5 On The Treadmill

This should be my last day on the Prudhoe Bay Hotel treadmill.  Tomorrow is pack up and laundry day then off to home.  It's warmer there so I hope I can squeeze in an outdoor run or two before I head to Japan for the marathon there. 

I have the fight cancer cause on my mind today.  I'm still waiting for confirmation that I will get accepted into the New York City Marathon with Team In Training.  I miss having an event to fight cancer on my upcoming agenda.  But at this point my last event is still accepting donations.  Click here and help fight cancer.

5 More Treadmill Miles

I still ran rather slowly but did get in a steady 5 mile run without stopping at all.  My main concern right now is hoping that the foot doesn't start hurting or swelling.  It looks a feels fine now, so I think the 2 week rest did it some good.  It's so good to be back.  The only thing better would be if I could run outdoors.  I hope that will be possible when I get home next week.

Finally Back

I have been dealing with serious foot pain and major swelling for about 2 weeks.  I do still have slight stiffness in my right toe joints, but decided it was time to give running another try.  I just ran a short 3 miles but it felt great.  I didn't have any pain. So I am hoping that later tonight my foot doesn't swell to the size of a basketball.  I have a feeling it is healed now and that won't happen.  Up here in Deadhorse I really need my daily run for stress relief.  There isn't much to do here, and it is easy to just lay around and get bored.  But I feel so much better now!

Looking forward to next month and the Eco Slow Marathon in Japan followed by the 88 Temple Pilgrimage in Shikoku, Japan then, the Rock 'n' Roll Liverpool Marathon. With all of that on my agenda for April and May, the last thing I needed was an annoying foot injury.  I think I am back in business.  It feels great!

10 Treadmill Miles

I kind of struggled through this one today. I felt tired, but was also dealing with one ridiculous little toe that insists on getting irritated regardless of how many different padding, bandaging, medicating, and protecting methods I use. The top of my right foot continues to annoy as well.  I wore my compression sleeves and pulled the right one down over my foot.  It actually feels better than usual, so that must be the magic cure.  Or at least it seems to have helped.

Now to find a way to not have near death experiences from boredom on the treadmill.  Even watching TV and listening to my music, it is pretty boring.  Not nearly as nice as running along a beautiful mountain trail. But here in Deadhorse in winter, forget it!

4 Miles

I'm still following the Nike+ Coach program and ran my 4 miles today on the treadmill.  I even did the last mile at a 10 minute mile pace. 

My right foot has been swelling but it doesn't hurt while I am running.  It does hurt when I stop though.  I considered going to the clinic until I found out that they don't take my insurance.  I figure all they will say is to stay off of it regardless of whether it involves a strain, sprain, tendonitis, stress fracture, or some other injury frequently encountered by runners.  So I guess it really doesn't matter what they might have found, the treatment is still the same.  Stay off of it, which I don't plan to do anyway!

I suspect it isn't anything too serious.

New York City Marathon?

I signed up for the NYC Marathon with Team In Training Flex today.  But they are only accepting 15 people for the Flex Team.  I will be on pins and needles wondering if I get accepted.  They won't announce the decision until April 21st.  What a test of my patience! I should be wandering somewhere along the 88 Temple Pilgrimage in Shikoku, Japan when that decision is made.  I hope I have Internet access wherever I am that day.

I can't stand not being signed up for a Team In Training event.  Right now my last one, Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans appears to still be accepting donations. So if anyone wants to make a donation http://www.race4cancer.org/ will still go to that site. After April I hope it will lead to my New York City fundraising page.

I ran the required 5 miles on the treadmill according to my Nike+ iPhone app coach training program.  I think it helps to have something or someone who tells me exactly what I am supposed to do each day.  It helps eliminate the procrastination.

6 Miles

I ran 6 miles on the treadmill today.  I am following the Nike+ advanced marathon training program on my Nike+ iPhone app.  It intimidates me into running the exact number of miles it suggests!  Otherwise I find myself coming up with numerous excuses.  Such as my feet hurt! They do hurt for some reason.  But since it doesn't seem serious, I will ignore it for now.

I can tell I am still a bit run down from last months weekly marathons and thousands of miles of driving.  But I am a captive here in Deadhorse so may as well take advantage of the treadmill and little else to occupy my waking hours.  I'm hoping I can get back into better marathon shape.  I have lots of runs on my upcoming agenda. 

Standby for the newest Team In Training event.  It will be the New York City Marathon.  But it is still too early to actually officially sign up for it.

Back On The Treadmill

I'm back up in Deadhorse again so it's back on the treadmill again.  Today would have been a beautiful day to run outdoors but there just is no logical place to do it.  The temperature is 1 degree Fahrenheit and there is almost no wind.  But I know running out there on the road would be suicide.
I was feeling a bit sluggish too.  I know I didn't get enough sleep.  First shift back working nights, still with a little jet lag and tired from all the marathons last month. I'm happy to have achieved 4 stars with Marathon Maniacs. It will be a very long haul for me to ever reach the 10 stars that so many of them have. 

But I have to push myself to pick up the pace and do longer runs.  I seem to be losing ground rather than improving.  So I am going to concentrate on improvement this month.

I signed up for the Rio de Janeiro Marathon in July and will probably try to sneak in one more state in addition to the New York City Marathon assuming Team In Training really does do that one. With so many out of the country runs, I will be pretty slow accumulating all 50 states now that I am an official member of the 50 States Marathon Club. But I would like to pick up a couple this year.  I will get two more continents with the Japan and Brazil runs.  That's exciting.  But the most exciting thing will be if I can start showing a little improvement.  Being too slow is frustrating.  I don't care to break any records, but I don't like to have the prospect of finishing becoming an issue on some of these runs.  I am happy just to finish and especially when I can run for charity.  I'm anxiously awaiting official word on the New York City Marathon with Team In Training Flex. 

I added another row of hooks on the log where I hang my Marathon Medals. It's very cute.

34 Marathons Completed