Spazzing

I think I might be going crazy. Okay, maybe I should say I feel like I'm going crazier since I'm already a little bit crazy. I feel like I'm spinning in circles with no end in sight. Between training, practicing, teaching lessons, fundraising, and helping out my parents there never seems to a minute free. It's part of the reason I haven't written in a bit.

• I had been working really hard on some things while I've been practicing. There are two pieces that I am suppose to memorize and I'm having the hardest time getting it done. It's dawned on me that part of the reason is that I'm so stressed out about them. Well, apparently I missed a few other things. My first lesson in three weeks was yesterday, and I got frustrated that things were not as good as I thought they were. I want to be pushed so that I can continue to get better. I wouldn't pay several hundreds of dollars a month if I didn't feel that way. I was tired, and speaking emphatically was only making me more frustrated because I didn't understand. It didn't help anything else go well yesterday
• I had to open up another day to teach lessons start in the fall because my schedule is finally full! Yay for more work! The problem is that I am now swamped at a rather crazy time. And then there's the bit about rescheduling Thursday students that I didn't originally have when I started accepting orchestra jobs. Never a dull moment!
• I don't think I've ever trained for a race with this much purpose or intensity. I always train for the races I run, but this one is different. I'm logging more miles than ever before with all the running and crossing training, and logging several strength training workouts a week. It's making me very hungry, and very tired. I always forget how tired I get when the mileage starts getting really high in the peak training weeks. It almost always affects my violin playing because I'm so tired it's harder to get the practicing I need in, and I tend to miss things that only end up making my violin lessons frustrating. Getting up at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning to try and avoid some of the heat is wearing me out...
• To help with fundraising I've been working at the consession stand that Team in Training Georgia works at the Braves games. While it's helping me reach my fundraising goal it's also an extra 8 hours a game on my feet, which makes training challenging (thank goodness for cross training!!). It is also a job within itself. But I'm within a $1000 of my goal!

Sorry, it's not a very interesting post. Things are kind of crazy, and there never seems to be enough time at the moment. Hopefully I'll have more exciting things down the road!

And We're off!

It has been a crazy, crazy week! But out of all of the days Saturday was definitely my favorite. Not because it was Saturday and I didn't have to work (although I spent the afternoon practicing, e-mailing, and calling on work related stuff), but because of a morning full of Team in Training awesomeness!

The Chicago support staff @kick-off Mob style

Andy, myself, Julie, and our coach Cruger

Saturday was the first group training session (GTS) for the Chicago team. I've only been looking forward to this since March when I got the e-mail saying I had been chosen to be a mentor. So, to say I had a nervously, excited tummy that morning was an understatement. It was doing cartwheels. After a coaches clinic overview of helpful nuggets of information ("cotton is rotten!") we went out for a 3 mile run. Who turned the humidity switch to on? And who said that it was okay? I was dripping by the time I got back. I had merrily bounced around to various runners on the team. I started with the faster group and kept them on the course since none of them had gotten a map, and then switched to some of the newer runners.

But my favorite part of the morning came later. As some of you may or may not know the Country Music Marathon pulled runners of the course because of tornado warnings the day of the race. That meant that not one of our Georgia Team in Training runners got to complete the marathon. They all got medals and times for whatever distance they completed, and took what had happened in stride. Enter the wonderful staff of TNT. While some of the runners were trying without success to find a marathon the TNT staff noticed that there was a 20 mile run scheduled for this weekend. Then the brilliant idea of adding another 6.2 miles for the CMM team started. And we all got to cheer them along. Granted it wasn't the best weather. No one really wants to run 26.2 miles in 70+ degree heat and extremely high humidity, but they did it. It wasn't easy for them, but no one left until they were all done. Some ran the last 6 miles with them, others stood at spots towards the end to help run people in. It was an amazing sight. I get teary eyed looking at the pictures every time. It was truely a great moment, and a fabulous way to kick off the season! I love spending time with my Team in Training family!

