I've been quiet because I didn't run, and I didn't run because my knee hurts. It's not looking good. I've been doing strengthening exercises the whole week, icing it and elevating it, and resting as much as a mom of two can rest. It was slowly getting better and I was planning on doing a test run on Sunday, but it suddenly got worse on Saturday without me doing anything special.
Saturday and Sunday it was really bad, and getting worse towards the evening. In the morning it's always better, but not for long. I went to the doctor again and I'm scheduled for a MRI scan on Wednesday, I should hopefully have the results by Thursday.
I am really bummed about this whole story, but I am not giving up just yet.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Baker's cyst
Yep, that's my diagnosis. Yesterday I felt for the whole day a lot of pressure in my knee, and it kept increasing as the hours went by. This morning it was a lot better, I almost had no pain at all so I was hopeful but it didn't last long. As the pressure increased again, after breakfast I decided it was time to be seen by my doctor (yesterday the assistant dismissed me on the phone). Made the appointment, went there around lunch time and came back with the diagnosis I was fearing. Runner's knee I was already prepared to deal with, but this? My doc suggested in a subtle way that maybe I should give up the idea of running a marathon, but she knows how much I want to do this so she didn't completely shut the door.
Looking back at my history, I have a score of 1-1 against doctors who didn't give me big chances of achieving something, looks like this is going to be the tie-breaker.
I'm torn between a warrior's reaction and very negative feelings. What are my chances? How do I deal with this? I will cut down the mileage now, no long runs until this heals, but will it come back when I start building up again? Is it ok to do some strengthening exercises now? will it help at all?
And above all... why? I built up my mileage slowly, I followed the program, I even took the walk breaks... WHY?
Needless to say, I'm not running today.
Looking back at my history, I have a score of 1-1 against doctors who didn't give me big chances of achieving something, looks like this is going to be the tie-breaker.
I'm torn between a warrior's reaction and very negative feelings. What are my chances? How do I deal with this? I will cut down the mileage now, no long runs until this heals, but will it come back when I start building up again? Is it ok to do some strengthening exercises now? will it help at all?
And above all... why? I built up my mileage slowly, I followed the program, I even took the walk breaks... WHY?
Needless to say, I'm not running today.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
17km
Saturday night I was shivering under the blankets, all of my joints were hurting and my temperature was 38.5C (that's 101.3F). I un-programmed my alarm clock, I knew I would not have been able to get up the following morning at 7am and go running, no point in waking up then.
I didn't feel much better on Sunday morning, but at least the temperature was a bit lower. I read a bit about what to do if you have to skip a long run, and opened my training program file to reconfigure it but... I just couldn't get myself to do it and postponed this operation for a little longer. After lunch I had made up my mind: I would go out and just do 3 of my usual laps instead of going far away, so that if anything went wrong I could always turn around and head back home relatively quickly. My husband tried to stop me, but he soon understood it was no use.
I took it very easy, with a 1:1 ratio (1 minute run, 1 minute walk) and everything was good for the first two laps. At that point I wanted to finish my run, but the last 5km were hard. The sun went down, and so did the temperature. I started feeling very cold, especially my hands even though I was wearing gloves, I tried skipping some of the walk breaks but it didn't help much against the cold, and I was starting to feel feverish again. But I simply had to finish, and finish I did.
What during the final kilometers had been a mere annoyance, after a couple of hours became just plain pain: my left knee again. I had run on Thursday with my old shoes, and that had proven to be a mistake so I decided to switch to the new ones for good. As I write this on Monday afternoon, my knee is still very sore, though I can walk without problems and go (easily) up and (less easily) down the stairs. I need to schedule strengthening exercises in my program, it's the only way to really take it seriously and do them regularly. I think I will also rearrange my training program to avoid any long run for the next 3-4 weeks, so that my knee has more time to fully heal while I work on my muscles and also so that I don't have any long run during the holidays, which would realistically be at high risk of cancelation.
I think I proved yesterday that I am not looking for easy excuses to skip my workouts, but I also think I need to shift my focus for a while and concentrate on my knee now.
I didn't feel much better on Sunday morning, but at least the temperature was a bit lower. I read a bit about what to do if you have to skip a long run, and opened my training program file to reconfigure it but... I just couldn't get myself to do it and postponed this operation for a little longer. After lunch I had made up my mind: I would go out and just do 3 of my usual laps instead of going far away, so that if anything went wrong I could always turn around and head back home relatively quickly. My husband tried to stop me, but he soon understood it was no use.
I took it very easy, with a 1:1 ratio (1 minute run, 1 minute walk) and everything was good for the first two laps. At that point I wanted to finish my run, but the last 5km were hard. The sun went down, and so did the temperature. I started feeling very cold, especially my hands even though I was wearing gloves, I tried skipping some of the walk breaks but it didn't help much against the cold, and I was starting to feel feverish again. But I simply had to finish, and finish I did.
What during the final kilometers had been a mere annoyance, after a couple of hours became just plain pain: my left knee again. I had run on Thursday with my old shoes, and that had proven to be a mistake so I decided to switch to the new ones for good. As I write this on Monday afternoon, my knee is still very sore, though I can walk without problems and go (easily) up and (less easily) down the stairs. I need to schedule strengthening exercises in my program, it's the only way to really take it seriously and do them regularly. I think I will also rearrange my training program to avoid any long run for the next 3-4 weeks, so that my knee has more time to fully heal while I work on my muscles and also so that I don't have any long run during the holidays, which would realistically be at high risk of cancelation.
I think I proved yesterday that I am not looking for easy excuses to skip my workouts, but I also think I need to shift my focus for a while and concentrate on my knee now.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Perspective
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Just the simple act of running in the other direction dramatically changed this run. All of my references were gone, and I realized how important it is to know the route you run on. Yes I had the Garmin and I knew exactly how long I had already done and how long I still had to do, but I found out that the running brain is much more content with real objects rather than with abstract numbers. You get a kick when you see the finish line, not when you know it's half a mile away. Point taken: study the course of my marathon very well, not just look at it once.
Other than this, the very familiar roads seemed very new when seen "in reverse", and I even discovered that from a certain point of my route you can see all of the landmarks of this town: the church bell tower, the windmill and, towering above them all... the radio antenna of the police station. I know... romantic, isn't it?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Sunshine, rain, hail, wind...
