From 0 to 26.2

I FINISHED, or should I say WE finished!  

It's been a week since I crossed the finish line and I finally have some time to sit and put it into words.  This will be a no picture post, I am working on putting the pictures into a video to share which I already titled: A Journey from 0 to 26.2!

A week ago Friday we packed up and headed out on our way to Chattanooga.  Before we left I grabbed my Lovenox shot and debated for a moment why I didn't pick a marathon less than four hours away, but that faded, I jabbed the shot in my stomach and got in the car.  One thing that scared me is that the Lovenox shots make me dizzy and give me a horrible headache for anywhere from 12 to 24 hours, it was 2:00 pm on Friday.

We arrived in Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia to an amazing house 600 feet from the start line of the race.  The entire family was staying in this historic house that used to be the band barracks in the war.  It was awesome.  After dinner and some chatting I headed to bed.  Not a lot of sleep to be had but enough.  At about 2:30 am I was awakened by my niece yelling for her mom and realized my headache was gone, Praise the Lord!

6:30 am Saturday morning, I was up and getting ready.  It was awesome because we would usually be headed to the parking lot, but this time we were taking our time since we were walking to the race!  I kissed the hubs and Will and headed that way with enough GU for the trip!

The cannon went off and off we went.  I ran with my mom for about 6 miles until the half marathoners took a turn and went on my way.  Mile 6 to 13 were horrible, I wanted to quit but figured it was fear and kept running.  At 14 my legs found themselves and I felt great.  I passed the 15.5 mile mark where I DNF'd in 2008 and thanked God for strength to press on.  Miles came and went and it was awesome.  

22.5 miles, where did that wall come from? I hit it and kept plugging!  God blessed me with the peace to find my groove, I got into the music and ran ahead.  At 25.5 I saw my dad waiting, I was literally dancing to Lady Gaga I was so excited I was almost there!  

Right at about 26 miles you round the turn to head down the hill to the finish line.  That is when I saw him, Will came running up the road to dad and I.  He jumped in my arms and ran the rest of the way with me.  I was holding back the tears only because I still needed to breathe!

We ran by my family and my sister's great friends and through the finish line!  26.2 miles done!  On March 22nd, 2010 I couldn't run 2 feet, on November 10th, 2012 I ran 26.2 miles.  I am not embarrassed by my time, it took me 5 hours and 15 minutes, by far my slowest but more importantly my most meaningful 26.2 miles ever.  God is good!

Hebrews 12:1 "....let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross..."

2 Miles. Really?

Tonight my training plan called for a 2 mile run, yep two! And yes in third grade I nervously misspelled the word two in the spelling bee, and I cried! So tonight, being a good follower of the plan, I set out to run two miles, four loops around the neighborhood, BORING!

I will confess, as I got dressed I was debating the worth of this run. In fact it took me longer to get all my clothes on than it did to run, four boring circles around the neighborhood with the dog!  But as I ran it came to me, this was huge, yep this two mile run was huge!  

As I rounded the last corner tears came to my eyes.  Not because i was crying from boredom or crying from fatigue, but because I realized that a couple years ago I was longing to run two miles and I couldn't run two feet.  I was terrified that I may never run again.P

So tonight, I ran two miles, it started out dull but ended in a wave of emotions.  18 weeks of training has gone by and this two mile run was my shortest but one of my most meaningful runs.  I would have done anything to run those two miles years ago, and tonight they wrap up training to run 26.2 miles on Saturday, God is good!

1 MORE WEEK!

 

This morning it was a chilly 30 something in Asheville!  I got up a little later thanks to the darkness and the cold (and the hubs being home for the morning) and headed to my last Saturday run before the race.  I was alone, one of those weekends everyone had some different Saturday schedules.

 

This week has been a bit tough, my mind has played some games along with the weather!  All week my leg has hurt, its been a little swollen, breathing hasn't been the best, a cold came around, and my right abdominal region started to hurt.  These are things I never used to worry about, but now I am no longer the healthy 31 year old that runs marathons, I am the healthy 31 year old that runs marathons but has a history of a massive blood clot.  I have learned to take it easy though and see how it goes, nothing has gotten worse so I keep on going. 

 

This morning was my last Saturday taper before race week, 8 miles, and it felt amazing!  I love running in the cold once I get started, my leg loves it too!  And I got to look at this sunrise for about 4 miles!

 

So now I sit and look ahead, I am a week away from the day I have been training for since 18 weeks ago, the day I have longed for since 2.5 years ago, and the day that I thought may never come again. 

 

I am thankful, I am so nervous, I am so excited, I am so blessed!

