THANKFUL

As I have read a couple of blogs today I am so very thankful that I am doing this Marathon Makover. As I said in one of my early blogs:

Hebrews 12:1-3Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

For all of us that have something that hinders us, some kind of opposition every day, whether it be a temptation not to train, an injury, other committments, heat, cold, whatever... know that if we fix our eyes on Jesus for HIS strength, we CAN DO THIS. He will be glorified when I cross the finish line in Chicago.

Isn't it great how because of MM we have so many more people praying for each other. You know there is more to this MM than our speed when we walk/wog/jog/run.... whatever it may be. We are each others' clouds of witnesses, encouraging each other. Marathon Makeover.... could it be that this group is helping us in our Marathon of Life. Giving us a makeover for something we needed and were not ever aware of.

I may be not the best at blogging or wogging, but I am so very thankful of the friendships I am in the process of making. Thanks again to Mark, Robin and Matt. You are changing lives in more ways than you know.

Blessings to all today.... send up some prayers for those in need right now.

See you all on Saturday
Ann

10 miles - WOW

I cannot believe each week I say "I cannot believe I just ran ___" well this week 10 miles.
Every week I amaze myself. For me this is huge. I have kept a log of time and distance from when I started. The first week in February I have posted "10 minutes".... yes that is 10 minutes of walking.... I must have been worn out. ha ha I feel such a sense of accomplishment even at this point. I cannot imagine what it is going to be like at the end of 26.2...... I Can't Wait.
I thought I was going pretty good for me, but my time ended up not really that much faster. I rode in the car yesterday after the run for 6 hours. We went to a wedding in Biloxi and then back home. I am a little stiff today, but nothing to bad. I told Clark yesterday about me Trying to give blood last week. Your iron has to be at 12.5 to give, mine was 10.7. I obviously need to work on getting more iron. Also I have NOT been drinking water. Needless to say I would have done much better if I had been hydrated properly and had my iron level where it needs to be.
Those are my goals this week. The weather will be hot on Saturday, so I will need the hydration. I checked the weather for 2 weeks from now and it is likely to be a high of 100. I am off to church and then a visit with my husbands family in from out of town. My son and daughter-in-law celebrate their 1 year anniversary today. Can't believe it. Have a SAFE Memorial Day weekend and a great week.

GREAT WEEK

I have had an unusual week. I need to tell you about what is going on in my life besides running. I am involved in a Christian Retreat organization called Cursillo. It is a 4 day spiritual retreat held several times a year. My husband and I are on the board for this. A year or so ago we had someone that went to one of the weekends that was from Kenya. He is here going to Wesley Biblical Seminary. After he attended the Cursillo weekend he wanted to take the idea back to Kenya. Well God is so faithful and in the business of miracles. The past weekend there was a Cursillo weekend and the organization had provided for 6 Kenyans to come over here to attend so that they can help in taking this back to Kenya. I have been with them off and on for several days now and they are amazing. We had a meeting today to discuss us going to Kenya to start a Cursillo there. I was such an amazing time today to here the Kenyans speak of how God has orchastrated this whole event of circumstances. A team of us will be going to Kenya in late December/early January to begin the Cursillo experience there. It is just amazing how powerful God is and how such blessings we have are now going to be shared across the world. Sorry for this being such a long blog... but this is very important to me. If anyone is interested in Cursillo please ask me about it. I have actually thought about a lot of you that would love to attend this kind of weekend retreat. You know the only way some of us are going to make is 26.2 in Chicago is with the hands of God helping us along the way.

My running has been ok this week. I went to give blood on Monday and found out my iron is extremely low... that may explain why I am not progressing like I would like.
So on Tuesday I took a multi vitamin....just before taking some of the Kenyans to eat. I had taken it on an empty stomach and by the time I got to the place to eat.... I had to exit to the restroom quickly because the vitamin did NOT want to stay down on an empty stomach. After that I was fine. Oh well... lessons learned every day.... get your iron and don't take a vitamin on an empty stomach.

See you all on Saturday..

God Bless

9 miles at rez

I was soooo excited about today. I thought this is going to be great.... we have done 9 miles once so this will be a breeze and even better we will have perfect weather. Well the weather was absolutely beautiful... going across the rez, the sun and water were beautiful. For some reason I started out very sluggish. I was mad because today was going to be great. Thanks for Debra walking/wogging with me until I finally said "go ahead" I was slowing her down. She gave me a tip to run shorter intervals. Instead of watching the clock for my intervals, I just started running when I felt like it and walking when I felt like it. I ate some Jelly beans at the half way point and maybe that is why I ended up better than I thought I would. When I finished I had actually finished 6 minutes faster than last week's 9 miles...hummmm. Don't really know how, but I will take it. I have been taking it easy for a while, but am now about to go over to my son's house and help(or maybe just watch) him put a fence up for his dogs. He and his wife (celebrate 1 year next week) have a 6 month old white lab and a 3 month old golden retreiver. THey are young and crazy, better them than me. Hope everyone has a great week....

p.s..... o.k. confession time... I think why I was so sluggish today.... I had not had ANY water prior to today and I ate a bunch of cookie dough (yes dough) yesterday.... it was great, but I think I paid for it today.

