What an Awesome Adventure

We are an awesome bunch. I am sincere in this. I looked around the room on Sunday and was astounded by the transformations ! We were pumpin out push-ups and crankin out sit-ups and running miles in shorter times (in some cases, really shorter times) and all with smiles on our faces. I remember going to the initial fitness test with such trepidation. I know I was not the only one! But Sunday, all I saw was pure joy. There are a few mental snapshots of these 12 weeks that I can draw on when I need inspiration, but the smiles on our faces as we wound this up will be among the strongest. Isn't it wonderful to have done something so important and know that you will be an inspiration to those around you?

Congratulations to all of us! I could not have had a better group to spend the last 12 weeks with!

Making Progress

Although a certifiable pain, the air cast is definitely working. I don't have pain with every step I take. I did an interval workout on a stationary bike yesterday that was challenging and more importantly, doesn't seem to have left any marks.
I am so proud of you guys that are participating in "Race for the Cure" on April 18th. I have participated for many years and actually ran it last year. That event is what created the itch to try training for the Mini! I am very sad that I will not be able to do this with you, but I will be with you in spirit. It is a gratifying and emotional event. I have wonderful memories of last years race. So with everything else, I have a story about it. My husband Rick was volunteering at the Zoo that Saturday morning (as he does every Saturday) so he came out to the road to wait for me to pass. It was pouring down rain....(I was having so much fun that I didn't realize how hard it was raining!). When I passed by Elephant hill I heard Rick call to me. There he was standing under an umbrella. I ran up the hill to give him a kiss. He told me that I felt like a popsicle! When I ran back to join my fellow runners, a guy in the crowd asked if I was going to get a kiss at every mile! I told him to keep up with me to see!
I hope everyone enjoys their recovery week.

Finally I know what I have been knowing

Well......I am just back from the Sports Medicine doc. As I feared, I do have a stress fracture in my left tibia. But there is good news to this. I am in an air cast instead of a boot and only for 3-4 weeks. My bad news is no Mini Marathon. I am really disappointed but know that there are far worse things out there. I will heal and be back running in as few as three weeks! In the meantime, I have to brush up on my swimming strokes as that and cycling are about the only aerobic things I can do. But I can do them and will. It's a relief to me just to finally know what's going on.

In the keeping it real category, I just happen to be reading a book that is keeping me grounded instead of singing the woes. As I state in my blog bio I am originally from South Louisiana, a little town 45 miles southwest of New Orleans called Houma. Close enough to New Orleans that growing up, I could put the car on auto pilot and get there in ......well fast. I with the rest of the nation watched in horror as the flooding and aftermath of Hurrican Katrina unfolded. I cried for days because the places that they showed (the Gulf coast as well because I had family in Gulfport, Mississippi) were so familiar to me. I know that it is hard for people who aren't don't know the South Louisiana people found it hard to understand why these people didn't just leave, but I understood. I knew it was a terrible mistake, but people from that area just don't leave when a storm is brewing. Home is all they have in most cases. They just can't bear to leave it to fate. I am reading a book called "The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous" that tells the story of a group of shrimpers that road out the storm in a place called Violet Canal which is south and east of New Orleans. They went through the worst of the storm, including too many tornadoes to count and storm surges of 20 to 25 feet from more than one direction on their shrimp boats and lived to tell about it. They were heroic in their rescue of stranded folks and were courageous in their attempts to keep life going because they were forgotten......for days. The author happens to be an acquaintance of mine from my home town that now writes for The Wall Street Journal which has made it even more special.

My point to all of this is that reading this couldn't have come at a better time for me. To read about these people's resilience in the face of a terrible tragedy and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, it serves as a reminder that life throws you big curveballs and little curveballs. This is a little curveball that will be better in a blink.
Thanks for reading. Hope all of you are healthy and doing well.

Back from a Set Back

Hi everyone. I have been away from the blog for too long! I have been down with an injury......just when you think that things are going so well and couldn't get any better, BAM! Two Sundays ago I was out for my 7 mile run on the Monon. It was a great day and I was anxious to add a half mile on to my longest ever endeavor. About three miles into it, my left ankle started feeling funny - not hurting exactly just funny. By three and a half and time for me to turn around and head back, it was really hurting. I stopped to give it a break, walked a bit and it seemed better. Running didn't feel any worse than walking so I ran. By the time I was done stretching, steaming and showering, it hurt to put weight on it. I got home, tried ice, then a wrap but nothing helped. Called the doc Monday morning and after a horrible experience including being told that I shouldn't expect to be able to do that AT MY AGE, I was told that it was probably a stress fracture. I cannot tell you how down I felt. It literally knocked all the wind out of my sails. I saw my Mini go out the window. I saw all kinds of implications about fragile bones. I was really low. I let Chris know what was going on Tuesday and after a long telephone conversation, I felt better than I had since this all happened. He gave me hope and we talked about plan B :>)
Now to the good news.......after an xray and a CT scan, I do not have a stress fracture. I am seeing a sports medicine doc tomorrow who specializes in running injuries. Hopefully, he will tell me that it is tendonitis or all because of my running shoes or something and that if I lay low for a couple of weeks, all will be well. That is what I am directing my energy towards.
I am back doing what I can as far as strength training, but I really have to watch it. Even yoga hurts right now. That makes me so sad, but I know that it is temporary.
I have missed interacting with all of you and plan on being at Au Bon Pain at the least this Saturday. It's not that I didn't want to be there, but I felt so low, that I didn't feel I had anything to share.
But I want to thank all of you that got in touch with me for your support. It means so much to me.
See you Saturday.

