Sooooo Frustrating!!!

I was pretty sore last Monday after the half marathon on Sunday. So, I got out my bike, put it on the trainer, and rode a half hour while watching a tape of "Ed" on Monday. Dave had a "guys night" last Monday so after my ride I fixed myself a bowl of macaroni and cheese and a hot dog (sorry Andrea). I watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and then went to bed. At 2:45 on Tuesday I was awakened by extreme stomach pains. By 3:30 I thought I was going to be sick. And lo and behold...I got sick. And continued to get sick right into midday. Although I did not throw up, I continued to be sick the rest of the week. I only started feeling better Saturday after the doctor gave me medicine to keep me from feeling nauseous. Unfortunately, I haven't run since the half marathon over a week ago. I tried running on Thursday and made it a half mile before I thought I was going to fall over from being dizzy and lightheaded. Today is a new day and I'm going to try to get my mileage over 30 miles this week. I'm also hoping to get back to spinning twice a week and start including swimming again this week. Now if only I could figure out how to raise the seat on my bike?

Last Chance for Boston 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday I ran the Last Chance for Boston 1/2 Marathon. I wasn't planning on going really hard or even enjoying the race, but I did really well. From reading Andrea's blog, I knew she wanted to PR and her PR was already two minutes faster than mine, so I knew I was going to have to work hard. And work hard we did. We started the race off fast and never let up. We were averaging in the 7:45-7:50 range but threw in a 7:38 in the middle to mix it up. I feel bad because I was on the inside, but Andrea did ask to move to the inside and I let her because it was fair, but she moved right back to the outside. The last lap I picked it up to a 7:18 and finished in 1:41:50, which is a new PR and I was first in my age group. I'm pretty sore today, but I'm not planning on doing anything athletic today unless grocery shopping counts as aerobic.


I know you are totally not supposed to rip people's work off like this, but, you know, I'm savvy and who cares? 


This is a pretty good picture of Andrea and I kicking some butt! 

It's been a rough couple of days

I used my eye surgery last Friday as an excuse to splurge and eat poorly. Unfortunately, I've used this excuse for the whole week. I've been eating ice cream, brownies, cookies, candy bars, hamburgers, pizza, and greesy subs. I feel like I weigh 200 pounds! So yesterday my plan was to run 7.6 miles at Sharon Woods. I made it 4 miles and I just couldn't do anymore. I think the poor eating has caught up with me. Even worse, I haven't had time to go to the grocery so the cycle continues. Today I had McDonald's for breakfast and I didn't pack a lunch so I'm sure it will just be more crap for lunch. In addition, I'm just beat down from my lifestyle. I don't think most people could live a day in the life of Meredith. I work 6:00-2:30 (work is a strong word...I sit at a desk and occupy space), I coach track from 3:00-5:00, I run everyday, I take spinning classes twice week, I have Bible study on Wednesdays. I'm more overscheduled than a teenage girl. And I'm just exhausted. I need a day off just to clean the house, do laudry, wash the dishes, go to the grocery store, and catch up on my sleep. Unfortunately, I would probably need more than a day off to do all that! I'm seriously thinking about going home today to get a head start, but I have tickets to OSU's women's game tonight and of course it's with coworkers so how bad would that look if I wasn't at work today. I'm trying to hold out until Monday because my boss is taking that day off and I might play hookie just because I know he's not going to be there. I just really need to physically and mentally reload!

Oh what a beautiful morning..oh what a beautiful day

It was like spring yesterday and it made me really hungry for track season. I had a record numbers at track conditioning yesterday-7. We had a great three mile run. All the school's sports teams were out on the track and it just felt wonderful. Of course today it's supposed to snow, but such is life in central Ohio. I really don't have much more to say. I just thought I'd mention how wonderful it is to run when it's nice outside.

My Eye Surgery

A few people have asked about my eye surgery, so I'm going to give the full version even though it doesn't have anything to do with running.

WARNING! THIS IS GOING TO BE GRAPHIC!

