posterior to my left medial malleolus (just behind the inside ankle bone). I had a doc mention once that I may be having some posterior tibial tendon problems so I'm thinking this may be attributed to that. Does anyone know if I'm getting it today because I put the incline up? Anyway, sorry for the bad grammar. I just finished and I wanted to get this posted right away.

One thing to add about my fundraising: My sister Jenny and I went to the Taste of Maplewood on Saturday after the Shop "N" Save thing. The people were very generous there too, and I was giving away purple and white beads for the donations. Seemed to work well and received nearly $100 in a little less than 2 hours.

Future things on my agenda: Bake Sale on June 30th (Let me know if you haven't already if you can make something for me or help me out from 11-1 at Logan). Also, Cardinal's games starting on Sunday where I'll be handing out red and white beads for donations. Now that I've got a little experience begging folks for money, I think it will go well. I'd like to get out there during some of the weekday games too but unfortunately school is starting to pick up and there's just so free time.

So that's about it for today! Send me your thoughts!!