Emotional Running

Several runs to catch up on! This week we had a 3 mile, 4 mile and 7 mile run. JB, Alison and I ran our own individual 3 mile run which went well.

Tuesday, December 20th: JB was going to be gone on Thursday so she decided to ran her 7 mile run this night. She ran 3 miles with Shawn and then caught up with us at the storage units to finish her remaining 4 miles with us. Alison was out of town and could not make it, so myself, JB, Ryan, Jeff and Carmen ran this night. Good weather, a bit warm.

Thursday, December 22nd: This was our 7 mile scheduled run that was to take place at 4:30. Well, mother nature had a different idea so we had to get our run in early as it was scheduled to snow in the afternoon. Alison and I started at 10:45. This run was one of the hardest for myself as I wanted to quit 1 mile into this run. The glory of running with someone is that they are there to push you when you feel as if you want to quit. It must be a dependency that we have on each other. We have all had a run of weakness where we felt as if we wanted to quit..well, I can only think of one for JB, but who's counting :) Anyways, there are so many times we have pushed and comforted each other through that difficult run. Let's just hope we don't have that moment of weakness all at the same time because then I'm not sure what we'll do? If Alison didn't stay back and run with me and tell me it was going to be OK, I would've quit at that 1 mile. Because of her, we stuck it out and we finished in the snow. Alison's back has been hurting her after the last few runs and this was one of those runs. We stretched and hope that Alison's back gets better soon!

Saturday, December 24th 10 mile long run: Well, can I just say how awesome we are to run on Christmas Eve :) We had a good group starting out at 10 am. Myself, JB, Alison, Mitzi, Carmen, Jeannette, Amy, Melissa, gosh.. I know I'm forgetting others?! Needless to say we had a good group running! Dawn joined us about 2 miles in and ran about 7-8 miles with us. Route was down Washington, over to Mill and up to a big hill, then Washington to Carroll Glass (water), up B to Hillside to Theurer's (water) through 22nd and JB's area, through the park (water), back to Washington, to Ice house (water) then up the big hill and back over to Washington. We finished in around 1 hour and 43 minutes which included all stops, so this was a great run for us.

Emotions: First, I have to say that since I am the one authoring this blog, I feel as if most of the posts revolve around my feelings towards our training and so in the next few weeks, I'm going to give the blog to JB and Alison and have them give their perspective on here. So, that's coming.. I'm getting sick of listening to myself.
Saturday's run evoked emotions inside of myself that I've never experienced before. You know that moment of awkwardness that you feel when someone is out of control and emotional and you don't know what to do or say? Well, we had one of those moments this Saturday. Me being the out of control crazy one, and JB, Alison and Dawn the spectators who didn't know what to do. The vulnerability you feel when you're out on a run is only something that can be described and felt by a runner. When you bare your soul to the pavement, there is bound to be a moment when you feel out of control and overcome by some emotion. Fear, glee, happiness, sadness, anger, defeat. Maybe this is why we keep going back to running, to feel that emotion. For myself, running is very personal. Running is a metaphor in my life. I have been blessed in being surrounded by people in my life that cannot walk, let alone think about running. And I don't take this running experience lightly. So, there are many times when I am in pain or when I am feeling good during a run, that I feel so many emotions. And if you're a runner, you feel these same emotions...whether it's the same as myself or a feeling in another way, only you can describe and know what it is. This run was my emotional roller coaster. And this run proved that running has so much to do with life. Or maybe it's just my perception in my life. We are all so thankful of the friendships and people we have made in our lives through running. And we only hope that it keeps growing because the more we share our love for running and life, the better each one of our lives will be.

I am including two videos at the bottom of this post. Enjoy and until next time..

Quote of the day: "Running and life are much the same. A fantastic support system of friends or family can make a big difference."
-Running Quotes

Cheers!

Well, we haven't quit marathon training, so that's a good thing! :) We ran our furthest long run with 13 miles last Thursday, December 15th. The idea of running a half marathon on a weeknight was both frightening and exhilarating at the same time. We all were nervous about the long trek, but the good news is that we made it! We started from WHS: it was myself, Alison, Dawn and Steve and JB started from the bank and met us along the way. We met up with JB on Harvey and she ran her first mile in 9:19! That's even up the hill! Well, we all know how awesome she is :) It was a nice run, it started out nice and when the sun went down, it did get quite chilly, but it wasn't too bad. Dawn and Alison finished their run with a time of 2:04, and JB and I finished with a run time of 2:05. The times do not include drink stops, but we didn't take very long at the stops, so it was a good pace for the mileage. Injury update: Alison was in pain for about 3 miles with her lower back, JB has had a left hamstring pain, and I was feeling the pain in my knee. We all stretched and tried to work out the kinks. Lisa is still dealing with some pain in her foot. Mitzi has foot pain and some knee pain. They are working on speed and distance.

