NYC Marathon

About two weeks ago, my husband ran the ING NYC Marathon in 4:47. It was his first marathon and I'm so proud of him. 4:47 is pretty good considering his lack of training. Due to my husband's hectic work schedule, he didn't have the time to properly train. He ran a 16, 18 and 20 miler with a few six mile runs in between but that was basically it for him. I knew my husband would finish because he's determined and never gives up. However, what I didn't know was that he would finish in under 5 hours! Most people train to do the marathon in under 5 hours. He just winged it. I'm glad he finally experienced the full 26.2 miles and what better city to do it in than your hometown.

This was my first time spectating the ING NYC Marathon. I was fortunate enough to have received a finish line pass so I quickly made my way into the city before noon to catch the elites finish. I was pulling for Meb and although he did not win, I still became teary eyed when I saw him run past me with his USA singlet and cross the finish line. He's an inspiration.

I also witnessed Shalane Flanagan make her marathon debut and finish 2nd amongst the female elites. When I saw running in towards the finish, I got goosebumps all over. She did amazing. I screamed and yelled so loud when she walked past with the American flag draped around her. I think her smile says it all.

After the elites finished, I briskly walked across central park to make my way to First Avenue. I was meeting up wtih friends at the 16 mile marker. We thought we'd catch my husband but unfortunately didn't. I was afraid that we missed him, so we hopped on the subway and ended up on 116th and Fifth Avenue where we finally saw him! It was between mile 21 and 22 I believe and he was walking with a cup of water. As soon as he heard us call his name, he quickly threw down the water and started running again. After he passed, we made our way over to the west side to meet up with him on Central Park West. When we found him, he looked like he had been through hell. He was in pain but was happy he finished the 26.2 miles.

As for my NYC Marathon experience, it was fun but exhausting at 8 months pregnant. I wore my running sneakers because I knew I would be running/walking/waddling around the city all day long. I was so caught up in my marathon map and trying to find my husband that I forgot about my baby. By the end of the day, my braxton hicks contractions were more frequent and stronger and my legs were aching. It's a good thing I didn't go into labor while spectating! Watching the elites finish and the runners at mile 16 made me want to run another marathon right then and there. I was so envious of all the runners and it brought back all the wonderful marathon memories I earned a year before. However, seeing the runners at miles 21-22 reminded me of the pain and exhaustion that comes with the marathon. I don't know if I'll ever run another marathon again. Of course, a giant part of me wants to take on the challenge and set a pr. I loved the feeling of finishing and would like to feel that again. But another part of me doesn't know if I'll have to strength (and time) to train for another one since I'll have another little person to take care of in a month or so. Working full time and training for a marathon is one thing but add on taking care of a child and it's a whole other ball game. I will just have to wait and see what my marathon future holds.

Side Note: My husband ran for the charity Malaria No More. He and his team raised over $130k for a great cause. I couldn't be more proud!

Some Things New

Some new things have been going on in my life that have kept me from the blog world. I am fully recovered from my knee injury and back to running again only this time, I’m not running alone. I’m running with a little babe in my tum at seven months pregnant now. Preparing for baby has kept both my husband and I very busy.

We found out we were pregnant back in April and if you can recall, I was having a debilitating knee pain that caused me to lay off running for a bit. I believe it was tendonitis which was a result of the marathon I ran back in October 2009. By the time I found out I was pregnant, I was easing my way back into running with 2-3 mile runs at a slower pace. This ended up working out perfect for me because as a first time pregnant runner, I wanted to take running through pregnancy cautiously. Well, a couple of weeks ago I logged in 6 miles at 6 months pregnant! It felt amazing. I have managed to run all throughout my pregnancy. I have been fortunate to have an easy pregnancy. Running through pregnancy has been an incredible experience thus far. I’m impressed by how much my body can handle with a little person growing inside of it. It continues to amaze me each day.

