"It is a shame for a woman to grow old without ever seeing the strength and beauty of which her body is capable." -Socrates

I've found a bunch of inspirational quotes that I'm LOVING :)
Thought I'd share...

• "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." Neale Donald Walsch
• "Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated."
• "Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret."
• "It never gets easier. You just get better."
• "A year from now you will wish you started today."

So thankful for the people in my life who have pushed me through this and made me run when I didn't want to. I'm finishing strong!
-Sarah

Hebrews 12:1-2

Sarah and I seem to be on hiatus again. :)  It's possible that we skipped all of our "short" runs this week.  We were scheduled to run two 5 milers and one 9 miler.  So a total of 19 miles.  And we did exactly 0 of them.  She did her 18 mile run on Monday, so she needed days off to recover.  I have been allowing my knee to heal after hurting it on my 18 miler run last Saturday.  So it wasn't exactly due to laziness.  But I admit that after I got hurt last weekend, one of the first thoughts to go through my head was how excited I was to have to miss out on some weekday runs. :)

Last week my dear friend, Jinger, (who inspired me toward and ran with me during the Half Marathon in June) told me that during her marathon training a few years back, it was right around 5-6 weeks pre-race day that she experienced burnout.  This comforted me so much because I realized that was exactly where Sarah and I were.  I know that as we approach our final few weeks of training (only 4 more to go!!!!), we will get our 2nd wind and bursts of nervous anticipation and excitement.  But these past few weeks, I've definitely been feeling a bit over it all.

This morning during my quiet time I came across a "Good Luck" card Jinger had given me the day before our Half Marathon.  In it she referenced a verse I know and love, Hebrews 12:1b-2.  The part I know by heart says "Run with endurance the race set before you..."  I turned to it in my Bible to re-read the entire passage.  Here is what it says:

"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God."

WOW.  How could I have missed all that?!  What an amazing reminder of what Jesus did for us.  He set His sights on God's incredible plan of redemption and love and endured death by crucifixion because of it.  And even though He had moments where He would have preferred a different route (Matthew 26: 36-46), He kept His eyes on the "finish line" and completed the ultimate test of endurance, faith, and love all in the name of the joy that would come in the end.

Good grief, I think I can roll myself out of bed, look to Jesus, and run 2 miles this morning.  I feel a revival coming on. :)
-Christie

This whole marathon thing is losing its novelty.

Patience is not my thing. I like things that are:

• New.
• Exciting.
• Immediately gratifying

...18 miles is none of those things.
Luckily, I've just recently decided to become a trooper. :)
This run was kind of scary for me. Christie hurt her knee on her 18 miles, and my husband came home from his 20 miler with a bum knee, too. I posted this video on my facebook page as I headed out for my own (seemingly) doomed run.

This is how I felt as I was strapping on my water belt, pepper spray, ipod, garmin & copious snacks/gels.
Off I went.
It wasn't bad for the first 6ish miles. Same old. I was doing a new route so that's always nice (See above) :)
Once I got around 6 miles though my right hamstring began to cramp. I've had tons of issues with cramping during this whole training. I usually just stop for a sec and stretch and its OK. Tried this a few times and was realizing it just wasn't cutting it. I called Hubs at one point to see if he had any ideas. He gave me a couple stretches to try... as I looped back to my car I decided to dump my water belt and just keep my water bottle with Nuun. (First time running with Nuun and I LOVED it!!) I took a good 5 minutes at my car to stretch and felt a little better heading out again. But, as I got to around 13 miles I was having to stop ever half mile or so and stretch. I was also walking for short periods, but soon saw that not only did that not help the cramping it was just making my run take longer :)
It was at this divine time that Christie called :) I was a little worried that I was pulling my hamstring. I had no idea what that meant though, so I asked her what she thought. Josh was there and they've both pulled their hamstrings and said it was a sudden pain from a specific movement. That I was in no danger of that  :) This made all the difference! I knew I could just push through it if there was little chance of making things worse. It was just this huge fear that I was making something worse. So, I hung up with them, called upon my new trooper self, and spent the next 5 miles praying my heart out :) I can say without a shadow of a doubt if it wasn't for Christ picking each foot up for me there's no way I could have finished this run!
I was discouraged when I got home. Even cried to the hubs. What if this is what my body does during long runs?? I cant stop every mile of the marathon to stretch!! I just felt like even though I finished the run I didn't do as well as I wanted to.
This is new for me. Is this being a competitor? In the past I never would have cared that I walked for a bit. (In all honesty it was probably 3/4 mile total I walked, but still...) or that I had to stop over and over, but now... it kind of makes me mad! I want to do better.
I finished in 3 hours 19 min, which means I was at a 10:56 pace. BUT, I stopped my watch every time I stopped to stretch. :) Kinda cheated :) I think you could add on a good 20 min to that time for all the stretching on the side of the road I did. Oy.
But, we're done with 18 miles. Wow.
When I drove through Starbucks on my way home the little kid (he was probably 20. Good land, what an old woman I sound like!) in the drive through asked me what I was up to. I said, "Just got done running." And he said, "How far?" "18 miles," I say. "Pish! Child's play." Says the kid.
And I laughed the whole way home. Because if I had said 8 miles he would have said, "WOW! That's far!" But, its like 18 miles is so far out of the realm of understanding for someone whose never done it. It sounds far, but you have no idea just how far and how long until your feet gone each and every step.
It's kind of cool to be on this side. :)
-Sarah