Easy run, 7km
My usual Tuesday run was postponed to today because my daughter was a bit sick, she had had high fever during the weekend and was still shaking it off. Yesterday we also had some interesting weather: it started nice and sunny in the morning, and it suddenly turned nasty in the afternoon. We've had hail the size of a cherry pit!
Today my husband worked from home so I took only my son with me in the stroller, since he likes to sleep in it and he needed a nap. The wind was very strong but the sky was clear when we left. Not even 10 minutes into my run (son was already asleep) the sky turned dark grey and it started to rain, and the rain quickly turned into hail although this time, luckily, it was very small stones. I immediately turned around to go back home, thinking what a pity it was that I had to cut my run so short.
Well, you could just leave the boy and continue running.
There she is again... and once again she's right.
By the time I got home the sky was clear again, but to play it safe I parked the stroller (and my sleeping son) in the backyard, and took off again.
I had 4km more to go: two long and difficult kilometers against the wind and two easy and short kilometers with the wind, but at that point I was pretty tired so my speed didn't really change much.
Today's workout had probably more effect on my mind than on my body but hey... you need a very strong mind to run a full marathon.
And Little Voice is definitely getting stronger.
My usual Tuesday run was postponed to today because my daughter was a bit sick, she had had high fever during the weekend and was still shaking it off. Yesterday we also had some interesting weather: it started nice and sunny in the morning, and it suddenly turned nasty in the afternoon. We've had hail the size of a cherry pit!
Today my husband worked from home so I took only my son with me in the stroller, since he likes to sleep in it and he needed a nap. The wind was very strong but the sky was clear when we left. Not even 10 minutes into my run (son was already asleep) the sky turned dark grey and it started to rain, and the rain quickly turned into hail although this time, luckily, it was very small stones. I immediately turned around to go back home, thinking what a pity it was that I had to cut my run so short.
Well, you could just leave the boy and continue running.
There she is again... and once again she's right.
By the time I got home the sky was clear again, but to play it safe I parked the stroller (and my sleeping son) in the backyard, and took off again.
I had 4km more to go: two long and difficult kilometers against the wind and two easy and short kilometers with the wind, but at that point I was pretty tired so my speed didn't really change much.
Today's workout had probably more effect on my mind than on my body but hey... you need a very strong mind to run a full marathon.
And Little Voice is definitely getting stronger.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Little voice wins
6,5km Easy Run
7:30am, the alarm goes off. Hmmm. I was bad yesterday: had a beer and went to bed late (midnight is very late for me) because we had a guest.
Do I really want to go out and run in this cold, grey and possibly wet Sunday morning?
Oh, come on, it's just for a short run.
Exactly! It's not an important long run, it's not too bad if I skip it.
But then it will be 4 full days without running.
So what... it's cold.
It's not that cold and you know it, you've already been out when it was much colder.
But maybe it's raining.
I don't hear anything, it can't be raining.
It's no use doing a Magic Mile today, no way I can improve my time with these legs.
Just get out of bed and let's have breakfast, then we'll see. And didn't you want to try the new shoes?
Humpf.
So I went downstairs carrying that little annoying voice inside my head, had breakfast and checked my training program. 6,5km easy run, it said.
See? It's not even the Magic Mile thingy, now go get dressed. You'll be back before anybody even wakes up, from the sound of it. (Snoring noises from all of the rooms)
And out the door I went with my new shoes. It wasn't that cold and it wasn't raining, but it was indeed a grey morning. There were only runners (me and another woman) and dog walkers (a few) out.
km 5,8. Maybe I'll cut it short now.
Come on... you really want to take the shortcut? Make it at least 6km.
km 6. You got all the way here, now arriving home 3 minutes earlier would not make that much of a difference, would it?
km 6,5. Little voice wins. I think I'll hear from you again next Sunday, when it's going to be 17km.
My knees were quiet the whole time. My right quadriceps (particularly the VMO, now that I know what it is) must have noticed the extra support in the shoe and probably needs to adjust to it.
7:30am, the alarm goes off. Hmmm. I was bad yesterday: had a beer and went to bed late (midnight is very late for me) because we had a guest.
Do I really want to go out and run in this cold, grey and possibly wet Sunday morning?
Oh, come on, it's just for a short run.
Exactly! It's not an important long run, it's not too bad if I skip it.
But then it will be 4 full days without running.
So what... it's cold.
It's not that cold and you know it, you've already been out when it was much colder.
But maybe it's raining.
I don't hear anything, it can't be raining.
It's no use doing a Magic Mile today, no way I can improve my time with these legs.
Just get out of bed and let's have breakfast, then we'll see. And didn't you want to try the new shoes?
Humpf.
So I went downstairs carrying that little annoying voice inside my head, had breakfast and checked my training program. 6,5km easy run, it said.
See? It's not even the Magic Mile thingy, now go get dressed. You'll be back before anybody even wakes up, from the sound of it. (Snoring noises from all of the rooms)
km 5,8. Maybe I'll cut it short now.
Come on... you really want to take the shortcut? Make it at least 6km.
km 6. You got all the way here, now arriving home 3 minutes earlier would not make that much of a difference, would it?
km 6,5. Little voice wins. I think I'll hear from you again next Sunday, when it's going to be 17km.
My knees were quiet the whole time. My right quadriceps (particularly the VMO, now that I know what it is) must have noticed the extra support in the shoe and probably needs to adjust to it.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Schoo's!!!
(Only a few will giggle at the title, sorry... it would take too long to explain years of schoo-ness)
5,5km Speedwork.
Yesterday I decided I could not postpone my visit to a good running store anymore, so I put the kids in the car and off we went. Before talking about that though, I'd like to share a little bit of history of my running shoes. I bought my first pair at Fleet Feet in Davis, California (insert here big sigh). Without any fancy computer equipment, the guy assisting me just gave me a pair of shoes and send me in the street to run for a few meters while he was observing attentively. The verdict came quick and easy: I needed shoes with extra arch support, and he presented me with a pair of Asics GT2120. I didn't run much in those shoes, maybe even less than 100km, but I did walk a lot in them.
A few years later, when I was already living here in the Netherlands and I was carrying my son in a giant sized belly, I started having problems with my left foot. I though the time had come to replace my Asics, and went to a store nearby which supposedly also specializes (among many other sports) in running. A probably not-so-experienced sales representative made me step barefoot on a sort of foot-scanner, and decided (based on my footprint only) that my feet were perfectly neutral. That's how I ended up bringing home a pair of Nike Air Pegasus + 26. They were nice and comfortable, but my problems continued so I ended up seeing a podiatrist who confirmed the overpronation diagnosis. I'll skip the odissey with the podiatrist and custom made inserts... in the end I got some otc inserts with arch support specific for running, and that solved all the problems. Until now, that is.
