4 miles- Silvia August 29, 2008

Yesterday I should have run six miles according to the schedule.  I did 4.  I was exhausted. That’s my excuse.  The night before I couldn’t sleep well…first day jitters…even after 8 years of teaching!  Then when I finally could sleep, my darling husband began snoring.  Loudly.  I went downstairs to sleep in my son’s room (he’s off to college) and my dog decides it would be fun to play fetch at 3 am, and drops a tennis ball near my face.  I don’t think so.  I throw the ball away.  Duhhhh.  This is a dog.  Throwing the ball means playing fetch!  The tennis ball with drool was dropped neatly by my nose again.  This time, I put the ball in a drawer.  I couldn’t see his sad puppy dog eyes in the dark, so I felt OK about it.  I saw his shadwo lying in frot of the drawer, perhas willing it to open.  Eventaully he gave up and went away.  Meanwhile, it is 3:20 and I am trying desperately to get to sleep.  But there is added stress.  There is no alarm clock in my son’s room.  So, you know the kind of sleep you get when you know you have to wake up at a certain hour and there is no alarm clock to let you know the time and so you wake up every 20 minutes and look at the clock and feel relived that you have more time and mad because you woke up and you didn;t have to yet…well that’s what I had for the next 2 and half hours.  I arrived blearly eyed for the my first day of the new school year in a classroom full of high energy, eager middle schoolers.  Help me Lord geth through the day.  I did.

But the run.  Whose idea was it anyway to run this marathon?  I did not want to.  I wanted to go home, eat some food that I didn’t cook, have  a glass of wine and go to bed (before my husband so I fall asleep before he starts snoring).  But the run. I had to do that damn run.  I got home around 7:00.  I went to the gym.  I got up on the treadmill and at a mile 1.01 I was ready to call it a day.  I miss way back when I only had to run a couple of miles.  Nonetheless, I carried on and stopped at four.  I justified it by saying I’ll run 6 on Friday.

Today is Friday.  I finished day two in a classroom of energetic middle schoolers.  Do you think I feel like runnning six today?

11 miles – Silvia August 19, 2008

I looked down at my Garmin 405 and read 4.66. Shit! I am not even half way done! I stopped. I can’t do this. I look ahead and see my dog look back at me as if to say, why are we stopping. Damn dog with limitless energy. I keep going.

The night before I watched the women’s marathon. I was amazed and enthralled with their super lean bodies and blistering pace, despite the announcer saying they were running at a “pedestrian” 5:30. Pedestrian! He even said that one of the runners was “slogging” along. Slogging? That’s my word…that’s me. That’s not them. I was “running” at a 11 minute mile pace – not consistently either.

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth I ran along the 2 mile dirt road. I was getting sick of trees, mud, and weeds. I saw a deer take off and that was cool. I heard wld turkeys and wanted my dog to chase them for fun, but he didn’t. He was too busy staying ahead of me and then looking back and thinking, come on slowpoke.

I finished the 11 miles, on one hour and 59 minutes. Sick. The marathoners were practically done by that time. How in the hell am I going to run 26.2?

I did decide in my 2 hours of thinking and running and dehydrating ( I didnt have any water…stupid I know) to go on a diet. Perhaps I was delirious. But I can’t carry around these extra 4 bowling balls anymore. It’s just too hard. The day after my 11 miles, I could barely move. My mother is taking care of her husband, who is really sick, and needs a walker to move around. Believe me, I was eying that walker with envy. That’s how sore I was. So, starting Thursday (well maybe Friday because my hubby and I have date night Thursdays) I am going to try to make some lifestyle changes in my eating habits. I will keep you posted.

One more thing.  As I was getting ready for my run, I put on my hefty armor to hold in the girls because this was going to be a long run.  I  checked my luggage and I was aghast because I forgot my Vaseline.  Uh oh!  You know what that means…major chaffing.   So, I decided to improvise and used my Adidas deodorant in all the strategic spots.  I figured the chaffing is caused by the wetness rubbing against straps.  Guess what?  It worked.  There was no chaffing in the spots where I applied the deodorant.  Yippee!  I didn’t worry about blocking sweat glands or whatever because I sweat in so many places that it more than makes up for the lack of sweat near my buxom bosom.   Speaking of sweat.  My ears sweated so much that my headphones (the kind you wear over your ears with the foam over the speakers) were soaked and I could ring them out like a sponge!  YUCK!

