New PR!!! IOA Corporate 5k

What an interesting race! I must say, last night's IOA Corporate 5K was a "one-of-a-kind" race experience...some of the highlights:

• I decided to take the Lynx bus shuttle from the Amway Arena to the Citrus bowl instead of trying to park their since I knew it would be full. Good idea in theory...took forever though. I must say, it was my first time on a Lynx bus and I found it to be really clean and nice.
• Over 10,000 run/walk participants congregated inside the Citrus Bowl at their respective company tents, the Protiviti Team tent rocked, thank you Katie and Jon for setting it up! (Team picture to follow soon)
• Those 10,000 run/walk participants were supposed to start at the same time, with the runners in the front, walkers in the back. What do you think the chances are that actually happened?
• I did not cross the start line until 8:15 into the race start
• The first mile was an adventure...to say the least. I had really hoped to get a good time this race, so I didn't want to be left behind, so I weaved in, and out, and around all of the walkers that were moseying along the course. This had me running in people's yards, the sidewalk, gutter, and medians. I am amazed I did not sprain my ankle.
• While most of the race consisted of me dodging walkers, once we got to mile 2 it opened up, a little.
• The "spectators" on the course had to be some of the most interesting I had ever seen. Street corners lined with liquor stores, convenience stores, and barber shops had Parramore's finest rooting us on. A few points along the course I even encountered a few homeless people running along with us. Priceless.
• Considering the obstacles I ran through to make it to the finish line, I still managed to get a new PR, 27:06, which was good, but knowing that had it been a less crowded course I could have scored a 26:00 was somewhat frustrating.
• My boyfriend Jon participated in his first 5K and I was very proud, he did awesome :)
• The Protiviti Team rocked, our captain, Jeff Tecau, ran an awesome 18:33. And I was pumped they used my time as one of the 3 team scores entered into the company competition.

So overall, it was a lot of fun, not a runners race by any means, but I didn't expect that going into it. I think my favorite part of the evening was my journey to the race. On the bus I sat next to a very nice older woman who was very chatty and kept me entertained on the 30 minute ride over. She was so excited to be doing her first 5k, she was a walker and was very proud that she lost 6 pounds in her training for the race. She commented to me about how some of the "runners" she saw amazed her with all of their fancy sneakers and outfits. She was wearing her gardening shoes and visor and was completely content with that. I did not have the heart to break it to her that I was one of those "runners" (although not ridiculous enough to be one who wore a fuel belt to a 5k). I humored her amazement and shared some helpful tips for navigating her first race.

It was really refreshing to talk to her. It allowed me a moment to reflect on how far I had come since I started running last year. I remember how excited I was running my first 5K, the Wendy Chioji Run Around the Universe in February of 2007, with a finish time of 30:50. At the time that seemed like a huge challenge, and I was so proud to accomplish it. Now a little over a year later I'm training for a marathon...crazy. I've come to a few realizations since I started running...but I'll save those for a future post :)

Ready for the IOA Corporate 5K!!!

I'm very pumped, tomorrow is my last race before the marathon and its going to be a fun one. The IOA Corporate 5K is tomorrow night on downtown Orlando and I am running as a member of the Protiviti team, my boyfriend Jon's company. I'm not too crazy about the course (see below) considering it runs throughout Parramore, Orlando's most dangerous neighborhood, i'm not soo sure what the thought process is behind this, but it's a nice, easy, straight away course so great for some speed :) I'm hoping to place in the top 3 on the team, I know #1 will go to the team captain, Jon's boss Jeff, who just got back from running the Boston Marathon and finishing in 3 hours...he's amazing. My leg was not feeling amazing during my run tonight, so i'm hoping i'll be race ready tomorrow.



I'm hoping for a PR tomorrow, anything under 28:30 (my last 5K time), which I have no doubt I can beat...i'll keep you posted!!!