experimenting

I am a schedule person. I get up at the same time 5 days a week, practice at the same time everyday, and teach lessons during certain hours. I like order. So, if you give me a schedule that says run four days a week that's what I'm going to do (and clearly I love having a running schedule). But this week I tried something different. I didn't start out to only run 3 days this week, but because of the weather that's what happened, and I have to say I'm kind of intrigued by the idea. I feel like I have a ton of energy (there's a new idea), and that I'm look forward to my runs even more than I already was. So here's what I'm going to try for at least a couple of weeks:

• Monday - speed work. It rotates between tempo runs, 400 yard, and 800 yard speed intervals (this morning it was 7x400)
• Tuesday - cross train and strength train
• Wednesday - run (it will be my long run for a little while)
• Thursday - cross train and strength train
• Friday - the holy day of rest
• Saturday - Team in Training group run (affectionately know as GTS)
• Sunday - cross train and strength train

This morning's run was awesome! It was getting harder to recover on the last couple of intervals, but even after the mile I had to run to get home after I finished I felt like I had tons of energy, and could keep going (maybe I need to push more on the intervals). Plus I'm excited to put some yoga back into the routine. Yesterday's 60 minute yoga workout kicked my rear a little, but I got all the way through it, which is something I've struggled with on this particular yoga workout (it's yoga for runners. a combination on strengthing poses and flexibilty). I can feel that I'm getting stronger, and I'm pretty excited about it! Plus tomorrow is fall season kick-off for Team in Training, which means this morning was officialy my first workout towards the Chicago marathon! So excited!

Maybe you could help me get started on the way to my goal: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/chicago10/bgartley

The Hay is in the Barn

Well, it seems technology is just not on my side today (Saturday). Our DSL is not working. No one in the house can get online. (since you're reading this you know it's now working again :))

Saturday morning I went for my last long run before next week’s marathon. It was really great going back to a Team in Training GTS. I got to see my coach from Nike who reminded me of a few things that would help next Sunday (like if I get tight for goodness sakes stop and stretch this time). Plus I got to see friends for the first time in a long time. It was really nice despite the gross weather. Cold and rainy was not really the weather I wanted after getting over a chest cold, but I had an awesome run with one of my Nike teammates who is a run/walker. It meant I got a nice relaxed run that wasn’t too fast. I might have also gone ahead and ordered the Garmin Forerunner 305 that I’m rewarding myself with. Oh, and I scored free 2^nd day delivery. Sweet!! The Garmin will be here Wednesday. It might go for a run on Thursday…. It’s going to be hard to leave it in the box until the race is over with. Plus my Nike+ seems to be having issues with distance again.

I also had a really good chat with a friend who has qualified for the Boston Marathon before, and gave me a few pointers. I need to add and change a few things in my training to start working on getting faster. I’m totally excited about training after I recover. I have a ½ marathon coming up in March, so I need to figure out a recovery and training plan. I think working towards Boston is going to be a lot of fun! It's going to be a challenge and it might not be so fun some days, but I like a good challenge.

Oh wind, why must you visit all of the time?

This morning I ran 20 miles.

All on my own.

In a way you could call it two major accomplishments, running 20 miles, and running it all by myself. It wasn't always pretty (I got quite a few looks upon walking into Starbucks post run...), but I did it. I was pretty calm before I started, a major improvement from my last 20 mile run. I jumped when my alarm went off and got ready so fast I actually got out the door sooner than I had planned. First thought, man it's warm! Okay, for the record it was only in the low 40s, but after 2 weeks of running in freezing temperatures and windchills this morning was like a heat wave. Dang it. How in the heck do I dress for this? Yeah, I haven't been really good with that one lately.

It wasn't my best 20 mile run. There seems to be this unwelcome tend of wind on my long runs lately.

• 16 miles - cold, windy
• 18 miles - freezing, super windy
• 10 miles - freezing (ice & snow), super windy
• 20 miles - warm, super wind, rain last 2 miles

It's nice to have warm temperatures. Now I just wish the wind would go away. I really don't need resistance training on my long runs. But now the fun starts! It's taper time!! Woo hoo!! Two weeks of lower mileage. Even though today didn't go as well as I hoped I still feel like I'm in really good shape for the race. I can't believe it's 3 weeks away...

