Blisters, Blisters, and more blisters!

I have been running about a month, and i am still getting blisters.  I think part of it is i am not letting them completely heal, but most of it is because my feet are not used to being treated like this.  So basically what is happening is I will run, it will heal in about a week by my next run, but a new blister will just develop right underneath it after that run.  Can you say annoying!!!  

(Its hard to tell in this picture but where its read in the middle a new blister is forming under the dried skin, Part of the white on top is the old skin, an part is a new blister.  And then its hard to see but a new one is forming at the very bottom where its a red color under the white.)

Ok so i totally know you wanted to see a picture of my very veiny foot!!! haha

With that said today i kept my run to 3 miles.  My feet were really sore because i ran 3 miles yesterday so they just couldn't do a long run.  Even only doing 3 miles i was exhausted i had been outside all day and was a little dehydrated and then ran around 2 in the afternoon, in a 75 degree sunny day.  

While this may not have been great weather to run in, it couldn't have been any better to ride in.  

It was just such a nice perfect day.  I rode for a good 2 hours, in a freshly graded arena.  Ok, to make it even better, my dad did not just grade it he also smoothed it out so the arena was even.  Let me explain that, so especially with barrel racing, the arena develops what we call "holes" basically in certain spots dirt goes down a little bit from so much use.  So he got rid of all the holes and its was so nice to ride in.  It's good for horses to go a while without shoes to let their feet grow out, since I'm gone its a good time for that, so the horses don't have shoes which made it even nicer that the arena was soft.  Not to mention the fact that if i get bucked off it wont hurt near as bad.  haha.  

Before the ride started i thought today was going to be my day to get bucked off.  My dad likes to run the horses around when they havn't been ridden but i don't like that so he took Sixer "his horse" and I left my horse (Classy) in the pen.  The way the barn is set up, you cant see what is going on in the arena if they are in the pin, and man did Classy not like that.  I have never seen him so crazy before.  He was pawing at the fence, running into it, practically nocking me out with his head, rearing up a little.  I had to let his halter go so he didn't get himself all tangled up.  I just knew i was in for a real treat today.  So to get out some of his energy i lunged him.  Lunging is just tying a long rope to there halter and making them run in circles around you while your on the ground.  It is also a pretty good indicator of how they are going to act for the day, without you getting hurt.  He was perfect on the lunge line and rode perfectly.  Classy was very receptive, didn't even throw a fit when Sixer got to be put up and he didn't.  I was in shock.  

(my favorite place to be)

Can you tell nobody has roped in a long time.  Look at all the weeds.

To make the day even better, my parents are taking to my favorite restaurant tonight.  While some may think ok thats nice, it actually is really nice when your favorite restaurant is in a town 45 minutes away.  I don't think i could be anymore spoiled.  

All in all, today was and is the best day i have had in a very long time!!

7 miles... no i think ill do 8.

When training typically I am supposed to add a mile each week.  Since last week was six miles today I should have done 7.  Actually it is supposed to be my relaxing week, and I am only supposed to run 4 miles, but i just couldn't make myself stop.  What really happened was at mile 5.25 i stopped to get a drink of water and accidentally ended my workout.  So, since i was past an even number i decided ok i have to do 2 more miles to make it the seven but if i did that then i would be above seven so i said hey do 8 and end on a solid number.  So that is what I did.  I had to stop and get water twice and go to the rest room.  So it wasn't completely done without stopping, but at 8 miles I have to start hydrating myself and the rest room, well out of my control.  haha!! So really i did 8 miles without stopping.  

My run was extremely hard.  Probably because of my food consumption yesterday.  Yesterday i ate cookies and had frozen yogurt and even 2 pieces of bacon, and all in the afternoon to night.  Yes, I know great diet right???  Since i ate so much yesterday I didn't eat breakfast because i was still stuffed.  Typically i think that would not be such a big deal but my blood sugar must have been low because i was a little dizzy at the end.  Also my right knee was killing me.  It started to hurt a little at mile 3, but it was pretty normal, not even pain just annoyance.  By mile 5 it was killing me.  I had to stop at the light, (did i mention i hate stoplights) and tried to walk it out.  I found it hurt so much worse when walking than running.  I couldn't even walk on it.  I ended up having to stop again at the next stoplight and could not walk at all.  It was excruciating.  However, since it did hurt more walking i made myself do the last mile instead of stopping at 7, convincing myself that it needed to be walked out and this would make me walk at least 1/2 a mile back to my house.  Also, telling myself that if it could run 7 it would have no problem running 8.

