Yesterday after work I headed down to Alki for a 6 mile run. I was a little nervous just because I forgot my ear band and only had my hat. And remember...my ears? They are WEAK! They can't take any wind, rain, nothing. They freeze, they make my brain freeze, bad very bad. And it was just about to rain and the wind was kicking up. I was scared. But to my amazement, through all of the wind I was just fine, so were my ears. Thank you ears for cooperating. Do you want to know what wasn't cooperating? My left leg. Injury report 2010: I now have a sting in my pinky toe in my left foot that runs up the outside of my shin. Thankfully the pain stops before my knee. It feels as though my pinky toe is broken and the pain is shooting up my leg. I did not break my pinky toe so I have no I idea what in H-E-double hockey sticks is going on! So with about a mile to go in my run I told my leg to get it together, I was running here! It didn't, but I kept running anyway to its dismay. It got back at me later, trust me.
But here is my "funny" story. This morning, my leg aching, my alarm clock blaring, I climbed out of bed at oh dark hundred hours to go to the gym and run three measly miles. I do my usual, tinkle, get dressed and put deodorant on all without opening my eyes; kiss my Jamaican sprinter goodbye and head to the gym. When I round the corner at the end of the road to hit the gym, not one car in the parking lot. Not ONE car people! Usually I am fighting people for a spot. I win usually, because they see this scary blond haired monster with black mascara smeared down its face packed into this little red beep beep car and they figure they better just let me have the spot. Thank you people, love the scary blond monster. ANYWAY!....I look towards the gym, not one light on, not one. No one in the gym. For two seconds I get excited, is today I holiday I forgot about? I run through all the holidays in my head that I think you get off from work for. But as I was running through them I realize that on all of those holidays except for Christmas the gym has been open. WHAT IS GOING ON??? I think to myself. I do not have the brain capacity this early in the morning to figure out what is going on. Ugh!
I still have no idea what happened to the gym this morning. I do know that I am very mad at the gym. Gym: Do you hear me? I AM MAD AT YOU! You get my up at oh dark hundred hours and you aren't even open. Yea gym...pissed, peeved, irritated. You got this blond monster all riled up! UGHHHHHHHHH! Are you scared, because you should be! Even if I know you will be open this afternoon. I am one angry monster!
Gym? I will see you this afternoon for a run. You better be ready for this monster to dominate you! Or just come in, run three miles and leave. But I will do it all with an angry look on my face, unless of course I run into one of my fav women at the gym, in which I will only smile at them, and the go back to being angry. Gym, I hope our relationship can be come back to it's love hate relationship instead of just the hate hate relationship we have now.
On a "brighter" note I have an 18 mile run on Sunday after church. Lord help me, literally.
Jesus, thank You so much for the ability to run and to live in a place where it is so easy to run and to live healthy. Lord thank You for giving me the resources to be able to go to a gym. Lord thank You for the ability to wear shorts, for I know in so many countries in the world that is not allowed. Lord thank You for being my best friend, constant companion and ultimate running buddy. Lord when I feel alone You are there. Thank You Lord. I love You!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
My new mantra....
Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says, "Oh crap, she's up!"
Friday, April 16, 2010
New little secret!
Today...no foot pain...as of yet! This is a good thing. The only sting I felt was my first step out of bed this morning, but other then that I am good to go, hopefully. Can't you tell me confidence level isn't quite where it should be?
Well today will be brief, I have a little trick up my sleeve for all of you, like me, who hate the torture chamber, I mean treadmill. If you are like me, it gets so boring...oh so boring. And at times it seems harder then if I were to just run outside. So on my short 3-4 milers I do on the treadmill I run the first 1 to 1.5 up hill. Okay I am not talking mountain training I am just saying a 1-2% increase. You put it at that level first thing, so as you are walking on the treadmill getting "warmed up", (aka, fixing your ponytail, trying to figure out what song is going to pump you up, this morning it was "Welcome to the Jungle", sizing up who is next to you, this morning it was a 60 year old women who came up to my hip, and trying to rub the mascara off of your face, because you know that is why everyone is giving you the scary face) you will never know the difference. And then at a 1.5 mile you go back down to 0% and you know what? It feels like you are flying DOWNHILL! So then you just keep telling yourself, just another 2 miles, all downhill!
