S Club Mama

I hear this all the time from non-running family & friends: I can't run, I have bad knees . I completely understand! I've been dealing with my injured foot for over a year now so I know it's no fun to do things that hurt! However, it's not healthy to just not exercise at all! We all know this; we've been told since we're young. Get 30 minutes of exercise at least three times a week. So you can't run and maybe you can't walk either (I know my foot can get aggravated if I walk at too fast of a pace). What can you do then? I have discovered Jessica Smith, a trainer who puts FREE videos on YouTube. She is peppy (not like Denise Austin peppy. Did one of her workouts last week -weird!) and has many low impact cardio workouts. Sometimes videos are not someone's thing but if you do these, you can find moves to incorporate in your own workout session.  I even love this chair workout from Smith. It's not the hardest workout I've ever done bu...

Last weekend, I was all signed up, pumped, and ready to run 13.1 miles. I had put in my time - training for weeks upon weeks, working from treadmill to road, logging my longest run of 12.5 outside about a month earlier before tapering. The night before, Big A and I had dropped the kids off at his parents' farm for a sleepover with cousins. Oh boy, did grandma have her hands full with a 6 year old and three 4 year olds. It sounds like they had fun and Squirt didn't cry when we left, so that was a small victory. We talked all the way up to downtown, Lincoln, NE to grab my race packet. Then we spent some time in Old Navy exchanging one defective pair of little boy pants (2 weeks for a rip in the knee...TWO WEEKS!) and some online bought shorts that were (blessedly) too big. Chipoltle was where we ate supper - I love their burritos! I convinced Big A to try out Cherry on Top, a frozen yogurt place. Yum! They sell by the ounce and I had 3 free ounces from a coupon in the race pa...

Running has become pretty vital to my life. It's where I clear my head (and lungs), where I can let go of stress, where I can listen to my music (not that I don't LOVE The Despicable Me 2 soundtrack but c'mon, I can only take minions singing for so long) or audiobook. However, running has been difficult these past 2 years because the majority of my running has been inside. On the dreadmill. I also mostly run on the two same treadmills: one facing a street and one facing the same street but most of my view is obscured by a block of cement or other building material. I've been asked regularly how my foot is doing (if you recall, I hurt it last March). It's doing ok. I'm training for a half marathon (because I got to for free, not that I'm insane to train while still slightly injured). I've been able to complete 8 miles on the treadmill but only up to 3.25 outside on the road. The surface makes all the difference. I'm not really sure if I'll b...

I have been able to run inside on the treadmill for a few months now and had the opportunity to sign up for the Lincoln half marathon for free, so I did. I got a run/walk/run timer for Christmas and made the decision to train like that. I found a plan that allowed me to run 3 times a week. I started the two 30 minute runs on the treadmill (weather has been chilly around here, to say the least) and did a long run of 3.5 miles last week inside. This week I did the same for the mid-week runs and decided to make a go of it outside today. The wind was awful (20-30 mph) but it wasn't way too cold. I was optimistic but realistic, I told Big A to keep his phone on him in case I needed picked up. I felt good for the majority of the run. My foot wasn't bothering me at all until around 3 miles and then it just started to almost cramp up. I even tried to walk more (I was keeping a 4:1 ratio between running and walking) and to rub the "cramp" out (it's not really a cramp b...

Well, I guess more of a walking update as I'm not running (yet). I think my goal is to be (at the very least) running by Christmas. I'm hoping for much sooner than that. I'm up to 30 minutes of walking - very slowly. I upped the pace for a few minutes at a time and I stopped once to massage my foot. It feels pretty good today. I realized I need to not sit crisscross as it smushes my foot and ends up causing pain. I don't even think I told you. I went to the orthopedic doc a few weeks ago and they took another x-ray. No remodeling = no stress fracture. So we're back to unsure about what this is, but my chiropractor thinks it's metatarsalgia (which was our original thought). Rest seems to be the best remedy but I've been resting (more or less) since March. For Pete's sake! So I'm taking it slow...literally.