And we finally get to yesterday and to my visit to the Loop Centrum (sorry, all in Dutch but there's pictures), which I can only define as a runner's paradise. It's all only about running and walking. You don't shop by yourself (unless you want to), you are accompanied by a sales representative and advised in all of your purchases. I was lucky to be assisted by one of the owners: he interviewed me for about 10 minutes about my running habits, had a look at my old shoes, had a look at my footprint (by means of a glass plate) and made me run on their indoor track equipped with high speed cameras just to confirm what he had already said by looking at shoes and feet. I do have a tendency to overpronate with both feet, but my Nike with the insert were enough to correct the defect on my left foot, it was the right one which needed more support. So why is my left knee hurting? Maybe running mostly on the right side of the road (must do that when I run with the stroller) has an influence on this... or maybe not... who knows. I went home with those shoes that you can see up there (Saucony Progrid Omni 10), a pair of winter pants and a headband (those that cover your ears and forehead, not those Bjorn Borg style). I'm ready for the winter runs!
The shoes were the only new purchase that I didn't use today (though the headband went flying in the stroller after 1km, it had served its purpose, thanks) because I want to walk a bit in them first and then I will gradually switch. I will probably try them on Sunday, I have a short run anyway.
No problems with my knee, by the way, and I think the type of workout helped with that: after the warmup I did a sort of "Galloway interval training", 1 minute running pretty much as fast as I could, and one minute walking. All good, let's see what happens on Sunday and if my time on the Magic Mile improves with the new shoes. You never know what a good Schoo can do for you.
5,5km Speedwork.
Yesterday I decided I could not postpone my visit to a good running store anymore, so I put the kids in the car and off we went. Before talking about that though, I'd like to share a little bit of history of my running shoes. I bought my first pair at Fleet Feet in Davis, California (insert here big sigh). Without any fancy computer equipment, the guy assisting me just gave me a pair of shoes and send me in the street to run for a few meters while he was observing attentively. The verdict came quick and easy: I needed shoes with extra arch support, and he presented me with a pair of Asics GT2120. I didn't run much in those shoes, maybe even less than 100km, but I did walk a lot in them.
A few years later, when I was already living here in the Netherlands and I was carrying my son in a giant sized belly, I started having problems with my left foot. I though the time had come to replace my Asics, and went to a store nearby which supposedly also specializes (among many other sports) in running. A probably not-so-experienced sales representative made me step barefoot on a sort of foot-scanner, and decided (based on my footprint only) that my feet were perfectly neutral. That's how I ended up bringing home a pair of Nike Air Pegasus + 26. They were nice and comfortable, but my problems continued so I ended up seeing a podiatrist who confirmed the overpronation diagnosis. I'll skip the odissey with the podiatrist and custom made inserts... in the end I got some otc inserts with arch support specific for running, and that solved all the problems. Until now, that is.
And we finally get to yesterday and to my visit to the Loop Centrum (sorry, all in Dutch but there's pictures), which I can only define as a runner's paradise. It's all only about running and walking. You don't shop by yourself (unless you want to), you are accompanied by a sales representative and advised in all of your purchases. I was lucky to be assisted by one of the owners: he interviewed me for about 10 minutes about my running habits, had a look at my old shoes, had a look at my footprint (by means of a glass plate) and made me run on their indoor track equipped with high speed cameras just to confirm what he had already said by looking at shoes and feet. I do have a tendency to overpronate with both feet, but my Nike with the insert were enough to correct the defect on my left foot, it was the right one which needed more support. So why is my left knee hurting? Maybe running mostly on the right side of the road (must do that when I run with the stroller) has an influence on this... or maybe not... who knows. I went home with those shoes that you can see up there (Saucony Progrid Omni 10), a pair of winter pants and a headband (those that cover your ears and forehead, not those Bjorn Borg style). I'm ready for the winter runs!
The shoes were the only new purchase that I didn't use today (though the headband went flying in the stroller after 1km, it had served its purpose, thanks) because I want to walk a bit in them first and then I will gradually switch. I will probably try them on Sunday, I have a short run anyway.
No problems with my knee, by the way, and I think the type of workout helped with that: after the warmup I did a sort of "Galloway interval training", 1 minute running pretty much as fast as I could, and one minute walking. All good, let's see what happens on Sunday and if my time on the Magic Mile improves with the new shoes. You never know what a good Schoo can do for you.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Not my knee again...
Easy run: 5km
A piece about running gear was already clear in my head when 500m from the virtual finish line my left knee suddenly decided that it wanted to be the protagonist of my blog entry once again.
After Sunday's long run it was a bit sore, so I did some research and it appears I may have a mild case of "runner's knee". It improved quickly after one night, and the pain was completely gone this morning. As I had to visit my doctor for other things, I also mentioned this and she said that it's ok as long as it keeps healing this quickly, I only have to make sure I give it time to heal after the long runs. She also advised to make sure I have the right shoes, which is what had triggered the idea of a blog about running gear... but I'll talk about my shoes another day because that's a whole different story.
So, back to today's run... I went out with the intention of being extra careful and to walk at the first warning sign from my knee, but everything went fine until at some point it started getting super stiff in the back. It was not a sudden stiffness, just very very quick. For the mathematicians reading this (and I know there's at least one), it was not an impulse, but rather an exponential function ;-)
I had a very hard time extending my leg fully, I walked slowly trying to extend it as much as possible with every step, and then I had to jog again to get home because I was getting cold. Ten minutes after I stopped running the pain at the back of my knee was completely gone. I've had this kind of pain already when I started running back in April, my knees would get stiff as soon as I stopped running (never while I was), but only for about 10 minutes. I don't know if and how this could be related to the runner's knee, which gives pain inside the knee, right behind the knee cap, but I think it's a separate problem.
Looks like there's another pair of shoes in my future, and possibly some strengthening exercises for my legs although I really don't think I have weak quadriceps, I think this is more to blame on my overpronating feet. Can anybody suggest an easy way to assess the strength of my quadriceps at home?
Weather-wise it was this kind of day, although this pic was not taken today because the windmill was not on my route.
