Another week off...

I decided to take a week off from running and exercise and like usual that week turned into two weeks.  I am not going to beat myself up for it.  I had a cold the week before the half marathon and I felt like it was almost gone.  A few days after I ran it came back with a vengeance.  I was congested and blowing my nose non-stop for two days.  Although by the 27th I felt somewhat normal, I can still feel it a little bit.  Kara unfortunately caught it and has had a runny nose, coughing non-stop again, and irritable.  I have been having flashbacks to when she was a baby and was sick all the time.  She would have a cold for 3 (sometimes even more like 4 or 5) weeks, be normal for about 10 days, and then it would all start up again.  She just is a magnet for those respiratory and nasal colds.  Since school started in September she's had two stomach bugs, one sinus infection that lasted over two weeks, and now a nasal cold.  She's catching it from others and we've been around sick people constantly.  Kara seems to get it much worse.  I was really hoping we could all get healthy over Christmas Break and start next week somewhat normal but I am not keeping my fingers crossed.

I did register for the Minneapolis Marathon and this will be my goal for 2015.  With all the colds going around, needing more sleep, and not having much of a schedule I am starting next week.  I will be signing up for Spartan so I will start with a bang.  I am sure I'll be pretty sore a week from now.

Half marathon and catch up

I have been neglecting this blog but not intentionally.  I managed to run a half marathon on Saturday and have a final time of 1:54:52 with a 8:47 pace/mile.  I placed 5th in my age category out of 28.  I placed 24th out of 183 females.  Overall I placed 67th.  The weather was terrible.  The night before there was talk of a massive rainstorm coming and there were flood warning everywhere.  The forecast was 100% rain.  Thankfully the rain was at its worst in Portland...though Salem was pretty bad too.  As we headed further south to Eugene, it was still bad.  But it was a little lighter.  Once I started and kept moving, I just kept running.  It was only bad between Mile #8 and #10 when there was a lot of blowing wind.  I think we were on higher elevation and there was less trees.  The course itself was pretty flat and all bike paths which was wonderful.  I can't believe I was so fast.  I honestly was figuring on 2 hours and after the weather report thought 2:05 or 2:10.  It makes me think I could possibly finish a marathon in 4 hours.  Some of the runners were much stronger than me at the end.  I got passed quite a bit on the last mile.  Still struggle with using that last bout of energy to get to the finish line.  I think I just feel spent and want to be done.

I was surprised I did that well because I did not get in the long runs the last couple weeks like I had hoped.  We've dealt with so much sickness this fall and it had affected training.  Last year when we opened our home to more child care kids, I assumed we would catch all kinds of stuff.  It turned out to be the opposite.  We had our healthiest year ever.  Hailey had a weird virus last March that lasted four days.  It was mostly a high fever, but it stayed isolated.  Not else got anything.  Derek did not miss a single day of kindergarten.  I think I got one cold last fall and another one in the spring.  I didn't miss a single day of work.  Most of my child care kids only missed one or maybe two days all year.

Now I don't think I have had a normal week of child care since mid October.  I think every single child has been sick at least once and most multiple times since school started in September.  We all got sick in late September with a stomach thing.  The day after Derek's birthday Kara was sick.  It turned into a sinus infection and she coughed for almost two weeks straight.  There was a stomach bug in there she had.  Derek had it the day before Thanksgiving and a little bit on Thanksgiving.  I caught it the Saturday night after Thanksgiving and it was pretty mild.  I actually went to church the next day and a luncheon afterwards.  By the afternoon I was on the couch.  Thankfully I was OK by the next day.  Hailey caught it almost a whole week later--exact same symptoms.

A week ago Friday I had a sore throat that lasted about three days and turned into a cold.  I took Sudafed and Muccinex to get through the day.  We had a Christmas party at night and I took more Sudafed before we left. When we got home from the party, I was in a jittery state and I couldn't sleep.  I slept from 11 PM to midnight, but then was awake close to 3:30 AM.  I watched HGTV on the couch, but it took forever to settle down and fall asleep. Thankfully I managed to sleep from around 3:30 to 8:30 and I had very little to do that Saturday for once.  By the following Friday I felt pretty much back to normal.  

I would have a full week of running three times a week, Power, one swim session, and one Group Ride.  Then I would get sick and take a full week off.  I was really struggling with the consistency and it was getting super frustrating.

Now I am taking this whole week off.  I decided I would post half marathon and plus we're going to the coast for a few days anyway.  Next week I will get back into it.  I may be doing Spartan just for the month of January which is an intense three times a week half hour workout similar to Crossfit.  Then I am focusing on training for a marathon I will run in the spring, Lord willing, with mys sister.

The running was really good for Derek.  He has so much bottled up energy and this time of year is hard for him as he can't always be outside.  So I am going to try and run with him at least twice a week and we might do another race after basketball is over in March.

I am hopeful everyone will stay healthy for awhile, but I know anything goes around here.