Saturday, March 28, 2009
VICTORY IS OURS!!!!
WE FINISHED!!!!!!!! WE DID IT!!!!!!!! And we finished in a nice round 2 hours and 45 minutes : ) Janell's foot might fall off and my lower back feels detached from the upper half, but WE FINISHED! We have our lovely medals and our finishers shirts and could not feel more accomplished than we do right now! Thanks for all of your encouragement along the way! We'll give a more detailed account of the run after our vision stops being blurry : )
Friday, March 27, 2009
NEWS FLASH!
O...M...G. Just checked the weather for in the morning-- and at 9:00- an hour AFTER we start running- it's going to be 40 degrees-- with a wind chill of 29 degrees!! Janell and I DID NOT PACK PANTS! So we will be freezing for the majority of the run- it's not supposed to get above 47 until 12:00- hopefully we'll be done by that time!! I mean, the course shuts down at 11:00 so we're gonna HAVE to be done. This is such a crazy turn of events!! OH TEXAS WEATHER. We'll keep you posted...
What?? It's Tomorrow??
Okay- Sara here. Exactly 24 hours from now Janell and I will have begun our 13.09 mi. journey and will most likely be hating ourselves pretty hard core. WHAT possessed us to do this?? I'm a wee bit terrified, if you can't tell. I mean- that's a long way to run! And Janell's foot is barely better! And there are lots of HILLS on this route! Of course there are a few things to be excited about at the finish line: A free t-shirt (which we of course paid for with our registration fee); All our friends and family who came to watch us run through that finish line looking like death; And this year, the Bearathon has decided to give all the finishers (even if you come in last) green bear paw medals. Move aside "Most Improved" 5th Grade Softball Team trophy-- I have a new athletic accomplishment to display! So I think as I'm running, when I begin to get dismayed, I will close my eyes (well not really-- more like I'll stare into space-- I'm pretty clumsy) and envision that brand-new shirt and gleaming green medal in the distance. Plus I'll probably be motivated to keep running as I watch all the old people, pregnant women, and kids on tricycles pass me. Though I am terrified- I'm pretty pumped. This is going to be exciting! Thanks for all of you who have been faithful readers of Janell and my first attempt at a blog. We couldn't have done it without you! (Literally: Often times we would have to say "NO, we can't STOP- what will our blog followers think? No no, that's too embarrassing!) So say a little prayer tomorrow morning for us- and keep posted tomorrow evening or Sunday for a follow-up post after the race!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
3 days and counting...
The foot is feeling pretty good today, for the first time in like a week and a half...your prayers are working and I definitely feel them!!
I am still a little scared and concerned that I will not be ready on Saturday since I have had to take so much time off these last two weeks. But I also feel like I can do it, as long as my foot cooperates. We will see I guess.
Thanks to everyone for the comments/calls/texts of encouragement...keep praying!
I am still a little scared and concerned that I will not be ready on Saturday since I have had to take so much time off these last two weeks. But I also feel like I can do it, as long as my foot cooperates. We will see I guess.
Thanks to everyone for the comments/calls/texts of encouragement...keep praying!
Monday, March 23, 2009
AAAHHHH!!!!
Ok, I am so sorry I've been so bad about posting on here. There has been so much craziness going on that I just couldn't sit down and write it all.
So let me bring you up to speed:
First of all, the race is in 5 days!!! Can you believe it?? I certainly can't. It feels like the last 3 months have flown by!!
The last 2-3 weeks have been full of drama and a little lacking in the actual running. Let me explain...
3 Saturdays ago (the 7th), we had decided that we were going to run Town Lake (which apparently, is now officially Lady Bird Lake, as I was reminded by one of my kids), which we were thinking is about 8 or 9 miles. We weren't really sure because we had never actually ran the whole thing, just the main part of it where everybody runs. But we had plenty of time, so we decided we would just wing it.
When I woke up Saturday, I had a bad feeling. You see, as a child, I was known for having extremely high fevers, like 104, 105ish kind of fevers. I don't get them quite that high anymore, but they still get pretty high. And because I have had this my whole life, I can tell when they are coming on. Which is the feeling I had when I woke up Saturday. I took my temperature and it was normal, just like I knew it would be. And there wasn't really anything wrong with me except that I just knew it was coming. But I was DETERMINED to do this run, since the last few weeks had been a little slow with all of our injuries/ailments. And what was I going to say anyway? "I feel fine and I have no fever, I just feel like I MIGHT get one later, so I'm just going to stay home..." Nope.
