May 24, 2010

Well, it has been a long week back at work. I had been feeling off since the Frederick Half. I got up quickly and my balanace was off. A couple of days later I felt like my left ear was clogged and needed to pop. Never had any issues with my ears even with my long history of allergies. I took a long car trip to Indy without any issues. Coming back to work I saw the RN at the health ctr that said there was a lot of fluid in the left ear and thought it was an onset of sinus infection. That would be explaining my balance issues. Started on Mucinex 2X a day for 7 days to try and drain me. Just started nasal spray yesterday 5/23 but when I woke this morning and opened my mouth I felt clicking on my right ear. Just what I need right-I am a mess and it just seems like it takes something else than I forget about my current issue. I am going to schedule an appt with an ENT if I still feel like this at the end of the week. Going on the internet does not help either since people say they have the clogged feeling for years-what!!! I can't live like this. Feeling nauseous in the car whether driving or riding. I am hoping I can say I feel normal soon...whatever that is.

Marine Corps Historic Half

Went down to Fredericksburg with Lindsay to run the Marine Corps Historic Half. The weather was getting warm again we went to the expo and picked up the packet and bib. Glad Lindsay was there to show me around we went to University of Mary Washington and looked around where she went to college. We ate dinner in downtown at Sammy T's which was good. Went after to get custard at Carl's which I usually don't stray from my normal pre-race meal but hey it was good. It was an early start the next day at 7am but that gave us enough time to get back and shower before heading home. I was expecting the first half to be all downhill. Hello, there were hills I am not sure what people were talking about. There was a miniature horse and therapy dogs at Mile 5 and of course I had to take pictures. Marines were all along the course which was nice. Saw Lindsay at Mile 7.5 with a great sign. The last 3 miles were brutal. It was sunny and warm out and the hills were killer. I finished in 2:54 which I am happy with-of course I always want to do better than 2:45 but I guess finishing is an accomplishment. Stopped at Sonic before going home and got a Powerade slushie-yum. Had my birthday celebration when we got home-a whole lot of food and great gifts-Coach sunglasses...what a surprise can I actually retire the Oakleys???

Pics from Indy!

Indy Mini Marathon 2010

Traveled to Indy for the largest half marathon in the US with more than 35K participants. We drove on Thursday and stopped over in Richmond, IN which was about 70 miles from Indianapolis. We left early the next morning and was actually able to check into the hotel early which was nice. We walked from the hotel to the Indianapolis Zoo. Weather was nice but there were so many field trips so that meant tons of kids. The coolest part of the zoo was getting to pet the dog sharks that swim around in the shark pool. We went back to this twice. Saw the dolphin show that was lively and loved watching the dolphins. Legs feeling a little tired after walking around all day. We than went to the expo to pick up the bib and look around and take some pictures. We left making the decision to go to dinner early (4pm) and would go back to the expo later to look around. We went to the Old Spagetti Factory and it was a good thing that we went early-got seated and the food came quickly. When we were leaving there were people waiting for tables. We went back to the hotel which by the way was right at the Start line-they gave warnings that music would be playing at 6am and also they were doing breakfast early and had special grab bags. After relaxing for a little bit we ventured back to the Expo even though it had started to rain and the wind picked up. There was a tornado warning for the area. Went to bed early trying to get so good rest-woke up to sound checks and couldn't believe it when I looked at my watch and it was only 4:20am. I thought I would be able to sleep until 5:30 but no chance of that. I guess the wind may have knocked things down but this was way early! I wanted to make sure I was in my corrals by 7am because they made it seem like they shut down walkways (which they didn't). I had a mini meltdown when I couldn't find my Garmin-had to take a deep breath and luckily it was found. There were so many people it was crazy. I got in my corral and waited to start moving which was about 20 min after the start we finally go to the front. Off we went and the miles seemed to go a lot quicker than last weekend. I made the decision to go the bathroom before entering the Speedway even though the line was long. Note to self-use it inside the Speedway next time there were no lines! I took a lot of pictures in the Speedway it was just cool seeing thousands of people doing a lap around-2.5 miles is the lap. After the Speedway we were on the way back to downtown. The countdown was on from 3/4 left but I never saw a finish line-usually you can spot it far away. I heard the wind was the issue. The day was very windy especially on the way to the Speedway it was 30-50 mph wind gusts. I bought a finisher's shirt and we looked around-it was hard to tell if the tents were for us or running groups. We didn't have beer tickets and I didn't go into the garden to see if it was free. Maybe it should have been clearer. We went back to the hotel and went to eat at PF Changs-Tom's birthday lunch. We went to the 500 festival at the Speedway which was somewhat disappointing. We did go to White Castle after so check that off the list. We ended up packing a lot into Sunday and went to the Speedway museum got our pictures taken in an Indy car and took a lap around the track in a bus-wish we could have gotten out on the track. We rented bikes and rode around for an hour. Sun was out and we got lawn tickets to the baseball game. Since it was a long day we ended with dinner at the hotel-TGIF!

Great weekend-wish it wasn't so far away otherwise I would be back next year. Maybe 2012 we will be able to go back.

Frederick Half Marathon 2010

Well, what can I say-hot, hot, hot! I knew it was going to be a difficult day when I walked outside at 5:30 am and it was a steambox. I was obsessing all day yesterday about the heat and it hit me right away. It was very slow going and I knew I would be way behind it my time. I wasn't going to come close to my previous time so I just focused on finishing because I did have thoughts of not starting or just going with Tom at mile 10. I got to Wal-mart and Tom was there with cold water and Powerade just what I needed! I had run through some sprinklers throughout the course and people had hoses out for us. After mile 10 there was just so many people walking I couldn't believe it actually. They changed the end we used to go farther up and come into the fairgrounds very close to the finish-this year we turned in and had to go all the to the track where the finish was. I along with a lot of others stopped and walked-I did sprint to the finish and according to my watch finished in 2:58 but I also stopped it for the bathroom break and when I stopped with Tom. I was glad to be done and hoping that the humidity would go away by Saturday for the Mini in Indy.

-Stomach bothering me from the start
-Glad I took the back way to the fairgrounds-easy in and out
-Lost my bottle after the bathroom break-even went back and looked for it
-Glad the sun only came out a few times otherwise it would have been unbearable

Frederick Half Marathon Weekend

I can't believe it is almost 90 degrees out this weekend. All week it has been on the cooler side until we are about to run a race. I am definitely obsessing about the heat-went out and bought a white visor. I don't ever wear a visor or white-hopefully it will deflect some of the heat off my head and keep me cool. I am also hoping that with the 6:30am start we will be done before it gets too warm-the course will also be very sunny with little shade. I am always hoping that I will beat my previous time but I am just be happy with under 2:45 or just finishing. Since about Tues/Wed of this week I have been having the same issues with my arms again as last year. And it is the same time of year which is strange. My arms feel so heavy/weak and I have tingling/numbness again. I feel like I am in a fog especially when driving hope from work at night-I just feel out of it and of course I just keep thinking about it. Last time it lasted for months-had tests, mris and brain scans couldn't find anything. Tested for lime disease and did other blood work-hopefully this just goes away also.

Having the race right here is great-got right into the expo and out easily. I am hoping parking is going to go as smoothly. I plan on taking the back way this year to the fairgrounds. The expo was better than last year but can't wait until Indy which will be huge!