stuffy nose translation: under the weather.

yup….i think i’m coming down with a cold. Perhaps all that partying this weekend knocked my immune system down a bit. I never get sick! Crap!

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the “get well soon” arsenal

I am still nursing the ankle too but I do feel pretty confident it’ll be fine in another day or two.

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keeping it under wraps just to be safe.

So in other words i’m totally in tip-top shape for Sunday’s 18 miles (insert sarcasm here). Pray for me!

I read today’s latest entry from Mile Posts and couldn’t relate more. Seriously I felt like I could have written it myself (minus the sub 1 1/2 hour half marathon time goal lol!). She talks about when your pride gets in the way of running where you might rather opt out of running a race once you know you’re not trained for that PR you wanted.

This all has been stirring around in my head for quite a few weeks. I am NOT at all thinking of bailing on the NJ Marathon, and most of my training has been going just fine. But, I keep going over my goal time in my head over and over trying to do the math to see if I can really pull it off. With each training run I realize that maintaining a 10:40 pace for 26.2 miles doesn’t seem out of reach but then I remember how I like to walk through water stops and walk a minute here and there when i see my family or get a cramp and that freaked me out because really my pace would need to be more in the range of 10:15 for most miles to allow me those walk breaks. I immediately threw my hands up and said forget it. I’ll NEVER reach my goal. I also simultanously did the calendar counting to see i’ll probably be in the midst of my period (yikes probably day 1 or 2) and that made me feel the “why bother” aspect even more. But just within the last few days I sorta yelled at myself. I’m running this race for more than just the possibility of a PR but because I loved the course last year and I love that my family can see me at a few spots along the course and it’s fairly flat and the race director is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I want to run this race regardless of the outcome. We must always remember we have more than one voice in our head and we have to battle for the strongest one to lead us.

Meanwhile, yes, I am totally capable of pulling out a 4:40 finish time (according to the McMillan calculator with a 57:26 10k and a 2:07:54 half I should be able to pull out a 4:29:18 marathon). But if it’s 4:50 who cares?

And of course I have this furry voice to bark at me when I talk smack…

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Interestingly I got this fortune with my dinner tonight…

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I concur. My heart will always see it right. Except when it comes to boys. LOL!

Question: Do you ever doubt yourself? How do you get back on track with yourself?

Hi there!

I’m exhausted. My girl’s weekend was a success!

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This is how my Saturday night ended.

I dropped off Duncan to hang with his friends…

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And then met up with the girls. We hit the road about 3:30pm and were down in Atlantic City checking into the hotel at about 5:30. We quickly got dressed and headed to dinner. There may or may not have been some pre-game cupcakes and drinks in the room.

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The girls! Note to self: Heels are the devil.

We had reservations at Bobby Flay Steak, a steakhouse in the Borgata hotel. In one word I can describe the meal as perfection.

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I had filet mignon, a glass of shiraz, and we shared 4 amazing sides. Mashed potatoes, asparagus, cauliflower gratin and sweet potato gratin

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the desserts were off the chart! Baked alaska, 7 layer chocolate espresso cake and caramel apple bread pudding with spiced pears

After dinner we dabbled a bit in the casino. I actually had a lovely surprise and won a little over $300. I was so close to winning the progressive amount which was $48,000! But $300 is still nice.

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if that 100x Pay was up just a smidge i’d have won $48,000

And then we headed to the club to dance. I don’t dance and clubs aren’t my thing but there was some magical liquid courage involved and wouldn’t ya know I danced and had so much fun!

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Somewhere before I passed out cold on the bed still in my dress I took this series of selfies! I think I was happy no?

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I woke up in the middle of the night and scared myself when I looked in the mirror

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I learned from Gina that she calls this hairstyle the Snork. Genius!

Things returned to normal this morning when I was back in my running gear! Gina and I went out for a quick run to sweat out the small stuff booze. It was 3 miles of good girl chat with some walk breaks. We both were suffering from war wounds of wearing heels the night before. Gina wore her FitBit all weekend and tracked our steps. Between the dancing and the running we’d covered over 10,000 steps! How cool is that?!

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I ran on a boardwalk again!

My calves were really tight most probably from wearing heels and while we were running I felt a twinge on the inside of my ankle and my achilles tendon. It got stiffer as the day progressed. Most definitely related to the tight calves. So when I got home I put on compression socks, and iced the ankle.

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I’m not exactly sure if this is a minor issue or a major issue but i’m not freaking out just yet. I CANNOT afford to make this any worse with next weekend’s 18 miler on the horizon. Here’s hoping that it’s minor.

I really enjoyed myself this weekend and was able to put all my stress on the shelf for a bit. It’s great to have gal pals to share good times like this with.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I’m too tired to ask you a question but if you have anything to share with the class please do. =)

 

The doodle got a haircut:

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funny that i happened to be wearing green today and then they gave him a st. paddy’s day scarf. We’re really both ready for our Leprechaun and pots of gold!

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even the leash is green! He’s waiting for the possum to appear again.

These quotes struck my fancy:

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RunEatRepeat posted this one today! I loved it!

