I Did It!

I finished in under 5 hours. Had a tough time but coming into the stadium was such an emotional experience. I am so glad I did this. I've fell fluish since and had to sit down before I collapsed. It is starting to subside. I'm hoping I'll feel up to dinner. I do have an extra 2 black toes, making a grand total of 5

There's a line up for the computer so I'll write more later.

Saturday, Oct 31, 2010

We drove the race route yesterday and it didn't seem too bad but our guide who has run it several times says its a tough course. There may be something I'm missing. We saw the stadium where we finish and it was awe inspiring. That is going to be so momentus.

We've met a lot of nice people. There is a contingent from Sherwood Park in Edmonton. There are 10 of them and they had jackets specially made for the trip. I'm so jealous!

Afterwards we went to Plaka - the market in downt0wn Athens. Dale and I didn't agree on our purpose for being there - first fight. I think I'm still tired and missing my coffee terribly! We fall to bed about 9 pm exhausted.

Today we're going to see the Acropolis(?) You'd think I'd know how to spell these things by now.

There seems to be a line up for the computer so gotta go.

We're here

We arrived safe and sound. No problems, though because of the weather bomb, many people still aren't here.

We caught up on sleep yesterday. Did a bit of a tour of the little town here. Ate at a little hole in the wall. Dale is really disappointed that there is so much English. He wishes I could feel as out of sorts as he did when he first arrived.

I shook Jeff Galloway's hand yesterday morning at breakfast. Are you jealous? This morning we did a 30 minute run together. Ok, there were 100 other people. We are just waiting to go to our first tour. They will be taking us on a tour of the running route and then shopping in Plaka. We will be going to the Running Expo this afternoon.

We were told that normally there are 3000 marathon participants but this year they capped it at 12, 500. This is the number of Athenian soldiers that were in the battle of Marathon.

The weather is cloudy and cold. About the same as home. They say it should warm up in the next couple of days.

We did manage to spend some time in Amsterdam. Boy there are a lot of bikes. That was more different than Greece is so far. Does that make sense?

Gotta go.

Sleep deprivation

My kingdom for some sleep! I think my mind goes faster as soon as I lie down. I haven't slept well in days. I run around like crazy trying to get ready. If I don't leave soon, I'll die from exhaustion.

Its Monday morning. I have everything together but the last minute stuff. We see Jennifer today for our final package. I try to get everything done at work today and then some personal grooming tonight. A relaxing run tomorrow morning with Wendy and we're off. Sounds too good to be true. We'll see how Dale plays along with it.

Still sick and not tapering so much

What a tough week.

I wanted to run when I got home from Vancouver on Thursday but my chest was hurting and I was completely exhausted. So I didn't. Tried to get to bed early but I get busy with details for the trip and next thing I know it's after 10. And then when I'm trying to sleep, I think of things to do or take and I have to get up and add it to the list in case I forget.

I didn't run Friday because I was going to run on Saturday morning. Plus I worked until after 7.

I had a wonderful time at the Fall Tune Up in Porpoise Bay. It was a small group of people running a 2 km route 3 times. Wendy picked me up and we went to Starbucks on the way up. It was mostly the "old" group of people which was fantastic. Great to see everyone. Wendy and I ran together the whole time. She pushing me, me pushing her, as it usually goes. We keep saying that it's too fast but we can't seem to slow down when we run together. I felt sick the entire time and my sinuses were killing me. By the end my legs were shakey and I was so glad to finish. But we did it. And we tied for first place in our age group (we were the only ones in our age group). So, I have my first first place ribbon :).

I decided to do one more run before I go so Wendy suggested we do an easy run at Cliff Gilker on Tuesday morning. I think it's a great idea because I'm sure I'll just be going nuts and it will be a good way to burn some nervous energy. Plus I get one more run with Wendy before I go.

Now I'm off to work for several hours. I'll be working Sunday as well. Tonight I'll do laundry and start working on the packing list. I'm hoping to be all ready to go Monday night. And I'm hoping Dale will co-operate ;).

3 sleeps until we leave. 8 sleeps until the race!

Sick and tapering

Well, I'm still sick. I tried to run a shorter tempo run last night but it was really difficult. My time was ok but I had to force myself the entire way. There was just no energy in my step. My lungs weren't too bad but I can feel it today.

I stayed up later than I wanted last night looking into Amsterdam and the flights. I booked our seats and found out that the Amsterdam airport is a 15 minute train ride to Amsterdam. So, we should be able to go in for a short tour while we are stopped over there.

I go for my Echocardiogram today. I'm sort of glad that I'm sick because maybe they will see what is wrong. If I were healthy, my "sickness" might not show. That probably doesn't make any sense. I hope I can get a run in when I get home.

I wish I weren't so stressed about the trip. I will be so happy once I'm at the airport and finally on my way.

6 days to go

If you're going through Hell...

..keep on going. Don't look back, keep on moving. You might get out 'fore the devil even knows you're there...

I was approaching the last big hill, it was probably about the 18 km mark. I had thought about calling home more than once. My lungs hurt when I took a deep breath which was imminent on a big hill like that. I hadn't slept well all week and my stress level about work, training, the trip and the delayed Thanksgiving dinner awaiting me at home was through the roof. For the last half hour I had been debating whether to call it a day on the basis of not overtraining and wearing myself into the ground or keep going because I need to complete my training in order to be fit enough for the race in 2 weeks.

And then this song came on and made the decision for me. I was going through hell and I should keep on going. I decided that physically I wasn't in that much pain. After all, I'd been through child birth and that, eventually, did end. So, the tough part must be mental. And I've been through much tougher stuff than this. Therefore, I could do this. And with the help of the song, I did.

Yeah, I do a lot of thinking while I run. Last week when I ran the 36 km, I was on such a high. I could easily have run another 5 km. Today, if I had had the energy, I would have been crying through half my run. I'm glad its over and the longest run I have until the marathon is 10 km.

The next two weeks will be tough. And I have to say that I will be glad when it is all over and I can rest. For a bit.

13 days to go

Taper road

Well, my last regular run. It didn't go so well. I'm tired and ready to taper. My runs this week went well. I ran with Wendy on Tuesday and we just did an easy run because we raced on the weekend and were tired. Wednesday I did my tempo run. It was my best time yet. And it should have been. I pushed really hard. Man, I was happy with that time. In June I did the run in over 41 minutes. This past Wednesday, I did it in just over 35 minutes. Great run but I guess it burned me out for today.

My last really long run is Sunday. It will be 23 km. And then I have to come home and cook Thanksgiving dinner for the kids. It's going to be a tough weekend.

Next week I taper off my runs and start to conserve energy for the race. I can't believe we leave in a week and a half.

15 days to go.

3 weeks to take off

Wow, we leave 3 weeks today! This is starting to feel real.

Did my tempo run last night then went to the gym and did circuit training by myself. I really pushed myself on the tempo run. I was really choked because the GPS on my phone failed, again. I knew I was doing well but I had no idea how well. Anyway, when I got home I fixed the map and I did about 5:30 minutes per km. My fastest time yet. I'm not sure where the energy came from but I sure had it last night.

My phone is starting to act up. It keeps going to voice control for no good reason. I think it might be the headphones so I'm going to try another pair.

Tonight we are taking Jim and Karen out to dinner so they can tell us what they have planned for our trip. I am soooo looking forward to it.

26 days to go!