More details on my pregnancy runs to come soon so stay tuned……

Cherry Blossom

As you know, I spectated the Cherry Blossom 10 miler a couple of weeks ago in DC. I spent the entire weekend with Dorothy and her adorable family. The morning of the race, we woke up before the sun and made our way into DC. I remember thinking to myself "Oh how I do not miss these 5am wake up calls". We arrived at the race with more than enough time. Unlike myself, Dorothy is prompt for her races. I'm always rushing before a race because I'm usually late. I think it's a nerves thing. Anyways, we met up with a bunch of other friends and took some pre-race photos. At this point, I was jealous I wasn't running. At least I had Dorothy's mother (Miss Lesley) to be my spectator buddy. After the gun went off, Miss Lesley and I walked to Starbucks, had a wonderful girl chat and then headed back to the finish in time to catch the elites. After the elites came in, we waited for Dor. I had totally forgotten about Lam. I was all caught up in conversations with Miss Lesley and other spectators. All of a sudden, Miss Lesley shouts "Hey isn't that your friend Lam?". Once I saw the bandana I knew and with that I excitedly shouted "Go Lam! Go Lam!". He was making great time. Unfortunately I did not have my camera ready. Not too long after Lam, Dor ran by. We shouted and I snapped away. She was looking good and doing great. Then came her husband and Amy and Sarah, who were ALL smiles. It was their first 10 miler and they looked like they were enjoying it. After the race, we went out to brunch to celebrate Dor's 28th birthday. Overall, it was a fantastic day- the sun was shining, everyone finished their 10 milers and I was able to have my morning mimosa :-)

Bad Blogger

Yeah I know I haven't been on here in a while but life got in the way of blogging. March was a crazy month for me and it was not because of March Madness. Aside for laying off the running for a bit, my husband and I spent two wonderful weeks traveling through Argentina. I promise to write a re-cap of the trip and post some amazing pictures soon. I have been running three miles at a time but only twice a week. I'm hoping to increase the runs to three days a week now that the weather is nice.

This weekend I will be heading down to Washington DC to visit my best friend and college roommate Dorothy. Not only will I be cheering for her on Sunday while she races the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, I will also be there to celebrate her birthday. What could be better than a PR on your birthday?? I know she will get it done and I will be there to take a million and one pictures to capture the moment. I will also, hopefully, get to meet Lam in person and cheer him on as well. I have been following his blog for almost a year now so I think it's about time I meet him in person. I'm looking forward to being a spectator/photographer at the Cherry Blossom race. I have never been to DC in April so this should be fun. I promise I will blog about my spectator experience when I return. If you are running the Cherry Blossom race, let me know and I will give you a shout out from the race sidelines...I may even take some pictures of you! Good luck to all you runners. May the PR force be with you this weekend.

Cheers,

Mishi

MIA

Yeah yeah yeah I know, I have been MIA from blogworld. Ugh my life has been crazy busy these past couple of weeks and unfortunately, it's not due to running :-( I decided to take two weeks off from running because my knee tightness just does not want to go away. I'm frustrated, angry and upset. The orthopedic surgeon said my cyst will go away on its own. I decided that maybe two weeks worth of rest will help it heal properly. I'm still not sure what is causing the pain.

Here is exactly what happens: I start running at a slow comfortable pace. Whether I stay at this pace or increase it, I begin to get a funny feeling in my knee at around the 20 minute mark. I try to adjust my stride and posture which seems to help for five minutes or so but the feeling still remains. Then the funny feeling turns into a tightening feeling. The feeling is on the outside of my knee just below my knee cap. It occurs where my collateral ligaments meet my fibula. If I try to run through the tightness, it just gets worse. Then the knee sometimes locks and eventually it becomes too painful to run. When I stop and walk, the pain disappears but not entirely. My knee feels bruised afterwards, especially when walking down stairs. It also becomes a bit stiff after sitting for a while.

I have iced it and stretched it. I endured a good two months worth of PT. My IT band feels pretty loose now. I have custom orthodics due to my flat feet. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to make this go away, PLEASE HELP!!! In the meantime, I will stay off it and try to get my running mojo back soon. Oh how I long for the day when I can run six miles pain free.

