Bronchitis.... not the best motivation to run

So this weekend I contracted a somewhat severe case of bronchitis. I have had a pretty high fever off and on the past few days and have felt like a few trucks ran over me... repeatedly. As you can imagine, I have NOT kept up with the marathon training... we were supposed to run 7 miles on Saturday and like 5 on Sunday but I decided the best choice would be for me to lie on the couch (after I returned from the D-Now I was doing.. pretty sure I was NOT the most effective leader while hacking up my lungs!) and sleep/stare into space for two days. So now I'm behind at work, behind with school stuff, and definitely behind with running. I'm back at work today, but I don't think I'll be able to run today cause I still feel a bit like I'm swimming through life and can barely laugh without going into a coughing fit! BUT THE BRONCHITIS WILL NOT CONQUER ME! I WILL OVERCOME! **insert inspirational music and Sara/Janell running montage**. Just wanted to give all of our faithful blog groupies a bit of an update. My goal is to be running hard core again by Thursday or Friday... so we shall see!! 

Housesitting and Celebrity Sightings

Well, sorry for the lack of posts this week. It has been a little crazy. I am currently housesitting for a family that is on vacation with some friends of mine. They are on a cruise from New Zealand to Australia...SO JEALOUS. The fun part about all of this is that they have a blind dog named Princess (if that tells you anything) that I am taking care of. I will have some interesting stories about her later, but for now let's stick to the running.

Saturday we had our longest run thus far...6 miles. Just a little under halfway what we'll be doing in a couple of months. To make matters worse, Sara was in Waco for the weekend, so I had to run it alone. Blah. Saturday was also the day that Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo tickets went on sale. In my family, this is like 2nd in importance only to Opening Day of baseball season, so I knew I had to be done with my run and back at my apartment by 10 so I could get tickets to the shows me and my sisters wanted. So I woke up at like 8 and went to Old Settler's to run. It was actually a pretty good run. I finished it in just over an hour. And, of course, we got all of our rodeo tickets...looks like Sara will be seeing her first rodeo ever on March 20th!

Yesterday was just 4 miles, so Sara and I ran that in my new neighborhood. Then we went with her friend Erika to see Revolutionary Road. Leo and Kate were amazing, but I'm not sure I would recommend it. Pretty depressing. However, I did keep my celebrity-spotting streak alive (for those of you that don't know, I am notorious for running into celebrities - ask me about the time I chased 50 Cent through LaGuardia airport) when we were leaving the theater. There sitting at one of the tables in the lobby was THIS guy from Friday Night Lights (which just so happens to film in Austin) His name is Jesse Plemons.

I actually don't even watch that show, but I saw an interview on E! just a couple of days ago with him talking about the new season. So I am positive it was him. I should've gone up to him and taken a picture, but he was pretty deep in conversation with some girl. Oh well...better luck next time.

Well, I am really excited about this week, because I think we have to run 4 miles tomorrow, and on Wednesday, we only have to run 3!! I never thought I would be so excited about running 3 miles. What have I become???? But on Saturday, w have to run 7...AND I'm going to be at a D-Now in Highlands! So I guess I will be getting up early...my FAVORITE!

On a serious note, this running thing has given me a lot of perspective on my relationship with the Lord. I feel like sometimes I don't feel like I have the strength to deal with certain situations, and then I realize it's because I never asked for it. I just try to do it in my own strength. There have been times when I'm running, that I just want to stop and give up, because I don't think my body can handle it. But it's then that God reminds me that my BODY can handle it, it's my faith that can't. I simply need to ask for the faith to push myself. I think that applies to our everyday life as well...we don't push ourselves because we are afraid we will fail. When did we start making God so small?? Just something to think about.

Well, thanks to my new pad, Bachelor-Blizzard Monday will be in style for the next couple of weeks. :-) And if he does not get rid of crazy-stalker-Shannon this week, I may have to boycott!! Happy Monday!

VICTORY!

