My Marathon Mommy Hits Vegas!

CHANG CHANG CHANG CHANG!!
See those slot machines? They took my money!

I hate Wheel of Fortune slot machines. I'm drawn to them like a moth to a flame. They torture me. They tease me. They make me think that because I won once, I can win again. WRONG!

This past weekend I got to visit Vegas for the annual Baby Boot Camp conference. It was my first conference experience. There were about 35 other franchise owners there, as well as the corporate team. It was interesting and informative, though the room was too cold. I guess the hotel was afraid the 110 degree desert heat outside would somehow penetrate the building's exterior.

As part of the conference, we participated in Baby Boot Camp classes as students. The second day, I took part in a fast paced group run at 6:45am. We went less than 3 miles, but with the 85 degree heat (yes, 85 degrees at 6:45am!) and trail blazer pacers, I was pretty tired by time we got back, just in time to participate in a Level 2 BBC class. Erin Shirey, Franchise Owner of BBC Portland, led the class with her husband, Jack. First of all, let me just say Erin is one small ball of exploding energy. She's only about 5 feet tall, but what she lacks in height she makes up in with contagious, crazy enthusiasm. I can certainly see why Portlandians (?) flock to her classes. We sweated, grunted, and tricep-dipped our way through over an hour of grueling interval exercise. When you have fitness professionals begging for mercy, you know you are one tough mama.

I got some practice in being away from Anthony while Adam and I took our vacation in May, but I don't think a mother can ever be truly prepared for extended time away from her baby, especially when the baby is as handsome and charming as mine. Anthony spent his time in Atlanta with his MiMi (he just gave her that name on this trip), Grandma, daddy, and his aunties from Adam's side. I hear he had a great time and probably didn't miss me half as much as I did him. After a semi-nightmarish return home, I spent one more night away from "my boys" (kudos to my sister Sheramy for her hospitality and accomodations) and finally reunited yesterday. My son smiled ear-to-ear when he saw me, but I don't think his little mind recognized the fact I had been gone so long.

Now I'm back, trying to get back into my groove, and will hit the road with Erin tomorrow morning at 6:30am for my first long run in over a week. Funny how humidity grows on you. I haven't had to use my chapstick once since I got back, and I couldn't separate from the thing in Vegas. Don't believe what they tell you about dry heat being better. 110 degrees, no matter what the relative humidity, sucks!


Life, love, and health,


Chantel

Hey, Found Me!

Hey! I found me! I'm back. I took a little hiatus to try setting up a separate website. Here's a tip-- no matter what you hear to the contrary, designing a website is a big pain in the diaper and it costs too much money. Plus, I went through all this trouble, and it doesn't look any better than good ol' blogspot here. So here I am.

That's Anthony on the beach. Isn't he freaking ADORABLE?

I can't believe he's 15 months old now! It's crazy how fast time is flying. He walks (well runs, actually), talks, and is a little person now. His favorite things lately are crackers, his push car, and Choo-Choo Soul. I'd like to know where in the heck did my son get his Boston accent? He pronounces cracker like "crack-kah". That, along with "Cah" for car, makes me wonder where that's coming from. I've gotta get him saying "ya'll" and "grits" soon!

So, being that it's July already, now I really gotta start thinking about this marathon training. My friend Erin signed up a couple of weeks ago, so we're all in. It's nice to have a training buddy. Despite the Africa-heat (Erin's term) we've managed to get out a couple of mornings a week, BEFORE WORK, I might add, to get our run on. This morning my alarm went off at 6:00am and I was out the door by 6:30. Did 6 miles before running home, literally, and jumping in the shower to get to work. Is that dedication or what??

Now with everything I'm going to get Baby Boot Camp going, I'm less focused on this marathon, but it's not like there's not plenty of time still. I don't really need to officially begin training until September. Now I'm just trying to maintain my maximum long run of 6 miles, where I'm at now.

I'll be glad when Baby Boot Camp finally sends me my new jogging stroller. Mine currently smells like crap. I sh*t you not. When we came back from the pool the other day, apparently Anthony had a loaded diaper and managed to leave the smell as a souvenior in the fabric. I can't get rid of it!! It's driving me nuts. The dang thing smells like a dirty restroom. Imagine pushing that while you're running in the Africa-heat!

Well I'm happy to be back on blogspot and will do better about posting regularly. We're preparing to go to Atlanta for the 4th and then I'm going to be in Vegas for my first Baby Boot Camp conference. I'll be sure to report back on that event. It's sure to be a blast.

In Health,

Chantel

The Hits Just Keep on Coming

I just can't catch a break!!

I sat out three weeks while waiting for the shin splint to get better. I started back running, albeit slowly, for exactly one week, when I was struck by the flu and then had to sit out yet another week. I ran for 3 days during that one inbetween week and was very discouraged with how much endurance I had lost during that short time. I had just gotten back up to 3 miles continuous running when I came down with the flu. I was so sick the entire week that it was a chore to get out of bed, much less hit the pavement. I managed to get out yesterday and struggled to complete 3 miles, and had to walk a good portion of it. This whole past month has been very frustrating and annoying. I just can't seem to get healthy long enough to find my groove again. I've already had to bail out of 3 races I intended to run-- the Sarasota half marathon, the St. Patty's Day 10K, and now the Iron Girl 10K on April 5th. Unfortunately, because of the time I was out sick, there's no way I can be at 6 miles in two weeks.

I guess the good news in all of this is if there was time to lose to injury and illness, this is it. I would hate for this to have happened during marathon training in the fall when I can't afford to lose 4 weeks of training.

