I'm Running a... MARATHON??: 4 weeks away....the countdown begins!

Can you believe it? My marathon is only 28 days away! Yikes.....I'm not sure if I'm ready for this. I still have 4 more weeks to train including this Saturday which is our "big" run of 20 miles but I'm still nervous. I missed my 18 miler because I was hosting a Rummage Sale as one of my fundraisers. It was a huge success too- I made over $1,000 on it! Woo-hoo! That brings my fundraising total to almost $2,500! Only $1,500 more to go, so this is a friendly reminder to donate to a wonderful cause if you haven't already! http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/cwebster

But back to reality...

I missed my 18 miler last Saturday so on Sunday I went for a run, but got caught in the dark and only ended up doing about 6.5 miles. I would normally run in the dark if I was on the track or with my team, but I was all alone on the Iron Horse Trail and didn't want to take any chances, you know, there are coyotes out here!

I took Monday off from running so I could do the hill workout on Tuesday. The hill workout this past week was different from those before because they were longer hills and less steep than before. They really hit you hard, but overall, I felt like I had a great workout AND I felt stronger! I must be getting stronger because my thunder thighs are not getting any smaller. (Grrrr!)

Moving on, I took Wednesday off as well so I could attend the San Antonio Send-off....some of my teammates flew to Texas this weekend to run in the San Antonio Rock & Roll marathon....which sounds pretty cool! They have a different band every mile, what a great way to take your mind off running. I posted some pictures of the kickoff at the end of this blog.

Thursday I worked very late and coach said to stay off our feet on Friday's before big runs so I really didn't get as much running in this week as I had hoped.

Along came Saturday morning and off to Heather Farms we went to attempt another 16 miler. I was feeling some tension in me left shin and calf. I thought I just needed to get warmed up and stretch and the pain would go away, and it went away a little but by mile 4.5, it had come back and I was in some serious pain. Kyle was running with me and we stopped at a bench so I could stretch some more. Kyle even tried some of the massaging techniques on my calf that Dr. Mogenstein (Sports Therapist) uses on Kyle's injuries - holy moly....I wanted to cry. It kind of felt like my muscles had tangled up all together, like the way small chain necklaces will tangle if you don't take care of them. It was like trying to massage the tangles out, but they never untangle because they are metal and the links just get knotted worse. I was able to jog slowly back for another 3 miles, but with 2 miles to go, Kyle kept trying to encourage me to run, but I couldn't seem to express to him how much pain I was in and barely made it back to the start.

When I got home, I soaked in a ice bath, before taking a hot shower. Afterwards, I slathered BioFreeze all over my legs and after that, I had Kyle massages my calves with the foam roller. I was still in pain yesterday, and was limping around the house. Today, I can still feel it but I feel much better. I will probably take the next couple of days off so I will be able to do my 20 miler. I'll keep you all posted! Wish me luck and send some donations, er, good thoughts my way!

PEACE, LOVE & a CURE!

-C.

#1 Kyle and I with Coach Haakin and Carl.