i slept alright guys.... 4:23. I have a HUGE HURTY zit on my chin!!
oh!! HAppy BDAY to me!!

Thats kinda funny. Ive been SO WRAPPED UP in the marathon, that ive been awake for over an hour now and i JUST realized to day was my bday... :)

I will let you guys know ALL ABOUT IT!! WAHOOS!! its MARATHON DAY ( ieven ought a cheesy "marathoner" bumper sticker at the expo on friday--will wait toll AFTER to put it on)

Luv you guys!! Thanks for all your support and well wishers!!!!!

Happy birthday! Can't wait to hear how it went :)

Happy Birthday MK!!!! Good luck today! I can't wait to hear all about it!!! :cheer: :woohoo:

Happy Birthday, MK!!! Best wishes on the race!

Mk - Happy birthday!! Wow, what a way to celebrate! Can't wait to hear all about the race!!

Hoped to run 6 miles today but only made it 4. Kind of a bummer, but I just really had no energy and was tired throughout the whole run. I might try for a longer run during the week but I have my 10K next weekend so I might not push it. We'll see. I guess it happens!

Im A Marathoner :)
 

HEY ALL!!! :) :) :)

I couldnt have asked for a more fantastic day!!! WOW. I need to regroup here and think this out thoughtfully, but let me say, i HAD A BLAST!!! I had SO MUCH FUN the ENTIRE TIME. It was awesome, incredible, fantastic. People/runners kept stopping me and telling me i looked like i was having a blast ( i was running with the goofiest grin on my face i guess!) My daughter made me a bright sign that i wore on my back saying "wish me happy birthday" and people DID!! ALOT! In the starting corral the people all around me sang happy birthday to me.
I held true to my splits and my game plan from the get go....a 9 minute mile avg. I finshed, according to my Garmin, in-----------3 :58!!!!!:carrot::carrot: My garmin also told me i ran 26.51 miles!!! My official time is going to be around 4:05, or so. ( i stopped my watch when i went potty, 3 times). Right now, my BUTT is KILLING ME, but i ran so strong the entire time...it wasnt till i stopped running that i started to feel sore. the weather was incredible too you guys. just WOW. Everything. WOW. :) Im on cloud nine right now. i will write more about this later.

trying to attach a couple pics
 

trying to attach a couple pics....did it work?

I just ran my first 5K today! I have been lurking and posting a little on this thread and you are all so insprining and helped me get through my first race.

As they say "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Weather was horrible 45 degrees, rainy, windy. The 5K was a cross country up and down lots of hills. Before the race I asked a few people -- how will I know where the trail is and they assured me there were guides who would point us in the right direction. WRONG! Five of us slowpokes got completely lost and had to consult one lady's GPS to point us in the right direction! Then we asked a guy on a mountain bike directions. Finally we made it out of the woods and I have never been so happy!

So I'm not really sure if I ran 5K or more or less, but I'm counting it as a victory! I was so dazed by the end of the race I have no idea what my time was except that it was very slow. But at the end of the race I got a gold medal for being first in my age group, of course I was the only one in my age group running, but still it was fun to end the race that way. I can't wait for my next 5K but I think I may wait until spring LOL!

MK -- happy birthday! Hope the marathon is fantastic!

MK -- congrats!! A 4 hour marathon is fantastic! Love your pics -- you look beautiful!

Jayjay - I love your quote to describe the 5K! I'm so impressed that through getting lost and all the other obstacles, you made it through and finished with a medal (who cares if you were the only one in your age group?)! Seriously, that's a great accomplishment and your next race will be even better!

Mk - OMG! You are so freakin gorgeous! And your daughter is adorable. CONGRATULATIONS on finishing a marathon!!! Wow, what a day. I hope you have an incredible birthday celebration. You sure deserve it! I'm so happy for you!!

JayJay -- Congrats!!

MK -- Congrats too!! Great pics, you are definitely gorgeous :yes:

GO MK!!!! Awesome time! And happy birthday! You and your daughter are both BEAUTIFUL! =)

jayjay, congrats on your first 5k!

Congratulations MK and jayjay!! First marathon and first race! Way to go!!

MK~ Oh I'm so happy you had a wonderful time!! You're beautiful and yup, you sure look like you had a blast! :) Your dd is adorable, how sweet of her to make you a sign!! Congratulations on a fantastic time too! You did it!! :carrot:

Jayjay~ congrats on your first 5K!! What a bummer that there weren't guides there to show you the way! And sorry about the icky weather too, but ya know what? All of that just makes it a bigger victory! :)

MK - totally awesome time!! I am SO glad that you had fun with it, that's what it's all about! And happy, happy birthday!