10 Miles – Silvia August 10, 2008

The day after my “vacation” in hell, I did not feel like running, let alone running 10 miles. Nonetheless, that’s what my training chart said, so off I went with my Ipod and Garmin 405. Before I began I was sure to grease myself up like a pig in a hog wrestling competition. Lena suggested Body Glide and although we don’t have that store I will find that stuff somewhere.

My slowest mile, believe it or not was the first. I ran it in 11:11. I think my mind was telling my body, oh no, here comes that great big hill. My mind forgot that we were back home in Cleveland where flat means flat (unlike in WV where flat means rolling hills). I was blessed with cool weather today and a nice cool breeze. Ahhhhhhhhh. I dare say it was almost pleasurable. No I can’t say that. But I can say, it wasn’t torture.

When I hit mile 5, I could not believe how far I was- distance becomes so much more meaningful when you are running. A couple of interesting things happened during the run. First, what goes down must come up. I loved running the down hills and I hated when they became up hills later. I just want to run down hill and take a elevator up hill. Also, at around the 5 mile mark I really had to use the facilities. I mean really. And to make matters worse it was number 2. I mean, here I am running, exhausted, and now my mind is distracted by another body part demanding attention. Why don’t they have Porta-Potties strategically placed throughout the trail. ( I was on a lovely asphalt all purpose trail- Beachwood put a lovely all-purpose trail in the middle of a boulveard- it is a little bit of nature in the middle of the city). So I thought there must be facilities in the shaded rest area I spotted a mile back (where they also have Wifi!!!!). If I just make it back I will get relief. So, I ran and ran and by the time I hit that area, I was over the urge. Thank God. Good bowels-way to hold back for the team! Still in the netherlands, I had a bad battle with chaffing down under. Ughhh. Even though I wore capri style pants thus hoping to eliminate any chaffing, it didn’t work. I was so sweaty it felt like I peed my pants. I know, gross. I was running with that feeling. The last interesting thing was that when I finally finished the 10 miles (I literally ran the last 0.10 miles looking at my Garmin waiting for the 10.00 to come up so I can stop my watch and stop running-I refuse to run one step more than I have to). I wiped my face with my hand and felt crunchiness like dirt. That’s wierd. So I tasted the dirt and it was salt! The air was so cool I guess the sweat quickly eavporated from my face and left salt crystals. When I got home and looked in the mirror there was a whole bunch of salt crystals framing my face. I thought that was pretty cool.

I did it! 10 miles and week four, or is it five, is done!

The Why’s… July 25, 2008

Two days ago while driving back from the gym, I told Nick that I felt so far from our goal and that at this point it seemed like I was reaching for the impossible. He then looked at me and asked me why I am doing this training. I told him a few reasons, and he suggested that I write them down and at moments of feeling discouraged, go back and read them. Well what better place to do it then here on our blog. He told me a few of his friends wrote a page about why they were enrolling in medical school so in moments of uncertainty they could remind them self of why…

I realized in that moment I had not taken enough time to think about the whys…aside from the obvious love I have for food. So I am writing my why, and will use this as motivation for myself. I am running this marathon to satisfy a personal goal. In a sense I want to learn how to train my mind, because I think having power over your mind is a powerful tool to use in all aspects of life. I have always struggled with the fact that many times in my life I have given up on things when they got too hard; but now I am ready to push myself in a way I don’t think I ever have. I am running this marathon to feel good physically and mentally; starting the day with a run, for me, is the most fulfilling. I am happier when I run and stay active. I am running this marathon for the reaction I get from others and the fact that I have always wanted to say I ran a marathon. If a 65 year old man can run one a year after a heart attack, a 24 year old can push her body to the same level. I running this because I am a goal setter and I cannot wait for the satisfaction I will feel of fulfilling and reaching a goal of mine. I am running this for all the cliches I have written about…this is for me…this is something I can call my own, and that I am finishing by myself, even though I running this with two awesome people. I am running this marathon for Meghan and Silvia, because if I somehow keep you all going the way you keep me going, I can’t back down…

So thank you for anyone who reads this, because seeing that someone else cares about this marathon makes it easier to push through the hard days.

