Time to start training again

I woke up this morning and decided that I should go for a short 2.5 mile run so I put my shoes on, wrote Hubby a note, and took off. Although I have done marathons and triathlons in the past, I have done little more than sit on my butt for the past few months, so I need to get my butt in gear. About 1/2 mile down the road, my foot hit an uneven piece of road and down I went! After of couple of seconds of "Man, what just happened?" I picked myself up...hobbled a little, then walked a few steps before finally tentatively trying to jog again. After a while my ankle didn't bother me too bad so I picked it back up to pace.

I made it the 2.5 miles, but not nearly as quickly as I would have liked, or that I would have been able to even just a few months ago. Blame my ankle, or just blame the fact that I have been LAZY and not ran at all in the last 2 months (I have however gone for a couple, but only a couple of 1000yd swims). Guess I have some work to do! My ankle didn't bother me too bad at all once I got going, until I stopped running and came home...OUCH!!

So as I sit here with my leg propped up on pillows and ice on my ankle, I have decided that despite my current pain, I am signing up for a few races. The first two are virtual races, meaning that I strap on my Nike+ and my iPod and hit the road wherever I happen to be on the dates of the races, then just sync it all when I'm done.

The Human Race, a 10K (6.2 miles) is August 31 and benefits either the Lance Armstrong Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, or the UN Refugee Agency. Even though all of them are worthy charities, I chose the Lance Armstrong Foundation since my biggest wish is for someone to find a cure for cancer - Hopefully in time to save my dad! This should make a good training run for my second race.

The second race I signed up for is the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles) on October 19th. This race benefits Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training that I have done so much work with. I ran this last year with Cathy, a friend from my triathlon team, and it was a blast. Instead of a typical 1/2 marathon finisher's medal, we received Tiffany's Key chains. Unfortunately they weren't the sterling silver key chains I was hoping for, but it was still a pretty cool finisher's gift.

I'm still thinking about signing up for a local 1/2 marathon in November, but we may be gone on a family camping trip for Thanksgiving so I don't want to sign up for it until I know for sure I will be here to run it. Then of course, there is also the Disney 1/2 marathon in January!! :)

I also stepped on the scale, my mortal enemy, for the first time in a while and WAS NOT pleased with what I saw at all. YIKES! My brother's wedding is in a few months and I'm in it...so guess that is yet another reason to get my butt in gear!