Wow, what a weekend!

So Friday night I get home from work, and I just had this feeling. I had a feeling that I'd had a good run without DH (dear husband) having to be out early on a Saturday morning and thus allowing me to make my group runs with Chicago Endurance Sports. And I was right. So this week's 9-miler was going to be on my own. :(

The second "feeling" I had, was that with the predictions of horrible storms headed our way in the evening hours, I thought to myself "You'd better get these kids fed just in case the power goes out." And in just 15 minutes after we finished eating? The power went out. :(

I had a terrible night's sleep, waking up every 30 to 60 minutes, checking to see if the power had come back on. Finally, I noticed my clock blinking oo:30 in red, at about 4am (according to my cell), which meant the power came on around 3:30am. Getting up for an early run at 5am? NAH!

Besides, I rationalized, I could instead make up that 30 minute run, and then run my 9 miles on Sunday after a good night's sleep. So before running a few errands with the girls, I ran 30 minutes on the treadmill. Cool.

Fast forward to Saturday night. DH is going to see his brother in some show up on the north side, and I've convinced BF Annah that she should just stay overnight and run with me on the lakefront. And by with, I mean that we're both running on the lakefront at the same time. She's a 9:30 pace, or so.

Sometimes I'm anxious before a long run, especially when I'm going to be on my own, so it took a little while to doze of. I finally did though, and just got into that sleep where your body is all like "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Sweet, glorious sleep." When all of the sudden I hear cars screeching, car doors opening, "GET DOWN ON THE M.F. GROUND! GET DOWN!! GET DOWN!!!!! M.F. DIDN'T YOU SEE MY UNIFORM GET DOWN!!!!" To say this was a rude awakening is an understatement to the tenth degree. My mind and heart were racing. From my second floor window, I peek out to see both undercover cops and regular cop cars/SUVs slamming to a halt right at our corner, jumping out with guns drawn, and one woman (the one screaming all the obscenities) pointing a gun at a dude's head, who was laid out spread eagle ON MY FRONT LAWN! (HOLY $#!T!!!!!!!!!!!)

So I come downstairs because, for one, althought the doors were locked, they were open so that the ceiling fans could get some sort of cool air, since it's so frikkin humid out....so I thought maybe I should shut the doors? Also to try and figure out what to do, if anything. As I'm coming down the stairs, I see cops with guns drawn on BOTH sides of the house, going to the backyard! WHAT?!! So I get downstairs and Annah is looking all crazed and wild-eyed, too! More and more cops are pulling up and they are now combing all of the backyards along the alley that we all abut.

So I can hear them talking and they're looking for one other suspect, and wondering if he could have scaled the concrete wall and barb wire to get into the cemetery. As one of the cops gets closer to our back door, I told him that our door lock doesn't work, and to check inside the garage. So they did. I was just hoping and praying not to hear any gunshots or have a cop get shot on the block....but even while all this was going on, I guess I felt like, that for the present moment with all these cops, we're likely the safest block in the city. They were out there for over an hour, and they didn't find anyone, to my knowledge.

It took me FOREVER to fall back asleep, maybe like 1:30 or 2am. Managed to at least get up at about 5:15am, watch the weather reports suggest that it was 74 degrees and 97% humidity at the lakefront, get kamikazi'd by a wasp in the bathroom, and finally make it to the lakefront just before 6am.

So the run itself was uncomfortable, I was hot, tired and just plain spent. My left knee felt like it was swelling in tune with the humidity. I walked A LOT. Maybe even 2 miles worth. Crazy thing is, Annah ran/walked the whole thing with me. I felt kinda bad because I know she would normally go way faster than me. I kept telling her to go ahead, but she didn't. Truthfully, only 2 miles in, I wanted to call it quits...but I didn't. I don't know that I wouldn't have, had she not been there. Overall my pace was well over 13. If I hadn't had such a great 8-mile run last week, I'd wonder about my ability to run 9 miles, or even 10 miles next week. But the truth is, if I can run 8 miles, I can run 9 miles. I guess I'm ok with just getting the distance in, regardless of how bad of a "run" it was.

