I am SPAZZZING OUT!!!!!!!!

In less the a few hours I leave for NYC! I am going to run a freaking marathon, people!. Holly crap! I am so excited, but I wish I had more time to prepare. I feel terribly bloated and I am fighting a very slight cold, but I am sure that neither is nothing that a little running wont take care of. I am off to bed. I have to get up at 3:15AM for my flight. Wish me luck! I take prayers too.

Thank you all for your support!

Much Luvin,

Chris

1 Week to the Day to Go.

My last long run before the Marathon is now behind me. I only have cross-training, 2 three mile runs and 1 two mile run, before resting for the big day. A weird kind of sadness has descended upon me. I hear that when people put forth so much effort and time into a project, such as planning their wedding, marathon training, graduating from college; once the deed has been completed some descend into a depression over the loss of what for that time had defined them for so long.

I would prefer not to fall into that category. My plan is to try to accomplish those items, which seem to sit around on my “to do" list and never seem to be completed. Learn conversational Spanish. Go skydiving. Complete a new series of artwork and look into having a show. Take a trip to Europe (hello, second job). Get a professional designation to help with my career. Will I do all these things? Maybe. But it’s the journey I enjoy more than the destination.

I am currently worried about whether or not I am adequately prepared for this marathon. My injury appears to be recovered. But on my last run (7.25 miles), honestly, I felt like crap. It's not a confidence booster. I have run 20 miles - twice. Logic tells me that if nothing else I can run/walk 20 freaking miles. So then I should be able to do the same on race day. Right? It's most likely that a massive case of PMS has hit me; which has the same affect on most women of making me a tad moody.

I just spent an amazing weekend at the beach with some of the most beautiful women of Oregon. They are all very inspiring to me. Mothers, sisters and friends all empowered in their own unique way. I'll be thinking of you all while I am in NYC!

1 Week till NYC!

With only one week left till race day, my excitement is almost uncontainable.  My long run this weekend is only 8 miles.  For those of you that would like to join me at the Oregon coast, here is my route for Saturday Morning - about 10am-ish.

Email me if your planning on joining me.  Hope to see you then! - Chris

Two weeks till race day...

I am still in my tapper period (LOVE IT) and now I am planning my trip to NYC. I am so excited! I have realized that I won’t be able to complete my race in less than 5 hours, but I will complete it (in NYC and how freaking cool is that going to be?)! My last long run was good (13 miles) and my knee has recovered. That injury was the result of inadequate stretching. Damn the IT band! Who knew?! So now I am stretching every day and I hope that it will prepare me for race day. My next run is 8 miles - it feels like a gift, really. Who would have thought that I would have looked at an 8 mile run two years ago and thought, "Yeah, that's just a short run!” I laugh, but part of me can’t stop thinking, "hell, if I can do this, is childbirth really such an insurmountable ordeal?", for the moment - yes.

Whiskers on kittens, tapering, brown paper packages tide up with string – these are some of my favorite things…

Ah, tapering, how I have so looked forward to you. I have longed for this time for months now. But alas, our time together is short and tainted by an annoying injury to my knee.
It was on my last long run. I had planned to run 21 to 23 miles and picked Forest Park (Portland, OR) as my spot. I haven’t done much hill work and I though that if I took it slow and easy that it would be a great last run. I was excited for my last long run and was strangely looking forward to it. At mile marker zero I felt good and started my pre-run warm-up walk. I walk for at least 10 minutes at the start of my long runs. You may be able to break into a gentle jog from the get go, but unless its race day – no way for me. I felt good, no worries. I began my slow jog, a pace I planned on maintaining throughout my entire run. Somewhere in the 12-13 minute mile pace. Things were going fine. Now I should state that Forest Park at mile marker zero starts out as an incline (the Leaf Erickson trail) and continues to be an incline the whole damn way to mile marker 8 (as far as I have ever gone on that trail). At mile four and curious sensation started in my right knee, right outside of the knee I should say. I felt a weird loose numbing pain. The pain was nothing really to write home about, so I continued my run. By mile marker 8, the annoying “loose” feeling had turned to a full blown pain and forced me to start a shuffling walk back to mile marker zero (now only 8 miles away). I called my running coach and she informed me to call it a day, of which I reluctantly agreed.
This annoying pain refusesd to go away! What the hell? I have rested my knee (which meant –no running for a solid week) and still it continuesd to be bothersome. Well tonight no more. In less than two weeks is my race and I’ll be damned if a wonky knee is going to keep me down! I will run, damn it!
Please look for my next post about knee replacement surgery and the high cost of pride.

Correction on my previous post of September 6, 2009.

You CAN become insanely bored on a treadmill. Anything over the 2 hour marker should suffice to drive you suitably insane.  Better yet, have your IPod either die on you or refuse to play anything but your 70's Disco Mix; that should be enough for you to strangle the coughing, hacking, perfume doused bastard next you.