Day 117 of 127 (countdown to 1/17/10)

10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 and it will be here!

I am getting excited now! I see a comment from my last blog from Barb..
one of my faithful followers - thanks Barb for your encouragement and support!
I can tell you that this journey has come with some good training runs, some bad training runs, and some very funny stories and adventures. It has been time consuming and rewarding as well. It has come with some soreness and some real "hurts - so - good" moments as well.

I was at a running store the other day and some young, cute "kid" was helping me out.
When we shared that we would both be running on the 17th, I said my goal was to finish.
He said "To Finish is to WIN"! I think that is a great sentiment to remember when I worry about the time I will finish in. The goal is to finish and "to finish is to WIN".
Yea... my dream is to finish at or under 4:15 or 4:22 and be happy with a 4:30 or less.
But.... I will continue to say over and over again... "TO FINISH IS TO WIN, TO FINISH IS TO WIN, TO FINISH IS TO WIN..."

this leads me to my "powerplay tune of the day"
Don't Stop Believing by Journey. The link is to the original Steve Perry (early 80's baby) version of the song and continues with the newest singer of the group, Arnel Pineda's version.
I choose Steve Perry's version ... You? This amazing song will help me through the rough patches of the race (like when I hit the wall) or when I just need some extra motivation!
"Don't stop believing... hold on to your dreams yeah"

I've got a short run later today, another this weekend and then a couple shorties next week.

Until next time - Kelly

p.s... see my little 20 mile success happy dance video below!

Day 111 of 127 (countdown to 1/17/10)

It is soo nice to be tapering and backing off of those long, ongoing training runs.
Actually, I only ran once during the week (a recovery run after the long 20 last Sat) and then today I ran 6 miles. It was actually very sunny and warm (almost too warm) and I ran without my running partner so it was a challenging run. Also, I think that I am still recovering from that long run last week. I have a pain in my foot tonight (which I have iced) ... it is time to get this damn marathon over with! I have a ton of great memories from the long 18 weeks of training and a lot of great "power tunes" that have helped me through all of the runs.

I downloaded some new tunes and my favorite is Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run"!
Wow.... that should be in every runner's iPod or mp3 player.

Until next time... Kelly

Back to my blog again... I am glad to be back in the routine.
I am in "week 15" and it will culminate with a l o n g 20 mile run.
I ran 5.25 miles on Tuesday, 6.25 miles on Wednesday and 6 miles today.
I will take a couple of days off before tackling the long training run.

My running partner and I had a rather challenging run today...
I reminded her "that every training run is different" and we persevered and averaged a 10 minute mile... 1 hour of our day dedicated to our goal. Because I can... I am grateful.

Had some good tunes while we ran - - the most memorable and one that I can always count on helping me to rejuvenate my run is Matchbox 20's. It is common that I will hit replay once or twice on a run and if I am on a treadmill, I will actually dance it out and air drum along.
Should be on every one's running playlist.

Today is the big X-mas holiday with the hope of a new year coming right behind it.
I am definitely looking forward to 2010!

Until next time - Kelly

Day 100 of 127 (countdown to 1/17/09)

Well it sure has been a long time that I have posted about my training...

YES - I have been training, but life got a little to busy for me and something had to give.

The documentation of my training was the "give" although I did not let the training go.

I have nearly run 300 miles in my training since September when I started and I have run a half marathon as well. I have been fortunate to escape any major injuries and have been enjoying my long training runs with Lindsay (running partner). My daughter, Hailey, is training down in Houston for the BIG event up here and will be flying up for the race.

Since my last blog, Lindsay and I have run a few very long runs with the longest being 19 miles. That was interesting, exhilarating, exhausting, exciting and FUN!?! This next weekend is the infamous week 15 and we run our L O N G 20 miler... This has been a real adventure and it is hard for me to believe that we are nearing the last month of training. Actually, I am ready for this training to be over as it is difficult to continually fit in the time to make it happen. On the other hand, the time would have passed whether I had been training or not and I would not have had the opportunity to push myself past the limits and boundaries I had put on myself in the past.

Pushing past what you thought you could do, setting a goal, making a plan and following it, realizing you can do more and endure more than you ever thought are all things that I have learned on this training journey.