Do you DailyMile?

Haven't heard of DailyMile yet? Don't worry I only recently discovered it myself. For a long time I've been using the Nike+ system. Over the holiday break I started noticing a tend with my Twitter feed. People were commenting on their workouts from something called DailyMile. Okay, that's cool, but what the heck is it? I set out to investigate!

DailyMile is pretty cool, dare I say even addictive. It's Facebook for the exercising crowd. You can either manually enter your workouts for cycling, running, swimming, yoga, cardio, and so much more or you can sync your workouts from several of the popular tracking devices on the market (I can sync with my Nike+ sportsband). You have friends who can comment on your workouts or post thoughts, cool little motivation gifts, community groups (Team in Training Georgia has one!), and challenges you can participate in against other DailyMile users. And to top it all off this week they started sending out weekly training recaps to your e-mail inbox. Mine said I did an awesome job of training last week. Thanks DailyMile!

I can see why Nike+ has tried to make some of the changes they started. Problem is they are no where near as good as DailyMile currently is. I still have to log into Nike+ to look at the graph of my run (that's something that DailyMile doesn't do), but I love the community on DailyMile. Whether someone is just starting out, been training for a while, or is a running rockstar, everyone is super supportive and encouraging. My kind of place! So, pop on by and check it out!

trying to stay mentally tough

last weekend was a long weekend, which is odd because i don't have any performances. Instead, some of my students played at Phipps Plaza Saturday morning, one of my students was performing on a friend's recital Sunday and needed her violin tuned, and then I had my lesson Sunday evening. Playing has been challenging since the shoulder rest broke Friday afternoon.

My shoulder was soooo sore by the time the kids were done playing (I was playing duet parts). Needless to say practicing Saturday afternoon was challenging. I've pulled out my old sponges to use until my new shoulder rest gets here (which finally shipped this morning 3 days after I ordered it. I don't think USPS is 2nd day delivery like I requested. sigh). This of course can open a whole can of worms among violinist. Shoulder rest vs. sponge (or nothing)? I played for 4 years using a sponge. Believe me I get the arguement. However, I have an unusually long neck for a violinist. Hence the need for speedy delivery of the new shoulder rest. My shoulder, neck, and back all hurt. It's not a lot of fun. I couldn't even make it through a 60 minute lesson on Sunday. I'm trying to practice technique stuff and no solo stuff because I'm worried that I'll mess things up. I'm totally compensating because I cannot hold my violin the same at the moment.

The other problem is that I am once again sick :(. I slept for almost 12 hours Sunday and woke up feeling like a truck had hit me. After cranky knee throwing a wrench in training last week I'm a little nervous about training for my marathon in 8 weeks. I did do a lot of cross training last week, and I did a 20 minute yoga core workout this morning (love yogadownload.com). My legs feel strong. I'm just nervous about running 26.2 without enough training. I've done it before. My first marathon I only got a 15 mile run in as my longest before the race. It was miserable. I don't ever want to go into another race under trained. I feel like I can get away with under training for almost any distance other than a marathon. It's a different monster. Fingers are crossed that i can go running tomorrow. I'm spraying Lysol everywhere trying to kill the germs!!!

Achey and Cranky

Darn my left knee. Why must you be cranky and sore?!! Is it the fact that I moved all of my runs up a day? or maybe you're not happy from the 14 mile run on Saturday? or perhaps you're trying to tell me it's time for new shoes?

Needless to say I'm not extremely happy. I planned my training schedule for Tallahassee very carefully before I signed up to make sure I would be able to get in all of the long runs I would need to be able to do a marathon in 10 weeks. In the back of my head I was worried that something might get achey from the quick ramp up in miles. The problem has almost always been my left knee. I've twisted it three times. Twice before my first marathon, and once last fall. Often the first place I start to notice I need new shoes in either my ankle or knee. Good news: I've finally gotten over 300 miles out of a pair of shoes! That's never happened before. I love, love, love my lynco orthotics. They have a higher arch support then my old superfeet orthotics, and they are saving me. Currently my shoes are at 339 miles. I think there will be a field trip to the Big Peach Running Company for some new shoes. In the mean time it's ice, stretching, and lots of massages with my massage roller...

