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So I’ve recovered enough from yesterday’s marathon to be conscious. Just don’t ask me to go up or down any stairs.

I was hoping that my second marathon could be injury free- didn’t happen.
I wrote a few weeks ago that I had some trouble on my last long run before the taper. So I’ve been babying it since. It came back with a vengeance.

The first eight miles flew by. We ran through a little farming town. Lots of pastures and horses. In fact I swear the horses were looking at all of us saying, “Wait…people run? Well what do you need to ride us for?”

After the eight miles, we got to the canyon. But to start going down it, we had to run up first. Big hill. BIG hill. But, it was pretty funny to watch people try to barrel up full speed, then sputter to a walk.

Before I knew it, I was running through the starting line for the half marathon. I’d made pretty good time for the first thirteen miles, about 2:07 I think. I got excited thinking about not only beating 5 hours, but maybe beat 4:30. Cue right leg.

Before hitting the fourteen mile marker, the earlier training pains were back. My knee hurt on the side, and tight pulling shot up my flank and through my lower back. But I grit my teeth and ran through it anyway, sticking to my run walk method. Unfortunately, I probably altered my running form to compensate for the IT Band injury. By mile 18, my left kneecap felt like it had been whacked by loan shark from Jersey. I could run through the tight tearing pain up and down my right leg, but the sharp stabbing pain under the left patella was not workable.

What to do now? Give up and catch a ride to the finish? Not a chance. When in doubt, keep moving forward. At a much slower pace, but forward nonetheless.

The left knee pain immediately ceased with the walking, but the right leg was still sucking though. Just six miles left. I would finish.

I modified my walk into a speedwalk, and stopped taking the slow walk breaks every half mile. When I did the math in my head, with my great first half, I could still beat the five hour mark if I kept my pace around 12:30 per mile. That is more than a fast walk, that’s a jog. But the impact of a jog was too jarring on the knee. Oh well I had to try.

I can only imagine that I looked like a robot on speed. My leg was pretty well locked up, the knee not bending anymore. My arms were swinging a hundred miles an hour. My head lowered with what I imagined as a fierce look of determination on my face. Most likely, it really looked like a constipated bull with the grimace and flared nostrils.

In the last few miles, nearly everyone was struggling. Half were walking slowly, the other half doing the runner zombie shuffle. I can speedwalk faster than both of those. One man that passed me a few miles ago had lapsed into zombie mode. He recognized me as I passed him and dubbed me “the little runner that could”, impressed that I was still trucking even my walk now had a pronounced limp. I couldn’t afford to slow down. I still had a chance to beat the five hour time, but it would be close.

I gave my last burst of speed at a quarter mile to the finish. Ran past my hubby and two kids on the sideline, cheering and giving me the strength to push past the pain. I crossed the finish arch at four hours and fifty-five minutes after I started. The girl at the end put a medal around my neck and herded me to the side before I passed out.

My husband, bless his heart, was ready with the car and ice packs. It was over, the countless hours of running through dark mornings, rain, and other crap had finally paid off. They had prepared me to be in good physical condition, but more importantly, it gave me the will and discipline to keep pushing when it didn’t feel like I had anymore to give.

So here I am, the day after. My legs hurt like you don’t even want to know. But I’m still ecstatic that I reached my goal of a 5 hour marathon. I’ll tell you a little secret though… I would still be just as happy if I didn’t. As long as I shuffled across the finish line, it could have been an 8 hour marathon. The accomplishment would be the same. Finishing.

Thanks for sticking with me everyone . I really appreciate all the support I’ve gotten through emails, messages, and Facebook.

So what’s next? First, mastering the stairs without crying. Next, probably building up the muscles I’ve burned by the long distance running.

Time to tone up. After I’ve healed that is.

Polls show that women are hitting the gym in record numbers. So can you guess what else has gone up in record numbers? The number of women seeking treatment for sports injuries.

Sometimes its hard to know just how much is enough. Doing too much before your body is ready can lead to overuse injuries. Another key factor in this comes from working out too hard and not giving your body enough fuel to repair itself.

