Back to Business

AM: 50 mins. ellip. (incl. 10x2 mins. on, 1 min. off; 5x1 min. on, 1 min. off)PM: 4 milesI'm back in my two-a-day routine today. Jordan is no longer here to distract me, as I dropped him off at the airport this morning, and most of my finals studying is over. I felt decent on the run this afternoon, which is about as good as it gets these da...

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We Wear Short Skorts

45 mins.6 milesThe only notables I remember from this run are that Tanya and I wore matching running skorts, Jordan ran for the third day in a row after the marathon and my foot hurt. Oh, and we saw lots of baby duckies around the pond at McAlpine. Skort pics to foll...

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Attempting a Workout

2+ mile w/u, 3 miles uptempo, 2 mile c/d(7-7.5 miles)Jordan, Tanya and I woke up fairly early this morning to get our run out of the way before things heated up. Jeff and Holly were headed to McAlpine so we hitched a ride with them. Tanya planned to do a 400m workout, and Jeff wanted me to attempt a 3-mile tempo run of sorts. He encouraged me to not use a watch and I certainly had no objections, so the plan was just to run on effort and get the legs turning over.Once again, Jordan was a trooper and volunteered to run the uptempo section with me....

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Shaking Out the Legs

15 mins. core33 mins. (4 miles)30 mins. ellipJordan and I woke up fairly early this morning to get in a bit of exercise before meeting up with his pops for a day o'fun. I halfway jokingly asked Jordan if he was going to run today, and to my surprise he said he was interested in shaking the legs out a bit. We embarked on an easy jog from the prison with the plan to run for ~20 minutes or so before meeting Jeffrey at the fitness center.We ambled along at a very leisurely pace past campus and through Freedom Park, but Jordan's legs remained pretty...

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Week in Review

42 miles4 hours ellip.5 AFDs3 super fast marathoners (Aja, Cat, Jordan)My running is still mediocre right now so I'd rather not dwell on that. Instead I'd prefer to focus on how fantastic my friends ran at their respective marathons this week, and how excited I am to see their fitness continue to progress. I may suck right now but I can live vicariously through them and somehow feel not quite as bad.Next week is crazy busy, what with Jordan et al in town and several final projects and exams on tap. It's hard to believe that after Thursday my first...

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Jordan is a Winner After All

60 mins.8+ milesI ran with Devin, Tanya and Holly at McAlpine. But who cares about me, the big story of the day was that Jordan WON the OKC Marathon! I can't even articulate how excited and proud I am, and I'm still smiling as I type this four days later. Simply put, my boyfriend is a badass. For a complete rundown on the race, including a few links to post-race articles and video, I will direct you to Jordan's blog.To further demonstrate what a trooper he is, Jordan proceeded to jump on a flight just a few hours after his marathon victory so that...

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Longest Run in a Month

AM: 57 mins.8 milesPM: 30 mins. ellip.Today I was absolutely determined to have a successful run. Fortunately Tanya was back from Penn and amenable to driving to McAlpine, so we set out around 9:30 for an 8-mile attempt. For both of us, this would be our longest run in over a month.From the outset, one thing was readily apparent: it was waaay too hot outside. I don't know when our comfortable, balmy spring weather charged full throttle into summer, but the temperatures and humidity were already soaring by mid-morning. Once the sun comes up at McAlpine...

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Cue the Violins

15 mins. core20 mins. (2.5 miles)40 mins. ellip.. (incl. 10x2 mins. on, 1 min. off)So today I threw myself a pity party. It was quite pathetic, actually. Basically my frustration about not being able to train, about not running Penn, about probably being bumped off the list for Nationals all came to a head. I was midway through my core workout this morning when I just stopped and started crying. I mean, core work, really? What's the freaking point?? I'm barely even running.I'm pretty sure part of it has to do with Tanya running so well at Penn...

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Happy Anniversary, Jilane!

AM: 54 mins.7.5 miles30 mins. ellip.So today was a banner day for me for several reasons. First of all, I ran 54 minutes. I'll pause for a moment and allow you to fully absorb that. Yup, 54 minutes, and I actually didn't feel terrible.More importantly, today marks the one-year anniversary of the night that Jilane and I met. Or, as she would describe it, the night that Jordan invited her to come out and have a drink with him and the Brooks rep, only...