One of those weekends

It was one of those weekends where I didn't exercise and I ate crap all weekend long. Well I only ate crap on Sunday and maybe today:-) After five days straight of exercise, my body needed the break on Saturday. I'ts tough when you work out hard, as well as work full time, to rest and recover. My body was screaming for it on Friday but I pushed myself to take a brutal spin class. I love this instructor. She is AMAZING and her class really kicks my a**. My legs feel like sacks of bricks afterwards. So I gave myself off on Saturday and then Sunday and then Monday :-(

We had a super bowl party so even though Saturday was a rest day, I spent the entire day (and night) on my feet cleaning all three floors of our house. I broke a sweat a couple of times. I was hoping I would wake up to snow and was disappointed when I saw nothing outside my window. It was probably better it did not snow as I would have had guests treking in all sorts of snow, sand, salt, etc. into my clean house on Sunday. The party was a blast and filled with all kinds of yummy-but-so-bad-for-you treats. We had wings, chips, dip, chicken cutlet-roasted red peppers- mozzerella hero, pasta with meatballs and sausage, cookies, cake (picture is of the triple layer football cake I baked) and more. Oh and the wine and beer kept flowing. I was beyond exhausted (and tipsy) by the time the last guests left at midnight. Side note: one of our guests brought over buffalo chicken dip. Has anyone ever tried this? It was incredible. I had never had it before and couldn't get enough of it.

Needless to say, I did not get much done today in terms of exercise or healthy eating. I'm still recovering and right now, Chinese food sounds like the perfect dinner haha. Looks like I will have to wait until tomorrow to get back to my good old healthy self. I'll hit the gym during lunch and have a salad for lunch.

As for running, I recently received an email from NYRR about about a Run for Haiti on February 20th in Central Park. It's a 4 mile run/walk at 9:00am and all entry fees benefit the relief effort in Haiti. As long as my calendar is free, I think I will run it. Maybe I can get the hubs to run it as well. If you are interested, check it out at NYRR. It's for a great cause and you'll get 4 miles under your belt.

"Life is a zero-sum equation"

"Every minute I save will get used on something else..." written by Barbara Kingsolver in her book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. (if you have not read it, read it. It's one of my favorite books)

This statement could not be more true. I remind myself of this when my head starts going over the "things-to-do" checklist for the day. As a result, I rush less through life. I live more. If I save a couple of minutes rushing through one thing, I will spend those minutes I worked so hard to save on something else. Unfortunately, we live in a country where everything is extremely rushed. We barely take the time to smell the roses or take care of ourselves. When I find myself putting off a run because I'm rushing to clean the bathroom or fold a load of laundry before I hit the road, I tell myself that it's a zero-sum equation. When I get back from my run, I can do all of those things and if I do not get to them all, tomorrow is another day.

On a side note, my dinner with the gals tonight was cancelled. One of my friends fell ill and we have rescheduled for next Wednesday. I will have to wait another week to see my ladies but I know it will be worth it.

Went to the orthopedic surgeon who said my knee looks great. Everything is intact and there are no tears in the ligaments. He advised me to continue with physical therapy. The cyst is small and should disappear on its own. I ran for two miles today and started to feel something funny in the knee. I stopped immediately and stretched out the ITB. One day it feels great and the next day it seems like its back again (maybe I'm just paranoid). At least I know it is getting better as I can run farther and longer.

4 Miles

in 34:53 today. That's an 8:43 pace. It's the furthest and fastest I have run since November '09. I did the run on the treadmill today. The knee felt great so I kept going. I stopped at 4 miles because I did not want to overdo it. It was an easy run and now my urge for racing is even greater. My legs have given me 7:30's and I'm looking to get back to that again. Could this be the year they give me 7:15s???

