Still waiting

WebMD piece not up, they appear to be at least one "episode" behind based on the schedule on the site. Frustrating!!! This was so long ago, it sucks to have had to wait so long and now just to wait more! Hopefully it will be worth the wait and I won't seem like a total dork.

Not much working out lately. Got strep throat again last week (just had it in August), which wiped me out. Was better by Friday, so I took Andra swimming at the Y and then tried to run 4.5 outside with her. I ran about half of it, but then between some stomach issues and my ankle, walked the other half. It was ok though. Boot camp Saturday left my glutes incredibly sore (we jump a LOT in that class, and I haven't been in a couple weeks) and my shoulders too. I have no excuse for the shoulders, if I did more push ups on my own it would totally help. Nothing Sunday (except a nap on the couch!) and today was a walk with Melissa an her 2 week-old baby Shea. Tomorrow I will get back on track!

It's nice to have no pressure in terms of working out, but that's at the expense of having no goals. A definite trade off. I need to find an early spring half marathon...

RA news

In RA news, I saw my rheumatologist Thursday and he wants me to get a cortisone injection in my ankle because of the lingering swelling. Usually I'm the one pushing for these things, but he suggested it, after I get new x-rays to see if there's any damage yet. (Weirdly, he said my x-rays 2 years ago showed some slight erosions in my right ankle...yet it's my left, and only my left, that bothers me.) It has been bugging me more lately. Running tends not to be too bad for the most part, but walking AFTER I run definitely leaves me looking and feeling like an old lady. I love my ankle brace, but I want it to squeeze even more.

Here's the best way to describe the pain (in the joint at least...there's some pain in the soft tissue too that I can't describe): it's like the ankle really really really needs a good hard jerk and twist so that it will crack. The problem is that I don't have full range of motion and so actually doing that would hurt beyond belief. Sometimes I get "lucky" and I will have a few steps of intense pain followed by a spontaneous crack that makes me smile because it feels so good (after). But I have no control over when this happens which is frustrating! Although most of the time it just feels a little swollen, but not painful. Although my doctor believes I must have a super high pain tolerance to still be running, lifting, and (he just shook his head at this one) playing soccer. It's not necessarily true...though I did give birth without an epidural, so just maybe I can tolerate pain slightly better than average.

Supposedly this Thursday I will have my WebMD piece put up, 7 months later! I will link to it then.

10k race report

Beautiful (slightly hot) weather for the 10k today. Jen came with me, and Sarita ran the 1.5 mile loop race. This race starts at 1pm, on the beach, so I got there after putting Andra down for her nap which was nice that she slept most of the time I was gone. (She's been sick, with a cold for 9+ days and a bout of real vomiting last night, though she seemed better today if uninterested in food.)

I wasn't sure what to expect, which seems to be the case a lot lately as I haven't officially been training, just kind of doing whatever I feel like. Which is ok, it just leaves me kind of unsure what my race goals should be. After my pathetic run with Natalie Sunday (I've decided to blame the talking...or rather, attempt at talking between gasping breaths...for the slow pace), I ran 3 more times last week with the BOB (Mon, Thurs and Fri) which put me at 20 miles for the week. Not bad. The BOB runs felt ok, probably because I wasn't trying to talk up the hills!

My ultimate goals for today were to run steady (something I managed to do in the 5k a few weeks ago, which felt good) and run a sub-9:00 pace. I thought I could maybe pull an 8:45 pace, but anything more didn't seem remotely possible at this point. Back in May on a pretty flat course I ran a 54:38 (8:48 pace) 10k. I didn't actually remember that until I just now looked back. At any rate, my time was approximately 54:15 today (official results say 54:23, still 8:45 pace) which would be exactly an 8:45 pace. Plus I did run reasonably steady, for a while anyway...approximate splits were 8:20, 8:25, 8:54, 8:24, 9:35, 9:14 and 1:10 for the .2 which I think adds up to 54:12, but official time will be a bit more. The course was the same as last year except backwards...for traffic reasons I think they ran the middle part (it loops) in reverse. It made for short steep downhills (the uphills I let myself walk last year 6 months pregnant) and loooong gradual uphills (which in reverse I would've sworn were flat!). I felt pretty slow towards the middle and end of the race. Not actually as slow as the 9:35 mile, but slower than an 8:45 average. I'm pleased, but just not sure why that pace felt slow. It sort of makes me want to get back on a training plan...I'm in decent shape and some focus, speedwork and upcoming cool weather could spell some results for me. But....eh....we'll see.

I'm not sure how hard I pushed. My breathing was always under control, heavy but not like a lot of people I heard. I don't think I'm ready for really pushing it. Thinking back on my 10k PR (May 2007, before I started blogging) which was an 8:08 pace, I know I did push there. Today was more relaxed. I'm not saying that if I had pushed harder I could've done better...truthfully, if I had pushed harder, I would've given up and walked. I just think that mentally I'm not where I was. Good, bad...who cares. It's just different. But I'm happy I'm out there, running reasonably fast, even if my distance isn't back where I wanted it. There's time. And I really do think I'll run more with the fall and even winter weather. I don't like the heat. And I bought the weasther shield for the BOB so Andra can come with me even once it gets cold.

Better running

Inspired by my less than stellar performance when Natalie and I ran Sunday, I have been a little more disciplined this week. Ran 4.5 with the BOB Monday, lifted (at 8 pm no less) at the gym Tuesday, took Wednesday off (had to pick Andra up early with a fever), and today ran 5.5 miles (in under 55 minutes, so explain why running 10 minute miles with the BOB was easy but running 10 minute miles without it was hard enough to make me walk twice?).

Andra's fever was gone this morning (I know, because for the first time ever I took her temperature, sticking that thermometer you-know-where), and except for the snot pouring out of her nose at regular intervals, I wouldn't even have known she was sick. Though she did snooze through most of the run (thereby delaying her nap, which will lead to me having to wake her up in 10 minutes to make it to my own doctor's appointment this afternoon).

I feel badly that I sent her to daycare all week with this cold, but seriously, how am I supposed to know when to keep her home if she doesn't complain a little?

A few pictures...Andra with my dad when he was here being daycare for the week...love the expression on #2...riding cousin Iris's rocking sheep...and one picture with the hemangioma cut out, although I don't really notice it, it's nice to have some pictures where you can concentrate on her cuteness and not the big juicy red thing on her forehead.

Meetup!

This morning I met Natalie for a run! She was visiting her in-laws in CT and we met about in the middle. She was planning to run 10, which I considered trying to stick out but that SO did not happen. It was a little sad to realize that even running 5 miles was not easy. I've done that plenty on the treadmill, but add in hills, and I was done. We ran part of a rail trail that apparently was downhill on the way down, because after we turned around it was definitely all uphill! I could not run and talk by that point and forced Natalie to walk a couple times so I wouldn't die as we averaged our (my) somewhat pathetic pace of probably just under 10 minute miles. She continued on for a few more miles after we got back to the cars.

I am running a 10k next weekend and I think I am going to be slow and disappointed! I just didn't realize that 5 or 6 miles is long for me now. It makes sense given that I don't do long runs at all...but still! Not fair! Ugh. I need to rethink my workouts once it gets too cold for me to rude my bike regularly (probably another 2 months, max).

It was super fun to meet her though and talk about the babies, teaching, running...

Pickle costume?

If anyone in the next month happens to come across a pickle costume for a 10 month old, would you let me know? My friend Jessica found a "recipe" to make one, but really, I am not that organized. I'd probably spend way more money than I could justify just to find one ready-made. And seriously, how f-ing cute would it be to dress Andra up as a pickle for Halloween?