Frustrating start to the day

So I got up late today but the temperature outside looked okay for running. However, I had loaned my hydration belt to my husband and he had changed the fit of it. Not that it didn't still work for me but I had gotten it perfect (and I am a perfectionist) and it wasn't perfect anymore. So I decided to try to fix it. He had only altered it by an inch or so but the buckle was way off center and the excess webbing was all loose instead of perfectly rolled and fastened. It was driving me nuts. Unfortunately, it took me over an hour to get it exactly right the first time and since the elastic has stretched a little I can't get it back to the perfect spot again. So annoying. So I spent almost an hour trying to fix it. I gave up and grabbed my hand bottle instead. I guess I will try to fix it later.

The run was good once I got out and did it. I cut my warm up walk from 5 minutes to 3 minutes and did 8 intervals of 1 minute run and 4 minutes walk. Though the last interval I had to cut the walk short because I was finished with my 3.1 miles. So I did 3.1 miles in 42:04.32 with an average pace of 13:31/mi. I definitely think I have found a decent run pace. I still struggle with it a bit because I have to remind myself to go slower. I went too fast on my first run interval. But the rest were right on. It felt pretty good. My right IT band might be having minor issues because it seemed a little tight but is fine now. The back of my right thigh tightened up a bit too. Oh well, they seem fine now.

My hand bottle gave me minor blisters on two of my fingers. I am so glad most blisters don't hurt to me. My pinky and ring toes have blisters as always but are still less than they used to be. This may be where I am with blisters. Nothing that affects how I run or walk but just minor ones in certain places. I may never get rid of them but as long as they don't hurt or make me change my stride in anyway I can live with them. As I said before I will probably never have pretty feet. I still have no idea where the blisters on the backs of my ankles are coming from. I have a sneaking suspicion it is from my socks. It may be time to invest in some real running socks.

All in all a good run once I got past the frustrations before I got out.

Well, I thought I was good.

My feet felt great after my run. But I just keep discovering weird blisters. Taping my toes is definitely helping keep the blisters down on my ring and pinky toes. I still get them but they are much smaller than they were. I am now finding blisters on the backs of my ankles. Little groupings of them. Guess I gotta figure out where those are coming from and figure out how to combat them. The other weird thing is on my left heel the blister is gone but now I am peeling. Though this happens a lot when I get blisters and they heal it is still weird. I guess I will never have pretty feet. It is a good thing I have never worried about having pretty feet.

Team AllEars Avon Walk for Breast Cancer --GO TEAM FIBOT!

As many (or even all of you know) Mike did the Disney World Half Marathon last year. What some of you may not know is that in seeing him train and finally finish his first half marathon he inspired me to run and get into shape too. So since last January I have been slowly training for next year's Disney World Half Marathon and have even run my first Disney race, the Expedition Everest Challenge 5k. I am enjoying the training at am trying to get past getting horrid blisters on my feet every time. I haven't beat the blisters yet but I have made progress on my running.

Last year, Mike didn't know if he would be travelling alone to Disney World so he joined Team AllEars for not only company but to raise money for an amazing cause. This year we both joined the team and are part of a group of 99 happy haunts (as one of our team members puts it) who are raising money for breast cancer while training for our races. We are all running in one or more of the races for the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. Some are running the 5k, others like me are running the half marathon (13.1 miles), some the marathon (26.2 miles) as an individual or two person relay and others are going crazy and running the Goofy (the half one day and the full the next). Mike is one of the craziest and is running what is unofficially called the Dopey (the 5k on Friday, the half with me on Saturday and the full on Sunday). There are also other combinations within the races. Just so many choices to run different races.

You can read about some of our team members here. http://land.allears.net/blogs/#run

As part of Team AllEars we have each committed to raise a minimum of $500. So for Mike and I that means $1000 for our household. Please consider making a donation toward our $1000 goal. We are Team Fibot (after our wild Bengal cat).

How can you lend your support?

You can support my running efforts and breast cancer research by donating the following ways:

1. By check. Checks should be made out to "Avon Walk for Breast Cancer". In the memo field, enter "Team AllEars-- Team Fibot". You can send them to Deb Wills, 3520 Sugarloaf Parkway SUITE F03-105, Frederick, MD 21704. Please e-mail me when you have donated so that I can track all donations and my fundraising efforts.

