family

I’m on a new work schedule where i only work Mon-Thurs, and have fridays off. It’s a pretty sweet deal. So friday morning I made my regular trip to the gym to lift weights, only this week I got to go at 10:30 am instead of 5:45 am. And since I didn’t have anything else to do, I decided I might as well get on the treadmill and, hey why not, do my weekly treadmill test.

Experience has taught me that mid-morning is not my best time of the day to run, i’m usually more sluggish than early morning or evening. So i ran 2 miles instead of 3. And i nearly threw up.

2 miles….14:56. Definitely could not have gone another mile at that pace and still manage to hold my breakfast in.

I stopped at Starbucks on my way home and saw a sign for an open invitation for interviews to be a barista at a new store. It’s not like i’m doing anything else today….I filled out an application and went in for an interview. They liked me so much (or so I tell myself) I had a second interview immediately following. We’ll see what happens next, but i would be totally ecstatic to make capuccinos all day instead of doing what i do now. It might shake up my moving plans a little bit, but I’ll worry about that when I need to.

Saturday morning started out rainy, rainy and even more rainy. Other than my hands being frozen the first 3 miles, it was a great morning to run. I ended up going 10 miles, so I guess i’m right on schedule for the Olathe half marathon in a month. I still need to register though. *making mental note*

I’m off work all this week because Wednesday I’m heading to Biloxi, Mississippi to help rebuild homes with my parents and people from their church. But for now, i’m heading to the gym to work my arms….good prep for banging a hammer.

yes, my blogging heart is still beating…very faintly.

with holiday festivities, a visit from The Todd, Christmas shopping, and running, i just haven’t had much time to do any noteworthy blogging. yes, despite all the business, i refuse to let my running go the wayside and its has been great. now that i’m not training for anything, i’m just enjoying some relaxed, easy runs and it’s awesome.

i suppose once life settles down, i’ll get around to posting something ’slightly’ more entertaining for you.

as for now, i’m heading for an 8 mile holiday run with Josh, and then home to the parents’ house. and in a battle against Mom’s holiday cookies, caramels, etc. i have some much anticipated runs scheduled with old friends while i’m back home.

until later, have a very Merry Christmas!!!

At Last,the Holiday Season is upon us! I’ve been waiting about 330 days for this. It’s my favorite time of year and it pretty much took all my energy to wait until after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas decorations and turn on the Christmas carols.

Thanksgiving was a bit odd for me this year. It was the first time in 24 years where I wasn’t home with my family on Thanksgiving morning, and it was sad. Instead, good ol’ Josh and I decided to meet up that morning and go for a run in the awesome autumn weather. What was supposed to be eight miles ended up being six, thanks to stupid me, who ate only a half hour before i ran and had some tummy issues. Nonetheless, the six miles went great and i earned myself a guilt-free conscience for eating T-Day dinner.

The Todd flew in that afternoon and we spent the evening at his parents’ house for dinner and cards (which i was totally awesome at). Friday was an early 2 hour drive home to my parents’ house for family Thanksgiving, and introducing Todd to small town Kansas Holiday Festivities. It was great to be home (despite the fact that i got booted out of my room to the pullout couch in the basement- oh, the sacrifices one makes…), but time flew by too fast and we headed back to KC on Saturday since he had to fly out that afternoon.

My running was put to the side this past weekend, but i have still managed to make it to the gym at 5:45 am to do some cross training. yeah for me. Perhaps i’ll take advantage of this last day of nice weather and go for a run before the winter chill moves in until March.

As Clark Griswold so eloquently stated, “Tis the Season to be Merry”

whew! this past week was just an intense rollercoaster of emotions/events for me. this blog post is not very exciting, but i’ll do my best to summarize my past week.

i just didn’t feel like running since returning from seattle. and then Friday morning, i found out that my grandma passed away, but that was a blessing, so i felt better and decided that if i was going to run 8 on saturday, i had better run a little before then. So i went for a quick 3 miler on friday afternoon. it felt pretty good, except for the humidity.

friday night i went to the ben harper concert at starlight theatre with jamie and lauren. it was absolutely AWE-SOME. a-maz-ing. if you didn’t go, you missed out. so after that fabulous night, i was all kinds of excited for the saturday morning run.

and what do you know….it was rainy too!! sweet!! i love rainy running. so, my original plan was to run 8 miles but i decided to turn around at the 3 mile water stop instead and run the last 3 miles back faster and push myself. it felt really great, i’ve just been having a problem with my shins hurting once i stop running. i suppose a cure for that would be to keep running and running and running……..um, yeah, no.

but saturday night was what i was looking forward to all week. several Team in Training teammates from san diego, along with our honored patient and her husband met for dinner at a japanese steakhouse. first off, i love japanese steakhouses and second off, it’s always a laugh-tastic time when we all get together.

