I ran for the first time yesterday since hurting my knee. I took it easy and didn't push it. Knees were sore. Will run with the team this weekend and continue to care for my injury. I must admit though that there is a really LOUD voice in my head that says, "You can rest in two weeks when the event is over."

I'm actually really nervous about running with that many people. The event is sold out! I go through bouts of excitement where I actually feel physically ill thinking about it. What a rush!

I am SO GRATEFUL to be able to run and exercise.

Laura

After my big 13 mile run a few weeks ago I slammed my knee into something and caused some uncomfortable swelling and stiffness. I've been taking great care of it, Arnica Montana, Resting, Icing, Compression, acupuncture, electrical stimulation...and finally Advil. I am going to try to run in a few days since it's finally feeling okay today. YEAH!!!

I'll still be running in the SLO event. There is NO WAY I would miss that.

Thank you to everyone who has been a support.

Laura

I ran over 13 miles today!!! : ) My first time ever running more than 13 miles ; ) I'm very happy about it.

There was a tad bit of flooding, so on the way out some of us opted to remove our shoes. On the way back I left them on and proceeded to slosh for the next five miles.

It was a BEAUTIFUL run today. We ran Sawyer Camp Trail. The moss on the trees was beautiful. The running streams to the water sounded beautiful. The deer munching on green green grasses were pretty to look at. The people were AWESOME. I love running with Team in Training because of all the encouragement I get on the runs : ) Whether it's a "Go TEAM!" or just a smile and nod from someone, it's still very helpful. At the end of the run my team yelling my name as I was finishing was awesome too : )

I went home and dilligently put myself in the tub. One of the guys on the team had a wonderful suggestion. Fill the tub with 2" of lukewarm water, get in and then add the ice and cold water. That way it isn't so shocking to get into the ice bath. It was brilliant!

I finished that and then went to yoga : ) where I saw some of my old climbing friends. It was so very nice to see them. I need to figure out how to work climbing back into my life. I miss it.

I'm still running : )

It's been a rather tough month with the death of my dad complicated by some matters with my divorce, so my running tapered off a tad : (

Tomorrow (actually in less than 9 hours) I'll be running 12 miles with my group.

Thank you to everyone who has donated!!! I am very grateful for your support. My dad was actually on a cancer treatment that benefitted from LLS research. I think he would have survived if he'd had more time. I plan to send each of you a hand written thank you note with a picture of me at the end of the run : ) Of course I want to "get on" them right now, so I may just take a picture of me running and send that : ) and then just send out an email with a picture of me at the end of the run. Ooh! I should do a before and after picture.

My heart aches right now. I miss my dad. I miss having family around me during this time. It just all around sucks. But a friend gave me a bit of inspiration. He sent me a picture of a Phoenix. Many of you know how much I LOVE FIRE : ) And the Phoenix is the fire bird, so when this friend sent me this picture and said, "Let this be you." He did more for me than he knew. It's my new "go to" image. I will rise.

In honor of it being National Cancer Awareness Day, I ran 12 miles!!!! And lived : ) The first three were HORRIBLE. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to get to 6 since my stomach was giving me some major issues. But I when I signed in, I signed up for 10, so that was my goal. When I got to the 10 mile turn around marker I was feeling pretty good (finally), so I set off for the 12 mile turn around.

It was gorgeous out. Truly a gift to be able to run along the water in the sun with the surf. I saw all kinds of birds. On my last mile in I ran by a hawk on a railing that looked like one of those fake plastic owls that you see sitting on the tops of buildings. It didn't look like an owl though. It was just BIG. As I ran by it, it observed me as I passed but didn't move much. I was in AWE. I also saw an Great Egrit. I didn't get pictures of everything, but enjoyed the moments.

After our run just like we planned, we went for a 15-20 minute soak in the ocean. It WAS so much easier to just walk into the water with my fellow runners than it was to climb into my bathtub full of ice. Toes got just as numb, legs looked just as red :) No pictures of me in the water : (, but here's the water we soaked in...

Now that I've hit 12, I know I can do 13.1!!! I just want to get my times down...