New Years Day Dash!

I am really looking forward to 2010! I am optimistic that it has a lot of new opportunities for chances to be more fit and to meet people that enjoy fitness as much as I do.


My first resolution for the year is that I am resolving to try my hand at a Sprint Triathalon in Door County. I am going to look forward to a lot of SWIM, Bike, and Run this year baby! :)


To start off the new year I am going to do the Fleet Feet New Year's Day Dash. The starting tempurature will probably be 26 degrees. I am going to do the 2 mile challenge.... It is enough to get me out and breathing in the fresh January 1st air. :)

Happy New Year Everyone!

Las Vegas Rock N Roll Marathon 2009

Well I did it! I crossed the finish line again! This race was a lot different than any other race I have been in. The events leading up to the race had me filled with doubts as to whether I could actually pull it off. I have come to learn though that it is definitely a part of lifes lessons to be challenged in situations and to learn to use your mind to creatively work at getting accomplished the goals you have set for yourself.

I made the decision to sign up for this race so that I could find some motivation to get up everyday and burn calories. I have been unemployed since April due to being laid off at my job. The job market isn't great here although I am and endurance enthusiast and so I am as committed to my job hunt as I am to my training process. Being unemployed and sticking close to the house you don't move as much so it is more of a struggle to keep weight off than for the regular working adult who burns daily calories running around busy offices trying to get work done. I realized this after I saw a 12 pound gain on the scale....... and couldn't figure out where it came from as I have been somewhat stringent in calorie counting and sticking to an exercise regime. I came to the realization though that I had to do double the cardio to make up for not having that busy office scene to deal with on a day to day basis.

With all this knowledge, I kept trying to think about what I could do to stay on the exercise bandwagon and still be able to take part in a fitness and weight loss Journey. I found this Half Marathon and went ahead and signed up for it then got a training plan emailed to me weekly from About.COM. 10 weeks into training I purchased a new pair of running shoes that I broke in by taking them for a 3 mile jaunt around the neighborhood. A couple of days later I went out for my first 10 miler of the plan. I got into mile 2 and had sharp pain shooting up through the bottom of my heel. I called my sister who came and picked me up and later that day, I went to urgent care, had some X-rays and the doc said I had peroneal tendonitis. I rested the foot, iced it and soaked it in a solution of epsom salts, clove oil and black pepper with the hopes of reducing the inflammation. Instead of reducing inflammation, I caused more inflammation to occur as I Developed an Allergic reaction to the solution and my entire foot had a very sore rash on it that my Dermatoligist later called Contact Dermatitis. I had to take Prednisone for two weeks and it is an immune suppresant. Because of the prednisone, I caught a cold and three days before the race I was congested and just not feeling very well.

Come race day, I had a couple of twinges of pain but once I started the race, all of the ideas of pain just melted away and it was just me and the road and the strip and 27,000 other people.

The race itself wasn't as mentally or physically challenging as I had expected. The parts leading up to it were the most challenging. It amazes me how athletes get into a mode where they are all obsessed about not wanting to get sick or not wanting to injure this or that before a big race. It is amazing too how some athletes want to conserve energy so that they can put all of it into a race. I think I finally understand the anxiety and concern and obesession that comes from signing up for a race several hundred miles away and trying to make sure that you are healthy enough to give it a go!

Fitness Obstacles.

Wow, I never thought I would be writing about encountering the obstacles that I have had to encounter this year. Everything that has happened has certainly given me reason to put things into perspective.

A year ago around this time I was moving into my first home. I experienced my first summer in the fenced in back yard of said home and from there it was all a rollercoaster ride. :)

This winter was a struggle for me to make time for fitness. I found myself blowing off work outs. It was drab and cold outside and I feel like I might have a touch of that seasonal affective thing going for me. The dog Bailey and I started a Winter walking routine and we also joined a kickboxing class on Thursdays and Sundays over here on the West Side of Madison. In March I sprained my ankle. It was so bad it is still stiff. In April my job at Alliant was eliminated. With the two events happening so close together there were a couple of weeks there where I was doing mindless things living on autopilot.

Now though, I am back as myself to continue the weight loss / fitness journey that I started years ago and to finish it this time! I am also implementing the educational piece. I am always hitting a wall when it comes to education because I do not have a 4 year degree. Since losing my job I have felt a tremendous sense of hope and opportunity. I can now make time for the things in Life that count.

I now have a real goal with a real finish line and slowly and steadily I am going to make the commitment to honor myself!

Hurricane Ike, Chicago Half and I

A goal of mine once was to walk a 5k. After that I thought I would try to run a 5k. After that day I thought I would never run again. I was so sore and I felt like I was 100 years old after the race. Those feelings though slowly started to disappear and I decided to go a little further and do a 10k. I did several 10 k's in combinations of runs and walks and was starting to feel that the distance I was going wasn't enough to actually enjoy the race..... and my myspace friend Cin gave me the inspiration to sign up for the Chicago Half Marathon.

