I am in Love... with my SHORTS!!!

Hey PIC!!!

I hope that this month is treating you well...
The weather is hopefully cooler for you to run in and that you are "enjoying" your training.

So I had to share this with you and I hope you see the humor in this as much as I did =)

As far as working out clothes go... I am of the opinion that whatever I have should be good for the job! However, I must say that I have found a new love... my running shorts!

So when you wear a normal pair of shorts and you are working out, the normal tendency is for your shorts to ride up... they ride and ride and ride until you are picking your shorts from unmentionable places while doing a weird little dance as you try to keep your pace and fix your shorts. It gets to be a super pain in the rear end... pun intended!

So a couple weeks ago I was in Marshall's looking for a picture someone had asked me to see if they had and I of course looked at the sale rack... and they had running shorts on clearance. I was like hhhmmmmm... for $4 it might be worth a try... and I have to tell you - I am hooked!

They are soft, they wick away moisture, and I am not having to adjust my shorts!
And so my running friend, I assure you just as much as proper shoes and a great pair of socks are important, so are a pair of running shorts!

Back on Track..

Hey PIC!!!

I know a couple of weeks ago we talked and I said that I had been having a hard time with the training program because of the heat... Even the mornings have become so hot that it is hard to run let alone breathe =)

I am excited to say though, that next week I will have a place to train that is inside... The new apartment I am moving into has a workout room with a TREADMILL!!!! I am so excited! This will help me so much! I am excited to be back on track with the program!

I hope that you are doing well and that training is going well! I cannot wait for us to run this race!

Jaimes

PS... Next September we are running the 1/2 marathon at DisneyLand! We're going to get the extra medal and do the marathons at both parks... just so you know =) I've already decided!

We Registered!

Hello, my wonderful partner in crime.

Adam and I just registered for the marathon! I'm pleased that we committed and paid and are all ready to go.

I will give you a longer update soon.

Love,
Kristi

First Week Back

Hey Friend!

So it is my first week back in a couple of weeks of not doing anything! I am hurtin!
I have found a couple new routes around town that I am going to try for my weekend runs. I am pretty sure that during the week though, I am probably going to stick to the complex. I have to be at work super super early now and I don't have much time in the mornings if I am going to get everything done that I need to before work.
You would be on the ground laughing if you could have seen me on Monday! I bought a pair of quasi running shorts to wear... and they are apparently TOO big! I was trying to job and hold my pants up at the same time... it was funny! I used to laugh at Ms. Mary when she would pick out these brightly colored super elastic running shorts for Mr. Mike... I thought who would wear these?!?!?! Now I am wishing I had some! I think I might hit the thrift store this weekend to find some!
Another thing I have been doing to keep myself motivated, get out more, and keep Daniel from getting stir crazy is walking with him at night. I know that training is every other day or almost every other day and I am walking with him every night. It is awesome to be outside, the breeze is amazing and I get to watch some pretty incredible sunsets! I wish I could paint them well enough to capture them. Hopefully my camera will do justice!

I love you and I miss you! I miss our Tuesday coffee dates!
Praying for us as we continue on our journey running this crazy road!
Jaimes

Road Tripping

Hey Sock Crazy Friend of Mine!

*I need to find myself some fun socks as well... maybe even a running group*

So...
In my super long traverse from the East coast to the West coast I have thought of three things that pertain not just to my travels and what made a 2,600 mile trip better/easier but also for us as we train for our marathon!

#1). HYDRATE!!!!! I tend to forget to drink as I am driving... mainly due to the fact that it would be stopping and taking care of nature (long history of not being able to stop... bad habits etc) so, me, someone who normally drinks enough to make a camel look like a lightweight, did not consume enough fluids the first day. I wound up drinking too much when I stopped and then that caused issues of its own. The next day it caught up with me. I felt achy, head-achy, stiff etc. I knew that if I had hydrated well the day before I wouldn't be in this predicament.

This reminded me that as we run, we need to hydrate! Before our runs, during our runs, and after our runs! Water... Gatorade... Repeat after me... I will become a camel! I will become a camel!

#2). ENCOURAGEMENT!!!!! It was the longest drive I have ever undertaken. 2,600 miles... sometimes without cell service... sometimes late at night when everyone sane was sleeping! The thing that kept me going though, was FB and a lot of fun cards that a certain PIC made for me! By posting where I was and what I was doing, some pithy and not so pithy comments etc, I had a mountain of people comment and encourage me along the way! I knew people were praying for me and I had fun commenting back! It made the time go by faster. The cards from my PIC were awesome! Every 250 miles or so I had another one to open with a cool question that gave me something to think about/pass the time. I have to say I was quite religious about opening them. I did not open them until the appointed time and not a mile before!

We need to encourage one another as we train! We need to find people in our circle to encourage us as we run! It is the only thing that is going to make it possible to sustain this goal! We need to know that we are capable of this... just as Chris encouraged you all when buying your shoes... We need to remind ourselves why we are running and that we can suceed!

#3). LAST MILES!!!!! As I was finishing my drive on Sunday night, I was having a hard time! It is those last few miles that make it hard. You want to finish and get to the end but it seems like the last miles never ever ever end! It was getting dark, I couldn't find my place, the directions I got from two different people were incorrect, and I started to lose it! I knew I could finish the ride but oh my goodness! I just wanted to be out of the car and be done with it! At one point I think I scared this guy in the apartment complex next door because I thought it was my complex, and my key card wouldn't work. I sat in my car and cried. It was late, I was tired and hungry.