Man... am I PLEASED with tonight's outcome! So if you've been keeping up, you'll notice that Janell and I had some issues on Sunday... meaning we were pathetically dragging after a mere mile and a half. So after our rest day (complete with Bachelor and blizzards) we were a little scared to see how we would perform tonight. The assignment: 5 miles. We decided to run at night in my neighborhood again-- because hey, who doesn't love to run in 35 degree weather?? It wasn't too bad though, and there were a shocking amount of people out with their dogs, so we didn't feel too crazy. We definitely had a successful run- only stopping a couple times briefly to catch our breath (slash soothe our aching knees/achilles tendons-- Janell's having some odd ailments haha) and the rest of the time we kept a good pace- finishing our 5 miles just under an hour!! Hooray!!! And when we got back, Sharon (the lovely owner of the house I live in) made us some killer hot chocolate. So it was all worth it. Moral of today's story-- apparently carbs actually DO give you energy and don't just make you fat. SO if you're going to train for a marathon- or just run for 5 miles- GO EAT SOME BREAD! Tomorrow's another five. DANG- why'd I sign up for this? They just keep throwing these miles at me! But I'm optimistic... I see another victory in the cards for tomorrow. Until then...

The Hills Are Alive...

Ok, so something that is really important to me and Sara is music. In fact, when we are not running cheerfully through the woods, we spend a lot of time singing and helping with the choirs here at the children's home. So it is pretty important that we create a great playlist to listen to while we run. Granted, as much as possible, we run together, since that is way better than any playlist, but there are a lot of days when it is just me and the iPod.

The good news is that I broke down and bought my own iPod Shuffle. It had to be done, really. My gigantic freakin 160 GB iPod Video just wasn't cutting it on the runs. And the boys from my cottage were starting to get suspicious when I wouldn't return their Shuffles for days at a time. They are pretty smart for a bunch of 7-9 year olds - dang!

So, armed with my new Shuffle, it was time to weed through all of my 5876 songs and come up with a hundred and something to put on there. Here's the thing: to quote Whoopi Goldberg from the classic movie Sister Act 2 (haha), I am a pretty eclectic when it comes to my musical taste. I have everything from AC/DC to Steven Curtis Chapman to Akon to some lady singing classical music in French, and everything in between.

When I am running, the main thing I look for in music is something that I can sing to and that really pumps me up. I have found that I either need something extremely spiritually encouraging (a la "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" or"Mighty to Save"), or something extremely lame that I can rock out to (a la "We are the Champions" or "Eye of the Tiger").

So here is a little taste of what's playing when I'm running:

"Here Comes the Hotstepper" by Ini Kamoze - You may not think you know this song, but trust me, you do. (Here comes the hotstepper, murderer, I'm the lyrical gangster, murderer, Excuse me, Mr. Officer...) I mean, it doesn't make much sense, but if that doesn't put you in a good mood, come on...

"Let God Arise" and "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Chris Tomlin - Both of these are on the Passion "God of this City" CD. I cannot get enough of it!! So good!

"Precious Lord, Take My Hand/Just a Closer Walk With Thee" by Selah - In my opinion, the greatest recording of either of these songs. Plus the lyrics ("I am tired, I am weak, I am worn," "I am weak, but Thou art strong") seem pretty appropriate.

"Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" by Beyonce - This is a great song. Bonus: I always picture the SNL spoof with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg dancing behind Beyonce in leotards and high heels...if you haven't seen it, google it. HILARIOUS.

"I Can't Get Next To You" by The Temptations - Another great classic song...bonus points to the person who can tell me what movie this makes me think of. (Hint: it was filmed in Texas)

"Shackles" by Mary Mary feat. Kirk Franklin - mostly because when I am running, I feel like I have actual shackles on my feet that I need God to remove.

"The World's Greatest" by R. Kelly - because hey, the truth is the truth

"The Thong Song" by Sisqo - first of all, haters, let me say that this is the edited version...but honestly, I love this song. It reminds me of my senior year of high school, and it pretty much just makes me happy...

"In Me" by Casting Crowns - Although this is not the most upbeat song in the world, this is a song that has been a huge encouragement to me in life in general, so I thought I would apply it to running as well. (My favorite lyrics : "When I'm weak, You make me strong. When I'm blind, You shine Your light on me. 'Cause I'll never get by living on my own ability...so I'll stand on Your truth and I'll fight with Your strength, 'til You bring the victory by the power of Christ in me")

"Rhythm in Me" and "The Miracle Song" from the Altar Boyz soundtrack - I saw this show the last time I was in New York, and I am pretty much in love with this CD. I highly recommend you check it out.

"I Run To You" by Plus One, "Ready to Run" by the Dixie Chicks, and "Run to You" by Whitney Houston - because come on, running puns are funny.

"Footloose" by Kenny Loggins - Who doesn't love Kevin Bacon?? (Side note - did you hear they are doing a remake of this with Zac Efron??)

