I DID IT !!!!

Well, I guess I can officially say I'm a 'marathoner' !! I completed my very first marathon yesterday at the Quad Cities Marathon in an official time of 4:55:51.





Wow, where do I begin?? So many things to tell! Well I'll start with the Marathon and work back to Saturday. I woke up Sunday morning feeling even more nervous than I was two weeks ago! I think that was because I was going to be out there all alone instead of having my friends with me! I told myself that the last 5 months weren't for nothing so I calmed myself down and got dressed and tried to eat my oatmeal.. blah.. Kevin and I left the hotel about 6:30 for the short drive down to the start and along the way I ate my powerbar and drank some more water. Got parked easily and there were already a lot of people walking around, music going and a few vendors already set up. There was a building across the street where most people were, so we went inside to keep warm! It was pretty chilly out there and I forgot to bring my t-shirt with me to the start.. Stretched out, hit the bathroom, and at about 7:15 went back outside..

Kevin also got pictures of my 'inspirations' I had on me.. I got a lat minute good luck email from Kathy H. Saturday morning with lots of good thoughts for me in it and one of them was what I put on my back.. I got lots of comments about that along the way and lots of 'good luck' shout outs too along the way. too! Another one was what I wrote on my arm:

There were I believe 3600 runners and the starting area was getting really full so I figured I better find my pace group. Kevin said 'good luck' and gave me a big hug and away I went into the crowd of runners. They were packed really tight in there but I made my way up in between the 4:30 pace and the 4:45 pace group. My reasoning for this was that I was planning on staying close behind the 4:30 group (10:18) pace and NOT to let the 4:45 (11:00) pass me.. more on that later.

Kevin actually found me in the crowd (he has a way of doing that!) right before the start. That's me in the bottom right corner, in front of the bald guy.. I've got the white hat on. We sung the star spangled banner I THINK!!? Right now I can not recall what we sang!! I remember singing, but I was so nervous I guess it didn't completely register!! Then the gun went off and away we went! Started off and immediately turned left to go up the I74 bridge which crosses the Mississippi River into Beddendorf Iowa. The hill up the bridge was a little steep and very long. I managed fine and heard somebody say they thought that was the only hill.. HA! Yeah, right!




Coming off the bridge into IA we made a right and went up another hill, and well, it all went downhill, I mean uphill, from there!! I could compare it to the second part of Lincoln Memorial easily. We wound around Beddendorf a while then headed south along the river's edge which was very pretty! for a few miles.. but that was hilly too! Sort of weird but we would be up on the biking trail, then had to go down into the parking lot then back up to the trail about 3 times. The trail wasn't a continuous path.. there were 'exits' down into the parking lot which we followed. That accounted for more hills.. we were now in Davenport but didn't spend a whole lot of time there.. made a loop out and back in which you could see everybody ahead of you then once you turned, everybody behind you.. and that 4:45 was quite a ways behind me!! yeah!! I could still easily see the 4:30 pace group ahead of me and my garmin was sitting right at 10:20 so I was feeling very good about that.. Another bridge back over into Illinois (another big hill) and the 10 mile marker was on that hill.. Kevin was outside our hotel watching for me and got a couple of pictures. It was great to see him and he really cheered me on big time!! GO Kari!! YEAH!! Kari!! I think you could hear him a mile away! That's the picture to the right.. The gal next to me started laughing and I explained that he was my husband!! Too funny!! We went out and back for 3 miles and kevin was at the 13 mile mark too which was only about a block or so over..

The bottom picture is mile 13...





Next it was over to Arsenal Island for 6 miles.. Arsenal is actually the Army base. It was pretty interesting seeing everything that was on the base and there were also a ton of sailboats in the river pretty close to the Island watching the marathoners go by. Around 17 or 18 I could tell I started to slow down a bit and the Garmin said 10:30.. that's alright.. I could still come in right around 4:35.. stuck with that pace for those 2 -3 miles (by the way the 4:30 pace group wasn't visible anymore!) I told myself just make it to 20 and it's all flat from there on out. Then we hit the last bridge to go back over the river into Illinois. HUGE hill at 19.5 to go up and it pretty much did me in.. I slowed up a little more to get up the hill, but stayed that way until the finish..

Turned left at the bottom of the bridge (mile 20) and we could see and hear everyone coming in for the finish just up the road to the right.. We went left for 3 then back to the finish..I must say that was the hardest part seeing those people getting ready to finish and knowing you still had 6 more to go.. I kept my pace up, alright it was pretty slow, but I did not stop! Not for the entire 26.2 miles.. not once. I did take 2 steps at mile 22 for water and decided that hurt much worse than running!! The 4:45 group passed me at around 21 or so and I told them about it!! ha! My legs hurt and my feet really hurt at this point but I kept telling my self 'Today is NOT that day" (thanks Kathy) and 'Don't Quit!"..

The very coolest thing was at mile 23!! It was a huge 'brick Wall'! It covered the entire path and you ran through the middle of it!! Cheerleaders were lined up as you went though and when they saw you coming they started doing a cheer for you and gave you high fives.. That was by far the neatest thing off all 26.2 miles.. I wished I had a camera on me!! I turned my Ipod off at mile 25 so I hear the crowd..

What a feeling to finally see the big 'FINISH' banner in the air!! Crowds cherring, the announcer telling the names of the finishers as they crossed the finish, and there was Kevin! I tried to smile but the emotions were flowing at that point.. As I was coming in the announcer announced my name and that I was from Springfield.. He then went on to say that this was my first marathon!

THAT was really neat hearing my name!! Once I crossed the finish I went over and gave Kevin sweaty kiss and a hug and he tried to get my picture but the emotions started flowing again so that had to wait a little bit!! The clock time said 4:57..

I am extremely happy with my time knowing that I kept up a 10:20 - 10:30 for 20 miles and given that it was a very very hilly course!! Not flat like Chicago.. people told me I should try Chicago but I didn't listen!! haha.. no I am really happy but I might give Chicago a try next year!

So back to Saturday.. we first went to the packet pickup and expo which was pretty good size!! Bought a nice brooks zip up jacket with the QC marathon logo on the front and back.. and that was it for my purchases.. milled around there for a while, talked to the pace group guys to decide if I should do that or not, and I was really happy to see Springfield represented at the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon table!! Tim and Tammy M. were there working the table so I talked with them a bit, then headed to the hotel to get checked in. Had a beer to relax my nerves a little and then headed down the street to dinner. Down the street on the square were the 'Blues Brothers' .. had to get a picture of that!! We found Blue Cat Brew Pub on the internet. It was a micro brewery so we decided early on that's where we would eat dinner.. Kevin had 2 or 3 more beers but I stopped at one at drank water!! Ugh! The sacrifices!!!!

So that is my first marathon experience folks.. The highs. the lows and the in betweens.. thanks for tuning in!

last two runs before Sunday..

Got in a 3 miler yesterday and I'm going to do a quick 2 miles today at lunch.. hit that snooze a few times this morning, then decided I'd just run at lunch..
After that, I am done... 'till Sunday.. weather looks perfect!! I am really psyched up right now and it seems like the week is dragging by!! Sunday can't get here soon enough!! I just wish everybody was going to be there again!! Kathy told me she even had a present for me last Sunday for after I finished! What a thoughtful thing to do!! It will have to wait tho.. didn't complete my first marathon quite yet!

13+ miles

Met Kim N. at Panera this morning at 6:00 a.m. and we did a little over 13 at a darn good pace!! We were right at 10:00 for all but the first mile or so.. pretty good!!

Kathy H is in North Carolina, and Patti and Kathy were thinking more like 7:00 a.m. to run.. I had to be back home by 8:45 at the latest so we could get to Lincoln by 10:00 a.m for a football game, so I said I'd just go it alone unless they really wanted to get up at 5:00 a.m.! Can't blame them, especially after last Sunday's run!! Plus they get to be done with their long runs.. I had one more left!!

Anyway Kim emailed yesterday to see what mileage I was doing Saturday..turns out we were both looking to run about 13.. She has been nursing a sore calve and was needing to take it slow and easy.. I can do that!!!!! Actually I was thinking I wanted to get a good hard-ish run in today, since I've been tapering forever! A good run a little on the hard side was what I needed to get my out of my taper slump.. 3 weeks is waaay too long.. Funny thing is Kim's easy is my hard!!

And that is exactly what we did today.. 13+ miles right at 10:00... the first mile or so were slow, but not after that.. I did stretch my calves once because I started to get a cramp..probably the humidty! Not only did today feel good, but my psyche needed the boost too!! I feel real good about Quad Cities right now!!

So I got 2 5.5 mile runs in this week, and 13 today, then I'll do 2 real short runs this week like I did before and I should be rested for QC.!

Quad Cities Marathon - 9/28/08

So my next attempt at this marathon thing is in 10 days at the Quad Cites Marathon in Moline..I can without a doubt bet we'll have much better weather!! It can't get any worse than Sunday!! Got registered and got a hotel room Monday.. The route looks great! Covers 4 cities and two states: Illinois and Iowa. Goes over the Mississippi River, up on I74, and onto Arsenal Island which is an island out in the middle of the River..At mile 11 we pass in front of our hotel and at mile 20 we run very close to the finish line so we'll get to see and hear the crowd that's there. A guy here in the office Blake, has ran the 1/2 marathon (both start together) and he said it's a nice scenic route. Said that he's heard something about a brick wall hologram at mile 23.. that should be interesting.