If this had been a normal day, I would have just gone ahead and taken some aspirin so I wouldn't get the fever when it decided to creep up on me. But it is a really bad idea to take a pain reliever before you run, because if you injure a muscle or something, you need to know it. So I didn't take anything, just hopped in the car with Sara and headed to Austin.
We got to Town Lake and started running. We actually made it a mile and a half or so without stopping, but then I started to feel it. My body just started acting crazy. I was so hot, I felt like my skin was burning. And I was so dehydrated, my hands were swelling and I was getting a little dizzy. At this point, we were at what we thought was pretty close to the halfway point. There is a water station, complete with little paper cone cups and water dispensers. I drank probably 15-20 of those little cups and also put some water on my head. That helped some and we ran for a little while before I started getting sick again. Anyway, this continued on the rest of the run (which eventually became a walk/crawl/just trying to get back to the car without dying). So, needless to say, this was not a very good run. And to top it all off, somewhere around mile 2, we nearly had heart attacks when this random Confederate army convention decided to set off a giant cannon like 100 yards from us. That was fun.
Long story short, we ended up mostly walking about 7 miles and I spent the next 5 days at home sick. Blah.
By the next weekend, I was feeling a lot better, and we REALLY needed to run, so Sunday, we headed back to Town Lake, and we actually had a a great run. 12 miles with little to no problems. Of course, we were super sore from head to toe, but nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could tell.
WRONG.
Monday, I could barely walk on my left foot. Again, I just thought maybe it was sore from the run and since Monday was our off day anyway, I just iced it and figured I would run on Tuesday. Well it never got better, so I finally went to the doctor on Thursday and he took x-rays. He didn't see anything on the x-ray, but he said sometimes with stress fractures, they don't show up right away. He also said that it could be tendonitis or maybe a sprain. Either way there was not much he could do. He said just to rest it and do some low impact cardio until it felt better.
Now we are sitting at 5 days until the race and my foot is still hurt. It does feel better, but I don't think I can run 13 miles on it. So, PLEASE pray for healing. It would be so disappointing to have worked so hard for so many months and not get to finish what we started. I am still confident that I can run on Saturday - I just need things to feel a little better.
Well, that was a long post. I promise we will keep you updated this week and of course after the race. Hope everyone is having a great day!!
Janell
So let me bring you up to speed:
First of all, the race is in 5 days!!! Can you believe it?? I certainly can't. It feels like the last 3 months have flown by!!
The last 2-3 weeks have been full of drama and a little lacking in the actual running. Let me explain...
3 Saturdays ago (the 7th), we had decided that we were going to run Town Lake (which apparently, is now officially Lady Bird Lake, as I was reminded by one of my kids), which we were thinking is about 8 or 9 miles. We weren't really sure because we had never actually ran the whole thing, just the main part of it where everybody runs. But we had plenty of time, so we decided we would just wing it.
When I woke up Saturday, I had a bad feeling. You see, as a child, I was known for having extremely high fevers, like 104, 105ish kind of fevers. I don't get them quite that high anymore, but they still get pretty high. And because I have had this my whole life, I can tell when they are coming on. Which is the feeling I had when I woke up Saturday. I took my temperature and it was normal, just like I knew it would be. And there wasn't really anything wrong with me except that I just knew it was coming. But I was DETERMINED to do this run, since the last few weeks had been a little slow with all of our injuries/ailments. And what was I going to say anyway? "I feel fine and I have no fever, I just feel like I MIGHT get one later, so I'm just going to stay home..." Nope.
If this had been a normal day, I would have just gone ahead and taken some aspirin so I wouldn't get the fever when it decided to creep up on me. But it is a really bad idea to take a pain reliever before you run, because if you injure a muscle or something, you need to know it. So I didn't take anything, just hopped in the car with Sara and headed to Austin.
