Fit with Ruthie

I won! :) I entered the "runfastermommy" blog give away from Run U Mother ... this is what I wrote: "I am a running mom cause of what running does to me mentally, physically and spiritually. Running brings me back to the person I was meant to be instead of the depressed, overweight and miserable Mom I use to be. I am a running mom because its about being who I was created to be, about being a the Mom my kids deserve and the wife my husband deserves. I run to let other Moms who have given up know that if they just keep trying, eventually they will become the person the dream to be. I run because it makes me realize i am stronger than I ever thought I could be." what a great surprise in my in box today :) oh.. I picked THIS Had a little jog at track this morning... still resting this body. I do feel more back to normal this morning .. so that's good :) going to work on the gym today :) gotta get it cleaned up and ready for lifting again this next week :) all fo...

I am still adjusting to the fact that I actually did finish the distance this past saturday. I read a few things in Marathoning for Mortals yesterday below are the quotes followed by my experience. "What will you do next? It doesn't matter what the old you would have done. The old you is long gone......That old you disappeared during the thousands of steps you took in training and in the race. The old you no longer exists" .. I totally agree... I do feel like the old me is gone, excuses that worked for me a few months-years ago aren't going to cut if for me anymore. I am a different person than I thought I was. Still trying to get my head around how this whole thing has effected me. "A word of caution: Dont trust your emotions during this week. So many times a new long-distance athlete finishes and says: 'That's it! I'll never do that again'. Those of use with more experience know that it takes a few days of recovery before that "never again...

URGH... its taken me FOREVER to get a video up .... I had to keep making it shorter and shorter.. .. it only seems right that a marathon video should be a marathon length dont ya think? .... I finally got it to work :) yipee.. (see below) If it doesnt play when you click the arrow... click on the upside down arrow :) I added this second video... its the same but a bit bigger.. or you can go to vimeo and watching it even larger if you want :) Untitled from ruthie swed on Vimeo . If that wasnt enough for you... heres some text scoop :) first of all friday didnt turn out like I expected. I didn't get all my meals in and I got to bed later than i wanted-needed too. Saturday morning I woke up very tired. I considered just skipping it and running the Marathon another day. I tried to go back to sleep but just couldnt. I got up and left the house by about 610am. I knew this would come back to haunt me.. an hour in west texas makes a big difference when you are talking about morning heat-...

UPDATE #2 sorry.. been working on a video most of the afternoon but cant get it to upload. I am soooooo tired... so i give up until tomorrow. in just a few words. It was good until about 21.....then.... not so good. 5hours 34 mins......not as fast as I wished but just happy i finished. i am off to bed. .. hopefully the video will be worth the wait. UPDATE just finished. exhausted... must ice bath.. more afterwhile. ok. I am up. Didnt sleep well. Dog woke me up twice, and 445am is just REAL early. I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't so got up at 520 and I am now getting ready. good news is.. i can wear my black pants under my running skirt (with the skirt hanging over) .... so this mornings 60 degree weather wont be trouble for me (when its cool i want to run faster to warm up so now I will be nice and toasty and not feel the need for speed) bad news is... I woke up to a lovely present from the cat I think. so i get to clean that up before I leave.... lovely. (guess that's...

tired. too tired. shouldnt be this tired before the marathon. but.. oh well. got a headache. not good. more in the morning .. and hopefully i will sleep well and wake up rested. guess this is good practice for having to travel for a race, and being up late and tired might be a good thing the night before..... we will see.

(update) [ok... so i wondered why i havent been nervous or anxious and doubtful about tomorrow... but it just hit me. ... now I feel nervous and keep thinking of all the things I need to do today to get through tomorrow. We have a group picnic tonight for our homeschool group.. so i will be there for supper time... but I need to make speghetti before we go so i can eat that instead of chips and sandwiches, I need to wash my running clothes, figure out how to layer cause it will be cool before the sun comes up.. go buy snacks, get my water and gaterade ready.. charge my phone, get DDs little video camera ready, find my camera... ... see.. lots to do.... .. ok.. .... it will be ok .... but what if i cant finish it??? what if that weird feeling on the bottom of my left foot starts bothering me while i am running? what if i cant sleep tonight? what if.. what if.... well... i DO know.. I need to just relax and enjoy it.. so that is what I will try and do. I better get going.... lots to do!...

Yep.. its today. 40 is gone.... and today is my birthday. I really dont know where the year went.. it just seemed to fly by but i guess thats what happens huh? I am looking forward to celebrating tonight with my DH as we go out to eat just me and he :) and of course the big celebration will be Saturday morning when I run :) .... so this year I am happy to say I feel better, healthier, and more energetic than i did when i was in my late 20s! I say 41 is the new 26...................point 2 (ha) I would love to do a looking back looking forward post.. but simply no time... :) taught all day today.... fixing to leave to go eat ... hope to find some fun running duds and a new watch while I am out on the date with the hubby :) ... on a side note... a sweet friend loaned me her Forerunner.... to help me keep track and make sure I do 26.2. ... ends up the campus I run around is only 1.89 miles and not a complete 2. So.. instead of 13 and a bit I will be doing 14.5 laps around campus. Its all ...

