Two Weeks till Disney!

Ahhh, a blessed thing called "tapering" has hit.  Means I run less and less in these upcoming couple of weeks, leading up to the half marathon on the 8th.  Of course, honestly, since I switched from training for the full to the half, it's pretty much all felt like tapering. 

Some highlights from the past few weeks:

Did 8 miles two weekends ago - well, I think I was supposed to do 8.  I made something like 6.5.  It was about 23 degrees and snowing, and the wind was coming straight out of the west and blowing this crazy snow all over me.  Pictures!  I look pretty unhappy here, don't I? :)

On Friday night that next week, I ran from work to the tae kwon do school in a nearby town, where Abby was testing for a new belt that night.  So, I was in a hurry - got a late start from work, stopped to take pictures of these guys below, etc.  To my great chagrin, and Greg's total lack of surprise, the bike path that makes that run typically very easy was not clear.  I slogged several miles through something like 4 inches of snow.  It was totally miserable, like trying to run in ankle-deep water.  I wished for snowshoes that night.

These three guys were grazing near Wright State University, just feet from Col. Glenn Highway



Last weekend was 12 miles.  Did the whole thing!  No wussing out!  It was, no lie, 14 degrees...  but no wind, thankfully. And no pictures, either.  I stayed surprisingly warm.

Today was easy - yay!  Only 6 miles.  It was 30 degrees, supposedly, but man was that wind wicked!  I will be SOOOOO glad to get to Florida.  Just hoping it's not 80 degrees and humid down there - ha!  That'll be a rather big change after all this cold running, won't it? 

Actually, this winter running has been pretty beautiful, for the most part.  I'm doing a fair amount of treadmill, too, on nights where I just don't want to get out in the cold, but the weekend and daylight runs are really pretty.  Once I get past the big roads and mall traffic on one of my routes, there is a very nice, peaceful and quiet stretch on my way home:

Merry Christmas, everyone!  And a wonderful New Year to you!  God Bless,

Joy

Um.... Still Running :)

Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it?  No excuses, just life...  Of course, considering it's probably mostly my Mom and Dad that read my blog and they know where I've been, I'm pretty sure that nobody's thinking I've dropped off the face of the running planet or anything ;).


But seriously...  how's the running going, you might ask?  Actually, there have been some setbacks and disappointments lately, but I am STILL definitely doing Disney.  The setback part is, for some physical reasons, I had to drop down to the 1/2 marathon.  I've known this for several weeks, and I think that's probably part of the reason why I haven't posted in a while.  While I realize that it's still an accomplishment, and I am still raising the funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I felt like I was almost letting down my friends and family who have donated for my fundraising.  Crazy...  but that's me :)


The running was going great through October and into early November.  I ran very consistently in early October on our trip down to Florida.  Some beautiful runs down there - I did 5 miles one days along St. Augustine Beach; another day, I got lost on a Sunday morning on my long run near my in-law's house, and luckily found my way back home just around the proper 8-mile mark in plenty of time to go to church!  Ha!  I got back to chilly weather in Dayton, did 10, did 12, did 14...  Then, though, some things came up and I realized, as my darling husband says, that "wisdom is the better part of valor".  I realized I would be wise to drop down to the half marathon and be satisfied with that.  So, I'm basically just maintaining my miles now.  I'm doing several medium-length runs during the week, and then longer ones on the weekend - 8 last weekend, 10 this weekend, 12 coming up.  Thankfully, my back is holding up very well, and the long runs are all feeling very good.  I've slowed down somewhat (I think I did my 14-miler in early November averaging about 9:20's, but now I'm more in the 9:45-10:00 range on my runs), but I was never in this for the speed.  I am a waddler, not a sprinter :)

Abby and Greg and I are really looking forward to going down to Disney in January.  It'll be a nice 4-day weekend, a cool break from the Ohio scene right after Christmas.


As I was running up a hill near work the other day, I was trying to focus again on the reasons for my running this race, the biggie of which is the fund raising for the L&L society.  I suddenly started having a flood of memories come back to me of that time six and seven years ago, when Abby was in the midst of her chemo. I would spend every night after she went to bed on the internet message boards, "chatting" with long distance friends, none of whom I have ever met, who were mostly moms and dads of kids with leukemia.  We'd compare notes every night, talk about treatments and symptoms, commiserate.  Their kids' names started running through my mind like a roster - Kendrie, Maddie, Austin...  I remember the heartbreak every parent on those message boards would experience when we would get bad news of a relapse or worse.  And once again, I realized that even the $2500 I am raising can help.  You just never know which dollar will make the difference for somebody's life.


I am mostly thankful in this season.  You'd think of all people, I'd remember the most to be thankful.  But I get crazy and busy and distracted like everybody else, and I forget how much I have to be grateful for.  I am so thankful that my sister is well, and that Abby has survived, and survived with such great gusto.  I can't wait to see what she is like at 12, and 22, and 37, and thank goodness, I get to do just that :).  I want other Moms and Dads to have that same ability, so chalk that up to another reason I run.