Time to FOCUS!!!!

Ok, as of today I have 25 days until my Marathon.....
25 Days!!!!!
That's not a lot of time, and with my little rib set back and all of my traveling, the nerves are starting to kick in!!! I know that I have already overcome the hardest parts of the training, now I just need to stay on track and keep myself healthy. Las Vegas really knocked me out (I partied like a Seasoned Rock Star when honestly, I would barely qualify for Rock Star Pre-School)! I didn't make it out of the house for my run last night, then totally slept through my alarm this morning. I have my clothes with me and will be heading out for my run right after work.
Here is my question - I have to do a 20 miler this weekend (was going to do it Friday with a teammate, but now she can't get off of work). My Team is meeting Saturday morning at 8am, I have to be at the airport by 11:15 to go to Dallas. Should I -
a) Suck it up and do the 20 miler by myself (if I go by myself I'll "make" my Dad meet up with me at some point so I'm not totally alone). I've never run more than 10 miles by myself.
b) Go to the group run early (like 6am) and get in 2 hours by myself and finish up with the group by 10 am then clean up and head to the airport. Keep in mind the flight is about 4 hours.

Here are the other things I need to a grip on, ASAP!!!!!!
*Weight - I came back from Vegas 5 pounds heavier than I left, I'm down 2, so 3 more to go.
*Nutrition - MUST start eating better. I was doing great, but the past 2-3 weeks have been less than acceptable. Have to bring a better lunch to work and have a better dinner (more veggies, brown rice, chicken, and so on)
*Water - Seriously, I am not drinking NEARLY enough!!!! Starting today the minimum will be 90 ounces.
*Running - Wait, how did this end up at the bottom....MUST STAY ON SCHEDULE!!!!!!


Question: To those of you who have done a marathon before, when you started the race in the morning was it "cold" outside? If you answered "no" you can skip this question, if you answered "yes" then continue.

Did you start out with a long sleeve shirt on? Where did you pin your number? I just ordered this race belt that I can put my number on, plus it has 2 pockets that I can put my gu and stuff in. Any thoughts/experience with these?


I think that's everything, I just don't want the Marathon to get here and feel like I could have trained better at the end.
Feel free to add your thoughts / advice!!!

Viva Las Vegas!

Seriously, I could never make it as one of those "socialite girls" that party every night!!! Let's put it this way, on Friday and Saturday night we were out so late that it made more sense to eat breakfast BEFORE we went to bed! Saturday night we went to Prive and I danced from 11:30pm until nearly 4am, which by the way I decided was equal to running 8 miles! As for running in Vegas, the only running I did was while shopping (as in "running in and out of stores!)!!!
My rib is feeling pretty darn good, major improvement over last week. So now it's time to buckle down and get back on schedule! My plan is to run Monday, Wednesday, and do my 20 mile long run on Friday.
Hope you all had a great weekend!!!

Back on the Run!

Cut to the chase.....I ran 4 miles, and I felt GREAT! My plan was "to do 3-4 and do them on the slower side". I did 4 and I finished in 39:24 (which is not my "slowest side", more on my "normal/feeling good side")!
Rewind to the beginning of today...I started off really early this morning and headed downtown to pick up stuff we needed for our conventions. On my way back I stopped off at my chiropractor (he's known me for YEARS) to run the whole "broken rib" thing by him. He was a little skepitcal of the whole thing, but once he had a chance to poke around the area, he said that definitely seemed to be the case (of course w/out the x-ray it wouls be hard for him to say). His thoughts were that most of my pain at this point was coming from the cartilage between the ribs being totally irritated and slightly torn. Then he did a bone density scan on me, and my bones are nice and dense! Wooo hoo!
Then I was off to work, totally busy all day, especially since I am LEAVING FOR VEGAS in the morning! Finally I got out of work and headed home.....the took a detour to the hair salon. See, I got my hair done on Friday and I didn't "love it". The color was very pretty, but too natural looking and plain (I like lots of chunky color and high lights!), so I stopped in and this new girl was able to squeeze me in (I was sooooooo nervous)!!! She did an AWESOME job, I left with tons of Blonde chunky highlights, totally love it now!
Then I made it home in just enough time to change and get to the trail to get my run in before my nail appointment (seriously, this makes me sound super high maintenance), and now I'm finally home. Oh yeah, I still have to pack, and it's 9:41pm and my flight is leaving at 9:40am....I better get off of here and get to packin!
I'll try to update from Vegas! Hope you all have a great weekend!

