A triumphant return!

I'm back on track! (literally and figuratively, since I run on a track...) I took 9 days off of running due to the ankle of pain. 9 loooooong days of captivity. I was finally able to get out last Saturday and do a three mile run. My legs felt fine, the ankle felt fine. What was not fine was my breathing. I could hardly catch my breath! Can 9 days of not running really set me back like that? And my heart rate was too high, according to my incredibly talented and attractive Garmin 305. But Monday's run was much better. I was able to do a nice steady three miles at my fastest time to date, 11:07 per mile. My breathing had returned to normal for Monday's run, thank goodness. I tried to get out there this morning for a 5 miler, but I had spent the night up in SLC with my best friend, trying to finalize the plans for her bachelorette party. Not much sleep came my way. So today is a rest day and the 5 miles will happen tomorrow. Instead of doing a long run this weekend, my boyfriend and I are going to hike Mt. Timpanogos. It's something like 9 miles, so I figure that will count. I'll try to get some lovely mountain pictures to post. And speaking of the boyfriend, he just joined dailymile.com and has logged his first run! He says he wants to run the marathon in Greece with me next Novemeber :)

Ankle in revolt :(

My ankle has full on revolted. I haven't the slightest idea what I've done to it. All I know is that running = pain. Great. My first half marathon is in 3 weeks. So I have been forced to take at least a week off to see if it can heal up. I'll still be working out, just no running. I gave the elliptical a shot yesterday and was able to pound out a decent workout without upsetting the prissy ankle. I've been icing it and wrapping it, as well as popping more ibuprofen than I probably should. On the up side, I bought myself that GPS watch I wanted. It's coming in the mail and should be here just in time for my triumphant return to running. I had to do something to alleviate the despondency that came with the decision to take a week off. Shopping heals all sorts of wounds. And I've also started looking around for marathons next year in the area. As long as I keep positive and keep my goals nice and defined, I'll get there, even with little setbacks and inconveniences.

A slight setback...

I have successfully completed week 6 of the marathon training schedule. And I seem to have injured my ankle in the process. I didn't do anything to it, like step funny or twist it. It seems that the amount of running that I have been doing has caused the tendons to be a bit stressed out. Perfect. Especially since I went ahead and signed up for the half marathon in September. I have just under a month for my ankle to get with the program. I can put weight on it and walk just fine. It just aches sometimes... Hopefully the ice packs and ace bandage wrapping will make everything peachy again. Other than that little snafu, things are going well with the training. I keep improving my mile times, and I walk less and less on the long runs. I'm looking forward to the 12 mile run this next weekend. It's always so great to find out my body can actually do things like that. I do need to start training somewhere other than the track though. The long runs on the track are fairly mind numbing, just running around in circles... There's a handy gadget that I want. It's a Garmin GPS watch that tracks your distance, time, elevation, calories burned , and loads of other stuff. I may just have to get one soon and start hitting the streets for my long runs. It's probably time to start incorporating some more hard core running gear into my life. After all, I think I may have finally entered the realm where I can call myself a runner :)

Double digit long run!

So I was pretty stoked about running nine miles. You all remember that, right? Well guess who just did ten miles on Friday? That would be this girl. This one right here. Yeah, the fat one who looks like running ten miles would send her to her death. Ha! I even did it five minutes faster than I though I would too. I averaged a 12:30 minute mile. For running that far, that's amazing for me. I am thinking of signing up for a closer half marathon. My Halloween Half isn't until the end of October. There's one that goes down part of the Nebo Loop on September 10th. I really think that I can be ready for it. I'm getting antsy to run a race. I do have the Dirty Dash coming up next month, but it's just a 10K, also the obstacles slow one down considerably. I just wish some of this weight would come off. I think that would help my times if I had less to lug around with me. But there's some good news. A few of the pounds that came on when my training started have dropped, but I'm still three pounds over the weight that I started at. I just got my copy of Nutrition for Marathoners book. It should help me out on this issue. Hopefully, it will tell me that ice cream is an essential part of the marathoner's diet.