Treadmills and Toddlers = No Running

I dislike hate passionately loathe the treadmill.  Which makes training for my marathon a total pain in the a**.  I have a very narrow window of time for training - namely, my hour lunch break and weekends.  I'm NOT a morning person, so I have never even considered an early morning run an option.  UNTIL NOW.

Because I've been running on the treadmill.  And I feel like I'm getting nowhere (literally).  My weekly mileage should be creeping up, but I can only do so much on the treadmill in an hour.  And the physical mechanics of running are completely different on a treadmill than on the road.  On the road, I'm propelling myself forward.  On the treadmill I feel like I'm desperately trying to keep myself from propelling backwards.  On the road, I control the speed from foot strike to foot strike.  On the treadmill, there's no natural control of speed; instead, I feel like I'm controlled by the treadmill.

I was into week three of my training plan and it just didn't feel like I was making any great strides toward a marathon.  My right leg (hip to knee to calf) was feeling oh-so-abused. Every time I would get on the treadmill, it was searing pain.  So I slowed my pace down on the treadmill, and it helped a bit.  But this just made me feel like a slug.  I start wondering if it's all in my head.  Really.  How can running on the treadmill in air conditioning be so much harder than running on uneven pavement?  And in the scorching summer heat of Cairo?!

No matter what I did, the treadmill running didn't work for me.  So last week I decided I would try the early morning run - something I've never, ever, EVER done.  At 5AM.  Before work.  Ug.  I TOTALLY HATE WAKING UP THAT EARLY.  But with my best alternative option (lunch time treadmill) proving to be the worst option, I had to do it.

Only one thing stood in my way.  A 32-pound, 20-month-old toddler.  That's right.  Just as I was making a monumental decision about my marathon training, my Kellen decided he no longer needed his crib to sleep in.  In fact, he decided that he didn't need any sleep. At. All.  Just like *that*, the little dude refused to nap in the afternoon.  I assumed it was a fluke.  When it came time for bed, I tucked him in his crib. He's always been a good sleeper - down to sleep by 7:30PM, up around 6:30AM.  I KNOW.  Awesome, right?

Well, not that night.  Insted, after I tucked him in, he was up, out of his crib, screaming, and BAM! Jumping out of the crib and pounding on the door.  BAM BAM BAM!  I tried to tuck him in the the toddler bed I had diligently assembled months ago, but he would have none of that either.  My husband and I drug the mattress from the spare room to the baby's room.  We plopped it on the floor and piled it high with his favorite stuffed animals.  Finally after about an hour and a half, he fell asleep on it.  I thought I was home free - he'd gone to bed so much later than usual, he was certain to sleep late the next morning, right?  I was sure I'd be able to haul my exhausted self out of bed at the wee hours of the morning and go for a run.  The run I so desperately needed to prove to myself that I WAS training for a marathon.

Of course, wrong.  5AM came around and I got up - not to the sound of my alarm but to the sound of the baby pounding on his door, crying.  I opened his door and he flung himself into my arms.  What was I to do?  Crawl into bed and snuggle with him of course.  At that moment it didn't matter what I needed - it was what he needed that was most important.  It was a sweet morning, despite missing my run.

Glorious, sleeping baby.

Thankfully, thankfully!  He went to be easier the next night and was sleeping when I gingerly put on my sneakers and grabbed my iPod.  I tiptoed downstairs, careful not to wake the fab hubby or the kiddos. Five Miles.  That's all I had to do.  Surprisingly, it's absolutely amazing at 5:30 in the morning.  So few people outside, save for the boabs and the other crazy runners outside, trying to beat the heat or get some miles in before work.  The sun was already up and the weather was perfect - not too hot, not to cold.  Why hadn't I done this before?  (Oh, I know - I HATE waking up early.)

I finished my run easily that morning. I had minimal pain AND I had finished it faster than if I'd attempted to run it on the treadmill.  When I got back in the house, the baby was up and playing and happy to see me.  I went to work that day - and didn't have to spend my lunch hour on the treadmill.