As you can see, i just have to trick my mind all the time to make myself go farther, or faster.  I don't have the endurance yet that these runs are easy and just a fun little stroll they are still hard for me, but at the end i feel great.

When i came back home, my roommate and her friend (an attractive guy) were on the couch.  Apparently they saw me leave to start my run like an hour and a half earlier and he goes, "have you been running this entire time."  When i replied yes, he then asked "How many miles did you do." He seemed very impressed.  Also around tempe town lake there are stables with horses and cattle.  Today there were lots a cowboys working and saddling the the horses.  Real cowboys too.  Maybe there is still hope for tempe after all.

No more taco bell for me!

So i love to read about celebs running.  Maybe it makes them feel more real or maybe that me running is somehow cool.  I don't know.  I had heard about Alison Sweeney doing a 10k a little while ago so I decided to look up her time.  6.2 miles in 53 minutes and 23 seconds.  Thats like an 8:30 - 8:40 pace.  I was so upset by this.  I have watched her on the biggest loser for forever, and always thought i am in better shape than her.  As long as i can outrun the host on the biggest loser then i am good.  Man did I just got told.  I guess that means its time for diet, and extreme training.  Since my marathon is not till October and it shouldn't take me that long to train i am going to spend some extra time trying to get my speed up.

Now that i just explained my embarrassment i went for a run today.  However, I didn't really work on my speed.  I made sure i wasn't going to slow but nothing too crazy.  Therefore I ran a 5k at a 10:26 pace.  I have a long way to go.  My goal is to beat my run time each time.  So saturday my goal for this weekend of 7 miles is to beat my six mile pace of 11:50.  Yes, I am embarrassed to say my pace was almost 12 minutes a mile.  I know long runs are supposed to be really slow even 1 to 2 minutes slower than your shorter runs, and so i didn't even think about my pace and often forget that I'm running on longer runs, so my pace definitely suffers.  I just need to get back to my normal 9 minute pace.  So basically i have to run everyday that I can, eat extremely healthy, and push myself.  

On a more positive note, i have not drank a soda or sports drink since saturday, that is four days.  Go me!  Ok that really is not a big deal, and not even a big deal to me, its just a conscious effort that I have to make happen, now more than ever!  Also My Nike GPS hit 101 miles today.  I hardly used the nike plus before now because I had to use the sensor which i was always worried about falling off, so on long runs it was just too stressful and short runs i always felt that there was no need for it because i pretty well knew how far everything was and basically stuck to the same route. Since i have started January 14 i have ran 29.89 miles.  So basically my running has stunk, i have ran a little more than a marathon in an entire month.  Dang school is getting in my way.

So this was not the most positive post, but now i just have more drive.

Saturdays goal 7 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Marathon goal under 4:20.

Virtual Run for Sherry Arnold

As most people in the running community know, today was the virtual run for Sherry Arnold. Sherry Arnold was a avid runner, a school math teacher, a wife, and a well respected individual.  One morning about a month ago in a small town, Sherry was abducted and believed to be murdered.  Sherry went for her typical saturday morning run.  She was believed to be abducted about ten minutes after six, about a mile from her home.  Coming from a small town, being active, and running in town i always thought i was safe, but this proves otherwise.  We need to be careful.  For those of you who did not know about this, today in this beautiful running community a virtual run was set in place by her cousin.  People all over the world ran virtually in honor of Sherry.

I ran 6 miles today for Sherry and definitely had my own scare.  So I like to run around tempe town lake because there is not a lot of stop lights that make you stop running (or when driving make you push the brakes)  So annoying right!  Its also a beautiful view.  However, because i run a lot further than the actual "lake" at tempe town lake, I run west to priest road to get an extra mile in.  Seeing as people would rather run with the view of the lake not many people run that far west, therefore it was pretty much just me and a strange guy.   (the road is like a T so you can run and turn left or right so he is on the right which is where i was going to be running)  So this guy looks at me and stops and stands still leaning against a pole (to the right of the T) staring at me.  So i stop to see what he does acting like i'm stretching but keeping my eye on him the entire time  He just stays there and stares, eventually he gets tired of waiting and starts walking towards me (so he walks left) so I practically sprint the other way so going south which you can take left to get towards all the people, in which he turns completely around and follows me.  Luckily nothing happened and i never saw him again. Obviously he was a creep.  So running buddies, run where there are lots of people around and at close distance. (Now if your not confused about directions then i am impressed, if you are then ill be more than happy to explain it to you!)

