Happy Halloween!

The Office-Halloween 2010

Kenny, Pedro

Nanami, witch

Brian, Joe the plumber w/fake cigarette & butt crack showing

me, "roll out of bed" with my "Doug" doggie

Katrina, little ole lady

Last Thursday: 6 mile run early AM 55:21, I think?

30 min kettle ball routine in the afternoon (made me sore on Friday!)

Friday: 30 min yoga dvd early AM

Saturday: nothing...

Sunday:  9 miles of mostly hills & my legs were rebelling.

9:56-9:57 pace with me walking a lot the last 2 miles

I think I was electrolyte depleted. blah!

We got out later than usual so the sun beat down straight into my eyes.

Thank God, I had sunscreen on my face but freckles are back out.

Monday: will be yoga & some light free weights

Tuesday: will be 6 miles in the morning & some weight machines in the evening

Wednesday: Will SLEEP IN!!!!!

Maybe some yoga in the evening

Thursday: Rest & getting ready for the relay.

Friday: Up at 4:15am & at work by 5:25am to meet the others!

Can't wait!!!

Winding down October….

Last Sunday, I took it easy, did a 50 min pilates DVD that I hadn’t done in a long time. I had forgotten that it was fairly challenging (not as hard as Jillian Michael’s, though).

Monday, I slugged though a painful 5 miles at a 9:26-9:27 pace. My shin actually started bothering me, which scared me. So, the last half of it, I took lots of walk breaks. I should have run a flat course as “recovery” & I should have run slower!

Tuesday, yoga in the morning & weights/ab work in the evening.

Wednesday, Today…..I did 6.28 mostly flat miles at a 9:09 pace in the rain with a head lamp around my waist. Worked GREAT & I felt great! I’m doing yoga after work.

I’m hoping to get in another 4 or 5 miles this week before doing 9 on Sun morning.

Hoping the aches & pains are just my body getting used to this all over again. So far I’ve not pushed my mileage much at all during the week. I think the most I’ve done so far in one week is maybe 24-26 miles. I pray that after the first of the year, I can start logging more than that. Nobody can really accuse me of pushing myself right now that’s for sure. Too many training runs on hills will make my shin ache a little, though. I have got to limit that right now but I will be FINE on the relay.

Oh & did I say I was fired up for the Ragnar Relay? Well, I am…pain, sleep deprivation, smelly, wet clothes, & all. I’m am ready & so is Joe. He is king of the hills right now. He’s also down roughly 23 lbs since the first of the year.

I mailed our registration for the Bolt (Thanksgiving morning) this week so that will be our next race after Ragnar. Then “The Great Santa 5k race” Dec 4th….then “Las Vegas ½” Dec 5th….both total “fun runs”.

As for the Halloween Costume contest in Lenox Village…see for yourself who won 1st place in the adult category. It seems that the neighbors are getting lazy with dressing up. He seriously was the ONLY adult to dress up! So far, he’s not been run out of the village yet but we should probably lay low. LOL!

8 miles of talking in my head...

I talk to myself on most runs (in my head of course). If you talk out loud too much that's just a waste of energy/oxygen. I had thought about hooking up with Carla for 8 miles but then I knew I wouldn't push myself. I knew we'd chatter the whole way at probably an 9:30 pace. I needed to push this run. I thought/talked my way through the first 3 miles thinking of how fortunate I am to even be running right now AGAIN. I thought about the little old couples I past that were bundled up taking an early morning walk. I thought about the Lynchburg BBQ & how some BBQ would be so good to eat today for lunch. Next thing I know I'm at East Middle School & heading back. The only time I opened my mouth to talk was to say "Good morning" & I spoke to Ginger E. (Jody's wife) during the last mile. She was running with her youngest in a stroller.

