Well, I Did It .... :)

Girls. I ran 13.1 miles yesterday. WOW! Let me set aside my excitement for a second and tell you how it went!
I went to Goldsboro for the weekend, and Uncle Johnny and I had planned on getting up early Saturday morning to go run 12 miles! Mimi and I ran 10 last weekend in Goldsboro, so I knew I could get up there - but I was nervous to get past 10! We woke up at 5:45, and set out at 6am. It was dark outside when we started and I got to watch the sun come up over beautiful fields of tobacco, corn and cotton :)
UJ set out a great course that took us all over Goldsboro! I liked it because it was flat and we didn't double back over any of our path. It's hard for me to run the same thing over and over again. We reached the halfway mark and stopped for some water that UJ had hidden for us in a friend's mailbox. After slurping down a Raspberry HammerGel and downing it with H2O we set back out on our way. The run was good, I didn't feel too tired and my breathing was insync. I was breaking in my new Brooks running shoes though, but I'm proud to report that I didn't have ANY BLISTERS! Yay! So the new shoes must be just the thing I needed!
We made it through downtown and then were headed home with stops thru the Hospital & the Community College. Once we got to Wayne Community, I was feeling a little tired - but I really wanted to keep it going. UJ told me to just keep running a little past the street and then we'd be done. So I kept running, waiting for him to shout out already that we were done and that I could walk!!! Then he said "Ok we're done... Congratulations Randa - You just ran your first 1/2 Marathon!" - I looked at him and said "WHAT!?". Sure enough he showed me 13.11 on his Garmin! He had tricked me the whole time and I didn't know any different! Needless to say I was thrilled and super super excited! To commemorate the run, UJ let me have the hat I had borrowed from him! It is an awesome Nike hat that didn't allow a drop of sweat to run down my forehead. It was amazing and really helped my eyes.
Anyway... I'm really pumped to know that I can make it the 13 miles. I am still nervous to run in the race, but alteast I won't have any doubts as to whether or not I can finish. I know that no matter what happens out there - I have it in me to finish, and finish strong! thanks for all the encouragement along the way girls! Y'all have kept me going, and I'm so glad that I have reached my goal! This makes me want to continue to run, and to really make exercise/running a priority in my life! I can't wait for the acutal fun in 3 weeks with Ferretti and Mimi and UJ & Amy! It's going to be so exciting!!!

:(

After 2 days of PT, a few days of gel and medicine and no running for 1.5 weeks - I was feeling MUCH better - I could walk normally and go down stairs without pain. My hips are officially realigned and the PT and I agreed I'd try an easy run today and if I had no pain I could just keep doing my stretches on my own - and I'd have hope for the half.

I am so upset - I tried running this morning - only planned on doing 3 miles. I got to 1 mile and I felt the pain but it wasn't too bad. I stopped - did my stretches - walked - ran again - and I had to stop and walk the rest of the way back to the car. I couldn't help but cry - I've worked for 2 months - mostly alone - getting up at 5:45 in the morning to do my runs and I really felt like I was getting good. And now my knee is blocking that. I go back to the PT tomorrow and we'll see what he thinks but I'm not sure now (for the first time) if I'm going to be able to do the race. I'm mainly disappointed because I've worked so hard - but I'll also lose my $100 for registration - they won't even apply it to next year. Hopefully I can try something else and work through it - without any time goal - but a goal of completion. This really has been my focus most of the summer and I want to be able to do it. :(

Injury Update

Hi girls,

I went to the orthopedic doctor on Wednesday and I do have an IT band injury - he prescribed some medicine and gel to ease inflammation. I put the gel on 4 times a day!

I am also doing some physical therapy. I am really happy about this because when I visit the physical therapist I feel like I am doing all I can to recover quickly. The doctor spent 5 minute with me but the therapist spent an hour - telling me that my right hip is rotated up which causes the IT band to tighten - resulting in pain on the side of my knee. He explained a bunch of other stuff in a thick Alabama accent and I didn't quite catch it all :) First he tried to align the hip properly by making me do certain exercises and kind of pulling on me - he couldn't quite get it - but I also learned some stretches for the it band and did some strengthening - I need to strengthen the areas around my hip to keep it from rotating. Then they put ultrasound on the knee for about 15 min to break up the scar tissue - and they also put this little electric pads on your knee and kind of electrocute you for 15 minutes with ice on the knee - I'm not quite sure what that does. Anyway, he sent me home with homework - so I do my exercises twice a day.

