4 and hanging them up...for now

Running (w/ a fair share of walking): 4.03 miles, 50:21.30, 12:30/mi

Total: 4.48 (plus another probably .22 that I didn't clock) miles, 58:24, 13:03/mi

My legs were feeling decent yesterday, so I figured I'd try 4 miles today. Seemed easy enough. Until I woke up and felt tight calf muscles. Needless to say, the run was painful for me, and riddled with walking. Janell humored me & walked right along when I needed to slow down. I made it the whole way, but I also made a determination, too.

I'm going to hang up my running shoes for a while. I'm not sure how long. At this point, my shins & calves & ankles couldn't carry me 13.1 miles, it's just too painful. So I'm going to give them a break. I still plan on doing the 100 & 200 challenges, and I'll have to dust off the elliptical to keep myself moving. All in all, I think my legs will thank me.

Undecided

I haven't made it back out running yet. As of today, my legs still really hurt--mostly my shins and my right ankle. I want to keep running, and yet I want to quit. The pain is sometimes pretty intense & I've been taking ibuprofen every day. I'm sure I'll keep going, and hopefully I'll feel good enough to get out on Saturday.

I'm not sure what to do because two of my long runs before the half-marathon are going to be difficult or impossible to do. Randy will be out of town for several days when I need to do one of them, and we'll be in NM during another. I could do a treadmill in NM, but I don't know what to do when Randy's gone, since I want to be able to do it early in the morning.

A blog that I follow talked about the one hundred pushups challenge, the two hundred situps challenge, and the two hundred squats challenge. I'm needing something to continue pushing me along on the days that I don't run. Yes, the elliptical is always staring me down, but I've yet to hop on it in a while. So, I'm going to do the challenges. I tested myself tonight & will begin them next week. I'm actually excited & hopeful that I can tone my flabby arms a bit. Oh, the pain of needing to lose weight & not getting it done!

9.5

Running--9.5 miles, 1:53:13.93, 11:55/mi

Total--10.13 miles, 2:04:53, 12:20/mi

Calories burned: 1118!!! Wow, no wonder I'm tired!

Today's run was not easy. I felt like I was just trying to keep up with Janell, and I had to make myself keep going much of the time. We walked the first 5 minutes, at the halfway point (to let me eat my jelly beans & drink...not sure how Janell goes a whole run without anything!), and then a little after 7 miles. Around the 7 mile mark is when I felt like I wouldn't be able to keep going, but after a walk, we picked it back up and ran the rest of the way. The last half mile running was hard, but I knew the end was in sight. I'm expecting to be really sore, but my whole motto today was "I can do hard things!" And I did!

Wednesday the 9th

Is the really the first day I've run in September? It is. I decided to take last Wednesday off to let my legs heal. I was supposed to run Saturday and Monday by myself, but that didn't happen. Why is my bed and sleep so much more appealing?

Janell and I did another Magic Mile this morning. It wasn't super fast, but after our long break, I think we did well. We're planning on 9.5 miles on Saturday. Wish us well!

Magic Mile--1 mile, 10:40.46

Total--3.24 miles, 41:34, 12:49/mi--not too bad considering a decent amount was spent doing our 1 and 5 minute walks before and after the magic mile.