So, I got out at 7:30am on the nose. It was cold but not cold enough for me to put on long sleeves, just a singlet, shorts, & my BIKE shorts under the shorts, compression socks (LOVE THEM), etc... Yes, I'm going to do all runs 6 miles or over in bike shorts for now on...they work way better than my underarmour running compression shorts. It's hard to explain but I feel like they're keeping my hips lined up more. I ran 8.17 miles at an overall pace of 8:56. I was extremely pleased since there were a couple of big hills and rolling ones. I am so much stronger on hills than I was even 6 weeks ago but 6 weeks ago I was also running in the dreaded heat/humidity, too. I even did a negative split. The first half was at a 9 min pace. I noticed that when I uploaded my garmin.

My recovery drink above. LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy glorious Saturday & thank you God for giving me a great run!

Through “The Middle” Up & back….

First of all, I’m totally impressed with Joe’s brother, Jake & cousin in law, Kurt. Kurt survived his first marathon in Chicago in the heat with a time of 4:23. The very next weekend in Detroit in near perfect weather, Jake did his first marathon in 4:13. Cousin Patti saw Jake from a far cross the finish line with his arms up. So neat!

Our fast trek to Wisconsin went ok…left Friday around 4:30ish & got to the south of Indianapolis & in bed by 11:00pm-ish… We joked about the tv show “The Middle” through Indiana. I love “Sue Heck”! Ha! We made it to Milwaukee the next day by lunch time. (Meeting Vassar for the 1st time.) His mom is Joe’s cousin, Erin, & she’s married to Kurt. They took us to the Miller Brewing Co. tour. Very cool, only an hour long, & free drinks at the end. I wish we could have been there on a week day to see the assembly line running full throttle. I had never been anywhere near Milwaukee or in Wisconsin for that matter. Definitely “Dairy Land” for sure! We hit up a place called “Kopps” for custard. We headed to Sheboygan Falls for dinner & homemade lasagna (YUM!) with Joe’s Aunt, Uncle, cousin Kevin, cousin Jenny, husband Mike, & their boys.

Joe & I were both impressed with the bike lanes & the people out on bikes. We even passed by a PE class of kids who were on bikes. So cool! The weather was just perfect. We could not have picked a better weekend to go. Sunday morning, Joe & I ran 6 miles…I was slightly sleep deprived & definitely dehydrated. Pace was 9:12 & we found hills! My body still hurt from being in the car & I sure missed yoga. We took the kids to the Kohler design center which was literally almost around the corner from Joe’s family.

I think my favorite bathroom was one I dubbed “The Finding Nemo” bathroom. I have a pic of the shower somewhere & will look for it or steal one from Joe off FB. The shower was huge with bamboo hanging down.
Very cool.

Kohler fire dept run team 1920 & pics of the "finding nemo" bathroom.

Joe in "boxer" bathroom
Below is the flag that Admiral Byrd gave the Kohlers.

Due to sleep deprivation, dehydration, etc...I got a blazing migraine Sunday night.  I haven’t had one like this in many months. Arg! I’m someone who can function on little to no sleep one night but not several nights in a row & trust me this gal needs her water. The stress of it all really hit me but I had a bed to myself Sunday night & woke up feeling better Monday morning. We did another 4 miles heading to a very pretty trail near some horses in Kohler. If we had one more day there, I would have run back that way. My legs would have none of it, though, & I finished the 4 miles with walk breaks at a 10:08 pace. I’m telling ya, if my legs could talk they would have said, “WATER & YOGA, please!”  You’d think that the fact that we broke this trip up going there & coming back would have been ok on my legs but nah…my body craves constant motion & it does curse me occasionally when I spend 40+ hrs at a desk.

Monday afternoon we took a drive down the coast looking at Lake MI. We headed to Jenny’s house. She took us to a cheese factory. It seriously made me crave some Mexican cheese dip!

After a few hours with Jenny & the boys, we headed south driving to the south of Chicago to stay the night. We got up Tuesday morning & made it back to Nashville around 3:00pm-ish. We had a good time but the next time I’m up there it will involve a Brewers OR Packers game. Or possibly the marathon….Kurt has already put the Milwaukee marathon on his calendar for next year. It’s too close to NYC so we’ll put it on our calendar for another year other than 2011.  (Kopps custard pic below)

I swear I'm starting to HATE blogspot. I'm definitely switching to wordpress at the end of the year for "just a running blog". These pics were a pain in the ass to upload. If you're a friend of mine on facebook, you've already seen most of these pictures anyway.

