This picture was the day before Marshall was born, we ran 3 miles… 3 very slow miles. Looking back, I felt great, but man I look swollen!

The day before Marshall was born

My first 5 mile run, which was three days after I was cleared, was so hard and I felt completely discouraged. I took the next day off and came back feeling refreshed for my next run. Last Wednesday, a week after being cleared, I ventured out for 7 miles… and other than the fact that I was hungry, felt amazing. Certainly not back, but I felt strong and confident.

The Indy Women’s Half Marathon is next Saturday, and the plan is to run with my sister, Ericka. She’s ran four five  marathons, but has kind of been crossfit crazy lately and I of course have just started running again after a 6 week time period off… oh and you know having a baby. SO, we might not be feeling so hot once we reach mile 10, but we’ve been there before… you can do anything for 3 miles. Her half marathon PR is 1:52… I don’t know if I’ll be able to run that fast and if she’d be up for it, but if so…  it would be fun to try to break her PR. @ErickaAndersen…. are you up for that?  We’ve never actually ran a race together.

Tomorrow, I’m planning to run 11 miles… my last “long” training run for the 1/2. Not gonna lie, I’m kind of nervous. 

There’s been a roller coaster of emotions and minor health related issues that have kept me back a bit. I’ve kind of let these issues stand in the way of something I’ve always loved. Most people have a battle with some type of fear in their lives. My battle tends to over the top and controlling at certain times and while running is the one thing that usually calms me down and takes me to a place where I can put things into perspective, it is the thing I tend to avoid when I need it most.

Over the past three weeks, I have been getting back on track and I’m ready to start working hard. Back on June, I had the privilege of running the Carmel Half Marathon with Eric Arnold, one our Back on My Feet members and friend of mine. It was his first half and ended up being one of the best race experiences I have ever had. As I’ve said before, there is something special about running someone’s first race with them. The Carmel Half Marathon with Eric and the Green Bay Marathon with Brooke are two races I will always be grateful for experiencing.

The BoMF teams are running the Monumental 5k, half and full this year- with three men running the full. Eric happens to be one of them and although I have not been training as one should for a marathon, I did manage to get in 15 miles on Saturday and plan to do 20 this coming Saturday. Eric wants to break 4 hours in his first marathon- a lofty goal, but I’m certain he can do it on a good day and I fully intend on running his first 26.2 with him. I was there for 13.1 and would be genuinely upset to miss the real deal.


26.2 here we come…

So for now, I’m putting most of my energy into the finishing touches of the Back on My Feet 42K Relay, which is next weekend! The following week, we are going to Miami where I plan to be the best cheerleader ever for Glenn in his first half ironman and then running the Monumental with Eric the day after we return. After all of this….it’s game time. I’m ready to train. Oh and I just started crossfit! Still in the first three introduction classes… we will see how it goes.