Dancer--sounds like you just jumped from "beginning" runner to serious runner!!! Congratulations!! Its a great accompolishment!!! Once your body gets used to being able to run for approx 1 hr, you will begin to notice SIGNIFICANT imporvements in your running endurance......though running 7 or 8 miles or even a half marathon sounds daunting, those higher mileages get SO MUCH easy with a solid foundation....it all becomes mental after that. Congrats again!! Oh, and be careful about the shin splints..... do you have great shoes? what about orthotics for your running shoes? Shin splints are a tendonitis of the tendon on the outside/front of your calf, and often something as simple as custom orthotics will relieve the stress and pressure thats causing the problem to begin with....

Thanks for the encouragement, guys!

MK - I went the whole custom orthotics route back in college when I used to run longer distances and first started having shin splints. I've had really good luck with new balance motion control shoes and I always run on soft surfaces (grass/dirt/sand/gravel) which seems to help a bit as do the various calf stretches and shin exercises I've been given by PTs over the years. Since I unfortunately had to experience life without running when recovering from the worst of the shinsplints years and years ago, I so don't want to mess anything up by pushing for too long of a distance but OOOH BOY is that a nice runner's high when you run for longer : )

Any trail runners in this crowd? I'm thinking about giving it a shot when I'm a little lighter and it's a little cooler outside this fall. Curious to hear if anyone has any advice.

Hi everyone, not really sure if I belong on this thread because I'm not a very good runner yet. I only do about a 12-minute mile and have just attained the full-mile without a walking break. But running at all, let alone enjoying it, is a big deal for me, and I'm really interested and inspired by reading y'all's posts about your training and goals and stuff, so I wanted to unlurk and say thanks for sharing!

(PS I just signed up for my first-ever 5K today - ack!)

Hello Sharon!! You are more then welcome to join us!! Glad you decided to "unlurk"!! WE are all at different levels and places within our running at the moment!!! I dont believe there is such a thing as a good runner/bad runner!! If you are dedicated to your running, then you are a REAL runner!! COngrats on going one mile without stopping!! That is a huge accompolishment and it will only get better i promise!!

I once heard it said that the beauty of running, whether you are a beginner or an elite athlete is that the sport is big enough to embrace us all!! Good luck on your upcoming 5k!! When/where is it?

Sharon - welcome!

Mk and FatPants - Thanks for your input about my step back week! I did 3.2 miles yesterday, will probably go for 4.5 tomorrow and Saturday and that'll do it. I think my body really needed a break, so I feel like I'm still keeping up with running but am at least giving it the relief it needs!

Dancer - You go girl! 5 miles is awesome! That was a huge hurdle for me and I went from there to 6 miles pretty quickly. 6 has been my cut off point up until now since I'm getting ready for my 10K, but I'm excited to push past it and see how much farther I can go! I get really bad shin splints also, especially lately, so I'm sorry! I know how much they totally suck. Just try not to push it too far/too fast and that'll hopefully keep them at bay.

Kymccc and Sharon - Welcome to the group! It's so great to talk to a bunch of girls who love running and challenging themselves to get better, no matter what level you're at! Being here is definitely an inspiration for me and a great place for support/advice! Sharon, congrats on signing up for a 5k! That's awesome!

Thanks, gals!

MK - the race is September 20. It's a sunrise run through a historic Detroit cemetery. I'm so excited! We're also thinking of doing a different one the following weekend, so we have a chance to run again with what we've learned from our first race (I'm moving out of state in a couple months, so our time as running buddies is sadly limited).

Thanks so much for the welcome! I'm excited to keep improving myself and I'm excited to learn a lot from y'all.

I'm working up to my first 5k, September 26th. It's an all women race and its huge. I've done it before but in the walking division.

However, when I started up running again after a break I was 151.4. Since I have started running (I run tues-sat or tues-fri depending on my schedule) I haven't lost a thing. I bounce around 152 and its killing me. I started running because I wanted to lose weight and I always heard that running is the #1 weight loss exercise. Has anyone else had this problem? The last time I stopped running I dropped my weight easily, when I started again it stopped. Makes me want to stop again.....