As far as running this week.
I ran Wed afternoon 6 miles & it was painful. Very tight right calf. So I took Thur & Fri off from running. Mostly strength & yoga. My body seemed to crave the yoga this week anyway.
I am running tomorrow...hopefully a good 8 miles.

Mid – October craziness….

Reading:
Still reading the Janet Evanovich bounty hunter series…almost done with book 10. I will go into mourning once I’m done with the series, I swear… I have to admit I’m getting frustrated with some of the stupid decisions this gal makes because you’d think by now she’d learn but I have a goal to read all 16 books & the “in between” books by the 1st of the year. We’ll see how that goes with everything else going on…

Moving:
I dragged my desk until it fell to pieces to the front door Sat afternoon.
It’s at the road to be picked up now. I put this cheap desk bought in ‘97 out of it’s misery, seriously. I now have my computer on an antique dresser that belonged to my great grandmother…less clutter & oh the old pics I’ve found over the last week. Gesh! So many memories… Nice to know I have found some important stuff like my divorce papers, my Motlow degree & MTSU degree!!!

Football:
There is no way to explain how glad I was that Bama finally lost last weekend!
The annoying as hell bama fans were pretty quiet about it on Facebook. Ha!
Too bad the same UT team that nearly beat LSU didn’t show up to beat UGA.
Oh & don’t get me started on how GREAT it was to watch the Titans make the Cowgirls have a bad hair day in that over-priced stadium in Texas. Ha!

Running & the bike:
Since we’re making a quick trip to WI, I won’t get a bike ride in this weekend.
Due to the “Mexican-puke” 3.67 miler this past Sat night, that run put me at 26+ miles for last week. (Most miles logged in a VERY long time in 1 week post cracked shin). Below is this week so far....

Sunday: 7.75 (9:00 pace) felt awesome!

Monday: 30 mins of yoga, 5 lb free weights, & crunches

Tuesday: 6.03 miles (9:18 pace) & weight machines in the evening

Wednesday: 4.68 miles (9:13 pace) Was going for 3.5 but decided on a new route just to see how lighted it was… 30 mins of yoga after work

Thursday: 5.2 miles (8:53 pace) & weight machines in the evening

Friday: 30 mins of yoga in the morning, hopefully….

I’m going to “over-analyze” Wed morning’s run vs. Thurs morning’s run. The main difference…Wed, I didn’t wear my zenzah calf sleeves or my swiftwick compression socks. My legs hurt most of the day Wed. I honestly didn’t think I could get up & run Thurs morning but I did & I wore my zenzah calf sleeves. As I type this late Thurs afternoon, my legs feel great. For now on, I don’t care if it’s 100 degrees, I’m going to wear some type of “compression” on my calves. They have given me fits & caused injuries over the years. NO MORE! Santa, if you’re listening, all I want are compression socks/sleeves from Christmas. That is all!
Not sure what/if we’ll run at all this weekend since we’re in Wisconsin.
If there’s time, we’ll get out even if it’s just for 3 miles.

We have plans to do a Miller brewery tour in Milwaukee Sat afternoon & possibly the Kohler design center in Kohler, WI on Monday. We’ll be back sometime Tues afternoon.

October seems to be flying & we’ll start November out with a bang with the relay & end it with the Boulevard Bolt 5 miler (need to register soon!).

December will start out with a HUGE celebration.
I signed us up for the Great Santa run Dec 4th in Vegas. It’s the day before our “wedding race”. They give you a free Santa suit & you just have to be counted. You can run the 5k, 1 miler, or just stand there. The $35 entry fee goes to a good cause & you get to be a part of a world record attempt. (The most Santas in one place…going up against Liverpool, Hungary, & a few other places.) Hannah, Jeff, Jake, & Chrissy may join in on this little adventure, too. So far we have tentative plans to go to the Gold & Silver Pawn shop that’s on TV. I’ve never seen the show but Jeff wants to go & it should be interesting.

