running is like a drug to me

Hello, my name is Mickey and I'm a running addict.

I have never been tempted to try illegal drugs or to take a sip of an alcoholic drink. But I have most defiantly found a high when I go running. I have often heard it called "a runner's high" and I thank the Lord for it's blessing in my life.

I am so amazed at the euphoric feeling I get when I am out on the open road running. I love to feel the earth beneath my feet. I love to breath in the fresh air as I rejuvenate my lungs. I love to feel alive.

Today's run was short and sweet, yet I felt good all day about going out.

MY HALF MARATHON PRINCESS

I want to congratulate my Half Marathon Princess. Mickey finish her first half marathon today. I will let her tell you the story. I just want to be like a peacock and puff up my feather that Mickey finish the Half Marathon. As many of you know that is a hard task, and from were Mickey has come from in this journey just make me so proud of her. I want her to always know that I have had faith in her all the way. I think when Mickey sets her mind to anything she can get it done no matter the task. For Mickey this is probably her greatest accomplishment in her life expect give birth to for kids in her life, because of what it took for her to get here. She is my inspiration, and I am proud of Mickey for running in the half Marathon, and for also losing 70 pounds along the way. I want the world to know I am proud of my Half Marathon Princess, and I love her With ALL my Heart.

update: yes i am still here...preparing for slc half

Okay so the last time I ran before my injury peaked and I finally stopped running and went to see a podiatrist was Tuesday February 9th. Today is Tuesday April 13. Six weeks after I was "grounded" from running I went out again for the first time. It was like stepping onto the ice of a frozen lake, hoping it wasn't going to break. Well, I didn't break I was okay. I was running. Sure I'd listened to the Doctor and went running at the high school track, where I could take advantage of the spongy track. It was so nice. I took it really easy. Nice and slow. Four times around the track and then I stopped. The hardest thing about overcoming my injury has been stopping myself when I could have just keep on running. But I feel that I have prepared my body for a steady continuation of healing with my choices.

I have been slowly building up my mileage again and I have continued to cross train with biking, swimming and yoga. I am now four days away from running my first half marathon and I get quite nervous from time to time. I'll get a little butterfly or two in my tummy and feel a bit queasy even at times, yet I am totally excited and I know that I will be able to finish the race no matter what the time and whether or not I'll have to walk some of it. I am totally prepared to listen to my body and respond accordingly. There is one thing I do not wish to do, and that is to hurt myself even further. This half is about finishing what I started. My next half will be about improving my time. I think I'm going to choose the Provo River Half Marathon, more to come on that note.

aqua running, ever heard of it?

I had not. But my dear friend Donna sent me an email a couple of days ago and it was fascination to me. You can find the link here. As you all know I have not been running since my doctor "grounded" me. It has been really hard to obey and listen, yet I know my foot is healing. Every morning it is less painful and really for the most part it feels good.

Today I went to the gym and gave deep water running a try, and it was AWESOME!!! I was really excited when Donna sent me the article on Wednesday and I was ready to give it a try. Then I cut my finger on the edge of a pasta sauce can and decided that it needed a few days to heal. It's feeling much better today and so I got in the pool.

First I collected all the necessary gear. The gym already has the gear, so that makes it really nice. Did I mention I LOVE my gym membership? Anyhow I got a flotation belt, ankle weights and hand weights. This workout truly proved intense. I have missed my daily [6 out 7 days anyway] runs. But today I felt "alive" again and I have to admit it, I cried. Running has meant so much to me to have it taken away has been difficult, to say the least.

I was amazed that the aqua running was so intense. I could truly feel myself mimicking the same use of muscles as running on the ground, without the impact factor that is. It was great! I will definitely be returning to the pool to run again soon!

what's the one word a runner never wants to hear?

Injury!

Yeah so that's what's happened to me, and since then I have had a hard time even wanting to blog.

I have Plantar Fasciitis which is common among runners, so I am learning. Even my doctor had it when he played college football. It is curable, without surgery too hopefully, but takes time.

My foot and heel and even ankle have been bothering me for quite some time. I've always been able to "handle" the pain or by allowing it to warm up I could then feel relief. The worst time of the day is first thing in the morning when I'd try to get out of bed. Other times of noted pain have been after I've sat for a long time or even been standing too long. I have even felt the pain during the first 8-9 minutes of my run, until my foot/ankle/heel would warm up. Stretching would and has helped too.

Well, about a week and a half ago (February 10th) the pain topped the charts, I felt crippled as I tried to get out of bed that morning. After running 4 miles the previous day, followed by a Zumba class and then Yoga that night I could barely walk that next morning. So, like a child who is in trouble I called my running buddy Donna asked her for the number of her Podiatrist. They got me in that morning, thank heaven. I walked into my the doctor's office with my head hung low, because I knew I was in trouble. I was informed that my left leg is shorter than my right and that is where my injury all started. I was informed that the band of tissue between my toes and my heel is supposed to support the arch in my foot, and because of my leg being shorter that foot was taking the brunt of the hits while running. So I've torn my ligament to the point of swelling and intense pain. The x-rays were positive, no bone injury. Phew, hopefully healing time quicker. When did performed an ultrasound he said the plantar fascia is usually 3.1mm and mine was more than double at 6.7mm. No wonder it hurts. He told me they'd help me get back to running so I could still do my half marathon (thank goodness.) They casted me for orthotics and taped my foot. which really did help. I know it's helped not running too, but I miss it really bad.