I guess I should share the news with my knee. As most of you know, I have been dealing with an annoying knee injury since MCM. My knee tightens up after so many miles/minutes of running. Thanks to our lovely health care system, I had to first get an x-ray to make sure nothing was broken. The x-ray showed everything was fine so off I was sent to physical therapy. I engaged in therapy for two months- resting the knee, avoiding running, doing various stretching exercises, having my ITB massaged by the devil and pumping electric stimulations into my knee. The knee was slowly getting better but I was not seeing the results I would have expected after laying off of it for so long. So I went for the MRI. (I should have had this done in the first place but the stupid health insurance company doesn't want to shell out the money for it right away. First they put you through x-rays and pt and if that fails, you go for the MRI. Well, I did not save them money- all those x-rays and pt were their loss)

MRI results said..........I have a baker's cyst in my knee!!! It's not large and it's ruptured and leaking (not sure if this is good or bad but the knee felt fine today). I was so happy to hear this. Now I know what the problem is and hopefully I can solve it. I have an appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon tomorrow. Can't wait to get this knee fixed right this time.

On another note, two of my best college friends and I made dinner plans for Wednesday night. They are coming in from Jersey so we can eat, drink and catch up. It just so happens to be restaurant week which makes this little get together even sweeter. We're heading to a Japanese restaurant which I know is good. I can't wait. I love these girls. They hold a very special place in my heart. I don't see them as often as I would like so I cherish the moments we get to spend together. They make me happy and whole. When we are together, it's as if little has changed since college. Wednesday couldn't come fast enough :-)

You are Beautiful

I recently found Operation Beautiful. It's an amazing site and I think it sends a wonderful message to all people. If you don't already know what it's about, please check it out. I have already started to spread the word.

Gym Guilt

workout guilt, runner's guilt, biker's guilt, whatever you call it, I had it yesterday and it got the best of me.

On Monday, I jotted down my exercise routine for the week (I will list the details later on in this post). Monday-gym, Tuesday-pool, Wednesday-hot yoga, Thursday-gym, Friday-off???, Saturday-run. Yesterday, I left work feeling a little bit tired and definitely sore from my Monday workout. My husband came home from work early so he could play basketball. He was also going to drop Calleigh off at my parents' house for an evening playdate with their dogs (yes I know it sounds ridiculous). All of this meant, I would get a nice quiet evening at home. It meant I could maybe get some cleaning or laundry done, relax and read my book or better yet, comment on all the blog postings I missed as well as post my own. It meant I would not have to rush home to cook dinner or to walk Calleigh or spend my evening entertaining her with belly rubs and football fetch. As all of these wonderful thoughts entered my mind, I decided at the end of my workday that I was going to skip the hot yoga that was on my agenda for the evening and just relax at home. My colleague (so nicely) reminded me that I had been working out hard and probably could use the break. I need to have an off day right?

Well that's what I thought up until my husband arrived home and let out a little chuckle when I told him I was skipping out on yoga because I could use an off day. The guilt set in. Was I just convincing myself that I needed an off day because I was being lazy??? Or because I didn't want to brave the cold 1/4 mile walk to the yoga studio??? When my husband left for basketball with Calleigh in tow, the house was quiet and the guilt set in even more. It got worse and worse with each minute until I changed my mind. I was going. How could I miss yoga on a Wednesday night? This was an opportunity for me to seize. I rarely get to go to yoga class in the middle of the week. The class was at the perfect time (8pm-9:45pm) and it was with my favorite instructor. I had to go. I also knew that yoga would help me de-stress and relax. Moreover, I needed to stick to the plan that I had created on Monday. The plan that I had blogged about. I don't want to be a failure in all your bloggy eyes.

So yeah, my gym guilt got the best of me. I went to hot yoga and loved every minute I sweated it out. As I laid on my mat, I smiled because I was happy I went. No regrets and so grateful the guilt got the best of me. I came home feeling tired but relaxed and cleansed. I enjoyed my 1/4 mile walk there and back. The cold didn't affect me at all and it provided a little extra bit of exercise. In the end, it was totally worth it.

