My Name is Yanni. I’m a Runner.

I’m still in an awe.  I ran THREE HUNDRED TEN miles on 2011.   That’s a lot of miles, considered I started to run on August 2, 2011.   I did 55 runs with total 310 Miles.   Absolutely awesome.   If you told me a year ago, that I would run this much or even run at all, I would laugh and probably said that you crazy.   I always said before, I’m a mountaineer.  A hiker.  I’m NOT a runner and running is not my thing.   Well, look at me today.   I ran over 300 miles last year and about to take on the full marathon and I can say it without any hesitation now that I *am* a runner.

My 2011 Stats

Looking back on all of those runs, reading on each note that I put after each of those runs – it brought me to the moment of each run.  The good run, and the bad run.   I had many challenges, and some of it, almost made me give up the whole thing but I didn’t.   I kept on running.  The support from my friends are unbelievable.   There were days that I absolutely didn’t feel like being out there and run, but I did it anyway mostly because I really couldn’t come up with any excuse for skipping them.    Public accountability, there’s nothing better than that for motivation to run.    Cold 30 degrees morning, 5 hours out on the trail with a constant cheer-tweets.   I am very blessed.   I’m surrounded by awesome people.

In my previous post, I talked about my injury.    Let me give you an update on that.    I saw a foot/ankle specialist the day after the incident.   He took one look at the xray, and looked at me, smiled, and said – this is not a fractured.   You have a sprained.   I almost fell off the chair.    WHAT DID YOU MEAN I HAVE NO FRACTURE??     He explained to me in a very simple analogy.   The duct tape analogy.   If you pulled a duct tape off the wall, and it pull a paint off it, that doesn’t mean the wall is broken.   When I twisted my ankle, my tendon pulled 0.03mm of the end of the bone.   I have no structural damaged.   I have a sprained ankle.   Does this mean the race is no longer out of the question?  Not necessary.   The hope just a wee bit bigger.    I had cheesiest cheek-to-cheek smile as the doctor leave the exam room, look at my husband in the eye and said, I’m SO going to do this race.

Thank you for many-many prayer regarding to this.   With the grace of God, a little miracle, my diagnosis changed.   And hopefully, I can have this ankle heal in time and actually do AND finish the race.   Keep that prayer coming!

The next day – I saw my Physical Therapist.   She worked on my ankle right away, did her thing to the muscle around it and gave me tons of homework.   Because of the injury, I have to retrain my nerve around it.   My balance is out of whack and it’s very important that I did a lot of balance routines.  And strength training.   I can’t run until the race day, but got an okay to do different cardiovascular activity like elliptical or stationary bike.   My hope just get bigger.

Today is Sunday, exactly 7 days before my race.    I’m optimistic.    I spent yesterday and today worked on my balance routines (four times a day) and strength training.   I did even a four set of  lunges today (Jes – that’s for you!).   Tomorrow, I have a date with my personal trainer for an hour of torture strength training session, designed just for me.   I had SO much help, and I’m so grateful for that.

Today is the first day of 2012.   I’m kicking it right.   Here’s to another year of full with happiness and healthy days.   For my people, you know who you are.  I love you.   Thank you for being such an awesome bunch.

Week 20 & 21: Illness and Longest Run

Well, it looks like every other week update is working with me.   I know I have committed to write my training update weekly, but lately that is very hard to do.   So there.  That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.

This past two weeks have been very challenging for me.  I got sick.   Really, really sick.   I’m talking the kind that leave you with absolutely no energy.   I had constant fever, nausea and do not even get me started with a headache.   It was awful.   I didn’t go to work for a week as well, and all I did was sleeping.   I managed to sneak 3 run in the past 2 weeks, in addition to my very long run.   A few of three miler jog, just to get moving.  I was dizzy and almost fainted the first time around!

I was worry and anxious.  My race is 3 weeks away and I took a week of running.   I worried that it will ruining my training.  I worried that my strength will get affected by it.   I worried.  A lot.

Then Saturday came around.   It was my longest training run.  A whole 22 miles.

I still look hawt in miles 16

I woke up antsy.  It was a cold 32 degrees foggy morning.   I could have gone earlier, but I decided to enjoy my morning and run a bit later.   I had my usual pre-long run breakfast.   Toasted english muffin with peanut butter, drizzle of honey and slice of banana.   Around 10:30am – I finally got up and get ready.   I wore my long tights and my running jacket on top of my base layer.

