Whoa

Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the heck? How did this marathon creep up on us so fast? I was just busy teaching and living life and of course training, but here it is. I am trying to be positive, like watching Nike commercials etc. to get pumped for the pain. Actually the last two I have done have not hurt. When I did the half in Leadville I was going too darn slow to be sore. And the marathon last year, just was not sore.

Well I have a good friend in Flagstaff that would tell me I did not go hard enough if I was not sore. So Saturday I will be sore! I will give it every ounce and by golly I will set a pr if it kills me! And yes Rebekah you can take off, stay, or do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself while I am spasming out!

I have come up with a plan that goes against all running rules. The deal is it is cool for about the first half of the marathon. Then that wonderful sun comes up and it heats up, fast. My plan is to run the first half faster than the second half. Now I know all the books say opposite, but they aren't running a marathon in Tamarindo at 98% humidity and about 89 degrees.

We also have the guys in our court and they will be keeping us in the coconut water for our trek. Man this is going to be fun!

More On Boys

This was a good day for boys. I think boys are just like that, all good or all bad. The trick is when you have four sons, rare to get a day when they are all good. I got a chance to talk to Micah today and he was in a great mood. The trial is winding down and he is looking forward to receiving his sentence and moving on. He is also super excited that we are still selling copies of his e-book.

Son numero dos is doing good. He is trying to get himself moved down to the valley with his older brother. He has a truck that needs fixing and then he is on his way. Ready to move on all the time that one. He loves to be moving. In fact he said he walked 15 miles yesterday. He is a walker. Kind of like Forrest Gump, just feels like walking.

Numero dos has actually moved himself and his perro down to the valley. He found a studio apartment for a good price and is anxious to get moved down there. The really bad news is he has to get rid of his dog. The problem is the dog has never been right in the head. He is scared of everyone and everything. In the beginning when my son would walk him he had to carry him. He was obtained at a no kill shelter and apparently had been beaten or otherwise abused. So he was never a good dog, but still hard to part with after two years.

Numero tres is still struggling to deal with is divorce and not having his three girls around. I really don't have much empathy, never having dealt with it myself so I just try to be there for him and do lots of listening. He has found old friends that have been through similar trials and are there for him, so that helps.

I won't even go into the daughters :) That is another post for another night. In the meantime we are wrapping up our marathon training and tapering. Ah tapering my most favorite word in the whole world. Except I get really antsy and bored and my legs have that achy feeling. One more mid distance run tomorrow and then it is short runs for the next week in preparation for the big race. I say race when what I mean to say is run. That is much more appropriate.

Hiking

Every Saturday I get the extreme pleasure of "taking a hike". As I have mentioned I am training for the Leadville Heavy Half Marathon in July. I found this hill heading up to Monte de la Cruz with the steepest incline, and the most altitude in the whole valley area. There are a few volcanoes with more altitude but would take me half the day just to ride the bus to them. So instead I walk out my door, pic 1 and head up, and up, and up, for about 7 miles until I get to Tirol, the Swiss Chalet at the top. Nestled in the pines at about 5,000 ft.elevation it is beautiful. It is so nice when I finally get out of the hot sun, traffic and really steep hills and into the hilly pines. I have to say it is the best of both worlds and I am enjoying the heck out of this training. Oh yeah and I mention the really rockin run down with the awesome view?

MORTONS NEUROMA

There is a saying that if anything can go wrong it will. Well in the case of marathon training that is true for sure. I have been very careful not to get injured an been very conscientious about stretching and staying loose.

A few years I developed a neuroma, or as it is known on the bottom of the foot is called a "mortons neuroma". It feels like running on a hot iron on the ball of the foot. Painful! I did not think I would be able to do our 18 miler on Monday, but it loosened up and I was able to limp through it.

The problem with limping through a run is the sore muscles that are not used to limping. The compensation is not always worth it, and I sure felt it on my five miler today. My opposite leg was so sore and the bottom of the affected foot was so sore from running on the outside of it.

The good part was by the end of the run I was feeling strong and well. It is great when a five miler actually feels good. We are actually starting to get our act together on this marathon. It has been a fun journey for this one for sure and can't wait to run the race. Tamarindo Marathon here we come !!!!!

18 MILER DOWN

Woo hoo! Today Rebekah and I finished our second to the last long run of our training. We have a 20 miler next week and then it is taper time. Man I just love the sound of that, taper time, taper time, taper time!

It was a most beautiful day for a long run here in the mountains. We had about 75 degrees taking off and about 85 with lots of humidity by the time we got done. It was beautiful. The one problem we have had with training in the mountains is we have not had heat training.

It just does not get hot here like the beach, so that will be our biggest challenge. Not to mention the feet, chub rub, and knee. The typical aches and pains of a marathon. The bad part is we have not signed up and paid our fee. It is really expensive and we are saving our colones to sign up.

We also wanted to make sure neither one of us got injured or pregnant. I am sure you can guess who was worried about which :)

PRESIDENT ARIAS AND PORKY FLU

The President of Costa Rica is the latest victim of the porky flu as my kids call it. He evidently caught it on his big adventure on the new train from Heredia to San Jose. Really makes me want to try out the new train ha?