So there is my little tidbit for the morning. Hope you enjoy! :)
PS..THE Pioneer Woman flies into Seattle today, would it be considered stalking if I went to the airport found out which gate planes were flying in from Oklahoma and well "just hung out" and maybe, just maybe if I were to happen to find her strolling around, while I was of course "strolling around" ask her to be my new best friend? Just saying...it might happen.
If for whatever reason I haven't posted something in the next couple days I have either a) convinced her that I am her new best friend and have left everything to go live with her on the ranch or b) have been locked up for uhmm, well, stalking. Maybe I will just wait until tomorrow to see her....
Well today will be brief, I have a little trick up my sleeve for all of you, like me, who hate the torture chamber, I mean treadmill. If you are like me, it gets so boring...oh so boring. And at times it seems harder then if I were to just run outside. So on my short 3-4 milers I do on the treadmill I run the first 1 to 1.5 up hill. Okay I am not talking mountain training I am just saying a 1-2% increase. You put it at that level first thing, so as you are walking on the treadmill getting "warmed up", (aka, fixing your ponytail, trying to figure out what song is going to pump you up, this morning it was "Welcome to the Jungle", sizing up who is next to you, this morning it was a 60 year old women who came up to my hip, and trying to rub the mascara off of your face, because you know that is why everyone is giving you the scary face) you will never know the difference. And then at a 1.5 mile you go back down to 0% and you know what? It feels like you are flying DOWNHILL! So then you just keep telling yourself, just another 2 miles, all downhill!
So there is my little tidbit for the morning. Hope you enjoy! :)
PS..THE Pioneer Woman flies into Seattle today, would it be considered stalking if I went to the airport found out which gate planes were flying in from Oklahoma and well "just hung out" and maybe, just maybe if I were to happen to find her strolling around, while I was of course "strolling around" ask her to be my new best friend? Just saying...it might happen.
If for whatever reason I haven't posted something in the next couple days I have either a) convinced her that I am her new best friend and have left everything to go live with her on the ranch or b) have been locked up for uhmm, well, stalking. Maybe I will just wait until tomorrow to see her....
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
So tired.
I wish I didn't start all posts the same, but today I am so tired I have to, because I don't know what else to say. I wish I could think of something, but I just mentally cannot. I have been crying all day, why? Because I am so tired. I have been staring straight ahead, why? Because I am exhausted. Why, do you ask? This morning at 6:47am I started my trot. And at 9:11am I stopped trotting. 2 hours and 26 minutes later I was done with 16 miles. At mile 15 I literally thought my back was going to break in half...this is not a good thing. But I thought to myself "I lost sleep over this run, I never thought I could do this run, am I going to stop now, so close to finishing?" And you know what I said to my self? "H-E-double hockey sticks I am not going to stop, keep pushing, keep that tushy moving (for clarification: forward, not jiggly), and gosh darn it Shelbster, FINISH! And that I did, just barely.
I climbed straight into the shower afterwards, I had to get ready for church. I figured the congregation would not appreciate sticky, sweaty, NASTY Shelbster in mixed with the rest of them. But as I climbed out of the shower all I could do was bend over and cry. I was so tired and sore. That's when AA found me...EMBARRASSING! Again, said to myself "stop crying you baby, get yourself together!" That I did, went to church, and then went to have a bucket of greasy fabulousness called Spud fish and chips. YUMMOS!
I wish I had more to say about this run, but I still haven't quite got my head around what happened out there. Here are some of the facts: 9minute 10 second pace, only saw one male runner out there, saw 12 women (GIRL POWER!), I thought I was going to have to climb behind a bush to have an emergency potty stop after taking my GU (praise Jesus I didn't) and finally, the biggest bug I have ever seen flew straight into my eye, lodging itself there. Had to pull over next to a truck, use it's review mirror to dig it out of my eye. I almost lost my cookies right then and there.
The good news about today...my Jamaican sprinter took video!! Here are 2 videos just for you! A couple of things first:
1. The first video is of my usual 10 mile pit stop of water and now because I am running longer, GU. For those of you who do not know what GU is, drop to your knees and thank Jesus. It is NASTY, but gives you plenty of energy.