Saturday we were to run a short 3 mile run. We had a good group again from the Donut Shop at 8 am. Alison was still not feeling good, so she stayed home. JB and I ran our short 3 miles and it was tough! Its amazing how different you can feel from one run to the other. And it's amazing how the shorter ones almost seem worse than the longer ones! We did run well at about a 9:20 pace considering how tough it was. Mitzi and Lisa also ran 4 miles. They are moving right along also!

Saturday night was the Wellington Boot Camp/Runners party and it was awesome to see how much our group has grown in the past year. Lots of boot campers and runners were there enjoying great food and a few beverages :) Ok, so the great debate/conflict in running is how to properly fuel yourself so that you can run in the best way possible. Well, I made a pact with myself when I began training that I wasn't going to drink. Because I wanted to give everything I had to training for this once in a lifetime event. Of course JB, Lisa and Mitzi thought I was crazy, but were troopers and encouraging me, all the while drinking without me :) Alison also jumped on wagon with me a few weeks into our training. Well, I forgot how difficult that might be over the holidays. So..my pact came to an end on Saturday with my consumption of a few drinks. We didn't get crazy, so we were all good girls. With the weekend fun, I think I'll be OK and training will continue just fine.

So, here's an article on drinking and it's affect on running. You be the judge :) Until next time..
Alcohol and running

Quote for the day: "If you resolve to give up..drinking and loving, you don't actually live longer; it just seems longer"
-Clement Freud

Been awhile

Our marathon training mileage keeps getting higher and higher and we're still working hard! This weekend, we did our longest run to date at 12 miles and it was Alison's Birthday! I can't think of a better gift than a good run for your birthday :) The long milers were myself, JB, Alison, Dawn and Kitchel. Dawn didn't start out wanting to do 12, but somehow she finished with us :) It was a cold run..Alison actually had icicles in her hair during the run and we also had frost on our jackets and faces. Needless to say, it was a bit chilly. You always warm up when you're running though. For being as cold as it was, we actually had a bunch of runners. There were some doing 3, 4 and 6 miles along with our crazy 12 milers! It is very exciting to see the enthusiasm and dedication of so many people in Wellington running. There are different levels, but the cool thing is that we are all encouraging each other to just keep going and get better. Such a powerful, amazing thing to see.

We had drink stops every 2 to 2.5 miles and that works well for our training. However, when you get up in the mileage, the starting and stopping tends to get much harder! Our last drink stop, we all groaned as we had to get our feet going again! But it is always a good feeling to know you're getting closer and closer to being done. As usual, JB and Alison were fine running 12 miles, and I'm the injury prone one! My knee was fine up until about mile 11 and then I could start to feel some pain. It got intensely worse and by the time we finished.. I couldn't even bend my knee. I looked like a fool walking straight legged for the next 4 hours, but after 4 whole hours I could walk normal. Not sure that is normal.. but I figure I just need to stretch more..we'll see on the next run. Mitzi and Lisa did their longest mile to date with 6 miles. They are increasing their mileage gradually and they will be marathon ready come February! They will be ready, they just don't know it :) 

Alison and JB already ran their first 3 mile run of the week yesterday, I will make that run up later this week. Tonight, we run 6 miles. Wednesday will be a rest day, Thursday will be our long 13 mile run and then Saturday will be our 3 mile to finish out this week with 25 miles. Whew..it's getting up there! We'll just keep on working. Until next time...

Quote for the day: "But I know no matter how fast we are running..somehow we keep..somehow we keep up with each other."

-Dave Matthews Band

Keep on stepping

Because the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy on Saturday morning, we decided to do our long run on Friday night. I guess we aren't exactly "true" runners just yet because we tend to change our runs around the weather instead of those die hard runners that run regardless of what the weather is. I'm not sure that we will ever be the type to run in any weather element..so we like to adjust to fit our liking!