Listen to your body. Being sore is one thing. It’s even good. But agonizing pain when you walk or raise your arm, not so good.

When a friend told me I needed a tagline, I came up with “Having fun on the page”. Because that’s what I like to do. Be playful, light, maybe a little snarky. If I’m having fun writing , hopefully it means that the reader can have fun reading.

Lately, I have not been having fun. And it shows. My writing feels labored and forced. I’m just trying to get my character from point a to point b. Nobody has fun walking in a straight line.

My shoulders and my brain are weighed down, wondering- Is this sentence good enough? I used to able to just crank scenes out. Now I find myself second guessing whether something is worth reading.

Recently I went to LDS Storymakers conference. There were so many of my author idols in one room, it was sweat inducing. I met so many new friends, both published and published. I also went to a lot of great classes and learned things that I wouldn’t have thought of before.

But now I find myself thinking too much. I’m having trouble constructing sentences for fear that Darth Editous (yes I’m looking at you Tristi) would make my paper bleed red.

I think one of my biggest problems is that I am trying to edit before I even write it. I am worried that I don’t have enough character development, or that the plot is too simple.

Plain and simple, I am squishing my own creativity. I need to find the fun parts of the story again. After its on the page, I can worry about grammar, or whether I say was too often. I need to overcome the fear that it won’t be enough. If it’s not enough the first time, I will just have to tweak it until it is.

But I guarantee it will never be enough if I can’t even get it on the page.

And where’s the fun in that?

Definition of ZAFTIG

I will admit I was stumped by this one. I went in search of a new favorite words starting with X. I found it.

Xanthippe is an ill tempered woman. Taming of the shrew anyone? Yesterday, that described me to a T. Everything around me was uber irritating. The house, the kids, the big kid I’m married to. Nothing pleased me. I was a xanthippe.

So next time somebody calls you a something that starts with B and ends in itch, just tell them you’re a xanthippe. It’ll shut them up and they’ll have to go look it up in the dictionary. And they’ll probably look in Z.

This a-z challenge has been fun, but I’m tired. Blogging everyday on not one, but two sites has tuckered me out. So I’m giving myself a well deserved Timeout.

A key to exercise and weight loss that is often overlooked… breathing.

When you are in the middle of something particularly hard

Here’s a little something I read.

If you cut off 100 calories a day, (that’s either by limiting your snack intake or walking one mile a day), you should lose 10 pounds over the course of a year.

Conversely, if you add a 100 calories over your daily budget, you will gain 10 pounds a year.

Scary to think that 5 stinkin extra starbursts a day could make you gain 10 pounds if you do that for a year.

Ok so it’s the end of the week. You’re tired. The weekend is almost upon you. Do you feel like maybe this week hasn’t gone as planned?

Well every Friday I am going to suggest an exercise for your mind and spirit.

Today I want you to think up on thing you need to do today. It can be something on your to do list or a goal you want to meet.
Here’s some suggestions from my previous Fridays:
Track down funky smell from kitchen
Wash all ten baskets of laundry
Get through entire day without sugar
Get through entire day without yelling at kids

Be serious or have fun with it. The important thing is to make sure it gets done. Move heaven and earth if you have to. Just get er done.

The goal of this exercise is to prove to yourself that you can achieve your goals with a little will umph and intent. I promise that after you finish it you will feel a rush of satisfaction of actually doing what you said you’d do.

I personally do this everyday. I find it makes me feel more accomplished and helps build my self esteem because I feel like I made a difference and have control in my life

Like the little kid off the cereal commercial says “Try it, you’ll like it”

Thursdays are going to be my random thought, fact or observation.

 Here’s a little FYI  The by-the-slice Food court Cheese Pizza at Costco is 700 calories. That’s for one slice people.  I used to estimate it at 350 tops.  ehhh wrong. The next time I’m in costco looking at that pizza, I’m gonna decide if that cheesy goodness is worth 700 calories of my daily budget. Some days yes, some days no. But at least I won’t underestimate it again