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Slightly Better Than "Not Bad"

AM: 50 mins. ellip (incl. 10x2 min. on, 1 min. off; 5x1 min. on, 1 min. off)10 mins. corePM:4 milesFull disclosure: I may have teared up a little bit when I dropped Tanya off at school this morning. She, Coach Simmons, Futsum and Alex were headed to the airport to catch a flight for Penn Relays, and I couldn't help but think that I should've been going with them. This is not how I envisioned my track season playing out.The good news is my run this afternoon was the best I've felt (relatively speaking) in recent weeks. My foot didn't hurt at all...

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Beauty School 101

AM: 44 mins.6 milesPM: 30 mins. ellip.I started off the morning right with a run at McAlpine with Tanya. I haven't been there since Jordan was here, and the park has really blossomed since then. It's greener than I've ever seen and the wildlife is out and about--we even saw three baby duckies, probably the same ones Jordan and I first saw a few weeks ago, congregating by the pond. In keeping with the trend, I felt slightly better today than yesterday, and my goal is to feel "normal" again by the end of the week.This evening I took my life into...

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The Requisite "Marathon Monday" Title

AM: 45 mins. ellip.15 mins. corePM: 45 mins.6 milesFirst off, mad props to Aja for running 3:14 at Boston! She crushed her White Rock time by almost 10 minutes. Solid work. I know it was a tough day out there for many people, but I'm fairly certain none of them suffered as much as I did upon discovering that all the TVs were on the fritz in the fitness center this morning. This meant that I did my entire 45-minute elliptical session in complete and total silence. The only positive about that otherwise torturous experience is that it allowed me...

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Week in Review

28 miles4.75 hours on the ellip.2 nights in the mountains2 points scored at Conference1 run with JordanI feel like a broken record, but still no definitive progress to report on my foot (much less my fitness). I do feel like I've taken a few steps in the right direction, but I need to resume training almost immediately if I have any hope of competing at Nationals.In more positive running-related news, the Boston Marathon is tomorrow. In addition to Americans having an actual shot at winning this thing, I'm also excited to see several of my friends...

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Bass Lake Run

AM: 46 mins.6 milesPM: 30 mins. ellip.We departed the mountain cabin just after 9pm and began winding our way back toward civilization. Before we got there, we stopped off in Blowing Rock so the team could get in their long run at Moses Cone park. Unfortunately for me, the terrain consists primarily of steep ascents followed by steep descents (or vice-versa), which meant that for the sake of my foot I was relegated to the ~1500m flat loop around...

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Conference Carolinas Championship: Day 2

17 min. w/u (2+ miles)5k in ~20:0517 min. c/d (2+ miles)Total: 7-7.5 milesAfter a restful night's sleep, we enjoyed a laid-back morning lounging around the cabin and drinking coffee before heading to the meet around noon. I was slated to run the 5k with Jess and Holly, mostly just as a test for my foot. Jeff encouraged me to run as slow as I wanted to and even drop out if my foot began to hurt, but I was fervently hoping that wouldn't be the case....

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Conference Carolinas Championship: Day 1

AM: 15 mins. core22 mins. (3 miles)50 mins. ellip (incl. 20x2 min. on, 1 min. off; 5x1 min. on, 1 min. off)PM: Conference meetThis morning I got in a quick jaunt with Tanya before heading over to the fitness center for my workout. We had lots to do and little time to do it, as the train (read: van) was pulling out of the station (read: school) at high noon for our conference meet. We were destined for Lees-McRae college in Banner Elk, NC, a small...

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Two Weeks Later

AM: 30 mins. ellip.PM: ~5 milesAs I'm typing this on Sunday, it's hard to remember much about today's exercise except that my foot is still not 100% and as a result I'm still frustrated. It's hard to believe it's only been two weeks since I stopped my track workout literally in mid-stride because of foot pain...honestly it feels like it's been months. This is the best part of the year to be out running and I was supposed to be stronger than ever right now, so it's pretty disheartening to see my fitness slip away as each day passes. The sole silver...

