Did you know legs will talk to you?

Last weekend I skipped my long run. Well, not really skipped I walked it. I was sure I was getting a cold last week and to try to fight it off I decided not to stress my body out with a long run. I did walk 8 miles so I thought that was a good trade off. So, today was officially my second long run.

As everyone knows who lives in Florida, we don’t have hills. Since the Boston Marathon course is very hilly (is that word?) I’ve been trying work hills in slowly. Today I did that. Ooo, let me say that my legs are not use to hills and were quite confused. I really thought at the 3 mile mark that I would have to stop. However, I did something smart today. I usually run in a circle around my house. Keeps me safeish (I know that’s not a word) and I know how long I’m running. Today, with the use of my new iPhone app IMapyMyRun I ran down to the hilly area and towards the mall behind my house. Even if I wanted to quit at 3 miles, I had to run my butt back home. I suppose I could have slept on the road to Disney but I don’t think that would have worked.

My legs were not happy when they realized we had no choice but to continue. They wanted a shower and some Aleeve. They also told me that sleeping on 535 was not a good idea.

It’s funny how much you realize you can do when you have no choice. So, I kept running. At the 7 mile mark my legs no longer cared. It was actually pretty amazing. I felt so good when I got home I started to do the loop around my house. After doing an additional mile I still felt that I could keep going. Then sanity took over and I decided that walking this week would be nice, and that I didn’t want to injure myself.

So, my second long run went well. I feel amazing and Boston doesn’t seem to be such an unobtainable obstacle!

I had no idea

Well, I am training for the Boston Marathon. I had a great first long run and today was my pseudo long run by walking. There seems to be an evil cold trying to take a hold of my body but I think I’ve been able to beat it off pretty well. That includes me not running for the past two days. I keep telling myself a 7 mile walk is fine and its still 7 miles. However, because I’m not running the crazy voice in my head is screaming at me. Something about dying during the Boston Marathon and not being able to finish, disappointing everyone I know. Ya know, the normal things one thinks about.

To be honest, I’m a bit further along in the training process then I’m supposed to be. My first long run should have been only 3 miles the second 4 miles. Since I’m doing more than that, I think I’m going to be kosher.  I just have to keep reminding myself getting a cold and not being able to do anything is worse than walking 7 miles.

The point of this blog was not to wax poetic about my cold though. No honestly it wasn’t. It was to talk about food.

I love food don’t you? Well, I’ve been losing weight and I’m kind of at a standstill. Even with all the running and weight training. I realize that this is more than likely due to the fact that I’m not eating enough. Yeah, it’s hard to imagine not eating enough right?

Well, in the craziness of the past year, I fired my primary care physician.  Something about him calling me a hysterical female and giving me a prescription for xanex kind of turned me off. My friend kept telling me about her own doctor and how great she was. As well as the fact that she’s a competitive body builder - an interesting combo for a doctor.

Finally, after a year of procrastinating, I make an appointment with her doctor and it was amazing. She is the best doctor I have ever spoken with. She was understanding, actually listened to me and really cared about what I was doing.

She also understood that while I’m training for this marathon that I need more food! I find that most doctors don’t understand what it means to be running almost every day of the week, cross training, and doing long runs that can go up to 26 miles! Because of her background, she got it right away!

Her husband, who is also competes as a body builder, trains and gives out nutritional advice. So, I met with him and now I have a higher calorie diet that he believes will be much better for my activity level. I just finished preparing all of my food and I will be starting this wonderful plan tomorrow!

I started eating 5 times a day a few years back. Yes, it’s time consuming to cook that much but you have to in order to keep your metabolism up, and to help fuel your body. However, I wasn’t even close to eating enough. I might even need to eat more but for now we’re sticking to this!

I’m excited to see what my runs will be like this week!

First Long Run Since my Official Start!

First of all, I want to thank all my friends for donating! It’s very hard to express how emotional and humbled by your donations I am in a blog. Just know that I appreciate every single one of you!!

I have been wondering the past week if a marathon is to much for me. I've also been joking about how people can meet me at Mass. General after the marathon and we can all eat carb's while I get my IV fluid (Ok, only half-joking...maybe not joking at all).

So, needless to say this long run was going to set the stage for me for the next five months. How confident or apprehensive I would be would come down to this one long run. Not much pressure at all!

To my utter amazement on Saturday, I did a total of 9 miles and I feel great. A little sore, but since I took about two weeks off from running, that’s to be expected!

I’m still not as fast as I was – and that’s ok. I need to give myself some time after resting for two weeks, to catch back up. Well...after a forced rest. Something about my Neurologist, my friend who happens to be my former Physical Therapist and friends telling me, some in more polite terms than others, that I was an idiot and needed to rest.

I also realize that I do have five months before Boston, and I think that is probably enough time to recover from two weeks of non-running :-D.

As I’m sitting here writing this, I’m eating a bowl of whole wheat pasta with chicken breast. Why am I mentioning this? Because, I feel fine – no aches or pains from the miles logged yesterday! In the past, when I would push myself in a 5k, I would be sore the next day. I did almost the equivalent of 3 5k’s and nothing. Mr. Galloway, wherever you are, thank you!