A piece about running gear was already clear in my head when 500m from the virtual finish line my left knee suddenly decided that it wanted to be the protagonist of my blog entry once again.
After Sunday's long run it was a bit sore, so I did some research and it appears I may have a mild case of "runner's knee". It improved quickly after one night, and the pain was completely gone this morning. As I had to visit my doctor for other things, I also mentioned this and she said that it's ok as long as it keeps healing this quickly, I only have to make sure I give it time to heal after the long runs. She also advised to make sure I have the right shoes, which is what had triggered the idea of a blog about running gear... but I'll talk about my shoes another day because that's a whole different story.
So, back to today's run... I went out with the intention of being extra careful and to walk at the first warning sign from my knee, but everything went fine until at some point it started getting super stiff in the back. It was not a sudden stiffness, just very very quick. For the mathematicians reading this (and I know there's at least one), it was not an impulse, but rather an exponential function ;-)
I had a very hard time extending my leg fully, I walked slowly trying to extend it as much as possible with every step, and then I had to jog again to get home because I was getting cold. Ten minutes after I stopped running the pain at the back of my knee was completely gone. I've had this kind of pain already when I started running back in April, my knees would get stiff as soon as I stopped running (never while I was), but only for about 10 minutes. I don't know if and how this could be related to the runner's knee, which gives pain inside the knee, right behind the knee cap, but I think it's a separate problem.
Looks like there's another pair of shoes in my future, and possibly some strengthening exercises for my legs although I really don't think I have weak quadriceps, I think this is more to blame on my overpronating feet. Can anybody suggest an easy way to assess the strength of my quadriceps at home?
Weather-wise it was this kind of day, although this pic was not taken today because the windmill was not on my route.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Writer's block
Long run: 14.5km
Listening to Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter books while I run the long distances really helps to keep my mind off the distance I still have to cover, but it also has a disadvantage: when I get home I have no idea what to write in my blog, while after the short runs I already have it all figured out in my head.
Well then... where should I start from? I'm having a little writer's block here...
14.5km, 1:1 ratio (1 minute run, 1 minute walk), I didn't like the idea but I had promised I would follow the Galloway guidelines, so I did just that. Except for the first 10 minutes, because the wind was howling and it was pretty cold, and I really didn't want to walk while I was still not warm enough. When you choose the Galloway approach there is one thing you really need to fight, and that is the urge to keep running (when you're supposed to walk) when you come across other runners. Will they know what I'm doing? or will they think I'm too tired to run? There is an inevitable sense of shame that I still need to chase away. Just as my body needs to train for the distance, my mind needs to train for this: to ignore thousands of other runners and the cheering crowd until mile 20, which is when I plan on ditching the walk breaks and start running continuously.
I did the same today, I just ran the last 3.5km and had no problems at all.
Ok, I just can't keep writing this with Mary Poppins at full volume and my kids clapping and singing along...
Here, the corn field was gone, as expected. Can you spot the windmill?
Listening to Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter books while I run the long distances really helps to keep my mind off the distance I still have to cover, but it also has a disadvantage: when I get home I have no idea what to write in my blog, while after the short runs I already have it all figured out in my head.
Well then... where should I start from? I'm having a little writer's block here...
14.5km, 1:1 ratio (1 minute run, 1 minute walk), I didn't like the idea but I had promised I would follow the Galloway guidelines, so I did just that. Except for the first 10 minutes, because the wind was howling and it was pretty cold, and I really didn't want to walk while I was still not warm enough. When you choose the Galloway approach there is one thing you really need to fight, and that is the urge to keep running (when you're supposed to walk) when you come across other runners. Will they know what I'm doing? or will they think I'm too tired to run? There is an inevitable sense of shame that I still need to chase away. Just as my body needs to train for the distance, my mind needs to train for this: to ignore thousands of other runners and the cheering crowd until mile 20, which is when I plan on ditching the walk breaks and start running continuously.
I did the same today, I just ran the last 3.5km and had no problems at all.
Ok, I just can't keep writing this with Mary Poppins at full volume and my kids clapping and singing along...
Here, the corn field was gone, as expected. Can you spot the windmill?
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Turkey trot, black friday shopping?
6km, easy.
With my one and only long sleeve thermal shirt in the laundry bin and knowing that my wind jacket is actually a portable sauna, I decided to give my old tennis jacket a try. It failed miserably.
After no more than 500m I felt like the turkey must have felt a few hours later when it was in the oven all covered with aluminum foil. The jacket went flying in the back of the stroller and I was left with only a t-shirt, which didn't make my elbows happy. I was lucky because the temperature was a few degrees above freezing point so it wasn't that bad after all, but I really need to buy a couple of long sleeve t-shirts.
Just in case anyone is wondering... we celebrate Thanksgiving because my daughter was born in the US and is therefore also American, and we like to keep this tradition alive for her and for us, to remember our time in the US.
As for my pace today, I have no idea what that was because the Garmin died right after the jacket (a trained eye may be able to spot it face down in the stroller pouch). I think it was a good pace, and anyway I felt good throughout the run.
With my one and only long sleeve thermal shirt in the laundry bin and knowing that my wind jacket is actually a portable sauna, I decided to give my old tennis jacket a try. It failed miserably.
After no more than 500m I felt like the turkey must have felt a few hours later when it was in the oven all covered with aluminum foil. The jacket went flying in the back of the stroller and I was left with only a t-shirt, which didn't make my elbows happy. I was lucky because the temperature was a few degrees above freezing point so it wasn't that bad after all, but I really need to buy a couple of long sleeve t-shirts.
Just in case anyone is wondering... we celebrate Thanksgiving because my daughter was born in the US and is therefore also American, and we like to keep this tradition alive for her and for us, to remember our time in the US.
As for my pace today, I have no idea what that was because the Garmin died right after the jacket (a trained eye may be able to spot it face down in the stroller pouch). I think it was a good pace, and anyway I felt good throughout the run.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Corn and Fartlek
7km Fartlek
There was a corn field very close to my house that I had been meaning to photograph for a long time, but one day it was gone and I had missed my chance. So when this morning I ran by this other field, I took a few seconds to stop and take a picture, knowing that this too will not be there for much longer.
And no, "Fartlek" is not a bad word. The runners among my readers may have heard this term already, or maybe not. It is a sort of interval training, but totally unstructured. Basically you go from walking to sprinting and anything in between whenever you feel like it, totally random. It was the first time that I did this type of workout, and it's fun! I find it difficult to keep a constant pace and I like to run faster segments, so this fits me perfectly.