I had my Lasik surgery on Friday. The whole day on Friday I was scared out of my mind. You can ask Dave, my hands were blocks of ice and I was seriously considering backing out of it. But once I got into the doctor's office, I started feeling better. The first thing that happened was that the optometrist took me back and checked my prescription one more time. He answered my remaining questions and reassured me that everything was going to be okay. Then the nurse took me back, had me sign my consent forms, and then gave me my valium. I'm not sure that Valium made a whole lot of difference. Then the nurse put two different sets of eye drops in. The first was a numbing drop and the second was one to fight infections. Then they took Dave and I to a waiting room while they prepped the operating room. There was a television in there where they told Dave he would be able to view the surgery. Then they called me in and laid me on a table and stuck a pillow underneath my knees (like I was going in for an MRI). Then they gave me a teddy bear to hold on to and instructed me not to move my hands or feet during the surgery. The nurse used iodine to clean both my eyes. Then they moved me under the laser machine. A shield was put over my left eye and I was told to keep my left eye open and blink normally. My right eye's eyelashes were taped down and a speculum was put in to hold my eye open. Dr. Beran then put in a million drops and kept touching my eye to make sure I was good and numb. I could feel when he touched around the edges of my eye but I didn't know if I should say anything, so I didn't. Next a ring was placed over my eye that created suction and I lost my vision at that point. Another apparatus was attached to the suction ring that made the flap cut. I don't remember, because it felt like I had a million things in my eye at this point, but Dave said they removed these after the flap was cut. Then the flap was lifted and moved to the side. Dave said this was the scariest part to watch. I guess then, again I don't remember seeing this, a piece of paper or something was laid across the rest of my eye except for the hole the flap created. I was told to stare at the blinking green light and the laser started. The smell was awful. And to think it was the smell of my burning eyeball was totally gross. The nurse would literally yell 25% complete, 50% complete, 75% complete and then a long time seemed to pass before they said it was over. The flap was repositioned and smoothed out and irrigated and monitored for what seemed like forever. Once the right eye was done, then the whole process was started over on my left eye. The left eye hurt a little more. The speculum felt tighter (probably because I was a little more tense) and the vacuum ring seemed to squeeze the heck out of my eyeball. The last part of the surgery was to put eyeshields on that I was instructed to not take off until my appointment the following day. After the procedure was over they escorted me to a room where they examined my eyes and sent Dave and I on our way.

When I got home I crawled immediately into bed and took a nap. Dave went out and got some soda and then my mom came over. Dave came and woke me up around 4:30 and told me my mom was there. It was then that I had really burning pain in my left eye and found it a little hard to open them. I left them closed. My mom came in and sat with me while my dad picked up the pizzas. Then I shuffled my way to the living room and ate some pizza. Dad didn't stay long because he had a basketball game but my mom stayed about another hour and just talked to me. Dave let me listen to the national news, Jeopardy, and Family Feud and then I decided to go to bed.

The next morning I woke up and had another doctor's appointment. They checked my vision and said it was 20/20 and that I was cleared to drive and said I was doing above average for the day after surgery. I went to a bridal shower and went out with friends that night. Now my eyes are just dry and staring at this computer screen takes a lot of effort. I have about a million drops I have to put in my eyes everyday and I have to wear the eye shields for a week when I sleep. My night vision isn't bad either, just a little hazy. I bought a really great pair of Oakley sunglasses because they told me I have to wear them when I'm outside for the next 6 months and I wasn't going to wear the ugly ones they provided me. So, to sum it all up, I'm completely satisfied and excited. I would highly recommend Lasik and my doctor was the best. I'm so glad I decided to go through with it.

Last Night's Spinning Class

There starting a new thing at Lifetime Fitness that's going to be used for the next quarter. Everything is going to be centered around anaerobic threshold and training on heart rate in the different zones. This is all fine and very effective, however, I'm going to say that 99% of people don't have or wear a heart rate monitor nor are they at that level of training where they should even care what their anaerobic threshold is. They're also focusing on burning fat and that means riding at 190 rpm. So, the whole class last night was at the same speed no matter if we were standing, climbing, or in the saddle. It sucked. I didn't like it. The instructor said it would be good for me, but I told him that I take spinning to replace my sprinting workouts and I'm already in great aerobic shape. I run in zone 2-3 where I do the most fat burning. I was just really bored by the class last night and I hope it doesn't continue.

In other news, my eye surgery is this afternoon. I have mixed emotions between completely scared and completely confident. I think I'll feel better once the procedure gets started and once I take that Valium. :)

Columbus Winter Run

Yesterday was the Columbus Winter Run 15-miler. Except, it wasn't really a winter run. It was in the high 30s at the start and a lot of people were wearing shorts and/or T-shirts. Not me; still too cold. Since I moved into the 25-29 year old age bracket, this has been the only race in which I've placed. Not this year. Actually, I ran a really good race. I did all 15 miles without stopping and ran a negative split for the second half of the race. I finished with a 2:01:18, which is a very respectable time but finished 9th in my age group. Freakin' 9th!!! There were some fast chicks out there. I'm going to try to post some pictures of the race, but I have no idea what I'm doing.


This is me at the 5 mile mark.


This is the group. From left: Big Jelly, Dad, me, Andrea, Doug, Doug's son, and Andy. 

Fight! Fight!