We got to Town Lake and started running. We actually made it a mile and a half or so without stopping, but then I started to feel it. My body just started acting crazy. I was so hot, I felt like my skin was burning. And I was so dehydrated, my hands were swelling and I was getting a little dizzy. At this point, we were at what we thought was pretty close to the halfway point. There is a water station, complete with little paper cone cups and water dispensers. I drank probably 15-20 of those little cups and also put some water on my head. That helped some and we ran for a little while before I started getting sick again. Anyway, this continued on the rest of the run (which eventually became a walk/crawl/just trying to get back to the car without dying). So, needless to say, this was not a very good run. And to top it all off, somewhere around mile 2, we nearly had heart attacks when this random Confederate army convention decided to set off a giant cannon like 100 yards from us. That was fun.
Long story short, we ended up mostly walking about 7 miles and I spent the next 5 days at home sick. Blah.
By the next weekend, I was feeling a lot better, and we REALLY needed to run, so Sunday, we headed back to Town Lake, and we actually had a a great run. 12 miles with little to no problems. Of course, we were super sore from head to toe, but nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could tell.
WRONG.
Monday, I could barely walk on my left foot. Again, I just thought maybe it was sore from the run and since Monday was our off day anyway, I just iced it and figured I would run on Tuesday. Well it never got better, so I finally went to the doctor on Thursday and he took x-rays. He didn't see anything on the x-ray, but he said sometimes with stress fractures, they don't show up right away. He also said that it could be tendonitis or maybe a sprain. Either way there was not much he could do. He said just to rest it and do some low impact cardio until it felt better.
Now we are sitting at 5 days until the race and my foot is still hurt. It does feel better, but I don't think I can run 13 miles on it. So, PLEASE pray for healing. It would be so disappointing to have worked so hard for so many months and not get to finish what we started. I am still confident that I can run on Saturday - I just need things to feel a little better.
Well, that was a long post. I promise we will keep you updated this week and of course after the race. Hope everyone is having a great day!!
Janell
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Athletic Afflictions
Sara here... I have a big fear that after I write this, people are going to begin to question whether or not I'm truly dedicated to running this half marathon. So I want to give the disclaimer that I am VERY annoyed by what is happening and no matter how I'm feeling on March 28th-- I WILL be completing that run, even if I have to do it in a wheelchair! Now- not to worry, things are not that bad, but I have a bit of a "calf strain" - whatever that means. This happened a week ago today- last Tuesday, when I was running on the treadmill. After a mere mile, my calf completely tensed up and freaked out. Both of my legs went numb and I had to get off and stretch and figure out if I could return to the treadmill without causing my biggest fear to come true- falling off the treadmill and sliding backwards in the middle of the gym. After a few minutes, I decided I was going to be fine, the feeling returned to my legs, so I started walking and worked up to running- but as soon as I started running again there was this SHOOTING pain in my right calf. Over the next few days I tried to run, but the calf pain has prevailed. It wasn't hurting when I was walking, only when I tried to run. Now, a week later, the pain is there even when I'm walking. SO, I'm a bit concerned. I've been icing it, and I'm going to swim tonight to try and work out the muscle some- but needless to say I have not run for a week and I'm real concerned about what's going to happen. It's not hugely painful- just enough to keep me from running. Okay- that was a really long story, but I just wanted to give an update.
SO this has been holding back Janell- because running without a partner is SO LAME! But today she is going to be back on track- she's going to run and I'm going to swim and we are still going to dominate the Bearathon... meaning we're going to finish before they shut it down : ) It's funny that even after 2 1/2 months of training, I still HATE running. I swear I do it for the ice cream on Mondays. Here's an example exchange between Janell and I today while we were at work:
Janell: Hey are you coming over to watch the After the After the Final Rose Bachelor with me tonight so we can continue to point and laugh and crybaby Jason?
Sara: Yes, of course. I'm going to go swimming- are you going to run tonight or what?
Janell: Yeah I'm gonna run- you have fun swimming!
Sara: Oh I will- you go Janell- RUN YOUR HEART OUT! WE'RE NOT GIVING UP! Maybe we should have Blizzards for our last Bachelor episode?
Janell: Oh yeah, we for sure need Blizzards I'll pick em up- what kind do you want?
Sara: Butterfinger, natch.
Janell: Too bad we're not as excited about running as we are about Blizzards
I've decided that for any future challenges and trials in my life, I'm going to have to make the reward come from Dairy Queen if I want to have any hope for success.
So that's the status of your favorite marathonists... we'll keep you posted!
OH- and if you are some sort of athlete or know anyone who knows about injured calves and have any medical advice to share PLEASE feel free to comment! Because as this is my first experience with a sports-related injury, I'm clueless!
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