Monday, January 28, 2019

First Run Post-Op

Six weeks ago I had a hysterectomy. I'll feel much better since having surgery. No more back pain!! There were two uterine fibroids sitting on the back of my uterus, which was causing my back to hurt.

Today was the day I have been waiting for, for six weeks. It was a very long six weeks. Recovery sucks, plain and simple it sucks. I couldn't lift anything over 15 pounds and I couldn't bend over. For the first two weeks I basically sat in bed. I have watched a lot of TV and lots of movies.

I was hoping the weather would cooperate with me and I could run at low tide on the beach. When I woke up it was 49 degrees out and windy. That's just too cold for me to run on the beach. I'm a Florida girl anything below 65 is cold.

I ended up walking one mile on the treadmill to warm up, then I put on a long sleeved shirt grabbed my dog and we went for 1.14 mile run!


It felt great!! Absolutely no pain in my back!! I ran slow and tried not to over do it. After getting home, I still felt great so I got on the treadmill for another 1.25 miles!! After running I did my 15 min yoga video. I'll run again tomorrow before I get on a plane to Paris!

My yoga partner



Sunday, January 20, 2019

2019 Update

I have really neglected this blog, but I haven't really been running much. I didn't run many races last year, and I maybe ran 1-2 times a week. Why you ask? Well my back hurt and I was tired. Turns out all I needed was a hysterectomy. I had 8 uterine fibroids. Two of them were sitting on the back of my uterus and one was the size of a very large marble. So that's why my back hurt all the time, especially when I ran. The last half marathon I ran, my back hurt for the first 7 miles.

Currently I'm five weeks post-op and I feel so much better. I'm still 8 days away from running, but for now I do get to walk slow on the treadmill. I have been walking daily to get my endurance back.

I can not wait until January 28, it's the day I get to run. I know I can't run far, but I get to run!! Not sure if my first run will be in Paris or Florida. It's going to be in the 30's in Paris and the 60's in Florida. I'll update this blog after I go for my first run!

So far this year I'm signed up to run Paris Semi Marathon, if I can get my mileage back up in 6 weeks. But just in case these six weeks knocked me back I'm prepared to have a DNS. May 5, the day before I turn 40, I'll be running the Nice Semi Marathon. In December I'm running Space Coast Half for the 8th year in a row. I'm hoping to run several local 5k's.

This is where I'll run in Nice.
If you have any cold weather running tips, please let me know. If it gets below 60 here in Florida, I get on the treadmill. It's been several years since I've run in cold weather.

Friday, May 18, 2018

10K bois de boulogne

Wow it's been almost a year since I've updated this blog. A lot has happened in the last year. I started a new blog about living part time in Paris! This post is about both running and Paris.

On my 39th birthday I ran the 10k bois de boulogne. It's a 10k that took place in a park in west Paris. My first international race. I was suppose to run the Paris marathon, but due to lack of training I thought it best not to run. I really just started running again last month. I figured a 10k was a good distance plus I was going to be there anyway so why not?!?!

The race and packet pick up were in the Park. You couldn't pick up your packet day of so we had to go the day before, which was kinda nice because I had no idea where we were going. We took the metro and then had a short 10-15 minute walk. I think the entire trip took about an hour.

The race started at 9:30, my wave started at 9:55. We got there in plenty of time! Just like races in the US, they had someone giving out race instructions and keeping the runners energized. The only problem was it was in French. I had no idea where the start line was. In fact we found someone who spoke English and she didn't know either. Two minutes before the start the crowd started moving toward the start line. I do what I always do, follow the person in front of you.

I think there were 5 waves of runners. I just kept moving up when everyone else did. When it was my waves time to run I did hear one minute to go. Guess my French is a little better than I thought.

Start line
The gun went off and we started running! Usually when running in the US, the start of a race means running around slow runners so you end up adding distance to the run. Well the nice surprise was the French run in the correct waves. The French may not get out of your way when you are on the sidewalk and it's like playing chicken as to who is going to move, but they sure do know how to line up for a race.

