I signed my contract this afternoon. A week from today 24 little third graders will walk into my classroom. I am excited about this new opportunity.

For the next few weeks life will be crazy, so I won't be posting or commenting, but I will still be running (as long as my knee will allow it).

Thanks for all your encouragement and support!

Blast from the Past

Since I don’t have any running news to report, I thought I would post about my interview.

Yesterday I walked into a conference room for an interview and I immediately heard, “Is that my little april anne all grown up?” My kindergarten teacher was on the interview committee! What are the chances of that? It’s a good thing I was a good little girl growing up. :)

4 Miles Short

*This is a really long post of my rambling. I wrote it more as a journal entry for myself to keep track of my knee problem, so at best—just skim. :)

I have been training for a September marathon for the past few months. I haven’t mentioned it a lot because I haven’t taken my training as serious as normal. I planned the marathon to be a ‘fun run’ to help prepare me for my 4 hour marathon goal this fall. I have been getting in my long run miles, but I haven’t worried about my pace or skipping a short run every now and then.

Today I had a 20 miller on my schedule and a 5 mile road race, which I planned to incoperate into the 20 miles. I wanted to finish most of my miles before the race so I woke up early and drove to the starting line. It was a peaceful, beautiful morning.

~ 5 mile race course – pace 9:23

~ pick up race number, refuel

~ 1 mile random location around the starting line – pace 9:33

~ 5 mile race course, second time – pace 9:55 (I am not sure what happened. I felt like I was running the same pace the entire time, although my knee started hurting so maybe that slowed me down.)

When I finally made it back to the finish line/starting line area, I quickly realized all the runners were already lined up and someone was singing the national anthem. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 9:02 (the race started at 9:05). I sprinted to my car, pinned on my race number, took off my long sleeve shirt, and started cramming my mouth full of clif bar bites. I felt like a chipmunk, storing seeds in my cheeks for winner. Looking back, I’m not sure why I didn’t just take the clif bar with me. For some reason I thought I had to finish before the race started. Weird, I know. :)

The Race – After 11 solo miles, it was fun to have people running next to me and I made a few race day friends along the way. It was a beautiful day for running! I started out fast, but it felt good. As the miles ticked on, my right knee started to ache a little more. During the last mile, I had no choice but to slow down.

Old man in gray sweat suit passed me.
Father with baby jogger passed me.
Girl with dog passed me.

What was going on? (side note-I had a great run on Thursday but after the run, my knee started to hurt a little so I iced it and my knee felt completely fine yesterday.) I haven’t had a running injury since high school when I had a ‘mild case’ of shin splints, so I wasn’t sure what was going on with my knee.

Eventually I finished the race (43:38). I slowly walked to my car to quickly refuel and then finish my last 4 miles. After the break, I started to run but I immediately stopped. My knee was in so much pain. This can’t be happening. Not today. I have to finish 4 more miles. Wait, what if I can’t run the marathon next month? As you can imagine, there were some tears, a call home to the parents, and more tears.

After I gained my composure, I called my friend, running partner and now personal doctor---Dianna. Of course she knew exactly what to say and told me the right things to do. I have been icing, stretching, resting, and keeping my knee up for most of the day. Right now my knee feels better, although I don’t have any plans of running anytime soon. I will probably take most of the week off and will cancel my tennis lessons (bummer).

I never made it to mile 20. I was extremely disappointed, but honestly there is no way I could have moved my knee for another 4 more miles.

Despite the disappointment there is some good news. After 16 miles (besides the knee) I felt great. The clif bar bites were wonderful. I had good hydration during the run and a healthy pre-race meal so my energy level was high when I finally had to stop.

Also, I didn’t have to use the bathroom at all!!! For the past 4 months, any run longer than 8 miles has resulted in several ‘emergency’ bathroom stops at grocery stores, gas stations, etc…just use your imagination. I haven’t talked about the ‘bathroom issue’ because, well….it’s disgusting. I tried not drinking milk before long runs, I cut ice tea out of my diet, I kept a food log for two weeks and nothing seemed to work. But today, today was a good day.

If I keep doing the right things, I think the knee will heal soon. My fingers are crossed and I feel hopeful.

I hope you are enjoying the beauty of the outdoors! Happy Running!

The server was down at work today so I couldn’t engage in my daily obsession of checking weather.com at least 10 times a day. I headed out for an evening run with dark clouds in the distance, not knowing they were heading my way. 4 miles into the run, the clouds got darker and closer and before long it started sprinkling, drizzling and soon it was pouring. It was pouring so hard at one point I saw two cars pull over to the edge of the road to ‘wait out the storm’. Thankfully it was a quick moving storm and I had an extra towel in my car. I just hope my sneakers will dry for my next run this weekend. I pre-registered for a 5 mile race on Saturday. It’s the same race I have done for the past several years, which supports a great cause, but my running partners won’t be there so I am thinking about trying a new trail race.
Decisions, Decisions!

Quick Race Report

Yesterday I met Dianna in town to run the Ocean Beach John J. Kelley Road Race. It was our first time running the race, so we naively believed the race description until we started running. :)

Let me translate.

description = flat course
reality = several 'rolling inclines'

description = slight hill at mile 8
reality = monster hill at mile 8

But, we survived and had fun too. The first mile Dianna and I got caught up in 'race day magic' and ran an 8 minute mile, chatting away the whole time and meeting new race day friends. At mile 6 Dianna and I separated, as I slowed down. The rest of the race was uneventful. I found my running groove and finished in 1:39:08 (8:33 mpm pace). I was happy. After the race, we cooled down in the ocean and laid on the beach soaking in the sunrays. What a perfect summer day!

2006 Goal

Have I mentioned how much I hate speed workouts? I dread going to the track. I hate every step of running fast and I when I finish, I feel like I wasted my time.

The problem is---I want to be faster. One of my goals for 2006 is to run a 4 hour marathon. Is it possible to reach my goal without doing speed work?

If reaching my goal means doing speed workouts or hill repeats once or twice a week, I think I need to reevaluate my goal.

I can’t describe what it is about speed work, but I feel like it sucks all the joy out of running and I don’t want to run a 4 hour marathon if it means ‘burning out’ in the process.

I guess it is just something to think about for now.

All I know is that I love to run.

Hands Free Running

It amazes me how far running technology has come in the past few years. Even though I don’t have a Nike+ iPod Nano, I think I have come a long way. When I first started running I wore cotton t-shirts and shorts. I bought whatever sneakers were on sale and I carried my walkman in one hand and my Gatorade bottle in the other hand.

But now I wear dri-fit clothes, shoes that support my body type and I don’t carry anything. I have an arm band for my music and I recently ordered a fuel belt. The same fuel belt I refused to buy when training for my first marathon because I thought it was ‘too dorky’. What happened to me? :)