So I'm back to running and got 5.5 miles in yesterday. Will do another 5 or 6 tomorrow then 14 on Saturday with next week being a quick taper..

Here's a couple of videos from the Marathon:

Running with Hurricane Ike

What started out to be a fun, enjoyable weekend turned into nothing more than a pure and simple test of sheer will! 24+ MPH winds, gusts of 50 MPH, and driving rain couldn't stop us from going for it! We tried, we couldn't finish, but none of us felt defeated in the least!

Kevin and I got to Ameristar Hotel in St. Charles around 2:30 Saturday and quickly headed to the expo. We shopped a bit, he caught a heck of a deal on a good pair of running shoes, and I went a little cheaper and got out of there for $6. The shirts were again great this year, and I planned on bringing it Sunday to put on at the finish line. We walked around the casino, the really cool fountain, and checked out a cool sportsbar..

We heard that the Katy Trail went right under part of the Ameristar so we went out to find it... it was right around 13.5 miles, and Kevin said he'd be at the bridge around 9:00 so he could cheer me on at the 1/2 way point.. took some pictures of the trail, then back inside the hotel and got checked in.. Went up to the 15th floor and checked out our room.. Really really nice hotel room complete with a huge huge bathroom, TV to watch from the tub, king size bed and a sunken lounge area with chairs and a couch. Our room looked out over the river, Kathy H said their room looked over the other side which was pool side so we went to check that out too.. It was around 4:15 and we had 45 minutes to kill before meeting everyone in the lobby to head to dinner. Kevin said I needed something to drink.. I guess that meant I was pretty keyed up about the whole marathon thing and was in need of settling down. The drink worked.. Went down to the lobby at 5:00 to meet everyone and head to dinner .. we were able to squeeze into Jill's car since Kathy F and Rich were meeting us at the restaurant and since Kathy H and Don brought Haley, they didn't feel they should intrude on adult conversation. .. silly girl!!!! We missed you Kathy! So we ate at Favazza's Italian restaurant on the hill and it was excellent! Huge portions, very authentic Italian food and great atmosphere.. Had a nice enjoyable dinner and headed back to the hotel. It was 9:00 and the guys all hit the Casino, but the girls headed up to their rooms to get to bed.. I figured I'd be too keyed up to sleep, but I slept like a log.. That was the end of the 'fun, enjoyable weekend' I mentioned earlier!!

Woke up at 4:45 Sunday and headed straight for the window.. It had already started raining and the wind was blowing. Well, it doesn't look too bad I thought, and started getting dressed.. looked out again and decided I couldn't really tell what it was doing outside from that high up and on the dark river side, so I went out into the hall, down to the elevator area and looked out the other side of the hotel. where it was light up from street lights... Ike had arrived. It was pouring and blowing like nothing I had ever seen before! The nerves hit again and I wondered how I was going to get through 26.2 miles of that?? I decided this still wasn't close enough to the action so I went downstairs, and outside to get a bird's eye view. That just depressed me and I didn't want to see anymore so I went upstairs to finish getting ready.. ate my oatmeal and raisins, drank some water, got my fuel belt on, Ipod and Garmin and away I went.. Kevin was up by that time; he wished me luck and said he felt really bad for us having to run in that mess outside! Gave me the 'ol 'You didn't train the last 5 months for nothing' pep talk, and away I went out the door. 5 garbage bags in hand..

The girls were downstairs already sporting their lovely black plastic attire.. I put mine on, left the others on a table for whoever needed them, and we climbed onto the bus.. the bus had pulled right up under the big awning so we were still dry at this point. On the way over to the start, we looked out the windows and seriously wondered if they'd call the races off..but there wasn't any lightening so probably not.. Ok, so no lightening... Tornado?? Yea, a tornado would surely call off the race! Dang, no tornado either... The line into the Riverport parking lot was really backed up so it was quite a long wait to get off the bus.. The race was supposed to start at 6:45 but it was already 6:30 and still a line of cars were coming in so we figured they'd postpone it a little like they did last year.. Eventually the bus pulled up and let everyone off.. After getting over the shock of the cold rain and wind we went over to the bag drop, dropped off our bags and headed to the port a potties.. I took off the garbage bag and put on my rain jacket I brought.. zipped up, put the hood up but was still getting drenched.. We huddled together in the start area and decided that we were all getting a free derm abrasion treatment from the driving rain hitting our faces.. We would just look at each other and laugh because we were all thinking, what the hell are we doing??!!! We had to stand around about 10 minutes which normally would be nothing, but we were just wanting to GO.. get it done! We started, and thanks to the guy on the mike who from his car was cheering us on.. lots of whoo hoo's and 'hell yea's' were heard and I was amazed at everyone's enthusiasm in running the race despite the weather! kathy's boss told her to 'run fast and dodge the puddles'.. funny guy! Our shoes were squishing before we even started running so the puddles weren't going to make a difference at that point.. we were fighting the wind most of the way and sometimes you couldn't go forward because it held you back! At one point tho the wind was at our backs and that was great! It only lasted 2 miles tho and we turned back around and headed straight back into the wind.. so much for the break.. At the water stations you'd throw your cup down and the wind would throw it back at you, or they'd be flying around from being blown back up off the street.. the rain felt like ice pellets on your face and my neck hurt from keeping my head down so much.. the volunteers had these 'oh I feel for you' look on their faces..Lots and lots of encouragement from them along the way.. We kept on going and eventually you got a little used to the wind and rain...

At mile 9 I heard somebody say 'only a mile left' and I thought, Oh, that's just not funny!! But a little bit down the road I heard '.8 left '.. What??? Looking up, I realized where we were at.. we were headed down the hill that at the bottom turned to the right and took you to the 1/2 finish line.. but as we turned the corner the road was blocked with tape and they were yelling out 'everybody finishes just up ahead, it's been cut short at 10 miles'... WHAT??!! NO Freaking way!! I thought the weather was actually getting a little better! Why quit now?? Then I heard: 'Marathoners - the katy trail is under water'.. OH Great!

I saw a few people ducking under the tape before their chip crossed over the finish line. Apparantly they were marathoners not quite ready to throw in the towel yet.. I too stepped out at the last second and started running back the way I came.... I wasn't ready to quit yet either.. where would I run tho?? Follow the course?? What if I get back a few miles and they are shutting down the course?? I don't know St. Charles at all!! My heart said keeping going, but my head won and told me I better stop.. I had rememered that Quad Cities was in two weeks (at least I was about 90% sure) so I decided to register for Quad Cities!

Patti and Kathy came in soon after me and she spotted Don so Patti and I went to pick up our bags.. the park was pretty much under water and a muddy mess!! So we sloshed our way to the tent to get our bags, sloshed our way out of the park to dry (sort of) land and headed to the hotel.. Kathy was already there and she and the guys were waiting for us under the awning.. we then headed up to the room to get a shower.. my Mom, sister and Kaiden were on their way and would be getting to the hotel soon.. I felt really bad that they got up so early to drive down and watch the finish.!

So my first try at a marathon wasn't to be, but I gave it my best shot, everybody gave it their best shot! Like I said, we didn't feel defeated at all.. in fact, I think we're all feeling pretty good right now that we even had the guts to get out their and run at all!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6774000

The ticker is at 0 miles to go!!!

My little running gal up top in the ticker is finally at 449!!!..... and I thought she'd never get there!!
The training runs are done and wow that's a great feeling! Got the very last 2 miles in this morning.. ! Oh yeah!!

An email from Kathy

Kathy emailed me to make sure I saw the Runner's World article 'Marathon Countdown'.. I haven't had a chance to read it yet but she says it's got all kinds of good information in it.. including tapering, more accurately surviving the taper!, and carb loading.. I briefly skimmed it but will thoroughly devour the article tonight at football practice.. sounds like just the article I need to read right now!! thanks girlfriend!

3 fast miles

Brrrrrrrr.... wanted to try out my new outfit I bought for the marathon so I went out in a tank and shorts this morning...... Brrrrrrrrrr!!!..

Haven't been wearing my Garmin lately so I didn't have to wait to get a satellite, so I was able to just take off without standing around....and I was hauling some 'arse' to get this run done!! Didn't have the Garmin on but my watch said around 27.5 minutes....... That's if I went the full 3 miles.. pretty sure I did... can't do almost 5 months worth of training on the same streets 3 days a week and not know where each mile is!! It was really cold and I never even got warmed up..

So I'm down to one more run !! Funny how I've come full circle with my whole attitude about running. Right around the taper began I was pretty burned out from running! Was way ready for a break.. even put in a bad mood a couple of times!! .. last week I was back to enjoying running and loving the lower miles.. but NOW the miles are waaaay low and I'm worried I'm loosing what I had and I want so badly to run higher miles to stay on top of it!!

I was talking to Kellie yesterday and she assured me not to worry! She did Chicago a few years ago and was feeling the same way her last week... I've got to run or I won't make it all 26.2!!! She said I'll be surprised how you don't loose anything and how good you'll feel out there after the rest... and with the whole race atmosphere and adrenaline pumping, I'll be fine.. OK girlfriend, I'm counting on it!! :-) In fact, all my friends have been very encouraging and supportive.. You guys don't know how much that helps!! And Kevin has been soo supportive! He was always there to talk to after a lousy run, always picked me up if I was down, the numerous massages, :-) even getting out with me on those long runs! Not only did that help me but it helped him as well! He's still going strong with the long runs and did 9 miles Saturday! I foresee a 1/2 marathon in his future!

