Homestretch, homestretch!

We're down to less than a month before the race, and by golly, I'm getting excited. Alaska! Running! Doing good! Raising money! Helping people! What an adventure. I'm overloading on exclamation points, so you know I mean business.

As far as my training is concerned, I've scaled my running back since the 10.5 mile run from the last post. When I was in Houston for the weekend a few weeks ago (one week after the 10.5 miler), I did a loop around Memorial Park (3 miles), and I was, more or less, pain-free. It was ridiculously muggy at 10:30 a.m., which I expected, but of course, that caused some discomfort in terms of breathing. Breathing is, as we know, quite essential to running!

And since then, I've just been cross-training religiously, which includes a healthy mix of spinning, ellipticizing, and lifting. My IT band rarely, if ever, bothers me on a non-exercising basis, like walking around town in flat shoes, which is a huge step up from two months ago. It makes me happy to say those words, and have those words finally be the truth. For those of you suffering from IT band problems, know that there's relief in sight - if you're patient, willing to coddle to your body, and willing to do what it takes to build up that supporting cast of muscles in order to alleviate some of the stress on that band.

What's helped me a lot, in my opinion, has been my stretching routine. I stretch out very, very well before engaging in physical activity. And by "very, very well," I mean that I dedicate at least half an hour, upwards to 45 minutes, just to stretching. No matter if I'm running, spinning, what have you. I stretch constantly, and I stretch for 30 seconds or more; often, I will hold each stretch for up to one minute. And I repeat them a few times. But hey, I do believe that a good stretching routine is the lynchpin of a successful workout program. I've believed that since my cheerleading and track days in high school, and it hasn't failed me yet. I don't quite comprehend not stretching profusely; to me, it's essential.

In short, I'm back to being positive about how things are going, and I'm really, really looking forward to June 21st. So I may not be running the full marathon, but you know, I will. All in good time.