Back at it!

Well I ran my first race since hurting my knee.  It was my first half marathon since july and since I fell.  I was doing alright until about mile 8 or 9 then the pounding on the hard ground started to bother me.  It was colder than I like to run in (who idea was it to run a marathon in January).  I bundled up and said I don't have choice I have to get these miles in.

getting out of the car was the hardest part until mile 8 or 9.  Thats when my leg and ankles started to bother me.   My knee didn't hurt but I could tell that my muscles weren't at the level that they normally would be at. My ankles hurt because of how hard the ground was.  I never have problems in the summer so this pain was kind of new to me.  I have had issues with one of the them in some winter races before but never both.  Oh wells it winter in chicago so I will just have to get used to it for the rest of my training.  I don't think it will be a problem in florida.  It was a rough race for my dad also.  He normally runs a half with a bad ankle in about 2:28- 2:31 and he finished in 2:49.

I was able to run with a fellow W.I.S.H. run Rick and that was nice because we have run several of the same race but were never able to talk, so it was nice to talk for 13.1 miles.

My next race will be the Walt Disney World full Marathon and I am not sure if that is exciting or scary. I still have a lot of training to get in before we head down but I am looking forward to running at the happiest place on earth again.

Until Next Time.

THey came!!!

I have to start by saying that I ordered my W.I.S.H team running shirts in July.  after I opened them the first time the color was correct but the writing was missing so back they went.  I called and the company was really really NICE and felt bad about this mix up.  There was a few races that we wanted to wear them in but then I got hurt so it was all good that we didn't have them yet.

It took forever to get them back again because they needed to wait for more orders.  I didn't have a problem with that I totally understand that it is more cost effective for the company to wait for a larger order to print than just our four shirts.  Again Every time I called the company was very very nice to me about my having to wait longer for the shirts.

A long story short I now have one less thing I was stressing about for marathon weekend.  I guess now my main stress is going to be the actual running part.

Not Much going on.

Well like the title says there isn't much going on right now.  I have gotten back to training and that is slowly get back on track. Life has been stressful lately which is also why I haven't had time to post anything.  We moved my grandma into a nursing home and that wasn't easy at all.  plus I decided to return to school and that whole process from the financial aid to signing up for classes was more frustrating then the first time I went to school.  Other than that we had a whopping 17 trick or treaters at halloween.

All Clear

well I got the all clear to run from my doctor the other day.  I am so happy to be able to run again.
So I decided to go for a little run yesterday and it was a little run.  I ran about a half mile because my right leg started to bother me and I decided to not risk it.  It didn't hurt but I could tell that it is weaker than my left leg.

Another on bites the infield mix

Some of you already know that I have an injury that has sidelined my marathon training.  for those who don't know let me fill you in.  the good part is that it is an injury that I laugh while telling people.  All of you learned from my post before this one that I am part of a co-ed softball team, well that team made it to the championship game( which we won).  during that game I fell.  Yes I said fell.  heres the part that makes me laugh I fell with out any one really around me well the only person was my teammate who was right behind me.  I played the rest of the game with a ripped up shin.  I didn't know the real damage until later that night.  all the sudden in the middle of the night my knee started to hurt and when I felt it I noticed it was swollen.

The Picture to the left is what my leg looked like two weeks after my fall.  It had to be covered for two and half weeks because my knees brace bothers it.

I also went through two tubes of neosporin and 23 bandages.

This is the worst of the burns.  I also have one on my hip and a small one which is all healed and has a little scar not nearly as bad this one.

The bruises have all healed and I couldn't sleep on my right side for about a week and a half.

Below you see Big Birtha yes thats right I named her.  It turns out my knee swelled because I sprained my MCL.  I knew it that night because I in high school I sprained the same MCL and it is a pain you never forget.

Well since it is sprained I cant do much of anything for a whole month.  at least I am half way through cause I am starting to go a little crazy not being able to run or work out with my trainer.

Not being able to run has set me behind in my training for the Disney World Marathon in January.  I know I will be able to finish the marathon I might have to adjust my goal finish time.

I am also a little nervous about what it is going to feel like when I can start running and working out again.  I remember it taking a little while to get back into the swing of things after I could play sports again.

Well this is about as good as my leg is going to get.  I went to the doctor today and they told me that my leg might look like this forever and it will take up to a year to find out.  It never real scabbed as you can tell from the picture above.

Since I haven't been able to do much of anything I was able to watch my first race ever.  I am always running and haven't been able to watch the whole thing.  It was fun.

Hopefully my next post will be about a race and not and injury.

UNTIL NEXT TIME.

Time to Vent!!!

Why are people so rude?

Let me start this post off by say telling you that before this summer I have never played softball.  I don't think that I ever had to play it gym class.  I was only supposed to be a sub but it turned into a full time spot.  I am former Division 1 athlete but my skills from soccer didn't really translate to softball, so to make a long story short I wasn't very good for most of the season.  I am one of the worst in the league but I am on one of the best teams. I have made huge improvements and can say I not just a body so the team doesn't forfeit anymore.

So this is where my venting comes in

Ready... Here I go...