I have been moping around lately, not really liking being what I call "grounded." My doctor said I had to stop running and could only ride the bike or elliptical. The elliptical proved more painful, so I've been racking up the miles on the bike at the gym. I should be keeping track of my miles, I'm sure I'm on my way to 100! One thing about biking you sure add up miles faster than running, but I wouldn't trade running for the bike. Sorry Mike. I am totally excited for your 200 miler by the way. You have my vote of confidence and encouragement.

So, I will no longer sulk and start posting here again. I have plenty of ideas about posts I want to write, some about runs I've done and yet to write about. Others I've referred to in earlier posts.

Thanks for visiting and and thanks for listing.

Yet another lesson I've learned from my old running shoes...NEVER RUN IN WORN OUT SHOES!!! I've been running with really worn out running shoes, not a GOOD idea at all...did you see them in my pictures above? Yup those are it. I was waiting for the cash to buy new shoes, next time I'll save way in advance!

running with jenny

Last Saturday January 30th my sister in law joined me on my 8 mile run. We had a great time. We talked and shared while ran, of course. It was fantastic to run with her. I wish we lived closer and could run more often. Nonetheless I will always treasure our time together.

The day was nice and crisp. I wasn't as nervous about running 8 miles because I'd done it before. [I have been buliding up my mileage to prepare for the Salt Lake City Half over the past 6 weeks. I am currently in week 7 of my training.] I think that when I have a new mileage coming up I get a little worried, and nervous. I guess it's because I've never done it, but once it's done, I'm proud of myself and my confidence grows.

Jenny had to head out at mile 4 to do some visiting. [You can only fit so much into a vacation.] I conintued onward and completed my course in a pleasing time.

One lesson I've learned from my old running shoes is that no matter how many miles seperate me from the ones I love, I will always be able to run with them in my heart. And sometimes by my side.

Thanks Jenny so much for running with me, I loved it!

welcome

Greetings to readers far and near, wherever you may be. This is a blog where I can share my life as a runner. I am not a seasoned runner, rather I would call myself a novice runner. My life as a runner began in 2006. I was given a book from a dear friend of mine called Running with Angels

As I began to read Pamela Hansen's story I marveled at the trials this woman had been called to bear. Throughout her life as a young mother she experienced so many life changing loses and trials. I began to emphasizes with her and as she wrote of her feelings about herself and the body she felt trapped in, I too felt the same way. Her words rang true in my mind and heart. I understood the vicious cycle of eating for no reason, then feeling horrible about it thus eating to try to feel better. I nodded as I continued to read her story, I too felt the same way. I struggled as I tried to find out why I had this addiction to food. I had not suffered as she had in so many ways. I came to realize that it would take me some time to find out why I used food to medicate myself. It has only been recently that I have learned this, which I will write of in another post.

Throughout my adult life I have exercised on and off. I have been a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers since 1995, but I have struggled to get back to my goal weight since being married in 1999. One day after talking with my brother [who has always been the "thin" sibling in our family] about his ability to keep himself in shape he said something to me that has always stuck with me. He said "Find something you love and DO IT, whatever IT is." I will never forget that. He said he loves to run, so he runs. He loves to hike, so he hikes. He loves to rock climb, and so he does it. At the time it seemed like such a simple principle, but what was I going to love and thus continue doing?

After being inspired by Pamela's story I gave running a try. I never thought I could learn to love running. My brother loved it, but I really didn't think I could. At the time I couldn't see how anyone loved or could even like running. Pamela's story gave me just the boost that I needed. So out I went. I'd been a walker for years, so I knew I could do that. I went out to walk, and decided I would give jogging a try. I told myself to take it easy, so I just tried jogging a short distance. Pretty soon I had myself worked up to the distance between phone polls. I have to say, living in a small country town that distance was a feat! But by small and simple things, great things came to pass. Before I knew it I had signed myself up for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Race for the Cure. It was going to be on May 13, 2006. I continued my training, until the big day came. I still remember crossing the finish line seeing my husband and three small children cheering me on. It was the most incredible feeling I had ever felt. I had set out with a goal to finish the race and I did it. I ran that race alone, taking time to jog and then walk. I found that the intervals helped me accomplish my goal. I can still remember that feeling of complete exhaustion, yet elation.

Reflecting back over the past four years I can honestly say that my running was a lot like that first race. I had times where I'd be really consistent and then not some much. Intervals of commitment, I guess. But something changed within me this last year [2009] I think it started with joining Gold's Gym. I'd never been a member of a gym before, but upon joining I fell in love. It was a place that I could go, to put myself first, and exercise! It has a playroom for the kids and lots of places for mommy to "play" too! I found treadmills, elliptical machines, and stationary bikes some of my new toys. The pool was a definite bonus too! Last summer I fell in love with Yoga and Pilate's too! That will be saved for another post. All in all I was making great strides in my commitment to exercise.

It wasn't until I made a connection with one of my mother's brothers, who is a runner, that I truly started to RUN. By this I mean I started realize that running was something that made me feel alive. It made me challenge myself, and as I set small goals I started to trusted myself as I accomplished them. This brought about major changes in my life. Once again I would like to talk about this in another post.

As I learned from my uncle to log my miles I have found it a great resource to reflect on how far I have come, and how far I have yet to go.