Just in case somebody very observant notices that today should've been my Easy Run day: I decided to be a lot more flexible with my weekday runs, at least for the next 3 weeks, because I will not be able to go out early on Thursday so I'll move the shorter runs then and run a little longer on Tuesday.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
It works!
Thursday: 7km Tempo Run
Sunday: 5km with Magic Mile
This past Thursday I went out again later than planned, but I didn't have the problems I had last Thursday because I didn't rush it. I cut the workout from 7km to 6km, had a shorter warm up and finished taking another big chunk off my 5K PB. I will reach a plateau sooner or later, but at this point as my training progresses it is to be expected that my times get better and better.
As for today's run... it's getting cold! When I went out the temperature was at freezing point, even though it was a beautiful sunny day. I had decided to try the walk breaks strategy also for the Magic Mile, and boy it worked!!! Last time that I did this test (running continuously) I had a quite uneven pace with an obvious tendency to slow down throughout the whole mile. This time I alternated running for about 400m and walking for 20-30 seconds, and it went so much better! I kept a constant pace during the run segments and I got consistently faster from beginning to end, that is I ran the second segment faster than the first, the third faster than the second and the last faster than the third. It really helps to set your mind on a shorter distance, after all it's just 400 meters...
The result was a fat 25 seconds off my last MM, and without that "I'm going to puke" feeling in your stomach that only runners will understand. I don't care much about time, but this result gives me a predicted finish time under the 5 hours, which would make me happy.
As I was jogging to complete the 5km, this red giant greeted me... it was really beautiful against the blue sky. I wish I could bring my camera when I go running!
Sunday: 5km with Magic Mile
This past Thursday I went out again later than planned, but I didn't have the problems I had last Thursday because I didn't rush it. I cut the workout from 7km to 6km, had a shorter warm up and finished taking another big chunk off my 5K PB. I will reach a plateau sooner or later, but at this point as my training progresses it is to be expected that my times get better and better.
As for today's run... it's getting cold! When I went out the temperature was at freezing point, even though it was a beautiful sunny day. I had decided to try the walk breaks strategy also for the Magic Mile, and boy it worked!!! Last time that I did this test (running continuously) I had a quite uneven pace with an obvious tendency to slow down throughout the whole mile. This time I alternated running for about 400m and walking for 20-30 seconds, and it went so much better! I kept a constant pace during the run segments and I got consistently faster from beginning to end, that is I ran the second segment faster than the first, the third faster than the second and the last faster than the third. It really helps to set your mind on a shorter distance, after all it's just 400 meters...
The result was a fat 25 seconds off my last MM, and without that "I'm going to puke" feeling in your stomach that only runners will understand. I don't care much about time, but this result gives me a predicted finish time under the 5 hours, which would make me happy.
As I was jogging to complete the 5km, this red giant greeted me... it was really beautiful against the blue sky. I wish I could bring my camera when I go running!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
More on my training program
Easy run, 7km.
On this crispy cold sunny day I learnt one thing: it's better to feel cold for one km than too warm for the rest of the run. Even though the temperature was barely above freezing, wearing a wind jacket and the thermal underwear shirt was NOT a good idea because I couldn't take off the jacket and run with just the shirt. Always make sure you can strip down to a t-shirt, if necessary.
With more help from Chris from the Galloway organization and also from Joanne (Run For Endurance, check her blog for useful tips), I was finally able to make up my mind about my training plan.
Running a marathon is not something to be taken lightly. I have the uttermost respect for the distance, and in fact I also fear it a bit, so I want to make sure that I can get to the start line well prepared, and to the finish line without injuries. "Run only" successful programs all include strength training and pretty high mileage, to which I can't commit right now. The Galloway program, on the other hand, is a three days per week, low mileage program, with an incredibly high rate of success.
I will follow this approach in the coming weeks, and I will try to find that missing feeling by running without breaks for the last quarter of each long run, which is what I would like to do during the marathon: regular walk breaks until mile 20, then run to the finish.
And if this really doesn't work for me, up until 18 weeks before June 2nd I can still switch to a run-only program like Hal Higdon's, and in those 18 weeks I will have to run 4 times a week.
On this crispy cold sunny day I learnt one thing: it's better to feel cold for one km than too warm for the rest of the run. Even though the temperature was barely above freezing, wearing a wind jacket and the thermal underwear shirt was NOT a good idea because I couldn't take off the jacket and run with just the shirt. Always make sure you can strip down to a t-shirt, if necessary.
With more help from Chris from the Galloway organization and also from Joanne (Run For Endurance, check her blog for useful tips), I was finally able to make up my mind about my training plan.
Running a marathon is not something to be taken lightly. I have the uttermost respect for the distance, and in fact I also fear it a bit, so I want to make sure that I can get to the start line well prepared, and to the finish line without injuries. "Run only" successful programs all include strength training and pretty high mileage, to which I can't commit right now. The Galloway program, on the other hand, is a three days per week, low mileage program, with an incredibly high rate of success.
I will follow this approach in the coming weeks, and I will try to find that missing feeling by running without breaks for the last quarter of each long run, which is what I would like to do during the marathon: regular walk breaks until mile 20, then run to the finish.
And if this really doesn't work for me, up until 18 weeks before June 2nd I can still switch to a run-only program like Hal Higdon's, and in those 18 weeks I will have to run 4 times a week.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Galloway test run
Long run: 13km
Even before I signed up for the Stockholm marathon, I was considering adopting the Galloway approach for my long runs because I liked the idea of being able to run long distances without suffering from injuries and/or excessive fatigue. My very first attempt at running with walk breaks though was a complete failure because I didn't follow his recommendations at all, I just ran for 2km and walked for one minute. It was a disaster, possibly the worst workout I've ever done.
The second attempt went much better, I used a 4:1 ratio (4 minutes run, 1 minute walk) for all of the 8 miles of that workout, but in the end I didn't feel any better than after my previous longest run, 10km without breaks. Again, my decision on whether to adopt the Galloway approach or not was postponed.
That's when I signed up for Stockholm.
I spent quite some time sketching a training program, but then I started having doubts about it and I sent an email to Jeff Galloway himself, even though I was not really expecting a reply. About a week later I did get an answer from somebody in the Galloway organization: Chris Twiggs, National Program Director. Chris had clearly spent some time writing down a kind and thoughtful reply, and this alone made me want to go for the run/walk/run method, but not before another test... and that's how we finally get to today's run.