JayJay - congrats on your first 5K! You did great, and just figure that the next one will have to be easier!

Fall finally arrived here in South Florida with our first real cold front. The previous Sunday am long run was 82 degrees and very humid, yesterday morning's run was 60 degrees and windy! What a change! It was a bit chilly to those of us not used to this, but a wonderful change of pace from hot and sticky! We did a cool, quick and fabulous 12 miles.

Happy Monday running!

MK - AMAZING! What a great birthday gift to yourself!! I'm so proud of you! Thanks for sharing the pics - your joy of running is very contagious. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

Congrats, MK!! That's a fantastic time and it sounds like it was a near perfect (if not perfect) race! How sweet of your bf and daughter to make those signs! Well now that you're no longer a marathon virgin..what's next? :D ;)

Jayjay- great job and congrats on your first 5k! You should be very proud of yourself... are you looking to any more races this year?

PS - Sorry to be discouraging, but I heard about this last night right before bed and I'm still feeling kind of demoralized and saddened by it - three runners died in our Detroit marathon yesterday - three guys running the half marathon, one in his 20s, one in his 30s and one in his 60s. Full article My heart goes out to their families so much...

Thank you for your kinds words and support everyone! Now I will have to work on speed. No more races planned this year, but definitely want to do another 5K or maybe even a 10K in the spring.

Sharon -- that's so sad. Will keep them in my thoughts and prayers.

Sharon - I read about that last night and couldn't believe it. THREE people, two in their 20s and 30s... unreal! :( It sucks that something that is SO good for you and your heart can sometimes go awry...

a couple more pics
 

My biggest fan, and showing off some bling!

jayjay - belated congrats on your race!

mk - all hail to the running goddess! girl, you rock, you run like the wind (for hours and hours) and you're beautiful - what a combo!

just got back from a long weekend in santa barbara and am firmly planted in CO again (no more travel for weeks) - managed to fit in a couple of runs along some bridle paths (for horses) so you're running on mulch about 8-10 inches deep. Nice and soft for my shins but kind of like running in the sand. Glad to be back to my usual routes.

Was fired up for a 5 mile run this morning, after an incredible 4-miler yesterday.

Things went great for about 3 miles...then the 4th mile totally killed me. My legs were just done. I pushed myself to the 4 mile mark and then took a short walk break...during which I puked! Barfed right in the parking lot of a bank! I blame TOM for this - I was awake and in agony all night, and my tummy still feels odd and unhappy.

Needless to say, I did not finish that 5th mile :p. But I feel not quite as horrible as I usually do for first few TOM days, so I'm glad I got at least those 4 miles!

Happy Tuesday, ladies! How are your runs going?

Dancer - Sounds like you had a nice trip!

Sharon - Sorry to hear about your little "incident" after the 4th mile...haha. It's never happened to me, but it seems like a rite of passage for every runner, so it seems like you're officially in the club! Hopefully your next run is a little better.

I officially drafter a half-marathon training schedule (16 weeks away!) so today I was supposed to run 3 miles but ended up with 3.5, mostly because I didn't look at my schedule before I started running. Oops! I had my boot camp again last night and am sooo sore! My shins are also really unhappy and I mentioned to the instructor that I need to take it easy with the running and he was very receptive, so I think I'll cut out the running at boot camp so my poor shins can rest between my training runs. 10K this weekend! Woohoo!

I did four miles today (with a brief walk interval when my teenager's school called me GGRRR!!)

It felt great!

Ok I am really slacking on the running - 6 miles sunday but nothing since! I need a kick in the rear...

Iris - Get out there and RUN!! Youll feel like a million bucks after, even if you get in 2 or 3 miles. Hope to see you back here tomorrow with a run report! :)

I've been slacking, too...only ran twice last week! :( But I ran on Monday and will be doing 5 miles today at the gym..it's snowing and windy here, much too windy to venture outside! I saw a guy at 5:30 this morning running in the snow/wind.... in SHORTS! I don't know if I'll ever be that dedicated!

