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MIAMIA7
12/27/2010 7:06PM
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Suzy-I just stumbled across this blog! Way to go on meeting your goal. I know you were a whopping 1.6 lbs away but heck, you did great! And so did your daughter! As far as running faster...that is a tough one. Do you do speed work? That always helped me. I have slowed down considerably since my health has thrown a few issues at me. At one time I had it down to a 9:30 mile but am lucky now if I hit a 10:30. Most time I just stick between 11 and 11:30. But the fact is we are out there running. Something I never thought I would be doing. Life has it's up and downs and so does our running I guess! Keep up the good work! Anne
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Here in northwest Pennsylvania I think that fall is the best time to be a runner. Everything I have accomplished as a first has been in the fall. I started to run right before I turned 51. I never ran when I was younger or did much of anything for exercise. Even as a kid I hated to be outside because I would sunburn and get short of breath when I tried to run or bike fast. I loved to read and was the ultimate nerd. I had lost weight at different times but never managed to maintain it. I made the decision to lose the weight for my health this time because I was on blood pressure pills and blood work showed I was also now a diabetic with high cholesterol. My doctor gave me three months to try and lose weight and have the blood work repeated before I started on medication. I went back and was 20 pounds lighter and went on to lose over 40. I was able to maintain the weight but did not feel better and started to exercise. It took me 6 months to go from a couch potato to running my first mile without having to walk. My 5K PR of 31:08 was in October 2008. I hurt my foot running on the ice in the new year's day race and was not able to run for months. I swam, biked and started back to learning how to run. In 2009 ran the Erie endurance run. It is a one mile loop and you run whatever distance you want. I ran 13.1 miles then walked the rest of mile 14 and was able to run my first 1/2 marathon. I did train with a group and have run 3 more 1/2 marathons since then. I have been so tired at the end I thought I would never be able to run further then a 1/2. I have been lucky to run a Saturday long run with friends and my friend Julia is signed up to run the Philly marathon. I told her I would continue to run the long runs with her as long as I felt fine but had no intention of running in Philly but would see how far I could get in the endurance run. Made it through every long run with the 20 mile being terrible. I tapered for 2 weeks and Saturday was the day. Thanks to sunscreen I can run outside and not burn and thanks to Singulair I can now run without chest pain and shortness of breath. My goal was to run the race as close to a marathon race as possible. The weather was perfect. As you passed the timing arch there was a table with water and Gatorade. I also had parked my car so I could run past it so instead of throwing clothes and gloves away when it got hot was able to toss them on the trunk of my car. We have trained with a walk break every mile so would get a drink and walk until we hit the garbage can. Ran with Julia and Tom and he dropped out for a little bit when he hit the marathon distance. He had started running 90 minutes before we did. Sheryl (2Phatt) ran with us for awhile. I hit mile 18 where I had suffered the last 2 miles of the long run but felt OK. At mile 20 I was still OK and Julia was going to drop off since she had planned to run her 20 mile long run for training. I kept going and by the 1/2 way point of the mile she had caught back up. I kept expecting the wall but it never happened. Our friend Teresa was waiting for us and she ran the last 3.2 miles with us and walked the last .8 as a cool down. I had 3 goals for the race. One to run further then I had ever run, 2 to run a marathon and 3 to run in under 6 hours since that is the cut off time for our local marathon. I did all three. Not only did I not hit a wall, I had a runner's high during the last 7 miles that lasted all day Sunday. My ankle hurt after the 20 mile run and hurt yesterday but seems to be fine today. The only thing that really hurts today is my one toenail. It looks dark red and will not be surprised if it turns black. I did not lose any weight while training for a marathon but did not gain any either. I have now maintained my weight loss for almost 5 years. I will now recover and push to lose enough weight so that I will not be running my next race, the turkey trot wearing a costume my daughter will create. I started to run to maintain my weight and I now want to lose weight so I can run faster! My friend Tom who has been running with us for the last 2 years, well he ended up running for almost 12 hours, he ran 50 miles!
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BOBBYD31
10/18/2010 11:21AM
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FANTASTIC RUN SUZY! you should be very proud of your accomplishments. someday i hope to be able to run that distance, hoping to at pittsburgh marathon in may. thanks for a wonderful blog that can keep the hopes alive of us not marathoners. hey suzy you are a marathoner! now about that costume......... LOL
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CJROMB
10/18/2010 11:01AM
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What a great blog!!! Inspirational, too. I haven't run my first marathon yet. I've run a few halves, but I've been chicken of the full. The race I ran on Sunday (that I wrote about in the blog you commented on) was the first in the Austin Distance Challenge. There's a marathon looming at the end of it. I'm gonna mark your blog here to re-read it later when I need the inspiration. :) Love the way you put this all down, and CONGRATS on keeping your weight off for 5 years. That's huge. Or NOT huge, as in we're not huge anymore. Haha.
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DEEJ4FITNESS
10/18/2010 8:13AM
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AWESOME JOB & FABULOUS BLOG :) those of us giving a full (full consideration) need to hear from those of you who have accomplished it :) CONGRATULATIONS on a race well run!! ~Deej Report Inappropriate Comment |