I'm too excited to sleep!

Today is my day to sleep in.  It's one of the big reasons I decided to run on Saturday morning, even though there were multiple signs telling me to stay home.  But now that it's here, I just can't sleep!  I'm too excited for Sarah, who is out there right this second doing her 18 miler!!!!  I just KNOW she is going to rock it!!!!  Oh, oh, I feel a cheer coming on... if I had my old pom poms right now they'd totally be up in the air...

Go Sarah go, Go Sarah go, Go Sarah, Go Sarah, GO SARAH GO!!!!!!!

A Whole New Meaning to "Finish Strong"

What a day, what a day, what a day...

As Sarah said in her previous post, I did my 18 miler today.  I don't think I need to explain just how crazy that is.  1  8   m  i  l  e  s.  Enough said.

Before I get into the details of this morning's run, I need to backtrack and describe my week.  I ran Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the nicest way I can say this is that running and I did not get along.  At all.  My slowest paces EVER, and I cut out short on 2 out of 3 runs.  After my Thursday run, I sent Sarah a text that said something along the lines of "I hate my Garmin.  I hate the music on my ipod.  I hate my routes.  I hate running!!"  Like I said, I was a real peach this week. ;)  She called me within seconds, and after letting me whine and complain, she worked her magic and had me cracking up about I don't even know what in no time.  I hung up feeling such an overwhelming appreciation for her...a feeling I've had countless times!  Sarah Jean Green...no one could ever compare to you!  I am so, so blessed!

I didn't officially decide to do my long run this morning until pretty late last night.  I mapped out my (ridiculous) route, plugged in my ipod and my Garmin, set out my clothes, and went to bed.  I woke up at 5:40, wrote my route on my hand (the list had 2 full columns this time!), got my gear, and headed to my starting point.  Once there, I strapped on my water belt, turned on my Garmin, and set across the first street.  Then I noticed my ipod was dead.  WHAT?!  My computer must have been in a weird sleep mode or something when I plugged it in.  Whatever the case, it had nothing.  I stood on the sidewalk contemplating what to do.  I thought about running without music.  But I knew I would die having nothing to listen to for 3+ hours.  I thought about skipping it and going Monday instead.  But I had gone to bed early, missing out on an in-home movie night with my hubby, and had already missed the chance to sleep in.  I didn't want that to be for nothing.  So I decided to head home and plug in my ipod...again...for a quick 30 minute charge.

Finally got back to my starting point just before 7:30.  Once again, I strapped on my water belt, turned on my ipod (now working), and started up my Garmin.  Immediately it started blinking at me: "Low Battery."  I STILL don't understand this one, as when I plugged it in last night, I watched as it said "Charging" and saw the little battery icon filling up over and over again.  Maybe these things were signs that I should have headed home and rested for a few more days after my crappy weekday runs, but if so, I didn't listen.

