last few days

I should be writing down my daily blog because I'm sure in the future I will wish I would've wrote more. So here's a few things about running that are out of order and what has been running through my head.
1- every morning I think about running. Not just running, but Boston. I REALLY don't want to blow this chance because the opportity wont come around for a few more years. (Most likely.) I kinda want it to be one of those things I can cross off my 'Life list"
2-The 800's. I really like the course. The second week we did them though it was scary with ice on the road. I like 800's much better than 400's. It's also nice having the neighborhood course. This last week, on Monday, was very hard. I don't think my body has felt worse running. I never felt like I was running smoothly. But I came up with times a little over 3:40.
3-Tuesday was an awesome run! I wasn't thrilled about the fact I didn't have my MP3 player. Music really helps on these lonely runs. (Even if we were running side by side I wouldn't be able to talk!) I kept thinking about Boston. Every run I do my best for that day. (Well sometimes I slack off...) I was thrilled to see that my time was 8:30. I know I've improved, we all have. Hurrah!
4- I know I should be cross training, but I was exhausted Tues. I was ready for bed by 7:00. So I just laid in bed. Took Wednesday off. thursday did pilates.
5- I'm not excited about the weather report for tomorrow. 12 degrees.

tonight Jeremy said isn't it good enough if you just qualify for Boston? To say you qualified?! I'm glad Sandra would understand that no it isn't. If I qualify, I don't care if I have to sell my diamond ring to go. (Actually it's not that big of a sacrifice since I've never LOVED it....)

Our Fall Tri

With one bike ride, and less than a handful of swim workouts I was off to the Turkey Tri with by "bestie" Sandra. (My other BFF decided to stay home and enjoy her Saturday. Although the turkey tri did turn out to be fun!) We left at 6:45. I drove Jeremy's truck. Before I arrived I remembered that I didn't grab my MP3 player. Fortunatly Melynda Miller was coming to watch and she had an awesome IPOD. (Unfortunatley I didn't know how to work it and it quit playing half way through the run.) I was a little nervous when we got there and it was quarter to 8:00. There were a lot of people. We had to wait in line for our packets and timing chips. I didn't like feeling rushed and wondering what the course was really like and what I was suppose to do. (It was easy to figure out though and they had the course well marked.) The run was good until the end you had to run up a hill. It took a lot of strength from me. I felt my strength getting sucked out of me. I got on my bike. My transition wasn't very smooth. (I've only used the cages one time before and was having a hard time getting my shoes in.) Bikers passed me as I tried to get on my bike. The bike route was HARD! Much harder than Stansbury Days. At the end of the first loop you have to bike up 4th south. It was a hill! I gave in and got off my bike and walked up it. I think overall it made me loose time because I had a hard time getting back on my bike. But I did it both times. I definately need to train on biking! On the second loop Natalie Griffith passed me. I told myself to keep her insight and I could catch up in swimming. I caught her in the 3 lap lane. When I got in the pool all my strength was gone. My swimming was horrible. My legs were tired, my arms, EVERYTHING! I did all different strokes just to make it to the end. I'm glad I did it. I am now waiting for the times to post....

No Basketball

It really STINKS when you are looking forward to something and it doesn't happen. All week I was looking forward to Thursday. 1-Because I don't run on thursday's! 2- I was planning to play basketball. I ran out the door to be at the church on time to play. (I even left baby poop on the carpet. Okay, now you want to know why there was baby poop. I was hurrying to give Belle a bath, she ran away naked while I was filling up the tub, I found her. She had pooped on Tessa's bedroom carpet. But I wanted to play basketball and Amy said they were only playing from 9-10. So I bathed Belle ran to the church. No one was there. I walked over to Amy's and she felt bad they had cancelled. This was what my whole day was centered around! So I took the girls for a walk in the stroller. So that is my workout for today.