 

A couple prayer requests (small ones at that):

 

That my leg holds up

That the weather stays cool (preferably nothing above 55:-)

That my mind not get the best of me

And that I NEVER forget to say thank you for each step I take!

 

All the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path I tread!

Ah the Taper!

 

Well, I have officially made it, to the taper!  I'm not usually good about the taper, I get stir crazy, but this time, I am thrilled!  My leg is ready for a break before the big day in 2 weeks!  I can't believe it!

 

 

I have now run two 18 mile runs.  The first one rocked, the second one was tough but I had great company!  I decided against 20 miles due to the recovery time of my leg.  Its all about heart at that point anyway!

 

So here I am 2 weeks from the day I have longed for.  And here are some thoughts:

1. I am at the point where 3 mile runs are harder than 12!

2. I have now run farther than I ever dreamed since having Will

3. I have enjoyed friends and family during many runs

4. My leg is making it, swollen but getting it done

5. Asheville decided to get hot this week and scared me until I saw the cold for next week!  I need cold on race day!

6. God is good, all the time!

 

I am so excited and nervous all the same, but I know that it will be mostly a mind game, and that no matter what, I have accomplished more than I ever imagined with this leg!

A Long Way Down the Road

Its been a while since I posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been running!  It means I have been juggling a full time job, mommyhood, and the increasing miles of marathon training.  I am loving every minute!

 

Just a review of the last few weeks, I have hit almost every run except one weekend, a light weekend, that my leg wasn't feeling it.  So I went a few miles short.  I ran my longest run since December of 2008, 16 miles, and it felt awesome.  I actually cried a couple of times it was so amazing.

 

So...present day....this was a big week, lots of miles, long midweek run, and a big run today.  But first I want to set the stage, to try and give you a sense of why this marathon training and hopefully marathon on November 10th is such a big deal and what it feels like to me.

 

2.5 years ago I cried at the thought of having to get up and walk across our house (small house too) because it hurt so bad to move my leg.  2.5 years ago, I screamed in anger because I didn't even have a desire to take the BOB out, I put Will in the tiny Graco frame and cried at the pain of walking 20 feet around the cul-d-sac.  A week later I had surgery, my leg was stiff and it hurt to walk.  I cried some more.  At that point I was in a daze of anger and hurt, I wasn't even thinking about not running again, running seemed like such a crazy thing to even have a desire to do.

 

But then I began to wonder, would I ever run again, would I be able to run a 5K.  A marathon was not a consideration.  I had given up on trying.  Then I gradually checked off some miles, some small races, some short distances, still not thinking long because it was hard enough to move my numb leg 3 miles. 

 

Then February of 2012 came, yep 2 years later almost, and I signed up for a full marathon in November.  That same month I ran a half, it was great but I thought to myself, I still never foresee running that full, I will probably end up doing the half.

 

Training came in July, I started checking off the weeks one at a time.  Things were going well.  Today was going to be the big deal, 18 miles!  I knew if I could do it, I had great chances to attempt 26.2 in November.  So here is how today went down:

 

I rolled out of bed at 5:30 to meet my dad downtown Asheville at 6:30.  He took me through the hills of downtown and then we headed to the Asheville flat lands.  Weather was great, things were good.  At about mile 12 my mind began to get the best of me, I was having a hard time breathing, my leg hurt, it was huge, but I wasn't ready to quit.  By the grace of God I kept going.  I began to cry, my dream was coming closer.

 

I had a hill to climb at 16 to about the 18 mile mark.  It was rough, but every time I thought about what I was working for, I teared up.  The last 20 feet I began to cry again until I realized I couldn't cry and breath at one time:-)  I made it and there were mom and dad at the finish.  I am on my way to November 10th with one more long run!

 

Overall this was my thought today, I told myself this many times, "It isn't supposed to be easy anymore, because if it was easy, I would give myself the credit.  Since it is hard, I can only credit one person, and that is the Lord himself who has allowed me to make it so far from 2.5 years ago."

 

And a HUGE side note: my mom ran the longest run of her life today: 9 MILES GO MOM!

 

A scene from my midweek run:



By Grace.....

Today, by grace, I ran farther than I have since December 2008.  Now, let me back track a bit....

 

The last couple weeks have been a little rough on the marathon training.  Most of my runs have been completed but here is a brief re-cap of the last couple of weeks: Sick child, tired momma, husband working on long run days, rain, bear fears and more. 

 

But we pressed on and completed the big stuff and plodded through the little!  Then yesterday hit, I made my medium and medium long runs this week (missed the 3 miler) and had high hopes to run the weekend long run.  Friday came, looking pretty good.  Then Friday went like this: stop by CVS to get some stuff to help Will with some toileting stuff, go help Will, call the doctor due to his cold and running ear, told to go to the doctor, go to the doctor to hear: Pneumonia and a tube falling out, go to Walgreens to get the meds, car starts smelling in the Walgreens parking lot and is on HOT!  Mom comes to get us, we get home with meds and onward. 