Yesterday was a double dose of workouts: 4 miles of running and 45 minutes of spinning class. An interesting thing happened at the spinning class. This class is always full and last night was no exception. We were there 25 minutes early and we weren't even the first people in line. There are groups of people who attend this class together and hold bikes for each other, which kind of ticks me off but I would expect Dave to do that for me and vice versa. Anyway, this girl was saving a bike for a guy and another guy came up and sat on the bike. Well, the guy who was supposed to have the bike told him it was his bike and then you will not believe what happened! They started shouting at each other over a stupid aerobics class! Then one of the guys made some remark about the girl and she started yelling at the guy. The best part about this whole thing was that the instructor is a huge guy who could kick both their butts and escorted the guy who didn't belong to the bike out of the class. Very entertaining!

Those F@$&ing Drivers

GRRRR!!!!! What is so hard about moving over to share the road with a runner??? Yesterday I ran a route close to the high school that I usually do on sidewalks. The sidewalks are still covered in snow and I didn't feel like running in snow. So I took my run to the roads and did what I was supposed to--ran against traffic. I was almost hit so many times!!! And one time I tripped on a piece of compacted ice and snow and almost fell into traffic because traffic had not moved over. I'm going to start a rotation of shirts. One is going to say, "Hang Up Your Cell Phone and Pay Attention." And the other is going to say, "Move Over!" This just backs my theory even more, and I swear I'm going to take this to legislation, that every four years when you go to get your license renewed you should be mandated to take the written test over again. I would bet not a lot of people could pass it. Or at least, that's the way it seems from observation.

A Good Long Run

Saturday's long run was pretty good despite the circumstances. The circumstances were that it had snowed the evening before (again) and we weren't able to run on the trails. We had to run the loop of the parking lot which is about four miles and contains a hill that I hear is comparable to Heartbreak Hill in Boston. The first loop was hard and I thought there was no way I was going to be able to run two more loops. But then Andrea and I stopped for a drink of water and ran by ourselves and talked the whole time. It helped a lot. The last loop we ran with the group and pushed the pace a little up the hill. In total I did 12 miles and 27 miles for the week. I'm feeling good and pretty confident. This week ought to be a little interesting because I've never run in my glasses before; my eye surgery is next week.

A Week of Good Running

I've had a good week of running. Monday I ran 5-1/2 miles around the big block. To my surprise, the motorists were pretty friendly and didn't run me over. Tuesday I did 3 miles with the track team. Yesterday I ran 4-1/2 miles on the treadmill at Lifetime while watching Lleyton Hewitt take on David Nalbandian. Today I have 2 miles to run, and Saturday I have 12 miles to do. Next week I tackle running in my glasses, which should be interesting. I even signed up for a race that I will have to do without wearing my contacts.

Snowy Run

Like the rest of the mid-west and the east coast, here in central Ohio we got hit with a winter storm this weekend. Of course it happened Friday night and Saturday morning. My plan was to run 10 miles. Despite being slowed down by the several inches of snow on the trail, I did 9 miles in 1:22:19 and didn't really have any problems in the snow. I think my running style fits snow running very well. I usually run with small steps and that translates well to snow. I thought it was a good run. I'm not sure everyone else agreed with me. Right Andy?

Thursday's Workouts

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my winter track days. I was kinda surprised to have any kids show up for practice yesterday considering the constant snow we've had for the last 5 days. I did have two, however, including a very enthusiastic freshman who had already decided where we were going to run and how many miles. Our run took us around the country club on a trail that was covered with snow. I ran an extra mile and still beat one of the kids back to the school. He's having a tough go-about. Like me, he's had two broken bones in the last year and I think running in the snow hurts him a bit. For me, though, yesterday was a good run.

Thursdays are also spinning days for Dave and me. Our instructor on Thursdays is just coming back from knee surgery and yesterday was the first day he's ridden in weeks. Because of his injury, he's not able to do a whole bunch of standing cycling, so most of the rides yesterday were in the saddle. Not a problem, except most of them were flat road, all out sprints. I thought I was going to die! And to top it all off, Dave and I were sharing a waterbottle so we weren't able to get all the water we needed.

After all that working out, I was asleep by 9:30 on the couch. :)

Saturday's Long Run and Stuff

My long run this past Saturday was 9 miles at Highbanks. I thought it was cold, about 20 degrees, but it's gotten even colder in the last few days. This morning when I left for work at 5:30 it was 1 degree. That's obscene! Well, that's obscene here in central Ohio and for all of you who live in some place that gets even colder, shame on you for moving there! The run went really well considering it was the longest run I've done since October. I never felt fatigued, never had to stop and walk, and felt like I could run for several more miles but considering the injuries I've had, I'm going to play it safe.

As you may know, I'm considering laser eye surgery and have been searching around for a physician. Tomorrow I have an educational consultation with a doctor over at Mt. Carmel East. I asked an optomologist-friend of mine to recommend some other surgeons and he gave me the name of Dr. Beran who does the surgery less than a mile from my house. I called him this morning and the person on the other end of the line was about the best salesman I've ever talked with. By the end of the conversation not only did I have an appointment for a consultation, I also had an appointment for the surgery. He also said I could continue to wear my contacts while running (although I don't want to jeopardize screwing up the surgery) and said I would be able to return to light running just two days after the surgery. So, I have four weeks until I have my eyes zapped. Oh my goodness! What did I get myself into?