The half marathon that Lindsay and I ran a couple of weeks ago was amazing... I ran my personal best for the half with just over a 9 min mile for the 13.1 miles.
You see, I ran my first half mar in Jan "08" at 2:30 min, the second half in Jan "09" at 2:14, and then this one in Dec 09 at 1:59 - WOW! I cut 1/2 hour from my time in 2 years. I have also taken off about 25+ lbs as well...

Regarding the weight.... During this training, I am eating like a horse. You would think that someone running 20-30 miles per week would be rail thin... but, not me : )
I am keeping my weight off and staying in great cardio shape... but, I am not bone thin.
After the race in January, I intend to mix it up a bit and actually shape body with some cross training and weight lifting and (of course) I will continue to run 3 to 4 days a week.

The music has continued to be a HUGE part of training for me. Last night I ran 5.25 miles at the gym on a treadmill and that is when I really blast the music and let it help me get through the boringness of running in place for that long. Last night, I enjoyed Paramore's EMERGENCY and remembered that Paramore has been on my playlist from the beginning (first & second marathon)... with MISERY and with BORN FOR THIS . That is good running music!

I will finish up this last training month with a renewed commitment to updating my BLOG while I finish up my training and run the big race on January 17th!

26.2 - I am narrowing in on you!

Day 55 of 127 (Countdown to 1/17/10)

Today is a "recovery day" after the l o n g run... it was an amazing 15 mile run through the beautiful high desert and through portions of Tonto Natl Park. My running partner, Lindsay, and I took off around 7am. We were well equipped with lots of water and some gel for much needed energy so that we could "go the distance." It took us both a while to warm up and get in the zone... but, once that took place 3 miles in, we were good to go until we made it back to the starting point. We ran a couple of miles on pavement until we hit the dirt roads of the Rio Verde Foothills. It seems rather unbelievable that we have built on our training over the past 8 weeks to the point where we are running 15 miles. We celebrated our big run with a nice juicy hamburger & a beer at Greasewood Flats. No real pain or soreness that evening or today, I consider myself lucky and prepared. Off to bed, exhaustion has set in.

I hope your training is going well... Until next time - Kelly

p.s... enjoy the pics from our run!

Day 53 of 127 (Countdown to 1/17/2010)

My training is moving right along, I am in week 8 and almost half way through the full marathon training. I can tell you that training for a full marathon is definitely more time consuming than training for a half. That seems to be the biggest challenge is fitting in the training runs.

I missed my Wednesday 7 mile run and did it yesterday. So, today is my day of rest before the

l o n g run of 15 miles tomorrow. A running partner and I will run in the Arizona high desert for this long run and we will enjoy a good, cool and brisk run with great mountain views and saguaros abound.

I will check in tomorrow and let you know how the run went.... I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your training and more importantly... enjoying your LIFE! until next time - Kelly

Day 48 of 127 (Countdown to 1/17/10)

I am posting a day after this weeks l o n g run; yesterday was my longest run yet... 14 miles.
You know what? 14 miles is a l o n g run. I made it through with the support and company of one of my running partners and her friend who was in town.

This run came after a week of my missing 2 short training runs and having a longer run on Wednesday of about 7 miles in the wind and cold. I took a break because I was feeling some pain in my right hip and right knee and didn't want to push it to a place that I couldn't run my long runs. The experts all agree that the l o n g training run is soo important in your training to meet your goal of running the marathon. You need to get use to being on your feet running for such a long period of time and put yourself in the type of situations that may occur while you running the marathon.

I can't say that running 14 miles was easy, because it wasn't, but I was prepared and got through it and although the last 2 miles was REALLY HARD... we pushed through it and didn't stop. This was my longest run to date as the longest I had run previously was the 1/2 marathon distance of 13.1 miles. So, it was a milestone for me and the folks I was running with, it was their longest runs as well. We certainly have something to be proud of... our training has taken us to new distance and next weeks 15 mile long run will be "just a mile more" than what we have already run.

Today's Tune is BELIEVE by Rob Thomas: He sings "tell me how were gonna get that far, tell me how were gonna get that far. Wait, I don't think we can make it in the world without some faith... we must BELIEVE, we must BELIEVE." I said these words out loud while I was listening to them yesterday during our run and is now my new running mantra. Believe is a bonus track on Rob Thomas' Cradlesong Album, if you download it on iTunes you can hear how great it really is. The whole album is super.

Until next time - Kelly