As for my workout schedule, this is what it looked like for this week:

Monday:
Elliptical (30 mins)
Stretching (15 mins)
Bicep curls (3 sets 12 reps 10lb weights)
Tricep kickbacks (3 sets 12 reps 7.5lb weights)
Lunges & curls (3 sets 10 reps 10lb weights)
Deadlifts (3 sets 10 reps 50 lb bar)
Hips: two abductor machines (3 sets 12 reps on each machine, 50 lbs one machine/55lbs the other machine)
Back- hyperextension bench (3 sets 12 reps no weight)
15 mins abs (all kinds of crunches)
Hamstring exercise (2 sets 10 reps)
Push-ups with a medicine ball (3 sets 8 reps)
30 bodybuilders
50 squats with 7.5lb weights
4 Chin-ups (had to use the assisted machine with 16lbs because all the meatheads hogged up the bars)

Tuesday:
Pool: 20 min swim & 15 min run

Wednesday:
1.5 hrs of Hot Yoga

Thursday:
Elliptical (30 mins)
Stretching (15 mins)
Bicep curls (3 sets 12 reps 10lb weights)
Tricep kickbacks (3 sets 12 reps 7.5lb weights)
Lunges & curls (3 sets 10 reps 10lb weights)
Deadlifts (3 sets 20 reps 50 lb bar)
Hips: two abductor machines (3 sets 12 reps on each machine, 50 lbs each machine)
Back- hyperextension bench (3 sets 12 reps 10lb weight)
Abdominal- hyperextension bench (3 sets 12 reps no weight)
10 mins abs (all kinds of crunches)
Push-ups with a medicine ball (3 sets 8 reps)
34 bodybuilders
Longpulls (3 sets 10 reps 40lbs)
4 Chin-ups (regular bar- no assitance)

Friday:
This may actually be a rest day. I have nothing scheduled for tomorrow. I'm thinking of making it a movie night with the hubs. Any movie suggestions are welcomed!!!

Saturday:
Easy run- 2 to 3 miles outside, weather permitting

There you have it. My first memorialized workout schedule for this year and so far so good!

PS: In case you are wondering what a bodybuilder is, I will explain. It is one of the BEST exercises I have learned from my circuit training. A body builder is couple of exercises in one.
You start with a jumping jack (legs out then back in), then you squat down and kick your legs into a push up pose, then you do a push up, then (together) bring your legs back in and rise up and start all over. All of this together is what I refer to as a bodybuilder. You have to do it fast and roll right into the next one. Now go try doing 20 of those in a row and let me know how you all did!!! Good luck!

Sunday Funday

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!! At mass this morning, I prayed for a JETS win today! I hope they go to the Superbowl.

It's been decided- I'm buying a bike. Now I will have to do my research as to which one to purchase. Any suggestions? I'm going to try biking and hope to break into the triathlon this year or maybe next. But first, I need a bike. Also do I get spikes or no spikes??? Any recommendations, tips, etc. are greatly appreciated.

I have also been thinking about memorializing my workout routines. I believe this would help me stay focused and see what is actually working for me. I plan to write my workout routine for this week today and see if I can stick to it. I better get this done before game time.

Hope everyone had a great weekend filled with lots of outdoor activities (the weather was perfect up here for it).

You know you have a great husband when....

he sweats it out in hot yoga class with you!!! That was how we spent our Monday night..at class together :-) I took Brendan for the first time and I'm glad he enjoyed it. There had been a class before ours so the studio was super hot by the time we started. This was honestly the hottest class I had been to thus far. The heat proved to be too much for me, as well as many other experienced yogis. At times, I had to rest and regather myself. Brendan was next to me and I could see him trying very hard to tough it out. I could only imagine what must have been going through his mind as this was his very first hot yoga class. I'm glad we pushed it and finished the class as strong as we could. It was a good "date" night and we were very relaxed afterwards.