Ok and now onto a more positive note, i ran 6 miles today.  Go me!  It was such a nice run, not difficult at all, my breath was not labored and my legs are not sore.  Definitely a good run.  But i really need to wake up earlier because by the end of my run its like 11:30 and extremely hot.  I think the weather got confused on what month it is, but i am definitely not complaining because I HATE THE COLD!!!  Its just so hard for me to wake up early on saturday because its my only day to sleep in.  :(

So instead of doing homework I went and watched and old friend play in the ASU softball tournament.  Ash plays for BYU so I spent the entire day watching her as well as other teams play.  I got a nice little tan!
Oh and i watched texas tech kick U of A's butt!  I had to hold in my excitement because i was with Ashlee's family and she used to play for them, but inside i was loving every minute of it.  I found myself cheering a few times for texas without even realizing.  Oops!

Running through bugs in Arizona???

First long run of the training program.  Ok i am too cheap to pay for training programs so i look up examples of ones and make my own that fit into my schedule.  I am also a college student and don't have a set schedule ever, so my main focus is the long runs.  As i mentioned today was my first, and my hammy's are feeling it.  i had planned on running in the evening so it would be cooler and i could get some homework in.  What was i thinking i'd rather run then do homework so in my own way of procrastinating i ran instead.  However this put my run in pheonix arizona an noon, not my brightest idea.  Can you say hot!!!  Well since I am sure you are wondering, my "long run" isn't really a long run it was only 5 miles, but it sure felt longer than that.  Curious does my nike plus GPS work right??  Actually that is a serious question because i ran at it told me i was at 2.5 miles and i kept running in the same direction for another at least quarter to half a mile and then turned around and i still finished my five miles at the exact same place i started.  Should i have finished at least half a mile early???  Definitely not correct, but it was so hott i didn't know if i was delirious from dehydration, plus i would rather run too much than not enough and realize on race day.  So let me explain the title of this blog.  I was running along great about a mile and a half in and a bug fly's into my eye.  Well, me being my typical don't stop till your finished attitude i just kept running and rubbing my eye to get it out.  (my nose was also running and there was a lot of staring going on.)  No people i was not crying.  It finally stopped hurting so i assumed i got it out.  It was a little irritated but i figured that was normal.  I finally finish my run, treat myself to cafe rio - best restaurant ever!!  A little contradicting to the exercise but oh well.  Eventually i come home a good hour after my run finished and realize my eye is still irritated so i look in the mirror and low and behold the bug is still in my eye.  It was deep on the side so it took some effort to get it out, but almost immediately my eye felt better.  Note to self wear sun glasses on runs around lakes.  All in all 7 miles complete for week 1.  Lets hope week 2 has more miles in it.  I am not promising much since next week is pretty busy. Silly teachers don't they know i have better things to do. :)

So I am your not so typical college girl.  I am 19 years old from a smaller town than most people know.  I really am from that town that a traffic jam in considered 3 cars behind a tractor.  I played every sport you can think of and miss them all dearly.  But there are two things that i will never have to give up.  The first is running, and the second is rodeo.  Yes, you heard right i love to run.

I was that girl in high school who decided i think i want to run a marathon.  (Ok most high schools don't have that girl, but you can pretend.)  I was 15 years old and everyone around me seemed to be training for something.  Ok maybe not everyone, but my gymnastics coach was training for one with my volleyball coach (yes i did mention it was a small town.)  My sister had the brilliant idea of doing a half.  So i started training right after volleyball season.  My coach was like Jillian Michaels on the biggest loser, but on steroids.  Lets just say I wanted to be in shape for the next year so i decided ill run a half with my sister.  Well a few months later, i completed my first marathon.  My sister her first half, and since then i have not had quite the same desire to do another.  For me, i think it was more of the title.  I have since come to the conclusion that what you do in high once your out of high school does not matter anymore, and if i wanted to call myself a marathoner i have to have done a few.  It also does not hurt that running this much allows me to eat whatever i want and still look like i watch my food consumption.

Now I am 19 years old and finally getting myself back into that same shape of running a marathon.  Best advice i can give someone. Don't stop running after you've completed your goal just make another.  So here i go training for the Chicago marathon.  I started running last week and between nursing school and midterms i havn't done a ton, but i have a solid start.  My starting runs 5 miles at 11 minute pace. (I better be below 10 minutes before marathon day.)  Since this is my first blog, I'm going to say today was my first run and i ran 2 miles at 11 minute pace.