We also may go to the Ethel M Chocolate factory (& Hoover dam). Apparently, Ethel was/is a Mars relative & Hannah works for Mars. Ha! Of course Joe & I will do the Eiffel Tower thing but I’m staying away from the scary ass Stratosphere rides. Apparently Dec is a bad time of the year to go to Vegas to see “BIG” shows…like Cher or I would totally look into getting tickets. I’m ok with that. The cheaper this wedding the better… I’ve never had the urge to put Vegas on my travel list but what better way to get married a 2nd time around then to do it in the middle of a half marathon. We’re starting to get excited about it.

Late night run & early morning run...Relay training

So, after we totally sucked at trivia & ate too much mexican, we decided to get out & run at 9pm on a Saturday night. (3.67 at 9:55 pace) Blah! Joe threw up a couple of times & I had the good sense to walk a few times before we decided to cut it short. I was surprised we had a sub-10 pace!  LOL!

This morning, we rocked a somewhat hilly 7.75 mi run at a 9:00 min pace.
The first 5 I know I did sub-9. Every time I looked at the garmin, it was 8's. (we obviously got out before it got HOT today.)  At least we weren't in Chicago...poor Chicago marathon runners...man, I may take that marathon OFF my want-to-do list. Gesh!

So, 3.67 + 7.75 = 11.42 (we got in our planned 11 for the weekend. LOL!)

Some afternoon runs, a bike ride, & a whole lotta cleaning...

Monday…recovery run?
I know a lot of people do “recovery runs” or they cross train the day after a longish run. (I usually cross train) Since I was given the go ahead to start running, I’ve made myself NOT run the day before/after my longish runs. Well, here we are…I’ve done one 8, two 9’s, & one 10 mile run… This weekend will be 11. Since the weather was GREAT Monday, I cut myself some slack & allowed myself to run 3.25 flat miles SLOWLY (10:09 pace) out East area. Just the thoughts of running in daylight AFTER work made me smile. I said “Ouch” a few times & kept it slow. It was easy to keep it slow since my quads & the left knee area were still sore from Sunday’s run. The IT Band still reminds me that it is a son of a biotch…I also did crunches, 5 lb free weights, & stretched when I got home…

Tuesday…should I? No, I should NOT.
The plan was not to run Tuesday IF I ran Monday evening.
After doing workout #1 of Jillian Michael’s yoga in the morning, I thought I could handle my 4 miler that I had planned for Wed morning that afternoon. My better judgment took over instead. I did weight machines, crunches, & got my much needed grocery shopping done in the afternoon.

Wednesday: Slept In….
I got tied up trying to open OLD floppy discs with pics from 8-10 yrs ago on them. No Jillian yoga for me Wed morning. Ran 6.5 miles after work out at UTSI & totally soaked up the nature. The pace was slow. Took me 2 miles to get my legs moving, ugh!
Mi 1-9:48, Mi 2-9:21, Mi 3-9:16, Mi 4- 9:07, Mi 5- 9:13, Mi 6-9:08, didn’t pay attention to the last .5 time….9:18 overall.

Thursday: early AM Jillian Michael’s yoga & weight machines at DW Wilson

Friday: 4 miles (9:01 pace) EARLY AM (out the door at 4:55am)
Saw Fara’s little Anna Belle after work. What a cutie!
She arrived Wed at 12:34pm, 7 lbs 2 oz & 20 inches long.
Fara basically had her in 6 hours. Anna Belle came out running!

Saturday: 20.23 mi on bike (15.9 mph) Great weather for a bike ride!
Did a short 20 min yoga dvd that came with my yoga mat before I left.
About to tear down my 13 yr old computer desk, shoot it, put it out of it's misery, & put it out to the road. ha!  This house echoes now, I've got rid of so much stuff.