2. You will hear A talking to me, I have no clue what he is saying to me because my headphones were blasting some Beyonce, Brittney, ect. So when he says "I love you" and I don't say it back, it's because I never heard it in the first place. :)
3. The last video is of me having a panic attack at mile 13.23. I was feeling pretty horrible. It is a quick video because I asked A to stop filming, I didn't want to have you watch me literally break. Trust me, it was ugly...no more needs to be said.
I climbed straight into the shower afterwards, I had to get ready for church. I figured the congregation would not appreciate sticky, sweaty, NASTY Shelbster in mixed with the rest of them. But as I climbed out of the shower all I could do was bend over and cry. I was so tired and sore. That's when AA found me...EMBARRASSING! Again, said to myself "stop crying you baby, get yourself together!" That I did, went to church, and then went to have a bucket of greasy fabulousness called Spud fish and chips. YUMMOS!
I wish I had more to say about this run, but I still haven't quite got my head around what happened out there. Here are some of the facts: 9minute 10 second pace, only saw one male runner out there, saw 12 women (GIRL POWER!), I thought I was going to have to climb behind a bush to have an emergency potty stop after taking my GU (praise Jesus I didn't) and finally, the biggest bug I have ever seen flew straight into my eye, lodging itself there. Had to pull over next to a truck, use it's review mirror to dig it out of my eye. I almost lost my cookies right then and there.
The good news about today...my Jamaican sprinter took video!! Here are 2 videos just for you! A couple of things first:
1. The first video is of my usual 10 mile pit stop of water and now because I am running longer, GU. For those of you who do not know what GU is, drop to your knees and thank Jesus. It is NASTY, but gives you plenty of energy.
2. You will hear A talking to me, I have no clue what he is saying to me because my headphones were blasting some Beyonce, Brittney, ect. So when he says "I love you" and I don't say it back, it's because I never heard it in the first place. :)
3. The last video is of me having a panic attack at mile 13.23. I was feeling pretty horrible. It is a quick video because I asked A to stop filming, I didn't want to have you watch me literally break. Trust me, it was ugly...no more needs to be said.
Hope you enjoyed! Maybe next time I will be able to actually talk...and maybe smile?
Jesus, thank You for running. Thank You for the blessings your have put in my life. Lord I will praise you in the good and bad. Thank You for beautiful reminders at church this morning. I love You Jesus!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Just a couple things...
Yesterday before I went to work I had a 6 mile run ahead of me. The day before I was actually excited, to go out and run. I was more excited to not be on a treadmill, (remember, my arch rival who HATES ME?). I checked the weather, it was supposed to be nice, NICE people! So I went on watched my favorite show, The Biggest Loser :), and knew tomorrow I would wake up and have a nice easy run. Then right before I went to bed the weather guy comes on to give us a preview of the 11pm news, and you know what he said? "See the latest storm coming into Seattle." Latest storm? What the heck, this afternoon it said it was supposed to be nice tomorrow morning?
So the next morning I woke up, looked outside to see our little tree almost bent over sideways from the wind and knew I HAD to run. During my run I knew what I was going to blog about, COMPLAINTS! Just imagine, freezing, windy, by myself. I had one complaint right after the other.
But then when I stopped when I got home, I realized that I was lucky to run. No one said I couldn't, no one stopped me because I was a woman, I could have worn just shorts and a sports bra (trust me nobody wants to see that) and no one would have put me in jail. So no complaints today, nope, I am just lucky the Lord has given me the opportunity to run. Thank you Jesus.
Second, I was watching this video about this woman who ran an ultra marathon. Do you know what an ultra marathon is? 100 miles! 100 miles people! It takes about 24 hours, 100 miles!!!!!!!!! I can't even wrap my head around that. But anyway, she was running and her husband was videotaping as she would run by as she passed and she started to cry because she had been out there by herself for so long. And you know what he said to her? "You might be running alone, but you are NOT by yourself." I almost broke down right then and there and started boo-hooing.
What an amazing parallel to life! You might be by yourself but you are not alone. What a comforting thought in today's society, that Jesus is right next to you the whole way. No matter what mile you are on, no matter what valley in life you are in, no matter how alone you feel, He is with you. On some days there is nothing more comforting than that. If you let God be the author of your story, He will never let you be alone in the chapters of your life.
