New to Blogspot

I am a newcomer to this site. My running partner Dori told me about this great spot to post my thoughts about my runs and so forth. A great place to spew about running in general.

I have a husband that I drive literally crazy with my rantings of my "tails from the trails." He doesn't always like to hear about every moment or every thing that I see or do on my runs. He is not a runner and considers what I do as "uneccessary abuse to the body." I don't find that very comforting. The only person who really relates is my oldest son. He shares my passion for running. A story that I will share at a later time. He's quite a gifted runner and I am very proud of his recent accomplishments!! The two of us could sit and talk about running and racing for hours. It's a passion, what can I say : )

You see, I'm one of those running junkies. Been running since I was a little thing. I'm 44 now and can't see myself quitting any time soon. I've put in more miles than I can count over the past two years than in previous years of my life and this time I feel like I'm doing it right. It's great to remember what the word "consistent" means. I truly owe Dori for that one. She names the time and place and I'm there. I don't care what the weather is or what the distance and terrain is. It's the joy of it. I truly love the company and the fact that I still can (run that is). However sometimes I think that I drive her crazy with my endless chatter. I know she misses it when she is alone on those REALLY long runs and it is REALLY windy and hilly. My chatter can be a blessed distraction!!

I met Dori just over a year ago through a local group called the "I Hate to Run Club." I don't hate to run but after being forced to take some time off because of an injury, I had to start somewhere. I instantly bonded with her and another girl (M.A.). We run in all kinds of weather and never stand each other up. In the past, I've had training partners who were inconsistent, rude, full of themselves, etc., etc. It's really nice to belong to a group that is all after the same thing and we all click. We've had some fantastic rave runs and some runs from hell. But we still come back for more. Dori doesn't run at the same pace I do but that doesn't matter. On the days that I run alone, I run at my pace. I don't mind running slower when we are together. I want to help her to run faster and achieve her goal. I know she can do it even if she thinks otherwise sometimes. Anything is possible....

My goal right now is to try and qualify for Boston whether this year or next or when I'm 90! I've had the dream of running Boston for as long as I can remember. I should have ran it when I was younger. I had a better chance of qualifying. Now I'm a bit scared to try and commit again. I've already ran two marathons (both Rock n Roll Phoenix) had bad experiences, and wasn't thrilled with my times.

The first marathon I overtrained and ended up with plantar "pain in the butt" facsitis and during the second I ended up with a severe case of the "runs." Came on somewhere in mile four. I ended up using every port-a-potty from mile 7 through mile 22. A terrible experience! We all know that the farther you get into a race the more disgusting the out houses get!! I still can't stomach using one!! I still get flashbacks from that day. I had trained really hard for that race and my expected finish time was supposed to be 4:15. I finished in 5:03. Very disappointing to say the least...I should have been happy with that time seeing all the pit stops I made. But I wasn't. I expect too much of myself sometimes and sometimes I can be very hard on myself.

I continued to train through another year and signed up for the Las Vegas Marathon. I was in very good condition and again expected to finish around 4:00 or 4:15. About three weeks before the race, I started having issues with my left calf. It felt like a real bad charlie horse. I took it easy but didn't think I could do the marathon. I ended up switching to the half at the last minute. Race morning I felt invinsible. About two miles into the race I got the cramp back. Thank God I had wrapped it for support or I would have been done for right then and there. It was extremely painful which caused me to run with a strange stiff legged limp. I told myself to just run right through. No pit stops for water...nothing. I ended up having a great time that race. The pressure was off. I met some great people, ran with Elvis...actually five of them. Their goal was to find the next bloody mary stand which was humorous to me. I almost felt like joining them but remembered my goal was to just finish. I did but not in record time.

When I returned back home, I later found out that I had torn a muscle in my calf and should not have been running period! My calf swelled up and was black and blue. Took weeks for it to go down. Was pretty comical watching me go down our stairs at home backwards!! I pretty much threw in the towel at that point. Felt like I had bad running karma or a little black cloud floating over my head. I was depressed. Running shouldn't be this hard and I felt as if I had been doing everything wrong and for all the wrong reasons. I decided that a break was in order. Little did I know that the break would turn into almost two years.

During that time, my family had to deal with my strange ups and downs. This is something that anyone who is a runner can relate to. I call it the "runner's withdrawal syndrome." I was literally driving myself crazy. No other sport seemed to provide me with the same kind of therapy that running provides. It's my meditation time....my time to be creative...my bitching session. Some of my best glass designs have came to me while running (I'm a stained glass artist when not running). I decided that it was time for me to get back into it no matter what my hang up.

So, here I am. The only thing that I need to address is the "little black cloud" feeling that I still get when committing myself to a race. I'm afraid that something will prevent me from running my best again. I hate disappointment but know that life is always full of disappointments. It's how we pick ourselves up and continue that counts.

So with that said, I signed up for a 10K race at the end of the month and the Women's Nike Half Marathon in October. I haven't official committed myself yet but would like to run the California Marathon (in Sacramento). I'm attacking this with a different attitude. As I mentioned earlier, I lost my prospective as to why I run. I'm keeping that in mind as I train over the next couple of months. My son has become my biggest supporter, and my inspiration. I know with some patience and kindness towards myself I will achieve the goals I set. Maybe being so critical has been my downfall in the first place. I'll just have to wait and see what plays out.