Rail Trails

Today was the first day I ran since last Sunday since I am nursing my sore psoas. We ran on the rail trail, it was so nice. The trails are wide and cushy and very easy to manage. But best of all they are flat! I read that hills are hard on your psoas so I choose to keep it simple today. My hip was sore but I was able to stretch out the soreness. I think I might stick with rail trails for my long runs for Chicago.

Happy Running!

Healing Power of Laughter

A group of us went out for a half trail/half road 8 miler this morning. It was great, but at about mile 5 the same sore muscle in my right hip started to rear its ugly head. I struggled on and the most amazing thing happened....

My friend Warren told us about his tall friend named Rich. Rich decided he wanted to get lots of encouragement during a marathon and wore a shirt with his name on the back but instead of Rich he wrote BIG DICK!!! The other runners and I this morning had so much fun coming up with funny things we would yell out to him:

FINISH STRONG, BIG DICK!!
LOOKING GOOD, BIG DICK!!
YOU'RE ALMOST THERE, BIG DICK!!

I was laughing so hard the pain in my hip went away...temporarily. It is killing me right now. I have to discipline myself enough to stretch 3x a day while I increase my mileage for Chicago.

Good luck in Boston all you fast marathoners!!

I love April vacation!

Today I woke up later and met a friend at 6am rather than the typical 5:15 to run on trails. It was great. Yesterday I received a hour and half long massage, she killed my hips. It was a hurt so good kinda pain, knowing that it was going to help in the long run. My hips are still sore this morning.

While running today I was trying to convince my friend to sign up for the Chicago Marathon. She pointed out that we would need to start training in June! That's only a few months away! The last marathons I did were late Fall. I am sorta psyched about the timing of Chicago, since the training will be winding down by the time school starts in Sept.

Now I have to remember to stretch those darn hips...

Our new doggie!

My boys and I were waiting till spring vacation to adopt a dog and this huge guy fell into our laps after one day of phone calls to different rescue shelters. His name is Hunter and he is a very loving happy 5 year old chocolate lab, how appropriate!!! His previous owner was having some chronic back pain and couldn't keep up with his needs. He only lives about a mile away so he can visit anytime.

Dogs are the best. They are the sweetest companions.

Finding your own way...

I have been running the trails a lot more lately. It feels good and cushiony on my joints and it is great being in the woods. One thing I notice that I like to be the follower and its because I like to see where my running friends are stepping and I usually copy, but I have been running with a friend that takes longer strides than I do and I always get tripped up in the water jumps. Its a reminder that we all need to carve our own path...

Running is so cool.

Scary

Today my friend and I went running on trails mostly, but we decided to take roads back to our starting point because we were both late for our babysitters. We were running on a pretty busy road but not like an interstate or anything but cars go about 45 or so. We had been running single file for about 3/4 of a mile with me in the lead. And my friend was teasing me because I had dirt all on the back of my pants from the trails and that's when it happened...

This freakin' volvo heads right for us!!! I only had time and flexibility enough to scream and squish up against the guardrails while my friend hopped the rails after he heard me scream. I have had run ins with asshole runner haters before but this guy kept the game of chicken going a little too long for my comfort.

The adrenaline was good for getting us back to our cars at least. But whoa, I think about it every time I feel the scrap from the guardrails on my shin.

I wonder what goes through these nutjobs minds...

First Race of 09

Well for the last three years, I tried to race once per month, but after the Philadelphia Marathon I felt really over cooked! Totally burnt.

I took a nice break this winter, not running any distances longer than 6 miles. I worked out in the gym a lot more.

There is a nice local 5k race to celebrate Easter in our town. There is a egg hunt and kids race before the big race. It is a very nice community event.

It is a hard race with a big hill on mile one. I decided to push myself but to have realistic expectations since I haven't run very much and am still nursing my sore hip. At mile one, I came upon my son's best friend, Will, a totally phenomenal athlete. I pulled a head of him just a little and I knew his competitive spirit would win and he would stay with me. We continued to run sub 8s for the next mile. At mile two, I told him we have one more to go and he just kicked it in and by 2.75 miles into the race, he was completely in the zone and blew me away!!! He is only 8 years old by the way!

He finished third in his age group with a time of 24:20 and I finished second in my age group with a time of 25:15. That time is a little slower than I like but I will be back in race form before I know it!!!

There were four massage therapists donating their services for only about 150 runners. I got stretched and massaged for about 20 minutes for free. It was awesome.

I JUST SIGNED UP FOR THE CHICAGO MARATHON!!!!!

Cold=Bad, Warm=Good

Today I planned a 9 mile "long" run. I have struggled to run more than 6 miles pain free all winter. Well yippee for me, today was about 48' balmy and no wind and I ran pain free for 12 miles !!!!!!

I felt so good I could have kept going! I am so thrilled and relieved. I will continue to stretch and I plan to hit some yoga classes too. I am just so happy to realize that it was the cold that brought on so much discomfort.

Well gotta run to church, bye !!!

New Goal

Well these darn kids of mine are always getting in the way of my fun! I have to set my sights on the Soapstone Mountain 24k this spring rather than Seven Sisters. My middle son (of course I didn't know the date of his confirmation, it's true what they say about middles!!) has his confirmation ceremony the same day at seven sisters race. But that's okay now I have two more weeks to get ready for Soapstone...

I have been religious about stretching and only running 5 days. I felt a difference in this morning's ten mile run. My hip hurt but not as much as before. I feel pretty confident that if I am smart and follow directions, I will be ready for Chicago in the fall.

Happy Trails!

