Healing Power of Kyanite!

The Kyanite Rock That Picked Me

KYANITE! Kyanite for sale! Come get your KYANITE! Heals your wounds, heals your mind...Come get your KYANITE!

Okay, I'm not completely healed, but with the power of rest, Kyanite, and positive thinking, I just might be healing...however, slowly.

My family was in town over Christmas and my mother, a true Baba Yaga, took us to The Expanding Heart in Park City, on Main Street. There, I located an awesome rock called Kyanite.  Learn more about Kyanite here.  I have been carrying it around with me and have seen some improvement in my knee.  The rock is cool because it actually picks you, rather than you, picking it!  If a particular Kyanite rock is for you, it will pull you forward slightly.  If it's not the right rock for you, then it will push you back slightly.  The one in the picture shown is the one that picked me over 20 other Kyanite rocks.  It pulled me forward like a magnet!  I couldn't resist but buy it.  Normally I'm skeptical about these kinds of things, but just ask Stefhan or my brother!  It works!

Also while in the store, I had a reading done through numerology and tarot cards.  The lady's name was Krysta and it was truly amazing.  It was the first time I had done this in many years (the last time I went I was with my Aunt Kathy whose death was predicted.  One week later, my Aunt Kathy passed away as foretold).  The first two cards I picked out were one of a HORSE and one that read COMPLETION.  The COMPLETION card had a runner wearing a running jersey with his strong arms spread wide.  There was confetti falling down around him.  I couldn't believe it.  The HORSE signified strength and travel and the runner signified perfection and completing a task at hand.  I couldn't believe those were the two cards that I picked out of an entire deck!  Krysta then explained more to me under the guidance of spirituality, however it was a bit over my head.  Fascinating, none the less!

Today I worked out at 24hour fitness.  I ran 2 miles on the treadmill at a slight incline and biked for 20 minutes.  Then I did some sit-ups and tried to strengthen my legs on some of the machines, in hopes of strengthening my knee at the same time.  Before I could only run 1 mile before acquiring the knee pain, now it's 2 miles.  I have a long way to go before it's fully healed, but if it takes much longer, I'll probably go see a specialist to try to speed up the process.  I'm just craving a long run!

Well, that's it for 2010.  Happy and Healthy New Year!!!  See you in 2011!

MONKEY BUTT!!! Yeah, you read it right!

Now that I have your attention, yes...I have monkey butt...not a butt that looks like a monkey (although my mom would argue that point), but that it's as sore as a monkey's butt (I'm assuming they get sore butts).

My last run was on Saturday, the 18th.  I tried out my new shoes which seemed pretty good, however I think my runner's knee hadn't completely healed.  It caused me aggravation at mile 3 and I had to walk the last 2 miles home.  Major bummer...I was so disappointed.

So, in order to let my knee heal, I signed up at 24hr Fitness (which I was meaning to do anyways) and started hitting the spin classes to keep up my cardio exercises and leg training.  Wheew!  It has been awesome and I'm having a really great time on the bike, even though I'd still rather be outside running.

Note to self and anyone else interested in biking/spinning: With your monkey butt shorts (yeah, those ones with the extra padding to protect your toosh-shay), don't wear underwear (ANY kind of underwear for that matter, now matter how small you think the material is).  It's very unnecessary and after 45 minutes, it becomes major-league uncomfortable.  I learned that lesson the hard way.  If it's not blisters, then it's runner's knee.  If it's not runner's knee, then it's a sore boot-tay.  Not cool!  Plus, after three classes, I can barely even sit on the seat without cringing...at least for the first five minutes, anyways. 

I may try to hit the road tomorrow for a run.  Brian is coming into town so I'm excited to run with him, too, and see all of our progress!

Merry Christmas!

A Video of Me Finishing My First Marathon!

A Great Read!

This is a really great read, especially for beginners like myself. I can see myself going back to this article in the future as it makes me smile!

The Newbie Chronicles from Runner's World

Let me know what you think!

I Wanted to Surrender

Today I ran what was supposed to be a short 4 miles but ended up 4.6 miles.  Doesn't sound like much but the hills were just terrible.  I didn't quite understand how it felt like I was constantly running uphill.  It was like that famous optical illusion photograph of the man that only walks upstairs in a circle but never downstairs, you know which one I mean?

It definitely makes more sense to plan your route ahead of time.  I was in a neighborhood that I didn't really know and what I feared would happen, happened.  I end up trying to get to a main street but had to keep running further and further uphill due to all the dead-ends.  All I wanted was a dang thru-street!  The snow was thick and there was barely a shoulder on the road.  Rather scary on a busy road.  Hopefully Mogul's flashy vest helps our visibility (thanks Mom and Dad).  A snow truck that was salting the roads flew past us and I got pegged with all sorts of salt crystals.  At least it was warm...32 degrees F although weather.com had it saying it felt like 27.  Not when you're running up hill!  It felt like the Caribbean on a warm summers day...well, not exactly.

Anyway, here are a couple photos and the video of Mogul's work-out routine (his warm up is very similar to mine).  Also, for the weak-stomached, there's a photo attached of my awesome blister on my toe.  Don't scroll down if you don't want to see it...it's gross.  Please ignore the chipped nail polish, how embarrassing. 

Also, I tried the Orange Recoverite.  Not bad at all, but I still prefer Chocolate, then Orange and never Strawberry.  My knees were pretty sore...but only 15 minutes after drinking the Recoverite, they are fine!  Pretty awesome!

My route today, over and over and over again.

"Let's do this thang."

I told you it looked like my warm-up routine...cute, huh?

Nasty, eh?

Progress, Progress, Progress!

