August 1, 2007

Can you believe I'm going to run a marathon? Yeah, I know. Crazy. But you know, every summer I'd see those flyers at the hospital, and every year I'd tell myself "Next year I'm going to be in better shape, and I'm going to do that!" Then the next year would roll around, and the next...

This year I decided, why wait? So what if I'm carrying a few extra pounds? (50 is a few, right?) And okay, so I'm a smoker as well. (I'll be forced to quit soon) The most exercise I usually get is channel surfing, but everyone was a beginner once!

I'm a nurse at a children's hospital. Those of you who know me also know how passionate I am about my work, and the kids we serve. Don't get me wrong, this isn't entirely altruistic. But if I can take that passion and use it to finally get in shape, that's a good thing. And if the money I help raise gets one more IV pump, or one more box of toys....the struggle I'm about to undertake will have been worth it.

Well, it's been a little over a week of training, and I survived. Five more months, and hopefully I'll be in good shape. My husband and some of my friends think I've lost my mind. I've got to admit that in the middle of a run, I'd agree. Athough at this point, it's more of a walk/jog. But I'm still committed, and still going strong. Well, as strong as I can be with everything hurting, LOL.

I had some new experiences this week. I discovered that I had the wrong shoes. Amazingly enough, once I'd switched shoes, my knees stopped hurting. I also added weight training to my training this week. Too soon to tell how that's going, as I just started yesterday. I also learned that even though Arizona is usually very dry, during monsoon season it's a whole new experience. I'm also glad I don't live in a place where it's that humid all the time. Although maybe one gets used to it? I've also learned that I have pretty cruddy night vision...at least for spotting gravel that I'm about to trip on. So, I've had my first spill. Fortunately, a scraped knee was the only injury, and it was late enough that nobody saw it. I've been run/walking a route around my neighborhood. I started with two 'laps' and am now doing three. I had no idea how far each 'lap' was, so this morning I made my husband drive it to check. Turns out each 'lap' is a mile. I'm run/walking farther than I thought I was, so I'm feeling pretty good. Now if I can just avoid that darned gravel....

I took a few days off after my spill to let the scrapes and the bruising (that showed up later) heal. I'm back at it now, though. Is it because I took time off that yesterday's run felt like it took more effort than it needed to? Or maybe it's because now I know how far I'm running. Whatever it was, yesterday was a struggle. But watching the moon go down was nice, and I'm enjoying a whole new view of my neighborhood in the wee hours. The rabbits in my neighborhood aren't that people-shy, and sometimes they join me for a short time. Unfortunately, they are way faster than I am! The weight training is going well. I enjoy that far more than I expected to. I just got a card inviting me to meet my honor patient. I'm looking forward to that.

This week has been a better one. It's still tough, but I didn't feel like I was killing myself. My run/walk ratio hasn't gotten much better, but Tuesday morning in particular, I felt like I could do it all day and half the night! So, progress. Now to work on that ratio...

Still going fairly well. My strength training, however, gets skipped as often as not. I know better, but....I'm tired. I'm working a lot of overtime at work, and it makes it tough to get my training in. On the plus side, I found a new training guideline that's hopefully going to help me with that walk/run ratio. We'll see. Oh! And I finally get to meet my honor patient on Saturday. I can't wait!

This has not been a good training week for me. Worked a TON of overtime, and by the time I get home in the morning, it's beastly hot and I'm already exhausted. Only made half my training runs, and those were a huge struggle. Didn't get in any cross-training at all. I've slipped up in the quitting smoking department as well. *sigh* I'm starting to wonder if I bit off more than I can chew....

Didn't get to meet my honor patient on Saturday, as she couldn't make it to the 'Miracles in Motion' kickoff party. Hopefully, we'll arrange something else. I had a good time at the party anyway, as I got to catch up with a couple of other of our chronic kids and their families. They both looked fabulous, and it was a real pleasure to see and play with them while they are healthy, as I usually only get to see them in the hospital.

Got to try to gather my will and get through this slump...

So, it's been a better week. Part of that is because I worked a little less OT, but a lot of it is because it's FINALLY starting to cool down some. For those of you who live in colder places, what I mean by 'cooling down' is that it doesn't get above 90 degrees until after the sun comes up. As I usually run just before sunrise (at least on the days I don't work), that's been a huge help.

Also I've been eating and sleeping a little more normally. Pre-training, it took me FOREVER to fall asleep and I was generally happy if I got 4 hours. For the last couple of months though, I feel like if I'm not running, I'm sleeping or eating. Want a cure for insomnia? Train for a marathon.

My diet is s-l-o-w-l-y getting better as well. I thought I might lose some weight with all this training, but the scale has barely budged. I do know I'm losing some fat though, as my clothes fit a little better. I think the only reason I've not had more weight loss is because my appetite is voracious right now.

Initially, I was just grabbing anything at all to quiet my belly, but I'm finally starting to keep quick healthy snacks around, so at least I won't (hopefully) eat junk to tide me over until the next meal.

So yeah, baby steps. But hey, that's all I need to get where I'm going, eventually. Last Tuesday (the first cool day) I actually did an extra couple of miles just because it felt so nice not to be melting, LOL! It's supposed to warm back up by the end of this week, but this is definitely the beginning of the end of summer, and I'm so ready for it.

My run/walk intervals are still not where I'd like them to be, but I'm giving myself more time on that one, since I'd lost some consistency. So that's this week's focus: Staying consistent and on schedule.

...and two steps back. So, my goal for last week was consistency, right? Well, not so much. I missed a couple of runs due to a two-day migraine. (Being upright was hard enough, I didn't even try to be upright and moving) I got a couple of runs in once I felt better, but...

Late last week we lost one of our chronic kids. She went the way we should all hope to go, peacefully and surrounded by the people that love her. And for her sake, well let's just say no one should suffer like that baby has from the day she was born. It was a hard week to believe in miracles.

So, no training over the weekend, as my heart just wasn't in it.

Then I got an email with information about my new honor patient. A miracle in progress.

One of my nurses and I reminisced about the formerly chronic kiddos that we never see anymore, because they're too healthy to need us now. It was good for me, and helped me refocus.

This week is going better. It's been a little humid (for us) so that makes it a little harder, but so far, so good. I've already gotten in two runs and a cross-training day. Tomorrow is my weekly long run. It's nice that the sun is coming up later, and I can sleep in a little.

Hopefully tonight I'll get back on here and tell you all about my new honor patient.

So, I guess I didn't get back with the information about JJ, my honor patient. More on him in a bit.

Evidently I bit off more than I could chew after all. My runs were finally getting consistent, the weather was cooperating, and aside from some troublesome shinsplints, I was feeling pretty good.

Then my left foot started hurting. Just a minor annoyance at first, but by the time I was halfway through last week's long run, I had to slow to a walk, then just stop.

Turns out I had a stress fracture. No running for me for six weeks. SIX WEEKS! If I take six weeks off, there's no way I'll be ready to run 26 miles by mid January.

So, now I'm seeing what I have to do to switch to the half marathon. If I had to, I could do that walking.

*shrug* Gotta do what I gotta do, I guess.

I'll be back later with info on JJ...right now, I'm going for a walk.