Members of Team SJS just minutes before the start of the 2010 Fox Cities Half Marathon!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I'm past the halfway point!!

Well I sure hope everyone had a fantastic Independence Day!! I know that we had a crazy and busy schedule of driving, eating, boating, eating, driving, eating, swimming, eating... It was well worth it, but I can honestly say that my stamina is NOT what it used to be!! I have had about three days of recovery time from all of the get-togethers and fireworks. It seems that my week has finally begun looking a little more normal and I am well into the swing of our summer activities.

I am happy to report that even though the holiday weekend was hectic, I stayed on track with my training schedule! Saturday morning, before we left for the lake, I got up and ran my first 7 miler!!! Which means that I am now able to run further than half of a half! Nice, huh? Even though it was fairly early in the morning, the humid air hung like a water soaked wool blanket that I couldn't find my way out of. The sun was out too, which made it even hotter. I could feel the heavy air in my lungs and felt a struggle I hadn't had to face quite yet since being ill. The damage to my lungs is still fairly unknown, but I can say that humidity and extreme cold can make breathing difficult, so every inhale felt as though I were drowning. A sluggish run would be a good way to describe this one, but I did it, walking only once to stretch my legs a little.

The other news I have to report is that I received a call from my dermatologist with the results from my recent skin biopsy. I am happy to report that it is a benign lichenoid keratoses, which is a big medical term meaning that I don't have skin cancer!! A few weeks with a pretty strong steroid cream and I should be good to go. So make sure you are all wearing your sun screen before going out for your runs as well as any time you're out in the sun. It's just not worth the risk!!

I have continued my maintenance runs during the week and look forward to another 7 mile challenge this weekend. We are going to Iowa to visit my brother and so I get to run in a different environment, which I am looking very forward to! A change in scenery is always an added bonus. I have also signed up for a couple of other races to help keep myself motivated during this long stretch of training. The Green Bay Packers are hosting a 5k coming up at the end of the month and I'm going to tackle the Otto Grunski 10k in August. That will be the longest race I have evver done before the half, which seems to be sneaking up on me! Hard to believe it is well into July already.

Tomorrow holds a 4.5 mile run and another 4 on Friday morning. Then I'll get to rest up on Saturday for the 7 miles through cornfields in the great state of Iowa on Sunday. Gonna bring an extra cooler along to fill up on that incredible Iowa sweet corn! Don't worry, I'll brag about how great it is when I get back! Happy running everyone!!

1 comment:

  1. Way to go on your 7 mile run! I am so proud of you. Have fun in Iowa and enjoy you next 7 mile run Saturday!

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