So I must keep telling myself to relax and enjoy the rest.. Sunday will be here before you know it!!

LAST long run

Well that was the last Saturday run of training!! Met everyone at Panera at 7:00 and we did the last run.. 8 miles. Funny how 8 doesn't seem so long any more!! Patti., Kathy and Kathy were scheduled for 6 for their last Saturday run so I put an extra 2 in after we got back to Panera.
Meeting at 7:00 was great because we all felt like we got to sleep in a little bit!!

The weather was perfect..nice a cool and sunny! I hear the forecast for next Sunday is supposed to be nice too!! woo hoo! Let's hope it doesn't change!!

The 8 felt good but I was telling the girls that I feel like I need to be running more so I don't loose what I had!! It feels really strange to take a whole 2 weeks to taper. I know it is the time that my muscles are rebuilding and that I need this rest time to be stronger on race day... but it still worries me that I'll loose what I had built up, mileage wise.. But I'll follow the rules, as hard as it is, and only run what the schedule says which this week is 3 miles Tuesday and a whopping 2 miles Wednesday and that is IT! I'm going to go stir crazy!!! Hmm.. I know, I'll put all that pent up energy into race day, right?? Ha! We'll see!! At least that's the way it's supposed to work, right??

Kathy asked if the nerves have set in yet and yes, they definitely have!! 1 more week!!

Gotta run, our friends down the street are having us down to grill out dinner and to celebrate the end of my marathon training!! That is so nice of them! They've been following my training all summer and have now decided it's time to celebrate the end of 19 weeks! And I can't agree more!

3 short miles

On tap today was 3 short miles... good run, but it was over before I knew it!

4 miles

I was already awake when the alarm went off so no snooze button for me this morning... Got dressed, grabbed the Ipod and at the last second decided to grab some water.. Immediately after stepping outside I was glad I had it with me! It was really muggy and sticky out! Oh and extremely buggy too! I had to make sure I was only breathing through my nose under every street light because they were all over.. what's up with that, anyway? Kevin and Kaiden walked down the street late yesterday evening (to hunt for his turtle that escaped his pen!) and he said they were bad then too..

I have decided not to where my Garmin again until the marathon because after Saturday's 12, the bone on the side of my wrist was swollen 3 times it's size. The Garmin sometimes moves a little, just enough to hit that bone and over time, it gets pretty sore. It's much better but since I know my 4, 3 and 2 mile neighborhood routes, which is all I have left, I don't need it..

Had a good 4 mile run and what a difference a week makes! Last week I was burnt out, this week I'm ready to run and counting down the days to next Sunday!!

12 miles on a beautiful morning!

The house is empty so I've got a few minutes to get online! Met everybody (Kathy, Patti, Kathy) at Panera to do the FitClub south and back route.. Jill was meeting us up at the wabash trail head up off of Wabash ave where the water is usually sat out. She had lots of things going on today and needed to get a little bit shorter run in.

It was a beautiful, cool morning and quite the change from last Saturday!! We met at 6:00 and it was just us there to start out, but when we were headed back from FitClub and stopped at the water stop on the trailhead, there were lots of familiar faces who were running 8 today. They were abe amblers who are keeping up the mileage to do Decatur in a few weeks. Mary, Penny, Nancy, lots of people! And as we turned off the trail and looked back, there were even more coming in! Kevin and Kaiden took to the trail out by us to do 7, as he's keeping up the mileage too.


12 felt really good this morning and I am enjoying the tapering.. just a couple more weeks!!


Got home last night and decided to take a good look at all my outside flowers ... thinking fall here.. to see if any maintenance needed to be done. A little early yet, but did get some dead heading and weeding taken care of. I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that one of the seculants in my big strawberry pot had bloomed! I noticed the stalk coming up a week or so ago, but didn't know it would bloom!! Took a couple of pictures:

Friday Football Fun

Last night the CCFL Chatham Titans had a football game against the Springfield Steelers out at Community Park; their first home game! The day started with Kaiden coming to me yesterday morning yelling "Mom! Mom! I get to wear my football jersey to school today!! Coach said!" For a split second I was back in high school on game day thinking how cool those guys looked in their jerseys! I couldn't wait to see him head off to school in his! Kevin, being a football player for Lanphier, thought it was neat too and told him how he got to do the same thing on game day..


We were to be out at the field by 5:00 so we had to hustle after school but we made it. They were just getting the concession stand open and the smell of freshly popped popcorn wafted through the air. They lit up the big score board and set the clock to count down to game time. 49:00. Plenty of time for setting up the field and getting the team warmed up. With 15 minutes left we were wondering where the Steelers were! Shouldn't they be here by now? Finally they started trickling onto the field and by game time it looked like their whole team had arrived. Hmmm.. no warming up? That's a little odd! Turns out they didn't need to warm up!

Kaiden plays a couple of different positions for offense. He's either a tight end, linebacker or, at least in practice, running back. Last night he was on the kicking team subbing for a team mate who was out of town. He played the entire first half for the kicking team and tight end. He was having a lot of fun out there and made his first tackle in a game! Yeah for him! The second half he rotated in for tight end. We ended up loosing the game (by a lot!) but that's alright.. Springfield teams have a reputation for being really good! And now our record is 1-1.

I was mostly taking video last night, but did take one picture. Kaiden is one of the red helmets!

grumpy 5 miles

You know you've been running a lot when having to get up to run some more makes you grumpy!! Oh yea, getting up out of bed for another run was not top on my list, but I knew it had to be done and it made me grumpy! By the time I got done and back home I was fine, but I AM getting tired of running.. probably because I've done 2 20 milers in a row with lots of mileage in between.. that's a lot of running! Only 12 (only?????) Saturday and then 8 the next so I'm sure I'll snap out of this 'tired of running' mood since the mileage is going down..

And just because I'm tired of running at the moment in know way whatsoever means I'm not looking forward to my 1st marathon! (Did I just say 1st?? hmmmm) That's what is getting me out the door on mornings like today! Just the thought of accomplishing something like that, crossing that finish line, after 19 weeks of training, with my 'cheering section' there at the end?? Words can't describe it!

ps. And I do really enjoy running, I swear!

4 miles...

4 miles checked off the schedule this morning.. nice run at a 10:13 pace. And that's all I have to say about that! :-)

cold 5 mile run

Sure does seem like Fall is in the air! Didn't even think about putting a tank on this morning, went straight for a T-shirt.. and I'm glad I did! It felt great tho and with the slight wind, it seemed just like an October morning.. only thing missing was the rustling of dried leaves.

So another 5 mile run is done.. have I mentioned how much Hal Higdon loves 5 miles runs? Oh yeah, I did last week when I had to do 3 of them in a row... But I'm just about to the end of them(yes!!!) .. tomorrow is 4 tho then another 5 Thursday. Next week is 4,3 and 4..

People have been starting to ask me if I'm getting tired of running.. And I answer with an astounding YES! 2.5 weeks can't get here fast enough!!! I'm ready and I want to get it done. I never have been very patient...

Loved this......

This was part of an email from Chris. Thought it was well worth sharing:

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

BIB #2433

Checked the website to find out my Bib Number.. 2433

The end of the long runs!!

WOW! It's done! The long runs are finished and it's time to cut back. Those 17 weeks really, really went by fast. Am I glad?? Ohhhhhhhh yeah!!!!

Met the 'girls', Kathy, Patti and Kathy at IDOT at 6:00 a.m. to run the trail.. They had another long run to do to get ready for Lewis and Clark and I had my last long run. Kevin was going to meet me later to finish up what I had to do and get in a nice long run himself.. Kaiden was going to a 10:00 birthday party at MidState Gymnastics for our neighbors' sons birthday and they offered to take him with them, so Kevin dropped him off early and headed to IDOT about 8:00.

10 miles on a bike is too much to ask of the little guy and this Birthday party thing worked out perfectly!!

The 'girls' and I ran to Rochester and back for about 10.5 miles and had a pretty decent run. Early on it wasn't too warm out yet and the shade from the trees on the trail helped, although there was absolutely no breeze at all from being surrounded by trees and that wasn't good! When we'd hit a little clearing we could feel the breeze but it wasn't very often at all.. We managed and got the 10.5 done.. good job ladies!!

Next up was Kevin and he ran 9.5 with me! I did another 20 total and he ran his longest ever, 9.5! He's working his way up to that spring half marathon, I'm tellin' ya! It was really hot and humid and without any breeze under that canapy of trees it was stiffling. Thick air, no breeze, hot! yikes!! Very very hard... we were totally drenched with sweat.. We took a couple of walk breaks (I needed them more than him!) and we got the 9.5/20 done! My pace for all 20 was between 10:00 - 10:40, which I'm very happy with.. Especially considering the humidty in that trail..

So no more long runs, and the marathon is in three weeks. The big question is, am I ready??