sunday i got up early to get in a quick 2 miles before i headed home for the funeral since i knew i probably wouldn’t have time/energy to run that evening or on monday.

tuesday i was back in full force, working in an 8 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run after work. the cooler weather is invigorating. ok, by ‘cooler’, i mean around 80s, not 90s or 100s like it has been the past couple of works.

i snuck in a 7 mile bike and 2 mile run tonight. once again, the shins are fine during the run, but sore afterwards. but i suppose that’s better than them hurting during AND after, right? right.

so, in summary:
8/25 3 mi run….26:45….9:12/mi
8/26 6 mi run….58:08….9:41/mi (just for the record, my last 3 mi pace was 1:00/mi faster than the first 3 miles)
8/27 2 mi run….14:50….7:25/mi (my gps had trouble finding a satellite, so that’s probably not accurate)
8/29 3 mi run….26:52….8:57/mi + 8 mi bike
8/30 2 mi run….16:57….8:28/mi + 7 mi bike

i think i’ll run 4 tomorrow morning and shoot for 8 on saturday. maybe 10. we’ll see.

Seattle was awesome. super. spectacular. Therefore, i have created a new word to describe it. Awesupertacular. that pretty much sums it up. Since my visit in July was filled with touristy excitement, we decided to just hang out and relax more this time.

I finally got to sleep in on saturday, something i haven’t done in a long time. The Todd (as he has been deemed by a co-worker of mine) dropped me off at the Lake Sammamish trail around 11 and i headed off on my six-miler. I really didn’t have any idea where my final destination was, so i just decided to run until i hit 6.0 or until i ran out of trail and into the lake. which actually…..that wouldn’t have felt too bad. It was a pleasant 73ish degrees during my run, but when the trail emerged from the cover of the trees, the sun was blazing down on me and i really wanted to jump in the water.

The trail was flat, soft gravel and ran all along the east side of the lake, next to the endless row of lake houses and docks. At this time of morning, there were hundreds of boats already out on the lake and it really made me want to waterski. It made me miss the summers growing up, spending every weekend at the lake, trying to perfect my slaloming skills. I need to get a friend with a boat…………..my mind is wandering….
It was such an incredible view and my shins/knees felt great, i think i could’ve kept going. But that Seattle sun was pretty hot and i called The Todd to meet me at a rendevous point. Great run.
6.15 miles. 54:35 min. 8:52 pace

My knee was a little sore once i stopped running, but i think the Glucosamine actually might be making it somewhat better. *probably the placebo effect*

The rest of my stay in Seattle was spent doing some shopping, meeting some of Todd’s friends out for his birthday dinner on Lake Union, running around downtown on the Harbor Steps… Oddly, i didn’t take many pictures, which is weird because usually i’m a photo-fanatic. I really wish i would’ve taken a camera with me when i did my saturday morning run or at the lakefront dinner. better luck next time… I still have yet to see a single drop of precipitation during my times in Seattle. I was actually a little bit disappointed about that, but can’t complain because i’m sure i’ll be begging for sunny days once the rainy season starts.

It was difficult to leave Todd and come back to kansas. I think it gets harder to say goodbye each time. Also frustrating is that i haven’t been able to run since saturday. most of monday was spent at airports/in flight, and yesterday i was looking forward to helping out at the Team in Training Kick-off meeting but i had to make an emergency trip back home to see my grandma. Her heart is slowly giving out on her, so all 6 of her children and several of us grandchildren were there to say our ‘Goodnights’ and now i guess we’re just waiting for God to take her to an eternal rest. It’s been a harried week thus far and not looking to get any better.

What day is it today anyway? Wednesday?? It’s my only obligation-free night for awhile so I’m hoping to get a 3 mile run in and maybe go to the gym, but I haven’t unpacked, laundry is piling up, Project Runway is on tonight and my energy level is just hovering above zero, so i’m not sure if that will happen.

ok, ok, so i’ve been neglecting my blog the past week and a half. but no need to worry, i have not been neglecting my running. as if anyone is concerned about that….well someone should be, because one of these days i’m going to wonder why i decided to take this journey and really start questioning my sanity. and when that happens, when my logical left brain takes over my emotional right brain, someone will be needed to psychologically smack me upside the head. but until then, i will do better at blogging. i got me some new kicks last week since my old running shoes were probably, correction: definitely, about to turn 2 years old. 2 year old tennies, not too good for the shinnies. I broke in the new shoes over Thanksgiving when i went back home to my parent’s farm. I gotta tell you, there’s nothing quite like running on a pasture trail as the sun sets on a cold fall evening. good times, good times. our dog, skittles, used to make the run with me in high school, but he’s pretty near death so my brother took his place one night. and that run ended with him sprinting home to get the car to come pick me up 1/2 mile down the road. anyway……
last week’s mileage: 12 miles…….2 mile track time 17:15
this week’s mileage so far: 10 miles……2 mile track time 16:20
days until San Diego: 184 days