Having a partner in life who is athletic is very important to me. I love that my husband is athletic. We help encourage each other to lead healthy lifestyles. Last year, I helped to train and push him to run his first half marathon. He completed two last year. In 2008, he completed his first sprint triathlon. As I cheered him on and took pictures, I was jealous I was not racing with him. I told him that maybe this year I would give the tri a shot. I cherish the runs we share. We have gone for runs on our travels in many different countries. How many couples can say that? It makes me smile :-) We have run numerous races together, of which some have become traditions. In the summertime, we ride our bikes to the market or we grab our surfboards and head for the beach. In the wintertime, we plan ski/snowboard trips up to Vermont (and now, attend hot yoga class together). All of these activities give us a way to spend time doing what with both love with the one we love most. I'm so grateful for this.

As for my weekend run, the hubs and I didn't get to do that together. We had workers at the house all weekend, so the hubs ran on the treadmill early in the morning so I could hit the pavement while he stayed with the workers. I started my run telling myself to take it slow. About two minutes into the run, I checked out the Garmin and 7:50 pace was flashing. I slowed down but not enough because a minute later I was running at an 8:30 pace. I began to tell myself out loud to "slow it down Michelle". I needed to be at an 9:30 pace or slower if I wanted my knee to hold up for the 3 miles I had planned. I eventually got a grip on my pace and felt good on the run. At the 20 minute mark, I felt a funny feeling in the knee so I stopped and stretched it out. I had one more mile to go at this point and pushed myself even though I felt the knee tightening up a little bit. I reached my goal of running 3 miles in 29:14 (9:44 pace) without any crippling knee pain. I rolled out my ITB afterwards and did my stretches, as well as iced it. It was sore later on that day but fine the next. This was the most I have run since the marathon. It felt great! I ran again today, one mile at a 9:30 pace, then walked, then stretched and then repeated. Two miles under my belt today and no funny feeling in the knee whatsoever. I'm slowly getting back yippie!!! Slow and steady...slow and steady...will heal the knee.

Good News

My day was very busy today. I worked a full day analyzing a bunch of crazy financial data. My eyes were exhausted, as well as my brain. Then I headed straight to physical therapy where I received my first bit of good news. The PT gave me the okay to run on Saturday! YAY. I have not run in over 3 weeks so you can just imagine how excited I am. My husband and I are going to do an easy 3 miles outside. I figured I would try for a 9-9:30 min/pace if I can handle it. As always, if I feel any pain, I will stop. Hopefully these 3+ weeks have given my knee and ITB the rest they needed (and deserved).

After PT, I swung by the house to grab Calleigh for her doctor's appointment. Last week she had been at my mother's playing with 3 other dogs and came home with a scratched cornea, which required a visit to the vet. She's been on eye ointments since so today was her follow-up visit. The doctor checked her eye and said it's all cleared up. Thank goodness because she does not enjoy eye ointments or trips to the vet.

When I arrived home after my crazy busy day and was finally able to relax, I noticed a nice tall package in my dining room (the dog walkers kindly bring in any packages and mail..they must think we are shopaholics because we are always having packages delivered haha). I was so excited because I knew exactly what this package was: my FOAM ROLLER!!! I can't wait to use it. I have been using it at the gym for my ITB and it hurts like a b*tch but that's how I know its working. I'm so happy I finally have one of my own and can use it whenever I feel the need for a good hard muscle massage.

Can't wait to run Saturday and use my foam roller! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my knee enjoys our run :-)

ZUMBA

Has anyone ever tried this yet? It's a new craze and I gave it a shot tonight. I decided to break up my gym routine tonight: 20 mins on the elliptical, 1 hour of Total Body Conditioning and then.....ZUMBA. I rarely do back to back classes but tonight I had the time, so I stayed for another hour long ZUMBA class.

Here's how it went down: The class was packed with 70 or more people (this included only 2 men). The nice young ladies behind me reassured me that it would be fun and easy to follow. They said to follow the people in front of me. Well that would have been great if the people in front of me had a clue about what they were supposed to do! Luckily, I was able to see through the sea of bodies and watch the instructor in the mirror. Let me tell you, this was some sea- big and small, tall and short, big chests-little chests, men, you name it. ZUMBA apparently is for EVERYONE.