And I think I am! I can never be sure how any run is going to go, but based on my 'crazy long' runs recently I'm as ready as I'm going to get, and feel fairly confident. I've done 2o twice, so I feel good about getting two under my belt. It's that last 6 that scares me!! But with the crowd and being caught up in the atmosphere of the whole thing, hopefully that will be enough to carry me those last 6!!

My beer is getting warm!..........................

good 5 miles

Went out this morning and did another 5 miles.. Hal Higdon sure does love 5 mile training runs!! I've had more 5 mile runs than any other distance... Last week as three 5 miles runs with 20 Saturday and since I added a 22 mile week, I stuck with the 5 mile runs.. only got 2 in this week tho..

It was raining a little when I headed out but it felt good.. and it was dark for almost the entire run and even at 6:00 when I was done it was completely light out.. sad to say but the days are getting shorter.. I love Fall but not sure I'm ready to give up summer yet!

Had a good run at a 10:09 pace so I think the inhaler is working.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6566138

Ready to run again..

So I went to the Doctor yesterday to see why I've had this tickle in my lungs and a cough since I got done running 20 miles Saturday. During the whole entire run I couldn't get my breathing under control. I was practically gasping for air. Usually it takes me a mile or two to settle into a steady breathing but not Saturday. Afterwards I started to blame it on dehydration from too many margarita's Thursday night, but when the cough started, I knew something else was up..

I didn't stop coughing until Monday night but still have a tickle in my lungs. Well I told myself I'm to close now to just wait it out plus having once been told I have mild asthma, I thought I better go get it checked out. He agreed that we need to take care of it and set me up on Advair (an inhaler) and have had 3 doses of it. So far it's working great and the tickle is almost completely gone..

I'm running today at lunch for the first time since Saturday and hopefully it will go OK...

UPDATE:

and it did go OK... Did the scheduled 5 miles at lunch.. I had to stop a few times at stoplights and at the first stop I started coughing.. great, here we go.. I thought, but the rest of the time I didn't.. that's a good sign.. I went slow to sort of 'test the waters' and I felt alright...
tomorrow a.m. is another 5 then 22 Saturday. That will be the real test!!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6560912

Abe's Amble - a great day for PR's

Yesterday was the annual Abe's Amble 10K at the FairGrounds and it was a perfect day for a race. Cool, almost chilly in fact, with NO humidity. For Abe's, it can't get better than that!!! Kevin trained all summer with the Abe's Army with Joy and Ali as their main leaders. They'd trained between an 8:00 and a 9:00 pace depending on the distance so he was shooting for somewhere between that.


He headed out early and Kaiden and I left about an hour later and went to Lincoln Park to watch and cheer everyone on. We got their about 10 minutes before the start of the race and Kaiden was occupying himself by having me time him in little 'mini races'... He was anxious to see his Dad run by so the 'races' took care of that!






Before long the lead police car came in to the park and we started cheering everyone on.. I was a little suprised that there wasn't more people in the park, but we tried to make up for it! There was so many people that we almost missed Kevin! He saw us first, in fact. Kathy Patti and Kathy ran by in a group and they looked great! Chris and Kellie were walk/run leaders so we waited for them to go by and then Kaiden and I headed over to the finish line in the Fairgrounds.




We missed the top two or three finishers but saw everyone else.. Kevin did awesome! His time was 52:14 for a 8:26 pace. YEAH for him! In fact, everyone did great yesterday.. Kathy Patti Kathy and Jill all had PR's.. Kathy F coming in first at 1:00:00 even, and Jill did awesome too coming in shortly after that at 1:00:41and shaving 9 minutes off from last year!! AWESOME!! Patti and Kathy H. PR'd too with 1:03 and 1:04.. Everyone I talked to had a PR!! Definitely the weather helped with that!! Way to go guys!!







Kevin asked me Saturday night if I felt I was missing out not doing Abe's this year and at the time (just hours after my 20 mile run) I said NO!!!!!!!!!!! But once Sunday morning came and I watched my friends go by in a group, I thought, ya know, I do miss being out there! Next year!!

20 miles

Well it's done. It wasn't a very good run at all, but my 20 miler is done. Did some walking after about 15 miles and ended with a 10:50 pace. It was just not in the cards today.. you have good runs, you have bad runs. Today wasn't exactly a good run. Just didn't have any energy after about 15.. I could start a list of excuses but when people go on and on with their list of 'excuses' I always end up tuning them out.... So no excuses for me. It says it all in the title of my blog, and today was a 'LOW'.

BUT on the bright side I have 22 miles next week to redeem myself!! I know the couple of mistakes I made this week in preperation and I know not to make them again next week!!

creepy 5 mile run

OK so for the first time I was creeped out on my run this morning. I guess because not only was pitch black out, but everything just looked.. well, creepy. No sign of the sun off in the horizon at all this morning.. Alright, I can deal with that..the street lights usually help with that anyway. Well a street light was out on the only street in the neighborhood where they are still finishing up building two houses. The houses are on the left and an empty, small field is on the right. Someone decided to store a huge backhoe in the empty field and a couple of tractors on the other side of the street. In the dark w/ no lights at all it just looked creepy... And I remembered the drunk homeless guy who stumbled out of a house under construction last summer as I was running by.. nice..

I turned the corner and in the middle of the street running straight toward me was a good size deer!! And given that he was running toward me and just a few feet away, he was way too close for comfort.. I stopped, he veered off and ran into someone's backyard and disappeared and I regained my composure and took off running again... Beautiful deer in the daylight slightly off in the distance is great... in the dark running toward you? Not so much!

Next as I was crossing north cotton hill to go into the other subdivision, a guy out of nowhere came up and started running right behind me.. I caught him out of the corner of my eye just as he turning off of nch as a I was crossing over.. it was still dark and I couldn't tell if he was the guy I always see out running, or what. This guy had a reflective vest on and the usual guy doesn't.. I speed up a little and made the first left I could and watched behind me.. he kept going straight. good! About this time I could hear Kevin in my head: " I keep telling you not to run in the dark!!"

Finally the sun was up a little to lighten things up a bit and the rest of the run was fine except for the hawk that swooped down over me, within a few feet of my head, to catch something.. no big deal I suppose, but given the run so far, it was fitting.

Got the 5 miles done and was quite relieved to be back home after a creepy run like that!

A change of pace

Another week of triple 5 mile days.. AND next week too. So what do you do when you're really bored with your 5 mile route and you have to do it again this morning?? You sleep in and run a completely different route on your lunch hour!!

Brought in all my gear to work (minus the fuel belt), changed in the bathroom lounge and headed out. Went straight up Edwards to Feldkamp, into Washington park, made a loop around the park, back out on Feldkamp and back to work. Exactly 5 miles. Nice change of scenery and some nice hills for a change.

Tomorrow I'll probably do my usual 5 mile route but this was a nice change of pace..

I think we have everything ready to go for Lewis & Clark.. We all have reservations at the same hotel, all are registered for the race, and as of today I made us dinner reservations on The Hill in St. Louis for Saturday night. My friends let me pick the restaurant since it's my 'marathon debut' (as Kathy put it !) .. turns out she's been to the same restaurant and said it was good!! yeah.. picking one restaurant out of about 30 is kinda tricky!!

I can't believe 4 weeks from Sunday is marathon day!! It's kind of hard to believe that 14 weeks has gone by that quickly!! 14 down 4 more to go.. and 2 more crazy long runs. WOW.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6510091

I LUV this weather!

This weather is perfect for running!! I absolutely love it.. you can almost feel fall in the air....
Had 5 miles scheduled today so out I went about 5:00 am and got it done... with my Ipod jammin away the miles seemed to go by quickly.. The miles passed quickly but it was a slow run because my legs weren't totally recovered from Sunday.. I figured as much.

This week I'm stopping the weight workouts. I had been going about once a week (sometimes I blogged it, most times not) but since I'm only 4 1/2 weeks out it's time to quit. And here's a loud YEAH!!!!!!!! to that!! I loath weight training.. always have, always will. I'm sure at some point this winter I'll get back to it but I definitely need a break...

The big huge 20 miler this weekend is staring me in the face and it looks pretty scary!! We'll see!

12 miles

I was on my own today because everyone either was out of town or had other things going, or ran Friday.... the plan was to run Sunday because of Patti's party Friday night, but as it got closer things didn't quite work out..

Sooo, I headed out for 6, came back and got Kevin and Kaiden and did another 6 miles.. And it was the fastest 12 miles I've ever ran in my life!! Why???? I have no idea....... the first 6 was sub 10:00 for all but 2 miles and then when I ran with Kevin he pushed me even more and ended with a 9:49 avg pace !!! I did't go out intending to see how fast I could run 12 miles.. that wouldn't be too smart, given it's a long run.. but I was feeling good and just went with it... I could say it was my new shoes.. another pair of my trusted Asics, or maybe the cool weather, but whatever it was I can only hope it returns for marathon day!!



http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6480675

Lots of good things....

Number one on my list of good things is that my sister reserved her flight home for the marathon the other day! Yea!! I am so excited about that!! It's been waay to long since I've seen her but she said she 'wouldn't miss my first marathon for anything!" How cool will it be to have my whole family (Husband, Son, Mother and Sister) AND all my friends there at the finish line??!!! Very!!

