November 16, 2012

Well, I am REALLY REALLY close to the 1000 mile mark, ONLY 38.37 miles to go... Holy cow!!! Right now, I am really trying to have it 100% completed by Thanksgiving Day!!!! Wouldn't that be something truly AWESOME!!!! When I joined this challenge - I did it mainly for "kicks", and seeing how many miles I actually do would be interesting, and if I got even close to the 1000 miles that would be pretty cool. But NOW to see that I have actually done this blows my little mind!!!! Last Saturday we had a 8K race in Winnebago IL. It was a nice race, the weather was actually warm... Considering this is NOVEMBER - I was wearing SHORTS!!! I got about 1 mile in and all of the sudden a VERY VIOLENT storm broke loose.... There was lightening EVERYWHERE and close - you could feel the little hairs on your arm stand at attention... The thunder was so loud. I just went DAMN... Oh well, maybe this is how I am going to meet my maker by getting hit by lightening... Then I thought, no - I am to low to the ground and just went for the screw it theory and just kept running.... A few people actually quit and that point but not this die hard runner... Let's get real - I was already a mile in, paid my money and damn it if I don't allow the MS to knock me down why should I allow a little rain!!!!!! So yes, I finished and actually recieved 1st place for my age division. The rest of this week, I have been really working on keeping up my miles. I have been doing pretty well. I actually figured out if I really work, I have a GREAT opportunity to have my 1000 miles in by Thanksgiving Day. That is MY goal!!!! I have been doing pretty good with that... I have even gotten in some double runs during the week which is close to 10 miles. So that really helps. But the damn MS is once again doing anything it can to beat me down.... DAMN MS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last night I was running and about 2 miles in and all the sudden my left (weaker leg) knee felt like it wanted to fold in backwards. I did not let it happen and kept it going forward. But it did ALMOST get me to fall and drop me down like a stone. I did NOT fall and kept totally upright. I slowed down at that point and then felt like it was better and just continued on my 4.77 mile route. I continued and afterwards went to Pilates class. But still my muscles on the outside of my knee felt tight and weird. They seemed to be getting stiffer. I was planning on getting in another 4.77 miles in this morning but, with the knee still feeling stiff I decided to take a day off. Plus, I am even going to take BodyPump off tonight. We do ALOT of squats with very heavy weight. So maybe a day of rest and alternating heat/cold will help that muscle. I really do want to do the 5K race tomorrow. I tried to do it last year but, the day of the race there was a very cold, windy, rainy day. I decided that running in the COLD rain was not worth getting REALLY SICK. Plus for someone like me - getting really sick could cause my MS symptoms to really FIRE UP and take me months to get back to where I am now... So I did not chance it. This weekend - the weather is supposed to be nice -- about 50 degrees and sunny. So hopefully if I baby my knee today I will be OK. It is wierd because it only hurts or feels stiff if I move certain ways. Otherwise it feels fine... So some muscle probably spasmed on me while I was running and I forced it to stretch and strained it. I did not snap the muscle believe me - I know what that feels like and that WILL DROP YOU DOWN JUST LIKE A STONE. Plus - PAIN - OH MY GOD!!!! This year I have been so good with my injuries. They have all be EXTREMELY minor (skinned knees) but NO MAJOR ANYTHING!!!! It really makes me so DAMN mad - here I am acheiving a goal that I never thought in a MILLION YEARS I COULD ACCOMPLISH and then my body decides to mess with me... DAMN MS, DAMN MS, DAMN MS!!!!!!!!! I will NOT LET YOU WIN - NOT NOW OR EVER!!!!!! DAMN MS, DAMN MS!!!!! GO BACK TO THE BOUGHS OF HELL WHERE YOU BELONG - DAMN MS!!!!!!!! So now that I have ONLY 38.37 miles to go... I will finish it, it will happen, and I will have it done before Thanksgiving... I may have to run slower but to bad... I will NOT LET IT WIN!!!!! NEVER NEVER NEVER LET THE MS WIN.... NO MATTER WHAT IT THROWS AT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!