Twenty Six…point two July 25, 2008

Have you ever really and truly thought about how far 26.2 miles would take you? Yesterday, while driving from Lexington up to Cleveland with Nick’s family, I not only witnessed what 26.2 miles looks like, mile post by mile post, I drove the entire distance in the car. I told Nick as we exited onto 271 that from this point to our exit in Shaker would be the distance of our marahon. Thanks to the nicely green posted mile markers, I watched each mile tick by until we reached the 26 mile marker. I felt so many emotions all in that 30 minutes of driving (yes, 30 minutes in the car, which you can only imagine it at a runners speed!); I felt motivated thinking about the feeling we will have after completing the run. I felt completely overwhemled and questioned myself and the probability of finshining. I have still not decided whether or not it was smart to sit there and take in the true distance; I mean sure on a tredmill you really arn’t able to comprehend the total distance, but driving it put it all in my mind. I ran 4 miles on Wednesday, and it was O.K. and yesterday Nick and I woke up early before the drive and I ran my 3 miles. We got to see Meghan for lunch on our way to Cleveland and it was nice seeing her and reminding myself even though I feel alone in the moments I am running and pushing through the challeneges, we are all in fact in this together. Meghan is without a doubt more ready for this training than I feel, but I will carry on. I think Meg had a good idea to hold our training at this week, and not one near the middle that is far more intense. I love my gym by the way!! I am so excited to find some classes I love and go on my off days to strength train. yay!!! Where you are you guys by the way? I am sending you both a little motivation in the mail, so look for it within the next few weeks!

6 miles-Kirsten July 22, 2008

Yesterday I woke up so excited to go to the gym. It has been over a year since I belonged to one. So Nick and I woke up around 9:00 and I had my mind set on 6 miles on the tredmill. I felt I failed on Sunday; walked 3, ran 3. So I needed to prove to myself I could do it. After running the 5 miler race I thought 6 might not be TOO bad, but it was hard second attempt around. I did it; I stopped running for a minute to get a drink (I can’t run and drink, I will look like a fool!) and otherwise totaled 6.1 miles. However, it was hard!!! The whole time I wanted to just stop and at least get on a different machine. I looked around, and not only was I the only one running, everyone who started on the tredmill when I did had long cleared out. It got me to thinking…am I crazy? Is there a reason why I am the only one running, sweating, being tortured? Well, the after feeling of running 6 miles was great. I felt good and strong, and can honestly say you forget the pain. You forget feeling heavy, you forget the desire to stop, you forget the dripping sweat and red face. While running I told myself, just one foot in front of the other…

So I feel I sort of redeemed myself but doing 6 miles on Monday. Today is my rest day, and while I am tempted to go the gym, I think I might actually just take the day off and rest. Maybe I will go in the evening…right now I am just so content staying in my PJS and eating a bowl of icecream…ok I will hold off on the icecream until a more decent hour. This training is going to be HARD…I mean I realize that just because I ran 5 miles two weeks ago with ease (ok, not ease, but it wasn’t torture) doesn’t mean my 6 mile run will be any easier. I wonder if in three weeks 6 miles might feel easy? Nick has started running a mile a day; and he says he has no idea how I run 6, let alone 26. Which I of course added in that it is 26.2, can’t forget that .2 PEOPLE!!!! I really think the last 6 are just going to kill us in the race. What if I hit the wall before the 20 mile mark like they say? So many things I won’t know until I get to that day, in that moment. And while everything will be spinning around me, I will remember one foot in front of the other…it’s the only way! I miss you guys…I wish we were training closer, but we are going to do this!!!