Today I went on the bike ride I usually go on. I was a little timid at first that I would make my knee flair up like it did last Saturday - I was pretty scared. But I rode with the slower group and was able to exercise with no pain - I felt some nagging in the knee at times - but nothing that wasn't bearable. I am glad I at least got that workout in. I am going back to the therapist on Tuesday - and hopefully I'll keep getting better - I am going to secretly run (the doctor said no running for two weeks) on Wednesday - just to see how its going - nothing hard or long.

These three weeks of training were pretty important because they held my 4 longest runs - so I am bummed -and NEED to run in order to be able to complete the half. I am going to try to do some running while Brian is here and see how it goes. I've got to find a balance between making sure I've healed and still trying to get the half done. Thankfully I can not create long term damage by running with a hurt it band - so as long as I can handle the pain - or get rid of the pain - I'm good to go :) Hoping it keeps healing - I am so focused on it - I've been pretty distracted from school work - it's all about taking care of the leg :)

Larissa

9,10 a big fat hen

9 miles. Auburn Alabama.

9 miles. Boy was I a little scared. I had run 8 the week before all by myself - but I was really longing for a running partner - so I pleaded with friends on facebook to even run part of it with me :) A new student in the lab, Alex, agreed to meet me after I'd run about 4 miles. I started a little later than planned that morning so he ended up meeting me a bit earlier. It was so nice to know that I could look forward to seeing him and to have him on the last half. I felt a bit sluggish the whole way - it was so hot - even that early in the morning. I listened to a great Radiolab podcast on Limits - I highly recommend it - the first part talks about physical limits which was perfect for the run. They explain that research suggests we all have an energy reserve - and when we feel pain it is because the energy reserve wants to hold on to the rest of the energy because it thinks it is going to run out - our body wants us to stop - but really we have plenty of energy left. They did research were athletes put gatorade in their mouth and then spit it out - and guess what - they tricked their energy reserve into thinking more energy was coming - and they were able to go faster and longer without even swallowing it - amazing isn't it! Our body is prepared to do this work - we've just got to trick our brains :)

10 miles. Vero Beach Florida.

I had a great week running at home. I ran 4 miles 3 different times - way faster than my normal Auburn pace (thanks to the flat course!). On my last 4 mile run my knee was really hurting during the last mile - I probably have mentioned a bit of knee trouble before - I ran through it but boy did it hurt! I had the next day off and prepared for my 10 mile run. I was, of course, nervous but looking forward to running in familiar territory and on flat ground! I started the run before the sun came up and got to watch it rising over the ocean - beautiful! There were quite a few other runners/bikers out - which always makes it more fun for me. I was going up the bridge (one of two hills on the course) - and my knee really started hurting like it had during my previous run. I stopped and tried to stretch - tried to run again - but truly couldn't. I walked abit and figured I'd start running again - tried - and couldn't. I started crying I was so upset with myself. My legs felt great - my breathing was fine - but this dang knee wasn't working right. I walked the 3 miles back to my car :( I got home and iced it (to the point of blisters oops!) and took medicine. I figured I'd take a few days off and be just fine. So far I have taken 3 days off - this will be my fourth day. I have been icing and taken alieve. It doesn't seem to be getting better - the pain is minimal when walking - but I do feel it. And once in awhile my knee will just give out - like when I am going down the stairs of the bus :( Yesterday I was really arguing in my head about what to do - I emailed my friend Jackie who is in clinicals for physical therapy school. She responded that she thought it was my it band. I goggled it and her assessment was spot on! I talked to another active friend and he gave suggestions about what shoes to wear - to run on soft terrain once in awhile - to get back into the run with a quick walk first - and he assured me that I wouldn't loose fitness until about 2 weeks off. I still wasn't sure if I needed to see a doctor because I felt dumb - it didn't hurt that bad unless I ran 4 miles or more. Other people can't even walk.

Jackie assured me that she sees people with it band problems all the time. And that the pt won't think I am being a baby - they'll actually be glad that I came in to take care of it before it got to bad. Apparently it is more a problem with my hip than my knee - even though I feel it in my knee. She said even if I don't see the doctor now - she suggests I do after the half because this isn't a problem that will just go away on it's on. So I've got to deal with it. So I decided to make an appointment- I wanted to just go straight to the physical therapists but in Alabama you have to have a referral - so I have an appointment tomorrow with the orthopedic doctor - and I already told them I really don't expect them to do much I just want a referral. I want to be sure I take care of this now so that it doesn't continue to ache in the future. Jackie told me about how both running and cycling are using specific muscles that propel the body forward so my other muscles are very weak - I'll have to send you all her e-mail because it is very informative :)

Anyway - Doctor tomorrow at 1. I'll let you know how it goes - Jackie said they may try to stick me with a cortisone shot - I'm going to try to avoid the long needle and go to the pt :)

Hope everyone else is enjoying some injury free running!

Larissa