Day 33: 6.09 miles today, Miles to go: 748.62… This evening’s 6+ miles put me past 250 miles, which means I am now at 25% of goal!!! Woo hoo! With that being said, the eye is on the mend… who knew eye injuries should be added to the list of running/walking cautions?!? I did end up going to my optometrist today because the irritation had made my eye bloodshot, watery, and light sensitive. Thankfully there was no corneal tear or left over bug parts from my runner/insect collision. I can also share that if you are in the same situation, here is what Dr. Christine Verbeck of Harmony Eyecare advises: 1) irrigate with saline 2) if the eye remains red or irritated or you have a foreign body sensation, consult your eye doctor 3) also consult your eye doctor if there is a light sensitivity discharge, or persistent blurred vision. I personally had a fine mix of all of the above so I am grateful to have such an amazing doctor, colleague, and friend!
Day 32: April 29, 2013- Run interrupted…
Day 32: 10.01 miles today, Miles to go: 754.71… 10 mile run after work… pretty uneventful… till the bug flew in my eye!!!! Ugh! I stopped at a neighbor’s driveway to let him drive in, but he waved me on and said out the window that he didn’t want me to break my stride. Just as I lifted my head to thank him… BAM! That nasty little critter dive bombed my cornea!
I totally couldn’t see, and his super sweet wife in the car behind him stopped to see if she could take me into their house to put drops in it. I asked her if I could just get a Kleenex or napkin, and then I made my way back home (quite a bit embarrassed to be taken out by an animal the size of a pinhead) to flush out my eye. So, for tomorrow night’s blog, I have decided to check with my eye doctor, and my day 33 post should include info on what the official protocol should be if you are in a similar situation. With that being said, though, I do still have a pictures in the park session to process from yesterday, so I will bid you good night! More info on the whole bug situation to come tomorrow!!! Later…
Day 31: April 28, 2013- 20+ mile day
Day 31: 20.29 miles today, Miles to go: 764.72… Yep… that really says over 20 miles today : ) 8 miles this morning with Debbie for my SUN 6am Challenge out at USI/Burdette, then did over 11 miles in New Harmony between four photography sessions. Wrapped up the night with just shy of a mile after football practice to make it an even 20 miles for the day!!! I joke that my SUN Challenge is rain or shine, and I am super proud of Debbie for not only braving the rain this morning, but getting 8 miles at a fantastic pace for us. We even had a fun animal spotting along the way…
My New Harmony walks were also super enjoyable because I used the time to work on my stock photography for my art rep in London. Love this quick phone pic from the Labyrinth…
Looking forward to wrapping up my night working on those photos as well as the four wonderful families that I had the privilege to photograph. Hope you all had an awesome weekend, and I wish you the best as you ramp up for your coming week!
Day 30: April 27, 2013- 10 miles + a wedding = : )
Day 30: 10.03 miles today, Miles to go: 785.01… 8 mile walk this morning, and 2 mile walk late evening, shot a wedding in the middle. Productive day, and started my next 100 mile/2 week goal. My toe looks like a hot mess, though, so I am trying to wear open toed shoes as much as I can when I am not out running or walking. Nothing new to report other than I am super tired and am heading to bed. Gotta be up for my SUN 6am challenge. The girls and I generally do 6 miles, but I am trying to get in at least 8 before I head to New Harmony for pictures in the park.
Day 29: April 26, 2013- Oh, my toe!!!
Day 29: 2.03 miles today, Miles to go: 795.04… OK, so I know that 2 miles is a pretty low number for me, but in lieu of taking the day completely off, I wanted to at least get in something, so I just did a quick 2 mile walk on the north side by Bobby’s office. After 27 days, and a killer two weeks, I wanted to give myself a day to rest and recuperate. Particularly my toe… I will be up front, this is the same toe that had the nail fall off last year from all of the running that I did. While I know that that sounds super gross, it’s really not that big of a deal! Anyway, it’s been bothering me the last two days, and after last night’s 8 mile run, I thought maybe I had snagged it on my sock. That’s not exactly the case, though… I have a blister under the nail bed. Ouch! Ouch! And Triple Ouch!!!! I drained the blister last night before bed, but it was so painful at 2am that I had to get up and take some Tylenol AND ice it. I am grateful to Angie Peters for talking me through what I can do to push through it and heal it up. Hopefully, I should see some improvement by tomorrow, but in the meantime, I am going to enjoy my night off with the girls. We are heading to Hacienda and to catch a movie! I think I am going to go with the Fry-yi-yi (waffle fries and cheese). I thought the burrito bowl would be way fewer calories…. It’s not, and it doesn’t taste half as good as the fries. So I will own those extra 100 calories and enjoy my reward for hitting 100 miles in two weeks. In case you were interested, though, you can find their entire nutritional listings at: http://haciendafiesta.com/images/downloads/nutrition-2012.pdf. So yeah to FRI! Yeah to hitting goals! And yeah to the upcoming weekend! Have a great one, and more to come tomorrow…
Day 28: April 25, 2013- What’s your carrot?!?