Second on my list of good things today was that Kevin totally smashed his Parade Run record last night by almost a full minute!! 14:42!! That's a 7:21 mile and a PR!! Way to go Kevin! Saw lot's of familiar faces running last night, Bill, Chuck, Blake, Jill, Libby, etc... Jon ran too, but I missed him... What a perfect night for a race! Hey Jill, how'd you do last night?? Looked like you were running a good pace!!

Third is that I snagged up Kevin's 25% off coupon at the Running Center! Everyone who ran the parade run received one in their packets.....Of course I asked him and he said 'sure'.... That means I'm getting new shoes today! I've heard more than once, and Chris at the running center advised me too that I need a fresh pair of shoes 4-6 weeks out from the marathon.. Now a good pair of running shoes are supposed to last 500 miles, but with putting way over 400 miles on them (460 to be exact!) with training, why run your marathon on an almost worn out pair of shoes!?! That's how Chris explained it and it does make perfect sense! And since I'm 5 weeks out AND have that 25% off discount, todays the day!! And to think that I almost went yesterday!! I got hung up tho on another errand and ran out of time!! I'll test them out Sunday morning during my 12 miles with Kathy and Patti... why Sunday?? That leads me to my.......

Fourth good thing about today is that it is Patti's '20th Anniversary of her 30th Birthday' and she is having a big party tonight.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATTI!! So we are holding off the run until Sunday so we can all relax and have fun tonight!!

And finally, it's FRIDAY which is always a good thing!

5 miles AGAIN

Another 5 miles around the neighborhood.. I think I need a new route.. should have headed out onto Toronto, but didn't.. I really wasn't into it this morning.. didn't feel like getting up, didn't feel like running the same old route, just didn't feel it.. period.

BUT I got my butt out there and did it.. I really zoned out and let my mind go.. thought about everything except running.. didn't care about pace, drinking water, gu-ing.. nothing... just ran. And that was nice! Felt the way I ran before training started and it was nice!!

1 runner, 1 dog walker and 8 rabbits later, the 5 miles was done and I was back home..

Pace? who cares!

Outside again for 7

The heat broke so I got outside again today for 7 miles.. so much better than the boring treadmill !!! Got out there late so I had to cut off the last mile. Was supposed to be 8 today.. But that's OK a mile won't hurt..

It was pretty nice outside.. not too humid. Switched up the Ipod quite a bit over the weekend so I was enjoying the new songs this morning.... hopefully it will hold me until after the marathon... it should.. hmm... not much else to say about the run.... "That's all I have to say about that"

Today starts the decline in weekly mileage.. during the week that is. They are all 5 and under now..plus 2 more crazy runs.. 20 and 22 miles. 5 more weeks to go!! That light at the end of that tunnel is getting a little brighter..

19 miles DONE!!!

Wow.. I actually ran 19 miles yesterday! 13 weekls ago I never would have believed it! It took over 3 hours and a tour of Springfield, but it's done!!

I had to make other plans for running since it wasn't going to work out this week running with Kathy and Patti... (Late night to the Cards game Friday night).. they were going to go later but after my miserable run in the heat last weekend, I really needed to get out at 6:00 a.m and Kaiden's very first football practice started at 10:00 so I wanted to be done so I could go watch..

Pam Enno and Kim Noonan had organized an 18 mile run starting at 6:00 from Panera.. perfect!! I knew they'd blow me away, but figured as long as I could at least see them in the distance I'd be fine. There were water stops at 3 parks and thought maybe I'd catch them at the parks.. Tim Mu, Carl Benton and a guy also training for Lewis & Clark were also there.

So we started out and sure enough they pulled away around the end of the first mile... all but Carl who had commented he was just out for a easy run and didn't really 'have' to run 18 today.. (I for one can't imagine getting up to run 18 when I didn't 'have' too!!) But that is what makes Carl the runner he is.. anyway he hung back with me and boy was I glad! I figured at the first water stop (Bunn Park) he'd go ahead and run with the other group since we had them in our sights all the way there and would definitely catch them in Bunn, but he ended up staying with me the entire way!! Now how nice is that??? Probably felt sorry for the slow one getting left in the dust!! hahaha.. He was a big help getting me through the 19 and I appreciate it!! Even making sure I drank enough along the way... way more than I usually do, and I think that really helped me today.. sometimes when you're out there into the 'teens' mileage it's too much energy to grab that bottle off the belt, open it , drink and fumble to get it back in the belt, but I learned how important it is yesterday.. and how it helped.. But Carl kept me drinking, even during the last mile!

Saw Jill along the way!! We crossed right in front of her SUV at a side street and she honked and waved.. Hey Jill !

So here we were running through Springfield trying to get 19 in.. went from Panera to Bunn Park up to Lincoln park to Washington Park back to Panera.. Carl and I added on another mile so I could get my 19 in and again, boy was I glad he was there.. I really struggled that last mile or so and he talked me through it.. Thanks Carl!

We definitely took a tour of springfield.. didn't like running on all those sidewalks tho, plus we had more than a few hills to deal with!!! And you can imagine the traffic on Iles from Chatham Rd up to White Oaks drive on a Saturday morning.. stop, wait, go.. stop, wait, go..

When we finally got back to Panera's there were a couple others still there who had just gotten back from a long run they started a little earlier in the morning.. They are all training for Chicago.. so we got a picture of all those who are training for a marathon..

It is soo true how much running is not only a physical thing, but also a mental thing.. like Carl was saying yesterday.. you can either talk yourself down, OR tell yourself you can do it... and for me, how loooong that last mile or so seems.. like the last few long runs.. when I did 15, the 13th and 14th mile were hard.. when I did 17, 13 and 14 were ok, but 16 + was hard.. same with 18 and yesterday with 19, 15-17 were fine.. (well, I wouldn't exactly call them easy) but do-able.. why is that? That the last mile are so are the hardest for me.. definitely all mental with me..

I felt really good and maintained a pretty good pace the whole way until that last mile or so.. very hard!! I had a 10:34 pace for all 19 ..I was extremely happy with that, overall !!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6419008

3rd and final 5 miler for the week

You know you need a new route when you don't have to look at the Garmin to know what mileage you're at... guess those things happen when you run the same route 3 days in a row..

Third and final 5 miler this morning. A little foggy but not bad... 6 rabbits, 1 deer, 2 walkers, 1 dog walker and 1 other jogger. Gotta have something to pass the time.. my ipod music needs adjustments also.. that will be taken care of very soon...

About 10:12 pace this morning and now it's rest time until 19 crazy miles Saturday... We're doing the Lost Bridge Trail so hopefully that means shade..

Another 5 miles

2nd 5 miler of the week. One more to go tomorrow. Why 5 in a row? Who knows but that's what the schedule says so I'm sticking to it.

Didn't know why it was staying dark so late until I got outside and noticed the purple/blue dark sky. Incoming storm?? Couldn't tell until it got a little lighter, and yep, if not a storm, at least some rain. Started to sprinkle about 1/2 way through my run and I hoped I'd make it back before it started raining hard. And I barely made it.

Today was at 'marathon pace' which ended up being 10:14. Slightly faster than my (hopefully) actual marathon pace but that's alright.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6380633

Good 5 mile Tempo Run

This morning I got out and did my scheduled Tempo run. I was doing these on Wednesdays but they are Tuesdays now since I'm done with speedwork. Well, at least until after the marathon. One goal at a time...

So I headed out at 5:00 a.m. and the air was heavy and thick. Not too hot yet, but it was pretty humid already. It was a very quiet morning except for a cardinal in our tree that wasn't happy that I was out there. Started out wondering how the thick air would affect me but I felt good and did the 5 miles at a 9:47 pace. That felt good!

I've got triple 5 milers this week and then 19 on Saturday..

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6380633

Just catching up

What a whirlwind 4 day weekend that was!!

I was trying to remember if I even ran Thursday morning or not, after the sizzling mile, and I realized that yes I did, but forgot to blog it (too busy blogging about the sizzling mile!). Oh well.. If I couldn't even remember if I ran it probably wasn't a very exciting run anyway.. they all seem to be blending together these days anyway.. I've had a few people tell me recently that they are amazed that I've stuck to the training thus far......funny they should say that... just when I feel my focus wavering, I get those comments and the 'good job, way to go' comments that sort of snap me back on track.. yeah, for those!

Later Thursday I headed out to Knights because I volunteered to chaperon the summer camps trip to Knights Action Park.. it rained, it was cold, it was not a good day for Knights, but the kids didn't seem to mind.. as long as you stayed in the water you were fine.. if you got out, brrrrr...

Friday we headed down to Six Flags for the day and it was a lot of fun! Promised Kaiden right after school was out that we'd take him since he did so well in school, but the next thing you know it's 3 weeks before school starts and we hadn't been yet! Walking all day didn't feel bad at the time, but trying to run Saturday morning was hard.. the Six Flags thing definitely caught up with me.. probably should have just waited until Sunday to run, but who knew?? Plus I was alone which is always more difficult. There was an organized Abe's Amble run that morning that everyone was wanting to do but I opted out. They are all doing Abe's in August, I'm not. Got my 20 miler the day before. But I'll be out there to cheer them on!!!

One of my best friends from high school, Allison is in town from Atlanta so she, Jill and I went out to dinner last night! Jill lives here in town but I haven't been able to see her much lately so it was nice to get caught back up. Last night was 'no kids' but we're taking them to the park Tuesday night before Allison heads back home Wednesday.