With my best time on a single mile I used Galloway's prediction formulas (see Magic Mile) to calculate my marathon pace and my run/walk ratio. Since I wanted this to be a test run, I picked the ratio that was in between the one recommended for my training (1:1) and the one recommended for my race (2,5:1), so that was 2:1. As for the pace, I still don't have very clear what they recommend, so I decided to pace myself based on the heart rate rather than on the timer.
How did it go? Well... I should check this tomorrow, but now it's 12 hours after I finished my run and I don't have any special complaints other than perfectly normal muscular fatigue. Maybe my left knee is a little bit funky but we'll see tomorrow. So I think I can safely say that the post-run is better, but was the run itself also better? Honestly... no. I didn't feel the elation of last week, and even though I'm trying hard to find some more words to describe what I didn't feel, I think that says it all.
So what do I want from my whole marathon experience? Do I want to feel good while running it or afterwards? I'll have to think about it some more, and in the meantime I'd love the input of anybody who read this.
Even before I signed up for the Stockholm marathon, I was considering adopting the Galloway approach for my long runs because I liked the idea of being able to run long distances without suffering from injuries and/or excessive fatigue. My very first attempt at running with walk breaks though was a complete failure because I didn't follow his recommendations at all, I just ran for 2km and walked for one minute. It was a disaster, possibly the worst workout I've ever done.
The second attempt went much better, I used a 4:1 ratio (4 minutes run, 1 minute walk) for all of the 8 miles of that workout, but in the end I didn't feel any better than after my previous longest run, 10km without breaks. Again, my decision on whether to adopt the Galloway approach or not was postponed.
That's when I signed up for Stockholm.
I spent quite some time sketching a training program, but then I started having doubts about it and I sent an email to Jeff Galloway himself, even though I was not really expecting a reply. About a week later I did get an answer from somebody in the Galloway organization: Chris Twiggs, National Program Director. Chris had clearly spent some time writing down a kind and thoughtful reply, and this alone made me want to go for the run/walk/run method, but not before another test... and that's how we finally get to today's run.
With my best time on a single mile I used Galloway's prediction formulas (see Magic Mile) to calculate my marathon pace and my run/walk ratio. Since I wanted this to be a test run, I picked the ratio that was in between the one recommended for my training (1:1) and the one recommended for my race (2,5:1), so that was 2:1. As for the pace, I still don't have very clear what they recommend, so I decided to pace myself based on the heart rate rather than on the timer.
How did it go? Well... I should check this tomorrow, but now it's 12 hours after I finished my run and I don't have any special complaints other than perfectly normal muscular fatigue. Maybe my left knee is a little bit funky but we'll see tomorrow. So I think I can safely say that the post-run is better, but was the run itself also better? Honestly... no. I didn't feel the elation of last week, and even though I'm trying hard to find some more words to describe what I didn't feel, I think that says it all.
So what do I want from my whole marathon experience? Do I want to feel good while running it or afterwards? I'll have to think about it some more, and in the meantime I'd love the input of anybody who read this.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Messed up run
8km Tempo Run: warm up, 5km tempo, cool down (in theory)
10:20am, and I was not ready to go out yet, because of other commitments that kept me longer than expected. Doubting I'd be able to run 8km (and shower) before having to pick up my daughter (at the latest) at noon: should I run this afternoon with both kids? should I shorten my run? should I try to run it all anyway and hurry afterwards?
In the end I decided to shorten warm up and cool down, and still try to run 5km at a challenging pace for a total of 6km. But also this plan B was shattered into pieces, because I started like a rocket for 1km (only 10 seconds slower than my Magic Mile pace, to make it clearer), I slowed down to 10 seconds slower than my best 5km pace for most of the run, and I bursted in the last km. Well, I could see that as a slow cool down, but that would be a lie.
And then I realized that I had forgotten one little detail again... food. I was really not in the mood to eat much for breakfast, but I had planned to get some quick calories in before going out for my workout... which I forgot. Low sugar run = bad run.
Lesson learnt: run it, don't rush it.
I wanted to post a picture of the mug I got from my husband for my birthday, but I didn't manage to do it last week so here it is:
10:20am, and I was not ready to go out yet, because of other commitments that kept me longer than expected. Doubting I'd be able to run 8km (and shower) before having to pick up my daughter (at the latest) at noon: should I run this afternoon with both kids? should I shorten my run? should I try to run it all anyway and hurry afterwards?
In the end I decided to shorten warm up and cool down, and still try to run 5km at a challenging pace for a total of 6km. But also this plan B was shattered into pieces, because I started like a rocket for 1km (only 10 seconds slower than my Magic Mile pace, to make it clearer), I slowed down to 10 seconds slower than my best 5km pace for most of the run, and I bursted in the last km. Well, I could see that as a slow cool down, but that would be a lie.
And then I realized that I had forgotten one little detail again... food. I was really not in the mood to eat much for breakfast, but I had planned to get some quick calories in before going out for my workout... which I forgot. Low sugar run = bad run.
Lesson learnt: run it, don't rush it.
I wanted to post a picture of the mug I got from my husband for my birthday, but I didn't manage to do it last week so here it is:
"I'd rather be running now"
"Friends on your side
The wind in your face
The freedom of running
And the finish already in sight"
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Knee pain
Easy Run: 5km.
My knees were hurting quite a bit yesterday and on Sunday, after the long run, and considering that years ago I've had problems to both (torn meniscus on one side and sprained ligament on the other), I was a bit concerned. This morning, however, everything felt fine and I went out for my easy run with no worries.
And it was exactly that: an easy run. Unlike my other weekday runs though, at the end I didn't want to continue, I was good with just 5km. I guess I am still recovering from Sunday after all.
My knees were hurting quite a bit yesterday and on Sunday, after the long run, and considering that years ago I've had problems to both (torn meniscus on one side and sprained ligament on the other), I was a bit concerned. This morning, however, everything felt fine and I went out for my easy run with no worries.
And it was exactly that: an easy run. Unlike my other weekday runs though, at the end I didn't want to continue, I was good with just 5km. I guess I am still recovering from Sunday after all.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Singing in the woods
Long Run: 12km
I was looking forward to today's run, finally increasing the distance again after being stuck at 10km for one month, and I was not disappointed. This was my longest run ever, if we don't count a 12.8km with regular walk breaks (4:1), and it felt goooooood!
