Hi everyone. Yeah, it's been awhile since I've blogged. Oops. I am back on it today! So there has been A LOT of running since my last blog. In fact, since I've last blogged, I've ran 12 miles, 14 miles... and 20 miles (with a whole lot of other runs in between)!!!! It may sound strange that I didn't write 16 or 18 miles, and that's becaused I missed those weeks. I will explain further in the blog...
Okay, so let's do a quick re-cap on the last 2 months. Last time I spoke with you I had ran 10 miles and was prepping for 12. The 12 miles went great, FYI. 2 weeks later we did 14 miles and I definitely struggled on that run. I won't go too into the details, but let's just say it really sucks to not have a bathroom sometimes on a run! I know, I know, too much information, but I sure was thankful when that run was over. Unfortunately another problem started on that run as well. During the last three miles of the run, I felt like my knee was kind of numb and uncomfortable. It did not hurt though. Did not think too much of it at the time.
Well, then it was vacation time! Literally that same day as the 14 miler, all my siblings came into town!!! Jed, Aeravi, Ruth, and Aeravi's boyfriend Kentaro!!! It was the start of a 2-week vacation that was phenomenal! We were all over Montana and soaking up the beautiful scenery and sun! A few day after the 14 mile run, I went on a run in Missoula. It was about an hour long, and during most of the run I felt okay, but by the end my knee was really bugging me. Consequently, I ended up limping around for the next few days, and wondering what the heck happened to my knee.
When I got back to Boise, I went to a Physical Therapist. At this point I was starting to panic a little bit. We were told after mile 14 that it was imperative to not miss the long training runs. I had an 18 miler coming up and I still couldn't run 3 miles without pain. I found out that I have IT Band issues. The thing about the IT Band is that it sucks... but it's a treatable injury. So I was given a plethora of exercises to do at home and sent on my merry way. For the 18 miler, I ran for an hour and a half and mountain biked for an hour and a half. It wasn't 18 miles of running, but it was working out for 3 hours, which is very important. The whole point of training for a marathon is getting used to working out for long distances and time, not necesarilly the actual miles. I felt okay!
The next week we had a 10 miler in which I had a ton of pain and didn't think I would be able to finish by mile 3. Then all of a sudden after mile 3 I felt great! The rest of the 10 miles was fine!
Last week I ran 20 miles... 20 MILES!!!!!!!!!! Holey Moley, 20 miles!!!! I still can't get over it. And crazily enough, I had almost no knee pain!!! I did however, have all kinds of other pain. 20 miles of running is HARD! It just hurts everywhere after awhile! After about mile 14 I just was like "one leg in front of the other". Thank goodness I have a great running partner named Aimee. We just kept talking and talking to keep our minds off our aches and pains. It took us 3 hours and 23 minutes! I was also pretty stoked about the time. At this point I just want to finish this marathon. I'm not sure I care too much about time right now. But for all of you who know me, I'm pretty competitive, and I do want to run the entire race if I can. But I will do whatever it takes to finish.
Yesterday I ran 12 miles. For some reason it was really hard. Really Hard. I'm not sure why. I was tired, everything hurt, my knee hurt, my body hurt, etc... We started our run at 7am, got done around 9am. Was home and showered by 10am. I crawled back into bed and did not wake back up until 3pm! I'm still surprised by this. I was just flat out exhausted...
I never thought I would be so challenged from this. I have all these hurdles to get over and work through. It has been much harder than I thought. But that's how this race goes... and that's the point. We are running this race for people who are battling and trying to survive cancer, day in and day out. They don't get breaks. They don't get to stop and take a break if they're tired. They don't get to opt out if they don't want it anymore. So, even though I have had some moments in training where I think I'm going to have to give up... I'm not going to. I'm going to kick this marathon in the ass! And it's going to be awesome!!!!
FYI... I am soooooo close to my goal of $3200. If you would like to help, I would be honored!! My fundraising website is http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/nikesf11/rlink7. You can donate with a credit card! It's easy and fast! And you'll be saving lives... that's kind of a big deal.
Thanks,
Rachel