I Miss You....

Dear Running-
I just want you to know that I miss you. I hope that you know the reason I haven't "been" with you for almost a week is not by choice. I haven't been off having all sorts of fun with Gym, Bike, Weights or any of the other guys that I knew before you. Without you my evenings feel so empty, my weekend without our usual LONG date felt insignificant, instead of my body aching because of you....it is now aching for you! I knew that you meant a lot to me, I just didn't know how much until now!
So my Dearest Running, I will be back before you know it! Just another day or 2 until we will meet again.
All my heart, sweat, blisters and broken rib-
M*J*C

Seriously, I miss running. To most of you that are reading this you are probably thinking, "of course you do, did you really think that you wouldn't?" Well, sure I knew I would sort of miss it, but I'm missing it on a whole lot of levels, and maybe it was a good thing for me to learn that now, so I can appreciate it more through the rest of my journey to the Marathon.
I am getting a little worried about getting back on track. With the Marathon being only 5 weeks away from this coming Sunday I am getting into the critical point of my plan with the "REALLY Long Runs" (this is another term that I have new respect for)! So, here's what I'm thinking....
I am hoping to run 3-4 miles on Wednesday, then leave for Vegas Thursday. I would like to do 5 miles on Friday, and then maybe another 5 on Sunday (if I didn't party too much on Saturday....). Scratch that, I AM going to party too much on Saturday, come home on Sunday night and then run on Monday. I'll go for 7 Monday, 5 Wednesday and then do my long run on Friday (so I don't have to jump right onto a plane after it on Saturday). My schedule called for a 20 miler this coming Saturday, but I missed the 18 miler this past Sunday. So, I will shoot for 18 miles on Friday.
Any thoughts, suggestions, words of wisdom??? Feel free to share! *keep in mind, I know that all of the above is based on it all "feeling good"...it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) if there is major pain in the rib area I'll stop and re-evaluate.

What Can I Say???

I have no running report for you today since there was no running for me this weekend. I did however manage to eat lots of salty picnic food on Sunday and wake up weighing 4 pounds more...lovely!
Note To Self: If you don't run 18 miles you can't eat like you ran 18 miles. Got it? Let's not make this mistake again!
On the bright side, I'm leaving for Vegas on Thursday and CAN NOT WAIT!!!!
Hope you all had a great weekend and ran a few miles for me!!!

I've been keeping a secret from you...

So, about 2 weeks ago on my 15 mile run I had a sharp pain in my side after a water stop. A REALLY SHARP PAIN. I thought Holy Mother of God, this is the Motherload of all "sidestitches"!!! I was running with my TNT buddy Chrisie (thank god that I have a witness!!!), and I said to her, OOOOH...I gotta walk a minute, you go ahead without me. Then I finished my 15 miles and went on with my day. The pain has not gone away, I figured it was a pulled oblique of some sort. I didn't want to blog about it because it seemed so "lame". Keep in mind, since then I have done a 1/2 Marathon, all my weekday runs, and another long run of 14 miles. Even ran 5.5 miles last night. The pain has still been there, particularly when I twist, sneeze, cough, laugh....hmmmmm, sounds like something else....can't be though...can it?

Finally after not being able to sleep last night I went to get it checked out and they did an X-ray, Drumroll please.................

Yep, I have a BROKEN RIB! NOT a fracture or a crack, BROKE in 2 pieces. Rib #9, that bitch!

So what does that mean for me....thankfully it's not a deal breaker. Just NO lifting, pushing, pulling of any sort for 10 days. Lay low on the running for 7 days, and then re-x-ray.

For real, who breaks their rib running? I guess I must run SO fast that they just break...LOL!!!