Hopefully the stars will align and I will get some decent sleep, and the humidity will ease up a bit.

Run #78 Remember?

Date/Time: August 24 at about 8:30am
Place: Treadmill in my ultra-stuffy exercise room
Mileage: 2 miles
Time it took: 23:49
Pace: 11:54
MIles this week: 6.01
Miles this month: 32.01
2008 Goal: 455.10/1000

Thoughts/Comments: Hey you! Remember you're still trying to complete this training for the marathon again, right? What a week! After my Tuesday run, work was busy with a trip to South Bend, finishing up a proposal for a big project that if we land it, it'll be awesome, preparing for another RFP interview that's taking place this week, etc... Then along with my mother/sister-in-law, I was getting everything ready for my younger sister-in-law's baby shower. I did all the games, ordered/picked up the cake, and did 40 cookie favors, in the shape of onesies. (Tried to post a picture but to no avail.) On top of that, Friday was the girls last day at their daycare that they've been at for two years, so I made a dozen cookies for each of their classroom teachers (total of 4).

This upcoming week is going to be just as crazy, including the RFP interview, a work trip to Dubuque, and staying at home with the cherubs for 3 days (Mon, Thur, Fri), getting them ready for the new school year and their new school/daycare. Sooooo...since Saturday morning I was busy finishing up for the baby shower, and I knew I'd be too tired to run Sunday, I opted to do my long run for Monday morning. The girls and I didn't even get home last night til almost 11pm. This morning I slept in til after 8am...UNHEARD OF! Then I decided to run at least 2 miles on the treadmill so that my legs don't die of shock tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning I will run my 12 miles. For the remainder of my week, I will do the following: Thursday 3 miles; Friday 3 miles; Sunday my half marathon.

This evening I ran out to go pick something up at Walgreen's. As I exited the store, I had this strange feeling, I was all like "what is THAT? A CHILL?" BRING ON FALL, I SAY!!!!!!! Tomorrow morning it's supposed to be like in the upper 50's or low 60's. SWEET. Joey put the girls in bed tonight, and I think he must have fallen asleep up there. Ah, peace and quiet! A few minutes ago, I had to turn off the ceiling fan. Nice! And now, it's just me, my laptop, and the Lifetime Movie Network. Ah, the simple pleasures.

p.s. As i sit and type, I"m icing my knee. This morning I figured why bother, it was JUST a 2 mile run...and then my knee was kinda sore all day.

updates of various sorts

So I didn't blog about it this past week, but Wednesday was my final day of physical therapy. I'm healed. ok, well it doesn't quite work like that. But they said I progressed very well over the weeks...Daphne, who is leading the whole "patellofemural pain syndrome research project" video taped me again like she did on my first day. Over the next 3 months I need to continue my home exercises at LEAST three times per week. I asked about the big muscle strength training, like what I've been doing on the machines, and she suggested the gym membership thing...we'll see about that. I go back in November for another check-up. Daphne is one crazy chic. She wasn't my trainer all this time, she's leading the research project. She seems to be one of those transparent people who says exactly what's on her mind the moment it pops into her head...for example...one day this guys comes in with like a b, ag of stuff, in a plastic bag. He didn't speak English very well, it was hot out, so he looked a little disheveled, to say the least. "inaudible-inaudible-um Tiffany?" So some dude goes "there's no Tiffany here, you have the wrong place." Then Daphne said, "Wait, are you the courier? Are you here for Daphne?" Then everyone's like "ooooohhhhhhh, ok, situation resolved." So it was already fine, but then Daphne and her crazy self was like "I'm gonna be honest with you buddy, I thought you were some crazy dude coming in off the street trying to sell us something and we were about to kick you outta here!" It was sooo funny. ok, maybe you had to be there, but it was one of those things you're like, everyone was THINKING that, but not gonna actually SAY it, right? Not Daphne!

Anyway, back to my final check-up with her...she asked about the marathon and what my plans were. I was honest. I said "I really don't know, I'm going to try, but for right now, each long run every weekend is my marathon, I can't worry about October when it's August." She said that was the right attitude. OK...next topic.