On my 3rd day of "looking back to look forward" post. I decided unearth those dreaded before and after photos. You would think after years of before and afters I would be "over" the issues I have with sharing these photos. But, here I am again... debating "do I really want to do this?" and "what will everyone think". Then I go back to who I was in the very beginning and how some one else before and after photos motivated me to change. I would have given up years ago if it weren't for those women and their choice to share their story. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words... and I believe it! I could write all day about how many inches, how much muscle, how much weight, and how many sizes... but I promise these photos tell more of a story. I do this because its not all about me. I do this because if few photos help another woman get off the couch and believe that they CAN change.. then its worth it. (Oh by the way I did get out and get a qu...

Another day closer. I sit here at the end of the day.. tired and thinking how will i have the energy to get through 26.2. But I know I will .... it might take me 8 hours.. but i will finish it. With the exception of walking and joggin just a tad at track practice this morning I had no exercise today.... which is fine. I planned on resting today anyway. Tomorrow I think I have a 30 min run on my plan and will get that done sometime tomorrow. I would like to run outside but it depends on the weather. I was speaking with coach today about some how some people start and stop programs.. they quit exercising and have to start "over" weeks later... .. in turn making it harder on themselves than if they would have just kept going. We visited about the power of self talk, about why some people need a personal trainer, and what PTs are really there for. I believe a personal trainer's main job is to help their client weed through the negative self talk and give them tools to get thr...

less than a week till i give myself over to the 26.2. I have decided to use this weeks posts to reflect on the past few years and celebrate how far i have come and use it to push me to finish on Saturday. I must admit all of this is all a bit surreal. I think back over the paste few months, I see the list of long runs on the side bar listed, and for the most part it feels like an outer body experience. I know I have done the training and I know I am about to give 26.2 a try... but my brain seems to be having a hard time getting its self around the fact that I really am doing this. Me. wow. Just doesnt seem real. To the right is a photo from Christmas 2006. Here is a post from Jan 20th 2006: "So.. here I am trying to cool down from my run. I did 2 miles this morning in 26:24 ,.. almost the same time I did on Monday.. I REALLY wanted to quit with half a mile to go but I didnt.. I kept telling myself.. my body was fine.. it was my brain that wanted me to quit.. I am amazed how m...

the clouds are here again and its been drizzling rain this morning. Its the kind of morning that I wish i had an old(er) house with wooden floors and a screened in back porch with a hammock! A lazy kind of day you know, and one that makes you feel that winter is just a whisper away. Yesterday was busy. My co-op teaching day. It went great.. we got home just in time to change and get to track practice. I think its so cool how going to track just lifts my spirits and keeps that desire to run stronger, and faster fresh in my thoughts. Seeing kids from highschool to preschool train and run and try their hardest is very inspiring and motivating to me. I just love it! I ran about a mile with the kidos... and walked a lot as I helped coach, but basically no run for me yesterday. I hope to get my 6 mile long run in tonight after track practice if not then it will have to wait until Saturday after our Cross Country meet. I can't believe it is almost here! just a week until my 26.2. A...

ITS LIKE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR! wow... that  makes me feel soooo much better! woke up feeling not so hot at 530am ... i was like GREAT. this has GOT to stop! so i went back to bed. and I must admit i was disappointed. I was hoping for a wonderful run this morning. I needed it... not just physically but mentally and spiritually. fast forward through a day of homeschooling and house work.. plus hour and half track practice. after track I came home and finished making supper and changed to my "newer" running shoes and headed out the door. Leaving my kids and hubby to eat without me ... but i was happpppy.... yeah.. i was getting to run! I wanted to try for 6 miles. but knew after so many days off AND a bit of a cough i should take it easy. At mile 2 i decided 4 should be enough.. so i pushed my last mile running hard but with 2 breaks... and finished strong. OH MY I feel GREAT! I am soo happy, relaxed and feel like I dropped 20lbs. (you know how you KNOW you havent...

well.. I am trying hard to do the right thing here.. I am still not 100%. I DO feel better... but have congestion and a bit of a cough (never any fever). I planned on getting up and running this morning.. but when my alarm went off at 530 i felt like my allergy medicine still had control over my body. urhg. so.. i went back to bed.. until 8! (which i never sleep that late!).. I am just ready to be done with this not feel good thing... and be back to feeling like myself. I dont like it! I dont like not feeling like running.. cause running makes me feel good.. so its like a double wammie (you know)... I will drink my hot tea this morning.. rest and just try to get better ... I guess this means no 10 mile run in the taper for me... which i am ok with.... but i need to start getting some kind of running in or its not going to be good on the 26th. If things go well today... I will try for a 5 miler tonight after track practice. 

NO run today. I hoped and wanted, but my body decided otherwise. I am now "enjoying" a sinus headache and although  my throat is better, I have developed a slight cough, and all i want to do is lay around. So .. best case scenario I will do the 10 miler on Tuesday... if it doesnt happen by Tuesday I guess i will just skip it. I am frustrated but know it could be a LOT worse :)  and would rather be sick NOW so hopefully i can get over it and be ready for 26 on th 26th.

