Marathon Day: The Last Long Run

26.2 LONG Miles are done! Thrilled to have set a goal and achieved it. It was a long training program with lots of challenges along the way, but the reward is sweet...oh so very sweet.

I am a marathon finisher...and Baby Hutch is too! Thrilled to share this first with our 11 week miracle.

And it begins

Marathon training that is. I know...how can you train for a marathon when you're still going to physical therapy twice a week.

The answer is two fold --- first I can't stay this inactive any longer. I'm going stir crazy and I'm starting to pudge up. Second, I really want to tackle the marathon distance --- at least once and since I missed Marine Corp I figured this time is as good as any other.

With that in mind the first day of the DC Road Runner 20-week spring marathon program started this Saturday. Since I was out of town I had to knock out 6-miles on my own.

Luckily, I was able to hook up with the HipAHAs to tag along for part of their 12-mile Saturday long-run. Yay!

We headed north on Coastal from Fenwick to Bethany. It was a classic brisk, but sunny fall day --- but with 25-30 mile an hour winds out of the north. There were a couple gusts that had some power to them and I was fighting to stay straight. I'm convinced we were leaning forward into the wind for three miles. Now that made for a challenging few miles. Overall I was thrilled with my pace and was able to chug along the whole time.

It's been nine weeks since my bike wreck and though I've vacillated between full-on pissed off and resolved to just dealing I learned an interesting fact while cranking out my 6-miles.

I THINK the reason I was supposed to deal with this shoulder setback was to help me reconnect with why I like training and how much running has been a key component.
I started all this madness with a challenge to myself in 2009 to tackle the Army 10-Miler and it was through running that I discovered a whole new and wonderful world.

What's the old saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder?"

Just a little green

It's really unavoidable..it's the season. It's that time of year when everyone is out getting the last bits of training in before some big race. I'll admit that I was a little envious as I watched runners jog by me this morning. And maybe that's the point of this imposed time-out. It sure does make me miss my old activities and want to get back out there. Being sidelined blows and spending this much time talking about it is getting lame.

Just a little off balance

So one thing about having a busted arm is that it throws your balance off. I'm not exactly sure how much of it is legit vs mental.

It's enough of a big deal that I'm very cautious walking up and down stairs. Basically I've turned into an old person who's nervous about breaking a hip.

So when I finally decided I was being ridiculous...I fell down the stairs. Seriously. Luckily it was only the bottom half and the stairs were carpeted, but I did slam right down on my busted arm and landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Let me tell you that hurt.

The good news is that it doesn't feel any worse, but I definitely felt the impact reverberate up through my arm and shoulder.

As I was laying at the bottom of the stairs all I could think was, "why me????" and after a few tears I just started laughing hysterically. Yes, laughing, like a crazy person.

Life's funny like that. Just when you think you have something figured out you trip over your own feet and find yourself lying in a heap. I'm not quite sure what the logic or rational could be, but maybe that's the point...there is no point or maybe this really is all part of some lesson master plan. Either way I'm trying to learn and accept that there's really nothing much I can do about it other than laugh, pick myself up and keep shuffling along.

T-minus 30 minutes to launch

That's how I felt as I was positioned in the MRI machine this morning --- but more on that in a bit.

What is totally baffling is that I spent my childhood aggressively playing numerous organized sports (soccer, swimming, tennis and volleyball) and was always hanging out with kids whose regular conversations went something like this:

• "Wanna build a ramp out of boards or snow and jump our bikes/skateboards/sleds over them?"

• "Wanna pull me behind your bike while I hold on to the seat while I'm on my skateboard?"

• "Wanna race down the street on our bikes while I sit on your handlebars?"

• "Wanna go exploring in the park/woods/creek?"

• "Wanna run around the neighborhood playing a monster game of flashlight tag?"

• "Wanna climb those fences/trees?"

In all that time I may have skinned by knees, but I never got seriously injured --- and yet later in life this old bag of bones seems to be a magnetic for injury. Figures.

So back to my Mission to Mars that's a courtesy of this bike wreck.

If you've ever had the pleasure of having an MRI you know what I mean. After removing every piece of jewelry and donning a lovely hospital gown I shoved ear plugs in my ears, got positioned on this sled-like bed and was rolled into position.

I kid you not, I felt like I was heading to the Moon w/o the proper training or gear.

The loud buzzing and beeping took some getting used to, but somehow I just closed my eyes, kept very still and in a way meditated to the sound of those buzzes and beeps. In no time the 30 minutes was up and I was heading out the door with my CD full of cool looking images.