You ran how far???

It's that time of year when people start reflecting on the year's events and making goals for the next. I realized something about this year that I thought was pretty amazing. I set a personal record in every race I entered in 2009. Yes, everyone of them. Now some replaced an earlier PR set during the year, but I think that's pretty impressive! So, I was curious. I got on Nike+ after this morning's run and set out to see how many miles I ran in 2008 vs. 2009.

• 2008 I ran 695.15 with an average pace of 10:18
• so far in 2009 I have run 856.51 miles with an average pace of 9:09

I think we have the answer. What are my PRs you ask:

• 5k 27:33 (2009 Big Peach 5k)
• 10k 59:19 (2009 Peachtree Road Race)
• 1/2 marathon 2:11:33 (2009 Atlanta Half Marathon)
• marathon 5:00:33 (2009 Nike Women's Marathon)

So log those training miles kids!!! You never know what might happen!

Tempo Tuesday on a Monday?

It's back!! I'm so happy that I can run again!! And to celebrate and start getting ready for my next race in 2 1/2 weeks I thought I would try a tempo run and just see how things went, no expectations. Weather.com has a 100% of rain for Atlanta tomorrow, and seeing as I'm just finally getting over a 2 week cold I thought it would be better to run today and take tomorrow off. I would have been happy with 10:00 or 9:30 a mile. I was most pleasantly surprised to discover that my average pace was 8:54! Now that doesn't include a couple of breaks I had to take after some of the hills on my route, so it probably comes out to be 9:00 a mile, which is right where I was before the marathon!! It felt sooooo good despite being a little sore from yoga yesterday (it's so nice to be sore again!! ;) ). And since the weather was that weird 50 degree in between temperature I tired out my new Nike arm warmers. They rock!! I picked up a pair at the Big Peach (I love the Big Peach) since they are sold out on the Nike website. They were a little tricky to get off since I had my iphone strapped on over them, but they worked so well. I can't wait to use them again!

Total Mileage: 4.00 miles

Total Time: 35:39

Average Pace: 8:54 per mile

Mile 1: 8:13

Mile 2: 8:13

Mile 3: 8:13

Mile 4: 7:03 (downhills are awesome!)

Now it's time to get practicing and enjoy more chocolate amazing grass superfood! (I just opened a new container yesterday and I felt so good afterwards, which made me put this container straight into the fridge this time!).

Don't forget your ID!

As runners we don't always think about the dangers that might come during a run. All it takes is one car to change a great run into something horrible. The Georgia Chapter of Team in Training knows this all too well. Five weeks ago one of the Team members was hit by a car while on her morning run. The good news is that she survived and is making good progress. However, she had no ID on her and was a Jane Doe for 30 hours before the brilliant hospital nurses remembered that she came in with an ipod. They got her ipod, and called Apple with the serial number to discover her name. Because of this our coaches have continuously reminded us to be safe and above all else carry ID. And that's where the partnership with RoadID began thanks in part to another Team in Training runner. If you haven't heard of RoadID you need to! They offer a variety of IDs that can be worn while training. It's super to order off their website and there are a lot of options and suggestions for what to include on your ID. Here's mine:

You can add as many phone numbers as you want, plus any drug allergies or blood type. I also have one of my favorite phrases on it (although I did think about Because I eat, or love to eat. What can I say...). And it's super easy to put on your shoe if you choose this style:

Right next to my Nike+ sensor :). Super easy, looks good, and could save your life! I got great service too! The owner e-mailed me to let me know it shipped and it got here 3 days sooner than they indicated! Now that's service! Be safe, make sure someone knows where you are, and never forget your ID!