Day 28: 8.15 miles today, Miles to go: 797.07… An 8+ mile run tonight put me past 200 miles run in total, and it helped me hit my 100 miles/2 week goal two days early : ) With that being said, tonight I wanted to talk about having a carrot… what is that one thing you work towards when you work out? I use having a carrot for my large and my small goals, and for this latest milestone, if I could hit my 100/2 weeks goal early, I told myself I could order whatever I’d like off the menu at our Girls’ Night Out tomorrow. When I hit my big goal, I have something super exciting as well. Can’t share just yet, but details should surface around 700 or 800 miles. In the meantime, I encourage you to work towards your carrot… be it a little edible treat (for me, good days often= a small Frosty from Wendy’s), or if you prefer not to go with food, maybe treat yourself to a new book at Barnes & Noble or that shirt you’ve been eyeing at the department store. Whatever it is, pick those little rewards to give you motivation to keep putting one foot in front of the other!!! Now, I must bid you adieu… it is the first time that Scandal has been on in three weeks, and I have a Grey’s Anatomy/Scandal date night with the hubby!!! Later!
Day 27: April 24, 2013- I’m lovin’ it!!!
Day 27: 6.03 miles today, Miles to go: 805.22… Not a ton of miles, but inching closer to my 200 milestone as well as my 100 mile in two week mini-goal (that one has 8 miles to go and is running ahead of schedule). Chilly afternoon, and even colder evening. With that being said, I thought I would share some cold weather walking tips that I looked up. I bring up this topic because of an injury I sustained a few years ago. After a few years away from running, I decided to try and train for the spring half marathon. I started JAN 1 that year with walking a few miles and worked up eventually to six mile morning runs by APR of that year. What I didn’t realize that because I was not stretching well enough for the cold weather, I was actually damaging my right hip. Eight months, one surgery, and a lot of physical therapy later, we finally had an answer to what was causing all of my pelvic/abdominal area pain. So this topic is near and dear to my heart, and with the flux of cold weather still peppered into the warmer temps we are experiencing, I just want to make sure anyone attempting to reach their spring fitness goals is “walking into” their exercise routines with both eyes open!!! So here is what I found that I hope might help all of us…
“• Allow at least 10 minutes to warm up. When it’s cold, your heart and muscles need more time to get ready.
• Wear a scarf or mask loosely over your nose and mouth to prevent the sting of icy cold air when you inhale. This is especially important if you have asthma or heart problems.
• Choose shoes with lugged soles for traction, and buy an inexpensive pair of ski or walking poles to help keep your balance. (The poles will also help you burn extra calories because your upper body is getting a workout too.)
• Take your workout indoors if you’d be risking frostbite (temperatures around -20 degrees F, including any windchill), if it’s icy, or if you’d encounter dangerous traffic.
Dress for success When you step outside, you should feel slightly chilled but not cold. During your workout, you want to feel warm, not hot and sweaty. That means you need to dress in layers so that you can take them off or put more on as needed. Here are the basics of layering: An inner layer made of synthetic fabric such as CoolMax to wick sweat away so you stay dry A middle, or insulating, layer (or two) of light-weight fleece fabric such as Polartec to keep you warm An outer layer of waterproof, breathable fabric such as Gore-Tex to buffer you from the elements and let sweat escape; and Don’t forget a hat, gloves, and sunscreen!”
