"I'm Still Sick..."

My son when he was three

"I'm still sick" were the words said in the most pitiful voice by my then three year old son.  He was miserably sick for about a week six years ago.  Now "I'm still sick" is a little inside joke my husband and I say to each other when one of us is not feeling well.  It lightens the mood a bit and gives us both a little chuckle.  

Nonetheless, that is how I feel after a week of being sick.  I have a terrible chest cold.  My lungs are full of fluid and I feel like I have been hit by a truck.  Now, I am not here to complain.  I just wanted to let my friends know that I am ok after not blogging for two weeks.  We spent a wonderful week in Disney World, including running Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k and the runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  I promise to tell you all about it very soon--as soon as I feel like I can do the events justice, as soon as the medicine fog I am in has passed.  

Medals the kids will be earning tomorrow!

There will be no Turkey Trot for me tomorrow.  After lots of back and forth, and lots of chatting with my running friends, I have learned something.  I have asked almost all the runners I know about running when they are sick.  I even asked a Team in Training coach.  Everyone has told me the same thing:  If your illness is in your head, go ahead and still run.  If its below your head--take a break and get better before lacing up.  I take this as meaning if you have a runny nose or sinus congestion, its ok to run.  If you have stomach problems or chest issues--its time to take a break.  While I am not one to take a sick day for any reason, I have decided to listen to all the advice I have gotten and take a running break.  Hopefully I will be back up and running very soon!

Now, on to a new question--how do you keep your running endurance when you are sidelined for a while?

Happy Thanksgiving!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

Runner Packing List

As I set here watching the election results rolling in, I keep rolling through my packing list in my head over and over again.  My family is leaving dark and early in the morning for Disney World--part family vacation/part running trip for me.  I will be doing the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon on Saturday night.  My entire family will be doing Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k Saturday morning.  It will be my husband's and kids' first race!

Packing for a race weekend always makes me nervous!  I keep thinking I will forget something.  Here is a really great race day checklist I have it printed out and use it every time I get ready for a race.

I have quite a schedule planned for our trip to WDW.  We will attend a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.  I will also get to attend a Fantasyland preview.  My family will check out the closing weekend of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival and catch the opening night of the Osborne Family light show.  I can't wait to see the improvements to the Safari at the Animal Kingdom.

Check out my Facebook page for update!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

I Took a Nasty Fall...

My Team in Training team does not meet in November or December because we do not do any winter events.  We starting meeting again in January when training for spring events starts.  My friend and teammate, Wendy, and I met up Saturday morning at our usually team meeting spot for a long run on the trail.  I have the Disney Wine and Dine Half next weekend, so I need to get one last long run in.  I was so thankful to Wendy for meeting me.

Our run started out like usual, except we could see some storm damage to our trail from hurricane Sandy.  It was nothing much, but we could see how parts of the trail were previously flood and the trail was now leaf covered.  We were about one mile into the run when all the sudden I was on the ground!  It felt surreal at first.  Wendy and I were just running along, chatting about an upcoming team event and--bang!  I was laying face down on the ground.  I slipped on a black walnut and went down fast.

That goes for running too!

Boy did that hurt!  I twisted my ankle, busted up my knee, scratch both hands and landed really, really hard on my right elbow/shoulder.  It really knocked the wind out of me.  I sat on the ground for a minute, then Wendy talked me into trying to walk.  I stood up and stretched a bit.  I felt ok enough to walk, so we went on our way.  We walked about half a mile, than run the rest of our planned route.

The remainder of our ran was not easy, but I am really glad I finished the planned miles.  It may have helped to keep me loosened up.  I am so thankful that I was not out there alone.  Had I been, I am sure I would have lost it, started to cry and limped back to my car.  Had I been hurt worse, I am so glad I had a buddy there to help me out.

I am still pretty sore today.  My hands and knee are really scraped up and my elbow/shoulder hurts worse today than it did yesterday.  But I am tough!  I will be ok.  My biggest concern was being ok for my Disney World trip in a few days and the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  I think I will heal just fine.

Have you ever hurt yourself during a run?

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

Virtual Turkey Trot to Benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

I have been training with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training.  I will run the Nike Half Marathon in DC on April 28th, 2013.  I will be running for a reason much more important than the personal challenge of completing a Half Marathon.  As a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program, I have pledged to train on the behalf of all the affected children and their families to help raise money for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and Myeloma research and patient assistance programs.

Leukemia is the #1 disease killer of children and the leading fatal malignant disease of men and women under the age of 35.  Although the cause of leukemia remains unknown, recently developed treatments and steady advances in research bring us closer to a cure every day.  These research advances were only achieved as a result of contributions made by companies, foundations and individuals like you. 

My goal is to raise $3000 by February 1st.   If you would like to help, please consider registering for my virtual Turkey Trot.  For this event, anytime from now until the end of November, run, walk, skip or crawl  your chosen distance—BLING included!  As a thank you for registering, I will send you a finisher medal. This Turkey Trot is a family event!   If you register, your family members can participate too at a discounted rate.  The race distance is at your discretion.  You know your family best.  This race is designed for your family to spend time together and get some physical activity at the same time.  You all will earn your very own medal!   Here's the donation to register:

Donate $20 and you will receive a Turkey Trot medal. 

The medal you will receive! 

Donate $30 will enter you and one other person.  You will receive two medals.

