April Roll Call (Tracy)

Hey LIFERS,

There's nothing like procrastination, right? Okay, sorry it's taken me so long to "report in". But better late than never!

So, my training has been going OK. I've been a runner my whole life it seems, but since college when I struggled with a few injuries (IT band primarily), I have never truly been back at 100%. As soon as I started increasing my mileage, the IT band came back and I developed another annoying pain in my shin (still not sure if it's shin splints or not). At any rate the last month has involved quite a bit of cross training and as much running as my body can handle. In the last 2 weeks or so, I've seen significant improvement and have been encouraged. A few things I realized:
1. I have to stick to alternating running with cross-training for now. That gives me between 3-4 days of running per week with the rest cross-training.
2. Ice seems to aggravate the injuries more
3. Lots and lots of stretching!
So although I've been struggling through some aches and pains here and there, I'm still hopeful. My runs are becoming much more enjoyable as I start to feel my fitness level increase and I think I've hopefully figured out the right system for my particular aches and pains to prevent serious injury. Hopefully the May "Roll Call" will be filled with all sorts of positive news.

In regards to my goals, my main focus at this point is to get to the marathon injury free. Being an ex-athlete, I tend to get competitive with myself and push myself harder than I should, but as long as I keep my eye on the goal, that should keep me in check. At this point, I'll decide on a "time" goal once I'm deeper into the training and can more realistically gage what I'm capable of.

In regards to ProLife fundraising, I'm thinking about supporting the Elizabeth New Life Center in Dayton, OH. When I was stationed there I got involved with the organization and I'd love to do my part in supporting it from afar.

As far as the whole experience goes, I just hope I can get to the end. I've always loved running and it has been a huge enabler to my faith. There's just nothing that brings me closer to my creator than running through his artwork!

Happy running to all! I look forward to meeting those of you I don't know.