We got to the trail around noon’ish, and I told the husband that I want to run slightly different route.    I want to run in a manageable route in my head.   See — I know long run is more than just physical.  It’s a lot of mental too, so I broke down this route to six-3 miler run, plus 4 miles.   From where we park the car, I ran east and back (which is total 6 miles) and did that three times.   Then I ran the 2 more miles east and back, which made it total 22 miles.    I have to say, that trick work.   It got kinda boring since it’s the same stretch of trail, but this by far, was my best run.   I felt strong the entire time and I only have to focus on getting me back to the car, which is about 6 miles round trip.   The only caveat on this plan was I completely underestimate how dark this trail get when the sun down.   I usually ran the opposite route which have more open area, so even though there were no more sun, the trail got some lights from street/residential.    Thanks to the flashlight app on the iPhone — my husband mounted the iPhone on his bike and I ran the last 2 miles stretch with the light from it.   It was… different.   I am not a big fans in walking/hiking, let alone running in darkness so my mental focus was all over the place for the last couple miles.   I was running even faster as I just want to be done.   When I finally reached the car, I realized for the first time that I can really do this marathon thing.   I know I can complete 26.2 miles and I have to tell you, that’s an awesome feeling to have.

Thank you Karen Lopez (t) for introducing me to running.   Thank you Erin Stellato (t) and Jes Borland (t) for inspire me even more.

My 'I just ran 22 miles' face

As usual, I have a whole group of people in twitter that constantly cheered me on during my run.   You know who you are.   Thank YOU very, very much for being there for me and supporting me the whole way.   I love you all.

Fundraising

I didn’t do much in the last two weeks on this front as well.   I have one last email update to send and hopefully, that will generate some donation.    Please visit my fundraising page at http://tinyurl.com/RobelMarathon for more information

Week 18 & 19: Another High Mileage

I’m continue to slack off with my training recap.   I am combining two weeks in one post.  Again.  Life got in a way.   I got sick, I was injured, my kids got sick, the busiest time in the year at work.  You know, those kind of things.   I’m still training.  I’m still loving it.   Even though I’m not big on running on a cold day.   I’m such a big pantsy when it comes to cold weather.   Yes, I know.   I’m a mountaineer who don’t like to run in a cold weather.   I haven’t master the layering technique yet.  If I’m out in the mountain, I know what to wear to face the weather that could change from one extreme to another.   I’ve been climbing the mountain and hiking for over a decade.   Running is a new thing for me.    I have to re-learn things and this whole new experience humble me.

Week 18:  Recovery Week

After my 20-miler, I injured my IT Band (again).   I could barely bend my left knee and both of my shins hurts.    On Monday – I tried to do 3 miles on the treadmill and that was not a pleasant run.   I saw my Physical Therapy on Tuesday and she ordered me to take a a couple days break from running, and did a lot of stretching, icing and foam rolling.   So I did.   I did my mileage on Elliptical machine instead.    On Sunday, I ran 6 miles with my best friend, Mindy on my favorite trail.    It was, an okay run, to say the least.   My knee felt so-so and my shins hurts but I pushed through it and finish the 6 miles.

Week 19:  18-Miler

I did 3 miles on Tuesday and Thursday.   Nothing to ride home about.   It was cold out so I went to the gym and settle on Treadmill.   My knee seems to be okay and my shins doesn’t bother me, so overall, it was a good run.   In between, I also did a little strength training.   When I said a little – it’s very little.   A few here and there at home.   I really, really need to get better on this.   I know that my hips could use some strengthening and I need to do more lower body work out as it will help my run tremendously.   I’ll try to do better in the coming week.    I miss my trainer.  Sigh.   I’m struggling to find the time on my schedule to come and work out with him so I’m doing it at home the best I could.

My long run this week is 18 miles.   A lot of my friends said, you’ve done that before.  You got this.  Yes, yes, those are all true but 18 miles still 18 long miles.    It was 30 degrees morning.   The ground was covered with frost and just looking out from my bedroom window, it looked really cold out.   I woke up around 6:30 am and didn’t feel like moving.    I’m not a morning person (surprise!) to begin with and I don’t dig cold weather.  So it took a lot of will power to finally move from my comfy bed and put on my running clothes.   I wore my base layer, and my running hoodies plus my long tights, headband and gloves.    I figured if I overheated half way through, I just shed my layer.

I got to the trail at 11:30am and started to run.   I was shivering, even with my layers but I figured that I will be warm soon.   It took me almost a couple miles before I can really get comfortable with my running, weather and everything.   It was wet trail, and kinda slippery so I ran pretty slow and really took my time.

