26.2 It Is (I Think)!

Well after Saturday's run, I have decided to go ahead and attempt to run the Salt Lake City Marathon on Saturday. My knees felt great on Saturday and I have been good about keeping up with my icing and exercises.

My came to my decision like this:

1) I already paid for the full.

2) I must get a 20+ mile run in before San Diego and I would rather do it with 12,000 people than alone.

3) SLC offers the option of an early start so I can slow down, walk or stop and stretch if I need to without the pressure of exceeding the 6 hour time limit (I hope to finish in 5 hours if everything is OK, but if my knees act up, I might have to crawl in and the extra hour will be helpful).

4) My sister is flying all the way from Atlanta to see me do my first marathon.

5) Pride

Pray for me!!

Marathon Training Week 24!

Well, because of my ITBS this last month of training has been a wash. I have not logged any mileage over 18 miles and had to take a whole week off after the cortisone shots. The weather here has not helped either.

Saturday, I got up for my early run with the group, but was feeling a little under the weather. I looked out and saw the rain/snow mix and decided to bag it and try to run the next day. Sunday, I still felt sick but it was such a nice day, I decided to go for it anyway. I got to the parkway at 8:00am and the sun was shining. I started out slow as this was the first run since the shots.

I was tired and winded earlier in the run than normal, but I attribute that to not running in a week and being sick. I went 5 miles out and decided to turn back, that would make 10 miles when I got back to my car (my knees usually start hurting around 10 miles so I would rather be close to where I started just in case). My right knee started to get a little sore, so I decided not to push it and stop at 10 miles. That is until I went to get in my car and realized my car key had fallen out of my spibelt when I took my phone out to check the time!

I started back up the path asking every person I saw coming towards me if they had seen a car key. Once I got about a 1/2 mile up the path, people I asked had actually seen it further back. That was a relief, but I wasn't sure how far back I was going to have to go. 2 miles back up the path I found it attached to a stick laying on the center yellow line of the path (runners really look out for each other I'm finding out)! Then it was another 2 miles back to my car. I was ready to stop at that point and I felt really sore and tired. So, I ended up doing 14 miles.

The best part was when I got home our friend Jody (a GREAT massage therapist) was in town for the weekend and was at our house playing Guitar Hero with David. He set up his table, put the hot stones on, and gave me the best massage ever! It was 90 minutes of heaven!

The marathon is a week from Saturday. I still don't know if I will do the full or bump down to the 1/2. I will decide the day before.

I've Been Shot TWICE!

Well, not with a gun, but with a needle! Saturday's anticipated 20 mile run was a huge disappointment for me when after 10 miles, ITBS reared it's ugly head. Only this time it was not in my left knee (which I have been battling with for 3 months) it was in my right knee! The good knee! The strong knee!

After going to the doctor last week about my left knee, he prescribed me some pain patches to try before going the cortisone route. So I wore the patches, continued with my physical therapy and cut back my runs, everything I was supposed to do. I made a back up appointment for a cortisone shot just in case the patches didn't work. Good thing. The patches really helped, but I still felt I needed the shot. Who could of guessed that I would need one in each knee!

As of now my knees feel great now, but the doc said I would hate him in 6 hours when the numbing medication wears off. Then my knees will be sore for a couple of days. After that we hope that I will be able to run without pain. Here's praying!

Without my long runs, I am taking the SLC marathon as a training run for San Diego, nice and easy. If my knees don't feel better by marathon time, I will swallow my pride and bump down to the 1/2.

Marathon Training Week 22!

Due to my freakin' knee injury, I took the whole week off to rest it. I can't believe how awful I felt not running. I was more tired and lazy feeling and was really looking forward to Saturday when I would at least attempt to do the 10 miles scheduled.

It was a beautiful day, almost everyone in my group made the lottery cut for the Moab 1/2 (except me and my friend Jim) so they were kicking butt there. Jim was out of town so I ran with Stacie (one of the girls from the slower pace group and our Ragnar captain). I didn't mind going slower as I thought it would be better for my knee anyway. I am happy to report that I finished the 10 miles without much problem. I am going to the doctor tomorrow to get my knee looked at. I am praying that it will be OK! Marathon countdown: 26 days to go!

Marathon Training Weeks 20 and 21!

Well it has been a while since I posted because I have been so busy catching up after our 8 day cruise to Mexico (I will post photos when I get them downloaded-we had a great time).

Even though I am at the height if my training, I thought my knee could use the rest, so I only ran two times when we were gone, once in San Diego and once on the ship.

Last Saturday I returned to my training schedule and was relieved that we were only doing 10 miles. Unfortunately, my knee would only make it 8 and I decided to stop as to not make it worse. I have decided not to run all week for extra rest as we are scheduled to do 10 this weekend, but all week my whole left leg has felt achy. I made an appointment with a good sports medicine doctor on Tuesday and I hope he can shed some light on my situation (or shoot me full of cortisone so I don't feel the pain- last resort of course). With the marathon one month from today, my knee MUST STOP HURTING!

R.I.P Nicholas Caravella

Roddy Caravella, a dear friend and former dance partner of mine called me this morning to inform me of the passing of his father, Nicky. As Roddy and I have been friends for almost 15 years, I spent lots of time and became very close with his family. In fact, I always called them my family in New York.

I was very fond of Nicky and he was always very nice to me. I spent many Christmas Eve's at Rita's (Roddy's mom) house where Nicky would come over and we would feast on different kinds of seafood that she prepared. His white hair and round belly always reminded me of Santa.

I have not seen him in many years, but he will be missed. Losing a parent is the worst. My thoughts and prayers go out to Roddy.

Prayers for Miss Lillie and I Have a Black Eye!

Last night I got a call from my sister saying that my mom was being taken by ambulance to the hospital. She got a piece of meat stuck in her throat while eating dinner and couldn't breathe. Sh seemed to be OK, but the doctor wanted to keep her there overnight of observation. Thank goodness!

This morning my sister went there before work to check on her and while she was there, mom went into convulsions. Not sure if she was having another stroke or a seizure, she was rushed to the ICU for a cat scan. The cat scan showed no bleeding (thank goodness), but having a seizure is bad too (she has never had seizures before). She needs a MRI but she can't stay still and the doctor does not want to give her anything to knock her out. So now we wait.

I have been upset and crying over this and to make matters worse, my co-worker came into my office to check in with me and see if every thing was OK. I told her what I knew. Then in a concerned voice she asked, "Where did you get that black eye?" "What black eye?" I answered. Thinking that it was just cried on mascara, I took out my compact and sure enough, I have a black eye! I didn't have it when I came to work, but I think all the crying and wiping my eyes caused it. It is a good thing I didn't have it when I came in this morning or my co-workers would have thought I was getting beat!

Update: Mom is home from the hospital. She had a mini stroke which is common after a large stroke. I still worry, but I am thankful she is OK.