"We Are The Champions" and "We Will Rock You" by Queen - it had to be done

"Joyful, Joyful" from the Sister Act 2 soundtrack - yes, I have the soundtrack (SHUT UP)...I already told you, this is a classic in my book. :-)

"Everything" by Michael Buble - I like to pretend he is running alongside and serenading me.

"O Sifuni Mungu" by UMHB's One Voice circa 2001-2002 - only a few of you will appreciate the significance of this one, but I used to love to hear them sing this in college. I mean it's not every day that you get to hear Spencer sing in Swahili.

"That's Not My Name" by The Ting Tings - This is quite possibly the dumbest and the most fabulous song all rolled into one.

"Defying Gravity" from the Wicked soundtrack - "and if I'm flying solo, (which I very well may be by the end of the race), at least I'm flying free..."

"Marvelous Light" by Charlie Hall - this one talks about running into marvelous light, which I'm pretty sure is referring to heaven or the Lord or something like that. For this purpose, however, I am seeing it more like a "light at the end of the tunnel" kind of thing.

"Heart Over Head Over Heels" by Clay Walker - Any song with the lyrics "you throw me girl like a tumbleweed on a Tilt-A-Whirl" can't be wrong.

"Some Days You Gotta Dance" by the Dixie Chicks - because, let's face it, some days you really do. (that one's for you, Jen :-) )

"It's Good To Be Alive" by Geoff Moore and the Distance - I have a feeling I am going to need a reminder somewhere around mile 11 or so.

So that is just a snippet of what I am working with music-wise. Feel free to add any of your own suggestions in the comments section. I still have 10 and a half LONG weeks to go.

Happy Trails!

Smack!!

Well, it is safe to say that we have hit our first wall (thus the "Smack!"). Maybe it is just our bodies' way of saying, "Don't get too confident with this whole running thing, because I can and WILL shut down on you if I feel like it."
It happened yesterday. We had a mere 4 miles to run and we were not too concerned about that, given we had ran 5 on Saturday without too many problems. We decided to go run it at Old Settler's, since it was a pretty easy run (minus all the dogs). We took off with no problems, then about a mile, mile and a half in, we both felt like we were going to die. And not in the usual way, where you just chalk it up to the fact that you are actually running and keep going until you feel ok again. More like we HAD to stop or we might collapse and roll into the cactus strategically placed on the side of the trail. So we decided to take a short walk break and pick it back up like usual. We started running again after 30 seconds or a minute or so, but about 5 minutes later, it happened again. We were attempting to play the question game, and I couldn't even give my answer because I was concentrating too hard on breathing (=not dying). So we slowed down again, and picked it back up. After doing this a couple more times, we just decided to walk for a little bit. It was at this point that I noticed that my HANDS WERE SWELLING. What the?? That had never happened to me before, and it's not like we were running 20 miles or anything. So anyone who reads this and knows what that means, feel free to leave me a comment. I am thinking maybe it was because I didn't eat much for breakfast or lunch...like a blood sugar issue or something. Help me out, nurse Kristi!

Anyway, so we walked/ran until we finished our 4 miles, even though we were pretty discouraged. I figure this is just a part of it, but I'm going to have to figure this hand swelling thing out...so weird.

The good news is that, not only is it a rest day, it's also Bachelor-Blizzard Monday!! Can't wait!

Sara reporting...

Well today I rolled out of bed at 9:00am- not my ideal wake up time for a Saturday-- especially when I know the next thing I have to do is go run five miles. But nevertheless, I slipped on that trusty spandex (which I NEVER thought I would own!) grabbled the ole pedometer and Janell and I headed out to Brushy Creek for our five mile stint today. We arrived at the trail and headed out in the BITING cold to once again pose as runners among the 85 year olds and women with strollers who speed past us. Today was a little rough, I'm not gonna lie to you. Who knew that a hilly terrain in 40 degree weather would be so different than the climate-controlled 0.0 inclined treadmill at the Y with a TV and iPod to distract me? Bizarre. We started to implement the question game during our run in order to make the time go by faster. It's no code people, we just ask each other random questions. I would recommend this activity to anyone who finds themselves counting down the seconds until you can justify taking a walk break. It really did help the run go by faster and we learned random facts about each other too!

When I got back home from the run I started looking up what it really means to "carb load" before the marathon. I mean that's why we're doing this right? So we can eat a HUGE pasta dinner the night before guilt-free? Apparently not. I received some distressing news as I surfed the web and found out that "marathonists" (how do you get dubbed that?? can I refer to myself as that? I probably will from now on- just so you all know.) consider major carb loading before a run to be a hinderance. The pasta sits in your stomach causing you to be lethargic instead of providing extra energy. You're just supposed to maintain your same diet for the whole week. WHAT?! That's ridiculous. Sigh. Well the article said NOTHING against blizzards on rest days, so I guess I'll just cling to that.