The trail was beautiful.  Some of the area covered with fog with a backdrop of fall color leaves.  It was eerie, yet beautiful.   I started from Fall City and ran east towards Snoqualmie and back (6 miles) and ran west towards Carnation and back (12 miles).   First six miles went by fairly quick.   I felt great, but started to notice my left knee hurt a bit so I decided to run smart.   I stopped and stretched quite a bit throughout the run.    I found that easier on my knee and I still get my mileage in.   I really don’t want to get injured anymore than I already have, 5 weeks before my race.

Oh as usual, I have the luxury of tweet-cheer from all my friends.   You know who you are.   Your support, your tweet, your facebook messages was read to me my RunMeter app and kept me company and entertained the entire 18 miles.   It was awesome.   I am so fortunate to have so many supportive friends!

To end this week in a good note, I went for 3 miles jog on the treadmill on Sunday.    It was hard to walk, let alone run the first mile, then it got easier on the second mile, and I ran normally on the third mile.    It was much needed recovery run.   Thank you Allen White (t) and Tom LaRock (t) for recommended me to do this after my super-long run.

Fundraising

I have a lot to report.   I sent out my fundraising email update and raised  $885.   Big shout out to SQL Sentry and Idera Software who were generously donated to my fundraising!!    They are not only awesome to the community, they are supporting the community member and supporting my effort.    I also want to thank Brent Ozar (t) for mentioning me on his blog and helping me spread the word.   And to Jes Borland (t), who not only donated and supported me, but also spread the word about my fundraising.   Every little help matter.   Every dollar matter.    If you want to know more about why I’m running, visit my fundraising page at http://tinyurl.com/RobelMarathon.

Week 16 & 17: Recovery and 20-Miler

I was slacking off on my update so I am combining my week 16 and 17 update.   Yes, yes I know.  I should post an update once a week, but life gets in a way and between my training, my job and being a mom – I have a very little time left.   So I choose to nap instead of writing my update.   Heh.

Week 16: Recovery Week

There’s not much to report for this week.  Remember when I twisted my ankle during my 17 miles run?  Yeah, that turn out bad.  It sprained my ankle quite a bit and in result, I have a swollen ankle for a while and my shins were paying the price.   My physical therapy ordered me to stay off my feet and not do any run at all.   So the only run I did this week was the one before I saw my physical therapist.  I went out to Seattle Waterfront and did 3 miles with Ryan Malcom (t).   That was actually pretty painful run.   I didn’t realize my ankle was in that bad of the shape (literally) and my shins were screaming in pain the entire 3 miles.

I spent an hour on elliptical machine on Thursday as well as Saturday.   In between, I tried to do some walk, but I literally limp around so I skipped them.   My stubbornness really carry me over to the stupid line, I guess.   Lesson learn here – when you twist your ankle in mile 1 – do NOT continue running another 16 miles.   Got it.

Week 17: Twenty Miler

Big week.  I saw my physical therapist on Monday and she cleared me for easy run on the treadmill.  I was antsy.  I haven’t run for almost a week and just want to get out and run.  Wow.  I never thought I actually said that.   I never considered myself a runner, until recently.   I never felt antsy for not able to run.   I usually get antsy for not able to go out and hike for a while.

Anyway, I ran 3 miles on Tuesday and Thursday.  At the treadmill.   I did okay.  Shins were still tender, but ankle was better.   On Friday, my PT cleared me for my long-run with a big warning to be very, very careful and to listen what my body told me.    I was excited, until Saturday morning came along.

It was COLD morning.  About 37 degrees.  No rain, but it was definitely wet in the trail.  Oh, did I mentioned COLD?   I really didn’t want to go outside, let alone run 20 miles but most of my friends already know I’m going to do this, and I just can’t face them if I didn’t go out.  Accountability.   I’m tellin’ ya.  It really does work.

So here I was.  On 37 degrees Saturday.  Out on the trail.   I wore my base layer, my Portland Half-Marathon short sleeves shirt, and my running jacket.   On the bottom, I have my capri and wore my compression sleeves.   Plus the gloves.   I was ready.   I started the run with fairly slow pace.   My PT told me to run 2 minutes slower than my normal pace which I had no problem to do so.   I ran the first 6 miles or so with Jimmy May (t) and I just love his company!