2 years in the making

I remember exactly where I was the day I first saw the website for the Nike Women's Marathon. I don't remember the exact date. It was sometime in June of 2007, and I was training for my very first Peachtree Road Race. I had done a few fun runs when I was a kid, but had never done really well. All through youth I played soccer, but never once did I consider myself a runner. I had recently gotten a pair of Nike shoes which were compatible with the NIke+ system and I was on the website checking it out. I had set up my training plan with Nike after getting the shoes, which was great because I had never learned anything about training to run all through my time as a soccer player. Looking back I probably would have been even better at soccer if I had done some endurance training before the season started. And then one Saturday it happened. I came across the site for the Nike Women's Marathon, and I was entranced. It sounded like the coolest thing I had ever seen. A race geared towards women with a chocolate mile, foot stations, and a tiffany's necklace as a finisher's medal. At the time I never thought I could run a marathon, but I thought it would be really cool to run this one. There was no way I could do it that year because the race was already full, but Nike had done something very cool. They had set up a virtual half marathon for those who did not get into the race. All you had to do was sign up and get the Nike+ system so that you could upload 13.1 miles on the day of the race and in return (for a small entry fee) everyone who uploaded the correct mileage got a finisher's shirt and a tiffany's keychain. I had never wanted to try something so badly. I saved up and got an ipod nano and the Nike+ system, paid my entry fee, and set up a training plan to train for a half marathon.

Now, I should say that up to this point I had never run more than 8 miles. I had been training during the summer in Atlanta, my least favorite season to train, and it had been tough. I had gotten to know an old friend at church who was a runner. The day I discovered the Nike Women's Marathon had been the day that a bunch of us from my Sunday School class had gone to a Braves game (which they lost because they always lose when I go to a game), and we started talking about running and I told her what I had found. She said that one day she wanted to run that marathon, and before I knew it this came out of my mouth, "well if you do let me know, because you might be able to talk me into doing it too." HA! The next morning I tried out Nike+ for the first time and loved it!

I thought a lot about trying to do the race in 2008, but for various reasons I ended up running 2 different marathons that year, ING Georgia and the San Antonio Rock-n-Roll Marathon. San Antonio was my first race with Team in Training, and we ended up training along side the team going to the Nike Women's Marathon. I was so jealous! I had never wanted to do a race so badly before and right then in the middle of training I made a promise to myself. I was running the Nike Women's Marathon in 2009 with Team in Training. No questions about it. I didn't care if it meant turning jobs down (which hasn't been a problem because there are no orchestra jobs at the moment) I was doing this race! There was also no question about doing the race with Team in Training. I love working with Team in Training! It's one of the best decisions I've ever made. Unfortunately for our staff coordinator in meant that i started bugging her the day I saw the lottery for spots opened (I'm pretty sure she's forgiven me, at least I hope she has). She talked me into signing up to be a mentor, which was funny because at the time I didn't realize she was the one choosing the mentors for the Nike Team (payback for the bugging? lol).

In just 6 days I'll be running a race I've wanted to do for 2 years. It hasn't fully sunk in yet. Could it really be possible that on Sunday I'll be in San Francisco running the Nike Women's Marathon? Could you believe that I've already started packing? I'm just a little excited. Frankly, it's hard to sit still at the moment. I have a feeling that it's going to take a lot of focus to get through the week. Just 4 more days till we leave. I don't know what will happen at the race. I have a time in mind that I would like to finish in, but I don't know what will happen. There is no question that I will finish. I haven't held my goal pace for more than 10 miles, and my long runs have been significantly slower than what I'm use to. To make things even more complicated I've gotten a little faster now that the weather is cooling off. It's honestly starting t mess with my head. Saturday's run was great despite being sick, but my average pace was 8:30 a mile. I can't hold that for 26.2 miles. It is whatever it chooses to be that day, but one thing is for certain. On Sunday I'm running the Nike Women's Marathon. It's just 6 days away!!

Final Nike GTS

Only 8 more days!!! I cannot wait for the team flight on Friday. I am so excited!!! This morning we had our final Nike team GTS (group training session) running "just" 8 miles. It feels pretty awesome saying I only have to run 8 miles. Despite having a cold all week it felt really good too! In fact I held a pace under 9 minutes a mile for a while too. At least I held it until the 2 hills at the end. They kind of kicked my rear end. Something about not being able to get enough oxygen into the lungs. Oh well. It's time to get lots of rest and take more vitamin C to try and get rid of the germs. I feel pretty unmotivated at the moment, but I have a violin lesson tomorrow that I'm not ready for at all. So, it's off to be more productive and then off to our shirt decorating party tonight (love it!!!)