The last few weeks

Well I haven't been on vacation. I HAVE been working out. I guess nothing too exciting has happened. It's go to bed, wake up, then run. The weather has been okay. I haven't broken anything. The neighbors haven't played their DRUMS! I haven't trained for the turkey tri like I would've liked too. It's been hard with sick kids, the World Series, etc... The biking will be the worst part, by far. This morning I ran with Sandra, Christina, and Coral. We just ran 3 miles. We ran it under 30 minutes. The biggest news is I bought new shoes. I could REALLY feel a difference! What was I thinking? I can't believe the difference. I was having knee problems and since the new shoes have felt great. Christina, it's worth the money.

the neighbors got drums

The neighbors have enjoyed drumming away on their drums the last two nights. Unfortunately when you go to bed early this is ANNOYING! It makes me want to scream, break something, honk a horn, do something annoying, but I don't. I lay there wishing I could sleep. Thinking about my precious hours of sleep....so sometimes things like this energize me to run hard, but not this morning. I was barely able to roll out of bed. I sat on my couch and thought about how nice it would be to fall asleep. But I thought about my good friends getting up earlier to run with me and I was out the door. it was an enjoyable run with Sandra. No Christina. We didn't wait long. I was glad that I got out.

alarm clock and corn dogs

Yesterday Jer and I decided for a date we would run the 5k path we are doing on Sat. He didn't tell me that he wasn't going to talk to me. If I had known I would've worn my head phones. Some people are given a lot of natural talent and they don't have to work at it. Jeremy could be a machine if he ran everyday. (Thankfully he doesn't so I can run in the mornings.) It's not going to be a PR on Sat. I also learned it is hard to run after eating a corn dog, it doesn't settle well.

Alarm clock trouble! So today the alarm clock didn't go off. (Is Jer doing this on purpose?) I woke up at 5:30. Left the house at 5:36. I missed Amy. So I ran backwards. That's the good thing about them doing the same course. So I met up with them at Stansbury Elementary. I'm hoping the alarm goes off tomorrow. I will set two alarms just in case.

Week 6: October 5 - October 10

Sickness looms.

Monday

Mary Whitaker from Water Wheel joined Christina and me for our track workout.  Which started out good, but then just got bad.  I'm blaming the marching band.  They were AWFUL.  But, in better news, we ran recovery laps between 1,2,3 and 4,5,6 and only walked a lap between 3 and 4, so we're almost there.  My plan is to do this same next week, and then make it 1,2,3,4 and 5,6 with a walking lap between 4,5 and then 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 with a walking lap between 5,6 and then we'll be running all our recovery laps.  Our times were a little dismal: 1:57, 2:01, 2:00, 2:08, 2:04, 2:00.  How does Hillary do it?

Tuesday

It was another "easy" 30 minute run.  However, I forgot at the end, so I was going by distance and not time, so we ended up running the 3.03 course in 29:40, averaging 9:47/mile.  But we really should've kept going until 30 minutes. 

Wednesday

I mapped out a new 3 mile route, and we were going to try to see how fast we could reasonably run it (slower than race pace, but faster than what we have been doing).  I felt reasonably sure that we could hit somewhere between 9:00 and 9:10/mile.  We started around our neighborhood and flew up the hill toward Stansbury Parkway.  It's about a half mile of uphill and probably not the wisest thing to put first, but it was the only option from where we started.  Then we flew down the parkway, across the highway and through the Ivory Townhomes.  Since I didn't actually mark the mileage, I was a little off and we ended up having to run around the neighborhood again, which meant we had to run the half mile uphill again.  But it's good practice.  I felt pretty good until we hit the neighborhood, so I had to slow down to a crawl.  I was really lightheaded.  I think it was a lack of oxygen.  I just had to fight through it.  I crawled for a quarter of a mile and then I flew the last half mile, totally leaving everyone in the dust (or so my version of the story goes), as we ran down Water Wheel.  We finished in 27:41, averaging 9:13/mile.  Not too shabby.  We ran the first mile in 9:00, the second in 9:09 and Mile 3 in 9:32.  If only I hadn't had to slow down...

Thursday

I swam again this morning, but I didn't want to.  I wasn't feeling very good, but I was slated to drive and I didn't want to wake everyone's house by calling at 5 am, so I just sucked it up.  I'll probably pay for it for a few days.  Another uneventful swim.

Friday

I called Hillary yesterday and cancelled my long run for the week because I could feel a cold coming on.  I don't want it to move into my lungs if I can help it because with the asthma, it just takes up residence for WEEKS and I can hardly do anything.  So I didn't do anything, though I did hear that both Hillary and Christina got out. 

Saturday

I took today off as well.  I'm feeling better, but not quite up to par.  I'm hoping by Monday I'll be back in pretty good shape.