Janell and I totalled up our total running for the week : 20 miles, baby! Pretty sure that's the total number of miles I had run in my LIFE until this past month. If we can do it-- ANYONE CAN! : )

Update

Well, I am still new to all this blog junk, but I went back and added some pictures and stuff to some of my previous posts. I am going to keep messing with stuff and hopefully, this thing will be looking a lot better soon.
I also added Sara as a contributor to the blog, so she can share things from her perspective.
We are running Brushy Creek tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes. Happy Friday!

Rest Day

Well, despite all my complaining, there are a few positive things about this training. We'll get to those later, but first a little more complaining.

Here is a idea of what our training schedule looks like for this week. Keep in mind this is week 8, so the miles will keep creeping up as the training continues.
Monday - Rest Day
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles
Thursday - Cross training for 45 minutes to an hour
Friday - Rest Day
Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - 4 miles

Sara and I were really excited that Mondays are rest days, mostly because our guilty pleasure, The Bachelor premiered this Monday. So we decided to get together and watch the show and rest our aching knees. When she got to the apartment, our first dilemma was dinner. We decided if the idea was to rest, then we shouldn't even have to get up off the couch, so we ordered a pizza. Which brings me to the first positive thing about all this running...you can pretty much eat whatever you want and not gain a pound. I do like that. So anyway, we spent the next couple of hours stuffing our faces and watching a bunch of CRAZIES throw themselves at Jason. ABC really outdid themselves with the nutjobs this season.

At some point during the show, we saw a Dairy Queen commercial. You'd think that we'd be such disciplined runners (and so stuffed full of pizza) that a commercial for Blizzards would have no effect on us whatsoever. HA. As soon as the show was over, we hopped in the car and went straight to DQ. Then we sat back down on the couch, ate our Blizzards, and convinced each other that this was no problem since we were going to run 4 miles the next day. Then we decided that Bachelor-Blizzard Mondays should definitely be incorporated into our training. I mean, if you can't enjoy your rest days, then what the crap is the point of them??

Well, back to the running...Tuesday I had to run 4 miles. I decided that there was no way I was going to run 4 miles on a treadmill. Because if there is anything I hate more than running itself, it's running on a treadmill. That freakin STOP button is just too tempting. At least if I am outside and 2 miles from my car, I have to get back to it somehow...no stop option. So I decided to check out the trail at Old Settler's Park. I like it because part of it runs right behind the Dell Diamond (Home of the Round Rock Express), and that makes me think about baseball season, and BAM, I'm happy. Anyway, it was a pretty good trail, I guess. Too many people with dogs though. There was one lady with these two dogs that I kept passing. Every time I passed them, the dogs would start chasing me, and dragging this poor lady behind them. So then I felt compelled to slow down so they didn't rip her arms off, which was not helping me run my 4 miles any faster. So that kind of sucked.

Side note that has absolutely nothing to do with running:
As I was driving back to my apartment from Old Settler's, one of my former kids, Chris, who is one of my favorite people in the world, called me. He is pursuing some acting/comedy stuff, and he had been working on a monologue for an audition that he has in a few weeks. He asked if he could come by and show it to me and see what I thought. So I told him to give me like 15 minutes to shower and then come on over. When I opened my door, he is standing there dressed as a giant SPOON. I hope none of my neighbors saw him. They probably think I am crazy enough. The monologue was hilarious though.

I think I had my first breakthrough last night. We were scheduled to run 5 miles, and I was definitely not looking forward to that. Sara and I decided we would run them together so we could help motivate each other. This time we were running in the neighborhood where she is living, mostly because we were too lazy to drive anywhere else. For the first time, I felt like my body was actually cooperating. We ran the whole 5 miles (well, we took like 2 30-second walk breaks), and talked and laughed the whole time. It was (dare I say??) pretty easy. Now, don't get me wrong, I still felt like my kneecaps were going to fall off when I was done (and I REALLY feel like they might today), but I couldn't believe that I ran 5 miles and didn't die. Who knew?

So, as it turns out, this whole process might not be quite the disaster I thought. Well, I should probably keep my mouth shut - I still have 11 weeks until race day. Think of all the disaster that could ensue in 11 weeks...