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Smorgasboard

AM: 20 mins. core20 mins. pool50 mins. ellipPM: 30 mins.4+ milesPretty hardcore day of cross-training with a few afternoon miles thrown in. Foot isn't worse, isn't bett...

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Farewell Run With Jordan

AM: 3 milesPM: 45 mins. ellip (incl. 10x2 min. on, 1 min. off and 5x1 min. on, 1 min. off)For the third in the last four days, Jordan and I woke up pretty early this morning. He had a 9:20 flight to catch and we wanted to take a little jog first. Admittedly my foot wasn't 100%, but I was tired of watching him run without me every day, so I suited up and gave it a go. We stuck mostly to the grassy areas beside sidewalk and in the median in Myers Park, so for the most part this was a soft-surface run. The verdict: foot was okay, but not great. Sigh.I...

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Elliptical Double

AM: 20 mins.core20 mins. pool30 mins. ellipPM: 45 mins. ellip (incl. 20x1 min. on, 1 min. off)Jordan, Tanya and I woke up bright and early today for morning practice. In a flashback to his Brown days, Jordan agreed to get in the pool for a session of aqua jogging, but not until accidentally following me into the girls locker room first. Silly boy. At any rate, after the pool he wanted to put in a few miles through Freedom Park, so Tanya and I decided to be ambitious as well and hit up the fitness center. Coach G-Unit, on his second (or is it third?)...

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Week in Review

22 miles4.5 hours on the elliptical30? times icing2 track meets1 bread bunnyI seem to be on a roller coaster of emotions with my foot situation. At times I notice improvement and at times it feels like I'm right back where I started. For now there's not much I can do besides continuing to rest, ice and wear shoes that won't further maim me.This issue aside, I had a great weekend with Jordan and a perfect Easter Sunday with friends. I'm happy to see him recovered from his own injury and getting back into shape, and can't wait to see how his marathon...

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Easter Sunday

Day offEaster Sunday dawned sunny and cool, and I was looking forward to hitting up McAlpine with Jordan for a long run. Unfortunately my foot was having none of it. Note to self: Don't wear high heels on Saturday night. Even if it's only for a few hours, even if you don't think it will do any damage. I could barely put on my shoe this morning, let alone seriously contemplate running. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty bummed out. I love running with...

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JC Smith Invitational and Blue Shoes Mile

2 mile w/u+ strides3k race (minus two laps) in ? (I forget)2 mile c/dTotal: 6 milesView of downtown Charlotte from the JC Smith trackTo echo Jordan's blog intro, what a day of racing! It started with a few hours at the Johnson C. Smith Invitational meet across town. You may recognize the name, as JC Smith is the track where we work out every week. So essentially this was our home meet. As if that didn't make it feel relaxed enough, add the fact that...

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And Then There Were Three

AM: 15 mins. core4 milesPM: 48 mins.6.5 milesMy foot was still feeling decent this morning so I decided to take a spin on my usual morning loop before prepping for Jordan's arrival. He and Blake were supposed to catch the same connection in Minnesota before touching down in Charlotte, but after Blake's first flight was delayed he was forced to stand in the terminal in MSP and watch Jordan bid him adieu.As a result, our party of four (including Tanya) was reduced to three for the pre-planned afternoon jaunt at McAlpine. In a rare cosmic alignment...

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Back on My Feet. Literally.

45 mins. ellip31 mins. running (4 miles)I woke up this morning unusually chipper, no doubt because I was eager to test out my foot again. I already knew I wasn't going to permit myself to run very far, so I decided to hit up the fitness center for a half hour or so on the elliptical. Much to my shocked amazement, Jeffrey rolled in at almost the exact same time with the intention to start his quest toward some semblance of fitness. Chatting with him...

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8 Minutes of Glory

AM: 15 mins. core35 mins. pool8 min. run (1 mile)PM: 55 mins. ellip (incl. 10x1 min. on, 1 min. off; 10x2 min. on, 1 min.off)Today after morning practice I decided to take a spin down Selwyn and give the bum foot a test. I was a bit apprehensive at first and was obviously hyper-sensitive to any sort of discomfort I might feel. The great news is my foot didn't hurt at all! I consciously tried to maintain a normal stride, and honestly didn't feel any pain or discomfort. It might be a different story when I try to get up on my toes and run fast, but...