Those last few miles of our training, of our race are going to feel like they are never going to end. They are going to seem endless! All we are going to want to do is just quit and stop on the road where ever we are and say enough! We need to know though, that we can do this! Those last few miles may be the hardest but we are going to be so excited when those last steps take us across the finish line and we are grinning from ear to ear because we completed our marathon! I cannot wait to take those steps with you!

Your Crazy California Friend,
Jaimes

Start of preliminary week two

Dear Jaimes,

Things are really getting serious over here. Today Adam and I started on the second week of preliminary training, and I told my brother about our marathon plan. (He was incredibly supportive and is excited for us.) The rest of this weekend's marathon prep was all about the feat...uh, I mean feet.

First I started with new socks. Just one pair, I'm not getting too carried away, yet. The new running sock is on the left; the cheapo, couple-bucks-for-a-twelve-pack sock I usually wear is on the right. See the little "L" on the new one? It stands for "left." That's correct, the socks are marked for each foot, and let me tell you, these are the most comfortable pair of socks I've ever worn. In fact, I don't want to take them off. They feel better than the first pair of fuzzy socks in the fall. They are stability socks with arch support and slightly extra cushion in the heels and toe. The shop guy suggested a more cushioned pair for later on, and I can't imagine how those would feel.

Let me tell you about my past with socks. I thought a sock was a sock, cotton tube with a little blue "Hanes" on the toe, and nothing else. My feet fit the boys' socks sold in the multipacks at Wal-Mart, so I've bought those socks because they are cheaper than anything else I've found. They'd bunch in my sneaker occasionally, and I'd have to stop during walks to adjust them, but I never thought anything of it. A sock is just a sock, right? Apparently not.

My sock discovery doesn't compare to my shoe revelation. After reading through chapter one's discussion of the importance of properly fitted running shoes, I wondered even more about my training shoes, ones I bought years ago at a sporting goods shop and have worn to the gym and on walks for a while. Adam and I visited Road Runner Running Store in Carytown for a personal evaluation and suggestions for a proper fit.

I bit my lip and reviewed shoe terms on the drive over to prepare for my first foray into the running world. I didn't look the part, I didn't know all the jargon, and I hadn't even been briefed on the handshake. Would the staff take me seriously or, worse, would they suggest that running a marathon wasn't for me?

Road Runner staffer Chris greeted us when we walked in and listened as Adam and I told him that we're training for our first marathon and about our previous limited experience. You know what he did? He welcomed us to running. He actually said, "Welcome to the club." I heard no mocking in his tone, witnessed no dismissing eye roll.

Chris had us remove our shoes, roll up our pants legs, and walk back and forth while he studied our gait and foot fall. He explained what he was looking for, what he saw, and suggested shoes that would be right for us. We tried on the suggested shoes, and then he watched us jog in them to see if they helped the slight over-pronation. He suggested other shoes. We repeated the process. He told me bluntly one pair wasn't helping me and I shouldn't buy them. He answered to all my dumb questions and didn't blow me off when I struggled to describe the different ways the shoes felt on my feet. He even pressed on the toe to check the fit, kinda like Momma used to do when I was little. I knew from the book there was supposed to be a thumb's width at the tip for the feet to swell, but it was great to talk with someone who knew what to check. He checked each shoe I tried on, and when decided on a pair (after we'd narrowed down the selection to a couple), he checked the fit again.

At the end of our fitting, which took about forty minutes, Chris took the time to ask about training and mention a running group for beginners, if we wanted to check it out. (I'm not going to yet.) He encouraged us to continue despite the soreness and pains that accompany the early days of training.

The window for replacing the shoes is between 300 and 500 miles, depending on the wear and how we will run. Chris said that as we run more and more we'll be able to tell when to buy new shoes by the feel of the run. Instead of being told running a marathon wasn't for me, he acted like he anticipated I'd finish and continue running after the big day.

I walked out of the store feeling good about myself. It was the first time I'd told a runner I'm training. Mentally, it was a big step.

And then I got home and immediately compared my new shoes to the running shoes I'd been wearing. Take a gander at the difference.

What are you doing for shoes? Where are you in your training?

Your temporarily foot-obsessed and forever long-winded friend,
Kristi

Yes, we are crazy...but it is the good kinda crazy!

Dear Jaimes,

We should definitely have our heads checked, but we knew this already, and it has little or nothing to do with this goal. First, thank you for including me on this monumental step. When you told me about your plan, I wanted to share this experience with you, encourage you, and use it to bridge the geographic distance between us. The plan also fit so well with what I hoped for myself--to improve my health and attitude about obtaining my goals--it made sense to say 'yes.'

I second your thoughts on the emotions we're experiencing, particularly the comfort of sharing a life-changing and horizon-expanding experience with you. I have always disliked despised running. I've never been able to run far (and my definition of far is anything more than my couch to the pizza delivery guy), I was always one of the last to finish mile runs in school, and though I went to college in the jogging capital of the world, I sneered at the runners as I drove to Krispy Kreme. During the softball seasons growing up, running was a punishment for mistakes or attitude. My teammates and I worked our butts off to avoid it. Now, many years later and in less shape, I choose to run. It is an empowering feeling.

So here we go.

After all, partners in crime must be prepared to make their getaway on foot.

Sending love and cheers,
Kristi