Later in the week I finished up two other early-morning runs - including a fast 2-miler and a long, 8-miler.  My leg is feeling better; I'm sore but not hurt/injured (there is a different between true pain and workout-soreness); and my outside running pace is surprisingly faster than my treadmill run/walk pace. Is it all in my head?  Or am I simply not a treadmill runner?  I dunno.  I tend to think it's the mechanical issues and my running form, but in any case - I'm not training on a treadmill any more.

Fourteen weeks left until my marathon.  FOURTEEN.  Last week, my long run was 8 miles; this week it will be 10 miles.  I'm pounding out two weekly runs (5 miles each) before work; two days at work, I'll be cross-training (bike? elliptical?) and lifting weights (which I've been doing).  And my long run should increase each week by 2 miles (except for the weeks we're on R&R - I'll have to adjust those based on our schedule), gradually getting to the epic 20-miler I'll be doing one morning in September.

I know I can do this.  I just needed to get it out of my head that I couldn't do it.  My only goal is to finish - time doesn't matter (although I have to finish in under 6.5 hours based on the race requirements).

Now if only I could get the baby to stop trying to thwart my marathon plans. We're one week into Kellen using his new bed - and he's had good nights and bad nights, as well as good mornings and bad mornings.  Tomorrow is a run morning for me --- and I so hope it's a good morning for him as well.

So true.

Where the Sun Don't Shine

It's summer, and even though it's sunny year-round here in Cairo, for some reason summer is just different.  Hotter, for sure.  And somehow, sunnier.  As I run through the Wadi equally worshipping and hating the sun (it's very, very stifling in the desert), it reminds me to get my yearly skin check.

If you've met me, you know I'm pale.  Pale is actually a very, very polite term for my skin complexion.  Stark white, nearly-translucent.  That's more like it.  I wish I could say porcelain.  But that's a lie. It's actually pasty.  Thankfully, I do tan up a bit, and my cheeks are naturally rosy, so I really shouldn't complain.

I've always had a few freckles and moles.  But the years of loving the sun have started to catch up with me.  As a child I had multiple sun burns.  In my late teens and early twenties, I tried the fake bake of the tanning booth (something I very much regret now).  What used to be just a few freckles has grown to be a splattering of freckles all over my body.  Cute, maybe, but all signs point to sun damage.

I've had not less than ten moles removed in my adult life.  I've honestly lost count.  And of those removals, one has been 'funky', coming back as pre-cancerous.  Thankfully NOT cancerous (melanoma).  My dermatologist had to remove deep into the surrounding tissue and I've had no issues since.  But I still breath a sigh of relief whenever I think about what that could have become.  

Yearly skin check.  I had mine the other day.  I knew what to expect - it's the same every year.  Do you go in the sun? (Yes.)  Do you wear sunscreen? (Yes, sometimes.  <--- I know, I'm an RN.  I should know better.  And I do.  But honesty during your health check-ups is way more important than giving the answers you think they want to hear.)  Have you ever had any blistering sunburns in your life? (Yes.  Two as an adult; multiple as a child.)

My doc looked my skin over, head-to-toe.  It's not a comfortable appointment.  Through my hair to see my scalp.  My face, my back, my arms.  Everywhere.  She was very thorough, looking for those moles that aren't like the others.

Four.  She found four that made her say "hmmmmm."  And I was prepared; certain that it would be on my arms or my back - those areas which see the most sunlight.  Maybe even my face.  I was ready for that.

But not this time.  This time, it's where the sun don't shine.  My bum.  Nothing's awesome about having moles removed.  The needle, the lidocaine burning, the scalpel, the tingling pain after.  Laying on my stomach, I was making nervous jokes about my booty.  Slightly embarrassed, yet grateful that she found the discrepancies.  Moles I can't even see.  What might they become if she hadn't found them?  Would any of them have progressed to melanoma?  

So here I am tonight, the day after having those four moles removed from my tuckus.  And it's tender.  [Insert butt jokes here.]  Yet, jokes aside, I'm relieved that those moles were found.  Most likely, pathology will reveal that they are completely benign.  And if not, then I'll do follow-up with a dermatologist back in the States during R&R.  And next year, I'll do the same thing.  And the year after that.  And the year after that.  And the year after that.  You get the picture, right?