 

So now I am tired and all I want to do is sleep in with my sick little guy, but the weather is great and I want to run.  Knowing I needed a little help to stick to it, I met my dad downtown to get started.

 

6:45 am, 50's outside, PERFECT!  We left the college street parking garage and headed to the start of his race, The Asheville Half!  My dad rocks and so does every other runner who did that, man its hilly!  I opted out with my leg and headed for flat land to do my run.  I was knocking off miles with ease, faster than the entire training that started in July!  I felt great!  When I got to the turn around I thought to myself, "I am going to make it walking, running, or crawling!"  I still felt good and tears came to my eyes at the thought of what this run meant! I was going to finish a 15 MILE RUN!

 

As I made the turn up Broadway with 3 miles left, I joined some of the runners from the race, wished them well and turned up through Montford.  I cruised back to the parking garage, tears in my eyes, and thanked the Lord that I was able to run again, and that by his grace I ran farther than I had in four years.  Man it feels good.  It is also awesome to know that I am still on track to run a marathon, again, something I never thought would be back in my life after the clot.  Praise the Lord, he is good!

 

Just some updates: the leg swells and still falls asleep around 4 miles, 6 miles is easier now, my medium runs are great, and my knee is starting to bother me some due to the swelling of my leg I guess.  BUT.....it all recovers much faster than it did a month ago and no damage is being done, so I press on!

 

Dear Asheville Half: Thank you for letting me hi-jack a porta pot before my run:-)

Some Glitches and Solutions

Just an FYI first of all: this blog is not intended to be a "look what I can do" deal.  Although I have difficulty running due to my veins and leg, I always look at life and know that many others have it harder or worse than I do (I was in awe of the South African in the Olympics the other night).  This is just an encouragement to those that see running as difficult and really just a journal of a return to running I never dreamed of facing. 

Now, this entry is fun, not real serious but real in the sense of these are some things we all face in running, weight loss, life......the list goes on.  Over the last two weeks (week 2 and 3 of my training for November) I was faced with some decent sized normal life glitches and had to make do with what I could, here is what we did.

1. Vacation began with an overnight stop in Raleigh, NC where I needed to complete my 7 mile weekend run.  Rains and storms came, as did our departure from the hotel to meet the Ferry on the coast in time, not allowing me to get this run completed.  I was unable to do it a day early due to Austin's work schedule and my inability to push Will 7 miles in the stroller in the heat.

Solution: 7 miles is a very doable run for me, so I missed it and rather than stressing, realized that some runs are missed an it is okay.

2.  Vacation on Ocracoke Island began and lasted for a wonderful week!  It was hot, really hot, and humid, even at the crack of dawn.  I told my dad on one run, if I had to run in this kind of weather all summer, I would quit.  Thankfully in Asheville, I don't have to!  But I had 4 runs to complete during vacation so again, solution follows.

Solution: Got up as early as possible (other than one crazy day I decided to meet my family at the beach after a run in full sun at 10:30 a.m. when it was SO HOT and HUMID) and ran.  Realized that time didn't matter (never does to me anymore) and walk breaks would be frequent, but the miles were completed!  Cross trained on the off days, enjoying the scenery of a 22 mile bike ride!

3.  Return from vacation tired AND the little guy got Croup!  I got my run in Tuesday but Wednesday turned sour as Will was very sick and didn't sleep much Wednesday night (and if you are a parent you know that means no sleep for you!).  We got a run in Wednesday before he got too sick, then he promptly puked and had a high fever.  He is still recovering!

Solution: Thursday Austin worked all day, my mom had an encounter with a bear on the trails I usually hit in the evening, and Will was too sick to go out.  So I went as close to hell as I can think of and ran circles around the neighborhood, 6 times, to complete Thursdays run!

As of now we are back on track, other than finding a time to go 10 this weekend when someone can be with Will (Austin has a big tourney this weekend)!  Running is great, but we are often faced with weather changes, life changes, and other things that cause us to have to be creative.  Stick with it, and you will be okay!  Its worth the fight!

Crazy 8's 8K!!!

My sister found this race and called the family to sign up, the Crazy 8's 8K in Kingsport, TN.  It looked like a lot of fun, run at 9:58 at night, 8K, in a Crazy 8 race course pattern.  Sounded pretty cool.  Even better to me, the 20ish dollar entry fee a week before the race!  Once she and I nailed down the details of the husbands staying home with the kids, we signed up like old times, just Ash, Mom, Dad and myself.  And boy am I glad we did!