I was doing really well for the first 17 miles.  Then, I didn’t understand why – but mentally, I was done.  It just – I was beat, mentally.   I wasn’t hurt or in any pain but those last three miles turn into the hardest three miles I ever ran.   I wasn’t sure if that’s what they called it the ‘wall’ but I know I struggled.   I broke down in tears, because I was frustrated.   I need to get myself together, but didn’t know how.   My husband, John, who rode his bike alongside of me, tried to entertained me, humor me and he even sent the tweet out

That was awesome.   There was one tweet after another John tweeted that, and that’s even after many-many encouraging tweets I had during the run.   I’m telling you, I have a really awesome friends who are so supportive on things you do!   I finally finish the 20 miles and was never been so happy to see our car in the parking lot!   John had brought me my parka jacket, the jacket that I used for my climbing as I was immediately shivering when I stop running.   I stretched, drank more water and ate some banana and we head home.

For those who were there for me on during my run, and continuously sent out encouraging tweets and Facebook messages.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.  Very, very much.   It meant a lot to me.   I know some of you can vouch for this too.  That was what kept me going.  Some of them made me giggle, and some of them made me burst into laugh.  Some of them ticked me off and lit fire under my behind, but all of those tweets help me in their own way.   I love them.

Below are just some of them that I can capture.   It’s so awesome and I am so thankful to have this many support.  Just look at these tweets below. They are really, really great.

Fundraising

Not much going on here as I haven’t done much.  I sent out first email and got some donation out of it.   I need to start kicking into a high gear.  My race is 6 weeks away.   If you happen to read my post all the way to this point, please visit my fundraising page at http://tinyurl.com/RobelMarathon.   Every dollar mean a lot.   Beside – what are the better ways to try to get tax deductible, right?   End of year is around the corner and your donation is 100% tax deductible.   And you are helping ME.  And thousand of others who are affected with blood cancer.

Week 15 – Another High Mileage

I am going to start this post by ranting a little bit.    This is still fresh in my mind so I want to get it out there.    I ran into my someone I know earlier and he asked me how my Portland Half went.   I said — it was awesome!  Then he asked me about my time.   I answered proudly – 2 hours 46 minutes.    He gave me this look and continued said – wow, that’s pretty slow.   Did ya walk it? I was in shock and completely speechless with that comment.  I didn’t even know what to say and almost mumble and try to justified my time, but then I quickly become mad.  Really, really mad.    My tears started to welled up in my eyes and to avoid any awkward situation, I made up some excuse and walk away.   Then I got even more mad.     I worked really really hard for my half and I am proud with my accomplishment.   My time might not be the most awesome one for others, but it was for me and to have the nerve to ask if I walked it, that just plain rude.    I did the course.  It doesn’t matter if I run it, walk it, or run/walk it.   I did the whole 13.1 miles.  The entire thing!

I am surrounded by awesome people around me and sometimes I forget that there are rude and not nice person out there.   The one that like to question your accomplishment and put you down for all the hard work you did.    I let that kind of person get to me and question my own accomplishment.  Even for a few seconds!

Allright, enough ranting.   I feel better.   I mentioned this incident to my #sqlrun ladies and I love that they are angry for me.   Thank you for being a continuous supporter for me.

Monday:

I was feeling under the weather and even stayed home from work, so I didn’t do any work out

Tuesday:

I was still feeling blah and decided to just do an easy run around the neighborhood.   I did 3 miles loop around the my girls’s school and feel okay afterward

Wednesday:

Did 30 minutes walk around my office.   It was a gorgeous day out

Thursday:

I decided to hit the gym and did 3 miles on the treadmill.   I felt great

Friday:

Rest

Saturday:

Big day.   It took me over two hours from the moment I got up to the time that I actually laced my running shoes.   It didn’t really want to go out and run.  It was a 35 degrees morning!    Facing with the thought of having to explain to my #sqlrun peeps on why I didn’t do my run, I sucked it up and hit the trail.

Gorgeous day to run

I started with a steady pace, a bit slower than normal.   Thanks to my new Zensah Compression Sleeves, my shins felt really good and I didn’t even feel any pain on it.    It was beautiful on the trail.   The ground covered with orange leaf and it was absolutely stunning.   Before long, I hit the first mile and shortly after, I stepped on slippery rock under the leaf and as I balance myself, I twisted my ankle really bad.   The sharp pain shoot from my ankle towards my hips.    I let out a big yelp, stopped and hunched over.   I was supposed to run 17 miles!!    I started walking, tried to shake the pain and continue running.   I slow down my pace and felt okay in my ankle so I kept on going.   Around mile 8, I started to feel some shooting pain again, and as I was trying to asses what it was, I tripped over a branch on the trail and almost fell!  Fortunately, I regain my balance right away and didn’t injure myself in the process.   I kept on running.   I managed to get my focus back and maintain my pace.    Around mile 11 – I felt the same shooting pain and I almost lost it.   I was frustrated.   I had 6 miles to go and I really didn’t want to quit it.   Tears falling down on my cheek as I tried to motivated myself and push through the ankle pain.   I started to feel other part of my leg, like quad and hamstring started to hurt.   I must have been compensated the ankle pain and totally messed up my running form, in result, put me in the world of hurt.