Cross Country Meet Today ! :)    Here is Cats group right after the start!  Here's the boys right before they start.. Coach giving them instructions "run fast" :) We had GREAT results at our Cross Country Track Meet this morning! The boys did GREAT and finished strong! My daughter (7th grade) placed high enough to get a medal! She was VERY excited about that and really pushed herself! Proud of all of their improvements! Its amazing how far they have all come over the past year! Now .. as far as the plan for me.. I am planning on getting up and running 10 miles before church tomorrow morning if i feel like it... If I dont.. i will sleep in :) I really really think all my issues with my throat are allergy related as a front has been pushing through and its been raining a LOT the since Thursday when i started feeling the scratchiness :) ... so.. thats all for now.. planning to get to bed early and hopefully some allergy meds will help me sleep great :)

Came home yesterday from our Homeschool Co-op with a sore throat :(. I thought it was just sore cause I talked soooo much (since I taught)... but its still not better. feeling a bit sluggish.. dont think i have fever (which is good) plan on resting most the day (except for a run to the grocery store and taking the kids to track).. hopefully i will be much better tomorrow :) my ankle is GREAT! I really think it is because I run on the uneven grass soooo much .. running on that uneven surface makes my ankle stronger and more flexible (i think) and able to handle a twist or a turn with hardly any recovery time :) I am putting off my 10 mile run until Sunday. -go away sore throat!

Yesterday at track practice the kids ran sprints. Two of the highschool girls said "Ms Ruthie, why aren't you running with us? We want to see you run sprints!" (haha).... I told them I use to run sprints all the time before I started training for this marathon. :) So ... this morning I left the house about 6:15 and knew I would only have time for one lap around campus.... so I ran from my house to the corner to warm up and then decided to time myself in the mile. .. just to see how fast I could do it. About half way I paused my watch and had to stretch but it was just for a minute, then I pushed my watch again and ran as fast as I could. At then end I thought I was going to have my legs buckle under me! I was exchausted. I gave it everything I could. 7:05 was my time. I do know that is NOT like running a whole mile cause I did stop and stretched...(even though I stopped my watch)... . but I ran faster than I have since I was a kid!.. Next Wednesday I will do it again.. ...

Impossible is not a word Its just a reason for someone not to try Overcome the odds You do have a chance (That’s what faith can do) When the world says you can’t It’ll tell you that you can!  want more? click here and here :)

I am feeling great today :) just a bit of soreness yesterday but ran that off during the kids cc meet! :)( as I helped warm the kids up and get stretched and then ran all over the course encouraging them to go faster:) so proud of my kids!  they all ran a mile.. Cat came in 17th of 85 kids (she is in 7th grade and ran against 7 and 8th grade combined :) our  girls jr high team came in 3rd place :) and we only had 7 on our team 3 are in 7th grade.. and 1 is in 5th grade, and two girls are 6 and one is 4!!! :) whats so cool about Cat place is that at  her first cc meet last year she ran against 90something girls and came in 63rd!.. so she is really really improving! the boys did great too! their team came in 1st for jr high boys (and only ONE of the boys on our team is in jr high:) woowhoo! The kids and I are joining in on the fun of a 5K that is to raise money for a family from our Church who needs help with medical bills :) ... I hope to find my camera so i can tak...

woke up at 356am. tired. but getting ready to go more after I am done. do you see the pony tail holders on my wrist? that is how I kept track of my laps.. 10 holders  for each lap of 2 miles... when I finished a lap.. i moved a holder from one wrist to the other... It was a great visual of my progress! :) esp when there were only 3 or 2 left! wooowhooo   10:47 am. I just finished breakfast, my ice bath and shower and am sitting here not believing that I actually did it!!!!! I DID IT I stayed up later than I planned.. but as I was going to sleep.. I thought... 5 hours of sleep is enough.. I can do this on 5 hours of sleep! I will take a nap after I am done. :)  when my alarm went off at 3:55ish.. I was like .... URGH.... not time already. but made myself get up out of bed.  I didnt leave the house until 440 or so... I really had to wake up.... had to find socks (forgot to do that last night) It was DARK but the Moon was awesome! with a little patch of clouds ...

to say I am apprehensive about that 20 miler tomorrow would be an understatement. ... I am finding that all my thoughts today are focused on what I need to do to get things in order for tomorrow. And if i sit and think about it long enough i will tear up. Its so far, Its so huge, Its so crazy, what am I thinking! heres what I am thinking needs to be done: go to academy and buy 1. a runners cap (dad gum it.. i have wanted one for EVER so i am going to run 20 miles.. i WANT a runners cap!) 2. a runner shirt with NO sleeves please (i have ISSUES with sleeves after about 4 miles.... tired of stickin them under my bra straps) .....[i found the perfect cap AND two running shirts!.. the hat was 19bucks.. on sale.... but  more than i wanted to spend.. but i will use it for YEARS ... so its worth the $.. one running shirt 4 bucks (on great sale) and the other 12 bucks!).... woowhoo! get the chores done really good tonight so the house will be clean when I get home iron DHs clothes f...