OK....don't be a LOSER!!!

Today is March 18, the day before my practice race, and I have toyed all day with how I can get out of this. I started with the excuse that I have been on spring break all week and just was "too tired". That was too generic. I seriously considered faking an illness.....hmmm...still a thought. I have checked the weather 4 times this hour for tomorrow's forecast (praying for rain) but none seems to be coming and finally I considered writing this blog today about how being a Loser is ok with me.
Still thinkin it through!!! JUST KIDDING> I have tried so hard up to this point to train, I am not gonna let my spring break laziness keep me from showin up tomorrow. I may be the last one across the finish line at the Irish-Italian festival 5k (keep it mind...this is my PRACTICE RACE :) ) but I will get across it. I have heard they give you cookies at the finish line. Maybe I have delusions of granduer (SP???) but in any event...stay tuned to see how it goes tomorrow. I will be visualizing for most of the day tomorrow (that's what tiger woods and eli manning do....I've heard) so please no emails, phone calls, distractions (I can't even write this....I'm laughin so hard) as I am mentally preparing for this race. :) If any of you would like to drop off some "good luck brownies" however, I will stop visualizing long enough to accept them.
ANYWHO....I'm super nervous and a tad embarrased, but I have to take this first step! Success is failure turned inside out right????

DAY 18

Alrighty people....the countdown to March 19th is on!!! 12 days...doesn't seem like enough time but then again this is my Practice Race...I ran 3.3 miles today in 43:30...AGAIN not fast, almost embarrasinly slow...but I finished. Now begins my shape up till race day which will include no consumption of alchohol, eating right, and getting plenty of rest,.....I know I can do the plenty of rest thing. Eating right won't be easy, but doable....and no wine will excrutiating but rewarding. Very busy on the homefront today with kids, Iep's, flat tires, rearranging of dr's visits, meeting with the "big school" people, so I must crank up my broomstick and make this one a short blog...Keep thinking of me as I attempt to "healthy UP" myself before this race!!! :)

DAY 17

Ok...things are officially getting weird. I tacked on another 4 miles to my week...brining the week up to 10 miles so far....holy snikee.. and to top it off, I did a serious of weights to increase my arm strength (something which I never really have had the desire to do!) Although I added 0 weight to the bench-press bar, I proudly hoisted it above my head and began 15 reps...I even think I have the lingo for exercise correct now...I told you, this blog will be weird. I'm gonna set the stage for your mental picture....Remember when Rocky fought Ivan Drago the seemingly unstoppable russian.....Well I'm usually more rocky like, you know small, weak, underdog.....but today I was Ivan.
Hmmm...maybe that was an exaggeration.. but I was wearing red....like he did in the fight.
Anywho, I have figured something very interesting out about running. if you can push through the first two miles, the subsequent miles get less excruitiating. you just kinda get confused and "out of it" and keep running. I guess that's how the great Forrest Gump did it. I find this week, that after mile 2 I don't have the energy to think....or worry...and I can't tell you what's even on my ipod after about 2 miles. and it's stinkin cool.....a blank mind is a terrible thing to waste!!!!!!!!!! :)

DAY 16

Well, a big day in Run Melissa Run land. Day 16 brought me to 3.2 miles of running (with a blazing finish time of 43:22...LOL) but I never stopped to walk.....YIPEEEEEE. My husband went with me to "check out the gym" and stepped on the treadmill beside me and that little bit of competition, pushed me to my goal. I guess I am my mother's child!!!!!! :) Stepping off that treadmill I was almost euphoric. I still can't believe MY body can do that....but more so, I can't believe my MIND can do that. For the first time in a very long time, I felt like I was NOT a quitter. NOT a slacker. However I did feel a bit heavy towards the end. My strides at mile 2.7-3.2 were not a "gazelle like" as I would have hoped. More thirsty man in the desert-esque!!! but nonetheless, I FINISHED>>>maybe not with the personal swagger I usually have, but what the hay, this ain't no beauty pageant. Although having some competition next to me on treadmill five did propel me to fight for the crown. I hear the theme song from chariots of fire. Oh what a day!!!!!

