So, in what I'm sure is absolutely shocking news to almost everyone, it appears time flies much faster than my feet do. I apologize for the long hiatus from blogging but it has been one heck of a busy month! I've also been a bit silent in this space because as some of you unfortunately know, there's no more superstitious and paranoid runner than a formerly injured runner. I've been hesitant to blog with weekly updates because...well, it sounds silly but I'm so afraid I'll jinx myself! I started this blog back in the summer and in just a few weeks after creating the site I was injured! But since I'm (knock on wood, knock on wood!) back to running injury-free, I figured I owed the few folks who read this blog an update.

So when I last posted, I had completed my BodyPump initial training and was slowly, slowly getting back to running. I ended up taping and submitting my video assessment for BodyPump in early December and was just notified by Les Mills that I passed! So now I'm an official instructor! I'm very excited to have that behind me and I'm looking forward to teaching at the YMCA - I just have to wait for them to process my paperwork. They've had it for a few weeks so I'm not sure how long the process will take but I'm trying to be patient. Once that goes through my plan is to sub for teachers at my local YMCA and then if a time opens up in the day where they need an instructor, I could step in and teach my own class. To be honest, running will always be my first love so I haven't been in a huge rush to sign up to teach a full-time class. In the meantime, I've been learning the new release and getting ready to be a sub once all the paperwork goes through.

In other non-running-related news, I took both my girls with me to visit my sister in San Antonio! We survived the two flights and 2 1/2 hour layover to get there and the girls had a BLAST seeing their cousins. I had a wonderful time visiting my sister and we got to do lots of fun San Antonio stuff. I had gym envy over her amazing gym (50 treadmills - at least!!! A cafe! A spa!! I told her I might just move in.).

She talked me into taking a kickboxing class which was hilarious because I am the most uncoordinated person ever. (Seriously - it's why I run. One foot in front of the other? I can handle that. Step, kick, hop, cross-jab, hop, kick? Ummm...I'm out.) It was a great class and workout and it was super fun - but it took most of my mental energy for the day to just keep up with trying to match my movements to what the instructor was saying! Gotta love our "tough gal" pose though, right? My sister is a triathlete and one strong mama!

She was also kind enough to watch all of the four kids (two of mine, two of hers) while I ran in the mornings. Which brings me to....a running update!! So (again with the knocking on wood) I'm finally back up to some decent mileage. I'll recap last week for you since it's been the most miles I've done post-stress fracture. I am feeling good and just now adding back in a tiny bit of speed in the form of some tempo runs. Here's what last week looked like for me:

Monday: 8 miles easy (7:46 avg pace) in the daylight!

Tuesday: 10.2 miles easy (8:36 avg) early morning. Had company for part of this which was nice because the run was in the cold rain. My least favorite running weather - upper 30s and raining. Did BodyPump later in the day.

Wednesday: 8 miles w/3 at tempo. Dark and super early. I was nervous and had to talk myself into this one. This felt challenging even though the pace was slower than I'd have liked. It definitely felt tempo pace even though McMillian's calculator insists my half marathon pace should be closer to 6:30s. Had to dodge some black ice and tackle a few inclines, but got it done. Tempo miles were 6:45, 6:41, 6:37.

Thursday: 10.1 miles easy (8:31 avg pace) - Had company for 5 of these miles which was awesome. Chilly, chilly run though and had to forgo my post-run smoothie in favor of hot oatmeal when I got home. BodyPump class in the afternoon.

Friday: 6.2 miles recovery (8:47 avg) - Ran with Dad for this one and was happy to keep it nice and easy.

Saturday: 16.2 miles long run (7:59 avg) - Ran with my group for part, and with Dad for the rest. By a happy coincidence, a running friend pulled into the Starbucks (our group run meeting place) to run early too - just as I was getting out of my car! We ran our extra 5 miles together. A bit faster than I'd liked and on a very hilly route, but I was so happy to have company that it didn't matter. Met up with the rest of the group at 6:55am and ran 3 with them to Golds Gym. Met up with Dad there and then ran his pace miles with him. (He's using a Pfitzinger plan as well and these pace miles help him to practice goal marathon pace for his attempt to qualify for Boston in March!) Overall, the first half of this run was a bit tougher due to the group pushing the pace, but the latter half was great and it was great to run with Dad and help pace him.

Splits: 8:26, 7:56, 7:41, 7:48, 7:44, (met group) 8:01, 7:59, 7:20, 7:34 (0.39mi) Met Dad, 8:13, 8:16, 8:10, 8:11, 8:12, 8:14, 8:02, 7:21

Sunday: 5 miles easy (7:47 avg) - due to running later in the morning and the nicer weather, this run felt better than I was expecting. I ended the run at the gym in time for BodyPump.

Total: 63 miles

So there you have it! I'm back at it and doing my best to foam roll, get sleep, eat right and do my PT exercises to stay on top of things. I had a gait analysis done last month as well and the PT exercises were given to me to help improve some areas of weakness. I'll talk more about that in a future post. This week is a recovery week with 45 miles and then next week I start my official 12-week buildup for the Tobacco Road Marathon on March 15th! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can stay healthy this season, eh?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, celebrates with family and friends, and gets to enjoy some holiday running as well!

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