On the bright side, I am HARDCORE!!!!!

Song of the day - Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit

QUICK Question

Anyone know of anybody else in Blogland that is doing Marine Corps Marathon???? If so, I'd love a link to their blog!!!

The Next 6 Weeks of My Life

Wow, I can't believe that the Marathon is 6 weeks ago from yesterday. It's hard to believe that it was 6 months ago that I got this crazy idea in my head, and now it is fully happening....it is the best thing ever!
With all of that said, I am in for a little bit of a crazy time over the course of the next 6 weeks. I have A LOT of traveling coming up....here's the schedule-
9/20-21: In town, 18 miles on schedule for Sunday
Thurs 9/25-Sun 9/28: VEGAS!!! This will be a fun filled weekend, with minimal running on the schedule (only a 6 miler that weekend), lots of going out and living like a rock star!
Sat 10/4 - Run my FIRST 20 MILER in morning, then be on a plane by 12:55pm to Dallas for work....let's just say I'll be so freaking stiff by the time I get there that I'll be lucky if I don't need a wheelchair off of the plane!
Sun 10/5 - Work in Dallas
Mon 10/6 - Come home
Fri 10/10 - 10/12: In New York for work, meet up with the NY TNT for the Group Run 17-20 miles, work all day Saturday and Sunday
Fri 10/17- 10/19: In Chicago for work, Saturday run 6 miles work all day Saturday and Sunday.
Fri 10/24 - LEAVE FOR THE MARATHON
Sun 10/26 - RUN 26.2 MILES in the MARINE CORPS MARATHON!!!!
Mon 10/27 - Try to remember how to walk again, and find a new purpose for the next 6 months of my life!!!!

One of the biggest challenges for me will be to NOT gain 8 pounds over the course of traveling every weekend out of the next 6 weeks! It will be hard enough to haul this ass all the way around the marathon course, let alone this ass with an additional 8 pounds on it!!!
My other challenge will be getting enough rest / sleep. I cannot F up on that part, it's way to critical!

Attention "Weather" - it's FALL and I don't live in the AMAZON!

Dear "Weather"-
Please take a look at YOUR calander, then look on the map and see where PENNSYLVANIA is...it's in NORTH AMERICA, not SOUTH AMERICA! Now that we have this cleared up, can we get the weather headed on the right track? You know, just nice mornings without 90% humidity, maybe even a breeze? If you could get this squared away by next weekend I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!!

As if you couldn't guess, my run this morning was a COMPLETE struggle! I met up with 3 of my TNT Teammates to head out for the planned 17 miles. I got out there a little early and dropped off water and Powerade Mountain Blast (it's the "official" drink for the Marine Coprs Marathon....so exciting!!) at the 2 mile mark and the end of the trail, which was at 5 miles. Our original plan was to run out to the 5, back in 2.5, back to the 5, then head back down the trail and double back for an additional mile up and down at another point to get to a total of 17.
Well, at about mile 1.5 I was like "WTF??? Why are my lungs filling up with water, are we swimming???" Yes, that's right, I was thinking that 1.5 miles into it.....we knew it was going to be a LONG run! Shortly after that we did decide to scale back in the heat and go for 14 instead, an excellent decision in my opinion...fluids ended up getting low and the sun was blazing!
We struggled through it, TG my teammates were there, I soooooo would have laid down on a bench! My girl Chrisie reminded me that this will be the run that I pull my strength from during the marathon at mile 23 and I am looking for a bench anywhere to lay down and die! THIS will be the run that I remember and say "F the bench bitches, I'm finishing this!!!!"
In retrospect, we might have been way better off starting a little later, the humidity was so intense for the earlier part of the run, it just sucked the life right out of me!
All in all, I am just glad that it's done, and that I had my Teammates with me!

UPDATE on the Cat - Well, he/she's not hanging around my house anymore, but I keep looking everyday. I'm hoping that means that they found their way home! Thanks for the good luck wishes with him/her!