Fundraising Challenege...4 Weeks, $1000

Let's not forget the whole reason I'm doing this crazy marathon...to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So far my fundraising is going well, but it reached a bit of a halt and I need your help to get me to my next goal. In the next 4 weeks I need to raise $1,000. I received an awesome pledge to match dollar for dollar what I raise from a very generous person, and if I can raise $1000 over the next 4 weeks I will hit my $4000 goal!!!

If you haven't had the opportunity to donate yet, it's not too late. visit my fundraising page at www.active.com/donate/tntcfl/tokeeffe and pledge your support. I need all the help I can get and it would mean the world to me for you to help! This whole experience may be the most difficult thing I have ever done, but I know its nothing compared to what the people out there struggling with various blood cancers have to endure.

Thank you to those who have already shown their support!

Goofy Pic

From Saturday's run at the West Orange Trail...

Not sure if you can see the smile on my face, but it was pretty big :)

And We're Back!

OK...so a lot happened over the past week and I have been a bad blogger so here's a recap:

- I continued to run early last week with some luck, leg was feeling a bit stronger but not great, total mileage was pretty low. With urging from my boyfriend Jon, I decided that I had to go see somebody about it so I could stop worrying and get better one way or another.

- I called Michael over at Florida Hospital Sports Medicine on Friday morning and thankfully he said come on by at lunch time. Back story... I e-mailed the "ask the expert" e-mail address at the Florida Hospital Sports Medicine website last week, http://www.fhsportsmed.org/askexpert.asp, and received a response from Mike right away. He gave me some advice and said give him a call if it didn't get better. I was pretty nervous about this...mainly because I was afraid he would tell me that I'd have to stop for a while and maybe sit the race out...

- Mike couldn't have been more helpful. He gave me a thorough exam, stretching out my legs to determine my range of motion and flexibility, and also to sense where the tightness was coming from. Sure enough, he confirmed that it was Illitobial Band Syndrome...but I didn't necessarily get it the way that I thought. Turns out, my inner quad and butt muscles (like my technical terms? :) ) are not as strong as they should be, therefore its causing an imbalance that is forcing my knee's to move more to one side when I run, instead of being balanced in the center. Since the IT Band is directly linked to the knee, it all works together. So my prognosis was not race-threatening, in fact, it was not as bad as I thought at all. Here was his advice:

1. Continue taking two doses of ibuprofen everyday for the next two weeks.
2. Every other day do a series of strengthening exercises that target the quads and the butt
3. Stretch after every activity, and target the IT Band (he gave me a few great ones, if you are having a similar problem let me know and I can detail them for you)
4. Massage the IT Band using a foam log
5. Once stretching is done, apply ice for 10 minutes
6. Active Rest! This is the best part, I don't have to sit around, but in fact get out there and do the best I can.

So I took his advice, and on Saturday morning I was up at 5:45 am excited as ever to get out to the West Orange trail and join my team for a long run. After a stop at the 7-11 for a cup of coffee and a power bar, I was on my way. I was definitely nervous about the run, my team was running 16 miles, i didn't know how far I could make it. The start was a bit rough around the edges, but i was in a grove around mile 2 and the rest was history. I made it through the winding trails and hills and back again, totalling 13 miles. I know I could have kept going, but airing on the side of caution I cut it short and plan to make it up next week.

I did my stretches and strength training yesterday, lots of ice, and today I feel pretty good. So I am very thankful I saw the doc because now I know how to manage the injury, and hopefully, it will work itself out soon. My mood has been so much better and I am determined to be ready for this race...only 6 weeks away!!!

A Few Missed-Steps

So all of my excitement surrounding running 14 miles last weekend has unfortunately diminished rather quickly as the pain started to set in on Monday and didn't seem to dissipate. I went out on Monday for my 3 mile run and after about 15 steps realized I couldn't do it, my ankle felt so weak and I couldn't put pressure on it. Hmm I thought, OK, maybe today is not the day, just a little rest and I'll get back out there tomorrow. And I did...6 mile run in Blue Jacket Park. The first two miles hurt like hell...but I thought, "Just run through it Tara, it will work itself out". So I did, and from miles 2-6 felt OK, and I was able finish, a few minutes slower than normal because I took a few short walk breaks, but I finished. But man, as soon as I cooled down the pain was severe! As if that wasn't good enough, I went back out again on Thursday and ran 3.75 miles around Lake Eola, same type of symptoms along the run, except now, it started to hurt more in my hip and my hamstring now. Now I started to worry....