Unfortunately, I couldn't convince the tech to tell me anything. I'm just going to have to wait until next Wednesday to learn the results. It's like discovering your Christmas gift early, but you can't figure out how to effectively open the box to see what's inside.

I'll take a Dark and Stormy

Even the most positive person has a down day and I think it's only to be expected that today is the day I was wallowing and feeling sorry for myself.

Today it rained from morning until night --- dark and storm and dreary. I've basically been stuck in bed since Saturday, I haven't gotten any physically activity since then and it is clear I won't be racing at The Nations Triathlon this year.

Today was also the day I headed to my orthopedic surgeon to discuss my busted up left arm. You may recall that the folks at Beebe Medical called me yesterday to insist that I see an ortho since after the fact they saw what appeared to be a chipped bone on my film.

After another painful and restless night that required painkillers to induce sleep, I was starting to feel beat down. The news from Beebe only helped to push me further down.

With all this as a backdrop I arrived at the doctor's office. After another set of x-rays --- and let me tell you the pain of getting that updated film was kinda awful --- it was clear that I had chipped my shoulder. Who would have thought that what appears to be a minor bone chip could cause this much pain!

The doctor then did a series of strength and flexibility tests to both my arms.

The good news --- I was stronger and had more range than he would have expected.

The bad news --- during a resistance test he was concerned with my performance and level of pain as I brought my arm back down into a neutral position. This plus the location of the chip gave him concern that I may have damaged my rotator cuff --- a much more serious injury that would require surgery.

Whaaaat???? F-ing surgery?! Now the thought of that freaked me out.

I'll find out more tomorrow after my MRI and follow-up with my ortho.

Now the danger of the unknown and having more time than you'd like to think and analyze is that you can start spinning...and that's what happened tonight.

All the "what if's" and "why me...again" started racing around --- all completely unproductive time sucks I might add. Though, I do wonder what lesson all this is intended to teach me. I've had my fair share of "coming back from adversity" stories that I would hope that I've sufficiently learned those lessons.

Given how far I've come to train for Nations and my other fall events, I have to admit that I am crushed at the thought of losing my momentum and separately missing out on the opportunity to compete, but obviously there is a reason for all of this b/c I just can't accept that life is just this f-ing random.

So after tonight --- or more realistically tomorrow after I hear the prognosis --- I'm shutting down this pity-party and harnessing my energy in a more positive direction.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Grumble Grumble

Let's start with the good news first.

1. My cuts and scrapes continue to look a lot better. I've been warned that the road rash can look worse before it gets better, but it still looks better than expected. A little ooze never killed anyone...right?

2. I woke up to find my parents at the front door with a care package full of food for the whole week and some fresh groceries. I LOVE my parents. It was so good to see them.

3. I decided to get some extra rest and stayed home today.

4. Some of my left arm's range of motion continues to improve. Yay!

Some bummer news ---

1. I've been feeling really tired and it's not a product of the pain-pills. It's really frustrating to swing from feeling pretty ok and then being so tired you can't keep your eyes open. It seems as if I can be up for 2-3 hrs before crashing for 1-2 hrs. It is a terrible cycle.

2. Trying to get comfortable --- esp at night when it's time for bed --- is pretty awful. I feel like The Princess and the Pea.

3. I keep getting email updates from The Nations Tri since the race is days away. :(

4. The biggest bummer is that at 5:30 this evening I got a call from Beebe Hospital notifying me that a specialist reviewed my ER file and believes I have some fractured/chipped bones near my shoulder. As a result, I need to see an ortho ASAP. This totally makes sense since my shoulder almost seems worse.

Again, I could be dealing with so much worse but it was a bummer to get that call.

To end this post more positively I'll note that folks have been wonderful and very supportive. It really helps to have folks check in, the offers to help and making me laugh. If I think too hard about all of this then I'll just get bummed out.

I should own stock in Neosporin

It's day three and I continue to see improvement. My road rash is drying out, which means it's itchy and a bit oozey. Lovely.

My deeper cuts are healing nicely as a result of bathing them regularly in Neosporin and keeping them covered. Check out the front of my left leg and the back of my left arm....looking so much better!


[Front of left leg]



[Left forearm]

I'm pleased to report that though my left arm muscles still hurt like crazy my range of motion is improving. I may grit my teeth, whimper at times, throw out a few curse words and move as slow as molasses, but I definitely notice improvement. I'm still not able to extend my arm fully to the side or lift it above my waist --- but that's a heck of a lot better than 48 hrs ago!

