Only 4 days till my half marathon!

I'm officially in taper mode and have been for the last week and a half. It is an interesting place to be after struggling through about the last 6 out of 14 weeks of training. The last 10 and 11 mile runs really took a toll on my knees. If I do this again, I will definitely try to start running at least a month before actual training starts. 30 miles a week is a lot for someone who had barely run 3 miles at a time EVER in their whole life. Running for a cause has been an emotional and physical journey. Being able to train with others who have the same cause is priceless. The best thing about this experience is how much better my cardio fitness is. If I keep my pace steady and slow, I can just keep going and going, without getting winded. The toughest part of the training has been the toll it has taken on some of my lower body. With time I hope that those aches will subside and that I will be able to train for another half marathon. Good luck to me!

11 miles! Longest run before the big race!

11 miles was tough. Back in August, I thought my worst challenge for the long mileage would be my lung capacity. Since, I now am in pretty good aerobic shape, I have had no problems with that in about a month. My problems now are in my knees and the arches of my feet. It has been really tough these last couple of long runs to stay positive about how I will do in 3 weeks. My knees are super sore. I guess I am just going to have to take it a bit easier these next couple of weeks than even the training schedule suggests. There is plenty of rest, ice, compression, and elevation in my future! Oh, and probably plenty of ibuprofen.

Wednesday night track practice.....

I once again have decided that I HAVE NO GEARS!!! We ran 8 x 200m last night and boy are my legs sore! I wasn't even running at full capacity by the 3rd or 4th time, because I was so out of breath. It was a great workout, but definitely meant for a day when you're doing shorter mileage.

I have two recovery/stretch/strengthening days before the 11 mile run on Saturday. I'm so nervous! The one great thing about this run is that I know there are NO real hills. Hopefully that restores a bit of my confidence after last weeks run. My body is sore and tired, but I know that after these next 2 weeks, that I'll have 2 weeks of semi-recovery before race day. November 11th is right around the corner!!!!

Why am I running for the TRMH, here is why!

My Story

In 1986 I was like any other 6 year old girl. I loved Barbies, dancing around the house, and would beg my mom for play dates with other kids in the neighborhood. The first time my mom let me spend the night at a new friend’s house, I was incredibly excited. It was the first time I was allowed to spend the night at someone’s house that wasn’t a family member.
I went over to their house fairly early and somewhere in the first hour of me being over there I was offered some avocado to eat. Being the polite kid that I was I accepted the offer, although I was not a huge fan of avocado. A few minutes later I asked for something to drink. The girl’s Stepdad offered me punch. I took the cup and swallowed just a little sip to taste the flavor of the punch. That one little sip would change the rest of my life.
The punch that I had taken a sip of turned out to be industrial dish soap that was 14% lye. My body automatically reacted to the poison invading my system. I was taken to 2 different hospitals before I finally ended up at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. My stay there lasted three long months. During my stay at L.A. Children’s I had a gastrostomy tube put in my stomach, so I could “eat”. For a good majority of my stay I had a suction tube in my mouth so that I wouldn’t swallow any saliva and irritate my esophagus. At 6 years old, I couldn’t eat, had doctors poking and prodding me constantly, and was never more thankful to have my family at my side.
My mom was a single parent at this time and The Ronald McDonald House made it feasible for her to be with me during my stay at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. At this time the house charged the occupants $5.00 a day, but would not turn away those that could not pay. The only trick was that there actually had to be a vacancy. After a week there was finally a vacancy and my mother was able to stay at The Ronald McDonald House for the rest of the time that I was at L.A. Children’s. When other family members would come to visit they would also have a place to stay at RMH.
As I get further and further into my training for the half marathon, I realize that I probably wouldn’t have made such a quick recovery if I hadn’t have had my family by my side. Many children that spend months, or even years in hospitals are not able to have their families with them. RMH makes it possible for children to have their families close in a time where they need them the most.

10 miles! Only 4 weeks till race day!

Yesterday was pretty brutal for me. Mile 3-5 was uphill. Hills are STILL not my friends. Miles 7-10 tend to lean toward the right. I was keeping myself moving forward by compensating more with my right knee. It is quite sore today. Next week is 11 miles and then we start phasing down for our last couple weeks before the race. I am still $700 from my fundraising goal.

9.5 miles at RMH and THE DISH!!!

Today we ran a total of 9.56.... miles. I'm not quite sure what the rest of the numbers were. I do know that it was 9 1/2 :) Part of our run was at The Dish. The Dish is 3.4 miles of hills. I don't mean little, rolling, dipping hills, but instead big, steep hills that are meant to be climbed....almost. My time was not great, but because I stopped for a great stretch and had to walk up the first 2 hills at the dish, I'm really not going to count this time as one to see how well I'll do next month.
Next week is 10 miles at Sawyer Camp. That run should be a much better trail to figure out my race pace. Sadly, my running buddy won't be there, but I'm sure that I'll be fine. Good thing I got a new shuffle to keep me entertained! Now, I just need to go to REI and pick up some of the Sport Jelly Beans. They're the best!
Only 5 weeks till race day!

8 miles!!!