20 miles

For the first time I can say that I spent the week really looking forward to my 20 mile run. Well, at least until Friday around 9:30pm. To say that this past week was long and frustrating is a bit of an understatement. Sunday a tree limb fell on the house and did some damage to the roof. Monday was filled with storms. The power went out a home at 2:00 right after I left for work, which would normally take me 10 minutes to get to. It took 30 minutes on Monday. Then 2 minutes before I was suppose to teach the power went out at work, my 1st student who was 30 minutes late walked in right before the student I was waiting for showed. I didn't know what to do. Tuesday morning we still didn't have power, and I didn't have much left in my cell phone and couldn't get any help from work to get a hold of students. I spent most of the day in a rotten mood. Wednesday was better, but still had an situation that was frustrating. Thursday I went to bed frustrated, which caused me to wake up in a horrible mood on Friday, ditto for Saturday morning. I spent the better part of Friday morning in tears, and even a small part of Saturday before the run. I wasn't in the mood to run with the team, and sadly I think it showed. I'm not at all proud of it. Usually I'm a person who is every good at bottling up my feeling and faking. I don't want people to know about my personal struggles every day. I take the hits and try to go on, all the while venting my feeling internally, which quite frankly never helps any situation.

Which brings us back to Saturday morning's 20 mile run with Team in Training. I ran the warm up lap pretty fast. I was in a bad mood and I needed to pound the pavement some. There was no way that I could help the participants as a mentor in the mood I was in. I am sad to say for the first time I think others noticed how I felt. My friend and teammate Jim came up to me before I left and gave me a pep talk and a hug (bringing more tears). There was never a question of completing 20 miles. NEVER! The challenge was being a team player. For some reason the group was slow getting out of the parking lot, and for whatever reason, I just started running. I ended up in front, which is not where I was suppose to be, but I told myself that it would be okay and I would get with the teammates I needed to be with at the first water stop. I need to straighten myself out a little bit.

Shannon & I

I settled into running with Shannon whom I have had the pleasure of running with several times throughout the season. She's also someone I get along with very easily, and we generally have lots to talk about, and I honestly really enjoy running with her.

Now, if you haven't seen any of my post from earlier in the week, you may not know about the flooding in the area that I live. I thought there wasn't any way that we would be running in my regular stomping ground. Heck I hadn't been able to run any of my normal routes all week. I was shocked when I got the map and saw where we were running. Having peaked in on a few spots earlier in the week I hadn't felt safe running in the area. There was mud and fallen trees everywhere. A small part of me was curious to see it all, and the other part was heartbroken to see the area I had grown up in destroyed. The water line covered the first floor of most house. Grass, trees, and bushes were brown. Homeowners had dumpsters every where throwing away their belongings that had been ruined. In my 31 years I have never seen anything like it. And the smell was awful. I felt so bad running through the neighborhoods watching people throw away their lives. I felt like we shouldn't have been there. An intruder gawking at destroyed lives that needed help.

In all of that Shannon and I totally missed one of our water stops too. So, it was a long journey to the 10 mile water stop. Needless to say we took a little time and enjoyed it =). Running 20 miles is not a hard feat if your trained right. And as Shannon rightly noted, if it weren't for the mental aspect and dealing with weather conditions everyone would do it. This discussion had started because we noticed the weather was changing. It had cooled quite a bit and was getting very wind and overcast (a cold front was coming!!!), and Shannon's iPod had died (it has external speakers!!! We had music on our run. It was very cool!). Neither of us really like the idea of playing word games to entertain ourselves. Frankly, I just don't have the brain cells left to do it. So, instead we turned to critique the houses we were running past, which was hilarious! Have you ever really paid attention to the houses in Atlanta? There are so many different styles, some of which should not exist! It was a great source of amusement for the 8 miles we had left. Of course we had plenty of other things to pay attention to too. Some of the roads were really dangerous. No sidewalks and speeding cars. We had to make sure we were really paying attention. Sadly, the thing that caused us problems was a water meter cover on a side walk that caused Shannon to slightly twist her bad knee. She's a trouper!! She never stopped or talked about quiting.