And so it's back to early morning runs starting tomorrow... 6 weeks and counting. Wonder if my sister got her ticket home yet?!

A real HOT one today! 13 miles

Wow!! That was about as hot as it's been this early in the morning!! I definitely didn't get out early enough to beat the heat.. and with walking around all day yesterday at Six Flags, well the combination didn't quite work well...

So I thought I'd sleep in a little to be well rested and then head out for my run. I could tell right off that it wasn't going to be a very good run. Legs still feeling the effects of yesterday, and the heat!! OMG.. 7:30 and it was already a scorcher.. did a lot of the 13 but did not finish the full thing that is for sure..

so better luck next week w/ 19!!

The Sizzling Mile

Last night Kevin and I ran the Sizzling Mile here in Springfield.. The weather was perfect, there were a lot of people and it is always a good time! Libby and Jon ran it too, and Jill came out of watch..

Kim from SHS track workouts was there and we were in the same heat Women's 7:00 - 9:30. That was cool.. Kevin was in the mens 6:00 - 7:00.

First heat was kids under 12.. we couldn't believe these kids!! The winner came in under 7:00 if I remember right.. she looked to be about 10 yrs old too! There were a couple of adorable little 'tots' out there too.. like 3 or 4 yrs old.. too cute. Kaiden said he wants to do it next year.. Next up was Libby's heat.. she did great! Talk about a kick in the end! woo hoo

Next was my heat. Started out at a pretty good pace.. 2:03 for the first lap but each lap was a couple of seconds slower and ended w/ a 8:23.. not my 8:00 goal but I had pretty much written that off a couple of weeks ago due to my performances at the track in the heat lately.. But it's a PR and 17 or so seconds off last years time so how can I complain?? Chuck and Kevin were in the same Heat and they both did awesome.. Chuck was around 6:30??? The results aren't posted yet so i'm not sure.. Kevin had a PR!! Was hoping for under 7:00 (6:59 last year) and did 6:51 !! yeah for him!!

The last two heats, 5:00 - 6:00 and then sub 5:00 are sooo cool to watch.. They had a new SM record last night! 4:3x?? Again, results not up yet and I'm not sure. BUT can you imagine that?? NOPE! Not me! Why isn't this guy in Beijing right now?? ha

All the guys from the track workouts did outstanding! Gregg overtook Bill w/ about 150 m to go followed by Eric.. they are amazing to watch too!

5 cool miles

The rain and the coldfront that came in sure did things cool things off nicely! It was nice and cool this morning and such a nice change from all the humidity! Now if it can just stay this way!

Did 5 rather slow miles this morning but I wasn't pushing it.. saving it for the Sizzling Mile tomorrow night.. however my 'it' probably won't be much! Kevin's abe's group is cutting it back tonight too because of the mile. It helps when your leader is the fastest girl running the mile and she wants to do good too!

I realized that last week was my highest mileage week of the whole training! 36 miles in a week. It starts decreasing from here. Saturdays runs are still increasing but the mileage during the week decreases slightly.. only by a mile, but it's a decrease! Is that a light I see at the end of the tunnel??? It's an extremely weak light, but I think I see it!

LPGA

Yesterday Chris and Tony had their annual Shrimp Boil/LPGA Party and it was a lot of fun! Kellie, Patti, Chris and Kathy F were all there (and spouses) but Kathy H, we missed you! It's basically a very nice outdoor prty where you could walk the course and follow your favorite golfers(s) or just relax at the house and watch it all unfold on the TV that was set up outside, OR do what we did and basically hang at the house and chat! We did go out on the 17th hole to watch for a bit, but the excitement of the tournament was a little lacking since Wei's disqualification. That was such a shame! Of course it didn't spoil our festive mood any!

The highlight came around 5:00 when Tony's famous shimp boil was ready. It was sooo good. Shrimp, potatos, onions, asparagus, polish sausage and corn on the cob all boiled together in a huge pot, then dumped out for all to grab what they want with tongs. After a good dousing of lemon juice that is.. Delicious! Everyone brought something to share, so there was quite a smorgaboard!

Yes, we actually do wear something besides running attire! Who knew??

Thanks again Chris and Tony for being such gracious hosts!! Can't wait for next year!

Wooops..almost forgot! If you haven't tried the new Noodles place that opened up by White Oaks, you should! Sherri and I ate there for lunch today and it was very yummy.. lots of variety from Asian, American to Mediterranean pasta/noodle dishes to choose from! Now when does Chipoltes open??

18 good miles

I ran 18 miles this morning and I'm amazed.. amazed at the fact that I ran 18 miles!!! And amazed that it didn't feel all that bad! It's 4:00 in the afternoon, I'm awake, beer in hand and just chillin'!! Awake is the key word here!! Of course, check w/ me about 9:00.. I'm sure I'll be sawing logs!!

OK... here's how it went: Of course it is Saturday which these days is synonymous with rain so I checked email and no 'no running' emails were seen so I figured I better get out there and GO!
Dropped off water at about the 1/2 way point, came back and by then it was really raining pretty hard so I decided not to run to LLCC to meet up with the girls but too just drive there. Without runing, I'd have an extra twenty minutes at home to wait out the rain..And it worked!! 6:00 came and it was done raining.. Kathy H, Kathy F, Patti T and Jill R all were there this morning. They were doing 9 miles, the crazy one was doing 18.. OH, that would be me. It was good to have Jill back running w/ us. Hasn't been in a quite awhile but she's doing Abe's and is doing great!! You did great out there Jill !! And you look great too, by the way! :-)

It wasn't near as humid as last week, the sun was hidden behind a thick layer of clouds and we were all thankful for that! Everybody did good w/ the 9 miles! It was quite a jump up from the usual 6!! YEAH FOR YOU GUYS! Headed out into uncharted territory (all the way up 11th) and then all the way up North Cotton Hill almost to I55...We all agreed that was a very pretty area.... nice and woodsy!! Finished up the 9 miles w/ everybody, then headed back home which took an additional 2.5 miles..

Tag you're it! Kevin and Kaiden were ready to go when I got home so we headed right out for 6.5 more miles.. It rained a little on us a couple of times but it felt good and kept us cool. Finished 18 miles still standing and feeling pretty good.. tired, but good. Thankful that I did the 18 miles feeling good, and thankful that it was DONE!

Tried my lemonade Accelerade this morning and it wasy pretty yummy!! Now the GU is getting old. It just so sickening sweet and by my 3rd one this morning I was having a hard time getting it down... bleh. Brought a protein energy bar w/ me to try eating on my run, but didn't get to it and well, by 15 or so miles it would have taken waaaay to much energy to get it out of my back pocket and tear it open never mind attempting to actually bit and chew it.. Next week it's 12 miles so I'll try it then.

I took a couple of walk breaks so the overall pace on the Garmin said 11:02, but my avg running pace otherwise was probably right around 10:30, looking at all the laps.. I'll take that! My goal is 4:30 which is 10:18.. whether or not I make that.. I don't know.. just finishing it strong would be cool.

Tried out the new WigWam socks and I like them.. they did very nicely however I was one run to late. Thursday morning after I got back w/ my 5 miles, with cotton socks.. my bad! (So I'm saving the good ones for real long runs!!) I had a blister.. Dang!! Not a terribly bad one, but it's still a blister. Nursed it for 2 days and used a bandaid this morning and it was OK.. Maybe I should invest (those things are $10 each!!) in a few pairs so I can use them on every run... hmm.. I should probably consider that..

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day! Chris is having another LPGA party at her house and they are always fun... A little hot to be standing out on the course watching the golf, but that's OK.. the real party is back at the house anyway!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6292540

A good run, finally!

Finally a decent run. . Finally felt rested (first time in a long time!) and did 5 miles this morning.. 9:54 avg pace!! woo hoo! I felt good so I went for it. I'm LOL again here because I am happy w/ this pace! Guys (and girls) at the track whoup up on me.. but for me, it's a decent pace..
And considering my runs the last week or two, it's a much needed improvement. A boost you might say!

Man I am sick of orange Accelerade.. my stomach isn't liking it much either.. the berry is much better and sits better w/ me so I am going to stick w/ that. Slugged the orange down this morning but I prefer the berry..

Nice somewhat cool morning and again I was out before the sun came up.. lots of people out walking this morning.. and one biker. This time I saw 5 deer by a corn field... Kaiden wanted to go see them on the way to summer care but I assured him they'd be long gone.. In fact, they were already gone my second time past the corn field.. What beautiful creatures they are.. shame on you deer hunters!

My neighbor was out already this morning when I got back so I stopped to chat with her. She's got these really pretty flowers in front that I've been wanting to ask her what they are. Turns out they are Merlot Coneflowers.. gorgeous color!! Just what I need in front of the house behind my coreopsis... the purple salvia isn't very purple and it blends in too much w/ the house and you can't really see it from the street.. Merlot Coneflowers will work quite nicely there next Spring! Now where to put my salvia?? hmmmm...

Forgot to download the Garmin data but I'll do that tonight
Here is is:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6277808

6 slow miles and thoughts on training

I am glad speedwork is done because between that and weights Monday I wasn't fully recovered this morning when I headed out for what was supposed to be an 8 mile run. Tired and sore isn't the way to start out but I did and it showed... barely got 6 done at a 10:30 pace.. a few weeks ago I was right around 10:00.?????? Something definitely isn't right when you are regressing.. Time to rethink my training!