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"But...It's Only Tuesday."

AM: 50 mins. ellipPM: 45 mins. ellip (incl. 20x1 min on/1 min off)The good news about spending so much time in the fitness center is that I get to catch up on television shows I never knew I was missing out on to begin with. For example, yesterday morning I kept occupied with "Saved By the Bell" and "Full House." That Uncle Jesse is soooo dreamy. Today was "The West Wing" (a great episode, the one where President Bartlett reveals he has MS), and this afternoon was the MTV docu-drama "Fat Camp." That one certainly boosted my self-esteem.It's funny...

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A Ray of Hope

AM: 35 mins. ellip15 mins. corePM: 45 mins. ellipI had a mini-breakthrough tonight. I was walking to my car from the dining hall after dinner and became chilled by a relatively sudden drop in temperature outside. For a moment I forgot I was injured, and my only thought was, "It's cold; I better run to my car." So I took off on a relatively uptempo jog through the parking lot, only to realize a few seconds later that a) I was running, and b) my foot didn't hurt!So yeah, running 20 yards through the parking lot was pretty much the highlight of my...

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Week in Review

46 miles3 days off90 mins. on the elliptical7 AFDs100? times icing my footUgh. I don't even know what to say here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but things aren't looking good. For now I'm just taking things a day at a time as far as this whole foot situation is concerned...not sure what else I can ...

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This Is Getting Old

2 mile walk60 mins. ellipticalThe pool wasn't open today, so I walked to school this afternoon and did the elliptical. I would rather throw myself off the balcony than do this for a month, so I better not have a stress fracture. Oh, and have I mentioned that today was the nicest day of the nicest weekend of the year? Yeah. F...

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Cross-Training. Sigh.

AM: 2 mile walk60 mins. poolPM: 2 mile walk30 mins. ellipToday was my second day off from running, and I have to say that I don't care for it one bit. My foot isn't feeling any worse, but it's not exactly feeling better either, so I decided to play it safe and cross-train instead of attempting a wog. Fortunately Tanya is still in cross-training mode herself, so she was happy to accompany me to the pool for an hour this morning. It was a gorgeous day so we walked the mile to school instead of driving, then hopped in the pool for an hour of aqua...

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Day Off

AM: 15 mins. corePM: ~3 mile walkToday was a forced day off due to my foot situation. This may not be an entirely bad thing, as my most recent day without running was December 26th when I was traveling to San Fran to meet Jordan and his mom. I intended to get in the pool this afternoon, but after waiting over 30 minutes for the lifeguard it became apparent that she wasn't coming, at least during the time frame when I needed to be there.Instead of exercising, I opted to cash in one of my pre-paid massages at Massage Envy. I'd never had this therapist...

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FML.

AM: 3 milesPM: 16 min. w/u + strides (2 miles)Target: 12x800 @2:45 w/2 min. restActual: 2:49, 2:49, 2:45, 2:44, 2:45, 2:45, 2:45, 2:45, 8210 min. c/d (1-1.5 miles)Total: 7.5 milesWell. I don't really know where to begin on how crappy this workout was. Admittedly I went into it with a less than optimistic attitude, given that I am still as sore (if not more so) than I was yesterday, and I wasn't really sure if I would be capable of turning the legs over at all. Alas, I wish that had been my only problem...So, things started out fairly decently....

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Sore Legs

15 mins. core79 mins. (10.5 mles)Today I enjoyed the luxury of only one run and headed out to McAlpine around 10am. The weather was pretty gross, kind of drizzly-misty-muggy, and I can't say I was loving every minute outside. Oh, and not to mention that I was virtually immobilized from my strength training workout yesterday. My quads are absolutely trashed, and I was audibly whimpering both times I ran down the one steep downhill at McAlpine. Post-run, even walking like a normal person proved to be a challenge.The only thing to distract me from...

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