Hey all you Fabulous runners out there!
Thanks for all the compliments about the pictures....Seein myself in my marathon pictures made me realize just how much weight i HAVE lost!! I look UBER skinny in some of them!! :)
Anyways, i havent posted at all since cuz i havent been able to run, and im in a funky funk. God, i WANT TO run, DESPERATELY!! This gym cardio machine thing isnt doing it for me!!
Heres the thing---- sometime during the marathon, around mile 2 or 3, i developed ANOTHER stress fracture in my foot. It bugged me during the race, ALOT, but i got some advil from my sis when i passed them on the course, and that really helped. Then the endorphins kicked in, etc, etc, and i didnt really even remember that it bothered me, untill monday morning and i went to get out of bed (wanted to *try* and run a few miles to loosen me up) and i couldnt bear ANY weight on my foot at all. Yesterday, same thing. ANd my foot was swollen directly above where the pain was/is (on the outside and lower part of my foot, kinda near the ankle, but closer to the base of my foot). So i go to the doctor. He does a phyisical exam and tell me its *probably* a jones fracture, which is a particular type of stree fracture of the fifth metatarsal. this is REALLY bad, and the worse kind of stress fractur eyou can get in your foot, because it WONT heal easily like other fractures do. This one requires a cast, and possibly surgery. Unfortunately, the only way to know for SURE is to do an MRI, which is like 1400 dollars. However, im not letting him put a cast on MY FOOT for 4-6 weeks unless he knows for SURE its a fracture (telemark/ski season is getting ready to start!). SO the game plan is im supposed to "rest" (whatever that means) no running--not that i can, and wait a week or two and see if it heals up (he said its *possible* i traumatized the tendons/ligaments, etc and that it was not the dreaded fifth metatarsal fracture). If it still bothers me in a week, or if it goes away then comes back right after i resume running....well.......i get a boot i guess!! SO LAME!! i am READY to start running again, and bring it to the next level, whatever THAT means......GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Here are some more pics
 

here are yet some MORE marathon pics.....The event photographers LOVED taking my pic for once!!!

And just for fun
 

now that i know how to post pics, i want to show you guys a picture of how i looked just this past MAY--as in 5 months ago.....

at about 11% or 12% higher Body Fat than i am now......

Wow, MK!! Amazing pics! What a transformation! You look awesome in the May pics...but absolutely UNSTOPPABLE in your marathon pics!

So I gotta ask...especially with your fracture!! What were you thinking during the race? Did you hit any "wall" points where you wanted to stop? What was your mental game?!

Total bummer about your foot. I will be wishing you speedy healing vibes!

MK - Oh My, sucks big time about the foot... Love your pics!!

I'm going running in about an hour...

Sharon--no wall for me...i didnt struggle at any point AT ALL, if that sounds weird. I trained well and executed my "race strategy". I ate a big breakfast, and downed the energy goos every 5 miles, no matter how i felt. I chose to drink the sports drink at all the aid stations, and filled up my water bottle i carried with water. My foot started hurting about 2 miles in or so, but i was able eto ignore it...ive run through injuries and pain before. By ignore it, i mean i tried not to think about it, and still enjoy the race. Around 4 miels in i FINALLY Settled into my 9 minute pace, and felt very comfy and content. I had to repeatedly hold myself back, but once i got in my groove, i was able to pay attention to EVERYTHING ELSE going on around me instead!! Passed my cheering family at around mile 10, and then between 10-14 i started to feel my foot more and more. The pain was becoming a bit of a struggle, but also the mental aspect of those "middle Miles". Id already gone so far, but i had A LOT further to go. Around mile 15 my BF suprised me by popping up, and that helped perk me up, and then when i got to mile 17, the rest of my family was waiting, and i was able to get some advil from my sis--it almost felt like she slipped a little cocaine in with it, becausei became unSTOPPABLE after that :) The pain was gone, and i had renewed enjoyment!! After i passed mile 21, i really started DROPPING my pace faster. I felt great, i knew i had a LOT left in me, and that was the plan anyway, for the last five miles. At this point im starting to pass a LOT of people who are really struggling. People walking, limping, hunched over, rying, just doing godawful, and it only got worse. By about mile 25 i had dropped my pace down to my 10K speed- about a 7 30 or so, and im just FLYING past everyone else. I had to have made up a good 7-9 minutes those last 5 miles. The last half mile i gave it everything i had and came flying into the finish chute so fast my family almost missed me!!! They were expecting me to be struggling, and i guess some of the other runners had family members come out and run that last .10 of the course with them, for moral/physical support, and they were prapared to do that for me too. They DIDNT expect me to be running at top speed :) After that it was endorphins all day and i didnt even think about my foot that much till the next mornign..... :(

mk - loved seeing the pics of you, you look great in both but what a change in muscle definition - wow! So very sorry to hear about your foot troubles! Fingers crossed that it isn't the dreaded fifth....

