This one sneaked up on me. I knew I wasn't feeling my best, but boy did my body give me a run for the money this morning. After I got off my meds last month I gained about 8 pounds and have only been able to lose a little bit of it. So, it looks like I may need to talk to the cardiologist about going back on the diuretic. I may give it one more week with some major changes to see if it helps first. I felt like I was running (if you wanna stretch and call it running) through mud this morning. I had a spurt or two of feeling "okay" but never did feel good during this race. I kept an eye on my heart rate and it never spiked, but it seemed to have a more difficult time coming back down. It was running a bit higher than normal and taking forever to slow down when I'd start walking. I ended up walking A LOT! Frustrating. The Go Girl itself was very well organized and as always - very well done. Except they changed the course from last year and I swear they did it so t...

So I guess I'm just going to have to get used to going to cardiologists and doctors. My primary care sent me to a cardiologist at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital. I think I like this guy (as much as I can like docs). He was very kind, and looked me in the eye when he was talking with me and I liked that. Of course I gave them my standard "abnormal but not bad" EKG. I also explained about my meds and how the other doc wouldn't call me back. He told me not to trust a doctor who didn't call you back. (I was surprised.) He said it's an integrity issue and it sends the signal that they don't care when they don't call you back. I agreed. At the end of the appointment - he gave me a gentle hug and promised to take good care of me. That was nice I thought. (Even though I'm not too keen on "being taken care of.") My blood pressure was great- didn't even mention taking meds for that. I have to say that's a HUGE win. I believe the drastic ...

That's it! I've decided to train for another full marathon and I'm inviting you along on the journey. For a while I thought I'd be happy just saying I'd done one. But I'm itching to try another now. This week I'll be completing my 15th half marathon and there's just something in me that makes me want to do another full. Maybe it's because so many think I can't. Just recently I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Yep - you read that right. So far I have been okayed to run. My cardiologist said I can run as long as I have my blood pressure under control. My primary care told me I can run carefully- as long as I don't over-do it and as long as I walk if I am having any issues. So using great wisdom - I push forward. I have a half this weekend and then another in April. I'm becoming "okay" with doing them even if I have to walk a lot for my health's sake. It still gripes me a lot though. Since I've always been a...

So - I am in the middle of training for this year's half marathon. I was planning on doing another one this fall. I have been doing 2 races a month. Actually, last week I did my 3rd 10K and set a new PR. (Don't get too excited, I still came in 4th in my age group and still took forever!) I had another 5K planned for 2 weeks down the road. Then, a friend found an inaugural race this coming weekend. It's a 5K and a half marathon. We signed up for the 5k; and I was happy! Then she sends me a text and asks if I want to upgrade to the half. Well, you know I just couldn't leave that thought alone. But I have only done 8 miles twice since I broke my knee cap last August. I'm trying to slowly build up and still have several weeks until the scheduled half...but we just couldn't leave it alone.. so finally she had someone flip a coin and we won a half marathon! So now we have upgraded our status to the half come Sunday... What? I feel so ill prepared... but I oddly so...

It sounds funny to say it, but the most difficult part of training is staying on track. If you relax for one day, the next day it is even easier to relax. It takes staying with the training program one day at a time. As I am preparing for the OKC Memorial Half Marathon I am having to really concentrate on staying focused. And the funny part is - it's something I actually want to do.  But I know that if I do not stay on track every single day (including rest days) I will still complete the half marathon - but not as easily as if I stay with my training program daily.  If it is difficult to be consistent with something that I actually want to do - think about how much more difficult it is to do things that have to be done - but that are not chosen. To get to any goal - it will take doing what each day requires. What are you struggling with today? Is it difficult because you are looking at the whole picture? I have to look at a whole 13.1 mile run to know how close I am to tha...