Lindsay coming into home base (she's in the middle)

I don't know at what point I started thinking about finishing. Who would be there? Would there be any pumpkin bread and chocolate milk left? Seriously, you have to have your priorities straight =). It's all about food people! At one point I remember thinking I hope Jim is still there. See, Jim is married to our co-captain Carol (who is also totally awesome!). I forgot that Carol had lots of goodies waiting for us, but I was hoping I would get a big hug at the end. But first Shannon and I had to go down the final hill to the final water stop. We were so excited!!! Most of all because there were cups (it's the little things! And Fontaine you totally rock!). We stayed for a few minutes and talked, and then the ran the last glorious mile home!! We were such a sad sight when we started running again. The bad things about stopping even for just a few minutes was that we had both gotten stiff. It didn't stop us!! And then all of a sudden we were back. Mary our staff coordinator was jumping for joy and Jim was waiting with a big hug. Between Jim and Shannon I got exactly what I had needed yesterday. I hung out until everyone was back. My mentee Lindsay ran the longest she has ever run period. I was so proud of her. And then 20 minutes later it started to pour! What a day. In the end it felt really good. Thinking back I still get a little teary eyed at it all. Now it's time to taper to the race!!

Some of our team who completed 12 or 20 miles

(it started pouring shortly after this =))

Only 3 more week!

Monsoon Season in Atlanta

Well if you're turned your TV on today you've probably heard that it's raining in Atlanta. Point of fact, it's been raining for 6 days straight now! While several friends have been joking about building arks it's getting to the point that it's just crazy. Schools are closing because of pipes breaking, people are losing power because of down trees, and even the interstates are flooding making it difficult to get anywhere.

All of this comes to at the beginning of our biggest training week, the week we run our 20 mile long run. I can't tell you how many little prayers I've put up hoping that the rain will stop or at least slow down enough that I can get my runs in this week. I don't mind running in the raining, but the storms this morning have been down right dangerous, and that makes me a little nervous. And to be completely truthful it would be nice to only be wet from sweating for a change and not rain, but if I have to, I do all my runs in the rain this week. I don't any other choice since I killed the treadmill 2 years ago (it wasn't replaced). I have to say though, for the first time ever, I am looking forward to the 20 mile run. I have been running better than I ever had. I ran in the entire 18 mile route except for a tiny bit at the end to help a teammate up the final hill (way to go Susan!!). It felt awesome, and it felt even better to look at my watch and see that despite what felt like a slow pace (it's about effort not pace!) my running time was 3 hours 16 minutes. Now I took time at water stops to make sure that everyone in the middle of the group was ahead of me (the mentors get weekly assignments to run with a certain part of the group), so I was out on the course for longer, but it was such a confidence booster!

To be honest again, my practicing has not been as focused the past couple of days either. I'm tired, which is probably more from running than anything else. It doesn't make practicing any easier though. Things that frustrate me while practicing seems to drive me nuts a little bit more when I'm tired. Like e-flat arpeggios. I don't recommend them when you're tired! They are slowly driving me batty. I think there are still positive things though. My teacher challenged me to start figuring out what I like about my playing. It's something I haven't thought of before because most of the time when I taking lessons the teacher is always telling me what I'm not doing right. I don't know what I do well, and there have been a lot of things going on lately that have made me feel like there isn't anything that I do "right." So, here goes. I really am starting to like my sound, especially when I've been working on my solo Bach this week. I have really good posture (got to love yoga & running), and my left hand is pretty darn good. I feel like I still have a lot of work to get to where I want to go. I need to make sure that I don't equate my self worthy with the lack of jobs or students that I have. I don't have any freelancing jobs at the moment, and to say that my student number is low is an understatement right now. The recession has been incredibly tough. I hope that changes soon, but I don't know that it will. I hope I'm wrong! But for now it's time to practice and stay dry! Monsoon season continues for at least another 2 days (although rain is forecasted for the rest of the week...)

Running in the rain continues

Do you see the theme this week? It seems to be monsoon season here in Atlanta this week. The team ran a very soggy 8 miles this morning, which actually felt really great when it I was running and disgustingly muggy when it wasn't. I got to start of the run with to of my fellow mentors (have I mentioned that I'm a mentor?) who are running the half, which was fun because I don't often get to run with members of the half team. Something about running miles to train for a full marathon... Anyway we had a good time talking about how bad FSU seems to be (myself and our co-captain are alums), Angela's love of bacon (to be honest I got it started), and so much more. I kind of took off at the end and just ran my heart out. Okay, not really, but it felt really good to pick up the pace a little since I've felt I've gotten a little to cozy with running a "comfortable" pace all of the time. I know it's not lazy, but I feel like I need to at least challenge myself just a little on some of my shorter runs. It felt really awesome!!!

Looks like next week's run might be a little soggy too =(. I don't mind for the shorter ones, but we have our 20 mile run next Saturday, and well, I would kind of like to be dry if I'm being honest. Although I'll take whatever we're given. You never know what might happen on race day...

I've started thinking about what I might want to do after Nike. Maybe the Atlanta half marathon Thanksgiving day? And which part of ING Georgia do I want to do? Any thoughts?

Running in the rain!!!

Today's 6 mile run was soooo much better than yesterday's attempt. Most importantly there were no cramps!!! (thanks to some nuun yesterday afternoon and salt this morning). It took a little extra motivation to get out the door because it was raining. Now, I love running in the rain during the summer, but it takes me a little while to get ready to get wet.

How about that scale book? =) It made me laugh yesterday when the cover came off. Just over a year of working on the Galamian scale system and I take the cover off. I can't tell you how many years I used the Flesch scale book and nothing ever happened to the cover. I need to go get some book binding tape and try to put it back together. I once had a teacher yell at me for taking the cover off of one of my books. Isn't it a good thing that the cover comes off? It means you're actually using the book! I just laugh. I love it when a student comes in with a book and no cover. Finally, someone who practices!!!

18 mile run

As I type this I'm sitting in front of the TV watching old US Open matches (another rain delay) and enjoying a chocolate green monster smoothie. I haven't had one in a little while and it taste sooooo good after this morning's run. Plus I put some Dark chocolate Luna recovery smoothie mix in. Good for the body! So it turns out that my breathing problems were not from allergies. Apparently I was having an allergic reaction to a new Burt's Bees body lotion I was trying (sorry Burt's). Friday morning was pretty tough. Lots of itching, hives, and swelling throat. Needless to say I took a second shower and got it washed off and went back to a body lotion that I haven't had any problems with. It feels so good to be able to breathe better!!

So, I woke up feeling really good this morning! To be honest I wasn't really worried about this run, which is odd because I got a little nervous before our 16 mile run. It turned out to be awesome! I got up the most difficult hill I think I've ever run (Johnson Ferry between Columns and Powers), which was a huge confidence boost. I wasn't out of breathe or anything. Just running calmly up the hill. It's about effort not pace has become my mantra going up hills lately and it's really helped.

I started getting tight around mile 15 or so, which hurt some (lets be honest 26.2 miles is going to hurt, but feels so good when you're done). So I took some extra salt packets today, 4 total. Seems a little excessive I'll admit, but it was humid out even if it was a little cooler and I was sweating pretty good. But I did it, and I did it with a decent time even though I was taking it slow. Our staff coordinator met us at the top of the final hill with beaded necklaces, a sort of faux Tiffany's finishers medal experience for rocking 18 miles. She's also making the course highlights for the sites we'll come across during the race in San Francisco. Pretty cool. We ran past signs for the start line in Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf, and the Great Highway. It's hard to believe that we're only 5 weeks away from the race! Next week is a recovery week (lower mileage), and then we tackle 20 miles, our longest training run for the race.

But for now it's back to the smoothie and relaxing!