Friday Picture of the Day

It's Friday again, that means it's time for Picture of the Day (as started by NikeMom). Well, today's picture is of a little white cat that appeared at my house last night, and is acting like he lives here! I'm in the process of trying to find this little guys owner....
I've posted the picture on Craigslist and called the local vets, no luck yet. When I get home from work if it's still around I'll call the police and they will come to my house and scan it for a microchip...I hope it has one!!!

Finally Done! (non-running related!)

Well, last night I finished my LAST suit for the season!!! While it is something that I love doing, the hours and stress that come with it can be enough to wipe you out!!! Every girl has to be measured and then the suit is made to fit, in her color choice, with her choice of rhinestone design. I convinced the girl that picked up her suit last night to let me take a picture of her in it (even though she is "not contest ready" and isn't all "tanned up"!). I promised that I wouldn't include her head! So, here it is!!!

Yesterday was also a big day at my "Regluar Job", our catalog finally returned from being on press and the bindery! It looks absloutley amazing!!!! I am beyond thrilled with it, it is such a relief to have it in our hands! Here is a quick picture of the cover -

My picture of it does it no justice....but believe me, it's beautiful!

That's it for now, just soooooooo happy to have these 2 things compeltely done!!!!

More Race Pictures!

Here are some more pictures from Saturday's Half Marathon!
Here I come....I'm in the pink behind the guy in burgundy...you can just see a little bit of me! I was so excited to see my Mom and Dad at the finish line, and couldn't believe how much "more" I could keep pushing across the finish line!

Here I am with my Mom! And here's Dad! On the left is my Marine Corps Marathon Teammate, Chrisie (in yellow), and on the right is another TNT Teammate that is doing the San Francisco Nike Marathon, Erin. This is some more of our Team in Training group, Nicole (doing San Fran I think) and Justin, he's one of the mentors.

And this is me after the race, apparently pointing to my truck...not sure what was going on here but I liked that you could see my number and the medal!!!
I'm still flying high today from the race! I can only imagine what it's going to be like after the Marathon!!!!
Thanks again to everyone for their good luck wishes! A special Shout Out to "NC RUNNER" for his comments/input on the whole run/walk thing!

Race Day!

The race was GREAT! I can officially say that I LOVE RACE DAY! The excitement, seeing everyone, the start, the finish...I love it all! One of my favorite parts of the race is when you are running a long, and then the really fast people have already made it to the turn around and are running towards you (at mile 5 on my side!!), it just makes you go faster!!!

So, for this race I decided that my strategy would be "Part Galloway" and "Part Margo", and I've decided to call it the "Margo Music Method"! Here's how it works, run for 2 songs then walk for 1 minute, repeat until you're done!!! Here's the breakdown (according to my Garmin)-
13.26 miles/2:13:29/10:04
1 - 9:26
2 - 9:44
3 - 10:05
4 - 9:49
5 - 10:12
6 - 9:55
7 - 9:52
8 - 9:57
9 - 10:11
10 - 10:28 (1:39 at 10 Miles)
11 - 9:47
12 - 10:36
13 - 11:08

Keep in mind that the course was 1 mile down hill, then relatively flat with 1 long-ish uphill grade leading up the turnaround, then flat the rest of the time, so I'm sure this was a little on the "faster side" than normal for me...none the less....it was way better than I thought I'd do and it felt GREAT!
I felt really great pretty much the whole time! I didn't start feeling any pain until the last 2-3 miles, then as you can tell from the last mile time I started to get a little slow (had to stretch a few times), but I was able to finish looking strong! My parents were waiting for me at the finish line and it was so great to see them, along with the rest of my teammates!!!

My "neighbor girls" couldn't make it to the race (they had soccer), but here are pictures of us after the race! I'll have more once I get them off the camera!

Now I'm just hanging out icing my knees and feet...they are pretty sore already! Tonight I'm going to go out for a good dinner...can't wait!