Mk - Love the picture comparisons! You looked great before but you have such great muscle definition now! I'm hoping to look like that after my boot camp is over...haha! So sorry to hear about the potential stress fracture. Take care of yourself and hopefully it'll heal on its own. I can't believe you felt so incredible during the whole race! Did your bf spike your coffee in the morning?? That's really amazing though! I'm so happy it went so well and you accomplished this amazing goal! Can't wait to see what's next! :)

Nothing exciting to report here. Did some yoga, went on a walk, boot camp tonight. I was gonna take tomorrow off running and only do 3 days this week because of my 10K on Sunday but I think I'll get in a short run tomorrow. I just bought my first pair of running shorts and can't wait to try them out!

How's everyone doing? In the running mood today?

taking--what type of shorts did you buy?? Ive found i am only able to run in ONE single pair (not sure if you noticed, but i have the same ones on inall my pics!) The rest PISS ME OFF!! Good idea wanting to try em before your race this weekend though. Finding out 1 mile in to a 10K that they ride up , or make your thighs chafe would super suck :)
I used to take bootcamps!! I was gonna do one again this winter, but ive since decided/realized that training/running needs a YEAR ROUND place in my life, and not just a spring/summer/fall one. i absolutely LOVED doing the bootcamp.. SOund slike yours is also a partially outdoor, partially indoor thing?? How far do they have you guys run?? (im sure its dif everytime). I was asking becuz of the shin issue. If you guys run *far enough* cant you just count that as your run?? The one i signed up for, being able to run at at leaset a 12 minute mile and being able to "keep up" were prerequisites. If you couldnt, then youd just take the next step down class, whcih was still an AWESOME class, just all indoors. If you wanna get uber ripped real quick, make sure your doing BOY pushups, and not GIRL pushups, at least until failure, and THEN switch to girl pushups!!

Hahaha! Such good advice. Boy push ups are crazy hard but so worth it. There's only one level of the boot camp and it's actually all outdoors. So far, we've done resistance band stuff, pushups, triceps dips, squats, abs - the usual circuit training kind of thing. There's not a lot of running at all, prob 1 mile at most, so I definitely can't use it as a daily run. It's not long or hard, but it's just enough to irritate my shins on their day off. It hasn't interfered with my training runs at all, but my shins are just more sore after the run, which is annoying and will prob only get worse as my runs get longer! Last time, I skipped out on one of the laps he made us run and instead he gave me some extra ab stuff to do, which seems like a good option. The other stuff gets my heart rate up more than enough! Did you do strength training during marathon training?

About the shorts, I got Oasics, only because they were on sale! I figured I'd get cheaper ones to try out and if I like running in shorts, I'll do some research. I love buying new running stuff but yikes, it's so expensive!

Btw, how do you feel being smoke free for this long? Hopefully great! :carrot:

i did a LOT of strength training during marathon training, until the last month or so, then my trainer refused to do heavy weight training with me... . . . I could FEEL all my hard earned muscles turning to FAT! :) I generally strength trained about 3X a week, on avg. Now that the marathon is over, im going to up it to 4 X a week. This goes hand in hand with the quitting smoking thing though, i need every little bit "extra" metabolic boost i can get, ya know?

Quittin smoking===fantastic, btw. Im down to cutting my patch in half (just doing that for a couple days before i go completely off the patch--def by this weekend. The RASHES the patches are giving me is KILLING me.
The shorts i run in are Under Armour. Had em since i started running a year and a half ago. Wont run in anything else....but ive got lots of other expensive pairs that have been delegated to around the house wear....all pissed me off for one reason or another.... Good luck on your 10K btw!! Are you hoping to do about the same as your last one??
Not much time in between to train to increase speed.....

As for me, i am digging through lists of marathons, trying to decide whats nextt. Conventional wisdom says one marathon every 6 months at most, so 2 a year. Im pretty sure id be ok squeezing that down to one every 4 months. The problem is finding one between now and late spring/early summer. Looking at RocknRoll Phoenix in January (thats pretty soon---three months) and the NAtional Marathon in DC, in March (thats SO FAR away though, time-wise). Plus i need to find one to try and qualify for boston at(must be flatish, and have GREAT crowd support)
The time being , soon as my foot allows me to run (hopefully within the next few days??? ---fingers crossed) im going to train to shave as much time as possible off of my 10K, and still maintain maybe BI-weekly long runs of 15 or more miles, so i dont lose my ability to run long. Soon as i settle on a marathon i will do a training plan designed to shave time off my marathon...... hmmmmm.....then ive been thinking about getting into Tri's and Ironman...... :)

Wow, mkroyer, you look AMAZING. You look like PURE muscle. DAMN.

I hope everyone is doing well... I miss running :(

I haven't had any time lately... too much schoolwork and other obligations. Getting back on the running train next week! :)