Owie

So I'm set to do a walk/run 5k on Friday morning. I'm looking forward to checking out what a 5k is all about so I'll be ready for the real run in September. But then I went and did something stupid tonight - I went on a walk in flip flops. My shins are killing me now, and I'm kind of nervous that they are going to really hurt on Friday. If that's the case, I'll need a wheelchair to get to the parade. Dave the Kind Husband is getting me some frozen veggies to ice my legs now :) He's so nice. At least we had a grand old time on the walk, though. We went with our neighbor BFFs to get coffee, and the store was closed. So we went to the ice cream shop, and the store was closed. So we called our awesome friends from church - Jane and Larry - and stopped by their house to chat with them and get our fill of hugs. I love our town and our neighbors and our friends. So I guess it's a good thing I locked in to a refinance today...

Yay for Brent!!!

Our brother-in-law, Brent finished his 100-mile race this weekend!!!! We're so proud of this crazy man for accomplishing this amazing feat. He came in 15th place, and you can click here to read about his experience, I was amazed to read through it!!

I've still been keeping up with my workouts and running. Thanks Cherice for the stretching tip - it really helps when I remember to do that stretch!! It's amazing. And Jenny, I had no idea you are a phy-ed teacher!! That cracks me up that you experience some girls who use the same excuses I used :) Nicole is right - it was 15 minutes that I had to run the mile in, and sometimes I still couldn't even do that!! The craziest thing?? Brent AVERAGED a 15-minute mile this weekend during his 100-mile race. Insane.

I took the night off from running last night. My dad and I calculated it, and we're pretty sure we walked over 5 miles at Valleyfair on Monday. Good times :) Maybe that zeroes out the corndog, mini donuts, onion rings and pop I had. Yikes. I have a feeling that's why I was feeling so sick yesterday. My body is wondering why in the heck I'm eating that stuff after eating better for a few months now. Well I'm back on track (as my previous post was titled, maybe I should have titled this one back on track - part 2), and now I'll get back into my running/eating regimen. I'm still on track for running the 5k in mid-September!!

Running

My brother-in-law, Brent inspired me to write this post. He's a crazy runner (you can click on this great big long link to check out his blog and send him some cheers for his insane 100 mile race this weekend).

I have always hated running. In school, on the days when we would have to run the mile for the fitness challenge I would try to fake sick (I faked sick a lot in school, but that is a whole different post). But the teacher would just make me run it on a different day - darn it all. The cut off was 12 minutes. You HAD to run the mile in under 12 minutes, otherwise you'd have to try again on a different day. Ugh. I have always had a hard time breathing when I run, and usually feel like I'm dying by the end of the mile. I would sometimes make it in somewhere in the 11-minute range, but usually I went over the 12 minutes and had to try over again a different day. It's not like I was totally out of shape, either. We would swim an entire mile all at once when I was on the swim team, and I even won a trophy for being one of the swimmers who did 8,000 yards one day (in a 3 hour practice). It was something with running.

Last summer I began running outside in hopes of running a 5k at some point. I ran for about 3-4 months, but my shins hurt almost constantly. I joined a fitness club in September, and have been faithful about working out there ever since. I changed my routine to work out on an elliptical and do weight-lifting, and did not experience anymore pain in my shins.

Last week I decided that I wanted to try again to run a 5k this year. I set my sights on one in September - Nickle Dickel Days in Waconia. On July4th, there is a 5k walk in my hometown that I will do with my mom to get a feel for how long the 5k route is, and what a race route looks like. So I started running again last week, and I'm going to use the blog to write down exactly what I'm doing for training.

Thursday - Got Yoga Booty* Ballet DVD from Nik. Did the entire beginner session and thought my legs were going to fall off when I went down the stairs later that night.

Friday - (Treadmill) Warmed up with a 5 minute walk. Ran 1 mile in 12 minutes. Walked 8 minutes at a brisk pace, with alternating inclines. Cool down walk for 5 minutes. Did the leg circuit at the gym. It felt soooo good!

Saturday - No running, but did YBB again, which kicked my patootie (again).

Sunday - (Treadmill) Warmed up with a 5 minute walk. Ran a total of 1 mile, but alternated running at a 10-minute mile pace for 2.5 minutes, then walking for 1 minute. Walked 6 minutes at a brisk pace, with alternating inclines. Cool down walk for 5 minutes. Worked the arm circuit at the gym.

Monday - (Treadmill) Warmed up with a 5 minute walk. Ran for 5 minutes at a 10-minute mile pace. Then alernated walking and running the 10-minute mile pace at 2.5 minutes each. Brisk walk on alternating inclines for 8 minutes. Cool down walk for 5 minutes. Did the leg circuit at the gym. I was wheezing by the last running set - the 10-minute mile is so hard for me! My goal is to be able to run a 10-minute mile (all at once) by June 15th. Okay, maybe June 30th.

I'm feeling pain in my shins today. Darn it all. I don't know what to do about that. Last year I tried icing my shins after my runs, but it never seemed to make much of a difference. Do I work through the pain? Or rest on it for a while? Today is one of my rest days, so I'll just walk tonight anyway.