6 miles – Silvia July 21, 2008

This morning I woke up not wanting to do anything except drink coffee and look at our garden which is overflowing with blossoms. It looks like an artist took his paint colors and strewed them over our backyard. Alas, Yoga starts at 8:15 and I need the stretching. It felt good to stretch, difficult but good. It’s like my body was saying thank you, thank you. I remember when I was in middle school, I could have done all the poses easily, but now, I feel like an 80 year old woman trying to contort her body into simple poses like downward and upward dog. My favorite part is the end, the last five minutes are spent in the Savasana pose, which is a fancy yoga word for lying down on your back with your eyes closed just breathing. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Bliss.

After that I did my “Power Flex” workout, which is 45 minutes of strength training using barbells and weights. I read that strength training is important for runners. I have been doing it since April, and I like it. Probably because there’s loud music and an instructor telling me what to do. I love not being alone with my thoughts. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I don’t like relying on me. I am too weak.

After that I was done. I was at the gym two hours already and wanted just to go shopping for my mom (I am going to Canada to visit and there’s stuff here she can’t buy as cheaply over there. For example,  there’s a tube of toothpaste at Trader Joe’s for 1.99 here and in Canada, it’s close to 6.00. No kidding. Keep in mind the dollar is basically at par. So there is no reason for the prices to be so much higher, but they are. I digress.)  So, I figure I would go shopping, go home and grout. (The stupid stairs are still not done! I figured out the secret to tiling stairs; pay someone to do it!) Then later this evening I would go back and run my six miles. I leave the gym, go shopping and was about to go on the highway headed for home, when I thought, who am I kidding. I won’t  go back to the gym. I will get sidetracked for sure, and progressively more lazy as the day wears on. So, like a good girl, I went back to the gym, hopped on the treadmill and began slogging the long, slow, six miles. I actually did 6.2, so it’s like a 10K.

Unlike, Meghan, I did not feel I could do more. I think that her body is just more conditioned. She has a great base with being a regular 5 mile runner. I am still in the process of building up my base. There is a reason that ‘they’ say that you should have been running for 8-10 weeks before you start training. I feel that I am not conditioned enough to make the training easy.

Today’s problem was sweat. Yes, I was in AC but I was soaked. I sweat a lot. I don’t perspire, or have a healthy glow. I sweat like a monsoon after the dry season in the Serengeti. That’s just me. I always have, even as a kid. I start sweating on my nose and then every other place that there is a pore in my body. I think that’s why I can’t keep those ear phones in my ear, the sweat slides them out. I sweat so much that when I run the marathon in Arizona I bet the desert will turn into a tropical rain forest. Anyway, what happened was that I began to sweat in my feet. I felt them get hot and sweaty. Then my toes began to rub together. You know what that causes. Blisters. Ouch. My feet burned. I just kept thinking, run through the pain, run through the pain. If I can’t run 6, how will I run 26.2? (Don’t forget the 0.2, that 0.2 will be so annoying by the end of the race, I just know it!)

Then my shirt got soaked. I mean soaked. So, you guessed it more rubbing. This time it was the bottom of my  bra strap and my skin. I felt it rubbing back and forth. I even tucked in my T-shirt into the strap   ( I didn’t care what I looked like, one look at my tomato red face tells anyone that I am not here to win any beauty contests) to provide a buffer, but the T-shirt kept coming out.  At last, after 58 minutes and 55 seconds, it was over. After my cool down walk, I got off the treadmill and couldn’t even walk properly on my feet they hurt so much. I had to walk on the sides of my feet. And my drenched shirt was just clinging to me. Luckily, I had sandals in the car and took my shoes and socks off to let my feet breathe. I wish I had those toe separators like when you get a pedicure.

When I finally got home, I struggled to take off my clothes. You know how hard it is to take off clothes after they are wet. I felt like I went swimming in salt water. When I had a looksie at where my bra was there was a huge red rash – like a rug burn. OUCH! The shower was painful. It burned when it hit my rash. After I couldn’t even put on a regular bra, so I had to hang free all day. Not comfortable at all for someone like me, I am not a woman of the Borneo rainforest. As I am typing this, it is still painful.