The race took place in a beautiful park. The best part was the trees provided shade, so we weren't in direct sunlight for most of the run. Overall I ran the best I could. My calves were cramping up. I blame this on the stairs at our apartment. Walking up and down them all day long is one hell of a workout. I did take a few walk breaks. We kept going down hill so I just assumed at some point we would go uphill. We only had one hill which I was thankful for!

There weren't a lot of spectators, but the ones out there know how to cheer you on. I did know most of what they were saying!

Toward the end of the race we came around a corner and there it was the Eiffel Tower. Seeing that never gets old. And it kinda gave me a little boost to go faster.



My husband found the perfect spot to wait for me at the finish line. He was determined to get the Eiffel Tower in the photo!

Overall it was a great race. At first I was very intimated just because of the language barrier. But I'd do again.

After the race we stopped by the Eiffel Tower to take photos!


 And of course since we walk right past Notre Dame, I had to stop!


My favorite post run treat, PIZZA. 



Sunday, June 18, 2017

Running in the Florida heat is no joke

This morning when I left the house at 6:10am, my watch said it was 77 degrees out. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure the humidity was in the 90% range. Our goal was to run 10 miles. It was our first 10 miler and we were both determined to finish. Ok so there were many many times where I wanted to quit. There was not a single cloud in the sky nor was there any wind.



Yesterday when we left for our run it was 72. Let me tell you a 5 degree difference is HUGE. We ran 9 miles yesterday and when I got back from that I took Katie Scarlett for her one mile run. It was hot but tolerable.

Today I set up a water station on my front porch. We ran back to my house after 5.75 miles. I had washcloths in ice water and ice cold water to drink. It was a very refreshing and I will continue to set that up all summer.

If I didn't have my running partner pushing me to get to 10 miles I'm pretty sure I would have quit at 7 miles. Those last three miles were killer.

After I got home I pulled up the weather app and look at the feels like temperature:


It may have been a slow 10 miles, but 10 miles is 10 miles. 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Paris Marathon

I am running the Paris Marathon in April 2018!!



With it being 10 months away, I have already started training!! 


I'll be blogging about my training.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Update on my food allergies

When I started this blog in 2013 it was to share how I deal with food intolerances. They aren't fun. When you are a runner and can't have nuts or corn it sort of throws a wrench in the works, because most fuels have corn or nuts. I had to learn to eat real food all while running.

My food issues started when I turned 30. I did go to a doctor who 100% assured me my problems had nothing to do with food. After going to a second doctor he agreed with me that yes it could be food related and to start the food journal.

Fast foward to when I was 35. I was talking with my vet. Yes my vet. She had a child with food intolerances and had a wonderful doctor to help her. She told me that because I had gone 5 years without peanuts or tree nuts that my body may have corrected itself and I might be able to eat them again. Well when I eat peanuts or tree nuts I do not go into anaphylactic shock, however the side effects are not fun and the thought of eating nuts to just try it out did not sound like fun.

So here I am 37 years old haven't had a tree nut or peanut for seven years.

My dream has always been to go Paris. When I was 18 years old and a travel agent, Paris is where I wanted to go. After all these years, yes I have free travel benefits, I still had not gone to Paris. Once I realized I had food intolerances traveling seemed scary to me. Language barrier, having to ask a waiter does your food have any of these seven ingredients etc. I don't like having to ask a lot of questions while dinning out. Not sure if it's me getting older or what but I decided in 2017 I'm going to Paris. We bought tickets for a trip in October. After doing research I wanted to go NOW! The only bad thing is they use nuts in their desserts, and I love desserts. Then the anxiety started again and I thought it's time to see if I have out grown my issues.

I had my husband put the car in the driveway, incase we needed to get to the ER fast. I had liquid Benadryl sitting next to me and ready to take if needed. The only bad thing is when when testing these things you need to determine what is real and what's not. I sat there and wrote down exactly how I felt. I tried almonds first and I was fine. I tried cashews and hazelnuts and I was fine.