The class started off with some fast Latin music. I seriously felt like I was back at an all inclusive resort in Mexico dancing with the hotel performers and all the other brave (or retarded..you pick) tourists at the after dinner show. We stayed in Mexico for a while and this group of ZUMBA dancers did it all. We even had sound effects from a girl who I named (in my head) Speedy Gonzales. Then we traveled to India for a song or two and looked as if we were in Bollywood. One of the men even took his shirt off and wrapped it around his head like a turban (he was white and I was shocked and giggling). Throughout Bollywood land I had visions of Chicken Tikka, Samosas and Mango Chutney while I was trying to focus on my snake moves. After India, we headed on over to PUEEEERTO RICO with some Reggaeton and the ZUMBA-ers (including myself) tried to shake it like Jenny from the Block. We finished our trip back at Mexico, right where we started, with the tourists at the all inclusive. I kept thinking that this would have been great if I had on strappy stilettos, a cute dress and a cerveza in my hand (I probably would have danced better too).

I'm still undecided about my take on ZUMBA. I did not feel as if it really was a workout. It was a dance class. However, it was fun and I had a good time. I kept saying to myself during the class "Just keep moving your hips and DO NOT laugh out loud". I'm not a great dancer but I'm also not a terrible dancer. These ZUMBA-ers were so awful they were entertaining...I definitely got the giggles a couple of times and had to compose myself. I think I will try it again, if anything just for those giggles....they work out my abs :-)

See the Doctor

Happy New Year everyone! I'm not going to blog about my 2010 goals/resolutions now because I haven't made my list yet. haha. Yes I know, I'm behind but I'll get to it eventually.

I will let you know that I went to the Mariah Carey concert this past weekend and it was AMAZING!!! I love MC and have been a fan since I was in middle school (more so of her older songs than the newer ones). My husband bought the tickets as part of my Christmas gift...probably one of the best gifts he has ever bought me. We were 19 rows away from the stage!!! I swear she smiled and winked at me, although I'm sure my husband thinks she was smiling and winking at him!

Annnnyyyways, I wanted to write about the importance of seeing your doctor. As athletes, we sometimes forget to go to the doctor for a regular checkup. We feel fine when we run/swim/bike so what's the use in seeing the doctor right? WRONG!

Just because you can exercise, does not necessarily mean that you are 100% healthy. I experienced this first hand three years ago. I started experiencing terrible cramps after I would run over three miles (back then the most I was running at a time was probably 4-5 miles). I told my father, who is a doctor, about my problem and he told me "Stop running". This was NOT a possibility for me, so my mother, who is a nurse, told me to go see a doctor. The doctor checked me out and thought I had a hernia. This turned out to be wrong (I saw a specialist who verified that I did not have a hernia- thank goodness). My after-running cramps turned out to be caused by the foods I was eating and thus resulting in runner's trots :-( Anyways, during my checkup with my doctor, he also noticed that I had a slight murmur in my heart. And so I went to see a cardiologist.

Heart problems run in my family, especially my mother's side, and the types of problems are those that are hereditary. I never thought I needed to have my heart checked out. I was young, in good shape, ate healthy and always had good cholesterol levels. I was totally wrong. After doing multiple tests and wearing a heart monitor for a day, it was determined that I had mitral valve prolapse. Thank goodness it was not serious and my murmur was a slight one. However, I have to monitor it and check in with the cardiologist once a year to make sure its not getting worse (and hopefully getting better).

Before training for MCM, I made sure to make appointments with my regular physician and cardiologist. Once I got the okay from both of them, I knew I was healthy enough to start training. Before any of us decide to take on a new physical challenge, whether it be a 5k, marathon, triathalon, ultra, etc., we should go see the doctor. There is a reason why (for those of us that are fortunate) have health insurance, so make sure you use it. Also, I don't want to get into politics or healthcare reform talks here but millions of Americans do not have health care coverage. Don't take yours for granted and waste it. Use it. An hour long visit at the doctor could save your running career or even better, your life.

Peace, Love and Healthy Running!
~Michelle