I ventured out in the woods for the first time, I have biked these paths a couple of times but I had never gone running so far from home.
It's fuzzy because I continued walking but I still like it :-)
(I only walked to take this picture and a few times to drink, no regular walk breaks)
I was running with the ipod, and I developed a perfect test to make sure that I don't go too fast: if I can sing, then it's a good pace. It's good I don't have any Whitney Houston songs in there :-p
As I was approaching the virtual finish line, I saw my husband and kids waiting for me. I hope I can have this smile on my face on June 2nd, at the end of the marathon!
I was looking forward to today's run, finally increasing the distance again after being stuck at 10km for one month, and I was not disappointed. This was my longest run ever, if we don't count a 12.8km with regular walk breaks (4:1), and it felt goooooood!
I ventured out in the woods for the first time, I have biked these paths a couple of times but I had never gone running so far from home.
It's fuzzy because I continued walking but I still like it :-)
(I only walked to take this picture and a few times to drink, no regular walk breaks)
I was running with the ipod, and I developed a perfect test to make sure that I don't go too fast: if I can sing, then it's a good pace. It's good I don't have any Whitney Houston songs in there :-p
As I was approaching the virtual finish line, I saw my husband and kids waiting for me. I hope I can have this smile on my face on June 2nd, at the end of the marathon!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Birthday Run
7km Speedwork: Warm up, 2x(1600m fast + 800m jog), cool down.
I woke up this morning to a beautifully decorated living room, a delicious breakfast, some presents and the smiling faces of my husband and kids wishing me a happy birthday. Now if that's not the perfect start for a birthday, I don't know what could be! Let's add an overwhelming amount of messages on facebook from friends and family and a beautiful bunch of flowers from my in-laws and the picture is almost complete for the morning...
I said "almost" because my workout was also tuned in with the fantastic day: I ignored the paces in my program and went with the general recommendations: warm up, fast, recovery, fast, recovery, cool down. I even walked for two short segments during my recovery periods, and I think this helped in achieving a faster pace for the second fast mile (I even took 5 seconds off my best Magic Mile). All in all, it felt good and I could have easily continued.
Maybe I need to make my weekday runs longer, or is it a good thing that I'm always left wanting more?
I woke up this morning to a beautifully decorated living room, a delicious breakfast, some presents and the smiling faces of my husband and kids wishing me a happy birthday. Now if that's not the perfect start for a birthday, I don't know what could be! Let's add an overwhelming amount of messages on facebook from friends and family and a beautiful bunch of flowers from my in-laws and the picture is almost complete for the morning...
I said "almost" because my workout was also tuned in with the fantastic day: I ignored the paces in my program and went with the general recommendations: warm up, fast, recovery, fast, recovery, cool down. I even walked for two short segments during my recovery periods, and I think this helped in achieving a faster pace for the second fast mile (I even took 5 seconds off my best Magic Mile). All in all, it felt good and I could have easily continued.
Maybe I need to make my weekday runs longer, or is it a good thing that I'm always left wanting more?
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Doubts
5km easy, with kids.
Beautiful day for a run, too bad I only had to do 5km! It was supposed to be an easy run at a slow pace, but I decided that I didn't want to listen to my (well, actually my husband's) Garmin and I listened to my body instead: I started running at a comfortable but good pace, and after a while I checked and discovered it was about 40 seconds faster than what I had in my plan. I continued with that pace until the end because it felt good.
I have a theory that I need to investigate further: if I start up too slow, then I find it very difficult to speed up to a faster pace, whereas if I already start faster (but still in my comfort zone) then I have no problems keeping it up until the end.
On a different note, I'm not sure about my training plan anymore. The long run schedule is supposed to be designed for a beginner adopting the run/walk/run approach, but is that also good for somebody who wants to run the whole distance? I find the Galloway approach interesting, but something is keeping me from following it all the way. Next June 3rd I want to be able to say that I ran my first marathon, not that I ran/walked it...
Beautiful day for a run, too bad I only had to do 5km! It was supposed to be an easy run at a slow pace, but I decided that I didn't want to listen to my (well, actually my husband's) Garmin and I listened to my body instead: I started running at a comfortable but good pace, and after a while I checked and discovered it was about 40 seconds faster than what I had in my plan. I continued with that pace until the end because it felt good.
I have a theory that I need to investigate further: if I start up too slow, then I find it very difficult to speed up to a faster pace, whereas if I already start faster (but still in my comfort zone) then I have no problems keeping it up until the end.
On a different note, I'm not sure about my training plan anymore. The long run schedule is supposed to be designed for a beginner adopting the run/walk/run approach, but is that also good for somebody who wants to run the whole distance? I find the Galloway approach interesting, but something is keeping me from following it all the way. Next June 3rd I want to be able to say that I ran my first marathon, not that I ran/walked it...
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Magic Mile
Day 3: 5km with Magic Mile.
How long is a mile, really? Let me tell you, it depends on how fast you have to run it.
Jeff Galloway recommends doing this test regularly in your training program to determine what your pace for the long runs should be, and to predict your race time (5K, 10K, half-marathon and marathon). If I put in my time of today, I get for the 5K a prediction that is about 20 seconds faster than my current pb, and 1 minute faster for the 10K. But those were not races, they both were comfortable training runs so I'm pretty sure I could achieve the times predicted by Galloway without problems, and maybe on better days do even better.
Today I was running alone and I had eaten a good breakfast, but still I felt a bit heavy. I guess if I had run the 5K or 10K at my best, today I would have done it in the predicted time, so I am going to stick to the suggested training pace for the long runs. Thanks Mr. Galloway!
Good news coming from Mr.Achilles too: I didn't have any problem today, just like on Thursday (I had forgotten to mention it).
How long is a mile, really? Let me tell you, it depends on how fast you have to run it.
Jeff Galloway recommends doing this test regularly in your training program to determine what your pace for the long runs should be, and to predict your race time (5K, 10K, half-marathon and marathon). If I put in my time of today, I get for the 5K a prediction that is about 20 seconds faster than my current pb, and 1 minute faster for the 10K. But those were not races, they both were comfortable training runs so I'm pretty sure I could achieve the times predicted by Galloway without problems, and maybe on better days do even better.
Today I was running alone and I had eaten a good breakfast, but still I felt a bit heavy. I guess if I had run the 5K or 10K at my best, today I would have done it in the predicted time, so I am going to stick to the suggested training pace for the long runs. Thanks Mr. Galloway!