My goal is to not only rest it, but also keep getting blood in there by carefully but regularly moving it. Move it or lose it I say. I've noticed that the result of trying to be "active" is that I get really tired, really quickly. Note to self...don't over due it.

As time goes by I continue to notice little things that remind me how bad this crash and the related slide was and how freaking lucky I am. A few new observations:

. While taking a shower I noticed that the bottom of my platinum wedding band and engagement ring have noticeable scratches and dings from sliding on the asphalt

.  More bruises have appeared on the right side of my body --- legs and arms --- where I must have slammed on top of the bike.

. The tape on the left side of my handlebars is torn/sliced away from the sliding

. The front of my aerobars are deeply scratched from slamming into the road

. The side of my left tri shoe is scratched up from the sliding

. Looks like my bike's back rim is twisted from the wreck too

All minor things, but in totality a little freaky.

I know that the goal will be to get back out there as soon as I am physically able. I am not going to let this incident hold me back and will continue to ride hard, but this experience will ensure I continue to ride smart.

Predictability and control

After the husband got home from a 14 hour flight from Hong Kong and eventually passed out for the night I found myself with enough time to make it over to bikram yoga. After three sessions I still wasn't sure how I really felt about the class, but was still intrigued enough to show up. Apparently I wasn't the only one since the room was packed --- including 10 newbies. Must have been a coupon in the paper or something. I settled into the middle row and prepared for class.

I think I figured out what I might enjoy about the class --- aside from the energy, cleansing and free detoxing feeling after class --- it's the predictability. I know that sounds strange, but there is something to be said about practicing something consistently and watching your improvements each session. There is something about the repetition and consistency that is kinda relaxing and calming.

It is interesting that in four sessions I have seen a pretty significant improvement. I'm not sure if it's a product of having done some flow yoga this summer or what, but I look around at the newbies and others with my same level of experience and they seem to be really struggling. Obviously this is no competition, but it's hard not to notice people falling out of poses while you seem more consistently planted and calm.

It would be fabulous to take at least one day a week and devote it to some form of yoga practice because it feels good, I hope that it will limit future training injuries and most importantly --- it's centering.

PR-ed my 5k today!!!

[Post race --- I am a sweaty mess]

I must preface this by saying I'm not a fast runner. I lumber along, I don't look elegant, but I am happy to just be out there getting my heart pumping.

With that in mind I was hoping to use this morning's 5k in Dewey as a fitness test. Though I am thrilled with my PR --- 28:28 minutes (9:09 min/mile) I am bummed that I wasn't 100%.

I foolishly wore a pair of shoes yesterday at work that tore up my left heel. Just call me a slave for fashion. As a result I've been hobbling around and even drove w/o my left shoe last night to the beach. Good thing my car's not a stick shift.

Anyway, I taped it up, added three heavy duty bandages to my heel and delicately jammed my foot into my running shoes this morning. As I limped to the starting line I already had decided to just see what happens. Worse scenario --- I stop and turn around or try and limp along.

I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it's as if I passed this pain threshold and was able to just focus on the task at hand. I just wanted to "do this" and didn't give a shit about the consequences.

I felt good out of the gate. I really felt confident out there.  My first mile pace was in the 8-minute+ zone which is beyond stellar for me! I faltered a bit from mile 2.25 to 2.5-ish. I was hurting, hot (man was it humid and the sun was brutal) and scared I was going too fast so I slowed down. I swear...it's all mental for me because I still felt relatively strong.  After seeing my time I'm bummed that I didn't keep up the intensity because if I had I would have broken the 9 min/mile mark.  Oh well...just another goal.

Anyway, I just put my head down and continued to focus on passing people. Me...passing people!  Hilarious!  I had been passing people throughout the race and felt good that even toward the back-half of the race was passing people here and there.  Go me --- Though having a group of 10-year olds sprint pass you didn't feel so good.

As I rounded the second to last corner I decided to turn the jets on full blast, open my stride and sprint hard to the finish line. It was a "wheels-coming-off-the-bus" feeling, but what did I have to lose --- other than tripping over my own feet and falling into a heap just shy of the finish line?  Luckily that DIDN'T happen.