It was a really good run for JB, Alison and I. This was our long 7 mile run and we ran at about a 9:30 pace. It is actually pretty running at this time of year as the sun sets. We are beginning to see the Christmas lights appear and it really is a neat site to run the streets of Wellington and look at all the lights. Weather was chilly, but we dressed accordingly and felt good. Lisa and Mitzi ran 5 miles on Friday also! They are doing awesome and if we can just convince Lisa that she can do a full marathon, all 5 of us will be making the long haul to Fort Worth in February! She can do it and we want to do it together! It's the convincing HER that's proving difficult :)

It was nice to have Saturday morning off to sit in our pajamas instead of run in the cold rain. That was a good call! Of course, we still had to meet at the Donut Shop to have our Saturday morning ritual of donut sugar. Because of some conflicts this week, we started this week's miles on Sunday. We ran 3 miles and this was a hard run for all of us! Not sure if the weekly miles caught up to us or what the deal was, but our legs and seemed heavy and our breathing was out of control. We did finish at about a 9:20 pace, but man it seemed like we were going slow! When it was over, we were glad. Also happy to have the next few days off.

This week's miles: we'll run 3 miles on Tuesday, 6 miles on Wednesday, and our long run will be Saturday for 12 miles. 12 miles seems a little nerve wracking but we'll do it! And who gets to say they ran 12 miles on their birthday---ALISON! What a great birthday present :)

Quote for the day: "To get through the hardest journey, we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping".
- Chinese proverb

Like a Roller Coaster

This week, we ran 3 miles on Tuesday, 5 miles on Wednesday and 3 miles on Thursday. Tuesday's run was a great run as all 5 of us MM's ran together for the first time in a long time! Though we are staggered in our pace, it is comforting to see each of the ladies during a run whether it's in front of you or from behind. Except for Alison who only sees us at the beginning because she seems to be leading the pack more and more lately! She's getting and always has been really strong. Oh and did I mention how good her butt looks in running tights :) 

Wednesday's run we had a few other runners run with us. They all joined us for our 5 mile route. Dawn, Dawn's son, Anna and Ryan accompanied us 5 MM's. Even though they are much faster than us, it's always nice to see familiar running faces. JB and Alison rocked this run! They started out strong and ended strong. I on the other hand was just the opposite. I had a difficult time not only physically but mentally. I decided not to wear my knee brace instead invested in Rob's compression softball socks and thought that would solve the problem...big mistake! Not only did my knee hurt about 3 1/2 miles in, I couldn't catch JB and Alison and I just felt alone and so frustrated that the crocodile tears came out. Ugh..bad run! Lisa and Mitzi finished 5 miles, which is so awesome for them! They need to do the marathon with us, no matter how fast or slow!! Thursday night for our 3 mile run, we ran separately. JB and I ran on treadmills at the Fitness Center. Alison, Lisa and Mitzi ran on their own time. JB said she had a rough time with this treadmill run. This lead into our discussion about how up and down running is. 

One day you feel like you are running on clouds and everything around you is sunny and bright and your smiling and happy and you swear you can hear the Gods signing..and the next day you feel as if your legs have suddenly grown roots.. Running is much like a roller coaster in that one day your up, and the next day your down. But the good news is that as long as we stick with it...there is always an uphill to a downhill. The downhill doesn't last forever, there is always an up to that hill. When we feel down and frustrated and like we can't do it anymore, there will always be a good day looming around the corner. Maybe this push and pull is the reason why we love running so much. 

This weekend we have our long 7 mile run on Saturday, the weather is supposed to be snowing, so we'll see how that works out for us. Until next time..

Quote for the day: Training for a marathon started out as a life-list thing, but it turned into a lifestyle.

- Mike Post 

Giving Thanks

Turkey Day proved to be a challenging run. We decided to run early Thursday morning for our long 10 miler to burn off those calories we were going to eat at turkey dinner. As Bryan and John refer to it: Guilt Free Turkey Day run. We started at Botkin and ran our way north all the way to Hillside, back down H and around through Donut Bay and back east through town until we headed back south towards Botkin again. We stayed at the same pace, about 9:25 until around mile 6. I was the first to slack off as my knees were killing me and I had to stop and walk a bit. JB and Alison kept a good pace with Kitchel in tow. I walked quite a bit during this run as my goal from finishing in a descent time changed to simply making the distance. Alison had a little walk session around mile 8 and slowed down quite a bit. If she only knew that when I saw her walk, I thought "just keep running!" These group of girls are amazing and so supportive and they actually came back and ran and picked up "The Slacker" aka me a few times. We keep each other motivated and even when we have to go slow, it's a comfort to know the girls are there whether we're in front or behind each other. We still finished in a good time, but you always feel disappointed when you have to walk during a run.

