67: I drank a lot of water last week

One gallon of water, each day, for a week. That is a lot of water.

I did this goal because I knew I should do a flush of my body and to make sure I was plenty hydrated for the race on the weekend. As I wrote last week, it is really important to drink water. I can write nothing on this post that would make it interesting, so because of that, I will write no more.

Tecumseh Trail Marathon.....Done!!!

Yesterday, my brother and I went down to Bloomington, IN and ran a marathon. We woke up, opened up the blinds and saw what was the makings of a blizzard outside. On a normal day I would have looked outside and thought, "Okay, I guess I'm not going to go outside today." We had to run a marathon in that weather, it was tough. We drove to the finish line, parked our car, then boarded a bus for an hour long ride up to the start line. After the ride, that made us feel completely stiff, we got off the bus and felt the 20 mph winds and snowflakes blasting our faces. What a wake-up call! After the race started we began our march to the finish line. The reason for the word march was that we were on a trail most of the way which meant we were in a line with people most of the way. I don't think that I had the complete idea as to what this marathon would be like. First of all, I fell 6 times. None of these were big falls, but they were all times that I found myself needing to put my hands down to make sure I didn't make it all the way to the ground. Because of the snow, it made for icy conditions on the trails the whole way. Our pace was barely over a walk for most of the race. This was because: 1) it was icy and any attempt to run would have surely resulted in a hard fall. 2) There were an incredible amount of hills on the course that took a bunch of energy out of you if you decided to run them. 3) I hadn't run in 2 weeks and both my cardio and my foot were struggling to keep up. The biggest thing that I had going for me was the fact that the doctor said I couldn't do any permanent damage to my foot. That was good to know, it helped to keep me going. Plus, it didn't hurt bad enough anyway that would have taken me off the course at any point. The thing that really kept me going was the fact that I had my brother there to push me along. If he wasn't there, I think I still might be out on the course.
The ride home was tough. I'm sure Matt will comment about how I was almost asleep the whole way home. He is right, I fought sleep for the last hour and a half. He is an amazing driver and I am very happy he was behind the wheel on the way home.
What's next on the race calendar? I don't know yet. I know May 30th I've got a 5K. Before that, we'll see. Matt is trying to get me to do another marathon. I am waiting for my body to recover before I get too far ahead in making a decision about that again. I'll keep everyone (all 5 of you that read this thing) posted.

Updates

First thing is first. Drinking a gallon of water a day is hard! I've done it for a couple days in a row. I find myself liking my breaks more and more throughout the school day. 4 more days!

Next, the doctor I went to see today gave me a good report. She said I probably had some tendonitis in my foot. I was then told, welcome to the world of running. This aparently is a fairly common occurrence that I didn't know about. Upon some examining, she determined that there was no long-term risk for me running the race this weekend. She did say there might be some discomfort afterward, or possibly during, but that I wouldn't be doing any damage to my body. I felt that her assessment of my foot was fair and I trust her. Aparently this is something I might have to get used to.

Matt, I can say with a big smile on my face, "This is going to be quite the memorable experience!"

The benefits of drinking water

Goal number 67 is for me to drink a gallon of water each day for a week. That is a lot of water, but my body needs it, and so does yours. I typed in the phrase "benefits of drinking water" into a google search and came up with a ton of reasons for why I should make sure I get enough water and I couldn't argue with any of them. The big thing I am thinking about this week is the fact that the marathon is coming up at the end of the week and I need to make sure that my body is fully hydrated. That is the reason I listed the goal in the first place. After doing some research, here are some reasons to drink plenty of water:

• limits cramping while doing physical activities
• improves your energy
• Increase Your Mental and Physical Performance
• Remove Toxins & Waste Products from your body
• Keep Skin Healthy and Glowing
• Help You Lose Weight (or maintain weight)
• Reduce Headaches and Dizziness
• Allow for proper Digestion (you can eat all the fiber you want, but without proper hydration, it doesn't have the same impact.)

The rule of thumb they said is to drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water. With this in mind, the typical thought of 8 glasses of 8 ounces of water doesn't work unless you are 128 lbs. For those of us that are bigger than that, we need to drink more. For those that are exercising and active, it goes up much more. The lesson here is, drink your water. Early and often.

I'm feeling like this marathon is going to happen

My foot feels good. I haven't ran in over a week, but I haven't had it hurt since Tuesday night. The medicine that the doctor gave me was basically a pain killer which means that it is sedating the pain, but not fixing what was the problem. I'm hoping that time is healing the problem. I have a doctor appointment with the orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday morning and they will tell me whether I can run or not. I am thinking that since I don't have pain when I move my foot around and haven't had any pain for awhile, then I should be able to run it.
Another good point that I have to work with is the fact that I am not running this race to win it. I am doing it to finish. As long as I keep up a 17 minute mile pace, I'm good. I plan to go much faster than that, but if it is necessary with injury it is there. (Matt, I'm not planning on taking up that time. That would be horrible!)
All that awaits is my Wednesday morning appointment with the doctor to tell me if it can happen or not. I'm hoping for yes.

Setback?

I am writing this post worried about my foot and my ankle. As some of you know I have a marathon coming up in a little less than a week. Last weekend I had an 18 mile run. It went well the first half, but terrible the second half. My foot started hurting a little bit at the beginning, then it got worse as it went along. I was hoping that tylenol and advil would help to get rid of the pain, but it is only getting worse. I am steps away from accepting crutches to make walking easier. (this is only at certain times, it isn't that bad all of the tiem) I have a doctor appointment scheduled for 4:15 today and I am hoping that they will give me some quick fix to make it go away. I want to be able to do this marathon with Matt and am going to do as much as I can to be able to do that, but if they say I can't run, then I can't run. Please pray for me if you read this anytime soon before the appointment.

***Update***
I went to the doctor. She didn't give me too much to work with yet. She did send me to get x-rays and I will hear back about those tomorrow. She thought it might be a stress fracture. I was told to wait on running until the x-rays come in. I'm hoping that results come back with good news. She did prescribe me a pain medicine that I have to take twice a day. I'm hoping that helps out with the pain I've got right now.

Goal #25 has been selected

I picked a new goal #25. I don't know why I dragged my feet so long picking a new #25, but I did it. I looked over some of the suggestions that were given and decided I wanted to cook a turkey dinner. Turkey's are really well priced right now and I picked one up. I am thinking I will be waiting until January to cook the dinner, so I have got some time to do some planning. It will be a complete turkey dinner. I am not sure what the sides will be yet, (I'm sure Matt will make a comment for some suggestions) but we will see what comes up in the next month or two. I have never cooked a turkey dinner before. Actually, before I started my list, I hadn't cooked much at all before. Melissa says I am doing pretty well, but I think she would say that no matter what because then she isn't responsible for dinner.

I will give credit to Gretchen for this suggestion. Now I will need to do some looking over of my goals and see if I there are any other ones I need to change-up.