It is play off time and my team was playing the team right behind us in the standings.  Their pitcher decide he was going to make a low blow about my playing ability while at bat.  I just think that I was so wrong to make comment about someone who already isn't the greatest.  It was comment that didn't need to made and it was also false.  I have hit the ball plenty of times. I don't don't understand why anyone would make a comment about a person who is clearly struggling and is not the strongest person on the field.

Not much

Well just dropping in...

Not much is going on for me right now.  I am running and looking forward to the day when I will be running through the parks again.

I have been watching the olympics just like everyone else probably has been.  I must say that I am disappointed in the soccer part both mens and women's.  On the mens side I don't like the new rule about only having 3 players over the age of 23.  Yes it gives teams who normally would not stand a chance a chance but the "Power House Teams" are not in it.  I miss seeing Germany in the games.  On the Women's side I am glad that the U.S.A. is doing so well but it would have been nice to see other give them a run for their money.  Thats just my opinion the soccer side of things.

RnR Chicago Half

Well I finished another Half today.  It was my worst one so far but hey I finished.  It was nice to run though downtown Chicago.  I have always loved Chicago but have never really looked at the city.  Usually we go down town for Chicago Bears Football games.

My dad and I ran together again( well we ran the same race he finished about a half hour ahead of me). If I had trained properly I would have been right there with him but I didn't... OH WELLS.

Over all I really liked the race.  There bands about every mile or so and they were playing up beat music.  The Volunteers and people cheering us were awesome.  I was enjoying my self and right on pace to do a little bit better than my NorthShore time and 

THEN IT HAPPENED

It was little after mile 8 and I was getting ready to pass a guy.  I told him 3 time that I was coming up on his left.  you know following proper running rules   and didn't hear me and BAM I took an elbow to the face.   Luckily it happened right in front of a race medic to they took a look at me.  They didn't know it but I was eight miles in and I wasn't going to stop even if they told me to, maybe if I was only at mile 3  but when I was that far into the race I wasn't stopping.  I didn't have to quit but I did have a nice little headache and was pissed cause there was no way I was going to make my time now.  The sad part is the guy didn't even say sorry.

All in all I had a good time and finished up right and with a smile on my face.  The only down side is that I didn't get to see any of the WISHers.  There will be plenty of other races to run into them at.

This was about a half mile until I took the elbow to the face.

And The Thunder Rolled

Well the past five days have been very interesting for my town.  We had Down Burst which is bigger than a Micro Burst and smaller than a Tornado.  the area where I live did not have power for five days and it was a long five days.  I don't think that the temps ever dropped below 96 and the high were at least 103 and that wasn't the "Real Feel" either, so add a few more degrees.  I Think the power outage was worse for my two dogs.  one night we went and sat in my car with the air on just to cool them off.

The storm only lasted about 10 minutes but those 10 minutes seemed like forever.

All of these pictures are from my street.  Luckily no ones house was damaged all the trees just missed the houses by a few feet.

 The Picture to the right is a tree that fell on the power line that runs through my back yard.  That tree sat there for 4 days before the crew came to get it off.  We were so happy to see that tree crew cause we knew that meant the power trucks would be getting closer to getting the power back on.  It ended up taking an entire day until it was fixed but it was still fixed.

This picture is mild compared to the rest of the streets.  There were down trees and wires everywhere so even if I wanted to go for a run it  would have been hard to find a route that wasn't dangerous.

There is still a part of town that doesn't have power and won't be getting it back until maybe Monday.

North Shore Half Marathon

Well in my earlier post I mentioned that my dad and I were training for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.  After I did my half he decided to he wanted to do one so he started training.  We now run races together.  Well we run the same races.  He runs faster than me so I bring up the rear.

We recently ran the NorthShore Half Marathon and it was his first half marathon.  It was very hot and humid and I wanted to quit after mile 3.  I Know thats early in a race to want to quit but the running gods were not on my side for this race.  First I was not able to train the way I wanted to then I rolled my ankle a few days before the race.

Just when I wanted to quit I saw those bright green W.I.S.H. shirts worn by fellow W.I.S.H. runner Rick and decided to keep going.  I thought to myself I can't report back to the W.I.S.H boards that I quit after  mile 3.  Sure they would understand but it would have bothered me that I did not finish.

Long story short my dad finished in 2 hours and 45 minutes and it took me 2 hours and 56 minutes.  My time was about 11 minutes off my last half.  So now it is on the the next race.

I'm Back

I'm BACK!!!  I was looking to start a blog about my running adventures and other things that happen in life and while starting up a new blog I some how found this one.  This blog started as part of a class I was taking in college.  So I thought to myself why start a new blog just adjust this one.

So this is what I have been up to since the last time I have made a post on this blog.  After college I got a little lazy and decided to start running and set a goal to run a half marathon and just so happened to find a half down at Walt Disney World.  Disney is one of my favorite place so I said "Why not"  after training for a few months I made the trip down there. I Chose to run in the only night time half Disney offers called the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.

The Expo (Its a good thing I knew to bring some spending money)

Getting ready to start

the best way to get pictures with characters(no lines)

And last but not least the "BLING"

After running a run disney event I can now say that I am addicted and cannot wait to run another race.  My dad and I are currently training to run Walt Disney World full Marathon.  Well I am training for the full and my dad is training for the Goofy but more on that later.