But it was a beautiful morning to run.. got out while it was still dark and about 20 minutes into the run the sun started coming up, slowing warming things up. I was out on Toronto Rd headed toward LLCC and there was a deer off in the grass between the sidewalk and a cornfield... kept looking back over her shoulder too, probably had a family waiting somewhere.. went up a little further and turned around and this time she was on the sidewalk.. my sidewalk! She just stared at me as I got closer and closer.. Ok missy, you gonna make me go around you?? Nope, she darted off just as I got w/in 10 feet of her..

Was talking yesterday at the track about training and consensus was that they take a day off after a hard speed workout. I haven't and I think it's catching up with me. Instead of getting stronger and faster I'm getting slower.. SOOOOO no more speedwork at noon in the hot sun..
I can still do sprints and various things during my (now) Tuesday morning runs.. It's always 4-5 miles so that will work out. Mondays will still be weights but I think that darn hard workout in the hot sun is dragging me down... the guys might be used to it, I'm not! And it's not even 24 hrs recovery.. only 18, before I'm up running again Wednesday a.m.. That can't be good, right??

M-Th workouts then long run on Saturdays is tough, and I knew it would be.. marathon training ain't easy, but I think taking out the hard Tuesday speedwork and going with just a morning run (like the schedule says) is the ticket. At least for me..

Funny that your body can tell you exactly what you need to know.. especially when training is having reverse effects!! But all's not lost... still on a pretty good pace for marathon day!!

More fun at the track...

Had a great crowd today for speedwork! Must have been about 18 there today. Mostly the usuals but a couple of young high school track kids were there gearing up for next Wednesday.. Funny how they can prepare a week out and be ready to go.. Kim, Pam, Lisa and Tracey were there too.

Eric took over responsibilities today as Bill is in Vegas and he definitely worked us hard. In prep for the sizzling mile next week he had us run a 400, recovery jog for 200, run 200, then recovery jog 100, then repeat that whole sequence 6 times.. No walking, just jog the shorter distances for recovery.

Another note to self about remembering to charge the Garmin so I don't have any times but I can tell you it was slow.. 17 miles Saturday, weights yesterday, 90+ outside... I didn't have too much energy left today. I was all out!

I managed 3 of the 6 repeats. So that is it for speedwork until next Wednesday.. I'll have to switch up my running schedule a little next week so I don't run 8 miles next Wednesday morning but that should be alright. Now I have to just decide to continue the weekly tuesday speedwork or not.. Bill says YES.. I'm leaning the other way!! We'll see.......

Oh yeah, Chris from the running center helped me out last night and I couldn't decide on one so I bought Balega's and Wigwam both.. can't wait to try one out Saturday! Got 18 miles to do!

Back to the weights

So after a 3 week hiatus, I hit the gym at lunch today for some strength training. My speed work tomorrow may suffer from it but I gotta get the weights in somehow..

Mostly concentrated on legs, but also did a variety of abs/core, back, arms and shoulders...

Hack Squats: 3 X 15 50pds
extensions: 3 X 15 20 pds
curls: 3 X 15 20 pds
squats w/ barbell 2 x 15 10 pds
walking lunges 3 X 30 10 pds
abductors 2 X 20 60 pds
adductors 2 X 20 60 pds
calf raises 3 X 15 12 pds

20 minutes abs/core

Biceps: standing bicep curl 3 X 15 12 pds/ hammer curls 3 X 15 12 pds
triceps: dips w/ bench 3 X 20 / lying dumbell overhead press 3 x 15 10 pds
back: seated cable row 2 X 15 20 pds / roman chair: 3 X 15
shoulders: side and front lateral raises # X 15 10 pds / dumbell overhead press: 3 x 15 10 pds
traps: upright cable row 2 X 15 20 pds

Headed to Springfield Running Center after work to get some better running socks.. plain cotton doesn't cut it with these long miles... don't want a blister and I've come close a couple of times now... must get rid of the cotton socks!!

17 HOT and MUGGY Tag Teamin' miles

With the storm that came through this mornng, and after a couple of phone calls, Kathy and I decided to meet at 8:00 on the trail to let the storm pass on by... I started out at 7:00 to do 4+ miles, meet Kathy on the trail for 6.5, then 'Tag you're it" Kevin and Kaiden met me at 9:00 to do the final 6.5 miles... It actually worked out fine and it's nice to know you have people who care if you're safe out there on the roads! Thanks guys!

Kathy and I could not believe how muggy it was... first really hot run of the season (for me anyway!) and I really hope it's the last! We trugged along and we did pretty decent! Kathy kept thinking she was slowing me down but Uh Uh, we were going at a good pace! We had to stop a couple of times for water to stay hydrated.. We got done and I still had 6.5 miles to go to get to 17... Next up, Kevin and KMan on his bike..

I stayed at the same pace Kathy and I did for a while but by the end I was starting to slow up.. way up.. Did the last mile at a 11:07 pace... and had a to stop a few times along the 6.5 miles..
That was a little frustrating! I guess it just shows what humidity does to me.. And oh yeah, ran out of accelerade 2 miles out and Kevin ran out of his H2O.. NOT a good thing... went straight up to the gas station for gaterade after we got done... AND I forgot to take my 2nd GU!! WTH??!!
Realized it somewhere in mile 15 so I took it but it was too late... How could I forgot that?? I haven't a clue!! All in all a 10:30 pace on hot day like this is alright, but it's sure not on race pace.. I can only hope for nice cool 50 degree weather like last year.. Please??

Mile l: 10:16 Mile 8: 10:20 Mile 15 10:44
Mile 2 10:15 Mile 9: 10:24 Mile 16 11:06
Mile 3: 10:14 Mile 10 10:24 Mile 17 11:07
Mile 4: 10:11 Mile 11 10:16
Mile 5 10:17 Mile 12 10:33
Mile 6: 11:18 (stopped) Mile 13 10:40
Mile 7: 10:12 Mile 14 10:31

The neighbors took the kids swimming today so Mom got a nap in this afternoon! That is always nice...especially considering we are going out tonight with friends.. wouldn't want to fall asleep at 9:00!!!

ps.. I can't believe I ran 17 miles today!!!!! Who would have believed that??

Speedwork

If you want to call it that.. slightly disappointing, I haven't been feeling up to par all week and have been really sluggish.. but pushing through anyway...

Skipped the workout at the track Tuesday at noon and have been feeling guilty about since. Decided last night to do some of my own speedwork while Kaiden had his swimming lessons. Checked Katie's blog and they did 3 X 5:00 repeats at the track last night, trying to cover the same distance every 5:00. OK, we'll go with that. Once again I lugged all my gear w/ me this morning.. minus the fuel belt..

I actually did 3 due to time constraints of swim lessons:

5:00 8:12 pace .61m
5:00 8:17 pace .60m
5:00 8:27 pace .58m

I took short walk breaks in between.. I was hoping for a little closer to an 8:00 pace but I guess it was OK..
Hopefully I'll be back up to par... even switched back to my old 'Active' vitamins yesterday.. switched to something different right before vaca and haven't liked the results.. I'll try anything!!!

Taking the rest of the afternoon off to get my hair cut, stock up on more Accelerade, and perhaps do some weights at the gym, depending.....

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6210384

Woops!! Dead battery on the Garmin !

Note to self: Make sure the Garmin's charged before heading out!!
So I slept an extra hour this morning and planned on running 8 miles at lunch. Spent forever last night packing my stuff complete w/ the fuel belt, Gu and a container of Accelerade. Planned an 8 mile route away from downtown and away I went.

I turned the garmin on and a little screen came up that said 'Battery Low'. Uh Oh. When was the last time I charge this anyway??? Last week sometime?? I hit the Enter button and it continued to find the satellite signal then came up to my usual screen and was ready to go. Hmm... wonder how much time I'll get out of this? Headed down Edwards and I soon found out. 1.1 miles. I heard the beep for 1 mile and the next thing I knew the screen was blank. Oh man! Ok... I mapped the route out so I know I'll get 8 miles, I just won't know my pace. fine..

It was hot and my route gave me virtually no shade... The only shade a got was a little bit on Durkin and some on west lawerence.. good thing I brought fluids w/ me! It was a nice enough route.. never have done it before but the sidewalks were awful on Edwards.. I ended up just running in the street... and then again on Lawerence.. can't run in the street there! Between dodging cracks in the sidewalk, going up and down curbs, and dodging limbs people pile up on the sidewalk instead of the easement(!!???) I thought Lawerence would never end! Kind of felt like an obstacle course!

But it did end and I was soon back at work.. I guess I looked pretty pathetic because the guard kind of chuckled when he saw me.. "A little hot out there??" he aksed.. Umm, YEAH!! Actually I could squeeze sweat out of my pony tail!! Nice, eh??

So I felt better today and managed to get my 8 miles done. I don't know what my pace was.. it felt about the same as usual except for on Lawerence.. the obstacle course..

Here's my whole 1 mile on the Garmin!
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6203363

And here's what I actually did:
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=226964

Sick? Allergies? Just worn out?