So I'm happy to report that while my knee was hurting for a good part of the day yesterday, by night it was feeling better. ANd this morning? Shoot, I felt like I could go for a short run, but I didn't. No need to push it, over-zealousness after an injury is often what does people in. (Also advice from Daphne and crew. Even the slight pain for a bit afterwards...normal and okay. ANyway, Tomorrow morning I will run, as long as I get my work done tonight that needs to be on my boss's desk in the morning.

And on that note, let me end this post, as this particular read is likely a dull one, and pretty much just to pass on the information to ya.

Happy Trails,
Lindy

Need help with your opinions, runners (past and present!)

ok, so in my COMEBACK QUEST, my return from patellafemoral pain syndrome to hit my second marathon this year, my beloved Chicago Marathon, here's my schedule for long runs for the remaining weekend leading up to Chicago, including the taper...note the highlighted on, b/c I will be asking a question and gathering opinions on it.

August 16: 10 miles
August 23: 12 miles
August 31: 13.1 Half Madness (half marathon)
September 6: 16 miles
September 13: 18 miles
September 21: Ready to Run 20-miler "pace race"
September 28: 12 miles
October 4: 8 miles
October 12: Chicago Marathon

Ok...so how important is that 18-miler? There is another half marathon that weekend in Chicago, the one I ran last year, and it's now in my neighborhood. (I moved, the race didn't.) I really want to somehow fit it into my schedule. Do you think it would be ok to forego the 18-miler? Maybe I will need a cutback week anyway? How much can I rely on my training earlier this year to go from a 16 miler, up to a 20 miler 2 weeks later? Am I plain nuts? Should I just forget the half marathon that weekend and focus on the bigger, more important goal? What do you think????

Best of luck, sending out good running vibes

The Chicago Distance Classic (half marathon) is tomorrow at 6:30 am. I'm admittedly disappointed that I won't be running, but realistically it just ain't gonna happen. BTW, my knee has been hurting ALLLLL DAY, but strangely at around 8pm or so...it just...well it just stopped. Weird.

But anyway, good vibes out to Annah, my best friend. Her best half time is 2:04 and some change. I'm sending vibes out to her to hit the 2:00 mark or even less! And Lou, who PR'ed in her last half at the Flying Pig (they have a half and a full, I think I mentioned that in my race report.) I think she'll do quite well again this time. And to Jaime, who has been knocking out her runs at a steady clip faster than our 12:00 pace from last year, also. She ran the Miami half marathon in January and a crazy trail half marathon a few months ago. I will also be keeping an eye out for this dude's race report, only b/c he is awesome. I don't even know him, I just lurk on his blog.

As for the CDC and it's new course, hopefully I will be back next year to earn the best medal around. This year's would have been my third consecutive.

Bike Ride #1

Ok, so my PT trainer said not to worry about the knee, I'm progressing nicely and it didn't sound like the pain was anything to worry about. I said "just a small setback than", and she said, "No, not a setback at all, you're on a comeback." So I will go for another run tomorrow morning, at the latest.

THIS morning I went for a bike ride. I wanted to get it out the way, I was all nervous about riding straight from the house over to the lakefront (cars, city biking, etc...), but I did it, and even managed to sneak out under the arm of Jada, who woke up at 3am and seemed to know something was up...'mommy wants to leave the house without me?!?!?!'

Date/Time: July 28 at 5:40am
Distance: 8.18 miles (according to my Garmin)
Time It Took: 54:25
Avg MPH: 9.0 (I don't know what this really means, but it seems pretty slow)

Thoughts/Comments: Hmmm, I guess I thought that I would be much faster, or at least TWICE as fast as my running, which would have landed me at 10mph, but whatever. This includes waiting at a few traffic lights and grabbing a drink of water at a water fountain.
I started out at my house at 69th near Stony Island, then rode about 2.5 miles over to the lakefront, taking the long way around the Museum of Science and Industry. (That's it above, pretty, isn't it?)

Then I went north on the lakefront path to about 47th Street. There I turned around and took a slightly different route headed back, going around Promonory Point, then instead of going back by the Museum, I kept going south to Marquette (66th Street). I then hit Jeffery, went east on 67th and made my way back to Stony Island. I felt all cool and biker-chic like except when I was passed by REAL cyclists who were going all fast and wearing their cycling gear.

