The past two weeks have been challenging for me. Two Fridays ago I had a tonsillectomy, which I did because I started developing tonsil stones over the past year or so, which coincided with this mysterious pain I'd been having. I got a couple of opinions from recommended ENTs, and they both said a tonsillectomy was the next logical step. While I wasn't eager to undergo a significant surgery--one that is particularly difficult on an adult--I needed to find the cause behind my pain so I could refocus on my life without being constantly sidetracked by the pain. The actual surgery went every well, and even my healing process was as good as it could have been. But it was a true two weeks before I felt close to normal again, and during the first week in particular, The first two days were actually easier than the rest of the first week; I had my mom with me, and other family came to visit the day after, and we even went out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant , which serves (delicio...

I've been dealing with foot pain since completing the Clearwater Marathon , over a month ago, and while I surely thought I'd be past it by the time the Gasparilla race weekend rolled around, I am not. My meager attempts at resting my foot (in between little trial runs every few days) have not been sufficient. So I decided this past weekend to let go of my hope to run the Gasparilla half marathon. It was a really hard decision, as I look forward to this local race each year. It's my favorite. The Gasparilla 15k was my first long(er than a 5k) distance race, and the half marathon has been a great PR (personal record) course for me in recent years . But I knew that if I ran it, I'd want to run hard and try to PR, and that would possibly seriously injury my foot and certainly set my recovery time back even further. So I emailed the Gasparilla folks to see if I could get a deferment of my race registration for next year, almost entirely expecting a firm "no" b...

The week prior to the Gasparilla Half Marathon was not shaping up to be the ideal pre-race week. I was overburdened with and stressed out by work--both at my full-time job and at home with editing projects; I came down with a cold--what seemed to be a combination of a sinus and ear infection; and the weather was turning warmer and more humid than it had been in months. But I was determined to PR this race, which meant I had to be in top shape. I rested, I regularly drank a potent tea of lemon, ginger, honey, garlic (yep), and cinnamon, and I tried to get as much work off my plate as possible. I only ran twice , I did one night of yoga, and I rested Friday and Saturday before the race. My "Pre-Gaming" I was feeling pretty good Saturday morning when I got up early to go watch that day's races--the 15k and the 5k. I met up with Josh and his triathlon training group and cheered on the runners passing by. Cheering, when done well, is a lot of work. One must be constant and...

*This post was begun weeks ago, but I stopped about halfway through, got busy with life, and didn't post for the remainder of training. ------ Last week was a great week of training. I did almost everything I wanted to, aside from Ashtanga on Sunday, but I also realized that I need to have a rest day. My body was asking for it. I hate to sacrifice that yoga class, but if I'm going to be in the kind of training shape I want to be in, it's a sacrifice that must be made. Week 4: 1/14/13 - 1/20/13 M:  3.1 mi (E) T:  5 mi (P) W:  CrossBoot (XT) R:  4 mi (E) F:   hot yoga (XT) Sa:  8 mi (LSD) Su: rest Weekly mileage: 20.1 Key: (E) = Easy; (P) = Pace; (LSD) = Long Slow Distance; (XT) = Cross Training On Monday, right after work (or perhaps a teensy bit before the end of the work day), I left to meet my friend Cameron at Trout Creek for a trail run. I've been wanting to do more trails, and she was sort of familiar with this one and knew of an approxi...

Key: (E) = Easy; (P) = Pace; (LSD) = Long Slow Distance; (XT) = Cross Training Week 5: 1/21/13 - 1/27/13 M:  5 mi (P) + yin yoga (XT) T:  6 mi (E) W:  rest R:  6.1 mi (P) F:   hot yoga (XT) Sa: 11mi (LSD) Su:  yoga in the park (XT)/ swing dancing Weekly mileage: 28.1 Week 6: 1/28/13 - 2/3/13 M: 5.69 mi (E) T:  rest/ swing dancing W:  CrossBoot (XT) R:  5 mi (P) F:   9 mi (LSD) Sa:  rest/ swing dancing Su:  3   mi (E)/  yoga in the park (XT) Weekly mileage: 22.69 Week 7: 2/4/13 - 2/10/13 M:  4 mi (E) T: 4 mi (P) W:  CrossBoot (XT) R:  6 mi (P) F:   CrossBoot (XT) Sa: 12  mi (LSD) Su:  donation yoga (Bella Prana) Weekly mileage: 26 Week 8: 2/11/13 - 2/17/13 M: 6.32 mi (E) T: 4 mi (P) W:  mini strength workout R: 6 mi (P) F:   CrossBoot (XT) Sa:  8 mi (LSD) Su:  yoga in the park (XT) Weekly mileage:...

I'm happy to report that I'm back in training. I've been cautiously adding some weekly miles back in since around Thanksgiving, and I finally feel back to normal. Coming back from the injury was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. I was hoping to be able to start training for the Gasparilla half marathon, on February 24, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to take on the training. After two successful long runs in the past two weeks, though, I feel confident I can go forward with my plan. Here's how the first two weeks went: Week 1: 12/24/12 - 12/30/12 M: 4 mi (E) T: rest W: 5 mi (E) R: rest F: hot yoga (XT) Sa: 7 mi (LSD) Su: Ashtanga yoga (XT) Weekly mileage: 16 Week 2: 12/31/12 - 1/6/13 M: 3 mi (E) + yin yoga (XT) T: 3.1 mi (P) W: CrossBoot (XT) R: 3.1 mi (E) F: hot yoga (XT) Sa: 9 mi (LSD) Su: mini core workout (XT) Weekly mileage: 18.2 Key: (E) = Easy; (P) = Pace; (LSD) = Long Slow Distance; (XT) = Cross Training In oth...

This post is embarrassingly late--even for me, but for the sake of finishing things, here is my race report from the Gasparilla Distance Classic weekend. When I posted my running-related resolutions earlier this year, I noted that I wanted to volunteer at a race. So I signed up to help on the first day of races, Saturday. The races for this day included a 15K and a 5K. I knew quite a few friends who would be finishing both of these races, so I decided to volunteer handing out medals to finishers. As an individual volunteer, I realized I was quite the oddball, as most volunteers in this section were groups of high school students fulfilling community service requirements. If I thought I was tolerant of teenage group behaviors, I overestimated myself. These kids were not runners, and most of them didn't understand what events were actually taking place. One kid asked me, "So what does this walk benefit, anyway?" Other kids were flinging the medals around while we waited...

Today is one of my favorite running days of the year. It is the biggest annual party day in Tampa, a day when grown-ups dress in pirate garb, start kegging at 10 in the morning, get rowdy over cheap, plastic beads, and create chaos along Bayshore Boulevard and all streets leading up to it. But these aren't the reasons I love today. Lately I've had trouble waking up for my early morning runs, and while this morning was no exception, I did have some extra incentive to actually get out there and not put it off until tomorrow. Because of the Gasparilla Pirate Fest and parade scheduled to take place later in the day, the road was blocked off all along Bayshore Boulevard, where I usually run. This may not seem like a big deal, but two of the main drawbacks to running regularly on Bayshore are the concrete sidewalk and the noise and exhaust from vehicles constantly passing by. This morning, we runners, walkers, and bikers got to roam free in the streets, as if Bayshore were our own...