Shoe People

Now, anyone who knows anything about running knows that the most important thing is to have a good pair of running shoes. Of course, I am not anyone who knows anything about running, so I was running in a pair of shoes that I bought like 3 years ago at the Reebok outlet. Works for me. But when I was reading my marathon training book, she pointed out that after about 5 miles or so, you will be really glad that you have a good pair of shoes. And Sara had already sprung for a good pair, so I couldn't let her have yet another advantage over me.

So last Saturday, I got up and got dressed in a really cute outfit, thinking that I should at least look cute since I was about to make a fool out of myself. I put on a pair of flip-flops, and headed off to RunTex in Georgetown. I certainly wasn't going to try and figure out this shoe thing on my own...I needed someone who knows what they're talking about.

Luckily, the only people who were there when I got there were the two guys who were working there. So, I was thinking that this might not be as humiliating as I thought. I was wrong.

One of the guys came over to help me, and I pretty much told him my plight. He was very nice and promised that he would help me find a great pair of shoes. The first thing he made me do was go into this room that basically looked like a workout studio - wood floors, mirrors along the walls, etc. Then he told me to walk naturally back and forth across the room while he watched me. Do you know how hard it is to walk naturally when someone is staring at your every move??

Then he measured my feet. He told me that it was usually a good idea to buy a half size or a size bigger in running shoes, to account for swelling. COME AGAIN?? Yes, apparently around mile 7 or 8 or so, your feet begin to swell. I, of course, was oblivious to this fact since I had never made it past about mile 3. So I have that to look forward to...fantastic.

Anyway, back to the shoe guy. He went to the back and brought back like 10-15 pairs of shoes for me to try. Then he was like, "Just put your socks on and we'll start trying them on." Ummm...you mean I was supposed to wear socks? I thought my flip-flops looked pretty cute. Luckily, he snagged a pair from the back for me to use, and we got started. Every time I would put on a new pair of shoes, we would go back into the dreaded studio and he would ask me to walk back and forth, then JOG back and forth for a few minutes. Then he would babble off all of this technical stuff about arch support and stability and my toes and heels and blah, blah, blah. They pretty much all felt the same to me. And, after the 3rd or 4th pair, my cute outfit was starting to get a little sweaty and disgusting.

To top it all off, somewhere in the midst of all this, the store had started to fill up with a bunch of "hardcores" who I am pretty sure were laughing and talking about me behind my back.

Well, after about 30 minutes of trying different shoes, and me trying to give as much feedback as possible, we narrowed it down to 2 pairs. One was red, and one was blue. I thought we would just play Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo or Rock, Paper, Scissors or something, but he was a bit more thorough. First he made me try on the red left foot with the blue right foot, then vice versa, then I had to try on both pairs again and jog in them. FINALLY, we decided on the blue pair. Or the Saucony Guides, which is what the box said. TA-DA!!

I was more than ready to check out and be on my merry way. But WAIT..."Didn't you know that cotton socks are from the devil?? You should probably get some that are made of some super fancy government-created polyester with drynamix (yes that is a real word)." Well, I figured, if I am about to pay 90 something dollars for a pair of shoes, why not throw in 20 more for 2 pairs of socks?

So I proceeded to the register, closed my eyes and signed the receipt. The grand total was $118.95, which is pretty much like 2 days worth of work for me. I hate myself.

Here Goes Nothing...

I created this blog to chronicle my training for my very first half marathon. Let me give you a little background information first:

I am not a runner. Period. In fact, I pretty much despise running. I am a fairly athletic person, I guess you could say. I played softball, volleyball, and basketball growing up, and I always enjoyed them, but I never really understood the idea of just running. What was the point?? I mean, put a giant barking dog behind me or an ice cream truck in front of me, and I'll have a reason to run, but other than that, come on...

I remember a couple of years ago, I signed up for a cardio boot camp at the YMCA. It was an intensive 8 week program that met twice a week (at 5:30 A.M.!! Don't even get me started on how I feel about mornings. I'll give you a hint...it's about the same as I feel about running). I did it with my friend Sara, who, mind you, is pretty much a machine. And who also happens to LOVE running. Wonderful. Every time we met, we ran for at least half the hour. I would always smile at Sara, and take off, knowing that I wouldn't see her (well, at least her face) until the end of class. In fact, the only people I would see for the next 30 minutes to an hour were the 2 pudgy ladies and the 60 year old man who kept pace with me at the back. Seriously. Because not only do I hate running, I'm not good at it. You would think with my 36 inch legs that I could at least keep up, but you'd be wrong.