As I started to run, I was amazed at how great I felt.  Sarah had given me so much encouraging advice that morning as I was waiting for my ipod to charge.  One of my favorites was when she said not to think about all of my training as being just for the marathon, but to remember that all of my training got me HERE.  To the day of the 18 mile run.  That thought was eye-opening to me.  As I ran my first mile (9:24), I remembered the first time I ran a full mile straight and what an accomplishment it was.  When I hit mile 3 (9:01), I remembered my first full 3 mile run, and all the pride I felt as I came home and told Josh that I did it!  My Garmin lasted me 6 full miles before dying, and my average pace for the entire 6 miles was 9:17.  My fastest 6 mile run ever.  I felt incredible, and I was SO excited to see how it would end up!

All was good until about mile 8.  After my Thursday run, I had complained to Sarah that my body was hurting for the first time since my foot injury in July.  My shins and knees were mad at me, and I didn't know why.  We talked about how running such a slower pace the past 3 days could have thrown off my muscles, as I had been literally dragging my feet, running with completely different form than my body is used to.  At about mile 8.5 this morning, my left knee started to ache.  It certainly wasn't unbearable, but it was annoying.  I really didn't think much of it, and I continued on my way.  My mile 11, I was walking quite a bit and stopping to stretch for extended periods of time.  My mile 13, I decided that I absolutely could not run another step.  It didn't hurt to walk, but one stride of running and I would wince in pain.  It was KILLING me.  It felt like my entire knee was on fire.  Although I wanted so badly to run this whole thing, especially given my strong start, I knew that I was bordering injury that would put me out for good, and there is no way I was going to let an 18 mile training run rob me of the joy I will feel when I cross that 26.2 mile finish line.

I thought about calling Josh to come pick me up.  But I remember Sarah telling me to "finish strong," so I did.  I walked every single step of my course from there on out.  Yes, I made one wrong turn and actually accidentally shortened my run by about .4 miles, but after 3 hours and 40 minutes of moving, I finished what I started.  And I did it with pride.  When I texted Sarah to tell her I was out for this run, I told her that I wasn't upset about it.  And I really and truly wasn't.  I was happy.  So happy.  And so, so proud.  I had trained so hard to get to this point.  It was a gorgeous Saturday morning, and I was walking down the beautiful streets of Lake Oswego with the sun shining down on me and a perfect breeze.  I felt like a "real" runner because I now had the wisdom to know that "strong" can mean different things at different times.  Some days it means giving it your all no matter what comes your way.  Other days it means bowing out of something that could have been good in anticipation of something so much greater.  I may never remember today's run.  But I will always remember finishing my first marathon.  It gives me goosebumps just to think about it!

I never would have made it through today's 17.54 mile "run" if it wasn't for Sarah.  Thank you, bestie, for giving me the encouragement I needed to lace up my shoes this morning, and the inspiration I needed to keep them tied until I finished the whole darn thing.  I cannot wait to cheer you on Monday morning as you rock that run for the both of us!  I love you so much!!
-Christie

Go, C, GO!!!

As I'm sitting here on my couch with my cup of coffee and KILLER cramps, Christie is out running her 18 miler with a dead Garmin and an about dead Ipod!! Tough girlie! So proud of you, woman! When you first tried to sell this insanity to me this day was the day I couldn't imagine... when we'd be heading out for 3 hours and 15 min of running!!! We are here! I'm praying for you right now- praying for strength, encouragement, enjoyment, and that God would make time go so fast for you :)

I think I can, I think I can...

I am always daunted by these long runs.
This is what I've done to get ready for this weeks longer-than-FOREVER run:

1. Ipod shift-a-roo. Took all my slowish worship/love songs and added a lot of booty shakin', lots of partying and sin talking kind of music. I'm telling myself I'm not listening to the words. In all honesty I'm not because I cant understand them... but, the beat makes my feet move faster. Which is always nice.
2. I'm going to try putting Nuun in my water bottle. Its electrolyte replacement, and I'm hoping it'll help with... something. :) It probably tastes like that stuff they give you when you have to do your pregnancy glucose test, but if you tell me it'll make the run better- bottoms up!
3. I've slacked. I cut out one of my short runs... I've been tired. PMS is definitely to blame, so I'd rather give my body a little rest than push it... who wants to be an overachiever, right??
4. Encouraged Christie. I think we both play off each others B.S. la-tee-da encouragement :) It works for us. :)
5. Once again reminded myself to take it one week at a time. Enjoy the moment... I mean, when else in my life am I going to be trying to map out an 18 mile course??

This will be my mantra tomorrow morning :)

Hope you crazy kids have a wonderful, fun filled, safe Labor Day Weekend!

-Sarah