Our family has been going through something, not sure it is the real thing or another fake flu. I just know baby and hubby never get sick and they got hit the hardest with this one. All week on the couch and sleeping.

I guesss baby has not missed too much in pre-kinder, just lots more coloring and cutting, hope that does not mess her up too bad. The only thing she says she misses is her friends, normal.

So much for our lymph drainage. Oh wait we did not practice it on them, that is why they got sick, they did not get their lymph massage!

BUSHED

This is what a sleepover will do to you. My daughter had baby over for a sleepover on Fiday night and this is her Sat. night. She ended up playing with the nephew instead of niece, she crashed before the party even began! You can check out pics of the great sleepover party at my daughters web site.

The real thing is that I can relate to this pic. Today we finally did the long run we were supposed to do on Sat. We had to change our long run days around due to work hours. So we ran 16 miles this morning. I can't and don't even want to move a muscle. I am bushed. It would not be so bad if it did not take us so stinkin long to run that far.

We ran as long as it takes really fast people to finish a whole marathon. Actually not even really fast people, just kind of fast people. The good thing is we did it and only have four more long runs until the big day, cool beans. Now I am going to start eating my way through my house and try to recover.

SCHOOL BREAK

I was looking at my baby today and wondering how I would have felt when I was five if I got to spend my vacation watching my mom teach massage! Considering all the fun of hiding in my homemade fort I guess I would have been pretty happy.

I have not posted for a few days as our computer has been sick. Yes unfortunately our computer has a virus and is not feeling well. We are trying to get everything of value off of it before we lose it. Poor thing.

Other than that we have not had internet because, well I don't know why as we did not quite get the reason when the ICE guy came out to fix it today. All I do know is we now have a half way working computer and are back online.

We have been working with another amazing student and received rave reviews about her work, after only two weeks no less! I just love teaching people and seeing the response of the people they work on. It is very rewarding.

The fun is also getting better with our marathon training. We are up to 25 miles a week and boy am I beat, to say the least. I think in judging how I feel and look between 20 and 25 miles a week is the perfect mileage. It feels good without feeling like too much, and keeps the weight off. Another benefit I have found from upping the mileage is no migraine the past two months with the cycle. No IB profin at all, cool!

FLU

I never get sick, I mean never. I may get my monthly headache or some other ache or pain, but never sick. Well that came back to bite me in the backside this week for sure. I have been in bed all week! Now that is a drag. The good part is I only missed one run from the training schedule and should be able to be up and running by tomorrow morning.

The good news is it was the flu, but not the swine flu. Probably some other exotic flu or other, but thank goodness I did not start squealing. I really can't imagine that I could feel any worse though had it been a flu of another name?

I am grateful for a hubby who takes care of the house and kids and even gave me a shot in the butt! He liked that part though, the whole playing doctor thing. I did not mean that how it sounded, but it is all good. The important thing is I survived my flu episode and lived to tell about it. By the way the reason I never get sick is because I am such a wimp and God knows that!

CRAZY DIETS

I decided since I was now in training mode I should start a new diet in conjunction with crazy training. Hubby sent me the following one and I think I may try it, couldn't hurt ha:)

Yesterday I was at my local Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina dogchow
for my loyal pet, Biscuit, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line
when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired and have
little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was
starting the Purina Diet again. I added I probably shouldn't because I ended up
in the hospital last time, but I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an
intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs
in both arms.I told her it was essentially a perfect diet and the way it works is to load
your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two everytime
you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and
Iwas going to try it again. (I have to mention here practically everyone
in line was now enthralled with my story.) Horrified, she asked if I ended
up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped
off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's butt and a car hit us both.I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was
laughing so hard. Wal-Mart won't let me shop there anymore.Better watch what you ask retired people.. They have all the time in theworld to think of crazy things to say.

MARATHON TRAINING

This is the track that I run on most days. Some days I hit the streets, but usually, just because I can track my distance I run on this here track. The school is right across the street so easy peasy to drop off the baby and go for my run. She has to be there at seven am on Mon, Wed, and Fri. so that allows me time to run about an hour before I have to be to the school to teach.
Rebekah and I have decided on two marathons in the near future to train for. The first one is in Punteranas and looks pretty hilly. The sad part is it is only a few weeks away. We will have to really hit it to be ready. That one will be our training race.
The biggy is in August. There is acutally prize money for that race. Now here is the good part. Last year there was no one in my age group, that makes me a shoe in right? Like I always say, pick your races. That one is in Tamarindo and will probably be pretty warm. We are used to our cooler climate here in the mountains so the change will be a little rough.
So today I ran four miles and will do the same tomorrow. Then we have a 5k at race pace, which for me is the same pace that I always run, slow. I only have one speed unfortunately. Then of course on Sat. will be our long fun of seven miles. I am ready to do this again and excited to finally find something to train for. Now we just have to figure out where to register and when and we will be all set.