We have discussed the walking issue in quite detail before. Is it really that bad to walk during a run that is difficult? In a runners mind, walking is the ultimate betrayal. It's that issue that you feel as if you're giving up...allowing the body to win in the running mental battle. And of course once you allow yourself to stop that first time, it makes it so much easier to give up and walk a second time, and a third and in my case on this particular run more than I'd like to admit to. And isn't it so much easier to let yourself walk? Than to keep working and fighting through the pain and keep running. Jeff Galloway has made the run-walk method of training for a marathon famous by suggesting that walking during a run is good for your body as it gives a brief relief to the stress you put on your body. It makes sense.. but it's been hard in our case to let ourselves give up in that way. Of course we don't beat each other up about walking, but we all are thinking the same thing.."man, I wish I wouldn't have walked".. unless your JB who never walks! Hey, but we are doing something more than that person sitting on the couch, walking or running, right?! Well...as long as we keep doing what we are doing and train in the right way, we should be able to RUN the full marathon without having to walk. Plus isn't that what water stops are for? A brief break in the monotony of running to get a drink and take a second to catch your breath? Ahh.. but then there's the pain issue that comes into the discussion. Is it OK to run through pain? Or is your body really trying to tell you that you're doing something wrong? Some would say just walk, others would say run through it. All I know is the feeling of accomplishment when you tell yourself that you have to stop, but you keep running... It's an amazing feeling when you know you've beat your body and just kept going! That far surpasses the pain... Well, maybe next time we'll remember that and not walk :) 

This week we ran 21 total miles for our training schedule. Next up, we have the Anders Trail Stomp 2 mile extreme race on Saturday morning; Tuesday-3miles, Wednesday-5miles, Thursday-3miles and our long run next Saturday will be 7. Total weekly mileage will be 18 miles. Until next time..

Quote of the Day: "I will persist without exception"

-Andy Andrews

Niner and Trot

Our first major long run of the training schedule was Thursday, November 17th. We started our run at 4:45..well, of course one of us was late, I can't remember which one..anyways, it was a cool evening. We had to break out the pants, jackets, gloves and hats. Having the proper equipment in this cold winter is definitely an important thing! OK... and also making sure we still have a bit of fashion during the hard runs is essential too :)  JB was channeling her inner leopard in her black and white jacket! so cute - If we're going to spend the extra money on the expensive stuff we might as well make sure it looks good, right??

These longer runs are going to become a lot more challenging if we want to run inside the Wellington city limits. Running outside of the city of Wellington brings back haunting memories of our first half marathon training and our idea to run out on Oil Field road to the Becker's. It was just a 6 mile run... but it was brutal!! It was windy and hilly with long straight stretches...this was the first time I cried after a run. It was so hard and all five of us did not have much fun, so needless to say, we like to stay within the city. Our 9 mile route was a good one, but it was a little hilly. Those who say Wellington is not hilly haven't actually ran in Wellington before! Kitchel ran with us for the first time and we all loved every moment of it. In the past, when we've ran our long routes, we depend a lot on our iPods and our music. We're becoming to realize that the time goes much faster when you're talking and sharing stories. We didn't even put our iPods in for the entire 9 mile run. We very much enjoyed Kitchel and the conversation and HOPE that she can make every long run with us so that the time goes by much faster!

Turkey Trot-Because we did the 9 mile run on Thursday, we decided to run the 2 mile Turkey Trot route. Mitzi and Lisa are still nursing their foot, but they did complete the 2 mile Turkey Trot this weekend in under 20 minutes. Alison ran her Turkey Trot in just over 17 minutes. I think it's all those fast short routes that we've been doing :) JB was with her sister out of state and I had too many things happening on Saturday morning to make it. Sounds like the route was a good one, with a good cross wind. JB ran her run on the treadmill and I ran that afternoon and am still dealing with intense knee pain. Hoping it will go away soon.