DAY 15

Well,after a about 4 day's worth of resting my knee I finally went to Southern Bone and Joint and Doctor Dews informed me that my left knee is just plain eat up with arthritis or Bersitus....he just can't tell. So I have combined the two and made up my own diagnosis of Birthritis!!!! I left for the gym early this morning to "pick up where I left off" in my training, but sweet baby Birthritis had other plans for me. After a lenghthy warm-up, which i was sure was going cure my birthritis, i hit treadmill 4 for a trailblazing 1/2 mile run which ended in me literally stopping the treadmill, riding it to the floor and falling on to it while clutching my left knee. I didn't understand because my doc assured me yesterday that runners train with this type problem all the time....he must have been unaware that I'm not REALLY a runner. I think the new special running shoes must have thrown him off. Anyway, my heart truly goes out to you athletes out there who train with this kind of pain. I mean holy nike''' after I got up off the floor I hit the spa area and soaked my knee in the hottub followed by an ice pack. As I was relaxing in the locker room, women were coming in and hot, and because I was so convincingly dressed (new shoes, nike zoom lookalike running shorts, under armour....you get the picture) they all gave me the "you go girl" head nod. They may have been under the impression that I had just ran 26 miles and just need an ice down. I felt like a poser cuz I said nothing and just let them go on believing I was one of those "tough marathon/triathalon chix". I didn't have the stomach to enter into a conversation about my Birthritis with anyone....especially since it had come on after only training to a staggering distance of 1.5 miles.....But anyway....thinking positive. This birsitis sets the stage for a comback. I'm gonna run the practice 5k on March 19 if I have to be airlifted to the finish.....birsitis and all. Please give me any suggestions you have about where to find guts at.....I'm lookin for mine!

DAY FOURTEEN

So I've officially been training for 2 weeks. I have experienced alot of highs and lows (mostly middles though) while trying to reach my goal. I certainly don't proport to know ANY good information about running, however yesterday, I gave my Aunt Tammy some very BAD advice which today has come back to bite me in the you know! I told her to "GET MAD-THEN RUN"...yuck!
I ran mad yesterday. In fact, I did more than run mad yesterday. I ellipticalled mad, I biked mad, I sit-upped mad (don't know if sit-upped is a word...in fact I KNOW it's not), I weight lifted mad....you get the picture. At the end of the workout, I left the gym mad. Now why I was mad is not the issue. The real issue is
What do you get out of training mad???????????
Does envisioning the faces of ALL of your wrongdoers on the belt of the treadmill help propel a person to reach their ultimate goal? Hmmm...don't know. But I sure didn't like the way I felt yesterday....even after accomplishing my daily goal. I was mad. And to put the cherry on top, I woke up with a whopper of a swollen knee and pain.....which made me.......(theme song to jeopardy playing........you guessed it...... MAD!!!!!
So, I postponed my training for today to rest my knee, bought some new shoes (or should I say my husband bought me some new shoes) and went to lunch. Ate too much went to Target to buy some OsteoBiFLEX, icy hot patches, gel inserts and some omega three fish oil. Oh Yeah....and some HAPPY VITAMINS.....supposedly for women who are MAD!!!!!!!!! I will start making fun of myself again tomorrow. :) That's the only cure for "mad melissa" that has ever worked. Laughter and comedy can be great medicine and motivation. So, although I will not dole out anymore unsolicited advice to anyone about running, I must say that I've now tried two ways.....funny and mad. Me thinks I prefer funny. It's.......funnier!

DAY THIRTEEN

He's turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now he's miserable and depressed. - Harry Kalas
That quote sums up my day at the gym. I was reminded of it when the super muscle woman on the treadmill next to me asked what I was training for. I let her know about my goal to run a 5k...blah blah blah....out of shape....yada yada. She motivated me by letting me know how good I would feel about "turning my life around". HMMM....I started to think about this while I ran (and I made 1.5 miles again) Do I really want to "turn my life around"? I kinda liked it when I was couching it! maybe "re-prioritize" but totally turn my life around, that is a huge committment. My "free spirit" "hippie slacker" "easy going" persona is kinda the only thing I DIG about me.....REALLY!!! DO I WANT TO CHANGE THAT??????
Some would say ....PLEASE CHANGE THAT.... (mom, dad, family members etc...) But still don't think I want to! Sorry...So today, turning my life around could mean instead of being Lazy and Happy I'll be Happy and Lazy....while running a 5k! Yeah, a happy, lazy, 5k runner. Oh yeah, and I finally had enough air in my lungs while I was running to sing the words to one of my favorite songs....."I'll never be your Beast of Burden....Your a pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty girl...." love me some Mick Jagger. I hope the other treadmillers love the stones as much as I do!!!!