Night Before the Race

Well, here I am....it's 10:50 and I am ready to go to bed! I've got everything all set out...except my damn favorite sports bra! I have 2 of them, and I can't find either one...I have back ups, but I'm going to look for it one more time in the morning while I'm making my coffee. My plan is to get up around 5:30 and leave around 6:30, registration is open until 7:30 and the race starts at 8:00!
I haven't really talked about my goals for this race, mainly because of the hip trouble that I've been having I've just been focusing on running without hurting. I'm hoping to finish it around 2:25. I am going to do my run/walk intervals starting after mile 5. Most importantly, I just want to finish and feel "pretty good"!
Alright, time for me to catch some ZZZZZ's!

Friday Pic of the Day

I'm joining in with NikeMom and posting a picture every Friday...so here it is, one of my favorite T-shirts! Marcy is also doing the pic of the day, so check out her blog as well!!
*Thanks Melanie for help with the links!!

Best.Video.Ever.

This video is THE hottest thing! Travis Barker (from blink182) drumming to Soulja Boy...could he be any more intense????
Turn up the volume.....and enjoy!
PS-thanks to D10 for the help with posting this!

The Weekend is Almost Here!

Sooooooo glad this is a short work week, I'm ready for the weekend! Thank you to everyone for your input on my "marathon strategy", it was really helpful to hear all of your suggestions and experiences!
With all the excitement of THE Marathon, I feel like I've almost forgotten about the 1/2 Marathon that I'm doing THIS weekend! I'm really excited for it! I haven't done any races since 4th of July and I totally love the excitement of Race Day! A lot of my teammates are doing this race too, so it should be really fun.
I'm looking forward to trying out my strategy in a "real" race setting, hopefully it will go well!
I had physical therapy again today for my hips, they always feel so much better after I get stretched out really good. Oh, I also went to my FIRST Yoga Class last night! It was really good, I'll definitley be heading back for more. My plan will be to do that 1-2 times per week, it really felt good to relax and truly focus on stretching and feeling where my body was.
Keep the comments/suggestions coming on my "marathon strategy"!!!
I added a new gadget thingy (saw it on Marcy's blog and loved it)! See it...it's over there to the right..."Who's In?" So, add yourself and then that will be the link to your blog!
*Can anyone help me with adding a You Tube video to my blog post? I've been trying to figure it out all day....driving me crazy!!!

Weekend Recap

Hope you all had a fabulous Labor Day Weekend! On Saturday I made it through my 15 miler!!! Woooo hoooo! It looks like my "strategy" for the marathon is going to have to involve "scheduled walking", which I am not totally thrilled about, but I pretty much knew I would need to, but was hoping that I wouldn't have to. What I did on Saturday was the following -
Run miles 1-6
Starting at 6 miles I walked for 2 minutes then ran 2 miles. That didn't seem like the "magic mix", so I switched to run 15 minutes walk 3 minutes. That was good for a little bit, then it switched to run 10 minutes walk 3 minutes, finally by the time I got to mile 12-13 it was pretty sporadic (run 1 song, walk half a song, run 2 songs, walk half a song), basically anything to keep going. It's my damn hips (how old am I???????). The rest of my body could just keep on going, but my freaking hips would like to quit! However, this week was NO WHERE near as bad as the weekend that I did the 13 miles, so I think I'm making progress. Overall my time wasn't bad, I ended up averaging 11:32/mile.
So, here's my question to all of you (especially those of you that are "newer" to the running thing), did you ever go through this, or were you just able to run the whole time? PLEASE share your stories!!! Any advice???
After the run we had a DELICIOUS breakfast waiting for us!!! Eggs and potatos, but totally gourmet!! From there I went home and showered, then did the ice bath, then napped. I met up with my parents for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack where I ate a TON of shrimp and crab legs!!! Then I hit up Coldstone Creamery....absolutely sinful!!
I woke up on Sunday morning to find myself mighty "puffy" from my salty feast the night before....not good! On top of that the stiffness was sinking in big time!!! I just hung out the rest of the day and did some shopping.
Today was pretty productive, I splurged on a cleaning lady to get me back on track (best money ever spent!), so while she was doing house stuff, I got caught up on laundry. From there I headed to the pool with my neighbors and their 4 daughters, they are too much fun!
Now I'm just waiting to put some chicken on the grill and hang out!
Hope you all enjoyed the weekend and have a great week!