Speaking of the marathon, I'm officially registered! 2009 Walt Disney World Marathon, here I come! The race is already at 50% capacity, and the half marathon is already full. That is how big of a deal Disney Marathon weekend has become. I'm so excited about the prospect and am very glad I have lots of time to get back to where I was before the push to go beyond.

Here's to good health and injury free running!

Down, but not out

Update on the last entry-- the leg problem was tendonitis, not a fracture, which was good news BUT the doc still recommended I stay off of it (no running at all) for at least 3 weeks. So after 3 weeks of elliptical gliding and biking, I finally took my first short run on it yesterday. The run was great, no pain at all, and though I felt sluggish I think I could easily be back to my former glory. I'm going to take it easy though and NOT push it, though I really want nothing more than to go out there and blaze 6-7 miles. I'm going to wait two more days before I run again, and it will be for another 3 miler. This morning I woke up with a little pain/twinge in the leg, but it quickly departed after I was up for awhile.

Now I'm just really worried that when I start upping the mileage again, the pain will come back. I'm trying everything different I can think of doing... running on the pavement instead of the sidewalk, wrapping my leg with an ace bandage, wearing an arch support pad. This has been so frustrating all around! I hope it goes away and stays away!

Bum Leg getting X-Rayed

Well I decided to see an Orthopedic doctor and find out what the hell is going on with my left shin. I haven't run since Monday but can still feel an occasional twinge of pain from my leg. It does feel better than earlier in the week, but there's obviously something still wrong. I've internet researched it into the ground and it seems to be one of two things-- shin splint or stress fracture. The symptoms of both are very similar, so I can't tell by web self-diagnosing alone what is going on. I decided rather than sit around and do nothing, I can at least have a doctor tell me what's wrong and advise me on how to proceed.

I'm very bummed but trying not to get too down about it. If it's just a splint, I should be good to go again after a couple of weeks. If it's a fracture though, it'll be two months or more off, which means I'll probably lose all of the conditioning I've built up for myself to this point. I'm kicking my own butt for continuing to run on it when it first started bothering me. I should've stopped then but nnnnnoooooo, I had to keep going. All I managed to do was delay my healing time. GGGRRRRR!

I try to remind myself that I went six months without running at all while pregnant, and I still managed to kick myself into gear enough to do the half marathon nine months later. No matter how long I'm off of it, I intend to keep my fitness up with weight work and biking, swimming, elliptical... anything to keep my heart strong. Who knows, maybe I'll turn out to be a better runner with all this cross training. It's just so frustrating though because I worked so hard to get to this point and I don't want to have to start all over!

I won't let this deter my marathon dreams though. I'm going to do what I have to to get this leg healthy again, and I'll s-l-o-w-l-y reenter my training, stopping at the first sign of any reoccurance. I have 5 months before I need to start serious marathon training, so that's plenty of time to get back into shape (assuming I can get going in a couple of weeks, that is). Even if it turns out to be longer, I'll stay steadfast and determined to press forward.

here's to hoping it's a splint...!

From Gasparilla to the Sidelines

Update on the Gasparilla 15K-- it was a blast. My time was 1:30:01, which equates to a 9:40 min mile. I was very pleased with that, and actually just had a great time running that morning. The weather was beautiful, cool and slightly breezy, with some clouds to keep the sun from being a nuisance. There were only about 4000 runners, which made for a pleasant, non-crowded race way. I told Adam after I finished that was probably the most fun I've had running. I put a lot of pressure on myself before the half marathon, and this time, I was just coasting. Plus, 9.3 miles is a lot more fun than 13.1!

Two weeks after Disney I strained the shin muscle of my left leg, probably from running on bum shoes. It's been agitated since, but it would always stop hurting after I got going. Lately though, it's started irritated and stayed irritated, and I've finally admitted that I need to stay off of it, probably for at least a week. It's going to be hard to do, considering how I've followed such a strict running regiment for the past, oh, call it 8 months. But, the risk of doing further injury is too great, and I don't have any long distance races pending. Now is the time to get it healthy again so I don't damage it to the point that it'll take a long time to heal.

Unfortunately, I'm bowing out of the Sarasota half marathon next weekend. I really wanted to do it, but with this leg the way it is, it's just not worth the risk of further injury. I had two great races at Disney and Gasparilla, so this Sarasota race really doesn't mean that much to me. I'll just rest and look forward to a walk-in-the-park 10K March 16th.

Isn't it awesome to look at a 10K as a walk in the park??

Countdown to Gasparilla

This Saturday, February 9th, I'll run the Gasparilla 15K in downtown Tampa. I'm excited because this 9.3 mile run seems like a walk in the park after the half marathon training I've endured over the past 6 months. Since the half marathon was on January 12th, I've only needed to maintain a scaled down training schedule over the past few weeks. Two weeks ago I ran a 9 mile long run, just to assure myself I had the distance covered. The weather forecast this weekend calls for about 60 degrees, low humidity, and lots of sunshine Saturday morning. Should be a great day for a 15K.

The first road race I ever ran in my entire life was the Gasparilla 5K in 2006. Adam and I ran with our friends Peter and Stacy. I remember thinking then how exciting it was to race as compared with just running solo, and from the moment I crossed the finish line, I was pumped about road racing. I also remember thinking how incredibly long a 15K sounded, and a half marathon seemed damn near impossible. The full marathon? Inconceivable.

Now here I am, two years and one baby later, getting ready to have a great time running the 15K, with a half marathon under my belt and a full one in my sites. You've come a long way, baby.