As soon as I caught my breath at the finish line I carefully removed my left shoe to reveal a painful mess. Nothing that some air, hydrogen peroxide and some neosporin can't cure...right?  Anyway, I walked around w/o one shoe and caught up with the HipAHAs. Yay!!!!  As of this evening I've got another blister courtesy of the run...but it does look "better" than this morning.

The great news --- I PR-ed!!!!!!

The good news --- I gutted it out. [You can do almost anything for 30 minutes, right?]

The bad news --- my heel is very angry with me.

ISO Love of Running

[Stretching Bay-side post run]

Sounds very dramatic, but I've fallen slightly outta love...with Running.

I'm not sure exactly what happened or when, but the days when I'd bounce out of bed looking forward to putting on my running shoes seems to have slipped away and I am desperately trying to find that feeling again.

It likely all started with injuries and the time I had to take to recover. In my case, time away from running caused me to become smitten with something else --- biking. Oh how I love the black & white Cannondale.

As a result, I have to beg and bribe myself to set aside the Cannondale and instead grab the running shoes.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a run from Fenwick toward Bethany. It was sunny and warm and an all-around fine day for a summer run. The resulting 4.6 miles was ok. Not GREAT or FANTASTIC, but fine and acceptable. These days I'll take FINE and ACCEPTABLE.

Here's to HAPPY running in the future.

I'm on the road to nowhere

That about sums up my part of the Multi-sport World Conference and Expo held at Georgetown Prep this year. See http://www.multisportworld.com/Washington_DC.htm

Team Snapple came out in force to field three teams competing in a series of running, swimming and biking timed events. Bonus that so many other Snapplers came out to represent too! I'm really surprised that DC Tri was so poorly represented.

After the prior day's half marathon, I was hoping my legs would not give out as I participated in the 10k bike time trial --- my only ecent of the day.

I was a little intimidated by the field of Snapple cyclists I was racing against and doubly concerned about using a Comp-u-trainer for the first time. Me and fancy equipment don't seem to always get along well.

The event was actually very cool and at the same time wicked hard. I finished in the back of the pack with a time of 20:56:57 minutes.

I learned three very valuable lessons --- 1) I really need to set up my computer gizmo on my bike so that I actually can assess my effort in real time (duh!), 2) I need to be more competitive generally and 3) I need to power through the last part of each race vs. getting distracted that I am almost done. There was no reason I should have stopped spinning hard during the last .2 of the ride.

As always, file it under "live and learn."

Colorful Accessories

I think we've all experienced doubt and fear when deciding to do something new or hard. For me, the half Ironman triathlon distance and separately a marathon are those for me. Just crazy almost ridiculous things to even contemplate, but yet here I am contemplating them. But more on that later.

This week I'm heading west and to entertain myself on my flight to San Francisco I decided to catch up on one of my favorite things --- movies.

First up was The September Issue which documents the months leading up to the launch of Vogue's largest September issue --- the one with Sienna Miller on the cover and the fabulous spread in Rome.

One would be surprised to learn that I was seriously obsessed with fashion and accessories when I was younger. Each month I would eagerly pour over Seventeen magazine and American Vogue to mimic the styles elegantly strewn across the glossy pages --- from preppy to punk to all-American to European.

I remember planning my outfits with as much determination as I would spend studying for a test and kept track of each creation so that I would limit repeating myself. When I couldn't find exactly what I wanted --- either because it was just too expensive or the stores didn't have what I envisioned--- my mom would many times make it for me. Let's be for real. The only reason I worked at the mall was for the store discount and to make a few bucks to blow on concert tickets.

When my creativity was to be dashed once I entered private school and forced to wear a uniform I ended up focused more on accessories --- shoes, jewelry, hats and hair. Boy, did I enjoy changing my hair. Short, long and somewhere in the middle. And the colors --- highlights, low lights, brown, black and even a purple-ish tone. My stylist loved seeing me walk in the door.

Anyway, as I watched the movie I realized something more about Anna Wintour --- more than the person characterized to our delight in The Devil Wears Prada. Yes she's driven and a perfectionist and icy and most likely a genius. I would agree with all of that.

Instead I was taken by her singular focus to do exactly what she knows to be right and having the strength, confidence, determination or whatever one would call it to just execute. It is truly stunning.

You can learn a lot from that kind of strength and confidence --- no matter what you set your mind to.

So the next time someone else's doubts --- even if that person is me --- seeps around the edges, I'm going to remember Miss Wintour and her steely confidence shielded behind those extra large sunglasses and remember that I can do whatever I set my mind to --- as long as it includes a colorful accessory.