Instincts Correct

So I have been having this tightening pain in my hips when I run further than 6 miles in the cold. So my doctor sent me to a "sports" doctor. They took an x ray, x ray showed no bone problems, so the doctor sent me to physical therapy. The physical therapist was kinda pissy to me. When I told her I have no daily pain, just when I run further than 6 miles, she rolled her eyes and said, "Ugh. One of those."

I always felt like I never wanted to get any help with my running aches and pains because I have always been able to run about 4 miles pain free. I was embarrassed and felt like I was definitely wasting her time.

BUT I want to run pain free for longer distances than 6 miles!!!!

She gave me some stretches to try while running and then some I am to do three times of day. I have been doing them probably twice a day. I don't run more than four a day usually so I wont know whether they make a difference till the weekend.

Oh yeah, she said I also have to take two rest days instead of one. Yeah right.

Nine miles!

Today I hit nine miles! It was tough but I stretched my hips every time I felt them tightening up and it helped me to stay loose.

The weather is starting to become nicer and today it was sunny and 55'. Almost all of the 12 inches of snow we got this past Monday melted! Tomorrow I am running in the woods to practice trails for the 7 sisters. I think I convinced my 16 year old son to run the race too! I hope so, its more fun when there are other people you know out there too.

Well have to get back to report cards...enough procrastinating!

Visit to the doctor

After the Philadelphia Marathon, my hip was sore so I decided to take a nice break from a distances longer than 5 miles to help rest my aching body. My hip felt much better. I was very psyched. Well about three weeks ago I decided to run 6.5 miles and the same awful pain showed up in the hip area. I really want to run the Chicago Marathon so I decided I to visit the doctor. Good news: no arthritis just need to strengthen and stretch my hip area! WooHoo!

Passwords Please

Okay, I feel like the nerdy girl in high school. Left out. I miss my mia goddess mini-series and for the life of me I can't find Juls new blog address. If you are out there, ladies, can I have your passwords please, I miss you. I promise I will be better and get back to reading blogs and responding. I promise I will wear my hair in the coolest style and wear only the right jeans so you won't be embarrassed to be seen in the hallway with me!!!

Oh my goodness, I would never go back to high school. Not even for a daily...salon wash, dry and style. Well maybe for all that...

A new goal

I have been hiking a lot this winter. Being on the trails is reminding me of my trail marathon training last spring. I had so much fun with my running partners. It's really easy to get crazy in the middle of the woods! On our longer runs we would get so punchy and start belting out very silly songs!

I am not ready for another trail marathon but I am setting a goal of training and running a very challengeing trail race. Check it out at www.7sisterstrailrace.com Come and join me!

What a tease

We had 50' temps for about two days last week and it felt so great. Now we are back to 30s and tomorrow we should expect more snow. This winter has kicked my ass, I really feel sorry for those that are training for Boston or other spring marathons. No way.

One bright spot in my life was our town had a chocolate festival and I entered a cake into the cake contest. I will try to get you a photo. We have this crazy bridge in our town called thread city crossing. On this bridge rests gigantic spools to represent our thread mill that attracted many people to our town back in late 1800s and on four of the spools are these gigantic frogs. There is this very silly war story about the frogs of windham. But anyway, I made the frog bridge with chocolate bars and crafts and put a runner girl doll on top with a banner that read "Run 4 Chocolate" It won first place for the theme division of the competition. We don't have to tell anyone that my cake was the only theme cake in the contest!!! A win is still a WIN!

Gotta go try to download the photo off my phone. It might take me a while!

Oh the joy of running...

Today was the first day since probably Christmas that I ran outside and it didn't hurt! It was a balmy 35' and the roads were only a little slippery. It felt so great to be running outside. I have been working out at the gym and it is soooooo boring. The tread mill is so awful but not as awful as trudgeing through below 0 temps and slush.

I hope the groundhog was run and we are due for an early spring.

Peace Reigns

Well peace reigns currently in chocolate lady runner heaven. Listen to the week I had: On Tuesday my oldest son had a huge huge tantrum. Had to deal with that. Too personal to tell all the gory details. On Friday night, my middle son was jumped by two little shitheads that stole his money while he walked home from the skateshop. Of course he didn't know them so calling the police was just for kicks. I feel like waiting under the bridge they jumped him on and kicking their little punk asses.

But that is not where the fun ends...

A few days later I was driving home from blockbuster and it was snowing and this little young driver hit my car smooshing my back drivers side door in. The cops helped me out on that one, she got a warning for not giving me the right of way.

Then two days later I was pulled over and given a warning myself because my brake light was out on one side.

I have had waaaaayyyyyy too much interaction with the police. They are so weird. Now firefighters, that's another story. Interacting with firefighters is very pleasant, mhm!

Too Busy To Breathe

HI everyone. I have been so busy I haven't been able to keep up with reading or writing. I am applying to go to a special program to get my reading specialist certification. The application process was time consuming but its in and now I have a minute to breathe.

I am struggling to parent my teenagers all by myself. No matter how much of myself I give to them, it never seems to be enough. And no one really has any answers except to buckle your seatbelt and hold on tight. What a freakin ride. It is scary actually. Enjoy your little kids cuz once they hit about 13 it is a slow decent to hell. I know it will get better but I am in the middle of it right now and it sucks.

I have been running at the gym and I can feel my body enjoying it again. I took a nice long break and my body needed it. I am signing up for the Chicago Marathon on Feb 1st. I am so psyched to run Chicago. I haven't been back there since I was 12. Running a marathon is such a great way to see a city!

England!

I have been too busy to blog because my boys and I holiday-ed in England for the Christmas school break! It was terrific!

More later!