Day 338: The Day After ...

Thank you all so very, very much for your wonderful congratulations, accolades, and kudos toward my completion of yesterday's marathon. Your sentiments mean so much to me and really warm my heart! All your calls, cards, texts, emails, Face Book posts, they all made me smile today!

I'm feeling GREAT ... Given I ran for 6 hours in torrential rains! I ran in wet socks, shoes and clothing and it was brutal, just miserable. The casualty to my body seems to be that I'll be losing a toenail on my left foot... you can't expect to run in wet socks sliding up and down for hours in the rain and not have some fallout!

In my case it is an incredibly sore toenail, I mean excruciating pain. I'm wearing Brian's compression socks for some ankle swelling, but I feel pretty damn good. Was up early walking up and down the stairs...

Below are some of my favorite words of inspiration...

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Hey Mom,

Just wanted to wish you good luck tomorrow on your marathon. I'm super proud of you and proud that I have a Mom that can actually do that. I even told some of my friends that you were running. Regardless of your time you should be proud. I don't know very many people than can run a marathon, and I'm pretty sure I don't know any moms that can run one. You set out a goal from last year and no matter your time, you accomplished it... so congratulations!

I love you! Good luck, Brandon

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The great ones empower people by BOTH words and deeds. You are a Renaissance woman and I hear you roar!!! Love, An admirer.

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Robyn, I am so deeply moved by what you accomplished today. It was an honor to watch you do it. You inspire me beyond words!!!

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I could not have persevered without all of you supporting me the entire journey. A special and very loud shout out to my friend and trainer Melody Roset, who has run-side-by-side with me for an entire year. She never gave up on me despite my bitching and moaning with all my ailments. She was always a source of encouragement and her skillful training is what led me to the Finish Line successfully and why I'm feeling so good post-the-run.

And a huge thank you too to hubby Brian Simon and Rebecca Simon for planning a post celebration for me ... the rain may have dampened our party, but knowing that they put so much love into organizing this for me, is truly the gift.

I need to go take another Epsom salt bath for my bod and for this throbbing toenail... love you all. Run Robyn Run!

Day 238: Another 10K Completed

This morning I ran in the Santa Monica-Venice Christmas Run. It's a race that's been around for 33 years! It brings out people of all levels of fitness along with dogs, babies in strollers, Santa Claus costumes, elves, Mrs. Claus, all very festive & fun.

Pictured here are me, Melody, and a fabulous woman Nina who I met on my run. She liked my pace and ran the entire race with me.... which was great because she kept me motivated!


My friend and athletic trainer Melody Roset ran the short race too, but she is so much faster then I am so we didn't run together. A 10k is 6.2 miles. Not really a lot when you are training for a marathon which is 26.2 miles, but just the same it is still tough to get your butt up at 5 a.m. and be at the start line at 7:30 and run for more than an hour! I mean did you do that today!?

I'm proud to report that I shaved 10 minutes off my race time since the last 10k I ran in Brentwood in the Spring with hubby Brian. Ten minutes is a really great improvement so I'm proud about that!

Of course though I'm sore. Still can't beat the extreme pain in my buttocks and lower back. Since it was just 6 miles my feet did just great so that was good.... but as I write this post I am in a lot of pain! I just hope my body holds up till March when I'll run the Los Angeles Marathon. Some days I think how the hell am I going to run so many miles. And then I remember there was a time I couldn't even run one mile, and now I've completed one 5k race, two 10k races, and a half marathon (13.1). So I'm on track... now it's Martini time!

Run Robyn Run!

PS If you want to get fit and learn to run races, contact Melody at Mako Training www.MakoTraining.com

Day 17: Run Robyn Run !!!

Don't worry it's not running for political office again! It's literally RUNNING! As one of my 49th to 50th year intentions I have committed to run a Marathon... that's 26.2 miles for those of you who just aren't sure how difficult this challenge is! And I'm not walking it! I've done that before when I participated in the FIRST Avon 3-Day Walk for Breast & Ovarian Cancer. It was a GREAT experience and we walked from Santa Barbara to Malibu... some 20 miles a day! Just an awesome experience!

But now I want to RUN! A marathon is one of the most challenging athletic tests you can push yourself to accomplish and I figure if not now, when? I've been training vigorously to strengthen my body for the past year. If you didn't know I've trained through enormous pain. I had severe nerve damage resulting from a grueling 18 month political campaign and I've spent a year reducing those physical effects through regular exercise. Much appreciation and thanks go out to my atheltic trainer, Melody Roset (http://www.makotraining.com/), who beleived that despite my endless pain, I could accomplish this personal goal. Thank you Mel!

I recently saw the rewards of my workouts when I signed-up for an exercise class -- outside of my regular training outdoors. It was so exciting to be the only woman in an exercise class that could do push-ups on her toes, not her knees! I challenge you all to make a commitment to start with 5 push-ups a day. I started out not even being able to lift my body with one push-up and this morning I did 30 on my toes -- all the way down! And then there's the plank -- a core strengthening exercise. Again today I did a plank for 2 and a half minutes -- and if you think that's a piece of cake, I'll challenge you anytime as most folks can barely hold themselves up for 10 seconds! I've put my teenage boys to the test and I've won! Try it and you'll see what I mean.

There is something very rewarding about strengthening your body. You feel strong & powerful. So through the intense nerve pain I've kept pushing myself and am now feeling better and running more. I'm still sore and sit on ice packs regularly, but I've got less then a year now to reach my goal of completing a marathon. I hope you'll all join me at the finish line. Run Robyn Run baby!