So let me see, my goal for the month of August, in addition to running, is to bike 75 miles. I think that's doable. That's about 9 rides like I did this morning. Totally doable.

More on that knee

ok so I was all excited about my pending "long" run of 6 miles or so for Sunday. But then Saturday as the day progressed, my knee starrted hurting again. It felt better when I went out biking, but then was hurting some more. So I figured I'd hold off on the run. I will try to run tomorrow morning. Tonight I'm going biking again with the girls and the bike trailer.

This is it. If there's any chance of me running the marathon in October, I've got to start being able to ramp up in the miles NOW.

Run #67 This is just a test (again!)

Date/Time: July 7th at about 8pm
Place: Treadmill at home, in my humid exercise room
Mileage: 1.5 miles
Time It Took: 18:00
Pace: 12:00
Miles this week: 1.5
Miles this month: 1.75
2008 Goal: 408.72/1000 miles

Thoughts/Comments: YAY!!!! A real run...granted it was only a mile and a half, but it was a real run. I felt real good-other than the fact that it was super humid and I had on running PANTS b/c I couldn't find my shorts. So I was planning on running somewhere between a mile and two miles, and landed on 1.5. I felt just a very, VERY slight twinge of tightness in my knee (maybe it was all mental or maybe not), so I decided not to push anything.

I may get to run my 5K on Thursday evening after all, we shall see. I have a PT session tomorrow (Wednesday) and will discuss it again. She already gave me the go ahead, but I want to be sure and let her know how my run went last night.

Run #66 Testing, testing 1-2-3

Date/Time: July 5th at about 1pm
Place: Dayton, OH treadmill at hotel
Mileage: .25 miles
Time It Took: 3:00
Pace: 12:00
Miles this week: .25 (1/4 mile)
Miles this month: .25
2008 Goal: 407.22/1000 miles (this includes that "Walk #1" from awhile back)

Thoughts/Comments: So I did a test run as I watched my girls and nieces and everyone in the pool. I’m sure I could have gone longer, but this was just “to see”, and I was wearing capris and a reunion t-shirt, about to head out to a picnic, so I didn’t want to get all funky and stuff.
I will try a “real” run tomorrow morning (Monday) once we’ve returned home. YAY!

Hiatus

Yes I’ve been gone awhile, probably with little notice. Since I’ve last written, I had two “PT” (physical therapy) sessions, and have begun a series of daily at-home exercises, too. PT is ok, it’s basically the cross-training that everyone said I should have been doing but never did in the past. My PT trainer said it’s ok to try a short run this weekend (turning into this week), a few miles. She said that if I’m feeling up to it, go ahead and run the 5K I’m scheduled to run on this coming Thursday evening. We shall see. I'm cautiously optimistic.

In other breaking news: I GOT A BIKE!!!!!! YES!!!! It was the hubby’s birthday and he’s been wanting a bike, so I got him one, AND me one. They’re not matching, but they are similar in style.

Walk #1

Ok, so when i got home last night, I was feeling like I was ready to try to run. I didn't want to wait til morning--when my knee is generally at its best after a full night's sleep--let's do it now! I was pumped. Got all ready and geared up, put "Go, Diego, Go" on for the girls, rationalizing that with the 25-minute show, I could get in two miles.

And then I ran. And it was killing me! My knee was hurting something fierce. And two miles turned into about 1/10....so I just walked. I walked at the threshold for where my knee felt ok to where my knee was hurting. Just under that pain level, it seemed, and that was 3.8 mph.

And my girls still yelled "Run Mommy Run", sweet gesture. I even put on a second episode so I could walk a little more. So for today, I'm counting a walk...not sure if this will count towards my total at all, I guess it really shouldn't, so here are the stats of Walk #1.