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take from Distant Runner’s Facebook page

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Taken from Runner’s World Facebook page

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take from I <3 to Run’s Facebook page

My Jeep is STILL not completely repaired. I won’t go in to the details but long story short there was a whole lot of not ordering the right part and lots of futile attempts but hopefully Saturday it’ll be good as new. I’ll have to wait while they repair it but since they said it’ll be 2-3 hours I figured I’d multitask and get in my 10 miler instead of picking at my fingernails in the waiting room.

Of course last night when I got home after picking up said unfixed Jeep I drowned my sorrows in this for dinner:

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always a winning combination

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yes please!

And while we’re on the subject of random dinner choices, I celebrated National Pancake Day on Tuesday with these lovely gems for dinner…

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pancakes for dinner? why of course!

Meanwhile, I think I might have mentioned that I haven’t been keeping the Jeep clean lately.

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the floor on the passenger side…a.k.a. the shotgun shit pile

It’s become a dumping ground for empty water bottles, and now add to that a few check-in tickets from the mechanic. Oh and one of the 3 broken umbrellas that I had been collecting still remains. I hate to let go thinking i can revive them. But my mom just told me she’s got a brand new Totes for me so i’m ready to finally say goodbye to this one. We’re supposed to have some great springlike weather this weekend and I’d give the Jeep a good cleaning both inside and out….but I have exciting plans! My “wolf pack” is headed out for a girl’s weekend in Atlantic City. We’re celebrating Lisa’s belated birthday, but more importantly it’s her IDBAC (I’m done being a cripple) extravaganza….you see she broke a bone in her foot last summer but by the time they realized it wasn’t healing on its own 3 months had gone by. And then they finally had to do surgery. She’s only now able to start wearing shoes other than sneakers. She spent months on crutches and/or in a boot. It was rough.

Here’s a pic of us last time we went to Atlantic City. It was the night Whitney Houston died. Let’s just say it was a memorable night =)

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Wolfffff Packkkkkk!!!!!!

My O’hammy is feeling much better today and so I made the last minute decision to run a few miles…

photoThe sun set and then I caught a glimpse of the moon. Life is good. And now it’s time to have a li’l dinner and then watch TV. I’m disappointed in American Idol this season. I watched last night’s performances today (love DVR) and fast forwarded through most of them. Oh well. Maybe Hoarders will be on or House Hunters.

Question: What TV shows do you watch during the week? Catch any lovely sunrises or sunsets lately? 

I’ve had on and off mild nagging hamstring soreness since last November after my PR in the Trenton half marathon just 6 days after finishing the NYC Marathon. It tends to appear after runs longer than 10 miles. And it lasts a few days. Ironically my groin pain never appears at the same time. They graciously alternate flare ups =)

I worked from home today and stayed off my feet as much as possible, iced and elevated the leg and wore compression shorts under my jeans. I’m definitely skipping tomorrow’s run and i’ll see if i’m feeling ok on Thursday.

The NYC Half marathon is in less than 2 weeks, the day before St. Patrick’s day and I’m actually running an extra 5 miles to make it an 18 mile training run so I have to get the O’Hammy healed in time, or else I’ll be crying in my green beer.

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wishing on a pot-o-gold for fast healing!

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no tears in the beer!

Duncan’s excited for green beer biscuits too

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green biscuit please!

OK, now on to some big props to a girl I met last February. Her name is Leah and she’s an amazing marathoner. We both were part of a Dicks Sporting Goods photo shoot for National Runner’s Month.

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I didn’t know much about her when we first met other than she lived in Little Rock and worked at a running store. We got to talking because I was running the Little Rock half marathon a few weeks later and she was telling me all about the marathon/half marathon course and the crazy big medals they give out. A week later I received my handbook in the mail and there on page 4 was a list of previous winners. Ahem, miss Leah held the title of top female for 4 years and I saw she’d be running it again. So after finishing my half I went to the finish line to hopefully catch her finish but as time went on I knew something seemed wrong. Unfortunately she tore a hamstring and had to drop back to the half and not complete the full. She then went on to have surgery to repair the leg. I followed her recovery through Facebook. Always with the most amazing sense of humor and optimism. She posted photos of her tricked out crutches and how she managed to get around in those first few weeks via her “wheels”. Well just yesterday I’m happy to say she came back to claim her title and finished top female at the Little Rock Marathon for the 5th time. It was 30 degrees and freezing rain and she still pulled out a 2:42 (she set a course PR of of 2:37 in 2012). And today she announced she was asked to run with the elite women at the Boston Marathon. I am so grateful to have met her and will always be in awe of her great, fun personality and her amazing athletic talent. Oh, and instead of her name printed on her bib she had them put Frankenbooty (I’m guessing that’s because she’s got scars from her surgery).

Go Leah! (photo: Little Rock Marathon Facebook)

Go Leah! (photo: Little Rock Marathon Facebook)

So now I’m going to watch some mindless T.V. and ice the hamstring a bit.

Happy Monday!

Question: Any plans for St. Patricks Day? Does anyone know where I can get myself a Pot-O-Gold? Any suggestions for healing a hamstring strain?