Maybe running through it was not the answer, maybe this was more serious. Have you ever tried to self-diagnose yourself from research on the internet?? Wow is that confusing! I think I have given myself 4 different diagnosis's over the past 4 days, and to be honest, I'm still not really sure, but I reached out to the people I thought could help me best. My first concern was the hill workout I had scheduled for Saturday morning, inside I knew that was not going to help me at all, but I didn't want to miss it. After advice from Coach Sandy, a therapist at Florida Hospital via their e-mail advice services, and posting a question for Hal Higdon on his forum, I got the same answer from everyone, don't' do the hill!

So i took the weekend off, to much dismay and anxiety. I followed the RICE method, (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for the past few days, and frequently stretched. I spent some more time researching online, and I think after everything, I have a case of IBS (Illitobial Band Syndrome) but not that causes pain in the knee, but in the hip, which can also happen. I found some helpful stretches that I did throughout the day at my desk at work which really seemed to help and remove some of the inflammation and pain. The Aleve I have been popping the past few days has also made an impact. Tonight i spent some time of the stationary bike for about 40 minutes and that helped loosen me up, I am definitely seeing a positive change.

So how did this all happen you ask?? I think it's because I increased my weekly mileage by about 20% from the previous week when i ran the 14 miles...not smart. Hal Higdon thinks there is a deeper cause than that... I was not quite ready to pound the pavement again after being sick...so maybe pushing my limits and getting a PR at the Winter Park Road Race was not the best idea :( Whatever it was, I now know more than ever how important a steady increase, stretching, and proper rest is to my success. It has been really hard for me not to run the past 4 days, even harder thinking the worst, like what if I this injury kept me from running the marathon all together. I realize now that I am going to do all that I can physically and mentally to stop that from happening, but I have to exercise serious discipline over the next month and a half if I want to be ready. And I want to be ready!!!

I'll keep you posted how my effort to slowly get back into it goes...

I ran 14 miles!!!

Wow, I can officially say that I have accomplished the most difficult thing I have ever done physically in my life! As part of our training this weekend we ran 14 miles on the Seminole Weikiva Trail and boy was it tough. Everything felt great up until mile 10, then it started to hurt in my hips and ankles, and as we kept going, the pain grew. We did make a few stops along the trail at water stations which helped a great deal, I thought I might be able to make it all the way through using my fuel belt and no stops, but I needed the quick breaks. With that being said, I was still able to finish in under two and a half hours which was good considering I had a terrible night sleep and didn't have much of a dinner the night before. I think had I been better rested and fueled up, that could have been a much better run. Learning lesson for me how important those two components are for a long run...next time I will take that much more seriously.

I think this may have been the first time I really questioned..."why am I doing this it hurts!??" but I just kept reminding myself that I have made a commitment to a cause and to my friends and family, and most importantly, myself, to complete this challenge. Although every time a biker drove by us smiling I kept thinking, "I was I was riding a bike right now!"


Regardless, I was proud to accomplish this awesome feat, as it is the longest distance I have run to date. Thank you so much to my pace ladies Susan and Sherri for keeping me going and not giving up, you rock!

Until next time...run long run strong!

Run When Your Sick?

So I saw this article in the runner's world e-newsletter and couldn't help but wish I would have read it 2 weeks ago. But regardless, for those of you who want some better scientific evidence as to why you should/shouldn't run when your sick than my own personal recommendations, here you go:

SHOULD YOU RUN WHEN YOU'RE SICK?
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-286--9082-0,00.html?cm_mmc=training-_-2008_04_01-_-training-_-HEALTH%3a%20Should%20you%20run%20when%20you're%20sick%3f