I slowed down my run even more, and even take more walk break but I kept on going.   At mile 15 – I broke down into tears.   At that point, I was exhausted.   The pain took so much energy out of me and I just want to be done.   However, I didn’t want to quit so my stubbornness kinda took over.    I took a deep breath and kept on running.    At mile 16.5 – I had the pain pretty much everywhere on my left leg and I decided to walk the rest of the half mile.   I power walked and finish the entire 17 miles.

It took me about an hour before it actually hit me.   I just did 17 miles.   I twisted my ankle, tripped on a branch, cried, curse and yell but by golly, I did 17 miles.   Thank you for everybody who tweet me.   You have no idea how big the different it made.

Sunday

I woke up very sore and stiff.   I did my usual stretched, iced and even soaked my legs in a cold water – but boy, I was in the world of hurt.   My ankle swollen and my whole quad, hamstring and shins on that leg are in pain.   Not so much on the shins, thanks to my compression sleeves.   I was limping around and couldn’t even put my weight on that leg.   I stretched more, and more and took ibuprofen every 6 hours.   I was whiny and miserable.    Then Allen White (t) told me to go out and run in a slow pace for 2-3 miles.   WHA?  I mean.  Seriously?  You want me to run with THIS ankle?   I was desperate though as I really need to feel somewhat decent, so I figured – allright, let me give it a try.   If it hurts so bad, then I stop.    So I went to the gym and started to walk on the treadmill.   It was bad the first 10 minutes but then, my ankle, quad and hamstring started to relax and I cranked the treadmill up and started to run.   A mile went by and another mile and before long — I hit 3 miles without even feel any pain.  I stepped off the treadmill and didn’t feel a lot of pain.   I felt so much better!   I’m so glad that I listened Allen’s advice!!

Fundraising

I raised $1,425 total as of today!  I’m so blessed to be have many generous and kind friends!  I’m still far from my goal though, and still need a lot of help.   Please visit my fundraising page at http://tinyurl.com/RobelMarathon to learn more about why I’m doing this.

Week 14 – Recovery Week

I never quite understand what recovery week means until this past week.   After I ran 15 miles – most of my muscles were so tight the next day.  I did my usual iced-stretched-iced-stretched routines but my shins were not cooperating with me.   I was doing fine Sunday, but Monday – I have a hard time to just go up and down the stairs.   This is the same shins that’s been bugging me before my half-marathon.   In a nutshell – I’m somewhat taking it easy this week, and only did my recovery run (another new terms for me!)

Monday

I walked for 30 minutes.   I actually felt great afterwards

Tuesday

I ran 3 miles around Seattle waterfront and wow, I was hurting the entire time.   I had to actually ran about 2 minutes slower than my normal pace.   Overall – it was an awful run.   I was so happy when it’s done

Wednesday

I did another 30 minutes walk around downtown.   I’m starting to take a liking on this walk between my running days.  It gets me out of the office and get my downtime workout in.

Thursday

I changed to my running clothes around noon, but never really made it anywhere.   I worked through lunch and still have my running clothes by the time I got home around 8pm.   I wasn’t a happy camper.   I didn’t make it as a priority.  Bad Yanni.

Friday

It’s my day off, so after I dropped my girls to school, I decided to run around the neighborhood.   I started by the school and just did a loop around on somewhat flat street (my neighborhood is very hilly).   I managed to get my 3 miles in and felt very good afterwards

Saturday

My non-long-run weekend.   Since I’m still in recovery week, I didn’t have a long run today.   Instead, I was only scheduled to do another 3 miles.   I went to my favorite trail in the morning and did my 3 miles.   My shins still hurts but not as much.   It took so much energy to run when you have some pain!   I was exhausted when I was done

Sunday

Rest

Fundraising

Big shout out this week to Brent Ozar (t) and Erin Stellato (t) who were being very generous on their support towards my fundraising!  I am slowly getting up there and still have a way to go.   I sent an email out already and hopefully things are moving fairly quickly.   For those who are looking for more tax write up for 2011, here is your chance!   Every dollar counts and your donation are being used to save life.   Please visit my fundraising page at http://tinyurl.com/RobelMarathon