Donate $40 will enter three people.  You will receive three medals.

Donate $50 will enter four.  You will receive four medals.

Number of People Registered:

Register 1 person $20.00 USD Register 2 people $30.00 USD Register 3 people $40.00 USD Register 4 people $50.00 USD Register 5 people $60.00 USD

My goal for this race if for you to have your medals for Thanksgiving morning. I have 100 of them here and ready to go!  I plan to ship medals on November 6th and November 16th in hopes that you will have them for Thanksgiving day.  Because I can not control what happens after I ship, I can not guarantee the medals will arrive before Thanksgiving, but I will work very hard to get them to you in time.  No proof or time needs to be submitted.  You choose your distance and make this a fun event.  Already running a Turkey Trot?  Register for this one and earn a medal while you run your local race.

Thank You!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

Breathing While Running: What Worked For Me

Breathing has always been the most problematic part of running to me.  For my entire first year of running, I could not run more that two minutes straight without a walk break.  I did my first half marathon like this.  As much as I believe in the Jeff Galloway run/walk method, I wanted to improve.  To me, that meant running more, walking less.  At first, I blamed a lot this on the extra weight I still needed to lose.  While I have lost some weight in the past year, my running remained unchanged.  I would see women that had more weight than me to lose, but could still run their hearts out.  Could there be something else going on with me?

I am lucky to have the best Team in Training running coaches out there.  I am closest with Coach Barb, so I talked to her about my concerns.  She happens to also be a retired Physician's Assistant.  We ran together a lot this Spring at Team runs.  She told me to see my doctor about asthma.  My doctor gave me an albuterol inhaler to use before I run.  I was so happy!  I thought this would be the thing that would really improve my running!

After about two months of using the inhaler, my running was not improving--at all.  Coach told me to go to back to the doctor, so I did.  This time the doctor gave me something different.  I got on a combination asthma/allergy pill as well as an inhaled steroid.  My doctor told me not to expect results immediately -it could take up to a month to really feel the results.

I went about my normal running routine.  After about two weeks, I decided I was going to run as far as I could until I felt out of breath and see how far I got.  I got 1.2 miles!  For me, that is amazing!  It was hard for me to run more than a quarter mile without a walk break before.  After almost three months on my new drug combination,  I can run several miles without stopping.  It feels so good!  I feel like I am actually improving after a year of stagnation.  I had never thought of myself as having asthma.  I have always had bad seasonal allergies, but never considered something else was going on.  It feels so good to have this figured out.

The funny thing about all of this is that my overall running speed has not gotten any better.  I fell a lot better when I run, but I still average a 12 minute mile.  Whether I run the entire thing or run/walk, I still average the same speed.  I guess Jeff Galloway really does know what he is doing....

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

runDisney Princess Half Marathon Update

The big reveal has been made!  Here is the new 5th Anniversary 2013 runDisney Princess Half Marathon medal!

Honestly, this medal is not what I expected.  I was expecting something completely different--maybe a glass slipper or a castle.  I was really not expecting an updated version of the old medal.  Considering how different and updated the Mickey Marathon medal is from the old Mickey medal, I was expecting something totally fresh and different for the Princess 5th anniversary.   It's not at all that I don't like the medal because I do.  I like it a lot, its just not that different from the one I earned eight months ago.  I really like that the tiara is an offsetting color than the rest of the medal, and I LOVE the five pink stones.

A new course map was released too.  It does not look that different.  The course is basically the same, but I am hoping we will get to spend a lot of time in the brand new Fantasyland!  All of the pictures of the new Fantasyland look amazing!  I can not wait to see it myself!  To check out the course, click here.

What do you think about he new medal?

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

A Different Half Marathon Experience For Me

Today was the Hershey Half Marathon.  Instead of getting up bright and early to run, I woke up bright and early to cheer on my TEAM!  This season, my teammates and I could choose between doing the Nike Women's Marathon, the Hershey Half Marathon and the Marine Corp Marathon.  I did the Nike Women's Half Marathon last weekend.  This weekend was the Hershey Half Marathon.  Most of my teammates who were not running formed cheer squads to wait along the course and cheer on our teammates.

We all meet out side of the Hershey Park Chocolate World 6:45 am.  Everyone brought  fun outfits, brightly colored wigs, megaphones, pom poms, signs, bam bams, and whistles--all to cheer on our team!  I wore my TEAM jersey and my green SparkleSkirt.  We broke off into our cheer groups and got to our positions just as the roads were being closed.

My group was at the bottom of a loop that on one side was at mile 7.2 and the other side at 9.2.  Being past mile 7, we did not see a runner until about 40 minutes into the race.  The first few runners that ran past seemed almost annoyed at us cheering for them.  I guess they were concentrating on running hard and winning.  It was about an hour into the race before we saw any of our teammates.  We cheered for every runner on the course, but our teammates got extra cheers!  The coaches were along the course for our teammates, just as they were last weekend for the Nike runners.

After the last teammate ran past us, we packed up and headed to the finish.  We got there in time to see the last few teammates cross the finish line.  We congratulated all of the finisher and a few of us got to talking about our events for next year.  Lots of fun things to come!  The team will meet for "fun runs" a few times over the winter, but not every Saturday like we have since January. Coach Barb said it best by saying she will miss her new family over winter break.  I will miss them too!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy