21

My marathon is in 21 days. And I'm scared.

"I Just Keep On Chasing Pavement...."

(I love that song...)

I am happy to say that last week I officially hit 30 miles! Now, granted this is where I should have been a while ago but I am giving myself somewhat of a break considering my knee.

Today was different. I should be at 20 miles for a long run but instead I was able to get 12.10 miles by running and walking. It took just over 2.5 hours which I am not proud of, but the mileage is there either way. Later, I took Justus to the dog park and then we walked another 2.40 miles so I have a total of 14.50 miles on my feet today. I have plans to hit the stationary bike once I post this. My knee gave me a little trouble today and I am incredibly frustrated with it. I look forward to getting this race over with so I can start over and add mileage the RIGHT way. Im sure if I look in my running logs I will find that I did too much too soon. I guess that's what happens when you procrastinate: shit gets deep and you gotta catch up to the competition. Oh well - lesson learned.

On the way home from the park Justus and I stopped at Starbucks. He rode shotgun which looked so goofy.  The day concluded with a cheap download of The Social Network soundtrack and an iced caramel macchiato. The girl at Starbucks messed up my drink the first time by making a latte instead of an iced drink. So I ended up getting two drinks for the price of one. And would you beleive I didnt finish either one? Too much sugar and I was starting to feel sick. I didnt feel bad with what I drank because I torched nearly 1500 calories in running.

Alright, thats enough for now - Gotta hit the bike!

Valentine's Day 5k

I am on the far left in pink.

Tyler and I started dating in January and on February 12th we ran our first 5k together. He's a fast runner and has been running for just over 3 times longer than I have been (and has lots of natural ability) and it was so much fun getting to do a race together. We finished in a time of 29:02, but I honestly think that my official time is closer to 28:59 because of the chip timing. Either way it is yet another PR for me and Im very proud of it. I even got a flower at the end :-) We placed 10th (of 30) in the couples race. I placed 103rd (of 281) overall, and 22nd (of 76) in my age group (ages 20-29).

We ran a great race together!

I am still dealing with pain in my left knee and I hope it can get sorted out before the marathon. This is getting to be a mental game and it's frustrating.

In fundraising terms I am doing well but far behind my goal of raising $2,000.00. I am around $400.00 and so I have a ways to go. My friend Natalie Norris sells Pampered Chef and has set up a fundraiser that will give 20% of total sales to Ben's Marathon. I am thankful to be surrounded by such nice people :-)

A month of Updates... In One Post

I have been bad at keeping this updated. So much has happened in the last month I dont know where to begin. I have experienced morning runs that are so cold that the Gatorade on my hip turns into a slushy within an hour or running. I have been having terrible knee pain that nearly stops me in my tracks. My boyfriend and I went to the American Tobacco Trail in Apex last weekend and I was able to run almost 4 miles before having to turn around and limp nearly 4.5 miles back to the car. It took me over 2 hours to walk that 4.5 miles. I cried... I swore... I cried some more. People stopped to ask me if I was ok and I told them I wasnt, but I knew there wasnt much they could do besides wish me luck on my walk back to the car. It was so painful. I have been dealing with this knee pain for the last 3 weeks and it is starting to wear on my confidence for the marathon. My marathon is in 40 days and I dont know how I am going to do. Maybe I will buy stock in Advil or something. Either way I have raised almost $400.00 for juvenile diabetes, and I expect to have much more before the marathon starts. I have been sick for the last couple of days and I feel better than I did yesterday. I dont know that I feel ready to attack the 12 miles I need today, so I may hit the stationary bike for 36 miles later (aerobic equivalency) and see how I feel about that. Im kinda ready for this training to be over and then I can go back to half marathon training.

After the Holidays

It was so nice to take a break from everything for a while. I will admit that my running slacked off a little bit, but I have quickly gotten back on track and I am hammering out the miles. On New Years Eve morning (5am) I went for a run with the team. It was 27 degrees when we started, and 28 degrees 2 hours later when we finished. After the run we celebrated the coach's birthday at Hibachi Grill in Greenville. I mostly ate Chinese food and it was sooooo good. I went home and tried to take a nap but my neighbor was playing his music so loud that I was just tossing and turning and getting frustrated so I decided I would just have to sleep later. The run was a total of 10 miles and you can check out the course here. I like to put it in "Bird's Eye" view which is pretty neat.

Justus and I discovered a park in Washington, NC that deserves to be noticed. It is called Goose Creek State Park. We went for the first time on December 30th and there was snow on the ground. We went again with TJ and 'James Bond' on January 2nd and the snow was gone and the sun was up. Then.... it rained and it rained HARD. We ended up hiking 5.65 miles and had a great time, even with the rain. TJ got a big branch of leaves and put it over his head and joked that it was his umbrella. Too funny....

December 30, 2010 - Snow!

Jan 2, 2011 - It's as if to say "Ah, life is good my friend."

January 2nd, 2011 - Before the rain

TJ makes an umbrella!

More Fundraising!

Today I worked on more fundraising products. I now have tshirts, bags, hats, and keychains. I will make a couple of big orders but I want to get an idea of what people are most interested in and get a decent size order so I can save on shipping. Please click  here to see the products, descriptions, and prices and let me know if you are interested in ordering anything! Contact me by email: connertonjamie@yahoo.com

I also have a fundraising page here that sells magazines and cookie dough. The more I sell the more more profit I get for the marathon.

Pain, stretching, and all that jazz...

Im working hard to keep the mileage up, despite the pain in my left foot. I am a little frustrated that I am not raising funds for the marathon as quickly as I had anticipated. I know it's the holidays and that's probably to blame. Except that my fundraiser started in October, so I dont know what's up. I have plans to ramp up excitement in the new year! In the meantime I am doing my best to stay warm and not freeze my toes off.

I am participating in a study at East Carolina University about runners and how flexibility is effected with static vs. ballistic stretching. It will take 6 weeks and I have stretches I have to do 2x a day and report my progress weekly. Im excited to be part of the study and hope that my participation helps in this highly debated topic in the running world.

That's all for now, I will keep you updated in the days to come and how running survives the holidays!