Good Thursday

I have had an okay week. Not great, but I did get out there and wog 3 days. Today Cheryl walked up just as I was beginning at Strawberry park. We are definately on the same track.... same height and that makes a huge difference when you are SHORT like us. We walked the first mile then went to 1:2 intervals. SHe had a watch and it was great and kept us on track. At the end of 3 we were about to quit and decided to go 1 more... glad we did. Thanks Cheryl for being there... time and distance goes by sooo much faster when you have a buddy.

See you all Saturday.

9 miles

It is so cool that each week we get to post a NEW number for our miles.....miles...after struggling at Belhaven for 1 mile... I would have never believed I could go 9 in one outing. I love the trails where there are NO cars... hope we get to have those opportunities often. Everyone did great.. thanks Amy for keeping me going today.
Matt you did great, glad you are feeling better. Kristy, I can't believe you were able to go the distance after your week with the bug.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of the MOMS.....

Have a great week.

Humidity

Early mornings is a must now that the heat is going up. I did my 5 miles with 1:2 intervals... did pretty good. The humdity was bad. For once I am wanting to get up early... only because I hate to sweat. Anyway.... I am going to TRY to drink my water today.. we will see.
See you all Sat.

Better Day

Well Monday was a bad day for me. I was in a funk... a slug as Mark put it. But better a walking slug than a sleeping slug.. I only walked on Monday.. just could not get it going. Today I went to the trails in Ridgeland of Rice road with my son. We did 5 miles doing 1:3 intervals. Today was much better. I really need to keep up with the intervals so that it will get easier just like the walking has gotten easier over the past couple of months. I have charted my progress and the first week I was walking a BIG 10 minutes. That first meeting I went to we walked 1 (one) mile at Belhaven and I thought that was really long. Now I have done 8 miles... yeah me. I really cannot believe it. I am getting so anxious though about the longer distances. My mind really wants to get out there and just run forever, but my old, out of shape body is saying...hold on... what ARE you doing... A little at a time.... 26.2 will be here before we know it.
Have not done good on drinking water.... will try again tomorrow on that.

Cannonball

I am just now posting, because after the Cannonball I had to drive to Shreveport for a wedding and then to see my dad and grandmother (who is 93). I enjoyed the race, especially having a different route than ever before. I really like not knowing "where" we are running, for some reason it is just that much more interesting. I didn't do nearly as good as last week, but I did Finish... Ready for a good training this week. Great to see everyone and thanks for the encouragement. My goal this week.....drink water.... I am not a water drinker, so that is going to be a challenge. I did thanked God on Saturday for those clouds... they were great.... hopefully clouds will again be provided for us on Saturdays. Have a great week...

WHEW!!

I don't know what is going on... I was sooo tired today, only did 3 miles walking only..... yikes.... will I be able to do 8 on Sat. I am hopeful. See everyone Sat.

p.s. the picture I posted yesterday was one that was sent to me via email... they were not my family...even though they are so cute I would claim them.

Prayers

Ok...I just had to let y'all see this...is this not the most precious thing. Say your prayers for strength, stamina on our way to Chicago.

XT

I did pilates and strength training today for my XT. I am sooooooooo out of shape. I am feeling more and more like I know I need to do this, the further I go in this adventure I realize just how much time I must have spent on the couch... or anywhere but exercising. Anyway, I just hope that I will continue on and get stronger each new day. I surely cannot get any weaker. I plan to do intervals again tomorrow to try to get ready for Sat... getting a little nervous about it.

My son is coming home from college this saturday and he is a workout NUT.... I told him he was going to be my personal trainer for the 2 weeks he is home before summer school. I look forward to seeing him. I have to drive 3 hours after the race on Sat to a wedding in Shreveport. I will probably not even be able to stand after 8 miles and then sitting for 3... we will see.

2 Steps Back

After Saturday being such a good day and resting on Sunday I figured this week's runs would be a breeze.... I feel like I just took 2 steps back.... Monday and today were difficult. Not much energy and felt like my legs were "heavy" again.. back like they were a couple of weeks ago. How can you go from such a good day on Saturday to being sluggish again. I am keeping it up, and I am still looking forward to Sat., even though it is going to be hot and humid--I am afraid.

See you then.