Week 2 of training went surprisingly well and was actually enjoyable.  I was only supposed to run 20 miles total but ended up running 22 miles.  I had some really good runs with Mogul and Sarah.  Sarah would accompany me for part of the way and then peel off. Mogul stuck with me the entire way and kept telling me that he wanted to go faster.  Go figure...if only I had four legs maybe I'd be four times as fast, too. 

Yesterday I started Week 3.  I have already passed my projected mileage so I will try to take it easy.  Tomorrow is a rest day (supposedly) so we'll see how that goes.  I have been frequenting Salt Lake Running Company and trying not to spend my entire paycheck there.  I picked up some Hammer Recoverite to help my muscle soreness and recovery.  It seems to have really helped.  Strawberry flavor was not so delicious, don't buy it.  I tried chocolate today and it was pretty good, actually.  I have yet to try orange but have a feeling I'll stick with the chocolate.

Today I realize that when I train, I'm not just training and strengthening my muscles, but I'm training my mind just as much, if not more (Yeah, yeah, who knows why it took me so long to actually understand this).  Today I ran six hilly miles.  I was thinking to myself, if I can run 6, I can run 7...If I can run 7, I can run 8.  I've been actually training my mind the entire time!  As everyone has said, this whole running ordeal is 90% mental.  So if I just get out and do the run, I have strengthened my mind for the next big run.  Even those days where I'm sore and the weather is crappy and I just want to vegetate on the couch, if I just get out and run, even if it's not as far as I'd like, I've conditioned my mind for the next time I run and I am more motivated for that.  It'll all seem easier for me if I remind myself how much I dreaded running the other day and "Today is beautiful and I feel great, so get on it and go!"  I like to take advantage of those moments when I feel full of energy and I feel like I could run forever.  For those times when it feels like I'm stuck in a cement mixer, I just gotta do my best and use the fact that I got out and did it to propel me into my next run.

I did end up with some goofy blisters on my big toes.  The first one started on my right foot, and today I got it on my left.  It could be the socks (even though they're expensive running socks) and it could be the shoes (little did I know my toe nail cut into my other toe and my shoe was covered in blood from the inside out.  I realized that about 4 hours after my run when I thought a choke cherry, or something similar, must have splatted on it when it was, in fact, my own blood).  I really think it's just like getting callouses for playing guitar and getting your fingers used to the strings.  The blisters were on the inside where my second toe was rubbing against the inside of my big toe...maybe my feet were just squished from the shoes...I have no idea.  It's a good excuse for a new pair anyways :)

Anyway, I'll continue on into Week 3 with a goal of 22 miles (which I already did last week but I was an over-achiever last week). 

All the best and Happy Holidays!

It's All Uphill From Here

So over the last four days, I have run every single day.  As I'm running, I think of a bunch of awesome things to put in my blog and quickly forget thereafter.  Oh well, that's life.

I have been running in my neighborhood a fair bit which is pretty hilly.  I like the hills, but only the ones that go down.  The ones that go up are unfriendly, relentless, and just plain rude.  But what goes up, must go down!  Mogul has run with me on every run.  Sometimes I run up the hill so slowly that Mogul actually starts walking next to me, looks at me and whimpers a little, telling me to speed up.  He is an amazing dog.  The minute he sees my long underwear or my running shoes, he starts running around peeing all over the floor because he is so excited.  It's pretty hilarious.

The air quality in SLC has been really bad the past few days.  I ran to Stefhan's house which is only 3.1 miles, but straight uphill. That was easier than I thought.  I then tried an easier run at Liberty Park the next day, and maybe since I did the run to Stefhan's at night and the run in Liberty Park only 12 hours later, I was freakin' exhausted.  I felt like I wanted to die and it was only 3 miles.  Maybe it was that I didn't have enough time to recover after my hill climb, maybe it was the bad air pollution (or inversion), or maybe it was me just being mentally retarded.  I could make a million excuses, but I hear that is normal and at least I got out and did it.  All I know is, 26.2 is gonna be killer hard!  But I'm going to do it and I have lots of time to prepare.

I bought this month's edition of Runners World Magazine.  It actually has a Marathon Guide for first timers which was awesome.  I'm tempted to run the Disney Marathon (Melody Gray mentioned it and it looks awesome) or the Rock N Roll Marathon in Arizona which has bands playing the entire way.  I still have time to decide though.

I was also reading another blog on Runnersworld.com called "Marathon Virgin" which I highly recommend any runner to check out.  He writes about his first Marathon, as well, and he just finished the NYC Marathon.  I was suprised and disappoitned (although expected) to see that he was basically insulted and cut down by some egotistical, nose-in-the-air runners, who stated that he wasn't serious enough and didn't really deserve a blog on runnersworld.com.  I PRAY and HOPE and WISH that I never meet some runners like that (although I know they exist).  I am doing this race to FINISH and see if I can push myself harder than I ever have.  I am not running for a time and I couldn't care less if it takes me 8 hours, as long as I cross the damn line.  So check out the blog and let me know what you think.  Again, it's called Marthon Virgin.  Click it!

I've also been using a program as I run (thank you Jason Simpson) for the Cardio Trainer Application for my Droid phone.  It's awesome and I'm really happy with it.  Along with my blog, it has kept me motivated to run this week because I'm excited to try it out and see my history of miles run and calories burnt.  But remember, I'm not running this to burn calories or lose weight.  I'm running this for the mental challenge.  Anyway, if you're a runner or workout in anyway whether it be walking, running or biking, you should check it out.  It'll be worth your while.

Tomorrow I will rest as I reached my first goal for my first week which was 14.5 miles total (my goals was to run between 14-16 miles total).  I am excited to see how I run after one full day of rest and really excited to see my mileage increase.  I hope I kick some butt.  I will increase my mileage by 10% next week, as recommended through my reading.

Thanks for reading!
Charli