•Get more sleep. 5-6 hours per night over the long term isn't healthy. I pretty much spring out of bed each morning with a things to do list for the day just waiting to be tackled. I haven't improved on this. At all.
•Learn to say "no" when appropriate (especially to myself). Much as I'd like to, I can't do everything. (This goes hand in hand with my first resolution.) I've given up some "things" this year ... Fetzer 20K race directorship, RTC newsletter, church wedding coordinator. But I also took on a piece of the Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer Half Marathon (the food).
•Take a day off each week (or two) from exercise. This will be really tough. (This goes hand in hand with my second resolution.) I do this only under extreme duress (of the peer pressure or injury sort). Or an impending marathon.
•Not be such a packrat. I'm getting better and currently have started another "give away" pile.
•Try an Olympic distance triathlon. (Notice I said "try". I'm still not convinced I'll not end up getting hauled out of the lake on a kayak ...) I didn't do any tris this year. Wendy Nevala stopped me on my way out of the Y this morning and wants me to do the 2012 Coeur d'Alene (sp?) Idaho Ironman with her. I said that I would consider it. I have until June to decide. I just wish I was a decent swimmer.
•Run a marathon I've never run before. (Barring some unforeseen circumstance, that will be Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon on May 8.) After November 14, I will have run two marathons I hadn't run before. Lake Wobegon on May 8 (and got a PR to boot) and Outer Banks (NC) on November 14. There was lots of chatter last night about Roch folks running Wobegon next year. Great news. It's a super race ... a bargain, truly flat and fast, and has a first-class website (ha ... I built the website for Sharon and I'm the webmaster). :-)
•Run a 3:35 marathon. I'd forgotten about this one. Wow. I did it with a 3:33 at Wobegon.
•Visit a state I've never been to before. Success. I traveled to Maine right after running the Boston Marathon.
•Read a book each month. Get back to reading the newspaper every day. Again, "Needs Improvement". I haven't read a book in many, many months and tend to get way behind on the newspaper. There's no excuse for not getting the paper read each day.
•Say "thank you" more often. "Needs improvement".
•Say "I love you" more often. "Needs improvement".
I will revisit them them again at the end of the year as I ponder my 2011 resolutions. So ... back to yesterday.
I ran 12.61 miles in the AM. Felt good. Really good. The stars and the moon were absolutely beautiful. There was enough light around the moon to see the complete outline and it looked almost magical, just like it was hanging there in the sky as if suspended from somewhere on a giant string. It was a gorgeous November morning. I ran the first 12.13 miles 8 minutes faster than I ran my 12.13 miles on Tuesday. Good tunes. Saw Marie Boyd on the bike trail out by Bamber Valley Road. When I returned, the wild turkeys were again across the street.
I stopped at JoAnn fabrics after work. Frustrating experience. I don't think I'm especially high strung (usually) but this was a test of my/our patience. There was one person at the cutting table, and she had absolutely no sense of urgency in her work. She was moving in what seemed like superslow motion. There were 5 or 6 people in front of me in various states of frustration, the one actually getting her fabric cut being least frustrated of course. One of the gals (3rd in line) said "2 minutes. I'm only waiting another 2 minutes." Another said "Could you please call for some help?" The clerk said she had called and they were all in the back room. The customer asked if she could please call again. No response. The gal in front of me, and the gal behind me both sighed loudly and said "this is ridiculous". We'd already been waiting about 10-15 minutes and she hadn't moved on to the next customer yet. I was ready to leave and go to Mill End Textiles or Hobby Lobby but I really wanted to use the 40% off coupon ... I hate paying full price if I don't have to. I said to the gal behind me that I'd go check the back room for some help. As I walked back there, a young gal came out and I asked if there someone else that could cut fabric as the line was long and wasn't moving at all. She said she was going to the register and the gal at the register would cut. Finally, about 10 minutes later, that happened. When I finnnallllyyyy had my red tulle cut, she asked if I wanted it wrapped up on a piece of cardboard. I said no thank you, that I didn't want the people behind me to wait any longer and I just balled it up and went to the checkout. Finally, about an hour after I arriving, I had my piece of red sparkly tulle. Whew. Sorry that got so long-winded.
What did I want with some red tulle? I wanted to make a red tutu!!
Team R.E.D. has been postulating about attire for Living History Farms on November 20 and red tutus were one of the possible options. Cherie Jensen had emailed me a link to directions for a no-sew, quick-and-easy tutu. Very "poofy"! Very easy. I cut the tulle into 4" strips ...
tied them on a piece of grosgrain ribbon ...
and there you go ... a tutu in under an hour.
