Mental vs. Physical Training

So, yes, I lapsed again on my updates.  DONE with missing my blogging!  I promise I'll blog once a week from here on out!

I do have to say that I've had a couple distractions here and there.  Since the middle of July, I ran a long run July 20, that was 10 miles.  It went very well!  My runs the next week also went well.  I was happy to have one of my best friends from high school in town, Heather Sahr.  We had a great time for a couple days, but July 27, I ran my long run of 10 miles!

The next week was nothing out of the ordinary. I was still waking up around 4 am, starting my run around 5am.  My shortest run during the week was 4 miles.  The first weekend in August I ran 12 miles.  I have to admit I was a little bit nervous for this one.  I didn't know if my body was ready for it, but more so, I was worried that I wasn't mentally ready.  But, it went really really well.  I averaged a 9:45 min mile.  I'm definitely happy with that!

I took the next day off (per usual), and ran a quick 4 miles the next day.  I averaged about 8:30/mile, which is quick for me.  The next day, I left for KC...to meet my little "nephew", Stone Zonas Dyerson.

I stayed a week in KC seeing Stone, my best friend Sarah 'Pikul' Dyerson, and her husband Andrew Dyerson.  I ran my usual 3-5 miles during the week and did my long run that Saturday but it was only 8 miles, it went well.  Except for the fact that I planned on looping back to the Dyerson house to refuel, Guu and water, but (of course, knowing me) I got lost.  I found my way back right before 8 miles so it worked perfectly!

The next week I was struggling with allergies.  I ended up only doing 10 miles instead of 14.  I also had a couple of great friends in town from the east coast that I needed to see!

Katie Hull, who was born 2 months after me...our fathers went to high school together, was in town. So fun for us and our families to hang out!

Also, Sarah Woodard, one of my best friends from high school came into to from NYC. So great to see everyone, but I have to say...summer causes difficulties in training!

This past weekend I was hoping to run 16.  My allergies were so awful I didn't know if it was a cold, the flu, or allergies.  I only made it a handful of miles before I had to go home.  And I SLEPT...HARD.

Feeling much better.  However it's super humid and hot right now in MN so I've been doing classes at the gym and short runs.  It's supposed to drop in humidity tomorrow (fingers crossed)!  Can't wait to run outside again!

I need to do 16 miles this weekend regardless of the weather or my allergies.  I have to push myself mentally.  I know I can do it physically...its just mental right now.  For some reason it has been hard for me to stay positive during this process.  However, I need to keep in mind the reason I am running this marathon.

People who have MS can lose their ability to do any of the physical activites they are used to doing.  Some of them lose the ability to walk and end up in wheel chairs, as my grandfather did.  Unfortunately, one of the few things I remember about my Mom's father was riding around on his lap in his chair. I try to continue to remind myself when I want to quit running that so many people with MS wish they could run, or even walk.  That pushes me forward to continue working for these people.

Please help me in my drive to help cure MS.  $1, $5, $100, ANYTHING helps!  Please donate.  Every mile I run, I'm thinking of those who cannot.  Help find a way that they can.  Visit my fundraising page: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mcdonoughsmiles

Thank you to everyone for supporting me in this journey!

McDonough's Miles is back!!

It's been almost a year and a half since I last blogged...wowza.  During that time I graduated law school, took and passed the dreaded bar exam and moved back in with the parentals!  Job searching has been rough and I've been doing temporary contract work off and on.  So, if anyone knows of any available attorney positions...let me know :)  .  Anyways, I'm starting my blog back up because I am training for my 3rd full marathon.

I will be running the Chicago marathon again on October 13 with my college roommate Sarah Pruitt.  This time around I am fundraising for multiple sclerosis.  MS is such an awful disease and one that I feel strongly about.  My grandfather, my mom's dad, had MS.  At some point I'll post more about my grandpa's struggle with the disease.  You can visit the website to learn more about the disease National MS Society.  My goal is to raise $1,000 to help fight this horrible disease.

I am hoping this time around I won't have any major setbacks like I did with my knee injury last time.  I am currently in my 5th week of training and it is going pretty well.  I felt pretty good physically going into the beginning of training, much better than last time.  I know I said last time I would never let my self get out of marathon shape again, but I did.  I finally started hitting the gym pretty hard and improved my diet a lot in January...it was time to finally lose that law school weight!  I was finally in a good routine going to the gym 5 mornings a week doing both cardio and weight training.  During my training I still plan on doing some strength training, controlling my diet and trying to lose more of those law school lbs!!  It took a while to be able to run outside this spring because MN decided it was going to snow till May and rain everyday till June!  But, I started officially training mid-June.  It has been going pretty well.  I ran into a little setback because I hurt my ankle so I tried to take it easy for about a week.  It still gives me some issues here and there so I do a lot of icing for it and also have been wearing Biofreeze (my favorite thing ever!) on it.  I am also being very careful with my knee this time around because it still bothers me from time to time.  I wear a small band under my knee which helps with pain and prevents further injury (Biofreeze also goes on my knee!).

Since my last marathon I switched shoes from Brooks Glycerin to Newton running shoes which are a natural running shoe.  I love them!  Check them out:  What is Newton running?.  It took a while to "train" into them and I had to take my time switching back and forth between the Newton's and my Brooks.

I have been having some issues keeping a steady pace so I need to concentrate more heavily on my pace in the coming weeks before I get to my really long runs.  My longest run was last Friday and I did 11, however I think that was too soon.  I really struggled and even had to walk a little.  I was trying to do an intermediate training program so now I revised it and am doing kind of a mix between beginner and intermediate.  My next long run in Friday and will be 10 miles.  I'll keep ya'll posted on how that goes!

In the mean time, visit my MS fundraising page McDonough's Miles MS Fundraising Page and PLEASE consider donating!  Any little bit counts!  I really appreciate all of your support during my training and fundraising process!