Thanksgiving is this week and it's becoming apparent that working around the holidays may be a challenge along with the ever changing weather. This week, we will run 3 miles today (or skip it if we can't squeeze it in), 5 miles on Tuesday afternoon, our long run 10 miles on Thanksgiving morning and the Trail stomp race this Saturday. Might as well run our Thanksgiving dinner calories off before we eat them :) Until next time..

Quote for the day: Life is short..running makes it seem longer. 
- Baron Hanson

This Weekend

JB, Mitzi, Alison and Lisa ran their long mileage on Friday morning. I ran the mileage on Saturday morning in the 20+ mph winds. According to our schedule, this week our long run was 5 miles. We've been running for at least 2 years now and 5 miles is a debatable "long" run, but the Master schedule says that and we will not stray from the Master. It's like our Bible during our training. So, whatever it says, we do!

On Sunday, we ran our first run for this week at 4 miles. It was such a great day outside, almost a little hot for a November run. Wearing shorts and short sleeves in November is pretty amazing and we loved it! It was a faster pace than what we are used to, but we have to remember that putting our bodies into a little bit of shock by running faster during these shorter distances will help with our long distance training. Allowing our lungs to expand, our endurance to increase and our legs to get sore and tired will help us for the long haul that is 26 miles. JB and I finished at an 8:56 pace and I would've slowed down much more in the end if JB wasn't there. Alison also ran faster than she's ever run at about a 9:06 pace. We all ran faster and that's what counts. All 3 of us have good and bad days and we flip flop between who finishes first, second and third, but if we didn't have each other, we wouldn't be quite as successful.

So the debate of the day..how fast do we want to run this marathon in? It is our first "rodeo" in the longer distance, so what should our goal be? Is there really a right or wrong answer? Goals generally change as often as we want them to. So, our goal this week may change over the course of a few weeks or months and that is OK. One clear thing that needs to be established is that goals have to be challenging. You have to set your goal to be one that you can meet, but will have to be met with some degree of difficulty. So our next mission is what is that goal? Should it be just "to finish" since it is our first one? Or should we set our time goal to be one that pushes us to the brink? I lean towards the latter because who is guaranteed another race? No one is guaranteed another day or another race, so why not run as well as you can the first time? Isn't this just one more parallel to life? Live today as if it's your last, and run your marathon as good and as fast as you can just in case it's your last. :)

Quote for the day: "A winner is someone who sets their goals, commits themselves to those goals and then pursues their goals with all the ability that is given to them. That requires someone who believes in themselves, who will make self sacrifices, work hard, and maintain the determination to perform at the best of their ability." 

- C. Leeman Bennett

Health Shmealth

Saturday November 5th was our longest run to date at 7 miles. JB and I ran in the morning and Alison ran with 20+ mph winds in the afternoon. We all did it! That's the key is just getting out and doing it. Lisa and Mitzi ran 4 miles and are still working on getting better. That's the thing about running, you have to be healthy.

It's very easy to take your health for granted. As a runner and also in life. When the run feels good and you feel great during a run, life is good! But once you are in pain or don't feel healthy, life isn't so good! Running has many parallels with life. It's amazing how perceptions of things change. How putting one foot in front of the other can be so easy some days but be the most difficult thing to do on others. We've all felt that way in some way or another. Each one of us has had to deal with a health set back, but we just keep going! Why? Why do we keep running and why can't we stop? To be honest I don't really know the answer. Is it the competitor inside of us that just refuses to quit? Are we just stubborn? Or is it an addiction that's hard to beat? It's something, it's just hard to put it into words. The only way you can understand it is if your a runner.

Quote for the day: "The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running." 
- Author unknown

Second Week

Welp, the second week of training is in full swing! 3 miles for each day this week and the long run on Saturday will be 7 miles. All five of us are professionals at running these 3 mile routes, so the main goal for all of us to work on increasing our oxygen intake, speed and endurance to help us with the full 26 mile trek we are embarking on. Tuesday was a difficult day for myself and the others as it was very windy and coming back south on our route was brutal! JB and Alison battled through the wind and finished at a 9:13 pace, with JB's burst for the last 1 mile. She's strong! Alison stayed close behind and I brought up the third.