It all started on Sunday September 14th at 5:00 a.m. My alarm went off and I rolled out of bed in my hotel room in Downtown Chicago thinking to myself that I was so crazy for getting out of bed so early on a Sunday. I looked out the window. It was still dark outside. I couldn't see what the day was going to bring so I kept my fingers crossed that it would be overcast and cool.
I got ready and left the hotel and walked out on to the street. There was a light mist and it was slightly warm. I walked to the bus stop thinking to myself that even a light mist wouldn't be that bad... It might actually help me continue to move. On the bus I saw a lot of people that appeared to be as crazy as myself. They had their numbers on and they were excitedly talking about what was going to come of the morning. I parked next to an older man from the Chicago area and he said to me.... "boy, I bet the bus driver never usually sees this many people on a Sunday morning." I giggled to myself thinking about how strange we must look to people that have no interest in Half Marathon Charades.... A group of guys in their early 20's got on the bus at the third stop and one of them looked around and said to his buddy, "wow, all of a sudden I feel less fit. I wouldn't run a block this early in the morning."
It was obvious to me that these boys were probably "still out" from the night before as they were sporting their blood shot eyes and wearing rumpled clothes perhaps because they passed out, after a long night of partying, at their friends house and were now on their way to their respective houses. The bus finally arrived at the starting point. As I excited the rain picked up a little bit. There were people everywhere trying to huddle underneath tents and wearing trash bag like rain ponchos. I looked at my watch. I had a half hour to start. I started to feel nervous and my stomach started churning. I stood in a long line for the bathroom and then made my way through the muddy fields of Jackson Park to get to the start line. I stood in the spot to start with people that were going to finish at 2 hours and 30 minutes. I didn't think I would finish at that pace I just wanted to give myself something to work for... The gun went off and it was about 10 minutes before I got to cross the start line.

Mile 1- not bad it was misting again

Mile 2- I saw my cheerleader standing on the sidelines and she was drenched. She didn't see me. I kept running thinking i would catch her gaze as I went around the loop.

Mile 3&4 - I was in good spirits joking with other runners and hamming it up for the camera men. It was raining quite steady now and I was headed throught the campus and toward the lake. Nancy saw me and yelled for me to keep going. She gave me confidence telling me there were at least a 1000 people behind me.

Mile 5- My feet were starting to get soaked and the rain was coming down steady and it was starting to get a little windy.

Miles 6-12 My feet were getting heavy feeling like I had 20 pound weights on each foot. The lake was choppy. All the water touching my body was starting to make me feel a little woozy. I had to go to the bathroom around mile 7 and it took forever waiting in line and then dealing with wet clothes. Along each mile marker at this point there was a person holding a green sign saying we were annointed to finish..... This basically told me so far they weren't closing the course due to conditions.

Mile 8 and 9- I started to get cold and I was feeling small electrical jabs in my side. I couldn't decide if it was my heart rate monitor or the contraband I Pod that I had hiding in my shirt. ( headphones weren't allowed but I snuck one in anyway. )

Mile 10 and 11- I was starting to feel like there was not going to be an end. I removed the I Pod, disconnected the heart rate monitor and held it all in my hands as I pushed forward. At this point I had given up on the running and was going at a fast walk. I could feel my cheeks getting windburned and I could see large waves rolling onto the road from the water. For a minute I almost thought maybe I could swim to the finish. I could tell that I had really slowed down a lot and was way out of my time range because people were already out cleaning up the course. Forget about cheering on the people in the end of the line... They had their winners and all they wanted to do was get into where it was dry too.

Mile 12- I felt like I couldn't go any further. I too finally felt like I had had enough. I could barely see....it was raining so hard. I saw some people in a little golf cart and asked them if they could just take me back to the park so I could go home. The man in the cart looked at me and said..." you know Andrea there is a little less than a mile to go. You sure you want a ride?" For a brief second I considered it then thought about all the work I had put into this and the expectation of getting my medal and being able to have the physical proof of my accomplishment. I turned around started running and tried to picture what the finish line would look like when I finally got to see it.... Step after step was painful. My toes, legs, and shoulders hurt. I caught up to three ladies that I had been playing "cat and mouse" with the whole way. We decided when we saw the finish we would all try to cross together. When I got to the finish line I saw Nancy my cheerleader and she was squealing with excitement. She had a huge smile on her face and I couldn't believe that this finish line that I was going to cross was finally my moment of truth. Proof to myself that I am far more capable of accomplishing things than I ever believed. I was in shock, Freezing, wet, tired and sore and all of a sudden all of the work that I went through to get here was all worth it.
Sure, I could have run a better race.... but that was not my goal. My goal was to FINISH!

Here are some race highlights as reported in the Chicago Paper:
Race Highlights -- 16,500 Total Entrants (largest field ever) -- 11,053 Total Starters -- 10,550 Total Finishers -- 95% Finish Rate -- Age of youngest marathoner: 16 -- Age of oldest marathoner: 77 -- U.S. states represented: 48 -- Countries represented: 28 -- Number of Corporate Challenge Teams: 4 -- Number of Charities Benefiting from the Race/Runners: 12 -- Number of volunteers: more than 500 -- Temperature at the start: 69 F -- Temperature at the finish: 64 F -- Race conditions: steady rain, heavy at times, and windy

Happy Thanksgiving.

Well, I completely forgot about the fact that I have this page out here. I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

It is kind of fun to read what I had written this past summer. Here I am so far with my goals. I ran the Chicago Half Marathon in September. I haven't had any energy to exercise since. I got completely burned out! I am now resting and trying to rejuvenate as I get ready for the new year. This year I am thankful for relaxation and the ability to look over the past couple of years and relish in my accomplishments! :)

Hello Out there!

Hello out there in Bliggity bloggity blog land.... I hope to be able to sit here and Journal about my Journey from not being able to run 1 mile to being able to do a full marathon and beyond! I know I can do this and I am hoping with my own help I can get up the nerves to go through with it. :)

A little about me.... I lost almost a hundred pounds. I have about 30 more to go. In the process I came to enjoy spinning a lot and then I got into running. Some day I would like to do an IronMan here in Madison. Help me get to where I want to go?