2. Online donation. Here is the link for our team captain's personal Avon Walk page:http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR?px=3843338&fr_id=2160&pg=personal Click the "Donate Now" button to get to the donation page. In the "Personal Note" field, include "Team AllEars--Team Fibot", for proper tracking. Every donation helps put us one step closer to finding a cure for breast cancer. Whether it be $1, $5 or $25 any donation helps.

Sleep is essential.

I didn't run yesterday because I had insomnia in the middle of the night and if I was going to run it had to be way early so I could get a shower. Our building had to replace our hot water heater yesterday because our practically new hot water heater (installed 2.5 years ago) was illegal or against regulations or something. So there was no hot water starting at 9am yesterday. Thus, I skipped my run yesterday.

But I got up and got it in today. I am all sweaty. I guess 60 degrees with sun is too warm for me. I started out and it felt perfect. A little cool to walk but perfect to run. However, the sun made me very warm. Oh well. It was a great run. I was a bit hungry but I think I will find a right balance for early morning runs and food eventually. I actually had enough juice to do an 8th run interval. It meant this time I don't have a recorded cool down but I am okay with that. The last run felt good.

I haven't mentioned that I tried a new way to lace my shoes lately. I laced around the highest point on my instep. That seems to be helping. If my instep doesn't get sore then I think I keep a more even form and have less blister issues. I am glad one of my Team AllEars teammates posted an article on that.

Anyway so my average pace was 13:45/mi for 3.12 miles. And I finished my run in 42:56.25 minutes. I think I finally found a good run pace. Today I decided to not worry so much about my run pace and focus on my breathing. This helped me not feel as wiped after each run interval. But somehow I settled in to a pace that would drop below the 10 minutes per mile pace right before my run interval was up. So it averaged above 10 minutes per mile in pace for the whole interval. I felt like I wasn't blowing as hard after each interval and while it still felt like it was a little bit of a struggle to stay slower, I didn't feel like I was fighting myself. Not too shabby.

HOT!

So I went for my run at 11 am this morning to try to beat the heat. Should have left earlier. Cause now I am sitting here dripping sweat and trying to sip my chocolate milk without feeling like I am going to be sick. The temp jumped from around 73 to 81 between 11am and 12pm. Oh the joys of being sensitive to heat. At least now I can hide in the mostly cool house until tonight. Except, I gotta empty the kitty litter boxes and refill them. Lovely!

However, the run was not bad. Besides the sun beating down on me and having a bit of trouble with my breathing it felt pretty good. I had to slow down a lot on my cool down walk so my time wasn't as good as it could have been. I worked very hard not to go too fast but my body wanted to go faster today. There is a pace (under 10/mile) that feels amazing when I hit it but I know I should keep myself under that pace. SO HARD! I did hit my stride in my last run interval and stopped noticing how hard it was to breathe. Felt really good. My average pace this time was 14:09/mile and it took me a total of 44:13.29 to run 3.12 miles. Not too shabby.

Man, I have been bad.

Tuesday I couldn't seem to drag myself out of the house. Mike got home and I still hadn't gone for my run. It was a day where my body was demanding food ever 2 hours or so or else I got dizzy and shaky. So Mike convinced me to go on a walk with him. We did 2.5 miles. It was a very nice walk.

*GRUMBLE*

So I went out for my 6.1 mile walk today. Well, that failed. I didn't even get 1.5 miles into it before my knee and hip decided to tighten up like I have been struggling with. Very frustrating. Luckily, I hadn't gone past the point of no return where most of my bail points are behind me. So I had to cut my walk short. I only managed 2.20 miles and of course my pace sucked. I kept around a 15 minute pace for the first mile and then had to slow down or risk being in excruciating pain by the time I got home. Oh well. I can't try again tomorrow but I can try again for distance next Saturday. Do it when Mike is home and bring my phone just in case. Perhaps some preemptive pain killers next time. I might try to go back out for a bit more if my hip and knee relax later tonight.