Sunday: we run 11.
Hope to get out EARLY since Summer is back.
I'm tempted to get out late tonight to run a few miles & then get out early in the morning for a run just to prepare for the relay. Crazy, eh?  Umm, what to do, what to do???

One things for sure trivia in the 'homa with Hannah & Jeff tonight. :)

Cranking up October...

First off, my heart is still HEAVY for those UT players...that damn LSU game made me chew my left thumbnail completely off. Words just can't describe the range of emotions at the end. Just sad. If Daniel Lincoln, the kicker, hadn't been injured, they might have won, plus the too many players on the field is not the players fault. That's coaching...oh well....so many YOUNG players playing their hearts out...they will be hell on wheels next year.

2nd, THS is beating all the "neighbors"...they need to learn how to beat the BIG 'boro & nashville teams. We'll see....

3rd, glad we ended up staying home for the Broncos game....9.25 miles early, then some rest is EXACTLY what we needed after the kids ball games & a trip to the GRAND OLE OPRY Saturday night.  Joe was given 4 tickets from Hands on Nashville for volunteering. We had a great time....Charlie Pride, Little Jimmy Dickens, Craig Morgan, Mike Snider, Whispering Bill Anderson, the Opry dancers, Jeannie Seely, Jim Ed Brown, & Kevin Costner & his band Modern West.  Who would have thought?! I LOVE Kevin Costner. He didn't sing that bad either.  All week I thought to myself, "If they rebuild it, he will come..."  Too funny!!!

My week in review:
Last Tues: 5.55 mi  AM @ 9:18 pace
Last Thur: 6.28 mi AM @ 9:08
Did 2 afternoons of weights & 2 yoga sessions & crunches.

I’ve decided the pace won’t lower (more consistently) until I’m running AFTER work. Seriously, I’m just too sleepy to continue these AM runs but who knows…I may not completely rule them out when the time changes.  When I do move to mostly afternoon runs, I’ll do 1 day a week of weight machines. Ted has cut back his schedule & he’s my “free” way into the gym, anyway…He’s retiring from the Dept of Safety next Monday but will continue to work a few days a week for D W Wilson. He’s debt free, sitting on a nice nest egg, & still has some sense about him. A good way to retire!

When I did Jillian Michael’s yoga this week, I noticed my catarangas are getting stronger. That’s a crazy move that’s given me fits ever since I started doing pilates/yoga. Mine are far from perfect but I’m getting there with “my practice”. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do the “crow”. That’s where you lean forward on your hands & put your knees on the back of your elbows balancing on your hands only. I try, though…just not strong enough or I’m approaching it wrong. Who knows….

I’ve started using Jillian Michael’s chocolate protein mix in fat free/lactose free milk in the mornings after I run. YUMMY!

Friday after work, I rode just over 12 miles for like 47 minutes...15.2 mph. Rode right after work, jetted home for a shower, & met Hannah for Mexican in the 'boro.

Saturday was spent in Springhill watching Joey's fall ball team while Joe took Jessica to soccer.

Sunday morning, we did 9.25 miles in the headwinds & most of it was hills. (Nolensville Pike to be precise). Thinking we'll run all the way to the little town area of Nolensville on the next longish run. I was totally pleased with the 9:21 pace. Going out was great. I was zoning...coming back I got beat up in mile 7-8 by the winds. My pace slowed dramatically until we were back in the village.

Got my Saucony Omni Progrid 8’s in from Amazon & wore them this morning.
$40 cheaper than the Progrid 9’s I bought at Team Nashville. (Gotta save somewhere!)
LOVE these shoes! All I need is another pair of compression socks to finish refurbishing the running gear. While going through things, I was amazed at the running related contraptions I’ve accumulated over the last 5-7 yrs. I found the Strasberg sock that I bought in the summer of ’04. That thing really didn’t do much for me when I tried it. I think I tried to sleep in it once & that didn’t work well. I hope I never need it again but I know where it is now! Ha!

Crossing my fingers on a few irons I have in the fire!