To understand how I have come to the decision of running a marathon you must know the backstory. I used to say "I don't run. If you chase me I will turn around and give up". My few experiences of running were not pleasant. I decided to join some friends and run the First Run - which is run that starts at 12:00 AM on January 1, 2009. I was totally unprepared. I wore too many layers and cotton. Afterwards I was miserable, freezing and sore. I vowed to never do that race, ever.
I really started running in fall of 2009. My friend Mary asked me to run with her. She started going to a women's run/walk academy and was planning to do a half marathon. When she told me this as we were running around her neighborhood, my competitive nature kicked in. I thought to myself 'if she can run a half marathon, I can run a half marathon'.
That fall I joined the Portland Running Company Run-Walk Academy for women. The RWA was led by Kelly Bither. I remember distinctly my first run with the group was 3 miles. I had missed the first week and was already running occasionally at best one day a week. So off we go....run three miles....and then post run, back at the store, a woman asked me "How do you feel"? I answered truthfully with the following response:
"I feel like hell. That was horrible".
I then thought to myself Oh God. I don't know this woman and she is probably wishing that she never even talked to me.
Lucky for me Kari was that woman and talks and runs with me still today.
So I started running. Ok well lets face it I was not a runner, at best I was jogging. I ran every Thursday night with RWA. On the weekends, I would watch people lap Siobhan and I on the Nike campus. Then I decided to sign up for a 15K, the Shamrock Run. I began running with a core group of women every Saturday (Steph, Angela, Karen and Siobhan) starting at Duniway park and up Terwillger hill past OHSU, VA and the Chart House. The race was one of my best runs and my worst, as that is when my right knee started bothering me. After the Shamrock I continued running with Steph in support of her half marathon training.
Longer Runs and Pain
Long runs....so the long runs began. Each week my knee started to bother me and on that fateful day, somewhere around mile 8, my sock slipped. I had a blister forming but that was not as bad as the pain radiating along the outside of my right knee. My running form changed to a limp, then to a walk. Steph asked if I should wait in Cook Park and she would come get me. I refused...I walked or I should say limped the last two miles.
My pain was related to my IT band. I then did Bridges to Brews and had my worst run. I had to walk part of it. I took time off of running, did a lot of stretching of the IT band and worked on building my gluteal medius, since my periformis was allowing my foot to rotate out while running. This created tension on the IT band which was pulling on my knee and voila I have experience pain. Besides working on strengthening my glutes, I changed my gait to keep my foot from turning out. I ran very little between May - August and focused on recovery. But bit by bit I came back running more and more. By February 2011 I was back. I started running with Kelly and her run clinic. Then Diana and I began running together. We were well matched, about the same pace. Diana and I would even text each other while out of town about our runs to keep each other on track. We have a good combo of supporting each other in running and as friends.
I signed up for my first ever half marathon Hippie Chick. A month later I did another half marathon, Helvetia, with a more difficult course. Part way through the race I saw Kelly's balloon, she was the 10:30 pacer. I caught up to her and ran with her. She said to me "You need to go." and off I went. I had a personal record (pr) and shaved almost 2 minutes off of my previous half marathon. Over the summer I ran Hood to Coast, where I strained the fascial tissue in my left foot. I decided to go to physical therapy. All of my runner friends, raved about a physical therapist, Dan Morlan. He informed me that the pain in my foot was caused by my hips being tilted and my sacrum was curved to the left. I now can self adjust my hips to neutral and have been able to maintain them in the neutral position with exercises.
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| Hippie Chick 2011 |
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| Hood to Coast 2011 |
| Event Name & Course | State |  Date | Plc A | Plc G | Plc O | Pace | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2011 Jingle Bell Run/Walk - Downtown Portland | OR | 12/4/11 | 97 | 725 | 1185 | 10:40 | 33:10 | |
| Girlfriends Half Marathon 2011 - Run-Half-Marathon | WA | 10/16/11 | 145 | 495 | 496 | 9:35 | 2:05:38 | |
| Pints to Pasta 10K 2011 | OR | 9/11/11 | 107 | 587 | 1175 | 9:38 | 59:52 | |
| Helvetia Half & Widmer Brothers 10K - Run-13.1Mi | OR | 6/11/11 | 135 | 631 | 1335 | 10:15 | 2:14:27 | |
| Hippie Chick Half Marathon | OR | 5/8/11 | 194 | 763 | 763 | 10:23 | 2:16:14 | |
| Susan G Komen 5k Race for the Cure 2010 | OR | 9/19/10 | 74 | 448 | 791 | 9:56 | 30:52 | |
| Bridge To Brews 10k/8k 2010 - Run-8K | OR | 4/18/10 | 39 | 274 | 552 | 10:18 | 51:16 | |
| Adidas Shamrock Run Portland 2010 - Run 15K | OR | 3/14/10 | 204 | 1117 | 2653 | 9:41 | 1:30:22 | |
| Give N' Gobble 2009 - Run*10K | OR | 11/26/09 | 22 | 117 | 244 | 11:15 | 1:09:55 | |
| Portland Komen Race For The Cure 2009 | OR | 9/20/09 | 68 | 447 | 710 | 11:08 | 34:36 | |
| First Run & Walk 2009 - Run-5K | OR | 1/1/09 | 33 | 224 | 495 | 10:22 | 32:14 | |
I was still having foot pain but not as bad. Then I did the Jingle Bell Run/Walk with a friend and her daughter. It was important for me to run with them and have that experience. It was at a pace that was much slower. The next day I went on a run date. That goes in the same category as First Run. He ran much faster than I did and I pushed to keep up. The combo of slow, less than efficient running and then pushing myself too hard affected my foot. The next day I was limping and then could not bear weight. I took some more time off and worked on the flexion of my foot.