Good news coming from Mr.Achilles too: I didn't have any problem today, just like on Thursday (I had forgotten to mention it).
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Running on empty
Day two of my training program, 8km: warm up, 5km tempo, cool down.
Nice day, thin clouds veiling the sun, a bit windy, quite fresh. I had both kids in the stroller so I spent the warm up chatting with my daughter, as always when she's awake. She doesn't really care if I'm just warming up or if I'm sprinting without a breath to spare...
When warm up was over and I had to speed up, problems started. I was finding it hard to keep a pace that is easily in my comfort zone, and I didn't know why. Luckily my daughter went quiet, so at least I didn't have to talk except for the occasional "oh look, a horse!".
It was only by the 3rd km that it finally dawned on me: I was running on empty. A coffee and some yogurt isn't exactly what I would call "the breakfast of champions". It took a while for my body to understand it was time to burn some fat and by the time I finally got that much needed energy, my workout was over.
Please remind me to have a decent breakfast on workout days.
Nice day, thin clouds veiling the sun, a bit windy, quite fresh. I had both kids in the stroller so I spent the warm up chatting with my daughter, as always when she's awake. She doesn't really care if I'm just warming up or if I'm sprinting without a breath to spare...
When warm up was over and I had to speed up, problems started. I was finding it hard to keep a pace that is easily in my comfort zone, and I didn't know why. Luckily my daughter went quiet, so at least I didn't have to talk except for the occasional "oh look, a horse!".
It was only by the 3rd km that it finally dawned on me: I was running on empty. A coffee and some yogurt isn't exactly what I would call "the breakfast of champions". It took a while for my body to understand it was time to burn some fat and by the time I finally got that much needed energy, my workout was over.
Please remind me to have a decent breakfast on workout days.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The training program and Day One
Yesterday I was pretty busy trying to sketch a training program. If you've ever googled marathon training program, you know there's enough to lose your mind even if you just want to pick one program and stick to it.
Me? I was of course not happy with any of the ready schedules served on the free-for-all internet buffet... too many or too few weekly runs, too many or too few kilometers, suggested pace too fast or too slow, long runs on the wrong days (come on, who's gonna run 26km on Christmas Day???)... so with A LOT of cut and paste I finally came up with a training schedule I'm satisfied with.
I basically took Jeff Galloway's beginner scheme for the long runs on Sunday, and substituted its weekday 30min runs with distances (and paces) from a couple of programs created with Runner's World Smart Coach. Tuesday is my easy run day, always between 5km and 7km, Thursday is for speed work and Sunday for the long run. This allows me to run with the kids during the week without them getting too bored in the stroller, have a very long run only once every 2-3 weeks and include some challenging speed work while still following the general guidelines of a super tried and proved training schedule.
At this point I'm still not sure whether I will or not adopt Galloway's strategy for the long runs, which includes walk breaks.
SO... today was Day One. 5km, easy, no kids.
Did I say "easy"? It was not. It was not easy to stick to a pace one minute slower than what I had been running at until now. It was not easy to run without leaning on the stroller, as I didn't know what to do with my arms. And it was not easy to run with a quite annoying (although not strong) pain in my right Achilles tendon, let's see how this goes.
And did I mention that it was also raining a bit?
But it felt good, boy it felt good. I am no longer just a mom who runs with a stroller, I am a mom who's training for a friggin' marathon.
Me? I was of course not happy with any of the ready schedules served on the free-for-all internet buffet... too many or too few weekly runs, too many or too few kilometers, suggested pace too fast or too slow, long runs on the wrong days (come on, who's gonna run 26km on Christmas Day???)... so with A LOT of cut and paste I finally came up with a training schedule I'm satisfied with.
I basically took Jeff Galloway's beginner scheme for the long runs on Sunday, and substituted its weekday 30min runs with distances (and paces) from a couple of programs created with Runner's World Smart Coach. Tuesday is my easy run day, always between 5km and 7km, Thursday is for speed work and Sunday for the long run. This allows me to run with the kids during the week without them getting too bored in the stroller, have a very long run only once every 2-3 weeks and include some challenging speed work while still following the general guidelines of a super tried and proved training schedule.
At this point I'm still not sure whether I will or not adopt Galloway's strategy for the long runs, which includes walk breaks.
SO... today was Day One. 5km, easy, no kids.
Did I say "easy"? It was not. It was not easy to stick to a pace one minute slower than what I had been running at until now. It was not easy to run without leaning on the stroller, as I didn't know what to do with my arms. And it was not easy to run with a quite annoying (although not strong) pain in my right Achilles tendon, let's see how this goes.
And did I mention that it was also raining a bit?
But it felt good, boy it felt good. I am no longer just a mom who runs with a stroller, I am a mom who's training for a friggin' marathon.
Monday, October 24, 2011
And so it begins
Yesterday, October 22nd, was my last run as a non-marathon-trainee: 10km on a perfect cold but sunny day, with my son sleeping in the jogging stroller. Today, everything changed.
I've been running regularly since August with no real target in mind and for weeks I have lazily been looking at half-marathons and marathons in my area, but it was basically like window shopping. Worse, it was like internet window shopping, if you know what I mean.
Then this afternoon my husband came home from his run with a brilliant idea: "YOU can do the Stockholm marathon!". I had mentioned that marathon as a possible one for him to do (he's done three already, plus 5 half marathons), because I love Stockholm and I want to go back there, but I had never considered running it myself!
I had no arguments against this idea, so I sheepishly signed up for my first marathon: Stockholm, June 2nd 2012. This place is where I will keep track of the 223 days separating me from this enormous challenge, with all the ups and downs sure to come.
I've been running regularly since August with no real target in mind and for weeks I have lazily been looking at half-marathons and marathons in my area, but it was basically like window shopping. Worse, it was like internet window shopping, if you know what I mean.
Then this afternoon my husband came home from his run with a brilliant idea: "YOU can do the Stockholm marathon!". I had mentioned that marathon as a possible one for him to do (he's done three already, plus 5 half marathons), because I love Stockholm and I want to go back there, but I had never considered running it myself!
I had no arguments against this idea, so I sheepishly signed up for my first marathon: Stockholm, June 2nd 2012. This place is where I will keep track of the 223 days separating me from this enormous challenge, with all the ups and downs sure to come.
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