This Saturday's run was 8 miles at Campbell Park. The last two miles were pretty brutal, but I made it! The next few weeks are going to be tough. Next week is 9 miles at the Ronald McDonald House and part of that will be running the Dish! Grrr...hills are not my friends. The week after that is 10, then 11, I think 9 again, and our last week before the race we come back down to 6. Wowee! Who would've thought I'd be doing this. Certainly not me!

Run at Mt. Tabor

I got in a beautiful run at Mt. Tabor in Portland, Oregon this weekend. Lots of hills! I'm feeling fairly tired right now, but I am planning on running 3 days this week. Most likely Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. I should do more, but there is so much going on that it really isn't possible. Oh, how I love the beginning of the school year....grrr. We have an 8 mile run this Saturday and I'm looking forward to seeing how much I've progressed. Less than 7 weeks till race day!

A rough 6 miles at Sawyer Camp...

Today was a 6 mile run at Sawyer camp, which is right outside Hillsborough. It was a beautiful trail, but was a was a bit rougher than the 5.5 miles we did last weekend. There aren't really hills, but there are short, steady climbs as well as small drops. It really is an ideal place to train.

The worst part of today was that I didn't feel hydrated. As our runs get longer I have a feeling that I'm going to learn a lot more about nutrition and water intake. The next 2 weeks are 7 mile runs. This coming weekend I will be in Oregon and will try my best to get in a good run, and will do the Captain's training the next weekend. Only 8 weeks to go till race day!

~My foot felt good today! ....But I think my Ipod is broken :(

5.5 miles in Portola Valley

Today was quite the adventurous run. The first half of the run was a slow, steady climb and the way back seemed as easy as pie. On the way up there was an SUV that had crashed into a tree that was on the trail. A lady on the trail informed us that it had happened sometime early this morning and that the driver had fled the scene. By the time we were on our way back to the starting point there was a police officer parked in the bike lane above the trail and the trail was blocked off with caution tape. Not quite what I expected to find on a Saturday morning run in Portola Valley!
On a second note, there are a ton of horse properties in the area and it made me reminisce about what I was doing on a Saturday at 8am 10 years ago. Yeah, most likely had something to do with horses! Gosh, how the times have changed.
Update on the foot: The run today went pretty well and I think as long as I don't push myself for speed or overdue other workouts, I will probably be just fine. I've just got to keep icing, stretching with a tennis ball, and massaging it out.
Only 9 more weeks till race day!!!!!

I have no gears!!!!

At track practice tonight we were supposed to do some interval speed work between a medium paced lap and a hard lap. Well, a medium is "hard" for me. My body is very accustomed to it's 5.0 on the treadmill, so going any faster always seems strange. I know that I ALWAYS go faster when I am running outside, but it's hard to push and differentiate between the medium and hard laps. I guess that is a new goal.
The run this weekend is 5.5 miles. That will be the farthest that I've ever ran outside. I did 6 miles on the treadmill a few weeks ago, but after injurying myself, that now seems like eons ago. My body is definitely not back up to par. Hopefully by the end of next week my foot and my endurance will be at a new level. On a good note, I did get a great pair of new running shoes that seem to be working out well! Now I just need to purchase a new shuffle to replace the one that was stolen. I guess it's a good thing I took on the afterschool program this year! More moola to spend on the extras!

injuries....

My left foot has been giving me a very hard time lately. As of last weekend, I believed it was tendonitis that had been there for a bit. With some massaging and ice it seemed to have gotten a bit better, but taking almost a week off of training was hard on the rest of my body. Now my knees are a bit sore.
I'm going shopping this weekend for a better pair of shoes. Hopefully that will help solve some of my foot problems. Sometime tomorrow I'm off to do at least 4 miles so I can catch up with the training that I left behind for the last week. Good luck to me!

Running for a Cause

Hi everyone,

This November I'll be running a half marathon for a very worthy cause. The Ronald McDonald House is a foundation very close to my heart. When I was 6 years old my mother lived there for 3 months, while I was at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. The facilities are tremendous compared to a regular hotel, and there also support services that connect directly to the hospital.
During my training I will be blogging about the training, and my interactions with others who've been positively impacted by the Ronald McDonald House. Many of the runners/walkers raising money are family members/friends of children who've spent a lot of time at Stanford Children's Hospital.
If you'd like to donate to my fundraising efforts, or learn more about what I am doing, please visit: http://www.active.com/donate/trmh/elishamcarthur . If you'd like the link to my blog, please email me and I'll get you that web address. If you are not comfortable with donating online, please send a check filled out to Ronald McDonald House and mail it to:
Elisha McArthur
870 E. El Camino Real #155
Mountain View, CA 94040

All donations are appreciated! Please send or donate online by October 20, 2007 . Thank you for your support!

Getting Started

I'd been training pretty hard until last Monday. School started on Thursday, and the weekend before I'd noticed that arch of my left foot felt really strange. Now, it has come to my attention that I have tendinitis in the arch of my foot. I've iced, massaged, stretched, and taken anti-inflammatories for the past few days. Tomorrow I get back to the gym! Only 12 more weeks till the race!