10K - it was a really good day

Today was a really good day! I ran in the 10K training run for the Mini - Marathon. I had never run 6.4 miles before and ran it with a time of 61:34. This is so exciting for me. I was totally focused and enjoyed it so much. I learned how to pace myself so I didn't ever feel a struggle. I chose not to listen to my iPod. I have been leaving it behind about half of the time lately, although I do love my tunes while I run. But I wanted to soak up the whole experience. I found that I loved the sound of my fellow runner's feet around me. It hit me immediately when I took off at the start. I was somehow comforted by hearing all those tennies hit the pavement. I found that even if I find a perfect running partner to run stride for stride with me one day, I will never be a talker when I run. When I ran past people that were jabbering away, I didn't like it. I found that it gave me a real sense of satisfaction to pass people! Okay that is my ego talking, but evil Ginger sometimes doesn't cut herself alot of slack! I found that thanking the volunteers and policemen that were out there made me feel really good. I found that walking through the water stations and actually getting the water down my throat was a really good idea! Those 30 second breaks made a world of difference. I also found that my having a husband that is willing to be my roadie is one of life's greatest gifts! Whatta guy!
I know that I've got a long way to go to be ready for May, but I know that my BTWG training will give me what I need to do that.
Sorry to have missed Chris' class and missed being with all of you. But I was there in spirit and I know that you were with me too!

Whew What a Week!

I am so glad that week 6 is over. It was one of those weeks that I kept getting in my own way. It started out really great - my relationship with my intervals is still very good. I can't say exactly that I love them anymore since I am doing the minute ones, but I do know that intervals are probably the biggest reason why my running is getting so much stronger, so I have a guarded appreciation for the exercise! Anyway after Tuesday one thing led to another and I was unable to do my Wednesday and Thursday workouts. Project grad Matt made a statement at one of our Saturday get togethers that rang so true for me after last week. Having to miss those workouts did make me feel cheated. But I showed the fates! I did both my strength workouts on Friday. Boy, did I pay for it in yoga class Saturday, but the good news is that I made it through them and yoga class too.
I ran as scheduled on Sunday and knocked a little time off my run, so I think I am back on track.

I just wanted to say thanks to all who were at Saturday's get together after Chris' class. I left with such a great warm feeling. The room was full of "Good, good, good good Vibrations" as the Beach Boys would say. Pam bringing in that wonderful childs book with Bob Dylan's words was really awesome. I have an absolutely precious great niece and great nephew and two more babies soon to be born. I always make sure to buy them feel good about yourself books. They each have Dr. Seuss' "Oh, The Places You Will Go" and a lovely book called "On the Night You Were Born". I am going to order each of them the Bob Dylan book as well.

I am glad to be starting Week 7 - I just can't believe it! Spring is right around the corner. Saturday is the 10K prerace in preparation for the Mini. I am really excited about it. I will have a much better idea of how prepared I am after that. But with this great training, I really think I will be ready. Good night and good luck to all of us this week!

Lawd Lawd Month II is hawd!

Month 2 Day 3- I can barely move my arms this morning......My husband had to cut my steak last night. Wow! Four different types of pushups. What masochist sat around and invented different kinds of pushups? All I know is I never want to be a Hindu if that's the pushups they have to do! PU as I like to call them has always been my "Achilles Heal" so that is why I know they are important, but it was all I could do to get them done. I am not making it all the way through the reps, but I'll get there.
But.....as in all things in my life I do have a funny story. There is a surprise benefit to muscle failure that I never knew before that I would like to share. My husband Rick was in the kitchen putting together our dinner while I was in the living room doing the strength workout. I really was struggling......I was groaning and (blush) moaning alot. Rick peeked his head around the door and gave me the suggestive Groucho Marx eyebrow raise and then went back in the kitchen. I did the rest of the strength workout and moved on to the bonus round and core/ab and the groaning and (blush) moaning increased. Once again there's Groucho. So when I finally got done with abs and core I went in to the kitchen and said "What!!!!????" Rick shyly smiled and said "That was really hot, like $24.95 a minute hot."
Who knew?