So all that to say, never in my life did it even cross my mind to run a half marathon (13.1 miles). But let's flash forward to a few weeks ago. My friend Sara (not the previously mentioned machine - different Sara), who is in grad school at Baylor, signed up for the annual Bearathon. For some crazy reason, she thought I should run it with her. I guess she caught me in a weak (or insane) moment, and I actually told her I would consider it. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. You see, I tend to be a bit of a masochist. Sometimes I do things just to prove that I can, no matter how much pain it causes me. And this seemed like the perfect opportunity to push my body to its limits. So I told her I was in.



And that's where my story begins.



Sara and I both bought a book called "The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide For Women: Get Off Your Butt And On With Your Training," which has thus far been the most fun part of my training. It was written by a lady much like myself, who just up and decided to run a marathon. It is a pretty hilarious read. I would recommend it even if you aren't thinking about running a marathon.

Inside the book is a training schedule. It is set up to start 20 weeks before your race. Too bad we bought the book (about a week or two before Christmas) at about week 5. Whoops! So we tweaked the schedule a little (translation: we decided we would run whenever the crap we felt like until after the holidays and pick up on week 7 in January). Of course, my holidays turned out to be a little crazier than I expected, and I ran exactly once over the holidays. Sara, of course, pretty much stuck to the schedule. I should've known I was going to be the slacker!! We signed up for the Resolution Run 5K in Round Rock on New Year's Day, thinking it would be a good way to motivate us...



Race Day

I woke up on New Year's Day feeling much the same as I had the day before - like crap (by the way, I say crap a lot, so you can go ahead and get used to that). My nose was running, my throat was hurting, and I could barely breathe. I had stayed home the night before instead of going out with my friends because I wanted to try and sleep it off, but that clearly hadn't worked. But, I am a trooper (plus I already paid $20 and I wanted my t-shirt!), so I crawled out of bed, threw on my clothes and Sara and I took off.

We got to the church and went in to pick up our packets. The room was full of people, food, massage therapists set up with their tables, and just basic chaos. I got a little worried when I saw some of the people there. "Are you sure this is just a 5K?, " I asked Sara. Because some of these people looked like they were ready to run all day. I was just hoping to get through the next half hour or so and not die. I also was wearing a t-shirt and some sweat pants. And I was standing in a room full of spandex and short shorts. And I DO mean SHORT shorts. I mean, if I wanted to look at a bunch of shirtless men with tiny shorts on, I would go to a strip club (or Schlitterbahn on a normal summer day- take your pick).

So, anyway, we got our stuff and headed out to the starting line. We strategically placed ourselves behind the "hardcores", as I like to call them (translation - spandex and short shorts), and the "people that I could possibly run faster than" (translation - thank God a few people my grandma's age showed up so I don't have to finish last). Needless to say, we were towards the back.

When the bullhorn sounded (What, they can't even spring for a real starter gun? What did my $20 go to?), we took off. I pretty much started hacking right away, but I was determined to keep going, even though I was "running" slower than I could normally crawl on my hands and knees. Sara, feeling sorry for me (or maybe she was just scared I would die and all those other people would just run over my dead body and keep going), stayed with me for the first mile or so. But she finally went ahead and ran at a normal pace. Amazingly, my body kept running, even though I was coughing and could barely breathe the whole time. I had jacked one of my kids' iPod Shuffles to use, so at least I had some music to listen to. Although, the kid I jacked it from is only 9, so it was mostly songs from musicals he was doing at church and TBCH. So it was a pretty interesting playlist. (Go, Go, Goliath; Nothing Ever Happens in Bethlehem; The Slingshot Heard 'Round the World; just to name a few).

I crossed the finish line after 37 minutes. PATHETIC. But hey, I was just happy to be done. Sara and I were going to stay for all the post-race festivities and door prizes and what not, but we decided we would rather just go eat. Hope I didn't win a big-screen TV or anything...not that I would have time to watch it with all this running.

Here is our "after" picture. I would post our "before" picture, but the lady we asked to take it didn't really give us any notice and we look pretty jacked up:

So that was New Year's Day. I'm feeling better this week, and I am up to running 4 miles a day. Tomorrow I have to run 5. Blah. So far, so good, I guess. Every time I run, I feel less and less like I want to die, so that is a start. Haha.

Well, this is a pretty long post, but I wanted to catch you up to speed. Stay tuned for more super exciting updates! :-)

Janell