I wanted to try running in it so decided to go to Team R.E.D. for the run and go just a short distance (the 4-mile route). The sunset was pretty on the drive out to Byron.
It was fairly windy so it felt chilly. I decided to wear 3 layers on top (two being long sleeved, the outer being wool) and knit gloves under my red gloves. Whew. I was overdressed, especially when we turned and were running east with the wind at our backs. The only little "snag" with the tutu was the wind was whipping the strips around and a few times they got caught on the velcro on my old Garmin. Well, I won't be wearing my Garmin in the race so that will be a non-issue. I had a lot of fun running in it so I think I will wear it on November 20. And why not? What else am I going to do with a poofy red tutu?? When I left it in a heap on the floor last night, it reminded me of how the Wicked Witch of the West melted away in the Wizard of Oz and just left her hat and shoes. So here's the Renee version of the Wicked Witch.
I ran the first bit of the run with Chelsea. She's busy with work and play, but doing well and starting a new nursing position. Then I finished up running with Maureen. She's a pleasure to be around. A very nice gal. I'd promised her some orange ING Direct glasses after TCM and finally delivered last night. She was a happy camper. :-)
During the afternoon, I made some cupcakes for Tom O's birthday.
Didn't try one, but they smelled and looked good. :-) Hope you had a good day Tom O'!! I'm glad I got to share a little bit of the day with you and Team R.E.D. After I took the 'cakes out of the oven, a guy from Hiller's came to repair a tear in the vinyl floor in front of the range that's been there for a few years. It was a difficult spot to cut and patch so he decided on the "fill and seal" route instead. It looks fine to me and saved another move of that heavy range. He was so friendly. When he was done he said he was going to tear up the work order and there would be no charge for the repair. How nice is that? Very! More (trivial) good news for yesterday ... I decided to fill up my gas tank at $2.69/gallon and I see this morning that it's $2.79/gallon. Saved a couple more bucks. I'll take it.
This morning's workout, when I finally got around to it, was run to the Y, lift (only hamstrings), swim for an hour and then run home. I started out doing the hamstring curls only on my bad (left) leg. Recently I decided that I might possibly be creating a muscle imbalance by doing that. Indeed. I'm supposed to lift to fatigue and my right leg fatigues with less reps than my "bad" left leg. So now I'm lifting on both legs. I left the Y on foot at 9:30 and I had a 10:00 haircut appointment. Yikes. But I made it in the door at 9:46 and have only a 5 minute drive to the stylist. All good. :-)
So after the haircut (still no breakfast and it was now 10:30 and I was starving) I went to HyVee Barlows. I was getting some chocolate chips ($1.77--good price!) and I saw this sign:
I was a math and computer science major in college and I confess, I haven't use most of what I'd learned getting that math major. But is this really a price decline? Price was $4.45 and is now $4.45. What am I missing here?? I saw this new flour and it was on sale so I decided to try a bag.
Finally had my "breakfast" oatmeal at noon. I inhaled it. I was famished.
Just finished up making 5 dozen cookies for John Shonyo for the Bear Creek 5 tomorrow. Hope to see lots of you there. It's a fun, low-key event. The name of the game is accurate pacing, NOT speed.
Yesterday, Trevor's mom emailed me a couple of photos of the guys at the Surf the Murph 50K. I'd helped her out a few years ago by sending her some photos of Trevor for a memory book she was creating for him. I was delighted that she remembered me and passed along the photos, which I will now share with you:
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| Before the start |
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| They did it! |
She said it was of the few times she'd seen Trevor smiling at the end of a race. I think these guys are natural ultrarunners. What a super successful start they've had.
Got an email from Lindsey about two free cycling classes next week at the RAC being taught by Mario Minelli, who's a super good cyclist. I can't attend, but would if I could. For sure. More info on the TriRochester website.
Jim Benike said he thought of me when he got this email so he passed it along and I'll share it here: "You're an Ultrarunner if ... your friends start asking you when you show up somewhere in something resembling running clothes if you ran there ... even if you're an hour drive from home...and you want to be able to tell them yes the next time." He knows me too well.
Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour when you go to bed on Saturday. Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend.
It's time for me to do something else besides blogging. I'm feeling a litle down today. Here's hoping all of you are instead experiencing some joie de vivre.
Until tomorrow ...
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