We had a fellow male runner join our group for the first time and it just shows that it is much easier for a male to run than it is for us females. This is not an excuse, just an observation. Not sure if it's the length of their strides, their stubbornness or what the difference is, but frustrating when someone who has ran for a mere 3 weeks can finish at an 8 minute mile pace! Arggh. We need more men in our group to give him a challenge, us old ladies probably just frustrated him. :)

Lisa is working hard at getting back into the running game. She is a trooper and we love her and want her to be up and running with us very soon! Mitzi is still nursing the heel and is basically trying to learn to run all over again. She is working on her foot strike to combat the plantar fasciitis. It's amazing how little things like how you land on your foot can affect your entire running career. And like Mitzi said..."we should've stretched more often during our first training". Stretching is so important..let's not forget and MAKE each other do it!

I read an interesting article last night about the 11 mistakes marathoners make while training. One thing that stood out to me was the long run mistakes. There were two main points made in this article:  discussing the long run schedule and the intensity of the long run. The first point was that the long run doesn't necessarily have to be every weekend. I had never considered this before, but it made sense. Their argument was that if you do a long run every weekend, you're not really allowing yourself to recuperate as needed. That makes sense! So, why not every 2 or three weeks doing a long run. My question is what they consider to be "the long run"?? Is that 10+?? Another point was the marathoners thoughts that they need to run the long run slow. This is definitely something that we have all said at one time. "We will just do the long one slow" Well, what's the point in that? We should be training at the same intensity as we would like to run on marathon day! The article points out that marathoners believe that they will run their marathon faster on race day, but that really doesn't make sense?? So, our next job is to decide what exactly do we want to run that marathon in? And train with intensity and meet that goal! We have to put it in writing and set that goal! And we have to put it in writing and say "We are running a marathon", right JB? :)

Article: 11 Major Marathon Mistakes 

Quote for the day: "If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much"
- Borden

Day 3

Day 3 - 3.00 Miles 

Decided to stay at storage sheds for one more night for our run, but wouldn't you know it there was a darn train that we had to go around! Had a hill to battle and then back to our normal route. Nice and cool afternoon, so run felt good. We ran fast than our normal pace: 9.05 for me, JB and Alison at 9:15 pace. The looks on our faces after we finished was priceless and we all agreed that it would be impossible to run a 26 miles at that pace! Lisa ran/walked her 3 mile route and is getting stronger each day! Mitzi took the night off and will hopefully be back with us next week if her heel allows her to. 

Saturday will be our first official long run of the marathon training schedule: 6 miles. We'll start at 8am! Woo hoo!  

Next question to the ladies: What is your best memory of a run/race? What is the worst memory of a run/race? 

Quote for the day: You can feel either sore or sorry tomorrow.. 

- Unknown

Why Run?

Background: Back in the good "old days", JB, Alison and Lisa were the boot camp queens! They have been doing this crazy form of exercise since it's inception in Wellington about 4 years ago. Not sure what Mitzi was doing, but I was being lazy at that time :) After about 2 years, I joined the boot camp group and friendly acquaintances we all became. After a few months, a lady in our boot camp group Andy told us that she was going to run her first marathon with her daughter. That put a bug in our ears and Alison and I thought for sure we could train for a half!! So, who was going to join us? I remember that cold night like it was yesterday. As we walked out of the junior high building excited and JB said she would run but she couldn't commit to running the race - geez that sounds familiar :) And Lisa said she would join too! Mitzi joined us in the first few weeks on a 6 mile long run and then she couldn't stop. And that began our life journey that is running.. I remember sitting in my car that first night with a nervous pain in my stomach and a smile on my face. And so formed our 5 lady group: the Marathon Mama's!

So why run? The reason behind our running is different for each of us. We are all unique and all have different, yet common themes on why we run. Here are our reasons we run:

Stormie: For me, the obvious reason is for my health. There is nothing like feeling strong and alive during a good run. I also run to clear my mind. It's a form of therapy in a crazy world. But another reason that I run is for others. In my family, legs are a gift. I have good ones, so why not put them to use? There are many times that I think of those around me that can't run and they give me strength and motivation. I also love the challenge of running. The battle between your mind and your body is exciting to me. The idea that you can force your body to keep going when it doesn't want to any longer is quite exciting. I also love being around other strong women, it empowers me and motivates me. 