Candice

I wrote this long a** post and lost it....argghhh

Question: Do you ladies who run for like an hour or more experience blisters and such in weird places....i.e. the sports bra area and such?

Yep - more like chafing than blisters if that makes sense. Some of my sports bras rub a bit, leaving kind of a strip of rubbed area along the front of my ribcage. And if my shorts get hiked up wrong, I can get an irritated place on my inner thigh from friction. I have some bleaching cream that I use to fade the marks on my ribcage as somehow they were looking darker than the rest of me. Does that sound anything like what you're dealing with? Curious if anyone else has any great suggestions. I figured these issues would go away as I got lighter...

BODY GLIDE BODY GLIDE BODY GLIDE. you can apply It ANYWHERE and it is a godsend!!! I have NEVER chafed or blistered ANYWHERE i apply it!! It always goes on my inner thighs and back of my armpits near my sports bra strap!!!! its quite amazing the places you can suddenly chafe when you start running!!!

Yep I definitely deal with the chest chafing from my bra and my HRM strap. It's only in one area so I've been putting a band-aid over it when I run..it seems to help, but I'm gonna have to get some of this bodyglide stuff!

just checking in...5.5 miles planned for this afternoon...

fatpants - good luck on the run! And ditto on the bodyglide - sounds interesting : )

Cr - How long have you been running? For me, for the first few weeks that I really got into running, I didn't lose weight either, but I think it was just my body retaining water and getting used to the new training. Then I quickly dropped a few pounds and have since gained them back from eating too much because I'm always starving now that I'm running!! So, on that note, how's your eating? Remember that running doesn't burn THAT many calories, so even an extra piece of fruit or a slightly larger portion of chicken after a run can pretty much outdo what you just burned. And running makes me crazy hungry, so you really have to watch what you're eating after your runs. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. Do you see changes in your body shape? New muscles in your legs? That's the rewarding part! Good luck on your 5k!

Dancer - I don't get much chafing but I wear cropped pants while running, so not sure if I would in shorts and I also have an awesome underwire sports bra that fits perfectly, so that solved all of my problems in that department!

Just went on a great 5 mile run! I thought about pushing it to 6 but then remembered this was my step back week so I cut it short. Also, I got this really weird, sharp pain on the outside of my food, like right in front of the ankle. Any ideas what that could be? I should know...we just did foot anatomy like 3 months ago in school...haha oops.

Hope you're all having a good day!

Taking charge---keep your eye on that pain!!! Thats a bad place.....could be a stress fracture of a major weight bearing bone...the cuboid (sp?).... Anyway, watch it, and if it gets worse stay off it, see a dac, etc......you know the drill.....dont bother icing it or elevating, wont make a lick of difference ( if that is whats wrong, i mean).... I had a stress fracture on the OTHER side on top of my ankle...that took forEVER to heal ( of course, i kept running on it!!) and was much more painful than my stress fracture in my metatarsal...

Today's run was nice...WONDERFUL actually..... I finally felt fully recovered from my 20 miler on SUnday, so i decided to just step it up speedwise and distance wise from the 4 miles i ran on Monday and the 6 miles i ran yesterday...Did my 7.25 mile run.....I decided to split it up into two parts...the first 3 miles ish are practically all uphill..it sux.....so i broke it up into the first 3 miles (which i ran in 27 minutes...) and the last 4 miles, which are flat and downhill and gently rolling....i wanted to see if i could break 21 minutes on a 5k (that would be about a 6:55/mi avg)!! I ran it hard and strong and i felt great and loved every minute of it!! Alas though, i was unable to break 21 minutes, but thats ok..i came in at 21:55....no biggy!! Still ran a 7 minute avg which is awesome! i also finished the total overall run of 7.25 miles in 56 minutes!!!! My previous best on the run was about 59 minutes...so im pleased about that.... how did everyone elses runs go?? Tomorrow is my weekley torture, i mean interval, session at the track......