We drove the 1.5 hours over to Kingsport to get to the race venue to pick up our packets.  I kind of thought being there an hour and a half before the race was a little crazy (this is when packet pick up ended) but there was plenty of people watching to be done!  We also raided the Foot Rx booth and walked out like bandits!

The race starts and finishes at a high school about 10 times the size of my entire K-12 school with a football/baseball stadium that looked like a college!  Everything pre-race was so well organized!

Here we are before the race

A view of the stadium and finish line

We walked down to the start to watch Neil's walk and enjoyed listening to those involved in the cause for the race.  I am always a fan of races that support foundations that are local.  After chilling for a bit, we headed down to the start line with about 2500 other people.  It was a cool atmosphere. 

We said our goodbyes to Dad as he lined up closer to the Ethiopians and Kenyans than we did and we headed back to pad the pack.  This is a fast 8K and holds the world record for the time so many folks come out to try and break it.  We were not some of those folks:-)

I have been in a lot of races, big and small, and have never witnessed a crowd that could be so quiet during the prayer, national anthem, and moment of silence for our troops.  After the prayer, an "Amen" was shouted with great joy by many people, we were amazed.  I am a believer, and I was shocked at the beautiful prayer and the response of the participants. 

The gun went off and we did the shuffle to the start line that felt a bit like the childhood "red light green light game."  Then we were off.  The race was flat for us Asheville folks, a few gradual hills.  Music, fans, water, luminaries, bongo drums, and other things kept us plugging. 

Ash, Mom and I started together and enjoyed the first couple miles.  The heat came as did the humidity and the race got a little tough.  Water stops were prevalent and well manned, the crowd of runners never really thinned too much. 

At the 3 mile mark you pass back by the finish and through a crowd of people to head to the second portion of the Crazy 8.  This is where we thinned a bit, up a long gradual hill but inspired by the fast fast people headed down toward the finish.  We looped around knowing we got the same downhill soon.

Ash and I stuck together, I think we both wanted to slow down but we kept going knowing we were almost there.  She kept telling me to go on if I needed to, I kept the pace knowing she wouldn't let me get too far:-) which would get her to the finish faster than thought!

We reached the downhill and continued to struggle, she said her face was numb, my leg was numb, we both wanted to puke.  When the finish is that close you just keep plugging away!  I think I lost about half of my water weight from the humidity but continued on. 

At the finish you make a right hand turn up a hill, cheered on by spectators and finished runners.  It is a short hill before you turn into the stadium to finish on the field.  I had Ash on my heels, saw Dad (he had gone to the hotel and showered and had a meal:-), waved, and he cheered Ash on!

Into the stadium we went with a great finish!  As I meandered through the crowds to get Ash and I water, I came back to find Mom and Ashley.  Dad was walking down the finish chute looking at the runners.  He had missed me!  All night we had joked I was the brightest dressed one in the bunch!  No hard feelings dad, he just thought the heat had gotten to my leg:-)

Here we are after the race, sweaty but pleased!

 Ash with two medals, one for each kiddo back home!

So overall, awesome race!  Be prepared for the humidity and heat.  Enjoy the crowds, music and organization!  The glow in the dark medals and the tech shirts are amazing, especially for such an inexpensive entry!  We will be doing this race again!

A Lot of Time Has Gone By!

Welcome back!  A lot of time has gone by since my last post, a lot of ups and downs and all arounds!  Needless to say, I am still running and doing well!  I hit the "magical" two year mark in April when the doctors said my leg would be "fully healed" and my compression sock would not be necessary on a regular basis.  So here is the update on where we stand with the sock!

I do feel a major improvement in all areas of living with my leg.  I am "sockless" during day to day activities which means the Daisy Dukes are back! Kidding.  However, I still wear the sock when I exercise, it swells up entirely too much and hurts even more if I don't use it.  So...its still me in my compression pants and my one black sock!  Running is still hard with my leg but the good news, I am doing it and I am doing more than ever in the last two years. The final verdict was that I would be able to use my leg as "normal" but it will only function to about 75% of a normal capacity.  When my oxygen levels are deprived (i.e. running and breathing harder) my leg's circulation declines even more. 

I am blessed to be able to be out running and have begun the first week of an incredible journey that I hope ends in all good ways in November!  I have signed up for a race, one that will pull my body and my mind farther than I can imagine at this point.  I am ready, I have begun training, and I am excited.  My disclaimer....I am fully prepared but not settling on a taking a lesser distance to this race.  I signed up for 26.2 miles of beauty in the battlefield of Chickamauga knowing that I would train for it but will be okay if I have to back off to the 13.1 mile option of the race. 

So let the fun begin and here is to hoping for the best!