JB: I have never considered myself a runner and really still don’t.  Runners are the type of people who have done it their entire life and it comes easy for them.  While it doesn’t come easy for me, I’m always glad I get out and run.  I started running a little when I joined bootcamp almost 4 years ago, but never over 2 miles at one time.  When Stormie and Alison decided to start training for their first half marathon, I told them I would train with them, but there was no way I was going to run 13.1 miles.  Well…I did run 13.1 miles and I’ll never forget that moment.  I had tears in my eyes and still have them when I think back to crossing that finish line in the middle of Dallas Cowboys stadium on that beautiful blue star!  What an accomplishment for me – I’ve never done anything like that.  When I really stop and think why I run now it’s because it’s part of my lifestyle.  It’s a habit – it’s what I can do to clear my mind, spend time with some great running partners and get an awesome workout.  If I can do it, YOU CAN TOO!!

Alison: As you all know, I am a bit competitive!  I remember when we ran our first Turkey Trot, which was a 2 mile run, we stayed after our run and watched the 10 milers run.  I was so jealous that they were out there doing that, and I wasn’t.  I knew right then that I would be running 10 miles sometime in the future.  Running is not easy for me, it’s a challenge every step, I think because I’m so short legged.  So every time I finish a run whether it be 3 miles or 13 miles, I have a huge sense of accomplishment that far outweighs the pain.  Then I see all of these other women (and men) running with us that didn’t use to be able to run across the street – it makes me so proud!  Some of these same runners have completed the full!!  My mind tells me that if they were brave enough to endure the full, why have I not yet done it.  I know the only thing stopping me from completing this full is my mind…..so I told myself I COULD do this and WILL.  The only thing that could make running this marathon more special is doing it with 4 of my favorite girls in the whole world.  I love you all.  Next on the bucket list………triathlon!!!!  J

Lisa: Because JB makes me! Just kidding JB! I run to keep my weight down and my cardio up. I do not plan to run a marathon but will be 100% there for you girls that are!  Love you all!  I am so proud of you for having the spark in your heart to train and then run 26.2 miles!  You rock!  ( I think you are a little crazy though!) **Editor's Note: Let's hope she changes her mind and runs with us!!**

Mitzi: One of the reasons that I run is for cardio. Running is good for the heart! I also run to stay in shape. The "feel good" feeling when you're finished with a run or race is like nothing else. And of course I very much enjoy spending time with my runner friends. 

Quote for the day: "Friends...they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams" 

- Henry David Thoreau

First Few Days

Welp, you may have guessed it! We are doing a full marathon!! With 2 half marathons and many other races under our belt, we're going for The Big One! After all, how can you have a name like "Marathon Mama's" and not complete an actual marathon?? We've been discussing it for quite sometime, but it's official. We are running the Fort Worth marathon in February 2012.  We (me and Alison) are pumped! Haha, now it's just talking the others into it. :)

Marathon training is in the first few weeks!! We've already had our first sickness as Alison had a migraine and was unable to complete the first 3 mile run on Monday. She didn't miss much as it was very warm on Monday. High 80's for October is smoking hot especially when trying to run! We are seasoned runners so we decided to let Alison's first miss slide :)

Our first marathon training day for a run was individual, unfortunately.   Alison was laid up with a headache, JB ran with the Shelley's and I ran alone during the day. Lisa is still getting back into the running groove and is walking some but mostly running and she did 3 miles on her own. Mitzi is on medical leave to nurse that heel, MM's say she needs to rest and do nothing for at least a week. We have full confidence in her as she is the one who jumped in for our half marathon training with a 6 mile long run. She's awesome! Although JB and Mitzi have not officially committed to the marathon, Alison and I have full confidence that they can do it! And we keep telling them.... JB is training she just hasn't admitted it to herself yet :)

Second 3 mile training day was last night October 26th. JB, Alison and I ran our 3 miles at 9:15 pace. It was good and if it weren't for the dang train it would've been a faster finish. Never fails when you get in the groove and your stride is smooth, something happens. Guess that's something I need to work on personally. Getting that groove back even when there's a turn. Our first group marathon decision was that we need to now park at the Santa Fe building to beat those dang trains. Next run is today: October 27th. 3 miles again, Friday is rest day and Saturday is our first long run - 6 miles.

At this point we (at least Alison and I) are still excited about this new journey we will embark on!! Only 4 short months away and we will be running The Big One :)

Quote for the Day: Devote today to something so daring even you can't believe you're doing it. 
-Oprah.