Nonetheless, week two is done. Hallelujah!

Under Armor – Silvia July 13, 2008

Yesterday I went sports bra shopping. This is a necessary evil if you are bouncing your girls on a regular basis. I am endowed with size D breasts. Before you become envious of my hooters, keep in mind that these are not the perky Barbie Doll breasts, like the ones that had guys drooling when they watched the Baywatch lifeguards run along the beach. Mine are more like the National Geographic kind. You know what I am talking about. The kind that hang to your knees. Yup, my boobs hang low and they wobble to and fro and I can tie them in knot and I can tie them in bow and when I run I wish I could throw them over my shoulder. Oh, not so jealous now are we?

So, I am in the running section at Dick’s Sporting Goods and I look at the colorful cute tank tops made from fabric that wisks away mositure to keep you dry and fresh. Some, even have built in support. OK – false advertising there, there’s barely enough “support” to support my nipples. I move away and gander over to the colorful sports bras. The kind you see women runners wear during races and on the streets nowadays. These are the closest things that women have to going shirtless. They are so cute – colorful patterns, sporty colors, racer backs. I remember when Brandi Chastain took her shirt off after the win in soccer to reveal her sports bra and the controversy it caused. We’ve come a long way baby. Now, Women wear them everywhere in athletic events. I tried one of those kind once. I looked like I stuck an extra large Chipotle Burrito on my chest. I move away reluctantly to the ugly bra section.

Bras for women like me are not pretty. They come in white, black, or pink. No sporty colors or designs that make you feel like an athlete. They look like maternity bras. They have huge wide straps and built in wires and seams everywhere. The bonus is that that seams are covered with extra padding to prevent chaffing. Oh joy, oh bliss. I pick out my size and buy it. A young guy is at the checkout counter and I see him struggle as he lifts the huge bra and puts it into the bag. When I get home I try it on (I know you should do that at the store, but I don’t). I strap myself into the armor and feel like I am ready for a jousting battle not a nimble foot race. Nonetheless, my girls feel supported. I put on my baggy cotton T-shirt ( I can’t wear the thin breathable shirts because all the wires and seams of my bra show through) and no one is the wiser. Don’t worry world, I won’t be pulling a Brandi after a race.

July 10, 2008 Kirsten and Silvia July 10, 2008

July 10, 2008

Do you love food? Would you run a marathon just to eat a cheeseburger? Well, we would. And we are. That’s why we run. To eat. To drink. It makes us merry. This blog will document the trials and tribulations of two teachers training for their first marathon.

We taught summer school together and discovered a mutual passion for food and distaste for running. We put our love-hate relationship to good use and decided to run in our first marathon, the PF Chang’s rock and Roll Marathon in Phoenix, AZ, January 2009. Let the countdown begin.

Welcome to hell. Hell is the commitment we made to running in order to prepare ourselves for a marathon. We concocted this idea of running a marathon in a freak moment of insanity.  One afternoon, while snacking after a day of teaching summer school, we lamented over the fact that we can’t eat what we want without seeing it on our thighs. We both run. Sort of. (If you call an occasional 3 miles at about a 10-11 minute pace, running – and we bring our dogs with us because they have to stop to poop and that means we get a  break). We run, not because we love running but because we love eating. Running is a necessary evil.

So we came up with a brilliant idea…let’s train for a marathon so we can eat what we want! Brilliant. We read that you get to eat 2000 calories plus 100 for every mile you run. Per DAY! So that’s what we will do. Eat and run. Run and eat. This blog will document the journey of two ordinary teachers in pursuit of the ultimate goal of eating a cheeseburger and fries at the finish line.

Silvia is 41 and teaches middle school in Cleveland, OH. She is 5′6″ and weighs 160 pounds. She is married to Richard and they have a border collie named Barclay. Silvia has an eighteen year old son, Alex, who will be a Sun Devil in the fall and will be cheering her on on Phoenix. Kirsten, 24, teaches Kindergarten in Lexington, KY. She is 5′8″ and weighs 147 pounds. Her significant other is Nick. She has two dogs, Bauer and Daisy.