Not sure, but somethings' got me not feeling well today so I'm begrudgingly taking the day off from speedwork at the track. I am very bummed, but I can't afford to miss a weekend run. And I know how I am. If I push it while feeling this way, I'll just be worse tomorrow. So I'll force myself to rest today.
I need the speedwork, especially if I want that 8:00 mile in two weeks. But I have to remember that my absolute numero uno goal for this year is the marathon. NOT the sizzling mile. With that it mind today I will rest and get back at it tomorrow a.m. with an 8 mile run.

11 miles yesterday and half way there!!!

Who'd of thought that a 'cut back' week would be an 11 mile run????? Crazy in my book!!

With all the 'festivities' everyone participated in Friday and Saturday, the girls and I held off our run until Sunday morning... And we needed a nice long run after all that 'fun'... hee hee!!

Met Kathy, Patti, Kathy, and Carol (another halfwit) at FitClub West about 7:30 a.m. for 6.3 miles exactly!.. thanks to the USATF route maker and my handy Garmin!! I started at 6:40 and did 4.7 miles exactly.. again thanks to the USATF site... (sometimes it's a little off, depending on precise you are in making your route, but this time I hit it right on the nose...)

My 4.7 miles was good, a couple of big hills coming out of the subdivision onto Koke Mill and then going up Koke Mill but other than that it was pretty flat. Felt a little weighted down w/ 3 full bottles of Accelerade, a Gu, and my cell phone, but I managed.. The run was good, nothing out of the ordinary or anything like that.. EXCEPT that I'm half way through training!! YEAH!!! 9 weeks down, 9 more to go!

Got back right on time to meet everyone for 6.3 miles.. They are starting their half marathon training next week so as their mileage increases, I'll be able to run longer with them! Another Yeah!! They are definitely ready for an increase too...

As we were coming up to Golf Rd., Carol called her husband and asked him to bring water and Gatorade down and set it out on the corner.. When we got down Golf a few blocks, here he comes w/ the goods!! What service!!

Got the 'cutback' week of 11 miles done and not looking forward to 17 next week!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6176475

July 4th - 4 miles

Kevin, Kaiden and I went on a 4 mile run (Kaiden on his bike) this morning... I guess we knew the day was going to be full of eats and drinks soooo we figured we'd try and rev up our metabolism to get ready for the gluttony that lays ahead!! I blew off the 9 miler Kathy and I were supposed to do (she ended up going out of town) so I figured the extra run would do me good anyway...

It was a beautiful sunny and cool morning.... perfect running conditions.
Did 4 pretty fast miles at at 9:48 pace.. Kevin took off the last mile and left Kaiden and I in his dust so not sure exactly how he finished.. but a couple of minutes ahead of us at least...

Good run!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !!!!!!!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6176474

That's better !!

So after a pretty miserable run yesterday I thought I'd try to redeem myself this morning. I've been thinking that the usual route I've been doing is really getting old, but with the few wackos out there who make running alone dangerous, I've been sticking to the neighborhood anyway. It's amazing what being a Mom does to your so called 'invincible' life !!

Got up this morning thinking 'How could I shake my runs up a little??' I haven't ran a 5k since the Jingle Bell run last December, have been doing all this speed work, Kevin just did a 5K race at Abe's Tuesday night, so I thought, why not a 'mock' 5K run, plus .9 of a mile to get my full 4 miles in?? YES! By golly I think I have something here!! I was really curious how it would go and since I don't have any 5K's planned this summer, I thought why not?

Got ready to go, complete w/ 1 bottle of accelerade, and away I went. It was nice and cool out and not very windy which was perfect!! Ended up not drinking anything along the way but that's alright, didn't really want to fumble around w/ the bottle while trying this 5K thing.. My legs were actually cooperating this morning! Woo Hoo for that!

It went good and I ended my 5k at 29:48 for a 9:33 pace! That's almost a full 45 seconds off the Jingle Bell run!! YEAH!!! Did the next .9 mile a little slower to end the 4 miles for a total 9:39 pace. I think it's hillarious that I'm happy w/ a 9:33 pace considering it's still slow, but it's an improvement!

Got 11 miles to do this weekend w/ the girls and then it bumps up once again...

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6144898

7 miles of babysteps

UPDATE: I fixed the link to our vacation run

So this mornings run felt like I was taking baby steps instead of running. I could not get my legs stretched out for anything. They weren't sore, just tired I guess. Yesterday I was able to stretch my stride out pretty good, but not this morning.. teeny tiny steps was all I could muster. I know why.. the speedwork yesterday.

I did the 7 miles w/ a 10:10 pace which is alright, I guess, it just felt really weird running the way I did.. perhaps I'm now a member of the 'penguin runner' group... or perhaps I always have been!! Probably the later... ha

It was nice and cool which was great, but pretty windy which didn't help me any.. and the few 'hills' in the neighborhood (If you even can call them hills) felt more like mountains..
I guess I could say this mornings run SUCKED....

hit the weights.....hit the weights........hit the weights........hit the weights......hit the weights......

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6138112

Suicide Relays at the track..

And I guess they worked because I am D-E-A-D.. dead.

I was hoping for some short distance speed work today and when Bill said 'We're running some shorter speedwork today' I was thrilled! "We're doing Suicide Relays"...We're going to do 3 X 1 mile relays" What? That doesn't sound short!? "In 200 m increments".. Here's how it's done:
You and your partner take turns running 200 m with virtually no rest in between. One of you starts on one side of the track, the other one halfway around the track directly across from you. You have to run 200m, tag his hand, he takes off, then you cut through the middle of the track before he makes it back to where you started. Then you take off again for another 200m while he cuts across the middle. You keep this up for 1 mile. Take a short rest and then do the whole thing again 2 more times for a total of 3 miles.

There were 12 of us today so there were 6 teams. I was paired up with Phillip Ramirez.. And he is FAST.. The first mile of these I took the first 200m... Bill started the 6 of us off and away we went.. I ran as fast as I could, tagged his hand and had to run (not jog) across the middle to get back to the start before he got there! If I didn't really hustle across the middle he was waiting for me! That was the tough part of this.. the no rest in-between!.. Back and forth we did this and it was actually kinda fun.. Since I went first we got a slow start and came in last.. no surprise there!
I don't have a clue what we ran our mile in but 1st place was 4:54. I was sure I was going faster than my 2:00 a lap pace, but I don't know how much faster.

The next mile relay Bill said we're going to stager the start. Last place starts first. 2nd to last next, and so on. That meant Phillip and I were first to go, w/ Pam next. We decided to have Phillip run first to get us a good jump out in first.. And it actually worked for 3 laps around..we kept the lead.. then I died miserably.. so much for 1st place.

The last relay Bill decided to do a total of 800 m so that meant just 2 X 200 for me... I can do that I thought.. Same thing, staggered start and Phillip started us out first. He ran like I've never seen anyone run before.. tagged my hand and off I went.. first 200 was fast but the second 200m, not so much...

It was tough and I know why they call it 'suicide relays' for sure!

The Garmin is still trying to upload the data to my 'inbox' on Motionbased so I'll post the link as soon as it is finished.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6132315

The beach, the sun and a little training

We went to Emerald Isle, NC for a week and I'm ready to go back. Here's a couple of pics (out of a couple hundred!).



Our lazy days consisted of lounging at the beach and pool all day, dinners out, catching crabs on the beach after dark, a few side trips, and just enjoying being together, just the 3 of us, for 7 full days. One of our trips was taking an evening fishing charter out and catching 6 fish! Kaiden couldn't wait to go fishing and even drew a picture of himself fishing off a boat in the ocean the day before we left on vacation. So we made that a priority!

We decided we were going to go for at least one run so we rented Kaiden a bike so he could ride along side of Kevin and I while we ran. So early Tuesday morning Kevin convinced me to get off my comfy chair on our deck that overlooked the ocean, set down my coffee cup and go for a run..... ugh.. I was still recouping from 15 miles last Friday! But I did want to run at some point. Actually I wanted to run on the beach but forgot to pack my old shoes. And w/ Kaiden on his bike it probably would not have worked anyway. So we ran down Ocean Drive instead. While we did we checked out the other beach houses along the way. It was pretty hot and muggy and I needed to stop and walk for a bit about mile 4. We ran a little over 5 miles so I can say that yes I did keep the marathon training up even while on vacation!

Kevin ran a second time Thursday morning but I stayed put on my usual spot on the deck w/ my coffee and my view of the ocean waiting for Kaiden to get up. Exercise and vacation go together like oil and water in my book!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6122975


You can see our place on the map.... looks like I cut through the grass and driveways on the way back, but I really didn't!

And oh yea, first my Ipod, NOW my camera! Had it in the side pocket of our beach bag and went up our walkway to go in for lunch. They have a hose there to wash the sand off so I hosed off Kaiden, then me and handed it to Kevin. Bent down to pick up some of our toys and the hose was aiming right at the side pocket. Filled it up to the top w/ my camera inside. Grabbed it out as quick as I could but water poured out of it. Needless to say my camera was shot for a couple of days until it dried out but it's still not working right. Inside it's Ok, outside in the sun there's a bunch of lines that run across the picture. This happened Thursday so I resorted to a disposable camera for the last couple of days.. I get those back tomorrow so we'll see how they turn out. Of course I didn't buy the warranty (does anyone???) so I might be camera shopping again soon.

But now we're back home and back to the busy daily hum of our lives.. and I have speed work at the track tomorrow.. yikes