I wish I would have remembered that when I was complaining, swearing under my breathe and giving mean looks to little puppy dogs yesterday, (of come on give me a break, you go run 6 miles in the freezing cold! :) ). I wish I would have remembered that I am not alone, because that gives me hope at all times. Thank you Jesus for not leaving me alone.
So the next morning I woke up, looked outside to see our little tree almost bent over sideways from the wind and knew I HAD to run. During my run I knew what I was going to blog about, COMPLAINTS! Just imagine, freezing, windy, by myself. I had one complaint right after the other.
But then when I stopped when I got home, I realized that I was lucky to run. No one said I couldn't, no one stopped me because I was a woman, I could have worn just shorts and a sports bra (trust me nobody wants to see that) and no one would have put me in jail. So no complaints today, nope, I am just lucky the Lord has given me the opportunity to run. Thank you Jesus.
Second, I was watching this video about this woman who ran an ultra marathon. Do you know what an ultra marathon is? 100 miles! 100 miles people! It takes about 24 hours, 100 miles!!!!!!!!! I can't even wrap my head around that. But anyway, she was running and her husband was videotaping as she would run by as she passed and she started to cry because she had been out there by herself for so long. And you know what he said to her? "You might be running alone, but you are NOT by yourself." I almost broke down right then and there and started boo-hooing.
What an amazing parallel to life! You might be by yourself but you are not alone. What a comforting thought in today's society, that Jesus is right next to you the whole way. No matter what mile you are on, no matter what valley in life you are in, no matter how alone you feel, He is with you. On some days there is nothing more comforting than that. If you let God be the author of your story, He will never let you be alone in the chapters of your life.
I wish I would have remembered that when I was complaining, swearing under my breathe and giving mean looks to little puppy dogs yesterday, (of come on give me a break, you go run 6 miles in the freezing cold! :) ). I wish I would have remembered that I am not alone, because that gives me hope at all times. Thank you Jesus for not leaving me alone.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Accomplished.
I just texted my Jamaican sprinter: "Can you bring Advil?"
Let's back up shall we? This morning at o dark hundred hours, literally, I was off for the longest run I had ever done, 14 miles. As I took off, I knew I had to run at least decent, I had to be somewhere this morning and couldn't be late. "Hi I was late because my jiggly butt couldn't run any faster" wasn't going to cut it. So I ran and I thought to myself, in less then 2 hours and 15 minutes I will be home in the shower, I hope. This was a run I knew I had to do, just for the sheer fact of knowing I could run more then 13 miles.
At mile 7 I saw a clock in a business I was running by, 8:07am. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I was running so slow the grandma next to me could have passed me. How could this happen? I didn't think I was running that bad. I knew if I didn't step it up I wouldn't be able to make my time cutoff and I would have to stop early. What could be worse then that? Hi I just ran 12.5 miles and I just didn't have time to run any further. Ugh! This was not happening, I thought. Then, as if God heard my frustration, at mile 7.75 I saw a bank clock, 8:04am. "Wait, what? What time was it? Ah, I am so confused." Nothing is worst then being completely dead to the world tired and being confused. You have no brain power to be able to reason and figure out what time it actually is. To my happiness on a downhill stretch I figured out it was actually 8:04am. Thank you Jesus! At mile 8 I saw A with water, I was feeling horrible. Sick to my stomach and slow, so slow. When he asked how I was doing, this disgusting noise came out of my mouth, "Ahhhh ewwww, nrothfuierebfd, horrible." I am sure it took AA everything in him to a) not laugh and b) slap me in the butt like a cow and tell me to "keep moving slacker!" Let me just say I love him, because he chose not to do either of those.
At mile 11 A found me again, I got some water, and I tried to figure out how I was going to wrap my brain around running three more miles. But you know the great part, I didn't have to. Sing it with me.... "just keep running, just keep running." A would tell me when to turn around and when I could stop. Thank goodness because I did not have one brain cell left to figure out anything other then right foot, left foot, repeat.
