110 minutes!

Wow, what a great practice! We went for 110 minutes with hill training and this was my best practice ever! I ran more than I walked and went farther than I have ever gone! I actually made it to a water stop, I had no idea what they looked like but finally I got to see one - what a milestone!
Now don't get the wrong idea - I didn't look good, I came in dead last and my running partner was 62 years old but still it was my best run ever!
I love running by time and have no idea the distance we are running. Our coaches gave us a training schedule based on minutes and it seems to be working. I know the distance of a marathon and know that when I cross that finish line I will have run 26.2 miles! Until then I just want to know the minutes.

A Setback :(

Well, where do I begin? Let's see...3 months ago, as many of you know, we had a miscarriage. I went the cytotec route followed by a D&C. Unfortunately, my HCG was not tracked below the normal value. When I decided to run this marathon I went and had a physical. I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to drop dead at one of the practices - although I think this could still be a very real possibility! All my values came back great (yes, some fat people have great cholesterol levels) except one. My HCG was 700! What does this mean. Well first of all it meant I had yet another appt. with the OB and after a long discussion about options, believe it or not I ended up on a chemo drug. Methotrexate. Two gigantore shots right in the bohiney! The thought is that it will help absorb the remaining uterine contents and we will know this by tracking my HCG.
The other part to this is the re-visiting of the whole event and the pity party that went on for 6 whole days! I should have realized as an official marathoner ; ) that the usual pity party must be cut in half! What does a pity party look like? Well, I ate the house down while wearing a fluffy robe and slippers reclining on the couch with a remote in one hand and a chocolate bar in the other. There are empty candy wrappers and Cheeto bags strewn about and the worst part of all - not a single mile put on the man shoes! Methotrexate does make you tired but probably not tired enough to avoid the man shoes! I won't be doing any carbo loading either (trust me, I have plenty of carbs around the midsection) because with Methotrexate, folic acid can actually keep the drug from working as effectively. I have googled every food you can think of and so far I think roast beef is the only thing without folic acid! This is going to be a long couple of weeks!
Anyway, after a long talk with many great people who told me "not to give up" and "you can't change it now, you can just move forward" and "you are an inspiration because this is such a challenge" (thank you to all of you) the pity party is over and my first day back is tomorrow! Our team practice is 110 minutes tomorrow ( wow, could I have picked a different week to have the pity party!) It's going to be UGLY but Go Team!

The Fabulous Foursome!!

Today I found out from Laurie Bethke that she along with Lydia, Bonita and David have made it possible to have Lew's name printed on our team marathon shirt. The four of them have donated one thousand dollars! This not only is a huge donation to fight blood cancer for Lew but because the four of them donated $1000 Lew's name will be printed right on the back of our official team shirt!! I think my "what was I thinking?" phase is officially over!!

Fat people should not run marathons!

We just had our 4th team practice and I am still going through the "what was I thinking phase!". I am afraid I got a little cocky after building my endurance to running for 2 minutes. We trained on hills this past Saturday and other than thinking that Jesus was coming I figured out that fat people should not run marathons! We trained on the Ruston Way waterfront and circled Annie Wright school twice, all uphill,even downhill felt like uphill - or rather I felt like Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory after she eats the bluberry gum. It must have been some mild hypoxia but I thought if I could turn sideways and the oompa loompa's could roll me down the hill I would be better off. This was the only thing that made me smile during our entire 90 minute practice. It sure wasn't the person who temporarily ran with me on the waterfront. She told me that she hates running on the waterfront, "its so boring to run on the flat part, I feel like I need to run sprints." This is the part where you get to picture my face with a sarcastic smile and the bubble over my head that says: b!#*@ . Yes, there are reasons that some of us cannot speak while we run!

Wow! Amazing Friends!

Well this changes everything! Just when you think you are a total goomba for thinking this was a good idea your friends and family change everything! I am incredibly inspired and moved by the donations that are starting to come in! I am especially moved by the words of encouragement for both Lew and myself! I cannot begin to say thank you! I love every one of you for being so thoughtful and generous and making a difference in the world!!

Team in Training Quote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has". - Margaret Mead

Coaching advice

Did I mention that we have three wonderful coaches. Terri Jo, David and Jessica. Runners they are, the kind that look like runners, have many accomplishments in their bag and always have a good attitude. They make us believe we can do it (its just a good thing they don't sell weed - that's how convincing they are!). They start and end our practices with sound advice. Last week they told us to start looking at running clothes. That would be clothes that are not cotton and repel moisture. Having had my recent shoe buying experience I slip an "oh great" under my breath. Where does one find plus size running clothes!?! Isn't that a bit like walking into a lingerie store and asking for a thong with a girdle in it?! Once again, what was I thinking?

Training Week 3- 2minutes!

Woohoo! I am running for 2 minutes! 2 minutes run 2 minutes walk - the team in training motto is: the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The problem is, if I hadn't eaten the whole elephant in the first place I wouldn't be in this predicament. When I think about my goal being two minutes at a time I believe I can do this, it's when I think about eventually running for 8 hours I think I am whacked!