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have no idea what a relief it was to know that I could eat nuts again!!

I have not tried peanuts or any other tree nuts. I will eventually.

I still can not have corn or corn byproducts. I recently had corn and it still bothers me. I still need to determine if sesame seeds and sunflower seeds bother me. But for now I'm just happy being able to eat almond and cashew butter.




Friday, March 3, 2017

Daytona Half Marathon Recap

Wow this recap is really taking me a long time to write up. It's almost been a month since the half and I am just writing this.

The Daytona Half Marathon is now my 2nd favorite half marathon! This was the second year I ran this race. Last year was cold, rainy and windy. This year was perfect weather!



I went up to Daytona the night before. I didn't realize that they had changed the time of the race. If I would have noticed that I probably wouldn't have stayed in a hotel. It takes just over an hour for me to get to the speedway. Anyway, I stayed across the street from the track. I literally pulled out of the parking lot and drove straight into the track.

I walked around a little bit. Took some pictures and waited to start the race.


The goal was to run. If I could finish around 2:30 great! This year my back has been giving me problems and I haven't been able to run as much.

I started with the 2:30 group and stayed with them for about a mile. I needed to take a walk break. I figured if I could stay in between the 2:30 group and the 2:45 group that would be a good goal.

Track Selfie!


Once we left the track I realized this was a new course. I really need to pay more attention to the emails and participant guide apparently.


Around mile 4, I think, we had a character stop!!



I was doing good, just running and taking walk breaks when needed. I knew that there was a bridge on this course and I was going to walk up it this year. I did not train for hills. 


Last year because the weather was bad we were unable to run on the beach. This year since the weather was great we got to run the beach!!




Everything was going well until about mile 10. I needed a porta potty and there were no porta potties anywhere. I did find two along the course, but they were by themselves not near a water stop and I am too paranoid someone will tip me over that I wimped out and kept going. I walked for the next two miles with a gentleman carrying the American Flag. He helped make the time go by. When I hit the 12 mile mark I decided to run all the way to the finish line!



This was not my best or worst half marathon time. I will be back again next year and hopefully be better trained!

Sunday, January 8, 2017

The 1st week of 2017

When I sat down to plan out my workout for the first week of 2017 I had planned on running at least 15 miles. I was going to do lots of PiYo and lifting weights. 

Well..... What really happened was I ran 3 miles on the 1st. I woke up with sciatic nerve pain on the 2nd. I tried to run and made to my next door neighbors driveway and walked home. I did 30 minutes of yoga and went to visit my mom, who is also a massage therapist. 

On the 3rd it felt a little better but it still hurt too much to run. What I should have done was called to see if I could move my chiropractor appointment from Wednesday to Tuesday. I did 30 minutes of yoga and rode the stationary bike.

Turns out my S/I Joint was out of wack. (I don't know the technical wording so we are going to out of wack.) More yoga and bike.

Here it is January 8th and I've run 10 miles, I've biked 8 miles and I've done more yoga this year than I did last year. I guess my News Year goal should have been do more yoga :)

Yes I'm behind on my goal of running 1,000 miles this year, but I'm not worried or disappointed in myself. All I can do is keep trying. I have another appointment with my chiropractor and I am working on doing exercises that will help with my S/I joint.


Sunday, January 1, 2017

Friday, December 30, 2016

Run Run Santa Race Recap

This year I ran the Run Run Santa 1miler on Christmas Eve! If you live in Brevard County you should make this your new tradition.

Photo from Facebook


Rules were simple: run 1mile in the Santa suit they gave you! This is my kind of race! Even my mom came out to run!


This recap will be short as it was one mile. We started and before I knew it we were at the finish line! One mile races are kinda fun! 

This was the first year and it sold out! 500 Santas! Wonder how many there will be next year?


Did you know Santa drives a Porsche?!?!