2012
January 2012 - my foot still is bothered by runs, but no means does it hurt. I have been cleared to run 4 runs a week and Dan says I'm looking good. Meanwhile my trainer, Brodie, has been hammering my glutes. In fact, he says that I haven't had a good workout unless I have a sprawl...which means lying in heap because I have pushed to failure and more than likely done an ungraceful dismount off some ball/trx or whatever functional training tool he is torturing me with. (I may be embellishing to be dramatic for effect in my descriptions).
Setting a goal. Create a plan. Act upon it.
Below is my training plan for the Eugene Marathon and in purple is the training for a sub 2 Portland Rock -n- Roll Half Marathon. One cannot be successful without a plan and accountability. My accountability is publicly acknowledging my commitment to make this goal a reality.
My races for 2012: February ~ Pasadena Rock -n- Roll Half, April ~ Eugene Marathon, May ~ Portland Rock -n- Roll Half, July ~ Ragnar Relay, Sept/Oct ~ either Race for the Cure or Girlfriends Half, Dec ~ Vegas Rock -n- Roll Half.
My runs are always done with my run buddies (the regulars are Diana, Shelly, Kari, Laura, Sharon, Peggy & Cyndi). Rain, ice or shine we meet at the track at night and for early 5:30 am runs. I appreciate the commitment we have made to each other to crawl out of bed at 0'dark thirty to meet up for a run. In addition, it is important to run safely in numbers.
Running alone will not allow me to achieve my goal. I am doing training twice a week with Brodie and Bootcamp RDFT. Bikram yoga 1-2x per week, massage and pt every other week. To add to that I'm stretching multiple times per day and doing my pt exercises most days.
When I first started running I couldn't imagine running a half marathon let alone a marathon. How my view has changed. I am focused and ready and looking forward to injury free and performance based season.
MARATHON AND SUB TWO TRAINING | ||||||||
DATE | MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN | TOTAL |
01/16/12 | XT/REST | 2.5 | 5 | XT/REST | 11 | XT/REST | 18.5 | |
01/23/12 | XT/REST | 3 | 4 | 5 | XT/REST | 9 | XT/REST | 21 |
01/30/12 | XT/REST | 4 | 7 | 4 | XT/REST | 14 | XT/REST | 29 |
02/06/12 | XT/REST | 4 | 7 | 4 | XT/REST | 15 | XT/REST | 30 |
02/13/12 | XT/REST | 4 | 7 | 4 | XT/REST | Rest | Race 13.1 | 28.1 |
02/20/12 | XT/REST | 4 | 8 | 4 | XT/REST | XT/REST | 12 | 28 |
02/27/12 | XT/REST | 4 | 8 | 4 | XT/REST | 17 | XT/REST | 33 |
03/05/12 | XT/REST | 4 | 8 | 4 | XT/REST | 18 | XT/REST | 36 |
03/12/12 | XT/REST | 5 3 miles @8:54/mi | 8 10:30/mi | 5 10:30/mi | XT/REST | 13 10:30/mi | XT/REST | 31 |
03/19/12 | XT/REST | 5 2x1 MR 8:24/mi | 5 10:30/mi | 5 10:30/mi | XT/REST | 20 | XT/REST | 35 |
03/26/12 | XT/REST | 5 3 miles @9:09/mi | 8 10:30/mi | 5 10:30/mi | XT/REST | 12 10:30/mi | XT/REST | 30 |
04/02/12 | XT/REST | 5 4 miles @9:00/mi | 5 10:30/mi | 5 10:30/mi | XT/REST | 20 | XT/REST | 35 |
04/09/12 | XT/REST | 4 2 miles @9:09/mi | 5 10:24/mi | 5 10:24/mi | XT/REST | 12 10:24/mi | XT/REST | 26 |
04/16/12 | XT/REST | 3 3x1 MR 8:20/mi | 4 10:24/mi | 4 10:24/mi | XT/REST | 8 10:24/mi | XT/REST | 19 |
04/23/12 | XT/REST | 3 @8:54/mi | 2 10:24/mi | Rest | Rest | 2 10:24/mi | Race 26.2 | 33.2 |
04/30/12 | XT/REST | REST | 2 10:24/mi | 6 5 miles @9:00/mi | 3 10:24/mi | XT/REST | 7 10:24/mi | 18 |
05/07/12 | XT/REST | 4 4x1 MR 8:15/mi | 3 10:18/mi | 3 10:18/mi | 3 10:18/mi | XT/REST | 11 10:18/mi | 28 |
05/14/12 | XT/REST | 3 10:30/mi | 3 10:30/mi | 5 3 miles @8:54/mi | 3 10:30/mi | XT/REST | Race 13.1 | 27.1 |
Some of you may want to know where this great group of professionals are and how to contact them....so here is my plug for them because without them I could not complete these goals without their expertise and support.
Kelly Bither, Runner Chick Training Club, http://runnerchicktrainingclub.com/index.html
Brodie Goheen, Personal Trainer, TriD Fitness http://tridfitness.com/
Casey Mitzel, Bootcamp RDFT, http://www.bootcampresults.com/
Dan Morlan, PT, Active Edge Physical Therapy, http://activeedgept.com/
Kelly Bither, Runner Chick Training Club, http://runnerchicktrainingclub.com/index.html
Brodie Goheen, Personal Trainer, TriD Fitness http://tridfitness.com/
Casey Mitzel, Bootcamp RDFT, http://www.bootcampresults.com/
Dan Morlan, PT, Active Edge Physical Therapy, http://activeedgept.com/