At mile 13 I was going to check my watch to see my time, to see if I had run a half marathon in less then 2 hours, something I had never done before. But then I remembered, a half marathon was 13.1 miles. So I watched my watch for .1 miles, hoping that if a dog, person or small child was coming right for me, my Jamaican sprinter would help out. At 13.1 miles I looked at the time....1 hour 59 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried to tell A and I think I did, but to tell you the truth I have no idea what came out of my mouth, because the guy walking the opposite direction from me gave me the worst look once I got done mumbling whatever I did.
Then with 1 mile to go I realized that I had done it. Something that I had told so many I could never do. After that 1 miles, I had ran 14 miles. I know I will still need to run 12 MORE miles for the full marathon, but small victories people, small victories.
Do you want to know something so funny? No, well fine go away! But for those of you that do, I can clearly remember when I finished my first 4 miles. I had never ran that far, EVER. That was years ago when I was training for my first half marathon. I called Yenster to tell her and again I think it took everything in her body not to laugh. Small victories people.
Thank you Jesus for getting me through this run today. Lord I pray the pain I have in my feet, neck and head go away. Lord I pray that my running can somehow glorify You. Lord I love You so much. Thank You for today.
Let's back up shall we? This morning at o dark hundred hours, literally, I was off for the longest run I had ever done, 14 miles. As I took off, I knew I had to run at least decent, I had to be somewhere this morning and couldn't be late. "Hi I was late because my jiggly butt couldn't run any faster" wasn't going to cut it. So I ran and I thought to myself, in less then 2 hours and 15 minutes I will be home in the shower, I hope. This was a run I knew I had to do, just for the sheer fact of knowing I could run more then 13 miles.
At mile 7 I saw a clock in a business I was running by, 8:07am. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I was running so slow the grandma next to me could have passed me. How could this happen? I didn't think I was running that bad. I knew if I didn't step it up I wouldn't be able to make my time cutoff and I would have to stop early. What could be worse then that? Hi I just ran 12.5 miles and I just didn't have time to run any further. Ugh! This was not happening, I thought. Then, as if God heard my frustration, at mile 7.75 I saw a bank clock, 8:04am. "Wait, what? What time was it? Ah, I am so confused." Nothing is worst then being completely dead to the world tired and being confused. You have no brain power to be able to reason and figure out what time it actually is. To my happiness on a downhill stretch I figured out it was actually 8:04am. Thank you Jesus! At mile 8 I saw A with water, I was feeling horrible. Sick to my stomach and slow, so slow. When he asked how I was doing, this disgusting noise came out of my mouth, "Ahhhh ewwww, nrothfuierebfd, horrible." I am sure it took AA everything in him to a) not laugh and b) slap me in the butt like a cow and tell me to "keep moving slacker!" Let me just say I love him, because he chose not to do either of those.
At mile 11 A found me again, I got some water, and I tried to figure out how I was going to wrap my brain around running three more miles. But you know the great part, I didn't have to. Sing it with me.... "just keep running, just keep running." A would tell me when to turn around and when I could stop. Thank goodness because I did not have one brain cell left to figure out anything other then right foot, left foot, repeat.
At mile 13 I was going to check my watch to see my time, to see if I had run a half marathon in less then 2 hours, something I had never done before. But then I remembered, a half marathon was 13.1 miles. So I watched my watch for .1 miles, hoping that if a dog, person or small child was coming right for me, my Jamaican sprinter would help out. At 13.1 miles I looked at the time....1 hour 59 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried to tell A and I think I did, but to tell you the truth I have no idea what came out of my mouth, because the guy walking the opposite direction from me gave me the worst look once I got done mumbling whatever I did.
Then with 1 mile to go I realized that I had done it. Something that I had told so many I could never do. After that 1 miles, I had ran 14 miles. I know I will still need to run 12 MORE miles for the full marathon, but small victories people, small victories.
Do you want to know something so funny? No, well fine go away! But for those of you that do, I can clearly remember when I finished my first 4 miles. I had never ran that far, EVER. That was years ago when I was training for my first half marathon. I called Yenster to tell her and again I think it took everything in her body not to laugh. Small victories people.
Thank you Jesus for getting me through this run today. Lord I pray the pain I have in my feet, neck and head go away. Lord I pray that my running can somehow glorify You. Lord I love You so much. Thank You for today.
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