From: http://www.prevention.com/term/cold-weather-and-winter-walking
You can also find cold weather stretching tips at: http://www.runningincoldweather.com/stretching-for-cold-weather-running
On a different note, last night’s run left me famished this morning, but I knew that I had a BNI 1-to-1 at 11:30 at Panera, so I was determined to hold off until then. In the meantime, it was apples and and almonds and a great big Diet Coke from McDonalds. With that being said, walking into McDonalds with its yummy smells this morning was challenging. So in lieu of ordering the biscuits and gravy that I was coveting, I thought I would share what you can get at McDonalds for under 400 calories… my favorite of which is the two apple packets for $1. At 15 calories a packet, you can’t go wrong!!!
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/meal_bundles/favoritesunder400.html
p.s. Kudos to McDonalds for adding their calorie count to their menu board!!! As they say, “I’m lovin’ it!”
Day 26: April 23, 2013- Half Marathon Run
Day 26: 18.49 miles today, Miles to go: 811.25… A-MA-ZING day!!! Weather and mood-wise, it started out kind of rocky. Spotty storms always put me in a crummy mood, but it was clear when I got out at 6:30am for 1 mile, and I did 4 miles mid-day in the middle of a small drizzle that eventually cleared up. I ended my evening with a half-marathon distance all over the east side of Evansville.
Also during that run I logged my fastest 5k and 10k distance according to my sport watch. A few things of note from that last run…A) always start out with your shoes tied well, preferably double knotted. I have been interrupting walks and runs lately to tie my shoes, but the simple step of checking to make sure that I had them double knotted gave me an interruption free run tonight. B) always be aware of your surroundings. One part of my run was on the backside of Wesselman Woods, where there was a man walking by himself and a separate car with a guy by himself. Do I really think either of them would harm me… no, but it never hurts to be too careful. So make sure that you carry a phone, your keys, or pepper spray (or all of the above) when you go out by yourself, or better yet, grab a friend to go with you! Same scenario towards the end of my run. It had already turned dark when I got back to the State Hospital grounds, and I ran the last two miles around the park by myself in the dark. In these situations, I prefer not to run with headphones, so that I can not only see what is going on around me, but so that I can hear as well. Aside from that, I think it’s about time to call it a night. Way ahead of schedule to hit 100 miles in 2 weeks, and already very close to my 200 mile milestone. I hope that you all had a wonderful day, and I look forward to sharing what I am up to tomorrow!
Day 25: April 22, 2013- Wear proper footwear!
Day 25: 8.16 miles today, Miles to go: 829.74… Where did today go? I didn’t venture out this morning because the phones were ringing off the hook today at the office. However, I did manage to squeeze in just shy of two miles on the USI campus when I had to meet my professor. I do not recommend attempting any substantial distance if you are not in the proper shoes, though. A rubbed raw blister on my right ankle and an icepack on my left ankle are both the result of not packing my tennies to trek across campus. Doodle bug joined me after work for a 2 mile speed walk,
and then I did the last 4+ miles this evening after Art Smart and a stop up at St. Mary’s to visit a friend and her son. It was a quiet, beautiful night, one that was all the more enjoyable because the bright moonlight made for a very well lit path. Am glad the day is finally done, though. Just have some pics to upload for SMILE onto Facebook, and then I am turning in for the night! Until later…
Day 24: April 21, 2013- An interesting first…
Day 24: 12.8 miles today, Miles to go: 837.9… I can officially say that I iced my butt for the first time ever… because the only thing sore from yesterday’s bike ride was whatever you call that area where your rear meets your leg! Other than that, I spent most of the day feeling great… did my SUN (8:30am instead of 6am) challenge with Debbie and got 7 miles in this morning. Also managed to get 5+ more miles in throughout the course of the day before a migraine took me out. The rough part is that I took Excedrin vs. a Maxalt because it was what I had on hand in my purse. The overkill of OTC caffeine made it so that I couldn’t lay down and fall asleep to try and get rid of the headache, which stunk. So kids snoozed (keeping in mind that they biked 18 miles yesterday, too) while I caught up on my to-do list in a quasi haze of half in/half out of a headache. Amazing weekend, though. Great weather, wonderful friends, and fun activities. Ready to tackle my week and wrap up my 100 miles in 2 weeks mini goal. Currently ahead of pace and looking forward to treating myself to a small reward if I can hit that mini goal!
1000 Mile Mom 