Date/Time: June 23rd at 7pm
Place: home on the treadmill
Mileage: 2.5 miles
Time It Took: 39:31
Pace: 15:48
Miles this week: 2.5 walking
Miles this month: 26.90 running; 2.5 walking
2008 Goal: 404.47/1000 miles; 2.5 walking

Driven to Drink

On Friday, June 20, 2008 at about 8:30pm….I broke my 42 days without having had a drop of diet pepsi. Why you ask? My husband couldn’t figure out why I was in such a crabby mood. After all, I’d had the day off. I’d cleaned out my little room in the house and reorganized all of my cookie cutters, supplies and other stuff, and with no 2-year old or 4-year old in the way. I spent the afternoon in front of the tv, watching my beloved White Sox. Watching them lose to the Cubs. I was mad! So Friday evening when hubby and his friend went out to run a quick errand I said, “pick me up a diet pepsi.” Silent pause. “Are you sure?” “Yes I’m sure, just pick me up a diet pepsi.”

He brought back the diet pepsi and they sat down at the table, eating some dinner. I put the diet pepsi on the table and marveled at it for awhile. Soon, the sweat glistened on the bottle. I popped it in the fridge for awhile. And then the moment came……Pop….fizzzzz……Sip. “ok.” Sip “ok, not bad.” And over the next 30 minutes, I drank the whole 20 ounce bottle. My usual drink would last 10 minutes, maximum.

And the Sox lost again on Saturday. So I had another. Stop, hit rewind, play again on Sunday. Oh the horror. But only 1 per day. Not first thing in the morning. Not intermittently throughout the entire day. Just 1.

I don’t even care so much anymore. I don’t know if this means I will stick to 1 a day, or if I will go back to having none at all. But I know that having one at the end of the day calmed my nerves. And there’s another cold one in the fridge at home right now. Sitting for me. Waiting patiently.

On to other news…the knee is still bothering me, but I still want to try and run tomorrow, it’s been OVER A WEEK! I miss running! I’ll be happy to get in just 2 miles.

The Verdict (subtitle: knee-jerk reaction)

Ok, so I went to Atheletico where I was so nicely dressed in running shorts...and a button down shirt and casual shoes...nice look. So Aaron tells me I have "Patellofemural pain syndrome."

For now I should:
1. Ice and do whatever makes me comfortable
2. Not increase my distance for the time being
3. Talk with my doctor and get a referral
4. Participate in this research study they're doing on this very syndrome, meaning me nor my insurance have to pay a dime.
5. Participate in said program for 6 weeks, with appointments 2 to 3 times per week. Will focus on strengthening my hip flexors, which will help the muscles on the sides of my knees.

(I should note that he DID NOT SUGGEST DEEP KNEE BENDS, thank you very much.)

That is all.

OOPS...I meant to include this: So if I feel up to it, I may run a few miles by the end of the week, and continue at that mileage for awhile. With my long runs, I'll play it by ear. I asked him if this means I should count out the marathon, and he said "No, not necessarily. Not at all, but we should see how it goes."

Run #65 400 miles and still running

Date/Time: June 14th at 6:45am
Place: lakefront, 60’s, low humidity
Mileage: 9 miles
Time It Took: 2:02:02
Pace: 13:33
Miles this week: 15.80
Miles this month: 26.90
2008 Goal: 404.47/1000 miles

Thoughts/Comments: So my run started out ok, a little stiff. I was already having a bit of sore knee issues during the week, but everything seemed fine. But around 3.5 miles in, it really started bothering me. So I took a few walking breaks here and there. At our turnaround point, this old man on a bike, one of the “helpers” (I say helper b/c I don’t think he’s a coach) said “you need to strengthen your knee, do some deep knee bends.” I’m like yeah, what-the-fuck-ever dude. I mean, maybe the strengthen part is true, but the way my knee felt at that point, deep knee bends weren’t gonna help. After he rode off, my pace leader said to get it checked out before doing anything.

After the turnaround, I ran another solid mile before taking a walking break. This one a little longer. At one point, I walked an entire half mile. UGH! So my time TOTALLY sucked, but that’s why.

Even after icing my knee on Saturday, it still hurt just getting around, and especially getting in and out of the car. I also noticed that holding Zoe made things worse, too…and she must know this because she has been begging me to pick her up a lot of the past few days.

Anyway, I have an appointment tomorrow at Athletico, so stay tuned. Until then, no running.