Friday, April 20, 2012

Garage Sale

Saturday 8 to 1. 608 Meadow Run Dr SW. PLEASE COME!! Say hi!! Doing my long run Sunday with Lori and her celebration. Might have to start a little early as I have to work. Today felt like a marathon ... 10 mile run and then all day on my feet getting this organized. I am totally spent. Have a good one!!







Sunday, April 15, 2012

Fetzer 2012

It was another really nice day for running yesterday for the 2012 version of the Fetzer 20K. This year, there's a new race director (Jen Woodford, with me below) ...


and a new cause. Channel 1 food shelf. She did a great job and has plans to change things up in the future.

I met Tim ...


and Reggie ...


at 7:00 to go out and mark the course. I'd run just before leaving for the school and had just showered. So I went out on the gator with wet hair and wearing shorts (running, I'd been plenty warm). Well, it turned out to be a bit nippy and with the humidity, wind and extra wind created by riding in a vehicle with open sides, my hair was a DISASTER by the time we were done. TOTAL FRIZZ. Anyway, the Virginia bluebells and bloodroot were out in all their glory.


Beautiful morning for a run. Or working a water stop. In costume.




And having some fun with a train whistle.


There were lots of fast times run yesterday. Bill Nevala ran a 25 minute PR, and Joe Ryan ran a 20K PR (as well as back-to-back 10K PRs) and set an excellent pace.


Thanks to everyone that ran or volunteered!!

Jennifer & her son, Dan, Adam, Tom, Joe, Dawn, Tom

Ken and John

Alex and Joe

Shaun, Bill, Wendy, Jenny, Ann

Adam and Esme

Jill, Adam & Esme, Ann, Dave, Mike, Dan, Mike, Gwen

Millie
It's been all over Facebook, at least on my newsfeed, but it's going to be a very warm Boston Marathon tomorrow. They've got cautions and a deferment plan. It's tough running 26.2 miles in ideal marathon weather (which varies from person to person ... me, I like it about 30 degrees) but when the temps are forecast to top out at 88, that's brutal. Reminds me of Med-City one year, Twin Cities another, Grandma's yet another year, Illinois last year ... I've run more hot marathons that ideal ones. Hope everyone proceeds with caution tomorrow. Best of luck.

Well, it's been a long weekend of work. I'm ready for a day off. Wait ... tomorrow is Monday ...

Go. Be. Do.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

To my friends whose religious traditions celebrate Easter, Happy Easter! He is risen!! Hallelujah!

The boys were both home today and I so enjoyed having them here. I love them to pieces. My brother and his family were here too. My niece and nephew are the most adorable, well-mannered kids. Love them too!

At home, talking about their day : )

I decided to eschew the traditional Easter meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, etc. and make what are the boys' favorites. And everyone seemed very pleased with that decision. So we ate ... breaded, baked chicken, penne pasta with a Provolone cheese sauce, shallots and roasted butternut squash, green beans, bread, orange "fluff" for the kids, and cherry pie. Delish. That was my only meal today (just after noon) and I'm still not hungry and it's nearly 7:00.

Workouts ... Wednesday was 10.15 miles, including 12 x 1/4 mile. Thursday easy 10.15 miles. Friday, my legs felt like they needed a break. My last "legless" workout was March 3, the day before the Napa Valley marathon. I almost took the day off entirely but decided to swim 2500 meters and lift. Saturday's route from the RAC was about 19.5 miles and I figured I'd do what I felt like. Maybe a 20-miler, maybe I'd cut it short. I'd just see how I felt. I've run 20+ the last 3 weeks. So I took off, leaving my dead Garmin in the car. I feel SO lost without that thing. But I'd just have to run how I felt and get the the time and mileage from someone else. Well, it didn't make sense, but I felt great. Dinner on Friday was Brussels sprouts and 2 slices of a frozen Cosetta pizza. Not the greatest of fuels. I brought 2 GUs for the run, but didn't use either of them. Drank 2-3 small cups of Gatorade at each of the 4 water stops, and ate 6 or 7 jelly beans (Jeff and Carter win the Best Stocked Water Stop award this week!) and maybe 6-8 slices of banana. Got back to the RAC and Dawn said the mileage was 19.46 about 20 yards from the driveway. So by the time I walked to my car, and got a bottle of water from the back seat, and half a cookie from the trunk I figured it was at least 19.5. Then I ran back .4 miles to meet the crew (clocked that in my car, starting from the driveway to where I turned) so that was another .8. When we got back I ran out a mile with Marv and turned around. 22.3, is approximately what I cobbled together for mileage. Marv had 3:05 for running time. I figured it took at least 3 minutes to walk from 19th St to my car in the 3rd row, get the water, get the cookie and get going again. So I'm calling it 3:02, and that includes chatting with the super cool water stop volunteers!! Thank you Andy, Trevor, Jeff and Carter!! I was soooo happy with that run. I just felt great. I cramped some in the stretch from Silver Lake up to 19th and back to the RAC, but I pressed through it. I really needed a confidence boosting run after a tough year and a half.

Today, this evening actually, after the boys left, a 6 mile jog. No Garmin, no watch. But I know exactly where to turn around for EXACTLY 6 miles. : ) And my iPod that's not functioned for the last 2+ years decided to cooperate. I could finally use the wheel to get to a playlist. I rarely run with tunes, but particularly enjoyed having them for this run.

I've posted these lyrics from time to time previously, but the sone just played on my iPod and I feel like posting them again. From Never Alone ...

May the angels protect you, trouble neglect you
And heaven accept you when it's time to go home
May you always have plenty, the glass never empty
And know in your belly, you're never alone

May your tears come from laughing, you find friends worth having
As every year passes, they mean more than gold
May you win and stay humble, smile more than grumble
And know when you stumble, you're never alone

Happy Easter.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Not much ...

Not much new and noteworthy. Just runnin' and workin', workin' and runnin'. Since last Tuesday ...

Running: 10 miles Wednesday (including 12 x 1/4 mile), 10 miles Thursday morning, 6 miles Thursday evening at Team R.E.D.


Sonja, Gwen, me

New member Monica Morey
Friday, 6 miles and lifted. Saturday, 21 miles. Sunday, 5 miles. Monday, 10 miles this morning and lifted and 5 miles this evening @ Wildwood Sports Bar with the Manic Monday crew. Guess what? The Virginia bluebells are already in bloom on the Mayowood bike path. A whole month ahead of schedule. Anyway, needless to say, my legs are tired. 41 miles since Saturday morning alone.

Other than running, working. I work Monday through Sunday, so "weekend" doesn't mean much and actually that's when I put in the most hours.

I had the afternoon off today, so I made the most of it. Ran errands, several loads of laundry, paid bills, hauled recycling and trash (and saved another $34! .... yadda, yadda, yadda.

Tomorrow evening, going to the Hunger Games with friends. The premise of the story doesn't have me too excited but so many people are wild about the book and/or movie that I'm willing to give it a try.

Finished reading Born to Run (thank you Bri) and am now reading The Bucolic Plague (thank you Sheila ... very funny ... about two "gentlemen farmers" from New York City that bought a million dollar mansion/farm.) And Lucy loaned me a few more books, so I'm set for reading material for the time being.

That's all that's new. Have a great week.