Back to running....with each run I do, the pain in my shin subsides more and more. I'm starting to feel better about my chances for actually getting to run Boston.

Those Crazy High Schoolers

Yesterday was a beautiful day outside. It was warm and not raining, for once. And as fate would have it, that all changed the minute I was supposed to go to track practice. The sky opened up and it just poured, and it poured until about 2:00am (yeah, I was still awake at that time). Yesterday was a record day for any winter training program I've had for the school. I had four kids show up...Mark, Don, JP, and Chris. The plan was to do 2 miles and I thought they would say that they didn't want to get wet and would just go over to the weight room and do the circuit. To my surprise, all four of them said they wanted to run outside. So, I did my two mile run in the pouring rain. It was a good workout, though, 14:49.

Is It Spring?

Is it El Nino that's screwing up all the weather? Yesterday, JANUARY 11TH, I ran outside in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. It was over 60 degrees! It was super windy, though, which made the run a little rough. 4 miles, 31:50. Pretty good run, I just wish my shin would stop hurting. I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to run pain free.

Triathlon Change of Plans

Because I've endured so many injuries in the past year and have had to spend a lot of time cross training, I had intended on doing the Wendy's triathlon again this summer. However, I found out this week I'm a candidate to get the Lasik surgery done on my eyes. It's all a timing issue, though. You have to get out of your contacts before being evaluated and having the surgery so the shape of the eye is at it's natural shape. That could take up to two weeks. I'm not sure I can run without contacts (I can't see squat) or be able to run in glasses. Plus after the surgery you can't do any physical activity for a week. So I might wait until after Boston to get the surgery. But, after the surgery you can't swim for two months which already disqualifies me for the triathlon. I've got lots of questions to ask when I go to my consultation next week.

In other training news, I must say that I feel in the best shape I've been in since I qualified for Boston. I did a four mile easy run on Monday in 31:16. I hope the easy running continues and the freakin' swelling in my shin goes away.

First "Long Run"

I am taking classes for the next six weekends to get my real estate license so my training schedule is all out of whack. So, I have to do my long runs on my own for the next several weeks until the classes are over. I was planning on doing my long run today, but yesterday my run was going so well that I decided to keep running. My plan was to run 40 minutes yesterday at 75% so that should have been about 4 miles. When I got to 40 minutes, though, I was at 5 miles and my long run for the week was only 6 miles so I decided to keep going. I finished my 6 miles in 48:36 which is an 8:06 pace. I'm going to say that's pretty good considering I've taken off the last 8 weeks and my longest run until yesterday was only 3-1/2 miles.

Dave and I also went to spinning last night. Note to self...do not spin on the same night as a long run. I was exhausted. Everything was off too. My seat was loose and everytime the instructor had us sit upright my seat would tilt backwards. I felt really off balance. Then as the workout went on I felt ackward like my knees were up in my face and my back seemed to be all hunched over. When the class was over I noticed that my seat had fallen two notches. I had the instructor tighten my seat after class and next time I'll tighten everything a little better. He he!

Holy New Year's Resolution!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a double workout day. First, track season has started...unofficially. We started winter training this week. I meet the kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays to do some base-building running. During the season I have been 20-40 kids that I coach personally. Yesterday I had 2 show up. Does that mean that the 38 other kids that should be running with me are all playing winter sports? I highly doubt it. Even worse, I ran a slow mile with them, 8:36, and I beat one of the boys. I feel bad for the kid. He's a senior and works really hard, but he's just bad. I just can't figure out what event I may be able to run him in this season.

The second workout was spinning class. I had been warned of the great increases in numbers after the New Year, but I had no idea. The locker room was packed. It was hard to find an empty locker. Then Dave and I went up to the class to wait for entry and there was a line completely down the side of the wall. We were there 20 minutes early!!!! We were able to get a bike and it was a hard ride. The hardest part about the class was not the ride itself, but the fact the instructor's microphone was not working and he's not a really loud guy to start with and it was hard to hear instructions.

Today is another running day--40 minutes. It's been raining for days and looks like it's going to be doing it again today, ALL DAY. I don't want to run on the treadmill anymore!

Happy New Year

With the start of the New Year, I have set some goals for my running in 2005. Here they are.

Ultimate Goal: 3:30 marathon
Other Goals:
- Run more races
- Improve speed and PRs
- Run Boston
- Requalify for Boston
- Do another triathlon
- Improve on triathlon time
- Consider a 1/2 Ironman
- Cross train through marathon season

I think these are all obtainable goals, and hopefully will keep me healthier this year.