Update

So far this month I have ran/walked 94 miles. I am pleased with all the miles I have put in so far. I went to the doctor yesterday to have my ankle looked at since I am having so much pain in it after I run. Come to find out after the x-rays the screws are coming out of the plates so we came to the conclusion that I will need to have the surgery to replace both the plates and screws. Now I am not doing it until after the Nike Women's Marathon so the compromise is that I take it easy when I run, don't push myself and when I feel the pain I MUST stop. I may not do all the miles each week according to the training log by Team in Training but I will still train, I know I am not running in the marathon to be first I am running for those who can't and to raise awareness to a very serious illness so even if I finish 20,000th I will be happy..

Lake Pine

8 miles = 4 laps around the lake. I enjoyed my walk/slow jog this evening. My foot is on ice as I type this. It doesn't hurt as much as it did on Saturday but it is just as swollen. I can handle it being swollen I can't handle the pain that goes along with it though so it was nice to finish the walk/slow jog without the pain this time. I am going to see my Dr. tomorrow so he can take some x-rays and tell me if the screws are coming out further and causing my issues. I really enjoy running at Lake Pine, it is such a peaceful place to train, I wished we would train there on a Saturday as a team. I fell in love with the trail before I even joined Team in Training and started training for the Nike Women's Marathon.

6 miles @ Shelly Lake

Six miles may not sound like a lot of miles to run or even walk but let me just tell you it IS!! I did it on three hours of sleep. I was tired from lack of sleep the night before I just couldn't fall asleep.. When we arrived at Shelly Lake the coaches were still talking so I was happy that they hadn't started on the trail without us. We kind of got lost trying to find this place, it didn't help that Raleigh has more than one Millbrooke St. Anyway we all started out walking the trail then the faster runners took off and since I am not one of them I stay to the back of the group. I ran for about two miles, feeling pretty good, not winded at all, pace was good. My ankle on the other hand still hates that I run.. It was swollen I had to stop and loosen my laces a bit and hope that it would not get much bigger since my toes were starting to tingle as well. I still had 4 miles to go and I really wanted to finish. I walked to the halfway point got some water, rested for a minute then started to run again, can I just tell you what a complete idiot I am. I don't listen to my body, I should have just walked the rest of the way back but I didn't want to be the last one out on the trail so I ran. Also I knew my friend Katie would be back and waiting for me and I didn't want to keep her any longer than I already had so I pushed myself. I finished the six miles and I felt good except my ankle. My ankle was so swollen it was the same size as my calf, no joke. I had blisters on both feet. I wasn't winded or anything and I wasn't sore so I shouldn't complain really but this ankle really will be the death of me I think... When I got home I iced it and kept it up for a while the swelling has gone done some and I am walking slowly and not putting much pressure on my foot, not sure what this weeks training will hold for me...

Figuring it out

On Saturday I went to Lake Pine. It is a park close to the house that has a nice 2 mile paved path around the lake. I ran 2 miles without feeling any pain in my ankle, so I thought I would try another lap around the lake and about half way through that second lap my ankle was KILLING me so I once again had to walk the rest of the way. I am beyond frustrated with trying to figure this out. I want to just run..... This morning I went running and I tried the run for 2 minutes walk for 3 since my running coach suggested trying that to help build up the strength in my ankle and I don't know if that will make any difference since I only ran 2 miles this morning. I am going out tonight for another 2 mile run and will try his advice for a week and see how things go. I am keeping running journal everyday so I can see where I have improved and how my ankle does at different parks and distances. I hope that will help solve my problems with my ankle.

Training...

On Saturday was the first team training.. I got there early (I hate being late for ANYTHING). When I arrived Julie was there setting things up and what not so I got a chance to talk to her and get to know her a little better. She is such a positive person and has a great sense of humor. After a team meeting that lasted about 35 minutes we hit the trail with the coach's. There were 3 teams training together, Raleigh, Durham and the Triathlon Team. I will admit I did not like having so many people there on the trail, but I guess I should get over that since I will be around thousands more come marathon day. Anyway I started out at a slower pace because I hadn't actually ran on my ankle since I had surgery to put it all back together. I felt my pace was a bit slow so I picked it up a little and that felt fine. I noticed after a while however that I was getting shooting pain in my ankle and then I felt the pop. So I stopped running and walked, talk about total disappointment. I felt like such a failure that I had to stop. I mean I was feeling really good about my pace and how I was able to still carry on a conversation and not be winded at all but just my ankle wouldn't cooperate with the rest of my body, really disappointing.. After I walked for a bit I noticed we had a small hill to run up so I thought well lets give it a shot and see how we do with that. I ran up it and I noticed again the shooting pain and the pop sound again so once I got to the top I walked. I don't know what the deal is with my ankle but I will NOT allow it to stop me from completing this goal of mine. I am running for those who can not run, I am running for me as well, even though I didn't have any of the cancers that I am raising awareness for I am still a cancer survivor.... I want this to be a positive experience in my life, I want to look back on it and say "I did it!!" I want this to be a wonderful time in my life, so my ankle will have to learn to get over it and let me run darn it!!!

Nike Women's Marathon

Well since my last post I have been a little busy with something and I didn't really think anyone would want to hear about it but then I was told that people would want to hear about it so here is the big news, I have signed up to run in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. I started walking a few weeks ago with my friend Katie who is also doing the marathon. I have walked in the past 2 weeks over 25 miles and this weekend is the first team training and I am very excited about it! I plan to run the course but since I broke my ankle a few years back in 5 places and have plates and screws holding things together I thought walking would be the best way to get back into things so this weekend when I actually train with the team I will run and see how things feel but I have made a promise to myself that I will run the entire course and I will cross that finish line.... I will update this blog every few days with my progress.