Consider this my PSA as a sun-loving, pale, freckly RN runner.  Get your skin checked.  Head-to-Toe.  And don't let your doc miss the areas where the sun DON'T shine.  Because she might just find something that you've been missing.

Biggest Loser, Marathon Training, and...Pinkberry!

Post 10K Wadi run this past week.  Before the sunburn set in.
I'm not gonna lie - I'm totally exhausted in this photo!

Cairo's Biggest Loser came to an end this week.  Seventeen weeks long, my minimum goal had been a weight loss of 12 pounds, my mid-goal was 16 pounds, and my it'll-probably-never-happen goal was 20 pounds.

I stepped on the scale this week, and was 15.5 pounds lighter than I was in February.  Soooo close to the mid-goal (!!), but very pleased with my results.  8 inches off my hips, 5 inches smaller in the waist.  I can now open my closet and wear anything my heart desires.  It all fits.  In fact, some of it is too big.  Not a bad excuse for some retail therapy!

And a NEW countdown commences.  I have 20 weeks until my marathon.  20 weeks!  I started a sorta-training three weeks ago, but didn't really focus too heavily since I was still so far out from the marathon.  But now it has to begin in earnest.  I'm honestly a bit frustrated that I most of my training will be on a treadmill.  I am able to do my weekly long run on Friday/Saturday in the Wadi, but dang.  EGYPT IS HOT.  Like it's already hitting 100 degrees Fahrenheit hot.  And dry.  And that sun!  While I looooove the sun, it doesn't love my very pale, very European heritage skin.  But I'll deal, one way or another.

WHAT I HAVE GOING FOR ME:

*I have nothing to prove.  I've never run a marathon before, so just finishing it will be good enough.

*I have one hour at lunch everyday at work that I can hit the gym.  My co-workers are really supportive. The fab hubby works out with me, so I have nowhere to hide when I start thinking "I don't want to workout today."

*The fab hubby also hounds me at home about running, so on the weekends he's the one pushing me out the door.  

*I have two good friends who like to run with me.  In the Wadi.  Crazy supports crazy.

*I have a running group that meets every weekend.  If only they didn't meet at 6:15AM!  But I'll be running with them from time to time when they are doing longer distance days.

WHAT I DON'T HAVE GOING FOR ME:

*It's hot.  I can't say it enough.  I feel crispy already.  I forgot my sunblock yesterday and my back is fried.  I'm getting too old for sunburn.  Not to mention I'm like the worst nurse example of healthy sun use.  Note to self:  sunscreen and a hat.

*The long distance (14 miles +) runs for training are going to be hard to do here.  The fab hubby says he'll follow behind me in the SUV when it comes time for those distances at the Wadi.  To beat the heat, we'll have to go early.  And I don't do early well.

*I'm NOT a natural runner. Not by any stretch of the imagination.  Now, I feel incredibly powerful when I run.  But I certainly don't look it!  And my knees and my hips are a constant reminder that I'm getting a wee bit older (notice I did NOT say OLD).

WHAT SORTA HELPS TO GET ME PAST THE THINGS I DON'T HAVE GOING FOR ME:

*We'll be in the U.S. for 4 weeks, mid-July through mid-August.  I'll hit the bike/hike trail near our home in Ohio and push for some long distance runs for my training.  It's a bit early on the training schedule, but I really think it will help me.

*I'll be at Ft. Carson, CO (Colorado Springs) for 2 of those weeks during our R&R for my annual Army Reserve duty time.  There will be a couple of days I can do some running, and the high altitude (6500 feet) will help with my training.  I just won't be able to do any really long distances while there.  I'll shoot for 8 miles at the most.

*The heat here will taper a little bit in September, allowing me to put a in couple of long distance training runs before my marathon.

*I'm committed to the marathon.  I fact, my airline ticket is non-refundable.  There's no turning back now!

And, oh.  On a really positive note.  Pinkberry came to Cairo.  Pinkberry!  My beloved frozen yogurt from Los Angeles.  What does this have to do with my weight loss and marathon training?  Absolutely nothing.  But it sure does make me happy.  A friend flew in and visited us this past week and we went to the movies and then Pinkberry.  It was totally divine.

Pinkberry!

Happy.

Sad.

Saddest.